Chapter Text
"Vi needs me."
That was the only thought hammering in Powder’s head as she scrambled up the crooked boards. Her sister was in there—fighting an entire gang alone.
She had to help. Their family was counting on it.
At last, Powder reached an open window. Her breath caught as she peered inside—Vi was charging headlong at a brute of a man, a monster towering over the rest. Powder’s heart raced as Vi launched herself into the air, fists drawn back for a crushing double strike—
—only for the beast to snatch her out of the air by the throat.
"VI!" Powder screamed, slamming her palms against the walls. The sound was useless. She needed to do something. Anything. She had to save her sister.
Through the window, she watched in horror as the monster hurled Vi across the room. Her sister barely dragging herself into a room. With what strength she had left, Vi slammed a door shut just as the brute charged, throwing its entire weight against the barricade.
This was it. Powder’s chance.
Her hands flew to her bag, yanking out the monkey bomb and the glowing blue crystals. She twisted the monkey’s head off, jammed the crystals inside, then screwed it back on with trembling fingers. She risked a glance—The beast rammed the door again and again, roaring in frustration. Powder’s stomach knotted.
She turned back to her invention, clutching it close, forehead pressed against the toy’s cold metal. "You have to work. For me." Her eyes squeezed shut. She couldn’t fail. Not now.
Her fingers wound the crank at the monkey’s back until the gears caught. The bomb ticked to life. With a shaky breath, she set it on the floor and nudged it forward through the window. The toy lurched into motion, clattering its cymbals, the crystals glowing with each strike.
The monster didn’t notice. It was too busy hammering itself into the door, bellowing with fury.
Powder shut her eyes, bracing for the blast.
But nothing happened.
Her heart dropped. She turned—just as the bomb erupted. The explosion swallowed the room, blue smoke moving outward. A shockwave punched through the window, hurling Powder into the open air.
It worked.
The smoke consumed her vision, a swirling storm of blue, but all she could feel was the rush of triumph. Against all odds, it had worked.
Her family was safe. That was all that mattered.
Her stuffed bunny tumbled past her, spinning lazily through the haze. Powder reached for it, but then—something was wrong.
The world tilted.
Colors bled into each other. The blue haze warped, stretching and folding like the sky itself had come undone. One moment the world was clear, the next it twisted into a chaotic blur too much for her mind to grasp. Up and down lost all meaning. The air seemed to ripple, time itself bending in ways she couldn’t understand.
Powder’s arms flailed as the world tore itself inside out, blue smoke ripping open into blinding white. Her stuffed bunny slipped from her grasp, vanishing into the light as her body was yanked forward like a ragdoll.
She screamed—then hit something hard.
The smoke cleared in a violent rush, replaced by a dim light. Powder tumbled across a cold floor, metal clanging beneath her as scattered tools skittered away. She lay there, coughing, the taste of ash and ozone thick on her tongue.
When she finally forced herself to look up, her heart skipped.
Rows of glass tanks loomed around her, filled with strange fluids and floating shapes she couldn’t name.
She was in some kind of lab.
Before Powder could even begin to comprehend how, the far wall exploded inward with a deafening crash. Dust and metal shards rained down as a massive green lizard-man barreled through, someone clinging to its back.
Powder yelped and dove for cover, tucking herself behind a mess of machinery. Heart racing, she pressed a hand over her mouth, praying not to be noticed.
The rider sprang free in a flip, landing light on his feet. Twin blue batons slid from his back, crackling with energy as he leveled them at the beast.
“You’re already caught, Croc,” the man said, his voice taunting. “No need to make this harder than it has to be. We both know how this ends.”
The lizard turned, eyes burning yellow as it rose to its full height—massive, towering, its head nearly scraping the ceiling.
“You’re all alone, Nightwing,” it growled, voice like grinding stone. “I’m not the one who should be worried.”
With a roar, Croc spun, his tail whipping around with bone-cracking force.
Nightwing flipped clear in a perfect arc, landing just outside its reach.
Powder’s breath caught as the fight erupted before her eyes.
Nightwing darted forward, batons sparking as he struck at Croc’s side. The monster roared as it swung a claw the size of Powder’s head. Nightwing ducked, rolled, and came up striking, his movements a too fast for Powder to keep up with.
Metal shrieked as Croc slammed his claws into a console, shredding it apart. Sparks rained across the floor, forcing Powder to shield her face. She curled tighter behind the equipment, every instinct screaming at her to run—but her legs wouldn’t listen.
She couldn’t look away.
Who was this man? How was he fighting something like that and not getting torn apart?
Powder was so caught up in the clash that she didn’t notice the faint tickle along her neck—until sharp pain pricked her skin.
She yelped, swatting wildly, spinning in panic. Her eyes darted to the floor, and her stomach dropped.
Not far from her hiding spot lay a shattered glass enclosure. The label plate still clung to the base, cracked but legible: Arachnid Containment.
Her gaze flicked across the floor. Shapes moved in the shadows. Eight-legged, skittering, countless of them.
Spiders.
Dozens of them.
Powder’s breath hitched, pulse pounding as her eyes darted across the walls, the floor, even the machines she leaned against—everywhere, dark shapes scuttled and crawled.
The bite on her neck burned, but terror drowned out the pain.
All thought of staying hidden vanished. Powder shot up from her cover with a scream, flailing and swatting at herself, desperate to brush away anything that might be crawling on her.
Her outburst did not go unnoticed.
Both fighters froze for a split second. Killer Croc’s yellow eyes snapped toward the sound. Nightwing’s head whipped around, his eyes widening beneath the mask at the sight of a terrified girl in the middle of the lab.
“Dammit,” he muttered, instantly pressing a hand to his earpiece as he twisted away from Croc’s swing. “I need backup—now! There’s a civilian in here!”
Croc grinned, teeth flashing as his gaze fixed on Powder.
The ground shook as Croc thundered after her. Powder’s heart nearly tore out of her chest as she stumbled between broken lab tables and sparking machinery.
“Get back here, little girl!” Croc bellowed, his claws slamming down just behind her, gouging the floor.
Powder screamed and ducked under a set of hanging wires, barely slipping through as Croc’s bulk smashed the frame apart. She didn’t dare look back. Her legs burned, lungs screamed, but adrenaline kept her moving.
A sudden clang—a door ahead. Powder slammed her shoulder into it, forcing it open, and darted out.
Before Croc could go after her, Nightwing lunged onto his back. He jammed both electrified escrima sticks against the brute’s scales, arcs of blue sparking across Croc’s massive frame. The monster roared, thrashing wildly, but Nightwing held on until finally—with one last, deafening bellow—Killer Croc collapsed face-first into the floor.
Nightwing slid off his back, escrima still in hand as he circled warily. For a tense moment, he waited, ready for another struggle. But Croc didn’t move. His chest rose and fell in heavy, unconscious gulps.
“Finally,” Nightwing muttered under his breath.
A soft thud behind him. He turned just in time to see Robin drop from above, staff already in his hands, a smirk plastered across his face.
“Wow. Guess you actually managed to handle this one all by yourself,” Robin said, eyebrows raised in mock surprise.
Nightwing shook his head. “Not now, Robin. We’ve got a civilian on the loose—she barely escaped Croc. We need to find her.”
Robin cocked an eyebrow. “A civilian? In here? Sounds more like someone involved if you ask me.”
Nightwing ignored him, tapping his earpiece. “Oracle, alert the others. We’re looking for a girl, ten to fourteen, blue hair. Civilian status unknown, but she’s scared out of her mind. We need to find her.”
Static crackled before Oracle’s voice came through. “Copy that. I’ll patch her description to the others. Blue hair makes her stand out; shouldn’t be hard to track if she shows up on surveillance. I’ll keep you updated.”
“Appreciate it,” Nightwing muttered, scanning the wreckage Croc had left behind. The lab was torn apart—broken consoles, shattered glass, debris scattered everywhere. He exhaled slowly. “Robin, sweep the area. See if she’s still nearby. I’ll stay back and make sure Croc is secured for transport.”
Robin smirked, twirling his staff before retracting it. “Considering you let someone slip past you, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised I’m the one cleaning up your mess.”
Before Nightwing could respond, Robin fired his grapple gun and disappeared through the same hatch he’d entered from, leaving Nightwing alone in the ruined lab.
For a long moment, Nightwing stood over Croc’s unconscious form.
Who was that girl with the blue hair? And what the hell was she doing here?
Powder kept running. She didn’t know how long, didn’t care—only that she wasn’t stopping. Not after that giant lizard nearly tried to eat her.
She tore through another alley and finally stumbled to a halt, her chest heaving. It was still night. No footsteps. No roars.
She’d lost him.
Relief hit for a moment, but as the adrenaline bled away, her body made its protest clear. Her legs trembled, every step sending pain through her feet. The burning bite on her neck throbbed more than ever, and now a pounding headache clawed at her skull.
Powder staggered to the wall, clutching her head with shaking hands.
She wanted this nightmare to end.
She wanted to wake up back home.
She wanted Vi.
Her breath came in shallow gasps, each one worse than the last. The ache in her legs climbed up her back, and the fire in her neck burned hotter, spreading through her body like liquid heat.
Powder staggered forward, forcing one step after another. She couldn’t stop. Not here. Not out in the open. What if the lizard came back?
Her blurred gaze swept the alley until it landed on an abandoned building, windows boarded, walls sagging under years of neglect. Shelter. And she wasn’t sure how much longer her body would hold out.
She stumbled to the wall, hands fumbling at the loose boards. To her surprise, one gave way with little effort, clattering to the ground. Powder didn’t hesitate. She squeezed through the gap, tumbling onto the dusty floor inside.
For the first time all night, she let herself exhale, relief flooding her lungs.
But as she sat up, her eyes darted around. The space was dark, empty, littered with old trash and broken furniture. Nothing familiar. None of the streets she’d raced through looked like anywhere she knew either. Maybe she’d just run farther than she thought, into some forgotten part of the city.
Still… it felt wrong.
Powder hugged her knees to her chest, every muscle aching, the bite on her neck throbbing like fire. She prayed no one else was here. She already had too many problems—she couldn’t handle another one.
Powder curled tighter against the corner, pulling her knees to her chest and tucking her head down. The boards she’d pried loose rattled faintly in the wind outside, each creak making her flinch.
She tried to stay awake. Tried to keep her eyes open. If she slept, she’d be defenseless, and the thought of that lizard finding her while she was helpless twisted her stomach.
But the pounding in her skull was relentless, every throb of her headache syncing with the burn at her neck. Her vision blurred at the edges, black creeping in no matter how hard she blinked it away.
“I… I can’t…” her voice cracked, barely above a whisper.
Her arms wrapped tighter around herself, as if she could hold the world at bay with nothing but her grip. The room tilted, the shadows swaying, and before she could stop it her body betrayed her.
Her head slumped against her knees. The last thing she felt was the fevered heat coursing through her veins before the darkness pulled her under.
“Powder…”
The voice was soft like a lullaby brushing through her skull. Powder’s eyes fluttered open, confusion blurring the world around her.
“Vi???” she gasped, heart leaping.
There she was. Vi. Smiling like the sun itself, arms already open. Powder threw herself forward, clutching her older sister with everything she had. Vi laughed, as if nothing bad had ever happened.
“You did it, Powder,” Vi said, her tone bursting with pride. “You saved us.”
Powder’s grin stretched wide, tears stinging her eyes. “Vi—you won’t believe it; I had the weirdest dream! There was this lab, and this giant lizard tried to eat me, and—” The words tumbled out in a frantic stream, but Vi only laughed, brushing it all aside like it was nothing.
Powder blinked, looking around. They were standing in a sunlit alley near the Last Drop. Everything looked normal, everything felt right—until the sound split the air.
A roar.
Powder’s body locked up as she spun around. At the far end of the alley, the monstrous lizard stood, eyes glowing with hunger, jaw gaping wide as another roar shook the ground.
“No—no, no, no—” Powder turned to Vi, desperate, ready to grab her hand and run.
But Vi was gone.
“Vi?!” Powder’s scream cracked, raw with panic. “VI, where are you?!”
The lizard’s roar thundered again, dragging her gaze back just in time to see it charge. Its massive body getting closer, filling the alley with dread.
Powder’s heart hammered as she twisted out of the lizard’s path, vaulting over its shoulder. She hit the wall hard, her skull slamming into stone—white pain burst behind her eyes—
And everything went black.
She jolted awake with a quick gasp, the echo of the roar still rattling inside her chest.
Daylight barely poured into the room. She blinked, waiting for the pounding in her skull, the burn in her legs, the ache in her body—
But nothing came. The headache was gone. The pain in her veins? Gone. The exhaustion? Gone. She actually… felt fine.
Too fine.
Her eyes narrowed. “Wait… why’s everything upside down?”
The thought hung in her head for a beat too long before the real horror clicked. Powder tilted her chin down, looked at her hands—then her feet.
Her stomach dropped.
She wasn’t on the floor. She was on the CEILING!!!