"Phone."
…
"Phone."
…
"Phone." James punctuated the groan by poking Piper in the ribs. Piper pulled a pillow over his head and rolled as far from James as mattress constraints would allow. James rolled his eyes.
"If you don't answer it, I will. The guy keeps calling back." James threatened. Piper responded with an incoherent noise and cocooned himself in the blankets. "A morning person my baby ain't." Sighing, James picked up the phone. "Hello?"
"Jesse?" It was Cold, which was probably for the best. James wasn't looking forward to explaining to the other Rogues why he was frequenting Piper's apartment so damn much these days (luckily non of them really seemed to care...or notice).
"Yeah Len. Piper's indisposed. Can I take a message?"
"Get him up, get your gear and meet at the hide out. We've got a situation."
James slouched down in the bed and let out a full fledged whine. "I don't wanna! It's late, or very, very early to be more accurate. I only picked up the phone to make it stop ringing!"
"Well you shoulda unplugged it kid. If I don't see you and Piper here in twenty minutes we'll come and get you." Len hung up before James could protest any more.
"Motherfucker. Hey Pookie, get up. Apparently we've got a situation."
Earlier That Night…
Len pulled up in front of Kendra's house, put his car in park, and continued to sit in the driver's seat for another ten minutes. The lights were on in Kendra's living room; she was home, she was up, and if he was going to make a move, this was the best opportunity he could hope for.
Then the living room window blew out in a dazzling flash of green light. Len pulled an absolute zero gun from his glove box and ran through the debris to the living room without further hesitation.
Kendra was crouched behind her tipped over sofa with her hands over her head. She was wearing pajamas and slippers, and there was a smoldering book and a smashed bottle of wine in the remnants of her coffee table. Her assailant had clearly interrupted a private night in.
"You son of a bitch! Get off of my property!" Kendra yelled.
Len turned around, aiming his gun where Kendra had been directing her attention. 'No fucking way'.
He was facing Lex Luthor, in full robotic green and purple armor (some of which was smoking). He looked exceptionally pissed off, probably owing to the fact that he had a sizable shard of kryptonite embedded in his forehead like a grotesque bindi, with blood trickling into his eyes.
Luthor trained his arm cannon on Len. "I'm in a rush, so I'll generously allow you your life if you leave now. The doctor's already got a patient-"
"The hell I do Luthor! I told you, I don't work Metropolis anymore!" Kendra shouted.
"That's why I came here you insolent cow, now get to work!"
"Watch what you say to the lady." Len snapped. Luthor eyed him curiously.
"Who exactly are you?" He asked, dripping disdain. "The henches and grunts know their place in Metropolis."
"I ain't no friggin' hench-"
"Cold, it's okay, I can handle this." Kendra called from somewhere in the general vicinity of the overturned sofa. Luthor didn't seem to notice her move, such was his amazement at being threatened by a super villain he clearly viewed as beneath him.
"Captain Cold?" He sneered. "The poor man's Mr. Freeze? I have it on good authority you can't even handle small time heists without being humiliated by a simple minded hero with only one power. You're out of your league, now leave us be. I have business with the doctor, and it certainly doesn't concern you."
"The lady doesn't seem to want your business. You're in my city Luthor, so show her some respect."
"Or what, you'll slip an ice cube down my back?" He asked with an obnoxious laugh.
Len's finger twitched on the trigger. He really did want to show the smug bastard what he was capable of, but that would have to wait for another day. Kendra had crept up behind Luthor and placed a flat metal oval onto his suit. Len hadn't the faintest idea what it would do to the robo-suit, but as the disc had a black bat painted on it, he figured it would be nasty.
"Duck!" Kendra yelled, darting away from Luthor. Len dove for her, shooting up an ice wall to protect them as Luthor's suit started violently jerking and shooting sparks. He shrieked in agony as the bat disc did its work. There was another brilliant flash of light, and when the spots cleared from Len's vision he saw Luthor slumped over in his charred robo-suit.
"Thanks for buying me the time. You're a doll." Kendra kissed his cheek.
"No problem." Len crawled out from behind the ice and checked Luthor for a pulse. "The asshole's still alive."
Kendra sighed. "Well I can't say I'm surprised. The Batman doesn't kill, after all…but it's still disappointing."
"Yeah, speaking of which," Len picked up the disc, which was still shiny and uncharred. "Where'd you get this thing?"
"A grateful client." She pocketed the disc, walked up to Luthor and stuck him with a syringe. "Just keeping him out a bit longer. I think my best bet is to toss him in front of the police department and let them transfer him back to Metropolis."
"You can't drive up in your car, someone could see your plates. My car's already dirty. I'll do it."
"I don't mind the risk you know. I am a criminal too." She said with a frown.
"Yeah, but they don't have you on record yet. You're not going to jail on my watch. How long's he out for anyway?"
"At least a few hours."
"Alright. Can you help me lug this thing to the car?"
Presently…
Piper and Trickster walked into the condemned furniture store that was serving as the Rogues' current hideout. The puke colored love seat and orange crate furniture had been dragged along from the abandoned pawn shop, but other than that the accessories were new. Digger had procured them a larger but somehow crappier TV than their old one, and they had a full sized functioning refrigerator this time. They'd also gotten a new poker table and some lawn furniture to go with the orange crates and love seat.
Sam, Digger, Mick and Mark were gathered around the room, looking as sluggish and cranky as Piper and James felt. Only Len looked reasonably alert, but surlier than the rest of them combined. Dr. Kendra was napping on the love seat, and the criminals gave her a respectful berth of space.
James and Piper exchanged a look, noting a distinct lack of Roscoe's presence and wondering if he and Len were butting heads again.
"So what's the situation?" James asked. Len tilted his head towards Kendra.
"Lex Luthor blew up half her house." Mark explained. "We're all pitching in to help fix the place up. You guys gonna contribute to the pot?" He motioned towards a coffee can on the coffee table that had been stuffed with wads of hundreds.
"Yeah, I can throw some cash in." James agreed, while Piper nodded. "Why's Luthor gunning for a crime doctor?"
"Before she settled here she used to work Gotham and Metropolis." Len said.
Sam let out a low whistle. "Those are contacts one can do without."
"Agreed." Len started pacing. "She's not saying much, but I've gathered this isn't the first time a former client's sought her out, and had a hard time hearing no. What's worse, we dumped Luthor with the cops thinking they'd ship him back to Metropolis where they know how to deal with him, but they just sent him to Iron Heights."
"Ah. So he'll be out in time for the morning news?" James joked.
"Exactly." Len scowled. "Now, she's a tough broad but I think we owe it to her to make sure she stays safe. It's a good bet Luthor's gonna come after her again."
"I don't know Snart, she's a nice girl an all…" Digger let out a yawn. "Scuse me, but I don't see going out of our way for her."
"Y'know somehow I don't think Kendra'd want you for a body guard anyway Digger." James laughed. Digger glared at him.
"So what, you want us to take turns tailing her or something?" Mick asked.
"You don't need to tail me." Kendra groaned.
"I'd rather you not die, personally." Mark chimed in. "Our last crime doctor was terrible. All he did was give us amoxicillin, no matter what our injury was."
"I used it to turn my hair pink." James said brightly.
"We remember." Piper said, rolling his eyes.
Kendra snorted. "I'm very touched by your concern, but trust me boys, I'm fine. Part of the reason Luthor's so insistent with me is just wounded male ego."
"Huh?" Digger asked.
"We used to date." She translated.
"You got a thing for the Mr. Clean look?" James asked, suddenly fidgety. His eyes darted towards Len, who looked somehow surlier.
"Actually, it was more of a confidence thing. And it was a huge mistake and is largely responsible for my policy against dating my clients." Kendra explained. James spared another glance to Len, and saw him visibly deflate. He felt a little bad about goading him to ask Kendra out.
"I don't think I really need to worry about Lex. He's just making a lot of noise to get attention. Men like that aren't used to being told no." She continued.
"You said Two Face came after you once too. Didja date him too or something?" Len asked, scowling.
"Two Face?" She laughed. "The no-dating policy would have started much earlier if I'd tried it with any of the Gotham guys. Two Face just wanted medical attention. Same with Poison Ivy, Riddler, Catwoman, Atomic Skull, Scarecrow, Toyman and the Mad Hatter." The more names she rambled off the more convinced the Rogues became that they needed to protect their doctor.
"I can take the first shift." Mick volunteered.
Piper went straight for his bed as soon as they got back in from the rogues meeting, but James was annoyingly alert and awake. He sat down on the end of the bed and bounced it a little. "We should do something fun when it's our turn to guard Kendra. D'ya wanna take a trip somewhere?"
"I want to sleep." Piper responded, pulling a pillow over his head. James bounced the mattress a little harder, and then dodged when Piper blindly kicked at him.
"C'mon Pookie, we almost got five hours of sleep before Cold called, that's enough-"
"I told you James, do not call me Pookie! It's an idiotic pet name and I don't like it! And if you can't sleep then go to your own apartment!"
James crawled under the blankets and curled up next to Piper. "But you're my pookie…and I like it here."
"I need at least another two hours of sleep before I can deal with you." Piper groaned. James kissed his nose.
"I'll be good."
Their cuddling was interrupted by pounding on the door. Piper rolled away from James into a blanket cocoon and let out a scream muffled by his pillow. James got up to answer the door.
Len was standing in the hallway looking crestfallen.
"Hey dude. S'up?"
"Did you know Kendra doesn't date clients? Because I didn't…she never said anything about it, right? Do you think she'd reconsider if I stopped being a client? The amoxicillin wasn't so bad."
James opened the door wider. "C'mon in. Let's talk about our 'feelings'."
Author's Notes: This story arc will be continued under the title Late Morning Lullabye. When I post it I will mention in the summary that it is the continuation of the Pavement Cracks universe. Sorry for the abrupt transition. I felt a little bad about it, but the canon material I'm working with has abrupt transitions in the trades...so think of it as accuracy instead of sloppiness please-and-thank-you? ;)