#trapped in elevator

[tantive404]

https://archiveofourown.org/works/62509609

Summary: Leia is new to the political scene on Coruscant, which leaves plenty of opportunities to make a mistake. Her first one comes with relative ease. She gets into a lift with her sworn adversary. And in such a confined space... sparks are bound to fly.

[incandescentwarmth]

James and Regulus meeting when they both get trapped in an elevator. Over the course of 3 hours, James calms Regulus from a panic attack, Regulus calms James from a panic attack, they pace around, play ice breakers, etc etc and finally kiss but they both eventually get cell service back and find out both of their emergency calls are to Sirius and realize who the other is

[markhellyna]

Adam Scott: The thing is, usually when you get a character, you’re playing a role, the first thing you do is - or some people do, some people don’t - but you build out somewhat of a backstory, childhood, family, interests. Like stuff like that. But that is just not an option with Helly or any of the innies. Did that, like, absence of history or backstory or whatever you wanna call it, was that challenging? Or was that fun? How did you handle that?

Britt Lower: I listened to a lot of music. A lot of Patti Smith. I went down, like, a YouTube rabbit hole of people escaping from court, like who were on trial. Like prisoners who were just like at their court appearance and just escaped. I watched a lot of videos of like animals that were trapped. And I watched a lot- actually we exchanged some videos Ben, documentaries about amnesia. And there was a really interesting one called Tell Me Who I Am on Netflix about these twins who, one of them was in an accident and woke up with no memory of who he was. And you just sort of see the nature vs nurture play out in that documentary. So yeah, I guess it was sort of a physical approach, as opposed to writing an autobiography. — The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott, S1E3: In Perpetuity

[marc--chilton]

i think hoffstrahm is like. THE funniest saw ship. one is fucking insane and the other is a serial killer

[lena-in-a-red-dress]

Entrapment (post Crisis Supercorp angst)

The last place Kara expects to see Lena is in the CatCo elevator. It breaks her heart to feel it lift at the sight of Lena’s breathless smile, only to come crashing down when that smile disappears as Lena sees who it is who held the doors for her. 

But Lena doesn’t withdraw. She squares her shoulders to a professional set as she turns back to face the closing doors. As the car lifts, the silence is so heavy that Kara has to break it before it crutches her alive.

“Visiting Andrea?” 

A noncommittal hum comes too swiftly to be construed as anything but perfunctory. With a lump rising in her throat, Kara swallows painfully, but nods to herself, resolute. Fine. If Lena won’t even try to be civil, then neither will she–

A loud metallic clank lurches through the elevator, making the walls rattle. They stop moving abruptly, staggering slightly to keep their feet through the jostle. The lights then dim, as through to drive the point home. They were stuck.

“You have got to be kidding me,” Lena mutters darkly, jabbing her finger against the help button. To Kara’s surprise, a tinny voice answers, promising that a team was on the way.

“And how long will it be before we’re moving again?” The barest hint of an edge creeps into Lena’s voice, cutting deep in Kara’s ears.

“I couldn’t say, ma’am,” the voice returns, professional but unbothered. “We’ll keep you apprised of any developments.”

The quiet that follows the disconnecting click of the speaker lingers for a long moment before Lena snaps. 

“Fuck!” she hisses sharply. Kara tries her best to pretend her frustration is at being trapped and not that she’s trapped there with Kara. She doesn’t quite succeed. 

She bows her head to hide the tears that prick at her eyes. Neither of them speak again for a good ten minutes before Kara dares to try again.

“How have you been?” She tries to say it casually, but she knows she’s not fooling anyone, let alone Lena.

“How do you think,” Lena mutters a growl.

“I wouldn’t know,” Kara snaps back. “That’s why I asked.”

It comes out sharper than she means to, and she can tell it takes Lena back a bit. Good. Let her see how angry Kara is, how frustrating her rebuffs are, when all Kara wants is to check in. But Lena’s surprise soon shifts to an expression that Kara recognizes as Lena digging her heels in. In that moment, Kara realizes that she’s spoken the language Lena is most fluent in– contempt.

Kara sighs. “Lena…”

“Don’t bother,” Lena drawls, folding her arms over her chest. With a scowl, Kara slumps one shoulder against the elevator wall. 

“Fine.”

—

As the first hour bleeds into a second, Kara’s anger ebbs to a simmer. In its absence, the urge to reach out again overwhelms her. 

“I’m sorry,” she says softly. 

“I don’t care.”

And just like that Kara’s temper flares once more. “You could at least pretend to be civil.”

“What on earth makes you think you’ve earned that from me?”

“I don’t know– how about four years of friendship?!”

“Friendship is a funny way to pronounce ‘deception and fraud’,” Lena scoffs dismissively. 

Kara’s hands curl into fists, and it takes all of her self control not to grip the side rail and crumple it into a mangled mess of metal. “That’s not what it was–”

“You don’t get to decide that,” Lena counters swiftly. Her gaze spears Kara in place, the bright glint of her anger as cold as ice. “

“Actually I do. Your perception isn’t reality, Lena.”

“Oh, I’ve learned that lesson, don’t worry.”

The rebuttal kicks Kara straight in the gut, nearly driving the air from her lungs. Her jaw snaps shut with an audible click, swallowing any retort with the need to keep her tears at bay. Lena senses her moment of weakness, and closes in for the kill.

“And don’t pretend this overture isn’t for any purpose aside from your need to assuage your guilt. If you’re looking for absolution, you won’t be getting it from me. So why don’t you just. move. on.”

—

“You’re wrong, you know.”

By hour four Kara has found a home on the floor of the elevator, her seat padded by her coat. Lena stubbornly remains standing, though Kara can tell by the shifting of her stance that the discomfort of her Louboutins grows by the minute. Lena’s eyes roll towards her in exasperation.

“Well, you’re partly right. But mostly wrong.”

Lena huffs. “Do tell.”

“I do feel guilty,” Kara admits. She picks at the skin of her cuticle, seeking any ounce of solace from the distraction. “But I’m not looking for absolution. I will always carry the guilt of how I treated you. Even if you told me right now that you understood every decision I made that hurt you, I would still feel guilty. Because you deserve better. You’ve always deserved better.”

“Then why the pretense?”

“I miss you, Lena.” Kara lets her hands fall still, and she lifts her chin to meet Lena’s gaze. She shrugs. “It’s not a pretense, just the truth. I just… miss you.”

Lena doesn’t have anything to say to that. Silence returns, and Kara dares to hope it might mean more than it did before.

—

“You think I’ll just move past it?”

Lena finally sits, prying her shoes off and setting them to one side. A wiggle of her toes elicits a cascade of crackles as abused joints settle back into their proper place. Kara gazes at her calmly, feeling better now that she’s gotten at least some of the weight off her chest. She considers Lena’s question– if she’s not expecting forgiveness, yet still yearning to repair their friendship, then what avenue could possibly get them there but the idea that Lena might one day come to peace with what happened?

“I guess… I guess I hoped so.” The admission feels heavy, distorting the air around Kara until Lena’s sharp reproach slams her back to reality. 

“You really thought me capable of that?” Lena smirks, leaning back against the wall. “That’s adorable.”

“Is it?” Kara counters. “All the time I’ve known you, you have demonstrated over and over again that you are a compassionate, kind person– one who believes in second chances.” She lifts one shoulder in a shrug, but doesn’t break eye contact. “Is it really so hard to believe I’d hope that might extend to me?”

Dark eyes narrow, even as blood-red lips curl into a smirk. “You think you’ve cornered the market on being selfish?”

Kara eyes her. “I know you, Lena.”

Lena scoffs. “You still don’t get it. Kind, compassionate, good Lena…” She straightens, shaking her head. “You only knew the person I wanted to be.”

“You’re still those things.” When Lena doesn’t respond, Kara hears her silence as clearly as any response. “But you don’t want to be.”

“Why would I, when it’s only ever brought me heartache?”

—

They get a third update of no update thirty minutes later. The temperature has risen slightly, not enough to affect Kara in her sweater, but bringing a flush to Lena’s cheeks and a sheen of sweat to her upper lip.

“I don’t suppose it’s been long enough for your… friend, to make an appearance?” Lena asks, one eyebrow cocked. 

Kara shakes her head. “You saw the fight on the news two days ago? I sort of, um… Supergirl’s still recovering.”

Lena rolls her eyes. “Wonderful.”

An apology lifts to Kara’s tongue, but she dismisses it before it can emerge. Solar flaring is one of the few things she doesn’t have to apologize for. Instead, she watches Lena, and in the minutes that follow, she can see exhaustion slowly claim her. She’s an old hand at recognizing it by now, after all– it just kills her that she’s now one of its causes. 

“How have you been, Lena. Really.”

Lena sighs, the sound sharp and bitter. “I don’t know Kara. My brother has been resurrected, and someone let him create whole fucking reality with himself at the center of it. How would you be?”

Kara fights the urge to grimace. She may not have let Lex do anything– she didn’t even think bending an entire reality by sheer will was possible. If she had, maybe she could have– no, she stops herself. What Lex had done had been a shortcut. A cheat code, of sorts. By the grace of Mxy she’s seen what cheating the system could do. None of it had felt right– none of it would have been fair to Lena.

If she has a chance of repairing what she broke, she’ll do it the right way. She’ll finally give Lena the agency she deserved all along– even if it’s to tell her to kick bricks. Before she can say as much, Lena exhales, and in the sound Kara hears the fight leaving.

“A brand new reality,” Lena breathes, “where anyone can have a second chance.”

Hope lifts hot and bright in Kara’s chest.

“And all I can think is that I wish he’d just left me out of it.”

Lena’s voice is as heavy as her words. Kara absorbs it, in a way only a person who understands could.

“I’m sorry you feel that way. You’re in a tougher spot than most.” Being positioned as Lex’s right hand, answering to him from the rank and file of the same company she’d resuscitated with her own blood, sweat, and tears… 

“You don’t have to work with him, Lena.” 

“Save the inspiring soliloquy for someone who needs it, Supergirl.” 

“You flourished without him! Why shove yourself back into that box? You saw his diaries, you know how he thinks of you. You’re better than that.” 

This time when Lena meets her gaze, it’s without the malice that has predominated the duration of their entrapment thus far. The combativeness has left her, and in its place is an apathy Kara has only glimpsed once before– the night after Jack Spheer’s death, sitting with Lena on her office couch.

“At one point, I almost believed that,” Lena murmurs. 

This, at least, is a sentiment that Kara has known for all the time she’s known Lena, and she knows just what to say.

“Then I’ll believe it for you,” she says firmly. “And I’ll remind you until you start believing it again.”

“We’re not friends anymore, Kara. There’s no need to pretend you care.”

Kara shakes her head. “I can’t control whether you see me as a friend or not. But you will always be mine.” She holds Lena’s gaze. “Always.”

—

Just as the clock on Kara’s phone ticks past 3pm, Lena breaks the silence for the first time.

“For what it’s worth,” she says, her voice low and solemn, “I’ve missed you too.”

—

Twenty minutes later, the elevator car jolts upwards. It shakes them from their wait-induced torpor, and they rise to their feet together just as the doors peel open to reveal a ledge about chest height with a firefighter kneeling down to study them with an appraising eye.

“You two all right in there?”

“Fine,” Kara and Lena say simultaneously. They shoot each other a wry glance. 

The firefighter nods, reaching in with a long arm. “Time to get you ladies some fresh air.”

Lena goes first, allowing Kara to give her the slightest boost as their rescuer hauls her up. The exit is about as graceful as it could possibly be, and by the time Kara meets her on the other side, Lena is on her feet and tidying her skirt.

Kara stares at her, savoring the chance to drink in the sight of her one last time. Lena feels her gaze, and looks up to meet it, eyes inscrutable as the murmur of the gathered onlookers wash over them.

“It was good to see you,” she offers softly. “Despite the circumstances.”

Lena doesn’t respond. Kara decides to press her luck, just one more time.

“Please, think about what I said. About Lex. You are worth so much more than what he’s offered you.”

Than what I’ve offered you, Kara almost adds. She doesn’t. 

After a long moment, Lena gives a single nod, before merging into the crowd in the direction of Andrea’s office. Kara watches her go, then turns the opposite direction towards the stairwell. As she makes her way down the steps, thoughts of Lena occupy every corner of her mind. The odds of their relationship changing even an inch towards how they used to be are slim to none, Kara knows. But maybe, just maybe, Lena still might take what she said about Lex to heart. 

Replaying Lena’s final nod over and over in her mind’s eye, Kara emerges onto the street outside, greedily inhaling the musty city air. After a moment, she sighs, tipping her head back to bask in the pale winter sun.

Odds or no, she can’t help but hope.

[mwolf0epsilon]

Portugal's gone dark.

See ya in 72 hours I guess...

[andr3w-the-d0dgeb4ll]

The parallel of the Martyn vtuber lore and Grian watcher lore in terms of eldritch horror is something I want to mess with more..

Like with Grian, this is the horror of being elevated to a higher being than you were ever meant to be. Comprehending more than your mind was built to comprehend, given divine madness by beings who do not truly understand that they are ruining something already perfect.

Going back home, returning to the being you once were, but no longer able to enjoy your old life. Everything is meaningless now, your friends and family a mere speck in the vastness of your new mindscape.

Truly, this would be hell.

But on the other hand, Martyn. What was once a higher being, viewing this smaller world through a screen, he is now one of them. Shoved into a new body, made to pretend he is exactly like these beings so beneath him.

Your vision has been narrowed, your hearing limited. Your body is no longer yours, now it is a part of the game. Divine madness is your new curse, but in a complete opposite way. You ARE divine. You are a God of this world, why are you now TRAPPED in it?

I wonder what they'd think of each other, Grian and Martyn, if they both knew the truth of each other's existence? Would they envy the other or pity them?

Or maybe I'm just talking out my ass and none of this is true-

[sketchedspiders]

Cotag actually breaks my fucking heart knowing the reality of their relationship and the fact that they could never be able to truly love each other.

1. Their workplace literally steals their mind, body, and soul so they can just become machines that don’t think of or take interest in anything else.

2. It’s the 1970s and they’re both guys; being gay wasn’t allowed anywhere back then.

[Full analysis under the cut + Spoilers]

[Keep in mind some of this is my own interpretations, but it still goes off canon)

Normal Guy literally tells Protag this when he tells him that Coworker was a great help and they got along well.

He gets frustrated by this fact and worries that Coworker is a distraction for Protag. He doesn’t want them to form a relationship of any kind because it would distract them from their work. Immediately after Normal Guy tells him that, he goes on to ask this:

Maybe I’m reaching right now because this question comes up no matter what, but for this it’s important. There’s multiple reasons and aspects as to why he asked this question, but one of them could be the fact that if Protag did feel anything around Coworker, then Normal Guy would know. It’s hard to explain, but think about a racing heart for example. People’s heart rate increases when they’ve infatuated by somebody, and when they see that person do even the tiniest things it makes them flustered. If they become nervous around that person, their breathing may become weird; which is why it brings us to this question. If Normal Guy finds an abnormality in Protag’s body that would prevent him from working, he would wanna know the reason, and if that reason is Coworker, then it pushes him to think their relationship is even more of a distraction to the both of them.

Normal Guy wants all his employees to dedicate their entire lives to the company. He doesn’t want them forming any sort of relationship that’s not entirely business related. If Protag’s heart is in something else, then that would create a multitude of problems. Not even his organs belong to him anymore, so neither of them even get the option to be together fully.

I think it’s also important to note that if you do choose the option to tell Normal Guy that Protag and Coworker did get along, this can lead you to get the bad ending where he literally erases Protag’s entire identity and makes him a different person. It’s wrong for them to be together no matter the circumstance, and their entire lives would be erased, along with their original relationship.

However, if the company did allow them to have a full on relationship, it wouldn’t have worked anyways. They’d be a gay couple in the 1970s, and homophobia was not only rampant back then but it was illegal. People would get arrested, sent to conversion therapy, or even lobotomized for being homosexual.

I’ve been wanting to talk about this for a LONG time, and this is also what pushed me to write “I wish you were born a girl” (yes hi I’m destroymeiloveyou on ao3 I’m exposing my identity for a moment here and if you don’t know wtf I’m talking about then ignore this).

They could be together in private theoretically, but with them being gay and also working at a company that doesn’t even want their employees to have a life outside of work, it’d be near impossible. Both of them would be at a constant risk of losing everything. Although, they already have given up so much for their work, would it even be worth it?

Coworker is already a closeted person with his feelings and such. He puts up a narcissistic front because of how insecure he is. His title means everything to him because he doesn’t have much else. It gives him a sense of security, and he wants somebody else to recognize that because he wants to feel loved. That’s a whole other analysis for later, but taking this into account with everything else, would he be willing to give up the little that he has to give him security for a relationship that was doomed from the beginning?

With how desperate he tries to impress others (especially Protag), and how attached he is to his title as well as his nepotism, his life being turned upside down just like that would be a nightmare. Everybody would turn against him, and no longer would he be the star employee at the company. In reality, he would be just as in denial about his feelings as Protag would be.

Also. ALSO!!! Speaking of Protag, it is heavily implied and agreed upon that Protag has religious trauma because of floor 4. If he did grow up in a strict, christian household, he would definitely have internalized homophobia.

The sight of a cross makes him nervous, meaning he’s probably no longer christian, but it has left a longterm effect on him.

This means that despite how he left his christian past behind, the things he was taught as a kid has never left him.

If his parents wanted him to be a “good kid” and follow God, I think they would’ve taught him that homosexuality is a sin. That’s one of the lessons that have also never left him, and he still stands by it even if hiding his identity makes him miserable.

Although, no matter how hard he tries, it’ll be obvious his heart will never be in the company or christian values. He’s gonna end up hurt and hurting whether he hides his feelings or not, which is just as tragic. He’d feel terrible once he recognizes how he feels about Coworker and I don’t think he’d ever confess. Protag would just suppress his feelings and they would both suffer silently.

If either of them did end up confessing, they still wouldn’t ever be able to truly get together anyways.

So, cotag could be in love, but they would never actually be able to be romantically together or express their feelings at all. They can do the littlest acts, like spending time with each other on breaks, but it’ll never be enough.

It’s not even right person, wrong time; it’s wrong person, wrong time.

I would write WAY more and I’ll probably yap about this later too because I’ve been keeping this to myself for so long, but I have to cut this short for now.

I probably sound like matpat right now with how im reaching with some of this stuff but I don’t care I need everybody to suffer along with me LMFAOO

I would add a funny image here but I’ve reached the limit. Anyways if you have any questions PLEASE let me know I love yapping about my cotag interpretations and theories

[trustherkindheart]

Welcome to the team Avery! 😅

[ladyflowerm]

Evolution of the scandalous elevator scene! 🎬

1. "My Favorite Wife", 1940 | Cary Gramt as Nick Arden, Irene Dunne as Ellen Arden and Gail Patrick as Bianca Bates

2. "Move Over, Darling", 1963 | James Garner as Nick Arden, Doris Day as Ellen Wagstaff Arden and Polly Bergen as Bianca Steele Arden

3. "The Parent Trap", 1998 | Dennis Quaid as Nicholas Parker, Natasha Richardson as Elizabeth James Parker and Elaine Hendrix as Meredith Blake

[lostinhistory]

Robert Evans has done a four-part series on the Zizians, and it's fascinating, in a completely unhinged way. It's a incredible case study in how people can self-radicalize. It's also about how the Rationalists are some of the most annoying people on the planet.

[lenaellsi]

it's honestly a bit odd to me that so many people have jumped on the 'aziraphale will be pulling all the strings and playing politics in heaven' train. like I think it's true that the metatron is underestimating aziraphale's intelligence and ability to disrupt the second coming even while separated from crowley, but I also think the idea that aziraphale is going up to heaven with a clear idea of how he's just been lied to, an understanding of how much danger he's in, and a plan to stop it is a huge reach.

frankly, aziraphale is very vulnerable to manipulation. I'm thinking now of neil’s post with the diary entry from before the edinburgh minisode where he was duped by two humans, the whole thing with the nazis in 1941, and his sponsorship of shadwell's various obviously fake agents (sergeant milkbottle, etc.). he's not nearly as savvy as fanon tends to portray him. he takes people at face value, especially people he thinks of as Good. (that's not a dunk, btw--I find these things endearing, and a sign of aziraphale's innate wish to see the best in people. I just think that sometimes the BAMF protective aziraphale of fanon overshadows the slightly more naive aziraphale of canon. and honestly, I also think TV aziraphale is just a bit softer than book aziraphale, though he is capable of stepping up when it counts.)

and he's a bad liar! I know it's a meme in the fandom that aziraphale lies all the time, but he doesn't like it, and he's bad at it. he gets nervous and comes up with terrible excuses and the only reason he ever gets away with it is because the people he's lying to are idiots (gabriel), have their own agendas (god, the other archangels), or trust him to be honest (crowley).

aziraphale's real strength is his ability to take sudden, completely unexpected action. that's one of the things that crowley admires most about him. "he's unpredictable," is what he says to nina, and it's true! aziraphale's greatest moments of rebellion have always come from spur of the moment decisions, not intricate plans. (if anything, crowley is the planner--the arrangement and the thwarting of the apocalypse, their two longest cons, were both his idea.)

aziraphale gives the sword away because when he is forced to make a decision under pressure, he tends to land on the side of rebellious kindness. shielding crowley from the rain in eden, lying to gabriel to protect job's family, defying the quartermaster and returning to earth via possession during the apocalypse, blowing up his halo--he does these things because he's following that same impulse. when aziraphale has time to over think, he frets and fusses and is paralyzed by indecision. (or worse, he falls back on what heaven has taught him.)

TL;DR: I don't think aziraphale has any sort of grand plan other than a generalized "make things better," and I certainly don't think he is planning to betray heaven. he might try to come up with a plan once he figures out how bad things are going to get, but my bet is that what will actually disrupt the second coming is an absolutely bonkers off the wall decision that no one, crowley included, could ever predict. and I think it’ll happen, as it usually does with aziraphale, just after he accepts a difficult truth that fundamentally shifts his worldview—in this case, his final rejection of the idea of “good” and “bad” people, and of the entire morality system of heaven and hell.

[deprivedmusicaljunkie]

“if i was a riptide, i wouldn’t take you out” is fucking brutal. you don’t need me to sit here and explain why that line would hit like a sucker punch to the gut… anything but is a vicious song. rip to the recipient 👆

[fandonnavyce]

Patrol Partners 2024

This is my co-authored fic for this event. Shout out to Leonardo_Turtle for being a great partner!

Aka the Brain Dead Meet Cute where Tim and Danny are Trapped in An Elevator during a Rogue Attack

Danny presses the 12th floor elevator button to take him to the new exhibition in the observatory. He has been looking forward to seeing it since he had arrived in this dimension but never had the time to visit until now. The exhibition was supposed to be a stunning gallery of all the exciting xeno-meteorology on the different planets in the Cassiopeia Galaxy. Danny was so looking forward to seeing it. Danny fired off a quick text to Tucker, as he impatiently watched the numbers above the elevator doors ascend. Ding went the elevator upon its arrival to the 12th floor. The lift doors parted open.

CRASH

Startled at the sudden noise, Danny looked up from reading Tucker’s reply. Streaks of red and black went smashing through the hallway’s window in a shower of shattered glass. Multiple bodies hit the ground. The one in red smoothly rolled to his feet but he was being ganged up by the other three fighters dressed in iconic black outfits - Ninjas and (red and black costume with a stylised cape and domino mask) Red Robin?! Danny had heard of the vigilante Red Robin before, but he had never seen him in action before. (Warning Long Post)

Three on one seemed like an unfair fight but the hero was more than holding his own. Danny silently reached over to press the ‘Open Doors’ button as watched the fight with great admiration. Red Robin was deftly dodging the multiple attacks from multiple angles. Sliding out of range and using his staff’s greater reach to counterattack with such elegance, it looked choreographed. So Danny decided that the best thing to do was to not get in the way. Instead he would wait for the fight to be over. Danny pressed the ‘Open Doors’ button again.

Whilst Red Robin batted away a shower of shuriken with his staff, Danny prevented the doors from closing again. With a stunning swing Red Robin managed to knock one of the ninjas out of the fight completely. The two remaining ninjas shared a look before pouncing. With aggressive coordinated attacks, the fight sped up. As the intensity increased, Red Robin's staff became a blur. Then it began sparking with electricity. It took short work before the second ninja was convulsing on the floor. Red Robin then knocked the third ninja to their knees before swiftly electrocuting him right in front of Danny. The slumped over body crumpled at Danny’s feet.

Danny was looking at the unconscious ninja, and giving them a little nudge with his foot, when he felt someone staring at him. He looks up and finds Red Robin staring blankly at him in total disbelief.

“What?” Danny says as he gives the ninja a bigger nudge. “He’s in the way.”

“And you didn’t think to use the stairs to get away?” Red Robin asks. “Or just get to safety like a normal person?”

Danny surveys the fight and, as if the thought had just occurred to him, he says, “Yeah I should probably leave. I don’t think the exhibit is still open after this.” Danny pointedly looks around at the scene. Then he shrugs and motioned towards the elevator. “Need a lift?”

Red Robin looked at him like he was insane. Then he just sighed and nodded his head.

"Might as well," Red Robin said while dragging the ninja out of the elevator by his leg. He lifted his hand to his ear and looked away while saying, "B, need a cleanup on floor 12. Heading down for a perimeter check."

Danny watches as Red Robin comes closer and enters the elevator. For the last time Danny reaches over to the elevator buttons but this time he presses for the ground floor. He shifts over so that the vigilante can have more elbow room. The elevator begins to descend. The pair stand in silence. Danny keeps giving side glances to Red Robin who seems to be either unaware or merely ignoring Danny’s furtive looks.

Danny's slouch straightens up immediately when he feels the elevator's momentum suddenly slow down with a loud screech. A siren goes off. Danny looks down to find Red Robin’s hand clutching his arm as if to brace him. Danny stares down at the gloved fingers holding onto his sleeve, stares up at Red Robin, then back down at the hand with a look of confusion. Danny opened his mouth to ask why but the vigilante had already retracted his hand, and was visibly cringing. He reached his hand up to his ear.

“Batman, Batman come in,” Red Robin hurriedly says into his comms. But the vigilante only received static. “Oracle,” he tried instead, his voice was a studied calm.

“No response?” Danny asks commiseratingly. Behind his mask, Red Robin looked blankly at Danny before shaking his head.

“The elevator is causing interference with the signal so I can’t get through.” Red Robin then cocked his head. “Can I borrow your phone?” he politely asked.

“Why?” Danny asked suspiciously, holding his phone protectively close to his chest.

“I think I can use it to boost the signal and get through the interference,” Red Robin explained. “Don’t worry, you’ll get it back in one piece,” he reassured.

Danny grimaced, “I don’t think my phone will be compatible with your tech.” Danny’s current phone had been cannibalised and rebuilt by Tucker during a feud with Technus. It had ended up so modified that Danny would be unsurprised if any day now his phone woke up sentient.

“Can I at least try?” he asked with an expectant hand out. Danny couldn’t find any good reason to say no. Reluctantly he handed over his phone, placing it directly into the vigilante’s hands. Red Robin flinched when their hands touched, and Danny winced back. Red Robin had clearly been startled by how cold Danny’s hands were even through their gloves.

“Sorry, cold hands,” Danny apologised. He trotted out the usual fib to explain it away. “I have low blood circulation.” Nodding silently, Red Robin appeared to accept that. Nervously, Danny fidgeted as Red Robin physically inspected his phone, taking off the back and everything. Danny looked over Red Robin’s shoulder to watch what the vigilante was doing. Red Robin’s eyes never left the phone. Eventually though, the vigilante gave up the attempt and agreed with Danny’s initial assessment.

“I’ve never seen a model like this. Where did you get it?” Danny was saved from answering when suddenly the intercom crackles to life above them.

“Good day good citizens of Gotham city, you might be wondering why I brought you here today.” A nasally sounding voice spoke. “Well it’s quite simple really. The Batman thinks he is smarter than me and it’s getting on my nerves. So, I decided to give him a challenge he can't beat. That’s where you lovely people come in. If Batman solves my three riddles, I will release the hostages. If he doesn’t…..” The voice starts cackling. “If he doesn’t then the observatory goes boom. Batman, you will receive your first riddle in five minutes. Be ready”. The intercom fizzles out, leaving an awkward silence.

Danny hears Red Robin silently cursing while he stares at the now silent intercom. He feels a bit guilty for getting him stuck in the elevator with him so he decides to break the tension.

“Well, he’s a bit of a fruitloop isn’t he? Wonder what his deal is.” Red Robin turns his head towards Danny with a flabbergasted look on his face.

“You wonder what his deal is, do you even know who he is?” Danny looks back at Robin, awkwardly staring at Red’s disbelief. It dawns on Danny that he had just messed up.

“Whaaaaaat?” he laughed nervously. Danny felt his smile stretch just a bit too wide for a human. “Of course I do!” he lied. Internally Danny was furiously debating with himself whether or not to just admit he doesn’t know. He decides to double down on the lie instead. “This is the guy who does, who does the stuff with the you know… the other stuff.” Red Robin’s stare is unrelenting. Danny begins to sweat nervously. “Which are… riddles?” his voice rises. Danny crosses his fingers behind his back. Unbeknownst to Danny, Tim could see that. There were mirrors in the elevator. Also, Danny’s arm movement had been very unsubtle.

The intercom crackles to life again with the familiar voice from before who Danny now knows as “The Riddler”, a name that Danny privately thought was very stupid. “Well Batman, I hope you are ready for your first riddle.” He chuckles evilly “Riddle me this: Take me out of a window, and I leave a grieving wife. But stick me in a door, and I can save somebody's life. What am I? You have 3 minutes to give me your answer.” The Riddler chuckles as the intercom fizzles out.

“What can be taken out of windows and put into doors?” Tim furiously mutters as he thinks out loud. “Well the most common glass to use for windows is silicate glass, that is a mixture of sodium carbonate, limestone and silica aka sand whilst doors are typically made from wooden materials, like pine or oak, even mahogany so are they talking about Carbon or organic matter since all living beings need it. But what does that have to do with grieving wives? Unless they're talking about steel doors, but again, what does that have to do with grieving wives and life saving?” he trails off into thought.

Danny meanwhile looks down in concentration. “Take me out of windows… grieving wife; Stick me in doors… save lives. Windows… doors, windows, doors…” Danny frowns as the cogs in his mind turn. Then like a bright flash, he gets the answer. “It's the letter n!” Danny blurts out triumphant. Red Robin’s head whips round to face Danny. A disgruntled look of confusion was on his face.

“What?” he sharply asks, slightly irritated at his broken train of thought.

“It’s the letter n,” Danny repeats in excitement, “the answer is the letter n!”

Red Robin folds his arms. “How?”

“Like this: If you take the letter n out of window you get,”

“Widow,” Red Robin interrupts, now catching on, “and a widow is a grieving wife. Which means if you put the letter n in door you get,”

“Donor” Danny finished cheerily, “as in blood donor or heart donor. Something that can save lives!”

“That’s,” Red Robin is staring at Danny with an intent look in his eyes, “impressive. You figured out the answer to that riddle very quickly.” Danny responds with a sheepish grin. He was just about to say something when his phone went off. It’s an incoming text from Tucker. Danny fishes it out from his pocket. Danny taps out his reply on his phone’s keypad.

“How are you getting a signal in here?” Red Robin asks inquisitively. Danny’s finger freezes over the keypad. His brain stalls.

“Errrrr.” Fortunately for Danny, he’s saved from answering when the intercom turns on again.

"Impressive, Batman. You've correctly guessed that the answer was the letter 'n'. Now, for my second riddle, a little favour from that foolish Kite Man," the Riddler muttered with annoyance. “I love to dance and twist. I shake my tail as I sail away. When I fly wingless into the sky. What am I? You have three minutes to give me an answer.”

Once more, the intercom is silent. Red Robin sighs deeply and looks at Danny.

“Well that is an easy one, a kite probably. He gave it away even before he said the riddle.”

Danny looks at him questioningly. “How was it obvious?”

“Because he said Kite man made him say it. You know, like the super villain?”

"Of course I know who he is.” Danny chuckles nervously. “I was just confused because you said SUPER villain. I mean, he is a villain alright! Just not, you know, a super one.” Red Robin looks at him like he grew a second head.

“What do you mean not a super one? What’s the difference?”

“Well…. presentation.” Danny thought he nailed that one. But one look at Red Robins face makes him question himself again. “You know what, probably not important right now though.”

Tim can’t believe what his day just turned into. First, he finds out Jason changed out his regular coffee for decaf, and then he has to deal with Ra's al Ghul’s ninjas only to get stuck in an elevator with a citizen who deals with stress by lying poorly. What’s even worse is that he still doesn’t know his name after all this time. Tim turned to the other occupant of the elevator.

“Sorry, I just realised we have been stuck in this elevator for a while and I never asked for your name.” The stranger looks relieved by the change in topic.

“Oh yeah, it’s uh... it’s Danny.”

"So, Danny, you're not from around here. Are you?"

“Whaaat?” Danny starts laughing nervously. “Is it that obvious?”

Silence falls awkwardly between the pair trapped in the elevator. Tim notices that Danny is fidgeting and his eyes are darting around the elevator as if he is looking for a quick way out. Tim supposes that it would be pretty scary for a non-Gothamite to deal with the dangers of a rogue. So he decides to put his extensive Robin training to the test.

“Everything is going to be fine, you know.” he says while trying to exude confidence. But it comes out a bit stilted. The awkward silence remains a bit before Danny speaks again.

“Saying who gave you the riddle, knowing that the guy's whole aesthetic is kites may just be the dumbest move he made yet. How long do you think Batman would take to solve it?”

They are interrupted by an angry voice coming over the intercom again.

“Well, it seems Batman solved the riddle. Not that it was hard. I’m never going to do a favour for Kite Man ever again. That loon doesn’t know a good riddle even if it hits him in the face.” They hear the Riddler sigh and quietly count to 10 before continuing. “I guess it is time for the last Riddle. When you stop to look, you can always see me. But if you try to touch me, you can never feel me. Although you walk towards me, I remain the same distance from you. What am I? As always, you have 3 minutes.”

“Well the answer obviously has something to do with space, or at least the sky,” Danny immediately declares with full confidence. Tim raises an eyebrow.

“How so?”

“When you stop to look, you can always see me. But if you try to touch me, you can never feel me,” Danny quotes, “That is clearly a reference to something you find in the sky, like the MOON OR THE STARS!” He says that last bit very excitedly. “But what kind of phenomena is it where you can walk towards it, but remain the same distance? Most of the difficulty with space travel is surviving the conditions of travel. Unless we’re talking about objects in space that are so far away that the usual units of distance are rendered useless,” Danny mutters off, “but that’s what the unit ‘lightyears’ was literally made for. So are we back to…”

Tim watches Danny struggle to answer the riddle. He believes that Danny was on the right track when he said that the answer was something that could be observed in the sky but he wasn’t so certain about the space aspect. After all, if the answer was an approachable object then it wouldn’t remain the same distance away if you walked towards it. That meant the answer had to be something illusory, a visual phenomenon. Tim thought hard and then grinned when the answer came to him.

“Danny I know what the answer is,” Tim called out.

“Huh?” Danny blinks in wide-eyed surprise.

“The answer to the riddle, I know what it is,” Tim repeats, smiling wide. “It’s the horizon.”

Danny stares at Tim before face-palming. “Oh my god, that’s so obvious in hindsight,” he groans in self-deprecation.

As the time keeps ticking on, Tim notices that Danny is getting more agitated. And the more agitated he gets, the more strange he begins to appear. If you asked him what was strange about him, he couldn’t tell you. Call it Robin's intuition.

Danny takes a deep breath and releases it in a frustrated sigh. “Why is it taking Batman so long to solve the Darn riddle? It’s been well over 7 minutes now.” He starts to sound more distorted the more frustrated he gets. “I didn’t come here to be stuck in an elevator for god knows how long, I just wanted to see that blasted exhibit on the Cassiopeia Galaxy, Why is that so gosh darn hard?!”

Tim finds it amusing how Danny swears like he’s a 70-year-old granny at church. “That’s one way to say it.” Even as he is smiling at Danny’s misery, he can’t help but think how odd his voice sounded. It sounded like he was talking from an old radio. The more Tim pays attention to Danny, the more things start to add up. He decides to not comment on it because Danny doesn’t come across as dangerous. Just a little weird. He is 90% sure that he is a meta, The other 10% might be that he maybe needs to sleep a little more than 3 hours over a period of 5 days.But it was then that he saw it, Danny’s eyes had slowly turned more and more green. To the point they were glowing. He doesn’t want to put him on the spot by saying he is a meta, but if it meant getting them out of the elevator sooner then he would.

“So what are your abilities?” he “subtly” asks. He does his best to look as not threatening as he can while Danny looks at him with a startled expression.

“Whaaaat? Abilities?! Why would, why would you think that?” Danny’s voice is pitching higher as he tries to stammer out another lie.

“Dude you don’t have to be scared, I won’t tell anyone. But if it gets us out of the elevator then it would be nice to know.”

He sees how Danny is gearing up to tell another lie before deflating. “Yeah okay, you got me. I’m a meta.” Somehow, Tim still gets the feeling that he isn’t being told the whole truth. He decides not to call him out on it. “I can phase us out of the elevator so we can help Batman take out the baddies.” Danny says excitedly with a cheeky wink.

Tim looks at Danny with a flabbergasted look. Then shakes his head and says, “OK besides the fact that you just said baddies unironically… You could have phased us out of here this whole time?!”

Danny at least has the decency to look sheepish. “Sorry dude, I just didn’t know how you would react.” Tim releases a big breath and takes a few seconds to collect himself.

“Alright, we can talk more about this later. For now, let’s just get out of here and kick some riddler butt.” He can hear Danny giggling when he said butt, but he decided to ignore it like the adult he is. Especially since Danny has started to stand very close to him. He hoped Danny didn’t see his blush.

“Sorry, I just need to hold you so I can phase us out. Is that ok?” Danny asks gently. Tim agrees and then he can feel Danny’s arms around him. “Hold on tight.” Tim does as he says and puts his arms around Danny’s neck. He then feels a wave of cold wash over him as he is slowly lifted off the ground. They then go up and through the walls until they land on the floor in front of the elevator doors. The cold feeling goes away when Danny lets go of him and steps away. He takes a moment to orient himself before turning on his comms.

“Batman, this is Red Robin, are you there?”

“Red Robin,” Oracle’s voice comes through the line, “Where have you been?” Her voice is partially concerned but mostly curious. “I lost track of you after you were attacked by ninjas?”

Tim sighed, already regretting the words that were about to fall out from his mouth. “I got stuck in an elevator,” he defeatedly admits. Oracle breaks out in laughter.

“What?! Are you serious? What do you mean you got stuck in the elevator?”

Tim runs his hand through his hair. “The building I ended up fighting Ra’s assassins happened to also be where the same building that The Riddler was attacking at that moment. So when I decided to take the elevator instead of the stairs after my fight, that was when the elevator stopped working,”

“Because of the Riddler,” Barbara finished. “So you’re at the observatory? That’s where Batman is right now.”

“Yeah, so if you could point me in the direction of the fight that would be great.”

“Replacement, you’ve missed the fight!” Jason yells, cackling loudly. Tim could feel his face fall.

“What?” Tim asked despondently.

Barbara was kind enough to be apologetic, “Sorry Red Robin, the fight is already over, Batman has already handed Riddler over to be arrested and everything.”

“Oh that’s…” Tim just manages to not curse, “fantastic.” He ignores Jason’s howls of laughter. “See you later Oracle, Red Robin out.” Tim decisively cuts the line. Bottling up his irritation he then turns to Danny. “Your phone number,” he demands. Danny quietly recites it. Tim nods, memorising the 10 digits. “You will be hearing from me,” Tim declares before releasing his grappling hook and swinging away, so very done for the day. He’ll tackle Danny and the mystery of his meta status a later day.

And if he decides to ask Danny about it over coffee or at Bat Burger then that is strictly between him and the handsome stranger he met in the elevator.

The End

@patrol-partners-batphandom

Masterpost

[bakerplaysthesims]

Images from the DL-6 incident. RIP Gregory Edgeworth you will be missed

[pedropascalito]

His “I hate this guy” face is so relatable