My friends.
They seem no longer to recognize me, though after my time away, it is to be expected. Rachel, my best friend in this life, seemed not to even recognize neither my voice nor my presence. Am I so long gone that time has washed all traces of my existence away with my eye?
"Well, when you change your codename, lose your eye, undergo a useless costume change, and place mental blocks on your powers, yeah."
"Mason?"
Grant stares in shock, knowing fully of his brother's death. He steps forward, a hand outstretched to verify this phantom's existence. But the Mason-vison throws his head back and laughs, seeming almost to read his mind. "Ghost? Nah. I may have been a player when I was alive, but my sins ended up nixed out by all that vigilantism I did."
Grant takes a deep breath, and time seems to lose all meaning for him. This vision of his brother, appearing before him has come for a reason. And in that reason, there must lie a purpose. So when the 'ghost' beckons, Grant follows. It is almost unclear exactly what their destination is, nor is it really of any consequence. The destination, Grant knows, is a means to an end. But what end? Justice for Mason? Vengeance? Idle questions float through his head, asked, then fallen to the wayside. He runs through Eden, building to building, rooftop to rooftop, never pausing.
When he finally stops, it is in front of a brownstone, well kept, but secluded, an easily defensible location. Grant recognizes this place, shocked at finding himself here again.
My Eden Safehouse.
The Mason hallucination nodded, "Yuuup."
But now, as I shed my so-called "improved" costume, as I take up an old design based on my father's armor, all black, as I take up twin swords and sheathe them on my back, as I holster a gun on my hip, strap knife to my boot, as I don a mask with only one eye, strapping it into place from the neck, I feel something I haven't felt since my brother died: A sense that I'm doing something right.
"Well, yeah, but those mental blocks? I can't really undo them all at once, but those reflexes? Done."
The last piece in place, he makes his way to the Titans.
"Alert the Titans. Tell them if they see Viran do NOT approach him alone. Right now he's enraged and confused and I don't think he knows friend from foe. But he needs to be stopped before he reaches Second City."
Hidden in the shadows, he hears these words spoken by a girl he do not recognize, standing beside an old friend. Dawnfire. She still looks as beautiful as he can remember, if not more so. He steps out then, revealing himself for what must be the second time today. Both hands find swords, drawing them in a quick, fluid motion. Violence is not his intent, but to defend himself, he must be armed.
"Dawnfire. Surely YOU remember me."
