Chapter 289: Super sane actually the sanest

Nolan stood in front of the full-length mirror, carefully adjusting the knot of his tie while Vey’s reflection remained visible behind him. The room was quiet except for the faint sounds of the city filtering through the windows, and Nolan had already changed his shirt twice before finally deciding that the dark suit was good enough. He tightened the knot, studied himself for a moment, and then glanced at Vey through the mirror. "Are you bored?"

Vey didn’t answer immediately. Nolan waited a few seconds, then sighed as he reached for his cuff links. "I’m sorry there hasn’t been much action lately. I’m sure you’re eager for a fight." He fastened the first cuff link and then worked on the second, his fingers moving automatically as he watched Vey’s reflection. "You’ve spent most of the last few weeks watching everyone else take control while you’ve been sitting around doing absolutely nothing."

"I’m not bored," Vey finally replied.

The answer was delivered in such a flat, uninterested tone that Nolan couldn’t help but scoff. "You’re saying that in the most bored voice imaginable."

"I’m serious." Vey folded his arms behind his back. "I really am fine, Nolan."

Nolan picked up his jacket and slipped his arms into it, smoothing the fabric over his shoulders before reaching for a pocket square. "Listen, we discussed this already. If you want control, you just have to ask. You don’t need to sit there waiting for me to notice you’re getting restless. Kieran and Quentin have been handling most of the social and criminal bullshit lately, and I know that’s probably not what you want all the time."

Vey shook his head. "It isn’t a competition."

"I know."

"I mean it." Vey’s expression softened slightly. "I don’t need to be in control every time something happens. Sometimes I like relaxing too, you know?"

Nolan paused with the pocket square between his fingers before carefully folding it and placing it into his breast pocket. "Good." He studied his reflection again, though his expression had become more thoughtful. "I was worried for a while."

"I know."

There was no judgment in Vey’s response, and that somehow made Nolan feel better. He gave himself one final inspection before turning toward the collection of watches arranged neatly across the dresser. He reached for one, considered it, and then placed it back when Vey spoke again.

"What is our stance on Ra’s?"

Nolan’s hand hovered over another watch. Before he could answer, Kieran’s voice scoffed inside his mind.

"Our stance?" Kieran drawled. "He would be a valuable member of the High Table."

Nolan picked up the watch and fastened it around his wrist. "That’s essentially it. We’re still figuring out exactly what the High Table would look like if we ever actually created one. Eventually the Underpass is going to grow beyond what we can personally manage, and when that happens we need something that keeps the major players from constantly stepping on one another’s toes." He adjusted the watch until it sat comfortably against his wrist. "I’m hoping the Jade Leopards eventually expand back into their homeland. If they do, they could become one of the major powers represented there. Other than them, though, we don’t exactly have a long list of organizations I trust enough to give a seat."

"I agree," Vey said. "Ra’s would be useful, but the Light is the problem. He isn’t just an independent criminal leader. He has obligations and alliances that extend far beyond Gotham. We have to be careful about giving him too much access."

Nolan nodded as Kieran hummed his agreement somewhere in the back of his mind. "And Ra’s isn’t accustomed to being out of control. That’s probably the biggest problem. He can accept cooperation, but I don’t think he enjoys being told that he has limits."

"Neither do you."

Nolan smiled faintly. "Fair."

He reached for another watch and finally settled on a simple silver one, fastening it around his wrist before checking the time. "Much like everything else lately, I suppose. We have one last event tonight, then we’re heading back to Metropolis. We left earlier than planned last time, and I still have things I want to handle there."

"And Dre?"

"His trial seems to be going well." Nolan adjusted his sleeve over the watch. "I’ve given him and Amanda enough room to handle things themselves. I should probably keep doing that."

"You should."

Nolan glanced toward the mirror again. "You agree?"

"They need to learn how to operate without you hovering over them."

Nolan sighed. "I know."

He straightened his jacket and then looked at his reflection with a faint grimace. "I still can’t believe you want me to attend this thing tonight, Kieran."

The presence in his mind shifted, and suddenly Kieran’s voice carried a little more clearly.

"We discussed this already. You need to get out of your shell, and we’re not even hosting this event, so you won’t be the center of attention. You can stand around, drink something, talk to a few people, and pretend to be normal for an evening."

"That sounds terrible."

"You’ll survive."

Nolan muttered something under his breath as he reached for his coat.

Kieran laughed. "Have fun. If anything happens, I’ll switch in."

Nolan paused at the door and looked back at himself one final time.

"That’s what I’m afraid of."

⸻

The political fundraiser was already crowded by the time Beth entered the building.

She barely spared the event any attention. The banners, speeches and carefully arranged tables filled with expensive food were irrelevant to her. She hadn’t come to listen to politicians ask wealthy people for money, and she certainly hadn’t come to network.

Getting her name onto the guest list had been surprisingly easy with Robin’s help, although Beth had spent enough time around the Young Justice members to know that "easy" usually meant someone else had done an enormous amount of work behind the scenes.

Her telepathy had made the rest considerably easier.

Years of training with Miss Martian had taught Beth how to build walls inside her own mind, something that would have been almost impossible for her when she was younger. Crowds no longer overwhelmed her with thousands of simultaneous thoughts. She could filter voices, push away unwanted emotions and keep herself from accidentally reaching into minds she had no business touching.

Tonight, however, she wasn’t entirely sure whether those walls would be enough.

She moved through the crowd, avoiding conversations whenever possible. Every few minutes someone asked who she was there with, where her parents were, or whether she had enjoyed the speeches. Beth smiled politely, offered vague answers and moved on before anyone could become interested enough to ask another question.

Then she saw him.

Kieran Everleigh stood near the edge of the room with a glass of champagne in his hand, speaking with another man in an expensive suit. He laughed at something the man said, shook his hand and watched him disappear back into the crowd.

Almost immediately, several people began glancing in Kieran’s direction.

They wanted to approach him.

Beth could feel it in their thoughts.

Some wanted his business, others wanted his favor.

A few were simply intimidated by him.

They all seemed to have one thing in common. Nobody wanted to be the first person to walk over.

Beth understood why.

She started toward him.

As she approached, memories surfaced.

The last time she had seen him, simply looking into his mind had been enough to make her sick. His thoughts had been fractured, chaotic and filled with so much anger and violence that Beth had struggled to understand how a human being could contain it all.

She had expected that same madness.

Instead, when she reached the edge of his presence, she felt something entirely different.

Nothing, not emptiness exactly.

A void yes a void is what she could best compare it too.

Beth slowed.

Everyone else around her had a mind she could sense. Some were loud, some quiet, some complicated and others almost painfully simple. Even the strongest minds she had encountered still felt like minds.

Kieran didn’t.

The closer she came, the more that sensation intensified. It was like standing at the edge of a bottomless pit and realizing that the darkness below wasn’t merely waiting for her to fall.

It was pulling.

"Hello."

Kieran turned.

For a moment, he said nothing.

Then his expression settled into something polite and almost bland, "Hello, Beth. What brings you here?"

The voice was wrong.

Beth knew it immediately.

Her eyes narrowed, "Nolan." She said almost in accusation

His expression changed almost imperceptibly, "Kieran, please."

She studied him, "Again. What brings you here?" He asked

Beth swallowed. "I wanted to see you."

Kieran’s smile softened, although there was something guarded behind it.

"Curiosity?"

"Partly."

"Then I’m flattered."

His gaze remained fixed on her.

"Your grandmother is still in a coma, by the way. I have someone attending to her around the clock. The doctors still believe she has a chance of waking up."

Beth’s expression softened, "Thank you."

"You’re welcome."

There was something deeply unsettling about talking to him now.

The madness she’d sensed years ago wasn’t gone.

It was simply organized.

Whatever chaos had once existed inside Nolan’s mind had been forced into neat compartments, each one hidden behind layers of control. Beth could barely touch the surface without feeling something enormous shifting beneath it.

"How are they treating you?" Nolan asked.

Beth blinked.

"Who?"

"The League."

"Oh." She smiled faintly. "They’re good. I’ve learned a lot. They kept me safe."

"I hope they didn’t confine you."

"No." Beth shook her head quickly. "Once I got some control over my abilities, they enrolled me in classes. Everyone’s been really nice."

She hesitated and glanced around the room.

"I don’t think..." Her voice lowered. "Batman told them who brought me to the League."

Nolan laughed quietly, "Of course he didn’t. He likes his secrets."

Beth smiled.

"Would it really be so bad if they knew?" Nolan continued

"You’re a criminal mastermind now?"

"Apparently."

Beth laughed for the first time.

"They hate you."

"I’m aware."

"I knew you weren’t exactly a good guy, but a crime lord?" She shook her head. "I didn’t expect that."

Nolan smiled, "Neither did I."

The amusement faded from his face as he studied her.

"Do you plan on becoming one of them?"

Beth hesitated, "Maybe."

"That’s not a very confident answer."

"I don’t know yet." She looked down at her hands. "I want to help people like me. People who don’t understand what they’re capable of or what they’re supposed to do with it."

Nolan nodded slowly, "Then perhaps one day we’ll be enemies."

Beth frowned, "That doesn’t sound very comforting."

"It’s not supposed to be." A faint smile touched Nolan’s lips, "But it would be rather poetic."

"Yeah," Beth murmured. "Maybe."

She looked at him again.

The questions she’d brought with her suddenly seemed insignificant compared to the thing standing in front of her.

Beth had spent years learning how to control her abilities.

She had learned to touch minds carefully.

She had learned not to pry.

She had learned how to recognize dangerous thoughts before they could overwhelm her.

But curiosity had always been her weakness.

She reached out.

Only slightly just a tiny bit wouldn’t hurt.

"Can I see—"

The moment her mind touched his, Beth froze.

Hatred.

It wasn’t one emotion.

It was a multitude.

Anger, resentment, violence, rage, bloodlust, recklessness, boldness, extreme joy, and something so cold that her mind struggled to give it a name. She felt the presence of other minds buried within him, each carrying its own weight, its own instincts and its own darkness.

For one horrifying instant, Beth felt as though she were standing in the center of a battlefield surrounded by an army that had been waiting for someone to open the gates.

Her breath caught.

She couldn’t move.

Then the connection vanished.

Nolan was staring directly at her, "Best not look too deeply into things, Beth." His eyes had narrowed.

She staggered backward.

Nolan’s expression immediately softened, "And of course you can see your grandmother whenever you want."

His smile returned, warm and almost impossibly polite.

Beth nodded weakly.

"G-good. Thank you."

She couldn’t stop shaking.

She had tried and failed to understand what had changed about Nolan since she had first encountered him.

Now she finally understood.

Back then, his mind had been broken apart by the madness inside it. His personalities had fought for control, his emotions had spilled into everything around him, and his thoughts had been impossible to follow.

She had thought maybe some of that madness had disappeared but, It hadn’t even diminished.

Nolan had simply learned how to live with it.

Beth stared at him as he calmly returned to his champagne, already looking like another wealthy guest enjoying a pleasant evening.

She finally understood what frightened her most.

Nolan wasn’t less insane than he had been when she first met him, possibly even more so.

He had simply become much better at hiding it.