#Imagine literally getting dangled over the open gates of hell to save the world and then having to experience transmisogyny

[likethetailofacomet]

Cross Space and Time : Ch. 4- Trust Me

Jake has found the Hero team thanks to some otherwordly intervention, but can he get the New Yorkers to trust him? 

Pairings: Jake x Kara, Kenji x April, Dax x Poppy, Diego x Varyyn 

Tagging: @ooo-barff-ooo @sleepwalkingelite @zaffrenotes @brightpinkpeppercorn @mind-reader1 @endlessly-searching-for-you @simmerbychoices @cordoniantrash @indiacater if you would like to be added or removed, please let me know! 

No warnings aside from lots of swearing. I let my babies express themselves, what can I say? 

The first few days in New York were rough. Jake knew he could be... hard to get along with sometimes. It was one of the endless reasons why Kara was really the only one for him- she’s the only one who’s ever gotten past his defenses.  She found the fault in the fortress and let herself in. She’s still there, he thought, whenever he felt lonely. She’s still with me. He sighed, wishing for the ten millionth time that she truly was there next to him, that he could feel her warm against him, solid, completing him like a puzzle. The nightmares had come back, a flood of them- flashes of images from their time on the island…from before…it would start with him and Mike in the cockpit, the faulty eject button, Jake frantic and screaming his throat raw as Mike reached over and activated Jake’s ejector seat. Next he’d be on the island, dangling from the helicopter just after she’d plunged hundreds of feet into the cold, choppy waters below, his fingers reaching, grabbing at nothing as she slid just out of his reach, his name the last thing falling from her lips. Sometimes in the nightmares he’d find her, just like he did on the island, but she’d already be cold, skin pallid almost gray, lungs full of seawater and eyes just as blue, staring up at him, open and empty. The nightmare storms would always end on the rooftop of the Celestial…the portal pulling her away as he tried with every fiber of his existence to keep her with him…Your heart belongs with me, not Vannuu… Then he’d wake up panting, shivering in a cold sweat, and no matter what time it was, there was no getting back to sleep after that. And good riddance…he couldn’t dream if he wasn’t asleep.

But aside from the nightmares, this Kenji character had turned out to be a real piece of work, and that was really saying something coming from Jake. He was trying, really trying to be understanding with Kenji, but the man seemed just as difficult as he was. Really, princess, he’d think, his teeth clenched together to try to keep from spitting some harsh retort at the man of bronze, it had to be this guy, huh? That first night in the bar had been tense. Jake had had 6 years to process what had happened- not that it made it any easier to swallow, your soulmate being ripped from you and tossed somewhere out in the borderless plane of the universe- but Kenji and the New York crew had only just experienced the loss of April, and their wounds were still very fresh. Jake tried to stay patient, tried to imagine what Kara might say or do. You were always the problem solver, Princess. You’re the one that always knows how to help people…how do I help this guy? He could almost picture her offering a warm smile and a reassuring pat on the arm, telling Kenji that everything would be alright. She had magic in her touch, Jake swore, that took the pain and anxiety right out of someone’s body, and when she told someone that it would be okay, they believed her, no matter how farfetched or impossible the scenario seemed. But Kenji was still holding on to plenty of feelings, and Jake wished he could plow through them and get the man to focus.

“What do you want to know about him?” Kenji had asked when Jake mentioned the man of bronze to Dax.

Jake leaned past Dax, Poppy and Eva to take in the dark haired man at the far end of the group. His eyes were red and puffy; his voice sounding both flat and full of pain, an edge of distrust, a touch of drunkenness. His tall frame was bent over the bar, one arm extended out flat in front of him, the other bent, his head resting on it.

“You him, boss?” Jake asked, right to the point.

“Could be, depends who’s asking,” Kenji slurred, throwing another shot back. Jake didn’t know how many he’d had- probably too many, just like he’d done every day since he lost Kara.

“I’m asking, hombre,” Jake shot back, not in the mood for bullshit, eyes still locked onto his target while he took a long swig of his beer.

“How do I know I can trust you, tiny?” Kenji pointed at Jake, empty shot glass in hand, one eye squinted shut, arm extending past Eva’s face. She gently pushed his arm down, whispering to him, “Come on, Kenj, I think he’s trying to help.”

“Listen to Cat Woman over here,” Jake said, doing his best to ignore the height comment. Eva shot him a look but decided that it wasn’t worth arguing- she couldn’t control both of them and Kenji was definitely more of a handful at this point. “You can trust me because I know exactly what you’re going through.” Jake said pointedly.

Kenji scoffed. “Impossible,” he said stubbornly. He tried to stand but Skylar had taken them literally when they told him to keep the shots coming until they fell over.

As he tried to shift his weight from his seat to his feet his knees gave out and he fell into Eva’s lap. She caught him, clearly trying to be sympathetic. “Kenji, please just sit, okay, just listen,” she pleaded with him.

“He doesn’t know what I’m going through…”Kenji said at Jake. “He didn’t lose April today…” he slumped back into his seat, head bobbing.

Jake got to his feet and walked over to him. “Listen, Metal Man. You can trust me because I have definitely seen more fucked up things than you have and I’m still here. You can trust me because what the fuck else are you going to do?” Dax and Poppy were gaping at the two men locked in a battle of who’s got it worse, Eva trying, pleading with Kenji to just let Jake speak. “And hey,” Jake paused, waiting for Kenji to look him in the eye. When he didn’t, Jake raised his voice, “HEY,” Kenji begrudgingly looked Jake’s way, “I didn’t know your April,” Kenji’s eyes flashed at the mention of her name, he moved as though he wanted to protest but Jake put a hand on his shoulder to stop him for which Eva threw him an appreciative glance. “I didn’t know her,” he said again, this time a bit softer, trying to be more like Kara, “and I’m so sorry that you lost her, all of you,” he turned to the rest of the group. “When I say that I know what you’re going through it’s because I do.” He turned back to Dax. “Goggles, you probably know all our names…all the people on that trip to La Huerta, right?”

Dax nodded. “Sure, there was Zahra Namazi, Grace Hall, Sean Gayle...” He listed the names off one by one, ticking them away with his fingers.

“Yeah it was rhetorical,” Jake cut him off. “My question is this: you got a Kara on that list?”

Dax thought for a moment, eyes to the ceiling, silently running through the list he’d committed to memory. After a beat he looked slowly back down at Jake. “No, there was no Kara.”

“Yeah,” Jake said. “But there was.” He went on to explain as best he could, who Kara is, what she’d done not only for him but for all of them, for the world. Kenji listened, sinking lower into his seat with every word that Jake spoke about Kara. It hurt, it burned, telling these strangers about the miracle woman who’d saved his life, but he knew getting Kenji and the rest of them on board was the only way solid lead he’d had in 6 years and he was damned if he would let a little pain get in the way of that. Hell, I’d crawl across a desert of glass shards if it would bring her back, he thought. From the looks of it, Kenji would too, for April. “I haven’t held Kara in 6 years,” he finally said to the group, voice just barely keeping together it was so frayed. “I know what you’re going through.”

In the end Kenji had nodded, conceding that Jake could be trusted. From there the conversation switched back to the availability of the crystals, Dax taking the reins for the science portion. Jake told him that he knew of one intact time crystal. “Is one enough?” he’d asked.

Dax shrugged honestly. “Not sure, but it’s worth a try…won’t know until I can rebuild the gate and-“

“Great, I don’t carry it on me anyway,” Jake interrupted. “How long on the gate, goggles?”

“Ya know, my name is-“

“Dax, I know. Just answer the question.” Jake rolled his eyes. Poppy wrinkled her nose at his gruffness but didn’t say anything.

“Maybe a week?” Dax answered after a beat. “If I can get all the parts and-“

“Great, a week it is. Here’s my number,” Jake scribbled his cell number on a napkin and passed it to Dax. “Call me when it’s done, I’ll work on getting that crystal here.”

“Work on it? You said-“

“I know what I said, okay. I’ll get it here. 7 hours ago I was in a bar in Lousiana, watching you all agonize on T.V. I said I was coming to New York and now here I am. When I say I’m gonna do something,” especially when it might get her back “I’m gonna do it. You can trust me.” They wrapped up their conversation and Jake headed back to his hotel. He made it to his bed and collapsed on it, shaking with adrenaline, a big goofy grin on his face, amazed at the luck he’d had, knowing it couldn’t have been luck at all.

No, Top gun, it wasn’t luck; you can’t take all the credit. Her voice echoed inside his brain, the musicality of it so familiar it almost didn’t seem strange. He’d grown accustomed to accepting things as normal, so now it was normal for Kara to comment on his thoughts. It was oddly comforting and he smirked at her sarcasm as though she were right there in the room.

Checking his watch he did the time conversion for Denver, where Diego lived. It was midnight in New York which meant it was only 10pm Diego’s tim. Jake didn’t waste another minute dialing the number he’d memorized, and waited to hear the friendly, yawning voice on the other end. “Hey Jake, everything alright?” Diego asked.

“Hey Petey,” Jake responded, unable to keep the grin from his voice. “Things are great. Got a question for you… that crystal…you still got it?”  

There was a pause on the other end and Jake knew why- He knew that Diego had one more crystal. He knew, because Varyyn had given it to Diego, in hopes that one day he’d be able to find another power source like the island’s heart; something that might be able to open a portal, to let them see one another. Jake knew that he was asking too much of Diego, asking him to give that chance up…but he also knew how much Diego loved and missed Kara… “Diego…?” he asked in the other man’s silence.

“Hmm…” Diego mused, still mulling over how to answer Jake’s question.

“I think I know how to get Kara back…can you trust me?”