Midnight walk... [Mireil]

[Fritz Stahl]

A night, a street, a lamp, a drugstore
A meaningless and dismal light
A quarter century outpours –
It’s all the same. No chance to flight.

You’d die and rise anew, begotten.
All would repeat as ever might:
The street, the icy rippled water,
The store, the lamp, the lonely night.

This short poem was able to describe night in Metropolis better than anything. Darkness, gloom, dim light of the lamps that were making things cast unnaturally long shades. Oh, and small drops of irritating rain were falling from the night sky, making the streets if not soggy and unpleasant to be at, but definitely not dry. Such weather, added to the fact it was late, and that streets of Metropolis weren't usually save, was the reason why there were none people around... Almost none.

A tall, lone figure was slowly making its way along the boardwalk of one of the streets in the sleeping quarter. There were nobody else around, only at times a random car would pass by, and disappear almost immediately, its fade headlights disappearing into the unwavering darkness. Heavy steps were dimly echoing, since there was not much other sound besides that of the drops of water washing off the dust...

Fritz stopped near a lamp-pole, on a crossing in the road, looking dully at the traffic lights which were burning red. There were no cars, and no cops, so he could safely cross it without being hit by a car or accused in "jaywalking". Hnh, like if that accusation would mean anything. It would only add a pointless mark in his list of wrong-doings. Arson murder and jaywalking, yeah right, get real. Still, the man waited until the light went green, and then crossed the road...

Where was the scary cyborg man in a military-like blueish trenchcoat going? Was he on another task to kill someone, and just took his time being bringer of death and despair? No, not likely. Otherwise he'd be dressed differently. This ... what he was doing in his time-off. Just ... walking. Alone. At night. In the rain. Thinking. Or, better yet, trying not to think too much about what he usually did. Clearing his thoughts, sort of.

Night was perfect time for him to go on such a ... relaxing walk. Nobody would poke at his crimson red eye and iron part of the face, nobody would annoy him, the cops won't be latching unto their guns upon seeing him. They would not know who he really was, but the appearance itself was enough. But that was just what he was. A machine. A freak.

Fritz stopped upon reaching another lamp-pole, leaning on to it. He did earn a lot of money from his work, but did not know where to spend it. Nothing could make him happy, or sad. He was stuck in the middle, never declining from this unhealthy notion of neutrality, and this was his bane. What's the point in earning money then? Not knowing the answer, the tall man took out a cigarette, and lighted it up, having a smoke. Smoking too was not the same as it used to be, but he still did it. Out of habit, perhaps... He looked at the time. It was approaching 1 am. He should be going soon...

[Snow White]

"That was more troublesome than expected, but I need the money"

Hildegard said as she left her workplace, a small-time seedy bar where she worked as waitress. Due the dangers of the night, not many people dared to work as waitresses, especially in a seedy bar like that one, so they accepted even an undocumented one, offering a sorta okay-ish salary for working a few hours until midnight.

It was quite a strange experience to work there, she wasn't used to having to smile at the clients of wearing a mini-skirt that was part of the bar's uniform ... but that was the only job she could find. She would feel more comfortable working as a laborer in a construction or as a farm worker and even would take her original form to be more fitting for the situation, but the former required of an identification and for the latter .. she was in the middle of a very large and busy with activity city, the nearest farms were at many kilometers from the city and that would mean leaving for more time little Echo alone. Said lil albino was the other reason to get a nighttime job, so she could work while the girl was asleep or about to going to bed.

Nevermind, today's turn was over and she could finally return home. The emptiness of the nighttime streets were nothing strange for her, her home in the other universe was almost completely void of life and only rats, cats and dogs populated the human-free streets, the only difference between both universes was that in one aliens inspected the streets making impossible for humans to walk while in this one there were a few criminals that wouldn't think twice before killing a fellow human being to get a few dollars. It was really sad that mankind had so many low values in this world, fighting each other for profit instead of joining forces for the sake of the entire human race.

Lost in her thoughts about the two universes, Hildegard noticed not where she was walking into and crashed with a gentleman of large stature. He had to be quite robust and strong because from the little incident, only Hildegard ended up falling on the ground, her current form was quite lightweight and lacked most of the incredible powers she now possessed due she wanted to be as human as possible, even reducing strength and endurance to human levels.

"Sorry ..."

That's all she said as she stand up and offered her apologizes to the tall man who after looking at his face looked like somebody from her past ... somebody WHO SHOULD BE DEAD!

"Fritz? But you are dead and ... "

Wait, why was she freaking out? That man simply couldn't be Fritz! For starters he was dead, gone, worm food, etc, also he died in the other universe, his ghost couldn't have come for revenge ... or could it?

Hildegard, shocked by the unexpected encounter stepped back, tripped and fell on her butt, unable to believe what her eyes were seeing. He was exactly like the old Fritz, he even had metal-like additions to his face like the other Fritz ... although the other one had a more organic-like metal covering his body and the lower half of the body was completely replaced by an all-terrain transformable four legged leg module. Small details aside, Hildegard simply lied on the cold streets, eyes wide as if looking at a ghost, he was indeed Fritz, and came back from the dead to enact revenge on Hildegard for abandoning the mission and betray everybody! ... or at least that's what she thought.

[Fritz Stahl]

Fritz had just finished smoking one of his cigarettes, it tasted like ... nothing. No delightful after-taste, no slight euphoria, no nothing. It was just a stick with the end of it burning, nothing more. He sighed out, releasing a circle of smoke - something he learned to do a long time ago. Well this was probably the only thing entertaining about these useless poison sticks - you can breathe out the pretty circles, or other figures, if skillful enough. The cyborg new not how to do anything else, yet. Lighting up another one, he left the pole he was leaning to, continuing his way down the alley. He figured he was not hurrying to return anywhere yet. Seriously, where? To the hideout, to Hamilton? Nah.

It was at this point when he suddenly felt a slight push in the chest. Or, it felt like so to him, being a formidable cyborg. In reality, he was just rammed into by someone. And that someone had to be very small in stature, because he did not spot her, looking in front of him - the person must have went below his line of sight. Fritz slowly inclined his head to see whom he just sent to the ground, without any intention. He did not feel anything - what happened happened. His eyes, both human and non-human focused on the person lying on the ground...

It was a girl. A little girl, in both size and age, with blindingly white hair and crimson eyes. The hair was the most noticeable thing in her appearance, otherwise ... she was completely average. She was sitting on the ground, her head shaking in confusion. The impact must have been strong enough to daze her. Fritz's faint smile did not disappear from his face, the best she was able to get out of him was a raised eyebrow.

- I should have looked where I'm going. I apologize. - he replied to her apology. In truth, it was neither fault - both weren't exactly looking where they were going. Without saying anything else, Fritz lend his strong robotic hand, as he offered his hand to help her stand up. Robotized or no, he did not forget the meaning of the word "tact". There was a weird notion of politeness about him, even to enemies, he never used insults, or coarse language even during battle. Because to swear one must be angry and know well the anatomy of human body. While he did know the latter, the former was nullified quite completely.

But, for some reason, the girl he accidentally knocked out, did not accept his hand to stand up, despite he was being a gentleman, and just looked at him with fright in her eyes. Fritz's faint smile disappeared, becoming ... nothing, something in the middle between a smile and a frown... (._.) Was it because of his brightly - burning eye? Or the skeletal-looking fingers of his palm? He forgot that these things tent to freak people out. But then ... then the girl said something. He said his name? He knew him?

Well this was ... strange. Fritz took several moments to scroll through all the people he remembered or heard of, in a vain attempt to remember if he knew the girl. Of course, it was a wasted effort - among all those people his memory kept within, none was an albino 15-year old girl. She couldn't have known him, as he did not know her. She did not even look familiar. In this universe, Fritz and family of Otto, or Hilde, never crossed each other. So he assumed she made a mistake.

- I am afraid this is a coincidence, miss. You must have been mistaking me for a wrong Fritz. - he stated, though he did not know how right he was. That she had mistaken him for another Fritz. Then, his gase fell upon his hand again. The cold metal robotic fingers were gleaming menacingly in the dim light of the lamp. This must have been why she were scared. And he forgot to put the gloves on. Figuring this was his mistake, he took a pair of white-gray gloves from his pocket, pulling those on his hands, and offering his hand once more.

- Allow me to help.

[Snow White]

Strange ... Fritz didn't do something like choke the life out of her or blow her brains out with a gun ... could it be .. that Fritz's ghost forgave her? Wait, he was too solid to be a vengeful ghost, and he seemed to be quite gentlemanly as well. The cyborg even apologized and tried to help her to stand up, and for some reason he didn't remember anything about her despite they were comrades and he knew about the original Hildegard, saying not to know her and the possibility he was the wrong Fritz. Then Hildegard finally started to think and remembered that it wouldn't be out of place if there was an alternate universe version of Fritz in this place, one who had a different life, meet different people and for different reasons ended up becoming a cyborg.

"Thanks ... Fritz Stahl"

Yes ... Stahl was Fritz's surname. Agent Stahl codename goldilocks, he was such a great man, he punched the emo out of who formerly was known as Otto and he was the one who convinced her to join the resistance. He was like a mentor for the devastated survivor and learned from him the know how of a guerrilla member, knowledge later used to put an end to his existence once Fritz was captured and transformed into a ruthless hunter, a cyborg programmed only to find and kill all those people that belonged to the resistance. Hildegard wondered if this one was as badass as the other Fritz and if she could do anything to make him feel better, he surely had a hard life if he had to receive replacement limbs and move to USA.

She accepted his hand and stood up. Now more calm, the albino looked directly at this other Fritz, the resemblance was astonishing and other than the a lot more robotic nature of his enhancements, he was a carbon copy of the freedom fighter. Hildegard couldn't help but let a pair of tears flow through her cheeks, Fritz was back ... sorta, and he wasn't mad with her ... sorta, and more importantly, he was still alive and was spared from the cruel fate of his alternate universe version ... maybe.

She simply didn't know what to do, she could easily get involved into his life for good or bad and try to atone for killing the old Fritz and abandoning the mission by being helpful with this one, or simply say nothing more and leave, both of them most likely never meeting again.

[Fritz Stahl]

Fritz raised an eyebrow again once he helped the girl up and she called his name again, His full name. Now that was raising much suspicions within his core, despite nothing about his voice, facial expression or movements gave it away. He double-checked himself. He was completely sure he did not know the girl. Then how she was aware of his full name? How was she able to recognize his face? And that considering he kept his person incognito to avoid people digging. Wait. Maybe this was the case. Maybe this girl WAS looking for him. If so, she was much more dangerous than she looked like. Fritz knew appearances could be deceiving, after all he DID fight a 13-year old Robin a couple of days ago, and she gave him more trouble than she is worth.

- I do not recall meeting you before, miss, and yet you seem to know me. How come, if I may ask? - he voiced a question, and dusted off the dirt left from that fall from her coat with his hand. Gee, what a nice guy, if only he weren't a killer half-robot with a glowing eye and a mean streak against politicians, and lacking any moral objections about killing people. But one couldn't have guessed it from the way he acted, right?

And then he noticed she were crying. Well this was ... weird. He did not push her too hard, did he? Sure, without his suit he was not able to perform much in terms of preliminary analyses, but his robotic eye was able to perform a simple scan, which he did. The girl was not hurt, no fracture, not even a bruise. So why were she crying? And just when he was about to leave too...

- Is something wrong? - he asked. It would have sounded caring, as well as all he did and said before, if it weren't for that eerie monotone robotic clank in his voice that kept reminding people they were talking to half-machine. And that facial expression which was as still as a mask, borderlining with that of a mannequin. Didn't really help with socializing with people too...

[Snow White]

What The cyborg asked was something really hard to explain, how can somebody exactly explain about alternate dimensions and different versions of the same people without being considered a lunatic? She would've thought about something what to say, but being the emotion-driven weak willed person she was, she let the heart talk instead of the brain.

"We were friends back in Berlin, you helped me and together we ..."

Wait wait wait, in retrospective it wasn't quite a good idea to talk without thinking what to say before, he was a Fritz but not THE Fritz, this would make things only weirder than they were already. He simply couldn't be treated as if he were the freedom fighter Fritz, he was a completely different person unrelated with him, but he looked so much like him, and he was a gentle tall man like the other Fritz, it was too hard to see him and not think in the other Fritz, it didn't help that he cleaned her coat just like how the old Fritz cleaned Otto's coat after punching him hard enough to make him kiss the dirt back when Hildegard was an Otto in despair for his sister's tragedy.

"There's nothing wrong ... I'm just happy"

That was better, no nonsense about things that never happened, she was genuinely happy for seeing Fritz again even if he wasn't the "real" Fritz, but then his voice become kinda like the one of those automaton robots the aliens used when they couldn't bother to go themselves to deal with pesky rebels. She got a bit curious about why he become a cyborg, he surely didn't become one after being captured and experimented by aliens, at least not in this universe.

"Um ... why you have weird prosthetic parts in your body? And ... can you come to visit me if it's not bothersome? I work in that bar over there from 20:00 HS to 01:00 HS"

True true, this could be the last time she even saw this Fritz unless she did something to keep contact with him, surely that situation was very weird for the cyborg and might not accept the invitation, and if he refused ... she would have to stalk him until learning where he lives, she wanted to make sure this Fritz didn't disappear until she could do something so good for him that, at least in her eyes, the "original" Fritz would forgive her for killing him. Needless to say, despite all her efforts to forget about the past, she was constantly tormented by the guilt she felt for betraying everybody and killing Fritz even if the latter was in self-defense, anything that eased the burden no matter how crazy it were would be worth trying.

[Fritz Stahl]

If Fritz's eyebrows could have went any higher, they would have. The girl was just talking ... nonsense. She claimed to be his friend from Berlin. Well this was technically impossible. Simple math said so. The girl looked to be 15, 17 at max, and he was 34, and left Berlin upon becoming 18, which was 16 years ago. He couldn't have possibly known her. And yet... she still claimed to be such with ... strange confidence. It sounded like she weren't lying ... at all. Fritz's suspicions grew...

- I ... honestly have no idea what are you talking about, miss...? - he made a questioning pause, realizing the strange girl did not tell him her name. This weird encounter was about to be over again, as Fritz made another ineffectual attempt to leave the strange conversation and the stranger person be, but was halted by another series of questions and requests. On in particular made him ... frown a little bit. She just had to poke around about his prostheses, didn't she?

- I was wounded in Afghanistan. - he replied, his voice remaining as emotionless as ever, although the eye began brighting considerably more with its crimson light. The "negative energy charge" was set on full, but there was no enemy to shoot it at. Fritz looked away, at some lamp-pole afar, and the lightbulb in it popped a few seconds later. There, not the threatening glow was gone. But the girl wasn't done with him yet. Did she ... did she just ask to ... visit her in the bar? How did one so young got a job in the nightbar in the first place?

- How old are you, kid? - he sighed out a bit tiredly, and bluntly. He couldn't have felt more awkward if a 15 year old random strange kid were hitting on him. But yet, he did start working with that coocoo named Alice, thus having to put up with her weird behavior for a little while now, including her weird notion of affection. He didn't have any luck in that department, did he? Encountering weird people all the time that is...

[Snow White]

"I'm sorry ... It's too hard to explain"

It was hard, really hard to explain the situation, but maybe it would be for the best to be honest with this Fritz, probably even weirder incidents happened in this world if the Justice League wanted to invade it to create a copy of the "utopia" they created in the old world. Talking about weird incidents, this Fritz mentioned something about Afghanistan, probably a war that only happened in this version of the universe.

"That's ... unfortunate"

She was genuinely sad about what happened to him. Despite the completely different lives the Fritzes had, they had in common a fateful incident that robbed them from their humanity and turned them into half-man half-machine creature, one captured and experimented by aliens and the other fatally injured in a war that never happened in the other world.

She wanted to know more and more about him, but Fritz got rather irritated and frowned a little, so she refrained from asking more and instead she decided to answer the cyborg's question about her age ... by completely ignoring it!

"You don't know me but I know you, or at least another version of you. It's a bit hard to explain"

This Fritz was being quite cautious with her, he really wanted to know the truth, and the truth was what he was going to receive. Revealing what happened in the other world, the fate of the other Fritz and how she ended up in this world was a secret she wanted to take to the grave, but for Fritz she was willing to tell everything or at least the parts that were relevant to him, that way she could hopefully earn his trust and finally be of any help for him to satisfy her desire for indirect redemption.

[Fritz Stahl]

- Alright. - Fritz only replied shortly upon hearing what the girl had to say. She was not making any sense, at all. "You, but not you", "different version of you whatever", this all sounded similar to claims of some people to "talk to Napoleon" etcetera. In short, Fritz thought she were nuts. Again. Who else would be saying such things to a person in the middle of the night on a lonely street? He could not figure, and whatever she told, or, better to say, did not tell, was not lending her story credibility, or sense.

What he told her about Afghanistan was only a half-truth. It was responsible for losing his legs, but the arms, the face... It was not because of that country his body became what it was... Maybe it was fate of all his alternative selves in other worlds... To become scary cyborgs. But the only thing differed - the people who were putting the experiments - were those aliens ... or his own. Aliens' motives can be justified however, from their point of view. But how do you justify betrayal by your own?

However, Fritz did not know if it was time to leave the strange girl, or question her some more. She was insane, that was obvious to him, but ... she did know his name, didn't she? It couldn't be a coincidence. Suddenly, a gruesome guess came to his head. That laboratory he was experimented upon ... he wasn't the only one... There were other people there too... It was his "rebellion" that set them free... Maybe this girl was one of them somehow? He did not want to ask, but ... he would research. Later...

- What is your name, girl? -he asked before leaving. He needs to know what to type in search for files later. Her appearance he memorized quite completely already, and would be able to replicate it on paper with machine-like precision, one of the few benefits of his half-robotic self. Why need a camera when you are practically one yourself?

[Snow White]

Surprisingly, Fritz seemed to take the information rather calmly, he said it was alright and didn't even raise an eyebrow despite how weird the story was. Maybe this time things could be done right and Fritz would live until old age, it was terrible to think that he could end up like his counterpart and die after not much time after becoming a cyborg, there was some theory about the events of a parallel world reflecting into another one, but maybe that was just a baseless theory and this Fritz was free from suffering the same fate.

"My name is Hildegard, and thanks for believing me. There's so much you need to know"

Step one of the plan was apparently successful, she needed Fritz to believe her first and only later tell him about what happened to his other self, that might help him survive in this reality and would ease the burden on Hildegard's consciousness. Whoever said that being a traitor is easy was a liar, she was constantly tormented by the guilt of her betrayals and the failures of the past.

"I hope we can be friends"

Most likely it was extremely naive to believe this Fritz could be befriended like the other one, but it was worth a try and if even if she failed, maybe she could at least become like a part-time servant for him and clean his house, pay the taxes, do the cooking, fix any broken part of his house, etc. All because the OTHER Fritz was nice to her ....

[Fritz Stahl]

Indeed, there is much I need to know, crazy suspicious person. But I will find out. - a silent reply was heard in Fritz's mind as he listened to what the strange girl said. He was not going to trust her. No, he was not going to trust pretty much anybody. He knew that the authorities and batman were gunning for him. He had to be extremely cautious, even more so than before. If he were to get caught, it is a sure - fire death sentence... Or worse, he could be sent back to those he ran away from, for them to ... "finish the job". He'd rather shoot himself.

And then he heard about her wish to ... be friends? Oh you gotta be kidding me, this sent Fritz completely off the track. This conversation was getting weirder by the minute, enough to phase even him out. I mean c'mon what's next? If he were still a normal human, he would have had "WTF?" written all over his face. But with situation he was in, not. So very much not. Guess another fringe benefit of being a cyborg. At least people won't figure out what he was thinking about them.

- Sure. But it is late now, and you should not talk to random strangers just like that in the middle of the night. You should go home, child. - he failed an attempt to sound kind, not that he tried that hard, really. But seriously, this awkward conversation had to stop at some point, and there was not much left to talk about. Whatever was this important thing she wanted to talk about, this was not the place. And besides, he was pretty sure it would be some diluted story of an insane person, like he didn't get enough of that from Alice... With that said, he turned back to her and said:

- And good bye. Hurry home now. - he patted her on the shoulder, nudging to go, before turning around, to leave this place. He needed to continue his walk, and give a bit more thought on this ... new predicament. Waving in a sign of good bye with his hand, Fritz departed, disappearing into the night...

[Snow White]

"It's late, but you are not a stranger and I'm not a little kid"

Well ... actually he was a complete stranger, but realizing that would break the nice illusion of having Fritz alive again. The albino was quite prone to escaping from reality thinking about things that weren't like in real life, so acting as if he were some sort of not-like the same yet still the same Fritz wasn't something unusual.

She also got slightly annoyed when Fritz treated her like a child, because she was not one and even the other Fritz used to bother her the same way saying things like "Don't be so childish", "Man up and stop thinking about her" or "stop believing there's something you could've done to prevent that". However, this time being treated like that wasn't quite wrong, after all she looked exactly like her underage sister and Hildegard wondered if she should've aged up a little the appearance, maybe her underage looks were the main reason it was so hard to find a job and only a seedy bar accepted her. Neverming, that was just a small inconvenience.

"Until the next time, and please visit me later, I really need to talk with you"

Great Success! The cunning plan to make this Fritz visit her worked, now she had quite a lot of time to slowly but firmly become part of his life and repay the debts she had with the other Fritz through this one. Maybe she could even reshape him into becoming more like the older Fritz, like change his haircut to the one used in the other universe, maybe pick his clothes so he dresses like the other Fritz, and even serve him the food his other self liked the most, eventually he could become a perfect copy of the old Fritz, and if she made him say that he forgives her, then it would be as if the older Fritz forgave her for killing him! It was a flawless plan.

Once Fritz MK II left, she too followed her own path, it was nice and all to find somebody who could be used to atone for her past sins, but it was even better to be with little Echo, that little one surely was more than eager to see her big sis, and Hildegard grew to genuinely like her as her own being rather than as a cheap replacement for her dead sister.