First Light » Titans [2]

4|| Tyler

The door to Barbara's apartment thunked closed behind Sophie. Bright sunlight filled the living room with a warm light and made Barbara's coppery hair shimmer like a fire.

"Hey, how'd it go?" Barbara's voice came from the suede sofa.

"Like it always does." She huffed as she made her way to the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge. "He's just a dead end."

She took a long sip of the cold water and walked over to the couch. Barbara was leaning against the arm rest with her laptop balanced on her knees.

She looked up at her over the black rims of her glasses. "You alright?"

"Yeah." Sophie sat down and kicked her feet up onto the coffee table. Her thigh was throbbing and the painkiller she had taken earlier had almost completely worn off. "What about you, have you found anything?"

Barbara quickly righted herself on the couch and pulled up a different tab on her laptop. "I was looking into some of Luther's other business moves. Last month he started renovating an old office building in Star City, and last week he sold the warehouse Henry was working in and bought one of Gotham's new Skyscrapers."

She nodded. "So he's setting up shop in Star city, Oliver's not going to be pleased with that."

"I don't think he's setting up shop exactly, I think he might be trying to hide something. And Luther only really tries to hide two things, kryptonite and Cadmus."

Sophie rubbed her tired eyes before she pushed her fallen hair out of her face. "Cadmus? I thought Clark took them all down."

"I did too." Barbara said and began typing something. "But It's Luther-"

Three quick sharp knocks came from the front door. They both looked up at it before Sophie groaned and rose to her feet.

"-And he never learns his lessons." She finished Babs' thought and grabbed the door handle.

She heard Barbara laugh quietly behind her as she pulled open the white front door.

Her eyes widened before she could mask her shock. Tyler stood there with a backpack tossed over his beige bomber jacket and a blue hood pulled over his head; to hide the scars that had formed behind his ears.

His dark brown eyes flickered up to hers before falling back to his worn converse.

Sophie furrowed her brows and signed. "Hey, what are you doing here?"

Tyler watched her hands intently before a frown pulled at his lips. He pulled a shaky hand from his pocket and gently touched her forearm.

Her head suddenly felt heavy and a dull pressure began to push on her brain.

"I can't stay at home anymore." Tyler spoke softly but his lips didn't move.

Sophie stepped aside to allow him into the apartment. He scurried in, coming to a stop a few short steps away from her.

"Ty?" Barbara asked. She frowned and quickly placed her laptop on the table before walking over to him.

He gulped before reaching out and touching her arm.

"What are you doing here?" Barbara asked. Her kind voice reverberated inside of Sophie's head.

Tyler frowned and adjusted how his backpack straps sat on his shoulders. "I can't stay there anymore."

"Why not?" Sophie thought.

He glanced over at her before looking down at the hardwood.

"Ty, they're your family." Barbara thought.