Wonderland | Dick Grayson

13

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Ashley coughed as she awoke, smelling sewage and feeling the wet ground while trying to see even though her vision was obscured. She wiped her hands off on her legs, which were shockingly bare before she wiped her eyes clean. "What the fuck" She muttered, looking around in confusion. Ashley sputtered in shock as her mother's face appeared in front of her, the shock of seeing her alive still present. "Get the hell away from me" Ashley said, scooting backward and away from her mother.

"Hush now Ashley" Her mother sighed. "We have a lot to talk about" She told her, almost as if she was attempting to be comforting to her daughter.

"We have nothing to speak about" Ashley said to her. "I know what happened over the last twenty years. I honestly remember it all too well, and really wish I could forget it."

"You don't know everything baby girl" Rosalie Wayne sighed. "I know the Court made me do horrible things, but things are different now" She reassured Ashley, but Ashley's shock quickly turned to anger at her words.

"People don't change" Ashley said angrily, gazing at her mother with nothing short of hatred as she handed her a towel. Rosalie gestured for her to take the towel, which Ashley reluctantly took. "You gave me to them like I was just loose change in your fucking pocket, you don't fucking do that but common sense was never your strong suit, I suppose."

"Family comes first" Rosalie sighed, taking Ashley's jab at her in stride. "I taught you that" She attempted to reconcile.

"Family doesn't try to kill family" Ashley accused, beginning to wipe off her body and noticing she was only in a grey tank top and gray underwear. "What the hell?" She asked quietly, confused as to what happened. "What happened to me? Where are we?"

"Luthor took you and those kids from your apartment, Mercy led the team. Something about metagenes and genetics" Rosalie answered quickly. "Back to our conversation, I didn't willing try to kill you" Her mother argued. Ashley narrowed her eyes at her mother before lunging forward and wrapping her hands around her throat and squeezing.

"Really, because this is what you did to me you fucking bitch" Ashley reminded her, pointing out every scar she had acquired from her capture. "I had to bite, claw and scratch myself out of that shithole after you made me miscarry my baby with the same Talon who had made my life a living hell beside you" Ashley reminded her, watching her face blue as she hit Ashley's arm as if it would make her let go. "So I did what I had to do and killed you then I killed each and every one of those stupid fucking Talons and every single fucking member of the Court of Owls. But let me guess, you didn't mean it did you?" Ashley asked her mother, letting go of her with a snarl as she recollected her childhood. "Maybe if you were more like Grandma, you wouldn't have been such a weak and shitty mother and maybe, just maybe you wouldn't have been such a fucked up piece of shit" She practically spat out at the blonde woman.

"I am your mother" Rosalie said, trying to catch her breath from being choked before Ashley interrupted her.

"Dinah's my mom or at least the closest I have to one, so you don't get to call yourself my mother" Ashley said. "Rosalie Wayne was dead to me twenty years ago" Ashley told her, getting up. "If I see you again, I will kill you. If you try to go home and ruin my already fucked up father, I will do much worse to you than what you caused my childhood to be. Never speak to me or my family again, understood?" She asked the woman who was sitting in the mud.

"Ras wanted different for you" Rosalie sighed. "He gave you back Jade as a favor, and he brought me back for a reason. Family above all" Rosalie told her. Ashley narrowed her eyes at her before sucker-punching her mother out cold.

"Family never meant shit to you before now" Ashley muttered, walking away from the scene. Ashley's face scrunched up as she felt a light breeze and sighed, debating her plan to make it back to the Tower so she could at least not be disgusting as she downloaded the plans for the CADMUS building from the League database so she could launch a rescue attempt for Gar and Connor.

"Ashley" She heard Jade yell, and her head snapped up to see her best standing a few yards away in all her glory. "What the hell happened?" Jade asked her, confusion lacing her features as she looked over Ashley.

"Luthor happened. And he still has Gar and Connor, I need to get back to the Tower so I can bring them home" Ashley told her.

"Do you even know what Luthor did you?" Jade asked her. "You're of no help to them if you don't know what happened to yourself" Jade told her.

"All I know is Mom said something metagenes" Ashley sighed.

"You talked to your mom?" Jade asked with a raised eyebrow. "The same mom who attempted to kill you like three times and that you brutally murdered once?" Jade asked her.

"Oh yeah" Ashley scoffed. "She's probably still knocked out cold with bruises on her neck that are the shape of my hands, but I digress" Ashley told her with a sigh.

"Ashley" Jade said in apprehension. "What happened?" She asked her.

"I told her to fuck off and that the only person that has any business calling themselves my mother is Dinah and that she hasn't been family in over twenty years and that if she talked to anyone that I considered family I would kill her again" Ashley shrugged. "Now can we please leave? I'm still in underwear and I'd like to get my tiger boy and Kryptonian" She reminded Jade.

"Yeah babes, let's go" Jade told her gently, walking with Ashley. Without warning, it started raining, and Ashley smiled. If there was ever anything she missed about living in Star with Oli and Dinah, it was the rain. Something about it made her feel clean and calm, it made her truly feel like the world was quiet and like she was no longer drowning no matter what was happening around her.

"I missed you, asshole."

"I missed you too, bitch."

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Ashley sighed as they entered the tower and she scrunched her nose up at the mess that was still leftover from the fight. She took in a deep breath and made her way into the kitchen, pulling open the drawer she hid her phone in and grabbed the device. She plugged it up to a charger that she had in the kitchen, and made her way to her room while Jade surveyed the damage. She made her way to her room, intending to take a quick shower but pausing as she passed Gar's door and shook her head in defeat. "I'm sorry" Ashley whispered, moving toward her room. Ashley turned the doorknob and sighed when it broke, pushing the door open with a little more force before shutting it, idly wondering what had happened to her in CADMUS. Ashley pursed her lips and made her way to her nightstand, pulling out the emergency sewing kit Dinah had insisted she needed on the off chance one of her favorite clothing items ripped. She fished a needle out and bit her lip and poked her finger with it. She squeezed and sighed in relief that she was very much still fully human, but she was still blanking on the details from CADMUS. She left the needle on her nightstand so she would remember to sanitize it later and new outfit with a sigh and showered quickly and changed quickly. Ashley grabbed her toothbrush in an attempt to feel cleaner and started to brush her teeth before she looked in the mirror and sighed as she brushed her teeth harder. In truth, Ashley hardly recognized herself. While she physically looked the same as she had for years, she looked dull, pale and the dark circles under her eyes were prominent enough to make her question what she was doing at CADMUS for whatever amount of time she was AWOL and her body was littered with bruises that she couldn't explain. Ashley's head started to ache, but she ignored it and finished brushing her teeth. She grabbed a pair of house shoes so the glass wouldn't get stuck in her feet and her face contorted in disgust as she looked at her legs which were as littered with bruises as her arms were. Ashley walked out and into the kitchen to get her phone and call Dinah but decided against it last minute. She walked back to her room and threw clothes into a bag and decided that she would lay low at a different property while she planned her next move. She walked out to the kitchen and grabbed the phone and charger and grabbed a set of keys and left. She could stay missing a few more days.