Got Your Back, Always

III.XVIII

Cassie stumbles and makes her way into the building.

"Hello? Is there anyone here?" she calls out.

"You on your own?" the nice-looking man asked her, he had a towel on his shoulder and looked like he was a bartender.

"Um yes. I'm sorry do you know where I am?"

"Welcome to the Twilight Owl, my name's Malcolm."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Malcolm. I'm Cassie."

"Pleased to meet you Cassie, why don't you come have a seat? I can get you something to eat."

She nodded and followed him. He made her a quick meal and set a glass of wine in front of her.

"Oh, thank you. I hate to be a bother- this is a lovely bar you have here- but where is this bar located? And why is everything gray?"

"Gray? Everything's gray to you?"

She nodded.

"Interesting. I will admit you are the first I've seen in your condition."

"My... condition?"

"What do you last remember?"

"I... I remember drowning in blood. So much blood. But my body is in a coma. It has to be, I know my serum works."

Malcolm nods, "Some coma patients are considered brain dead and can end up here, hence your condition: being here but not fully here."

"What do they do?"

"Typically they wait until their body dies alongside their soul. That's when the train will start moving for them."

Cassie nods. "That makes sense. Surprisingly." She looked around and noticed the place was empty, "How many others get off the train?"

"More than you would think, hard for people to understand what's going on. Hank should be back any minute, you're more than welcome to ask him anything, he goes out more than I do."

Just as Malcolm walked away someone walked through the doors. Cassie had her back to them so she couldn't see who it was.

They took a seat next to her, "So what'd you order?"

Cassie turned and noticed who it was. "Hank!" She threw her arms around him and gave him a tight hug.

He chuckled and returned the hug. They pulled away and Hank ordered himself a drink.

"How long have you been here?" Hank asked.

"Not long, I was walking around for awhile I think. The train wasn't moving so I got off thinking someone out here had some answers. Malcolm had some for me."

Hank nodded, "Malcolm's cool. Makes a mean burger too. How are you holding up? Being sort of dead and all?"

"Um, I don't really know. I keep seeing flashes of what I saw when I was out, I don't want to see them so I keep pushing them away, but it's getting harder."

"What happened? When we found you... you looked dead. You should have seen Dick, I'd never seen him so scared. You had blood tears and everything."

"I... I needed to handle things with the Joker on my own. I knew my serum would put me into a coma, I just wasn't sure how long it would put me under for. He... he wanted to break me, completely. But he was different, it was like he wanted to hurt Bruce as much as he could... oh my, god Jason! He- the video feed, it was of Jason, he was beating him to death! Is-"

"He's alive Cassie. There's a lot you've missed. We really needed you."

Her shoulders slumped, "Bad timing I guess, but catch me up. What have I missed? Clearly a lot considering you're here."

He chuckled and nodded, "Well starts with you and Jason I guess. Joker kills Jason, Bruce kills the Joker-"

"Wait what?"

"Yeah, he had called Dick about Jason, so when Dick comes to Gotham something just snapped in Bruce and he kills the Joker. Dick was at the Manor, and afterward Bruce just disappeared, took off."

"Shit."

"Right? Well, obviously Dick calls the Titans in for help-"

"Wait he brought them to Gotham? Why the fuck would he do that? Why didn't he just leave?"

"Bruce told him to be a better Batman. He couldn't resist."

Cassie sighed and put her head in her hands.

"Anyways, there's this Red Hood character going around Gotham, causing a lot of trouble, killing a lot of people. Guess who it is?"

Cassie shrugged.

"Jason fucking Todd. Who we still thought was dead. Jason then calls me and I thought I could try and help him out, or take him down alone I don't know, it seemed like a good idea at the time. And what do I get for it? A bomb strapped to my chest. Next thing you know," he motions around them.

"Jason blew you up?" She runs a hand through her hair, and opens her mouth to say something, but screams instead.

It takes Hank aback, and he looks at her confused.

Cassie holds her head in her hands, screaming at the top of her lungs. Pain is burning throughout her body, she collapses to the ground. Her mind plays her killing her family, over and over. Her laugh rings out in her ears.

Tears run down her face, and she passes out.

Malcolm runs in, and sees what happened. Hank drops down and tries to shake her awake. Her image flashes in and out, becoming more and less transparent.

"I was afraid this was going to happen," Malcolm sighed and placed a cold washcloth on her forehead.

"What was going to happen? What's wrong with her?"

"She just needs some rest, this is going to happen quite a bit I'm afraid."

"Malcolm, what the fuck are you talking about?"

He sighed, "Her mind is trying to kill itself."