"its not love I swear, it might be closer to despair"
-Leo
~~~
Things rarely go according to plan, there always has to be one thing to interrupt the peace. Dove sat tied to a wood chair in the middle of a dark hospital room. The building was old and abandoned and the floor creaked every time someone took a step.
The teenager groaned and looked around trying to find a way out, she could easily escape but no one kidnaps one of Batman's proteges for fun so she figured she'd stay to figure out what whoever kidnapped her wanted.
The loud creaking of the floor boards sounded as the door squeaked open to reveal Jonathan Crane.
Before, Jonathan was just a psychologist who collected coupons as a side hobby, or at least that's what Lorelei imagined he did in his spare time. Now he made it his job to terrorize the city that 'did him wrong'.
Dove raised both eyebrows at the man before her, hoping that he would speak without her having to make the situation worse. 'Don't poke the bear' Alfred had always told her.
"You're awake" Crane stated the obvious, looking at the tied up girl.
"You caught a child, congratulations." She quickly replied and looked around once more, "We're on the west end of the city right? I'm gonna assume yes because of all the literal rages of crime I can hear outside. Now given that there is so much going on out there, it's not long before Batman shows up, so make this quick."
Scarecrow let out a deep chuckle, "no saving yourself this time?"
"If I wanted to do that, I would have already" it was true, this wasn't Doves first rodeo being kidnapped and it wouldn't be her last. If the fifteen year old wanted to get out of a situation, she would.
"You've escaped my traps too many times...but not today."
She smacked her lips together as if in thought, "I have a pretty tight schedule today actually"
He tilted his head "do you not fear me girl?"
"No" she lied, the truth is she was terrified but she couldn't let him know. Ever since her and her brothers parents deaths she learnt well how to hide her feelings from others. This was something she knew was very bad for her mental health but had never actually put in the effort to fix.
In Rory's eyes, what people didn't see didn't hurt them. She much rather spend her time helping others than have them help her. Besides, she had no negative repercussions yet.
"Well you should...i know everything." He leaned in so much the girl could see every detail on his mask. One of the many needles on his hand traced her face.
"Bullshit, who's batman"
He stopped before continuing "I know what you fear. Failure, you need to be the best, if you're not in control you feel people don't trust you, and most of all you fear that your poor little brother will get hurt. Speaking of which, have you seen him today?"
She stared at him with hatred about the fact he was right, not only about her fears but she had yet to see Dick today. The girl, wanting to go above and beyond as she always did, went out for patrol before him, soon after she got taken and she simply just assumed he was safe.
"No." Dove stated honestly with a breath.
He smirked and stood up walking "well, I have" he turned on a light outside the dark window to reveal Robin unconscious, the only thing holding him up was a rope.
One though coursed through her mind.
No time for stalling.
She started to cut the ropes that tied her down with a dagger that was kept in her suit.
"Be my guest child save him." Scarecrow smirked.
She thought this is all too easy but she didn't want to take any chances. She cut the rope and summersaulted out of the chair, throwing it at Crane to throw him off and hopefully buy some time.
She gracefully grabbed one of the gadgets from her belt and rolled it over to the glass. She covered my ears and turned away behind a desk as a loud high pitch noise broke the glass.
Running out from her cover she booked it to the window where he was waiting, if her calculations were correct she could swing and grab him and cut his rope just in time to get them to the other side of the alley.
She took the leap and just as she went to grab her brother he disappeared.
A simple mistake, one she felt she should have caught onto but she couldn't risk her brother getting hurt. The fear toxin had already taken over.
She grabbed onto the rope and her surroundings changed. She was surrounded by a circus tent and a big billboard was shining in my face. An announcer spoke loudly.
"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN" said the robot voice
"THE FALLING GRAYSONS!" His voice going deeper almost as if it shut down at the word 'falling'
With that the circus lost all sound and went grey except for a few police lights. She looked up at the rope she was on to see it breaking. A giant version of scarecrow stood at the top with a knife.
"Bye bye birdie" he said just before cutting the rope.
She felt herself falling as everything went back to normal. She closed her eyes waiting for her back to hit the floor but instead she felt a gust of wind.
The wind stopped and she opened her eyes to see one of her brothers best friends KidFlash putting her on the ground on the busy rainy street.
"Are you ok?!" He asked panicking checking the girl for injuries. His hair was soaked and after a few moments, here was too as she looked up at the ginger who stood a few inches taller than her.
Wallace West was unique to say the least. He'd never admit it at the time (as not to bruise his ego) but he had a massive amount of feelings for Lorelei, and had since they day they met. However, she seemed so preoccupied with pleasing everyone around her, she failed to notice her brothers best friend falling for her.
Wally never understood the way her brain worked, but he could tell underneath her masked eyes that so many gears were constantly turning as if her brain was too fast for the rest of her body. He was able to notice things, though a lot of people didn't take him for the type of guy to do that.
He noticed how her nose twitched just slightly when she was in a situation she found uncomfortable.
He noticed how she was constantly correcting her posture to maybe seem more mature than everyone else.
He noticed how she always tied up her hair when on patrol or doing anything active because she thought it may distract her from doing her best, but she actually would rather have it out freely.
He noticed that whenever he went visit Dick because of his parents arguing she would just so happen to be making too much of Wallys favourite soup and insisted the two boys watch a movie and play with her dogs which she knew he loved, but only offered because her 'friends canceled'.
And above all, he noticed how maturely she acted. How she would do anything and everything to make sure her little brother was safe as well as everyone around her.
He also noticed how she hated being saved because it meant she was a weak woman in societies eyes.
"I'm fine KF, just a few cuts" she told him panting, still a bit wonky from what just happened. "Why are you here? I had that"
"Rob said he couldn't find you, didn't wanna worry the big black bat"
She nodded.
Lorelei Grayson had known Wally since he got his powers and became close with her little brother.
Rory never understood the way his brain worked either. How could such an immature boy be so selfless and caring at the same time? In some ways she was almost jealous of him because of the way he never let anyone bug him.
He was loud, and sometimes it seemed like he thought he was the second coming of christ. Or at least that's what Rory told her friend Roy. He wasn't like other loud boys though, which is what confused her.
Most loud teenage boys she knew had been annoying, rude, harsh, sexist, homophobic, the list goes on and on. The reason the ones she was friends with on the football team were so well behaved is because she doesn't put up with any of that crap. But Wally wasn't like them.
He was actually quite nice, and he stood up for what be believed to be right. Plus he was nice to her brother and Dick liked him so she had to respect that.
She knew he didn't have the best time at home sometimes. His parents had issues revolving around drugs and alcohol and he would occasionally stop by at the manor. Rory did her best to make sure he felt safe and cared for because in her mind, no one should go through that.
They weren't close at first but she had really started to warm up to him and has confidently stated that out of all the Wally's in the world, he was her favourite.
"Oh right! Happy birthday" he handed her a small gift box "you're totally missing your party right now but don't worry, it's only 5pm" he said checking his watch.
"I was gone for that long?" Dove said taking the box as he nodded. She opened the gift to see a silver necklace with a small lightning bolt on the end. She smiled and looked up at him "thank you".
"Oh of course" he told her as he took it from her hands and put it on her "now you'll always remember me"
He turned back to face the girl and winked. She laughed slightly and planted a small kiss on his cheek "you're sweet".
His face went red and just as he was about to speak two bright headlights shined in their faces followed by multiple cop cars. They both looked over to see cops entering the building and Robin rushing over to his sibling.
Dove ran to meet him halfway and was enveloped in a bone crushing hug.
"I couldn't find you! And I looked everywhere! And I didn't want B to panic! And I called KF! But B found out! And I-"
She shushed him and hugged back, "its ok". Just as she said that Batman walked over to the three kids.
"KidFlash" he greeted Wally
"Sir" He said in return
He looked at him then to the necklace around his adopted daughters neck. "That's new"
"It is" she stated
He nodded simply, "are you ok?"
She smiled with a nod of my own.
"Good...now we should all get back home. You have people waiting for you."
The siblings nodded and followed Batman to the car but he stopped.
"KidFlash will you be joining us?" He questioned
Wally ran over to them "absolutely sir!"
And with that they left.