CHAPTER FIVE
i ain't letting up until the day i die
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𝐀urora woke up a little later after she took a nap and found herself in the hallway, almost bumping into someone with silver hair. The redhead rubbed her eyes in confusion and looked back at the unknown person's back as she merely ran away from her. She cursed under her breath, hesitating for a second, but she ended up following the stranger anyway.
"Hey!" Aurora called but the person barely glanced at her and continued to walk faster toward somewhere in the penthouse. She looked like she was trying to get out. Aurora sighed defeatedly. "Stop running."
The girl decided to stop in front of the elevator and Aurora slowed down, knowing she wouldn't be able to get out anyway since the place was pretty guarded up. However, she did feel confused at some point because she had no idea who the hell the girl was and how in the world she got inside the tower.
"Going somewhere?" Rachel asked as she appeared next to the redhead along with Jason and Gar who all looked at the stranger with different expressions. A few untrustful eyes watched her every movement.
Finally getting a closer look at her face, Aurora noticed a couple of prominent things. She has curly silver hair that goes past her shoulders and a patch of white bandage over her eye. Aurora furrowed her brows at her team, seeing that they were totally calm about the situation. She figured they already knew her. Besides, she'd been asleep for a couple of minutes, probably an hour, and she barely heard a thing in her sleep.
Gar snuck a glance her way as he leaned on the table, a couple of feet away from her. From the corner of her eyes, Dick joined their little tag team and cornered the young woman, stern expressions on their faces for some apparent reason. The silver-haired girl slightly tilted her head to the side, staring at the former detective with a look she couldn't recognize.
Whatever it was, Aurora did not like it.
"We need to talk," Dick said to her.
Dick Grayson being Dick Grayson━immediately made them leave so he could talk to the strange girl alone. Begrudgingly, the four youngest of the group left him, ending up around the training room with exasperated expressions on their faces once again. The annoyance was more prominent in Jason Todd. He obviously didn't like being kept in the dark.
The redhead sat on the flat chair next to Rachel in the training room while they waited for Gar to come back with the food they told him to bring from the kitchen. Jason stood alone, messing around with a few weapons on the rack behind the girls. He was strangely quiet for some reason, and for the first time, the girls didn't mind the silence.
Her eyes fell on Gar, a small smile appearing on her lips when he trudged inside the room with a box of food in his hands. He handed one to Rachel and then gave Aurora a can of grape soda pop. Then he decided to sit in front of them, discreetly glancing at Jason before lounging on one of the black blocks around them.
"So what do you think is going on out there?" Gar asked.
Rachel shrugged. "He's probably just trying to find out who she is."
"He's giving her a sell job," Jason retorted. "That's what he does, 'cause he can't resist a stray."
Gar glanced at his best friend to see some reaction but the red-haired girl just sipped her soda, almost like she was avoiding everybody's gaze. He noticed how strangely quiet she was ever since what happened in the bathroom. But he wasn't going to assume anything until she told him something. You don't force something out of someone if you want straight answers.
Either way, a part of him was still freaked out about the bathroom since the mirror had exploded, and nobody else knew about it except the two of them. He didn't tell them though, because he didn't want them to ask her questions she wasn't comfortable with. Besides, it wasn't his secret to tell. If it was one.
"I mean, I knew he'd be bringing in new people," Gar muttered. "I just... I guess I didn't think it'd be so soon."
"We don't even know if we can trust her," Jason said frustratedly. He touched the back of his neck, sounding less pissed off than he let on. "Hell, we don't even know what the fuck she is."
"What she is, is a person who needs help," Rachel retorted.
"Or is she a person?" Gar probed, his eyes widening at his suggestion. His words earned a look from both girls. He looked back at them. "How did she survive the jump?"
They all glanced at Aurora who hadn't spoken ever since they found the girl by the elevator. She raised an eyebrow at them, slowly putting down her can of soda pop. Then she sighed, realizing they probably wanted to hear her opinion. "He's got a point."
"So, you think she's a metahuman?"
"Yeah, or an alien, like Kory."
"Well, if she was like Kory, those cops wouldn't be alive right now."
Jason stopped swinging the staff in the air and turned to them. "She can fight, all right. I'll give her that. Whoever she is, she's had training."
"Did you guys see her eye?" Gar questioned. "When Dick was changing the bandage?"
"What about it?" Rachel asked.
"It was gone. But the wound had already healed."
"Are you serious?" Jason frowned.
Rachel scoffed under her breath at the boys' curiosity about the strange girl. She almost looked amused. "She's been here one hour, and you guys are already obsessed with her."
"She's a freak," Jason said spitefully. "Look, my vote is we kick her ass out."
"Okay, wait," Gar exclaimed, trying to ease the tension around them. "Who says we even get a vote?"
"Who says she even wants to stay?" Rachel quipped. Then she rolled her eyes. "Look, it's hard to believe, but maybe her idea of paradise isn't sharing a bathroom with you, Jason."
The older boy clenched his jaw from annoyance but he ignored her. He looked at the other two and said: "I know how we can find out exactly who she is."
Aurora pursed her lips at their behaviors and placed down the soda pop can on the ground with a quiet sigh. So much for having a normal night. Then again, she was friends with literal heroes and a bunch of kids who had freak powers like herself.
Sometimes, Aurora felt like she was surviving more than living, and sometimes, she just felt nothing at all. Because of that, she kept trying to find ways to make sure that she was still alive and not just an empty body waiting for some miracle to happen. But that's the thing, what if the damage you do is the only thing that reminds you that you're alive?
Aurora could feel herself getting lost in reality, almost like she was fading away from her own consciousness. The only thing that could stop that was going beyond her abilities, which ended up hurting her in the process even without the intention of it.
She felt different. Something had changed within her and she wasn't sure if it was a good thing. She wanted to cry sometimes because she knew that because of her━her relationship with the others was starting to get worse. She could feel them slipping, distancing away from her. And it wasn't because they wanted to. Aurora was the one pushing them away in the first place.
Yet somehow, Gar had never left her side once even when it felt tensed around them. He'd always be there for her just like in old times. That's what he promised ever since he met her back in the Mansion. For a second there, Gar thought about the past. He missed their small adventures. Their other family. But sometimes, you have to let them go so that you can live the life you want.
Aurora was beginning to think she probably never had any idea what she wanted in the first place.
She sat in the corner of the control room, with Gar who was on a spinning chair in front of the controls and the screens. The redhead has her legs crossed, and she held a sketch pad in her hand and a pen in the other one. Constantly chewing the gum in her mouth, and tapping the pen on her thigh as she started thinking quietly.
She'd been trying to figure out what's been happening to her. Listing out the possibilities and questions she had in her mind. If Daimonas left, then why does she still feel so different? The bad kind of different. It's like the moment she faded away, her soul got pulled along with her too. Aurora stiffened Emptiness. Thirsting for power. Wanting to hurt someone or herself.
It was all there, and all she had to do was say it.
Daimonas had been successful after all. She had almost taken over her, and there was only half of her own real self left in her because Daimonas wanted to pull her along with her when she faded from existence. Now she knew why. How she doesn't feel like herself sometimes and how she loses control of her powers more frequently than usual.
Aurora had lost a part of her and now she was hanging on a thread that threatened to snap in half. Just like her control that continues to become worse. And that scared her, because what if she ends up hurting her friends? Or Gar. All she knew was that she needed to do something before it was too late.
She accidentally dropped the pen on the floor, making the boy glance at her with a confused expression on his face. She merely ignored his stare and grabbed the pen from the floor, then began to furiously scribble all of the important thoughts in her mind on the sketchpad like her life mattered on it.
He doesn't need to know. That's what she told herself even if she knew it was unfair. But she doesn't want to worry anyone anymore. She was done being a burden. It was time for her to do something by herself. If it works out.
Jason entered the control room, paying no mind to the redhead as he stood behind Gar. But for a second, Jason felt an inkling feeling that something was wrong with the girl. Her hands were visibly shaking, but when she felt him glancing at her━Aurora quickly tried to act like everything was fine. He turned back to the large screens, waiting for the technology to recognize the new girl's DNA.
"Rose Wilson." Gar read from one of the screens. The redhead looked up from her sketch pad and stared at the screen which showed the new girl's information. "And that's her dad, Slade Wilson."
Aurora immediately noticed the change in Jason's expression when he saw the photo on the big screen. It unnerved her. The boy slowly leaned against the control panel and looked up at the screen with disbelief in his green eyes.
"No fucking way," Jason muttered.
"What?" Gar darted his eyes between him and the screen out of confusion.
Aurora stepped beside him. "What is it, Jason?"
"Deathstroke," He said grimly.
The two teenagers had no idea about what he just blurted out, but by the sound of his voice and the look of horror on his face━they both knew that this guy on the screen was far from good. Little did they know, this was just the beginning and they were in for a long, long ride to hell.