A/N Oh you'd better believe I'm giving you another 7000 and something word chapter, lol
I was gonna post a chapter now and on Wednesday, cause I forgot to post last Wednesday. but there's so many words in this chapter, I think I'll just give you this.
this is just a year in to the story, i didn't want to split it up so you just get the whole time skip dump in one chapter. there won't be a lot of screen time between the start of the story and the actual season-two time period, just enough to set things up and fill things and add in cliches. i have an actual plot on top of the cliches so, you know, whatever.
anyway, enjoy.
"Good Morning Jump City!"
"coming up: a tragic crash; a family driven off the road in our city's fifth accident this month. Real estate Prices; the best times to be buying property and where? And the return of our weekly segment; Jump City's speedster."
Wally groaned, reached for his phone on his night stand without opening his eyes. His hand hit something and he cracked his eyes open: the couch. His hand was hitting the side of the couch.
Great, did he manage to take his shoes off this time?
He sat up; no he had not.
"first up today; the man donning drag to raise money for family's grappling with cancer."
Wally grabbed the remote from the coffee table and turned off the TV.
There was a mug of coffee, half empty, on the table with several documents scattered over the surface. The papers were a mix of invoices, notes from work and records from his superhero stuff.
He gathered up the superhero stuff and sped them to his safe. He needed to make a habit of not letting them lie around, but in the past year he hadn't managed it.
He tipped out his discarded coffee from the night before, washed the mug and then set it on the counter with sugar and put the coffee pot on. He checked the calendar; he didn't have to head into the shop till Friday, he had time to smash out some school work till then.
And he also had to, at some point, save the city from Zoom. No biggie.
Wally poured out the coffee, rubbing at his head. His neck was sore.
The papers on the coffee table moved.
Wally didn't look. His eyes glanced to the window, open, he could've sworn he closed it when he got home last night. He stirred his coffee, trying to look at the corners of the apartment without tipping off whoever had snuck in.
He saw something move.
He grabbed at it. tripping it up and pushing it against the wall.
It couldn't be Zoom, he was way faster than Wally. The only reason he hadn't killed him yet was probably because he liked messing about with Wally.
He finally bothered to get a good look at his attacker-
"Barry?"
"hey Kiddo, want to let me go now?"
Wally dropped him, and stared as his uncle rubbed at his neck and straightened up.
"ow, nice reflexes," his uncle smiled.
"what are you doing here?" Wally asked flatly.
His uncle grimaced and gave him a smile, "can't I check in on my nephew?"
Wally rose an eyebrow, "not this one."
Hs uncle deflated, shoulders drooping.
"look, kid-"
"not a kid."
"uh," Barry huffed awkwardly, "look, uh, I..." he groaned, "I wanted to check on you and... give you something. I was gonna speed in and out before you saw me, seeing as you probably didn't want to see me but-"
"you're rambling," Wally said, crossed his arms with a small smile, "just because I ran off doesn't mean I don't want to see you."
"that's not the impression you gave me."
"well..." Wally rubbed at his hair. He had been ignoring all his calls... "look, that's fair."
Barry chuckled, "I think we've both made mistakes and are at fault for this mess in our own ways, I'm sorry for that."
Wally snorted, "yeah, okay, that's fair," he gestured to his couch, "I'll make you some coffee."
Wally stared at the box. Nothing fancy, not even a ribbon, but there was a letter on top. Barry had planned on leaving it here and running off before Wally noticed.
What was in it? during the entire conversation with Barry he hadn't thought to bring it up. Barry had said he would need it, that it was something that would help. His uncle had offered to stick around, having noticed there was some speedster hanging around causing trouble. Wally told him he had it under control, to leave, that he was fine.
He must have become a rather good liar to have pulled that off.
Wally opened the letter.
'Hey Wally,
I haven't seen you in a while, and I largely blame myself for that. You haven't been picking up your phone, so I figured you didn't want to talk, but I needed to give you this.
The team's okay, they were helping with the search. We still haven't found Dick, but... we're not giving up any time soon. There's been a few new additions and Batman's training a new kid. Iris is doing great, she sends her love.
I'm sorry I never took what you were saying seriously. I get it now. The team talked to the league about their freedom and... well, they seemed hesitant, and like you said all their solutions didn't really fix the problem. Kaldur'Ahm has started running the team more, Batman offers missions here and there and Canary comes in to help with training, but now they're almost their own independent team from the league.
If you want to come back, the invitation is always open. But I'm proud of what you've been doing on your own. You've really grown into your own hero
Now you just need the colours. A long time ago before I was The Flash, I gave a friend some advice, and he gave it to me when I became the speedster I am today. I offer you that advice now:
Wear a mask.
With love and support, always,
Barry.
P.S. you can thank Hal for the design input and Kate for the actual structure.
Wally opened the box and pulled out what was inside.
A uniform- or rather a costume.
Just like his kid flash one but silver, the goggles and accents and computer systems in deep magenta. Along the side a lightning bolt and a utility belt with gadgets. The boots specifically made to deal with his speed- which meant no longer buying a new pair of sneakers every two weeks.
Wally stared at it.
"oh, Caitlyn Snow you've outdone yourself this time."
Dick ducked, a sword slicing through the air above him, right where his head had been. He sprung away, twisting and dodging till he could get around his opponent and start an attack.
"you move like a damn snake!" Alex hissed, "how hard is it for you to stay still?"
Dick cackled, rolling out of a hit and springing back on the attack. His own sword light in his hands as he and his sister traded blows.
They were a storm as they crossed the mats, never still, never stopping. Their swords clashed with ringing crashes, their bare feet silent along the training floor. They seemed a match till Dick dodged a little too late- the sword swung at his head and instead of being safely above him it swung an inch from his neck as he stumbled backwards.
As Dick continued to dodge backwards his head raced, eyes wide as he remembered the blade at his throat. Alex didn't realise, she continued moving and swept Dick's legs from beneath him.
Dick froze, sword dropping from his hand. Alex stood above him, panting.
"You good? usually you'd have moved out of that one," she asked, extending a hand to help him up.
Dick swallowed, shaking his head to try and come back to reality, "I'm fine," he cleared his throat and accepted Alex's extended hand.
Alex gave him a look, very clearly not believing the lie.
Before she could breach the topic, the doors to the training room opened.
The two whipped their heads to the sound, hearing Thalia berating the person who had entered.
"What are you doing? I told you-"
"I live here, I can go where I want," the man said. He was tall, long white hair, an eyepatch, pale, wearing standard clothing expected around the shadows.
Alex seemed to know who it was, Dick had a guess.
"Wilson, you're home early," Alex drawled.
Slade Wilson eyed Dick, "I'm gone for a year and you drag a hero in here?"
Dick glared at him and Thalia glanced between them all.
Right, now he remembered. Alex was Thalia's guard, Wilson was Ra's. Dick didn't know how that could be a good idea, considering Wilson had a mercenary job to pay attention to. Perhaps Ra's just needed someone to fill the position and didn't actually want or need his guard around.
In the past year Wilson had been off on a mission from the shadows, now he was back. Which was brilliant, because Dick had plenty of experience with Deathstroke.
"he's not a hero, he's family," Alex said with a smile and a half-hug to her brother.
"he's Batman's kid," Wilson said, giving Thalia a glare.
Thalia gave him a snooty look, "my father agreed to it, and Dick passed the entrance test with flying colours."
Wilson chuckled and turned away from Dick dismissively, "this is a disgrace to your family's ancestry."
Thalia gave him a cruel smile, "may I speak with you in private?"
She guided Wilson out, looking over her shoulder at Dick and Alex, "keep up the training!"
Alex snorted as the doors closed, twirling her sword absentmindedly, "fuckwad."
Dick snickered, "agreed."
"you two know each other?"
"he and Batman have faced off plenty, he tried manipulating me to turn against him as a power move, yadda, yadda, didn't work." Dick shrugged, "kinda wish it did, it would've saved me a lot of trouble seeing as I ended up here anyway."
Alex smiled, "nah, the past is history, it turned out exactly how it had to for you to get here."
"oh thank you, Sensei Alex, for your wisdom."
"yeah, here's lesson number two," she picked his sword off the mat and handed it back to Dick, "don't lie to your sister and tell her why you froze up."
"oddly specific," he smirked as he took his sword back, "this sounds like misuse of the teacher-student power dynamic."
"I'll give you teacher-student power dynamic," she grinned as she swung her sword in a wide arc. Dick dodged last second, a small cut opening along his bicep where the blade managed to hit.
"hey, that's cheating!" he vaulted away from another hit.
Alex cackled and continued a flurry of attacks and Dick dodged easily.
"you've wounded me!" Dick gasped dramatically as he noticed the cut.
"It'll heal in like a minute," she said as she continued attacking, "quit complaining."
Dick fake pouted as he dodged an attack and used the momentum to turn and swing his leg around to trip Alex. She jumped and rolled out of the trip and Dick moved to attack before she could get her bearings.
The sparring match ended with Dick losing, a not uncommon occurrence seeing as his sister had like fifteen times as much experience as him. Once he managed to make her spar with escrima sticks, he'd won. But his side had hurt from laughing after Alex analysed the sticks with confusion and mumbled, "but there's no sharp side, what do you hit them with?"
After training they went out into the main part of Nanda Parbat. It was basically its own small citadel inside the mountain range. There were so many assassins in the guild, they needed a solid base. There were houses and shops and a school for any children. Alex and Dick favoured a specific café, the first one ever opened in the whole place. It was a family business, and it sold the best coffee he'd ever drank.
Alex was also very close friends with the barista.
"two medium flat whites and a slice of pecan pie," Alex ordered, forcing her faint blush to go away.
"you're getting pie? I want pie," Dick said, "Saabira do you have any-"
"rhubarb and pear pie? Baba made a new batch this morning," Saabira said, "I'll have those out to you soon."
She smiled and Alex ran her hand through her hair as she looked away, pretending to try and find a table. Dick snickered and elbowed her, she pushed his head away with a scowl.
"shut up," she muttered, sitting down in a spot with a good view of the outside.
There weren't cars, the place wasn't big enough, no one had built the streets with huge automobiles in mind. Once people started complaining about how hard it was to get from one end of the place to the other only on foot, Ra's had paths built along the sides of the street for bikes and other small vehicles. Motorbikes were still a no, unfortunately, but Dick still intended to get his hands on a new bike to ride around the surrounding area with.
It did mean that the street was quiet compared to Gotham, something that took Dick months to get used to.
"so," Alex decided to change the subject, "how you gonna deal with Slade?"
Dick groaned, "I have no idea."
Dick walked down the halls of the mansion with very little attention. He knew where he was going, he trusted his feet to get there.
He was too busy putting together all the pieces of the mission he'd just been given. He hadn't had a mission for a good handful of months, it would be good to get out in the field. He'd been out of Nanda Perbat since he had joined the shadows, but it was different when you were in uniform and getting ready to kill someone.
As he was walking his shin bumped into something and he looked down to find a baby.
Dick cracked a smile and picked Damian up, "hey there buddy, what are you doing all the way over here?"
Damian mumbled a bit and stuck his hand in his mouth.
Dick snickered and looked down the hall, Thalia wasn't anywhere, nor was Damian's governess (because in the Al Ghul family you had a governess, not a nanny) Damian probably decided to explore again. That happened rather often. Usually he didn't get all the way to the part of the mansion that was kept aside for work purposes.
Dick sat him on his hip and walked along with him. Babies were great to bounce ideas off of cause all they could do was make sounds and stare.
"so, Dickie's got to kill a mobster tomorrow," Dick said as he started walking, "what do you reckon? Is it suspicious that they're claiming to be able to bring military grade weapons to a measly Metropolis gang? I think it is."
Damian babbled and pulled at Dick's hair.
"thanks buddy," he said, pulling his locks away from Damian's grasp, "you're a great partner in this investigation."
He came to a turn and ran into Slade.
"Grayson."
"Wilson."
"heard you've got a mission."
"yeah," he said, "and?"
"reckon you can handle it?"
Dick raised an eyebrow, "the guy's 5 foot nothing, weighs barely a hundred pounds, works in a journalism industry and majored in English and media studies, I think I've got this."
Damian blew a raspberry and wiggled, Dick set him down on the ground, keeping an eye on him.
"I didn't mean handling the guy, I meant killing him."
"same thing," Dick said without skipping a beat.
"in your line of work it isn't."
"we have the same line of work," Dick said.
Slade laughed, actually laughed, and crossed his arms, "don't lie to me."
Dick rolled his eyes, "okay," he gave Slade a smile, "look, just because I used to work for Batman-"
"oh no, no, no, used to? You still work for Batman, I am 100% sure of that."
Dick almost groaned, "Wilson, I've got a job to do that I would like to have done my homework for, can you get out of my way and leave me alone?"
"I guard Ra's Al Ghul, I am in charge of his security. Like hell am I just letting you wander around so you can tell Bat-turd everything and lead the heroes in here."
"what's it gonna take for me to get you to leave me alone?"
"you physically can't."
"great, so there's no point to this conversation then. Why don't you," he picked up Damian and held him out to Slade, "take him to his room so I can do my job, thanks, unless you'd prefer for a mission given by The Demon's Head himself to go wrong?"
Slade begrudgingly took Damian from Dick and before he could say anything, Dick walked off.
"hey, hold up," Alex said as she grabbed Dick's sleeve.
He stumbled back, pushing his hood back as Alex pulled him aside.
"before you go off on this mission, I had the blacksmith make this for you."
She held out what looked like a piece of fabric, and Dick accepted it with a confused frown.
It seemed to be some kind of armourweave material, a circular band of it about five inches wide. There was some kind of structure to it, like short metal rods had been sewn in lengthwise, with fish scaling that connected them.
"whaaaaaat is this?"
"extra armouring that you can fasten around your neck underneath your uniform," she said, running her hand through her hair, "cause, you know, I wouldn't want you freezing up on a mission. We can talk out the reasoning behind the reaction some time, but for now it'll do."
Dick blinked, "you... had this made for me?"
"yeah," she smiled, "it's armoured material with metal chaining inside, bullets at point blank will go through, but arrows and knives and things won't manage it unless your attacker has Ubu levels of strength."
Dick smiled, "wow, you're such a softie."
"shut up and get to the helicopter pad before Duvall gets tired of waiting."
Dick grinned as he fastened the band around his neck, pulled the uniform collar back over, then shoved the hood over his head.
"I'll see you for breakfast tomorrow."
Duvall was a tall, lanky man about as proportioned as a power-line pole. He had a shiny handlebar moustache that Dick had seen Damian chew on, and he wore monotone suits and top hats. He also was a practical man, the perfect type to be in charge of back-up and transport on missions. He wasn't bored when Dick showed up because he was right on time. Duvall was, however, talking to Slade.
Dick grit his teeth, stormed over. Duvall seemed to notice his demeanour and edged away, Dick glared Slade down.
"What the fuck do you want?"
"I'm watching you tonight," Slade said, a small smile appearing as if he'd just fucking caught Dick red handed, "I'm catching you in your lies bird-boy."
"oh, for the love of," Dick pinched the bridge of his nose, "I have a genuine mission tonight, a job, if you get in my way, I don't give a damn about who you are, I will-"
"what?" Slade grinned, "go to Batdad and tell on me? Listen here you little shit, I don't have proof yet, but you bet your ass I'm gonna find some tonight."
"whatever," Dick sighed, "come along for all I care, you can watch on while I slit this guy's throat, then we can have it out afterwards. But I intend to do the job I'm here for, then we can argue."
"fine by me," he grinned, stepping out of the way and guiding him to the door of the helicopter.
Dick jumped inside, placing his bag next to the other side's door and leaning forward to the driver's seat where Duvall was firing things up.
"anything to report?"
"none sir," Duvall said, "I'll drop you at the usual Metropolis point, where would you like pickup?"
"McDowell tower, I'll alert you if emergency pick up is necessary," he said as he took his comm and made sure it was fastened in his right ear, "Slade's tagging along, so I doubt I'll need to call you in for backup."
"jolly good," Duvall grinned.
Dick leaned back into his seat, pulling on the helmet and holding one out to Slade as Duvall started firing up the engine.
"Will miss Isabel be joining us tonight?" Duvall asked over the comms.
"she'll be meeting us there," Dick said.
"Isabel?" Slade asked, "I thought this mission was supposed to be just you?"
"where Dick goes Isabel goes, don't you know?" Duvall said.
Dick rolled his eyes, "spotted owl, 'bout this big," he said, holding his hands about a foot and a half apart, "met her a year ago, she's helped me out of plenty of trouble."
"You're mission partner... is a bird?"
"don't knock her till you meet her." Duvall grinned.
The blades were finally fast enough and Duvall began lifting off, Slade cleared his throat and gripped the handle along the ceiling next to the door. Dick sat with one leg on the other, reclining with ease. He leaned his head to the window to watch the ground drop out from beneath them. Duvall lurched the helicopter, turbulence hitting as they sped up into the air. Slade grunted and gripped the handle tighter, pointedly not looking out the window.
Dick held in laughter the entire trip. As much as he'd love to make fun of Slade it probably wouldn't make dealing with him any easier.
They landed at LexCorp tower, thankfully with no meeting crew. Dick had had to deal with Luthor once and he did not want to go through it again.
Duvall flew off- not having actually landed- and Dick lead Slade to a building adjacent where they could take cover without being spotted by cameras. As he put his bag of gear down by a wall Slade leaned back, making no effort to mask how he watched Dick's every move.
Dick stood straight, held out his arm, and Isabel swooped in, landing with grace and rubbing her head into Dick's neck before beginning to preen.
"aw, she's cute," Slade said, voice dry and drawling, "can't see the use though."
Dick scratched behind Isa's head, voice calm and completely at ease as he said, "she's bred specifically for this line of work, right from the Court of Owls aviary."
Slade froze on the spot.
Dick shot him a smile as Isa fluttered to the ground. He picked the bag up and turned to the edge of the roof.
"Stuart Kessel is due to be in his apartment in about fifteen minutes, it's about that long to get there by my standards, coming?"
Slade was still frozen and staring at him, Dick didn't wait till he snapped out of his shock. He secured his bag and turned away, Isa set off flying to follow. He fastened his hood so it would stay up and pulled the cloth up over his mouth. The extra cover over his neck kept it warm, which was a second benefit he appreciated. He made sure his weapons were secure and then jumped off the roof.
If he was watching he'd have seen Slade's head whip to the edge of the building as he sped over. Dick didn't see it, he was too busy swinging on a beam connected to another building, parkouring along to the next building. He turned to see Slade's copper and black mask. He held his hands in a semi-shrug and muttered over the comms:
"you coming?"
Slade seemed to grunt and roll his eyes, but he followed.
Dick made sure he could see Isa, as always she was circling above.
"try to keep up," Dick snickered to Slade as he started running off again.
Isa settled onto the rail next to the two and puffed her feathers, preening. No one was around and stalking them, all clear. Dick nodded to Slade, both standing on either side of the huge window that led to the fire escape. Inside a few warm lights were turned on, they could hear the shower going in the nearby bathroom of the apartment.
"how you want to play it?" Slade asked.
"get in before he's out, you start seeing if you can find any sign of documents or information to do with these weapons he's apparently got. I'll hide and jump him, restrain him. we'll see if we can get anything out of him then kill him." Dick leaned in, checking once more that there was no one inside the apartment other than Kessel, "let's keep this quick and professional."
Slade nodded and Dick opened the window, sliding in. he kept to the wall, moving around furniture as Slade followed him inside.
Dick checked the surroundings, familiarising himself with the layout. As Slade started quietly rifling through things, Dick turned down the hallway. Once Kessel was out of the bathroom he'd probably head to the bedroom. Dick couldn't trust he was the type to get dressed in the bathroom so he figured he'd hide in what seemed to be a guest bedroom/study. He didn't care for attacking naked people.
once Kessel walked past, Dick snuck back out, giving him a couple minutes. Then he peeked in. Kessel threw a bathrobe over his nightshirt and boxers. He didn't seem to have any weapons on him.
as Kessel made his way to the door Dick stood to the side. He hid behind the door as Kessel slipped into the hallway, then jumped him from behind.
Before Kessel could do anything he held a knife under his throat, "do me a favour and shut up."
He had two dining chairs tucked into a very small table, so Slade and Dick tied him to one. Finally turning on the lights.
"did you find anything?"
"nothing, we'll have to get information out of him ourselves," Slade said.
"Brilliant," Dick sighed.
As much as he was well-and-truly one of Ra's Al Ghul's assassins and could do the job, he still didn't much care for interrogations. At least, not their type of interrogation. He was a pro at what the heroes did. He just couldn't get into the violence of the assassins way of getting information.
"I'm not telling you anything," Kessel grunted.
Slade laughed, pulled out his dagger, "you sure about that?"
"you think you scare me?" Kessel snorted, "you're just some mercenary. A famous one, but still a mercenary."
Isa glided in and rested on the back of Kessel's couch. She flapped her wings as she got comfortable, making a trilling sound.
Slade glanced between the bird and Dick, "what's that mean?"
"it means there's no threats around," Dick said, watching as Isa wandered along the couch and tried to find somewhere comfortable, "and she's restless. This has been a very boring mission so far."
Kessel scoffed, "didn't realise Deathstroke had a kid."
"he's not-"
"if you're gonna talk Kessel, at least make it interesting," Dick said, took Slade's dagger and absentmindedly twirled it in his hand.
Slade seemed happy to let him take the lead, it was his mission after all. But Dick could feel his surprised stare on the back of his neck.
"I'm not scared of the world renowned merc over there, boy, what makes you think you're any more terrifying?"
Dick could stomach this, he knew he could. But he didn't want to. He could kill a man but this was something that required... enjoyment.
But he couldn't let on. Kessel wouldn't give them anything if he didn't believe Dick would make him hurt. And Slade was very likely to lose any belief in his loyalties if he couldn't do this.
Dick took a deep breath. He could rely on his new skills and habits on this mission so far. But Alex hadn't exactly sat down and taught him how to beat the shit out of a person till they told him everything he wanted to know.
So he fell back on old teachings.
He twirled the blade once more and stabbed it into Kessel's thigh. He stood back up, nonchalant and arms crossed, Kessel writhed as he bit back a yelp.
"you claim to be able to bring military-grade weapons at a low price, to a mere metropolis mob."
"mere? It's a mob-"
"I grew up in Gotham, your gangs are child's play," Dick sighed, "where are you getting the weapons and how?"
"go fuck yourself kid."
"charming."
Slade edged closer, facing away from Kessel and leaning in to mumble, in Afghani, "I can take care of this if you want."
Dick rolled his eyes, "this is my mission. Besides, he knows you'll just kill him. he doesn't think I can, and I know how this kind of guy works."
"what do you mean?"
"there are some things Batman taught me I can still use."
Dick shouldered passed Slade and glared down at Kessel, "last chance."
Kessel snorted.
Dick took out his escrima stick, "have it your way."
The thing with Batman is his no kill rule was a very big extreme. There's a lot you can do to a person before they're dead.
Batman usually kept such technicalities to when he was alone on missions. The justice league would never stand for it, but they knew it happened. They turned a blind eye because Batman was honestly the person who kept the whole thing running. But it wasn't uncommon for Batman to send Dick off on some unnecessary task while he beat the living shit out of someone for information.
Dick usually finished the meaningless task before Batman was done with his task. So he would come back and hide in the shadows and watch.
Bruce knew, he always knew that Dick had seen it. he never spoke about it.
Dick wasn't sure when Slade left to stand on the fire escape. He wasn't sure when he changed from his escrima stick to his knife. he wasn't sure when Kessel had stopped making sarcastic comments between hits.
But eventually Dick stood back and wiped away the blood on his cheek. He wasn't sure when that got there, either.
Kessel breathed in, collapsed on himself and a husk in his breath.
Dick grabbed his hair and pulled his head back, "anything you want to tell me?"
Kessel laughed, "I've... got to admit," he took a deep breath, wincing, "not bad kid."
Dick glared.
"but you're not gonna kill me."
"Oh, I will, but nothing I do will make you believe that," Dick smiled beneath his mask, knowing the gleam in his eye would give it away, "but I'm sure you can believe that you won't leave this room unscathed."
He let go of Kessel's hair and stood back, unsheathing his sword and letting his dagger stay loose in his left hand, "how often do you use your right leg?"
Kessel's eyes blew wide.
Dick hovered his sword over Kessel's shoulder, "or maybe you'd prefer to lose your arm?"
Kessel's voice shook as he said, "I don't- uh, you- well."
Dick didn't wait for an answer, he stabbed his sword into his shoulder, right below the joint, safely avoiding the artery.
Kessel shrieked. Dick watched, noticing how Slade turned to the window. Isabel fluttered on the couch.
"how about I chop off all your limbs and dump you at the nearest hospital, let them decide what to do with you?"
He wouldn't. the mission was very clearly to kill him, getting information was a bonus. But Kessel wasn't scared of dying, he was scared of his boss. But more importantly, he liked his life the way it was. If he believed Dick would completely ruin the way he liked it, but not give him the satisfaction of dying, he'd hand over the information in favour of keeping his normal life. Or dying. Whichever seemed better.
Dick twisted his sword. Kessel whined, actually whined.
"I- can't, no," Kessel grunted, "fuck you."
Dick rolled his eyes and pulled out his sword.
"if that's how it is," Dick said and stabbed his sword into Kessel's thigh, right next to where Slade's dagger had gone not too long ago.
Kessel shrieked. Dick put more weight on his sword. It had almost definitely hit the artery at this point.
As Dick wrenched it out Kessel coughed, trying to shake off the pain.
"fine," Kessel got out through clenched teeth.
Dick grabbed his hair once more, glaring and holding his hilt tight, "talk."
Kaldur stood at attention, watching as his teammates lined up as well.
Batman stood before them, arms crossed, Canary as well.
"what's our mission?" Zatanna asked, clearly excited. She'd been looking for distractions as of late, they were coming up on the anniversary of Robin disappearing and Wally walking away from all of them.
"there is no mission, we're here to break some..." Canary trailed off, glancing at Batman, "unfortunate news."
Batman took the lead, "it's been a year..." but not even he seemed to know how to say what they needed to, "the search for robin has been closed."
Kaldur tensed, looking between the team's mentors, "what?"
"his secret identity was also being searched for, the police have put the case to bed, according to them he is..." Canary sighed, "legally dead."
"there is no way," Conner grit his teeth, "there is no way Robin is dead, we can't give up on him."
"we aren't," batman said, "but the league will no longer be putting their resources into finding him."
"so you've found someone to make your replacement and now you've given up on Robin?" Artemis hissed.
Batman glared. "we have no more information to bring you. No mission." He turned and walked away, unfaltering.
Canary looked between the team and Batman. she sighed, "I'm sorry guys."
"no you're not," Kaldur said.
Everyone's face whipped to him, Batman froze.
Kaldur glared at Canary and then at batman's back. he turned and walked away.
As he exited the room he heard the zeta tubes fire up, Batman and Canary exiting the mountain. His teammates didn't follow. Kaldur walked, alone, to the beach outside the mountain, the night sky dark above him, the city's lights removing any chance of seeing the stars.
He stood in the water, letting it rise to his knees, pushing against his shins.
Years ago he'd left the ocean to be a hero and save people, and he would never go back on that decision. He'd met so many people and made amazing friends as Aqualad. And now he was slowly losing them all. One by one.
He would not quit the team they had made together, would not abandon the legacies left behind. He'd build them up. Wally had left because he lost hope in what they were striving for, thinking he had to do it on his own. Kaldur begged to differ.
He'd make the team what it was supposed to be, for his friends.
Their motley crew of four, Roy and Kaldur and Wally and Robin, friends that had grown up together. He would stay behind so that their time, their past, was not forgotten.
It still mattered to him.
Dick turned the tap off, drying his hands with a towel that he tossed into the basket under the sink. He'd managed to clean off all the blood he could without stripping off and getting in a shower. He just had to look semi-presentable so he could walk down the halls to his room.
"quite the mess on your gear tonight," Duvall said as he walked by, noticing his gear in the basket he'd take to his room so he could clean and maintain it.
Dick shrugged, "wasn't all that eventful."
Duvall nodded then gave Isa a smile of acknowledgment. He walked away, leaving Dick at the cleaning station. Dick didn't watch as he went inside, instead glancing at the open sky above the helicopter pad, slowly becoming brighter.
Slade finished at the other sink, looking much less bulky without all his armour.
Isa fluttered onto Dick's arm and he absentmindedly scratched behind her head, turning towards the door.
Slade spoke before he was too far away, "the court of owls."
Dick stopped, looked at Slade over his shoulder.
Slade continued, "how'd you get the bird from them?"
Dick was quiet, "she followed me, actually."
"why?"
Dick glanced at the sky again, dawn was growing ever closer.
"because I needed a way out of their maze."
"why were you in their labyrinth." Slade said, taking a step closer.
Dick was quiet. His face didn't change, for all Slade could tell he was completely emotionless. Inside, he was thinking of the feeling of a scalpel dragging across his neck.
"I went investigating."
"why?"
"why do you care?"
"because I didn't take you for the insane type."
Dick studied Slade, behind him the sun grew closer to the horizon, tiny bits of light silhouetting Slade's silver hair.
Eventually Dick decided to tell him. it wasn't like there was a good reason for Slade to not know.
"I was supposed to be one of their Talons. Before their whole society was utterly destroyed."
Slade watched him, processing but also trying to decide whether or not he believed Dick.
Dick gave him a shrug, Isa made an annoyed sound at the movement. Dick turned and walked away.
Slade had been convinced.
Dick crashed on his bed and allowed himself a nap, so that he'd had some sleep in the past 24 hours. By the time he'd gotten up and had some breakfast it was 8:30, and he headed to his sister's room.
He peeked in and she wasn't there, but the door to her ensuite was cracked open and a light was on.
Dick sighed. It had been one of those nights.
He opened the door a bit further and turned off the bright light, instead flicking on the tiny warm-toned light next to the mirror. He picked up the syringe by Alex's arm, with a tissue, and placed it on the counter.
"morning," he murmured, noticing Alex's eyelids slightly cracked open.
She groaned a response.
Dick kept his steps quiet and his demeanour unobtrusive. He found the stuffed toy on the shelf in her room and handed it to her.
"peanut says it's gonna get better in a bit," Dick said.
Alex made a face but still cuddled the stuffed elephant to her chest, "peanut's... not a doctor," she slurred.
"about when?"
"like... 2:30. Tooth hurty."
Dick smiled slightly. That was about when he'd finished carving up Kessel.
"how much." If he knew how much she'd injected herself with he could figure out how much longer she had till she was down enough to let Thalia see her.
"like... one."
"one drug?"
"One singular drug." She smiled slightly.
"amazing," dick said dryly. It couldn't have been too much, Dick had only found one syringe. She was probably almost lucid.
Alex snickered a bit then winced.
"do you want some water?"
"yup."
Dick got her a glass of water, half full, and a muesli bar. An extra one for him.
He didn't have to tell her to go slow, she knew. This had happened enough. Dick leaned against the wall, adjacent to her leaning against the bathtub.
After a bit Dick spoke again.
"what was it this time?"
Alex shrugged dejectedly, "just needed to."
Dick nodded.
"nightmares?"
"just the usual one."
The Lazarus pits.
Dick swallowed. When Alex had told him the story, the horrific battle as she protected Thalia from a rival assassin group, Dick had thought nothing too worrisome about it. yes she'd been badly injured, but that wasn't uncommon.
He didn't realise she'd been killed. Thalia had had to put her in the pits.
Dick glanced at the syringe, sitting on the bench next to the sink. There was still a slight green haze to it.
"you can't keep doing this to yourself."
"I beg to differ."
"Alex," Dick tried.
"Dick," she said in the exact same tone.
Dick sighed and looked away.
There were all kinds of aftereffects to going in the pits. What you got depended on all kinds of things. Alex had this one. The nightmares and insanity of leaving the pits had driven her to dive back in, just a week later. Thalia had been trying to get her past it, but it wasn't a straight path to recovery.
And, in the end, chemically altered Lazarus was better than the real thing. It gave the high and got rid of the itch, without the possible damage the pits could cause by being exposed without injury.
"how'd your mission go? I heard Slade went along."
"yeah," Dick said with a shrug, "he was annoying, but he's off my back now."
Alex nodded.
"Thalia was considering asking him to train you."
Dick raised an eyebrow.
"he thought you couldn't be trusted cause of who trained you, so..." she shrugged, "why not let him be convinced?"
Dick shrugged, "it'd be educational."
"yeah, and I wouldn't have to train you."
Dick feigned insult.
"hey, I don't wanna train you, you're too snarky," she grinned, "plus, mentors need to be way more strict than I will ever be on you."
"ever the nepotist."
"how dare."
Dick cackled.
"besides," Alex shrugged, "I'd rather spend my time with you playing video games or something... sibling stuff."
"that's fair." Dick shrugged, "honestly, I'm the same."
"wooo," Alex mumbled with no enthusiasm.
Dick chuckled, "need a hand getting to your bed?"
"absolutely."
For the first time in the past hour, Wally stopped.
He breathed in, he breathed out. His muscles were still taught and everything hurt, and his head was buzzing.
But Zoom was gone.
Wally stared at the spot where he'd disappeared, absorbed by the speed force. The grass had turned black, slowly becoming less and less dead as it got further from the spot Zoom had been standing on, until it became green under Wally's feet. Around him the city was in havoc, a few buildings on fire, a helicopter had crashed, the hospital had been completely cut off from power and... Wally wasn't sure, but he might have brought the top half of a skyscraper down. Zoom had slammed him into something pretty hard, and his vision had gone hazy but he was pretty sure he remembered dodging a giant falling structure.
As he finally allowed himself to stop ignoring everything, he was washed over with immense amounts of pain.
Yeah, that was probably the skyscraper.
He groaned, letting himself fall to his knees and catch his breath. Just one second then he'd be up. He had to head in to the shop tomorrow, Pizzo had like three cars in that needed fixing. And he had assignments to hand in in a week.
But he needed like, two seconds, that was it. then he'd be up. He just needed a moment.
Evidently he wasn't going to get it.
A helicopter swooped in overhead, Wally wasn't looking at it but if he did he'd see it was for a news broadcast. Someone with a camera was leaning out the window like an idiot.
As Zoom failed to reappear, people began to jump over the police barricade that had been set up. Just one or two, then a bunch, then the cops were on them and cutting them off.
But a bunch of reporters swarmed, and Wally knew he should get up and run off before any of them could get close. Dealing with reporters was never fun and he didn't trust himself not to give information away.
But he was so damn tired.
As a reporter got close Wally readied himself. He should stand up, he should smile, he physically couldn't.
"QuickStart! QuickStart!"
Oh he hated that name so much. He hadn't chosen it, the news started calling him that.
Maybe he could just collapse, lay down and become the ground, that sounded fun.
"QuickStart what did-"
"move it!"
"but-"
"Get out of here! Give him some air!"
Wally frowned, before he could look up there was a hand at his elbow, pulling him to his feet. He wasn't ready to stand, his legs gave way and the person holding him up almost let him fall. He grabbed him around Wally's back, swinging the other arm over his shoulder. Wally didn't even think, he sunk into the crutch.
"off with ya! The JCPD will have a statement from him for you by tomorrow morning!"
Wally really wanted to pass out, but he checked who was carrying him first.
"Joe?"
"Easy QuickStart, take a breath, I'll get you away from this lot, just breathe."
Wally blinked, mind working too slow to figure out why this man was helping him. This was commissioner Joe West, from the Jump City Police Department. This was his great uncle, as in Iris's dad.
What a coincidence.
He'd avoided him the past year as Wally, as QuickStart he'd seen the man a few times.
Either way, Joe brought him to an unmarked police car, likely his own, and helped him into the passenger seat.
Wally passed out.
Wally woke up in his great uncle's house.
For a moment he didn't remember what happened, but he figured it out when he saw he was still in his suit. His mask was still secure over his face. His faster healing had brought everything to aches and bruises at this point, although maybe he was still healing from an injured rib. He wasn't sure, he wasn't a doctor.
He cracked his eyelids open, wincing as he moved an arm, a glass of water was shoved into his face. He blinked at it and looked up to the person offering it, his great aunt.
"come on dearie, up you get."
He forced himself up and accepted the glass with a 'thank you' clearing his throat afterwards.
"I'll go get Joe," she said.
Wally sat up, a hand to his head. he watched as Joe walked in.
"I, uh, hope you don't mind. The hospital was full and chaotic enough as is," he said as he sat down on a chair. Wally finally noticed he was in a lounge room, sprawled across a couch.
"not at all, thank you," Wally said, trying to figure out how to handle this.
Barry had only told a few family members, Iris's parents didn't know. Not for any reason other than they didn't have to.
"you did damn well, kid," Joe said, "the whole city should be thanking you."
"that's not why I do it."
Joe nodded, face contemplative.
"ask."
Joe raised an eyebrow.
"I can tell you want to ask me something, go ahead."
Joe smiled a small bit, "why do you do it?"
Wally pursed his lips, "because I can," he shrugged, "I've got this power, if I don't use it then what's it for?"
"you could become the world's fastest sprinter."
"I suppose," Wally snickered, shaking his head, "but no. I... I have a duty to uphold. This world would be amazing if everyone with the power to help did so."
Joe nodded, "you remind me of someone, my son-in-law, you'd get on well."
Wally snorted. Joe gave him a funny look.
Wally shook his head, "you have no idea how right you are."
Joe frowned, clearly wanting to ask what he meant. Wally just smiled.
"I have to go," he said.
"of course, the reporters await."
"no, I have... work," Wally sighed.
"I'd take a break if I were you," Joe said.
"can't let on," Wally smiled.
"I think enough people got injured today that it won't be obvious."
"not taking that chance," he said as he stood.
"wait-"
And Wally sped away.
extra A/N after upload
i forgot to title this. what the fuck. my god, lol, no extra update today, just putting in a title so it's not just 'untitled chapter 8' or whatever