“They have to be happy together.” I threw a tin can off the roof and watch it land in the dumpster below. “I mean who am I to come between Nightwing and Batgirl.” My hand clenches around the building's edge causing pieces of it to crumble from my strength.
“You gotta calm down, bythgr (Queen), Duchess. Let’s just sit here and watch the sun set." Zombie sits beside me, he holds my hand while we stare up at the sun.
"Your path depends on their next moves. "
I sigh slowly turning my head to look at him. "Zombie, I'm just a girl, broken, battered, and beaten. Plus they have a connec-"
He stops me in my tracks standing up and looking down at me. "Duchess, stop. The next move doesn't depend on you, it's his heart that will continue. Batgirl or not, he'll turn over a new leaf. I can feel that pain, even if it's mentally, my body feels it, like it is my own." He sighs as he pulls off his red helmet shaking loose his hair.
I roll my eyes as I look behind him, “It feels like a tear in my heart, like a part of me is missing. Jason,” I stand up and look down at our feet, “Can, can you hold me?” My eyes slowly lift up followed by my head, soon my eyes meet his blue orbs, “Please, I just, I need someone to hold me.” A tear slowly slides down my right cheek as he wraps me in his arms. If lonely is what I have to be, then I will not be lonely here.
“Put your arms around me Duchess. Just put your arms around me. Let it all out, let the tears fall.” He leans his head against mine and gently sways back and forth. “A little kitten and a zombie were dancing on the rooftop.” He hums for a moment as we sway.
“The sound of ninjas training in the background and the kitten resting her head on the zombie’s shoulder. They did this often every time they came home from fighting.” My voice is weak as my breathing is shallow and my muscles tense. I lay my head on his shoulder as my body shudders almost as if I am cold.
“Just relax. Let me tell the story Cat-El.”
“That’s not my name.” I glare at him.
He leans his head against mine, “We would come home to the compound and debrief from our mission then head off to dance on the roof. Nothing was ever said between us and nothing was ever needed to be said, we could always feel each other's emotions. My calm emotions would flow through your body as your pain and anxiety would flow through mine. Close your eyes and let me take it away. Your pain, your loss, your suffering and heartache are mine. I feel them.” He continues to sway slowly with the wind with the sun shining down on us.
A deep sigh escapes from my mouth as I open my eyes, “Thank you Jason. I needed this, you’re still a horrible story teller.” I slightly smile as I see his lips twitch upwards. “Put your helmet on and wait for the darkness. I wanna go cause trouble.” I lift my head from his shoulders and nod slightly as his hands rest on my hips. “I want to help you with your cause, Dick chose his forever. I’m picking mine. Yes he is my soulmate, but you and I are connected too, dhehraoghehd (Death).” A blur of blue passes behind us without us knowing.
**FlashBack**
It’s late one night when Ra’s walks into my room and demands that I go with him. I follow behind The Great One weaving in and out of the compound hallways until we are in one of the rooms beside the Lazarus Pit. Walking towards my normal place beside the door Ra’s speaks up, “You will be prepared to place the body.” His voice is sharp as his eyes meet mine causing me to take a short shallow breath.
I give him a quick nod and take my place beside a table, to let the other ninjas in the room help me get prepared for the ceremony of the pit. There is silence in the room as my hair is braided down my back along with golden paint is drawn on my hands and feet. At seventeen I have performed these ceremonies four times now. Closing my eyes I feel the brush glide over my cheek, nose and other cheek. A chevron is painted on my forehead and my eyes open with a bright red color fading into a permanent green.
Ra’s reenters the room giving a curt nod before turning around and walking into the large room where the Lazarus Pit is held. Following behind I keep my eyes to the floor so I don’t have to see the fallen assassin Ra’s wants to bring back to life. Silence. No sounds at all resound in the room. Not a water dropping, not a hum, not even breathing can be heard. Deafening silence awaits the room as Ra’s makes his way to the head of the Lazarus pit while I walk to the foot of the pit.
Tilting my head up to meet the eyes of the man I call tynth (Master). Ra’s raises a hand and all heads in the room turn to face him. He barely twitches his fingers and a younger assassin walks up beside me holding a body wrapped in cloth. “Tonight, we will right a wrong that was never supposed to have been done. A crime the clown committed a year ago shall be rectified. Bring forth the boy." Ra’s hand lowers, as if pointing downwards toward the pit.
I turn and face the assassin holding the body. Gracefully I bow before I gently take the body and hold it against my body as my left foot steps into the water of the Lazarus Pit. Breathing in deeply I continue into the water until I am waist deep. My eyes look up to Ra’s and he nods, telling me it is okay to place the body into the water. My eyes look down towards the face area of the body and I whisper softly, “:zhehiodia ue sit (Living Brother, awake).” The body floats a short ways away from my body before it sinks down into the waters of the pit.
Bubbles start to surround us and the wrappings begin to fade and disappear from the body revealing a boy around the age of 14. A sharp pain shoots through my body, like a lighting bolt, causing me to fall face first into the pit's torrent of violent waters. I began curling in on myself trying to let the waters soothe my pain, the boy's eyes open into a dark green color. No white and no pupil can be seen in his eyes. His mouth opens as his body arches in pain, while a muffled scream leaves my mouth from the pain I’m feeling. I hear the water thrashing along with screams and people saying stop, but my body is in pain as I float deeper into the depths of the pit with my eyes closed and the world fading away. Eventually everything becomes dark and silent.
The feeling of breathing close to my left ear causes my eyes to pop open as I sit up breathing heavily. “NO!” Eyes darting around the room as my breathing continues to be short and shallow, trying to recognize where I am. Slowly my eyes make their way to the corner of the room, seeing the room is empty. I rock myself as I sit on the floor. “Nothing will hurt me. Nothing will hurt me. Nothing will hurt me.” A slow, steady, shaky breath enters and leaves my body.
Three rooms over I hear a boys voice whispering, “Batman and Robin were on a mission. Batman has been looking for a girl long before Robin joined him. They had a new lead that a former assassin and Joker knew where this girl happened to be. The leads never panned out and three months later Robin and Batman were on another mission when Joker kidnapped Robin.” The boy's voice breaks for a moment then I hear a sharp intake of air.
“Joker tortured me and beat me with a crowbar before blowing me up. Everything went dark. I felt nothing until an overwhelming sensation of pain and complete calmness at the same time.” The sound of a door opening and soft footsteps echo. “I can feel your panic. I bet you can feel my panic and frustration, but I’m trying to piece this together and calm us both down.”
Eyeing the door and seeing a lost, scared, scarred boy I release a breath of air and stand up. Stand of hair slides across my face and covers my right eye as I walk towards the door. The sound of his heart beat fills my ears along with another heartbeat. The soft rapping of knuckles on my door causing my eyes to focus on the eyes of the boy behind the door. “Can you hold me?”
i dub the cat in the first picture to be called Catwing
the second cat is unrelated and id drawn it a while ago, her name’s gloryswift and basically she fell into her sister’s trap meant for their enemy and well.... yknow
Jason puts on his helmet and walks to the staircase, “Come on Duchess I have a date with Sionis.” He lets out a chuckle and runs down the stairwell leaving me on the roof.
Shaking my head, my eyes flash green, slowly my hair is braided to the side and I’m no longer wearing a ninja tunic. My clothes are replaced with leather leggings and a black leather jacket with a cat eye in green stitching on the back. “Black mask and the Zombie. I’ll pay tickets to watch this.” Taking a few steps back from the roof ledge I smile then run jumping off the roof and diving down to the street below.
A red motorcycle comes out of a hole in the wall and speeds beside me as we race down the streets of Gotham city. The dark empty streets are perfect for racing, I could see my reflection through the shimmer on the motorcycle. Jason smirking as I fly past him, "Not much further, be ready for a sudden stop." Jason begins slowing down, I turn around and get close beside him.
Jason parks his bike and I land behind him. He gets off the bike and looks at me through the lens on his helmet. "Looks like I won. Sionis normally is a coward and hides up in the steel mill."
Using my x-ray vision, I sense that he is inside, "Looks like seven people inside, including Sionis. What did you need him for anyway?"
Jason chuckles again, as we stalk towards the entrance of the factory. "That's a surprise Duchess. Now watch Zombie in action. Would you prefer a stealth approach or guns blazing?" He takes the safety off of his pistols and I can see a smirk under that helmet of his.
"Surprise me Red." With my three words, Jason bursts through the door, quickly killing 2 of the men inside.
Jason looks towards the third man, "Take me to Black Mask, NOW." He puts the gun to the man's head, as the man leads the two of them to him. Leading them upstairs as he takes out more of the armed men in the process.
"Only three men left In the building, Death."
Jason's small smirk tells me a story. "He’s probably heard the shots, I assume he's on the highest floor, hiding away. Typical coward." We enter the 4th floor, looking around and seeing nothing but boxes. Jason yells out, "Normally I wouldn't cut you a deal, but the man I have here can be saved if you just cooperate Black Mask."
“In your dreams Hood.” A glint of light shines off the barrel of Black Mask’s gun as he raises it up from the shadows aiming at Jason’s heart.
I jump in front of Jason without even realizing it, the bullet fires, flying at a speed normal people would never see it. My eyes watch the bullet as it crosses the room. It hits my chest, at the bottom of my ribcage, leaving a hole in the leather jacket. I look down then back up at Black Mask with a smirk on my face. The bullet lands on the ground, crumpled and bent giving off the sound of a metal coin falling on a concrete floor. My eyes flash red as I tilt my head to the side. “You shouldn't have done that.”
In two steps I’m across the room hiding in the darkness behind Black Mask. I’m close enough to see his body attempting not to tremble with fear.His breathing is slow and calculated while he still has his pistol raised in Jason’s direction. I reach out and grab the pistol throwing him against the wall. “Burn.” Papers next to his body start to burn from the focus of my heat vision.
Fingers wrap around my arm pulling me back into Jason’s armored chest. “Stop. We only came to steal his client list.” His fingers leave my arm as he makes his way to the safe, “A little help Midnight.” His head tilts in the direction of the lock on the safe.
I roll my eyes as I walk in that direction, “Lev rrup, (Behind you.)” My eyes look at the glass window at the complete darkness. I move fast as I rip off the door to the safe and grab as many files as I can before Batman and Red Robin bust through the window. “Told you Zombie.” I instantly hide in the darkness of the room and watch Jason lift a gun to Batman. I feel jealousy rush through Jason's emotions quickly before he snuffs out all his emotions.
“Don’t take a step in my direction. You can’t be trusted around me.” Jason’s voice is cocky as a smirk plays under his helmet.
Red Robin slowly moves to check on the people Jason has already shot before cautiously walking towards Black Mask and the burning paper around him.
Jason takes a step around Batman and briefly whispers, “Hi Bruce,” as softly as he can before Jumping out the window. He laughs as he falls before he launches a grappling hook and lands safely below.
I whisper from the dark making my way to the window, “Be careful with them, the Robins will all do whatever it takes to survive.” My eyes lock with Bruce’s as I crawl through the window seal. I see sadness and betrayal behind his eyes just like he can see the same emotions in mine. I hover a small ways away from the window seal before I speak louder so he and everyone else can hear me. “I’m erasing myself from the narrative. Let people wonder what happened when you all broke my heart. He has torn me apart for the last time.” I took a step back on the air and looked up at the boy in blue, “I'm watching it burn. The world has no right to my heart. You forfeit all rights to my heart.”
I fall to the earth below stopping an inch from the ground while keeping eye contact with Nightwing sitting on the roof. A small tear slides down my cheek before evaporating from the heat coming from my eyes as I set a car on fire and launch myself into the atmosphere above. I stop right before I leave Earth's Atmosphere and just float. I don’t really need air to breath and I can cancel out the noises of down below and just let my mind rest.
My eyes slowly close as my hair comes loose from its braid and floats behind me in waves, my clothes transform from the destroyed leather jacket and pants to an oversized t-shirt that says ‘Metropolis High’ and black sweatpants. Sniffles leave my noise as I think about everything. “My supposed soulmate has fallen in love with another woman. I can’t keep searching or scanning for him or my family anymore.I’m going to stand back and watch the world burn. My only possessions are my memories. The memories of when I knew he was mine.” A shuddered breath leaves my lips as I hear the fluttering of fabric approaching quickly.
There was no time for me to become completely invisible before Superman stopped in front of me, “Lydia.”
I keep my eyes closed and sigh, “Sir.”
He crosses his arms in front of him and raises an eyebrow. “It is polite to look at the people talking to you, young lady.” He clears his throat, “Would you like to explain why Bruce just called me and told me to search the atmosphere for my rogue daughter?”
I roll my eyes as I open them and tilt my head to the side, “Superman has a daughter? I must meet her and warn her that he might abandon her.” My hands ball up into fists at my side. I assume Jason can feel my anger because I feel calming emotions coming from him.
“DON’T.” He takes a breath, “Don’t talk to me that way. I am still your father and I will still be your father even if you don’t want me.” His arms fall to his sides as he keeps a fixed gaze on me. “Would you like to talk about whatever,” he motions to my body, “this is?”
I look away and quickly can hear a worried heart beat from the one heart I don’t think will ever love me again. “Can you be my dad for like a minute? Then you and everyone else can abandon the experiment again.” My eyes stay locked to his as he gives a quick nod. “You used to tell mom that this was the best way to relax when you were on constant missions. I wanted to try it and see if it could help fix a broken heart.” My hand shoots up between us, “Don’t, I can’t be trusted around you. And besides you broke my heart too dad."
He moves a few inches back away and motions me to continue with his finger. "I know you all thought I was gone. But I imagined there would be this amazing family reunion and you all would welcome me back with open arms and he would be mine again. But instead I was forgotten and now I'm willing and ready to see you all burn." My eyes light up quickly then go back to my normal green color.
"I'm not naive, I've seen him with women. I've seen you with people too. I just never thought I would be replaced." I close my eyes and just listen to the silence of space, "This won't be a normal thing between us. I'm 20, I don't need a father.”
“So, you are just writing everyone off? We don’t have a say if we want back into your life?” Clark raises an eyebrow, his cape barely moving behind him. “What if we want to be part of the narrative?”
My eyes drift down to the Earth below, all the blues and some of the greens merging together. Light bends around the curvature of the world causing it to look like the world is standing in a spotlight, almost like everything is burning. “Earn my trust. Show me I am truly needed. Know that I will not always be the good guy.” I give a quick tilt of my head as if I am challenging him.
“So you went to Metropolis high?”
My eyebrows scrunch together before I look down at my shirt. “No, the Master gave this to me the last time he spoke to the students in Metropolis.”
Clark locks his jaw and grits his teeth, “Who is your master?”
Feeling threatened, my eyes flash red and I instantly become invisible, “Nice chat Clark.” I quickly dive to the world below and land in the ocean. On instinct I curl into a ball and close my eyes trying to avoid the memories of Lex Luthor walking in as I am strapped to a medical table. Lex Luthor standing beside Ra’s Al Ghul as I’m being beaten senseless by assassins while pure Kryptonite is at my feet.
Being forced to fight Batman, Robin and the Justice League over and over again to keep their attention away from him. Having things thrown at me or extra experiments happening to me because he thought he could brainwash me to kill my father. I blow air bubbles out of my mouth as my transparent state becomes visible. I swim up a river before I decide to find a shore line and dry off on the side of the river.
I climb up the wall of the river and lay under cherry blossom trees. The breeze has been creating a soft background noise with the leaves gently brushing against each other. I don’t know if I lost track of time or if I honestly wasted the day away under a tree by the potomac river. Looking across the river at Arlington, Virginia watching the night life start to come out. Families walking up and down the street, a man passing by walking his pomeranian.
“It’s a nice night Miss Kent.” A man's voice appears from behind me.
“That it is.” I slowly turn around to face the voice, “You happen to know who I am, but I seem to not recognize you.” A fake smile appears on my face as I stand up to converse with the man.
“It’s my job to know the inner workings of everything in and around Gotham. Including your family and every secret known to you, or him." He extends his hand as if he was going to shake mine. “How is Superman doing now that his oh so precious daughter is back?” He motions with his hand to come towards him.
I approach and hug him as an old couple comes towards us, “Oh darling I have missed you. Please don’t ever leave again.” I hug him and watch the couple walk by us smiling. My eyes turn red when I notice they are at a safe distance, “Who the hell are you and what do you want?” I try to quickly get away from his hold.
The man holds on tight and whispers in my ear, “The Court of Owls is intrigued to watch how you settle into your role in society.” He turns me to where I am facing the river, “Don’t follow me.” In an instant his body and arms are gone and I am alone again.
Taking in a deep breath I look around then shrugging, “Time to go for a walk.” I head off in the direction of the Hall of Justice.
