Chapter 0
Present day: an undisclosed location in Jump City.
It was never supposed to end this way.
His mind tortured him, frantically replaying his every action and decision over the past few months seeking out the exact moment that had led to his entire world falling to his feet. He'd always known that in his line of work failure was never an option, the stakes were always too high. But he had always expected the sickled claw of death to fall about his own neck, never to tear everything he loved away from him. He could never forgive himself for this oversight, for this failure. Richard at cursed his own weakness as he buried his face into his dead wife's matted red hair, his tears mixing with the blood that soaked her auburn tresses.
"Nightwi-Dick, I tried... I- I'm so sorry... they took Cyborg an-and whilst I wasn't looking f-f-for a split second I… I didn't mean for this to happen." Garfield stumbled over his words, barely able to stand with the weight of their loss bearing down on him.
His old friend's voice barely registered as a sound to his tortured mind. Richard tenderly cupped Kori's cheek in his hand, slowly tracing his fingers across her bruised jawline stopping when they reached her cold lips.
"You are going to have to pull yourself together."
Rachel attempted to even her voice as she slowly descended from the gaping hole blown in the ceiling, landing just behind the fallen member of her team, the woman who had grown to be like a sister to her over the years. She felt the fragile control over her emotions slipping away from her as she looked down at her fallen friend.
Richard remained in his previous position unmoved by her words as he was too paralysed by the weight of his loss. He leaned down, placing a final soft kiss upon his dead wife's cold lips.
"Right now we need to focus on stopping the Brotherhood. They made a mistake in taking Cyborg onto their ship, he's already hacked into the mainframe and sent their coordinates to us, if we hurry to the T-Ship we can intercept them at the next planet and we-"
"I will kill them. Each and every one of them will die and I will not rest until it is so." Richard's empty voice called out as he rested his forehead against Kori's.
Garfield collapsed to his knees, his whimpers turning into uncontrollable sobs.
"N-no. This, it-it isn't you. You've always said- You'd never ki-"
"So be it then. We do not have time for this."
Rachel's expression remained unreadable as Garfield turned to her in surprised anger. Before he could interject she continued;
"I don't know how much you have been made aware of yet, but Cyborg is on that ship doing everything in his power to stop them from getting to their true goal – your child."
Richard's body went ridged before he sat up and looked brokenly into Rachel's eyes.
"Yes, your child was delivered safely and is with Cyborg. From what I gathered before I arrived here, he was able to put up a small range force field around himself and the baby but this will not last for long. The enemy is en route to Baylor, whose advanced weaponry will easily be able to break through even Cyborg's technology. Now if you chose to go against your every principle and slaughter each member of the brotherhood as revenge then go ahead, we will are not foolish enough to believe we can stop you. Just remember that there is an innocent, motherless child up there who has seen nothing but the evil and cruelty of this universe. A child that will look to you to teach them kindness and love. I will not patronise you, you know that there is no return from the path of murder and revenge. Just remember that as you go to hold your child, your hands will never wash clean of their blood. If that is the life you believe Starfire sacrificed herself to give you and your child then by all means go ahead and become a killer Richard."
Rachel looked down pitifully at her broken leader, her most trusted confident and her best friend. She had always relied upon his honesty and rationality and now in his hour of greatest need she knew she had a responsibility to be brutally honest with him, however much hurt it may cause.
"My child is alive?" He questioned, barely able to bring his voice above a whisper.
Rachel smiled bitter-sweetly at her old friend.
"Congratulations, you have a beautiful baby girl."
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AN: Hello all, this is my very first story so please bare with me as I learn how to use this site as a writer (although I am a very experienced, long-term lurker)! Constructive feedback will be very much appreciated!
-Shamangirl64