(Continued from ch. 8 Astrid's run)
"Okay, so who are you and why are you still here?" I asked the hooded man almost rudely.
"I'm Green Arrow and that's my partner, Speedy" the hooded man answered.
"Huh, I never heard on males being breeding partners" I tiled my head.
"What no, he means we work together!" Speedy nearly yelled, embarrassed as his face turned red from my words. Wally just started laughing as he sat down near Green Arrow.
"Oh, my mistake" I softly smiled. "So, you didn't completely answer the question. Why are you still here?"
"Do you want to be a hero?" Green Arrow asked.
I raised an eyebrow, "What's a hero?"
He told me that heroes were people that did or didn't have powers doing something to help or save others and put bad guys in jail for a reason. But I would have to work with a teacher until I'm able to fight alone.
"You mean like when I killed that man at 'The Holy Donut'?" I glanced at Wally as they all looked at me with shock.
"Astrid, you did what?" dad yelled as he stood up. I stood up as well, incase if I need to escape.
"I had no choice" I said, starting to get scared as dad approached. I took a few steps back as Speedy reached for an arrow.
"For what reason did you kill him for?" Green Arrow asked, gripping his bow.
I opened my mouth to speak but nothing came out as dad slowly came closer and I backed away.
"He s-sh…he" I couldn't get it out.
Dad quickly reached out and grabbed my arm, "Stop, she killed him for a reason!" Wally stood up.
"The man was robbing 'The Holy Donut' and he was about to shoot her for fun but I pushed her out of the way. I was shot instead and I passed out, so she did have a reason. He was about to kill people!" Wally nearly yelled as dad released my arm.
"He was about to shoot me when Wally passed out but I was able to reach for his heck with my claws." I added as the archers relaxed.
"But when you're a hero, you don't kill the enemies, at least knock them out." Speedy stepped forward.
I nodded as a moment of silence followed and a small sound of a plastic bottle falling in the bathroom.
"Did you hear that?" I asked.
"Hear what?" Green Arrow asked.
I hushed him to listen for the second sound but it was the sound of glass breaking. I ran up the stairs and across the hall to the bathroom but I waited a second before opening the door. I grabbed the knob and threw the door open as something lunged out at my head. I cried out and ducked to dodge the wild squirrel! I heard a deep-ish voice scream behind me, Speedy!
I whirled around to see him on the floor, screaming and thrashing as the squirrel bit and scratched him. Arrows were starting to spill out of his quiver as he thrashed. I fell to my knees next to him and reached for the rodent. But it scurried to fast across his face and down into his shirt for me to reach it. Without a second of hesitation, I still reached down his shirt for the squirrel. Speedy yelped as he felt my cold hand on his chest. Then, the squirrel ran up my arm and back to Speedy's face. At one point during the struggle, Speedy accidentally punched my left cheek. I ignored the pain in my face as I finally captured the squirrel in my hands. I quickly held the sides of its head and with a swift twist, its neck was broken.
He sat up against the wall as I noticed that he mask was missing. He opened his bright blue eyes and looked at me, "Is it gone?" he asked. I held up the freshly dead squirrel as he yelled, thinking it was still alive.
"I called an ambulance, they should be here soon" Dad said as he came up the stairs.
"Why do we need them? It was just a rodent" I asked dad as Speedy put rushed off his costume.
"It could have rabies and it could have infected you both … hey, this isn't the place for stripping!" Dad called as he started walking down the stairs.
"Don't worry, I have under-clothes and if an ambulance find me as Speedy, they'll have me take off my mask and my cover is blown" the red-head explained as he handed his costume to Green Arrow.
"I'll hide in the woods until they're gone" Green Arrow ran down the stairs and to the back door.
"When I'm not in costume, it's important that I'm called Roy instead of Speedy" Speedy/Roy informed me and dad before Dad joined Wally outside.
Roy was wearing a white wife-beater shirt and dark blue pajama pants. It almost looked like he just got out of bed.
He noticed my bruised cheek and lightly touched it with his fingers, "I hit you, didn't I?" he asked.
"Yes, but it was only by accident" I lightly pushed his hand away.
"I'm sorry" he apologized. "I bet killing a squirrel is harder than killing a man".
"Yes, it is but it's not because it scurries everywhere. I am half-animal so I can understand them and their instincts. I couldn't really understand humans before, so killing a man was very easy." I explained.
"Wow, I better not get on you oh-so bad side" he laughed.
"You don't believe me, do you?" I asked.
"Not really, I mean, you just a kid" he smirked.
"Well, let's just see then" I smirked back.
"What are you going-" I cut him off but grabbing his neck and pulling him to the ground in a second. I pressed my knee down on his chest so if he tried to swing at me, I would break his rib. I gently ran my claws over his cheek.
"Believe me now?" I tilted my head a little.
"Just because you got me down doesn't mean you can take down a grown man".
"Uh, what are you guys doing?" I heard behind me.
I got off of Roy when I saw Wally standing near us.
"He doesn't think that I killed a man so I pinned him to prove him wrong" I pulled Roy to his feet by his arm.
"Okay, anyway, your dad wants to talk to you outside" Wally said before I headed to the door. But before I reached the door, I heard Wally talking to Roy.
"I know what you're trying to do so stop and remember this; she's not a prize to be won. She's much more than that and she deserves someone that's not a jerk, like you".
"Well, it seems that I'm already winning, little side-kick. I wonder if she's a good kisser but you'd probably know completely with interest" Roy replied as I glanced back.
Angry, Wally tried to punch Roy but he missed and easily got punched so hard that he slammed into the wall!
I cried out Wally's name as I ran back up the stairs when Roy was about to kick him. I swung my claws at Roy but he dodged them.
"Never, ever hit him again!" I barked. Finally, I was able to scratch his arm but that was when finally hit me. He swung his arm and it slammed me hard against the wall. There were even a few cracks in the wall! I cried out and felt a knee bash into my chest. I drifted to the floor, holding my rib cage. I felt something rush up my throat and coughed out blood.
"I can't believe I thought you were nice" I groaned, glaring at him.
He stared at me for a minute and just left through the back door. I looked to my left to see Wally; he was still conscious and softly smiling up at me. Somehow, it was usually one of us that kept getting hurt or almost killed. I reached over to him and stroked his red locks.
"Thank you" I weakly said before dad came in with a few medics.
"Oh, my God, Astrid, what happened?" he asked as he ran up the stairs.
"Roy hit Wally and I tried to stop him. He ran out the back" that was the last thing I said before dad's face was consumed in darkness.
(I'm sorry if you're a Speedy-lover and if I went a little over-board. Sooooooooooooo…see ya!)