Brave... Part 11: What A Friend Does


Robyn hung up her call with Adriana and just stood there a moment. She'd been in the main security hub of Nightstone's Manhattan headquarters, getting an update when she'd gotten the call. She'd excused herself and stepped out of the room to take Adriana's call. She looked down the hall at the small square of the night's sky she could see through the window a few offices down.

She stood there and thought. Dominique had called in a companywide security alert, but, despite several attempts, and several messages left on her voice mail, Dominique had yet to answer her phone or call Robyn back.

Brice Abernathy had come snooping around the hub. He'd excused himself soon after Robyn had walked in, but the fact that he'd been there at all wasn't a good omen in her opinion. Officially, Brice was the head of company security, worldwide... Unofficially, he was one of Dominique's... problem solvers. A man she called in when, say, military insurgents were becoming a problem, or the local organized crime syndicate started to cause trouble. Robyn herself wasn't officially privy to the details of his work history, but, unofficially, she'd read every one of his after action reports.

If he were somehow involved in whatever had led Dominique to call that alert... Then this wasn't nothing. In any case, this had to be connected to the attack on the Eyrie Building that had happened earlier, it was too much of a coincidence not to be. Still, someone else could have been behind it, and Dominique could have simply gotten wind of the impending attack (perhaps from Xanatos himself), prompting her to call the alert, and, she supposed, Brice's interest could be simple conscientiousness on his part...

She sighed and went go check in with the scientists and lab techs two floors down who'd been trapped here over night. The alert had triggered a lockdown. No one in or out until security finished sweeping the building and vetting everyone. She and Brice could both leave if they wanted, they had the clearance for it, but no one else. She hadn't been planning to go home for a while yet though. She'd been here working late on a land reclamation project that she'd developed a passion for lately and, as she was in charge of the building, and the company in general, while Dominique was unavailable, she'd decided she'd stay and ride the lockdown out with everyone else, to make sure things went smoothly if for nothing else. That was before Adriana Estrada called though. If Dominique really did need her help, she wasn't going to say no.

Security had her cellular's number, after all—they'd call her if something actually happened. Probably nothing would, but... She stopped in her tracks as she looked up and out the building's corner windows before her and saw the Eyrie Building's state with her own two eyes for the first time. "Saints preserve us..." She spoke to herself.

She'd gotten the call from John first, about what had happened at the Eyrie. He'd given her a code phrase that had told her that Jason wasn't hurt. She'd been in the middle of assuring some executives of their continued safety at the time had schooled her features. She'd gone to security then, gotten an update, then made some calls oversees to check in personally with her counterparts there, and had been keeping herself busy until now. Left unsaid between her and John was the obvious suspicion that Dominique had been behind the attack on Xanatos's building.

Robyn wanted to doubt it. Dominique, if nothing else, was more subtle than that. At least in the middle of Manhattan. In central America, well, this kind of thing would be tame by comparison to some of the things Nightstone had done to the local warlords and militias there. All in a good cause, she knew, or... at least believed. She pinched the bridge of her nose and leaned back against the wall to take a breath and steady herself.

"Oh, you're in it well and proper, and you know it, woman." She scolded herself.

She'd let herself forget more than a little why she was really here, she knew. Dominique Destine had... No use lying about it—they'd become friends. Good friends. Maybe even best friends. Robyn had come to... to trust her—to a respectable extent, at least. They were both holding back things on that front, she knew, and that meant there was always a certain distance there on both sides. Nevertheless, she'd seen the good works Dominique had done in the world and had all but convinced herself entirely that, despite that the woman got her hands dirty in the doing of her good deeds at times, that her family had to be wrong about her...

Oh, but would she be feeling that way about it if Jason had been in the top floors of that building when it had blown? Would she be so willing to offer her faith if she had better memories of her father than she did? ...Yes, she reminded herself, she couldn't be positive that Dominique had been behind the attack on Eyrie. Xanatos had more enemies than just Dominique Destine, for certain, but...

She closed her eyes tight and took another breath, standing up straight. She looked at the faraway building and told herself that Jason wasn't dead, that she knew nothing for certain, and that questions of what ifs and what would come of all of this could well stand to wait to be pondered another day.

Today's troubles were more than enough to think about.

She'd check in with the lab people and then head down to the lobby, where, supposedly, she was to meet Adriana Estrada (who, like her and Brice, had the necessary clearance to come and go as she pleased, lockdown or no).


After another long glide through the city towers, Obsidiana alighted on Nightstone's roof. There was a small private park up here, and, because of just this kind of situation, only Dominique and those of their clan had security codes to the roof access doors that would work at night.

Landing, Obsidiana looked about the roof and the night sky with keen, intent eyes before she kissed her bracelet to transform into her human form. That done, she undressed and went over to a hidden compartment with a coded lock to retrieve an appropriate set of clothing.

She tried not to think about anything as she mechanically dressed herself.

At last, slipping on a pair of shoes, she deliberately reminded herself of why she was here and what her goal was. That set in her mind, she walked across the cobblestones of the patio area, over to a recessed stairwell in the center of the building that led down to a door. Typing her code into the keypad, she was granted entrance. Inside, she put her palm to a handprint reader on another door and went through to a small room with access to Dominique's private elevator. "Elevator access: Obsidiana." She spoke aloud, the panel lighting up, letting her know that the elevator had been called up from the floor below and would be up to her soon.

Dominique's office was dark when the elevator opened it to her, and but she only had to step out a few paces and face the nearby wall. "Armory access: Obsidiana." She spoke aloud again, causing a panel to open. Various weapons were concealed within, arranged neatly by type. She chose a handgun and a knife, fitting herself with a shoulder holster for the hand gun and an ankle holster for the knife. She'd trained somewhat in the use of both with Dominique when they'd been together, as a precaution. She felt fairly confident in her skill with the knife, and she was at least reasonably competent with the handgun... or, at least she had been, the last time she'd practiced with one.

That taken care of, she got back on the elevator and pressed the button that would take her down to the lobby to her meeting with Robyn Correy.

As the elevator doors opened onto the lobby some moments later, she looked around, seeing Robyn walking towards her. Robyn waved to her a little and offered her a hesitant smile.

Tiredly, Obsidiana attempted to imitate the smile, with, she was sure, less success. She told herself to focus, to remember why she was here. This was awkward and uncomfortable, and she all the sudden felt vaguely guilty for not staying in touch with this human. Robyn had left a number of voicemails for her since she and Dominique had separated, but Obsidiana had never quite had the nerve, courage, or inclination to reply to any of them.

"So, hi there." Robyn greeted her as she walked up to Adriana, stopping a step away. Adriana didn't reply at first, just looked into her eyes almost curiously. It made Robyn feel a little nervous... not in a bad way, but mostly just that she didn't know how this was going to go or what to expect from her after all this time. She and Dominique had talked several times, at length, about what had gone wrong between her and this woman...

"Hello, Robyn..." Obsidiana finally said, taking a hesitant step forward and enfolding her lapsed friend in a welcoming hug.

Robyn returned the somewhat awkward hug with relief, letting out a breath and telling herself to relax a bit. It had been a stressful night, after all.

"You know, I think I needed that." Robyn told her as they stepped out of the hug. "So... what's going on?" She asked more seriously.

Obsidiana considered that a moment before speaking. "Dominique was... attacked earlier tonight. By men who answer to David Xanatos." Obsidiana spoke.

Robyn's eyes widened a little. "How... sure are you sure of that?" She asked.

"I'm sure." Obsidiana hedged her answer a little, still feeling on less than certain ground. She hadn't considered until now though, that they rightfully shouldn't be quite as sure of Xanatos's guilt in all of this as she'd assumed. What real proof did they actually have, after all? She trusted Dominique's assessment though, so she didn't voice the doubt aloud. Even if he weren't guilty of it, he was danger enough to them, and with Dominique's reprisal already done and the man likely already dead, there was little enough point in regrets. The thought that there just might possibly be another enemy out there wasn't a pleasant one though...

Robyn wanted to ask her about Eyrie, but thought it wiser not to. She looked back to meet Adriana's eyes. "What can I do?" She asked softly instead.


Nearly an hour later, Robyn and Adriana walked out of the NYPD's 23rd precinct station house. Dominique hadn't been there, and Adriana had gone silent next to her as they'd walked down the steps. Robyn reached over a hand and touched Adriana's wrist once they'd gone a little ways down the sidewalk towards where they'd parked. Adriana stopped at the gesture and looked to her in question. "Talk to me?" Robyn asked simply.

Obsidiana sighed. "I knew she might not be here." She admitted.

"You warned me. We both knew that going in." Robyn offered as comfort.

"I know." Obsidiana replied.

"You're involved in all of this somehow, aren't you? With... whatever's happening with David Xanatos?" She asked. "Is that why you're back?" She asked.

Obsidiana shook her head. "No, that's... not it at all." She admitted, though she knew she probably shouldn't.

"Then why? Are you... Were you trying to reconcile with her?" She asked.

Obsidiana looked up and met her eyes at that. "No..." She told her. "Not that I wouldn't... welcome that." She confessed.

"...You never called me back after it happened." Robyn ventured carefully.

"It... It was too hard." Obsidiana admitted, looking away and feeling awkward about this all over again.

"I... can well imagine. Or, no, that's not true, maybe I can't. I've... never really been in love I guess. But I... I guess what I'm saying..." She pressed on, taking Adriana's hand up in hers. "Is that I'd still like to be your friend. If you'll have me, I mean?" She offered.

Obsidiana met Robyn's eyes again and opened her mouth as if to reply, then closed it again as she realized she couldn't think of anything to say. She considered a moment. "I..."

"It's alright." Robyn told her, disappointed, but not really surprised. "I care about you, okay?" She told her. "So, whatever you need, alright? If that's distance, then that's distance. I get it." She offered her a hesitant smile.

"I, that is... thank you. I..." She was again at a loss.

"Is there anything more we can do tonight? About trying to find Dominique, I mean?" Robyn asked, not wanting to put Adriana on the spot more than she already had.

Obsidiana, surprised, found herself looking up to meet Robyn's eyes again. "No, I... as I said, she told me she's safe, wherever she is... I only..." She sighed.

"You're worried about her." Robyn told her.

"Yes, I... I've never stopped loving her..." She admitted softly. "I don't... I don't know if I ever will."

Robyn felt her heart break a little for the woman in front of her and she moved forward and took her up in a comforting embrace. "It's okay." She told her softly.

Obsidiana, again surprised, held Robyn back and let herself be comforted. She felt a few tears fall too, but she wasn't proud enough to be embarrassed by it. Somehow, Robyn just... seemed to understand what she needed right now. That was... It was so unexpected, but it was very welcome nonetheless.

Feeling more steady after a time, Obsidiana backed out of the embrace, wiped at her wet cheeks, and offered Robyn her best attempt at a smile. "I... think I might be wise to... call you my friend after all...?" She haltingly admitted, apprehensively meeting Robyn's eyes again.

Robyn smiled to her and nodded. "I'd like that."

Obsidiana smiled and hugged her again, as if to seal their agreement of friendship.


( to be continued )

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