The four days passed quickly and soon enough, it was Friday. She woke up early that morning and it felt like everything was slowed. She could feel every second beating down on her as she got dressed and went down to breakfast. Alfred had made chocolate chip pancakes and she thanked him with a long hug.
"What's the occasion, Miss Cathleen?" Alfred asked.
"No special occasion, just wanted to say thank you for everything that you've done for me and my brother" she said softly.
"Are you sure? It seems there might be something else?" Alfred said patiently. She knew he would continue to wonder, so she lied.
"I just had a bad dream and I wanted to tell you how much I love you" she answered. Ha gave her a smile.
"Miss Cathleen, I love you too" he told her. She smiled and sat down to eat. When her brother came down, she let him eat and then captured him in a hug.
"What're you doing?" Dick asked.
"Just hugging my amazing big brother" she told him innocently. When she let go of him, he checked his pockets and she couldn't help giggling.
"I didn't take anything. I just wanted to tell you I love you" she told him. He gave her a scrutinizing look before accepting her explanation and walking away to grab his backpack. Before they left, Cathleen saw Bruce walking down the stairs and she ran over to give him a hug. He returned it easily and then shooed her off to school.
Alfred drove them like usual and he dropped them off in the same spot as always. Cathleen gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and then ran to meet up with Artemis and Kayla. She got to Kayla first and hugged her friend tightly.
"Woah, what's with you kitty?" Kayla asked as she took a step back to avoid falling over.
"Nothing, just wanted to say hi to my best friend. Have I told you how thankful I am for you?" Cathleen asked.
"Not recently" Kayla teased. Cathleen smiled.
"Then let me say it again. I luv ya sis" she said happily. Kayla gave her a smile and then they broke off the hug. Cathleen sported Artemis and ran over to greet her.
"Arty! I'm so glad we're friends and I luv you" She said as she tackled her friend. Artemis stayed upright and swung her hips back so that she wouldn't spin around.
"You okay?" Artemis asked with a smile.
"Yep! Just perfect! I just wanted to tell you I'm thankful for you" she said happily. Artemis pulled Cathleen off of her and set her down.
"Well thanks. I feel the same way about you" Artemis said with an easy smile. The bell rang and Cathleen rushed to her locker. She grabbed her stuff and raced to her first class. She didn't even last one full hour before her brother pulled her out of class because there was an attack on the World Trade Center. She suited up quickly and then zetaed to the WTC. When she stepped out, she saw absolute chaos. Superman was fighting three super villains with Superboy backing him up. Batman was fighting a slew of villains with Robin. Green Arrow and Artemis were working together to pin down normal criminals. Martian Manhunter and Miss Martian were using their telepathic abilities. Red Arrow was fighting next to Rocket. Dr. Fate and Zatanna were using magic in one corner. And all the other heroes were doing their part as well. Gray Dove saw a figure in all black sneaking along the rafters and she immediately went to follow him. The man in black pressed a few buttons on a small machine and then throw it into twh air. He whistles and all the villains immediately backed away. Gray Dove knew it was the bomb and she jumped out of the rafters to grab it.
Time seemed to slow as she reached for the bomb as it slowly blew up. Gray Dove has just enough time to pull the bomb into herself before it blew up and engulfed her with a bright light. She felt weightless as her eyes closed and a warm feeling surrounded her. She smiled and then everything went white.
Her eyes snapped open and she stared at the scene in front of her with amazement. She was standing on the ground but when she looked at herself, her body was shimmery and it was slowly getting less visible. When she looked at the spot where she had been, she saw that Robin, Artemis, Red Arrow, and the rest of her team were all gathered around the spot where the bomb had gone off. There was a perfect circle of ash that was only a few feet in diameter. Inside the circle was a mask, her mask. Her Gray Dove mask looked as though it had been bleached and all the coloring was lighter. It was in good shape but that was all that was left. Cathleen could see tears running down Robin's face and Artemis looked stricken with grief. The fights ended quickly and all the superheroes came to stand around the small circle.
"What happened?" Someone asked.
"There was a man in the rafters. He threw something into the air but I didn't recognize what it was in that moment. All the villains knew to clear out but Gray Dove knew what it was. She knew it was a bomb so she covered it with her body so the blast wouldn't hit any of the heroes. There was nothing I could do, I wasn't fast enough" Kid Flash said softly. It was heartbreaking to see the sadness he was feeling and Cathleen wanted nothing more than to call out their names, to make them face her and see that she was okay. But she couldn't, she couldn't speak. She could only watch in silence as they mourned her.
"Frustrating isn't it? Watching them, I mean" A man's voice came from behind her but none of the heroes faced him. Cathleen spun around and found that he was looking at her.
"You would have died. You should have died. But your pure soul caught our attention. You were not meant to become one with us but we believe that your spirit shall help you to become the greatest there ever was" the man told her. He had a kind face and when he talked, it sounded as though he only wanted to help her.
"Who are you?" She asked, suddenly able to speak.
"We are the speed force. You've probably heard from your friend Wallace or his Uncle Barry, they draw their power from us. We were there at the beginning of time and we chose certain people to have the ability to harness their powers through us. A man experimented on his son and made his son able to manipulate the speed force in a way that is very unnatural. Each speedster is created to balance things. There will be no evil speedster without his or her equal and vice versa. The creation of a new speedster in the way he was created was wrong and evil but he himself is not. To regain the balance, we needed to put forth a speedster who is his equal. You happened to be the perfect person. You were a split second from death when we pulled you back and now we are giving you the chance to continue helping people the way you have since you were young. Do you agree to this?" The speed force man asked.
"Yes" she answered quickly. If they could bring her back, she could continue helping people and they were offering that.
"Sadly, we need you to continue your charade as the perfectly normal Cathleen Grayson. Your powers also need to develop completely before you can unlock them. The process is very tough and it will damage your body greatly. We are going to place you back in Gotham and you are going to walk into the hospital. Once you enter, give them your name. After that, you will most likely collapse. You must have at least a full week in a coma so that we can prepare your body for your powers. I apologize for any pain that you will suffer because of this" the speed force man told her. She nodded and he held out his hand.
"Whenever you are ready, Cathleen" he said calmly. She gave a small smile and stepped forward to grab his hand.
{Hey Readers! Sorry this chapter was so short! I'll try to make the next one longer. I hope you liked it and I'm going to do a shoutout to all my wonderful readers. Thank you to DaCatoOfAdventure, nikkielizabeth, Dark Yellow Dino, Hoodedgenius98, shannzieegan, NinaMinou, Nightfury1010, Alex876, 35, ShadowofAxios, Shiranai Atsune, 35, misticalmaqe, NightmareOnElmStreetFan, vixen122, sampta, arrowfalicity, Zabuzasgirl, RayVonneAsham, BookXReader, thecharmedone927, Jenifer Rose, and CoffeCrazyChipmunk. Thank you all so much for reading! I love y'all and it's always an amazing feeling knowing that PEOPLE are actually reading MY story. Thanks for all the reviews! ~ Sugar }