Chapter 42- Kori
"Sir, it is my fault that we are here in the West Coast." I say when Robin stalls. He turns to me. Mr. Wayne looks frightening when he is frightened, but it is not his fault. When my father was concerned for Kay or I his countenance would curdle as well.
"Please explain."
"Gladly. My name is Koriand'r, and I am the Princess of a little Island nation called Tamaran. Many have not heard of it, but it is very much tangible. There was an attack on my kingdom and I was required to run. That is how I ended up at the school with your son." I don't know if he believes me but it is time for Tamaran to step from the shadows.
"Go on." Mr. Wayne instructs.
"When the explosion occurred I was given powers and I knew it was now my duty to quell the uprising. So, after we had run for a few days, Robin and I took flight to Tamaran. We discovered an awful truth, that it was my own sister spurring the tyrannical attacks. I tried to reason with her, and she tried to imprison me. We fought back, and, I am saddened to confess, my sister's life was lost. It brings me no joy that I had to take what she was abusing." I say this, haunted still by every memory. She is my worst loss, because I lost her on purpose. I miss my parents, but even more, I miss who Kay was before I was required to kill her. A tear rolls down my face, and I must turn away to compose myself as a princess would. Robin squeezes my hand. Raven is listening silently, Cyborg has his hand on her shoulder. No one says anything, so I continue.
"Robin was hurt in the fight, and so I got him back to America as fast as possible. We ended up here, and the others followed."
"So, in Tamaran your arm got hurt?" Mr. Wayne asked, looking at my bandaging job. I am not proud of it, I do not think I did a very good job. Raven told me what to do through her tears, but I am not sure I executed it properly.
"Not exactly, dad. We got involved in something… A little sketchy. Rachel," He gestures at Raven, "discovered a training center for young villains called HIVE, and so we investigated it some more. Rachel, Kori, and I went after one of the clients, accepting a job from him, and Gar went to HIVE directly. Victor had another project entirely. We were trying to find out more about the whole operation, and during our job I got shot in the shoulder."
"He saved my life." Raven says, still seeming pale.
"I see. I don't know how to feel about all of this. On the one hand, Richard, I have trained you to act in such situations, and you seem to have proven yourself heroic. I can't say that I'm not proud. But on the other hand, you ran away from home, acted irresponsibly enough to get hurt, and possibly endangered others."
"It's not like that, dad. I wouldn't let anything happen to them."
"Which is admirable, but still dangerous if it consistently affects the quality of your own life. Where is Gar, Richard?"
"He's at HIVE."
"And is that entirely safe?"
"Well, yeah. He can shapeshift now, into different animals. It's really cool, and I think he'll handle himself just fine."
"I've been in enough fights to know that superpowers don't mean a promised victory. Keep in mind that I've gone toe to toe with Superman."
"Superman is real?!" Cyborg interjected. Mr. Wayne realizes then that he has half revealed his identity.
"Yes. And he's a nice guy. Children, I suppose I might as well tell you…" He pauses, not knowing how to continue.
"My dad is Batman." Robin said helpfully. Cyborg's eyes went wide, and he had to sit down. Raven and I seemed significantly less surprised. I did not much know about Batman except that he stood before me now and Cyborg had said he was a hero. The world needs so many heroes and that's why I would like to be one.
"Yes. Now, think, Richard. Has Gar been trained in fighting?" Robin seems to turn a little white. He is thinking something that he doesn't want to be thinking.
"No." He squeezes my hand nervously. I am nervous too. Is our friend okay? I have just begun to believe that Robin will be okay, and now I am concerned for Gar. The shadows from Raven begin to fill the room like smoke.
"Raven, Raven!" Cyborg calls, clearly concerned. She is worried about Gar because she likes him. They are very close. I like Gar too but in a different way than Raven. I think Raven likes him the way I like Robin. And I like Robin very much. Raven begins to calm down, but shadows still lurk around on the floor. Mr. Wayne looks around. He glances at Raven.
"This is what's going to happen. I'm going to go to HIVE, and I'm going to bring Gar back. And then we're going back home. All of us. We'll work out housing and official training when we get back." Robin's head turns towards his dad.
"What are you saying?"
"I'm saying that there is clearly skill, and power, and heroics here. But you're all unrefined, so we'll work out these flaws later. No one leave."
"We won't." Robin promises. Mr. Wayne looks at his son.
"I'm so glad you're okay, but you are totally getting punished." Robin sighed.
"As long as everyone's okay, I don't care what happens."
Mr. Wayne leaves, and Robin begins to cry. No one can say anything, and shadows fill the room. We are all worried for our friend.
