Chapter 38: Queen of Hearts

After all they had lost, after everything that they had lost… They never thought that even Alfred would leave them too. Sophie didn't know what to do, she had to console Mar'I over Alfred but… it wasn't just Alfred that the two of them had just lost. They had lost pretty much their entire family. Mar'i had lost her father, and probably her mother too. Sophie herself was lucky though, at least her mother was still around. At least she knows her mother is safe and vice versa.

The red-haired girl was still sat in the cockpit despite the Batwing having landed, she refused to move. She didn't want to. Soon enough she felt a presence behind her, "you know, there isn't a lot you can do in this situation, is there?" the young teen spoke behind her.

"Thank you for your expert analysis Zach," Sophie mumbled as she looked ahead at the plains of grass through the cockpit window. Zach stepped up closer behind her and placed a hand on her shoulder, "I said there isn't 'a lot', not that you can't do anything," he revised, "I know what you're thinking right now Batgirl… Sophie. You think that all the burden and blame is on you, but it's not."

"You barely know me Zach," Sophie replied. And she was right, they had only known each other a few weeks prior to this whole thing, and sure they had spoke before and had lengthy conversations, but she would only barely call him a friend. He was more of a teammate to her.

"You're right," Zach sighed, "you're right."

The magician ran his hands down his face and exhaled, leaning up against the nearest wall with his usual slick hair now a mess, "I'm even still trying to get to know the rest of you. You have all been as welcoming as you could have been considering how shy I was, but I can't be like that anymore, can I?" he asked her.

Sophie dismissively shrugged, "guess not…"

Zach handed something over Sophie's shoulder and dropped the item to her lap. The girl looked down and saw a playing card, a Queen of hearts. "What is this?" she asked him.

"I can't be as shy as I was, just like you can't continue holding back on your potential. I understand why you're hesitant but Mar'i needs you, I need you, this entire team needs you. You're the glue that holds us together," he spoke with confidence, "and besides, we can't trust Don to lead us now can we?" he smirked.

Sophie held onto the card and lifted it up to break her gaze from the green fields, "I'll try my best Zach." She promised.

In the transport area of the Batwing sat Don and Mar'i. Don had an arm around her shoulder holding her together as she cried tears for the man who had such an effect on her family's life. "I know this is hard Mar'I. I remember when Granny Joan passed away… it's never an easy thing to roll with I'll tell ya that," he attempted to console but to no avail. "Sometimes what you have to do is just remember the happy times with them!" his voice perked up with a change of tactic. The golden-skinned girl's head tilted upwards, "like what?"

Don smiled, "Like, hmm. Let me tell you something about Granny Joan. She was married to the first Flash. Jay Garrick, who was my absolute hero growing up. Now imagine how much of a strong woman she was to be able to be married to a legend like that!" he fanboy-ed, "you know, there's a saying 'behind every strong man is an even stronger woman' and I have never found that to be wrong," he continued as he look over to see Lian talking to Rose on the grass outside. "One of the happiest memories that I have of her is her teaching me the tricks of the trade that Jay couldn't get right until she helped coach him through it. Like creating a tornado out of running in circles, and how to actually stop," he smiled again, "so whenever I feel sad about losing her, I just remember the happy times."

Mar'i wiped the continuous tears from her eyes and sat up from her slouch, "like when Alfred organized a big birthday party in the Batcave with my family and he had them all dress as princes and princesses?" she smiled at the speedster through her sad eyes. Don wiped away a tear, "yeah little-star, just like that!"

"Okay!" she pepped up to the ground, "I'll do just that, because Alfred wouldn't want me to be sad. I'll go and tell Sophie to do the same" she grinned and hurried over to the cockpit. As the little Tameranean princess stepped along to the cockpit Lian and Rose walked over to him where Rose sat down beside him and Lian hovered beside her. "She's going to be a mess when she finds out about Nightwing. You do know that, right?" Rose said to them both. Don began to rub his hands together in anxiousness, "I didn't know about Nightwing" he breathed out, "what about anyone else? Do you know if Dawn is okay? Did you guys find anything about if Tim got out alive? He would be able to help right now."

"As far as we know, Dawn, Jon, and a fair number of Leaguers are alive. Damian is a mystery, his last location was outside the base so we don't know what he's doing or where he is," Lian informed, "Tim got out of there but we don't know if he is alive either because his tracker turned off the same as Damian's did."

Rose's eye widened and they winced at the pain on her face, "shit," she mumbled, "when this break is over, I'll talk to Sophie about Tim. I know how he can help us… He can get us in there."

"Do you think he would even be able to?" Lian asked, the two others looking at her with confusion, "He was with The Light for weeks. If he's still alive then his mental state must surely be… you know… they might have tortured him a lot," she finished with a croak.

"He'll be fine," Donald spoke up, "and besides, he's Red Robin."

"Tim wouldn't go out like that," Rose spoke up, "and neither would Robin if they have him. Batman never broke and neither would they."

Lian sighed, "so this is the plan? Get Barbara, Sean, Gordon, and then go find Tim? And then somehow infiltrate The Light headquarters that not even the entire Justice League couldn't even do?"

Donald and Rose looked at each other and shrugged, "do you have a better one?" they both said in unison.

"This is so idiotic," she complained, "but no, I don't."

Don turned his gaze to Rose, "Could you go and tell the other's that we all need a talk?" he asked. Rose looked at him quizzingly, "me? Why me?" she questioned. Don nodded to Lian, "because I need to talk to her outside about all of this," he replied, indirectly giving her an order. Rose hesitantly stood up and walked over to the others. Don reached up a hand for Lian to grab to pull him up from the ground which she did and then the two heroes stepped onto the green grass outside with the grey skies slowly turning dark.

"So, what?" Lian asked. Don pulled her into a tight embrace, "I thought I lost you Lian," he admitted. The archer slowly wrapped her arms around Don in return and held him just as tight as he did her, "I thought the same about you too," she mumbled into his chest. "I'm sorry about Dawn," Lian apologized, "we'll get her back, okay?"

"I know we will," Don replied with confidence, "but there's something I need to tell you," she added.

Lian pulled her head back from the hug and looked up to his face, "what is it?"

"I…" Don mumbled. The speedster closed his mouth and then planted a kiss onto her forehead, "I need to leave, for a few days only."

Lian frowned, "Leave?!" she asked loudly before being hushed by Don, "how can you leave now? We've only just found each other again!" she whispered with anger pulling away from their hug. Don hesitantly shook his head, "I need to find my mom," he croaked, "I need to know that she is okay. I need to tell her about everything…"

Lian closed her eyes and her lips quivered, "I understand," she croaked. "But what about Mar'i and Zach? They're too young for all this shit, and they rely on you. You're strong enough that we can all rely on you."

"Tell them that I'm sorry. But it's not a goodbye, is it?" He smiled at her with a tilted head, "I'll be back in a few days, so just look after the team for me, will you? With the big guns of you and Rose there will be not trouble at all," he half-joked but Lian didn't laugh. She leaned forwards and gently placed her head against his chest once more, "I can't lose any more people," she muttered, "so promise me that you'll be back."

"Hey," he spoke as he moved her face with a finger underneath her chin to look up towards him, "I promise you and every other friend that I have in that badass Batwing plane-thing that I will find you in four days maximum."

Lian reached on her tiptoes and planted a kiss onto his lips.

Don raised an eyebrow, "that's twice you've done that now," he awkward laughed.

"I know," Lian replied, "it's a kiss goodbye for if you're a dumb-ass and break your promise."

"Can I get another one?" he asked with a smirk. Lian lightly tapped her hand on the side of his cheek dismissively, "nope," and turned to walked towards the Batwing. As she stepped onto the metal floors of the aerial transport, she turned to see Don still stood there.

"I think at the end of the world," he began, "I should have the courage to tell you that I have a massive crush on you, right?" he asked her in a serious tone. Lian nodded, "yeah, you should have the courage to do that," she spoke with humor to her tone and within not even a second he was in front of her, "then I'll find the courage when I come back to you all," he answered as he planted one more kiss onto her lips. As she began to kiss him back, he was gone. Nowhere to be seen. He had left in a flash.

Lian bit her lip and sighed, "such an asshole."

She then turned to her left to see the other four staring at her, "what?" she asked.

"I so saw that coming," Sophie spoke.

"Same," Zach added.

"So cute!" Mar'i squealed.

Rose remained silent.