Weeks later-Duke Thomas
I can't say that it's been easy, I have been in three new homes in the last month. Each kicking me for the same reason. I have tried to stop fighting, I have tried to leave people alone when they choose to get in my face. Take the high round as my dad would say. However it doesn't seem easy for me. Every time it happens I go completely numb before going off. Not letting them keep running their mouth. It seems like most of the houses I get put into can't handle my attitude either.
It's as if they don't understand that I feel angry all the time. It's as if my whole life was flipped upside down and I am not allowed to have any kind of emotion about it. I don't know how they expect me to act when things like this are the reality of my life. It's been more normal for me to spend the night at the house of my social worker. When they have no where else to put me and she doesn't want me to go into the other places while she looks for a place. We keep it on the down low since I am not supposed to be staying with her. I like her house, it's clean like home and she uses the same candles my dad would buy for my mom all the time.
It's also closer to the school so walking to and from is easier. Which is wear I am heading right now, the cement damp from mornings rain. The autumn leaves are matted to the ground with the water and everyone stepping on them. Their colors still vibrant despite the amount of wreckage they have been through. It kind of reminds me of the people you hear about on the news. Who shine even through really bad shit. It is the kind of person I have wanted to be but know better than to hope I could do that. I am not the kind of person who has that view on life. I turn the corner heading to the school yard, a loud car from behind me speedily races towards me. It screeches to a stop and I stop ready to swing fists at anyone who hops out of that car. Two guys step out of it, that's when I notice who they are. The Wayne's. I step back closer to the brick wall which is separating the school yard from the outside.
"Hey relax, we aren't here to hurt you" The taller one says, Dick I think.
"You drove like you are" I reply he shrugs
"My friend drives like an asshole" He replies I snort but wipe the smile off my face.
"What do you want?" I ask looking him and his brother up and down. I think his brother's name is Jim...or...I don't know.
"We need to talk to you. Bruce has spoke to your case worker. She called out for you three minutes ago. Come with us" Dick says I drop my jaw.
"You got me out of school for the day? To talk to me?" I ask in disbelief.
"Yes, it's important" the smaller one finally speaks up, his voice is less commanding and more soft but it doesn't fool me. They could kick my ass if they wanted to. Both of them. I wouldn't stand a chance. It makes me wonder if I say get lost if they would force me into their car.
"If I don't want to?" I ask Dick shrugs leaning against the car.
"Then go home, regardless you are out for the day" he replies. I shrug walking towards the car. Tim opens it for me allowing for me to slide in. I sit in the middle, looking to my left a goth girl with purple hair sits there. Tim gets in next to me and a hooded figure sits in the drivers seat. Dick gets in closing the door and buckling in his seatbelt.
"Can you get us home without killing us Cy?" He asks a small chuckle rises out of the figure as we speed away. I almost grab the legs of the two people next to me out of fear but I don't. The girl next to me looks familiar but I don't place her. I don't know how to place her either. If she knows these people though she must be involved somehow in their nightly activities. When Dick said his friend drives like an asshole he wasn't kidding. Especially when I thought he was going to drive straight into a wall but then it opens revealing what looks like a long driveway. My heart is practically beating out of my chest as we drive down the darkness. When we halt to a stop the girl besides me releases a sigh.
"Really Vic?" She asks, her voice is smoky and raspy. It's kind of hot. Low key what I thought she would sound like as well. I notice she is scratching a spot on her arm which looks red and irritated from scratching. The hooded figure laughs again.
"I miss the T-car" he replies, we pile out of the car, it's still dark and the only lights are dim.
"Did you take me from school to kill me because that's what this feels like" I say, I am only half joking at this point. The hooded guys footsteps are heavy and clunky and they make me uneasy, while the girl to my left still walks almost completely silent. It puts me more uneasy. As we enter a place that does ring a bell, this is the Batcave. In awe I look around I didn't think it was this big the first time I was in here. But looking now I see as the lights turn on rows of cases with the Robin suits inside.
"We had some things we needed to discuss with you, important things" Dick says gesturing to a seat besides a desk. I sit as Dick slides into the seat.
"Can I take this thing off now?" The hooded man asks
"We are home aren't we?" The dark girl replies, scratching her arm again. The hooded figure unzips the front of the hoodie revealing what looks like blue lights. He shrugs it off and my jaw drops. It's Cyborg. I have heard of him, he is a Teen Titan he lives in Jump City which is half way across the room. He has been one of my favorite heros from around the world because...well because he looks like me. He's black. He notices me staring and I can see him become slightly uncomfortable.
"I-I'm sorry you are my favorite super hero" I say his uncomfortable demeanor changes to more flattered.
"That's what's up" He says grinning. Dick smiles typing out something on the computer. A picture of me pops up along with a couple strands of DNA I can't understand.
"Remember when we took some of your blood?" Dick asks I nod, how do I forget? It was weird to me but they said it was to make sure I didn't have anything in my system the Joker gave me. "Well we didn't find anything the Joker gave you, but we found something else"
"What did you find?" I ask curious.
"Do you take any daily medication?" Tim asks I turn to see him chewing on the inside of my cheek.
"I take something for ADHD I think" I reply
"What is it called?" Tim asks I shrug
"I don't know it doesn't have a name. I've been taking it since I was a little boy" I answer. Dick nods
"It's not for ADHD, it has been suppressing what we found in your DNA. When we take blood we run a panel of tests, we want to make sure you are healthy and we look for META genes, do you know what that is?" Dick asks I shake my head in confusion
"I'm not a META" I say defensively
"You have META DNA, we don't know what your powers are. We don't know anything else. We just know that the meds you have been taking have been keeping whatever powers you do have from developing. We were going to tell you but you had already left and it's been a pain in the ass trying to find you." Dick replies, I don't know what my eyes are searching for on the ground but somehow I find myself looking for the answers on the cement.
It doesn't make any sense, how could I be a META, neither one of my parents were. At least not that I know of. Now more than ever I want to speak to them. Talk to them about this whole mess and figure out what the deal with this is. Why would they tell me my pills are for ADHD if that isn't true? Why would they lie to me.
"He's just confused Dick" The goth girl says scratching her arm lightly. I look over to her and my eyes search hers.
"You know my uncle has PTSD, he does that mindless scratching thing you have done at least four times since I have been here" I say she looks down at her arms and separates them locking eyes with me.
"Don't be mad at her, I asked her hear to make sure we know how you are feeling about the situation. People when they find out can have...unpredictable responses" Dick replies. I scoff
"You just told me I have powers and that my parents have been lying to me my whole life. Yeah I think I am allowed to have this reaction!" I almost yell, the goth girl flinches at my raised voice and takes a step back. Cyborg looks over at her in what I can see is confusion but understanding at the same time.
"Duke, we don't think they lied to you for no goof reason. They could have been trying to keep you safe. Give you a normal life" Dick replies I scoff shaking my head
"If I have powers how come you aren't worried about me hurting any of you?" I ask, it's a fair question. You would think if I have these powers and they don't know what they are they would be at least a little worried that I could possibly hurt them. The only one who seems worried about it is the dark girl.
"We are hoping you won't, we are also hoping the pills you take are doing their job until you are ready to stop taking them. We in no way want to force you to have these powers" Tim says he looks shaky like he is going through some kind of withdrawals.
"Did you find my parents like you said you were going to?" I ask, the question even surprises me. I didn't mean to blurt it out it just came. Tim and Dick exchange glances and then look over to the Dark girl.
"Tell him what you know" Dick commands, she glares at him in a private way I am sure he knows the reason behind. She looks at me and sighs.
"I think they somehow got away from the Joker. However, they were too far from me and I was too weak to get them away from him. I managed to get a read of their aura which I used to find them again. They keep vanishing underground somewhere. They are fading" She answers. I crease my brows.
"Fading? Like dying?" I ask, she nods stepping back further away from me as I stand my eyes staring into hers.
"Why can't you go get them now?" I demand
"The more they fade the less accurate it will be if I try to get them. Meaning I could teleport miles away from them" She says I scoff
"You can teleport and you didn't grab them when you saw them?"
"I wasn't able to. Joker told them if they see me teleport they had to-"
She stops looking down to the ground, something chills her and she starts scratching again. What the fuck is up with this chick? First she tells me she found my parents, and now she is telling me there is no way we can get to them? How the fuck does that work? Why even bother telling me at this point.
"Had to what?" I demand stepping closer to her. She takes another step back but I don't think she realizes she is doing it. There is something mindless about her movements.
"The joker told them to shoot each other if they saw me teleport. Meaning I would not have gotten to them in time. I figured the best way to keep them alive was to..stay there" She says
"You didn't tell me that part" Dick says looking over to her
"You didn't give me a chance" She answers coldly looking back to me. "I am not saying I am not going to try to find them. I still have a read on them. They are underground somewhere in the city. I just don't know where. While I have been looking for them Dick, Tim, and Vic have been trying to secure a cure for them both"
"How?" I ask
"Remember how one of our guys was taken as well?" Tim asks, I nod sitting back down in my seat. "Well under extreme...uhh..circumstances" He says looking back at the dark girl She shakes her head and looks down to her feet obviously sick of hearing about whatever it is. "He fought through the effects. We are hoping that if we take some of his already altered DNA which allowed him to do so we can form a cure that will allow them to fight it off as well"
"Altered DNA?" I ask
"He self heals...and is magically stronger than the average person or META, he fought through it using both of those" Dick says
So they plan on making some magic cure? Using someone else's blood or DNA or whatever? Even they said that he only fought it off in extreme circumstances whatever those were. Do they plan on making my parents go through stuff like that as well? Regardless I keep my mind open, they have already done a lot more than the police or the state have even attempted to do. Somehow they are the only ones worried about making sure my parents get out of this alive. If this is my only options do I even have any other choice? If I do nothing I am as bad as the people I am angry at.
"Okay...fine. How are we going to find them?" I ask
"Raven is going to look underground, it's not going to be easy since they keep moving and we can't get an accurate location because of how the gas is affecting their bodies. We are trying though Duke. We never gave up on this" Dick says
Present Day-Raven
They finally finish up their talk, after convincing Duke for twenty more minutes not to stop taking his meds until he can be properly watched to make sure he doesn't hurt anyone. He's smarter than most people that is for sure, he notices things most people don't. Hell he noticed things I didn't even notice. However it is good to finally have him gone. I head back upstairs my arms folded across my chest lightly.
I have been teleporting in and out of sewers and underground tunnels for about a week now. I have started to feel like sewer smell is staining my hair and skin. No one else seems to think so though. Dick follows behind me grabbing my arm before I get to my room and dragging me into his. I sigh as he closes the door and locks it from his phone. I hate the electronic locks these Wayne's have on their doors.
"Dick I need to meditate" I say coldly he shakes his head.
"We need to talk, we haven't talked about anything other than Duke in the last three weeks. You won't look at me. Jason won't talk to me, it seems like everyone assumes I am the bad guy here and I just think we need to talk about it" Dick rambles. I feel trapped and it rises anxiety I didn't know I had. It's bright in here as well making teleporting difficult if I want to conserve energy for finding Duke's parents. Essentially there is no way out of this awkward situation.
"Richard I don't want to talk. I don't want to be trapped in your bedroom to talk either." I admit he shrugs raising both of his eyebrows in a "Deal with it" kind of way. It annoys me how much he wants to look like the good guy but doesn't even let me have the freedom to talk when I want to.
"Kori found out" He says I close my eyes lightly, she must be so heart broken right now. "So you see why I want to clear this up as fast as I can?"
"Dick you were with Kori for years, I don't understand how you can feelings for your girlfriend and someone you barely know in the same way." I reply it's true it's been difficult for me to even fathom how that works. I see the way he looks and feels about Kori. I can't imagine him wanting to do the same things with me. Kori is more his type anyway. Hyper and shows affection easily. Undamaged.
"I've been in love with you for years!" He says in defense I shake my head
"You made the choice to trade me too easily if that were the case. You didn't fight for me after either. I know you would go to hell and back for Kori. It's not the same with me and you know it. Maybe you are just confused" I reply, it makes sense to me that he is just confused.
"Same thing could be said about Jason, if he really loved you why did he cheat? Why was it so easy for him to hurt you? You may not have any physical bruises anymore but I can see the mental ones" Dick says I scoff turning around to try to unlock the doors but Dick grabs my arm.
"I don't want to talk about this with you. Let me out" I demand trying to move my arm away from him
"Woah Raven Calm down, just take a couple breaths" He says but my heart is thumping in my chest.
"No no no let me out. Let me go. I don't want to" I say, my voice cracks but it sounds foreign to me. I can hear the strong jiggling of the doorknob and it took me a minute to realize I was the one causing it to be so loud.
"Raven calm down, everything's fine" Dick repeats, his voice sounds concerned but it also sounds far away and I can't explain why.
"Leave me alone, I need to get out of here. You won't get away with it." I mutter trying to pry the door open. I take a step back trying to blast the door open but Dick grabs my hand moving it out of the way.
"No STOP!" He replies gripping my wrist tightly. He makes me face him his brows furrowed and his lips pressed into a hard line. My heart is practically beating out of my chest. "Raven get away with what?"
I don't answer, just try to squirm out of his grasp as the lights around us flicker on and off. I kick my leg out kicking Dick in the shin and I race back to the door pounding on it and trying to open it before charging up my energy once more. My skin feels like it's on fire and my wrists feel like they are being confined but I try to push past everything to get myself out of this room. I blast the door handle letting it fall to the ground as the door lightly opens. I grab the door's corner as soon as it does racing out of the room and into what feels like the cold air of the rest of the manor. I heave in and out trying to calm my nerves which had spiked for reasons I didn't know. I can hear footsteps surrounding me and feel someone's hands on my back.
Present day- Jason
It's been too long since I was able to have a relaxing day where I feel less like the world has gone to shit. Raven has been doing things with Tim, Cyborg, and Dick all day. Helping them track down Duke and tell him about something I didn't listen to when they talked to me about it. Tim and I are in the library researching whatever he needs for turning my blood into a type of cure for the Thomas family. I think it could work, something about this tells me we are on the right track.
"Didn't you say Raven was heading up?" I ask, Tim looks up from his book and looks around.
"She was right behind me. She could be meditating or getting food. She needs to keep her strength up" Tim replies looking back down to his reading. It's true she could be doing that, she has been doing it a lot lately since she is using so much of her powers.
We fall into a silence once again before Damian walks into the library aa confused look spread across his face. I haven't seen much of him. I think he is finally getting why us guys like to stay in our rooms most of the day.
"Uhh, there seems to be some commotion from Greys room." he says I crease my brow
"What kind of commotion?" I ask he shrugs
"Someone's trying to get out I think" Damian replies confused. He's right to be confused. Who the fuck is in Dick's room trying to get out? Why can't they get out? It's not Gar because if he had turned into an animal he could always turn back into a human and open the door. Tim and I exchange confused glances before getting up and warily walking to Dick's room. As we do the sound becomes more apparent. Someone is frantically moving the knob but it's locked. Before Tim and I could do anything else a blast of energy knocks the lock and knob off the door the door opens swiftly as Raven lunges out collapsing onto the floor. Dick walks out as well his eyes widened in confusion. Tim goes to Raven's side trying to calm what looks like a panic attack. I zero in on Dick grabbing him by the neck and shoving him against the wall.
"What the fuck did you do?" I say between gritted teeth.
"I don't know, she just flipped out. We were just talking. I don't know what the hell happened." He says I don't believe him.
"Why was the door locked?" I ask
"For privacy! We were talking about the situation at hand. I didn't need anyone coming in" He says trying to get my hand off his neck. I am not squeezing hard. Just hard enough for him to stay put.
"Dick when I said secure her for talking I didn't mean lock her in your bedroom" Tim says looking up from Raven. She seems to be calming down. "You can't lock someone in a room where they don't want to be and expect them not to panic"
"I think she had an episode! I really didn't try to hurt her or force her to talk to me I think she just panicked!" Dick defends.
"Boys!" Bruce booms behind us, I turn around glaring daggers at him. "Jason let him go"
I growl letting him from the wall, he stares at me like I am an animal in a cage and backs up.
"What the hell is going on?" Bruce asks
"Grey Kidnapped Raven" Damian says shortly
"No I didn't! I think she had an episode! I haven't seen her have one in years but the random panicking matches up. Which means something has been extra triggering to her PTSD and I think that's on Jason" Dick replies coldly I growl turning back to him grabbing his shirt again.
"Jason leave your brother alone" Bruce demands I scoff
"He isn't my brother" I reply letting him go. I look down at Raven as she begins to collect herself further, Tim's hand on her shoulder he nods to me releasing her shoulder allowing me to sit down beside her. Her hand finds mine and squeezes it lightly.
"Dick go back into your room. Jason take Raven downstairs and get her checked out to be sure. Tim stay with Dick, Damian go with Jason and Raven. I'll go get Alfred and have him look at the door.
"I am already on it Master Bruce" Alfred says martializing out from behind a corner with his tool box. Dick scoffs heading back into his room with Tim as Raven and I get up. She looks just as confused as everyone else is with what happened. I know from experience what this is. Dick was right. However the question at hand is what caused it.