Authors' Note: Please put down your pitchforks and torches. We promise, this is not the end for these characters. It's not the end of the story or of the series.
That said, this one hurt to write. We understand it may be painful to read. For ourselves as well as for all of you, we'll be posting a one-shot tomorrow that is set several years in the future, titled May It Be. There will be MAJOR spoilers in it, but it won't spoil everything. Just enough to give some hope.
*deep breath* Okay, here we go.
For a moment, Kala could only watch him with startled eyes at Jay's cold pronouncement, glancing down at her captured wrist and then back up at him. This sudden venom in his voice had not been anywhere close to what she'd been prepared for. She'd been expecting a tongue-lashing for revealing a new power, a stern admonishment to keep her head in the game and not get distracted, maybe even a list of six other ways she could've handled that. She hadn't expected this.
"You keep doing shit like this, K," Jay went on. "You're always jumping the gun, thinking you can handle everything. Well now you've got the whole East End wondering what the fuck you really are, and that's gonna be great if they figure it out."
He had a point, she knew he did, but this didn't have to be a stumbling block. "Jay, that's not fair and you know it. I didn't show any powers that an Amazon wouldn't have," she tried to interject, and he steamrolled right over her.
"So the fuck what, we know Joker's sitting in Arkham trying to figure you out, and now that you've popped out flight you've narrowed the field a lot. You keep this kind of shit up, you're gonna get hurt or killed, and who do you think has to clean up that mess when your dad or your hothead brother rolls into town?" Jay shot back, stepping into her space. "I'm fucking tired of it, K. I'm tired of every after-action report still being the same shit that got you reamed out by Donna and sent here in the first place. You're still running on your own recognizance, and relying on your fucking powers to keep your ass in one piece. What happens when you screw up bad enough that you can't pull out a win? Or you get someone else killed? I'm a damn good fighter but I don't really wanna take on a dozen cops, two fucking angry mobs, and a couple SWAT units all at once. That's the kinda thing I'd rather just chuck sleeping gas at from the rooftops."
That made her jerk her hand out of his grasp, the coldness had been running down her spine replaced by the first stirrings of real anger, burning away the shock. "I didn't get us into that! We were sent out on O's orders! Not only that, it was your idea to jump in!" Kala snapped, wounded.
"Shut up! I didn't ask you to defend your bullshit, K," he snarled.
Just the sheer viciousness of his tone rocked her back on her heels, utterly spooked and on edge. Something was very, very wrong. The man in front of her was not her Jay. No matter that he wore his face, this was not the man whose arms she had curled into last night, whose heartbeat she'd heard even as she dreamed. This man she had loved so stubbornly and fiercely felt suddenly like a stranger in only a matter of minutes.
It had been months since he'd spoken to her like that, back when his frustration occasionally boiled over in training. No, not even then. Not since that first night in that dark alley; the night of her first take-down, in the midst of the organ-harvest revelation. It felt like a time-warp. Coldness creeping down her spine again, Kala could only look at him with slowly-dawning dread. "What are you doing, Jay?" she whispered, forcing the words from her lips.
"Trying to make you see what's right in front of you," he spat. "And don't give me that look, you fucking well know who you're dealing with. Just because we're fucking doesn't mean I won't call you out. You should've banged Dickie-Bird if you wanted sympathy."
The hairs on the back of her neck prickled at that, sounding all too much like an echo of the man she'd first met. Before her eyes, Kala was watching Jay pull in on himself, into his own defenses. She knew he was angry, he had every right to be, but they had gotten beyond this. They both had, and she refused to lose the ground they had gained, no matter what had set this level of frustration off. Ignoring all of the other hurtful words, still bewildered why it had triggered him so deeply, she latched onto the most important.
"Who fucking asked you for sympathy?" she retorted, beginning to bristle.
"Those sad fucking puppy-dog eyes of yours," Jay said. "I'm sick of that shit, too. It's about time we had a goddamn reality check here. I tried to do the sugary sweet thing, but it's not me. And you goddamn well knew that from the minute we met. First thing I told you was to stay outta the line of fire, and you've done nothing but jump into it ever since."
Kala was so completely taken aback by his turnabout that she let him keep going, even as every word hit her like a shard of kryptonite to the chest. Jay loomed over her, his expression fixed in anger and disappointment, his eyes cold as their icy color so rarely was. "What did you think this was? Some kind of happily-ever-after? This is Gotham, Princess, we don't do that here. Yeah, it's been nice, I gotta say the perks have been great. You're saving me money on airfare and you're handy in a fight, when I can keep you on a short enough leash. I'll even thank you for getting my apartment cleaned up right, I needed to handle that shit. But just because you stock my fridge doesn't change who we are. And frankly, I wasn't expecting a summer fling to turn into Super-cling, but I put up with it because you really are a stellar lay."
Time seemed to stop in sheer disbelief, Kala's hands curling into fists involuntarily. Those words froze her in place, knocking the breath from her, as she could only stare at him, defenseless in horror. Of all the things she had expected to hear when they had come into this apartment, these were the last she had ever suspected. Not from Jay, not to her. Not when she had thought they had come so far.
Nothing, nothing had prepared her for anything like this, her emotional armor long since put down around him. There had to be another reason for him to have set on her like this, none of this making sense. Kala knew better, she knew she knew better than to believe the idiocy he was spouting. And yet, her initial unfounded fears of months ago, waking up in his bed naked and so vulnerable, rose up as if in a nightmare. Again, it hit her that this was not the man she had grown to love. This was the mask, as real and fearsome as the Empress herself, the distant and exacting one he hid behind when even the helmet and domino couldn't keep the world at bay. She knew better, better than she knew her next breath. Whatever was going on here was not good and she had to snap him out of it before they both went too far. "Bullshit. Stop it, Jay. I don't know what the hell this is about, I don't know what I did to deserve this, but this isn't you. We both know that. You don't mean any of it. Don't do this."
"Don't fucking tell me who I am and what I mean," he snarled. "This has been a long time coming, K. I put up with too much for too long. You're as bad as Donna, trying to make me something I'm not. At least Talia kept her priorities straight."
That hit so hard Kala's vision almost whited out, her ears ringing, and the Empress growled in the back of her brain. For an instant, she felt real hatred flash through her at that. That one really honestly hurt. "You fucking bastard," she ground out, her voice low and quiet and furious. "That's underhanded and low, even for you."
…
Jay's stomach roiled, and he clenched his teeth to keep back the bile that wanted to retch up and out, seeing that look on Kala's face. He was hitting her with everything he had, and she still hadn't lost her temper or left. Fucking sainthood, right in front of him, and all the more reason to get her out before she sacrificed herself. Even if this hurt him worse than whaling on her over the summer, trying to break through what he thought was a tough-girl front. He'd puked after that, when he realized there was no bottom to her grit, that Kala would keep going through pain and fear and rebellion and desperation, that she didn't have any fucking quit in her, and that he'd been beating her up for no real reason after all.
This was a thousand times worse. The woman could get hit by a car and dance the same night, if she got enough sun. He was leaving wounds sunlight couldn't heal, and he had to break her heart to save her.
Jay had really thought bringing up Talia would've done it, would've been enough. But her control had gotten too damn good, and she was still fighting. "You have no idea how low I can go," he growled back, stalling for time, trying to find something even worse than that.
"You are not just what Talia made," Kala told him, and she believed it all the way down to the bedrock of her soul. Even with him spitting poison in her face, even fighting the Empress behind her eyes – because he was for damn sure a threat right now, and her shadow-self knew it – Kala still believed in something more. "Stop this, Jay, stop it now. Stop running from this between us and fucking fight for something for once in your goddamned life!"
He could see the tears in her eyes, of pain and desperation. Jay knew he couldn't back down now. If he let her off this once, she'd know it was a lie, that he was trying to run her off to save her, and she'd never let him have a second chance. Hell, he couldn't stand to try this again. Now or never, and she'd given him a target for his next volley. "Fight for something? You fucking spoiled little super-powered trust fund baby, I've fought more than you ever have! You already get it all, you've got twice the family most people get and they're all alive, you've got the powers, you've got the goddamn ridiculous fucking day job with thousands of screaming fans! You don't get this, too! You don't get to be the one who made Red Hood come in from the cold and fucking take up knitting or some shit!"
In that second, her flashfire temper seethed and she couldn't help herself from responding in kind. "Fuck you and your goddamn knitting! And fuck you for buying into stereotypes, you fucking troll!"
Just when it looked like he had succeeded, he watched Kala visibly fight her fury back. Closing her eyes for a second, she wrestled her temper back down. "I never asked you for anything in all this! I never asked you for a single fucking thing! I knew better to push you beyond what you could handle." She cut him off then, her voice trembling … and he saw her hands tighten. Careful now; six months ago she would've already hit him. Maybe by the time this was done, he'd have a broken jaw to go with that broken nose. A small enough price to pay.
Hell, she probably was going to hit him before this was over, and if he was lucky, he wouldn't end up in Gotham General.
"You never had to ask. You just offered," Jay told her, and that was close to the truth. She hadn't asked him for anything, she'd been willing to take whatever he would give her, even when they both knew it was less than she deserved, and she had laid her heart at his feet. Which was why stomping on it now was so damn hard.
Jay hardened his own heart, and went on. "You think just because you never said anything out loud, you weren't making it clear what you wanted? You took me to your family's log cabin in the woods. You were here for Christmas in damn sexy lingerie, and oh, what week is this? Cutesy comments about buying condoms aside, you're letting your ovaries make your decisions, K."
He could see that shot hit her where she lived, her jaw tighten as if he had actually punched her, or maybe she was just clenching it on a scream, eyes closing briefly as those words landed. Kala was still fighting it; he couldn't miss the way she was shaking, her breath coming faster, the way her fists tightened just a bit more. And still she didn't run, held her ground even as he fired salvos at her.
When those hazel eyes met his again, they were dangerous, full of hurt and anger. Her nose flared, that stubborn chin coming up even the tears finally escaped. He was striking deep now and he knew it. "Seems I've been making that mistake over and over since your birthday. My fault completely for believing you that night; of course, you couldn't refuse what was on offer, could you. More the fool me, huh?"
Jay couldn't help remembering that first morning-after, when he'd panicked about her seeing the state of his apartment and woken her up trying to take trash out and get coffee started and salvage some chance in hell of her not just fleeing in disgust. Kala had been almost shy, afraid of being too vulnerable, not even wanting him to see her naked in the morning light despite everything that had gone between them the night before. How they'd almost fucked it up then with a misunderstanding, Kala reaching for reassurance and him thinking she meant to keep it casual and oh fuck it was never casual. He hadn't been able to say the words to her then, so he'd kissed her and let that speak for him, and he was the fool, trying to let his body say all the things he was too much a coward to let cross his lips.
Still a coward, because even the thought of saying it now sent ice down his spine. Every relationship Jay had ever been in only proved he wasn't made for love, didn't deserve it, couldn't find it untainted or keep it if he did. And this, the one time everything looked to come out right, he could keep Kala only at the risk of destroying her, literally or figuratively.
"Yeah, there's not a man alive who'd turn down that chance," Jay said, his voice rough, hating himself for the tears tracking down her cheeks. "We're both fools, thinking this could go on. You're the bigger fool for thinking you could change me, or save me, or whatever dumbass hero complex bullshit you think you're pulling here."
God, after the rapt way she'd held his gaze last night, the unguarded way she gave herself up to him, never hiding her responses, it was its special own torture to be forced to watch that expressive face now, seeing just how much he was hurting her. But Kala still fought, even emotionally wounded, even when it was hopeless. Her eyes burned then, even as she cried, the fury flaring brightly there as she rallied to snap back. "Fuck you. I never asked you to change for me. I told you not to! Don't you dare put that on me; I did everything I could not to do that, unlike everyone else in your life! If you did, it was your own choice. Don't do this, not when we've come this far. Why now? You at least owe me that! After all these months, I deserve an answer for why."
"Fuck you, I don't owe you a damn thing, and if you think the only way to change someone is to ask them to, you need to pull your head outta your ass," Jay snarled, and he needed to end this soon or he was going to just fucking puke on her. The problem was, he knew her oh so well. Jay knew everything that could lift her heart or slice it to pieces, and he reached for the sharpest weapon he had. "Gotta give you this, you're more subtle than Talia. And you probably think you're doing what's best for me, but everyone else thought that too and they fucked me over in the end." Even as he said it, Jay realized he was using a level of manipulation Talia herself would be proud of, and it made him even more nauseous.
He saw the flash of hate over Kala's features two seconds before she shoved him away from her, the first time she had struck out at him since this began, palms only a portion of their true strength against his chest. Kala had gone paler than he'd ever seen her, her expression shattered. "How fucking dare you even try to compare me to her, after all she's done to you! I would never! I never lied to you, I never used you, and I sure as hell didn't imply anything that I didn't mean, you goddamn coward! If anyone lied, you did!" she roared back at him. Her hurt and panic were almost a live thing in the room, the girl that had been his starting to break down even as he watched. "I never … never would have done that to you. Never."
The hell of it was, he knew that was true. Jay braced himself for another shove, twisting his features into a furious mask. "Oh come on. Let go of the fucking ego trip. We knew what this was from the beginning; you were the one who tried to make it something more. C'mon, Princess, stop lying to yourself. You like the whole bad boy thing, but guys like me don't turn all domestic and shit, no matter how much you try. Just let it be what it was, a damn good time for a few months, and knock off all this bullshit."
Kala paused, fighting sobs at that point, and just looked at him, through him. The utter shock, the sheer misery in her expression, was a fist to the solar plexus. For a moment, she just stopped completely, the room silent except for their heavy breathing. Again, the gut-churning reminder of her training, the painful way she'd pushed on even when she knew it would gain her nothing. Nothing but more pain. She took a couple of shaky breaths, making him look at her, see her, before she spoke. "Stop," she whispered, her voice shaking, almost breaking. "I love you, Jay. God help me, I fucking love you. Please stop."
Aw, fuck, the one thing he was hoping she wouldn't do. Jay would've killed to hear someone say that to him with such sincerity – to hear Kala say it, literal Supergirl admitting she was in love with his sorry fucked-up psychotic ass, was almost too much to bear. Jay's own heart was breaking, and not just in some stupid rom-com way, his chest literally hurt from what he was doing to her. Or maybe that was the oncoming panic attack from his younger self having a full-blown meltdown. The Robin he'd once been would never let a girl like this get away, and never ever would've driven her off so cruelly.
That Robin was dead, Jay told himself. He was just what remained. And he knew something she didn't. "Is that supposed to stop the world from spinning? Not the first time you've said it, K, but you were half asleep when you did. Guess you really liked your birthday present, or the sex afterward was just that good."
Kala gasped, her eyes going wide. She had no retort, just horror; he knew she was realizing she'd given herself away back the beginning of November, and he hadn't pointed it out 'til now. Jay saw her eyes close in resignation, and took a deep breath, knowing he couldn't relent now. He had to hit her while she was vulnerable, or she'd never give up.
"For fuck's sake, stop confusing great sex with love. Is that what your problem is, K?" he asked, his own voice sounding ragged. Jay could barely keep up the front of anger. "You really think you're that good, that the Super-vag is gonna fix me and make me the kind of upstanding citizen who can actually be loved? Come on."
If that didn't break her, nothing would.
…
The world was tilting on its axis, Kala trying desperately to remain stationary. She felt punch-drunk, her chest tight, and that same world was slipping away behind her feet. Once more she was Alice, yawning over an abyss that lead down a dark, dark rabbit hole.
The same rabbit hole she'd dove into months ago; one that had sheltered her, hid her, made her strong. And then she'd decided to bet everything she had on one wild, dangerous hope. Only to find the pretty interior full of thorns, even after she'd thought she had pulled them all from the outside, where they seemed more dangerous. He was right; with the flow of her life, how could she be surprised as he slashed at her?
It had been madness to start up with him in first place; Kala had known that from the beginning, a chorus of people had told her so by now. Even Jay himself had known. And they had been right. They had been right. More the fool, more the fool.
Everything hurt, her heart seeming to curl into a fist, her whole body shaking as if from a physical attack. Deep in her heart, something had told her she was reaching too far. Wanting too much. More than she had a right to deserve someone who understood, someone who cared about the person she was under all the bravado and baggage. Someone who wouldn't be burdened by what she was, who could know it all. Someone like her, just as fractured and striving to keep sane.
Only to end up like this.
To the moment where the one person she loved the most, trusted the most, turned out to be a Jabberwock in disguise.
She was disassociating, she knew she was, and Kala struggled to recover, to reach out for something to hold her steady. There was nothing. Her touchstone was crumbling.
It was a lie. All of it. All of these months, he had been lying to her. She had opened her heart, trusted him with everything she had been too ashamed to share with anyone else, and had kept his own confidences safe, hidden him away within her. Letting him breathe secrets underneath her skin and against her hair, whispering her own into his ear.
And now, this betrayal. Against all they had, all they had become to one another. His accusations were like a lash, one she couldn't escape. After all that they had given, after the trust that she had bound to her own heart, now he wounded her unexpectedly. And she could not allow that.
She thought she had learned to be wary of betrayal; another pair of cold blue eyes haunted her nightmares. Dru-Zod had been her ally, almost her friend, and all the while he had manipulated her mind and will to his own purposes. The lives of her family, more precious to her than her own, were nothing more than pawns on a game-board to the General. Kala Kal-El had learnt caution from him; but her heart had not been involved in that transaction. What she had given Jason Todd was far more than just her loyalty, and she had been convinced that he felt the same.
She was wrong. He could not love her and speak to her as he did. She had been a fool; her nightmare of months before return, Dru-Zod trying to warn her that this man desired only her flesh. His wraith had been right. Her love was misplaced. This man did not deserve her devotion.
Even as the girl fought for him, fought for herself, she could feel her weakening. That last had nearly lost her; crying out as if mortally wounded. The girl's tender heart was not meant for these sorts of foolish games; not especially from a man who carried the lion's share of her love. As much as she had begun to feel for Jason Todd, this would not stand. Not like this. This would stop and it would stop now.
The Empress blazed up, and he saw her coming, his stubborn angry expression breaking for an instant into fear. It was as well he did, for with that second's fright she restrained herself. Just barely. She still shoved him, hard, but not as hard or as fast as she could have. With her powers, she could have thrust his ribcage clear out of his back.
As it was, she flung him across the room from her with a furious cry.
He looked like a ragdoll, swept off his feet, arms trying to windmill for purchase, but he could no more have withstood that blow than he could've ignored a hurricane raging directly in his path. Jason Todd, the betrayer, flew through the air and collided with the opposite wall in a shower of plaster dust and splinters.
The girl's fear spiked then, thinking she'd killed him, but the Empress heard his heartbeat – fear-fast yet steady. He would live, he was no more than bruised, the wall had only been a sorry thing of lath and plaster, half-rotten with age and neglect. Any mere human could have punched through it.
Still, the thought that she might have truly harmed him gave the girl the upper hand again, and the Empress could only seethe impotently. For a long moment, she heard only the shuddered breath of her charge, listening to his heartbeat one last time to assure herself Jason Todd still lived, her gaze still upon the place where he landed. He was momentarily stunned, what with the speed of her blow and the solidity of the wall. He would recover. Then she heard her voice, angry but so tired. Broken. "You've got it all wrong, Red. I … I wasn't trying to save you. You were saving me, you asshole."
And with that, she and the child disappeared with a blur of speed, leaving the man that they both loved to fate he had chosen.
…
Jay found himself dazed, coughing from plaster dust, and sore all over. The last thing he remembered was seeing the Empress' face, her eyes cold with rage, and then she'd shoved him – right through a wall. He hadn't even had time to open the lead box in his pocket.
He checked for it now, glad to find it undamaged by the fall. Inside the box was a shard of blue kryptonite, something he'd been carrying for a while now in case of emergencies. Kala hadn't looked for it, hadn't asked, but if she had, he would've pointed out their impromptu trip to Canada. So far, he'd always been able to talk the Empress down, but Jay knew as well as Bruce did just how dangerous Kryptonians could be. The difference was, green k would make the Empress furious; he laughed rustily at the thought that he'd gotten hold of a sample of blue specifically because he knew how risky it was to cause her pain.
And he'd hurt her badly enough, just now. Jay groaned, trying to sit up, and was relieved to be able to move everything. He touched the back of his head and winced; a big goose-egg was forming there, from where he'd hit the wall. Note to self: Make sure to wear the damn helmet if you're going to get physical with a pissed-off Super.
His helmet, and his domino, were in the next room. Jay forced himself to focus on practicalities, on necessary next steps. If he let himself think about what he'd just done, what Kala had said in parting, well … going completely nuts was a distinct possibility. What he wanted to do after all that, after seeing that heartbroken look in Kala's eyes and knowing he'd caused it, was just jump off a roof and end his cursed existence.
No. He couldn't, because if he did, she'd know the fight they just had was a sham, and she'd blame herself for not stopping him. Fuck it, he had to live with himself now. Jay pressed the heel of his palm to his forehead, groaning. His head ached, his back ached, he was probably bruised from shoulders to ankles. And the physical pain was the least of it.
You were saving me, Kala's voice so fraught with heartbreak, and Jay knew he'd hear it in nightmares. God, why the hell did she pick him to save her? He couldn't even save himself! All Jay wanted was to turn off the world for a while, make it stop hurting, but he couldn't.
Fine, he'd keep going. Joker was still alive, after all. Jay would be damned if he'd let the twisted bastard count a win against him in any away. At least Kala was heading out of Gotham at super-speed, and she'd stay well away from this godforsaken city and all the rogues who wanted her dead.
Jay limped into the other room, and saw Kala's domino beside his. His chest got tight just looking at it. She'd flown off bare-faced, without a thought for her identity. Just more proof that she needed to stay far away from him.
Next steps. He had to stay focused on the next steps, or he'd falter. Jay picked up Kala's domino and shoved it into his pocket. He'd drop it off to Babs somehow; he didn't want to get into a conversation about it. He didn't want to talk to anyone, but if he left the domino or took it with him, Babs would be pestering him. She could track the damn things; for all he knew, Bruce could track them too.
Shit, sooner or later both of them were going to chew his ass about this. Jay squared his shoulders and made himself not care. He'd tried to kill Bruce, put Tim in the hospital, done a whole bunch of bad shit. Running Kala out of town didn't even compare. He'd done it for her own good, anyway.
He put his domino and helmet on, and headed down to the ground floor, still moving stiffly. Jay knew he needed to get back to his apartment as soon as possible. He needed to get to his scotch. It was a great pain reliever, as well as anesthetic for the thirteen-year-old Robin in the back of his brain, shrieking in outrage that he'd just destroyed the best thing that had ever happened to him. Jay couldn't explain to his wounded self that he'd done it because Kala was the best thing that ever happened to him.
…
Babs startled at the sound of something clattering through the letter drop downstairs. "The hell?" Dinah said, and headed down to check it out.
Babs pulled up the cameras, and frowned to see one of their black domino masks sitting on the foyer tile. "Looks like one of ours," she called to Dinah, pulling up the exterior cameras. A car had just peeled away from the curb.
She didn't have to wait long for an explanation. Her main phone line rang, and she saw Jay's number as she picked it up. "Oracle here."
"Take Blur off the roster," he said in gravelly tones.
Babs started to smile, thinking they had something to celebrate, and then realized his voice sounded entirely too harsh and cold. Almost the same way he'd answered when he received the comm and cookies she'd sent him at the beginning of summer. "Hood? What's going on?"
"She's out," he told her flatly. "I'm calling it, her clearance to work in Gotham is revoked. We just fucking had the conversation about how every asshole in this town is looking for a trophy kill, and she fits the bill nicely. Then she breaks out flight not even twenty-four hours later. She's done."
Babs stared at the receiver, wondering what had really happened. From the stairwell, she'd heard Dinah's voice. "It's K's domino. What the hell?"
Clearing her throat, Babs asked, "I wasn't aware you made those types of decisions, Hood."
He laughed bitterly at her. "I do now. Take me off your roster, too. Fuck this, I work safer alone. I trained your wild-card for you, she's safe enough as long as she doesn't focus on one place, now I'm done. Don't even try to change my mind with cookies. If I want 'em, I'll go to the source."
Throwing an extra layer of encryption on the call, Babs said, "Jay, talk to me. What happened out there?"
"I hit the limit of my bullshit tolerance. B can get his team maimed and killed, and live with the mangst, but I'm not playing that. If she can't follow orders and keep the fucking sideshow powers to a minimum, she's kicked out. For her own safety, O." As Jay continued speaking, Babs thought she could hear an undercurrent of pain in his voice.
She took a deep breath, and asked the dangerous question. "So you kicked your partner out of town. What about your girlfriend, Jay?"
Another bitter laugh. "No chatter on the comm, Oracle." He killed the connection, and Babs was left staring at the call tracing. It was his cell, of course, and a moment later it cut off as he removed the sim card. She knew where he was headed, anyway.
Dinah came up behind her, holding Kala's mask. "Why do I have this terrible feeling that everything just went to shit?"
"It sounds like Jay overreacted to Kala using flight," Babs said slowly. "He says he kicked her out of Gotham. And probably broke up with her, too."
"Oh, you idiot boy," Dinah groaned. "Why? The two of them were so cute it was disgusting!"
"That might be part of why," Babs admitted. "He hasn't been able to loosen up like this in a long time. He might've scared himself."
"Want me to go knock some sense into him?" Dinah asked.
Babs looked up at her with a sad smile. "It won't do any good," she replied. "Much as I'd like to smack him upside the head myself, we can't live his life for him. If he made this choice, then he thinks he knows what he's doing."
Dinah just sighed. "Where's Kala?"
"He said she left town," Babs replied. "Last I heard, most of her stuff was at the Manor. Let me ask Dick to check when he gets out of the Wayne Enterprises luncheon."
Dinah rested a hand on her shoulder. "I'm so glad we got our shit together in a reasonable amount of time."
"Weren't you just complaining the other day about not seeing my face for over a year?" Babs replied, but it was an old playful argument between them, and she had bigger worries. Jay and Kala breaking up wasn't the central problem – what both of them would do in reaction was. Babs couldn't even begin to predict what all of the fallout from this would be.
…
Deep in the heart of the League of Shadows compound in the Tibesti mountains, far beneath the surface, a long slow change was taking place. It had been coming for decades, and now, at the prompting of an internal clock, a scabrous green glow began to shine in from the treasure in the deeps.
There were men on guard to observe and report such a change, but things in the Libyan contingent were … unsettled, to say the least. The first guard reported to his superior, as expected. And then he mentioned it to two or three of his friends, who indulged in speculation about what all of it meant. One of those made a report in a secret cipher to Lady Shiva, even as the first guard's superior made his expected report to the Demon's Head and his daughter.
As word traveled through the compound, other surreptitious messages were sent out. Talia al Ghul had tapped four men she hoped would be loyal, and all four of them reported to her faithfully. Lady Shiva had three watchers inside, and all of them reported to her just as promptly. One man reported to both of them, but he resolved any questions of where his loyalty actually lay by slipping out of the compound and heading south out of the region.
Two strategists examined the odds. Talia had the advantage of knowing Shiva was there; Shiva was wise enough to suspect that Talia was somewhere nearby. Both of them tried to outguess each other. The prize they both coveted was beyond price.
Two sets of orders went out, both trying to anticipate the other, and the great game began, setting all of the pieces on both sides in motion.
