Richard's pent-up anger bubbled in him over the next few weeks, though he tried hard to conceal it. He only occasionally snapped at his friends when he was particularly grumpy. But this Sunday evening, Slade had made his presence known at an abandoned warehouse on the far end of town. So Nightwing was out and determined to figure what exactly he was doing, and put a stop to it.
When he arrived at the warehouse, he parked his bike around the side of the building and shot a grappling hook towards an open window to haul himself up and peek inside. He was sure there would be several of Slade's bots guarding the place, so he kept his movements quick and quiet.
Inside, he saw several screens with different views of the city. Probably tapped into the city's security system. With that knowledge came the realization that Slade was likely expecting him. He would be expecting a sneaky entrance through the windows or a skylight. So Nightwing elected to come in through the front door.
Upon bursting through the doors with his staff in hand, he was immediately surrounded by bots. He slashed his staff at them, shoved it into a few of their chests, frying their mechanics. One tackled him from behind, but Nightwing managed to get ahold of it and throw it to the ground, ripping its head from its neck, leaving behind frayed, sparking wires.
Once all the bots at the entrance had been dealt with, he stepped into the room where Slade was still examining the screens. For what exactly, Nightwing was uncertain. But it was sure to be nothing good.
In an effort at a surprise attack, he ran at Slade, birdarang at the ready. "Cowardly move, Nightwing, attacking a man when his back is turned," he said slyly, pushing a button in front of him. Instantly, lasers were firing at the hero from every direction, more bots dropping down from the ceiling to corner him.
Nightwing twirled his staff in quick circles, deflecting the lasers towards the bots, and they fell to the ground one by one. After the last one had been destroyed, he saw that Slade had disappeared. "Show yourself, you bastard!" Nightwing screamed. Then he heard footsteps running on the catwalk suspended from the ceiling above him. He shot his grappling hook at it, and flipped over the railing, chasing after the villain, who hopped out a window. By the time Nightwing reached the window, however, he had vanished.
"Dammit!" he yelled. This was the third time Slade had gotten away in the last week, and Nightwing was no closer to figuring out his plans.
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"Hell yeah!" Gar exclaimed, plopping down on the sectional with the TV remote in his hand. "Nothing like a scary movie on Halloween!"
"Yippee," Rachel said less than enthusiastically.
Kori was sitting with her knees drawn close to her chest, already attempting to hide from the screen, while Richard sat with his arm tight around her shoulders. He'd been rather quiet the last 24 hours, which puzzled Kori a bit, but she decided it was best not to bother him too much about it after he had cursed at her the last time she'd asked him what was on his mind. He didn't give an answer, but definitely made it clear that he didn't want to talk about it.
Vic turned out the lights and Kori snuggled close to Richard as the movie started. 30 minutes in, she had decided that she could not handle the horrifying scenes, pulling a blanket over her head and burying her face in her boyfriend's chest. Before long, she had fallen asleep, as all of her friends finished the movie. She remained unconscious as one-by-one the boys retreated to their own rooms, and the girls returned home. Richard stayed there on the couch with Kori, having promised Bee he'd take care of her tonight. At this point, Kori had slumped so far down that her head was on his lap, making him a little uncomfortable, but he dared not move and disturb her slumber. She looked troubled, her brow creased as she mumbled something completely incomprehensible. He figured it may have been her native language.
Suddenly, she started jerking wildly as she slept, her foreign words get louder as she seemed to plead with some invisible being. Richard could see tears starting to spill out of the corners of her eyes. Frightened for his girlfriend, he tried to gently shake her awake. "Kori? Kori, wake up." When that didn't work, he sat her up and shook her harder. "Kori!"
Kori's eyes sprung open, still wet with tears. "Richard?" She latched her arms around him as she continued to cry into his shoulder.
"Kori, are you okay? That was quite the nightmare you were having," he said, stroking her hair, willing for her nerves to settle.
Kori shook her head as she peeled herself off him and retreated back into her tucked up knees. "Not a nightmare. A memory," she confessed, not meeting his gaze.
This made Richard grow even more concerned. What could have possibly happened to her that would cause her to react in such a way? He reached for her hand, intertwining their fingers and stoking her thumb with his own. "Who hurt you?"
Drawing in a deep breath, Kori told him about how she was an immediate descendant of the throne back home, but that her parents had offered her as an exchange to their enemies when it seemed total loss was inevitable. "I was given as a prisoner of war to the enemy, who then used me as a slave for their own pleasure. I shall spare you the details."
Richard felt his heart shatter for her. How did she manage to still have so much joy and see so much beauty in the world after what she'd been through? "Kori," he said, gently turning her head to face him. "I promise, I'll never let anything like that happen to you again." He hugged her close to him, forcing the anger that was building up in him — toward Bruce, toward Slade, toward these cruel people who'd done such damage to the wonderful girl in his arms — back down. He could take it out on his punching bag in the morning. Right now, she needed him. He carefully left a lingering kiss on the top of her head. "Is that why you sleep with the lights on?"
Kori nodded. "It feels less real when I can see my surroundings."
"How often does this happen?"
"It used to be every night," she confessed.
"Used to be?" Richard asked.
"This was the first time since the Monday after homecoming." Richard recognized that date immediately. The date they had shared their first kiss. "You have brought me such happiness, that the memories do not haunt me like they did before."
The two of them sat in silence for several moments, then Kori started to nod off.
"Sleepy?" Richard teased.
Kori let out a yawn, nodding. "Perhaps it is time I went home."
In response, he leaned down to lay across the sofa cushions, pulling her down with him. "You can stay here tonight. I'm not going anywhere." To that, Kori placed a soft kiss on his lips, and they both dozed off into a peaceful sleep.
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When Kori awoke on Tuesday morning, Richard was no longer there on the couch with her. She could smell something cooking in the kitchen, a sweet scent wafting throughout the house. She stepped inside to fine Vic making breakfast. "Good morning, little lady," he said cheerily upon seeing her. "Bon appétit." He slid a plate in front of her containing what she learned in home economics to be a waffle topped with butter and syrup. She gladly consumed the delicious food, then checked the time. They would need to leave for school in half an hour.
"Friend Vic, have you seen Richard?" she asked, wishing to thank him for last night.
"I think he's in his room," he replied.
Kori rinsed her empty plate in the sink, then headed down the hallway. As she got nearer to Richard's room, she could hear grunting and a smacking sound. His door was cracked open, so she peeked her head in to see him standing at his punching bag, sweat dripping down his bare back. He had headphones blasting loud music into his ears that Kori could hear from the doorway. His face was contorted with fury as he threw quick punches and kicks at the punching bag.
"Richard, I thank you for your company last night," Kori said, but her voice went unheard.
"Perhaps we should do the getting ready for school now, yes?" she tried, a little bit louder, but still he didn't seem to notice her presence.
"I have just realized I do not have a change of clothes. Maybe I could borrow…?" Kori talked even louder, stepping cautiously into the room towards Richard, who noticed a shadow approaching him.
"Dammit Gar!" he exclaimed, ripping the headphones off his head as the music continued to blast from them. "How many fucking times do I have to tell you to leave me the fuc—" He turned, only to see his girlfriend standing there, hair a mess from sleep, with a terrified look on her face.
"I have… done something wrong?" she asked, tears threatening to stream out of her eyes.
Immediately, Richard's face softened. "Shit. Kori, I'm so sorry," he said, moving towards her, but each step he took forward, she took one back, until she was backed into the wall. Not wanting her to feel cornered, he stopped where he was. "I didn't realize…."
Kori suddenly was very interested in the carpet under her feet. "I um, need something to wear to school," she said quietly.
"Oh, um, yeah," Richard responded, suddenly feeling sick to his stomach. He reached inside a dresser drawer and pulled out a pair of black drawstring sweatpants, then walked over to his closet and grabbed a white t-shirt. Kori carefully took them from him.
"I shall give you the space you require." Her voice came out timid, and she turned to walk out the door.
"Kori, wait," Richard pleaded, but she had already closed and locked the bathroom door behind her.
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Kori rode with Vic to school that morning, and kept quiet all throughout the first two classes. She had never seen Richard so angry. "Don't take it personally," Vic had told her. "He struggles with anger management. Always has." Rachel had simply given her a sad half-smile as she took notes on the lesson, a finger playing with the turtleneck around her throat.
This, however, didn't make her feel any better. She avoided Richard in gym, spent the lunch period hiding in the ladies' room, and chose a seat on the opposite side of the room in history.
After school, as she was putting away her textbooks in her locker, Richard appeared next to her. "Kori, can we talk?"
"Do we have anything to talk about?" she huffed.
"Look," Richard sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I fucked up." Kori didn't respond. "I'd really like to make it up to you. Let me take you out."
"Where would we go?" She responded, her tone starting to soften.
He thought for a second, wanting to keep the evening casual simply because she looked damn good in his sweatpants with the waistband rolled a couple of times to better fit her hips, and his t-shirt that she'd tucked the bottom hem of into her sports bra to make a crop top. "A local band, Modern Yesterday, has got a show at the pier in a couple hours. We could go now, hang out a bit before the concert starts. There's usually lots to do down there."
Kori closed her locker, lifting her backpack straps onto one shoulder, then the other, then slid her hand into his, looking at him with the hint of a smile on her face. "Let us make with the haste."
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At the pier, Kori and Richard found a couple of empty seats near the back as the concert was about to start. She nestled her head on his shoulder and rested his hand on her thigh. Kori felt a strange tingly sensation run through her body at his touch. It felt warm, but cold at the same time, but she didn't want the feeling to go away.
About halfway through the concert, Richard felt his phone buzz in his pocket. Slade had been spotted again, this time near the city's central communications facility. Was he trying to highjack the phone towers?
"Shit," Richard cursed under his breath. "I've gotta go." He stood up and Kori immediately felt the absence of his touch, and followed him off the pier.
"Richard, what is going on?" Kori asked, trailing a few steps behind him, but he ignored her question. "Is everything the okay?" Still no answer as he took a shortcut through an alleyway back to his bike that he'd parked on a side street. "Richard, talk to me!" she demanded, and he turned around to see her silhouette in the alley, looking withdrawn. "Why do you give me the shoulder of coldness?"
Richard's heart sank as he walked back to her. "Kori, I can't talk about it."
"You cannot? Or you will not? What is it that you think I cannot handle?" Kori asked. "In case you have forgotten, I am stronger than I look."
After only a second's hesitation, Richard threw logic out the window. Fuck Slade. He'd just get away again anyway. He let his emotions take over once again, specifically anger and lust as he crashed his lips into Kori's, backing her against the brick wall and pinning her there, hungrily shoving his tongue past her teeth.
Kori was shocked by her boyfriend's sudden unexpected advances, but not entirely unhappy about it. She allowed him to grip her bare waist, his grasp maybe a little too tight. She moaned as he sucked hard on her collarbone, arched her back as he rocked his hips into hers.
Then all at once, his touch disappeared. He backed away from her, feeling as if he had crossed some unspoken line in his frustration. He cleared his throat, "I, uh — let's get you home."