Darkness

by pmdurrant07

Melissa Wayne is the adoptive daughter of Bruce Wayne. Bruce is her uncle, but after a series of unfortunate events, he adopted her legally. Melissa has been living with her father and her adoptive siblings for a year, and they’re very protective of her, and her younger siblings look up to her. What’ll happen when she’s raped? And has this happened before?

Dick's POV

Oh thank god. It was the last week of school. It was Saturday, which was cool, but also sucked, because summer vacation was further away. But, I knew Melissa would be happy with that. "Hey, dickie. Whatca' doin?" Terry asked, walking by. Terry was 22, and was balancing college and being a hero very well. I was surprised that he was here, but he randomly showed up and stayed with us for no reason all the time. "Hey, Terry! Didn't know you were visiting!" "Of course! It's almost summer. And you know what that means?" He said excitedly. Everything he said had a confident tone to it. And everything he did had a bright and happy bounce that was hard to explain. Maybe he was brighter and happier than me. "You're torturing us for 3 months straight?" Jason asked. He was a stubborn hard head. He loved his family, just didn't have the balls to show it. He usually got along with others, except for Damian. And Tim. Which was Understandable, but crazy. Most people that met him liked him. They would talk about how polite and smart he was. That was probably why they didn't get along. They were polar opposites. "No, Jaybird. It means I get to see a whole lot more of Melissa! And you guys!" He said. He sat down and accepted his breakfast from Alfred. "Thanks, Alfred." Then Melissa and Tim walked in, fist bumping. She sat next to me and we did our signature hand shake. "Hey, Cass. Steph." Cassandra was 8 and Stephanie was 9. They always hung out together. It was weird, seeing siblings get along so well. Me and Melissa were only cousins, but even we fought sometimes. And...it makes sense that they got along. I got along with all of my siblings. But they've never had one fight. If they had one, they were quick to admit that they were wrong and sorry. They (thankfully) have never been subjected to arguments where they didn't talk for a few days or even a week. "Hey, Uncle Bruce." She said, making a smoothie. She opened the freezer under the fridge with her telekinesis. She poured fruit into the blender and floated yogurt to the counter. "Hey, whatca' doing today?" I asked. "I don't know. Probably gonna just relax, not do anything until patrol tonight." "Oh, alright." I replied. "Hey, Bruce?" "Yes, dick?" "Are you going to work today?" "Nope. I got the day off." "Uncle Bruce? Can we go to the mountain today?" She was annoyed by Bruce picking her up at 14 years old. He nodded. "Sure thing!" He finally set her back down. "You were never that affectionate with me when I was younger." Terry said. "Same here." Tim replied. "Yeah! What the hell, Bruce." "Language, master Jason." Bruce just rolled his eyes. "I wonder what Wally's doing today." I said. "Maybe he's fighting crime as Kid Flash." She paused for a minute. I could see she was crushing hard. "So, you and West are a thing?" Damian walked through the kitchen. She nodded.

Melissa's POV

Why was my family so surprised? I already told them. Did they forget or something? "I didn't think he was right for you." Jason said. "Why?" Dick asked. "Because I don't trust Wally. He seems like the kind of kid to get into trouble." "No more trouble then anyone in this family. Besides, he gets good grades, he's really smart, and he's amazing. He isn't a bad boy." "He's just trying to protect you. But I know Wally. And Barry and iris. Jason, you know Barr and I too." "Yeah I do. And they're great people. I'm sure they'd be wonderful at raising kids. Just... Be careful, Melissa." "I'm fine. But thanks for looking out for me." "Hey, everyone. I got your report cards from like 5 weeks ago." "We're getting new report cards this week. Why do you have those ones?" Stephanie asked. "Yes, father. Do tell why you focus on the past." Jason said, worried about his grades. Jason stood up and stood next to dick and me. He held my hand, knowing I was a nervous wreck too. "Damian, dick, Tim, all A's. Cass, Steph, A's and B's. Good job." He paused and sighed. Jason held my hand tighter. I started glowing dark blue. I had curly hair past my shoulders. I had a baggy long sleeve shirt with a skirt. "Jason, C's and D's. Melissa, A's, B's, and C-'s. No C or C, at least. Just C-'s. In math and biology. Jason... How the hell did you fail gym class? I expect you all to be wonderful as this. You should be excelling. Except for the younger ones, who don't need training cuz they can barley step foot into the cave. And Melissa.. I expected more from you. You know, I got a call from one of your teachers saying you were a bad student in his class. Mr Johnson." Melissa's eyes widened. That was her math teacher. She had been really good in that class. Behavior wise, anyways. "I'm always a good student! I promise! I pay attention, I take notes, I'm always quiet. I rarely talk in that class." "You're both grounded. Jason, 2 weeks. Melissa, 1 week." "Bruce... If you would just let me explain. My teacher, she-" Bruce was dragging us up the stairs before he could finish. "Give me your devices." "Tablets, computers, consoles." I gave him my Xbox, Jason gave his PS. I gave my ipad and iphone, while Jay did the same. "Your voice assistants, too." "Uncle Bruce, my music." He held his hand out, not taking no for an answer. "Okay. Now go read a book or do some math equations." He walked away. We watched him disappear down the stairs. "Jason Peter Todd! Melissa Marie Wayne!" "Dammit." We both said. We ran down the stairs. "I heard you two were making sexual advances towards your teachers." "Bruce, no!" Jason said. We looked at each other. "Well, something happened." "Nothing sexual had ever happened with me, period. But definitely not with a teacher." She was only 14, not planning on being sexually active anytime soon. She really had nothing going on, but she wasn't so sure about Jay. She read his mind. He was in the clear. But not completely. Sexual advances were taking place, but not because of him. "Uncle Bruce! It's not like that." "Oh yeah? Read his mind and tell me what's up. And I can tell when you're lying, so don't try it." She pretended to read his mind. Jason fell to the floor, begging for forgiveness. He felt like it was his fault. Terry and Tim ran to his aid. "It's not his fault. He was letting the teacher have her way with him for good grades. He rejected her latest offer and she gave him a horrible grade." She set up a mind link. "Seriously?" He asked aloud. She nodded. "Jason.. I'm so sorry. You don't need to ask for forgiveness. Come here." He gave Jason a hug. He didn't let go for like... hours. Jason cried and cried. The only people in the room were the 2 huggers, dick and Melissa, and Terry and Tim. Alfred made the younger ones go upstairs to do homework a while ago. "Can you ever forgive me?" Bruce asked. Jason nodded. "Of course." "You're ungrounded. Melissa? What do you have to say for your grades?" He looked at me, expecting something magical to happen. Like he felt a miracle coming on. "I'm incompetent." "You're not incompetent. I've seen you do amazing in school." "I just don't understand anything. Face it. I'm not going to graduate on time. I'm never going to be smart enough to succeed. It's alright. I'll... Work at Starbucks." She said. There was no emotion, due to her necklace blocking her powers. "Star." "You'll have to ground me every few months for the rest of my life, because I'm never getting good grades in math." "You just need a tutor." She walked away, leaving her family behind.

Monday

It was monday, and Melissa was having a hard time getting up. She was going to listen to music to motivate her, but Bruce had taken everything away. She didn't want to go to school. She didn't understand why, but school always made her anxious. The tests, presentations. She woke up at 5:30(sometimes) or 6, while the rest of her family woke up at 5 or 5:30. She went down to the bat cave to find her cousins finishing their workouts. "Hey, Melissa. What are up to?" "Just saying hey." She replied. Terry was in his costume, no doubt working on some Bludhaven case or something. And Jason was doing pull ups. Dick was swinging on his trapeze bars. I put some chalk on my hands and started swinging with him. They started doing tricks and graceful turns. When Melissa was younger, about a year or 2 after dick moved in with her Uncle, he had shown her lots of cool things he learned from the circus, such as his acrobatic skills and his trapeze talents he got from his parents. He was born to be a flying Grayson, obviously being born into the family. But even now, even though he's not in the circus, he would still steal the show. She felt bad that he didn't get to live with his parents and grow up with them. They were very loving from what dick told the family about, and he should've gotten the chance to take advantage of it. But if they didn't die, she guessed she wouldn't have met him. "It's 6:30. We should start getting ready." Dick said. Melissa was doing more than a little exercise. She kept blasting star bolts at a mannequin and practicing different spells on it. "Uoy lliw eb rednu ym dnammoc!" And she controlled the mannequin just like that. "You're right. Let's go." She was sweating after all the jumping jacks and crunches and yoga she did as a warm up. She did more than that, but that was the gist of it. "I hope Jay's alright. Bruce better go to that school and set that teacher straight." He said. "Yeah. You know, he has Mrs. Johnson. We have Mr. Johnson." "Wait. Who's Mrs Johnson?" He asked. "The 10th and 11th grade math teacher. I just hope Mr. Johnson is nicer." She replied. They went to school and went to class together. Bruce and dick had made sure that they had the same classes so Melissa wouldn't be too overwhelmed after she had been raped. During last summer, her father kidnapped her and forced her to to horrible stuff, and a few months after that, Bruce got a new babysitter that he didn't look into. It was a long story of how it got to that point, Bruce leaving them with a babysitter that wasn't a close family friend or family member. It was weird. But then he raped her. And she only told Jason about it, and Dick. She hesitated on telling anyone, not wanting to be a burden. Once again. Jason really wanted to go after him, kill him, and Justin, her dad. Nobody stood a chance against Justin. Except for the bat family. One day, after having enough of him escaping Belle Reve and always getting away from them, they all ganged up on him. They used the element of surprise. They attacked him without him being able to blink. They beat him relentlessly with all they had. Jason shot him a lot. Batman said he wouldn't kill, but Red Hood didn't have the same moral code as most heroes. So he killed him. And then they had to worry more. Her whole family seemed to have some sort of curse. Babs had been undressed by Joker to make it seem like she was raped, but Melissa went back to that time and joker just took pictures to mess with Commissioner Gordon. Terry had been raped before, Tim had been raped before, Jason had been raped multiple times, dick hadn't been that she knew of, but it was only a matter of time. And so was she. And Bruce was as well. She and Dick sat down. The bell rang, and Mr. Johnson gave them all their assignments. Melissa transformed into Kelly, her lazy counterpart. She had sweatpants and a t shirt on. Her friend Lindsey, had a crop top, a black skirt, and gold jewelry. She was like Athena with her long, iron curled, blond hair with black streaks in it. She was always so fancy, and her style was preppy. "I'm so over this class." She said. Emily nodded her head and put her hood on, covering her dark blue hair. She sat next to me, and Lindsey was right in front of me. Lindsey walked to the desk as per Mr Johnson's request, and when she sat down, she turned blue. "Alyssa? What's wrong?" Kelly asked. She was so tired, but she soon changed to her normal self. "Was it Mr. Johnson?" Emily asked. Lindsey nodded. Her friends all reached over to give her a hug. "What's the deal with him anyway? What did he say?" Jazzy asked, her black hair falling in her face. "He asked me if I wanted some extra credit. I said sure, because I suck at math. He told me to come by after class, that's his prep hour, and we could have a little fun." She put her face in her hands. "Hey, it's alright. We can get him fired. Get proof of this and he's out of here." "You said no, right?" Hotheaded Jazzy said. She felt angry at Mr. Johnson. She nodded. "Thank god." Emily said. She sat behind Jazzy in the next row. "Dick. We gotta get to the bottom of this." "You think Batman and Robin are gonna handle this?" "Definitely." "I kind of miss the days when it was just Batman and Robin. Now he has a bunch of kids that want to be heroes so bad, that he grounds them by not letting them go on missions or threatens them with it." He sighed. She got a call from Bruce. Mr Johnson wasn't very strict, nor did he pay much attention. So she took it. "Dammit. He's calling cuz you were talking about him." She said. "You jinxed me." "Why are you still failing?!" He asked. "Because you just checked our grades yesterday." He must've looked online at their grades. "I want you to get that grade up by the end of the week, or you're grounded all summer. No patrol, no mountain, no technology, and no powers. I'm so disappointed in you. Normally you do great in school." Melanie felt herself get anxious again. She started hyperventilating. "I-im sorry. I'm trying, I really am!" "Trying isn't good enough." He hung up the phone. Then Mr Johnson called her up to the desk. "I have an extra credit opportunity. If you come by after school ends, I'll teach you mathematical lesson." This sound like a very kinky porno about to happen, which disturbed her on so many levels. But she remembered her uncle's words. She didn't want to be a disappointment, nor did she want to be grounded. "Okay." Was all she said. She put her necklace on. She hated how she agreed to it. "Also, that's the reason your grade has been so low. Because I was waiting to raise your grade once I had you right where I wanted you. And it's not really a choice. You'll regret not coming." Great. She walked away and sat down.

After school

After school, Melissa walked into Me Johnson's room. "Hello, Melissa. You ready?" She shook her head. "Actually, I came to tell you that I've changed my mind." "No you haven't." "Yes, I have. I don't want to do this." "I'll tie you down if you won't cooperate." Before I could blast him or anything, he threw something at my head. Then I blacked out.

1 hour later

When Melissa woke up, she was tied to her teachers desk, and a dampening collar was around her neck. She struggled to get free, but Johnson was on top of her, preventing her from moving anywhere. It brought up so many unwanted memories for her. She closed her eyes and tried to go to her happy place.

After school, she teleported herself back home instead of riding home with her family. "Why? Why did I do that?" She went into the kitchen. She took her necklace off. She floated some coffee towards the dining room and set everything on the table. She hopped on the table and floated criss cross applesauce. She took some black iced coffee and flicked the cap off. She poured it into a clear glass cup. She poured some whipping cream into the cup. She cried out loud, unable to keep silent. "I just want people to be proud of me. I'm so weak when it comes to stuff like this. I used to be amazing. What happened to me?" She couldn't see how much bravery and courage she must've had to be able to stand up to her rapists, even if the courage didn't last long. Even when she was fighting rapists or other enemies, she'd go home and criticize everything she did wrong. "I fought the Joker, and stopped him from traumatizing Terry, and I was only like 8 or 9." She was talking to no one in particular. She stirred it, decided she liked it, and put the tops on everything. She sat there, drinking her sugar cookie coffee, her back to the doorway. She cried out loud a little more. "Why did I agree to that? Just for a better grade. What's wrong with me? I just... didn't want Uncle Bruce to get mad at me, and-and..." She sobbed once more. She felt someones arms wrap around her from behind. She flinched and jumped. She turned around, then immediately relaxed when she noticed it was her boyfriend. "Hey, walls." She said. Julie was still sniffling, but wiped her eyes and tried to act like nothing was wrong. He held her, knowing she was in pain. He just didn't know why. "Um.. it's just school." "Oh, Star. I know school makes you anxious. What's wrong?" "I don't want to be a burden. And it's my fault." "Dude, I know it couldn't have been your fault. Just explain what's going on." "M-my teacher. He said he was offering extra credit." He squeezed her hand, putting 2 and 2 together. "And he said that my grade was also low because I hadn't given him what he wanted. He said I didn't have a choice, and I'd regret not coming! He said he would raise my grade, and Uncle Bruce was so disappointed in me when I was failing school! I shouldn't have done it, and if he finds out, he'll be even more disappointed in me!" She started crying really hard. She hated getting yelled at, nobody understood why. Not even her. But it would just make her anxious and upset. "Star, it's not your fault. Everyone feels threatened and obligated when it comes to authority figures. And everyone wants to get better grades, at any cost. It's alright. Bruce won't be mad. Or disappointed." She sniffed. She hugged him tighter. She missed him so much. During school, she had a hard time balancing school and the team. She managed, but it was complicated. "You sure?" He nodded. "I missed you, Wally. You always know just what to say." Dick, Jason, and Bruce walked in. "Yo, violet. What's going on?" Jason needed to know why she was upset. He could see tear tracks. "Star! What's wrong?" "Honey, why are you so distraught?" "Go ahead." Wally said. She looked at Wally nervously. "The reason my math teacher gave me a bad grade was because he didn't get what he wanted. But...he finally asked me about 'extra credit.'" "Please don't tell me." Bruce said. "He...wanted pleasure." Jason finished for her. She nodded. Her family started hugging her. "We have to put an end to that couple." Dick said. "I'm going to that school. Is there any proof, though?" Bruce said. "He...he recorded it." She whispered. Wally hugged her. "Mrs. Johnson shows me porn. I think that it has to do with the girls that Mr Johnson 'tutors'. Maybe she'll end up giving me the video, and then we'll have proof." "You're definitely not accepting any sexual activities." "Or we could sneak into his house and beat him up. And find the video." Wally and dick nodded at Jason's second idea. "Come on! It'll be fun. The gang's all here. Batman, Nightwing, Red Hood, Starling, and Robin, together again. And KF could join, course." "If we do this, no offense, but I'm not dealing with a speedster. And if your uncle finds out, he's gonna want to come with." "Damn, Bats. Really gotta do me like that?" He said, sounding fake hurt. He laughed. "Melissa!" Terry ran through the doorway. He picked Melissa up. "Jay's teacher told me about how your teacher was being a pervert. Are you alright? Need some coffee?" She held her ice coffee up. "I'm fine. I...I shouldn't have done it just to increase my grade. I let him do it." "It's my fault. You always get good grades, and now I'm turning into your mother. I'm sorry. I promised you that I would be a better parent than your parents, and I failed. I shouldn't have been so quick to yell and punish. you're ungrounded, and I promise he'll get what he deserves." She hugged him "I love you guys." She said. "Can we go to the mountain now?" Bruce nodded.

Tuesday

Zatanna's POV

It was tuesday, and Melissa was hanging out at the mountain. She started telling me, Artemis, Cassandra, and M'gann about what happened with her math teacher. Luckily, earlier today, they got the proof they needed and Mr. Johnson would have a trial soon. thank god. I felt so bad for her. Everyone was appalled. M'gann was baking cookies for her, Connor looked like he wanted to break something (or someone in that case). Dick and Wally sat on either side of her. "I'm awfully sorry for that ordeal you went through." Kaldur put down his book and Connor turned off the static on the tv. "Nobody should have to experience that." Connor sat next to M'gann on the couch. "we could beat him to a bloody pulp." Artemis said. "I'm sure Batman wouldn't mind carrying out that mission." Cassie said. "Nobody hurts our best friend like that and gets away with it." I had to put my two sense in. I couldn't believe that something like this happened again to her. She was our best friend. Every hero associated with the league knew her. If they really knew her, like the team or the first founding members of the Justice League, she was their best friend. Every league member loved her, and she thought of them as family. Everyone was sad when she was sad, and everyone was happy when she was happy. "I love you guys." "Hey, would you guys still love me if I became a drug addict?" She asked. "Of course!" Wally replied. "We need to get cocaine somehow." Artemis said laughing. Melissa and cassie laughed. "In all seriousness, of course we would. Would you guys love me if I were a worm?" Cassie asked. "Maybe more." Wally said laughing. "Don't be a skanky Hoe bag."