Hailey had no idea what was happening to her. But she didn't have time to think about her body being separated from her at the moment. It had happened so fast. One moment the priest was talking and the next, he was gone. Hailey had seen a person die before. Her dad had been killed before her eyes. That death—as horrific as it was to see from the perspective of an eleven-year-old mind—had nothing on the death she'd just witnessed. Because the man had not been shot and slumped down to the floor slowly. No, he had exploded from the center of his mass leaving nothing behind but a bloody mess and bits that would not be able to be identified. The shock of the scene forced Hailey to jump out of her skin. Literally.
Time froze. Or maybe she had just become hyper-aware. There was a quick flurry of movement that was moving from her perspective in stop motion. Behind her, Alfred was quick to stand and pull Hailey towards him. Tim had been watching them and then jumped over the seats to retreat towards the house. Alfred turned back to try to get Hailey to move but her body had fallen to the ground. Her legs were unresponsive. Conner who was not there one moment but there the next quickly scooped her up in his arms.
A few rows behind, Roy Harper picked up his daughter into his arms while taking a firm hold of Terry's shoulder who was holding both his children in his arms. Donna Troy, his wife, was pushing him from behind to get him to follow Roy. Garfield was standing in front of them, blocking them from what was happening only a few feet ahead of them with his huge gorilla body so that they could make their hasty exit.
Wally West had removed his tux and changed into a red uniform that had shot out of a ring he was wearing. And he ran forward only to be flung back a few feet knocking Garfield down with him. There was some sort of force field surrounding Koriand'r to block anyone from reaching her.
Dick was trying to fight his way through Nightwing to get to Raven who'd taken Koriand'r by the nape of her hair and forced her to kneel before her. Koriand'r looked like she was in pain. But her struggle was internal. Raven had paralyzed her somehow. And seemed to have taken possession of Nightwing as well. Because Hailey was positive that Nightwing was a good guy. And there was no reason for him to be working with Raven and fighting against Dick who was trying to save his bride from Raven's evil clutches unless he was under Raven's demonic influence.
The seats behind Hailey were suddenly empty. There was only one or two askew as most had toppled over. The decorative flowers had been destroyed. Petals were swirling in the wind and covered the ground. High heel shoes had been left behind along with discarded tuxes and dresses from the guests who'd changed into their hero gear.
Donna moved forward and clapped her wrists together above her head as Wally and Robin helped a dazed Garfield stand up. He was back to his human self. Donna was no longer in her formal wear. Instead, she was sporting a black jumpsuit ready to jump into the fray. Aqualad, Cyborg, Omen, Pantha, and Jericho had engaged in a fight against Hellebore, Lynch, Silent Vapor, and Volt. The heroes had the upper hand and were subduing their opponents. But none of that mattered when Koriand'r lay unresponsive on the ground with Dick hovering over her. Raven and Nightwing were already gone.
Hailey couldn't hear anything. She could only see what was going on. She wanted to move. To scream. But she couldn't. She was stuck in the same spot and forced to watch everything. Then suddenly a sharp pain pulled her back to her body. She felt like all the air was forced out of her lungs and she had to take a deep breath to get it back. But she didn't stop at one, she kept pulling air into her lungs faster and faster. Her surroundings had changed. She was sitting on the porch at the front of Donna's house. Conner was pulling Alfred back and away from her. Hailey lifted a hand to her cheek and she realized that Alfred had slapped her. Tears welled up in her eyes and suddenly Conner was kneeling in front of her, handing her a paper bag.
"You're hyperventilating," Conner told her. "Breathe into this."
Hailey did as she was told and Conner talked to her, trying to calm her down to get her to breathe slower. It took a minute or two but she was finally breathing normally. Her tears had spilled down her cheeks at some point. She was very aware that her brother was in trouble. She had to go back.
"We need to help, Dick," Hailey said looking at Alfred with pleading eyes. "And what happened to Tim? He just ran off. He could be in trouble."
"Dear child, what we need to do is get you out of here," Alfred said and moved to pull her to her feet. But Conner stopped him.
"Hailey," Conner said in a soft voice that forced Hailey to hone in on it so that she didn't miss what he was saying. It drowned out the noise of the fighting coming from the backyard. And sirens that were getting closer and closer. "The Titans are currently fighting and will end this soon. But you need to go with Alfred right now so that we don't have to worry about your safety instead of trying to help Dick and Koriand'r."
Hailey took in a shuddering breath and nodded. But before she could say anything, Conner held up a hand.
"I don't want you to worry about Dick or Tim, we will look out for them. Alright? Please trust us."
Hailey nodded and took Alfred's extended hand. "Okay. But please, make sure to keep them safe."
"We will," Conner said solemnly and then he was gone with a swoosh of air. Because he was Superboy.
That knowledge had finally clicked into place with all the other information that was swirling around in Hailey's mind and forgotten just as easily as she rushed to the car with Alfred.
"Alfred," Hailey said as she looked back to the house they were retreating. She watched as the paramedics arrived and Terry showed them how to get to the backyard through the side of the house. "Why did Tim run off? Where did he go?"
"He went into the house to call for help," Alfred said easily.
Hailey frowned at him as she looked back at him through the rearview mirror. She saw what had happened to her. As embarrassing as it was. She'd gone catatonic. Not that she really had but they didn't know that she had astral traveled and that was why her body was unresponsive. She'd seen Tim run away from her and Alfred. Hailey was having a hard time making sense of that. From what she knew of Tim from the last time they'd been in a situation like this; how fast he'd jumped in to save his mom, how calm he'd stayed under the pressure, and the fact that he was relieved when Catwoman had shown up to help them—Dick's wedding party guest was full to the brim with heroes—he would not have left them. Why would Tim run off to call help? There was help there!
"No," Hailey said with a pout in a low voice. "I don't think he did."
Alfred looked over at her and raised an eyebrow. But he didn't want to ask her what she'd said. He had already known that it didn't matter what he said, she wouldn't believe him. But he wasn't too concerned about that. He didn't agree with Bruce's decision to keep her in the dark. But then again, when it came to Bruce's decisions concerning his family, Alfred didn't agree with most of them. And if Hailey figured out the secrets on her own especially when he was so bad at lying to her, well, there was nothing anyone could do about that now, was there?
As Alfred pulled into the highway, the car phone rang and Alfred asked Hailey to answer it.
"Hello, who is this?" Hailey said distractedly as she stared out the window.
"Hailey, are you okay? Conner told me what happened," Tim said in a hurry.
"Tim, what happened to Dick and Kory?" Hailey asked instead of answering.
"Dick is fine. It's Kory that was hurt. They took her to the hospital," Tim said and sounded like he sighed.
"You didn't go with them?" Hailey said angrily.
"Dick said we couldn't go. Only Roy was allowed to go with him," Tim said and Hailey could hear the worry in his tone. "They took her to a special hospital. Physically she was fine but she's in some sort of trance. Donna said that only Raven can help her. The Titans took off to go look for her."
"What about you? What are you going to do?"
"I think I'm going to stick around here, just in case Dick needs anything. Tell Alfred I'll keep you all posted whenever I get news, alright?"
"Yeah. Ok."
"Hailey," Tim said and sighed. "I'm really sorry. I needed to call for help just in case anyone got hurt. We were lucky that most of Dick and Kory's guest list were Titans. But none of them are paramedics or cops, you know?"
"Uh, huh," Hailey said in a soft tone. Even though she knew that was true, she still didn't buy it. Tim took off for a different reason. She just didn't know what it was.
"I'm glad Conner was there to help you. I'm really sorry I wasn't there for you, Hailey."
"It's okay," Hailey told him and rubbed her eyes.
"I'll call the manor as soon as I get any news on Kory's condition. I better go," Tim told her.
"Bye," Hailey said and hung up before Tim said anything else. But mostly because she was crying. She wanted to see Dick. She wanted to be there with him. But she knew that she couldn't and it was not fair. None of it was fair.
Why did this happen? Why does everyone I know have to get hurt?
Alfred couldn't see Hailey from the front seat. She was laying on the seat as she cried softly to herself. He wasn't sure what he could say to make her feel better. But he regretted that they had left without Tim. And at the same time, he was glad the young lad had stayed behind to help Dick in any way he could. Alfred was certain Tim would call as soon as he had an update. He'd simply have to wait until then to find out what happened. Because from the way Hailey was faring, he knew it wouldn't be fair to ask her. Not at the moment.
As soon as they arrived at the manor, Hailey looked for Bruce but he wasn't home. Alfred sighed heavily at the turn of events. He knew that Bruce was more than likely down at the cave trying to find out what had happened and probably even gone out to help any way he could. But it wasn't the time for him to do so. Not when Hailey was in need of her father. The first thing Alfred was going to do, as soon as he was certain Hailey was settled into bed, was to head down to the cave and give Bruce a piece of his mind. He not only let down one of his children—and on the day of his wedding—but two. Alfred couldn't fill in for Bruce in times like these. But sometimes he did wish he was enough for the children. As Alfred contemplated all this while he set the code to go down to the cave, the doorbell rang. Alfred went to the door hoping he could get rid of whoever was there but was pleasantly surprised by the person who'd shown up at the doorstep.
"Good evening, Alfred," said Clark Kent.
"Good evening, sir. Please, come in," Alfred said politely. But before he could ask why Clark was there, the man nodded and headed for the stairs.
"Bruce called to tell me what happened," Clark said in a hurry. "I'm here to take Hailey with me for a few days since he's currently on a JL mission and couldn't be back on time."
"I see," Alfred said. "Let me join you. I'll pack the young lady a bag."
"No need, Alfred," Clark said from the top of the stairs. "Bruce made arrangements beforehand just in case a situation such as this arose."
Alfred nodded. He hadn't expected that. Bruce had never done that with the two children that came before Hailey. But he smiled to himself feeling pleased with his master. Though he would still reprimand him for his behavior, he would go easy on him for having the foresight to make arrangements for the young girl in his care. And she couldn't be in better hands than the man of steel himself. With a sigh, Alfred made his way to the kitchen to pack a small meal and snacks for Hailey just in case her appetite returned on the drive to Metropolis. When he came back out, Hailey was in Clark's arms. She was crying softly but it seemed it was for a different reason this time.
"She wants to see Bruce," Clark explained.
Alfred nodded and handed over the lunch bag to Clark. "Don't worry about it too much, dear child. The next time Master Bruce walks in through these doors, he'll be grounded for two weeks."
Hailey chuckled and looked at Alfred with wet cheeks and puffy eyes. "Make it a month."
"A month it is," Alfred told her with a soft smile.
"Deal," she said with a grin and stuck out her hand to shake Alfred's. The older man did do with a smile making Clark chuckle.
"Alright, ready to go?" Clark told her and Hailey nodded. Clark turned to Alfred. "We'll be back in a couple of days."
"Drive safely."
Clark nodded and made his way out the door and towards a Wayne Enterprises company car. Alfred's eyebrows shot up. It seemed that Bruce was very well aware of the hot water he was in with Alfred and was sparing no detail to make certain he'd gain some of his good favor before he returned.
So far so good. Alfred thought with a smile as he closed the door to the manor. But that didn't mean he wasn't going to try to reach him and chastise him over coms tonight.
A/N: I ship Dick & Kory (Robin/Starfire). But this chapter was based on canon. The first time I read that wedding arc, I thought it was absolutely ridiculous. [Side Note: The Nightwing who fights Dick is actually Deathwing. I don't know. I didn't write it.] I actually hated that the writers would do that to those two. But with time, I thought it was fun(ny) in a way. The wedding was rushed and it was probably for the best, back then. I wanted to include it because well, why not? It adds to the chaos that follows Hailey everywhere. Because life in Gotham is just nutty as hell. Ask the Joker if you don't believe me.
