As always all characters are fictional. Wyvern, Deus, & Reaver are my characters. All other characters/locations are copyright of DC Comics & their respective creators.
Humanity Redeemed: The Wyvern Arrives Part VIII
Kara had no recollection of how she got to the living room in Wyvern's mansion. She sat on the large sofa & fought to control her breathing, he was just like Bruce.
"Kara?" He'd guessed that this would be one of two places she could be, here, or outside. Tears still traced paths down Kara's face as she looked at him, his face was also marked with trails were tears had cut across his features.
"How did you find them?"
"That is something you should not hear."
"Please, you said you'd tell me."
"Wait there a moment please." He disappeared into the kitchen & returned a short time later with two large steaming cups of cider. "This always helped when I was upset as a child." As he sat down he handed Kara one of the cups & inhaled a deep steadying breath.
"Some time after I had brought Reaver in for training with our team I noted suspicious behavior & decided to look into it." Kara took a sip of her offered drink. 'Hot apple cider, wonder who started him on this?'
"When I was away from the cave investigating the murder of a teammate & friend, Reaver struck. He rigged the turn stall for the Batmobile to explode, killing Batman & Robin. The building that housed the apartment of Batgirl was destroyed, Nightwing & Commissioner Gordon were lost in that incident. He saved my mother & sisters for last. After they saw the destruction of the Batmobile Reaver forced Wonder Woman to watch." Kara sat her drink down, she felt like she was about to vomit.
"He did that to all of them?"
"Yes," Wyvern's voice was barely a whisper as he recalled the nightmarish scene he'd come back to.
"How old were they?"
"Lyta was eight & Martha was ten." Now Kara did run into the nearest bathroom,
'How could someone like that be allowed to.' Her mind emptied as quickly as her stomach. A short time later she found him still sitting there, fresh tears cut new trails down his face. As she sat down again she was searching for some words of comfort for him.
"That is why they cannot know." His whisper shattered the silence. Kara silently agreed, she knew what Diana would do, but, she couldn't imagine the lengths Bruce would go to find the man who raped & murdered his daughters.
"Please Kara, promise me you will not tell them of this." She saw the desperate plea in his eyes. Taking a steadying breath she nodded,
"I wont tell them about Martha & Lyta, I promise."
"Thank you."
"But, in exchange," Kara spoke up. "CJ, you have to promise me that you'll stop." He recoiled as if slapped.
"Stop pushing your parents away!" her voice raised as she pleaded with one she called a friend. "Don't let Reaver change who you are, you're not a monster!" He sounded so small as he asked,
"Then what am I Kara?"
Diana came back up to the manor proper. "So, how'd she take it?" she noticed the honest concern in Bruce's voice. She'd just finished updating Hippolyta, telling her to ask again for help finding CJ. Though he was happy for any help, Bruce didn't like having to rely on 'divine intervention'.
"Don't you give me that look Bruce Wayne." Diana scolded. "You know damn well I'll do anything to find & protect our son!"
"Just tell me you didn't show Aphrodite a picture of CJ, we'd never find him then." Bruce was still grinning, despite Diana's swatting him on the arm.
Kara's smile was warm as put her hand on his shoulders & looked directly into his eyes. "You're a good person CJ, I know you are." Without thinking she moved forward to hug him, & was surprised as he returned the gesture.
"I sense a 'but' coming." Kara chuckled as his little joke.
"But," she began, in a mockingly dramatic tone. "you can't keep trying to push everyone away, that's exactly what he wants. Reaver wants you to be as miserable as he is & he'll win if you keep denying CJ & persisting to be just The Wyvern. With all your dad's been through I think you'd really be doing yourself a favor if you just talked to him."
As he sat in thought he remember Athena's words, now Kara's were making the same points, but, with much more of a result. Despite all the unbearable tragedies that shaped him into what he was now, he'd been gifted with a chance to leave it all behind & start over. While the pain would never leave him, was he going to allow it to control him, as it did Reaver? The realization of Kara's words crashed against the walls he put up. Walls, he'd convinced himself, that were there for the protection of others, were just there so that he could avoid feeling anything. Could he really go on being just a shell of the person his parents had treasured his entire life, & still did? With a self depreciating chuckle he rose to his feet, & taking a deep breath, he smiled as made the decision.
Diana froze as a warm & hopeful smile spread across her face.
"Miss Diana, is anything the matter?" Alfred had entered the kitchen in time to see her freeze near the coffee maker.
"No Alfred, I'm fine. I think I'll try calling Kara again." For some reason she couldn't put into words, Diana felt that things regarding her son were changing for the better. Whispering a quiet prayer of thanks Diana made her way to the living room & her cell phone.
"CJ?" Kara hoped that she was making some headway with him, she wanted so much to be able to help Diana.
"You ask me to cast aside living as a beast tracking prey. You wish for me to live as a man with a family rather than a creature obsessed with revenge. You want me to listen to the words spoken by you, Athena, my parents, & to listen to my own heart."
"What am I chopped liver?" Kara leapt off the couch with a strangled shriek as a floating sphere came out of the ceiling.
"Oh yes, how could I forget the words of my talking game console."
"Ah come on CJ that's low! I can't believe your mom called me that!"
"What IS that?"
"This Kara, is Deus. Think of him as a cybernetic Alfred." If a computer could roll it's eyes, Kara imagined Deus was doing so. Before she could say anything, her cell phone rang.
"Hello? Diana!" her eyes went wide as she looked at CJ. "Really, you've been trying to reach me all night? Sorry, I had my phone off while I was looking for CJ." He heard the question & was surprised when Kara turned her back to him & spoke,
"No, I'm sorry, I haven't been able to track him down." While technically not a lie, Kara still felt bad for not being honest. She was shocked when her phone to plucked from her hand.
"Hello." There was a distinct pause & CJ imagined Diana frozen like a statue holding her phone. "Mom?" The only emotions he felt now were ones he'd refused to allow to surface. Rather than feeling like he was forcing himself, he was surprised by how right that one simple word felt.
"Are you still there?"
"Thisavros?" Diana's voice quavered, & CJ could hear the sound of someone coming to stand beside Diana.
"Yes."
"Are you alright?"
"Aside from a brief altercation with Circe & Aries, I am fine." CJ heard the sharp intake of breath from Diana. "Relax mom, I escaped unharmed. Are you still at the manor?"
"Yes, where are you?"
"I will be there shortly."
As she brought the arm holding her cell down to her side Diana felt waves of relief & joy wash over her. CJ was safe, he'd be over soon. All these thoughts were drowned out by the joy she felt when he uttered that simple three letter word.
"Diana, where is he?"
"He's on his way, Kara managed to find him."
"What was that look of panic?"
"He fought Circe & Aries."
"WHAT?!"
"Relax Bruce, he's safe. It was nothing he couldn't handle." Though she spoke the words she would have given anything to be able to shield him from those two.
"If Kara's still there I can trace her phone & find out." Bruce was cut off as the doorbell rang.
As he handed Kara her phone back she noticed something,
"You're smiling."
"Am I?"
"Yes, you look so much better when you really smile."
"I'll take that as a compliment Kara." Her jaw dropped as she made a startling realization.
"You just used a contraction!"
"Don't I normally?" CJ looked at Deus.
"Not really bro, you speak like an android in a sci-fi movie, or something." Kara giggled in agreement.
"Great, getting burned by a silicon sibling computer, this day is full of surprises." Kara found that even his tone of voice had changed. Though it was still deep, his voice now held emotion as he spoke.
"Kara?"
"What's up?"
"Could I bum a ride to Wayne Manor from you?"
"Master Christian, you've come back!"
"Hey Alfred, where are my parents?" He could hear the fast approaching footfalls.
"Never mind I hear them, but, you might want to move about three feet to your left." No sooner did Alfred take his advice than CJ was engulfed by Diana in a tight hug. As he saw Diana quietly shedding tears of joy at CJ's return Bruce felt a warm & honest smile spread across his face.
"Thank you Kara." He'd seen her in the doorway with CJ & was glad she'd managed to find him unharmed.
"Would you like to come in?"
"Thanks, but, I really need to get back & get some sleep, I don't want to look like a zombie tomorrow." As she turned to leave CJ quickly moved away from Diana's hug.
"Hey Kara, wait up a sec?" She stopped & regarded him quizzically. He took a pen & scrap of paper & scribbled something down.
"My number, in case I need you to verbally beat some sense into me in the future."
"Make Diana cry like that again & you'll be wishing the beating would be verbal." While her tone of voice seemed harsh, her eyes & body language spoke otherwise. He reentered Wayne Manor, closing the door behind him. He looked up at his parents, seeing their hopeful gazes & altered the oath he swore a lifetime ago. 'I will never lose them, never again.'
"Have you eaten yet?" Bruce asked.
"No, not yet."
"I shall prepare something straight away." As Alfred rushed to the kitchen CJ turned back to his parents, needing to get something off his chest.
"Mom, dad?" the smiles he saw at the names made his heart leap for the first time in almost three years. "I'm sorry for how I acted, you didn't deserve that."
Diana smiled as she hugged her son again while Bruce placed a hand on his shoulder & said two simple words that gave both Christian Jason Wayne & The Wyvern a strength they had been missing for far too long.
"Welcome home."
A/N: I purposefully made Wyvern seem like he was lacking a great many basic human qualities with his manner of speaking. I was hoping to show how deeply he'd fallen in his seeming to excise his emotions.