A/N: Here we go again. Thank you for the reviews you guys. And no, I don't mind at all if you spot something that needs to be fixed. It's actually quite a help to me. I had someone message me, asking me where the romance was...it's coming I promise, though some of it will be coming from some unexpected places. All good things come to those who wait.
"I don't know about this, Alfred." I pressed my hands into the plaid fabric of my skirt, as if it would instantly dry my sweaty hands. The girl I spotted in the review mirror was flushed. Small wisps of hair had started to fall from the delicately braided updo, but maybe her eyes were what gave her away. They were wide and wild, a shade of blue that world seemed to recognize. Everyone was able to see bits and pieces of my father in me now; I just wished I could have acted like him in that moment.
The car stopped moving, but Alfred didn't budge. Not at first. He simply turned to me. "You've been begging your father for how bloody long now? Don't tell me you're afraid. Where is Delilah Wayne, and what have you done with her?"
The words made my lips twist, but only for a second. He was right. My life had been all but confined to the manor. And when I did venture out into the world, my father was not more than an arm's length away from me. School for me, was private teachers and tutors. They came and went quickly. I can't say I was a very good student, I wasn't. I was a holy terror, unleashing my pent-up curiosity on them.
Even when the world learned of the little girl that lived at Wayne Manor, Dad still kept me, guarding me from the new threats my existence brought. He had threatened to send me to boarding school once, but quickly dismissed the idea. No school was really prepared to deal with the kind of attention the Wayne name drew, and he didn't want me out of his reach. I knew what that meant. Delilah Wayne, AKA, 'Ransom Fodder'. It's isn't like that never happened. It just hadn't happened to me…yet.
I looked up at the towering arches of Gotham Prep, watching the kids in matching uniforms as they scattered across the green. I begged and pleaded, and when that didn't work I begged and pleaded some more. You can only stand to hide from the world for so long. I had my volunteer work, the long days at the office with Dad. (Or Lucius, when Dad slept those days off in the penthouse.) Thanks to Dick, I had the gymnastics, but I only seemed to leave the house for the rare team meeting or a competition. I just wanted something normal.
"You stuck it out for quite some time." So long that he actually caved, or got so fed up with me he'd let me have just what I asked for. Only problem was, I never thought it would have been that hard. I bet he did.
"You finally got what you wanted, and now look at you. Shall I take you home then, Miss?"
"No!" I bit my lip when the word left me louder than I anticipated. "No, no thank you." I said more quietly. I listened to Alfred's shoes on the pavement as he walked to my door. The second he stepped out, people had turned, teachers and students alike, both staring toward the car.
As soon as I was out of the car, I could feel the morning sun on my back. Alfred reached up and adjusted my tie. "There's that Wayne stubbornness that I know." He said quietly. "Chin up, now. You'll do just fine."
"Thank you, Alfred." I whispered, unsure if he even heard me.
"Try not to send too many of them running for the hills."
Now I was giving him a full smile. "I can't make any promises."
"There she is."
I learned quickly that as nervous as I was, they seemed more nervous to meet me. The halls would quiet into whispers. The crowds would break up to let me through. Well most of them. A girl came backing out of class with a stack of books nearly piled to her nose. I couldn't apply the brakes fast enough and she never saw me. We both hit the ground as books went toppling down and paper went scattering across the hall. In the second it took for the school to hold their breath, there was panic.
"Oh, my! Miss Wayne, are you alright?"
"I'm fine, I'm fine." I said quickly trying to brush off the crowd before they closed in too tightly. I rubbed my palms on my skirt as I looked down at the other fallen girl, the girl no one seemed to really fuss over. "Are you okay? I asked, quickly picking up her glasses and handing them to her. The second my face came into focus, she looked horror stricken. "I'm- I'm okay." She said quickly, hustling to grab her books. I started picking up the loose pieces of paper.
"Oh, Wayne, don't worry about the little pauper she'll be okay."
Pauper? I peered over at the long haired blonde who had bent down to tap me on the shoulder. "You have first period Latin don't you?"
I nodded, tapping the papers in my hand to even them out. I handed them to the girl in the glasses. She thanked me, turned tail and disappeared down the corridor. "That's great, so do I." I followed Carlotta Van Helton and her trio all the way through lunch. The more they spoke, the more out of place I felt.
"You know that bitch spilled her coffee on my Louis Vuitton's?" I guess I didn't look horrified enough. "I can only imagine the kind of things you have in your closet Delilah." All eyes at the table were on me. I poked at my chicken with my fork. It wasn't at all like Alfred's. Designers sent me things constantly, all in hopes I would be caught wearing their name. But trend setter I was not. You kinda have to be seen to be one of those. "I end up donating most of my stuff." I said, giving up on the food all together.
They squealed and giggled over their fantasies about what my father's money could buy and frowned at me when they learned that I hardly spent my allowance. I didn't hang out at all the posh places and clubs, and seemed to pity me when I explained that I had never really gotten the chance. I was happy to talk about my dog, my music, the gymnastics and the volunteer work. They lost interest, interest in me anyway.
"I hear your Dad was dating the Prima Ballerina from the Gotham Dance company."
"Why couldn't I be older?! Sorry, Delilah, but you're Dad's hot."
I wanted to crawl under the table and slither out the door, but I caught the girl in the glasses walking to an empty table.
"Who is she?" I asked. The simple question forced them all to stare. Carlotta waved her hand at me. "Oh, Sweetie, don't even worry about it. She's the charity case." I must have been making a face, because they all started to laugh.
"She's your charity case actually, well, your Dad's. She was the award winner for the Martha Wayne Youth foundation Scholarship." I watched the girl curiously; she had a book laid out on the table, not even aware of us at all. "She should be D's minion."
That got Carlotta to turn toward the girl's table. "Hey, Samantha! Your Mistress is done with her plate, why don't you throw it away for her? You owe her that much."
The girl looked up from her book. When she didn't move, Carlotta kept going. "Well? Come on. She's waiting." The girl closed her book and oh so slowly started to stand.
I was done. "Knock it off." My voice was low, but it was enough to silence them. Carlotta simpered trying to smooth me over as if I were a wrinkle. "Oh, now, D, you do know she's way below your social circle right? I mean, she shouldn't even be here really." The girl said with a sniff.
I was up. "She got here because of her grades, not because her daddy had to make a call, which is more than I can say for any of us."
I made my way to the last table and sat.
"You don't have to stick up for me. You don't even know me." The girl said, looking over her glasses at me.
"I guess you don't know me either, because yes, I do." I held out my hand to her. "Delilah Wayne."
She eyed me suspiciously. "I know." Of course, the whole world knew. But she sighed. "You shake my hand you can kiss your popularity goodbye."
"Good. I don't like crowds anyway."
The girl seemed to smirk at that. "You're in the wrong family with that kind of phobia."
"I know, I'm so screwed."
She laughed, giving my hand a shake. "Samantha Cleary."
Samantha kept herself only a few steps behind Delilah Wayne, eyes wide and wandering as they trailed through the house, making a beeline for her room. "I know the feeling." Delilah said quietly, feeling the sunlight flicker across her skin as they passed the windows of her hall. "I thought it was a castle." Sam made a sound caught between a choke and a snort.
"I was four, come on."
"Are you kidding? It's close enough." Her eyes cut to her hand as Del snagged it, making quick to write a five digit code on her hand with an ink pen. The girl's dark eyes squinted behind her glasses. "For the door?"
"Yeah, everyone has their own ID. My computer tells me who comes and goes." She explained stopping at the double doors of her room. "Okay, Sam…I know you don't like dogs."
At the sound of the word dog, Sam touched her arm. Somewhere beneath the sleeve of her blazer there were the white scars of canine teeth tracking up her arm. "Doberman, right?"
"Yeah, but he can spend some time with Alfred or Dad if he bothers you." She said quickly, watching the girl squint her eyes and shake her head as if she was shaking off the lingering memory. "Just open the door." She said at last.
The doors opened revealing the sunbathed room. The Doberman was stretched out in the middle of Delilah's massive bed like he owned it. Seeing the girls he worked himself to the floor, stretching as he made his way to his owner. Sam was shaking. "He's not going to hurt you." Delilah said gently, rubbing Jax on the head. "Sit, Boy."
When he did, Sam extended her trembling hand out to the creature fighting the urge to rip her hand back when he tried to lick her fingers before they made contact with his short black fur. He seemed to close his large round eyes when she touched him with her fingertips. Delilah could hear Sam exhaling when Jax turned back toward the bed and resumed his position of lazing about.
"Do I need to send him downstairs?" Del asked, tossing her bag on the floor by a reading chair she had tucked in a corner of the room. The girl shook her head as Delilah took her bag from her and set it down.
"I still can't watch or read Cujo."
Delilah said nothing, letting the girl look around the room. Unfortunately for Sam, it actually was a St. Bernard that had attacked her. She was only a seven year old girl who was coloring with chalk in her own driveway when the neighbor's dog from across the way jumped through a screen door to get to her. To talk to Sam, she blamed the owner more than the dog, but it didn't make the fear any easier to conquer.
"I think I can manage. Or…I at least want to try." She amended, casting her eyes on Jax as Delilah settled next to him. The girl slunk down into a computer chair, eyeing the tower of neatly stacked envelopes. "Fan mail?" She asked.
"Pfft, please." Del snorted, rising to her feet to flip an envelope in her hands. "My parents…" She looked down, tracing the P that was written out in her father's hand.
Sam leaned back at that. "Wow, I know they say you're father's a playboy and what not, but that's seriously romantic."
"I think you read too many romance novels." Delilah said, setting the envelope back on the pile, gently touching the sticky notes that covered the first one on the pile. She could pick out her mother's swoopy script against her father's aggressive scrawl.
"Oh, come on! Both your parents held onto them apparently. That speaks volumes." Sam twisted the chair around as Delilah sank back down on the bed, her eyes still on the letters. "Haven't you read any of them yet?"
"No…" The girl was wringing her hands in her lap. "I guess I'm afraid to. I don't want to stop learning about my mom… I feel like this is all that's left."
Sam opened her mouth to retort, but when someone began to bang on the door, sending Jax into a baying fit, she stopped breathing. "Damn it, Dick! Do you have to do that every time?!" Del yelled, wrenching the door open to let the dog out. He didn't even bat an eye when Jax scurried around him. "Practice, Miss Thing."
"Okay, okay. Give me five to change." With that she shut the door, not even giving him the chance to utter a word. She looked at Sam who had her head down. "You okay?"
"I'm good…" She said holding up a hand as she calmed herself. "You never told me that Dick was hot."
Delilah immediately put her palm into her face. "Oh, God, not you too! Now you sound like my team."
"A little old for my taste, but still nice to look at."
Delilah rolled her eyes. "Yeah, you're just fine." She said sliding into her bathroom with her leotard.
"How come you didn't give me this much flack when I mentioned Drake? Huh? Answer me that."
"I still have no idea what you're talking about." Delilah called, leaving Sam to smile at the door.
"You are the worst liar in history. Just saying."
It wasn't unusual for Jax to lay by his chair or follow him around the bat cave; however it was strange for the dog to be shadowing him when Delilah was home. The second the father and dog team slid into the hall, Wayne could pick up on the rattle of the uneven bars. It left him standing there in the doorway, watching his daughter straddle, flip and pirouette in the air. The mats gave a crack when her feet made contact. But his daughter was not alone today. Sitting with her legs crossed on the floor and several holographic screens around her was a girl he was sure he had yet to meet. He slid in closer, curious as to what the girl was working on. Nanotechnology and Kevlar? It seemed to have Damian's attention. The boy was sitting beside her, pouring over the notebooks she had scattered around her.
"You're still too stiff." The words had him glancing away from the screens, watching Dick as he forced Del to straighten herself.
"It's that shoulder, isn't it?"
Seeing Bruce Wayne leaning against the wall behind her with his arms crossed to his chest, Sam wasn't sure if she could move. Dealing with Del's little brother was one thing, but Wayne himself? Oh, God. She watched wordlessly as Del gripped one shoulder in particular. "Yes." She answered with a hiss.
"Take a few minutes, and we'll run though it again."
Seeing both Damian and her father intrigued by Sam's project, the girl grinned. "Technology. It gets them every time."
The words seemed to make poor Samantha Cleary go rigid.
"I'm curious, just what are you working on, Young Lady?"
Sam pushed her sliding glasses back up to the bridge of her nose. "My independent study, Sir. Del's been helping me put it together. It's a bullet proof vest that's infused with carbon nanotubes and Kevlar." There was sweat rolling down her back, she was sure of it. But Bruce Wayne seemed to tilt his head. "Why would you choose this as your study?"
"Dad's a retired cop. Commissioner Gordon is my uncle."
That seemed to surprise them. "Mom's his baby sister." She explained.
"Someone's been holding out on me." Del muttered.
"Someone never asked." Sam retorted, her lips working into a smirk.
"Dad, this is Samantha Cleary. She and I go to school together."
"It's nice to finally meet you, I hear your name quite often."
Sam seemed to relax. "Likewise, Mr. Wayne." She answered curious to see the man crouch down and slide through her screens. "And how come you don't participate in something like this?" He asked, peering at Delilah.
"When would she sleep?" Sam asked with a laugh as the girl's face twisted.
"Sleep? Hell, when would I breathe?" Delilah stopped to take drink of her water, watching her father pick up one of the sketches. His eyes flickered from the graph-paper to his daughter. He knew her style when he spotted it.
"I sketch the designs, the rest is all her, I keep telling her she needs to apply for our engineer scholarship when college rolls around."
"Indeed."
Of course she had the idea that maybe her father would be interested in seeing it in prototype form. Not as a vest but as something else entirely. Oh, she knew the way his brain worked. "Did your father work for Gotham PD as well?" Bruce asked, pulling himself from his stance.
Delilah could only watch, aware her father was digging if ever so subtly. The Gotham Police Department did anything but walk on the straight and narrow. Only when James Gordon became commissioner did the department begin to untangle itself from the Falcone family.
But Sam shook her head. "No, he was a beat cop in Chicago. He had a run in with one of the Viti boys, the bullet barely missed his spine, but he was never the same after that. We moved up here after Barb…" They knew where to fill in the blanks. The Joker left Barbra Gordon to die, only for her to survive as a paraplegic.
"This must be very important to you then."
"It's just research, but I like the idea of creating something that could keep people from harm."
"I would very much like to see your project at the end of the school year."
Delilah bit into her lip to keep herself from smiling. Poor Sam was as red as a tomato, but she managed a nod. "S-sure."
"No pressure."
Bruce eyed his daughter but let his gaze fall back to Samantha. "Am I that scary?"
"Oh, Lord, you have no idea." The girl squeaked, clutching her chest with exaggeration.
Bruce Wayne seemed to chuckle at that. "I'll let you girls get back to work. Miss Cleary, you would be more than welcome to join us for dinner."
The second the door closed behind the man, Cleary went slack against the wall. "Are you kidding me right now?" She cried, throwing a pencil in Delilah's direction. The girl only simpered, easily dodging the flying piece of wood.
Delilah slid into the darkness of her bedroom after seeing to it that Sam arrived safely at home. She was just sliding down the door to the floor when the lamp flicked on, filling the room with light. Dick was sitting in her reading chair, her bag at his feet.
"You got her involved didn't you?"
The girl let her head fall back against the door. "She listens to the scanners for me. That's it." Dick was up, her yellow cloak fisted in his hand. "Anything else? Did you tell her-"
"NO! She doesn't know. I don't want her to know. It's safer that way." Delilah worked herself to her knees, wincing when her shoulder began to ache with the slightest movement. "Besides..." she said with a ragged breath, snatching the cloak from him when she finally made it to her feet. "Dad's secret is not mine to tell."
He was watching her carefully. Without as much as a word he turned on the overhead light. "What's really wrong?"
"One of the Red Hood's rounds made it through my suit. Sam dug it out, but it doesn't feel right."
Delilah nearly jumped out of her skin when Dick ripped the back of her shirt up. She could feel the tacky adhesive of the bandages pulling at her skin when he peeled it away from the three day old wound. It was certainly inflamed, red and full of puss. The more he eyed the hole in her shoulder the more he thought that something was glimmering inside of her flesh. "Where are your tweezers?"
"Top drawer, right-hand side in that bathroom." She managed, listening to the wood creak under his feet as he moved. "I think there's something still there." He said, rolling the computer chair at her. "Sit." She did, easing herself backwards over the chair. The girl's skin pricked at the feel of the cold tweezers, but the sensation was quickly forgotten when he started to dig. "I got it." But the words didn't offer the girl any solace, not when she could feel the object scrapping its way out of her flesh.
By the time Dick pulled the small black piece from her body, Del was gasping, ignoring her blurring eyes. She looked down at his hand, there sitting in his palm was a small chip with serrated points. "It looks like…"
"A tracking device."
Delilah stared at the piece when he handed it to her. It almost looked like…
"Dick?"
"What?" He snapped, coming up from her bathroom cabinet with a first aid kit. "Do you have any idea how stupid and irresponsible this is?"
"Dick."
"Your Dad is going to kill you, or at least make you wish he would."
"DICK!"
"WHAT?!"
"Does it look like a mini league of assassin's star to you? Or am I crazy?"
"I think you're just-" Dick's eyes wandered down to her hand, looking at the small bloody thing. "not crazy."
His dark eyes flicked back up at her. "What else do you know?" He asked as he remembered to recover her wound with clean bandages. She felt her body try and pull away from the touch of the cold salves. But only when he stepped away did she turn herself in the chair.
"You might want to sit." She said softly. He did. Slowly. "I'm not going to like this, am I?"
Delilah shook her head. "I know who the Red Hood is." Her voice left her in a whisper, betraying her of all the strength she thought she had. When Dick shot up, the girl found herself digging her hands into the computer chair.
"How?! Who?!"
"You know him too…"
That seemed to startle him. He just stared at her wide eyed, motioning for her to continue.
"Dick, its Jason."
He leered at her. "Excuse me? Look, Del, I don't have time to play games with you, this is serious."
"I'm not playing games!" she cried, jumping to her feet. "I'm not, kidding, jesting or joking. Not about this! Never about this! You know me better than that!" She turned from him, fisting her hands in her long dark hair. "He took off my mask, and called me by name."
"Everyone knows who you are!"
"Dick...I saw his face. He took his mask off." She said, letting her hands fall to her sides with a slap. Dick was pacing.
"How?!"
"Lazarus pit."
He paused. "Damian."
"I already confronted him." Del said, forcing him to let his hand fall from the door knob. "He confirmed it. Talia thought she would bring him back, thinking it would put her in Dad's good graces, only he didn't come back the same."
Dick was resting against the door, his eyes on the floor. "Why? Why haven't you gone to him yet? Why haven't you told him?"
"I-I-"
"Or were you too afraid of letting him know it was you?"
"No-It's not just-"
"You could have done the right thing, but instead you hid it!"
"Damn it, Dick! No! I know he already knows. I don't know how to tell him about Jason." She eyed her phone as it hummed on her desk, but turned away from it. "I'm afraid of what it's going to do to him."
Dick pulled the door open. "Did you ever think of what it would do to him if his own daughter hid it from him?" When he stepped out into the hall, the girl just sank into the chair. She could hear Dick's footsteps out in the hall as she picked up her phone. A picture text from Sam.
The phone fell out of her hand. "DICK!" his name left her mouth in a shriek, as she swiped the phone off the floor and scrambled for the hall way. He was paused, staring at her as if she had lost her ever loving mind.
"He has her." It was all she could get out as she chased after him, shoving the phone at him. "Who has what? What's wrong now?" But the words stuck in his throat the second he looked down. Sam's sobbing bloody face covered half of the screen while the Red Hood posed behind her.
Del yanked the phone from him, and dashed out of the hallway, Dick close behind her.
"DAD!"
Her yells put the bats in a panicked frenzy. Batman had just hopped in the car. "Not now, Del. Damian's on the loose." He said gesturing to the empty costume cases.
"Dad, the Red Hood has Sam!"
His glowing eyes widened as he lifted himself out of the car. She immediately gave him the phone. "What do I do?" She asked, watching his mouth open and close.
He spun on his heel at her. "Why is he sending you coordinates?"
In that moment the girl felt so small. Perhaps the shoes she was trying to step into were much larger than she originally thought. "He knows who we are, all of us." She said evenly, taking a second to swallow down her uneasiness. "Dad…its Jason. I know its Jason." He stepped back from her as if the words that came out of her mouth were tainted and vile.
"DAMN IT!"
He pointed at Dick. "You. Keep her out of trouble." He said, turning back to the Bat-mobile.
The second it roared out of the cave, the girl was running for the table. "Fuck. My grappling gun isn't here." Damian. The girl turned and fled up the stairs.
"Oh, hell no!"
"He said to keep me out of trouble. Not that I couldn't help."
All Sam could taste was blood. Trapped on her side, the girl could feel the dirt and blood matting on her face. It was a large building, it smelled of mold and rust, but beyond that she hadn't the slightest idea where she was. One moment she was in her bed, the next…trapped in this godforsaken place. She forced herself to squint her eyes when her body trembled, causing the links in the shackles behind her back to clink as they shook.
"Are you absolutely sure she'll come?"
Sam didn't recognize the whimpering sound that filled the air when a boot pressed down on her rib cage. "Oh, trust me, she'll come." At the words the woman lifted her foot. Sam could only make out the blurry shapes of her trim body and her long dark hair. The man in the red mask was sitting on a barrel, just staring at her. "I hope she kicks your fucking ass!" She screamed, aware of how hoarse her voice had become. But the words seemed to do nothing but bring a throaty laugh out of the woman.
"You have a lot of faith in the little thing, don't you?" the woman asked, grabbing Sam by the hair. "Do you really think she stands a chance against us all?"
When her head hit the ground, she squinted, watching the shadows swarm along the scaffolding above their heads. There were so many shapes. So many people. All this? For Del? "Jesus, it's a trap." Sam breathed, choking on the dust that caked around her mouth. The woman crouched down by her face.
"A bright one isn't she?"
Lying there, Sam watched the shadows begin to lessen. Something, something was here. Del? The thought was quickly dismissed when the moonlight that poured in from the glass ceiling turned to shadow. Sam forced herself to twist, trying to look away when the glass shattered above their heads.
A body in a yellow cloak dropped down to their feet. If that was Del, then who was already here?
"IT'S A TRAP!"
The room erupted into chaos.
Delilah ducked under a blade, biting back a groan when it sliced her arm.
"Lady Shiva!" The woman barley had time to look up before Nightwing dropped on her, knocking the blade from her. Delilah slid to grab it, using it to block the strike of a ninja the second she got her hands on it. In that moment, the glass above them broke again, landing Robin right on top of him. "You really don't know how to use that, do you?" He said snidely, not even blinking when the blood splattered across his face when he stabbed the man with his own sword. She didn't hesitate, she kicked him, snatching his sword from him before he did something he might not regret, but their father certainly would.
Delilah tumbled backwards, decking the next opponent with the butt a sword before launching the blades into the wall. She made a bee line for Sam, even if it meant laying a few bodies out on the way. She dropped to her knees, digging into her harness.
"Took you long enough." Sam croaked, feeling Delilah push on her hands to keep them still.
Del pulled her balaclava from her mouth. "Be as still as you possibly can, I'm going to use some acid to break up the chains."
The second the acid began to eat through the metal, she yanked the girl's arms apart, keeping her from touching the substance as it continued to eat its way through the floor. They could work on getting the cuffs of later. She was working on the set around the girl's ankles when the sound of tsking forced her to look up.
The Red Hood was perched on a beam just above them, wagging his finger at her. The second he jumped down, she slid back. She stepped carefully, minding where he was trying to drive her. When he finally swung, she jived out his path.
"Not so ready to fight now, are you?" He asked, watching her dodge him again. But when she came up, she was smiling. "No. I'm just stalling."
Batman came swinging into him, knocking him through the rusting metal walls. Delilah put her mask back over mouth and started to scramble her way back to Sam when the room began to fill with black plumes of smoke. Smoke bombs.
"You can't lift her." She heard Dick Whisper, when he pushed her out of the way to scoop Sam up. He could use the smoke to escape with her. She did nothing but nod. Turning, she could make out Damian's shape in the lingering smoke, spying her grappling gun, she yanked it from him.
"Hey!"
She was up and out into the night air. Had she not scanned the buildings, she would have missed the brief glimpse of a red mask turning a corner around a nearby roof top. Damn it, Jason. She hit the roof rolling, the second she got to her feet she went after him, he turned his head just in time for her to come flying at him with an elbow. They both skid across the tiled surface.
He recovered first, casting a shadow across her when she pulled herself to her feet. "Why?!" She found herself screaming at him. "WHY?!"
But he only gave her silence, pulling his mask from his face as if it was restricting him. His hand fell to the inside of his jacket. It was then she saw the outline of a scabbard. "Get away from me, Pipsqueak."
"Or what?! You're going to hurt me?"
"YES!" The answer was a strangled one, his right hand was on the sword, but his left seemed to be struggling to keep the sword in the scabbard. In a blink he rushed her, the sword was free, and her body hit the wall behind her.
"Jason!" There was no answer; his eyes were gazing right through her, a dead gaze. The blade was shaking against her neck. She could feel the blood begin to trickle in small beads. He didn't want to do this. Surely he didn't want to hurt her. "Why are we doing this to each other?" She whispered, forcing herself not to swallow. "I don't want to see anyone hurt. Not even you." But things would not end this way. They all end up hurt at some point in some way. No one in this life was left unscathed. It might have been Jason in front of her, but Jason surely wasn't home.
"Do you remember the robin?" she asked, aware that the words made him flinch. "I let it go. I let it go, and do you know that damn bird comes back every season?" The sword moved away, but not enough. "You were supposed to let it go, you idiot. I was waiting for you." Another step back. "You promised!" He made another move back. "I'm sorry, Jason, I'm so sorry." She quickly made her move, butting him in the head. She went to kick him back, when someone hit her from the side. Just as she spilled to the ground she caught the red and yellow fabric of a costume out of the corner of her eye. Damian.
She had pushed herself, just in time to watch the hooded Robin duck the blade. The next thing Del knew, there was blood splattering across her face. Damian had literally skewered him. "NO!" The boy ripped the sword from Jason's body, just as the girl scrambled to her feet.
"Get out of my way!
But she couldn't help it, she found herself rushing the boy. She grabbed his armed hand, forcing them both down to them both to move when the Red Hood swiped at them. "You idiot! He's dead! He should stay dead! Damian lept up, kicking his sister square in the chest. In oversight, perhaps he didn't think she would be slamming right into Jason.
What Del didn't expect was to be flung forward. The second she hit the pavement, Damian was flying over her, filling the air with the sound of metal scraping against metal. "Del, I need your help. I don't know where Sam lives."
The roof top was streaked with red. And even though Jason was visiblely wounded, he seemed to be matching Damian step for step and attack for attack.
"ROBIN!"
They both looked up, watching the moon as it was blacked out completely by the Dark Knight. The Red hood suddenly turned and leapt off the roof, disappearing into the unlit alley ways around them. Robin and Batman were rolling, but the second her father came up with Damian's collar fisted in his hands, the girl made her exit. "I'm on my way."
By the time she found Nightwing, Delilah was shaking. All she could smell in the night air was blood, but when she stepped into the light of a street lamp, she realized she was covered. Dick's glowing eyes widened.
"It's not mine." She breathed, her eyes falling on Sam who was strangely curled up against Dick's chest. "Is she-"
"Her face is going to be bruised. I think she has a few broken ribs, but other than that, she'll be okay. I gave her a mild sedative."
The Cleary house was bathed in a sea of flashing lights that flickered from red to blue. When the two were spotted carrying the girl, they were rushed by uniforms. "Oh! My baby!" Mrs. Cleary cried, reaching out to Sam when the paramedics whisked her from Nightwing's arms.
"I think she's going to be okay." But a frantic Evelyn Cleary suddenly turned on her husband, her hand came down on his face with a smack. "This is your fault! I told you! I told you she didn't need to be hanging around that girl!" Delilah felt her heart drop to her stomach.
It was a sallow faced Gordon who pulled the pair apart. "Evie, Evie stop it."
"But that's my baby, Jim! Why would they do this to my baby?"
Because, she's my friend. She's important to me, and now they know it. The words were right there, ready to fall from her mouth when Gordon began walking in their direction.
"Does he know who did this? Is it tied to the Wayne girl? I know she called in about the text, but when we arrived to the location, it was empty."
Nightwing nodded. "I'm afraid so, but I think they're after something bigger, than young Samantha Cleary. It was the response they were after."
At that moment, Sam's mother came flying forward, she grabbed Nightwing's arms.
"Thank you, thank you for bringing her back to us." The way she looked from him to Del with tears swimming in her eyes, it made Delilah want crumble right there in the street.
To Nightwing's credit, he didn't say much at all. Only when they arrived to an empty bat cave did the man open his mouth. "Del..." The girl was ripping off her blood stained cowl and cloak. She only spared him a glance.
"Please, please don't say it." She whispered, half afraid her words would get lost in the sound of the bat chatter. "I know what I have to do." She amended, heading for the stairs.
She ducked under Alfred's shocked gaze as she slid by him on the stairs. His eyes fell to the yellow blood soaked ball she had tucked in her arm. "Delilah?"
"I'm okay, Alfred."
The girl paused, watching Dick's shadow cut across the light the fled up the stairs. "Do you want me to take you, or Alfred?"
Del stared at the ceiling a moment. I don't want to do this. I don't. But what other choice did she have? She peered over her shoulder at him, trying to ignore his apologetic face. "Would you mind? I think Dad's going to need Alfred when he drags Damian back here."
The girl gritted her teeth at the sound of the boy's name coming from her own mouth. It was the League of Assassins that had taken Sam. It was the League that had brought Jason back to life. They supplied him with the tracking device that Dick had found embedded in her shoulder. Jason didn't need to know where she went, but they did. What she didn't know was why. But something told her, her so called brother knew. He knew a hell of a lot more than he was letting on. He had to know they were poking around.
"I hope Batman reams his ass."
"Miss Wayne!"
"He's going to come right to you when he's done with him, you know." Dick chided after her as she continued up the stairs.
"I don't even care." She couldn't believe the words were even coming out of her. It must have surprised Dick, because he simply stopped dead in his tracks. "If he does, I deserve it."
The charms on Del's bracelet jingled and shook with every step she took. She knew the stark corridors of Gotham Memorial well. Maybe a little too well. For a Friday night business seemed to be slow. She didn't bat an eye at the lobby or the poor wretches that sagged in the chairs of the waiting room.
"Miss Wayne?"
The girl glanced at the nurse that hurried to catch her from behind the nurse's station. "I'm here to see Samantha Cleary." She said, continuing down the hall with Dick in her wake.
"Visitor hours-"
"What room is she in?" Delilah said coolly, cutting the woman off when she paused in the hallway. The woman seemed to be struggling. Did she keep with hospital policy? Or did she tell one of their largest benefactors what she wanted to know? But as Dr. Elliot and Mr. Cleary stepped out of a room down the hall, the girl quickly dismissed the nurse, an continued toward them. Dr. Elliot spied her first.
"Delilah. Are you all right?"
"Fine." She cursed at herself for her clipped tone and then set her eyes on Mr. Cleary. "May I speak with her a moment?"
As if her words were a trigger, the door shot open. "Oh no you don't! " Delilah had no choice but to back up as Sam's mother came charging out into the hall. She let the woman drive her into the wall. "It's because of you that she's here!" Del didn't flinch when the woman's hand came down on her face, the sound of a palm hitting flesh seemed to echo through the hall.
Mrs. Cleary suddenly recoiled when it dawned on her just what she had done, but by her stern expression, she was far from apologizing. "You put my daughter in this position, I don't know how, but I know it was you!"
"Mrs. Cleary!"
All Delilah could do was touch her stinging cheek as people reacted to corral the frantic woman. Would her mother be any different? She didn't know the answer to that.
"Miss Wayne, I'm so-"
Her blue eyes flicked from Mr. Cleary to his wife. "No. She's right." Delilah said evenly, pushing herself from the wall. "It's my association with her that puts her at risk. I just wanted to talk to tell her myself." She said, glancing at the door as it opened again.
"Aunt Evie, let her. It's only fair to Sam."
Barb. Delilah couldn't look at her as she crossed the threshold into the dimly lit hospital room. She shut the door softly behind her.
Sam's face had already taken on a blue gray shade as the bruises started to take shape.
"Hey."
Her right eye was completely swollen shut. Delilah eased herself into the chair beside her. A chair that was still warm. Her mother hadn't left her side, not once.
"Hey yourself." She answered, swallowing when her voice came out thicker than she hoped. "Sam, I'm sorry…I'm so sorry."
The girl seemed to take a short breath. No doubt a painful one. "Why are you apologizing? You didn't do this to me." Sam croaked, forcing herself to turn her head so she could face Del properly. Her eyes fell to the girl's fingers, watching her twist and pull at the charms on her bracelet.
"You know—you know who did this—don't you?"
Delilah only nodded, her eyes cast down on the tiny silver charms. She lifted her head, startling Sam with the way her eyes seemed to glow in the darkness.
"Yes…and they know me too." Del answered rising to her feet, her fingers working the small silver charms off her bracelet. They were small silver pieces. Small glasses, the word 'Nerd' and a small bead engraved with the word 'friend'. The second Delilah put them in the girl's palm; she knew exactly what was going on.
"Wait. Wait-no. Del, come on. You're my best friend." The plea was small, weak and painful to listen to.
Delilah's lips felt heavy as they twisted into a half-hearted smile. "You're my only friend." She whispered, forcing the girl's fingers to fist over the little objects. "And they know that…" she said, trying to ignore how tight her mouth was feeling now that Sam was just shaking her head.
"It's not safe."
"But I gave these to you."
Delilah nodded, forcing herself to turn and march for the door the second her lashes started to feel wet.
"Maybe one day…"
Delilah pulled the door closed, trying with all her might not to listen to Sam on the other side. The second she looked up, she realized Batman was standing there with Commissioner Gordon. He had heard everything. She only glanced at him, but quickly looked away.
"We need to take your phone as evidence, Miss Wayne." Gordon said, pushing his thick round glasses up to the bridge of his nose.
"Of course." She said, fishing the object out of her pocket. She let it fall into one of the red taped evidence bags. "Anything else?" She asked, forcing down the overflow of emotions. "If so, we'll contact your father, but this is all, for tonight." With that she nodded, quietly thanked him, and started her way back down the hall where Dick was waiting for her. Only, Dr. Elliot reached her first.
"Are you sure you're all right?"
She found herself stuck when he grabbed her by the arm. The cut she had sustained was starting to bleed through her shirt. "it's just a cut." She said simply. But the man seemed to sigh. "Let's take a look at it just in case."
This was the last thing she wanted. She followed him into one of the sterile rooms, well aware that Dick had moved his position to right outside the door.
"Have a seat." The man told her, gesturing to a stool as he went through the ominous cabinets and drawers. "Can you roll up your sleeve for me?"
Delilah did, realizing the red gash was a little deeper than she expected. He even seemed surprised as he seated himself across from her arm. "Now, that looks nasty." He commented, setting about cleaning the site. "How did you do that?"
"Horsing around with my brother."
"Oh, the young man Bruce adopted, that's right."
Delilah knew Tommy Elliot and her father were childhood friends, not that you could tell from the way they acted now. It was as if they hardly even knew each other. "How is the old man?" He asked, tossing the bloodied cotton swabs into the waste bin.
"Grumpy." Del supplied, scrunching her nose when it began to sting.
"Sorry."
"He still sucks at Stratego." She added, knowing it was their game of choice as children, if they weren't running around the cemetery.
The man gave a throaty laugh, but then said something that caught her from left field. "It amazes me how much you look like your mother."
Delilah blinked, letting the good doctor explain himself.
"She and I went to the same school. She wanted to be a doctor herself at one point."
"She couldn't stomach the sight of blood…" Delilah said quietly. Small cuts and a couple sutures was one thing, but when it came to cutting someone open, or the really gory looking stuff, her mom would toss her cookies.
"Is that what it was?"
Del nodded, watching him suture the cut. "She switched schools and started for a business degree."
"Started working for Wayne Enterprises and met my childhood friend instead."
"Small world." Delilah chirped, unsure why the statement made the air suddenly uncomfortable.
"Indeed." He said, cutting the strand. "There you go."
"Thank you." Del murmured, the charms on her bracelet rattled as she worked the sleeves down. When Dr. Elliot's fingers touched the small charms, Del froze.
"Let me guess, the teacup and treble clef that's Alfred. The gymnast and the film reel must be your brother, because the P, piano and the paintbrush must definitely be your mother. She was a brilliant artist."
Delilah nodded. When his fingertips touched the last three, charms, she felt the bracelet tighten.
"If it wasn't for the B, I wouldn't know that would be for your father. A pumpkin, and a bat?" When his hand fell away, Delilah quickly pulled her sleeve down, letting the bracelet tuck underneath.
"Halloween. It's kind of our thing." She didn't tell him that pumpkin was a symbol of the first time she had ever met him. And the Bat, well, anyone who knew him, could have made a guess at that. But he seemed to like that answer. "Good thing that Halloween is coming then isn't it?" He asked walking her toward the door.
She smiled, nodded and thanked him again, latching onto Dick the second she crossed into the hall. "Get me out of here." She whispered. "Now." He raised he brow at her, but didn't argue. He hated this place as much as she did.
"Everything okay?" He asked the second they slid out to the sidewalk. The girl nodded and then shook her head, leaving her arm entangled in the crook of his elbow as they crossed the sparsely lit parking lot.
"I know Dr. Elliot is a friend of Dad's, and that he means well, but that man gives me the creeps."
"Why?"
Delilah stared back at the hospital, counting the windows that were still aglow. "I don't know. But there's just something…"
Dick sighed. "There goes that Wayne intuition again." He said with a grumble flinging the driver's side door of his car open.
"And it's hardly ever wrong." Del told him. But the man didn't argue. He knew that to be true.
Sometime in the wee hours that were left of the darkness, Del could hear her door creak open. For a moment she didn't even breathe as she listened for the footsteps. She didn't hear any. She simply heard the cushion of her reading chair squish down as someone sank into it. Peering in the edges of her vision without lifting her lids she could make out her father's imposing frame. For a long while, he just sat there, but then he rose to his feet and slowly made his way toward her. Del couldn't help it, she kept her eyes closed. She could felt his thumb smudging the remainder of the sticky tears that had yet to dry on her face.
"Why does the right thing feel so terrible?" She asked with a sniff. She expected him to berate her. To chew her up one side and down the other, but it didn't happen. He just pushed a stray hair back behind her ear. Did he think she was punishing herself well enough?
"The right choices, seldom feel like good ones." He murmured. So this is why he kept the world at arm's length. "She's my only friend…" Delilah whispered, watching the light flood into a corner of the room when he opened the door to slide back into the hall.
"All the more reason to keep her safe."
He was right. God, as much as she hated it, he was right.
