Chapter 12 - Dad

Mar'i had a sinking feeling. Dad hadn't returned after patrol. The sun rose and it almost came time for her to go to school. She dressed in her uniform and got her school bag ready.

She couldn't bring herself to leave. Not until the very last minute. She wanted to be here when her dad came home. So, she waited.

Dick walked in through the front door. He didn't look happy. Or sad. Just tired.

"Good morning!" Mar'i greeted as cheerfully as she could, giving him a smile.

"Morning," he muttered back. Then he sat down across from her. "We need to talk."

Mar'i's heart plummeted. Everyone, even teenagers, knew those words were not a good sign.

Dick folded his hands on the table before him. A very bad sign.

"While Bruce and I were out of Gotham, the actions of a serial killer came to light. This killer had it in for women. So, the new Batman had an idea. He happened to know a woman who he believed could handle herself so he enlisted her help. Am I right?"

Mar'i nodded but didn't say anything. She didn't want to accidentally reveal anything, she didn't know what her dad knew.

"Mar'i, I heard the recordings. I made Damian hand over the reports. The secret reports."

It was true. Dick pulled out the reports and even played a part of the recording for her. Hearing her own voice giving hints over the comm, Mar'i realised she was lucky Damian and Colin had been able to understand them.

Her dad's eyebrows knitted as he listened.

"We weren't trying to hide anything. Damian insisted it all be recorded but, as the police reported that they're the ones who did all the work, we believed that these records wouldn't be needed for anything." She had a sudden thought. "Did Batman; uh, Grandpa Batman, not Damian, ask for any reports from when he was gone?"

"Not that I know of," Dick said, biting his lip in a way which told Mar'i that her dad didn't approve of Bruce's actions.

She guessed it made sense. Dick was looking into everything she did while he was gone. He probably expected Bruce to do the same, but he wasn't.

"But, that's a problem for later," Dick commented. "What I want to know is what you thought you were doing?"

Mar'i quickly rambled out how Colin's friend had gone missing and how they needed her help and it was important to catch the person who was taking women.

"Gotham should be a safe place," she finished, crossing her arms and frowning at her dad.

Dick twitched and stood up.

"That's not the point!" he shouted. "This was a dangerous person and you ended up walking into her hands! What if Damain hadn't been able to find you time?"

Mar'i was silent. She had thought the same thing.

"I should have been ready for her to knock me out," she said in an apologetic tone. "It won't happen again."

He wasn't done.

"What if she had taken you somewhere else after knocking you out?" he questioned. "Damian and Colin wouldn't have been able to save you." The low tone of his voice was somehow more chilling than the shouting. "What if she made it quick? You would have bleed out before they found you. You know you were there, unconscious, for about ten minutes before they could get there. More than enough time-"

"And how many times have you been knocked unconscious?" Mar'i demanded to know. She knew the number was a lot higher than one. "How many times have you been unable to defend yourself while in the hands of murderers and crazies?"

"I have been doing this for a long time!" he reminded her loudly.

"You didn't answer my question!" Mar'i shouted back.

"I am not the one who got captured! Who shouldn't even be on the streets-"

Mar'i felt hot tears prick against the edges of her eyes.

"Why don't you just say it? You want me to quit! Forget about it! I'm NIGHTSTAR and I'm STAYING NIGHTSTAR!"

"Don't you DARE put words in my mouth! That's NOT-"

"I HATE YOU!" Mar'i shouted back before running away and jumping out the window. Her dad was a liar!

Mar'i fought for the chance to be Nightstar. Her father insisted on it.

"I never wanted to be in this position," he had said days after relenting and letting Mar'i take this dangerous path to vigilantism. "But, if you're going to do this, then I'm going to make sure you know how to survive."

He did something surprising. They went on a training trip. Nightstar met Deathstroke.

To Deathstroke, she was just a teenager Dick had decided to train. A teenager Dick wanted to survive.

Her dad asked Deathstroke to help train her. He was there for the whole thing but, even then, the training had been brutal.

Mar'i had often wondered during those days whether her dad had been trying to force her to give up.

Mar'i didn't stop until she had burned off all her anger, just leaving a hollow feeling in her chest. Tears had leaked down her face and she limply wiped them away, sniffling. She was sixteen. There were less than two years at school left for her. She was almost an adult.

She was supposed to be a hero.

She felt like a useless child. Letting out a frustrated groan, she decided to soar above the clouds for a while. She ducked behind a building and took her school bag off. It was better to carry it clutched to her chest so she didn't lose it against the force of the wind.

Her powers carried her up like a shot. She rushed towards the clouds, wind brushing along her body as she rocketed up, leaving a trail of purple which quickly dissolved into the air.

She burst through the clouds, burning through before stopping and hovering above. She took in a deep breath, feeling the rush of her flight and the energy of the warm sunlight around her.

It had been a while since she had a good sunbath. She soaked in the rays, feeling her heart warm. Her thoughts vanished for a while as she floated there, eyes closed.

When she felt calm, she opened her eyes and looked down at the grimy city below. Gotham wasn't much in the daylight. But, to be up here at night would be something else.

Mar'i floated down with that image in her mind. A Gotham lit by night, shadows splayed across it and lights twinkling like stars. The Bat Signal would be shining if Batman was needed, almost like a bright moon. A full moon. The kind which brought the best kind of light.

Mar'i giggled at that thought. It was rather odd to think of the very think causing her grief as 'the best kind of light'.

Wayne Manor itself stood out. It was a building on its own, surrounded by land owned by the Wayne Family. Mar'i thought for a moment before following her impulse and floating down towards it.

She didn't have many friends in Gotham she felt she could approach after a fight with her dad. However, Damian would understand.

She checked her hair and face, made doubly sure her eyes looked like a bright green human's eyes, and knocked on the door.

"What?" the sneer was heard before the door even opened enough for her to make out Damian's form.

"Rude," she responded with a grin.

He blinked and rubbed his eyes, as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing. He looked her up and down, no doubt taking in her uniform.

"Aren't you meant to be in school?" he questioned.

"Wow. How adult of you," she responded in a deadpan.

"That doesn't answer my question." He was puzzled.

Mar'i sighed. There was no getting around this. She knew that Damian would find out sooner or later.

"Can I come in? I had a fight with Dad."