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"Why are you here?" Jai snarled at the shadowy figure in front of him.
"That is none of your concern." Damian said calmly as he analyzed the situation.
"If you're looking Irey she's not coming back." Jai's expression remained firm but his voice betrayed him, cracking at his sister's name.
Damian's face remained blank as he calculated his next move. "Why isn't she coming home?" he replied, playing dumb momentarily to see where it would get him.
A small humorless smirk tugged at the corner of the speedster's mouth. "You don't know, do you?"
"What is it that I do not know Zoom?" Damian narrowed his gaze, weakly glaring at his former friend.
"Irey's dead! She was sucked into a vortex because she was too stupid to save herself! She's not coming back!" Zoom shouted. He was expecting a bigger reaction from his former friend, but Damian's cold demeanor remained almost unchanged.
The heir continued glaring at the speedster for some time before a rueful smirk formed on his expression and he let out a short hollow laugh.
"You think you killed her don't you? You think she's dead? Ha! Iris couldn't be further from it." The young man proclaimed even though his last statement was a lie. He knew at this very moment Irey still lay on that hospital bed hooked up to machines, barely clinging on to her life.
"What do you mean?" Denial flashed in the speedster's eyes.
"She's alive." The Wayne heir hissed.
"No. That's impossible! She can't be alive. I saw her die!" Jai growled, he didn't believe it, not one bit.
"You're eyes have deceived you then, Iris is alive and well."
"You're lying." The speedster declared.
"Why would I lie?" Damian inquired.
"Why would you tell me the truth?" Zoom counteracted.
"What have I got to lose?" The former Robin shrugged.
"You have everything to lose! Unlike me, I've got nothing to lose. Nothing to hold me back." Jai barked.
"Then why are you here? Why are you dwelling in the past you claim to have shed years ago?" Damian asked. Check. The speedster was playing right into his hand.
Jai remained silent; he seemed to be at a loss for words.
"Why is it that even after all this time you still come back? You keep lying to yourself, but deep down you still care." The heir disparaged.
"The hell I do! I don't give a rat's ass about any of my past. I hate my family. I hate the Flash. I hate Irey! I hate all of it! Think about it bird brain, why else would I be doing this? I don't care. I won't care. Don't you get it? I'm bad, evil, the villain! Why would I care about any of them?" Zoom shouted angrily.
"You say this so confidently, but right now looking at you all I see is doubt." Damian countered. "You have no fulfillment."
"What do you want from me!" The speedster roared.
"From you? Nothing, The real question is what you want from yourself?" Checkmate.
A vein threatened to pop out of Jai's forehead. "You know what? I'm done with you and your so-called insight or wisdom or whatever you call it! You don't know me!"
The speedster tried to make his way to the door but Damian pushed him back. Usually Jai would fight, but he had no energy left and the former robin knew that. The air was thick with tension as they glared at each other.
"You know there's going to come a day when all of this is going to come back and bite you in the ass." Damian warned.
"Don't try to save me, I'm far past redemption. I don't want to go back. I'm never going back." He said darkly.
"He who sacrifices his conscience to ambition burns a picture to obtain the ashes." Damian quoted.
"Yeah yeah, cry me a river bird brain. I'm out of here." And with that the speedster disappeared out the door.
This time Damian let Jai pass, after all his work was done. Funny how a few words could torment a person for weeks on end. The former robin had psychological warfare down to an art. Jai would have many sleepless nights ahead of him thanks to his former friend, and the best part was the speedster never suspected a thing.
Damian walked over to the shattered frame on the floor. He was careful not to cut himself as he cleaned up the glass that littered the linoleum floor. He took a second to look at the redheaded teen in the photo. Damian couldn't remember the last time he'd seen Irey smile like that. He was pretty sure it's been years since she's smiled like that and he missed it. Even though her optimism and perkiness used to annoy him to no end when they were young, it was what he loved the most about her.
Irey's laugh used to light up the darkest of rooms, her smile could make anyone's day, but now one the rare occasions she 'genuinely' smiled or laughed, it seemed forced and lifeless. Damian missed the days when he would be in the darkest mood and Irey would pop in and crack a joke and then everything would be better. Damian missed how free and impulsive Irey used to be; now she was so uptight and controlled. He didn't blame her either, after all she'd been through she ought to have changed, but it was so sad to see her happy former self turn into the person she was today.
Honestly the only times Damian saw her smile is when she fought crime, but even then most of those smiles were fake. Irey always put on some sort of smile for the cameras usually, what hero didn't. Sometimes Damian saw glimpses of her old self as she bantered with the villains, but it wasn't the same.
She was dedicated to her work to a point it consumed her. It was if she was a complete stranger. Irey was always fighting crime or working at star labs. The woman never gave herself any free time. Damian recalled the many video conversations Artemis had with Barbra about this down in the batcave. He felt bad for the formerly widowed archer. She barely had anyone left. Wally was dead until a few days ago, Jai was disowned on his own accord and Irey was too busy to even drop in and say hi. Somehow Artemis managed, but Damian knew it took a toll on the retired hero.
The former Robin hung the picture back up on the wall next to an old newspaper article about the Flash. He quickly scanned over the apartment to see if there was anything else out of order before suiting up in his old costume and setting out to patrol the city. Just because Irey was out of commission didn't mean crime would slow down anytime soon. Damian was just helping out watching over Keystone. Milagro, who had just returned from Oa, kindly agreed to watch over Central for the time being. He just hoped Irey wouldn't try to get back into the mix the moment she woke up. Sometimes the speedster pushed herself way too hard.
More than a week later….
It was around four in the morning when Irey finally regained full consciousness. At first she thought she was dreaming again (like all the other times) but as she slowly sat up she soon found differently. The young woman glanced around the dark room hoping she was alone only to be disappointed as she spotted a familiar bat snoozing in the corner next to her bed.
Irey suppressed the urge to throw something at him. He never really understood the fact that they were no longer together, but she had barely enough energy to lift her head. With an oomph she fell back and hit the pillows. Apparently that was enough noise to startle her sleeping visitor and before she knew it Damian was awake.
"You're awake." He gave her a rare smile before he let out a loud yawn and stretched.
"Thanks for pointing that out captain obvious" The speedster rolled her eyes."How long was I out for?" She whispered hoarsely rubbing her aching forehead. Guessing by all the flowers in her room it had been a while.
Damian ignored her sarcasm. "Over a week."
"What happened to me? I feel like I've been hit dead on by a train." She sighed looking at the bandages on her arms.
"I'll tell you the full version later, but basically you ran too fast and we pulled you out of some vortex then after some unforeseen circumstances you went into cardiac arrest." The former robin summarized, he didn't know how much she remembered.
"So what you're telling me is that I died?" she cut straight to the chase.
"Not exactly…"
"But yes?" the speedster interrupted. It was all coming back to her now.
"In a way."
"Damian, did I die? Yes or no."
"You know I'm not answering that question Irey." He replied. He really didn't want to go into that right now.
"Fine." She pouted silently; the speedster seemed to be contemplating something.
"Is it true?" she asked.
"Is what true?" Damian wasn't sure what she was getting at, but he suspected it had to do with what happened.
"Is he back?" she questioned. It almost looked like there was a form of fear in her eyes.
"Who?"
"My father." She replied. Her expression became unreadable as she awaited his answer.
"Yes." He responded. Damian wasn't sure if it was a good or a bad thing judging from her tone.
Irey regained a somewhat distant look for a moment; her expression was a mix between terror, fear, hurt and confusion. Not at all what Damian expected to see from a person who just found out that their dead father was alive. He it least counted himself lucky she didn't have a full on heart attack like last time.
"Are you alright Irey?" He asked her tentatively. She was startled out of her stupor.
"Oh, yeah. I'm fine." Irey lied. "Just a little tired, I think I want to be alone right now." She was definitely thrown off guard. The speedster honestly didn't know what to think, she just needed to be alone.
"Ok, just call if you need anything." He whispered as he headed toward the door.
"Oh and Damian."
"Yes?"
"Please don't tell them I'm awake, not yet." She pleaded. Irey wasn't ready to confront them yet.
"Ok. I won't." he promised and left the room.
Little did they know Wally was watching the whole interaction through the window. The speedster had been there for some time watching his daughter due to the fact he couldn't sleep. He knew he had so much to catch up on and make up for. The father ever wondered if he could reconnect with his daughter. He feared he would remain a stranger.
"How is she?" Wally asked Damian as he exited the room.
"She's been better, but I think she's going to be alright in time." The bat responded.
"That's good, is she still awake?" Wally hoped he could talk with her.
Keeping his promise Damian responded. "No sir, she fell asleep when I left and I think she wants to be alone right now anyways. You might want to try later."
"Ok, thanks for letting me know." The former Flash was slightly disappointed, he needed to talk to his daughter, but he respected her space.
"Anytime Mr. West." Damian nodded curtly before heading off to Keystone to patrol.
Wally returned to the little waiting alcove where Artemis slept on a small couch and sat in the chair next to his wife. He sat there trying to figure out what to say to Irey when he had the chance; he had a feeling she was not going to be as easy to reconnect with as Artemis was.
A silent tear slipped down Irey's cheek as she stared out into the vast emptiness of space. Her world was literally upside down, she didn't know how to react. The speedster had spent all these years trying to accept the fact that her father was never coming back and just when she finally comes to terms with it all he decides to pop out of the blue. It was enough to shake anybody, especially her. Irey spent all this time building up these walls around her heart, but they were reduced to rubble the moment her father came back into her life. All she wanted to do was scream, but she couldn't. She couldn't let them know she was hurting. She couldn't let them know she was weak. She wouldn't. She had to be strong, for herself and everyone else.
So what did you think? There was a lot going on in this chapter. It might be confusing, but it will all make sense later on. If you want to find the poem that I'm kinda basing these past and next few chapters on you can find it on my tumblr ( im hockeygirl2814) or you can look it up on youtube, Its called Lost along the way or Does this darkness have a name?
Also I need help coming up with a name for a dog (for later on) it's Artemis's dog (so it has to be somewhat sentimental) (but witty and not too cheesy) (THIS IS NOT BRUCELY) (DIFFERENT DOG)Please let me know if you have any ideas. PM or review (it doesn't matter) Please tell me what you think of this chapter. Just take 15 seconds of your time and leave a review please, I worked hard on this chapter, it would be great to get some feedback. (please)