Chapter Twenty One
Mommy Issues
The split second before she moved her arm, she felt the puzzle piece slip into place. Immense relief coursed through her entire body when the tire she'd focused on lurched sideways before detaching itself, bringing the jeep with it. It wobbled on two wheels for a moment before it toppled to the side, the two men inside trapped for the moment.
Three police cars – she wasn't sure when they'd arrived, but this was Gotham, she knew how effective the police had to be – surrounded the truck as half a dozen others kept driving, keeping up with the car chase at a safe distance. They must've spotted the two heroes and known to keep their distance, letting Sparrow and Nightwing do their business in peace.
Maybe peace was the wrong word, Morgan mused when the truck directly in front of the motorcycle started firing at them and they had to hide behind the windscreen that was, conveniently, bulletproof.
"How do we deal with that one?" Morgan asked Nightwing, leaning as close to his ear as she could to make communicating easier.
"Can't you just take out a wheel like before?"
The tire had been an entirely new thing, and given how big the truck was, it had taken quite a lot of force to get it to move at all.
Morgan swallowed before shaking her head. Remembering that Nightwing couldn't see the movement, she spoke out loud. "I think I've exhausted my telekinetic capacity for tonight."
"Wait, you can actually run out of mental capacity?" Nightwing disbelievingly asked.
"I'd explain the details to you but I think we should save it for a time when we aren't being shot at!" Morgan retaliated. "Now, how do we take out the next truck?"
"I have some spikes designed to tear through all kinds of tires. They'll get the job done."
"Where are they?" Morgan demanded. Obviously, Nightwing couldn't get them himself when he was busy avoiding gunshots.
"Left front pouch on my belt." He loudly replied.
Arms wrapped around his waist, she reached for the pouch and opened it, and after digging through some other small gadgets that Morgan didn't know what did – but they looked high tech and cool – she found three of the small spiked balls at the very bottom of the pouch.
Nightwing swerved around a car and Morgan tightened her grip on him, now pulled flush against his back. Morgan had thought about that sort of thing lots of times, but she'd never imagined that the first time she managed to practically get to second base with a guy, it would be on a speeding motor cycle with Nightwing of all people, while they were getting shot at.
She wasn't sure if she should be laughing or not at her sad lack of a romantic life.
Nightwing sped further ahead, managing to get up on the driver's side of the jeep, making shooting at them harder.
The three balls in her hand looked altogether unassuming, the spikes certainly not big enough to puncture the big, sturdy tires of a military jeep. Morgan figured there must've been more to them than met the eye.
"How do they work?" She asked Nightwing, unwilling to throw them at the jeep until she was sure they didn't need to be activated somehow.
"There should be a red spike on each of them. You have to twist it."
Morgan flipped over one of the spheres and spotted, in the midst of grey steel spikes, one that had been painted red. She grabbed hold of the spike and twisted it once clockwise.
Immediately, the spikes on the ball grew to thrice their original size, making the thing look like a vicious sea urchin.
"Got it." She announced once she'd repeated the procedure on the other two.
"I'll drive in front of the truck so you can drop them. Be quick about it, this guy has better aim than the one from before!" Nightwing warned before flooring it.
Morgan nodded resolutely, resisting the urge to tell him that she'd actually had terrible aim all her life.
"Please hit, please hit, please hit.." she mumbled under her breath as she released the three spiked spheres.
Morgan let out a whoop of joy and fist-bumped the air when the right front-tire exploded, the car swerving off the road. The truck barreled through a picket fence and into some poor sod's front yard, crashing into the huge oak tree in the middle of the lawn.
Morgan grimaced slightly, knowing that some house owner's night was about to get extremely sucky.
"Two down, one to go." Nightwing mumbled in front of her.
"Okay, so we're out of spiky-balls and we're out of telekinetic voodoo shit, what do we do now?" Morgan loudly asked.
"We go with plan A again." Nightwing firmly told her. "Try to slow them down."
He sped up for a third time and intercepted the black van in a matter of seconds. Morgan let out a startled gasp when they – after creating a decent amount of distance – slowed down too abrupt for her liking, the van behind them braking so hard the tires squealed against the rough asphalt. Nightwing turned the bike so it's side was facing the approaching vehicle, Morgan instinctively grabbed hold of his shoulder as she watched the van get nearer.
The van, despite attempting to slow down as hard as it could, was still headed straight for the two heroes, and Morgan prepared to fly off if they came too close for comfort.
She could only hope Nightwing had planned some sort of escape route himself. She couldn't carry both of them.
Luckily, the people in the van seemed to want to avoid flattening the two teenage superheroes, and the van swerved to the side abruptly. It lost its balance with the sudden movement and tipped over to the side, much like the first jeep had done.
"Well," Morgan swallowed loudly to get rid of the lump in her throat. "That one almost defeated itself for us."
She breathed out a deep sigh of relief. Beneath her, she could hear the engine being killed as Nightwing shut the bike down and jumped off it.
Morgan shakily got off as well. "How did you know they'd swerve?" She asked.
"I didn't." Nightwing admitted and Morgan's eyes widened in disbelief, her mouth dropping open in shock.
The police arrived just as Nightwing pulled the two unconscious men in the front seats of the toppled van out through the car door that was currently facing the night sky. Morgan opened the back of the van, finding another unconscious man in there. This one looked a little worse for wear, having probably been thrown around like a ragdoll when the van fell over. He was lying on a bed of dollar bills. She was sure they'd been stacked neatly before, but now they were everywhere in a right mess.
"Come on." Nightwing approached her, placing a hand on her shoulder briefly. "The police will deal with the rest of this. We need to get going."
Morgan frowned, wondering why he seemed so urgent, but followed obediently after him.
They jumped back onto the bike, and Nightwing sped through Gotham once again. He was driving so fast Morgan barely got to scout their surroundings, making it almost impossible for her to locate any potential crime they should be fighting. She almost told him to slow down.
She recognized that they were entering the poorer part of Gotham, relatively close to her old home, actually.
Nightwing drove on for another five minutes before he suddenly slowed down and headed for a dark street, where he parked his bike.
"Let's go." He ordered and walked swiftly down the street. Morgan ran after him, doing her best to keep up with his long strides.
"Nightwing, where are we go-"
Morgan stopped her own words short when she spotted a lamppost with a poster on it.
More specifically, a 'Missing' poster.
Even more specifically, a 'Missing' poster with her name and face on it.
Her stomach sank into her feet, her heart joining it soon after, and all air was knocked from her lungs.
For a moment she simply stood, gaping at the poster with her jaw practically hanging around her knees. She'd have been worried about insects flying in if it hadn't been winter.
Her mom was looking for her.
Morgan wasn't sure what this meant.
Did her mom want to reconcile?
She dearly hoped so.
Morgan looked at Nightwing briefly and found him patiently watching her next to the poster.
"You," Morgan swallowed dryly and blinked rapidly to erase the tears attempting to build up in her eyes. She was not going to cry. "You brought me here on purpose." She licked her lower lip in thought as she nodded her head absentmindedly, his urgent and strange behavior all night suddenly making sense.
"Tonight wasn't about fighting crime at all, was it?" She clarified. "You just needed to show me this poster."
Nightwing nodded wordlessly and redirected his eyes to the pavement underneath them. "I've known for some time. I thought you deserved to know too."
He looked up at her again, brushing a lock of hair out of his eyes. Morgan unconsciously mimicked the movement, tucking a curl behind her ear.
"I wasn't sure how you'd react to finding out, and I'm not going to tell you what I think you should do, but I thought you should at least know that she's looking for you."
"I-" Morgan paused, more confused and uncertain than she'd ever been before. Her mind was filled with doubts and fears, but in the end, her decision was easily made. "I want to see her. Now."
Nightwing nodded, looking like he'd expected her to say that. Somehow, she couldn't even be mad at him for keeping it from her.
"And then, if it ends badly," Morgan shrugged. "At least she'll know I'm alive and being taken care of. Well," She smirked slightly, halfheartedly, "As much as going on wild car chases and beating up criminals is getting taken care of."
Nightwing quirked one corner of his mouth up in wry humor. "Let's go, then." He encouraged.
"You're supposed to knock." Nightwing pointed out after Morgan had stared at her mother's – and Morgan's former – front door for almost a full minute.
"I know that." She snapped, aiming a halfhearted glare at him.
Before she lost her nerve again, Morgan brought a hand up and knocked three times on the door. The sound seemed impossibly loud, vibrating through her bones. Or maybe that was just Morgan shaking with nerves.
A million thoughts ran through her head as she waited for a response. How could she even know her mom would be home? Typically, her mother would be on a nightshift at the hospital on a night like this. How would her mom react when she saw her? How was Morgan supposed to react?
She self-consciously folded her wings against her back, wishing that she'd have her pendant on so her wings were hidden. Then Morgan reminded herself that her mom already knew about the wings. She just wasn't sure how she felt about them. She heard footsteps behind the closed door and her eyes widened in petrified anticipation. Her eyes darted to both sides, unconsciously looking for an escape route.
Nightwing clasped a hand on her shoulder briefly, as if he guessed her thoughts of running away. Or maybe to remind her that she wasn't alone. Either way, the movement comforted her.
The door knob turned and Morgan found herself face to face with a woman she hadn't seen in months, but hadn't gone a day without thinking about.
Abigail looked confused as she opened the door, probably wondering why anyone was knocking on it this late at night. Then she spotted her daughter and she froze.
Morgan, realizing she was still wearing her mask, quickly slipped it off. "Hi mom." She timidly said.
She studied her mother's face for a second, taking in the sight of her, relishing it. She looked older than she'd done before, lines around her eyes and mouth that hadn't been there before. A few gray hairs stuck out in her otherwise straight auburn hair, the exact opposite of her daughters.
Abigail let out a surprised and joyful sound that was halfway between a laugh and a sob and then she launched herself at her daughter.
The knots in Morgan's stomach disappeared as she fiercely returned the hug, tears springing forth before she could even think to blink them away.
She'd never cried in front of Nightwing before. There had been a few close calls, but not like this. This was ugly sobbing and rivers of salty tears slipping down her face as her and her mother laughed and cried and embraced each other in the dark hallway.
"My baby.." Her mother mumbled into her braided hair. "My little baby."
Eventually – Morgan couldn't tell how long they'd stood there, hugging – they pulled back and her mother looked between Morgan and Nightwing, obviously knowing that there was a story to be told here.
"Come in, Come in!" She encouraged and stepped further into the apartment, waving her arms at the two teenagers.
Morgan walked through the door with an ease only someone who'd done it hundreds of times before could. Nightwing followed slowly behind. He'd yet to say anything and Morgan worried that he'd go for the 'silent and stoic' type thing while they spoke with her mom.
Morgan could see her mother eyeing her wings with an unreadable expression on her face as the three of them shuffled into the kitchen. Morgan hopped onto their small dinner table, her legs dangling off the side. Abigail shuffled around the room as she set to work filling a pitcher with Morgan's favorite lemonade and set out three glasses as well as a plate of cookies. Perhaps the action was to instill some normalcy in this highly abnormal situation.
Nightwing took up space by the counter, standing behind and to the left of Morgan and her mother.
"Now, I'm sure you have a lot of questions.." Morgan started out awkwardly, nibbling at a cookie. For once, her mother hadn't commented on Morgan sitting on the table, instead sitting herself down by the table on one of the four chairs around it.
"Do I ever!" Her mom agreed as she stirred in the tea she'd prepared for herself before Morgan and Nightwing arrived. "I've been searching for you for months now! I didn't alert the police because I was afraid they'd find out about your wings and take you away, but I've been putting up posters everywhere." Her mom explained. "I have so many questions.. But let's start with the biggest one. Where have you been all this time?"
Morgan grimaced, unsure how much she was allowed to say. She supposed the whole 'I joined a team of teenage superheroes' was kind of obvious as she sat in her costume, escorted by Nightwing. She glanced at her mentor, holding a silent conversation with him and he gave a small nod, confirming that she was allowed to tell her mother everything she'd been up to.
"Well.." Morgan fiddled with her hands. "I kind of joined a team. Of superheroes." She cleared her throat and launched into the story. "After you saw – ya know – I kind of ran away and the same night I was approached by two superheroes and they already knew about my – you know –"
"Your wings?" Her mother helpfully supplied. "You can call them what they are. I've come to terms with the fact that my daughter has.. wings."
"Alright, so anyway, they knew about my wings and they decided I'd have potential as a superhero and I've been with them since, training and fighting." Morgan quickly summed up. She saw her mother's eyes repeatedly shift to Nightwing and realized she might need to explain that too. She pointed her thumb behind her at Nightwing. "Mister 'Tall, dark and handsome' here is – "
"I'm Nightwing." He suddenly spoke up, to Morgan's surprise. He pushed himself away from the counter in a fluid movement and politely offered her mother his hand. "I'm the one that found out about your daughters wings."
Abigail accepted the handshake, sending Morgan a look, like, girl, and Morgan rolled her eyes.
"Nightwing's the one responsible for my training and stuff. He teaches me how to fight." And unable to resist she added, clapping a mock-fond hand on Nightwing's back. "This guy has beaten me up more than a school yard bully would ever have the heart to."
Morgan smirked at the slight narrowing of her mother's eyes.
Her mom straightened in her chair and studied Morgan briefly. "As your mother, I'm pretty sure it's my duty to ask: Is it very dangerous? The things you do?"
The brief memory of a bomb exploding in an underground layer flashed through her mind, quickly followed by another memory of a very recent car chase where getting shot to death had been a very distinct possibility. "No! Not at all." She lied, unconsciously tracing the tight stitches her left sleeve had been adorned with after she'd gotten stabbed through the fabric. "It's very low key. I mostly just beat up a few small-time criminals. It's easy stuff."
She could see Nightwing shift in the corner of her eye as if about to deflate her ball of lies, but he thankfully stayed silent.
What they were doing was very dangerous, life threatening even. But Morgan's mom couldn't know that. She'd die an early death, put to the grave with worry over her daughter. Morgan didn't want that. She wanted her mom to go through her life as usual without having to worry about being approached by a superhero someday to tell her that her daughter had 'fallen in the line of duty'.
Her lie was apparently convincing because Abigail nodded and fixed her eyes onto her daughters grey wings.
"So are you.." Her mom paused and then rephrased her words. "Do you know why you have wings?"
Morgan sighed and shrugged. "No. They're just kinda there."
Her mom pushed her lips tightly together, a thoughtful frown on her face.
"Oh," Morgan suddenly remembered her other power that her mom also knew nothing about. "And there is another thing. I can move things. Without touching them. I move things around with my mind."
Her mom's eyes widened to double size as she opened and closed her mouth like a fish, obviously not sure how to respond. "Where is all of this coming from?" She eventually asked incredulously. "I swear Morgan, I'm just a normal human!"
Morgan nodded. "I know mom. All the tests we did proved the same. I'm totally human. I just happen to have abilities. We're still working on figuring out why."
Abigail nodded and took a long sip from her tea. By now, Morgan had moved into a chair, finding it easier to talk to her mom when she was facing her.
"So what now?" Her mom asked after a moment of silence. "What will you do? Are you moving back in?"
Morgan seriously contemplated it for a moment. "I can't." She admitted. "I mean, I could, but my life would get infinitely more complicated if I had to travel to the Cave every time I had to train or hang out with the others. I've grown.. fond of the place I am now. We live several people together so I'm not lonely. Besides," She smiled ruefully. "The less contact we have, the lesser danger there is of anyone going after you to get to me."
Abigail frowned at this, as if she hadn't considered before that her daughter was going to make enemies in her new line of work. She looked like she was about to lecture Morgan on safety, but she stopped herself and studied her instead.
She concluded that Morgan looked happier, healthier and freer that she'd looked for the past five years. There was a shine to her eyes and an easy smile on her lips that Abigail hadn't seen there since her father had left eight years ago.
Ultimately, she also knew that her daughter was legally an adult and she couldn't tell her to stop. She could only distance them from each other by disapproving, something she didn't want. They'd just bridged the gap in their relationship, she didn't want to ruin that.
"Well, at least promise me you'll come visit every once in a while." Abigail said, smiling tiredly at her daughter.
Morgan nodded.
Soft feet padding across the floor and a short mewl made everyone look at the door where Morgan's cat stood, staring at the group of three.
"Percy!" Morgan exclaimed and dropped to her knees on the floor. The cat walked across the floor and leapt onto her shoulder, accepting the scratch she offered.
"If it's alright with you," Morgan turned to her mom again. "I'd like to collect some stuff from my room before we leave again."
Abigail stood too. "Of course. Go right ahead."
Morgan smiled gratefully at her mom and turned to Nightwing. "C'mon, I'll show you around."
She left the kitchen and found herself in the small hallway that led to the small living room, the two bedrooms and the bathroom. Morgan could tell that Nightwing was eyeing her cat as it kept its casual perch on her shoulder.
Opening her bedroom door, Morgan felt a rush of familiarity as she took in her old room. Staring around the chaotically organized room, exactly as she'd left it; it somehow also looked foreign, like a memory from a past life.
"I'll be really quick about it, I just have a few things I need to collect." She told him and bent down – Percy hopped off her shoulder and approached her tall mentor, brushing affectionately against his legs, purring.
Morgan watched the exchange, chuckling to herself at the uncomfortable look on Nightwing's face.
"He's very affectionate. Loves everyone." She explained as she peaked under her bed, dragging out a large, grey duffle bag. "So don't think you're special."
They were silent for a moment as Morgan emptied the bag of what looked like used gym clothes.
"Why did you lie?" Nightwing suddenly asked.
"You know why." She replied quietly, opening her underwear drawer and stuffing a few panties and bras in the bag. "If my mom knew what we were really doing on a regular basis, she'd lose ten years of her lifespan with worry. I don't want her to constantly worry about me."
"What if you're killed then?" Nightwing immediately shot back. "What if you're killed in action and your mother wasn't prepared for that to happen at all? Don't you think that will shorten her lifespan with at least ten years?"
Morgan shrugged with a blank look on her face and kept her eyes firmly fixed on her work. She unplugged her laptop and put it in its casing before placing it in the bag too. "People die in accidents every day. Their families aren't prepared for that either."
She chanced a quick peek at him. He looked like he really wanted to protest but also knew that it wasn't his place to. She decided to leave the matter there, unwilling to start fighting with him when her mother was in the next room. She'd start worrying even more if she thought Morgan wasn't getting along with the person that was supposed to make sure she was skilled enough to not get killed in a fight.
She shuffled around the room, pulling some of her favorite clothes into the bag, her jewelry joining soon after. A few books, including a diary, were thrown into it as well.
"You knit?" Nightwing suddenly asked and Morgan turned in her spot, seeing her mentor stand next to her old nightstand, her knitting gear in hand. A colorful, half finished scarf dangled from his grip.
Color rushed to her cheeks even as she firmly reminded herself that it was nothing to be embarrassed about. She shrugged and stepped closer, snatching the yarn and knitting needles from his hand. "Yeah. Helps me relax." She said as she stuffed it into her bag too. "It's not like I'm good at it or anything. I just do scarves, really."
She opened her closet and pulled out a pair of completely black converse as well as a pair of sandals and winter boots.
"Aaand done." She announced, standing up straight and pulling the strap of her bag over her shoulder.
Percy bound across the room to rub against her calves, purring loudly as he did. She bent down and petted the cat, sad she'd have to leave him again. But the life of a superhero was no place for a cat.
She left the room and then found her mother still seated in the kitchen, absentmindedly stroking her index finger on the rim of her steaming mug of tea.
Abigail looked up at the sound of them in the doorway and Morgan thought she already looked a few years older than when she'd first seen her half an hour ago.
It left a stinging sensation of guilt in her chest, but Morgan pushed through it. Her mom would get used to the thought of Morgan being a superhero eventually. She'd always worry, Morgan didn't doubt this, but at some point, the anxiety would fade into a dull thought at the back of her mind every once in a while. Morgan just had to avoid dying and they'd be all set.
"We're ready." She said softly. In a way, she was sad that she'd have to leave her mother so soon after being reunited with her, but she feared that the separation would only get harder the longer she stayed. As she picked absentmindedly at a loose string on her bag, Morgan vowed to herself that she'd visit her mom as soon as possible.
Realizing that her mother had spent Christmas alone – quite possibly the worst Christmas ever as she'd undoubtedly been spending it worrying over her missing daughter, Morgan made a mental note to go buy her mom a Christmas present. They'd have a small Christmas here in the end of February, maybe early March, watch a few Christmas movies, bake cookies and exchange gifts.
Head full of ideas on how to make up for the lost time, she hugged her mom tightly and placed a kiss on her cheek, trying to ignore the tears in her mother's eyes. Tears she knew would fall once Morgan and Nightwing left.
"I'll call you tomorrow." Morgan promised and wrote her new number down on a piece of paper. "And I promise to visit soon."
Her mom smiled brightly at the prospect, though the look was ruined by her wet eyes.
Stepping through the door and letting Nightwing close it behind her was one of the hardest things Morgan had ever done.
She was silent as Nightwing drove them back to the Zeta tube.
Arriving at the site, she paused. "You're going home now, aren't you?"
"Blüdhaven, yeah." Nightwing confirmed.
"So I guess I'll see you tomorrow, then." Morgan stared straight ahead. As much as leaving behind her mother had hurt, Morgan still felt lighter than she'd done in a long time. Reconciling with her mom had been like taking in a breath of fresh, clean air after being stuck in a dusty old room for months. And she owed it all to Nightwing. She felt a newfound rush of affection aimed towards her serious mentor and mentally promised them both to make an effort to be more compliant from now on.
Fixing her eyes on her mentor who was lingering by his bike, waiting for her to use the Zeta tube first, she voiced her gratitude. "Thank you.. for showing me. It means a lot."
Before she could chicken out – before she could even consider what she was doing – She reached up and, because she was too short to reach his cheek, placed a quick peck on his jaw line.
Turning before she could see his facial expression, Morgan ducked her head, hiding behind her curly bangs, hoisted the duffle bag further up on her shoulder and stepped through the Zeta tube, arriving back at the Cave in a second.
"B23 Sparrow." The detatched female voice from the tube announced as she found herself in a familiar environment. Before, the voice had called her Morgan, but Nightwing had changed it once they agreed on her superhero alias.
Lugging the heavy duffle behind her, Morgan found her room in no time and crashed tiredly onto her bed, deciding to stow her things away in the morning.
And Morgan finally has one less thing to be angsty about. Hooray!
Last chapter didn't get a whole lotta reviews.. Did I do something wrong?
And, just for fun, I have a question for you guys! Which Hogwarts house would you sort Morgan into? I already took a test on her behalf (I just know my characters that well ;D), but I'm curious about where you think she belongs!
Fun fact: I'm starting to run out of fun facts to tell you guys. (But I really love the fun fact thing, so I'm going to keep it.) Wait! I got one now: Because I listen to a LOT of disney music when writing, I have soooo many AUs for Morgan and Dick that takes place in different disneyverses. My personal favourite is the Aladdin AU.