Chapter Forty Nine
Family Relations
To be honest, Rachel looked a lot more affected by Henrik's death than Morgan had expected. Maybe it was just the whole killing in itself. She looked like she'd been sleeping just as badly as Morgan, with bags under her makeup less eyes. And Rachel always wore makeup.
"This'll be your room for the night." The girl told her numbly as she opened a door in the hallway they were in, and motioned for the room that lay beyond. Morgan looked silently around the room. It wasn't much. Grey walls, a bed with a night stand, a closet, and a small desk.
The view was pretty nice, though. A large window gave her a full view of the Gotham skyline. The Robbin's house – manor, more like – resided a mile out from the city, on a cliff-like hillside. She could see the top of the cliff, which ended in a horizontal drop as if someone had cut half of the rocky hillside out.
"I know it's not much, but.."
"It's fine." Morgan quickly spoke up. They'd all been a bit – a lot – out of it for the past days. She didn't care what the room looked like. She'd only be there for a few days at most. The procedure was going to take place the next morning, and then she'd stay for a few days to heal up properly, make sure that she avoided infections and that the wounds would heal up nicely. Safety stuff.
The two girls both stepped into the room, Rachel seating herself cross-legged on top of the white bedspread. Morgan went to lean against the window, enjoying the feeling of the cool glass on her wings.
She'd never be able to feel that sensation again after tomorrow.
The thought made a small lump of ice settle in her stomach, but she ignored it. This was what she wanted.
The two girls sat in silence for some time, both knowing that they had some things they probably needed to talk about, but both also unwilling to start.
Morgan was chewing at her bottom lip, plucking up the courage to ask. "Can I see them? The scars you got?"
Rachel looked at her in surprise, but nodded slowly. She unzipped the hoodie she was wearing and slipped it off. She twisted around in her seat so Morgan could see her back. Underneath the hoodie, she was wearing a white tank top. Her slender fingers hooked onto the back of the tank top, pulling it down, revealing two long scars running along her spine in between her shoulder blades. They weren't large and had obviously healed well. They were also old, making them even less noticeable.
Morgan swallowed when she realized that her wings would soon be replaced with scares like that. Only, hers would be even bigger, as her wings were much larger than Rachel's had been.
"Your turn." Rachel said as she pulled her hoodie back on and faced Morgan again.
Morgan frowned at her, not understanding what she meant.
"You're still wearing your charm." Rachel pointed out.
"Oh." Morgan looked down at the orange pendant she so very rarely took off. The pendant Nightwing had given her. She shook the thought from her mind as she reached her hands to the back of her neck, unclasping the lock.
As she removed the necklace from around her throat, the familiar hum swept through her body, ending in the tips of her wings.
Another sensation she'd never get to try again. She'd actually grown fond of the short hum. It was a pleasant, warm feeling.
In only a few hours, the charmed pendant would be useless too. Morgan wondered what she'd do with it then.
She'd probably wear it for some time, simply as a way to remember her mentor by. Then, as the memories and her affections faded, she'd leave the necklace at home, forgotten in some box. And then, one day many years from now, she'd find it again and smile fondly at the thing before putting it back into its box, content to let the necklace and the memories it brought with it stay in that dusty box. Content to let the memories of her life as a superhero stay buried and forgotten.
It had been a fun adventure, while it lasted.
Morgan had no doubt that she'd been changed for the better. She was light years away from the terrified and bitter girl who'd been plucked off of the street.
As soon as her necklace was gone, Rachel let out a small gasp, finally seeing Morgan's wings for the first time. Morgan turned so the other girl could see them fully.
"They're.. stunning." She admitted, sounding slightly in awe.
She slipped off the bed and walked up to Morgan, gingerly reaching a hand out to touch the two powerful limbs.
Limbs that Morgan had spent months training and exercising. She'd poured so many hours, so many feelings, into those wings. It felt absolutely surreal that all of that training would now be rendered useless.
Morgan felt uncomfortable by the awed attention Rachel was giving her wings. It was strange knowing that the other girl could've had similar wings herself, but had had them removed before they ever got the chance to reach any real potential.
As if sensing her discomfort, Rachel smiled ruefully and took a large step back. "Sorry." She said, smiling wryly. "I just can't help but think.. if I hadn't had mine removed.."
Morgan understood her wondering. "What did they look like?"
"They.. they were white. Like a dove's. They were.. beautiful."
Rachel looked around the room briefly before walking towards the door, closing it. She turned back to Morgan, a strange look on her face. Like she was nervous, excited and feeling guilty at the same time. "Can you keep a secret?" She asked, her voice barely about a whisper.
Morgan nodded, sitting down on the bed. Rachel joined her soon after, resuming her cross legged position.
"I wish I'd kept them. I loved my wings. But my mom.. well, she was so frightened. And I was too young to really understand what was going on. Too young to refuse the procedure." Rachel admitted. A soft, sad smile pulled at her lips as she remembered an old memory. "I used to think I had wings because I was a fairy."
Morgan returned the smile uncertainly. She wondered how Rachel felt about Morgan willingly having her wings removed when the other girl hadn't had any say in the matter.
"You said you were too young.. when did you wings start growing?"
Rachel looked down at her hands in her lap as she recalled. "I was.. nine, I think. Almost ten."
Morgan's eyebrows shot up. "I was thirteen!"
Rachel shrugged like she didn't know what this meant. "I guess I was an 'early bloomer'. Or maybe you were a late bloomer. We can't really know since we're the only two."
She looked briefly around the room once again, as if to making totally sure they were alone. "Look.. there's some stuff you have to know before tomorrow. Before you make your final decision."
Morgan frowned and leaned closer to the other girl, who was speaking quietly and rapidly.
"Your dad and my mom were a lot closer than my mom let you think.. They had an affair way back. Before you were born. Before I was born."
Morgan's mouth dropped slightly in surprise. She grieved the loss of her dad, and she knew all of that jazz about not speaking evil of the dead, but the guy had been a dick. He'd been unfaithful to her mom?
And then the color drained from her face when Morgan realized what Rachel might've been getting at. "Are you saying..?"
She motioned her hand between the two of them in a loose fashion.
Rachel pressed her lips together before smiling weakly, her eyes firmly on Morgan's.
"We're sisters.." Morgan breathed.
"Half-sisters, at least." Rachel nodded.
Morgan wasn't entirely sure how she was supposed to react. It was horrible that her dad had cheated on her mom, and then divorced her afterwards. But part of her couldn't help but think that it was tiny bit rad that she had a sister.
Or, well.. She wasn't sure how she felt.
"I can't believe we've been school friends for months, and now it turns out we're sisters!" Morgan hissed out, making sure to not raise her voice. If Rachel was keeping the conversation on a low volume, she obviously had a reason for it. "Seriously, what kind of bizarre coincidence is that?"
Rachel shrugged. "It is pretty freaky."
Morgan nodded, smiling slightly. "Not that I think it's horrible or anything. I think it's cool that I have a sister."
She wasn't entirely sure if that was the truth, but she didn't want Rachel to feel bad. So until she had the time to analyze how she truly felt, Morgan would behave nicely.
Rachel smirked. "I've known for years. I just had no idea who it was. That's why I was so shocked when I discovered it was you! Finding out you've been hanging out with you half-sister at school without even knowing about it? Totally weird."
Morgan nodded, agreeing wholeheartedly.
"There's another thing. One last secret you should know." Rachel went on.
Morgan doubted Rachel could tell her anything that was more shocking than the fact that they were sisters, but she nodded expectantly anyway, waiting for Rachel to begin explaining.
She never explained with words. Instead, she suddenly started hovering.
Like, floating a few inches above the bed. With no string.
Hovering.
Several other object in the room started floating towards the ceiling as well, including Morgan.
Her eyes widened to the point where they were in danger of slipping out of their sockets.
"What the actual heck?" Morgan breathed out once the two girls landed on the bed again.
She fixed a slightly crazed look at Rachel. The other girl smiled ruefully down at her hands, shrugging. "I guess the super powers are hereditary. And I guess our dad passed that gene onto us."
Morgan's life was getting so unbelievably complicated.
Wait, it had always been pretty complicated. If anything, it was less complicated now that she was better informed.
Her first thought was that she needed to tell Nightwing about the hereditary aspect of the meta-gene.
And then she remembered that she'd all but left the Team a few hours earlier. She'd be lucky if she ever saw him again. Maybe a small glimpse here and there whenever he was out on patrol at night. But other than that..
She probably wouldn't get the opportunity to tell him anything about any meta-genes.
The thought made her chest absolutely ache.
But she ignored it. This was the right decision.
.. right?
God, she felt so conflicted.
Rachel obviously must've seen the whirlwind of emotions going on inside of Morgan because the other girl smiled kind of sadly and began to excuse herself. "You obviously need some time to process all of this. I'll leave you to it. You should get some sleep."
Morgan only absentmindedly answered the girl, mumbling out a 'goodnight' as she stood from the bed.
Rachel had reached the door, a hand on the doorknob, when she stopped. "Morgan.." She looked back at the other girl. "Make sure this really is the right decision."
She was gone soon after, leaving Morgan with her thoughts.
Her mind was reeling with all of this new information. Never in a million years had she thought Rachel would be her half-sister. And that she'd also have powers.
Morgan also noted how Rachel's powers appeared much like her own, but also the exact opposite. It still had to do with telekinesis, but instead of violently throwing stuff around, Rachel made them hover. And she obviously didn't need to use her arms to use her powers.
Morgan wondered if her father had known about the meta-gene. And if his own power had been active.
And, if so, what had it been? If both his daughters had telekinesis, Morgan could only assume he would've had something like that too.
Guess I'll never know now..
Sighing, sitting down on her bed, Morgan forced herself to stop thinking about it. She had to go to sleep. She needed to be ready for the amputation tomorrow.
As she lay in bed ten minutes later, Morgan realized that, once the procedure was done and her wings were gone, she didn't really have anywhere to go. She found it unlikely that her mom would want to see her straight away, not with the letter she'd left on her door step only a few hours earlier.
And she couldn't go back to the Team.
Not for the first time, Morgan wondered if this was the right choice. If the removal of her wings was really going to bring her the peace of mind she so desperately sought.
It was no surprise that sleep didn't come easily to her that night.
June 8th
A knock on her door startled Morgan out of her uneasy slumber. She sat up in her bed and rubbed at her eyes, mumbling out permission for the person on the other side to enter.
Fathiya opened the door and peeked in, sending the girl a bright smile.
"Today's the big day.." She softly greeted as she walked in and sat down at the foot of the bed.
Morgan nodded, feeling nerves prickle at her skin. It was like her fight with Nightwing the night before had somehow rebooted her emotions. She didn't feel numb anymore. She supposed the confusion and worry mixed with the wound of loss she felt should've made her feel horrible, but somehow, just being able to feel, to not be so numb anymore, made her feel a little bit better. It gave her hope that she could still return to normal.
"Before we go through with it, I just want to make extra sure you are a hundred percent confident in your decision." Fathiya spoke next, looking seriously at her.
Despite not actually feeling a hundred percent confident in her choice, Morgan nodded again. "I'm sure."
If nothing else, she was doing it to help the Robbins' family. Yesterday, Fathiya had revealed some things about the circumstances of her father's death.
The Light had brought him in to try and persuade him into returning to his former work, now that they knew the human/bird experiments had actually worked. He'd refused and escaped. And then he'd been stupid enough to seek them out and threaten them. He'd told them that they were to stay away from Morgan and the Robbins', or else he'd reveal all of their illegal experiments to the public And he'd hand his work over to the League so the Light could never get their hands on it again.
He'd had lots of documents proving Lex Luthor's role in their work. He was the one who'd funded the experiments. Which meant one of the Light's public faces would be completely ruined.
So the Light had done the only logical thing – Gotten rid of any evidence. Fathiya had explained that, without Morgan's father's cooperation, the Light had no way to repeat the experiments without many years of research. He'd already destroyed a lot of his work notes, meaning the knowledge had died with him.
Morgan was their last piece of evidence. Her wings were the only things left from those experiments.
And removing the wings would greatly improve the Robbins' safety, as the Light would be less likely to approach them if they'd already gotten their way.
The removal of her wings wouldn't just help Morgan. It would help an entire family.
However, a small part of her still felt bitter that she was basically doing what the Light would've wanted her to do.
It wasn't enough to sway her, though.
Fathiya smiled again and squeezed Morgan's knee briefly, patting it twice, before standing up. "I'll let you get dressed. The procedure is in an hour."
An hour.
Her heart started pounding.
The hour dragged by, feeling like the longest sixty minutes of her life, and yet, once it had passed, Morgan felt like it had disappeared in the blink of an eye.
She was anxiously waiting for someone to come and take her to where the surgery would take place.
To her surprise, the people who came to show her the way was two tall, muscular men that, to Morgan, looked a whole lot like guards. Like they were afraid she would run off. Like they were going to force her to go through with the amputation, even if she didn't want to.
With uneasiness settling in her stomach, Morgan let herself be led towards the room the procedure would take place in. She was clenching and relaxing and clenching her hands by her sides as she attempted to calm herself.
The blonde was ridiculously nervous.
It felt like, for every step they took, the corridor they were in only grew two steps longer. It was positively endless.
Her heart was pounding in her ears, sounding like an urgent voice trying to call out to her. The rushing of her blood drowned out the voice even as she tried her best to hear what it was trying to tell her.
As they turned a corner and the guards approached a new door and pulled it open, Morgan found herself rooted to the spot.
It lasted for a second, and then she forced herself to step over the threshold and into the new room. It was clinically clean and white, with a surgery table in the middle. Fathiya's husband was standing by it, wearing a doctor's outfit, his hair underneath a blue plastic net. He was looking through all of his tools, and Morgan swallowed nervously when he picked up a large scalpel and inspected it.
He smiled reassuringly at her, but Morgan hardly reacted. She wondered if he even knew that Rachel wasn't his daughter. He had the same complexion and height as her father, so she supposed it wouldn't have been noticeable that it had been another pale, blond man who fathered the girl.
Fathiya was standing on the other side of the surgery table, looking eerily eager to get on with the procedure.
She clapped her hands together once. "It's time, dear." She declared happily. "We'll just get you situated and then we'll put you to sleep. The whole thing will be entirely painless."
She guided Morgan towards the cot she had to lay in. As she lay down on her back, Morgan felt leather cords being strapped around her hands and legs.
"Don't strap me in." She commanded sternly, feeling unease flutter in her stomach. She didn't want to be tied down.
"It's just to make sure you don't twitch and hurt yourself while you're under." Fathiya reassured her soothingly, pausing in her work. She was waiting for Morgan to say it was okay before continuing to strap her in.
Morgan was tempted to just let her do it. But a nagging feeling was clawing at her.
Her heart beat was still pounding in her ears, still like an urgent voice being blocked out by all the noise in her mind. Suddenly, the voice made itself known, screaming out through her thought. It was very much her own voice, the angry and incredulous tone one she'd used so many times that it was easily recognizable.
Morgan, it said, What the hell are you doing?
To be honest, she wasn't entirely sure.
Time slowed down. Abruptly, Morgan realized that Nightwing had been telling the truth yesterday. Her wings hadn't only brought her misery. They'd gained her a spot on the Team. She was part of a group of fantastic, selfless young people that worked on bringing a better tomorrow.
Her wings had torn apart her old family, but they had also brought her a new one.
They had brought her a million happy memories and friendships. They'd made her wiser and stronger.
They'd saved her life. They'd granted her the utter freedom of flight.
Her stomach dropped when she realized the truth that had been staring her in the face this entire time.
They were a gift.
And it didn't matter who the gift had come from.
She felt like somebody had dropped an entire bucket of icy cold water on her head. Whatever emotions that seemed to have locked her common sense behind bars suddenly washed away, and her rationality returned to her.
What was she doing?
In what sick world was removing her wings going to do her any good?
Not to mention the part where she was leaving the Team in the middle of an alien invasion simply because she couldn't handle the pressure.
You know who'd do that? A weak, selfish prick, that's who.
Screw this.
"Morgan?" Fathiya addressed her uncertainly, which made Morgan wonder how long she'd been silent for.
She got up on her elbows and looked at the older woman. Fathiya looked worriedly at her, as if she'd already guessed Morgan's thoughts.
"Sorry. I can't do it." Morgan announced firmly, making to slip off the bed.
Only, her left foot was already strapped in.
Morgan frowned at the older woman. "Fathiya, take off the restrainer."
Fathiya was frozen for a moment before she pressed her lips together firmly, shaking her head. "I'm sorry, Morgan. But I can't let you do this."
"Fathiya!" Morgan protested sternly, using her superhero voice. She pulled her leg roughly in an attempt to free her foot.
"I'm doing this for my family's safety!" Fathiya defended herself. She actually did look remorseful as she approached Morgan with a syringe in her shaking hand. Morgan knew it was the syringe with the anesthetic meant to put her to sleep.
If she managed to inject her with that, it was game over.
Suddenly, Morgan was fighting to keep the very same things she'd wanted to remove just a few minutes prior. But nobody was removing her wings without her consent. Not today.
With an angered cry, Morgan reached down with her hand, using her telekinesis to rip apart the leather strap.
Fathiya's husband gave a startled shout at the unexpected use of powers neither had known about.
Morgan jumped up so she was standing on the bed, aiming her telekinesis at Fathiya next. Making sure to not put a whole lot of strength behind the blow – she didn't want to actually hurt the woman – she forced her out of the way, making her drop the syringe as she hit the wall.
Not missing a beat, Morgan flew off the cot and through the door, her feet hitting the floor for only a second before she was sprinting down the hall.
"Morgan! Come back!" She heard Fathiya shriek behind her. "Morgan!"
She ignored the older woman's slightly crazed shouts and ran as far away from the room as she could, twisting through corridors and halls and rooms. She could hear guards approaching as she stormed around a corner, spotting a door slightly ajar.
Not knowing where else to go, and not risking running into any of those guards, Morgan flung the door open and leapt inside, slamming it shut behind her.
She wasn't sure if she should be relieved of annoyed when she realized the room she'd entered was Rachel's bedroom.
The girl was looking up at her in confusion from her position on her bed. "Morgan..?"
Morgan licked her lower lip and nodded. "Hi. Uh, nice room."
Rachel looked around the room at her remark. "It's home, I guess. What are you doing here?"
The blonde wondered how she was going to tell Rachel that her wings weren't leaving. She wondered if Rachel was going to think she was selfish because, to her, the amputation had been more about keeping her family safe than making Morgan happy.
But Morgan was going to make sure they were safe. By helping the Team dismantle the Light completely.
Morgan locked the door behind them because she could hear people walking down the hall. She could only hope the wood was sturdy enough to buy the two girls a couple of minutes.
"I'm uh.." She walked further into the room, looking out Rachel's window. The same view as the one from her own room greeted her. The cliff side jutted out in front of them, cutting through the skyline.
Rachel looked disapprovingly at Morgan as she got up off her bed and approached the other girl. "Honestly, Morgs, you're only to make this worse by delaying it. The quicker you get in there, the quicker you'll be finished."
Morgan nodded, not entirely sure how she should spring the news of her new decision. "I know.." She turned her back to the other girl and bit at her bottom lip. "I'm just not sure about this."
Rachel placed a hand on her shoulder from behind. "But isn't it what you wanted? Morgan, remember the life that's waiting on the other side! Not having to be ashamed of yourself, not having to hide this from Dick.. Isn't that what you wanted?"
"It was." Morgan admitted, looking at the other girl over her shoulder. "I'm just not entirely sure that it's what I still want."
She'd changed. Morgan had changed a lot in the past months. And there was no longer any reason for her to hate her wings. They were important. Morgan had indeed been blinded by grief. And because it was what she'd been doing for five years, it was so easy to blame her wings for her sadness. It had become instinct.
But that didn't make it true. Her instinct to always blame them for everything was going to change, starting today. Her wings weren't to blame.
Not for her father's death, not for Nightwing's rejection – Though that was still unclear as they hadn't actually talked about the kiss yet – not for any of the things that had gone wrong.
They were, however, the reason she was surrounded by friends and family. They'd brought her a lot of joy.
"I tried to blame my wings for everything that went wrong in my life.." Morgan began, stalling for time as she tried to figure out how to best ditch the place without being retained. "But they aren't. It's just easier to blame them than blame myself."
Somebody pulled at the door handle behind them, and the two girls jumped in surprise, looking back at it.
"Miss Robbins?" A male asked on the other side.
"I-I I'm fine!" She called out. "I just finished a shower so I'm not wearing anything, please don't come in."
There was a pause. "The girl isn't with you, is she?"
Rachel looked at Morgan, who was holding her breath.
"No. No, I'm all alone." She responded loudly.
There was silence on the other side.
Morgan sighed deeply in relief. "Thank you." She whispered.
Rachel nodded in reply.
Morgan needed some way to get out before the guards came back. She eyed the cliff side on the other side of her window, noticing how it was the perfect take-off platform. She'd practically be able to float all the way to Gotham if she jumped off there. Her eyes traced the windowpane, noticing that it was made from steel. It'd be easy for her to break out.
Next, she turned her head to eye the desk residing by the wall opposite the door. It was a big, sturdy thing. Should be able to keep people for long enough for Morgan to make her escape.
"I'm sorry, Rachel.." She turned to her friend and sister, and shrugged half heartedly, a tiny smile pulling at one corner of her lips. "But I'm not going to go through with it. And I'm sorry about your window."
She didn't give Rachel time to react as she held both palms out and moved the big desk against the locked door, keeping anyone from getting in.
She turned on her heel and focused on the window next. With one rough movement, the entire thing blasted out of the wall, the glass shattering. As soon as she'd done it, someone was pulling at the door handle again, and shouting erupted on the other side. She'd had a feeling people were listening in.
"Please don't try to stop me." She told her friend, willing her to understand. "I really don't want to have to fight you."
She jumped out of the now destroyed window, her sock-clad feet landing on the broken glass, making it crack under her weight. She winced when she felt some of the glass slice through the fabric of her socks and into her feet.
She'd walked ten feet away from the building when Rachel called out.
"Morgan!" She jumped out of the window as well. "Please reconsider!"
Morgan shook her head. "Rachel, even if I wanted my wings gone, I wouldn't be able to do it with a clean conscience right now. The Team I'm on is literally fighting an alien invasion. I can't let my personal troubles get in the way of saving Earth. I've got a much bigger duty to worry about."
She should've realized this much sooner, but somehow, her own problems had managed to overshadow the bigger picture.
Morgan felt like quite a fool.
"What about everything we've talked about? Don't you want an honest, open relationship with your boyfriend?"
Morgan considered her question.
"If having my wings cut off is the only way for him to truly accept me.. Then that acceptance is not worth it." She decided.
And she believed it too. If Nightwing truly did stay away because he thought her wings were appalling, then he could go screw himself.
"What about my family? You're a superhero, right? Aren't you guys all about helping civilians?"
She'd caught up to Morgan by now, who stopped walking to look at the other girl.
"Rachel, did you miss the part where I said I was on a Team trying to save Earth?"
Rachel seemed worried when all of her points did absolutely nothing to sway Morgan. But then she straightened and smiled a tiny smirk. "I suppose that's a bit more important.." She admitted.
Morgan nodded. "Would you.. would you come with me?" she offered. She looked back at the house and saw she was running out of time. The guards had almost forced their way inside Rachel's bedroom.
Rachel looked confused. "Where to?"
"Join the Team!" The more she thought about it, the more Morgan was convinced it was a good idea. "You have powers! You belong with us! You could train under someone just like me and become a hero as well! We'd be unstoppable sisters!"
Rachel looked like the idea almost appealed to her. But she shook her head in the end. "I.. I can't leave my family. They need me."
Morgan bit at her bottom lip, keeping herself from saying what she'd wanted to say.
I need you too..
But she knew Rachel was right. With the Light keeping an eye on the family, they'd need each other. They needed Rachel more and Morgan did.
It was a bitter sweet moment. She'd only just gained a sister, and now she'd have to let her go again.
She sighed in defeat and placed her hands on Rachel's shoulders. "Take care of them. And Tell Fathiya I'm sorry."
Rachel nodded, a small smile on her plumb lips. "You have to go. Before they catch you. The guards are armed."
Morgan took a step back, intending to flee. But then she took two steps forward and wrapped her arms firmly around Rachel, hugging her fiercely. Rachel returned it with as much eagerness.
In Rachel's room, the desk fell away from the door, and half a dozen men spilled into the small space, spotting the missing window almost immediately. They were all armed with tranquilizing darts guns. Fathiya was with them, looking frantic and slightly crazy.
So Morgan had guessed correctly. Fathiya's fear had won over in the end, and she planned to force Morgan if she got the chance.
"I have to go." She pulled away from Rachel quickly. "You know where to find me, should you ever need me."
"Run!" Rachel urged. "And good luck!"
Morgan bolted away, weaving between the tall pine trees that surrounded the house, avoiding the tranquilizing shots that whizzed past her. She could hear the guards shouting behind her, the pounding of their feet as they did their best to catch up to the short girl. She chanced a look back, satisfied to find that they were too far away to be able to catch up to her before she reached the edge of the cliff.
As she turned back around, a low-hanging branch lashed at her face, making her cheek sting. She thought she might've gained a scratch, but she didn't think on it for more than two seconds.
Morgan heard Fathiya's loud screeching, calling for her to stop, as she reached the edge of the cliff. Not hesitating for a second, Morgan spread her arms out before leaping off the cliff, letting herself fall freely for a few seconds before opening her wings. She floated effortlessly across the sky, casting a tiny shadow on the ground far below her.
The wind made her hair whip around, tickling at her exposed skin, the feeling pleasant and familiar.
How could she have ever wanted to give this up?
The tall buildings and busy streets of Gotham drew closer as she soared across the sky, beating her wings every once in a while to make sure she didn't lose too much momentum.
For the first time in days, Morgan felt fantastic. Despite everything that was currently wrong in her life, a huge smile was on her face and she whooped loudly with joy, somersaulting once or twice in mid-air, simply because she could.
The peace lasted for five glorious minutes, and then she grew worried again. She'd knocked Nightwing unconscious. She had gone against his advice, his will and his orders.
She couldn't be sure that she still had a spot on the Team, wings or not.
He may very well decide that she, like Arsenal, as unfit as a team player.
Morgan bit down on her bottom lip as she finally reached the city, gliding gently onto the ground in a deserted alley. She'd been smart enough to grab her charmed necklace as she was leaving her borrowed room before the surgery, and she quickly slipped it on. Stepping out onto the main street, weaving through the many pedestrians, Morgan headed for the closest Zeta tube. She was so grateful Nightwing had forced her to memorize all Zeta locations in any major cities. It made travelling so much easier.
Despite having lived in the city for most of her life, Morgan hadn't been much in Gotham for the past few months. As she walked through the city, she made sure to enjoy the hustle and bustle of the well-known streets.
Gotham was a dark and dangerous city, but it had also been her home for a long time. She had a soft spot for the place.
Twenty minutes later, she slipped down another alley. She felt along the red brick wall for a loose brick. Once locating it, she pried it out of its spot and reached her hand into the hole, pressing down on the mechanism that allowed her entry to the Zeta tube.
Part of the wall folded in on itself and Morgan placed the brick in its original spot before walking inside, closing the wall behind her.
She'd never used this particular tube before, but because of formerly mentioned studying, she'd known exactly how to enter the secret room. The rest was easy. She'd used Zeta tubes hundreds of times.
Morgan took a deep breath, hoping this wasn't going to be one of her last Zeta travels. If Nightwing kicked her off the Team, it could very well be.
She supposed all she could do was beg for his forgiveness.
Wow! Last chapter got basically the exact reactions I was hoping for! You guys are awesome and a huge motivation!
So I guess she'd not as big of a dumbass as she could've been, right? How many of you were legitimately scared that she'd do it? I'm curious to know!
Fun fact: The last scene with Rachel and basically the entire plotline with Rachel and her mom was actually spawned from me listening to 'Defying Gravity' from the musical 'Wicked' on repeat. If you pay close enough attention, you can probably recognize that some of the dialogue in the scene where she talks to Rachel and then escapes has been heavily influenced by the lyrics of that song. (And if you DO see what lyrics inspired what dialogue, please please please tell me because I really want to know if that was a wasted easter egg or not. The dialogue follows the lyrics chronologically, if that makes stuff easier.)
Another fun fact: I listened a lot to 'Sound the Bugle' from 'Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron' when writing the part where she's headed for the surgery.