Interested Bystanders
Part 5
With Titan's Tower locked the former
members had no choice but to meet elsewhere, today it was Oliver Queen's living
room.
Donna sipped her iced tea. "Any word on Dick?"
"I spoke to Clark this morning and he said that the operation went well to get
the bone fragments out of his shoulder and they're trying some new kind of
antibiotic to try to kill the infection other than that, he's doing fine." Wally
helped himself to another slice of pizza.
"What about Bruce, has he said anything?"
"The invisible man? Fat chance."
Roy reached for the fried rice, "I got an e-mail today from M5 over in London,
they said we're welcome to work over there if we want to change our base of
operations and they're sure that we'd be welcomed in just about any country in
Europe. If we want to, that it. Interpol says the same thing and we wouldn't be
limited to one country that way. If we want to, that it."
Wally scowled at the news. "Why would we want to do that?"
"Because the alternative is to sit on our thumbs and be dragged through the
courts to fight being placed in some random foster homes for Christ knows how
long." Roy looked up from his Chinese food. "I'm just saying."
This was greeted with silence.
"Any word from Garth?" Donna always worried about the boys.
Roy made a face. "His Imperial Highness? Nah, nothing. You know how he is, he
won't be back until this is all worked out, he hates all the legal garbage and
politics."
"That doesn't sound like it bodes well for a member of a royal family."
"Y'think?" Lo Mein noodles were sucked into Roy's mouth with nothing close to
anything Alfred would ever approve as a role model for Master Richard. "Y'know
the thing that really squeezes my balls?"
Donna's face didn't register the slightest. "A colorful phrase, and what, pray
tell, would that be?"
"The fact that all these people—politician, religious leaders, random people on
the streets—can file any kind of suits they want, people who've never met us,
people we've never set eyes on seem to think that they have some kind of say
over what we do and how we live our lives. I mean—who died and appointed them
God?"
Wally perked up a little, sitting up straighter. "That's what bothers me, too.
It would be different if we'd done something wrong, if we'd broken some laws or
let criminals go or something but we haven't. We're the good guys, aren't we?"
"Maybe, but we're still minors and that means that we're too young to make our
own legal decisions. It's bull."
"Barry says that we could petition the court to become emancipated then we'd be
legal adults and none of this would matter."
"Uh-huh, and you'd explain this to you friends and family how? You're Mr.
Cornfed, the All-American boy, remember? Correct me if I'm wrong but aren't your
parents still in the dark about your after school activities, Wally?"
"Well yeah, but I could tell them."
Roy snorted as only he was capable. "Right; Mom, Dad? I've been meaning to tell
you that I'm really Kid Flash and I have a superpower and I'm one of the
founding members of the Teen Titans and Uncle Barry is the Flash—you don't mind
and you're okay with this, right?"
"All right...Maybe not."
"Knock it off, both of you. We're supposed to present ourselves to the court
tomorrow so that we can be turned over to some foster families. Any thoughts on
what we're going to do?"
The silence as loud as Speedy and Kid Flash, in jeans and tees looked at the
carpet.
"God, boys. Okay, we don't turn ourselves in. Period. We don't go, we don't show
up. Roy, you stay here with Ollie, Wally stays with his parents and I'll stay
with Diana. We go undercover, stay out of costume until this is resolved. You
both okay with this?"
They other two nodded. For now the Titans were off the radar and it sucked.
* * *
Donna did as she said she would and went to
visit her big sister, Diana Prince in New York.
"So where is Dick, Di, you must know something."
Diana handed her a few hangers for her clothes. "You don't know?"
"If I knew I wouldn't ask. He was hurt pretty badly, walked out of the Manor
because Bruce was being horrible again. We all know that when he was staying at
the Tower a couple of weeks ago, but it wasn't any worse than he'd had before;
well not much worse, anyway."
"You know how Dick is, trying to be all stoic so Bruce will think he's
superhuman and all of that testosterone garbage men always try to get away
with."
Donna stared at Diana. "You mean it's worse than he let on?"
Diana nodded. "He's in Met Gen in the special suite they've set aside for the
hero community. Clark told me he had surgery a few days ago to correct some
problems, but they're having trouble controlling an infection."
Donna's eyes went wide. "He's been in the hospital all this time, since he left
the Tower? Ohmigod, that's like two weeks."
"I understand that he's largely healed now, starting on physical therapy but
flatly refuses to go back 'home' and the Tower is locked. Clark said he was
talking about trying to find out where that old circus he grew up in was playing
now and going to stay with them for a while." Diana started helping, picking up
a dress and slipping it onto a hanger. "And then there's still the whole tangle
with congress starting that investigation and the lawsuit from the religious
group insisting on making sure you young heroes are 'protected'."
"And probably brainwashed as well. What a mess." Donna seemed close to tears,
rare for her. "'Sorry, but this is personal, y'know? We were fine and I think we
were even doing some good and now all these people who have nothing to do with
us have butted in and you know as well as I do that they don't really care about
us, it's all for their own agendas."
Diana nodded. "Of course it is and anyone with a brain knows it, too. The
problem is that if you look at it objectively it makes some sense. The fact is
that you and the others are minors, or close to it and you are often in life
threatening situations. No one wants to face the possibility of having to deal
with a seventeen year old ending up dead, especially if it's broadcast on
national TV."
"...I know all that, but it's what we do."
"I still can't believe that jackass fired Robin. I mean, really."
Donna nodded her agreement.
* * *
"Robin, you're just not trying, c'mon, put
some effort into it. No pain, no gain."
Dick was doing flexibility exercises for his injured shoulder but his heart
wasn't in it and that was unusual for him—he was a fighter, always had been, all
his life. He'd fought to learn the quad, fought to get his parents to listen to
him the night he'd overheard criminals planning their murder, fought when he'd
been mistakenly remanded to Juvie, fought as Robin for years bit this...
But this was different, he wasn't Robin anymore, Robin was defunct—over,
finished. As far as everyone knew, Robin was dead.
Screw it, he was still a fighter, even if he didn't have any reason to focus his
skills right now. Grabbing the weighted bar again he pushed this time,
determined to make progress, get out of here and –and do...something.
Okay, he was seventeen, he was a long way from dead and he had skills, dammit.
He had training and he knew how to use it.
The Titans were illegal? Bruce killed off Robin? They were threatened with
forced temporary homes?
The hell with this.
Time to suck it up and push back.
While he worked at the PT exercises he started making plans, working through the
pain.
TBC