Chapter Text
“You fucking bitch!”
“Boys, boys, is that anyway to speak to a lady?”
“I’ll fucking killing you! You goddamn who-” The words cut off into muffled curses as Rachel pressed a long piece of duct tape across the man's lips. His disgruntled glare turned into pure fury and indignation as she gave him a sharp pat on the cheek with blue striped gloves.
“I miss the old school mobsters. Maroni and Falcone were dicks but at least they had class”. She looked around the looted warehouse, nose wrinkling at the smell of raw sewage which dripped from a burst pipe in the corner. “Better taste in super secret villain lairs too”. The other henchman she had tied up snorted from where he sat next to his gagged partner. Smart enough not to say anything until now.
“Yeah, well this ain’t Gotham sweetheart. In Bludhaven you get what you pay for.” She moved to kneel in front of him and quirked her head to the side.
“And I’m guessing Blockbuster doesn’t pay much?” He snorted again.
“Nice try, but I’ve dealt with the Bats before. Enough to know that nothing good comes from telling you lot anything.” The words mixed with the harsh Gotham accent confirmed what she had already guessed, that he was a transplant from up North. “You want my advice girly, pack your bags and run home to Gotham where it’s safe.” It was Rachel’s turn to laugh, as she took a seat in front of the guy.
“I’ve never heard anyone refer to Gotham as safe.” He shrugged, his tied hands just barely allowing his shoulders to move up with the movement.
“The way I see’s it, our hometown may have a few crazies that run loose every once in a while. Might cause a day or week of chaos before they're round up. But I don’t think there’s anything worse than a sane man looking for a profit. Those are the people you really got to look out for.”
“And is that what Blockbuster is? A sane man looking for a profit.” The henchman gave her a small smile but didn’t answer the question. She let out a heavy sigh in annoyance and stood up as the distant sounds of police sirens came nearer. A month of digging and all she had gotten when it came to Bludhaven’s underground was an infuriatingly nondescript name. “Well, since you and your buddy aren't giving me any answers I guess I’ll just have to keep messing up his shipments until Blockbuster comes out and says hi to me himself.” The man shook his head, smiling at her like she was a child.
“Like I said, go home, save yourself the trouble. This is one stone you don’t want to turn.” Pulling out her grappling hook Rachel raised an eyebrow at him as if in challenge.
“I’ll take my chances”. Firing up in the rafters she pulled herself out of view as the warehouse doors opened and a handful of cups waltzed in. The gagged man started struggling and pulling at his binds, but the one who had talked to Rachel simply gazed forward, as though resigned. One of the cops, a large red haired man in his late 40’s detached himself from the squadron and walked over to the tied up men. Pulling the tape of the one man’s mouth the cop glared down cooly at him.
“Speak.”
“It was the broad! That fucking hero again. She took down our guys and fucking blitzed the cargo.” The cop let out a muffled curse as he slowly pulled his pistol out of his holder. The frenzied man who called Rachel a bitch didn’t notice, but she could see his partner track the movements slowly. Again not saying a word.
“The others?”
“Fuck if I know. Probably tied up outside, we didn’t hear anything until she came swooping in out of nowhere-”
*BANG*
Rachel felt her whole body jolt at the sound and went to jump down before a firm mechanical voice stopped her.
“Don’t.” Years of deference caused her to freeze, her body trained to obey the other woman’s orders but she frowned as she whispered back at the voice.
“O, they shot a man.”
“There’s six of them inside with you, and another ten waiting outside. BPD is already breathing down your neck, don’t give them the opportunity to fire at it.” The reasoning was solid but rubbed Rachel the wrong way regardless. The other man who had spoken to Rachel did not flinch and said nothing as the corpse of his partner fell over onto him. The rest of the cops gazed around at the ceiling, as though expecting her to come jumping in. When they didn’t their captain put his gun back into his holster.
“McKinley was a fucking moron, bastard ran out on the last three drops we gave him. You're smarter than that Griffin which is why I am not painting the walls with your brain matter. You drop the ball again; neither me or him is going to be as forgiving. You got me?” The man, ‘Griffin’, gave a sharp nod and the cop untied his binds. “Good. Cleanup this mess, then get out of my fucking sight”.
Silently Rachel slipped out of the warehouse and onto the roof, peering over the edge just enough to see that Oracle had been right, unsurprisingly, and an additional squadron was waiting outside, guns trained on the entrance. Turning her back to them she ran towards the opposite end of the roof, inertia giving her the leverage to clear the edge and make it to the building parallel. She allowed the surprisingly warm October air wash over her as she ran deeper into downtown Bludhaven.
“I didn’t like that.” The words weren’t accusatory but Oracle hummed back at them with regret.
“I know.” Twelve busts in four weeks and each of them had ended the same way. Zero arrests and a handful of corpses decomposing in BPD’s morgue with “Suicide’ marked as the cause of death. Rachel had expected corruption when moving to Bludhaven, had been betting on it even, but hadn’t thought it would be like this.
“You get any useful information while I was in there?” Rachel heard Oracle type quickly on her computer keys for a moment before responding.
“Daniel Griffin; Age 32, born in Gotham and served about 10 years in Blackgate for a drug trafficking and battery charge. Was a member of White Shark’s crew before B took them all out just before your time. Moved to Bludhaven last year without notifying his parole officer. No family or known affiliates.”
“Yeah, outside of Blockbuster.” Oracle made a noise of agreement.
“Our mystery man. Still no leads on his actual name. The man who shot the previously unnamed ‘McKinley’ is Officer Anderson. I’ll do some digging but I’m going to bet the buck stops at Chief Redhorn.”
“Who we already know is working for Blockbuster” Slowing down Rachel walked over to the ledge of the building she was currently on and sat down. Letting her legs dangle over the several story drop under her.
Gotham's air was pungent and bitter and tainted but it was never heavy. There always seemed to be a crisp chill following after her on patrol as Robin. But everything in Bludhaven felt sticky, humid and suffocating. Like a blanket was pressing upon them from up above, not relinquishing its hold until all the oxygen evaporated, leaving the city's occupants to flounder like fish on dry land. Waiting for their inevitable death.
Rachel wondered not for the first time if she had made the right choice.
“Any luck on the compound found at the bust on Harrison street?”
“Yes actually, Star Labs sent in confirmation that we’re looking at Thorium. While dangerous on its own, I’m more concerned with its application when combined with the other chemicals we found.”
“You think their making a bomb?”
“I think they’re making something .” Rachel let out another sigh and rubbed at the bridge of her nose, her fingers catching slightly on the edges of her mask. “Regretting the move yet?” Because it was Babs she laughed, had it been one of her brothers her hackles would have raised defensively immediately.
“I just didn’t expect so much so soon.” She also didn’t expect a police department that labeled her a dangerous vigilante and a community wary of being saved. She hadn’t expected patrols with no one but O to rely on, fights without backups. She hadn’t expected feeling this alone.
And she hadn’t expected to like it anyway.
It sucked. It kind of really sucked not having a partner, or a schedule or someone to tell her what to do. At Spyral she had Tiger and Matron, before that she had Bruce, Damian, Alfred and about a hundred other peoples. Here she just had herself. It was liberating in a way. Incredibly, unbelievably, freeing. To just be her, to not have to pretend to be something she wasn’t. To make her own decisions and not have to explain them every step of the way.
There was Barbara of course. But the invisible hand of her friend had always felt like yet another tool in her belt opposed to a shadow over her shoulder. Besides, Oracle was running teams from Gotham all the way to Hong Kong where Cass had currently run off too. She couldn’t be there for Rachel all the time and that was freeing too. Oracles voice came through her comms again, this time lacking any of the mechanical edge she used to mask it.
“You know, Gotham's only an hour and half drive away. 45 minutes if you follow the ‘Spoiler School of Driving”. Rachel looked over the skyline in front of her, one that was still new but slowly getting more familiar.
“I’ll be home for family dinner.” Something that had fallen off the last couple years but that had been reinstated with vigor by Bruce when she had come back from Spyral.
“Dinner is important.” Oracle agreed neutrally. “But if you ever find you’d like more than just a voice in your ear I’m sure one of your brothers would-”
“I’m good Oracle. Thank you though.” The words weren’t sharp but Rachel still felt a little guilty saying them. It wasn’t that things were bad with her family. In fact things were inconceivably good. But it still felt important not to lean on them for help, especially not this early on. Any trip ups she came across could be chalked up to the quirks of a new city. She wanted to have time to sort it out for herself. She wanted to prove she could do it on her own.
Besides, there wasn’t really a crisis to be called on.
Blockbuster was an enigma that she was sure would soon become a threat. But right now he was just a name. Rachel was a detective, she needed more than that before she could act.
“Speak of the devil…” Rachel narrowed her eyes at the words.
“Which devil?”
“Batman has been calling after you… Incessantly… All night actually since he knows I’ve been helping you.” Despite her fondness for the man Rachel felt irritation at the words.
“He’s paranoid.”
“He’s worried for you… You haven't called him for a while.”
“I haven’t called him in like a week.”
“Right, which for you two is like a year.” Oracle wasn’t wrong, but the idea of talking to Damian right now did not sound appealing to Rachel.
“I’ll talk to him when I come back on Sunday.” Immediately Rachel winced, Oracle would pick up on the avoidance, like a hound sniffing blood.
“...Did he do something?” That was a complicated question. Technically Damian hadn’t done anything, had accepted her new found independence with grace. At least after the initial shock of her announcement of moving to Bludhaven had died down. But things between the two had… shifted since they each put on their new respective cowls.
Rachel had worked with Damian as Batman before and knew how to traverse that relationship. But that had been when she was Robin, and she wasn’t anymore. Neither really knew had to talk when they weren’t partners, when Damian didn’t have to look after her. She knew he was trying to give her space to have independence but was struggling with it. As it was anytime the conversation shifted to her life he would become judgey and she couldn’t escape the feeling she was disappointing him.
Disappointing him in her choice of city. In her choice of apartment or job. In her choice of Nightwing. He didn’t say it but every time they spoke Rachel got the sense she had failed some test she hadn’t even realized she had been taking.
It had started after the relief at the end of Spyral had worn off, leaving each to wonder how the hell they were supposed to act around the other.
“He didn’t do anything.” Rachel finally answered, throat uncomfortably tight as the words scraped out of it. “Nothings wrong, I’ll talk to him when I come home.” Oracle was silent for a moment, but one thing Rachel loved about Babs is she never pushed. At least not about things like this.
“Alright. I’d better go, Knight and Hood are doing a drop on one of Penguins shipments. Gotta make sure they don’t blow up a block again.” Rachel let out a small huff of laughter.
“I won’t keep you, thanks for your help Oracle.”
“Talk to you later Wing.” The comms didn't really disconnect, but a void of absence filled her ears telling her that Oracle had switched channels. For a moment she just sat there, staring blankly ahead, as though wondering what she was supposed to do now as the familiar feeling of loneliness washed over her.
She should patrol, had been working on a schedule to watch over different quadrants of the city at different times, on the off chance anyone was following her. She had stopped an alarming amount of muggings, murders and assaults in the month she arrived, so she knew patrol was beneficial. But it was also discouraging in a way. The police response was abysmal if not downright neglectful. Criminals she’d drop off right at the precinct doors would be let go within minutes. Victims refused medical care and certainly refused to press charges. It felt like Sisyphus, rolling the boulder uphill again and again, only to have it drop down when he finally reached the top.
It was strange but out of all her family it had been Bruce who she talked to the most since moving.
The man had been through a similar struggle when he first appeared as Batman and had been sympathetic to her plight. Had offered tips and advice with little to no judgment. Thank God for therapy . She thought to herself, as before her Spyral stint she was sure he would have disagreed with every choice she made. But now he seemed hesitant to stir the pot with her, seemed to be actually trying.
Her and her siblings had arrived after Gotham had turned to Batman’s side, after the police had been mostly cleaned up and the skylight had been installed. And all of them had stayed in the cities fold, not venturing outward unless it was to another town which revered their protector. Like Metropolis or Star. They couldn’t understand why Rachel would want to do this, couldn’t understand the vitriol she faced from the city she had come to help. But Bruce could.
That too seemed to complicate her relationship with Damian. As her brother seemed to resent the quickness with which she forgave Bruce. Or perhaps he just resented the fact that she would call their Father and not him.
Letting gravity push her back, she laid down on the roof, flinging her arms to the side, her feet still dangling over the edge. Inviting the sounds of the city to wash over her.
Bludhaven, unlike Gotham, was a quiet city. On patrol as Robin there had always been a gunshot to break the silence or a cry for help. Here she seemed to stumble upon crimes by accident. The victims all blank face and silent, as though accepting their fate and simply willing it to be over faster. It had surprised her the first couple of days here. Then she realized… Gotham made sound because the city expected someone to save it. Bludhaven was silent because it knew no one ever would.
It reminded her of juvie. Though she was only there a couple weeks after her parents died before Bruce saved her, the memory of it was hard etched into her brain tissue. The silence, the despair, the resignation.
Maybe that's why she wanted to stay. She wanted to make the city cry, to scream, she wanted the people to fight for their lives. Not just suffer through them. A bit of impostor syndrome followed the thought: who was she to save a city ? But she quickly shook it away. The fight wasn’t always about winning, it was about trying.
Life was about trying. So she would try, because she wanted to. Because she needed to. Because months ago Tiger had reminded her to live for herself, and she still didn’t know how to do that. So in the meantime she would live for others.
After a moment she pulled herself up and climbed back to her feet, sparing the city one last glance before angling herself towards her apartment. Before she could take a step however a strange flux of air brushed past her, ruffling her ponytail at the movement.
“Think fast.” The familiar voice came from behind her but before she could respond she felt lean arms pick her up and warm air press onto her from all sides. Instinctively she closed her eyes and ducked her head into the man’s chest. Experience told her if she spared a glance the vertigo would not be worth it.
“Wally!” She meant to scold him but the familiar euphoria of speed caused her to laugh at the name instead. She heard him chuckle softly above her.
“Names Rob!” That’s not my name she wanted to remind him, but before she could the man came to a halt. The outside smog replaced by the cool chill of her apartment. The heating in her building had been broken since she moved in, not that she would really need it until winter. But the temperature change did cause her to shiver slightly as Kid Flash set her down. “How is it colder in here than outside?” Brushing her now frazzled hair out of her face, she turned to look at her friend. Wide grin stretching across her lips as she took in his cavalier and equally smiling face. Pulling off his cowl she matched his movement and pulled off her mask, wincing as the glue pulled at her skin.
“What on Earth are you doing here? Don’t you have a cat in a tree to save?” She teased good naturally, causing him to roll his eyes in response. She watched as he walked over to her fridge and began pulling out leftovers. Smelling each container and putting them back in until he found one that was at least partially fresh.
“Not all of us can live in the murder capital of America Rob.” She grimaced at the name again but didn’t correct him. Instead she hopped onto her counter and plucked a french fry from the Styrofoam container he held.
“Excuse me, I live in the 2nd murder capital of America.” He sat on the counter next to her. Shoulder knocking into her’s.
“Only cause Gotham's bigger. By population you got it beat.” Rachel shrugged. The statistics hadn’t scared her when she moved and didn’t now.
“Aw KF, you worried about little ole me?” She placed a hand over her head as though she was swooning causing him to let out a crude snort, bits of potato flying out of his mouth.
“Yeah Rach, I wouldn’t want this city to poison your ‘delicate sensibilities’.” The sarcasm was thick and she smiled at the response. She had always been close to Wally, in part thanks to Tim and Bart’s own friendship. But she had worried after everything that had gone down the two wouldn’t fit together anymore. Thankfully he, Donna, and Garth had taken everything in stride. With the ease and fluidity that only youth seemed to hold. Maybe it was because they were friends and not family, but they had barely blinked at her decision to relocate. Maybe it's because like her, they too longed to be out from under their mentors watchful eyes. Bristling at the suffocating hold of parents and siblings who were too afraid to let go.
She would expect her siblings to understand. All of them had flown the nest and created a team of their own when Bruce had become too overbearing. Maybe it was because she was the youngest, maybe it was because she had left to be alone, but they all seemed afraid to let her do the same.
“Careful Rob, I can see smoke coming out of your ears from how hard you're thinking.” He pulled at her earlobe and she batted his hand away. Introspective , that had been the word used when she had first come home. But now she was getting tired of thinking so much.
“You know that’s not my name.” It was not a harsh correction but Wally shot her a guilty look regardless. “Sorry, habit.” She had been Robin for ten years, she had been Nightwing for a month. Growing pains were expected, she reminded herself.
“It happens.” She gave him a smile to show she wasn’t actually upset, which he quickly matched. “So to what do I owe the pleasure of your company? Last time you showed up in the middle of the night it was because you wanted to set glitter bombs off in the cave.” Pranking Tim’s team had been one of their favorite activities, neither pointed out that they hadn’t done so since well before Rachel’s death.
“Aquaman brought Garth up for some diplomatic meeting. Donna didn’t tell me the specifics but we’re planning a Royale. Cave, tomorrow, the team is going to be in Brazil for the week and Bart told me we could use their training rooms.” A Battle Royale was a glorified laser tag session that they marketed to their mentors as training. A small part of Rachel's brain called it childish. After all she had been through it felt stupid to play games with her friends when she had a city to look after. But a larger part that sounded suspiciously like Tiger disagreed. That part told her that if she pigeon holed herself into only thinking about work she would disintegrate into something that looked uncomfortably like Bruce, and no one wanted that.
“Sounds like fun.” Besides her she felt Wally relax slightly as though waiting for rejection. “I have to work until five tomorrow but can arrive after.”
“Great, I’ll swing by then!” Clapping his hands together he jumped down from the counter. Finishing off the last remaining food in a blur he threw the container away and gave her a salute. “Whelp gotta run, catch you tomorrow Rob.” With a smile he sped out of the room, causing loose papers and curtains to jostle after his wake.
“That’s not my name!” She called after him, knowing it was useless.
With him gone the stillness of the apartment settled around her as the disrupted items slowly sank back into place. The place wasn’t bad, not nearly as bad as some of the apartments she had seen. The walls were cracked and paint was chipping, but the foundation was solid and O had analyzed a sample to check there was no lead. Her door had three locks though only two worked, not that it matter as before she had even moved in she had installed her own set of security.
She had been adamant to pay for it all herself, something that only Jason had seemed to understand. The first week it had been unbelievably bare but slowly she had been able to fill it with odds and ends to the point where it no longer felt like she was squatting. Her family hadn’t been over, she practically banned them from Bludhaven as a whole. She knew if they saw the water stain on the ceiling and the lopsided oven which only worked when she hit it in the right place they would throw a fit.
But it was hers. Just hers, and that mattered.
Still it was a quiet, and she hadn’t been able to bring in the warmth that the Penthouse had seemed to spew. Though whether that was the faulty heating or the lack of roommate she didn’t really know.
Turning to look at the little green clock on the microwave across from her she let the numbers 3:38am flow through her mind. Pulling out her phone she swiped through missed messages and email notifications until she pulled up the contact she really wanted to speak to. Hitting the call button she waited as the phone rang slowly before finally connecting.
“You should be in bed.”
“You know normal people start off with a ‘hello’ or ‘how are you?’”.
“Hello… You should be in bed.” Rachel snorted at that and she climbed down from the counter, slowly pulling off her suit as she balanced the phone between her ear and shoulder.
“Just got back from patrol, thought I’d call you before I turned in… Unless you're busy?”
“I can make time.” The response was quick and Rachel smiled at it but didn’t call him out. “How was patrol?” The silent are you alright lingered in the air as Rachel pulled on an old t-shirt and shorts she used for pajamas.
“Boring. Say what you want about Gotham but at least the bad guys had committed to their shtick. For all this talk about Blockbuster you’d think I’d see someone dressed in a blue and yellow color scheme or at the very least brandishing a VHS tape or two.” Tiger snorted on the other end of the phone.
“Most criminals don’t dress up to execute their plans, Rachel.”
“I have years of experience that would disagree with you there Tony.” He snorted again and the two fell silent. In Spyral the silence had always felt comforting, but over the phone without being able to look at him Rachel felt herself get fidgety.
“So… Any news on Matron?” He left out another sound, this one more a sigh that lacked any of the previous jovially.
“We have been unable to locate any additional information on her whereabouts. Gardener was thorough with whatever was done.”
“But you’re still looking right?” Months had passed since Matron had been disposed of by Gardner. Rachel didn’t hold any belief that the woman was still alive, but she also knew it was nearly impossible to grieve for someone when you didn’t know what had happened to them. Tiger knew that too, which is why part of his cleaning up of Spyral included searching for answers. But it had been months and trails had all but dried up.
“Yes… Yes, we are still looking for her.”
“Good.” Rachel laid down in her bed, listening to him breathe on the other side of the phone. It had been months since they had last been together and it was starting to feel like more of an obligation then a privilege to keep calling him. She liked him, of course she did, but long distance didn’t tend to work for everyone, and though Spyral felt like eternity it had only been two months, Her time away from him now eclipsed the time they had been together.
She had felt this when they first arrived back in Gotham. Like Spyral had been some strange liminal holding space, where everything and nothing happened. But now stateside, it seemed farther and farther away from the direction she was moving towards
“Are you still there?” His voice was quiet over the phone and Rachel had the sense that he was thinking the same thing.
“Yeah, yeah I’m still here. Just tired.”
“Rest Rachel. We will talk again soon.” It was a promise, one she knew they’d both fulfill. But she couldn’t help but wonder for the day they wouldn’t.
“You to Tiger. Stay safe.”
****
“You look dead on your feet trainee.” Blinking her eyes open Rachel lifted her head from where she had been laying it on the break-room table and met her supervisor's gaze.
“Didn’t get much sleep last night. I’m good though.” Renee, her supervisor nodded and threw a jacket at her.
“Good, we’re on call.” Years of training perked her up at the words and immediately Rachel scrambled up to follow after the older woman.
It was surprisingly, alarmingly, easy to get work as an EMT in Bludhaven. Rachel had expected months of training, licenses and certificates and the whole lot. Technically she hadn’t even been supposed to go on call until she reached 180 hours. But what Bludhaven made up for in crime it lacked in public servants and Rachel had been giving stitches since she was 10. As soon as her supervisor had seen she wasn’t a complete mess she had been brought on board.
Renee, like most of Bludhaven, had a stoic cynical disposition about her that matched the nearly constant gray sky and harsh reality of the city. But she cared about the people they helped and Rachel respected her for that. She had once heard someone describe east coasters as kind but not nice and Rachel couldn’t help but agree with that statement. It also helped that according to Rachel's research the worst thing on Renee’s record was a shoplifting charge from when she was a kid. Rachel had certainly done worse.
“What’s the call?” She moved to the passenger seat, climbing in after the other woman.
“Domestic Abuse case, dispatch called it in.” The answer was brash and with a quick nod Rachel turned her attention out the window. Gazing out into the empty Bludhaven streets as they rolled past. At half past two in the afternoon the city was nearly dead. All its inhabits either at one of the factories on the west side or at the shipping harbor on the east. The criminals sheltered away and resting until they could escape into the night.
It was unsettling. Even in Gotham folks could be found walking the streets, living their lives. The few people she could see here kept their heads down and hurried from one point to the other without looking up. She knew it got better the further away from downtown you got. Her own apartment was 6 miles north of the station and though quiet there was at least a bodega, a coffee shop, she had even met her neighbors. Here it was like the eye of the hurricane.
That’s why I’m here, to help .
The ride was quick without having to compete with traffic and turning onto a street lined with stone box like apartment buildings she saw a flashing police car in front of one of them. The ambulance pulled up behind the car and Rachel could see a dark shape sitting in the back seat. Next to the vehicle was a woman sitting on the curb, blood dripping down her face barely talking to the police officer in front of her. A child sat next to her side, cradling what Rachel could only just barely make out as a bruised wrist.
Both she and Renee climbed out, the doors slamming shut caused the police officer to turn and look at them and Rachel felt herself relax at the sight of Officer Rohrbach. The older woman gave her a tight smile when she saw her before turning back to the victim.
“The EMT’s are here and they’re just going to take a look at you and your son before we take your husband downtown.” The woman didn’t nod her head but she didn’t argue with her so Rohrbach took that as agreement. Standing up she walked over to them, a grim look on her face. “She refused to go to the hospital but she’s got a laceration on her head and some swelling. The kid's wrist is just sprained I think but you should probably check it out.”
Both Rachel and Renee nodded and moved to the two victims. Renee immediately gravitated towards the child. Something Rachel had expected as her partner seemed to have a particular affinity for them. Gently kneeling in front of the Mother she set down her case and pulled on her gloves.
“Hello, I’m Rachel. Can you tell me your name?” For a moment the woman just stared at her, uncomprehendingly before her mouth opened slowly.
“Beth.” Rachel gave her a small smile and brushed her hair back revealing a small deep cut above her right temple.
“Hi Beth, I’m going to get this cleaned up for you. Is that alright?” The woman didn’t nod or say yes but like the officer Rachel took that as okay to move forward. Quickly she began to clean out the cut as she said nonsensical things to the woman below her. Years of patrol had taught her about trauma reactions and victim handling and so she wasn’t offended when the woman said nothing in response. Her gaze only drifted once to her son when he left out a soft gasp of pain when Renee touched it.
Thankfully the wound wasn’t awful and could be closed with a butterfly bandage instead of stitches. Plastering the bandage on she gave the woman another small smile which was ignored, before shutting her case. Looking over she noticed Rohrbach watching them work from where she was leaned up against the car. Picking herself up Rachel walked over to her.
“She’s all set if you have any other questions to ask her Officer.” The woman gave her a small smile, shaking her head as she did so.
“I’m pretty sure I’ve gotten all that I can. I’ll wait till Renee’s wrapped up and then bring this one in.” She patted the top of the car indicating to the man who was glowering in the backseat. She gave Rachel a once over before meeting her gaze.
“How's training treating your Grayson?” Rachel mirrored her position, leaning against the car as she watched her partner wrap the boy's hand.
“It’s been… interesting.” The crimes were more bloody then Gotham but weren’t called in nearly enough. Day shifts were usually pretty straightforward but the few times a week Rachel worked nights she saw more gsw’s, broken bones, blunt force trauma, and missing limbs than she had seen in all of her time as Robin. It was shocking, but it wasn’t altogether new.
“Interesting?” Rohrbach was still watching her, eyes piercing in a way that reminded her of Bruce. “Where did you say you moved from?” She hadn’t, the two had met a handful of times and Rachel had done her own research on the officer, but they hadn’t talked outside of what was necessary.
“Gotham.” Rohrbach made an ‘ahh’ face as though that explained it, which Rachel supposed it did. “What about you? Bludhaven native?” She knew the answer but asked anyway.
“Chicago transplant actually” Rachel didn’t ask why she moved. Her police file told her enough. Chicago wasn’t as corrupt as Bludhaven, not by a long shot, but if you piss off enough of the wrong people with our questioning, you get transferred to someplace like this. Out of the way. “Been in Blud for about 5 years though”. Had been up for promotion to detective six times but after a string of arresting her own partners she had been put on meter duty .
“And how do you like it?” A stupid question, no one liked Bludhaven. But Rohrbach gave her another smile, this one more genuine.
“It’s interesting.” Rachel let out a huff of amusement and gave her a nod. “What made you move here anyway Grayson?” And wasn’t that a loaded question. I don’t know. I guess I was just drawn to a broken city because sometimes I feel a little broken too and I’m working on fixing myself so maybe I can fix everyone else too. Or It’s the closest city to Gotham besides Metropolis and despite wanting to be far away from home I also desperately need to be close to it . Instead she said,
“I guess I just needed to be somewhere and here seemed as good of a place as any.” Rohrbach shook her head at that, smile not waning, as though to say you're an idiot Grayson . Noticing Renee stand up, both got up from leaning against the car.
“You're a strange person Grayson. Never met anybody who wanted to move to Blud.” The woman began to leave but Rachel stopped her.
“My name’s Rachel… I mean you can call me Grayson if you’d like cause it's on my name tag, but you can also call me Rachel… If you want.” The words came out like word vomit and Rachel was embarrassed by them as soon as she said it. The officer just let out a small laugh, and shook her head again.
“I repeat, strange person.” Her smile softened as she walked over to her driver's side, hand on the handle. “Amy. You can call me Amy.” With a wave she got in the car and pulled away from the curb. Rachel let herself smile for a moment, cataloging the name for future use before turning to her partner.
“What's next?”
***
“You’re cheating!”
“I’m not cheating.”
“You’re cheating and I can prove it!” Rachel let out a laugh body slumping to the ground exhausted. The cool padded floors relived the heat from her flushed body. Wally was glaring from next to her, a red circle surrounding him signified that he was ‘out’. Donna and Garth were a couple feet away also sweating and also surrounded by a red circle but looking far less bothered about it.
Garth walked over to them chugging a bottle of water and throwing Rachel her’s while Donna did the same to Wally.
“I hate to break it to you Wally but I’m pretty sure you're just a sore loser.” Wally shifted his gaze over to Garth, taking a drink of his own water.
“She’s won every round. Statistically that's not possible.” Donna snorted, collapsing next to Rachel and laying her head on her thighs.
“It is if she’s better than you.” Wally threw up his arms in frustration.
“You’re all blinded. I know the truth, I know when I’ve been played!” Rachel and Donna shared a look and Rachel held up her water bottle to hide her smile. Knowing if Wally saw it he’d just get angrier.
It was nice. It was nicer than nice. Rachel had seen all her friends separately since coming back but it had been ages since they’d all gotten together like this. It felt reassuring almost. That there were a group of people her age who she could be completely honest to. Who would have some idea of what she’s going through.
She felt Donna tug on her loose ponytail and she looked down raising her eyebrow.
“Penny for your thoughts?” Rachel scolded herself, Your trying to be less introspective, remember ? But she just shrugged and looked over at the boys who were still bickering.
“This is nice… It’s been awhile since we could all hang out.” Donna nodded in agreement and slowly sat up so the two were shoulder to shoulder.
“How’s everything been? With Bludhaven and Bruce and everything?” The way she said Bruce’s name was like a curse. Rachel had forgiven him but most of the league hadn’t, it was clear her friend wasn’t thrilled she was still talking to him.
“Good. Both are good.”
“But?” Rachel let out a huff, pulling her hair out of the ponytail and shaking it loose.
“I don’t know. I just… I guess I just expected everything to snap back into place when I got back. But it's been months and nothing is… snapping.” Donna nodded slowly next to her.
“It’s like once you decided to do something everything should have fallen into place but now things feel just as unbalanced as before but without the comfort of familiarity.” Rachel shot her a look, but the other girl wasn’t looking at her.
“You speaking from experience?” Donna took another sip of water to stall for time. Then another. Before finally meeting her gaze.
“I left Diana.” Rachel felt her eyebrows raise, she hadn’t expected that. “Well maybe not left. We’re still... You know sisters. But I don’t want to be Wonder Girl anymore.” This was news to her, Donna had never given any indication that she was unhappy with the arrangement.
“You don’t?”
“Don’t get me wrong. It’s been great but I’m eighteen now and seeing you strike off on your own. It made me wonder if I should too?” That made Rachel uncomfortable for some reason, the idea that Donna took inspiration from her. But she didn’t voice that.
“What are you going to do?” Wonder Woman never really had a home base like Batman, much rather preferring to travel to where she was needed. For some reason the idea of Donna doing that scared Rachel. It wasn’t that she thought the other woman wasn’t strong or trained enough. But it seemed wrong.
“I’m actually thinking of moving to New York. Going to school, fighting on the side. I’ve talked to the Outsiders and the team about helping out on missions. I’m not looking to join, but it would be good I think, to get out there.” Rachel nodded, there were generations of heroes before them who did the same thing, perhaps it was their turn.
“Are you going to change your name?” Rachel looked up to see Wally staring at Donna, the boys having tuned into the conversation at some point. Donna seemed nervous at the question, a rare look on her.
“I was actually thinking of Troia?” How Greek was her first thought, though she didn’t say it. The name fit, it seemed older then Wonder Girl had, more personal and individual. Wonder Woman and Wonder Girl were partners much like Batman and Robin had been. But Troia was separate.
“It sounds like stars.” Rachel said softly, smiling at her friend. “It sounds like a name crafted from stars… It suits you.” Donna smiled back, nerves making way for relief as she bumped her shoulder into hers.
“Nightwing and Troia. Flying through the night air, kicking ass, taking names.” Wally pumped a fist into the air.
“The Wonder Twins live on!” Rachel snorted and sprayed him with her water bottle.
“What about you Walls? Can’t be Kid Flash forever.” Wally shrugged, looking unperturbed.
“I don’t mind being Kid Flash. At least for now anyway. I wouldn’t mind moving though, not much happens in Keystone and Uncle Barry’s got a hold on Central.” He looked over to Donna, wiggling his eyebrows. “Need a roomie in New York?”
“Not if you keep doing that with your eyebrows.” Wally pouted at her and Rachel snorted again at the face. “Though it would be nice having someone to move with.” She looked over to Garth who was watching them all fondly.
“What about you Garth? What are your plans for the future?”
“It is not uncommon for Atlantis youth to take a few years to travel before returning home. I have certainly considered it.” Wally scrunched his face at the answer.
“What, like Rumspringa?” Rachel buried her head in her hands.
“Oh my god Wally he’s Atlantian not Amish.” Wally threw up his hands in defense.
“Rumspringa, sabbatical, gap year. It’s all pretty much the same thing right?” Donna gave him a look that screamed you dumb dumb boy .
“It really really isn’t.” She turned to look at Garth. “But it could be fun. New York is on the water. We’d all be together.” The words soured something in Rachel's gut. We wouldn’t all be together, I’d be a hundred miles away . Donna seemed to realize her words and gave Rachel a look.
“Bludhaven would only be like two hours away… Plus you could also move... No one would think less of you.” But Rachel would, to move to a city and give up a few months in just because it was too hard. It wasn’t an option. She was supposed to be independent, she was supposed to be figuring it all out on her own. She couldn’t do that if she fled to live with her friends. She gave Donna a tight smile.
“Bludhaven’s only two hours away.” They looked disappointed by her answer but unsurprised. Slowly they continued chatting about hypotheticals that Rachel could feel becoming more and more concrete. It felt strange like she had skipped a huge life step in between graduating high school and moving to Bludhaven. She had waited a few months since returning from Spyral to become Nightwing but the turn around had still been quick. She had ran forward while her friends had walked and now that they were finally making decisions about their own lives Rachel felt stuck in hers.
You wanted this. She reminded herself. It’s just FOMO. Moving to Bludhaven was the right choice, you can help this city. They’ll still be around, they’ll still come running if you call .
She knew that she probably wouldn’t ever call.