Hit the Ground Running 14 : Way Home

[phaineofcatz]

Unfortunately, she’s not the only crew on this ship, and not all of them are in agreement with her dramatic life choices. She can feel as a stretchy strand reaches back and sticks to the underside of the cliff, swinging her under and pulling her up to the stalactites. It was just a few seconds of free-fall before she finds herself stuck ‘lying on her back’ on the ceiling. She watches as her tears fall away from her into the dark she was just trying to reach.

Tay says nothing, but she can feel her sibling’s emotions. Fear, sorrow, and pain seep across the divide between them.

She could also hear everyone and their brother yelling above her. “Holy smokes, she actually jumped!”

“Phaine! Can you hear me? Are you alright?”

<We’re not hurt Bruce, just hanging under the floor. Like I said, maybe give us a little bit, okay?>

She’s so stupid.

She doesn’t even want to die. Not actually. But right now she doesn’t want to be alive either. Does she even count as alive right now?

A few moments of silence pass, and everyone seems to have decided to leave Tay to clean up her mess.

“Come on, sis. Talk to me. You’re not alone, remember? I’m here with you, not against you, yeah?

Gawd all of this sucks. But what sucks the most is she’s being an absolute bitch to the only family she has left. Fuck, she’s basically being a bitch to HERSELF! How crazy do you even have to be for that?

Well, at least that’s a place to start…

“Hey…Tay. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean all that about…” Fresh tears start flowing, “I know you didn’t do this to us. It’s not your fault, and I lashed out at you. Not even because you did anything, just cause you found joy here that we couldn’t find back home. That’s like, my WHOLE thing, finding joy wherever I can, but here I am being a little bitch at you about it.”

“I get it. I can’t say it didn’t hurt, but I get it. There…is a part of me that feels relieved that we can’t just go back right away. But I wouldn’t wish that on you…”

“Yeah, I know. And I get that, you know? Like, I know you actually care about our family, but you don’t even get to live with them if we go back. I do, and you just like, what, live in my shadow? That’s not fair to you either, and acting like it’s your fault that we’re here is WAY beyond unfair.”

“Look, I know it’s bad, and we aren’t sure we can get back, but we do still have the book. And the machine is in an evidence locker. We’re smart and we’re surrounded by even smarter people. Also, we aren’t cursed and being guided to our inevitable doom as a takeout order. We can take our time and figure it out. Find a way to get back. Maybe even be able to go back and forth someday.”

“Gawd, you say it like it’s so easy. Who knows if we even CAN understand his notes, or if they even work? It’s been nearly a month since we got here, and if time passes back home the same way we’ve maybe declared dead already. At least been declared missing. FUCK. We disappeared IN THE CAR with Tom. Is he a suspect for our murder? How could he even prove he’s innocent if we don’t even EXIST anymore?”

“…Shit. I don’t know… I don’t think it works like that exactly? But you’re right, there’s no way it isn’t fucking shit up for him.”

“And he’s like us. If he gets too much press on him someone might notice he’s a Shifter, and then it’s only a little more digging to find out he’s been a Shifter since he was little. We aren’t even there and we’re still putting everyone in danger…”

“Okay, look, Tom’s older than us, and he doesn’t look like he’s nearly three years younger than he actually is. Plus he has Nix and his dad. Uncle Lenoir was literally able to survive Nazi occupation BEFORE he figured out how to use his shifts. They’ll figure it out. It’ll suck, but they’ll figure it out.”

“I hope so…”

“And we’ll figure THIS out too, okay?”

“…Maybe…”

They lay in silence for a while, just staring into the dark and letting it wash over them. It’s funny, she really did use to be scared of the dark when she was little. Nix said that she thinks that part of that is normal kid stuff, but that some of it may have been her shade trying to manifest and freaking her out. At some point though, she started to recognize the dark as something cozy and familiar. Perhaps that was her powers too, after all, with practice and patience she could basically become invisible in the dark.

And now she wraps herself in it like armor. Not even ‘like’ armor, actual bullet resistant armor that makes her stronger and able to fly. And GAWD she can fly. Even carrying Sellers she’d been able to glide most of the way to the hospital just by jumping off the building. He’d just about pissed himself when she did it too.

She giggles a little out loud at the thought.

“Come on, share with the class.”

“Heh, sorry, just thinking about Sellers freaking when we carried him off the roof.”

“Okay, yeah, that was pretty funny.”

“…I like flying…”

“Me too, sis. Me too.”

A little more time passes in the dark. She feels calmer now. Everything is still just as fucked up as before, it just feels…less. Like the thorn is still there, but someone put a numbing agent on it. Well, at least she thinks that’s what it feels like. Most numbing agents kind of get deconstructed pretty quick cause her body interprets them as poison. So do most organic splinters, she’s actually sat and watched one dissolve before. It takes longer than healing from a cut, but not a lot longer…

She hears a heartbeat. Calm and steady, but strong, like it is exerting itself. She looks over and sees Orphan picking her way through the stalactites carefully, using some sort of climbing grip tool she’s never seen before.

“Oh. Hi, Cass. Sorry, I kinda like, lost track of time… Here, let me help.” She stretches a band, connecting it to the rock face every couple feat, but leaving loops hanging between. Hanging might be the wrong word, Phaine still has to hold them in that shape. Cass tests the nearest loop gingerly, then switches over to using them to quickly reach them.

“…Convenient…”

“Yeah, have a sit.” Tay stretches out another band and connects it next to them into an aerial hammock. Cass checks this as well, but seems to decide it is secure enough. They kind of just sit in each other’s company for a while, both soaking in the darkness. She wonders if Cass was ever scared of the dark, or if she always found comfort in it like they both do now.

Or does Cass even find comfort in it? Maybe it’s just another tool for her?

“Do you like the dark? Like, I used to be scared of the dark when I was little, but now it’s like…soft? Safe? Sometimes it feels like everything’s just too much. Too bright and noisy. But when I sink into the dark and let it wrap me up I can calm down and work through it all.”

Cass takes a moment. “…Dark is…familiar… You are light…”

“Psh… I get it, I’m the bright and sunny cheerleader, but I mean literal darkness, not metaphorical.”

“Me too.” Cass points above Phaine’s head. She turns to look and realizes that she’s still got her glow up on her hair. She couldn’t tell because she’s looking down and her hair falls up when it’s glowing. Now that she’s paying attention she can see that the little bit of light playing off the stone spikes around her is from her own hair.

“Huh. I guess I am. You know, glow usually takes a lot out of me to do, especially on something that’s a dark color. I wonder if I’m getting better at it or if it’s different cause it’s my hair?”

Cass shrugs, “…It’s pretty.”

“Hah, you’re pretty… Dooon’t take that the wrong way. I mean, you are pretty, but it wasn’t a come on…”

“Smooooth, sis…”

“Okay, look. I’m tired. And she IS pretty. The whole damn family is pretty. I know, I know, I’m an EX, but like, a whole family, and you aren’t even all related to each other… Can I reconsider that whole diving into the void thing now?”

This at least gets a smile out of Cass.

“Actually, what even is down there? Do you know?”

“…Water.”

“Oh, I guess that kinda makes sense, this is obviously a karst cave, I don’t know why I didn’t think of that.”

“I mean, the water connects to the river through the cave, how else would Bruce get the bat boat out?”

“There’s a bat boat?”

Cass nods.

“Huh. I kinda thought you were joking about that. It’s still weird that you have memories I don’t.”

“Brains are weird. Our brain is probably extra weird though…”

They enjoy a few more moments of peace. It’s nice. Aside from the whole suit debacle, Cass is just…calming to be around. She wonders briefly if they can stay friends when Bruce figures out what to do with her. It’s not like she can stay here, she’s a super with no ID, no home, and no family. Maybe she can sneak across a boarder to a country with more lax standards of registry and forge a background there? That’s maybe too stressful to think about right now, the concepts start to slip out of her grasp as fast as she puts them together.

She’s not sure why she’s having trouble focusing at first, but then she realizes she should be really tired.

“Well, I think I’m done being a drama queen. Time to go face the music and figure out what comes next. You mind letting me up now, Tay?”

“Yeah, sis. Let’s go face the music.” She works her way to her feet, standing on the underside of the rocks, glowing hair tumbling down her shoulders.

She looks at Cass, “You want a hand getting back topside? I can give you handles like before or you can hold my hand and walk on the ceiling like I’m doing?”

She reaches out a hand and Phaine takes it, pushing her shade a little wider into the rock for safety.

“Alright, this’ll probably be a little disorienting.” Cass nods. She flows her PK into Orphan’s suit and then undoes the hammock. Orphan just hangs there for a moment held up by their clothes, before Phaine helps her get her feet on the ‘ground’ and start walking. She mostly lets her PK ‘relax’ through the suit, and just controls a strip down to each boot, but she still has to keep track of it a little to make sure they don’t disconnect.

They manage fine until they get to the areas where it slopes up and they need to climb. Cass pulls out her climbing tools again and uses those to get the rest of the way up while Phaine just does a kind of awkward crawl. She’s gonna have to figure out how Parker does that, it’s apparently becoming very relevant to her.

Unfortunately, waiting for them at the top are people. Damian is gone, probably up to bed, he has school in the morning, but Tim and Bruce are still going over the footage. She’s tempted to try and sneak passed them up to the manor, but that would only delay the inevitable. Gonna be awkward as hell though…

“SOooo, we didn’t kill ourselves.” Bruce and Tim both stop to look at them.

“Who’s the awkward one now, Tay?”

“Mine was a bit, what’s your excuse, Tim?”

“Hey, mine could have been a bit!” Tim crosses his arms, but he’s smiling. The smile falters a bit, but she did legit just jump off a cliff a few minutes ago, so she can’t blame him.

“I’m sorry. I freaked out. A lot.”

Bruce steps forward and puts a hand on her shoulder. “Tonight has been difficult for you. You should get out of the suit and get some rest. Tim and I are still working the case, but anything we find can wait until you wake up in the morning.”

She nods, but before she and Tay start unwrapping themselves she lets a hand fall to her side and taps the book, just to make sure they are on the same page. As they unfold the suit they’re careful to keep the book hidden and wrap it up inside the shoulder bag version they turn it into.

As she starts to walk away Bruce interrupts. “You don’t need to keep the suit on your person anymore, no one should be summoning you now.”

She hesitates. “Is it alright if I keep it tonight? I promise not to use it unless there’s an emergency, but I think I’d still sleep better with it on hand.” It’s only half a lie. She really does feel anxious and the suit would help. But the heart of the matter is that she needs to hide this book somewhere she has access to it, but no one else will think to check.

Bruce looks sympathetic, “Alright. I get it, sometimes I sleep better with my suit nearby too.”

“Somehow I think that’s because you are worried about others, not yourself, but thank you.”

They continue heading for the elevator and no one stops them. Back in their room they try a few hiding spots, but settle on wedging the book between the headboard and the wall. It gives them good access in a location it won’t be suspicious for them to be at any time of day. She’s anxious to start trying to read and decipher it, but opening it up quickly demonstrated that it will not be an easy task and she is too tired to try right now. Instead, they put it away and turn the suit into a body pillow.

---

They didn’t have much more luck in the morning either. Or the next few days at that. While his diagrams were immaculate, Gillman’s handwriting left a bit to be desired. She could read it, but it was slow going, and she was spending more time figuring out what he wrote than what it meant. She was probably going to need to transcribe it somehow before she could glean anything useful.

This wasn’t aided by her need to keep it secret, or her growing concerns that nothing had been discussed about what they were doing with her going forward. She had at least been given some expectation of an extension on her stay in the form of an invitation to Damian’s birthday party. She was REAL glad she had already prepared a gift for him, with Alfred’s assistance.

Apparently not everyone had managed that. “Bruce, the whole point is that it’s from you, I can’t go with you to give you spoilers about it. It’s already a spoiler that I told you it was a good idea.”

“I know I just thought that you could…give me some hints?” Dear lord, this man has faced down gods and fear itself and he’s nervous about picking out a birthday gift for his son. Guess celibate Tibetan monks wouldn’t have techniques for parenting.

“Bruce. I already told you. Take Jason and Cass, go to the…” She decides not to say it out loud, in this family someone might have listening devices set up anywhere. “Look, you know where, just go together and figure it out.” She’d put a hand on his shoulder for reassurance, but she’d have to jump to reach. “It’ll be okay.”

He leans down and whispers conspiratorially, “Just a little hint? Tay?”

She feels her shade pull something small out of her back pocket and drag it up to her shoulder. “Wait, what?”

Bruce reaches for the paper quickly, but it snaps across to the other shoulder. “You’ll owe me. And you still have to pick for yourself, it’s just a hint!”

“Oh my gawd are you seriously making deals like, legit behind my back?”

Bruce pauses, but then solemnly nods and takes the page. This time Tay lets him have it. The shade falls away and he unfolds the piece of paper. Relief washes over his face. “Thank you, Tay. This helps.”

“Remember, you owe me.” Bruce nods and heads for the door.

“Are you two SERIOUSLY just going to talk like I’m not here?”

“You get used to it, sis. I did.”

“Oh, ouch. Touché.”

---

It was a fairly reserved celebration, by Wayne standards anyway. Probably in part because Damian was a real grump about it and they were balancing against that. The birthday boy himself looked a mix between misery and spite. Bruce hasn’t really figured out that the thing Damian wants most from him is his presence and care. The boy has seen so many extremes of the world, no object is going to make him feel love on its own. But that’s why Bruce is on his way back from adopting a dog instead of buying a gold plated cup or whatever rich kids usually want.

It’s weird, she was kind of able to forget the wealth disparity between the Waynes and her own family when she wasn’t worried about living in this world. But now that she can’t get home and she doesn’t know where she’ll go when they finish tidying up her case and don’t need her as a witness anymore? She can’t help feeling like an outsider all over again, like the carpet she’s standing on is worth more than she is.

That’s a bad line of thinking, this is a birthday and the birthday boy is sad… And examining a crossbow like he might be considering using it on someone. What’s a cheerleader good for if not bringing some cheer? Come on, let’s put a smile on that face!

Oh, actually, lets not say that out loud… Instead lets go with, “Kinda not as impressive after having a mom who literally threatened you with swords growing up, huh?”

Damian starts a little bit and looks up at her. “No. It is not… I was just thinking that.”

“I know, we’re cheating.” She pulls up a chair and sits next to him. “I also know you think this is like, all a waste.” He nods. “It is for you. I mean like, both that the celebration is for you and it’s a waste to you. But it’s meaningful to your family, and especially to your father… Look, when your dad turned nine his parents had just died. Making sure you are surrounded by family for your ninth is kinda like him trying to make sure you have all the love he lost.”

He clicks his tongue and puts down the crossbow. “And yet father is not even here…”

“Yeah, dude’s got time management issues deeper than the bat cave…”

“Eh, I think what Tay means is that he’ll be here. And he like, has a reason… I know, I know, he’s like, always got a reason. But even you might agree with it this time.”

Damian crosses his arms and does his best to look above all this, but it comes across as more of a pout to anyone who’s known him more than a day. “Why do you talk like that?”

“Uh… What?”

“You speak as if you are a fool. At first I took it to be your nature, but you did not do so when you were on patrol with us, so it must be an act of some sort. More of your ‘pretending’ but why?”

Right. Whole family of the world’s greatest detectives. Still not used to actually interacting with that in person. “I…have attention issues…and memory issues. And sometimes I zone out and act different.” She sits back and looks up at the ceiling. “I guess now I know why for some of that, but even if I’d known before I can’t just tell people I’m crazy and expect to get treated decent. Pretending I’m more of a ditz than I actually am sort of closes the gap. When you’re a girl, especially a cheerleader, people kinda treat you like you’re stupid anyway. Leaning into it meant they were just impressed that I managed to do more than walk and chew gum at the same time, so they overlooked the other stuff. Also, the valley girl inflections and uptalk are a good smokescreen for being trans.”

He nods, “So it is a disguise. To hide your weaknesses and turn them into strengths.”

“Told you, we were raised by assassins too.”

He pauses and looks away. “I am sorry… I should not have insulted you when so much had just been taken from you. I did not expect you to…”

“Jump off a cliff? Yeah, neither did I. But it’s okay, I’m not upset with you. I know you didn’t mean it that way. And I think it hurt because you were right. I’m not the type to give up. It may not have been what I needed to hear in that moment, but it was what I needed to hear overall.”

He nods again. “I understand that you must keep your mask up to be more effective, but I appreciate when you let it down with us.”

“Hah, alright, that’s maybe just a little too much vulnerability at once for me. How about you open a present while we wait?”

“I can not until father arrives.”

“I mean, that’s so people can see how you react to the stuff they gave you, but we’re right here, you could open our gift!”

“We won’t tattle, cross our little dark, broken heart~”

Damian looks at them like they are a little crazy, and yeah, they are kinda crazy, but he knows that. Everyone here knows that. Why not take these moments to be themselves? You never know how many moments you’ve got left to be yourself with the people you care about…

He does take her up on the offer though, pulling over the package she’d set nearby earlier. He opens it quietly and lifts the lid. Inside is a set of charcoals and blending sticks, along with a new sketchbook specifically textured for that kind of work. There is a note on top, but as he goes to reach for it she snags it and soaks it in shade, flitting it away to a back pocket.

“Never mind that.”

“We uh, kinda wrote it expecting to like, not be here anymore. We can just tell you the like, broad strokes, since we’re right here and all.”

Damian looks at her. Gawd he has piercing, all knowing eyes for a nine year old, but he lets it go. Mostly. “You got me a gift in advance even though you did not expect to be here?”

“Yeah well, we mostly just had an idea and wrote the letter. Alfred got everything, and even wrapped it.”

He smiles, just a little, and returns his focus to what remains in the box. “These sticks seem inefficient for drawing.”

“That’s cause they aren’t for drawing, they’re for shading. You can still draw with them, some people do, but like, if you do a pencil sketch and then use these to create and blend shadows you get a lot more control over form and light in your work. It’s the same idea as what we talked about with cross hatching, but this is a tool like, explicitly designed for the purpose. A friend of mine taught me, and I figure I can teach you while I’m around. And when I’m not around anymore you can look up tutorials online. You’re really good at art, so I’m sure you can figure it out either way.”

“Why would you not be around?”

Whoops. She’s not the only person who hasn’t been clued in apparently. Gawd she hopes building a friendship with him and then getting yanked away doesn’t fuck up his ability to connect with people any further. The kid REALLY needs friends, it’s the one thing he has to figure out that no one here can teach him. Fortunately, she’s saved from that question by someone else who needs help with connecting to people. “Hey Bruce! About time you showed up!”

She slides back and gives Damian a clear route to his father. There is enough excitement and back talking in the room that she can easily slip her way to a door unnoticed. As she goes she hears a WOOF and sees a small pup leap out of Cass’s arms and run over to the father son pair. More than anything Damian needs love and companionship in his life. It’s a good gift.

She makes it out into the hall and slips away to a bathroom, mostly managing to hold it together until she’s inside. She knows she’s going to have to redo her mascara, but she pulls out the note anyway.

Happy birthday Damian!

Try not to give your dad too much trouble, you have no idea how anxious he is about making today feel special. Parenting doesn’t come with a handbook and he didn’t have any parents by the time he was your age to learn from. He’s doing his best and he wants the world for you.

I would have loved to teach you how to use these in person, but by the time your birthday rolls around I’ll probably be back home. Either that or Bruce will have had to move me somewhere to keep me out of trouble. I am sure you can figure out how to use them, and there’ll be tutorials online by people better than I am. Maybe one day I’ll read a comic and see you’ve drawn a picture of the weird, broken trans girl who never existed.

Thank you for drawing with me. I couldn’t say it to your face, but you and your family are the heroes I grew up with. People who showed that even having been through terrible circumstances, a person can still be and do good. That even if we can’t fix what is broken we can build something new from the pieces.

I will never forget you, and I hope that if you remember us it is as friends.

Phaine and Taylor

She lets her shade flow into the note from top to bottom as she reads, black tears mixing with the ink and then being swallowed by the dark. Once she gets to the end, the note tears itself into little pieces and she flushes it down the toilet.

It’s kind of stupid. She wrote the note cause she was sad she wouldn’t be here to give the gift in person. Now she’s sad because she is here. And sad because she probably won’t be here soon. She’s just sad about everything isn’t she?

She cleans herself up in the sink and reapplies mascara. She kept it on hand cause she was pretty sure she’d be crying today. By the time she’s done it doesn’t even look like she cried at all. Perks of Regen, your skin recovers from blemishes pretty quickly. She takes a deep breath and lets it out, smiling at herself in the mirror to make sure it looks genuine, then she heads out of the bathroom.

And right into Cass. “…You okay?”

FUUUUCK this house full of gawd damned detectives.

“Yeah! We’re like, totally fine, Cass. What’s up?”

Cass looks even more concerned now. “…Pretending?”

Welp. Gonna have to do this the direct way. “Yes, we are pretending. We are not okay. But please do not let Damian know. It’s his birthday and he should get to enjoy it without any guilt or worry.”

Cass doesn’t quite look satisfied. “Cass. You are a good person and a good friend. We will talk about it later, but we can manage for now, okay?”

She nods. “…For now…”

Damian is still a grump, but it feels more like he’s being a grump on principle than out of actual displeasure now. Bruce is fully present and not getting the cold shoulder from his son, so he’s happy too. Spirits in general are pretty high, so she can just kind of ride it out and be chill, enjoying cake and good vibes. Only a little bit feeling like she really doesn’t belong at this very personal family event.

They roll into a birthday dinner, because it’s not every day they have this much of the bat fam all together. It’s enough to stave off Cass’s questions for most of the day, but after helping clean up dinner with Alfred, Phaine gets caught leaving the kitchen.

“…Not okay?”

The worst part is knowing she’s digging cause she cares. Cassandra has such an elevated awareness of others that she can’t help but feel for them. It’s ironic that such empathy is in part the result of trying to make her into a weapon from birth.

“We are not, but it will be alright.”

Cass waits, staring her down. “Guess we don’t get an easy out on this one.”

“Look, I didn’t want to spell it out, cause Bruce has been putting it off and I don’t want to make people think I’ll freak out again. I was here cause I had useful information on a case, was in danger, and if the case was resolved well I could be sent home. The case is over. You can’t send me home. I’m no longer being hunted. And there is only so much more useful information I can provide for a wrap report. I don’t exist. I have no ID. I have no family and nowhere to go. I don’t know what comes next, but I’m not a gonna freak again. I’ll give Bruce the info he needs and I’ll deal with whatever I have to. It’s just… I don’t want to make it any harder on anyone than it already is, but it’s kind of difficult to be the light at a party with friends I’ve got to give up soon…”

Cass is distressed, she doesn’t need to look at her face to tell, she can hear her normally patient heart hammering away. “…We… No…”

“It’s okay Cass. You don’t have to find words for it, I’ll be alright.”

“Phaine, there you are. I need to talk with you for a bit.” Bruce couldn’t have shown up a bit earlier and saved her from this depressing conversation, could he? But he’s here now, so take what you can get.

She smiles at Cass the best she can manage. “Yeah, I’m coming. Take care, Cass. We’ll be alight.”

They follow Bruce out. They expected to go down, but he actually takes them up to his study. She almost never sees him in here, maybe he’s done cleaning up the case faster than she thought. He opens the door for her and they walk in, closing the door behind them.

And then J’onn phases in through the ceiling.

“Whoa shit! Oh wow… That’s still gonna take some getting used to… I thought you were like, out in space or something?”

“I was.” She’s pretty sure she sees a little hint of a smile on his face as he says it.

“Oh. Well, guess you’re back. You here to figure out how bad the damage is?”

“Among other things. Bruce tells me you jumped off of a cliff.”

“I’ve jumped off of higher… I think. A skyscraper’s probably taller than the bat cave is deep, but I guess I’ve never seen the bottom.”

“She didn’t really want to die, she could have struggled when I pulled her up and she didn’t. She just got overwhelmed.”

J’onn raises a brow. “You are very divided, but still in agreement. I am not certain I have ever encountered a mind split in such a way.”

“Someone ripped us apart a few times and put us back together. Can’t say it was fun, but we were already pretty broken. Guess you kinda already knew that though.”

“I did. You are both agitated and closed off, far more so than when we last spoke.”

“Yeah well, we’re a little on edge, we were kind of expecting a different conversation when Bruce called us up here.”

“…Bruce. You have not told them.” He sounds disappointed…in Bruce? That’s kinda weird.

Bruce looks a little sheepish. “I was hoping to get your assessment first.”

“Bruce, they are closing themselves off. They believe that you brought them here to…dismiss them.”

Bruce stiffens up a little bit, but instead of saying anything he walks over to his desk and opens a drawer. He returns with a newspaper and folds it to emphasize a particular article, holding it out to her.

There was a photo on the page of…HER? She’s riding in the passenger seat of a car, rain streaking on the window in front of her face as she gazes out. Black mascara runs down her cheeks like she’d been crying. She looks to all eyes like the weight of the world was bearing down on her, that she might be crushed at any moment. It was the saddest photo of her she’d ever seen and it took her a moment to realize it was from the day she’d fallen out of the sky into the woods. The photo was next to an article.

Bruce Wayne Takes in Ward After Tragic Fire

Years after the tragic loss of his own parents, Billionaire Bruce Wayne continues to take in orphans to fill the hole they left. His latest ward, Phaine Taylor Stamos(13) survives her two parents and sister after a tragic fire in Southern California…

“Oh… OH! Someone got a photo of me when I teleported out of the manor! Shoot. Wait, but fire? And how did they nearly get my name right?”

“The photo was serendipity, but a reporter started poking around shortly after, trying to identify you. We built you a background based on various information we gathered from you and let details leak to the press through a few channels. The cover is thorough and we’ve almost finished tying up loose ends and getting all of your proper documentation. The fire gives an excuse why you don’t have much to your name and why your documents are recent reprints. Tim was able to work in a name with your same initials, should be easier for you to play off if you get pressed about it.”

“Wait, this says you’re adopting us as a ward. Is that true?”

“Yes. It puts me in a position of guardianship without making you beholden to me once you are of age. It shields you some from the press as opposed to being a full adoption, but still allows me to protect you.”

“Wah…”

“This level of forgery takes time. How long have you been working on this? There’s no way someone wouldn’t have noticed if you fabricated our existence out of thin air after they were already digging for us.”

“I started building your background the first night you were here, after asking you about your family. I did not start releasing those documents until J’onn and you spoke, I wanted to confirm your story first. There was never any certainty that we could get you back, but it was readily apparent that you needed a home. If you had managed to return we could have dismissed it all as hearsay, but I made sure that if you could not that you would have a place to stay.”

She doesn’t know when she started crying, but fuck how many times is she going to have to redo this mascara today? “I…I” She struggles to get out words, but a sob leaks out instead. “I thought you’d…”

“We…were pretty sure you were sending us somewhere to… I don’t know keep us out of the way? We still don’t know how dangerous we are, and we basically don’t exist here…”

“You do now. And I’m not sending you anywhere. Well, other than to school. I’ve had almost as many fights with Damian over whether we were treating you fairly as I have over him being allowed to patrol solo. He would never speak to me again if I sent you away without reason…”

“So we just like, live here now? Just like that?” Her head hurts from crying, but at the same time she feels a tension in her body loosening that she didn’t even realize she was holding. Slowly building anxiety about how they were going to survive in a world without any proof of existence. They don’t look old enough hire for any respectable work, no provable school, no ID, no parents… It had all been building up and weighing her down.

“There are still details to work out, but yes. You can even keep the room you’ve been using.”

They look back down at the article, irrefutable proof that they exist. They can go outside. They can go to school. They can have friends. They can STAY friends with everyone in the Wayne family…

“Uh, speaking of details to work out, this uh, listed age in the article?”

Bruce nods, “You’ll look a bit older at first, but if your Regen is slowing you down as much as you’ve said, your reported age will catch up with your apparent one before you even make it out of high school.”

Phaine focuses back in on the words in the article.

“Phaine Taylor Stamos, THIRTEEN! Gawd I’m NEVER going to graduate from high school, am I?”

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