Chapter 52

  Orange and pink rays of sunlight peeked through the Metropolis skyline as the sun floated down towards the horizon, piles of wood and bricks littered the sidewalks as people helped board up broken windows and restabilize damaged structures, Batgirl heaved a long 1 by 4 board out of the flatbed of a pickup truck, she added it to a growing pile of timber, she dusted her hands off on her cargo shorts and turned around to find Robin watching her, she planted her hands on her hips,

  “So are you planning on standing around all day or are you actually gonna help?” She asked, playfully,

  “You seemed to have it covered, anyway, I was just enjoying the view, there isn’t too much sexier than a woman working out in the hot sun, sweating through her clothes” Batgirl looked away trying to conceal her grin, she used her forearm to wipe sweat from her forehead.

  There was a commotion behind Batgirl as a convoy of vehicles pulled up lead by a black SUV, the back door opened and a man with blonde hair and a goatee, wearing a suit stepped out, Oliver Queen began giving instructions to people as they climbed from the other vehicles, he stopped in the middle saying something when he noticed Batgirl and Robin, he motioned for his assistant to take over and made his way over to them,

  “What are you doing here?” Robin asked, Oliver gave a practiced, public appearance smile,

  “Hello to you as well” He said, pulling Batgirl into a quick side hug, “You okay kid?” He asked, when he saw the bandage over her left ear,

  “I’m fine” She answered, Oliver looked back to Robin,

  “I wanted to do my part, I saw you guys and thought you might like a little extra help” He said,

  “You just happened to be in Metropolis?” Robin asked skeptically,

  “Just flew in actually, I wanted to talk to you 2 sooner rather than later” Oliver answered, Batgirl took a step towards Robin,

  “We already talked to Wally and Artemis” She said, Oliver smiled, slightly nervous but also hopeful,

  “And?” He asked, stretching the word little longer than he needed to,

  “And, since when did the Titans sign up to be the training camp for the Justice League's sidekicks?” Robin asked, Oliver’s smiled at him sympathetically, though it was on the edge of too corporate Batgirl and Robin believed it was mostly genuine,

  “We weren’t all as opposed as Diana made it sound, in fact most of us thought it was a great idea, but, Diana made a good argument for why it was super important for the Justice League to look strong, and the Titan’s might have worked against that, Diana didn’t even dislike the concept, it just didn't seem like the right time for the Justice League, I was actually gonna offer to sponsor you guys myself, but Batman doesn't sleep so he got to you first” He admitted, Batgirl glanced at Robin, who nodded,

  “We’ve already welcomed them to the team” She said, Oliver let out a sigh of relief,

  “You don’t know how much I appreciate that” He said, he glanced over his shoulder towards the convoy he’d arrived in, “I hope your team is hungry, we’re about to buy up the frozen food from any damaged businesses and grill it up over there, I’d be grateful if they could spread the word as well” He said, pointing to where his employees were setting up tents near the edge of Metropolis city park.

  The Titans sat around a picnic table in the park, the sun had almost set and the sky was becoming dark pink, groups of people dotted the park around them, near the park entrances were groups of Queen Industries employees were passing out the freshly prepared food and packaged drinks, while others were loading up blankets and other necessities into trucks to transport to the emergency shelters, Wally was sitting on the edge of the table talking with Dick and Barbara,

  “You know when Garth hears about the Titan’s he’ll probably be interested in joining” He said,

  “Might as well put the whole team back together” Donna muttered through a bite of her burger, an edge in her voice, Garfield was sitting beside her and looked up from his salad,

  “You guys were on a team?” He asked her, Donna clicked her tongue against her teeth as if choosing whether to answer,

  “It wasn’t really a team” She answered, “It was more like the Justice League’s sidekicks just messing around, I’m pretty sure we were never all in the same room together, it was just kind of dependant on who happened to be in the same area the same time” She explained,

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  “What happened?” Garfield asked, Donna bite the inside of her cheek,

  “I was training in Themyscira before everything ended, I know it happened abruptly, from what I understand a handful of sidekicks stepped into something they shouldn’t have, the League put an end end to it after that, I don’t know the details of what they found, but I do know that it turned 1 of the most loyal people I’ve ever met against everything he had ever known, pretty soon after it went down Roy…” Donna paused, deciding on the right word, “Died, we all knew it was over after that”

  “I’m sorry” Garfield apologized, they both fell into silence.

  A couple minutes later Barbara interrupted the remaining conversation,

  “We should start heading back to the Tower for the night” She suggested, she glanced around the table and asked,”Has anybody seen Kara and Rachel?”

  “I think they went to go use the girls room” Artemis said, tilting her her head towards the concrete building, Barbara looked towards it before turning her attention to Wally, Artemis and Donna,

  “Do you 3 have places to stay in the city? We’d be happy to get some rooms prepared at the Tower” She offered,

  “I’m good, I’ve got somewhere, thank you” Artemis answered,

  “I was just planning on running home, but if you’re sure then I would appreciate a room” Wally said,

  “I don’t want to impose” Donna said, Barbara looked at her over the thick frames of her glasses,

  “If you think I’m gonna let you sleep at cheap motel then you’ve got another thing coming” She said, Donna shrugged,

  “If you insist,” She agreed,

  “As Titan’s you 2 will both get designated rooms, even if you don’t end up using them” Dick explained to Wally and Artemis, who both thanked thanked him,

  “Hey, it was really good to meet you” Barbara said, offering her hand to Artemis, Artemis shook it,

  “Thank you, I liked meeting all of you too” she said, through a nervous smile,

  Rachel’s back was pressed to the cold concrete wall of the bathroom, Kara’s hands cupped her face as they kissed, she felt Kara’s hands at her waist, her fingers pulling at the button on the front of her jeans, Rachel’s hands began exploring Kara’s body, Kara shoved Rachel’s jeans down to her knees, Kara let the kiss go for a second to peek at Rachel’s bright yellow underwear, Rachel blushed bright red, then their lips were locked again, Rachel could feel Kara’s hands cup her clothed breasts and she moaned into her mouth, then they heard the door squeal open, they froze in place as someone stepped around the corner,

  “Kara” Barbara said, confusion baked into the single word, Kara instinctively turned and Barbara spotted Rachel, “Oh my God” She exclaimed, looking away, her face turning red,

  “Barbara,” Rachel started, but Barbara silenced her by putting a hand up,

  “We’re going back to the Tower, put your clothes back on, we’ll talk about this later” She said, and began to walk out, Rachel struggled to pull her jeans back up as she tried to catch Barbara before she left,

  “Barbara, wait” Barbara turned back to her, she glanced down at Rachel’s state of partial undress,

  “Rachel, put your pants on, we’ll talk later” She said, her tone stern but betraying her awkwardness at the situation, she then walked out of the bathroom leaving them alone once again,

  “Shit” Rachel exclaimed, repeating the word several times as she yanked her jeans back up over her hips,

  "Do you think we’re in trouble?” Kara asked,

  “I don’t know” Rachel groaned, as she sunk down against the wall shielding her face by cupping her hands on either side of her head, she was trying to make herself as small as possible, she wanted to just sink into the floor, “I think it probably hurt that I didn’t tell her, we probably should have” She muttered,

  “You said you didn’t want to” Kara pointed out, confused,

  “I know, I know, it was my choice, it isn’t your fault, I need to talk to her” Rachel said, quietly.

  Paula Crock rolled her wheelchair through the mostly empty rooms of her new apartment, she had unpacked a few cardboard boxes but there were still some littering the rooms, Artemis had several piled up in her room, but Paula was sure she wouldn’t want her anywhere near them, the rest were filled with random things that had come from the apartment she had shared with her family before she had ended up in prison.

  A noise from 1 of the rooms at the back of the apartment got her attention, she instinctively looked for something to defend herself with but came up empty, the door swung open and Lawrence Crock stood in the doorway, his wide shoulders reaching past the wooden frame on either side,

  “Is Artemis home yet?” He asked, his voice a low growl,

  “No,” Paula answered, “What do you want?”

  “I want to know why you’re letting my daughter be turned in a circus monkey, who dances whenever she’s told” Lawrence said, as he twisted through the door,

  “That had nothing to do with me, that happened on your watch, after you left me to rot in prison” Paula shot back, Lawrence scowled and then laughed through his teeth,

  “That’s not quite how I remember it sweetheart, I seem to recall you pulling a gun on me while we were casing a Jewelry shop, tried to shoot me in the back of the head like a coward, I still have the scar to prove that you missed” He hissed, Paula’s eyes darted away from him,

  “You were hurting our daughters, I was protecting them” She retorted, Lawrence smiled down at her,

  “Is that how Jade would remember it?” Paula swallowed hard, closing her eyes tight for what she knew was coming, “As I recall she wouldn’t even let you touch her, she was scared of you” Paula’s eyes flew open, she stared at him defiantly, her mouth tightening with hatred,

  “We both know she wasn’t scared of me, I made a mistake, lost my temper, and I paid for that, she took her anger out on me because she knew she couldn't take it out on you, she told me never to touch her again because she knew I respected her enough not too” She spat,

  “I made our kids strong, and you took your precious time to even try to stop me, so don’t pretend like you’re some kind of Goddamn saint, when we both know you’re not” Lawrence yelled, in the deafening silence afterward they both heard the key slid into the lock of the front door.