Treacherous | Dick Grayson

6

"Of all the places to go, they went to a skating rink with an undoubtedly shitty arcade?" Ashley asked with a scrunched-up nose as they pulled in.  

"We go in and get her, and then you don't have to deal with it again Ashley" Dick told her, rolling his eyes as they pulled in. 

"Yeah well, that's what you said last time. Here we are, again. What is it with kidnappers and skating rinks" Ashley grumbled as Dick parked and let out an exasperated sigh. 

"Do you want to stay in the car?" Dick asked. 

"I think that would be preferable" Ashley said, rolling the window down and stretching her legs out the window.

"You haven't had coffee in two days and now you do this?" Dick asked, as though he couldn't believe what she was doing. 

"Don't act like you forgot, it's not my fault you decided to leave me" Ashley said with a shrug. Dick felt his heart tug and he felt like breaking all over again. 

"You know why I left" Dick said defensively. 

"No, I don't. I walked into a horrible fight between you and Bruce, with no clue or context as to what was happening. Afterwards, I sat by my phone waiting for a call or a text or...or something, I waiting for Alfred to walk in and tell me that you were coming home and whatever happened was a mistake or a blown out of proportion misunderstanding. I sat in our home, kept it in exactly the shape it was when you left, and barely lived for ten months before I decided to track your ass down and find my closure to move on and now I'm chasing a teenage girl with powers straight out of supernatural all over the damned eastern half of the U.S. because one of my best friends is dying in the hospital and said teenager is the only way I can currently find whoever the hell did this to said best friend and end them. Capiche?" Ashley vented. Dick sat in his seat stunned, watching the tear streak down her face. A whispered 'Ash' left his lips before she said "Go and get her. I'd like to get this to be over ASAP" Ashley told him, leaning back in her seat and facing away from him as more tears silently fell over the two of them. 

"I'm sorry" Dick said, before getting out of his car. Ashley furiously wiped her face to attempt to erase the wetness that had formed. She refused to be weak again.

"Geez, Ash so much for controlling your emotions" Ashley told herself as she looked down at the wet spots on her jacket that was created from the tears she had wiped. Ashley sighed and pulled out her phone and dialed Alfred's number. "Hey Alfred, it's time to sell my place." Ashley blinked and steeled herself and took a deep breath, there was no room for her to be weak now. Ashley pulled out her tablet from her bag and began looking at home listings. She was a Wayne and she could change. She could get out or she could continue being a ticking time bomb, constantly on the fence of her emotions and always leaning into the anger instilled into her from her father at a young age. No matter the outcome, after everything was done and over, Ashley wanted to dump the Wayne persona and move on. 

After roughly fifteen minutes into home browsing and trying to nail down her emotions once more into a stoic demeanor, Ashley heard a yell and glass from multiple vehicles break, startling her into a shock. "What in the actual hell?" Ashley asked as she jumped in her seat. Ashley pulled her feet back into the car and climbed out, rushing toward the direction of where she heard the yell originate from. 

"It's going to be okay" She heard Dick calmly say as she ran towards him. Ashley saw the raven-haired teenager hyperventilating as Dick tried to calm her down. 

Ashley shook her head and said "Let's go." The red-haired lady looked at her in confusion, but Ashley ignored her and said "The scene has already been caused, let's get out of here before someone sees."