Despise ⇢ Dick Grayson

eight.

THE DOOR TO MY ROOM crashes open, jolting me awake. I scramble out of bed, stumbling and knocking into the bedside table. "What the fuck?" I curse, seeing Dick lying on the floor, having been thrown straight through my door and into my room.

A man looms over him.

The mother - the one who abducted Rachel - appears behind the unfamiliar man. They look at each; a look of camaraderie. He must have replaced the father that Kory burned alive.

Dick wraps his legs around the new father's waist and slams him to the ground.

Without thinking, I snatch up the lamp resting on my bedside table and I crash it over the mother's head. She stumbles forward, though doesn't fall. She's certainly stronger than your average middle-aged housewife.

"Find Rachel!" Dick calls as he grapples with the father.

The mother grabs for me but I slip out of the way, racing into the hallway and toward Rachel's room just as her door opens.

"What's going on?" She looks frightened, wide-eyed and confused.

"Time to go. Now!" I grab her arm, ready to take off, but we barely get a step down the hallway when the two kids appear. The boy swings a bat casually, the girl a razor wire. "Shit," I mutter, pushing Rachel back.

"Get her out of here," Kory says from behind us and we turn to see her already glaring down the two kids.

Rachel and I don't have to be told twice. We race down the hallway in the opposite direction and smack straight into Gar at the top of the stairs.

"Go, go, go!" Rachel and I both yell and the three of us hurdle down the steps and into the carpark. Kory is not far behind us, her heeled boots clacking on the cement loudly. With our backs to a dark sedan, Kory stands in front of us as the whole family makes their way out of the motel and surrounds us. She begins to glow red, but no flames miraculously spurt from her hands this time.

"Damn night-time," she mutters.

I wedge Rachel between my body and the car, Gar close by our side. The family circle us like vultures studying their prey.

"Where the hell is Dick?" I ask, worry making my stomach churn. Maybe I shouldn't have left him so quickly to find Rachel.

Before anyone can even try to answer, smoke begins filling the air, obscuring our sight and engulfing the family.

What the hell is going on?

From within the smoke, a grappling hook surges forward and lands in the father's shoulder, yanking him back into the shadows.

A blurry figure vaults over the car across from us, landing on the ground smoothly.

As the smoke clears, it becomes evident exactly who the figure is; Dick Grayson, outfitted in a full superhero costume, cape and all.

"Dick?" Rachel exclaims.

"That's Robin," Gar breathes and I realise why the outfit is so familiar. Batman and Robin have been making national headlines since I was young.

We watch as the family converge on him and as he fights back effortlessly, moving faster than them and taking them down two at a time.

Gar slips away, unzipping his jacket as he goes.

A powerful kick to the mother's face has her smacking into the ground whilst Dick simultaneously breaks the girl's arm and flings her into a streetlight.

The roar of a tiger signals Gar's reemergence and he makes quick work of the boy, grabbing hold of him and tossing him from side to side.

The mother gets back up, glaring at us. But when she sees she's outnumbered and has no chance of beating us, she decides to surrender instead.