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SITTING AT DONNA'S TABLE, DICK AND DOVE ARE SLOWLY DRINKING THEIR BEER. Donna is really not going easy on them.
"People of action, is that it?" she ironises.
"If it means not letting some evil piece of shit walk," Dick retorts immediately.
Donna sighs. "You're smarter than that." She turns to Dick. "You know me. You knew I had it under control. So, why jump in? Seriously."
"I was worried. What if he got away?"
Dove takes a sip of her beer to swallow down any remarks that threatened to come out.
"But you knew he probably wouldn't, that I had a plan."
"But what if?"
Donna sighs again, looking down. Dove can feel the conversation shift to something more personal, so she nods for herself and leaves the table, going to sit on the couch a bit further.
That's ignoring the fact that she's the nosiest person ever, and starts to listen in.
"You know, when Diana took me in... she showed me how to fill the hole that fire left in my life with love and with family. That's just what the Amazons do. They have a tradition of empowerment and self-discovery. Bruce filled that hole in your life the only way he knew how. With rage and violence... I wish you had found Dove earlier." Dove winces when she takes out her phone. She doesn't have any new messages from Rachel. "Wonder Woman was born to protect the innocent. Batman was created to punish the guilty. But we're not them. Neither one of us. I didn't quit being Wonder Girl. I just realized that I could do more good being Donna Troy. Do you understand?"
She can almost see Dick sigh. "I'm trying to."
"You'll never be a civilian, Dick. You lost that chance the day you became Robin. And you can't be Robin anymore, because for all the good he did, ultimately, he was an echo chamber for Bruce's pain... and for yours." Silence again. Dove tries her best to appear busy. "You wanna go out there and kick bad-guy ass? You wanna make sure there's not a chance, not a single chance, even one of them gets away? Do it."
"I won't be Batman."
Something very, very bad, settles in her stomach. Not a hunch – a certainty. Something's wrong. It's not in the future either – it's going on, right now.
"Then don't. Don't be Batman or Robin. Be something else. Someone else."
She tries to call Rachel, but is sent straight to voicemail. She feels a shiver go down her spine.
"Who?"
"Dick," Dove calls out. He turns to her, frowning. "I know you hate it when I say that."
"Oh god."
"Yeah, it's pretty bad. Bad, bad feeling, and Rachel's not answering the phone."
He tries with his own phone, panicking too, before sighing. "I got a text," he says. She's on the train. No reception."
