WE MUST BE KILLERS ─ dick grayson

three ━━ the fear consumes me

CHAPTER THREE: the fear consumes me
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[ this chapter contains:
violence, references to abuse,
and dick being a dick ]

     SOFT WHIMPERS COULD be heard from the vent above as the Superman clone dragged the unconscious bodies of the proteges into tubes. He only glanced up once when he heard a blip in her heartbeat, only to find the girl peeking out from the vent at him, shaking like a leaf, terrified. The second their eyes met, she backed away and did not emerge again, although, her quiet sounds could be heard by him. The teens were trapped inside of the tubes, much like he had been, leaving her completely alone with him. The man with the glasses had disappeared some time ago without acknowledging her and she honestly was not sure if she should take offense to that or if she should be relieved. Who was she kidding? She was a coward who left her fellow proteges alone to fight against an evil clone of the most powerful man in the universe. No wonder he barely paid any mind to her.

Odette was starting to feel trapped in the small area, her knees and neck aching from the uncomfortable position she was in. What was she supposed to do? Wait for back up? Find some way to call the Justice League? Try to fight her way out of this? She could hear Joker's laughter ringing in her ears, taunting her.

"Go on, give it a go," his voice giggled. "What's the worst that can happen? Oh, right, you could be the reason that they all wind up dead!"

She squeezed her eyes shut tightly and balled her hands into fists, willing the voice to leave her alone for just two minutes. Her mom would know what to do, she always did. Never did Harley fail to turn an unpromising situation into one that was manageable and full of joyous chaos. With her, there was never any doubt about whether or not she would survive. Harley just liked having fun but she also did not let kids die nor did she back down from a fight.

Unless it was Joker towering over her with a murderous expression, arm raised as he got ready to smack her across the face.

No, stop it.

She could do this, she could. Robin, Kid Flash, and Aqualad were all counting on her to save them. They could not fight back but she could. And yeah, maybe she would break a couple bones and yeah maybe her skull would get smashed in from a Kryptonian but at least she tried and at least she would go out in style. Or maybe this would just end with her giving a very pathetic attempt at rescuing her friends. Hopefully she would look pretty dead.

A loud gasp echoed through the room and Odette's head snapped up. Someone was awake. She crawled through the vent and took a deep breath before peering into the room, barely lifting her head over the edge.

Clone Superman — well, Superboy because he was not a man, he was very much a boy with all of that teenage anger — was standing before the three of them, a glare on his face that probably could start melting the glass of the tubes if he tried hard enough. They were all awake actually, but Kid Flash had been the one who made the sound, wiggling around as he scowled back.

     "What? What do you want?" No response. "Quit staring! You are creeping me out!"

     "Uh, KF, how about we not tick off he guy who can fry us with a look?" Robin suggested, sounding nervous at the fact that they were at an obvious disadvantage. They already lost a fight to him and now they were stuck in a glass prison that kept them from escaping, not that they would get far from the clone anyway.