Damian stood tense, hands clasped behind his back as he stood waiting in the back corner of the room. Cassandra and Stephanie sat close together on the worn green couched pushed against the wall to his right. Cassandra's eyes were fixed in front of her, her face was blank and her stare was miles away. Stephanie's head was bowed, watching her own hands as they fidgeted in her lap. Timothy stood next to Damian, leaning back against the wall and head turned to the ceiling, ears twitching with each thud and groan coming from the screen in front of them.
Damian however wasn't paying attention to the screen, he didn't need to see the videos again. He already knew how they ended. No, his focus was on Barbara and Jason, who were watching the videos for the first time. Their backs were turned to him so he couldn't see their faces, but he could see Jason's shoulders tense and inch up closer to his ears. Flinching at every hit. Barbara's body was neutral. Still in an almost unnatural way. That in itself was strange.
Barbara had never possessed Rachel's levels of twitchiness and squirming, but she was a restless person by nature. Even when focused she moved in some way. Hands tapping against the computer console, head-bopping to an imaginary tune when cooking, foot-tapping against the roof on a particularly boring patrol as Batgirl.
When she and Damian had been young and the only protegees it had used to drive him crazy. His Father had been stoic still like a gargoyle and heavy with his movements, his Mother had been direct, posed like a snake before attacking. But Barbara had been impatient, filled with unrestrained energy. Unrestrained when waiting, but controlled and pointed when she was ready for an attack.
When the video ended she took her glasses off and brought one of her hands to her mouth, but did not say anything. Something about her screamed threat, and if Damian wasn't so angry at his Fath-Bruce he would have felt concerned for him. No one wanted Barbara Gordon on their bad side.
Jason was not so still. Turning from the screen Damian could see that his pupils are blown wide in anger and were shining green. His whole body was tense, so tense that Damian knew he would be sore from how tightly he was holding himself. His breathing was heavy as he stepped away from Barbara, putting distance between himself and the others.
Without any warning, Jason turned and punched the wall, leaving a small dent in the drywall exposing the layer of brick beneath. Damian winced at the movement the audible sound of bones cracking filling the room. Everyone's eyes went to him and Tim took a small step forward.
"Jay-" He was cut off by Jason who held up his noninjured hand, Tim fell silent but he took another step towards the man before Damian reached out an arm to stop him. Jason's eyes were closed and he took a deep breath before finally looking at the others. The green remained in his eyes but dark blue was also peaking through which was a relief.
"How do we get her back?" His words came out tight and low and Damian took that as his cue to speak.
"We need to track her, we know she's with Spyral but nothing more than that. Batman implied that they would find her, perhaps if we know where she went after she left the cave we can track her?" He turned to Barbara who nodded.
"She'll have been covering her movement, but it shouldn't be too difficult... She probably assumed no one would be looking for her." The second part of her sentence was said coldly and Damian couldn't help but share her sentiment. He didn't like the thought that Rachel would not expect anyone to be worried for her, care about her. Jason looked over at them
"Do we know what she's doing for them? He told her that Spyral was dangerous but didn't care to elaborate when forcing her onto this mission. Do we have any other information?" Damian was about to respond 'no' when Timothy's eyes lit up.
"The voice recordings, we forgot to listen to them in the cave. There's one for each week she's been gone. They're probably mission reports." Without a word, Barbara turned back to her computer and went back to the Birdwatcher file. Opening up the first file. A quiet crackling filled the room before Rachel's voice came through.
"-They call it the Paragon Protocol."
"What does it entail?"
"There are six parts, five are body parts imbued with league members DNA, the sixth is a hard drive."
"They want to bring them together, make an android. Why?"
"Think of it as a kill switch for the league, they believe heroes should have oversight.... They believe their anonymity has the potential to be a danger to civilians."
"They want to destroy the league."
"Not necessarily, they just want a backup-"
"And your role?"
"... They want me to join the task force, to assist in... harvesting the organs before God's Garden gets them back."
Damian's stomach dropped at that, they want Rachel to kill for them? Looking around he noticed similar looks of horror on his sibling's face. Barbara however looked at the screen in contemplation.
"God's Garden." Damian raised an eyebrow.
"You know them?" Barbara turned her chair to look at them.
"I do, so does the League. We have a... quasi relationship with them. They're a secure sanctum in space that holds superhuman technology and bio-weapons deemed too dangerous to be kept on Earth."
"Why have I not heard of them?" Damian asked, it seemed like a pretty important organization to keep tabs on. Barbara shrugged.
"You don't work with the League, usually Manhunter acts as a liaison as opposed to Batman. I've been asked out to assist them a couple of times." Turning back to her computer she pulled up what looked like a communication log and sent a message. "I'll ask to speak with one of their Leaders, if they're against Spyral they should know Rachels undercover." Closing out of the window, she went back to the file and selected another audio message.
"- All parts have been tracked down to the original buyer, the plan is to go after the buyer, preferably before they implant them."
"Have you been scheduled to go after any of the buyers yet?"
"No. But Tiger thinks that we'll be-"
"Tiger?"
"Agent One, my… handler."
"You said Matron was your supervisor"
"She is, but Tiger is also on the task force and has been in charge of my training."
"I see."
"... Agent One believes we'll be sent on a mission soon. I will inform you once that occurs."
"Is there anything else?"
"...That's everything."
The hesitation in her voice was obvious and Damian had to wonder what it was she was keeping from his Father. Before he could voice his query Barbara played the next file.
"Birdwatcher, you are late."
"I know I'm sorry, I had a mission. Spyral has obtained the first Paragon implant, the one with DNA belonging to Cyborg."
"Oh?"
"I killed someone."
The room tensed at Rachel's quiet admission. A sense of disbelief hanging in the air at her words. A sense of disbelief because there was no way that Rachel Grayson could ever kill someone.
"Good Spyral is bound to trust you now... Birdwatcher is there anything else?
"No. There's Nothing."
"He's unbelievable." Jasons words were quiet but vibrating with obvious anger. "He's so...he's fucking unbelievable. How could he just… After all these years reprimanding us for killing he forces her to…." The words cut off, as though Jason couldn't even string together what he was thinking. Damian felt the same way.
His Father's teaching had been strict and to hear him throw away his own morals for the benefit of the mission was unnerving. It didn't sit well with Damian how easily his Father swayed, how easily he used Rachel.
Rachel was not a naive person, she never had been though others often mistook her optimism for it. She knew how the world worked. But she was kind, and she loved more fiercely than anyone. And to learn she had taken a life, had been put in a position where she had no choice but to. It wasn't right.
Before he could ruminate further however a large wooden door appeared in the middle of the room. And a large man dressed in a black trench coat and a cowl eerily similar to Batmans stepped out. Instinctively Damian felt his body go on the defense, prepared for an attack, only stopping when he noticed Barbara staring at the man with an unimpressed look on her face.
"You couldn't have used the door like a normal person?" The man grinned and shut his own door behind him. Causing the frame to vanish out of sight.
"Technically I did use the door, It just wasn't yours." The man looked around at them, before looking back at Barbara. "Had I known this was a party I would have brought balloons." Rolling her eyes Barbara ignored his quip.
"We know about the missing Paragon Parts." That seemed to zap any sense of joviality out of the man. He straightened his posture and his face dropped the amuse look he had been wearing.
"The Garden's been keeping that snafu under wraps for a while now, how did you find out about it?"
"Wait." Tim stepped forward towards the man. "You work for Gods Garden, you're a Leader?" The man nodded, not taking his eyes off of Barbara.
"One of them, the names Midnighter. I'd ask yours but I don't care." Tim huffed indignantly but was ignored. "I ask again Oracle, what do you know?" Barbara turned to her computer and pulled up a recent photo of Rachel in her Robin costume. She was masked but the man seemed to recognize her. "The Honey Potter? She's a Bat?" Damian did not appreciate the nickname, nor did he care to find out how she received it. But he did find it curious that the man knew Rachel.
"She is. How do you know her?" Midnighter looked away from the screen.
"Ran into her in Russia, she and her partner went after Ninel Dubov, he purchased one of the parts. She killed him before I could do it myself." He turned to look back at the screen, interest coloring his eyes. "A Bat gone bad, now that's interesting." Damian felt the need to defend Rachel."
"She was forced to go undercover with Spyral, she's not 'gone bad''. Midnighter shrugged.
"Whether she's gone bad or not the Gardner is gunning for her. She and her employer are trying to build a superweapon and we can't allow that to happen."
"And what does that mean?" Midnighter turned back to Damian.
"It means that now that we know they work for Spyral eventually we're going to attack them. When we do the Gardner will have us kill all the agents and destroy the Paragon Parts. That includes your Bat." Damian felt a fierce wave of protectiveness hit him.
"You can't do that. She's undercover."
"You sure about that?" Midnighter shot back. "She's killed for them, she's kidnapped for them, last I heard she even was shot for them. That sounds like loyalty to me." What do you mean she was shot? Before he could ask Midnighter, the man flicked his hand and a new doorway appeared. "Listen I'll let Gardner know, but I can't promise that she'll be safe. Not if she keeps running around with Spyral." Without another word, the man stepped into the doorway. Vanishing as soon as the door swung shut behind him.
Damian was angry, he was so unbelievably angry that his sister was in danger and there was nothing he could do about it. Angry that she had been forced to do awful things, angry that she had been tortured and killed. Angry at the injustice of it all. Looking around he could see his own anger mirrored on his sibling's face, and he realized what they would have to do. He turned to Barbara.
"Call him. Call Batman." She looked surprised at his request.
"Damian, I'm not sure-"
"This is his fault, he did this and so he is going to fix this. We are going to let him know we know. And he will bring her back."
"And if he doesn't?"
"We will make him." The two stared at one another for a moment before Barbara nodded and turned to do so. His siblings said nothing, but he could sense their unease.
And so, they waited. But not for long.
Almost thirty minutes later Bruce came in through the ClockTower window. His face was covered but Damian could tell he was confused by the appearance of everyone. He looked at Damian first, expectantly.
"What is this."
Damian wanted to explain himself eloquently. Describe how they found out about Rachel and Spyral. Demand that he help bring her back. Reprimand him for lying to all of them. But all his anger seemed to muffle itself. Instead, he just felt tired and disappointed.
"You're supposed to take care of us."
"Damian?"
"You're supposed to take care of us, that's what you signed up for. That's the decision you made when you took us in. To protect us. Maybe you didn't choose me, maybe I was forced on you, maybe you didn't get a say in that. Fine. But them?" Damian looked behind him at his siblings. "You choose them and you're not doing your job. They should be more important to you than a mission. They are your responsibility. Not Gotham. Not Spyral."
Understanding hit his Father and the familiar cold shield settled in. The one that told Damian there would be no reasoning with the Batman. He would not be swayed, he would not be told he was wrong.
"She agreed to it."
"She's a child." He growled, "And you didn't give her a choice."
"She understood that the mission was important-"
"She understood if she said no you would hit her until she said yes. She understood that there was no reasoning with you. She understood that the world thought she was dead, and no one would be looking for her and she trusted you." Damian felt himself shake, the words flowing out of him. "You're the adult, she trusted you to take care of her to protect her."
"The Syndicate-"
"I DON'T GIVE A FUCK ABOUT THE SYNDICATE." And for the first time, Batman's shield broke, surprised at Damian's raised tone. Damian and him had fought many times, but rarely did he yell. "I don't give a fuck that you didn't get there in time. I don't care. Because she made it out of there alive. But you sent her away. You lied to us. You hurt her." Bruce flinched at the words but Damian didn't care. Pushing past his Father he leaned over Barbara to pull back up the cave surveillance video, the one showing Bruce attacking Rachel. Damian turned back to his Father.
"You put her in a coma and when she woke up you hurt her until she agreed to do what you wanted her to do. I don't know if you're really so broken that you can't tell that this is atrocious or if you just don't care. I don't know which is worse." Damian took a deep sigh to settle himself and felt Barbara wrap a comforting hand around his wrist. "You've never been a parent first, and we understood that we accepted that. But now it's like you've forgotten to be anything but Batman. And Batman is dangerous." Walking forward he stood a foot away from his Father who was looking at him with a strange look on his face.
"You're going to help us get her back. And then you're going to stay away from them, all of them. You won't talk to them, you won't work with them. Not as Bruce, not as Batman. Not until they decide they're ready."
"Damian I-"
"I am not opening this up for discussion." And for once Bruce shut his mouth. Perhaps aware that Damian was deadly serious, aware that he had made a mistake. "Go to the cave, pull up everything you have on Spyral, on Rachel's mission. We'll be back in an hour to go over everything."
And Damian turned away from him, dismissing his Father. He didn't look at him as he left back out through the window, he only kept his eyes on his siblings who were looking at him in gratitude.
He would do anything for them. Even protect them from their Father if he had to.
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Bruce pulled himself out of the clocktower as a pit of dread settled in his stomach. He made his way across the Gotham skyline, landing quietly on the Wayne Tower's roof. Sitting down, legs dangling over the edge, he looked at the sea of lights before him. The quiet sound of traffic floated up to him, and random office windows were aglow. If he were closer he'd see tired businessmen burning the midnight oil. Instead, it was just boxes of yellow breaking up the gray Gotham sky.
And for the first time in a long time, Bruce didn't know what to do.
Pulling his cowl down and letting it settle at his neck he turned his face up to the sky. Tired and lost. When did this happen? He thought. When did I become someone I hated? But no answer came, no one told him how to fix this. He knew he should go home as Damian instructed, but he couldn't do it. Because Alfred was there, and soon he would find out what Bruce had done, and Bruce couldn't handle his disappointment. Couldn't stomach the thought of Alfred hating him too. Not like Damian did.
Damian, his son who had failed so many times, yet somehow, by some miracle, had turned out better than he should have. Better than Talia, certainly better than Bruce. The fact that Damian had separated himself from his siblings, had thought Bruce didn't love him just because he hadn't 'chosen' him, stung. But the worse part was, Bruce could see why he thought that, could see how his actions had pushed his child away.
I was afraid. Of losing them. That's why I pushed them away. It's because I'm a coward.
And not for the first time, Bruce looked over the edge of the building and wondered if things would have been better had he been killed that night with his parents. I wouldn't be able to cause pain if I was no longer here. The thought scared him, not because he thought it but because he almost believed it. More than he ever had before. In the past when he had thought these things he would point to his children as a reason to hold on, point to Gotham. But now?
The others need you to find Rachel.
Only because he himself had put her in harm's way. They only needed his help because he had caused the problem.
Standing Bruce looked over the edge, in a curious manner. The analytical part of his mind was turned off. He wasn't thinking about how many feet to the ground it was. Wasn't thinking about the speed at which he would fall, or the last moment he could pull out his grapple to save himself. He only had one thought.
It's just a step.
A soft breeze washed over him for a moment, but he kept his eyes looking down.
"Bruce." Clark's voice was quiet, hesitant, as though he didn't want to startle him and internally Bruce chuckled. Superman to the rescue.
"Clark."
"Want to tell me what you're doing?"
"I'm thinking."
"About."
Bruce was silent for a moment. His first inclination was to stop talking, pull his cowl up and turn to Clark, and assure him he was fine. Lie to him that he was just thinking about a case. Nothing more. But another part of Bruce was so very tired.
"I'm a bad person Clark." He heard a sharp inhale of breath but still did not turn around. He decided to be honest, finally, but he couldn't look him in the face while he told the truth. Clark was probably his only friend, he was a man whom Bruce respected, admired even. He was a true hero.
"Of course you're not a bad person B." Bruce did chuckle at that, a low, sad thing.
"I am. You don't know... But I am."
"How?" Clark stepped closer, still slow as though not to scare him off. Bruce however was no longer looking over the edge. Even if he stepped off Superman would catch him. Instead, he sat back down and looked in front of him.
"Rachel's alive. I lied. She's alive, has been the whole time. Luthor resurrected her." Clark took a deep breath and Bruce felt him sit down next to him.
"Okay, Rachel's alive." There was no judgment in his tone, it was purposefully neutral and for that Bruce was thankful.
"When I brought her back to the cave… I sedated her and told everyone she… A week later after her funeral, she woke up and I sent her on a mission." Bruce clenched his fist and felt shame rise within him, but he had to keep going he had to get it out. "I hit her Clark, I hit her until she agreed to go. I forced her to go. She said no, and I just-" Bruce took a jagged breath, beside him Clark said nothing. "I can't control the part of me that's Batman. He's like someone else, someone I don't want to be. And every time he takes over it's like I'm outside of my body and I can't stop him from making the choices I don't want to make. And I'm so tired of being a passenger."
"You make it sound like you're two different people."
"We are." And finally, Bruce looked up. Clark was looking at him in concern, anger simmering quietly behind his eyes, but overridden by the need to comfort. "It's not like Two-Face, and it's not like one minute I'm him and the next I'm me. But I feel him creep up on me and slowly he takes over my voice and my body, but not my thoughts. When I was first starting out, I chalked it up to the mask. When I put the cowl up I became Batman and Batman can't afford to be emotional, not when lives were on the line. But my kids I - I became attached… he saw that as a liability, and now he's taking over everything."
"Bruce… Have you told anyone this?"
"No." Clark got a pinched look on his face, one that told Bruce he was worried. "I'm not going to lie I'm disappointed in you and you messed up. You really messed up Bruce but… this seems like a bigger issue, you need to talk to someone." Bruce scoffed and Clark shook his head. "I'm serious Bruce, it's not healthy. For you… or your kids." Bruce looked away again, this time in irritation.
"I'm not choosing to be like this Clark, I'm suffering too."
"I know. But your suffering does not excuse your cruelty." Clark said it with so much fierceness that Bruce flinched. "This is a bigger issue Bruce, you have something going on that's been tormenting you and I'm sorry that you haven't felt like you could talk to anyone about it before this point. But… your issues may explain your actions but it doesn't excuse them. You should know that better than anyone. Look at the people we fight, every single one of them has gone through something tragic but they decided to be bad, they decided to not get help."
"I don't know how to be better, I don't know how to stop." Bruce felt weak admitting it, but he had already gotten this far. "What if I get help and nothing changes, what if this is just who I am?"
"Trying means more than succeeding Bruce, show that you're giving an effort, show that you're trying to be better."
"And if I fail?"
"Then you apologize and try again next time."
"And if they don't accept my apology?" Clark was quiet for a moment, he turned his gaze away from Bruce and looked out at the concrete sea in front of him.
"You don't get to decide what hurts people Bruce, and you can't force them to forgive you. You can only provide them with reasons to want to. And if they don't ever want to… you have to respect that." That was not what Bruce wanted to hear, he didn't want to hear about how he might never be able to fix this. He didn't want to hear that he might have broken things too much. He felt Clark's hand wrap around his shoulder. "You still have me Bruce… I'm mad at you I'm not going to lie, and I'm not going to tell you everything will be ok but… your my friend and you always will be my friend… even when your an ass." Bruce huffed out a breath of amusement letting a small amount of relief rush over him. Pulling himself up he stepped back away from the edge and turned to face Clark head-on.
"I need to go to the cave the others found out and...they're not pleased. I need to fix this." Superman nodded and smiled gently lifting up his arms.
"Need a ride?" Bruce rolled his eyes and pulled out his grappling gun, pulling his cowl back down he let his voice drop down to a deep gravel.
"No." With a shrug, Superman lowered his arms and watched as Bruce walked over to the opposite ledge. Just as he was about to jump Clark spoke again.
"I'm not saying now, and I"m not saying tomorrow but...maybe it's time to give up Batman." Bruce tensed at the suggestion, his initial reaction to say no, but Clark continued. "When you started you were alone but now? The others exist, so does the League. You have given Gotham everything. Maybe more than you should have. Give yourself some peace...give your family some." After a long moment, Bruce nodded.
"I'll think about it."
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"You're cheating."
"I'm not cheating."
"Yes, you are. Shame on you, cheating on an injured woman."
"Have you ever considered that maybe you're just not good at this game?" Rachel rolled her eyes and picked up her newly delt hand.
"Have you ever considered not cheating?" Tiger bit the inside of his cheek to stop himself from smiling as he looked down at his hand. He was sitting on a chair next to her bed playing with a pile of coins that sat on her blanket. Rachel was cross-legged on top of her blanket, her back leaning gently into the pillows propped up behind her. The two had been playing poker for half an hour and Rachel was not winning.
"Do you have any ones?"
"Wrong game.
"You're supposed to say go fish." At this Tiger did laugh and Rachel felt smug at her ability to break him. "I knew you thought I was funny." This time Tiger rolled his eyes flipping five cards over onto the bed, Rachel looked down at them quickly before looking back at her own hand, suppressing a groan of dismay as she did so."
"You're not funny, maybe I just feel bad for you."
"If it takes getting shot to make you laugh at my jokes then maybe I should do it more often." Her words were casual but Tiger looked up sharply unamused. Painting on an innocent look she tilted her head in mock confusion "Too soon?"
"You have a morbid sense of humor." With a shrug, Rachel tossed a few coins into the pot.
"Most vigilantes do, everyone's so traumatized that they just make terrible jokes to cope. You learn to get used to it. Unless your Superman, but he doesn't count since he's like if a golden retriever turned into an alien."
"An interesting analogy." Rachel looked up to see Matron leaning against the door frame, arms crossed and a look of amusement on her face. Rachel smiled back and held up her card.
"Hiya Boss, want to be dealt in? Fair warning, Tony over here is a cheater." Matron smirked at the nickname and entered the room.
"Unfortunately Minos requires Agent One's presence, I've come to collect him." Rachel raised an eyebrow.
"You know they've invented these really cool things, they're small and shaped like a rectangle and let you call people from anywhere!" Matron chuckled as Tiger began clearing up their card game.
"I am well aware of the technological marvel that is the cell phone. I also came to check-in to see how you were doing?" Rachel felt warmth at the care. She had been embarrassed when she had first broken down in front of Matron but the woman had been kind and understanding in ways Rachel appreciated. It's nice being around people who aren't emotionally constipated.
"I'm doing well Matron thank you. I'll be out of here and bothering everyone again before you know it." With a pleased nod, Matron began to back out of the room.
"Glad to hear it Agent 37, our team is far too quiet without you around." Tiger snorted.
"I think the word you're looking for is peaceful." Rachel swatted at his hand and Matron chuckled once more before leaving the two alone. She handed Tiger her two cards and watched as he placed them back into the deck. After a moment he stood up, a hesitant look on his face. "If you like I can return after dinner… that is if you wouldn't mind the company. If you'd rather be alone-"
"I don't mind the company." Tiger's smile was soft and Rachel felt the warmth return. "Thank you, for coming so often, I'm sure you must have better things to do than hang out in the infirmary all day." After another moment of hesitation, Tiger leaned down closer to her.
"I assure you, it has not been a chore." Placing a small kiss on her forward he stood back up and made his way out the door before Rachel could respond, closing it gently behind him. Rachel felt a wider smile come onto her face and covering her mouth with her hand she grinned into it.
"That was adorable." Turning her head she saw Midnighter on her window sill, a shit-eating grin on his face. Rachel lounged for her panic button but Midnighter leaped over her and seized her hand. Opening her mouth to yell she felt his gloved hand cover it instantly. "Calm down I'm not here to kill you, I'm here to warn you." Confusion washed over Rachel and after a moment Midnighter released his hand from her mouth.
"What do you mean 'to warn me'?" Midnighter sat down at Tigers' now empty chair and kicked his legs up on her bed.
"I had a lovely conversation with your family, they reached out to the Garden to let us know that you're undercover."
"My family?" That didn't make sense, they all thought Rachel was dead.
"Yeah, Six angry Bats all dressed in copious amounts of leather. All foaming at the mouths at the fact that you were forced to go undercover. The Garden and the League have an understanding, a partnership, so the Gardner was very interested to hear about the hero turned spy." Midnighter leaned closer to Rachel, a gloved hand coming up to grip her chin, and Rachel stilled at the touch. "But here's the thing Sweetheart, you don't seem like a Double Agent to me." Rachel pulled away from the man with a glare.
"You don't know anything."
"I know that Daddy made you take this job to spy on Spyral. I know you were forced to leave Gotham. But here's the thing, you have agency, from here on out everything is your decision. Not the Bats."
"And your point is?" Midnighter dug into his jacket and pulled out a packet of cigarettes, pulling one out he stuffed it into his mouth before returning the packet back into his pocket. Rachel waited as he searched for a lighter. Once the cigarette was burning he took a deep breath and blew the smoke towards the open window.
"The point is. If the Gardner decides you're playing for Spyral and not the Bats, she's going to bring you down with the rest of the Agents." Rachel felt irritation at the threat and raised an eyebrow defiantly.
"So what? I'm just supposed to play the hero?" Midnighter laughed.
"Kid, I don't believe in heroes. Maybe Spyrals good, maybe they're bad, you get to decide that. I've decided that the Garden is right. Not good, not bad, but right. And guess what? I might be wrong and if I am I will deal with those consequences because I made my choice. You get to make one too. Just don't wait too long before you do. There's nothing I hate more than someone who doesn't stand for something."
"What if I decide to stand with Spyral?" Rachel felt guilty almost as soon as she said it, but the question was out there. Midnighter took another drag before answering.
"Then be willing to fall for them too. As much as the Leaguers would like to believe it, there aren't just villains and heroes in the world. There are people who truly believe they're doing the right thing even if the heroes don't agree with them. So if you believe in Spyral stand with them. Just know that when the battle occurs you won't be treated with kindness just because you used to be a Bat." Midnighter stood up, cigarette still in his mouth as he made his way to the window.
"What are you going to tell the Gardner?" Midnighter paused, a calculating look on his face. And once again Rachel thought it looked as though he was thinking through a thousand possibilities at once.
"....As of right now you're undercover and you're still feeding info to the Bats. For now, you're not a threat. We'll be watching to see if that changes." Midnighter swung a foot over the window ledge and gave her a quick wave before disappearing over the side. For a moment Rachel just sat there thinking.
Do I truly believe that Spyral is good? She thought of Matron and Tiger, the kindness they had shown her. How they seemed to understand her. She thought of the friends she was making in Agent 24 and Doctor Poppy. How she felt at home here And then she thought about the killing, going against the League. Was she really willing to do that? Her siblings now knew she was alive, they could bring her home. Didn't she want that?
Bruce's stoic face flashed in her mind, staring down at her as she lay on the cave floor. Anger simmering behind his eyes. A stark juxtaposition to Tiger softly kissing her forehead moments ago. Reaching out her hand she pushed the panic button on the side of her bed and instantly a nurse came busting into her room.
"I need you to call Matron, I just had a visitor that I think she'd like to know about."
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A quiet knock came from his office door and looking up Minos pushed the stack of paper he was reading to the side.
"Come in." The door opened and Poppy stepped in, a small file in her hands. "Dr. Ashemoore a pleasure to see you again. I do hope you have some good news for me?" The women smiled and came over to his desk, handing him the folder. Flipping it open Minos first saw a picture of Rachel Grayson in surgery, a small rounded desk implanted behind her right ear.
"The Hypnosis Implants have been successfully installed into Agent 37. And the safety switch has been tested and is fully functional."
"The code-word?"
"'Tsuchigumo' to knock her unconscious, and 'Rasen' to activate her sleeper agent. If need be." Minos nodded.
"Very good. And Ms. Grayson?"
"Is aware of the identity protection implant, if she turns the implant clockwise it will activate her face spiral." Minos smiled, though his own face still remained obscured by his own implant.
"Very good, thank you Dr. Ashemoore. Your work as always is impeccable."