HOMEMADE DYNAMITE !
❝ THE TRUTH. ❞

ABIGAIL LANCE HAD ALWAYS PREFERRED THE TRUTH. Over false idols, white lies — even over her wildest dreams. She'd take the harshest truth over the softest lie. And how the hell Rachel (her bets were on the demon child) had managed to bring Dick back from the abyss was a cruel truth she was determined to solve. Still — Wally would have a field day explaining the science behind this one.

She may have seen witches and warlocks and demons and probably her fair share of aliens, but it did not mean the brunette would roll over and accept the simple answer of that can't have been me or I didn't do anything when asking for an explanation for Dick's abrupt recovery from The Accident.

Giving it a name helped her process the fact the idiot nearly died. Died because of her. She was gonna have to use that name a little longer, and by that she meant a lot lon—

The smell of grease and warm bread interrupted her inner thoughts.

Abby's nose crinkled up partially. Chinese had always been her go-to takeaway. Not pizza. Maybe that was because Gotham's Oriental Rose was the only place that would serve the bloodied band of misfits that showed up, covered in dried dirt and armour, at one in the morning (after sneaking out of Wayne Manor to take down the likes of the Riddler and Penguin).

Maybe it was because she had a childish weakness for prawn crackers. Who knew?

Either way, it didn't mattered all that much when Kory dropped two boxes of pizza down on the table, as the six of them huddled in Abby's room, and the smell of it wafted over to her. Before Garfield could even reach for one of the boxes, she had pulled a piece out. Roof of her mouth burning from the hot food, she turned to look at Dick.

"So what's the plan, Detective?"

Dick sighed, tiredness enveloping his expression, turning his eyes dark.

"Very reassuring," Abby teased, her lips curling up.

He looked back to her, "Feel free to make the plan yourself."

"Yeah... hard pass." Abby crossed her legs on the bed as she continued munching away on the piece of pizza.

Dick resisted the urge to roll his eyes at her and turned to the whole group, "Look, we all have a common enemy—."

"We do?" Jess questioned, a frown setting into her forehead "Last time I checked, I did not have a homicidal-family after me — and a convent of nuns did not just try to lock me in a cellar Rapunzel style."

"Thanks," Rachel muttered quietly, hidden under her breath as her shoulders deflated.

Abby placed a hand on the girl's shoulder and offered a pitiful smile, "It doesn't matter how we got into this or whether or not these people are after us — they're coming for someone we care about. That's enough to make us allies."

"Is that what we are? Allies?" Kory asked, arms folded as she rested against the wall.

"For now?" Abby sighed, shrugging, "For now we're the closest each other's got to a team. To friends."

"We don't have to call it a team. Just..." Even now, the word team tasted sour in his mouth. "An alliance. Formed out of mutual need."

"Mutual need?" Abby repeated, eyebrow lofted. "Speak for yourself."

"Yeah," Kory inspected her nails, "What need is that exactly?"

Dick sighed in exasperation at the two women, "To stay alive."

"Oh in that case, definitely speak for yourself," Jess piped up, gallows humour swinging until she shut up with a stern look from the vigilante.

Dick's eyes faded from a glare back to a soft, but firm, stare, "We have no idea how long it is until they find us."

"They?" Garfield repeated fearfully, "You just said they — who are 'they'? What do they want?"

"A family of homicidal psychopaths who kidnapped Rachel and put Abby in hospital and are probably taking some sort of serum or performance enhancing drug, I'm thinking second rate Bane-level shit, but that's only from what I gathered off of security footage," Jess explained flippantly, pulling another piece of pizza from the box. Dick often forgot, under the layers of sarcasm, she was usually the smartest person in the room. 

Just as she finished and looked up, she jumped slightly at the sound of Gar's box of pizza hitting the floor. The boy looked totally petrified.

Abby watched her with a slightly ajar mouth, a look shared with every other recipient in the room. The brunette blinked. "Jess shut up."

"Right yeah sorry," the girl nodded hastily, quickly taking a large bite from her pizza sheepishly.

"We don't know what they want," Rachel tacked on in response to Gar's earlier question.

"We do," Abby corrected, leaning forwards on her bed, expression falling grim, "They want you, Rach. Only explanation. They took you from the roof, none of us."

"Yeah, the people who go after Abby usually end up nearly killing me instead," Dick muttered.

Abby's head snapped towards him with a raised eyebrow, "Look, Woodpecker, I've been telling you for years to stop jumping in front of me. I'm a big girl. I can take my own bullets — I probably have a higher tolerance to fucking poisons than you, anyway."

"You sure about that one, Trembles?" Dick questioned bluntly, voice insinuating enough, eyebrow raised.

"Trembles? Wow, that's a new one. Stick to bird jokes, Grayson," Abby drawled, raising a brow back challengingly at the insulting nickname, "And yes, I'm sure. Malcolm Merlyn's magical collection of poisons, toxins and other deadly and incurable drugs that will probably kill you is pretty much unrivalled at this point."

"Look, I don't care about... whatever that is," Kory started, pausing as she gestured to Abby and Dick, "I wanna know the truth. The real truth. About what the fuck is after Rachel and why."

"Kory's right. If we're ever gonna make it out of this shit show we need the truth. We need to—," Abby cut herself off, face falling cold. Her skin prickled, a ghostly hand trailing up her back. A warning.

She felt eyes on her, steady and focused, and her own dark ones searched for them. She could feel the target, the bullseye, on her back, and the part of her which had spent years being a vigilante on Star City's streets knew someone was about to attack. Everything fell silent, her ears straining, eyes searching.

Trying to find a sound that her eardrums had become so used to catching. The faint whoosh, the slightest disturbance in the air around her, the shimmer of a shift in the growing darkness. Where are you, Arthur?

Everything fell away. Jess's voice, Rachel's calls of her name, Dick's hand on her shoulder, Kory's concerned gaze. So sudden they all jumped back, Abby stood to her feet, her hand shooting up, catching something in the air. A shadow, a whisper of a weapon. An arrow that her hand clutched so tightly the splinters embedded in her palm.

"Oh she's badass."

Gar's voice, stammered out in high octaves, complemented the blinking expressions of Rachel and Jessica. Blood tricked down Abby's wrist as she dropped the arrow to the floor and ground it into the carpet under her boot. Dust.

The brunette's eyes scoured the view from the window which the arrow had shattered, quickly finding a figure perched on the roof at the other end. Stood, staring, waiting. Waiting for her?

Dick's hand grabbed onto her arm, she turned to face him with a set expression, "It's Arthur. Get the kids in the car. I'll hold him off and catch you up. If he found us, the others won't be far behind."

"No, no way," Dick's hold on her tightened as he shook his head indignantly, "You're not fighting him alone."

"Dick," she interrupted him with a soft tone, eyes confident and smile wicked. "I've got this."

He let out a strangled sigh and let go of her, watching as she raced towards the door, sparing only a glance at the fractured window beside it.

Bursting out into the corridor, Abby rushed for the edge, peering over. Her heart stuttered to a standstill. Shit. This week had been a bit crappy. Her luck was ... well it was practically non existent. And now it had run out. Arthur King was not alone — he had the family they'd been running from right beside him.

Casting a glance over her shoulder to see the other five scrambling to collect their things, Abigail let out a heavy sigh. Her face fading into resolution, she swung herself over the railing, dropping down to the parking lot below, landing on the concrete with a quiet thud.

Night had swallowed the world whole. The only light came from the faint yellow glow spat out by the single flickering lamp in front of Do-Si-Do Motel. A cold breeze bit into Abby's cheeks and fingers. Arthur stared across at her, bow at his side, sneer on his face like the cat that ate the canary. Okay, canary was maybe a bit of a bad word choice.

She noticed the dad was missing. Hank would be relieved. But a new man stood in his place, younger, meaner, probably deadlier. Abby's gaze drifted to the mother, who was watching her with narrowed eyes.

"Divorce?" Abby asked, feigning nonchalance. "I'll be honest, I think I preferred your first husband. Had a lot less..." she made a circular motion with her hand in the direction of the new man, "American Psycho going on."

"Your snide comments are pointless, Lance," Arthur snarled, "You don't stand a chance."

"Really? I kinda like my odds," Abby frowned, brow crunching up as she turned to look at the archer.

Arthur scoffed. "You never did know when you were outmatched."

"Outmatched?" Abby repeated, eyebrow lofting, "Not on your best day, King."

With that, her arm shot out, palm open as a giant burst of vibrations exploded from her. The force of it sent the entire family, and Arthur, hurtling backwards, flying through the air before they even had a moment to react. Nerves engulfed her body, the fear of her powers doing something she couldn't control.

Slowly, the group began to stand back to their feet. The son stood upright first, swinging the same bat he'd sent her to hospital with. Great. Abby shifted into an offensive stance, fingers twitching, heart racing — she could really do without taking another hospital visit.

"Have to admit," Abby began, a small laugh creeping into her words, "Not a big fan of your baseball bat."

The boy grinned, like a wolf, charging at her with fast legs and the bat poised above his head; she dodged out of the way quickly, grabbing the bat and kicking the boy in the chest, throwing him backwards. She spun around quickly, smashing the brother's bat across the face of the mother, who'd found her footing and come charging at her.

Mom now face first in the gravel, Abby turned back in time to catch a punch to the gut, Arthur holding nothing back as he followed up with his hands on her shoulders and a knee to the ribs. She stuttered and gasped, wind knocked straight from her. Arthur shoved her back, the brunette stumbling and coughing.

He drew his arm back to throw another punch, but she caught his fist instinctively, forcing the pain to the back of her mind as she twisted his wrist and pulled him closer to land her elbow in his throat. Abby kept her grip on his fist right as she quickly twisted his arm behind his back, pushing down on the same shoulder.

"Arthur. Stop, please," Abigail begged, arms straining and aching as the raven haired man began to pull back. He was stronger than her — she would only be able to hold him for so long, "This isn't what our fathers would want, yo—."

"Your father?" Arthur spat poisonously, glaring up at the woman, "Your father left mine half dead. Don't you dare tell me what he would want. I won't stop, not until Oliver Queen knows what's it's like to lose you."

Abby's face hardened, steel lay in place of bone in her body and she wouldn't let this man forget it. Not her family. Never. She jerked her hand, snapping Arthur's shoulder from his socket and moved around him until she was able to smash his face off of her knee. She threw the man to the floor, her foot taking it's place on his neck.

"You step a single foot in Star City," Abby began, words laced with venom, "And I wi—."

Her words caught in her throat as the new father of the nuclear family tackled her, taking both of them to the floor with a loud thud. His head whacked hers and she felt her teeth bite into her tongue and cheek. Her own head hit the concrete ground behind her with a sickening crack and she felt warm blood begin to matt her hair.

The stepdad stood up smoothly, almost as though he'd simply tripped in the streets. He pulled a gun from its holster on his belt and pointed it down at her. Slowly, Abby pushed herself up onto her elbows, tilting to the side and spitting the sour liquid from her mouth. She smiled up at him sweetly, bearing her bloodstained teeth. He hesitated, almost confused.

"Hi, don't think we've met." Abby threw her hand forwards. Her powers came at her call, casting the man backwards with a pulse of vibrations. She stood to her feet slowly, with a groan, her body aching. "I'm Abby."

She heard a frustrated yell, making her jump. The brunette turned towards to source. She found that the auburn haired teenager belonging to the family was back on her feet last. This time she wielded a long chain, gunmetal grey and coated in what Abby hoped, but knew better than to pretend it wasn't, dried blood.

"No boyfriend to save you this time," the daughter bore her teeth, dripping violence and bloodlust.

The squeal of rubber tyres burning on stone interrupted them, Abby's eyes shooting to the source in time to find Dick Grayson slamming their car into the sister, bones and metal crunching as he pulled to a jolting stop right before Abby. Clearly, 'I've got this' wasn't enough for him.

"Sucks to be wrong," Abby muttered, racing forwards and clambering in the passenger side, Dick barely waiting for her to buckle in before he was pulling away.

He turned to her instantly, worry drowning his features as he glanced over her. The emotions were pushed down as he asked the question Bruce would tell him to. "Where are we going? Where's your safe house?"

"Well for starters, it's not mine," Abby mumbled, more to herself than him, paying more attention to the people she'd just fought, and whether Kory was behind them.

"Oh. Great. See this is why I make the plans," Dick grumbled, before letting out a resigned sigh. He trusted her. "Where?"

The edges of her lips curled up. "Daybreak City."

NOTE!
I AM SO SORRY!! REALLY!! i have no excuse for this being a month late — but it's here now. what did you think, kids? thoughts? daybreak city is fictional, it's maya black's city!! anyway,,,, all i wanna write is dick/abby fluff