HOMEMADE DYNAMITE !
❝ ALMOST. ❞

THIS WAS NOT HOW THINGS WERE SUPPOSED TO BE. And, coming from the girl who periodically said fuck it to plan A through Z, that meant a lot. Abigail Lance had been stressing about the fact that both of the two teenage girls she'd found herself in custody of had vanished. As in, off the face of the earth.

Atlantis would be easier to find. And that's known as the Lost City. Pun intended (even though it didn't work as she'd been there herself before). Nevertheless, the fact that the man she had once loved so much it hurt to think about was dying on the backseat of Kory's stolen car was not particularly how she expected their reunion to go. But with Abby Lance and Dick Grayson, was it really a surprise?

"God forgive me! God forgive us!"

A gentle hand on her elbow and shrieks of a soul crushed nun returned Abby to the present situation. That being, herself and Kory had no fucking idea where Jess and Rachel had vanished to — and its not like they left any clues, and any that they had was probably cinders and embers in the foundations before her.

Abby's grip on Jess' badge tightened and she felt the sharp pin dig into her palm. How could she let this happen? Her eyes rose to meet Kory's, whose soft touch was leading her by her elbow back towards the car. The magenta haired woman looked pensive. And mildly distressed. But mostly pensive.

"We should never have left them." Abby's first words since one of the sisters spilled the story were empty. Void. Ironic seeing as her face was flooded with regret. "They were kids. Kids, Kory. This is on us. If one of us had jus—."

"Okay, let me stop you right there," Kory cut in, letting go of Abby's arm and turning to face her. "Firstly: Are kids. They aren't dead. I can feel it. Secondly, this isn't on us. We thought they were safe. We couldn't have known any better. All we can do now, is find them."

"And save Dick."

"Yeah... that, too."

Abby smile lightly at Kory's tone. Her brow furrowed as she thought about having to break it to Batman that his latest sidekick and tech whiz was missing and his prodigal son turned detective was dying and there was nothing he could do to stop it. She stopped mid thought. Tech whiz. God, she could be slow sometimes.

"Kory. Car." Abby took off before waiting for a reply, racing towards the vehicle with reanimated vigour.

Dick barely stirred as the brunette hurtled into the car, dropping down onto the driver's seat, turning on the car and barely giving Kory the chance to clamber in. Abby's eyes darted back to him and softened, only a fraction, only a glimpse. She gripped the steering wheel tighter.

"I mean sure, but care to tell me where we're going first?" Kory muttered as she buckled into the seat, her nose crinkling up at the rising smell of vomit coming from the back of the car.

"Well, first to get the Porsche," Abby began, backing up before starting to pull out of St. Paul's convent (or what was left of it). "And then, the police station."

"Yeah, that's not gonna do it for me. I need more than that," Kory mused, an eyebrow raised in amusement.

The corner of Abigail's lips turned up, "Jess is as good with tech as you are at setting things on fire. She's bound to have her phone on her. You can track it. Dick has some equipment in his car. I'm going to the police station to try the old fashioned way and see if anyone's seen them — we cover twice as much ground."

"Makes sense."

"I always do."

Soon enough, Abby had switched cars (she'd managed to snag the non-sick stained Porche, it hadn't been an easy feat to accomplish) and was roaring down the frostbitten roads towards the closest police station, according to the ever trusty Google Maps. The only issue she'd had was how hard she seemed to find leaving Dick. It was something she hadn't had in a long time.

His issued badge was still tucked tightly in her jacket pocket, her hand clutching tightly it as she braked to a stop outside the precinct. Her mouth was dry. She hadn't pulled a stunt like this in half a decade, give or take. But her decommissioned and possibly (probably) lost badge most likely wouldn't suffice for the officers in there.

Ohio hadn't been the same since the arrivals of superheroes the same way Washington — and Washington, D.C. — California, New Jersey and Missouri hadn't. That is, since a Justice League member decided to adopt one of its cities as home. In this case? The Ghost (aka Maya Black-Allen, though everyone forgot the double barrelled part) and Daybreak City: Ohio's beacon of hell and havoc since metahumans emerged.

It seemed supervillains flocked to the closest city housing a superhero. Why? Well that was beyond Abby's comprehension. Ask Batman. Or the Joker. In fact, ask both. You might get a halfway decent reply that way.

Abigail scoffed humorously to herself as she stepped out of the sports car, slamming and locking the door behind her as she skipped up the steps and through the front door of Covington's police department.

The clerk at the reception noticed her instantly. But she wasn't sure if it was because of the expression on her face or how she walked like even Superman didn't scare her. Any suspicion was wiped from his mind the minute dropped her arms down on the desk and pushed out a dazzling, pearly white grin.

"Hi," Abby smiled, lofting the open badge from her pocket, fingers strategically placed. "I was wondering if you'd mind helping me out. I'm looking for my niece and her friend. They're missing, you see."

She placed down her phone, showing two side by side pictures of Jessica and Rachel. The hair alone should be fucking memorable enough, right? Abby watched the officer carefully. Something akin to recognition sparked in his face and she felt her chest tighten in hope.

"Well, I mean," the man let out a short chuckle, glancing back at the officer behind him in amusement. "We, er, we had a man in here earlier. Claimed to have been mauled by a tiger — said he saw two girls there, too. One had blue hair and the other, purple."

"That's brilliant," Abby nodded, before raising an eyebrow, "But somehow I feel as though you're leaving something out."

"Yeah, about the tiger..." the clerk turned back to the officer, who seemed to refrain from rolling his eyes.

"Witness said it was green. He was pretty drunk," the second police officer scoffed, shuffling the files in his hands.

Abby's lips parted, eyebrow quirking higher — if that was even possible — and she forced a look of surprise into her face. Green tigers? Try Green Lanterns.

"Did this witness happen to tell you whereabouts this... incident took place?" Abby pushed, keeping her smile broad as she could manage.

"Yeah, uh... the forest near the old Caulder House, I think." The man let out a puff, "But I wouldn't go there alone if I was you, Detective. Not safe, not at this time of day — it's nearly night."

Abby's smile slowly morphed into a smirk as she pulled her phone from the desk and backed up towards the door, "Good thing I'm not scared of the dark."

Her boots thudded against the concrete slabs as she made her way from the reception back towards the car with her thumb already hitting call on her phone. In a mere two rings, Kory had picked up.

"About damn time, Lance."

Abby's lips curled up and her eyes softened. "These things take time. My charm is a performance not a parlour trick, Anders."

"Well did you get a standing ovation or what?"

"Pleasant. Really. Of course I did." Abby wedged the phone between her cheek and shoulder as she opened the car door and clambered in. "Caulder House. Putting it into the GPS now."

"I'm impressed, Abby. Especially since Dick's stalker device-thing, whatever-the-hell-this-is, got the same thing. Jess' phone was last active in the forest."

"How kind," Abby scoffed, starting up the car, "We'll meet at the manor. How's..."

"He's okay. Well, he's not. Obviously. Poor soul's dying back here, but he's stopped throwing up finally... I suppose that's more of a bonus for me..."

Abby fell quiet. She felt sick. How could she have left him? He was dying. The brunette slumped back in the chair. Her heart felt like it was burning. Like it was a pile of burning embers threatening to turn to ash any second. Kory must've felt it through the phone because her voice softened.

"We'll figure something out, Abby. We'll find a way."

Her hand gripped the steering wheel so tight her knuckles were white. She didn't know if her bones or the metal under them would snap first. Her voice was quiet.

"See at you at the rendezvous, Kory."

Closing the call and punching the manor into maps, she chucked the unlocked phone onto the passenger seat and buckled her seat up. Her foot touched the accelerator and she dropped the handbrake. The car remained stationary. She stopped cold.

Brown eyes had landed on a figure entering the precinct. It was a woman, slightly short, slim build, with blonde hair and slim limbs. Blue eyes that Abby barely caught a glimpse of. Amy? Bile rose in her throat as the recollection of her death surfaced from the forgotten abyss of her mind. The embers became ashes anyway. Her heart felt burnt out and ashen.

But she didn't have time to think about how much the memories hurt and the sight of this doppelgänger made her chest ache like a thousand dying suns resided in it. Mourning wasn't the priority for her, saving the two girls who might be joining the dead if she didn't get there soon enough was. Abigail Lance had let enough people die today. 

CAULDER MANOR WAS JUST LIKE EVERY OTHER MANOR ABBY HAD SEEN. Old, obnoxious, made out of an odd white stone. Wayne Manor, Black Manor, Queen Manor — you name the billionaire, chances were their home looked like this. All that seemed to be missing was the moat.

Abigail had arrived after the other two, and found herself sitting inside Dick's car and taking what little solace she could from the overwhelming nostalgia it gave her. Short of getting out the damn thing, she couldn't avoid the memories surfacing.

Pieces of him were scattered everywhere. The smell, the music, the old coffee cups from when he stayed up too late on patrol, even the bulging glove compartment that was one more CD away from bursting open.

Relief washed over her as she noticed Kory sauntering slowly towards her. The woman belonged in Vogue, not a haunted fucking house. Abby rolled down the Porsche window as Kory came to a stop at the driver's side.

"Did you bring your boiler suit? I don't think the Ghostbusters will get here in time." Abby made the joke before the realisation that the women wouldn't get it even hit her. The frown on Kory's face reminded her.

"Did you bring your highly unstable but effective powers? Cause we're probably gonna need them," Kory mumbled, eyes trailing to the porch.

Abby let out a sigh. "Yeah sure. Why not. Let's bring down a house. I've had worse moments."

Kory let out a quiet laugh as she stepped back to let Abby out. The two girls began making their way in the house's direction when the brunette slowed to a stop.

"Getting cold feet already?" Kory teased, turning after her.

"Me? Cold feet? Never," Abby mumbled in response, although it was clear her mind wasn't on the woman before her.

Kory let out a long sigh. "Why are you even still stood here? Go say goodbye to him."

"That obvious, huh?" Abby had to laugh. Partly because she might cry if she didn't.

Kory rolled her eyes, "You don't think he's gonna make it until we get the girls. I can literally read it on your face. Now go. You'll regret it if you don't."

Abby shot her a look before turning on her heel and racing back towards the second car. Unsurprisingly, she found it unlocked, and wrenched open the passenger door to find a deathly Dick Grayson sat looking like skin and bones. Not even Death had anything on him at this point.

"You're a sight for sore eyes," Dick murmured, dark eyes moving to her face and soaking her in like novocaine.

"Wish I could say the same, but you look like shit, Batboy," she mumbled, crouching down beside him.

He laughed lowly, before his faced shadowed. "I'm gonna die, Abs."

She stiffened. "Don't say that."

"I am. You know it, I know it." His face was more tragic than a Greek myth. Even Zeus would be kinder than this.

"Don't you dare," she breathed, hand clamping down on his cold one.

"There's... there's just, I want to," he frowned, the words catching in his throat, "I wish we had more time, birdy. I wish I had more time to... to f—."

"I know, Dick." Her voice was quieter than a graveyard, and bearing the weight of as many souls. "It's okay. I forgive you. Always and completely."

His soft eyes met hers, staring so intently she wondered if he could see right down into her soul. She wondered if he'd found it. She hoped he did. One of the few truths she'd ever prided herself on knowing was that Dick Grayson saw her, no matter what light she stood in.

"Don't," he said, "Don't forget about me, okay? Don't forget all the times you saved me — and tried to kill me. If I'm gonna die then I wanna die knowing that you know your life was my life's best part. And I gave that up because I thought I didn't deserve you. After what I did. Maybe I didn't. Maybe I don't."

"You're such an asshole, you know that?" Abby whispered, her voice cracking.

"Yeah, I know. You used to tell me that every day. But I thought I'd almost lost you after Jer—."

Before he had a chance to say another word, Abby leant in and pressed her lips to his, cutting him off with a kiss. Her fingers grasped the sides of his face and she laid all her cards on the table then and there; her ashy heart was on full display to the man who once made it burn in the first place. Sadness and aching and longing and heartbreak. She wasn't sure if it was hers or his.

She wasn't sure if the Wolf's Bane in his system would kill her or not. She wasn't sure if his grip on her waist was tight or if it was just the fear of losing him tying knots in her stomach. His hand moved to tangle in her hair and God she'd missed the way his touch set her on fire.

In that moment she didn't care it could kill her. Didn't care she'd just complicated everything even more or that the possibility she'd never see him again was pressing a blade between her shoulder blades. She pulled away, feeling her cheeks damp — but with his tears or her own she couldn't decipher.

"Almost, Grayson. Almost."

She didn't give herself the chance to break down in front of him. She pushed away, furiously wiping the tears from her cheeks and sniffing as she forced her legs to carry her away. Away from the fragile being Death could touch. The brunette came to a stop on the front steps next to Kory b

"You gonna knock or am I?" Abby inquired with a forced smirk, knowing full well how red her eyes must've been.

Kory leant against marble column, choosing not to mention the sadness in them. "I don't know. Big house. How loud can you knock?"

A sly grin overtook Abby's face as Kory took a step back. She raised a hand and set her face. The air itself vibrated, the molecules around them shaking at the pure whim of the brunette. A shrill screech rose and rose, the doors splintering and cracking until with a loud bang, a ripple escaped Abby's hands and the doors exploded.

"Loud enough?"

NOTE!
a more exciting chapter than usual to make up for the fact that it is, once again, late 💕 on a serious note, the gifs i make for the start are genuinely starting to become the reason i post late. like,,, if i'm at my dad's then i can't post because my laptop is at my mum's???

ANYWAY!! thoughts!!!??? tehe giving you the good abby/dick (someone make a ship name pls) conTENT