HOMEMADE DYNAMITE !
❝ FIREWALL. ❞

BY THE TIME THEY HAD LEFT THE HOSPITAL, Abby was almost fully recovered. She'd functioned in worse conditions, but the doctors at this particular facility seemed less keen on letting her go still with a mild concussion. Star City would never do this to her.

The days she'd spend holed up here had reminded her why she had never complained when Ollie or Dinah or Roy stitched her up in the basement. She'd spent her time in here thinking about them. She missed them. Maybe she should call.

A frown spread across Abigail's brow. Dinah would worry if she knew what was happening. Ollie would probably boom tube to Washington within five minutes. Roy? Would he care? Would he even pick up?

"You okay?"

At the sound of Dick's voice, Abigail looked up. He was watching with a pensive expression as she signed the last of the release forms, her pen hovering over the page. She smiled and nodded, hurriedly scribbling her signature on the dotted line before she slid the papers across the front desk; slinging her bag over her shoulder, she winced in pain as the strap caught a bruise.

Dick had gone back to Hank and Dawn's yesterday with the former to retrieve their things, and so Hank could have a shower, change his clothes. Abby wanted to go with him instead. She didn't want him to go home alone. But when Hank said she wasn't allowed to leave the hospital, she wasn't allowed to leave the hospital.

"Leaving without saying goodbye, Tremors?"

Speak of the devil. A smile curved Abby's lips upwards. Hank. She turned slowly on her heels to face the towering man. She rolled her eyes and moved in for a hug, wincing as he squeezed her tight against his chest.

"Alright," Abigail wheezed, parting his back, "Kinda suffocating me now, Bird Boy. Lemme go."

He dropped her to the floor and ruffled her hair, something that was becoming a frequent occurrence, much to Abby's vague annoyance. She punched his shoulder lightly before pursing her lips into a tight line.

"I'm gonna miss you, buddy," Abigail sighed, "Don't be a stranger. Can't leave it this many years to see each other again."

Hank scoffed, arching his eyebrows at her, "Yeah, half a decade is pushing it — even for my antisocial ass."

"We had our reasons, Hank. You know what it did to Donna," Abigail reasoned softly, tilting her head.

"I know what it did to you, Lance. You and Dick." A puff of air left Hank's mouth, before he frowned, "You ever hear from Nora after she went dark?"

Abby huffed as she thought. Nora Black. That was a name she hadn't heard in a long time. But it brought back some of her best days. Nostalgia and warmth blossomed in her like the first flowers of spring, banishing the deadly kiss of winter which had rooted in Abigail's chest these past few years.

The name took her back to a different time, the age of heroes and legends and their golden glory, the age of Titans.

"Nora? No. She's doesn't wanna be found. You know how it is, though," Abigail shrugged slowly, "When there's trouble, you know who to call."

"Yeah, her," Hank laughed, "That's why I wanted to know. If anyone can help you get these bastards, it's Black."

Abby placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, "We're gonna get them, Hank. I promise."

"I know you will, Tremors," he smiled softly frown at the brunette before him, "Don't doubt you for a second."

"Abs!"

The duo turned at the sound of Dick calling Abigail's name, seeing him stood half out the door of the hospital. He had a duffel bag on his side and the keys to the Porsche in his hand, his lips smiled at her, but the crease of his forehead told Abby he was still unnerved by the Nuclear Family. Time to go.

Abby turned back to Hank, scrunching up her face in a wink, "I'll keep you updated, Hall."

"Counting on it, Lance," Hank smiled, watching as she followed Dick out of the hospital.

The scene was far from new — to anyone, not just him, but he still smiled at the sight of it again. Maybe lightning can strike twice. If it did, it made sense it would be in the form of Abigail Lance and Dick Grayson.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN 'I CAN'T TAKE MY BIKE', GRAYSON?"

Dick let out a tired sigh, looking over the roof of the Porsche at Abby, "I mean you're concussed and have had the shit beaten out of you. There's no way I'm letting you drive a motorbike in your condition, Abs."

"I've driven it in worse — and you've been sat behind me on more than a few of those occasions," Abigail reminded him, eyebrow so high he was surprised it hadn't disappeared into her hairline.

"Fine, well," Dick shrugged nonchalantly as he pulled open the driver's door, "not like it really matters since Hank and I left it at the apartment anyway."

"You little –," Abby's sentence was cut off as Dick slammed his door and she clenched her jaw with a small smile before opening the passenger side and ducking in.

Chucking her bag over her shoulder into the small backseat beside Dick's, she turned to the man next to her and frowned when she saw his lips curving at the edges in a tragic attempt to conceal a smile. His eyes were watching her in amusement and she almost saw the man she used to know in his eyes. She frowned.

"What?"

Dick's brow lifted in amusement as he shook his head and faced forwards, starting the car, "Nothing, nothing."

"Oh shut up, Boy Wonder," Abby pouted, clipping her seatbelt into place with a childish puff of air.

"I didn't say anything!" Dick exclaimed with a small laugh in his voice, it grew louder when he caught Abby scowling at him, "What?!"

"Nothing, nothing," Abigail mocked.

"Wow," Dick scoffed playfully, "Very grown up of you, Lance. Really, I'm impressed."

"Says the guy who used to remove prefixes from words," Abigail lofted an eyebrow as Dick shifted the gearstick into reverse, watching him carefully, "Feeling whelmed yet, Grayson?"

"Well I don't know about whelmed, but I'm definitely not feeling the aster, Lance, Dick replied smoothly as he reversed out of the space and began to steer towards the exit.

"Don't miss a beat, do you?" Abby shook her head.

Dick glanced at her, "With you? Never."

As they pulled onto the main road, Abby's eyes skimmed over the signs and roads, settling all too comfortably back into the passenger seat of his car. Loud music, fast driving. The past really wasn't pulling any punches today. 

"Where we going, Grayson?" she finally asked.

"Coolville," Dick replied, and Abby waited for an explanation. "Ohio."

She lifted a dark eyebrow, "Coolville?"

"Yeah," Dick mumbled, voice quiet, "That's where Rachel was last seen."

Abby lofted her eyebrows, "What you waiting for then? Floor it, Batboy."

"I really wish you'd stop calling me that," Dick groaned, shaking his head as he pressed down on the accelerator.

ALL SHE COULD SEE WAS SNOW. Surrounding them in a downpour of white, it's seemed winter had taken permanent residence in Coolville, Ohio. Nature sublime reigned down on the village in a flurry of ice, wind and snowfall and the frostbitten air dug into Abigail's cheeks with a cold and bitter bite.

The drive to Ohio had been full of old rock music and the avoidance of the one topic they both wanted to know — did you miss me? but of course, neither wanted to ask the other, so the hours had been filled with old memories, inside jokes and a worrying amount of wrong turns.

But they'd finally stopped at a half-incinerated gas station stained by scorched and soot. The echoes of a fire stood out against the icy breaths around them. Abby tapped her nails gently against the hood of the Wayne Porsche, leant casually against the side as though it's owner hadn't been telling her not to for the last decade. Old habits.

Her dark eyes drifted across the bleak landscape, taking in the scene as her mind's eye created a sequence of events in her head. They stopped on Dick, who had one foot in the burnt down bathroom like he was afraid it would relight if he entered it fully. Caution like this was new for him. She had always watched him approach the unknown with an alarming amount of enthusiasm and fearlessness.

His head craned back towards her, his uncertain gaze locking with her narrowed one. The two not needing to say a word, Abby pushed away from the car and trekked in his direction, her black boots crunching down on the layer of snow beneath them. She stepped passed him, climbing into the ashes.

"You recognise this scene?" Dick asked in a hushed tone. She knew exactly what he meant.

Abby sent him a pointed look, "Only thing I've seen that causes anywhere near this type of damage is Nora. But who else has that kinda power? Surely the League would've had them listed already."

"Yeah, somehow I don't think Nora's mom is going around cremating gas stations," Dick muttered, slowly edging into the scene alongside the brunette.

"Ya think?" Abby drawled, gaining a raised eyebrow in response, before trailing a finger delicately along the melted rock, "Besides, this looks more likely fire than photons. More like Superman's heat vision than the Ghost's photokenetic blasts."

"Well..." A mischievous had spread smugly over Dick's face and Abby could almost see the same sly thirteen year old she'd met so long ago. He jerked his head towards the gas station office. "Guess there's only one way to find out what did this."

Abigail pouted her lips, tilting her head as her nose scrunched up, "I guess so."

The two exchanged roguish grins as they slowly left the scene, making their way towards the office in the back of the station. They passed rows of abandoned snacks and half-burned metal. Coroners walked by the window and Abigail watched the black body bag pass by. Dick had already vanished into the back room. 

She shoved her hands into the pockets of her leather jacket and hurried after him. The brunette found him sat at the security desk, trying to download the footage onto a USB drive plugged into the side. He seemed to be having difficulties.

"I think you'll find you gotta unlock the computer first, dipshit," Abigail pointed out, approaching him.

He turned to her with a raised eyebrow, "Yeah, no shit, thanks, Einstein. I've done that."

She placed a hand against the back of his chair and the other on the desk next to the computer. Leaning down, she peered at the monitor before her, not noting how Dick's eyes strayed to her face and lingered just a second to long to be a simple glance. As soon as she started turning towards him, his gaze snapped back to the computer.

"Haven't done this in a while, have you?" Abigail mused with a lofted brow, he frowned in response and she shook her head, "You're supposed to drag and drop the files, dumbass."

"Okay, alright. Been busy. Besides, until you were fifteen you didn't even know how to move files," Dick muttered teasingly, knocking her hand out of the way softly.

Abby let out an indignant scoff, "Yeah... and then I learned!"

"Yeah," Dick replied in the same tone, "cause I taught you."

"Not the point, Boy Wonder," Abby mumbled in disgruntlement with a roll of her eyes.

The files finished downloading and Dick snatched up the stick, standing to his feet abruptly, which brought him up centimetres from Abby, their faces inches apart. "Eh, kinda is, Little Bird."

They stood like that for a moment more. Both seeing how long the other could last. Faces close, expressions challenging, and hearts thumping so hard they could burst right out of their chests. A blunt knife could've cut the tension between them. Abigail bit her lip bittersweetly, her gaze falling to her feet as she stepped back and slowly made her way towards the front of the shop again.

Dick watched her go, his lips curved slightly into a lopsided smile before he slipped the USB into his pocket and chased after her. They stepped out into the frozen air together, breaths trailing skyward in puffs of white vapour. Police cars were swarming the scene now, buzzing about as forensics analysed the damage and sirens wailed in the background.

Abby turned to him, her lips parted in an unimpressed way and one eyebrow arched. Dick tilted his head in a shrug and the two began to make their way over to the Porsche, climbing in and slamming the doors. He leant over and pulled a tablet from the glove box, slotting the USB into the side and waiting for the download to finish.

As soon as the footage began to play, it received a disgruntled complaint from both the viewers. Dick stopped the video and the two fell silent as he tried to think of what to do next. One of Bruce's quality enhancing mechanisms would come in handy about now.

"Load of a fucking good that's gonna be, it's awful quality," Abby groaned, breaking the silence.

Before Dick had a chance to answer, there was a sharp and sudden knock on the window. The former sidekicks jumped out of their skin, Abby's head snapping around to face the intruder as Dick fumbled to lock the screen.

On the other side of the passenger door stood a young girl, peering in through the window. Her short hair was a pastel purple and her round face was framed by circular glasses. Abigail had no clue who this girl was, but the relief on Dick's face was enough.

"Out the car," Dick finally spoke up, and the two burst into action, unfastening their seatbelts and clambering out.

The purple haired girl approached them with a smile as they stood a few meters away from the car, out of earshot of any eavesdroppers.

"Hey, Dick. Been a hot second," the girl grinned, before turning to face the brunette beside him, "I'm Jess. Nice to meet you. You must be Abby, right?"

Abby frowned in surprise, glancing to Dick. The man spluttered awkwardly before scratching the back of his head, "I — uh — I... Abby, this is Jessica Rhodes. She, uh, she joined me and Bruce right before I left Gotham."

"They call me Firewall," Jess said, holding our her hand, "Wow, can't believe I'm finally meeting the famous Abigail Lance. I've heard so much about you."

"Oh really?" Abby asked, a smile lighting up her features, brows raised as she turned back to Dick, "Talk about me a lot, Batboy?"

Dick ran a hand through his hair as he stuttered out a change of subject sheepishly, "Anyway, what, what are you doing here, Jess? How did — how did you even get here?"

"I'm guessing on the badly parked motorbike abandoned on the other side of the road," Abigail mused aloud, pointing to the said vehicle.

Dick's eyes widened as he looked to the violet haired girl, "Well did you?"

Jess's cheeks puffed out as she awkwardly stammered out a response, "Yeah, no. Well, I mean yes I did drive that here, but, but it's kinda sorta ... not mine? Kinda? I might've maybe hot-wired it in... in Washington... maybe..."

Abby slowly turned back to Dick, the look of disbelief on her face slowly morphing into a smile, "I like this one already, Grayson."

Dick shot her an unamused scowl, "Of course you do."

NOTE!
so,,,, many,,,, scene breaks???? i'm sorry guys, this chapter jumper around a bit AND IM REALLY SORRY ITS LATE I GOT DRAGGED TO A PARTY, but i hoPE It wAS OKAY! and you met jess, aka my soft angel!!