HOMEMADE DYNAMITE !
❝ LIFELINES. ❞

SOMETHING ABOUT THIS FAMILY BEFORE HER SCREAMED DANGER, but Abigail couldn't put her finger on it. Her and Hank and Dawn had fallen silent, as they instantly moved to defend one another instead. Abby could practically feel the defensive stance Dick Grayson had taken in front of Rachel. Hank glanced at Dawn and Abby, before strolling forwards arrogantly, eyebrows raised.

"The fuck are these guys?"

Then the dad dashed forwards, taking everyone by surprise, and kicked Hank in the chest, sending him to the floor. Everyone burst into action. Dick grabbed Rachel and pulled her to safety, Dawn took on the mother, trading blows and kicks. Hank stood to tackle the father, leaving Abby stuck between the two kids, who circled her like hyenas, like wolves. Shit.

The daughter attacked first, more impatient than her brother, charging at Abigail with a malicious grin, only to be met with a roundhouse kick to her chest before she could come within punching distance. The brother took advantage of the distraction though, racing forwards with his bat and smashing it against Abigail's back, watching her drop to a knee, where he wrapped the wooden stick around her neck and pulled. The force pulled the brunette back to her feet as she clutched the bat, trying desperately to pull it away from her trachea, trying to breathe.

That breathe was stolen from her lungs by a sharp and merciless punch from the sister, who was back on her feet and throwing scratches and knuckles where she could.

"Didn't your mother ever teach you two some manners?" Abigail choked out, then used the brief pause to plant her foot in the sister's face and push.

Worryingly psychotic sister sprawled several feet back on the floor, Abigail used the momentum to launch herself backwards, and the brother. He landed on his back, Abigail on him, making sure to dig her elbows into ribs as she fell. The bat went slack and she pushed it away, throwing herself to her feet and it became a short victory as she saw the sister running at her again. She prepared herself to catch a punch when Dick Grayson appeared from the shadows, tackling the redhead to the ground and scrabbling to get back to his feet.

"Abs, quake them!" his voice was urgent. He knew her powers could take the family out, maybe the only chance to beat back the family who had picked possibly the worst time ever to decide to fight the former Titans.

Abigail didn't have time to debate it, to even consider replying as she felt the gravel behind her scrape and she barely ducked under the swing of the bat meant for her head. She turned to see the brother grinning sadistically at her, and only just managed to block the second swing with her forearm as he tried again. Pushing the bat out of his grip, she lifted her leg and kicked him in the chest, moving forwards and blocking a punch before landing her own. The brother soon recovered, catching her fist and twisting it sharply before he used his spare hand to grab Abby by the neck and lift her up.

"Tremors," a wheeze called her name and Abby's red eyes met Hank's, saw his throat tangled with a wire belonging to the daughter, and she knew exactly what he was asking her. What Dick had been. Powers.

Painfully, hands gripping the wrist of this boy, she shook her head, "I... can't."

She heard a yell and turned to see the father and mother kick her Boy Wonder from the roof before the latter grabbed Dawn by the throat in the same way her son had Abby. Fear and fury boiled inside of her and wrapped her leg around this boy's arm, using all her body weight to throw herself to the side. The force brought him down two, and Abby felt the grip leave her wind pipe, gasped loudly as she felt herself breath, dragged a breath into her lungs.

And the brother was back on her in seconds, but this time she was angry and she ignored the pain shooting through her arm as he grabbed her knife wound, pushing him backwards and hitting him. Again and again and again until it was a wonder how he was still standing, and when he stumbled back and fell she rushed to the edge of the roof. Her fingers were grabbing Dick's hands in second, pulling him up with what little strength she had. A bat connected with her back and she let out a hiss, but didn't let go, still trying to hold onto Grayson. Then his hand grabbed her shoulder and hurtled her backwards.

Her back hit a brick wall, her head followed and all too quickly the world fell into darkness.

WHEN ABIGAIL CAME AROUND, a figure was sat opposite her. Her vision was still blurry with sleep, but she could tell it wasn't Hank, the frame was too small. She could practically feel the worry and anxiety radiating off of them as they hovered over her. It wasn't Dawn, there was no white halo in sight, and she doubted Rachel Roth would sit by her bedside. Shit. Rachel. And suddenly all of the events from the last day flooded back to her mind, and Abigail shot straight up.

"Whoa, whoa!" the figure jumped to his feet, practically launching himself to her side where he pressed his palms to her shoulders and pushed her back down, "Easy, Abs. I got you, you're okay. I got you."

Abigail stopped cold. She knew that voice anywhere. Her vision came into focus, and she found her dark brown eyes staring up into the hazel ones of Dick Grayson. The two of them stared at one another, so many things to say but no words coming out. Every emotion Abby could think of was flooding through her head and heart, ranging from relief to fury to the strange feeling of coming home. One look at the man in front of her told her he was feeling the same way too.

He looked at her and last night came back to him like a bad dream.

Dick Grayson felt terror set his nerves on fire as Abigail was wrenched from view, her electric touch gone from his skin as a crash and a crack filled the air. He couldn't see, blinded by the brick ledge in front of him. He heard Dawn call for Hank, heard Hank scream for Dawn. A crash. A thud. Another thud. Rachel's whimpering voice as she was dragged from the roof. By the time he had pulled himself back up, the scene before him was a forgotten graveyard. Chaos and rubble, bodies and blood.

Abs. Terror crushed his chest. His heart couldn't beat, his ears couldn't hear, eyes stuck on her still body. Everything stopped But his legs moved. He was across the roof in seconds, breaths sharp and shallow and full of dread, his hands shaky and trying their best to be delicate but all to desperate to reach her as he fell to his knees next to her. He pulled her head and shoulders onto his lap, fingers trembling, shivering, afraid to touch her. Like she was a china doll, like she would break.

He pushed the blood-matted hair from her face, noticing her cheek blossoming with the autumnal colours of a bruise. Noticing the scar on her hairline, where she'd fallen off the bed from laughing one cozy winter morning, a faint white line coated in blood from a wound on her head. She looked peaceful when she slept. She looked peaceful now. He slowly touched her neck and felt his entire body nearly collapse in relief. A pulse. She was alive. She was okay.

Dick's eyes shut in relief, the world lifted from his shoulders and for one moment he didn't feel like Atlas. He slowly pulled her into his chest, careful not to disrupt her wounds, and held her tight. Arm round her shoulders, hand in her hair, her head fitting perfectly against him, it felt like two pieces of a puzzle. He held onto her like a lifeline. It was ironic, seeing as she was the one who needed one. The detective felt his chest ache.

A grunt pulled Dick's attention to Hank, who was slowly pulling himself to his feet.

"Hank!"

Dick's panicked tone was met by a disgruntled and anxious reply.

"Dawn..."

Dick Grayson was pulled from his thoughts as the door to the hospital room clicked open, revealing Hank stood on the other side. He had dark circles round his eyes, blood on his pale skin, but it didn't seem to matter as much as staying by Dawn's side had. He looked to Abby, features soft, and for a second he didn't care that it was Dick Grayson sat next to her, that it was Dick Grayson he was speaking to.

"She okay?" Hank asked coarsely, his voice scraping against his throat with lack of sleep and exhaustion.

"She's right here, Hank," Abby smiled impishly, and that was all the approval he needed to move to her side and pull her into a soft but firm hug.

He hated seeing her and Dawn with IV's in their hands, drips by their beds, hooked up by wires to machines and monitors. Lifelines. The foreboding sense of death that seemed to linger over them unsettled him down to his core. He pulled away, ruffling her dark hair, trying to ignore how pale and sickly she looked, "And I thought you looked like shit before."

"Well aren't you pleasant," Abigail scoffed, nudging him weakly with what little strength she had, "Very charming."

Hank chuckled. The room fell into a comfortable silence for a few moments — then Abigail noticed Dawn was nowhere in sight.

"Hank...? Where's Dawn?" Abigail asked slowly, quietly. She feared she already knew the answer.

Hank's face crumpled, "Um. The thing is, Tremors, you... you weren't the... the only one hurt last night."

No. Abigail was moving in seconds, not even the cocktail of drugs moving through her system could stop her. Covers off, battered legs half over the bed, Abigail tried to move, not thinking twice about how she was still attached to the cables and tubes. Alarmed and panicked, Hank and Dick darted forwards, exclamations and protests filling the room as they tried to wrestle Abby back into the hospital bed as gently as they could. She put up a good fight, but eventually they pinned her down.

"What. Happened," Abigail's words were choppy, curt, anger not at the boys before her but the people who'd done this.

"She's in a coma," Dick whispered in reply, arms now crossed and eyes fixed on the floor.

Hank's voice was quiet, quieter than Abby had ever heard it. It sounded broken. "They threw her off the roof, Abby."

No. The brunette slumped back into the bed, jaw hanging and eyes clouding. Her vision swam. So did her head. No. This couldn't be real, this couldn't be happening. Dawn couldn't be comatose, she was too good, she didn't deserve it. No. They took Rachel, too. That's two people they took, two people she could've saved. If she wasn't afraid. If she had just used her powers. But she didn't. And people she cared about suffered. One of the people she loved most was hanging by a thread, an innocent girl was missing. If she had just used her powers.

"There's nothing you could've done, Abs," Dick murmured, as though he could read her mind. Maybe he just knew her too well. Even now.

She shook her head.

"I'm sorry, Hank," Abby croaked, looking up at the man beside her, "If I'd used my powers —."

Hank cut her off, as unaccepting of her self-deprecation as ever, "Don't do that to yourself. You had your reasons, that's good enough for me."

With that, he placed a warm hand on her shoulder and left, leaving Abby and Dick alone once again. The two sat in silence. Abigail still hadn't spoke to him, and he didn't want to push her. He knew she would still happily punch him in the face. But the call he'd received from his captain was playing over and over in his kind like a broken record and he knew he had to tell her. Abigail deserved to know.

"I know you don't wanna talk to me, and I'm the last person who should tell you this, but..." Dick trailed off, trying to find the words, he saw Abby's eyes on him and he sighed, "Abby, Detroit PD called. They couldn't get ahold of you. It's about Amy Rorhbach."

NOTE!
i've made some edits to the cast list after starting s2 — check 'em out!! what did ya think of this chapter, bbys?