sylph_fics (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
sylph_fics) wrote2007-01-15 05:27 pm
sylph_fics) wrote2007-01-15 05:27 pm
Entry tags:
- dc,
- dick,
- fanfic,
- fic of pain,
- ollie
When It All Falls Down
All Pervy's fault, and with her permission.
Title: When It All Falls Down
Cowriter:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
merfilly
Characters: Green Arrow, Nightwing-centric
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 5,281
Continuity: Inspired bypervyficgirl's On a Simple Twist of Fate, companion to The Grief of a Mother
Disclaimer: DC Comics owns
Notes: Character Deaths
When Nightwing's frozen voice had crackled across the Outsiders communicators, ordering them to move for Arsenal's communicator, everyone had known something was horribly wrong. They were used to him sounding cold, but... Shift had remarked softly that liquid nitrogen was warmer, even as Indigo traced the position and they all went. They'd found him in his own blood, armor more than half destroyed, and the mark of the blade had made Starfire turn pale, fingers hard against her lips.
Then Nightwing was on the rooftop with them, and even Grace, simmering with rage, had fallen dead silent at the look on his face as he slowly dropped to one knee beside the body of his old friend. His fingers ran barely above the skin as he mapped the wounds, measured them, and Indigo flinched at the low whisper. "Never. Again."
It sounded like a promise, a vow, and they all shivered at the next words, at the bitter hate in them. "You tried to warn me, Roy... it's not going to happen again." He closed Roy's eyes with gentle fingertips. "Grace."
"Yeah, Boss?" She wasn't arguing with him, not when he sounded like that...
"NYPD's on the way. Stay with him. Stay out of their way. Once they've moved him, come back. We're going hunting."
"Alright, Nightwing."
"Hunting who?" came from Jade, her eyes hard but uncertain.
"Deathstroke." The name was like a polar wind as he came to his feet like uncoiling steel. "This was his work."
Starfire nodded once at the confirmation, and she reached out to Nightwing, trying to catch his shoulder as she said something low and not human--and he exploded into motion, slamming her hand away from him violently. "Don't touch me, Starfire. And don't call me that."
"How're we going to find a guy like that?" Shift asked.
"It's all about knowing where to look," Nightwing replied, expression hard below the mask. "And I do."
The first members of the NYPD made it up the stairs, and Nightwing turned and was gone. The rest of the Outsiders followed, barring Grace.
*~*~*~*
Mia hung up her phone, eyes haunted as she went in search of Ollie, hoping he had not left on patrol yet. She got down into the basement just as Ollie was shouldering his quiver, and Mia stopped, her face going ghost white as she realized just what she had to say and how it was going to fall.
"Ollie?"
The archer paused, turning to see the girl he had taken in, the girl he had just let pick up her own bow. She wasn't going out tonight, supposed to be studying, he remembered, but the look on her face, the tears gathering at the corners of her eyes... he suddenly realized she was crying for him, not for what she needed to say, as she rushed over and hugged his waist.
"What... what is it, Mia?" His voice would barely work as he held onto her, his guts twisting in a knot.
"Arsenal.. Starfire just called... Arsenal's body was found. They think it was Deathstroke." Mia felt those arms that could pull a bow worthy of Penelope's challenge to her suitors tighten around her, as grief lashed into him with vengeance. She eased him down to the floor when she felt his knees giving way.
"My boy..." Ollie could barely breathe. Roy had been his son, had been his pride and joy for years. So many things suffered together, so many things shared... so many mistakes. The tears streamed down his face with unabashed openness, and Mia just crouched close by. She had not gotten to know Roy well, and now she wished she had, seeing the way it turned her guardian's
heart inside out.
"The Outsiders are hunting." It was a weak offering, the thought of justice for his near-son, his protégé. He nodded, moving to try and rise, but still lost and weakened by the emotional blow. His skin paled and he reached out for her arm.
"Phone, Mia..." He accepted it as she handed it over, dialing a number quickly, and cursing when he got a voice drop. "Shit, shit, shit... Roy, son... god, please don't let her..."
He was up and moving, focusing on something, and Mia was almost frightened as he found the League communicator he never bothered with.
"League, this is Arrow! Come in, damn it!"
"Green Arrow?" The synthesized voice of Oracle cut in. "We are aware..."
"This not about my boy, Oracle! It's Canary... she has to be found!"
"I have her position in her... oh, no." Oracle's voice, despite synthesizing, carried a note of distress. "Vengeance isn't her..."
"For our boy, it would be," Green Arrow choked out.
"Stand by, Arrow... and you have my deepest sympathy for your loss." Oracle cut the connection to try and find her number one operative. Ollie hung onto the worktable to stay upright, swearing fluidly that he wished Hal were here, that he needed someone who could find Canary before she wound up in the hospital. Mia took her phone, and called the places she knew Connor
might be, to get him home for Ollie, who seemed unable to move as his body shook with grief and fear.
*~*~*~
There was nothing but ice in Nightwing's veins, nothing but precision in the way his hands moved over the computers as he worked some wizardry with the systems. He hadn't spoken since he flung himself off that rooftop, despite several attempts to coax him into it. His eyes were narrow behind the mask as he attempted to figure out which of Deathstroke's nearby safehouses the mur--he--was in.
"Nightwing." It was the precise, synthetic voice of Oracle at her most professional.
"Yes?"
"Black Canary has gone offline. She left her gear in her apartment." The facts were given, left to hang where Nightwing could draw his own conclusions. "I have reason to believe she has knowledge of your shared prey."
"And?" //If you can't find her, why are you bothering me with it?// He finally got a hit, soft hiss of satisfaction half-heard over the line.
"Don't let her do it," Oracle said firmly. "I know you both...felt strongly toward Roy. Save each other now."
//Felt strongly towards? He was--// He couldn't afford the thought, the distraction... nothing mattered right now but finding Deathstroke and stopping him from being the cause of another Titan's death... The anger tried to come again, the grief... but he refused to let it touch him. He had to be stopped, and it would be him that did it, this time. For good. "Mm. If you find her, tell me. I have a possible location. We're moving."
"I'm listening and looking for us all," she promised him.
"Nightwing Out." He shut off the communicator with a carefully precise twist as he called the Outsiders to meet at the jet, getting into motion. None of them were being particularly vocal, as Nightwing's demeanor chilled them all, even Grace, who was gnashing her teeth at Roy's murder.
"Got a possible location," he told them as he walked onto the jet, waiting just long enough for them to settle in before he had the jet in motion. He knew he ought to brief them, remind them of Deathstroke's capabilities.. but he couldn't bring the words to his lips, couldn't manage to speak past the ice in his heart and throat.
Seeing that, Starfire drew in a deep breath. Despite his earlier reaction to her, she would try to help, speaking in a low voice to the others, less experienced, about just what the man could do. Nightwing nodded sharply at a few points, as he took them fast towards that location.
~*~*~*
He brought them in low and fast over the ground, coming up on what should have been Slade's safe house. A car sat there, doors still open, lights blazing…and Rose just picking herself up from the outskirts of a volatile explosion ring.
//What the?// "Go," he snapped the second he saw it, hand slamming down on a hatch release. None of them would have trouble with the drop. "Ravager is as fast as her father and insane," he warned the others. "Starfire." 'Don't let her go' passed between them. He was trying to make out the details of what lay inside that ring of debris.
Starfire nodded sharply, and the team was on top of it. Starfire detailed Anissa and Grace both to take Rose, while she and Jade did an aerial survey.
"Aww shit…" That came from Shift, almost the same instant Dick took in the bike outside the blast radius, and what looked to be severely damaged bodies within the ring.
"Shift?" sharp, harsh question as he went over the ring and headed towards... them. The blue and orange armor was still half-intact, leaving little doubt in his mind, but the other, the long, full-black bodysuit on the small body... He swallowed hard as it hit him, just who that other, horribly mangled figure had to be... and it didn't take much longer to realize exactly what she'd done.
"Oh, brilliant... Suicide, but brilliant..." he whispered, even as rage screamed through him that she'd taken it out of his hands.
"I know that bike...Rex's got pics of that bike," Shift said, voice haunted by the not quite memories.
Starfire stayed in the air, not trusting this, feeling a catastrophe in the making.
Rose offered no resistance, as Anissa and Grace cornered her, still in deep shock as she stared at where her father should have been victorious, where he should have made the woman die... at where the evidence of his failure was still lying.
Nightwing nodded once, sharply, trying to leash the storm of rage he'd been holding to turn loose on Slade. Stripped of his target, he was struggling to keep it under control. "Black Canary." //Damn you, Dinah.//
Shift groaned, but it was Jade who gave a short cry, looking first at the bike, and then at the bodies.
"Oh god..." She covered her mouth, horrified at just what this would mean, to her family. She'd never gotten close to Dinah, but knew she had been like a daughter or niece to the senior JSA members. She instinctively thought to reach for Kyle, so far away in space, but hoping he could feel her; she knew she was going to need him soon.
"Car." Rose's first word caught Grace's attention. "Back."
Grace jerked her head, and Anissa tightened the hold on Rose, increasing her density to make it an unbreakable hold, while Grace checked the back of the car. What she saw caused her to rip the back door wide open.
"NIGHTWING!"
He spun, hearing the savagery and shock in Grace's voice and moved, racing to the car, to her, his eyes widening as he saw the small figure in the back and he went under her arm, into the seat, pulling Lian back out of the car, holding her in one arm as he checked her over with the other, fast, efficient movements. //So still, no... pulse's fine. She's breathing fine. Drugged. Just drugged. She's safe. She's okay.//
His legs nearly went out from under him, relief and a whole new tide of rage slamming through him as he held her tight against his body, and the control broke on his voice as he swore in filthy Romany about Slade's parentage, habits, manners and certain destination in the afterlife, consigning him to hell.
"Roy's child?!" Now Starfire did come to land, eyes snapping as she looked at Rose with anger.
"Daddy wanted me to have a little sister, perfect sister...."
Any doubt they might have had on the white-haired girl's sanity evaporated at the lost, little girl tone that went with those chilling words and the discovery of Lian being in their custody.
Dick kept Lian tight against his chest as his head came around at Rose's words, and it was as if the eyes behind the mask looked straight through her. "He protected you." The words were low and icy. "And this is how you repay him?"
He had to keep it together, he was all Lian had now, the contingency plans had always been Dinah first, him second, but they were still there in the will, once it was read, Roy'd never wanted Lian to go to Ollie, even after they patched things... He had to keep it together for her... //I have to tell everyone.// He turned the comm link back on. "Oracle."
Even Anissa shuddered at the tone of Nightwing's voice, especially directed at the broken thing she held, then dragged Rose away, to secure her until they decided what to do with her.
"Oracle here." There was dread in her voice, hidden behind the synthetic one.
"It's bad," he warned her. If he said it, everything was real.
"Go ahead Nightwing." Fully professional, the dispatcher of the League, the data queen to countless heroes, was ready to take the news she had been dreading, that Canary or he had gotten to Slade, been injured severely, or one of the Outsiders maybe.
The cool in her voice, the professional composure steadied him, pulled him into the focus of the report, the necessary details... but he walked away from the Outsiders, far enough that no-one could hear his voice, and his back was turned "I don't know how Canary beat us here, but she did. ...Deathstroke's down. Permanently... and... she's gone, Babs. She took him with her. Ravager's in custody, seems to have snapped... and they had Lian."
There was silence for a moment. "You'll find a tracker on whatever vehicle she had," Oracle managed. "She said she was going to check on Lian, not tell her yet, just check... that was before comm. silence. The tracker is keyed to Lian... microchip. Dinah's idea." She was focusing on the how, to keep from breaking down over the loss of the one person she... "Lian?"
"Safe. Drugged, but I've got her." //God, why didn't Roy or I think of that?!// "...I... I'm sorry, Babs." //If I'd been faster...// "Need a League team down here, O... but it's messy."
There was a choked sound at that. "En route. Containment and clean up, to be on the safe side, Nightwing. I'll handle further information dissemination."
He nodded once, though she couldn't see it. //Who can I get to go to her?// He couldn't. Lian was going to be all he could handle... and he was so angry at Dinah he could hardly breathe, angry with the world, Roy, himself, and if he saw Bruce... best not to think about that. "Alright. We'll stay until they get here." He held Lian close, hoping whatever she'd been drugged with held out a little longer...
"Oracle out."
Once he let it be seen he was done, Jade came up. "Nightwing... I have to go. I can't let..."
"Go, Jade. Fast." Everyone knew Dinah's ties to the JSA, to Jade's father. "We've got this."
She launched skyward with the next heartbeat, hoping the word moved slower than she did that one of their own had fallen... and so needlessly.
`~`~`~`~`
"J'onn?" The voice was solid, human, but composed.
"Oracle," he said in turn.
"The call for the League... from Arrow?" she said.
"Yes?" He did not mean to prod against her mind, but her voice cracked when she tried to speak, and he hissed a deep breath inward. "Dinah!" he exclaimed, despite himself.
"Arrow needs to be told." Oracle could not do it herself; it would break her concentration on matters at hand.
"On my way... and I am here for you."
"He needs you." She would grieve later…much later.
`~`~`~`~`
Moments after she finished the call to J'onn, a shadow moved through her rooms, came to stand behind and at her side in her vision before, a black-gloved hand settled on her shoulder.
Oracle thought about contacting the JSA next, or her own shaky team mate... but Jade was on the Outsiders and Huntress... Huntress would know soon enough. She pulled her boards to standby, and turned slowly to look up at him, fighting the urge to break down.
"Dinah's gone. She did it. She took out Deathstroke…but it cost her her own life."
"I... overheard," the Bat nodded, and knelt down beside her, folding the lenses back to look at her from dark blue eyes. Knowing that he could not go near his son right now... was agonizing, but he could be here for Barbara, who'd lost nearly as much.
She met those eyes, before letting the tears spill. "So stupid, but she knew they had Lian... she'd have seen that as a threat for the rest of Lian's life, some sinister plan on their part..." She sobbed softly. "Too grief blind by losing Arsenal, then to know Lian was in danger? Stupid woman." She was torn between anger at what Dinah had done, and seeing, knowing why it had happened.
Her tears made him reach for her, offering his support. He wasn't good at comforting people, but seeing her cry... He couldn't help a nod at her words. She'd picked the situation apart perfectly. "Apparently she thought she had no choice..."
"Sometimes, her world was black and white. She might even have been right... but oh, god, Bruce!" She gave way to the full weight of losing the woman who had shown her how to fly through her eyes, held tight by the man who had given her the right to fly originally. Losing Dinah felt very akin to the feeling she had faced the morning she knew she was never going to walk again.
He held her, settling her into his arms more securely, rocking her slowly, letting the attempt at comforting her take some of his own grief for one of his city's daughters, a woman he'd once wanted badly... "I'm sorry, Babs," he said against her hair, hating the uselessness of the words.
She stayed tucked close to him, knowing dimly in her mind it should be Dick here, Dick the one he held and cared for…but Dick would not accept it, and right now Bruce was all Barbara had as she grieved.
He held her tightly, hand moving slowly over her hair, wishing there was something he could do to help with her grief... but Dinah had taken even that away from them, with that single, suicidal move.
"I never told her Bruce…never told her just what she meant in my life," Barbara whispered.
//Oh, Barbara... I taught you too well.// He held her a little closer, shaking his head. "Dinah knew people, Babs..." it was mild comfort, at best, that he was sure she had known, in that way she had...
"Except him... or maybe she did. Maybe that's why she chose that." Barbara closed her eyes. "Thank you." It was a whisper, and she loosened her grip, in case he needed to go, now that she was almost back under control.
He was willing to let her go if she insisted, but this was where he needed to be right now. She felt that willingness, and nodded once, before just breathing in the security he offered.
`~`~`~`~`
Nightwing walked off the Outsiders jet once Shift parked it, Lian still cradled in his arms, asleep, going over where to go next. He'd promised Roy late one night he would never take Lian into the Haven. He couldn't stand the thought of walking into Roy's apartment, seeing the mess he always swore he'd get to tomorrow... and the Manor was as out of the question as the moon... It was Bruce Slade had impersonated to get close enough to his lover, Bruce that had bankrolled the team that had killed his lover, his best friend...
He heard the touchdown of feet behind him, then another pair of feet hitting the roof with purposeful noise. "Nightwing." It was Tim's voice, which meant it was probably Superboy with him.
"Robin." He turned, looking towards him. "Yes?"
Kon wasn't real good at body language, and his people-reading sucked a lot, especially with Bats... but even he could see that this had ripped Nightwing in half and not left much behind. //Guess it was really true...//
"I thought you might want a ride somewhere." Robin kept his tone even, pushing his concern away, out of his body and face and voice.
Nightwing nodded once. "Figuring out where. Can't go too far..."
"Yes you can." Robin gave him a firm look behind the lenses. "The cabin."
Dick closed his eyes behind the lenses as he held still by main force, then slowly nodded again. "Good idea, Robin." He'd taken care of most of the details on the way, made sure the NYPD knew how to contact him... He could go. He'd have to get things for Lian--god, he ddn't have a clue...--but they'd be okay for a little bit. "Let's go."
He let himself step towards Kon, and forced himself to be polite. "Hi, Superboy."
"Nightwing... I..." he changed what he was saying at a glare from Robin. "Guess I'm playing taxi."
"We'll get you two settled, then … Kon and I will get you both whatever you need." Robin was going to be sure Dick was taken care of, try and help him through this. He could not even think about losing Kon, and it wasn't even like they were together the way Dick and Roy had been.
Kon picked them both--all three--up carefully and took off, "So, where'm I headed, Tim?" once they wouldn't be heard.
Nightwing was rejecting the urge to say something cutting to his brother, and just cradled Lian more tightly, despite that Superboy had them both wrapped in his protective field.
Tim gave Kon directions, but focused intently on Dick with all other senses. He could tell the man was hurting, could tell he needed to let it out, but knew he would not while the girl was his focal point.
Kon settled down in front of the place before long, staring at it. Only the crazy-rich would call this place a cabin... but then, the Bat had to be loaded, to have all his toys, so... That made sense. He wasn't going near the door until one of them told him it wasn't going to set off some crazy security, either.
Nightwing walked towards the door, but let Tim handle the security system. It was all falling in on him, everything he'd been holding back with the full force of his will... but he had to hang on, for Lian's sake. Tim disarmed everything, checked the place over, then nodded silently to Dick. He tried to gauge if staying would do any good right now, or if Dick needed the alone time first.
"I... need to get out of this," Dick told his brother, and with a struggle, he started to offer Lian to his brother. He had to let her go that long, and Tim would keep her safe...
His brother accepted the child, shifting her against his chest carefully, cradling her head on his shoulder. A pang passed through him that he should have to learn how to hold a child because of the psychopath that had hurt Titans so many times over the years.
Nightwing nodded, and disappeared silently.
"He's..." Kon shut himself up, and tried to help. "Hey. Give me Lian. Go see if you can get him to talk, or something..."
"I can't, Kon. If Lian woke up... no, I have to hold her." Tim looked at his best friend. "It hasn't been that long since she went through a real bad time."
"Okay. What can I do?" Tim looked damn serious about that, so Kon let it go.
Dick walked into the room he'd used a few times and started stripping out of the Nightwing suit, pieces falling almost violently as he abandoned the role that had proved so utterly useless, and dug quickly for civilian clothing, sliding into it. A glance at himself in the mirror made him stop and attempt to control his expression, force himself calm... but every attempt slid away like water and he left the room again.
"Nothing... but just do what I ask, no matter what," Tim told his best friend.
"Okay." Kon hovered nearby... and looked up at the sound of a footstep, wincing away from the look on Nightwing's face now that his eyes were exposed. //He's...// the only word Kon could think of was 'broken', but that word couldn't apply to Nightwing, or they were all screwed... //Wait a... I know that face...// It was going to bug him until he figured it out, but that wasn't important right now.
Dick took his best fr--his--little girl away from his brother and settled into an armchair with her. "I'm okay, Tim. Go home. O's going to need you."
"She's covered." Tim did not need to say who, or that Dick should have come home; he knew better. "Kon and I will go get supplies, for you both."
Dick nodded once, just slowly stroking down Lian's hair slowly.
Kon followed Tim's lead, like normal. Tim took his best friend out of the cabin, hoping Lian was awake when they got back, so introductions could be made... and Tim could get Dick alone.
Kon looked at him with huge eyes, "He's... so completely not okay. Did he really think you'd buy that?"
"He's so busy hating right now, he can't see he's being the person he's hating," Tim said, shaking his head. "Let's hurry."
Kon nodded and picked Tim up to head into town.
*~*~
Lian woke with a very loud, piercing cry, as the drug fog gave way to a strange place and memories of Rose... what Rose had done…and then she smelled/felt Uncle Dick and burrowed into him.
"Lian, Lian you're safe. I'm here, you're safe," his voice told her as his arms held her tight against his chest. He couldn't bring himself to even mouth the words 'it's okay'.
"Rose killed the babysitter, Uncle Dick." Her voice was soft and quiet. "Daddy's going to have to find someone new..."
Despite every attempt, Dick's arms tightened around her as he fought the sob her words brought. //God I wish he could, Lian...//
Lian felt that, heard him breaking inside, and looked into his eyes. What she saw there made her throw her head forward onto his shoulder, howling in the pain of a child who just found her worst nightmare was real.
Dick held her tight, shuddering with the sobs he was fighting so hard not to let go, but the sound of her keening in grief... It was so hard not to just let go with her, and howl himself...
"DADDY! NO!"
"I'm sorry, baby," he choked, and as if that had shattered the floodgates, his own tears started, breath catching in choking sobs even as he fought to control it, not to frighten her with his grief... She'd just lost her father, her whole world... He didn't need to scare her...
She clung to his neck, entire tiny body wracked by sobs, but clinging hard to him in his crying. "Daddy left us... no, daddy..." She kept whimpering through her grief, not once relaxing her death grip on him.
"He didn't want to, baby," Dick forced out, thinking of the fight Roy'd put up, the wounds on him... //God, you fought... Slade, you son of a BITCH...// The rage let him get a handle on the grief and he stopped crying, breathing slowly evening out as he stroked her hair. "I'm so sorry, baby... So sorry..."
She pulled back, eyes read and swollen, face streaked by the effort of crying so hard. "Who's going to tuck my teddy bear in at night now?"
"I am, baby, if you'll let me..."
She choked back a sniffle, a tear tracing a line from her eye down her cheek. "Can I still go see Gran'pa Ollie and Uncle Connor and Aunt Mia? Or, if they're too far away, is it okay to see Aunt Dinah?" She was trying, trying to focus on Daddy not being there the right way, by seeing what was still okay.
"You can go to your Grampa and Uncle and Aunt as much as you want, baby--or at least, as often as I can take you." //Oh, god, how do I tell her?//
"Okay... Daddy...." She burst into tears then, and pressed her face into his chest. She couldn't stay calm for long; her heart felt like it wanted to stop in her chest, and breathing was very hard, but she clung to Dick. Daddy had told her once Uncle Dick would need her, if he never came home.
Dick's heart almost stopped as she started to cry again, something broken-off there in her words, and he helplessly petted her hair, rocking slightly in his grief.
`~`~`~`~`
J'onn used the teleporters to get close, then flew and phased into Ollie's house, praying to H'ronmeer that no gossip flew ahead of him. It was best Oliver hear it from a friend, one they both had shared over the years.
Connor had headed home the moment Mia's call reached him, and between the two of them they'd coaxed him upstairs to the living room, though he refused to release that communicator. Mia'd filled him in quietly, and his heart ached for the "brother" he'd barely gotten to know, for his father's grief, and for his little niece.
"Shit!" Mia could not help the startled reaction as one of The Big Heroes was suddenly in her living room. Ollie looked up from his hands, saw J'onn, and blanched white in such rapidity that Mia worried about his heart. He was up on his feet the next moment, striding over to face the alien.
"J'onn?" The voice was quiet, half-pleading, half-denying what his presence meant.
"Oliver... Dinah found Deathstroke."
Ollie's face went hard, masked in fury, and his hand flexed. "I'm going to kill..." He was pulled up short, out of the litany of hate, of the thirst to hunt by J'onn taking both his shoulders, vaguely aware of a presence focusing here on this house, summoned by that need to avenge what had been done to his family.
"Oliver... she finished that hunt... at the cost of her life."
As his words hit the air, Mia cried out sharply, and Ollie started to collapse bonelessly. J'onn was helped in catching him, in guiding him down as the Spectre formed fully, there for his friend, too late one more time.
Connor flinched back from the words, first his father's seething rage, then the confirmation that they'd lost Dinah, too... He went to Mia, pulling her against his chest, as another presence formed in the house, one he hardly recognized...
"She's gone too... Roy, Dinah... god, Connor, you're all he's got now..." Mia whispered softly, curling into him.
Connor shook his head. "No. We're all he's got," he corrected her, holding her close, feeling the weight of it settle heavy around his shoulders, and he cursed mentally at the cruel hand fate had dealt his family, that he had had to tell his father's soul's mate that he had died, and now was here while his father, brought back, heard that the woman he'd never stopped loving had left him behind, now...
The Spectre pushed his hood back, to reveal the visage of Hal Jordan, and all he could do was hold onto Ollie from the back, while J'onn let him rest his head on his chest. Ollie was making very little sound, but his body was all but convulsing with the sheer weight of his grief-stricken crying.
"We're here, Ollie..." Hal said softly. "We're here."
The only answer for him was another silent sob.
`~`~`~`~`
Title: When It All Falls Down
Cowriter:
merfilly Characters: Green Arrow, Nightwing-centric
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 5,281
Continuity: Inspired by
pervyficgirl's On a Simple Twist of Fate, companion to The Grief of a Mother Disclaimer: DC Comics owns
Notes: Character Deaths
When Nightwing's frozen voice had crackled across the Outsiders communicators, ordering them to move for Arsenal's communicator, everyone had known something was horribly wrong. They were used to him sounding cold, but... Shift had remarked softly that liquid nitrogen was warmer, even as Indigo traced the position and they all went. They'd found him in his own blood, armor more than half destroyed, and the mark of the blade had made Starfire turn pale, fingers hard against her lips.
Then Nightwing was on the rooftop with them, and even Grace, simmering with rage, had fallen dead silent at the look on his face as he slowly dropped to one knee beside the body of his old friend. His fingers ran barely above the skin as he mapped the wounds, measured them, and Indigo flinched at the low whisper. "Never. Again."
It sounded like a promise, a vow, and they all shivered at the next words, at the bitter hate in them. "You tried to warn me, Roy... it's not going to happen again." He closed Roy's eyes with gentle fingertips. "Grace."
"Yeah, Boss?" She wasn't arguing with him, not when he sounded like that...
"NYPD's on the way. Stay with him. Stay out of their way. Once they've moved him, come back. We're going hunting."
"Alright, Nightwing."
"Hunting who?" came from Jade, her eyes hard but uncertain.
"Deathstroke." The name was like a polar wind as he came to his feet like uncoiling steel. "This was his work."
Starfire nodded once at the confirmation, and she reached out to Nightwing, trying to catch his shoulder as she said something low and not human--and he exploded into motion, slamming her hand away from him violently. "Don't touch me, Starfire. And don't call me that."
"How're we going to find a guy like that?" Shift asked.
"It's all about knowing where to look," Nightwing replied, expression hard below the mask. "And I do."
The first members of the NYPD made it up the stairs, and Nightwing turned and was gone. The rest of the Outsiders followed, barring Grace.
*~*~*~*
Mia hung up her phone, eyes haunted as she went in search of Ollie, hoping he had not left on patrol yet. She got down into the basement just as Ollie was shouldering his quiver, and Mia stopped, her face going ghost white as she realized just what she had to say and how it was going to fall.
"Ollie?"
The archer paused, turning to see the girl he had taken in, the girl he had just let pick up her own bow. She wasn't going out tonight, supposed to be studying, he remembered, but the look on her face, the tears gathering at the corners of her eyes... he suddenly realized she was crying for him, not for what she needed to say, as she rushed over and hugged his waist.
"What... what is it, Mia?" His voice would barely work as he held onto her, his guts twisting in a knot.
"Arsenal.. Starfire just called... Arsenal's body was found. They think it was Deathstroke." Mia felt those arms that could pull a bow worthy of Penelope's challenge to her suitors tighten around her, as grief lashed into him with vengeance. She eased him down to the floor when she felt his knees giving way.
"My boy..." Ollie could barely breathe. Roy had been his son, had been his pride and joy for years. So many things suffered together, so many things shared... so many mistakes. The tears streamed down his face with unabashed openness, and Mia just crouched close by. She had not gotten to know Roy well, and now she wished she had, seeing the way it turned her guardian's
heart inside out.
"The Outsiders are hunting." It was a weak offering, the thought of justice for his near-son, his protégé. He nodded, moving to try and rise, but still lost and weakened by the emotional blow. His skin paled and he reached out for her arm.
"Phone, Mia..." He accepted it as she handed it over, dialing a number quickly, and cursing when he got a voice drop. "Shit, shit, shit... Roy, son... god, please don't let her..."
He was up and moving, focusing on something, and Mia was almost frightened as he found the League communicator he never bothered with.
"League, this is Arrow! Come in, damn it!"
"Green Arrow?" The synthesized voice of Oracle cut in. "We are aware..."
"This not about my boy, Oracle! It's Canary... she has to be found!"
"I have her position in her... oh, no." Oracle's voice, despite synthesizing, carried a note of distress. "Vengeance isn't her..."
"For our boy, it would be," Green Arrow choked out.
"Stand by, Arrow... and you have my deepest sympathy for your loss." Oracle cut the connection to try and find her number one operative. Ollie hung onto the worktable to stay upright, swearing fluidly that he wished Hal were here, that he needed someone who could find Canary before she wound up in the hospital. Mia took her phone, and called the places she knew Connor
might be, to get him home for Ollie, who seemed unable to move as his body shook with grief and fear.
*~*~*~
There was nothing but ice in Nightwing's veins, nothing but precision in the way his hands moved over the computers as he worked some wizardry with the systems. He hadn't spoken since he flung himself off that rooftop, despite several attempts to coax him into it. His eyes were narrow behind the mask as he attempted to figure out which of Deathstroke's nearby safehouses the mur--he--was in.
"Nightwing." It was the precise, synthetic voice of Oracle at her most professional.
"Yes?"
"Black Canary has gone offline. She left her gear in her apartment." The facts were given, left to hang where Nightwing could draw his own conclusions. "I have reason to believe she has knowledge of your shared prey."
"And?" //If you can't find her, why are you bothering me with it?// He finally got a hit, soft hiss of satisfaction half-heard over the line.
"Don't let her do it," Oracle said firmly. "I know you both...felt strongly toward Roy. Save each other now."
//Felt strongly towards? He was--// He couldn't afford the thought, the distraction... nothing mattered right now but finding Deathstroke and stopping him from being the cause of another Titan's death... The anger tried to come again, the grief... but he refused to let it touch him. He had to be stopped, and it would be him that did it, this time. For good. "Mm. If you find her, tell me. I have a possible location. We're moving."
"I'm listening and looking for us all," she promised him.
"Nightwing Out." He shut off the communicator with a carefully precise twist as he called the Outsiders to meet at the jet, getting into motion. None of them were being particularly vocal, as Nightwing's demeanor chilled them all, even Grace, who was gnashing her teeth at Roy's murder.
"Got a possible location," he told them as he walked onto the jet, waiting just long enough for them to settle in before he had the jet in motion. He knew he ought to brief them, remind them of Deathstroke's capabilities.. but he couldn't bring the words to his lips, couldn't manage to speak past the ice in his heart and throat.
Seeing that, Starfire drew in a deep breath. Despite his earlier reaction to her, she would try to help, speaking in a low voice to the others, less experienced, about just what the man could do. Nightwing nodded sharply at a few points, as he took them fast towards that location.
~*~*~*
He brought them in low and fast over the ground, coming up on what should have been Slade's safe house. A car sat there, doors still open, lights blazing…and Rose just picking herself up from the outskirts of a volatile explosion ring.
//What the?// "Go," he snapped the second he saw it, hand slamming down on a hatch release. None of them would have trouble with the drop. "Ravager is as fast as her father and insane," he warned the others. "Starfire." 'Don't let her go' passed between them. He was trying to make out the details of what lay inside that ring of debris.
Starfire nodded sharply, and the team was on top of it. Starfire detailed Anissa and Grace both to take Rose, while she and Jade did an aerial survey.
"Aww shit…" That came from Shift, almost the same instant Dick took in the bike outside the blast radius, and what looked to be severely damaged bodies within the ring.
"Shift?" sharp, harsh question as he went over the ring and headed towards... them. The blue and orange armor was still half-intact, leaving little doubt in his mind, but the other, the long, full-black bodysuit on the small body... He swallowed hard as it hit him, just who that other, horribly mangled figure had to be... and it didn't take much longer to realize exactly what she'd done.
"Oh, brilliant... Suicide, but brilliant..." he whispered, even as rage screamed through him that she'd taken it out of his hands.
"I know that bike...Rex's got pics of that bike," Shift said, voice haunted by the not quite memories.
Starfire stayed in the air, not trusting this, feeling a catastrophe in the making.
Rose offered no resistance, as Anissa and Grace cornered her, still in deep shock as she stared at where her father should have been victorious, where he should have made the woman die... at where the evidence of his failure was still lying.
Nightwing nodded once, sharply, trying to leash the storm of rage he'd been holding to turn loose on Slade. Stripped of his target, he was struggling to keep it under control. "Black Canary." //Damn you, Dinah.//
Shift groaned, but it was Jade who gave a short cry, looking first at the bike, and then at the bodies.
"Oh god..." She covered her mouth, horrified at just what this would mean, to her family. She'd never gotten close to Dinah, but knew she had been like a daughter or niece to the senior JSA members. She instinctively thought to reach for Kyle, so far away in space, but hoping he could feel her; she knew she was going to need him soon.
"Car." Rose's first word caught Grace's attention. "Back."
Grace jerked her head, and Anissa tightened the hold on Rose, increasing her density to make it an unbreakable hold, while Grace checked the back of the car. What she saw caused her to rip the back door wide open.
"NIGHTWING!"
He spun, hearing the savagery and shock in Grace's voice and moved, racing to the car, to her, his eyes widening as he saw the small figure in the back and he went under her arm, into the seat, pulling Lian back out of the car, holding her in one arm as he checked her over with the other, fast, efficient movements. //So still, no... pulse's fine. She's breathing fine. Drugged. Just drugged. She's safe. She's okay.//
His legs nearly went out from under him, relief and a whole new tide of rage slamming through him as he held her tight against his body, and the control broke on his voice as he swore in filthy Romany about Slade's parentage, habits, manners and certain destination in the afterlife, consigning him to hell.
"Roy's child?!" Now Starfire did come to land, eyes snapping as she looked at Rose with anger.
"Daddy wanted me to have a little sister, perfect sister...."
Any doubt they might have had on the white-haired girl's sanity evaporated at the lost, little girl tone that went with those chilling words and the discovery of Lian being in their custody.
Dick kept Lian tight against his chest as his head came around at Rose's words, and it was as if the eyes behind the mask looked straight through her. "He protected you." The words were low and icy. "And this is how you repay him?"
He had to keep it together, he was all Lian had now, the contingency plans had always been Dinah first, him second, but they were still there in the will, once it was read, Roy'd never wanted Lian to go to Ollie, even after they patched things... He had to keep it together for her... //I have to tell everyone.// He turned the comm link back on. "Oracle."
Even Anissa shuddered at the tone of Nightwing's voice, especially directed at the broken thing she held, then dragged Rose away, to secure her until they decided what to do with her.
"Oracle here." There was dread in her voice, hidden behind the synthetic one.
"It's bad," he warned her. If he said it, everything was real.
"Go ahead Nightwing." Fully professional, the dispatcher of the League, the data queen to countless heroes, was ready to take the news she had been dreading, that Canary or he had gotten to Slade, been injured severely, or one of the Outsiders maybe.
The cool in her voice, the professional composure steadied him, pulled him into the focus of the report, the necessary details... but he walked away from the Outsiders, far enough that no-one could hear his voice, and his back was turned "I don't know how Canary beat us here, but she did. ...Deathstroke's down. Permanently... and... she's gone, Babs. She took him with her. Ravager's in custody, seems to have snapped... and they had Lian."
There was silence for a moment. "You'll find a tracker on whatever vehicle she had," Oracle managed. "She said she was going to check on Lian, not tell her yet, just check... that was before comm. silence. The tracker is keyed to Lian... microchip. Dinah's idea." She was focusing on the how, to keep from breaking down over the loss of the one person she... "Lian?"
"Safe. Drugged, but I've got her." //God, why didn't Roy or I think of that?!// "...I... I'm sorry, Babs." //If I'd been faster...// "Need a League team down here, O... but it's messy."
There was a choked sound at that. "En route. Containment and clean up, to be on the safe side, Nightwing. I'll handle further information dissemination."
He nodded once, though she couldn't see it. //Who can I get to go to her?// He couldn't. Lian was going to be all he could handle... and he was so angry at Dinah he could hardly breathe, angry with the world, Roy, himself, and if he saw Bruce... best not to think about that. "Alright. We'll stay until they get here." He held Lian close, hoping whatever she'd been drugged with held out a little longer...
"Oracle out."
Once he let it be seen he was done, Jade came up. "Nightwing... I have to go. I can't let..."
"Go, Jade. Fast." Everyone knew Dinah's ties to the JSA, to Jade's father. "We've got this."
She launched skyward with the next heartbeat, hoping the word moved slower than she did that one of their own had fallen... and so needlessly.
`~`~`~`~`
"J'onn?" The voice was solid, human, but composed.
"Oracle," he said in turn.
"The call for the League... from Arrow?" she said.
"Yes?" He did not mean to prod against her mind, but her voice cracked when she tried to speak, and he hissed a deep breath inward. "Dinah!" he exclaimed, despite himself.
"Arrow needs to be told." Oracle could not do it herself; it would break her concentration on matters at hand.
"On my way... and I am here for you."
"He needs you." She would grieve later…much later.
`~`~`~`~`
Moments after she finished the call to J'onn, a shadow moved through her rooms, came to stand behind and at her side in her vision before, a black-gloved hand settled on her shoulder.
Oracle thought about contacting the JSA next, or her own shaky team mate... but Jade was on the Outsiders and Huntress... Huntress would know soon enough. She pulled her boards to standby, and turned slowly to look up at him, fighting the urge to break down.
"Dinah's gone. She did it. She took out Deathstroke…but it cost her her own life."
"I... overheard," the Bat nodded, and knelt down beside her, folding the lenses back to look at her from dark blue eyes. Knowing that he could not go near his son right now... was agonizing, but he could be here for Barbara, who'd lost nearly as much.
She met those eyes, before letting the tears spill. "So stupid, but she knew they had Lian... she'd have seen that as a threat for the rest of Lian's life, some sinister plan on their part..." She sobbed softly. "Too grief blind by losing Arsenal, then to know Lian was in danger? Stupid woman." She was torn between anger at what Dinah had done, and seeing, knowing why it had happened.
Her tears made him reach for her, offering his support. He wasn't good at comforting people, but seeing her cry... He couldn't help a nod at her words. She'd picked the situation apart perfectly. "Apparently she thought she had no choice..."
"Sometimes, her world was black and white. She might even have been right... but oh, god, Bruce!" She gave way to the full weight of losing the woman who had shown her how to fly through her eyes, held tight by the man who had given her the right to fly originally. Losing Dinah felt very akin to the feeling she had faced the morning she knew she was never going to walk again.
He held her, settling her into his arms more securely, rocking her slowly, letting the attempt at comforting her take some of his own grief for one of his city's daughters, a woman he'd once wanted badly... "I'm sorry, Babs," he said against her hair, hating the uselessness of the words.
She stayed tucked close to him, knowing dimly in her mind it should be Dick here, Dick the one he held and cared for…but Dick would not accept it, and right now Bruce was all Barbara had as she grieved.
He held her tightly, hand moving slowly over her hair, wishing there was something he could do to help with her grief... but Dinah had taken even that away from them, with that single, suicidal move.
"I never told her Bruce…never told her just what she meant in my life," Barbara whispered.
//Oh, Barbara... I taught you too well.// He held her a little closer, shaking his head. "Dinah knew people, Babs..." it was mild comfort, at best, that he was sure she had known, in that way she had...
"Except him... or maybe she did. Maybe that's why she chose that." Barbara closed her eyes. "Thank you." It was a whisper, and she loosened her grip, in case he needed to go, now that she was almost back under control.
He was willing to let her go if she insisted, but this was where he needed to be right now. She felt that willingness, and nodded once, before just breathing in the security he offered.
`~`~`~`~`
Nightwing walked off the Outsiders jet once Shift parked it, Lian still cradled in his arms, asleep, going over where to go next. He'd promised Roy late one night he would never take Lian into the Haven. He couldn't stand the thought of walking into Roy's apartment, seeing the mess he always swore he'd get to tomorrow... and the Manor was as out of the question as the moon... It was Bruce Slade had impersonated to get close enough to his lover, Bruce that had bankrolled the team that had killed his lover, his best friend...
He heard the touchdown of feet behind him, then another pair of feet hitting the roof with purposeful noise. "Nightwing." It was Tim's voice, which meant it was probably Superboy with him.
"Robin." He turned, looking towards him. "Yes?"
Kon wasn't real good at body language, and his people-reading sucked a lot, especially with Bats... but even he could see that this had ripped Nightwing in half and not left much behind. //Guess it was really true...//
"I thought you might want a ride somewhere." Robin kept his tone even, pushing his concern away, out of his body and face and voice.
Nightwing nodded once. "Figuring out where. Can't go too far..."
"Yes you can." Robin gave him a firm look behind the lenses. "The cabin."
Dick closed his eyes behind the lenses as he held still by main force, then slowly nodded again. "Good idea, Robin." He'd taken care of most of the details on the way, made sure the NYPD knew how to contact him... He could go. He'd have to get things for Lian--god, he ddn't have a clue...--but they'd be okay for a little bit. "Let's go."
He let himself step towards Kon, and forced himself to be polite. "Hi, Superboy."
"Nightwing... I..." he changed what he was saying at a glare from Robin. "Guess I'm playing taxi."
"We'll get you two settled, then … Kon and I will get you both whatever you need." Robin was going to be sure Dick was taken care of, try and help him through this. He could not even think about losing Kon, and it wasn't even like they were together the way Dick and Roy had been.
Kon picked them both--all three--up carefully and took off, "So, where'm I headed, Tim?" once they wouldn't be heard.
Nightwing was rejecting the urge to say something cutting to his brother, and just cradled Lian more tightly, despite that Superboy had them both wrapped in his protective field.
Tim gave Kon directions, but focused intently on Dick with all other senses. He could tell the man was hurting, could tell he needed to let it out, but knew he would not while the girl was his focal point.
Kon settled down in front of the place before long, staring at it. Only the crazy-rich would call this place a cabin... but then, the Bat had to be loaded, to have all his toys, so... That made sense. He wasn't going near the door until one of them told him it wasn't going to set off some crazy security, either.
Nightwing walked towards the door, but let Tim handle the security system. It was all falling in on him, everything he'd been holding back with the full force of his will... but he had to hang on, for Lian's sake. Tim disarmed everything, checked the place over, then nodded silently to Dick. He tried to gauge if staying would do any good right now, or if Dick needed the alone time first.
"I... need to get out of this," Dick told his brother, and with a struggle, he started to offer Lian to his brother. He had to let her go that long, and Tim would keep her safe...
His brother accepted the child, shifting her against his chest carefully, cradling her head on his shoulder. A pang passed through him that he should have to learn how to hold a child because of the psychopath that had hurt Titans so many times over the years.
Nightwing nodded, and disappeared silently.
"He's..." Kon shut himself up, and tried to help. "Hey. Give me Lian. Go see if you can get him to talk, or something..."
"I can't, Kon. If Lian woke up... no, I have to hold her." Tim looked at his best friend. "It hasn't been that long since she went through a real bad time."
"Okay. What can I do?" Tim looked damn serious about that, so Kon let it go.
Dick walked into the room he'd used a few times and started stripping out of the Nightwing suit, pieces falling almost violently as he abandoned the role that had proved so utterly useless, and dug quickly for civilian clothing, sliding into it. A glance at himself in the mirror made him stop and attempt to control his expression, force himself calm... but every attempt slid away like water and he left the room again.
"Nothing... but just do what I ask, no matter what," Tim told his best friend.
"Okay." Kon hovered nearby... and looked up at the sound of a footstep, wincing away from the look on Nightwing's face now that his eyes were exposed. //He's...// the only word Kon could think of was 'broken', but that word couldn't apply to Nightwing, or they were all screwed... //Wait a... I know that face...// It was going to bug him until he figured it out, but that wasn't important right now.
Dick took his best fr--his--little girl away from his brother and settled into an armchair with her. "I'm okay, Tim. Go home. O's going to need you."
"She's covered." Tim did not need to say who, or that Dick should have come home; he knew better. "Kon and I will go get supplies, for you both."
Dick nodded once, just slowly stroking down Lian's hair slowly.
Kon followed Tim's lead, like normal. Tim took his best friend out of the cabin, hoping Lian was awake when they got back, so introductions could be made... and Tim could get Dick alone.
Kon looked at him with huge eyes, "He's... so completely not okay. Did he really think you'd buy that?"
"He's so busy hating right now, he can't see he's being the person he's hating," Tim said, shaking his head. "Let's hurry."
Kon nodded and picked Tim up to head into town.
*~*~
Lian woke with a very loud, piercing cry, as the drug fog gave way to a strange place and memories of Rose... what Rose had done…and then she smelled/felt Uncle Dick and burrowed into him.
"Lian, Lian you're safe. I'm here, you're safe," his voice told her as his arms held her tight against his chest. He couldn't bring himself to even mouth the words 'it's okay'.
"Rose killed the babysitter, Uncle Dick." Her voice was soft and quiet. "Daddy's going to have to find someone new..."
Despite every attempt, Dick's arms tightened around her as he fought the sob her words brought. //God I wish he could, Lian...//
Lian felt that, heard him breaking inside, and looked into his eyes. What she saw there made her throw her head forward onto his shoulder, howling in the pain of a child who just found her worst nightmare was real.
Dick held her tight, shuddering with the sobs he was fighting so hard not to let go, but the sound of her keening in grief... It was so hard not to just let go with her, and howl himself...
"DADDY! NO!"
"I'm sorry, baby," he choked, and as if that had shattered the floodgates, his own tears started, breath catching in choking sobs even as he fought to control it, not to frighten her with his grief... She'd just lost her father, her whole world... He didn't need to scare her...
She clung to his neck, entire tiny body wracked by sobs, but clinging hard to him in his crying. "Daddy left us... no, daddy..." She kept whimpering through her grief, not once relaxing her death grip on him.
"He didn't want to, baby," Dick forced out, thinking of the fight Roy'd put up, the wounds on him... //God, you fought... Slade, you son of a BITCH...// The rage let him get a handle on the grief and he stopped crying, breathing slowly evening out as he stroked her hair. "I'm so sorry, baby... So sorry..."
She pulled back, eyes read and swollen, face streaked by the effort of crying so hard. "Who's going to tuck my teddy bear in at night now?"
"I am, baby, if you'll let me..."
She choked back a sniffle, a tear tracing a line from her eye down her cheek. "Can I still go see Gran'pa Ollie and Uncle Connor and Aunt Mia? Or, if they're too far away, is it okay to see Aunt Dinah?" She was trying, trying to focus on Daddy not being there the right way, by seeing what was still okay.
"You can go to your Grampa and Uncle and Aunt as much as you want, baby--or at least, as often as I can take you." //Oh, god, how do I tell her?//
"Okay... Daddy...." She burst into tears then, and pressed her face into his chest. She couldn't stay calm for long; her heart felt like it wanted to stop in her chest, and breathing was very hard, but she clung to Dick. Daddy had told her once Uncle Dick would need her, if he never came home.
Dick's heart almost stopped as she started to cry again, something broken-off there in her words, and he helplessly petted her hair, rocking slightly in his grief.
`~`~`~`~`
J'onn used the teleporters to get close, then flew and phased into Ollie's house, praying to H'ronmeer that no gossip flew ahead of him. It was best Oliver hear it from a friend, one they both had shared over the years.
Connor had headed home the moment Mia's call reached him, and between the two of them they'd coaxed him upstairs to the living room, though he refused to release that communicator. Mia'd filled him in quietly, and his heart ached for the "brother" he'd barely gotten to know, for his father's grief, and for his little niece.
"Shit!" Mia could not help the startled reaction as one of The Big Heroes was suddenly in her living room. Ollie looked up from his hands, saw J'onn, and blanched white in such rapidity that Mia worried about his heart. He was up on his feet the next moment, striding over to face the alien.
"J'onn?" The voice was quiet, half-pleading, half-denying what his presence meant.
"Oliver... Dinah found Deathstroke."
Ollie's face went hard, masked in fury, and his hand flexed. "I'm going to kill..." He was pulled up short, out of the litany of hate, of the thirst to hunt by J'onn taking both his shoulders, vaguely aware of a presence focusing here on this house, summoned by that need to avenge what had been done to his family.
"Oliver... she finished that hunt... at the cost of her life."
As his words hit the air, Mia cried out sharply, and Ollie started to collapse bonelessly. J'onn was helped in catching him, in guiding him down as the Spectre formed fully, there for his friend, too late one more time.
Connor flinched back from the words, first his father's seething rage, then the confirmation that they'd lost Dinah, too... He went to Mia, pulling her against his chest, as another presence formed in the house, one he hardly recognized...
"She's gone too... Roy, Dinah... god, Connor, you're all he's got now..." Mia whispered softly, curling into him.
Connor shook his head. "No. We're all he's got," he corrected her, holding her close, feeling the weight of it settle heavy around his shoulders, and he cursed mentally at the cruel hand fate had dealt his family, that he had had to tell his father's soul's mate that he had died, and now was here while his father, brought back, heard that the woman he'd never stopped loving had left him behind, now...
The Spectre pushed his hood back, to reveal the visage of Hal Jordan, and all he could do was hold onto Ollie from the back, while J'onn let him rest his head on his chest. Ollie was making very little sound, but his body was all but convulsing with the sheer weight of his grief-stricken crying.
"We're here, Ollie..." Hal said softly. "We're here."
The only answer for him was another silent sob.
`~`~`~`~`