On The Darkest Night [2]

Unexpected Arrival

01
Unexpected Arrival
Season One: Episode 8

"Are you sure we're allowed in here?" Asked a timid Alister. He tucked himself neatly in the corner.

Donna Troy shrugged. "Well, Bruce said we can wait here while he talks to Diana and Shayera. Besides, you have to meet Dick!" She said.

She sat criss-crossed on the bed. A journal and a pen nestled close to her lap. In the days he'd known Donna, he'd known her notebook just as long.

"It feels like an invasion of privacy to be in his room without him." He said, arms crossed.

A boy Alister presumed to be Dick, stepped into the room. He tossed a shuriken at the headboard. Donna caught the shuriken with ease.

"I've always wanted one of these," Donna said. She twirled the blade in her hands.

Dick looked at her then at Alister. His brows furrowed but he said nothing. "I thought I heard Bruce talking to people downstairs." He said.

"Diana and Sheyara. This is her nephew, Alister. I think he's shy." Said Donna. She pointed her hand and an encouraging smile in his direction.

"I-I am not shy. I'm displaced." Alister corrected.

"Don't be dramatic, Al. Say hi to Dick." She said. The way she insisted made it hard for Alister to say no.

Alister looked Dick Grayson in the eye and tried to smile. His lips wouldn't budge. There was something about Dick's eyes; something haunting. Something familiar.

"I'm Alister Hall, Sheyara is my aunt." He said. It took all the courage he could muster to say those words. To lie about who he was.

"Don't be a dick, Dick." Donna said. She motioned for him to follow Alister's lead.

"Dick Grayson, Bruce Wayne's... kid." Dick said. He turned to Donna. "Happy?"

She rolled her eyes. "Anyway, they're here for a Justice League thing. I talked them into bringing us along, I thought we could get into some trouble." Donna said. Her mischievous grin said it all.

It faded when she noticed the smeared blood on the shuriken for the first time. "But I guess we missed all the fun."

"Yeah, it's not fun." Dick said, his tone deflated. "It's the Joker."

Donna inhaled a sharp breath. "Oh. Even Diana thinks that he's scary." She said.

Alister frowned. Scary men seemed to be a thing across the galaxy, then. It wasn't just a Thanagarian thing.

He gulped and shifted in his leather jacket. It was quite uncomfortable. The heat he could stand, but the pressure on his wings was unbearable.

"Bruce didn't want me there. I went anyway. Now I'm thinking he was right." Dick said.

"What happened?" Alister asked. He knew it was nothing good.