Wonderland | Dick Grayson

2

San Fransico, California

"You really brought her home?" She asked Dick, obviously unimpressed with his actions. "The girl on the news?" She asked him as she attempted to not get angry. 

"Ashley" Dick said exasperated. "I can explain-" Dick said before he was interrupted.

"I don't want a damn explanation, I want you to start answering the damn questions instead of evading them" Ashley said and Dick just stared at her. "For all I know she's gonna kill us in our sleep" Ashley said angrily. 

"She's not going to kill us in our sleep, Ash" Dick said. "That's a tad dramatic" Dick said, before cringing at his choice of words. 

"Dramatic?" Ashley asked loudly. "How is it dramatic?" She yelled angrily. "She was judo-flipping cops on national television, and you're fucking calling me dramatic?" She yelled at him.

"Ashley you didn't see her out there-" Dick began.

"Look, I know because of Donna you have a thing for collecting strays now" Ashley said. "But you can't save them all, Dick" Ashley said quietly. "I can't keep up with anything else right now, either" Ashley shrugged sadly. "I am the legal guardian to two wonderful teenagers who are doing the best they can with the lot in life that they've been given that I currently homeschool" Ashley said quietly. "I am helping train my father's new sidekick, I manage this fucking household and finances, I have five businesses to run right now and one of which I am an active field agent for, and I'm trying to make sure that we work because I refuse to lose you again" Ashley said and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Do I not have enough on my plate right now?" Ashley asked him. Dick stared at her silently, not responding though he had a guilty look on his face. Ashley shook her head at him in disappointment. "You want to add this onto my plate, without even knowing who she is and you don't even have the fucking decency to answer me" Ashley said in disbelief as he stayed silent. "Well, when you feel like responding, you can come to find me" Ashley said, walking off to the tech room with Dick following silently behind her. 

When they entered, Ashley sat down at the computer and rubbed her face with her hands. She opened up the scanning system on the Titans computer and put her phone beside her for when Roy inevitably would inevitably let her know what had transpired in San Quintin. As Ashley began to start up the facial recognition, Dick's phone rang. "Hank?" He asked in confusion. He looked at the phone in confusion and shrugged before putting it on speakerphone. "You're on" Dick told him. 

"We got trouble" Hank said. "Dawn and I just got a visit from Doctor Light."

"He was in San Quintin" Ashley said quietly and began to text Roy the information that she had just learned. "Are you guys okay, at least?" Ashley asked him in concern.

"We are" Hank confirmed. "There was a kid we were helping..." Hank said, trailing off. "He wasn't so lucky" Hank confirmed.

"I'm sorry Hank" Ashley said genuinely. "If I would've known-" She began

"Shit happens right?" Hank interrupted her and cleared his throat afterward.

"Sometimes" Ashley confirmed, nodding her head before stopping when she realized the only person who could see her was Dick. 

"Are you sure it was Doctor LIght?" Dick asked. 

"We just saw a kid burn up from the inside out" Hank said to him angrily. "I'm pretty sure it was him."

"All right, I'm sorry" Dick apologized. "I just thought he was still in prison" Dick explained. 

"It makes sense" Ashley nodded. "I got a call from Roy that there was slaughter at San Quintin while you were out galavanting around and playing the white knight. He's checking it out for me" Ashley told Dick. He nodded his head at Ashley who was still seething with suppressed anger and looked at her peculiarly.