Wonderland | Dick Grayson

14

Star City, Oregon

"I need your help" Ashley said when Dinah opened the door of the home she shared with Oliver.

"Ash?" Dinah asked in concern, moving aside so Ashley could enter. "What happened?" Dinah asked her.

"Luthor" Ashley admitted. "I only remember hearing something about a metagene but I can't remember, and I won't ask J'onn to scramble my brain unless I have too" She told her aunt as she nervously picked at her nails.

"Like it or not, you're going to have to J'onn" Dinah sighed. "If you don't know what's going on, we can't fix it" Dinah reasoned.

"I don't want to involve the League" Ashley replied, stubborn as ever.

"Honey, I'm in the League" Dinah snorted. "And so is Oliver" Dinah nodded to her husband who had entered the room and looked like a deer in headlights when Dinah said his name.

"I didn't do it, whatever you two are talking about" Oliver said, narrowing his eyes and backing out of the room dramatically.

"So that's where I get it from" Ashley snorted.

"My point is that the League is already involved" Dinah said, sighing and shaking her head. "You're almost as paranoid as your father, Ashley. I'll give you the number for my own therapist-" Dinah began to say before Ashley interrupted her.

"I'm over people trying to figure out what's wrong inside my head, thanks" Ashley shook her head. "I'll allow you to involve J'onn if you can ensure absolute discretion" Ashley gave into her maternal figures' demands. "I don't need someone else blabbing about how fucked up I am to people who don't need to know" Ashley grumbled.

"I thought you'd agree" Dinah said, embracing her tightly. "We'll figure it all out, I'll go call J'onn, you go catch up with Oliver, I know he's missed you" Dinah said with a smile. 

"Can I just go sit on the patio?" Ashley asked her quietly, wanting to be alone with her thoughts. 

"Yeah, go ahead" Dinah said and patted Ashley's shoulder lovingly before walking off. Ashley sighed, making her way through the mansion and out to the large sitting area on the backside of the home to watch the ocean. Ashley took a seat and put her phone down on the table, alone with her thoughts and churning gut as she thought about everything she had went through and wondered what exactly she had done while she was inside CADMUS' walls with a feeling of disappointment of her brain letting her down. Ashley laced her hands together and sat them on her stomach as she watched the moon dance on the water in the distance.

"You okay kid?" Oliver asked, stepping outside and looking down at her with a concerned frown. "Dinah said you were going through it."

"Not at all" Ashley sighed, shaking her head and snorting in disappointment. 

"You wanna talk about it?" Oliver asked her, giving her an opportunity to set a boundary with her current predicament. 

"Talk about what?" Ashley asked, shaking her head. "The man who I thought I was going to marry running off again? How about me losing Gar and Connor? Or my entire team fracturing and running off to various points of the US? Or the fact I was kidnapped by CADMUS and can't remember shit from my time there. woke up covered in mud and sewage with my mother standing over me and then finding out that I'm much stronger than I used to be?" Ashley asked and shook her head. "I don't even know who I am anymore, and that's the part that sucks the most" Ashley sighed and leaned her head back. "There's also the fact that my phone is overloaded with notifications from however long I was gone and I don't care to find out what all of them are right now" Ashley snorted.