It had been nearly a year had a half since Jason Todd died and Lyla had not returned to Gotham.
She had talked to Barbra twice when she had called to check in on her, and Dick once barely a month ago. Dick had called her from Barbra's phone in tears. The Joker had become aggressive again, he'd shot Barbra through the spine. By the time he called her Barbra was awake and recovering. She nearly went back then but she was too close, Cadmus would fall, she'd make sure of it.
In the year and half she had almost single-handedly taken down all of Cadmus.
She was sure she was at the last facility is existence.
It was an unassuming building in an old warehouse area on the outskirts of Memphis, Tennessee. The bleeding heat of a Tennessee July had made this stake out her most uncomfortable yet.
Phantom was on a building across the street, binoculars aimed through the only window. She'd tracked a shipment here from the last facility a few states over. The equipment they where moving around carried scarce traces of radioactive material making it relatively easy to track. She had Cadmus backed into a corner, this place was all they had left.
A knot turned in her stomach, telling her she wasn't alone.
Connor had left her to her endeavors a few weeks in, telling her to call if she was ever in a pinch, and Roy helped her with information, but this wasn't them.
This was someone new, she could feel it.
Suddenly someone yelled " LOOK OUT!" And she was shoved to the side and onto her back. A bullet flew past her as she fell.
A sniper.
How had she missed it?
She scouted the entire block this morning.
A young masked figure knelt next to her.
She suddenly couldn't breath, couldn't think.
He shouldn't be here.
It's not possible.
" No." she whispered
" Are you okay?"
" Your dead." She pleaded "Robin?"
" Oh my god, you're Phantom! This is to cool!" The wrong voice rang out.
In an instant Lyla switched their position. She pinned the imposter to the roof, knife to his throat.
" Who are you?" She growled through gritted teeth?
" I...I'm Robin. The..uh... The new one."
She let the kid up. " Bruce you bastard." She whispered.
" Look I'm kinda new to this but I didn't think Batman's crew used lethal weapons."
He said, gesturing to the blade in her hand. Punchlines dagger, the one Dick killed her with. One of the few things she'd taken with her.
A tool of chaos, now her tool of vengeance.
" I'm not one of Batman's little kids. Not anymore." She admitted, to herself as much as to him. "What are you doing here kid?"
" Trying to figure out who's burning Cadmus labs to the ground."
" Oh yeah sorry." She shrugged.
" So did you figure it out yet?" He asked.
"What?"
"That Cadmus doesn't have Jason."
"I think I figured it out months ago."
" Then why haven't you moved on?"
" I don't want to think about what the other option might have done to him."
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A Ghost Girl and a Zombie Boy A Red Hood re-telling.
FanfictionWhat happens when a girl off the streets of Gotham is saved by a Robin with a promise to keep? Lyla has been alone most of life. She's never had family or responsibilities to ties her down. But as she's getting older life is getting harder, until o...
