Necromancer | Daughter of Batman

Chapter XXXI

Dr. Reynolds carefully spread the ultrasound gel all along Kimberly's abdomen and chest, placing the probe above her heart. "How are you feeling, Kimmy?" He asked, his eyes locked onto the screen in front of him. "Are you taking any food by mouth?"

"No... I can't bring myself to." She whispered. She watched as he eyed the feeding tube lodged in her stomach.

"No issues with your central line?" He moved the probe down underneath her breast.

"No." She whispered. A sharp pain rushed up into her neck, causing her to reflexively reach her hand to her right. She looked in the same direction, finding her father was not beside her, as he'd always been at these weekly appointments. Her lips quivered, and her eyes welled up with tears, but she pursed her lips and closed her eyes tightly.

"I'm sorry. I brushed over one of your scars." He watched carefully as she brought her outstretched hand back to her side. A few minutes of silence passed before Reynolds placed the probe back onto the machine and removed his gloves. "You can sit up now." He shook his head softly as she remained on her back, staring at the chair beside the cot. Reynolds sat down in that very chair before looking into his long term patient's eyes with sorrow. "I'm so sorry about your father, Kimberly. He loved you so dearly."

"He left us. Every night." She blinked her tears away. Her voice shattered as she spoke. "We never say goodbye. That's what we do, we never say goodbye." Her lips quivered as tears slipped across her nose. "And I didn't get to say goodbye." She sobbed and covered her eyes with her hand, the realization setting in even harder that her father would never return. She would never see him again. "We didn't say goodbye..."

Locating Talia's life force was easy. Kim managed to track her down to a large convent. The property was no less than a castle, with a large, cobblestone courtyard. Kim sensed at least five other entities with her, and hundreds more throughout the property. With the lack of medication and food in her body, it wouldn't be long before her power would turn on her. Beside her sat her dearest friend, who at her call, came right away to assist, unaware of her true intentions for these people.

"What's your plan?" Connor tilted his head in her direction. She inhaled deeply before speaking.

"I'm going to avenge my dad. The information we've gather so far indicates that this new group is calling themselves the League of Shadows. They're lead by Talia. Some of the assassins from the LOA are fiercely loyal to her, even after Deathstroke took over. These guards must be them. Everyone here must be." Kim grimaced. "Not only did they kidnap and torture us... They killed my Dad. So I'm... I'm gonna kill them."

"What?" Connor whispered sharply. "Are you fucking insane? You know we can't do that."

Kimberly stood on the hill overlooking the convent, her eyes burning with a fierce determination. "I have to do this, Connor," she said, her voice steady but filled with a deep, underlying pain. "These people work for her. They're the ones who made us suffer. They need to pay. And I don't care what it takes..."

Connor hesitated, his fists clenched at his sides. "Kim, are you sure? This is...this is a lot."

Kimberly turned to him, her eyes dark and resolute. "They took everything from us. They took my father. They can't get away with this. " She waved a hand toward the thirty guards standing on the roof. Immediately, a cloud of violet surrounded them. All at once, they collapsed as their lives escaped their bodies. Most fell to the concrete, alerting the others. They looked up toward their fallen teammates. An alarm sounded, and they began to run around, according to their routine.

Connor looked at her, seeing the raw intensity in her eyes as she took the lives of the humans before them. He knew there was no turning back. "Alright," he said finally, his voice hardening. "Let's do this."