Falling into Gotham (Dick Grayson Fan Fiction)

Chapter 6

The three of us went all around Gotham for a couple of hours shopping for the essentials. The best thing about having a hero follow you around while shopping is that he'll carry all your bags and never complain. Well, he might complain a little, but it's okay because he'll carry your things anyway!

"You know, the Fab 5 is taller than I expected. Well I guess the Fab 4 considering Aqua Lad isn't here." I absentmindedly blurt out. Dick cocks an eyebrow in confusion while Karen giggles from the back seat of his car.

"The who?" He chuckles. "And he likes to go by Tempest nowadays."

"Oh uh... you, Donna, Wally, Roy, Garth. You're called the Fab 5 by fans."

Karen is full on laughing now, practically doubling over in her seat. "They're called the Fab 5? Like a boy group?" she cackles.

"Well, not a boy group. Since Donna's in it and everything." I mumble with embarrassment weaving into my words. Dick pats my knee in a way that's supposed to be comforting but all it does is make my mind go blank for a second. Even after he removes it my eyes stay glued to the spot he touched and the heat from his hand lingers. I clear my throat and look out the window while ignoring how my heart is trying to escape from my rib cage.

"Why are we called the Fab 5?" Dick asks.

"You're the OG teen titans. Fan favorites." I mumble. My eyes flit back to the area where he touched. I don't understand why I am so affected by him. He's not the first guy I've ever liked, but with them flirting was easy. Angela Brown never gets flustered. Especially over a man!

I shake those thoughts out of my mind as we pull into the Titans Tower. I'm just scared about all the new things happening to me. That's all. That's why I'm acting like this.

"Huh, it's nice to know we're so popular." Dick grins as we exit the car.

"With nerds." Karen adds.

"With nerds." He repeats sadly. I roll my eyes and bite back my smile.

"Um, I'm not a nerd am I?" I grab the bags of clothes out of the trunk and hand them to Dick who stands behind me. Our fingers brush each other briefly and I ignore the sparks that travel up my arm. "You're just popular with a certain group of people who some people sometimes call nerds because of their interests." I shrug.

"Uh huh." Karen giggles. "Right. Keep telling yourself that."

"It's the truth! Comic con is full of people who enjoy traditionally nerdy interests but are cool." Dick taps in some code to open the door to the tower and we enter it then head towards the elevator.

"Don't get so defensive Angela. It's okay to be a nerd." Karen giggles. She pats my shoulder and I shrug her off.

"I should've never said anything." I grumble to myself. Dick's phone beeps and he pulls it out of his pocket to check the message.

"I just got word from Cyborg. Your friend is cleared, do you want to go see her?" He asked me. I perk up and nod.

"Yes please. Zahra must be so scared right now." We drop my bags off in my room and head toward the medical room. When we enter it, Cyborg is talking to Zahra who looks freaked out. Her eyes seem like they're about to burst out of her head. She looks in our direction when she hears the door open and her mouth drops open when she sees me.

"Prez?! Is that you?" Her right arm is in a sling and her left arm has a cast. Her right leg is also in a cast. She has bruises all over her body, one of her eyes is swollen shut and is a nasty shade of purple. My eyes got watery just by the sight of her.

"Yeah, it's me." I rush towards her and hug her. She cries into my shoulder and does her best to hug me back even though her arms are so messed up.

"You've been gone for so long! Everyone thought you got kidnapped!" She sobs. I pat her back.

"How long have I been gone?" I ask softly.

She sniffles a bit before responding, "Two weeks."

Two weeks?! So time is moving so much faster back home than it is here.

"At first we all thought maybe you ran away with that dominican guy from last summer because of how into him you were. Remember when you almost bought those plane tickets to go see him again and Dominique had to stop you?"

Blood rushes to my cheeks at the mention of Brandon, my Dominican tryst that I was obsessed with for a little too long. Karen snickers behind me and I have to stop myself from curling into a ball and dying of embarrassment.

She continues, "But then when you were MIA for two days and we realized your phone and bag were in your room we thought you got kidnapped. I went to your room to see if I could find anything to mail to your mom, she's so upset and I thought maybe one of your things would help. Then I found this comic book under your bed. I was going to ignore it but the guy on the cover was really well drawn so I picked it up and then the next thing I knew I was falling from the sky! I hit the ground hard and then the guy from the cover and this robot man-"

"I'm a cyborg."

"Whatever! This cyborg man took me! I was in so much pain and no one explained anything to me and I'm pretty sure I saw the green boy was that old TV show. You know, Teen Titans! But I was in and out of consciousness so then I thought I was losing my mind. Now that I think about it though, the robot guy looks like that guy from Teen Titans too, and that emo girl..." Zahra paused and squinted her eyes at Cyborg.

"Um, so actually-" I tried to explain but she cut me off.

"NO FUCKING WAY!" She yells. I jump at the absolute volume her voice is at. "Are you the guy from Teen Titans? Am I in that fucking cartoon?!"

"We're a cartoon series too?" Dick whispers behind me.

"Not now!" I whisper back. I grab her one working hand to bring her attention back to me. "Listen Zahra, this is going to sound crazy but that comic book you picked up transported me here too. But for me, it's only been about two days. I'm not sure how or why, but right now we are inside that comic book."

She looks at me, and I can tell she's really contemplating my words. Her mind must be running a mile a minute. I just hold her hand and give her a squeeze to let her know I'm here for her.

"Where are we?" She asks softly after about a minute of stunned silence.

"Gotham." I reply just as softly.

"Like from the Batman movies." She didn't pose this as a question, but I answered with a nod anyway. "Okay. Cool... cool." Then she passed out. Cyborg caught her head before she hit the table too hard.

"She's in shock. I'm sure she'll wake up soon." He says as he softly lays her down and covers her with a blanket. "For now, maybe bring her some clothes so that she can change out of the hospital gown."

"Okay." I sigh. This poor girl didn't ask for this. She's so young and now her entire world is turned upside down. I open the door and walk into the hallway contemplated how the hell I can help my friend.