For The Reason Of Temporary Insanity: A DC Fanfiction

Unveiling Secrets

Rhyss

Rhyss felt her heart drop to her feet as she looked at the face on the computer screen. Her eyes were wide, and she had stopped breathing. Staring back at her, from the large screen, was the unmistakable face of her mother.

Suddenly, she felt hands grabbing her shoulders and shaking her, snapping her out of her stupor and forcing air back into her lungs. “Rhyss! Snap out of it.” She blinked and realized that Robin was shaking her. Gasping, she looked over at her sister, seeing the same look of shock reflected on her face.

Red Hood looked between the both of them. “What? Do you know her?” Lucilla nodded.

Swallowing, Rhyss looked back at Robin, who looked concerned and confused. “She’s - she’s our mother.” Robin’s eyes widened. Rhyss swallowed again, then turned towards Batman, the room completely silent. “I need to go home. I need my computers.”

Batman frowned. “What’s wrong with this one?” Rhyss glared at him, still pissed about how he treated Hailey.

“I need my personal records. And I’d feel more comfortable at my home, on my own computers, in my own chair. So if you have a problem with that, you can kindly fuck off.” Rhyss was seething, her fists clenched so hard, her nails were cutting into her hands, blood dripping onto the floor. Robin was staring at her, his eyes wide and mouth open.

“Holy shit.” Hood said. Rhyss glanced over to see Lucilla glaring at him as he nodded at her. Lucilla hurried over to her, uncurling her fingers and examining the cuts in her palms. Rhyss rolled her eyes, and shook her head. Pulling her hands away, she smiled.

“They’re fine Luci. It’s nothing.” Rhyss jumped as a hand touched her shoulder. Turning, she saw Robin. Grabbing her hand, he led her over to Hood’s motorcycle.

Getting on, he started it, and yelled to Hood over his shoulder. “I’ll bring it back unharmed.” With that, they took off.

The ride was silent, and Rhyss soon found herself home. Pulling her keys out of her backpack, she unlocked the front door, keying in the code as the alarm beeped at her. Turning to Robin, Rhyss motioned for him to follow her. Walking down the stairs, she opened the second door, and walked into a room filled to the brim with gaming consoles and computers. Rhyss looked back at Robin, chuckled, then reached out and gently shut his jaw. Robin rubbed the back of his head and blushed.

Walking towards her computers and sitting down, Rhyss sighed and pulled off her sneakers, stretching before waking up her computer, placing her hands on her keyboards and quickly typing her password in. As it logged in, she turned around and was surprised to see Robin looking at her, his mouth open again. Raising an eyebrow, she said, “Better close your mouth love. You’ll start catching flies.”

Robin’s mouth shut with an audible click, and a dark pink blush spread across his cheeks. Suddenly, Rhyss’s grin dropped, and her eyes widened. Robin tilted his head to the side, confused, until he heard a low growling from behind him. Rhyss watched as he froze, his eyes widening, before he swallowed, and turned around, slowly. Two dogs were stood there, growling, their lips curled back, showing their teeth. As one of them crouched, getting ready to pounce, Rhyss called out, “Iktomi! Hercules! Stop. Sit.”

Hercules stopped growling, sitting down and tilting his head. Iktomi stopped, and walked right by Robin, ignoring him and panting, placing her head in Rhyss’s lap. Looking up, Rhyss smiled sheepishly. “Sorry. I didn’t think that they’d react that way. We don’t usually have strange people back to the house.”

Robin stiffened as he felt Hercules nudge his hand, sniffing and whining for pets. He started scratching behind his ears as Iktomi laid down on the dog bed next to the computer desk. Rhyss turned back to the computer, blushing as she realised that her desktop was a drawing her sister had made her as a gag gift, a shirtless Superman looking seductively at the invisible camera.

Rhyss quickly brought up the programmes that she wrote, getting started on trying to find similar murders to the two that had happened earlier in the day. As she did so, she looked up all the information she could find on her mother, trying to be as impartial as possible. As she worked, she came across a news article from the Gotham Globe.

Hawthorne Family Grave Robbed

As Rhyss read, her brows furrowed and her mouth dropped in shock. Quickly typing, she tried to bring up more information about the grave robbing. As she was looking through the sparse information, she saw something had come up on the household network. Typing, she tried to get into the computer, but was continually blocked. Standing up, she left the computer running its searches, and walked past Robin, smacking the back of his head as she did so. As she had been working, he had sat down on her couch and had started petting the dogs. As she headed upstairs, she heard Robin scrambling up the stairs, Iktomi and Hercules bounding up the stairs after him. He joined her at the foot of the stairs that lead up into the second and third floor.

“Where are we going?” Robin asked, confused. Rhyss turned, looked at him, then turned back around and started walking up the stairs, not saying a word. She lead him up to the third floor, and opened the door to the library. As she stepped in, she felt a tingle start in her lower stomach. It was something she felt whenever she was near her computers. Walking through the dimly lit library, she felt tingle get stronger and stronger, until she was standing in front of Hailey’s work desk. Rhyss sat down in front of her sister’s laptop, opening it and starting it up. As she waited for it to boot up, Rhyss realised that she didn’t know her sisters password.

Biting her lip, Rhyss looked up at Robin, who was looking around, smiling. Rhyss looked back at the computer. Taking a deep breath, she said, “Let me in.”

To Rhyss, what she heard next was words, but to Robin, it was just the computer humming. ‘You’re not my owner. Who are you?’

Rhyss rolled her eyes. “I’m her sister. I need to get something off her computer, so will you please let me in?”

‘No. You don’t have the password. You’re not allowed in.’

Rhyss sighed. “Please. It’s an emergency. My sisters and I may be in danger.”

The computer said nothing, but suddenly, the logging in screen was flashing across the screen. Hailey’s desktop, a picture of her working behind a bar and Rhyss and Lucilla sitting and being served, showed up on the screen. Quickly typing, Rhyss found the file she was looking for. As she opened it, she braced herself. She didn’t know what she would find, but she knew she wouldn’t like it