Valeria- Damien Wayne

The talk

Trigger warning: mention of suicide

The ride home was filled with silent anxiety, Iris' leg kept on bouncing and she wouldn't look at me it was making me nervous. And suddenly it occurred to me, I broke one of the bat's rules and one of barry's. And the bat was there to witness it all. Shit. I'm so screwed.
What if they kick me out?
I mean they never seemed the type to do that but would they?
What happened to 'we're family'?  

"Look I know I know I wasn't supposed to get involved bu-"

" But nothing." She cut me off. I had never heard her tone become so dark. She was serious.

"I wasn't just going to let you get hurt Iris-" I was gonna ramble all the reasons she shouldn't be mad at me but she cut me off again.

"I wasn't going to get hurt, Wonder Woman had it covered. Don't you understand Vale? He is going to want to take you from us. He saw how you handled Cheetah, How you fought Wonder Woman's lasso, He's not going to let you be a normal kid. Be MY normal kid. He's going to take you. He's going to take my daughter." by the end of her ramble she was in tears and her voice was cracking, it had never occurred to me that the Allen's wouldn't have a choice in this kind of decision, after all the Bat had ignored me for so long I just assumed the Allens had full control when it came down to me. And I never imagined they would care this much.

" Mom I'm going to be fine no matter what ends up happening, I'm not a normal kid, if the bat wants me on his team so badly I would be fine, I trained for all of my childhood to do those kinds of things. No matter what happens I'm going to be fine, you taught me how to be strong, I'm going to be fine." I needed to ease her anxiety, she was slipping into a panic attack by the end of her rant but she needs to know that I'm going to be ok. Hopefully.

"Yes, but you'll never be able to be a normal kid." I guess she's right, but then again how could I ever be normal with my childhood? It's a pipe dream at best.

" I don't think I ever had that chance."

The rest of the car ride home was silent and tense, but when we got home, things were even tenser.

Wally and Barry had been waiting for me at the door, they were nervous, Barry's tell gave it away, he was rubbing his palms and neck, this was it, this was the conversation that would dictate the rest of my life. They brought Wally in for emotional support I assume.

"Look, Vale, we have a secret that you need to know before we start this conversation."

" Oh, you mean the conversation when you tell me I broke your rules for the first time in the 4 years that I have been living with you to protect Iris and that means I can't stay? You don't have to tell me anything. I'm leaving" I said dryly. I knew this 'talk' was gonna be painful and long and sucky, so my defense mechanisms kicked in. I decided to act like no one here mattered.

" what no!" they shouted but I had already pushed my way upstairs and grabbed my go-bag. It was stuffed with the essentials money, fake ID's and passports (and as much as I'd hate to admit it a picture of the Allens, and I mean all of them). I travel relatively light. I was leaving my now old room when the Wally literally sped up to me in the blink of an eye. I was a bit shocked but didn't let it show, no emotions, no ties that's what I was trained to do.

" That's not what we were talking about so sit down and shut up 'Ria" he demanded. He was the only person I allowed to talk to me like that, it was sometimes the only way to get through to me, and it was for the simple fact that he was the only one who I trusted almost entirely. 

Our friendship wasn't only based on his incessant need to be my friend but also his being there when things were rough. There was a point in time, a while ago, when things got really dark, I was struggling with Ella's death and suddenly being a part of this world that I had only ever watched from the outside and I almost ended it all. I felt useless and hopeless and thought I would never belong or understand what it felt like to be loved but Wally talked me down. He told me all about how he talks so much to make up for his failures, for never feeling like he could live up to his family or be enough for anyone, how Artemis scared and excited him but he didn't think he would get there. How things got better, but that didn't mean that they wouldn't get worse too. How the hope of things getting better is enough to fight for in the first place and well let's just say that really helped.

" Barry is the Flash and I am or was I guess, Kid Flash." his voice broke me out of my unfeeling state and brought me back to the real world. I was shocked but at the same time not, does that make sense? I mean I always knew they were hiding things from me and it makes perfect sense looking back but, it had never crossed my mind that they weren't normal. I guess that just proves that I have no idea what the hell normal is.

"Ok, but what does that have to do with me not being able to stay here? It's not like I would ever tell anyone and put my family in danger like that."

"See that's not the issue, the issue is that it seems that no matter what we do the league sees your potential and they think you could be an asset to a new team that is being constructed" Barry finally spoke up.

" What do you mean 'sees my potential' it's not like I know any of them but you and the Bat" I replied my snark was coming back, they knew I was calmer now.
" actually you've met Superman, even sort-of befriended him. Clark thinks you have the perfect attitude to be a part of the Titans, smart and loyal to no end, the only way we have been able to keep them off our backs about you joining the league was with the promise of you becoming a normal person. Batman's promise. And today you proved that you were not meant to just be normal, you fought Wonder Woman's lasso for longer than Clark could and the rest of the team voted, there was nothing left but for you to decide. So what do you say?"

I could see Iris fidgeting, she didn't want this and from what Barry just said he didn't either.

It would make going after Rah's a lot easier, I would have a team to back me up and I wouldn't have to leave the Allens. It looks like a win-win situation, so why is everyone so concerned for me. I'm the one who was trained to take down whole countries in a day, I was supposed to be a conqueror, I could kill anything with my siphon, how hard could being a hero be?

"I'll do it."

It's a bit of a filler but hey they needed some talking after all the action last chapter brought. Any way thanks for reading ❤️❤️❤️
- Chuchi 💕