❝ Take a chance we can dance up in mid-air,
Feel so good, I could die, but I don't care
Walk slow and low on a tightrope
Hope it lasts but you know, you never know ❞
YOUNG JUSTICE
cover design by @dowofficial and @preallens
21:51 EDT FEBRUARY 13, 2016 DOWNTOWN, WASHINGTON, D.C.
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Approximately fifteen minutes later, Quinn-Rose opened the door to the rooftop and stepped back into the chill night air. She froze immediately, as if she hadn't expected to come face to face with the family she had all but abandoned two years ago. Dick Grayson stood closest to her in a suit she had only seen on television, but it was so clearly him. From the posture down to the hair, the expression. When she left, things had been... in a bad way. It was all Quinn-Rose could do to block out the images of how it all ended, and how close she and Dick had come to fracturing their relationship forever. The domino mask did nothing to conceal the change in his face at her arrival. Not dwelling on that look, her eyes flicked over to Wally West, Dinah and Jim, the latter two nearby but standing a little apart. Both Wally and Jim wore civvies, though Dinah had come as the Black Canary, proud as ever. A surprisingly strong pang of guilt after all this time rippled through her rib cage. Quinn-Rose wondered about Oliver, well, Ollie, the one who supposedly organised this. Was he here yet? Would he even say anything to her later, after this whole thing predictably went sideways? He used to be her legal guardian after all.
Moments later, her initial question was answered. It appeared she was just on time, as before anyone could speak to her or vice versa, there was a thudding just around the corner from the door and the Green Arrow's voice, "Hey, Roy. Need a hand?" This was it. Quinn-Rose's heart leapt into a faster rhythm at the response that was ground out so familiarly. She had to resist an emotional reaction, schooling her features perfectly, subtly, into a picture of calm, concern. The brunette missed what was actually said, but followed Dick and Wally around the corner, tucking her balled fists into her jacket pockets against the cold.
Quinn-Rose might have sported a composed face, but her mind went whirling. Roy looked so different. Haggard, wounded. It was as if she'd come upon an alternate version of her adoptive brother, and she almost wouldn't have believed it was him if he hadn't gone slack-jawed at the sight of her.
"I—" he began, but seemed to check himself. "I have nothing to say to any of you." That was when Quinn-Rose was absolutely certain this was going to fail. Roy had known that part of the reason she had to vanish was because of him, they way he was acting. That fact that she came back to this place with the people she left behind to try and help him and he still dismissed her, it said everything. "Nothing to explain, nothing to justify," Roy all but spat, turning his back on them. That hurt. It really did. Quinn-Rose had to avert her gaze, blinking away unwelcome tears (God, she promised herself she wouldn't get upset) and caught the eye of Wally, who was on her right. He gave her a soft smile, a welcome back, and if the situation was a little different, she probably would have hugged him (despite not being a hugging type). She missed both him and Artemis a great deal while she was gone.
When her eyes returned to Ollie, a wad of bills was clenched in his gloved hand.
"Nothing?" he asked, incredulously. The money was... Roy's? What the actual hell was he up to?
