"theres a lady who knows
all that glitters is gold . . ."
in which a wannabe hero leaves the safety of her own life to help a girl
with a very strange problem.
...
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DINAH THEA QUEEN was not perfect.
She was sarcastic, bad-tempered, maybe a little nerdy (maybe), fucking hilarious (in her own mind), but she was most certainly not a fucking child.
And she thought just that, with her arms crossed, and the most convincing pouty face she could muster, while she waited for the plane to Detroit with her parents standing next to her.
"Oh stop pouting, Baby Bird." Her father, Oliver Queen, said with an exasperated sigh. "I thought you liked Dick? Shouldn't you be happy you get to see him?"
"I did," Dinah, or, as she was more known as, DJ, responded flatly. "4 years ago, AKA, the last time I talked to him."
Her mother, Dinah Laurel Lance (mainly known as Laurel), more of the 'take no shit' kind of parent, crossed her arms as well. Oliver looked between his wife and his daughter, seemingly the only one in the trio who noticed how similar they looked.
"Well, tough shit. God knows you can't be trusted at home by yourself anymore, and you'll just give any babysitter we hire the slip again." Oliver felt a quick shimmer of pride in his chest. "And there's no way we're leaving you and Jason Todd alone again. So off to Detroit where Dick can make sure you don't do anything dangerous."
Her daughter huffed. "Fine. Whatever. I'll just go to Detroit, act like a little good little toddler, and patiently wait until mommy and daddy pick me up from my babysitter."
Oliver clapped his hands together. "Good! Now that that's taken care of, your plane is about to start boarding."
DJ looked over at the screen that showed the boarding times and saw he was right. She started feeling her anger melt away, and already felt homesick. No matter how angry she might have felt, her family was her whole life. Her only friends. Her only reason for living. It was her parents, Roy, Mia, Sidney (previously known as Sin) and Connor. And she fucking hated leaving them.
Laurel saw her daughter's face fall, and pulled her into a hug. "It should only be a couple weeks, little bird, okay? Just please stay safe, and out of trouble?"
DJ nodded as she pulled back. "You guys, too."
Her parents chuckled. "Absolutely understood. And we'll follow that 'stay out of trouble rule' probably just as well as you will."
In other words, DJ, nor her parents had any intention of staying out of trouble.
"I love you." DJ told her mother and father, tears almost threatening to spill.
"We love you too." With a kiss on the head from both her parents, DJ turned and made her way over to her boarding gate, took her place in line, and her pout began to come back as soon as she got in her seat.
It's not that she hated Dick, she just didn't see why she had to acknowledge his existence anymore. 4 years might not sound like a whole lot, but it was DJ's entire life from when she was 14, and she hadn't spoken to him once. She didn't even know why he had just up and left to Detroit, just that his relationship with Bruce was beginning to strain, and he needed space. She just didn't understand why he seemingly needed space from her too. It seemed a lot of people needed space from her as of late.
