Chapter Text
It was Terry’s night off and they couldn’t imagine anywhere they would rather be than out dancing with Dana. Since getting a job it felt like they had spent more date nights on the phone than physically together, which was a major drag for so many reasons, chief of which was how much they missed her even though they saw each other every school day. It felt unfair, since they hung out at school and texted all the time, but it was true. They missed walking home from school together. They missed spending the afternoon lounging in their room together and finishing half the amount of homework they said they would. They missed getting a random text saying she was waiting by the curb and rushing out to go driving or dancing or whatever. Dana was happy that they had a job, but Terry could tell she missed the way things had been before too.
“On the bright side, though,” Dana said as the two of them were admitted to Juice Bar 12, raising her voice to compete with the noise level. “It makes the nights we do get to go out extra special, so come on!”
She led them to the dance floor and into the lively crowd. The song switched to a party rocker they had been forced to listen to every day of eighth-grade P.E. (because their teacher had exactly one playlist that they never put on shuffle). They made eye contact and couldn’t help but burst into laughter. The sound was quickly lost in the thrum of voices and music, but they just pulled each other close and stumbled through the steps of the half-remembered dance their class had made for it back then. After that they just let loose, dancing until they were out of breath, resting for a song, then jumping right back in for another round. It was exhausting, intoxicating, and so much fun to finally be back. Dancing had always been one of Terry and Dana’s things and they had both missed it. The two had known each other since middle school, but the first time they had really connected had been at a dance. Their first date had been at a dance. The first kiss they had shared had been at yet another dance. Were it not for pasky things like curfew, school, and the need to sleep, the couple would probably be out dancing every night. There was just something about the combination of music, community, and the opportunity to throw your everything into your movements that left them perpetually yearning for more.
An hour or so into the night Terry was dancing beside Dana. The song playing was on the slower side, but instead of slow-dancing the two had made a game of slow dancing- laughing up a storm at the sight of their normal dance moves being performed in slow motion. Terry was in the middle of an incredibly slow spin when they caught sight of the far wall and slowed to a stop.
There were neon green and purple party lights trailing up and down the wall.
The afterimages looked like smiles. There was laughter coming from all around them. Their heart felt like a stone dropping to their stomach.
“Terry?” Dana said, suddenly at their shoulder and still yelling to be heard. “Are you okay?”
Terry turned to her, but the lights followed. They were coming from all over. Green and purple flashes. Green and purple pinpricks. Green and purple washed over Dana’s face in alternating intervals. No matter how deeply they breathed they couldn’t fill their lungs.
“I think I’m gonna go get some fresh air,” they responded, leaning down to her ear to be sure she understood.
“Okay,” she shouted, pulling back and cupping their face. “Do you want me to come with?”
They shook their head. “I just need a minute,” they said, giving her a quick kiss before shuffling over to the outdoor balcony and away from the sounds and the laughter and the lights.
Once the balcony door closed they heaved a sigh of relief. The music was muffled now, and the laughter was drowned out. If they kept their eyes closed then they couldn’t see the lights.
When they closed their eyes the image of their appa’s shattered apartment sprung forth with nauseating clarity.
Their eyes flew back open with a strangled gasp. Their legs felt shaky but they couldn’t move. They started forward but couldn’t focus on any single detail. The muffled music sounded like laughter. It sounded like the roar of bike engines. It sounded like nothing and everything and the ground was spinning but it wasn’t and Terry’s head felt lighter than a byte and-
“Hey, hey! Are you choking on something? Do you need me to call an ambulance? Can you hear me?” came a gentle-yet-panicked voice from beside them. A hand slipped into theirs and they gripped it tight, suddenly aware that they were trembling all over.
They fought past the lump in their throat and started greedily sucking in loud, shallow, rattling breaths.
“Okay, that’s one answer,” their helper muttered. “Hey, I don’t think you’re breathing normally. Do- uh- do you want to sit down? Oh, that’s a stupid question. I’m going to have you sit down now,” they said, then another hand was pressing down on Terry’s shoulders and guiding them to the floor.
The chill of the ground seeped through Terry’s pants. They blinked and finally registered the color of the railing. The muffled music just sounded like music. They took in another breath.
“Isn’t your, um, partner somewhere around here?” the person asked. They sounded far away. Terry gave a weak nod.
“Okay then, do you have your phone? Do you want me to call them? Or-”
“Terry?” came another voice, and if the first one sounded distant, this one sounded like it was coming from the end of a tunnel. “Are you- oh my g-d, Ter!”
Dana appeared in front of them.
“I think they’re having a panic attack,” said the stranger.
“Ter? Babe, are you with me?” said Dana, placing her hands on the sides of their face. They focused on her eyes. She gave them a smile. “Hi. Think you can stand?”
They tried to say no, but it came out as a choked whine. They shook their head.
“That’s fine. We’ll stay here for a bit then head to the car when you feel ready.”
Their breathing had evened out and they sank into her arms, too tired to care about the conversation Dana and the other person were having over their head.
When their brain finally stopped feeling like an in-use bingo spinner, Terry pulled back from Dana’s hold with a weary sigh.
“Hey. Ready to head out?” she asked softly.
“Yeah,” they croaked, only noticing when they started to stand that the stranger’s hand was still clutched in theirs. “Oh, sorry,” they dropped the hand, suddenly finding enough energy to both be embarrassed and turn to look at the person who’d helped them.
They were a teenager around Terry’s age, white, feminine, with long curly blonde hair and blue eyes. They plastered on a hesitant smile when Terry turned their way, and Terry cringed internally at the thought of how this must have looked to them.
“Ter, this is Melanie Walker,” Dana introduced as she got to her feel as well. “She’s new to Neo Gotham, but thankfully not to first aid.”
Melanie looked sheepish. “All I could’ve done is, like, called an ambulance. It’s nothing special.”
“Still, I’m glad you were here,” Dana said firmly. Melanie blushed. “Babe, you want to go home now?”
Terry thought about it, then had to fight another wave of nausea. Home should mean the second story apartment of a shabby brown building on Dashwood Ave. It should mean tacky stone tile foyers and old dance competition photos lined up on the wall. It should mean the bedroom they had had since they were thirteen. It should mean a lot of things that it didn’t anymore.
They shook their head. “No. Could we get food or something instead?”
“Sure. The Parallelogram's nearby, isn’t it? Want to go there? Finally let me try some of that mac & cheese pizza you’ve been raving about?”
Terry willed themself to relax and let out a slight chuckle. “Yeah. Forget everything Jared’s said about it, though. He’s biased.”
“Sure he is,” she snorted. Then to their companion she asked, “Are you here with anyone?”
Melanie looked surprised at being addressed. “Oh, no, but I’ll be fine.”
“In that case, would you mind coming with us? No pressure, of course, but I’d feel great if I got to repay you and show you around the city.”
Melanie’s blush had returned. Terry felt sympathetic. They knew how persuasive their girlfriend could be at times.
“Only if Terry’s okay with it,” she muttered, nervously tugging at the ends of her hair.
“It’s okay. I’m feeling better now, and I’m really sorry I put you through that,” they replied, hoping they looked more put-together than they felt.
“It happens. I understand,” she dismissed. “I have to be home by ten-thirty, but I’m free until then.”
“Schway! Let’s go, then. It’s only a few block-levs away and Terry might be able to get us a discount,” Dana cried, seizing them both by the wrists and beginning her march towards the door. Melanie shot them a startled look, to which Terry shrugged and hoped it conveyed a ‘relax, this happens all the time’ vibe. She went along with it so presumably it did its job.
One semi speed limit breaking car ride later, the trio pulled up to Parallelogram Pies and made their way in- the distance from the noise and lights already doing wonders for Terry’s head.
“Hey there kid, what are you doing here on your day off?” called Gazaleh as they wandered through the door.
“Soliciting!” Terry called back, laughing when she rolled her eyes and let out a dramatic groan.
“Alright, but you’re not getting a discount for this. How hungry are you?” she started ringing them up.
“I’m feeling like a large,” they replied, handing over the specified creds before leaning behind the counter to grab three cups as Dana greeted Jared and settled into a booth.
“So wait, why didn’t you getting a discount?” Melanie asked when Terry came back with their drinks.
“Oh I did, she’s just saying that. That’s my boss and she says hates macaroni pizza yet claims it’s ‘too popular’ to get rid of. I think she’s secretly a true believer,” they replied, sliding into the booth next to Dana.
“Macaroni… on pizza? I thought Dana was just kidding back at the club. You actually put mac on pizza here?” she said incredulously.
“Hey, I’m about to introduce you both to the most perfect food fusion known to man. Don’t you dare knock it ‘til you try it.”
Melanie’s eyes narrowed. “I’ve only been in Gotham for a week and I already feel like you should have your Jersey card revoked.”
“Wh- hey! You haven’t even tried it!”
“We do owe them at least that much,” Dana placated, then in a faux-whisper added. “But if it’s bad we can just ditch them and run.” to which Melanie giggled.
Terry scoffed but brightened when Jared approached with the pizza.
“You can’t keep doing this to people, Terry,” he said gravely as he set the tray down.
“Shut up, Jared. I can and I will. Stop trying to intimidate my new recruits,” they served Melanie and Dana a slice each, then took two for themself.
“You’re gonna hate it,” he whisper-sang as the girls raised their slices to their mouths.
“Don’t listen to him. You’ll love it,” Terry responded in kind, “Gazaleh, make Jared get back to work! He’s harassing customers!”
“As far as I’m concerned, he’s saving customers! Keep at it, Tate!”
Dana and Melanie bit into their slices.
They chewed in silence.
Then swallowed.
“Terry I’m divorcing you.”
“Babe, we’re not even married.”
“I know.”
“You’re gonna marry me just to divorce me over this?”
“Yes.”
“Okay that’s fair.”
“Hey, I’ll marry you if it means I can get this stuff for free,” Melanie interjected, taking what looked to be her third bite.
“Really?” Terry and Jared cried out at the same time- in delight and disgust respectively.
“They’re all yours,” Dana said while Terry leaned out of the booth and shouted “We got another one!” to the back.
“Slaggit!” was all Gazaleh said from somewhere out of sight, and the four of them burst into laughter.
“Which one of you was it?” she demanded as she emerged from the back. Dana and Jared pointed to Melanie. “You’re not the one dating this fool, are you?”
“No, ma’am.”
“Oh,” she groaned in sympathy, turning to Dana with a solemn shake of her head. “I would strongly advise that you dump them.”
“Hold on! There is absolutely no way it’s ethical for you to interfere with my love life!”
“I’m not interfering with your love life, I'm interfering with hers. She’s not my employee and therefore it’s completely ethical.”
“Don’t worry, we’re already getting a divorce,” Dana said sweetly, snaking an arm around their waist and resting her head on their shoulder.
“Ah, smart girl. You on the other hand,” Gazaleh wagged a finger at Melanie. “You need healing. I know a nice butcher who- did I say butcher? I meant psychiatrist, my bad-”
“Wow, so you’ve moved onto openly threatening people you don’t like?” Terry tisked while the girls laughed harder. “I’m telling you guys, this is persecution! It’s a toxic work environment in here. You should all boycott this place.”
“Oh by all means, go ahead! Maybe then I could finally take this accursed thing off the menu! See you tomorrow, McGinnis!” Gazaleh cried as she returned to the back.
“See you!”
Jared had to get back to work a minute later, but the three of them stayed to talk, have fun and eat (though Dana made it a point to separate her macaroni and pizza before eating it) until Melanie looked at her phone and cursed.
“Mel?” Dana questioned as the girl started frantically scrolling through the Neo Gotham transit app.
“Sorry guys, I really gotta run. I wasn’t watching the time and now there’s no way I’m gonna make it home by curfew. My parents are going to f*cking spiz,” she moaned.
“Where do you live?” Dana leaned over to look at Melanie’s map. “Oh girl, the metro can’t get you there by ten-thirty, but I can. Come on,” she gathered up their stuff and marched out to the car, leaving Terry behind to give Melanie another ‘it happens’ shrug and herd her along.
Twenty-one minutes later they were in a much nicer block-lev and Melaine was practically flinging herself to the sidewalk she got out of the car so quick. Usually Terry would be concerned, but even the pavement up here looked like it was swept. They had only ever been up this high a few times in their life, but it fit with what Melanie had explained about her constant moving and private tutors. As nice as it looked though, it couldn’t be that great if she was so lonely.
“There is absolutely no way that was legal,” she said between gasps, looking at Dana with a newfound fear.
“It’s Gotham! It’s not like anyone cares,” Dana defended. “And if you’d been in a cab here you wouldn’t be complaining. I at least have a vested interest in keeping you alive.”
Seeing how stricken Melanie looked, Terry decided to change the subject.
“Text us when you get inside, okay? And when you find out how much longer you’ll be in Gotham- we have to get together more after school! Also if you need to get out before that, Gazaleh’s super chill about letting people hang out, just go there.”
“Okay, yeah,” she replied, looking relieved and apprehensive all in one. “See you guys tomorrow?”
“For sure! Terry has work but we’ll just bug them until they get off shift. I’ll text you the details later!” Dana said.
“Schway! See you then!” Melanie waved and ran up to the building entrance.
“Bye!” they both called to her retreating form.
They watched her disappear into the glittering lobby. Terry noted that it looked cold.
A hand grabbed onto theirs. They looked to Dana, who had twisted around in the driver's seat to face them.
“You ready to go home now?” she asked, concern written on her features.
“Yeah,” they wrapped both hands around hers.
“Are you ready to tell me what happened?”
Their grip tightened, but she didn’t pull back.
“I guess the lights kind of… I started thinking about that night and I couldn’t stop,” they sighed, feeling all the exhaustion they had been ignoring rush back.
“Okay. And did you not think it would get that bad or did you not want me to see it?”
“A bit of both,” they admitted, suddenly finding interest in the details of the car’s floor covers.
“Babe-”
“I know, I know. It was stupid, I’m sorry.”
“I’m not mad, I just don’t want you to do that. I can’t be there for you if you don’t let me,” she said sadly. Terry hated themself for making her feel like that.
“Thanks for doing your best anyways,” they gave her hand a light squeeze.
“Of course,” she responded. “Now get up here. I want to hold your hand but this is an awkward angle to drive at.”
“Okay,” they chucked, unbuckling to do just that. The ride home was quiet, but peaceful. Terry was glad that someone as amazing as Dana was willing to put up with them and hoped that their next date would go better. When they got to Terry’s building Dana pulled them in for one last kiss goodnight before driving off- leaving them to trudge back to their below mid-lev apartment and wonder how Melanie was doing in her fancy house that she seemed to fear so much.
–
The next day Melanie met up with them at the school’s entrance just in time to be introduced to Chelsea and join the three of them in dropping off Terry for work. Terry stuck around long enough to force Chels to try some macaroni pizza (which she hated) then said his farewells and mounted his (new and improved) work bike. They seemed to be having fun, if the constant pinging in the group chat was anything to go by. Terry had to silence his texts an hour into his shift just because of them. He figured he would catch up on the backlog later, so it stayed in his pocket while he continued his delivering. It sucked that he was missing out, but Fridays were one of the best times for pizza delivery people and they couldn’t afford to miss it. The beginning of the weekend meant people were celebrating by ordering out, and celebration meant more tips. A few hours in, things were going smoothly. The customers were average, the tips were rolling in, and he had settled into the comfortable routine he had made over the near-five months of working there.
That was, of course, until he got hoisted into the air.
He screamed, but was prevented from flailing by whatever was holding him- a good thing, since when he looked down the overpass he had been standing on was nowhere in sight and a solid forty-lev drop was below him.
“Holy sh-” he started to say, but then a sharp blade was being pointed right at his neck and he let the thought go. Instead his eyes followed the blade to the wrist it was connected to, then to the arm, torso, and head that was connected to. A white-masked face stared back at him. It had red eyes, black hair-ish pieces and a gold circlet. It smiled.
“Sorry for the short notice, but we’re in dire need of a hostage for a moment and you just so happen to do nicely. You understand, don’t you?” the person behind the mask said in a stupid posh-sounding voice.
“No, I can’t say I do,” he said (because of course he did.)
At the mention of ‘we’ though Terry noticed for the first time that they weren’t alone. Suspended in air around the Posh Mask Guy were four other people riding their own hoverboard things and dressed in costumes similar to Posh Mask Guy’s. One had a crown, another a scepter, the one in front was just big and the one flying closest had a half-white half-black thing going on with the number ten marked on their chest. Terry looked down again and belatedly realized that the flat white hoverboards actually had spade markings on them.
Holy bad hand, Batman. He’d just been kidnapped by a bunch of playing card LARPers.
He stilled and tried to focus on keeping track of where the card people were taking him. They were disguised, so he had taken note of as many identifying features as he could, but the only thing that could help him now was finding an exit strategy. They kept flying for a couple minutes- and if he hadn’t been so preoccupied looking for an escape then he would've sword the Ten of Spades over there kept worriedly glancing at him- until some police flyers appeared in the air ahead of them.
The King of Spades tensed, but instead of changing directions they turned to the person holding Terry (a Jack maybe?) and barked “Drop them.”
“What?” the Jack, Ten and Terry cried at once, with the latter feeling his heart sink. The only thing worse than getting kidnapped by a gang was getting kidnapped by a gang with in-fighting. This had just gotten so much worse.
“The police will have to make a choice. Drop them.”
“Woah, hey, we’re trusting the police to catch me? Cause I don’t think that’s-”
“Quiet! Now, Jack.”
The Jack hesitated.
The King raised their sword.
A push and Terry had nothing under his feet and nothing nearby to jump to and his heart practically stopped because he was going to fall to his death-
But then another pair of arms were holding him.
He blinked and realized he was sitting on a card hoverboard again. He looked up and saw a furious Ten of Spades glaring at the King.
“We do not drop people,” they declared, sounding terrified but firm.
“We do not take orders from a Ten,” King fired back. “Your foolishness will get us caught, child. Drop them this instant.”
“No.”
“Ten,” King said warningly, raising their sword again.
“Please, da-”
“Silence! I’m going to give you one last chance, Ten. Drop. Them.”
The wind whistled past Terry’s ears. It felt like his heart was stuck in his throat. The sound of the police sirens drew closer. The big guy hadn’t turned to look at the argument. The King and Queen both had their weapons pointed at Ten. The Jack was looking between Ten and the monarchs with a frown.
Terry looked to Ten. The red eyes of their mask bore into his.
“Sorry,” they said quietly, then shoved him. Hard.
The card people flew out of his line of sight not even a second later. If he was screaming he couldn’t tell. The whole world narrowed to the weightless sensation of falling, and as much as he hated it he didn’t want it to end because he would die he was going to die he was about to die and-
Pain exploded across his back. His breath left his lungs. He was rolling. There was pain in his shoulder. His arm. His chest. His legs. His head. When the movement finally came to a stop he just laid there, tried to breathe, and tried to figure out why Ten’s “sorry” had sounded so familiar.
–
“You definitely have a concussion, but that looks like the worst of it,” said the EMT, flicking their little light off and taking a step back.
“That’s great,” Terry replied, making to stand but quickly being denied.
“Oh no. Concussions are brain injuries, which means your best chance of recovery is going to be through rest. I don’t want you going anywhere until your mom gets here,” they said, putting a hand on his shoulder and forcing him down. “Besides, unless you want to have more issues, we need to get these scrapes cleaned and bandaged as well.”
Terry relented and let them start treating the rest of his injuries. After sticking the landing he had laid still for a few minutes trying to orient himself. He’d pushed himself up onto his elbows- an action that stung like h*lll- and taken in the welcome sight of the pavement under him in time to spot the ambulance pulling up. Two EMTs had rushed over, remarked that it was a miracle he could still walk, then one had gotten his info and called his amma while the other started giving him a check-up. A concussion sucked, but compared to the conviction that he was about to die via excessive gravity it wasn’t so bad. The parts that hurt worse right now were honestly the scrapes. Thankfully he had been wearing a bike jacket and gloves, but being launched at the road had banged up his knees, shredded his pants, bruised his back, bruised his elbows, bruised his cheekbone and left him with open cuts on any piece of exposed skin.
As they were finishing up, Terry finally hit ‘send’ on the message he had been drumming up the courage to make ever since he realized that the card people might be considered Costumed Villains- with a capital ‘C’ and ‘V’.
‘Hi Mr. Wayne? This is Terry. Idk if it’s on the news or anything but I just got (briefly) held hostage by a group of people flying around dressed as playing cards??? Again idk if that’s in your wheelhouse but I figured you’d want to know. Also this doesn’t have anything to do with the Suit Guy from earlier does it?? I mean I don’t think it does bc they didn’t recognize me but you’d know more about that than me. Thx’
Four minutes later he got a text back saying ‘they’re unconnected, but tell me if anything else happens.’ to which Terry spent three minutes agonizing over how to reply to, eventually settling on a simple ‘ok’.
It was another eight minutes later that Dana’s car pulled up to the scene and his amma hopped out of the passenger's seat.
“Oh, Terry,” she cried, running up and embracing him gently, her familiar presence finally taking the edge off the riot of fear that the last hour had been. “Are you okay? What happened?”
“This gang on hoverboards picked me up and tossed me to distract the police. I’m not hurt bad, though,” he said, cringing internally at how his poor choice of words made her frown deepen. “I don’t know them though, amma, and they didn’t know me, promise. I was just in a convenient spot is all.”
“Are you sure?”
“Ma, they were all dressed up as playing cards. I’ve never even heard of them before.”
That seemed to finally placate her. She forced her shoulders to relax and turned to talk to the EMT just as Dana approached and made Terry repeat his whole explanation. A moment later a police officer came over to collect his statement on what had happened, which he warily gave. Then the EMTs released him into his amma’s care with a warning to take him to a hospital if his symptoms got worse and the three of them piled into the car to head home.
They were five levs down before Terry remembered his bike.
“Oh my g-d I totally forgot to call Gazaleh,” he blurted out.
Dana, bless her, pulled over as soon as she could while amma called his workplace to let them know what had happened. Gazaleh immediately told him to take as many sick days as he needed and assured them that the bike would be picked up, then told him to get well soon. When they got home amma still had work to finish, so Dana volunteered to stay the night and make sure Terry was okay. Matt turned out to be the perfect cure for drowsiness, since his constant energy and questions about the card people kept Terry awake more than long enough to be sure that his condition wasn’t worsening. After that he and Dana put the boy to bed (despite Matt’s many protests) and settled onto the couch where she watched a show while he drifted off. He was nearly asleep too, until his work ringtone went off.
“Why is your boss calling you at eleven pm?” Dana muttered, picking up the device and holding it out for a bleary Terry to fumble with until he managed to hit ‘answer’.
“Hello?”
“Hey, kid. Sorry to call you this late, but you know your friend you brought here? The blonde one from last night?”
“Melanie?”
“Yeah. She’s here now and she’s upset about something but I can’t get her to tell me what.”
He sat up and bit back a hiss at how much his muscles hated that.
“What about Melanie?” Dana asked.
“Gazaleh, could you hand Melanie the phone?” he asked, then switched his phone to speaker.
“Terry?” came Melanie’s voice after a moment.
“And Dana,” he informed. “We’re both here.”
“Hey, Mel,” Dana said.
“Hi, Dana.”
“Want to tell us what’s going on? Why are you at the Parallelogram?”
“I- um,” her voice dropped to a whisper. “I disobeyed my dad earlier today and my parents are super mad about it and Jack told me to get out while he deals with them but I don’t know where else to go so I came here,” she said in a rush.
Terry and Dana shared a wide-eyed look.
“Okay,” said Terry, pushing aside his shock for now. “Okay, well, are you alright? Like, physically?”
“Yeah.”
“That’s good,” he deliberated over what to say next, but a quick glance at Dana strengthened his resolve. “Hey, you know what? Dana and I are going to come pick you up. I really don’t think it’s a good idea for you to go back to your parent’s house tonight, so we’re going to take you to Dana’s, okay?”
“O- okay.”
“Alright. We’ll talk more when we get there. See you soon.”
“Yeah, see you.”
Then the line went dead and they sprung into action. Well, more like Dana sprung into action. Terry’s head protested harshly over standing up that quickly and forced him to sit back down while Dana went and told his amma where they were going.
Thirty minutes later they walked into the Parallelogram and found Melanie sitting alone in a booth clutching a full cup of water and staring blankly at the empty shop front. She turned when they entered and shot up, nearly toppling her water over. She looked like a wreck. Her hair was spilling out of her ponytail in strands, her clothing was rumpled, one shoe was trailing some kind of dark liquid- probably from a polluted puddle, since it had rained yesterday- and the jacket she wore looked too big to belong to her. At the sight of them something in her snapped and the blank, distant look was traded for a tearful one. She stared at his face in horror as they approached.
“I’m okay,” Terry said, once he noticed the way her eyes lingered on the bandages there. “I got into an accident earlier, but I’m gonna take a few days off to rest and I’ll be fine. What’s going on with you?”
Her lip wobbled.
“Mel?” Dana said, putting a hand on her shoulder. “What’s wrong?”
Then she threw her arms around Terry and sobbed. Startled, he shared a look with Dana then did his best to hug her back through the pain.
“Hey, it’s okay. You’re okay. Terry’s okay too. It’s going to be okay, Melanie, it’s going to be fine,” Dana soothed, joining in the hug and continuing the platitudes while Melanie started sobbing, “Sorry. Sorry. I’m so sorry,” over and over again.
“Sorry? Sorry for what? Melanie, what’s the matter?” Dana asked, but Melanie just shook her head and continued crying. Terry, on the other hand, was suddenly struck with the reason why his kidnapper’s “sorry” had sounded so familiar.
“You’re Ten, aren’t you?” he whispered into her ear. The way she froze completely was answer enough.
“I’m sorry,” she replied.
“For what?” he asked, perplexed.
“That you got hurt,” she sobbed.
“Not because of you,” he pulled back to look her in the eye. She looked terrified. “You saved me, Mel. If you hadn’t caught me I could’ve died. If you hadn’t stood up to your family and stalled until we were over that walkway I would’ve ended up with something way worse than a moderate concussion. You were like a modern-day Batman! Thank you,” he said, hugging her as tight as his injuries would allow. She stammered in surprise.
“What’s happened?” Dana asked after a moment. He turned to her and grinned.
“You know the Ten of Spades person I was telling you about? The one who made sure I landed on forty-third lev instead of ground lev?”
“Yeah?”
“That was Melanie!”
This time it was Dana who surprised Melanie with a hug. When she pulled back, the couple couldn’t help but chuckle at the expression on their friend’s face.
“Terry told me how the whole thing went down,” Dana said, beaming at the confused girl. “You really did save him, you know. I can’t thank you enough.”
“But I- I’m literally a part of an internationally wanted thief’s group?”
“Which is another thing we need to talk about,” Dana said, guiding Melanie back to the booth while Terry followed and gratefully sank into the seat. “Is this why you got in trouble with your parents? Because you saved Terry?”
Melanie nodded.
“Sounds like sh*t parents.”
Melanie smiled bitterly. “Yeah. They are. Jack- my brother- he’s the only one who’s ever really cared about me. Dear old mom and dad are just pissed that I ‘betrayed our family’ by nearly compromising our getaway. They found out that I made some actual friends here in Gotham and were screaming about how I’d have to choose between loyalty or selfishness when I ran.”
“D*mn…” Dana muttered. Terry couldn't agree more. “Have you gotten any updates from Jack?”
Melanie started to shake her head, but then a chime went off on her phone. She read it and furrowed her brow.
“He says to, uh, open the door?” she read aloud.
Then she looked up.
“Jack!” she cried, shooting up and once again almost knocking over the glass of water while Gazaleh appeared from the back (where Terry knew she had been listening in out of sight) to let the young man in.
He stepped through and scooped Melanie up in a hug. “Hey there, Mellie Nellie. Who’re these?” he said- without the stupid posh accent this time, but Terry could still recognize his voice.
Melanie pulled away to reveal a white man in his mid-twenties with chin-length black hair and goatee- much like his suit had- nice clothes and tired eyes. He had a large bag slung over his shoulder that looked full to burst.
“This is Gazaleh, she owns this place. That’s Dana and Terry.”
“And these are the friends you’ve made?”
“Some of them, yeah.”
“We met earlier today, but I didn’t get a chance to say hi,” said Terry when Jack’s gaze landed on him.
“Ah, right. Sorry about that, by the way. So, they’re all in the know, then?” Jack asked Melanie.
“Everyone here, yes,” Gazaleh confirmed, walking to the back to pour more waters, setting them out on the table when everyone had settled into the booth.
“I’m glad,” said Jack, accepting the water. “It’s going to make this easier.”
“Easier?” repeated Melanie. “What’s going to be easier?”
Jack took a drink. “I’ve convinced mom and dad that you’ve rejected the family.”
Melanie nearly spit out her sip of water. “For real?”
“Yes. You’re still young, so I’m sure they’ll come by every so often to try and make you reconsider, but I’ve convinced them that you’ve been on the edge for ages and tonight was the final straw. When you ran I used that as proof and persuaded them to cut you off.”
Normally, getting disowned at sixteen would be an awful thing. Melanie, however, grinned brighter than the sun.
“You mean it?”
“I’ve got your things, some creds, and a fake ID all ready to go right here,” he responded, nudging the bag by his feet. “I’ve been looking for the perfect out for you for ages, and I think this is it.”
“Jack… what about you?” Melanie asked, fear once again entering her tone.
“Eh, I’ll stage some grand act of mutiny sooner or later. Usurp them or double-cross them or whatever. Now that you’re safe it’ll be much easier,” he said with a shrug and some of that suave attitude Terry had witnessed during the kidnapping. Then he turned to the other three present. “My little Mellie’s strong, but I still hate to leave her. Can I trust you all to look after her until I can come back?”
“She saved my life. Of course,” Terry said.
“She can stay at my house as long as she needs,” Dana said.
They both looked at Gazaleh, who smiled fondly. “If these two say you’re good then you are. I have a place for you here if you ever want steady work, kid.”
Jack looked a little less tired at that.
“Okay, then,” he said, standing and prompting Melanie to follow. “Take care of yourself.”
“You’ll be back soon though, right? And then we can stay together?”
“Yup! Just the two of us. No mom, dad, or moving around. Just like I promised,” he placed a kiss on the top of her head. “See you soon, Mellie.”
“See you,” she replied, moving in for one last hug. He returned it, and then he was gone.
The three gave Melanie a moment, Gazaleh going to finish closing up the back while Dana made another check on Terry’s condition. After a few minutes Gazaleh came back, made everyone finish their waters, then sent them home.
On the drive over to the Tan’s house, after having been assured that Dana’s parents would be fine with her staying, Melanie turned to Terry (who was in the back wearing shades and closing his eyes to combat the photophobia) to apologize again for the kidnapping thing.
“And for the crying thing. Sorry if I got snot all over your jacket.”
“Dude, we literally met because you saw me having a panic attack. This doesn’t even make us
even,”
he replied, hoping the text he had sent Mr. Wayne about the possibility of barring the Walker parents from coming after their kids again would produce results, vowing that even if it didn’t, he wouldn’t let Melanie stand up to them alone again.