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“No. Absolutely not.”
“You didn’t even let me finish.”
“I don’t need to. You’re not giving yourself over to the Church of Blood, and that’s final.”
Kory knew that when she thought of the plan, there was about a one percent chance Dick would agree to it. Actually, she knew there was no chance in hell he’d be okay with her plan, but she had to try anyway. Because at this point, they were desperate and didn’t have many options.
After they were all separated, Brother Blood and the rest of his entourage had successfully taken over Star Labs and brainwashed over half the city into becoming his followers. On top of that, Conner had become one of his henchmen and was using Lex’s resources to help further their evil plans.
The team was in hiding as a result, everyone confined to the RV currently situated deep in a forest just on the outskirts of Metropolis. It was only a matter of time before someone figured out where they were and attacked.
“So, what do you propose we do? Just sit here and hope for a miracle?” Kory asks, folding her arms over her chest.
“Of course not. We come up with a reasonable plan that doesn’t involve any of us putting our lives at risk,” Dick retorts.
“We’re vigilantes, Dick. Our whole thing is putting our lives at risk.”
“You know what I mean, Kory.”
“Look, we’ve been trying to come up with some way to take down Sebastian and his cult for days now with no results. At least my plan will actually get us somewhere.”
“Maybe she’s right,” Gar chimes in cautiously. “It’s like how Mother Mayhem used Conner to infiltrate Star Labs. We could do the same with Kory. She’ll be our ‘Inside Man’.”
“Thank you,” she says, turning her attention to the green-haired boy. “That’s exactly what I was going for.”
Dick drags a hand over his tired face before stuffing both of them in his pockets. “I get that, but this is different for two reasons. One, we didn’t know about Conner’s curse until Mother Mayhem tried to get him to break out Sebastian. They’ll know immediately that something’s up if Kory just goes with them freely. And two, Conner was never a target, just a means to an end. Kory, on the other hand, is literally a missing piece to whatever nefarious scheme they’re trying to put together. They need her. We’d be helping them if we went through with this.”
While Dick and Kory were stuck in Caul’s Folly and Gar and Rachel were exploring The Red, Tim and Bernard had thankfully used their time together to do some more digging into May Bennett’s past to find something that would help them take down the Church of Blood.
They started with her connection with Lex, seeing as his death is how they found out about her in the first place. Taking another look at the data Dick had collected from Lex’s laptop, they found direct messages from his Twitter account (the one place Dick didn’t feel the need to look) between him and May that included links she sent to articles on curing terminal illnesses, studies on the possibilities of living forever, and research papers on alien physiology.
Then factoring in everything Kory learned during her short interaction with Nelson, plus Lex’s eagerness to learn more about her, they concluded that Mother Mayhem and the Church of Blood likely wanted Kory and her powers to achieve what Lex had been chasing during the last year of his life: immortality. The only piece of information they’re missing now is how they’re going to do it.
It doesn’t help that Kory has very limited knowledge about her new powers. All she knows is that she’s getting stronger as the days progress. And with the warning from Dr. Espenson to be careful of how she uses it now that they’ve reached an alarming new magnitude, it makes the whole situation even more complicated.
“But if they need her, they most likely won’t harm her, right?” Tim inquires.
“We can’t be sure of that,” Bernard says.
“Guys, I’m with Dick on this one. I mean you saw how easily she stripped me of my powers. They’ll do the same to you, Kory,” Rachel protests.
Dick gives her a simple nod, a silent thank you for understanding his point of view.
“Okay then. Let’s make this fair. We brainstorm for a few more hours, let’s say until dawn, to come up with a better idea. If we don’t, we go with mine.”
“Sounds good to me,” Tim shrugs, as Rachel and Gar also nod in agreement.
It’s currently ten after two in the morning, which means they have about four hours to do this. A reasonable amount of time to think of something else.
Dick takes a long look at Kory before letting out a small, frustrated sigh. “Fine.”
***
One would think that six brains working together would result in an abundance of great ideas, but no. Four hours pass and they’re unable to come up with anything new. There were some contenders but each time someone was able to find and point out where something could or would go wrong.
Dick leans over the table, bowing his head in defeat. “Kory, I know we had a deal...but I just can’t let you do this.”
“You guys should try to get a little rest,” Kory says, focusing on the younger Titans. “We’ve got a lot ahead of us. Dick and I are just going to step outside for a little bit.”
She quickly turns and heads for the door, not sparing a moment to look back and make sure he’s behind her.
He follows her to a small clearing a little distance away from the RV, understanding that she likely doesn’t want the kids to hear them. Which makes him more apprehensive of the conversation ahead because the last time they had a moment like this it didn’t go so well.
Dick waits for Kory to turn around, but she doesn’t.
“I know you’re scared, Dick.” she says eventually, fiddling with the emerald-adorned rings on her fingers.
“I’m not scared. I’m terrified.”
“That’s understandable. But we really don’t have another choice.”
“We would if you’d give it more time,” he counters.
“We don’t have more time!” she exclaims, finally turning around. She says it in a tone he’s never heard from her before. It’s a mixture of fear, exhaustion, and exasperation. Words he would never usually associate with Kory.
Dick deflates then, knowing that she’s right. Even now as they stand outside, the sky remains an eerie shade of red from the ritual. It’s been so long since it’s been blue or grey or golden, he’s almost forgotten what that looks like. And despite it being autumn, the air is unpleasantly thick and muggy. Things are bad, and they’re only getting worse.
The two of them remain silent for a while, Kory’s words weighing on both their minds. But Dick eventually finds some resolve to speak.
“That storybook. You know, the one you’ve been trying to get me to believe in? It shows that you die...that they kill you.” he starts, the words almost too difficult to say. “What if it’s because we go through with this?”
“What if it’s because we don’t?”
Dick turns away from Kory, running his hand through his hair to try and calm himself. For the first time ever, he feels anger towards her. Something he thought could never happen. Kory's always told him that handling something on his own was the wrong way to do it. That he has a team that’s willing and able to help him. And since leaving Gotham, he’s been making a real effort to handle every mission with them. So why does she want to do the very thing she’s been asking him not to?
Sure, Kory’s letting everyone know her intentions beforehand unlike he has in the past. But once she’s with the Church of Blood she’s basically on her own. Communicating with her will be next to impossible. And there won’t be an easy way for any of them to swoop in and save her if things go south.
“You’re acting as if I want to do this.”
“Don’t you!? You’re insisting on putting yourself in an impossible situation!” Now he’s the one raising his voice, revealing his fear. He turns back to look at her with sad eyes. “I just...I don’t get it, Kory. Is this you punishing yourself for what happened at Elko’s, or something? Because that wasn’t your fault.”
“No. Of course not,” she replies honestly. “...I’m just accepting my destiny.”
“Here we go again,” he says, letting out what seems like his hundredth sigh of the day. If there was ever a word Dick wished to be erased from existence, it would destiny. With prophecy being a close second.
“Just hear me out,” Kory says, taking a few steps toward him. “After everything with Trigon and my sister...I thought I’d finally escaped it all. That I’d finally be able to live the life that I wanted. But I realized I never had a choice. I may have thought I was deciding my own fate, yet things were just playing out the way they were supposed to. Apparently, that was common knowledge to almost everyone in my court but me. It all makes sense now, though. My training, my song, my initial mission. It was all preparing me for this. So, I have to embrace it.”
“So, what, you're saying you’re destined to be a sacrifice?” Dick asks incredulously.
“No. I’m destined to save people.”
Her statement takes him by surprise. But he pauses to really absorb her words. And he can’t help but agree.
Kory saves people.
She saved and protected Rachel, even after she realized that her mission was actually to kill her.
She saved Jason and the whole team by helping take down Deathstroke. Then saved Conner hours later by becoming the literal sun and healing him of Kryptonite poisoning.
She saved Blackfire even after she killed their parents and Faddei and usurped the throne.
She saved Gotham by using her brilliant mind to think of using the Lazarus pit to cure the citizens of fear toxin.
And then there’s him. Kory has saved Dick plenty of times. In reality, alternate dimensions, and even dreams. The most memorable time being when he died. Even though she wasn’t there physically, Kory saved him through their daughter. An extension of herself. Seeing her gave him the strength and desire to keep fighting.
Dick relents then, knowing he can’t change her mind on this.
“Maybe me running is making things worse,” she continues when he doesn’t speak. “If I finally accept my destiny and face it head on, maybe it’ll all work out.”
“You running is why we’re a family now.”
“No, that was destiny playing out too. We were all meant to cross paths. I know that for a fact.”
“Cross paths...that sounds temporary,” Dick says, trying not reveal the sadness he feels from the thought.
Kory came into his life when he was dealing with the worst version of himself. And despite not being too dependable in the beginning, she never judged or turned her back on him. Instead, she wanted to be closer to him, to get to know him. Now, over a year later, they’ve built a bond and family that he never thought was possible for himself. Dick can’t imagine his life without her.
“That’s not what I meant,” Kory says, silently kicking herself for her choice of words.
“I know. I know, it’s just that...”
“Dick—”
“I saw you die once,” he reveals somberly.
Kory is taken aback by that. Everything that happened with Kapelwa and Max in that alleyway back in Gotham feels like a distant dream. She was so occupied with everything she saw in her vision, and she healed so quickly, she never really thought of it as her dying. Surely it couldn’t have affected Dick that much either. Then again, he has lost a lot of people, especially in the last few months. That coupled with him dying himself could be the reason he feels so strongly about her getting shot. Other feelings likely play a role too. So, rather than question his feelings, she wants to console him.
“Dick, I know me getting shot back in Gotham was—”
“No,” he interjects. “Not in Gotham. When Trigon had me trapped in that nightmare...you died. Batman killed you.”
Kory feels her mouth open and close, attempting to respond, but words escape her. When she doesn’t say anything, he continues.
“When it happened...everything in me broke. I felt hollow yet filled with a rage I’ve never felt before...So, I killed him...I killed Bruce.”
He looks so defeated admitting it, and her heart break for him. A reminder that even with the progress he’s made, Dick still carries so many painful memories around with him daily.
“Like you said it was a nightmare. And things were different back then. You were different. You’d never do something like that now or ever,” she responds.
“That doesn’t change the reason I did it.”
Again, Kory’s at a loss for words. Although, she’s grateful for Dick opening up to her now. It helps her understand why he's so against her plan. She’s sure he would hate the idea with or without the nightmare. But he was forced to watch her die once. Of course, he’s even more terrified of losing her in real life too. She’d feel the same way if the roles were reversed.
Kory can’t deny that Dick’s worry for her makes her happy. Not because she enjoys seeing him upset or anything. But because she’s never had anyone care so much about her well-being before. Her parents, Blackfire, Zadira, and any other person from her planet would gladly send her into the lion's den to fight for them. That’s what she’s meant to do. She’s a warrior after all.
That doesn’t matter to Dick, though. He cares so much about her, even if he can’t fully express it through words yet. And there’s no doubt in her mind that if he could, he’d be the one to offer himself up to Brother Blood and Mother Mayhem in her place.
She loves that about him, his selflessness, amongst other things. She wishes she could tell him that right now, but it would be too much at this moment. Plus, she doesn’t want to tell him like this. When the world is crumbling around them. And she doesn’t want him to continue with his current confession either. To reveal too much. She wouldn’t be able to handle it. But she hopes they get a chance to express what’s truly on their minds and hearts when this is all over with.
Kory slowly approaches Dick, closing more of the distance between them. When she’s close enough, she kisses his cheek and then wraps her arms around his neck, giving him what she hopes to be a comforting hug. One of his arms immediately wraps around her waist while his other hand gently holds her head, reciprocating the intensity of her hug.
They stay like that for a while, as if trying to hold onto this last moment of peace. Even though things are far from peaceful. The two of them memorize each other’s touch, warmth and scent, knowing that they’ll probably be separated for some time soon.
“I can’t lose you.” he confesses, blinking away the tears forming in the corner of his eyes.
“You won’t,” she says, even though she knows it’s something she can’t promise. “Have faith in me. In us.”
“I do,” he assures her, pulling away just enough to look into her eyes. He wants to believe that they’ll make it through this. It’s just hard when the odds seem stacked against them. “But what if it’s not enough?”
Kory gazes at Dick, and suddenly has the desire to surge forward and kiss him on the lips this time. A way to try and ease both their nerves. Because she doesn’t have an answer to his question. But she decides against the action, because again, it’s too much for right now. Instead, she laces the fingers of both their hands together, giving them a gentle squeeze. All while silently praying to X’hal that she’s strong enough to make it through this mission.
“Tonight.” he whispers, breaking the silence that Kory didn’t realize had grown.
“Tonight?” she responds quizzically.
“We’ll initiate your plan tonight. But we need at least two contingency plans before that. I want you to be wired when you go in too. And wear a tracker. We’ve got some WayneTech that’s small enough to go undetected. You won’t be able to talk to us, but at least we’ll hear everything on your end and know if you’re in danger.”
“Yea, of course.”
“Ready to head back in?”
“Give me a minute? I could use some more fresh air.”
“Okay,” he says softly, giving her hands another squeeze before returning to the RV.
When she’s alone, Kory allows herself to crumble just a little bit, a single tear slipping down her face. She quickly shuts her eyes, racking her brain for a happy thought.
A birthday party in a park immediately comes to mind. The smiles. The laughter. She and her family all together. That’s her true destiny. And that’s how she knows there’s still hope.
She wipes the tear away and heads back to the RV, thinking of the song she’s heard too many times to count.
Her true fight begins.