017

— out of the ash, i rise —

THERE WAS A DULL ACHING PAIN IN HER BONES, BUT HER BODY FELT STRANGELY COMFORTABLE. Hazel lifted her head from the comfortable pillow, her eyes squinting at the soft glow of fairy lights around the room. Hazel groaned as she pushed herself up right, her hands moving to check her sides, expecting the bloody armour of her suit but instead her fingers ran over a grey cotton. She looked down at the cotton of the large guns and roses shirt, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

She stood on shaky legs, stepping toward the door and out into the hall. She walked down the small hallway out into the living room of Cole's apartment. Hazel barely had time to look around when Terran raced toward Hazel, leaping into her arms and squeezed her tightly. "Oh thank god, I thought I fucked up."

"I'm good, I think," Hazel muttered. Hazel looked up, Cole walking towards her with a hot coffee.

"Oh thank goodness you're up!" Nina squeaked, rushing towards the three. She held Hazel's Venom suit top in her hands. "I managed to stitch everything but whoever makes these might wanna make you a new one."

Hazel took the suit from Nina and Terran sat Hazel on the couch, "Oh uh, thank you, I'll let him know."

Terran waited until Hazel settled the suit in her lap before she spoke up."Cole explained everything to me already so you just drink the coffee and we'll talk," Terran said and Hazel nodded. "So far there's no word from anyone. On your comms or the radio."

"Which could be a good sign," Cole said quickly. "It means everyone could be hiding like we are."

"Gar and Blackfire were shot," Hazel interrupted, looking between them. "I have a feeling they're doing more than hiding out."

Terran sighed through her nose, but continued speaking. "Rachel is looking for Gar, she's able to track the power he radiates so she'll find him soon enough."

"But we should also be laying low, you especially," Cole added and Hazel's eyes snapped up to him. "News is playing all sorts of crap, number one being everyone's wanted for terrorism except for you, Conner and Gar. You guys have an extra."

"What- What do you mean?"

"Footage was released of the Carnival attacks," Terran explained, "The news quickly tried to say the events were fabricated but Barbra got arrested so-"

"All hell broke loose," Cole said with huff.

April 2, 2021

Nina had put the three on house arrest, claiming when it was safe either someone would show up or Hazel would receive a call. But when Terran walked to Hazel with shaky hands whispering that something was wrong with Dick, Hazel threw the door open, her siblings following her quickly.

They kept close together but Terran led the way, leading them through twisting alley's and empty streets. Cole looked up at the dark sky, hissing through his teeth as gunshots cut through the air only a street over. "What happened to laying low?" he asked, leaning down slightly to whisper to Terran.

"Normally when I feel somethings wrong, it means someones dead," Terran mumbled, tracing her palms like the lines on a map.

"Or dying, pray that Dick is only dying," Hazel insisted, peaking around an alley corner, checking over it before they continued.

Hazel stopped in the middle of the ally, staring down an off chute as a familiar energy ran over her bones. Terran called for her but Hazel just told them to follow her and started to walk down the side alley chasing the energy. Cole and Terran caught up to Hazel, just as she turned down an alley Rachel and Gar already halfway down the alley.

Hazel smiled and ran forward, throwing her arms around Gar and squeezing him close, and he held her tight. Terran and Cole caught up a moment later, Terran taking Rachel's hand while she introduced Cole.

"How's your side?" Hazel asked, looking up at him, her hands ghosting over the spot Gar was shot.

"Fine now," Gar nodded. "How's your everything?"

"I'm fine," Hazel promised. She turned to Rachel, smiling softly. "What are you guys doing out here?"

Rachel looked over her shoulder and stammered slightly, "Dick is dying. I can feel it. Every time I think I find him it's a different dead body."

"I'm having the same problem the further we get into the city," Terran said in agreement.

"I can find him," Cole said, taking a step closer, "If someone lets me channel 'em."

"Can you channel us both?" Rachel questioned and Cole nodded softly. Cole walked ahead of the group, leading them out of the alleys and across empty streets. Cole turned them to the left and they walked through a large open garden square, the air chilled and quiet. They walked up the stairs, Cole stopping them before they reached the top of the stairs.

Hazel put her hand out in front of Cole and walked around him, staring out a body splayed on the floor. Rachel stepped next to her, her hands flying to cover her mouth. "Dick!" Rachel shouted. She and Hazel raced to Dick, dropping beside him as the others crowded around him.

"No, no, no, no," Hazel rambled, her shaky hands moving to press against the bloody wound in his neck. A green light spun around her hands as she tried to heal him but her power went nowhere. Rachel sobbed, her hands pressed against her mouth as she watched Hazel closely. Hazel shuddered as she took her hand back, "I can't heal him," Hazel muttered. Cole knelt next to her and took her bloody hand.

Gar's hands fisted his hair and he cried, shouting out in anguish. "No!" Rachel sobbed into her hands and Hazel let out a shaky breath, sitting on the concrete floor. Gar continued to tug on his hair, his anguished cries echoing through the night, the bats mimicking him. First just one back responding to Gar's call then hundreds of bats swarmed through the air, zipping between the others and back above their heads. The bats dipped closer to Gar and he wiped at his skin, the heels of his hands pressing to his eyes.

"Yo guys, Gar's doing something," Cole whispered, staring at the boy. The girls turned their eyes to Gar as his skin changed to a fury green, from the top of his head to the ends of his fingers. Gar's voice squeaked, fleshy wings connecting his fingers and his ears pointed out and up. Gar looked up at the others, his eyes mimicking the deep yellow of the bats, the fangs in his mouth expanding to match.

Hazel pushed herself up. "Gar?" Hazel muttered.

The bats flew closer and Gar suddenly shrunk with a squeak, shedding his clothes and transforming completely into a small green bat. The small bat flew into the air, flying alongside the other bats, swirling into a circle and starting to descend closer to the ground. The others quickly hopped up and took a few steps back, watching the bats fly down and attach themselves onto the Nightwing armour.

The bats lifted Dick's body high into the hair, the colony of black bats following the green one that led the way through the sky. "Follow me," Rachel said quickly, barely looking at the other before running off, the others seconds behind, even as Cole stopped to grab Gar's clothes. Rachel raced through back streets and alleys to a large office building that had been abandoned for at least two decades.

They squeezed through a large hole in one of the walls, stepping out onto obsidian floors, the walls dark and gothic. Rachel urged them onwards down the long stairs and to a clearing, a pool of purple and blue magic twisting together in a mess of magic. Cole set Gar's clothes aside before moving to stand with the others, looking down into the pit.

"Out of the ash, I rise with my red hair, And I eat men like air," Cole recited and Hazel furrowed her eyebrows. "Sylivia Plath, Lady Lazarus."

Hazel looked up at the bats starting to decened through the crack in the roof, lighting the room in dancing shadow. "Gar, now!" Rachel shouted. The bats lowered Dick's body into the dark gooey liquid, his figure consumed with the dark magic as he sank below the surface.

Hazel crouched, looking into the mix of magic as it bubbled and burst. "Is he gonna make it?" Rachel asked, looking over Hazel's shoulder.

Hazel reached out, hovering her hand over the magic but never touching it as she searched for Dick's body or mind. Hazel sighed and drew her hand back, "I don't know."

Cole ran his hand through his hair, tugging at the roots as he racked his brain. "Wait if he's dead, shouldn't you be able to find him?" Cole asked, turning to Terran.

"It's uh, difficult with all the magic. Like looking through a frosted window," Terran explained.

"There is a witch standing next to you," Cole motioned to Rachel.

Terran looked at Rachel but she was already shaking her head, "Frosted windows still there, now the frost sparkles."

Hazel furrowed her brows again and looked up between them, "It's because you're not connected. Your powers are but your minds aren't." Hazel paused as Rachel and Terran looked at eachother, dumbfounded neither had thought of that option. "There is a telepath standing next to you."

Rachel looked around the room, spotting a space empty and large enough. She moved her hands as she walked towards, a purple rune carving into the floor, splitting into three parts. She sat down and Terran and Cole followed quickly, listening to Rachel as she instructed them through the spell.

Hazel turned back to the pit of magic and sat down with a huff. Gar groaned, finally stepped out from behind a large pillar, still straining as he pulled his shirt down to cover his stomach. He glanced up at the others lost in the spell before his eyes wandered back to the pit. "Can you sense him in there?" Gar questioned, stopping behind Hazel.

Hazel glanced up at him, "Kind of," Hazel mumbled. "I can tell there's a body in there but I can't tell where he is. Like... Living or limbo. Terran's trying to look for him, the others too, but you know Terran will do the heavy lifting," Hazel chuckled softly, trying to distract herself but it did nothing to mask the terrible feeling in the pit of her stomach.

Gar groaned and sat next to Hazel with a strained hiss. "He will," Gar said softly. Gar leant back on his hands, pain etched into his features at the stretch of his muscles.

"What's wrong?" Hazel asked, spinning to face him.

"I'm okay," Gar said quickly, but still strained. Hazel furrowed her eyebrows and Gar sighed softly, "The bat, I'm still working through it."

"How did you do it?" Hazel asked.

Gar's eyes darted away from Hazel and he tucked one knee to his chest, shrugging softly. "I don't know. These new changes, they always happen when I'm afraid. It's like, my ability to change is locked behind a door. And fear..." Gar sighed, his hand coming up to massage his temple. "Fear cracks it open for a brief moment. And then it just slams shut again. When it happens, when I start to change, it feels like I'm dying. I know I can do more, I can... be more. I just don't want it to always be this way."

Gar took a breath and looked up at Hazel, her eyes entirely focussed on him. "A few years ago, when we were on the train, when we were trying to get to Rachel's mother's house, Kory told me to talk to you," Gar recalled, his eyes trailing away in nervousness. "She said that you could teach me, create a connection but you were so good at everything that I felt intimidated to talk with you."

Hazel's eyes shot to the pit for a moment before back up to Gar. "Do you remember the first time I manipulated something? When I was under CADMUS's control?" Hazel questioned and Gar nodded. "After that, I thought I would have to be strong, fearless, that if I felt pride I could do whatever." Hazel paused and Gar looked up at her. "But then I couldn't do it again."

"But... Billy Numerous shot at you on that mission, and you turned all those bullets to sand," Gar recalled.

Hazel shook her head softly, her fingers playing with the small flower she had sprouted from her palm. "Because they were aimed at you," Hazel said and her eyes shot away from Gar. "It wasn't pride or fear that made me do it again, it was love for you... For Kory and Conner." Hazel looked back up at Gar and gave him a small smile. "When I realised I loved you and I couldn't lose you, I knew I couldn't let anyone hurt you. It unlocked everything for me."

Gar looked at Hazel, his eyes darting across her face. "Can I try something?" Hazel asked and Gar nodded softly. Hazel shuffled closer, her knees brushing Gar's leg that was still stretched out in front of him, but he quickly crossed his legs as Hazel reached her hand out. Her hand rested against one side of his face, her fingers tracing his skin lightly as a soft green glow danced between her palm, connecting them.

Hazel's eyebrows furrowed slightly as she searched through Gar's mind, but her eyes stayed locked with his, even as he closed them in concentration. "The bats came to you because they felt your pain and your love for Dick. You knew you had to be with them because they needed to help you," Hazel said slowly, keeping her voice soft. "You were and are capable of more, you just had to realise it. It's not fear that helps you transform, it's love."

She couldn't help but let her eyes wander, counting the light freckles on his skin, flickering across his face until she stared at his lips. Her hand tracing lines onto his cheek froze and Gar looked up at her, looking at her eyes. His own gaze began to wander, tracing over every inch of her face that he had already memorised, but he stopped to stare at her red chapped lip, slightly cut from when she would gnaw them when she was nervous.

Her eyes lifted back to his and he slowly dipped his head closer.

They jumped apart when Rachel shouted. "Cole! Cole, hey, hey!" Hazel froze for a moment before scrambling to her feet and rushing to Cole, she and Terran pulling him from the witches mark. Gar ran to them, steadying Rachel as she stood quickly. "I don't know what's wrong," Rachel panted, her eyes blown wide.

Cole was shaking, his skin clammy and cold as his eyes darted around, the red power still present in his irises. "Cole look at me," Hazel ordered, holding him by the shoulders. "Cole, what did you see?"

"There was a red balloon-"

"No, no, not that," Cole interrupted, cutting off Terran's sentence. Cole furrowed his eyebrows as if it pained him to remember what he saw. "I saw Dick, past all the magic. He was wearing a joker costume, he was holding a bat or a crowbar."

"A crowbar?" Gar repeated and Cole nodded. "That's how Jason was killed."

Hazel looked back at him, "It's just death, it has a way of making nightmares from nothing."

"Uh guys," Terran called, tugging on Rachel's sleeve. "Something's happening to the pit."

They all turned, watching as the magic within the pit boiled and bubbled, the magic spurting and spinning as something began to happen deep inside the pit. "What's happening?" Gar asked, booking between Hazel and Rachel.

"I don't know," Rachel mumbled, stepping closer.

Hazel knelt by the side of the pit again, her eyes focussing on the mixing magic. "I can feel him," Hazel spoke up. Dick's fist burst through the magic water and grabbed onto the side of the rock pit. Cole and Gar raced toward him, helping Hazel pull him from the pit and set him on the cold ground.

Cole was quick to grab Dick's wrist and calmed him down, stopping his thrashing and panting. "Breath Dick, it's just us."

Dick took deep breaths as he focused on everyone standing around him. "Terran. Rachel," Dick gasped, surprised, taking over his voice.

"It's okay now, you're safe," Rachel breathed as Dick sat up. "Let us help you."

"Are you all right?" Gar questioned.

"What happened down there?" Terran asked, taking a small step forward.

Dick took a jagged breath, his eyes still darting around. "Crane can be stopped. There's still time," Dick said through deep breaths. Dick started to move and Cole took a step back as Dick pushed himself to his feet.

"Whoa, whoa. Wait, Dick, hold on, you need to rest," Hazel spoke up as Dick turned for the long steps.

"Anton and First Street, there's an abandoned control room," Dick said quickly, stopping to turn back to the others. "You know it?" Cole nodded quickly and Dick sighed in relief. "Find Conner. Make sure he is okay. Unite the Titans." Dick turned and headed for the stairs.

"Unite the Titans where exactly?" Cole shouted, throwing his hands up.

"Take them to Donna!" Dick called.

"Did he just say Donna?" Gar questioned.

"I brought her back to life," Terran mumbled.

Cole led the small group through the streets of Gotham to a control room just outside downtown. Hazel walked to the door first, the door swinging open with a terrible screech. Hazel looked around the room once before stepping inside, the others following after her. "Conner?" Gar called, moving down a left hall, Terran close behind.

"Krypto," Cole echoed with a whistle through his teeth as he called for the dog.

Rachel walked beside Hazel, her eyes wandering over all the old radio equipment. "It kinda looks like the senior AV room," Rachel said and Hazel chuckled softly, nodding in agreement.

Hazel rounded the control panel, spotting the glowing green powder staining the floor. "Got somethin!" Hazel shouted, looking back over her shoulder. Hazel crouched, her eyes lightning up as she collected some of the powder on the tips of her fingers.

"What is that?" Terran asked, she and the others emerging from the back.

Hazel looked up at the others and squished the powder beneath her fingers, "Kryptonite."

"So, Conner was here," Gar muttered. "What the hell happened?"

"Where would he go?" Cole questioned.

"Probably searching for Komand'r," Hazel said with a shrug as she pushed herself to stand.

A loud annoying buzzing cut through the silence of the room and they turned to look at the old dusty equipment the sound was coming from. "Huh, something in here still works?" Terran mumbled but Cole and Hazel hushed her in unison.

"Location. 89th Street and Keane Avenue. Do not come to this location. Resistance no longer secure. Repeat. We are no longer secure."

"Titan on site leading the evacuation," A second voice relayed.

"Titan on site," Hazel repeated.

Rachel smiled softly, "Donna."

— rage —