I can't stay
I can't deceive
That's all for everyone
Must be just exactly what I need

Prom was now two weeks away. Leora had yet to buy herself a dress as her life as a vigilante at night and a senior in high school during the day had kept her schedule fairly busy. Finals were in three weeks and whenever Leora did have time off, it was spent studying for a future she wished she could get if she ever broke from her mother's grasp.

After school one day while on their way to Leora's apartment to study, Jacque decided to stop in the middle of the footpath and the scratched the back of his neck anxiously.

"Do you want to come back to my place instead?" He randomly asked.

Leora was taken aback. He had never asked her over to his house before, and she never really thought about it. "Your place? I've never been to yours."

"I know, it's just my dad will be busy at work and I'll probably be alone until morning." Jacque never talked about his father and whenever he was brought up, Jacque just mentioned how different and difficult his father was.

Leora gave Jacque a small and warm smile, relaxing the boy dramatically. "Yeah, sure. What should I expect?"

Jacque chuckled lightly. "Not Wayne Manor, that's for sure."

Leora snorted. "Hilarious."

"But I also don't live in a nice apartment like you and your mom," he continued. "It's kinda small; two bedrooms, kitchen beside the living and dining room, and one bathroom."

Leora held his hand and smiled lightly. "I'm sure it's great, Jacque. I can't wait to come over."

Jacque smiled back. "Yeah. Yeah, it'll be great."

—

It didn't take them long to reach his apartment. He lived on the fourth floor in South Gotham. The apartment complex wasn't all that clean and definitely wasn't made for the upper class Gotham residents.

Jacque put the key through the lock and opened up the door. Leora stepped inside and looked around the small space. She didn't really know what to expect, but by the looks of things, it definitely did remind her of Jacque with the random books scattered everywhere. Leora also noted that there were no paintings or photos anywhere insight, a small two seat couch and a single chair, television, and a small round table with three chairs.

"So, this is it," Jacque said as he flipped the light switch on.

"This isn't bad, Jacque," Leora told him as she looked around, calming down the extremely anxious teenager. She could just smell how nervous and sick he felt as he awaited his closest friends' opinion on his home. Leora turned to him and smiled. "It's lovely. Makes me feel better than my own place."

Jacque let out a deep sigh of relief, then frowned when he realised what she said. "How come?"

"Your place feels like a home," she continued, looking around. "Mine feels like my mom just wanted to look rich. It doesn't feel like a home to me, not like my home back in Star City."

"Leora Lance," a voice called out from the kitchen.

The two teenagers turned around to the source of the noise and saw a man with brown hair, roughly early thirties with light stubble, walk into the room with a small smile.

"Dad?" Jacque instantly voiced. "I thought you were at work?"

"I heard your friend was coming over and wanted to meet her," Doctor Crane instantly said, then turned to smile at Leora. "Jacque's told me a lot about you."

Leora's nerves instantly peaked when she saw the man. She knew Jacque's father meant a great deal to him. But she also knew he was a bit of a mysterious character and spent many hours at Arkham Asylum and rarely saw Jacque, especially when he needed it most.

Leora stepped forward and held her hand out, smiling lightly. "Hi, Dr. Crane. It's nice to finally meet you." They shook hands, then Leora stepped back to stand besides Jacque. "Jacque's told me a lot about you as well."

He let out a chuckle. "Hopefully not too much."

Jacque's cheeks darkened as he nervously played with his hands. "Dad."

"Son," Dr. Crane warned, then smiled back at Leora. "Would you like some tea? Sorry, I don't have any coffee or soft drink. We don't really drink that here."

"That's okay. Tea would be lovely," Leora replied with a soft smile, despite the fact that she hated tea. Jacque was on edge, and perhaps if she was polite to his father and got to know him, maybe he would calm down a little.

He nodded. "I'll go make it for us," he said and disappeared into the kitchen.

Leora and Jacque headed towards the couch as they took their backpacks off. "I thought you hated tea," Jacque said.

"I'm not going to say no to your dad, Jacque. First impressions are everything," she told him as they sat down.

Leora watched Jacque on the couch. He rubbed his hands anxiously on his jeans, trying to rid his sweaty palms. His hands then moved to his hair as he tried to put his growing hair behind his ears. "Sorry if he's a little weird. He meets a lot of strange people at Arkham."

"The Joker recently got admitted there, I heard," Leora commented lightly, knowing that talking about Superheroes and Villains tended to calm him down and make him happy.

Jacque nodded. "Yeah, Batman finally got him. The Black Canary had to help him out to do it, however," he replied. "Well, that's what dad told me anyway."

"Really?" Leora asked, acting as if she didn't already know. Both herself and Dick were specifically told to sit out on that mission and so they decided to stay at Wayne Mansion and watch the Matrix Trilogy. "Well, the Black Canary is pretty good."

"Yeah, she is," Jacque said. "I kinda want to leave and go to the diner near your house. Can we leave once dad gets back?"

Leora frowned. "Is everything alright, Jacque? I know you're normally secretive when it comes to talking about your dad. If you don't want me to hang around him or get to know him, then we can leave after tea. Anything to make you feel more relaxed."

"I'm not worried about myself. I'm more worried about you."

Dr. Crane walked into the room holding a tray with three cups of tea. "Here's your tea. Watch out, it's hot," he warned. Jacque took a cup off and Leora did as well as she eyed Jacque. The last cup was for Dr. Crane, and he placed his on the small tea table beside the couch. He sat on the singular couch with a small smile as he looked between the two teenagers. "I've been making this tea for years, Jacque loves it. Don't you, Jacque?"

Jacque gave a curt nod. "Yeah, it's great. It has a couple of herbs in it that makes it taste better than regular tea."

"Can't wait," Leora replied, nudging her knee against Jacque's when the teenager looked at her, uneasily.

Dr. Crane took a sip of his tea, and Leora took that as her cue to take a sip as well. It tasted floral, and she absolutely hated it. "So, what do you get up to outside of school, Leora?"

She pulled the cup away from her lips. "Study and homework, mostly, as finals are coming up. But I do make time to watch tv, that's for sure."

"You're not from Gotham, are you?" He asked. "Sorry for asking. It's just my son didn't really have any friends before you, and you only became friends around two years ago?"

"A year and a half ago," Leora corrected. "I moved from Star City as my mom got a job relocation."

"What does your mother work as?"

"She's a lawyer."

He pointed a knowing finger. "Laurel Lance, am I correct?"

Leora nodded with a chortle. "Yeah, that's her."

Dr. Crane looked towards his son when he realised that Jacque hadn't made a move to drink his tea. He raised his eyebrows up at him, and Jacque took a slow, long sip of the warm liquid.

"When did you move to Gotham again?" Dr. Crane asked.

"A year and a half ago," Leora reminded him.

"Isn't that when the Black Canary and Green Starling started making their appearance here?"

Leora's stomach instantly sunk and her heart felt as if it stopped. "I-I don't know. I don't really keep up with what superheroes or vigilante's do."

"I'm the one who's into that, dad. Leora isn't," Jacque weakly told his father, his eyes on the cup in his hands.

"I'm sure you're right, son," he said, then looked back at Leora. "How's the tea?"

She pulled on a tight lipped smile. "It's still hot, but it tastes lovely, thank you."

"I got one of the herbs I used for your tea from a friend of mine. She's a botanist and knows all sorts of plants, herbs included," he began to say. "The one I put in your tea is used to sedate people. It has strong calming effects, both body and mind." Jacque suddenly slouched too far forward, and in a matter of seconds, he collapsed onto the floor, unconscious. Leora reached forward to grab him and make sure he was okay, but blinked as her vision began to get spotty. "My son doesn't understand, yet, the work I do, but I know you'd understand, Green Starling."

Leora looked up at him and stood up from the couch, only to stumble backwards and against the arm rest. "How did you...?"

"Jacque's told me a lot about you, including your incredible strength, and your skills when playing sport. He described that game of dodgeball you played as, "Watching Neo from the Matrix dodge bullets only to fire more back with crazy precision"." Leora tried to stumble her way back to the front door, but unconsciousness was creeping up on her, and she could barely see three feet in front of her.

"Also doesn't help that the day you started school, the Black Canary and the Green Starling were spotted that night for the first time in Gotham in a while. Took out a gang, right? Yeah, I was friends with a few members," he continued. "You see, my son adores superheroes. God knows why. But, I can see the fascination in the strong and powerful. And clearly you have superhuman healing considering this tea hasn't knocked you out yet." Leora turned around and tried to grab Dr. Crane, only for him to step out of her way and watch as she collapsed onto the floor. "But I see it's effects working. Not so fast, little Leora. We're about to be spending a lot of time together." Leora's eyes closed just as Dr. Crane bent down to her level, mere centimetres away from her face. "You're about to be my subject in a game I call, "Let's find a meta human's weak spot"."