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oneirataxxiaa · 4 years

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Demon Claws and Crossbow Bolts -- [chapter two]

chapter two, yayyyyy. people seemed curious about Riley, so feel free to send in an ask to ask her any questions!! This will now be the average length of chapters.

also a quick message to Dolly , I named Crossbow, Mia, after the canon daughter of Oliver and Felicity. Sorry if this isn’t alright, but I needed a name for her haha.

warnings : swearing , violence , injuries , dark topics

rating : 16+

It was raining outside when she woke up, strange considering last she remembered, it was a clear night with no clouds. Riley pushed herself up from laying down, finding fabric underneath her and above her. The bed was not well made, but the sheets and blankets were clean. Pulling the blanket down, she could see bandages - slightly tinged red with soaked blood - wrapped around her torso, it wasn’t tight, but it restricted her movement a little. Turning on her side to sit on the edge of the bed, Riley surveyed the room. It looked like a typical bedroom, various collectables on the shelves, through the half open wardrobe door she could see clothes hanging up with shoes on the floor. A few posters were tacked to the walls, some bands, movie posters, some she recognised, some she didn’t

The bed had black sheets and a grey quilt, the pillow behind her head was a dull red in colour that she supposed matched the colour scheme the room was going for. There was one window, just across from her, above the dresser. The blinds were drawn shut, but she could hear the battering of a storm beyond the glass. Riley raised a hand to her head, running a hand through her mess of hair, then down the side of her face, feeling plasters along her cheek and jaw. Her eye was slightly swollen, though it had some sort of cream on it, and her bottom lip was still split in the middle. When her hand dropped down to her lap again, she noticed she was in different clothing. She wore a red sleeveless shirt of a sweater type material and black sweatpants that were a little too large for her. Neither of these things, she owned. Something she did own however, was the vest resting on the bedside table. It took her a good minute or two to shift the vest onto her body, wincing ever now and again

“Where are we?” She asked aloud, quietly as not to alert anyone in the building. Riley attempted to get to her feet, wincing because of both her healing injuries and the cold floor below her bare feet. It was that strange faux wood lino that you usually find in a living room. Not very good at retaining heat. Her legs hurt like hell, but had a strange numbness to them, making walking an uncomfortable experience.

“Not sure , don’t remember” Fenris replied, he sounded alert, keeping an eye out, yet behind his words was a sluggish tone that indicated that he was still extremely tired. Riley walked to the door, about to open it carefully, only to hear faint voices on the other side.

“I just checked her bandages, you’ll probably need to change them soon if she keeps bleeding”. The voice was female, young, younger then her, but not a kid. She sounded sure of herself, not faltering on her words. ”you’ll be alright to keep an eye on her after I leave?” The question was posed towards someone else in the room. Riley moved slowly, opening the door and walking through. Down the hall was were the voices were coming from, perhaps in a living room of sorts. Riley listened to the conversation as she walked towards the sounds.

“I’ll be fine” was the curt male reply. “She’s still asleep isn’t she? Won’t be any trouble then”. Footsteps moved away from Riley, a door opening. The woman peeked around the corner, seeing two figures in the room. A shorter female at the door, about to leave, and a taller male inside the apartment. It was clear it was an apartment now, considering what she could see outside the room. The girl had brown hair, down to her shoulders in a side ponytail of shorts, sharp features accompanied by hazel eyes. She was far too young to have such a serious look in her eyes.

“Dad said that if you need anything-”

“I don’t need his help Cross, i can handle this myself, i’m not a kid” The male crossed his arms, seeming to act defensive, though his voice didn’t change.

“I know, I get it, that’s what I told him, but you know what he’s like, he’s just being-”

“Oliver?”

“Yeah”. The girl stood there, not talking for a second. When she looked up again, she looked over the males shoulder, catching Riley in her gaze. Riley quickly moved back, leaning against the wall.

“Oh, you’re awake, that’s good” The female walked towards her, looking around the corner. “I have to leave now ‘cause i’m meeting up with some friends of mine, but Roy’s here if you need anything, i’m Mia Queen”

She held out a hand to shake, only for Riley to look at it with a blank expression, slowly raising an eyebrow. “This is the part where you tell me your name, and shake my hand” Mia added helpfully, holding her hand out a little further.

“Where am I?” Riley asked. Stepping around Mia and looking around the apartment, it was a bit of a mess, some discarded dishes on the sink. The carpet was rolled up on one side and the couch had a miss-match of pillows on it that made it look like someone had tried to decorate but didn’t really want to. It seemed like something she would see in her old neighbourhood. Someone who wasn’t rich, but wasn’t overly poor. A low middle class.

“You dropped through the Zeta tube in one of our safe-houses two nights ago, dead to the world and beaten to a pulp” The male talked, walking a little closer to the two girls.

He was tall, taller then Riley by a good few inches with a dark red-brown shock of hair. His eyes were light, a blue or pale green perhaps, the woman couldn't tell. What caught her eye - and she wondered how she hadn't noticed it right away - was the sleek deep grey metallic arm attached at the elbow to his left arm. It looked deadly, and the lights glowed a faint red. Who were these guys? “Who’d you piss off to get beat up that bad anyway?” Riley shook her head.

“Some Central City villain brat” she hissed, sitting down on on the couch, moving a few of the pillows to make room. Her legs had begun to ache after standing for even that short period of time. “He’s got these terminator knock offs after me” Mia looked at her with a strange expression before hiking her bag further up her shoulder and walking towards the door. She paused by the entrance, glancing at her watch quickly.

“Alright, well you have fun with that problem - don’t kill each other, i’ll drop by later to check in!” The girl closed the door behind herself with a click, leaving the two alone. It was silent for a little while.

“say something , they mean no harm” Fenris muttered in the back of her head, trying to get her to speak. Riley rolled her eyes at the beasts attempts.

“Wheres my bag?” She dismissed the demon, looking back towards the hallway she came out of. The boy, she assumed he was Roy as Mia had pointed out, replied.

“In Jason's room- that’s the room you were in” Riley nodded and pushed herself to her feet, pausing as she got a headrush from getting up do fast, then walking back down the hallway. She reached the room again, and now that she was paying attention too it, written on a whiteboard on the door was ‘Jason’ in messy and broken handwriting. Around the name were a few little doodles of a red helmet and a batman symbol. Dismissing it, Riley pushed the door in and turned to close it, only for the handle to catch on her torso, hitting the wound under her bandages.

Pain shot through her stomach when he cried out, clutching it tightly and stumbling back against the side of the bed. Heavy footsteps darted down the hallway and someone stopped in the doorway.

“What’d you do?” He sounded annoyed, leaning one arm against the door, looking down at her.

“I hit the fucking doorknob” Riley growled, steadying her hand on the bed to pull herself to her feet. Her movements were shaky and she found herself unable to muster her usual strength.

“Be careful” Roy said, taking a step back and eyeing her getting up.

“No shit Sherlock” Riley bit back, glaring at him, Roy just rolled his eyes, ignoring the glare, and turned back down the hallway to the living room to go back to whatever he was doing before Riley woke up.

Two hours of sitting alone in that room gave her two things. One, was a serious hate for the ticking clock mounted on the wall above the bed. The other, was a growing sense of dread. She had been here two days, according to Roy anyways, and she didn't want to trust him - no matter what Fenris insisted - the Inventors little machines would certainly have reached here by now, right? This thought crossed her mind while looking at the darkness beyond the closed curtains. Night had fallen, and it had to be about eight o’clock when a knock at the door sounded.

“What” Riley said, sitting up on the bed, a book that she’d taken down from the shelf in her lap. The door didn’t open, but a voice called from the other side.

“Do you want food? I’m going to order something” Riley thought for a moment, she was starving. The cramping feeling in her stomach from lack of food was returning - they must have found a way to feed her while she was unconscious - and Fenris was growing restless.

“Yeah, sure” her reply was a little reluctant, and footsteps faded down the hallway again. Turning back to her book, she decided to continue to read for a little, at least until she had finished another few chapters. It was about half an hour before she became bored with that task.

Riley pushed herself off the bed, placing the book carefully back on the shelf and looking around the room again.She’d already noted the posters, a few of the bands were her taste, but some she didn’t know at all. The dresser had some photos on it in frames. Walking forwards, she brushed her fingers over the top of the photos. One was of two boys, perhaps around 12 or 13. One was taller, raven black hair with bright blue eyes, grinning with his arm around the other boy. The other was a little shorter, with blue eyes and redish-brown hair. Both of the boys were grinning widely at the camera. The next photo was of the same two boys about the same age, but this time they had two others in the frame. An older boy, maybe 17 or 18? and a girl who looked about 10. The boy with the auburn hair was carrying the girl on his back, her leaning her arms on his head with a grin. The older boy with dark hair and blue eyes was ruffling the hair of his younger look-alike.

The last photo was a more recent one. The black haired boy she still didn’t recognise, but the other was clearly Roy. They were sitting on a rooftop somewhere, and it was a selfie taken by the black haired boy. There were people in the background. Riley recognised the suits of Nightwing and Artemis.

“We need to leave”

“Can’t . Injured to bad” Fenris replied, making Riley cringe. Like she didn’t know that? “sleep, need it to heal” he continued to talk, making a headache begin to throb in the back of her head. “trying to help , they can help” the sincerity in Fenris’ voice was alien and strange, but it comforted her a little that he cared so.

Another knock sounded at the door.

“Foods here”

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