#oc cardinal

Cardinal the silly!

they/it

"Gray Carlyle. We need to talk."

My name wakes me up from the stupor I had put myself into through staring down at neon lights for too long. Even without that telltale voice, I knew who was there, and I knew what he wanted. "Don't tell me to stop."

"This isn't for you. You're a college student, you don't have to go down this path." He puts a hand on my shoulder, and it's more fatherly than I liked. It's more welcoming than I wanted. I didn't want to have this discussion with Batman, savior of orphans across the city. I wanted this with the Batman who breaks wrists as easily as he opens a door.  

I whirl around to face him, that leather hood and red cape clinging to me against the downpour native to the city. I'd been rehearsing, writing speech after speech to explain what I was doing. But I just felt angry, and I wasn't even sure why. Maybe because from the moment I saw his face, that I saw that barely hidden look of disappointment on his face, I knew he'd win if I gave him space to. I snapped, mouth filling between sentences with rainwater and making me look uglier than I'd want. "Do you plan this? This… wake up call you give every teenager thinking they can do what you do? Does it help you feel better? Does devaluing what I want make you feel less guilty?"

He sighs and his shoulders relax for a moment and it almost makes me lash out. How dare he play paternal to me. I didn't lose my family. They're not going to be killed in an alley like every other kid with a knack for martial arts. "Gray… it's not just the vigilantism, something myself and my people have covered in spades. You can't be Red Robin. You need to give that suit back."

That part was what he needed to win. I stared up at him like if I went deep enough, I could see his eyes, see if there was anything in him left. The rain never stopped. I peeled back the hood and took a deep breath, feeling my hair stick to me in painful patches. "No. No, no. You two saved me. You probably don't even remember it. You-"

"Two years ago Joker launched a chemical attack on your campus, you were one of the few we couldn't get out in time, and the gas left your hair grey as a result and even now, you're prone to violent tendencies when in a fight or flight situation. I know."

"Of course you do, you prick. Why even question our omnipotent savior, huh? But you don't understand. I saw him, Batman. I was there staring out of my apartment window when those drones shot him. He was the one who pulled me out of the school and I couldn't be the one to pull him out. I owe him, Batman. Not you, not this fucking city. Red Robin. And I'll do it with or without your approval."

"Grey, you don't understand. That suit, it… I don't want it used anymore, let me retire it. It's what he'd want." He reaches for my shoulder and I swat him away, bearing down as much as I could considering the other party.

"Make me." I swing, and one fist connects with my jaw. That's all it took. One punch from fucking Batman. I woke up in my bed with a glass of water and some pills on my nightstand. A small note next to them.

For the pain. Police force. Lawyer. Social Activist. There's other ways to fight crime. Put your college education to good use, don't die on a rooftop. That's when that punch decided to make its lasting presence known, and I quickly swallowed the pills.