Issue 9: "Fatal Attractions, Part Two"

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Issue 9: “Fatal Attractions, Part Two”
Written by Matthew Davies
Cover by Ramon Villalobos
Edited by Mark Bowers[/center]

“Roy?!” Kory gasped.

Roy released a chilling, almost unearthly giggle and began to slam the palms of his hands against the laminate floor in an induced glee. Stumbling to his feet, he fell atop his Tamaranian friend, his head bobbing unsteadily. Kory faltered, her legs buckling and sending both of them spinning to the floor with a soft thump. She instinctively pushed him away and threw herself back.

“Kory, babe!” he slurred. “Kory! I ain’t seen you in years!”

“Roy…you!” Kory murmured, horrified. Her eyes examined the bedraggled archer with disgust. “But why? After seeing what they did to your mother…oh, Roy!”

“Mother…ooh, my mother!” Roy gurgled, striding out of the bathroom and plopping down onto his sofa.

Kory followed, concern tainting her expression and clouding the shock emanating from her eyes. Roy was the last person she would have ever suspected, his history with the contraband only enforcing this. Drugs had driven his mother to suicide, had ruined his life and his relationship with Green Arrow. He had seen the damage they could do, not just to himself, but to others.

“Stop!” she shrieked, suddenly growing tired of his incoherent babblings and surprising even herself with the intensity of her ferocity. “Roy, just stop!”

But Roy, a crooked grin on his lips, was already soundly asleep.

Kory remained in Roy’s apartment while he slept, occasionally startling her with obnoxiously loud snores and snorts. It was well over an hour after her discovery when he finally awoke, his eyes still rolling about and the same stagger in his step that made it hard for Kory to think of him as either her friend or teammate. All she could see was an addict, and that scared her.

“Roy,” she said simply, sadly.

“Oh.” He had sobered up a little, his clumsiness and delirious qualities replaced by an air of danger and insanity. “You.”

Kory bowed her head. “I don’t know what to do. I didn’t expect it. You have to get help, Roy. The Titans can help you. We can all --”

“WHAT IF I DON’T WANT HELP?” he barked gripping her shoulders and shaking her like a madman. “HUH? EVER THINK OF THAT, YOU STUPID –”

“Get away!” she yelped, backhanding him across the face in a defensive blow ridden with desperation.

He howled in pain as the fist connected with his cheek, and he spiraled helplessly to the carpet. “You %^&>*.”

Kory pressed herself back against the wall, trembling with the knowledge of her actions. “I’m sorry, Roy, I didn’t mean to hurt you, it was just…”

“Shut up.”

Kory began to protest.

“I said shut the hell up!” Roy yelled, suddenly on his feet and clasping his hands around her throat. “I don’t want any damn help, woman!”

Tears streamed down the Tamaranian’s tanned cheeks, her mouth releasing whimpers as she slowly began to sob.

“Stop your sniveling!” He tightened his grip, reducing her whines to irregular strangled rasps. “I don’t need your help, or Dick’s, or Donna’s, or Raven’s, or Wally’s, or –”

“We can’t help you if you won’t help yourself,” Kory stated, gasping for breath. She knew that she could force him away, but was scared of hurting him. She just had to take it…after Miami, she couldn’t make any more mistakes. “Please, Roy, think of what they did to your mother.”

“My mother is dead,” he snarled. “You have no right to talk about her! No right!”

“But why is she dead?” Kory reluctantly retorted. “Because those…things ruined her life. And they’ll ruin yours, too.”

Roy’s voice faltered, his grip loosening. “No…no, they won’t! They can’t…” He slumped back, falling back to the sofa.

“You need to think about what you’re doing,” Kory advised, seating herself beside him and massaging her throat. Her heart was still hammering away inside her chest, but she resisted the panic that had overtaken her but moments ago and focused her energies into comforting him. “Think about what your mother would have changed, had she come back. Would she have wanted you to do what you’re doing now?”

Roy shrugged. “But how…else…how else can I deal with it?”

“Deal with what, Roy?”

“The pain.” Roy gazed into her eyes. “The pain of knowing I killed my own mother.”

“You didn’t kill her.”

“Don’t dispute fact, Kory.”

Roy was supporting his head with one hand, the other massaging his temple. Kory was beside him, idly fiddling with a loose strand of hair. Neither of them knew quite what to do with their bodies. Roy was still under the influence of the drugs he had consumed, and Kory was, in all honesty, terrified by the dangerous tone that still struck its chord through her companion’s words.

“It’s not fact,” she mumbled. “You did not kill your mother.”

“Face it. If I had have tracked her down sooner, or not at all…” A look of pain passed across his face. “…She’d still be alive now.”

“But the drugs are what killed her, not you!” Kory hissed. “How can you seek ‘comfort’ from them?”

“You want the truth?” Roy asked.

Kory nodded.

“Because I’ve seen what they can do, Kory. I saw what they did to my mother.” A grim smile touched his lips. “They don’t just ease the pain…if I do it for long enough, they’ll stop it completely.”

Kory gasped. “But…Roy…”

“Enough!” he yelled, suddenly on his feet and furious once again. “I’m done talking! I need to sleep…and I want you out! But I swear, if you tell anyone…your little boyfriend won’t see the light of day ever again.”

“Dick…you wouldn’t hurt him!” she said defiantly.

“No. I’d do a lot worse.” Roy turned away. “Get out, Kory.”

“What are you hiding from me, Kory?” Dick enquired.

It had all begun the morning after their heart-to-heart by the side of the ocean. Kory had been acting strangely, in Dick’s eyes, withholding information from him and visibly stiffening whenever he mentioned that evening. It was this strange tension that had settled between them that forced Dick to blurt out the words above.

“Excuse me?” Kory swiveled to face him. “Whatever do you mean?”

“I know you’re holding something back. You’re not yourself.” He drew her into an embrace. “Is it about our talk last night. Has it made you feel…awkward?”

“No!” she protested, pulling away. “No, definitely not! It was the most enjoyable talk of my entire life!”

“Then what secret are you keeping from me?” he leveled.

“I don’t know what you are referring to.” She turned back to the picnic spread she was laying out before them.

The rest of the park was virtually empty, but there were still others present, so he was careful not to raise his voice. “Kory, don’t play games with me. Please, just tell me.”

“I said I’m hiding nothing!” she snapped, her eyes pulsating with and emerald fury. That raw anger quickly faded, replaced by one of sorrow. “Dick, I am so sorry, I did not mean to –”

“I thought I knew you, Kory,” he interjected. “I thought we…I thought we were in love. That we trusted each other.”

“But we are! And I do!”

“Turns out I was probably wrong,” he muttered, a hint of pain in his voice, and strode off with his head down.