Many years ago...
Len and Lisa had taught themselves never to cry since they were small. There was no point in it anyway.
Ever since their father had been fired from Keystone's police force, he had been drunk. Heck, being drunk was why he was fired in the first place. And now he blamed his own kids. Told them that the stress of having a family was what had made him pick up the bottles to begin with.
And since their mother left for trying her luck in Vegas, there was only one real adult in Len and Lisa's life; their grandfather; Barry Snart. He was an ice deliveryman. When Len and Lisa was done with school, they were always picked up by their grandfather who took them with him on his route so that they wouldn't have to go home immediately. There was this one time where their grandfather got all three of them tickets to an ice show. They all had a good time, but Lisa was simply enchanted. She wanted to be a figure skater.
Once their father found out that Lisa had started to take skating classes, and that his father was paying for it, he was enraged. He said that he wouldn't let his daughter go around thinking that she was better than him just because she could make a few tricks on ice. Barry, tired of his drunk disappointment of a son, said that it didn't require much to BE better than him at anything. After a bottle was thrown after him, Barry knocked his son's lights out and threw away all of his bottles of booze. He told the kids that he was sorry for hurting their father like that, but they were more than happy to see their dad getting what was coming for him. It became one of Len's fondest memories.
After that, their father and grandfather never spoke again. Lisa was allowed to continue her skating classes, and she did pretty damn well. Their grandfather died when Len turned 12. Knowing that he was dying, he had made sure that there was money enough for both of his grandchildren's education. Len only had two regrets in his life, the first one being not getting an education. He felt that it was the ultimate way to fail his loving grandfather. The other one was leaving Lisa behind when he ran away from home and his drunk ass of a dad. He told himself that a gang like the Black Racers was no place for a girl like her. He told himself that she could make it to the Olympics. He told himself that their father might change once he left.
Len told himself a lot of things.
And he made sure not to see her again, or have any contact with her at all. He was simply too ashamed.
Today...
"Lisa Snart?" Mrs Sinclair said. "... Oh yes, I remember her. She was my best student. Poor thing had always a few bruises. Told me that it was because she tripped when she was skating. Nonsense! That girl was graceful as a bird. Never tripped when she was on the ice."
"You know where she lives?"
"Sorry. I don't know... Wait, the last time I saw her, she told me that she got a job in Metropolis. It was long ago, but maybe she's still there? You sure you don't want some coffee?" She asked.
"No, I gotta go." Len said. "But thank you very much for your help."
"I hope you find your cousin, young man."
"... my... OH, yeah. Thanks." Len almost forgot that he had lied about who he was, so Sinclair wouldn't call the cops. "Um..." Len gave Mrs Sinclair an envelope. "This is a little contribution to the school."
"Oh, I am very grateful, but I couldn't..."
"Sure you can." Len said as he left. As he got into his newly stolen car, he knew that in order to get to the world's greatest city, he first had to make a stop in the worst.
"Gotham City, here we come." He mumbled for himself.
To be continued...
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