Nightwing One Shot, Not related to any other stories of mine. Takes place before season 2 so Kaldur is still team leader, the investigation into the Light has been a back burner project for the older team members. There is definitely some Dick/Babs going on. Also warning to those who are squeamish to blood. There is a lot of it, also some slight torture depending on how you look at it.
Now that you have that bit of background info let's jump into it!
Bludhaven Docks
10:38pm
A shadow leaps across the the rows of shipping containers on the crisp evening. Following up a tip off they had gotten about a shipment for the mysterious organization known as the Light. Nightwing from the Young Justice Team goes on a solo recon operation to validate and see if there is any truth to the rumors.
Mostly because it was his city, but also because there was little to go on. Nightwing decided this would be best for him to go alone. No point dragging a whole team to look for numbers on a shipping crate.
"Damn, Still not finding it." Nightwing had been looking for the better part of two hours with no sign of the fictional crate number he was given. "Maybe that's all it is, just a dead end lead." About to give up Nightwing decides to Swing by the foreman's office to see if the shipping manifest held any clues.
The light was still on. "Guess I'm not the only one working late tonight." With a gentle knock on the door it swung open by itself, "Hello? Anyone here?" No answer back so Nightwing crept slowly into the room.
It's a one room office with a panoramic window that had a view over the whole shipping yard. The desk faced the door but the chair was swiveled around looking out on the night sky across the bay that ran between Bludhaven and Gotham. A little desk light still on, the only light source in the room. The foreman was resting in the chair, unresponsive to Nightwing's intrusion.
"Excuse me sir?" Still no reply from the foreman. Nightwing walked around the desk to the chair. "Look I know what it's like to get wrapped up in you work, but not going home to sleep isn't good for you." Nightwing claps a hand on the unresponsive man's shoulder and turns him around. "You'll work yourself to death that way."
Poor choice of words.
The reason for the foreman's unresponsive nature was a tight grouping of three holes in his chest. Nightwing took a step back for a moment but quickly regained his composure, not his first dead body. Unfortunately it's not likely the last one he will see either. As he takes a closer look Nightwing hears a slight clicking sound. Turning around tossing the desk light to the floor, breaking it, and dropping into a low stance he looks toward the direction of the noise.
"He was planning on working through the night, had he gone home with everyone else he'd be just fine, but I guess you could say that work got him killed." The voice came from a dark shadow in the corner of the room.
Nightwing hadn't noticed the presence witch meant whoever it was, wasn't messing around. They are a professional able to sneak up on him, Nightwing, the first of Batman's pupils. "Who do I owe the pleasure?"
The shadow moved from the corner to the door and shut it with a smooth click, then Nightwing could hear a small whine and the sight of a single red orb of light came from the darkness.
Nightwing's eyes narrowed. "Floyd."
"Please Nightwing, when I'm on a job it's Deadshot. Not that it matters much to a soon to be dead man." Deadshot took a few steps forward so that the light of the moon, the only thing offering light to the small office, revealed his presence.
"Last I heard, you were serving time in Belle Reve. What happened?" Nightwing still in a low fighting stance but he needed to find a way out. Best to keep Floyd talking while he got his thoughts together.
"Stalling for time are we? That's fine, I got all night. You should know the deal by now though. Enough money on the line makes people do stupid things. All it takes is for one judge to start feeling light in his pockets." Deadshot started looking over the pistol in his hand making ready for the fight to come.
"Come on Floyd, robbing a shipping container is chump change for you."
"What makes you think I'm after some boring old container? I'm here for a bigger prize, black hair, about this tall, runs around in black and blue spandex. You wouldn't happen to know anyone like that would you?"
This took Nightwing by surprise. "Me!? Why?"
Deadshot cracked his neck. "Don't know, don't care."
Nightwing looked down at his feet for a moment, it was about to start. "How much?"
"Two-hundred."
"Thousand?"
"Million, times up!" Deadshot surged forward firing a few rounds toward Nightwing as Nightwing slipped under the heavy metal desk flipping it up on its side.
Falling back a few feet Deadshot holsters his pistol in favor of his wrist mounted machine guns. Opening fire into the desk with Nightwing behind it.
Nightwing tosses smoke pellets at the ground, the air in the small room quickly fills with dark smoke clouds, quickly eating away at the breathable air available. Acting quickly to not inhale the smoke, Deadshot turns his weapons on the thick glass that surrounded the office.
Knowing he didn't have the room to run and smash the glass this was the moment Nightwing wanted. Moving quickly to escape out the newly broken window he jumps through. Not unscathed however, taking a few hits to his Kevlar vest and another bullet that whizzed past his head grazing his cheek.
With a rather ungraceful landing on a nearby shipping crate, Nightwing stumbles to his feet and starts to run as quickly as he can. But it doesn't take long for Deadshot to recover and follow him out the window, still shooting.
Normally Nightwing would have thought he had a decent shot at taking Floyd in a one on one but tonight wasn't that night. From the looks of it this whole thing had been an elaborate set up by Floyd. Wear him down for a few hours by running all over looking for a container that didn't exist then attack when Nightwing was tired and irritable. A good plan, expected from an assassin of Floyds skill and reputation.
"You can run, but you'll only die tired Nightwing."
"I thought you liked the hunt Lawton!"
"I don't make it a habit to kill pups still wet behind the ears, but only a fool would place morals over this kind of money."
Nightwing was running on pure adrenaline right now. Had the man after him been one of the Joker's goons or some other street thug it would be different. Deadshot though was a trained assassin, every shot made with reason. Some meant to put him in the line of fire for other shots. Some shots scraped or hit his Kevlar. Whatever the reason, Nightwing couldn't slip up or he would be joining his brother Jayson sooner than he would like.
"Damn, the kid's quicker than you think." Deadshot was slowly falling behind losing speed in the chase having to aim and guide his target into scope. No matter, he hadn't planned on catching the young hero on foot anyway. "He's headed right where I want him to."
Nightwing didn't stop running or thinking about the next move, even as Deadshot's bullets and sound of gunfire seemed to drift off he knew that he had to try to stay one step ahead to stay alive.
Little did Nightwing know he had already fallen for the larger trap at play. Deadshot made his way up a crane by a grapple hook he had placed earlier, shooting to the top of the five story monster in seconds. He had his nest set and ready to go. "Come here birdie, I got something for ya."
Nightwing had made his way to the large flat roof storage warehouses, believing Deadshot was still chasing him he decided that the best way to stay on top of him was to get to higher ground.
Sound logic, too bad Deadshot thought of it first.
Zeroing in his scope Deadshot lined up his scope with the back of the young hero. It was a four, five hundred meter shot at most. Easy for the master assassin, but his target was evasive, skilled, and unpredictable on a good day, and Floyd had Nightwing shaking in his boots. Settling on the center of the hero's back he slowed his breathing.
Slowly pulling the trigger back…
…
…
…
*Crack*
Nightwing heard the sound, he felt a jolt that shot him forward, falling off the roof into the alleyway of trash cans below. Dazed and stunned it felt like the wind got knocked out of him like a punch in the gut from Bane."The hell just happened?" Not fully aware of what transpired. He was running from Floyd Lawson and then it felt like a bee sting and a gut punch at the same time, that made him stumble off the roof.
Back up in his perch Deadshot was breathing easy again. It looked like the shot connected, clean hit sent the target for a tumble. He would have to go check it out to confirm the kill though.
Nightwing wasn't down though, and still hadn't fully grasped what had transpired either. He was running, no longer thinking just running. He needed to get back to his safe house, or his apartment, or anywhere but here.
He noticed that his movements were starting to get sluggish as he was swiftly moving across Bludhaven industrial district. Shooting his grapple he started to swing across another set of buildings. Only he wasn't soaring through the sky like normal, he was falling.
Nightwing hit the skylight window of an old industrial building falling through to the factory floor below slamming into several crates on the way down slowing his fall.
Landing with his back against an old wooden crate he was by some miracle sitting upward. "This is bad, I'm worse than I thought if I fell from that. Can't make it to the safe house and the apartment is out of the question." Nightwing sat for a moment thinking of his next move, but it wasn't long until the young hero started to feel, warm. "Warm? That's not right, it was close to forty-five degrees out when he last looked." Putting his hand up to feel his head, it was wet.
"Wet, warm, and smells like iron." Then it hit Nightwing, he was bleeding, and from his hazy point of view it seemed like quite a bit. His suit would naturally absorb some of the blood and act as a buffer to bleeding out, but if there was this much he was going to be in trouble quick.
"No choice, Mt. Justice is my only option now." It had occurred to Nightwing that the Batcave would be just as accessible by zeta tube but no one was at Wayne Manor at the moment. Alfred went with Bruce on a business trip for a week and Tim was with the Team. At least at Mt. Justice there would be someone there.
Deciding to go through with this he knew he needed one last good burst of energy. Pulling an adrenaline shot from his belt he used what little strength he had left to slam it into his leg. With a sudden jolt he groggily stands back up. Only a block away from the closest Zeta Tube. "Just don't bleed out Grayson! No dying just yet."
Barbara had been behind on her school work at Gotham University. Between her obligations to the team and her work as Batgirl she found herself putting off school work, taking a page out of Dick's book on how to handle school work. Wait to the last minute and rush at the end.
She had the mountain to herself at the moment, she knew that if she tried to do work at home she would want to be at the cave, and if she was at the cave she would get bored and want to know what the others were up to. So she settled in her room at Mt. Justice, the Team was out on a mission so she had the whole mountain to herself.
"Too bad Dick isn't here." Talking aloud to herself helped Barbara organize her thoughts. It had been a while since the two friends had spent quality time together without work or the Team around. She was also working on a project for her code class, Dick loved that sort of thing and she was fairly sure she could convince him to do it for her, with the right leverage of course.
"Recognize: Nightwing B-01"
As if on cue the mountain computer rang aloud with the name of the person on her mind at that very moment. "I thought he was out and about tonight. Strange. I'll give this project a little more time though before calling in backup."
"Nightwing: Fail"
The computer rang out with its normal announcement whenever a team member was slammed to the training room floor. Barbara smiled to herself, "Tripped over our own ego did we?"
"Nightwing: Fail"
…
"Nightwing: Fail"
…
"Nightwing: Fail"
Barbara furrowed her brow, was he planning on just laying there or what? "Do you mind getting up?" She didn't expect her voice to reach the entrance but it was worth a shot.
"Nightwing: Fail"
She wasn't worried, but she was curious. "What the hell is he doing out there?" Swinging her legs off the bed and walks casually out to see what Nightwing was doing.
"Nightwing: Fail"
"Nightwing you over here?" Barbara made her way over to the common room. "Nightwing! Answer when someone calls you."
"Nightwing: Fail"
Barbara made her way to the training room. "Nightwing are you…"
"Nightwing: Fail"
Barbara's eyes locked onto the figure slumped onto the ground of the training pad with a slow pool of crimson expanding outward ever slowly. She stood there frozen for a second.
"Nightwing: Fail"
Barbara jumped into action moving over to Nightwing's body, kneeling beside him she started what she remembered from her emergency first aid class she took. Doing her best to look him over he was slumped on his left side. "Okay Barbara you can do this." Putting an ear by Nightwing's mouth and two fingers on his neck,his skin was cold and clammy to the touch, she waited for what seemed the longest few seconds of her life.
There was a pulse and raspy breathing, both were weak but they were there. Nightwing was alive, but just barely. Releasing the breath she didn't know she had been holding, she removes one of Nightwing's gloves. It was wet with the thick crimson life fluid that she was now surrounded in. She also removed his mask revealing those unmistakable Dick Grayson baby blues. It made her heart sink, they were unfocused like they were looking straight through her.
She put her hand in Dick's and spoke softly to him. "Dick, if you can hear me, I want you to squeeze my hand as hard as you can. Okay?"
She waited for a moment and to her relief she was met with a light squeeze on her hand.
"Okay, I'm going to call Black Canary. Dick I want you to keep holding my hand, can you do that?" Another light squeeze came as a response.
Pulling out her communicator Barbara dialed up Black Canary on the emergency line. "Come on, I really need you to pick up."
Nightwing's skin was pale, cold, and sticky. He could feel his body losing strength and his thoughts were becoming hazy.
When he made it through the Zeta Tube the adrenaline shot had just about worn out and there was a nice trickle of blood that had followed him at this point. "Please let someone be here." Knowing he could only make it a few more yards before collapsing he went for the training pad knowing the alert would let someone know he was there, if anyone was even home. "Wouldn't that be pathetic, make it all the way back here looking for help just to die on the Team's front step."
He steadied his breathing trying to not use energy needlessly, all while holding onto a sliver of hope someone was here. That someone would find him.
Hearing a noise that was different from the metallic voice of the computer Nightwing was able to cast a glance in the direction it came from. It was a girl with a black Gotham Knights hoodie and long red hair, details were fuzzy but there was only one person who even began to fit that description. "Babs." He wanted to yell out her name but he couldn't it took all of his strength to just breathe.
She made her way over to him and knelt beside him, Nightwing could now see the look on her face. It was shocked and sad, he didn't like seeing her like that, he didn't like seeing his best friend cry. When she started performing first aid on him he wanted to tell her it would be okay. But he couldn't, and even if he could it would be wrong of him to make a promise that he may be unable to keep.
Finally he felt her hand in his. Next came the soft voice that sounded like it belongs to an angel. "Dick, if you can hear me, I want you to squeeze my hand as hard as you can. Okay?"
It took him a moment but he had to respond, he had to try and make that smile come to her face. With all the strength he could muster, Dick squeezed as hard as he could, the fear flashing through his mind. "What if I'm too weak? What if she doesn't feel it? Babs!"
But she did feel it, and to show Dick that she had, the soft words came back."Okay, I'm going to call Black Canary. Dick I want you to keep holding my hand, can you do that?"
He could do that, he didn't want to let her hand go. So he gave the best possible squeeze of his hand he could.
Dinah was sitting alone at one of the many tables picking over her dinner. She and Oliver were at another social dinner party for Queen Industries. Really it was just Oliver making his rounds leaving her to wait for him to finish, while she picks over what was left of her dinner.
"If no one wants to talk to me, why do I even bother to show up?" She playfully asks herself. She needed to be there for appearances and that was it, she didn't like it but it was a small price to pay for the man she loves. Her attention is suddenly drawn to her purse. It wasn't her phone that was ringing but her communicator for 'work'.
The JLA knew she and Oliver were at an event so that would leave it to be the Team of young heroes. With the older members now running the show they rarely called her. They only called her like this if it were an emergency, quickly picking up the device there is a tinge of worry in her voice. "This is Canary, what's going on?"
Barbara tried to stay a calm as possible. "Its Dic- I mean, it's Nightwing. He's hurt badly."
That's all Dinah needed to hear. She had bigger priorities now then appearances at dinner parties. "I'm on my way. Can you explain a bit more. Please." Dinah's voice was calm but concerned.
Barbara could tell that the women on the other end got up and started walking quickly. "Right, um… several deep wounds from what look like lacerations and." Barbara trying to calm her voice continued. "What appears to be bullet wound. He's suffered severe blood loss as well."
Dinah quickened her pace, she could hear the fear and worry in the young heroes voice on the other end. Dinah knows the things that Batgirl has seen. If she sounds like this, then things must be far worse than they seem. "Where are you?"
"The training room floor of Mt. Justice." Barbara looked down at her best friend, watching him slowly bleed out. "Dinah, what should I do?"
Slipping off her heels and now running as fast as she could while holding a conversation to the closest Zeta Tube. "Grab a shirt or towel or something close by and try to stop the bleeding as best you can."
"Okay." Barbara took off her Gotham knights hoodie so she could remove her shirt to use as bandages.
"And Barbara."
"Yes?"
"I need to make a few calls but I'm five minutes away from reaching you. Stay strong, you're doing great."
"Okay."
Putting her blood soaked hoodie back on, she takes the t-shirt and using one of Nightwing's wingdings rips it into neat strips. Wrapping the wound as best she could, she makes note of the large shard of glass in his lower abdomen. All she could do now was wait.
The next five minutes were the longest of Barbara's life. Black Canary couldn't have arrived sooner and when she exited the Zeta Tube to see the scene before her, it hit her like a truck just how bad the situation was.
Barbara was holding the makeshift bandages as best she could, but the girl was on the verge of tears. Nightwing was pale, lifeless, but it was clear by what little emotion he was able to show, he was in pain. Lots of pain.
Still in her black formal wear she rushes over to the scene. "I called Dr. Leslie, she's on her way, Clark and Diana have been informed but I skipped the details to keep things short." She looked Nightwing in the eyes and shuttered. They were cold, lifeless, and painful.
Barbara looked up, "Does Bruce or the team know yet?"
"I've yet to tell them, but I want to get Dick out of the middle of the floor first. We'll tell them as soon as possible but we need to take care of the injured party first." Dinah took a deep breath, they needed to move fast. Things were about to get a lot worse before they got better tonight. She looked over at Barbara who was now just as covered in Dick's blood as he was and almost as pale too.
"Sorry."
This took Dinah by surprise for a second. "For what?"
"I took you away from your evening plans and now your dress is stained." Barbara looking down at Canaries outfit that had also slowly started to absorb the blood on the ground.
Canary gives the girl a small hug. "Don't worry, a dress can be replaced and it's not the first dinner party where I walked out on Ollie. This is more important, you didn't do anything wrong." Standing over the two blood covered teens Canary sighs. "I'm going to get the gurney from the infirmary, we can't waste any time once Dr. Leslie gets here."
Barbara rubbed her eyes with her sleeve and nodded to Canary, she was sure that she would break down in tears before the night's done but that can wait. Dick on the other hand couldn't wait any longer.
When Superman arrived with Dr. Leslie, Wonder Woman and Canary had helped get Nightwing onto the gurney. Dick had his bleeding slowed incredibly thanks Batgirl's quick thinking and actions, however, Dick didn't have a lot of blood left to lose.
In the infirmary Dr. Leslie got to work immediately. Taking a sample of Dick's blood and started to run testing on it. With Dick now fading in and out of consciousness they couldn't ask him the questions they would have liked. For now Leslie went about hooking up an IV drip bag and a bag of O negative blood, Dicks blood type. Then went about the unpleasant process of removing Nightwings uniform.
Normally Barbara would enjoy teasing her friend whenever she was around and he was peeling out of the tight spandex and Kevlar. Now, Dr. Leslie was having to use a surgical knife to remove the blood soaked material.
was working as quickly as she could, patching up the smaller cuts and scrapes, removing shards of glass and stitching up the places where bullets had grazed Nightwing. It was a trauma surgeon's nightmare, she was doing her best to put as much blood back into the boy as she could. Barbara, still holding Dick's hand watched as her friend seemed to feel every inch of pain that was happening.
had decided to hold off on the large bullet wound and glass shard until Dick's blood test came back, for now they were covered in gauze and bandage to hold the external bleeding. He was running a fever and just doing his best to stay alive at the moment.
Superman went back out to the training room to clean up the blood soaked ground before the Team got back. Diana and Dinah were both in the operating room helping Dr. Leslie as she needed it.
"Can't we give him some morphine, or something to diminish the pain he's in?" Barbara asked to no one in particular.
"I wish I could, but until we get the test back it's too risky to do so. I don't know where this fever is coming from but it's not natural. I don't want to risk it until we know more." Dr. Leslie was talking but still very much focused on her work.
Breaking the silence of the room, the buzzer went off letting everyone know the blood test was done. Leslie hurriedly looks at the computer for any ounce of information that it would tell her. Anything to let them be able to continue and move on to the nest part of surgery.
"Well?"
"It's not good, not good at all."
A minute tics by.
"Damn it say something!" It was an outburst from Barbara that no one saw coming. It even took her by surprise. "I'm, I didn't mean to…" She looks back down and holds Dick's hand tighter.
Diana rests a hand on her back and rubs her softly, "It's okay, we know what you meant. We're all worried for him."
"Right well, I guess first things first we need to head back to the watchtower for a moment." said in no uncertain terms.
"What for?" Canary Asked
"The antidote to the poison in Nightwing's blood at the moment, it's killing him faster than the blood loss is." Dr. Leslie was gathering her medical bag and making sure Dick was stable, or as stable as one could be under the circumstances.
"What poison?" Diana asked, her voice was low and very serious. Diana considered poison a low blow and a cowards way to fight.
"The kind used by Floyd Lawson, the blood test showed a perfect match to the kind he's used before."
The name made everyone's blood in the room run cold. Floyd Lawson, the assassin that coats his bullets in poison that reacts with modern painkillers speeding up the poisons job of killing the patient. Several times tonight they had come very close to giving Nightwing something for the pain, but waiting was the right call. Had they acted on their desire to help they could have accidentally killed him.
"Right, I'll go with you." Diana moved to the door, Superman was standing outside to make sure that the women in the operating room were undisturbed and able to work. "Clark, I'm taking Dr. Leslie to the Watch Tower to retrieve an antidote. We will be back shortly."
Superman gave a nod, knowing there was a time for questions, but now was not that time.
Back inside the room Barbara was watching Dick, holding his hand tightly, refusing to let go. Feeling that if she did, Dick might go somewhere, somewhere no one could catch him. Dr. Leslie came over to her.
"If anything changes in his condition call me immediately, I'll be right back, then we can really start this operation." Putting a hand on the young girl's shoulder.
Barbara nodded in agreement. With that Dr. Leslie and Diana whisked themselves out of the room.
Dinah looked at Barbara. "We're only just getting started and this isn't going to be easy. I'm going to call Batman and let him know the situation, if you need anything just yell. Clark is right outside the door."
Barbara nodded, and with that Dinah also left the room leaving Barbara alone with Dick and the slow beeping of the heart monitor.
The Zeta Tubes and training room were alive with the sudden arrival of young heroes returning from a mission success. Cassie was the first to notice her mentor coming from the halls of Mt. Justice toward them.
Flying over to Diana with a smile on her face she tried to grab Wonder Woman's hand like she normally did when she saw her. But she backed off when instead of a smile, she was greeted with a glare.
"Emergency, out of the way!" Diana boasted loudly telling the young heroes to clear the Zeta Tubes. With Dr. Leslie right behind her the two stepped in and beamed away without a word, leaving behind a room of very confused youths.
"What was that all about?" Blue Beetle asked to no one in particular. They all just got back so the sudden emerge of Wonder Women and the League Doctor had been a surprise.
Kaldur looked around the room at several young worried faces all looking back to him for answers. "I don't know what's going on but I will find out soon enough. You all did well tonight, go relax for now. While you do that I'll see what we are dealing with." The group slowly dispersed to their rooms or the kitchen and common room to unwind.
Aqua Lad's first stop was by Batgirl's room, she was here, she may know something. On his way to the dorms he saw Black Canary on the phone speaking in hushed tones to someone on the other end. Knocking on the ajar door. "Batgirl, are you in here?" Looking around the room he saw her laptop and what appeared to be school work but nothing else.
Making his way down to the infirmary he spots Superman standing guard outside one of the operating rooms. It had the privacy blinds shut so Kaldur had no way to tell who was inside. "Superman, what's going on?" His voice level and business like as always but there was a slight twinge of fear. What was going on that required the attention of Superman, Wonder Woman, Black Canary, and Dr. Leslie.
Superman had a worried look on his face. "I don't know if I'm the best one to answer that. But, it sounds like Canary is finishing up her phone call. She knows more at the moment than I do."
Kaldur gave him an odd look, Canary was over in the privacy rooms making her call.
Superman smiled and pointed to his ear. "Super hearing, remember."
"Right. Then I'll be on my way. Excuse me." And with that the Young Justice Team leader went to go speak to the long standing Den Mother.
Knocking on the privacy room door, Canary holds up a finger but motions for Kaldur to come in.
"Okay. Yes. Yes. Will do Batman, I will keep you informed." Canary closed the phone and let out a sigh. "Well that went better than I thought."
Kaldur's face held his worry best he could. "You were just talking to Batman? Dose, does that mean? Is Batgirl alright?"
A slight look of confusion flashed on her face, "No, Batgirl is fine, but as you probably guessed we do have an emergency at the moment."
"Robin is with me, so that means that if it's not Batgirl, then…"
Canary nods. "Yes, something has happened to Nightwing. Gather the senior members, better grab Robin too. I'd rather only explain this once."
Kaldur nodded, then ran out to find Wally, Superboy, Artemis, M'gann, and Robin.
Alfred picked up the phone on the other end. "You have reached the Wayne party, how may I be of service?"
"Alfred, it's Canary. I need to speak to Bruce, it's Nightwing. Something happened."
Alfred's eyes went wide and he hurried off at once.
Bruce was in a meeting at the moment with a few members of high up Wayne Tech, this whole business trip was to jump start a new line of product that was going to be rolling out next summer. Suddenly the door burst open rather frantically and the elderly butler ignoring the plights of the business associates thrown off guard by the sudden intrusion.
"Alfred, What's going on?" Bruce hardly saw Alfred flustered, but it was always with good reason.
"Something has happened to Master Richard I'm afraid."
The words cut right through Bruce. Quickly grabbing the phone he turned to his meeting. "Leave, we'll pick this back up later."
There were several confused looks on the meeting members faces.
"Now." Bruce used the Bat-glare on those still looking at him. This got them all moving. Packing quickly they exited the room. Soon it was just Alfred and himself left in the room.
Turning back to the phone he held it up. "This is Batman, talk."
"It's Canary, I'll spare you the details but Nightwing was wounded severely while out tonight."
"What happened."
"We don't know for sure but it looks like Floyd Lawson was involved somehow."
Deadshot, Bruce knew the adversary well. A skilled assassin and not to be taken lightly. "How did Nightwing end up fighting Floyd?"
"Like I said, I don't know. But Bruce, It's bad. Really bad." Canary's voice was shaking.
"How bad?" Bruce asked but he really didn't want to know.
"Batgirl found him bleeding out on the floor of Mt. Justice. We're lucky she was here to find him in time."
"Is he going to live?"
"We still don't know. We're still operating as we speak."
"I should be there, I need to be there with him." Bruce's voice stumbled a little.
"I know, Barbara is with him at the moment. The poor girl's barely keeping it together at the moment, she hasn't left his side once."
Bruce took a deep breath, he needed to get over there, but it was a relief in a way to know Barbara was there with him. Next to himself and Alfred he couldn't think of anyone else who cared for Dick on the same level as Barbara Gordon. "Make sure she's okay as well."
"Okay"
"I'm guessing Clark and Diana are there as well?"
"Yes."
"I guess your next stop will be the team?"
"Yes"
"Okay, I'm on my way. If anything happens let me know as soon as possible."
"Will do Batman, I'll keep you informed." Canary then turned to Kaldur who was looking at her, "Right now the other group that had to have an explanation for the current situation."
After Canary had finished telling the story to the six individuals in front of her there was nothing. Absolute silence, not what she was expecting.
M'gann had silent tears rolling down her cheeks.
Artemis was pacing back and forth.
Kaldur sitting down with his head resting in his hands.
Superboy was fuming a look of anger on his face.
Wally was sitting still on the floor, eyes wide and unfocused.
And Robin, Robin was gone. Left the room and off down the hall to the operating room.
Kaldur was the first to speak. "What do you need from us?"
"At the moment, nothing." This was a jolt to the team members in the room. Dick was their friend, a brother, and Canary wanted them to do nothing. "Keep the team out of the way. Let the medical professional do her job."
"You expect us to just sit and do nothing while our friend is slowly dying in a room next to us." Wally's voice was lifeless and somber.
"Yes. I don't like it either, but there is nothing that can be done by any of you." Canary tried to drive that last point home, she didn't want the young heroes blaming themselves by thinking there is something they could have done. Especially in a situation like this where the injured party may not make it.
"Can we see him?" M'gann's voice was low and sad.
"I'll open the observation window, but you may not like what you see." And with that Canary left the room of young heroes. Diana and Dr. Leslie should be back by now.
The counter agent for the poison had been added to Nightwing's I.V. bag. The process for cleaning out the poison was long and painful. On top of Nightwing's other injuries, he was in for a rough ride.
"Unfortunately we're still fighting an uphill battle." pulls up the x rays of Nightwing's gunshot wound. Pointing out the large bullet fragment in his back. "That large shard of glass also needs to come out soon but as long as that bullet is lodged in there it'll keep poisoning him. That being said I can't give him any painkiller either." The sad expression on her face said it all. The first rule for a doctor is 'thou shalt not harm'. But to save Nightwing's life she was going to put him in a lot of pain and discomfort.
Diana put a hand on the doctor's shoulder. "We know this is hard, but please. We have to do it. What do you need from us?"
"Ms. Prince you may want to hold him down. I'm going to be tearing through several nerves and other sensitive tissue. Enough to possibly jump his whole system." The people in the room looked at her for a moment still trying to put two and two together. "It means its going to hurt so bad that it may wake him from this near comatose state screaming in pain."
Canary nodded and took a step outside.
"Barbara, I need you to try and keep him calm if he wakes up. Here put this in his mouth." She handed Barbara a wooden bit for Nightwing to bite down on.
Barbara took it and squeezed down on Nightwing's hand.
Outside Canary was talking to the group of teens that had gathered outside the observation window to see their friend.
"We are about to continue to the next part of the surgery, we are unable to use morphine on Nightwing so things may become rather unpleasant. If you'd like you can wait down in the common room until this part is over."
Cassie spoke up, "What do you mean by unpleasant."
"She means that they have to operate without putting him under, it's possible that he'll wake up mid surgery because of the pain." Wally's voice was clear and unmoving. "That's what she means by unpleasant."
Canary simply nodded and a look of horror came over Cassie's face. Nightwing was like a big brother to her. "Why! Why won't they give him painkillers for this?"
"Because it would react with the poison in his system and kill him before we could do anything about it." Robin's voice was soft and low.
Despite Black Canary's warning, no one left. If their friend was going to be in as much pain as they said. The Team wanted to be there for him.
The moment started to cut into Nightwing's back it was evident that he was starting to stir. Laying on his side with his face to the observation window. Barbara sitting between Nightwing and the window. The operation table was low so that Barbara and Dick's faces were on level when she was sitting in the chair. But what happened next took all of them by surprise.
"La naiba, nenorocitule, doare!" Nightwing's eyes shot open, he was yelling in inaudible Romanian. As best a yell he could muster at least, his mouth was dry and tasted of blood. His body was twitching uncontrollably, this combined with the raspy cries of pain sent shivers down everyone's spine.
Diana didn't have to hold down hard, then it hit her. "He's too weak to move." Her eyes darted up, that thought was supposed to stay to herself.
Dr. Leslie hung her head, she was afraid of that and it only made it worse. It would have been easier to stomach if Nightwing was able to put up more resistance. She was torturing the boy.
Dinah had to look away, the single outburst was all Nightwing had been able to get out. But watching the body trying to convulse but too weak to do so was just as painful and sickening to watch.
The hardest part for Barbara to watch though is the look on Dick's face. There was pain, but the worst part was the tears. She was thankful her body was blocking the look on his face from the observation window. If what was happening now wasn't upsetting those watching. The look on Dick's face would put them over the edge.
Barbara knew she had to watch, had to look her best friend in the eyes as all of this was happening. Any moment now might be his last but she had to give him something to focus on.
Dr. Leslie continued pulling the smaller bullet fragments out of the wound, still digging around to find the bullet, it was here. She just needed to find it as fast as she possibly could. The shorter the time Nightwing is in see-able pain the better it will be on the rest of them as bad as that sounded.
When he is in pain, cursing them, yelling at them, Barbara can handle it. She made an effort to learn a little of the first language of her best friend. While unable to talk fluently she had a working knowledge. So she roughly knew what he was saying. Rather aggressive verbal abuse toward their mothers among other things. But there was one thing he did say that she couldn't handle.
"Te rog opreștete. lasa-ma sa plec."
Barbara's heart broke. Tears started to run down her face.
Diana saw the look in Barbara's eyes. It was a look she has seen before, when a loved one asks for you to let them pass on. "Dr. Leslie please hurry!"
"I've almost got the last bit." feeling around with her tweezers she finally grabs hold of the last large bullet fragment. Pulling it free she it met with a sudden gush of blood. "Shit." Moving quickly she moves to clap close the hole and starts to sew back up the damaged tissue.
After the sudden jolt of pain met by a release Nightwing slumps down.
"Nightwing! Nightwing!"
"Barbara he's okay, he's just passed out." Dr. Leslie also had a look of relief on her face, they made it over the next hump. Doing the best she could to stitch up the wound, it's difficult and messy. "This is going to leave a messy scar."
"I'm sure someone will love him regardless of what it looks like." Diana teased, but Barbara ignored her.
After a few more minutes of bandaging and stitching Dr. Leslie gave the order to roll Nightwing onto his back so that she could address the large shard of glass burrowed in the teens lower abdomen. "Lets hook up another IV and blood bag before we start."
Canary looked over. "That might be a bit hard to do. He just went through the last bag."
"Damn it! No, not when we're this close!" Dr. Leslie was fuming a little, "Richard Grayson I have put too much effort into keeping you alive to fall short here."
"Can't we just grab another bag?"
"Unfortunately O negative bags of blood aren't just laying around at every hospital. I'd have to call and that would take to long." Dr. Leslie had a hand on her chin thinking to herself.
"Then take mine." Everyone in the room looked to the voice. "Dick and I have the same blood type." Barbara's voice was clear and certain. Dick needed blood, and she was the only one there with the right blood type, she had to do it. No, even if there was someone else, she would still have volunteered herself. If someone had to get their veins hooked up to her best friend it had better be her.
"Out of the question, it's too dangerous." Canary quickly shot down the idea. "Nightwing still has that poison flowing in him. Hooking you in would poison you as well, then what do I tell Batman when he finds out he has a second individual on a gurney?"
"We don't really have a choice." Barbara stared back at the older woman with her best Bat glare, her voice lowered.
"I can give you the antidote for the poison while your hooked up." Dr. Leslie was going through the idea in her head. "But, saying you'll be uncomfortable would be to put it mildly."
"Then Dick won't be the only one." Her voice was still cold, but her eyes soft as she looked down on the raven haired boy in front of her. She could do little but watch as her best friend suffered through this. Now there was something she could do, that only she could do.
Dr. Leslie nodded. "Okay, we'll do it. Diana, move over the second bed and give Barbara this." She tossed her a nightgown used in the infirmary for patients. Moving quickly to Barbara she preps her for the I.V.
Barbara was all hooked up with a fluid IV running to her arm and another tube full of crimson liquid running between her and her best friend. Dr. Leslie had also given her a dose of the poison antidote. It was painful and she could feel it moving throughout her veins, now being able to relate to the slight pain that Dick is in.
Dr. Leslie worked efficiently to the next step. Get the glass out of Grayson as quickly and safely as possible. There were now two patients in front of her and time was ticking against them.
Batman had just arrived in time to see Barbara getting the final check over to make sure she was ready to start the transfusion. Clark, still out in the hall stopped him as he tried to make his way into the E.R. "Clark, move, now…" Batman's voice was low and dark.
Superman was about to speak up when Canary stepped in. "There is nothing you can do for them in there."
"Mind telling me why both of them are on the operating table now?" Batman was in no mood for games. "I don't recall being informed of this new turn of events."
"The situation changed. We ran out of bags of blood for him, so…"
"So Batgirl jumped in because they have the same blood type." Batman finished her sentence. "And no one tried to stop her?"
"We tried, but you know how stubborn she is, and that isn't just anyone on that operating table." Canary put her hand on the Dark Knights shoulder.
Batman relaxed a little. "Will he make it?" Looking through the observation window at his two young pupils. Barbara was trembling as her blood was being pumped into Dick's, still holding his hand with a firm grip and watching him closely.
"He isn't out of the woods yet, but I have a good feeling. Dr. Leslie has a strong feeling about it as well."
Batman gave a short nod, then pivoted quickly walking back down the hall towards the exit. Leaving a slightly bemused Superman and Black Canary. "Where are you going?! Shouldn't you be here?"
Batman paused "You said it yourself Dinah. There is nothing I can do for them in there. So I'm going to do what I can do."
"And what would that be?"
Batman's voice was a growl and his eyes like daggers. "Find Floyd Lawton."
A few hours later and the rest of Nightwing's surgery went off without a hitch. The glass shard was deep, but Dr. Leslie had gotten through with little difficulty.
"In all my time as a medical professional I have yet to put that many stitches into one body and they ended up making it." Still wiping her hands off she was speaking to the other adults out in the hallway. "At this point it's a waiting game and completely up to Mr. Grayson."
"He'll make it." Everyone turned to see Batman standing by the observation window.
At this point it was only Dr. Leslie and the older hero's still in the hall. All of the younger heroes had passed out in the common room. No one wanted to sleep by them self that night.
No one had heard Batman's approach but they could all see the slight shade of crimson on his gloves.
"Did you find him?" Clark walks over to his friend and puts a hand on his shoulder.
"Not even close. Just some useless trash." Batman's voice was low and dark but not filled with rage like it was before.
"We'll get him. But for now it's probably best that you stay and watch over them." Clark noted the two young hero's side by side the beds pushed together. Barbara still holding Dick's hand.
"How is she?"
It was Dr. Leslie's turn to speak up. "Tired and in a decent amount of discomfort due to the poison antidote. She also gave a fair amount of blood, she finally passed out a short time ago."
"What should we do now Doctor?
"Let them get some sleep, and no painkillers of any kind until I say it's okay." Giving a stern glare to all present. "You all should get some sleep as well. I'll be back to check on them later."
With that everyone dispersed from the hall, except Batman who went into the room and sat in a chair watching over his two charges. The nights slowly crept into the early morning hours.
Nightwing's eyes shot open in a fit of panic but he shut them just as quick, he hurt all over and felt like he hadn't slept in days. The room he was in was pitch black and he was laying down. The fact he could still feel pain was a good sign, it meant he wasn't dead. "At least I hope I'm not." He thought to himself.
His head was heavy and the first few tries at opening his eyes the room would start spinning on him so he just kept them shut for now. His body was still cold all over. Well almost all over, Nightwing felt a slight warmth in his right hand. He couldn't quite make of what it was, but it was nice, it had a feeling of safety to it.
Slowly things started to com back to him, he was fighting and had gotten pretty banged up. Flashes of memory started to come to him, of what had gone by in the last few hours. Remembering hurt, he could feel the injuries flare up in pain. But there was something else there too, he could remember seeing Barbara's face. Knowing she was there put him as ease.
It then occurred to him what that warm feeling on his hand was, well it was that or Tim with a bowl of water. But with a slight squeeze of his hand he smiled that there was a soft resistance confirming that it was a persons hand and not a bowl of warm water. "Looks like I owe her again." With this last thought Nightwing focuses on that warmth as he tries to slowly drift back to sleep.
Barbara stirred to the sounds of voices in the room. Slowly opening her eyes and sitting up.
"Hey there sleepy head, have a good night rest?" Artemis is the first to acknowledge the redhead to join them. Wally, Superboy, M'gann, Kaldur, and Robin were sitting around the bed and other young hero's were also popping in and out to say good morning and check on the injured party.
To all of their knowledge Nightwing hadn't woken up but those that were around the bed were determined to be there when he rose. Barbara had noticed that her hand had slipped out of Dick's, but didn't bother to try and grab again with the others around. It was bad enough that they were practically sharing a bed.
The teens all joked about a little more before they had to address the elephant in the room and the conversation turned more serious.
"So what do we know so far?" Wally was the first to speak.
"You know that we were told to leave it alone." M'gann said in a hushed tone to not alert others to the topic at hand.
"Hasn't stopped us before." Superboy retorted.
Artemis looked to their leader. "Kaldur?"
Kaldur pondered for a moment before speaking. "It is true we were told to leave this alone." Several faces turned down and a few were about to voice opinions but Kaldur cut them off. "But Nightwing is our team mate, we should be the ones to handle this, and we will handle this."
There was a nod of agreement from all the young heroes in attendance. Kaldur then turned to Barbara. "Batgirl, seeing as you probably know the most. It would be best if you tell us everything before we go about making a plan."
Barbara nodded. "Sure, just let me get changed first. Artemis, M'gann, would you mind helping? It's still a bit hard to move."
"Sure we can." Artemis gave Barbara a slight hug. Barbara winced. "Oh, sorry, forgot you've been through the ringer as well." She then addresses the rest of the room. "That means everyone else, out!" She points to the door. "That goes double for you Wally."
"What? But Dick gets to stay." Wally let out a playful outburst to try and keep the mood light.
"That's because he's still dead to the world numskull." Artemis winced after the phrase left her mouth. The upbeat feeling they had going came to a sudden halt. Quickly turning back to Barbara. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean for it to come out that way."
"Its okay. I know you didn't mean anything by it." Barbara's head was low.
The rest of the Team quickly left the room while M'gann went to get a change of cloths for Barbara.
"Barbara I'm really sorry again. I wasn't thinking and my big mouth got me in trouble again." Artemis was speaking while helping the redhead out of her hospital gown.
"I already said it's okay. It actually makes me a little happy that you're still able to joke around about this. I'm sure Dick wouldn't want us all upset and down because of him." Barbara glances back over her shoulder watching the boy sleep soundly.
Artemis just gave her a nod and then when M'gann arrived the two of them helped Barbara change into a new set of clothes. She still smelled like blood but the fresh set of clothes helped. Once they finished they had everyone come back in so that Barbara could give a full detailed account of her experience.
"So all we really know is that the poison from the bullet is one used by Deadshot. But in truth we don't actually know if it was even him who shot Nightwing." Kaldur was going over all the information that Batgirl had presented them with. "Unfortunately not much of what you said helps us."
"Sorry." Barbara looked down a little.
"I don't mean to say it's your fault, it just looks like we will just have to wait for Nightwing's version of what happened to get any more clues." Kaldur said looking around at the other dejected teens. They were really hoping that Batgirl new a bit more that could help them.
"Then maybe it's time I spoke up then." The voice was raspy but it cut the tension in the room like a knife.
Everyone turned to look towards the direction the voice came from. There, with his domino mask on and a slight grin on his face Nightwing was awake. And Barbara, just now realizing it, found that he had once again intertwined his fingers with hers. There was a moment of shock and silence as they all looked at the ebony haired teen with different varieties of relief, dumbfoundedness, and sorrow on the faces of everyone in the room. Nightwing felt the need to address this. "Who died?"
Barbara's eyes started to cloud with tears, after the emotional roller coaster she had just been on there was no way she was going to settle for a hand hold. Despite the pain and discomfort she was still in, she found the strength to almost launch herself at him, entrapping him in a hug. "You asshole. Your not allowed to make those jokes right now."
Dick normally is never one to refuse a hug, but the force of Barbara's hug made his entire body scream in pain. As he was about to reprimand her for doing so he felt the body of his best friend start to shake and hot liquid fall in droplets on his chest. "Babs…"
"Don't 'Babs' her." Artemis was on his case. "She saved your butt, and was put through hell because of you." She herself also starting to tear up.
Everyone else was also in different degrees of emotional shock. Partly from the fact the Nightwing pulled through and also at the reaction between Barbara and Dick. While news was spreading that Nightwing had woken up Kaldur went and called Dr. Leslie to inform her of the situation.
After the commotion had died down a little and the younger heroes of the team had come through to see Nightwing the senior members of the team closed the doors and the privacy blinds.
"Dr. Leslie said not to move around and to keep you on a steady supply of fluids she will be by later to check on the two of you. Other than that; you two are to remain in bed, no strenuous activity, and still no painkillers." Kaldur explained. Though with Barbara still having a vice grip around Dick there was little reason to think they would be going anywhere any time soon.
For Dick the pain had subsided a little and he also had Wally helping him sip a glass of water. Barbara was still attached to him which did cause some discomfort but the truth was he's glad that she's here with him. "So I guess that Batman and the JL have yet to be informed of my coming to?"
Kaldur noded. "I told Dr. Leslie that I would do it myself, I also told the rest of the team to not contact them yet either, but the way I see it we have maybe an hour at best to get a jump on this before the League does."
Nightwing clears his throat. "Guess I should get to it then." Taking another sip of his water. "First, the tip off we got about the container was a set up. It was a trap. Specifically for me."
"A bit of a gamble don't you think? That tip was sent to the Team as a whole not just Nightwing." Superboy chimed in.
"True, but it was a safe bet being in Nightwings home city and being vague enough to not warrant the attention of a full team." Wally was answering the question this time.
"What if a full team had shown up though?" M'gann asked.
"Seeing as it was in fact Deadshot who came after me, it would be my guess he would have just pulled out and went for another opportunity later." Nightwing was staring into his glass of water.
"Yes, but why was he after you in the first place? Deadshot sees himself as a businessman. So the payoff must have been worth pissing off the Bat." Others nodded in agreement with Kaldur's line of thought.
"Money." Nightwing's voice was low. "Lots of it."
"How much?" Artemis asked.
"Deadshot told me that there is an open bounty on my head for two hundred million at the moment." Graysons voice started to betray a twinge of fear. Something that Barbara picked up on and in return held him closer and a little tighter. Her face still buried in his chest. "While it could just be me with a target on their back I have a hunch it isn't."
"What makes you think that?" Kaldur was serious, and very concerned. Nightwing usually figured things out before the rest of them, and his hunches were rarely wrong.
"The Light. We have been digging more and more into it as of late and I thing who, or whatever it is is starting to take measures against us. That being sad it is likely that all of us senior members in this room have similarly high bounties on out heads." Nightwing looked at his friends seeing how they took this new information.
The room fell silent. Not a word was spoken among the young heroes for what seemed like a long time.
Barbara rises from her spot, sitting upright but her hand still holding Dick's. As she sat up she broke the silent somber feeling in the air. "That's why we're a team right? To shoulder the things together that we can't on our own."
The young heroes looked around the room at each other, some glances came with smiles others more concerned. The stakes were rising, what had happened to Nightwing was clear evidence of that. Everyone would have to decide on their own what would be best for them.
"It looks like we all have some thinking to do." Kaldur told the rest of them. "But for now I think we held off on calling Batman and the rest of the League long enough." This was met with a response of laughing and groans.
Nightwing rolled his eyes. "Can't wait for that lecture." All of the others laughed at this except Barbara, she just smiled and rested her head on Dick's shoulder. She had her best friend back.
I know I said this would be a series of short stories but I started writing this one and just couldn't seem to stop. The detail just kept coming, it also got shelved for a while so it has really been about a year in the making. There might be some errors here and there but I hope they don't detract from the story to much.
Hope you all enjoyed the read and feel free to review.
I'm getting back into writing more material so be on the lookout for ne chapters to other works of mine or completely new stories.