Batgirl was breathing evenly, crouching in the green leafy brush of the forest. She was gazing at the building that was right in front of her, a compound that Klarion was supposedly hiding out in. The girl was waiting for her partners to converge on her location—all three of them had fanned out and Batgirl had found the door first. She had contacted the other two and was told to wait; so, the red-head took to thinking about her two partners. They were Nightwing and Zatanna. Her eyes narrowed to slits at the thought of the latter. Even though she and Nightwing were no longer dating and she was apart of the Justice League, the two still shared a special connection that Batgirl more than envied. She absolutely despised the little sorceress, the girl who had taken Nightwing's heart away from her. However, it was not her place to voice these abhorrent thoughts, so when it was announced that Zatanna would be briefly joining her squad, she swallowed her pride and smiled; but, sitting here, alone, while Zatanna and her love converged on her location, she couldn't help but wonder if they were together…
"Batgirl, are you with us?" she heard Nightwing call over the com, breaking her out of her trance.
"Yeah." Within a few minutes, the two arrived at her spot and without speaking, Batgirl got up and began walking with Nightwing toward the compound.
"Wait," Zatanna asked, stopping both Bat-protégés mid-stride.
"What?" Nightwing asked calmly as Batgirl rolled her eyes.
"What's the plan?" Batgirl had to keep herself from face-palming. Nightwing should have brought Robin; sure, the boy was young—but they would then be able to function as a perfect team, not needing useless words to communicate. Zatanna didn't know how Batman had trained them, didn't know what it took it become a well-oiled machine; she ruined it all.
"We're going to sneak in there and see if Klarion's there. We need to find out what's going on in this building without being noticed." Zatanna nodded and they restarted their approach of the building.
The walk was silent, but Batgirl could feel the tension in the air between Nightwing and Zatanna. She wasn't positive what had happened, but there was something off about the two, something just wasn't quite right. The red-head ignored it, though, and focused on the mission ahead, keeping her eyes peeled for any sentries, cameras, or a way in. They walked all the way around the compound, sticking to the shadows and remaining silent, but there was no obvious entrance. "Now what?" Zatanna asked stupidly, making Batgirl roll her eyes as Nightwing continued to baby her.
"We'll just keep looking." They intensified their search, occasionally venturing out of the cover of the brush to examine a particularly suspicious patch of wall or an oddly open area. On one such escapade, Batgirl was fiddling with a keypad and a sudden beeping noise went off, a door sliding open to her right.
"Hey!" she whisper-yelled at her companions. "I found a way!" She started to sneak in, but Nightwing called to her.
"Batgirl, wait!" She halted and turned to his worry-stricken voice.
"What?"
"Doesn't this seem a bit too easy? We need to be on guard…" His voice trailed off and he glanced quickly at Zatanna, as if concerned for her sake alone. Right then and there, Batgirl decided she had had enough.
"Nightwing, you need to stop mixing emotions with work. She can handle herself—she's an adult. She doesn't need you constantly protecting her." There was ice in the red-head's voice, but all her words were quiet and intense. Nightwing's eyes slightly widened and he lowered his gaze.
"Fine." Just then, though, as the group went to continue walking down the passage, the door closed and the lights came on, blinding them all.
"No…" a high-pitched voice called out from the white-light all around them. "I think he needs to mix emotions with work more often. Don't you, Teekl? Get him!" There were the sounds of a scuffle, and as Batgirl pushed a button on her belt to put sunglasses over her eyes, she saw there was no one there—save Zatanna, who was creakily getting up, shielding her eyes. "See you ladies…" Klarion called out before turning all the lights out again, making Batgirl get rid of her sunglasses and turn around, making sure Nightwing was, in fact, taken by the Witch-Boy.
Zatanna suddenly gasped. "He's gone." Batgirl had to bite back a string of curse words at the sorceress and simply started walking forward, heading down the hallway. "What are you doing? Nightwing's gone! We need to find him!" Batgirl ignored her, but the girl kept yelling at her, having to jog to keep up with the red-head's fast strides. Finally, though, the black haired girl got through Batgirl's shell.
"What do you think I'm doing? I'm going after Klarion and his men—who will have D—Nightwing." She mentally berated herself for almost using his real name. "What would you say we do? Where else were we supposed to go? The door closed behind us and there were no signs of a secret passage or anything." Zatanna opened her mouth to voice her objections, but Batgirl kept talking. "I know this is probably a trap, but it's the surest way to get him back and face Klarion at the same time. Now, you can either come with me and follow my lead, go back the way we came and try to get that door open, or try to find him yourself—which, incidentally, would mean coming with me anyway. Chose." Batgirl didn't give her time to respond, though; she continued down the corridor, increasing her pace.
Zatanna plodded along behind the bat, silence descending upon the girls. Batgirl was fuming, mostly at Nightwing—he was stupid for getting captured, stupid for loving Zatanna, stupid for treating the sorceress like a precious object, stupid for holding her heart and crushing it constantly. However, she kept going down the hallway, a small flicker of hope arising in her; a flicker that said, "This time. This time, for sure, he'll see how right I am for him. This time he'll fall in love with me…" Then, the skeptical, realistic part of her would always reply, "No. He'll be just as dumb as before; he won't notice me, won't care that I saved him. It's pointless…" But, even though there was a battle forging on in her head, Batgirl couldn't stop herself from running when she saw a glimmer of light at the end of the corridor, Zatanna already breathing hard.
The two entered the brightly lit room, Batgirl unfazed by how extensive it was; it opened up to reveal a large circular room, dropping down to form a kind of coliseum flooring. The walls were a thick, dusty yellow concrete, stone bleachers lined up along the exterior of the room. Basically, they were standing at the very edge of a present-day Roman coliseum. Batgirl was scanning the room, looking desperately for Nightwing. However, she couldn't see anything, and the girl was so absorbed in her own thoughts, she didn't notice the large thug that came from behind her and shoved her, face first into the floor of the coliseum. She recovered smoothly, though, whipping out her grappling-hook and landing gracefully to the ground. Zatanna soon came down next to her, floating slowly. Batgirl then peered threateningly up at a slightly raised platform, spying Klarion lying languidly on a stone bench, Teekl resting peacefully in his lap. Batgirl seethed and pulled out a batarang, ready to let it fly. However, Klarion's voice suddenly cut through the air. "I wouldn't do that if I were you, baby bat." He waved his hand in the air as he said that, Nightwing suddenly rising up from the ground, tied to a chair and tape over his mouth—he appeared to still be unconscious. Batgirl's eyes went wide and her arm lowered. "It's funny…" he mused, standing up and stroking Teekl absentmindedly. "I thought it'd be kinda hard to capture the bird, to get you to surrender. But it was all too easy… So disappointing…" He continued to waltz around on the platform.
"What do you want?" Batgirl asked, steel filling her tone as her eyes narrowed to slits.
"Oh!" he exclaimed, turning to face the girls, feigning surprise. "It's not about what I want. It's not about what I want at all!" He grinned devilishly, raising his hands and making them glow. "You see, it's all about what he wants…" Black bolts cascaded around the room, striking Nightwing and the floor around the girls, causing the whole coliseum to tremble. Nightwing woke with a start and one cage rose from the ground. It appeared empty, but Batgirl could feel an otherworldly presence rolling off of it. "Hey, wakey-wakey birdie!" he called, prodding at Nightwing, who struggled against his bonds. "Don't fight the ropes. I've infused them with black magic. It'll be a little more difficult to get free." Nightwing eventually stopped struggling and Klarion sighed happily. "Now. We're going to play a little game—a game which so beautifully goes against what the bat said earlier. Bird, you're going to mix your emotions with work in a most dazzling display." Klarion paused for effect.
"As you can see, there is a single cage at the bottom of this great arena, a cage that will fill whoever is inside of it with pure suicidal insanity, causing them to kill themselves after being in its clutches for even a second. Also, so plain before your eyes, you'll see we have two fantastic players! Batgirl and Zatanna!" There was dead silence in the air as all three of them realized what Klarion intended. "So… Here's where you come in, dear Knight-in-training…" He walked towards Nightwing and kneeled before him. "You have to choose who kills themselves before us all. The pint-sized magician or the ill-tempered bat? Who do you care for more? Who would you rather see die in a horrendous, violent, agonizing way, because of you? Who would you rather see live and be with you forever? I've watched you for some time and know you have feelings for both these… females. And the question has plagued my mind for some time—who do you love more? I haven't been able to find an answer myself, so I devised this lovely experiment. And finally, my curiosity will be sated. Chose." Klarion sat back on his bench, splaying his fingers together and grinning widely. "Whoever you chose will get to live, and you two will leave, no interference from me. The other… she will be forced into the cage and will destroy herself, with you as the audience. Make your choice."
There was utter silence after Klarion's spiel, all parties involved thinking furiously. Zatanna didn't know how they were going to get out of this, Klarion was thrilled beyond belief, and Batgirl feared horribly, certain Nightwing was going to chose Zatanna. He loved her more, without a doubt; he didn't care for the red-head, not like that. They were simply friends… Even though there was more than one instance when they seemed like they could be more. Eventually, though, Klarion saw Nightwing wasn't going to chose and he became impatient. "CHOSE!" he shouted.
"Regardless of who I love more, I will not give the either up to die." He muttered this, but both girls heard him, and the sentence sent Klarion over the edge.
"FINE. Then YOU DIE!" He levitated Nightwing's chair and sent him flying through the air, planning on letting him simply crash to the earth. Batgirl wasn't having that though; she thought quickly and shot her grapple at the chair, launching herself at the boy she loved. She grabbed onto him tightly and threw a pellet from her belt, an explosion of foam encasing them and preventing them from splatting gruesomely to the ground. "NO!" Klarion shouted at the top of his lungs, his eyes going red. "THAT'S CHEATING!" Batgirl stood from the foamy mess, though, and looked Klarion straight in the eyes.
"I'll go." Klarion at once calmed, but her words sent Nightwing into a frenzy.
"Batgirl, no, you can't!" he called as she easily walked toward the cage. "Batgirl! No!" Batgirl just ignored him, though, telling herself that he didn't love her anyways, that he only cared for Zatanna. "BARBARA! BABS! STOP!"
The girl hesitated at the sound of her name, but that didn't stop her completely. She reached the door, gripped the handle, turned to Nightwing and smiled. "Dick…" He at once stopped his shouting and was attentive to her every word. "It's okay. I know you love Zatanna. Please, be happy…" She turned to enter the cage, but his voice cut through the air in such a stricken way she was forced to halt.
"Babs." She could hear the tears budding in his eyes, knew there was a sob caught in his throat. "I always loved you…" Barbara nodded, once, gazed into his beautiful blue eyes, and stepped into the cage, trying to shut out his pleas and cries and shouts, telling herself that he was worth it, that this was better than loosing him. The insanity overtook her at once and her gloved hands gripped the bars, everything going red. The last thing she saw was Dick, crying, begging her to come back…
…before she woke up.
Barbara bolted upright in her bed back in her apartment in Gotham. Her heart was pounding, her chest heaving, her face wet from sweat and tears. She glanced around the room and saw it was two-thirty in the morning. It had all been a dream—a nightmare, she quickly corrected. She breathed deeply, trying to even out the trembling intakes of air, and Barbara stood up shakily, getting herself a glass of water. When she got back in bed, she fidgeted endlessly, going back into a fitful sleep. And, as Dick watched from his perch, a building over, he knew something was plaguing the girl, plaguing the girl he loved more than anyone in his entire life…
Author's Note: It's not that long. D: I wanted it to be this epic one-shot, those ones that never seem to end and you love so much. But I just couldn't get it to work out that way.
I really do love Dick/Babs. I think it's a shame they're not more of a 'thing'. They're a beautiful ship, and very canon in many other mediums. For this reason, I absolutely despise Zatanna and everything she does. I am a fierce Dick/Babs shipper.
In this, I was really trying to grasp how hopeless it seems for them to end up together; even though we all know it would work out perfectly. I made Zatanna much more inferior to Barbara in this because (one) this was Barbara's dream (she would view herself as superior) and (two) I REALLY HATE ZATANNA.
Well, hope you enjoyed my rant about these two. ^.^ If you liked it, please review, and go check out my other Dick/Babs story "I Fell in Love with a Superhero's Sidekick"…. To which I'm currently working on a sequel for called, "I'm Still in Love with a Superhero's Sidekick"! Thanks for reading!
~Passez une bonne journée!~
Cordially,
LadyFrederic