The phone rang. He almost didn't pick it up. Wanted to let it go on to the answering machine. But something made him do it. "Yes?"
"HI Dick, I heard about Wally. I'm really sorry." Jimmy Olsen, photographer at the Daily Planet and one of Dick's oldest friends. "I would have called earlier but Perry had us working to the bone on a special issue. That's one of my reasons for calling actually."
"You want something, don't you?" He sighed.
"Kind of." He sounded almost offended but Dick could hear the guilt in his voice. He had hit the nail on the head. "I'm coming to Bludhaven Saturday. I'll drop by and we can talk more about Wally. But I need a favour. Could you ask Connor to meet Linda and me at the Daily Planet? We need his help with something." Now that piqued his interest. Why would Jimmy need to ask for Connor's help?
"What kind of something?"
"Ok, here's the deal. Lex has a new niece, Klara I think, who's come to live with him here in Metropolis. No one's ever heard of her before. We think something's up. "
"So why Connor?"
"I'm not going to drag you into something when you're still getting over Wally. Connor's the only one Linda trusts, for obvious reasons." Dick smiled slightly. Leave it to Jimmy to make him smile without even trying to.
"I'll see what I can do and let you know his answer, ok?"
"Fine by me."
"Karen, Mal, I'm glad you two are here." The two superheroes turned to see Professor Palmer next to a young Asian woman wearing a blue summer dress with a red ribbon and a lab coat over it. "This is Doctor Raina Choi, she's my new assistant."
"Miss Beecher, Mr Duncan, it's a pleasure to meet you." The woman, or Raina, smiled at them.
"Professor, she…knows our names?" Karen protested.
"And superhero identities?" Mal added. Ray chuckled.
"It's ok. We can trust her. She's already passed Batman's checks and we've been in correspondence for quite a while before she came here."
"Well, it Batman says it's okay…" Mal shrugged. "Nice to meet you, Raina."
"And with that, I leave her with you." Ray said. "Deathstroke has already tried to kill her once. If she's a threat to the Light then we have to protect her. So I'm leaving her in your care until we're sure she's safe."
"Um, that's information that should be mentioned first, Professor." Karen sighed. "But we can protect her, no problem."
"Thank you." Raina said, gratefully as Ray left. "I will try not to be much of a burden."
"It's been a long time, Mr Harper." Roy whirled around, notching an arrow in his bow.
"Artemis, what are you doing sneaking up on me like that? I could have shot you." Artemis laughed.
"You could try but you couldn't hit me. How's Lian?"
"She's doing well. She's staying with Jade at the moment."
"Good. Because we need your help."
"With what?"
"We're holding an intervention. To get Nightwing back in the game."
"Why not let him come back on his own? He's still mourning Wally. Give him time."
"I wish we could. There's been an attack in Gotham. Batman's asked us to look into it. With Batgirl still recovering from her accident, we need someone else who knows Gotham and Batman's rogue gallery well."
"What about Robin?"
"There are some villains he's not dealt with, most of them are suspected to be involved."
"I see. Ok, I'm in."