Author's Note

I know I haven't done this in my other story, but I decided I would try it here. So I'll respond to Reviews here because I just feel like it.

MrCcoz: First off, thanks for being the first to review my story. It's much appreciated. And I understand the whole Danielle not getting enough love. I had originally thought of using Danny but threw it out immediately. Danielle had always held a soft spot for me because she had so much potential to use in a story, and her background has much to use for weaknesses, fears, and insecurities. And thank you so much for the compliment, I actually skipped around my room when reading that.

I'd also like to apologize for an OOC-ness that characters show. I'll try and make them in character but I guarantee nothing.

Disclaimer: this a site for fanfiction, does it look like I'd own any of this?

THREE

Surprise Visitors!

December 4, 2016
13:06 EST
Somewhere over New York City

Nightwing sat in one of the chairs of the Bioship.

It had been a while since he had sat down in one of these chairs on a covert ops mission. The memories that came forth at the sensation of the seats and sitting around the open windows were painful. He remembered Wally, his best friend, sitting towards the back so he could easily zip out when they landed. Bart, clad in the Kid Flash uniform, sat in the usual seat Wally always took up. Nightwing might miss his friend, but he knew Bart was doing a good job keeping the Kid Flash legacy alive with his hyperactive self.

He looked over to the woman next to him with blonde hair and a mask to cover her face. Tigress aka Artemis Crock was staring out the window. Nightwing had noticed how readily his friend had thrown herself back into the hero gig. It was like she threw away her civilian life to the side, dedicating her life to being a superhero. And that worried Nightwing. He knew Wally didn't want his girlfriend to just devote her life to being a superhero while sacrificing her civilian life. But he didn't know how to word it correctly to Tigress.

Next to him on his other side was Blue Beetle. Nightwing watched the armored teen mess with a scanner. The domino-masked hero knew the teen didn't need to do it, but knew it was calming the teen's nerves. It had been a while since a covert ops mission had been assigned. The villains were laying low, only coming out for robberies and simple ploys. Something was bound to give and Nightwing bet the flux of energy radiating from New York City was just that.

It had started around two months after the Reach invasion. First, it was small, barely there and didn't appear on their radar until sometime back in October. Then sometime around Halloween, it had spiked quickly, before falling to near invisibility. It had been pushed off as a surge of electricity for the decorations that civilians set up for the holiday. But when the time of Thanksgiving rolled around, the flux of energy skyrocketed and remained a pulsing spot on the graph. It had taken a while, sadly, to get some of the team involved. Nightwing even had to go as far as calling in members of the old team.

Tigress, Superboy, Miss Martian, and him had been part of the old members, the ones who had first put the team into a forward run. They had shoved it into motion through sear will. As years went on, more members joined either by being partners to already established heroes, becoming a hero of their own right but were still young, or stumbling upon something that needed find tuning to understand and use for good. Nightwing wasn't shocked when the new Kid Flash had leapt at the chance to be doing something. Blue Beetle was a mild surprise since Nightwing knew he would rather be home with his family after being trapped in his own mind for months on end while his body was used as a puppet. Robin was of no surprise to Nightwing. Anyone trained under Batman was prepared to leave on a mission at the crack of dawn if need be.

But that was it.

Not even Gar, who lived in the new location of the covert ops group, wanted to come. But then again, Nightwing mused, he was sick with the flu and coughing up mucus left and right with the occasional puking session. Miss Martian hadn't wanted to leave her little brother, but knew someone who could set up a telepathic link for this mission was highly advisable. The villains were known for getting smarter when they made grand appearances. Having something that could not be hacked into but still communicate between teammates was important.

"Landing now," Miss Martian announced from the driver's seat. Nightwing turned his head to give his green-skinned friend a nod. The Bioship landed with ease and the seven heroes stood up and got out from the back as it lowered. Stepping out, Nightwing took in the dreary area. It was near abandonment with the occasional scrawny alley cat scurrying across the way. The area was quiet, too, and so unlike the noise of New York City that Nightwing felt they had entered a different world.

Link established. Everyone copy?

The voice echoed in his head and sounded like Miss Martian's voice.

I'm in.

That was Superboy.

Let's get this done with.

Tigress was on.

Hi.

That was definitely Kid Flash.

My scanners are picking up the energy a block over.

Blue Beetle considering the teen was messing with the scanner the armor of his left arm had shifted into.

What's the plan?

That was Robin.

We split up. Kid Flash, Robin, check the outer perimeter of this area and when you are done, work your way inwards, and leave no stone unturned. Tigress, Miss Martian, check the area between the outer perimeter and the block Blue Beetle has indicated on his scanners. Superboy, Blue Beetle, with me. We're checking out the energy source.

No one argued. Kid Flash and Robin headed off in one direction, the speedster going as far as to pick up Nightwing's little brother to make the job easier. Tigress and Miss Martian headed out in separate directions. Nightwing didn't worry about them too much. They had so many missions and single jobs that they would be fine. Turning to his partners, the three heroes headed off towards the area Blue Beetle had picked up the energy flux.

"That can't be right, esé."

Nightwing looked back at Blue Beetle. It was still unnerving to see the teen talk to himself, even if he knew why. The Hispanic teen had approached him a month after the Reach invasion and told Nightwing up front that the Scarab on his back talked to him in his mind. It explained all the arguing with himself the teammate had done. But even with the information given to him, Nightwing still couldn't help but stare slightly. Superboy wasn't even unnerved or anything. He just kept walking, only sending an inquiring look back at the armored hero.

"¿Cómo es eso posible?"

Now Nightwing was intrigued by what was going on. It was rare Blue Beetle slipped into Spanish when arguing with the Scarab.

"Okay, esé, I get it. There are other dimensions but how is one getting connected to ours?"

Nightwing stopped along with Superboy. Both older heroes turned to the armored hero questioningly. Said hero seemed to realize what he was saying and gave them sheepish looks.

"The Scarab says the fluxing energy is very close to that of dimensions linking together," Blue Beetle explained, sighing heavily. "He says it should be impossible but it has happened to this dimension before over three thousand years ago. The small amount of connection was easily lost but it was never as high as it is now. He thinks that whatever this is, it's been artificially created so the link will last longer than it should. Maybe, given the fact if we don't stop it, forever."

"What dimension?" Superboy asked gruffly.

"That's just it. The Scarab only knows the signature of the dimension that momentarily connected a long time ago, and it's far from this," Blue Beetle answered, shagging his shoulders. "He doesn't know the danger that could come with this linking."

"But if it's artificially created, meaning someone knows what they are doing and are probably making sure they are connecting to something incredibly dangerous," Nightwing sighed, moving on to the block with the energy flux. "We'll have to precede with caution."

"Do you want me to tell the others by mind-link?" Superboy asked.

"Do so," Nightwing answered as they kept moving. He faintly heard Superboy recounting all that Blue Beetle had told them in the back of his mind as his heart pounded. What would they find when they turned the corner? The reading was high in the surrounding area, so maybe the thing that was causing the energy surge.

He was not expecting a simple platform in the middle of the decrepit street. The three heroes stood near the entrance of the block, staring at the platform. As they stared, light started to shimmer around it, increasing in intensity to the point it was nearing a blinding white. It forced the heroes to look away and when they blinked their eyes rapidly to rid them of the black spots, they noticed something standing on the platform. It was of a giant black dog, nearing the size of a garbage truck. Its eyes glowed red as it growled, frothing droll trailing down its jaws as white teeth gleamed in the faint light. Given by the cloudy New York day.

I don't know what that is, Blue Beetle thought in the mind link.

We'll precede with caution but we cannot allow this thing to reach the populace, Nightwing responded, grabbing his escrima sticks. All were quiet as they approached the growling dog-like thing before its red eyes focused on them. With a growl that shook the ground in a two mile radius, it leapt at the heroes.

Blue Beetle immediately shot at it with a plasma cannon—one of the few times he used that feature. The plasma just brushed the dog's flank and merely smoked the furs as it kept coming. Superboy lunged at the creature, hitting with all his worth into the middle of its head. It should have taken it down, but the dog seemed to stumble before resuming the fight with great gusto at the heroes.

We need backup.

Nightwing did not want to admit it, but they really did. Even with him fighting as hard as he could with his escrima sticks, even having them shoot electricity into the creature, nothing really seemed to effect it. The fight was taking it out of Nightwing with him constantly needing to flip and roll out of the way of the frothing jaws and sharp claws. Blue Beetle was still using the plasma cannon, leaving the big black dog to smoke as Superboy kept tackling it. Nightwing was relieved when an arrow came flying out of a building and into the dog.

Except nothing happened. The arrow passed harmlessly through the creature and buried into the asphalt of the cracked street. But the arrow seemed to do something, and that was enrage the dog into attacking more fervently. It nearly took out Blue Beetle but Kid Flash raced down the street and was able to get his friend away in time. Robin was by Nightwing's side in a moment, both adopted brothers fighting as viciously as they could, trying to find a weak spot. Their birdrangs did nothing, just passed through the dog or bounced off its hide. The only one who seemed to be making a hit was Superboy, but even his punches didn't affect the dog-like creature as much as it should have.

Miss Martian, anything?

Nightwing was hoping his teammate could break into its mind and find that switch that knocked anything unconscious.

Its mind is like nothing I have ever seen. I ... I can't even understand its motives. The whole brain structure is off. Even where the biological structure should stand is different. It could take me hours to find the right way to knock it unconscious, Miss Martian responded, sounding fearful.

We don't have hours. Figure it out faster and don't worry about destroying its mind. It's obviously not of too high intellect to properly communicate with us, Tigress responded, sending another arrow that just harmlessly passed through the creature.

Nightwing was about to agree before a cry next to him alerted him to Robin. The dog had clamped its huge jaws around his leg. For the briefest of moments, Nightwing froze before launching at the dog with renewed vigor and aggression he had not felt in a long time. He had already lost Jason, he was not losing Tim. He was not losing another brother.

He momentarily blinked out of what was going on around him. All he knew was his relentless attack on the creature in front of him, wishing for it be destroyed as he could check on Robin, so he could check on his brother Tim. The escrima sticks crackled with electricity and hit the joints of the creature and areas Nightwing could only guess were sensitive. He flipped and rolled around the creature. There were moments when he heard Superboy attacking the dog and Kid Flash reporting that Robin was in the Bioship with Miss Martian to get healed. Tigress was on her way to the Bioship to help with the wounds. Blue Beetle was still launching plasma blasts, muttering about full lethality when Nightwing and Superboy were out of range.

It was when Kid Flash was back did the tides turn in the superheroes' favors. The yellow and red clad superhero didn't explain his plan. He did manage to get Nightwing and Superboy to back up with the help of Blue Beetle. Nightwing watched as Kid Flash ran around the beast, closing in as he ran to form a raging tornado. With the chance to catch his breath, Nightwing noticed his own wounds. The claws that scraped his legs or the graze from the dog's teeth on his arm. His shoulder was stinging and when he put a hand on it, he pulled it away to see blood staining the black glove.

He focused back on Kid Flash to see him closing the tornado to the point there was no way the dog would survive. Nightwing expected it to collapse and suffocate. He was not, however, expecting it to explode in a shower of yellow dust. Kid Flash stopped as all four stared down at the mess.

"Was ... that supposed to happen?" Kid Flash finally asked, looking at the other heroes.

"It's dead," Blue Beetle whispered before shifting his orange-lensed gaze to the platform. "We should dismantle it."

No one argued as the four heroes worked on the invention. Nightwing tried to understand the complexity behind it. He could tell it was routed in Zeta beams but also something else. Shaking his head, he tore it apart, disengaging the power source. Blue Beetle was right beside him, passing anything of the most valuable and probably harder to replace to Superboy to crush. Some things were handed to Kid Flash to race back to the Bioship for farther investigation behind the energy used or to drop it in the ocean or vibrate into some concrete ways away. It was a tiring process and by the time the heroes were done, all were gasping for breath. Kid Flash was eating an energy bar—his last—as they stumbled back to the Bioship.

"Is it gone?" Miss Martian asked as they boarded the ship.

"Exploded into dust," Superboy huffed.

"What?" Tigress asked, shock and disbelief lilting her words.

"That's what it did," Kid Flash backed up, waving his arms around as some of the yellow dust rained down. "I still have some of it on me."

"How did you defeat it?" Miss Martian asked.

"Bart made a tornado to suffocate it but once it had, it exploded," Blue Beetle responded, jabbing a finger at Kid Flash aka Bart Allen.

"How you doing, Rob?" Nightwing asked, sitting down next to his brother who was sprawled out on a makeshift med-bay in the ship, leg tightly wrapped with white gauze that was slowly becoming red in areas.

"I've been better 'Wing," Robin answered with a smirk as he lethargically batted at Nightwing's shoulder. "Anyway to analyze what's going on?"

"We're bringing some parts from the platform with us," Nightwing answered. "Other than that, no."

"Not even a proper way to defeat things like that except to get a speedster to create a tornado?" Robin gasped out, cringing in pain.

"No, now rest," Nightwing said, ruffling his brother's militaristic-styled hair. Robin batted his hand away halfheartedly as he seemed to relax a little.

"Back to the new Cave?" Robin asked.

"Back to the new Cave," Nightwing agreed, walking back to his seat. "Get us out of here, Miss M."

"On it," Miss Martian said, powering up the Bioship and traveling back to the new location for the team. After the original cave in Mount Justice had exploded on March 23, 2016, they had to relocate when they had the chance. However much fun it was to work out of the Watchtower, it was best to have the covert ops headquarters on Earth. Thus a new cave was made in the Appalachian Mountains. It had more room than the old one, but was missing some of the things that made it special. The counter with the holes wasn't there anymore nor the Souvenir Room started by Wally. Nightwing missed that Souvenir Room. He could always go in there and remember the good ole days with his original team; when he didn't have the stress of leadership on his shoulders; when his best friends were by his side; when he thought nothing could really touch them because he was still a naïve boy despite being in the hero gig since he was eight.

It wasn't home, but he knew after a while, it would become a new home to the younger members.

Just not a home for him.

December 4, 2016
15:39 EST
A Hangar Bay in the Appalachian Mountains

Nightwing helped to move Robin to the med-bay at the Cave with the help of Superboy. Everyone who had more physical contact with the creature was checked over. Nightwing had his wounds wrapped and helped Kid Flash with his own. It was a tiring process to convince the speedster he did need to be looked over because despite his fast healing, an infection could still set in. It had happened to Wally and Nightwing was making sure it never happened to his first cousin once removed for the sake of his friend's protective nature of his family.

He knew he needed to make a report to the Justice League about their findings, and soon. Just because they disabled the platform in New York City, did not mean there weren't others. He'd have to keep an eye on any energy surges. Now was not the time to push things to the side like they had done back in October. That one mistake had nearly cost them a life if the near miss of Robin's main artery in his leg was anything to go by. Nightwing would not let another teammate die on his watch, yet alone one of his brothers.

"Should I upload those scans?" Blue Beetle asked, interrupting Nightwing's thoughts as he stood in front of the main computer in the Cave.

"Yes," Nightwing agreed with a sigh as Blue Beetle plugged in his scanner so anything he had picked up would be put into the system. "Is there anything else the Scarab might know?"

"He said, throughout the whole thing, we should have brought Cassie along," Blue Beetle answered, looking over at the black-clad hero. "Something about her biological makeup due to her dad."

"I bet the Scarab was choking on those words," Nightwing smirked as Blue Beetle laughed.

"He was," the teen agreed as the upload was done, removing the adapter for the scanner. The armor retracted itself so the Hispanic teen known as Jaime Reyes stood in its place. "But he's gotten better on knowing when we might need certain people. At the moment, we might need Cassie for all these missions if the Scarab is saying things like this. Until we can find a way to fight them without nearly losing people, we should take his consideration into effect."

"Thank you. Both of you," Nightwing said, laying a hand on Jaime's shoulder. "Get some rest and be with your family, Jaime. I know how much you like to be with them."

"Gracias, Nightwing," Jaime said, heading to the Zeta beams and leaving in a flash of light and the echoing departure of Recognized: Blue Beetle B22.

Nightwing pulled up video calls to the Founders of the League. It wasn't long for all seven to answer, staring out at him to explain why he was calling.

"Superboy, Miss Martian, Tigress, Robin, Blue Beetle, Kid Flash, and I went to investigate an energy flux in New York City. When we arrived, we found a platform in the center of an abandoned street. A creature appeared on it, something we've never faced before. All of us came out with some scrapes, even Superboy had a sprained wrist by the end of the fight. Robin received the most dangerous injury when the creature bit him and its teeth just missed the main artery in his leg. We don't know what the creature was by anything we gained from Blue Beetle's scans, which are now uploaded along with anything from the machine. We have parts from the machine with us to determine what it's made from and who would make such a thing. We've already determined Zeta beam technology had to be involved, but we don't know how far," Nightwing sighed, looking at the seven Founders.

"Are you sure it wasn't some alien?" Hal Jordan, a Green Lantern, asked.

"If it was, it was from a world that wasn't already on Blue Beetle's scans, and the Scarab he has is filled with the information the Reach has gained, and you know how well they've traveled the universe," Nightwing stated, crossing his arms over his chest. "Besides, the scans revealed the platform was a link between dimensions. Whatever the creature was, is not from this universe but from a completely different dimension."

"How would the Reach know about this?" the Flash asked.

"Blue Beetle said the Scarab had filed something like this before around three thousand years ago when it was on Earth. Maybe the Reach doesn't even know of this," Nightwing explained with a shrug. "I can ask more about it from Blue Beetle when he comes in tomorrow. At the moment, I let him go home."

No one demanded that he come back to the Cave immediately.

"Report to the Watchtower with the equipment you salvaged so we can go over it," Batman ordered.

"Yes sir," Nightwing said, nodding his head as the calls ended. Rubbing a hand down his face, Nightwing turned to the box they had stored the equipment into. He almost missed Kid Flash lurking a little ways away, but his honed detective skills had him seeing the yellow and red speedster easily. "You need something, Bart?"

"Different dimensions exist?" Bart asked, his voice trembling. Even if he had heard it over the mind-link, Nightwing could see the thirteen-year-old was having a tough time processing it.

"Apparently," Nightwing sighed heavily, his shoulders shagging a little.

"What are we going to do?" Bart asked.

"We'll have to play it by ear," Nightwing answered. Bart let a watery smirk slip onto his face.

"You must hate that. Wally used to tell me how much you hated not being able to plan things out," Bart teased but Nightwing could see the tears in the young boy's green eyes. He didn't hesitate to hug the speedster. It was almost immediate how quick Bart melted into Nightwing's embrace and let his sobs take over. Nightwing practically crushed the boy in a strong hold, thinking about how much he reminded him of Wally it physically hurt at times. But for Wally, Nightwing would help to keep his friend's family safe.

"Yeah, I hate it," Nightwing laughed hollowly, wondering if his voice sounded as choked as he felt. "He always found a way to throw a wrench into all my plans half the time unless we were on a mission."

Bart let out a choked laugh at that.

"I barely even got to know him and I miss him so much," Bart whispered.

"I know," Nightwing whispered, holding the thin boy closer. He had barely known Wally anymore when he passed. Five years changed people and Wally taking down his mantel of Kid Flash before he went off to college had made it hard for Nightwing to keep in touch as much as he wanted to.

Bart pulled away and wiped his eyes with the back of his hand, "I got to get home. Grandma Iris is expecting me to help her in the kitchen."

Nightwing smirked at that. Iris Allen was nearing the point of exploding with how pregnant she was. Then it dropped.

"What will happen when your dad and aunt are born, Bart?" Nightwing asked. Bart shrugged.

"I don't know honestly," Bart said, scratching at his elbow with a gloved hand. "I'm technically out of the time stream as Nate would point out. Maybe I'll keep living or maybe I'll fade. I don't know but until then, I'm going to keep living because that's the least I can do for Wally."

Nightwing nodded and squeezed Bart's shoulder as the speedster headed to the Zeta beams.

"Bart," Nightwing called, stopping the auburn-haired teen in his tracks. "He'd be proud."

"Thanks, Dick," Bart said, grinning at Nightwing, the smile looking more like a smug smirk as he stepped into the Zeta beams. The cry of Recognized: Kid Flash B23 echoed in the cave. Nightwing sighed, feeling physically and mentally drained.

Shaking off his drowsiness, Nightwing gathered the box again and headed to the zeta beams. He disappeared in a flash of light and the announcement of Recognized: Nightwing B01 to the Watchtower.

Translations:

Spanish:

Esé: homeboy

¿Cómo es eso posible?: How is that possible?

Gracias: seriously, if you don't know this, I cannot help you at all