Disclaimer: I realize that I never stated that I don't own Young Justice. If it wasn't obvious enough I don't own Young Justice.
Nightwing POV
There is an annoying beeping sound that is not leaving my ears, just a constant high pitched noise that echoes in what I assume to be a small cubical of the medical bay. I don't really want to open my eyes due to the knowledge that there will be an overwhelmingly amount of light that will blind me momentarily, but I know that I have to give a sign that I am waking up to whomever is watching over me. I decide to moan a little and slowly move my arms. All of the sudden I hear, "Karen go tell the others that Nightwing is waking up, I will stay here and watch him." Then there are footsteps that seem to be racing out of the room once the automatic doors open.
I bring my hand up to cover my eyes as I slowly began to open them. The best way to adjust to the brightness, I have learned, is to slowly but surely let the light peak through my fingers. By the time that I finally have uncovered all of my eyes I hear a roar of footfalls running toward my new room. I look over to Mal confused but he answers me by saying, "You put all of us through quite a scare, they just want to make sure that you are okay."
"I don't understand, I thought that the team was informed that I am fine and that I only need rest to recover from injuries." I said. I know that it is odd the situation that I am in but I didn't think anyone would take it as life threatening.
"Well try explaining that to a hyperactive speedster and his over protective archer girlfriend." Mal laughed a little at what he thought was some kind of joke.
"Wait you guys told Wally and Artemis? No! Now I will never be left alone!" I let my hands hit my face and then I heard another laugh in the background. Over the years I have memorized the sound of the laugh and immediately pegged it to belong to Wally West.
"Did you really think that you were going to get away with not telling us what happened man?" I turned to see Wally standing in the doorway with his hand resting on Artemis' shoulder. He had a smirk on his face that was not shared with his girlfriend. One look at Arty told me that she was all business and was about to go into 'Big Sister' mode.
"How are you feeling?" She asked me.
"Like I just got hit a by a bus, but that is just an average feeling for me, so I guess pretty good." I heard someone in the background laugh; it was probably Garth by the sound of it.
"I am being serious. "
"I can tell. I am telling you the truth; I don't feel physically any worse than I do after any other encounter with the light. I mean by now my body is used to a certain threshold of pain and my experience on the last mission didn't overdue it for me. Even now in my condition I don't feel uncomfortable with the amount of discomfort that I have." I said with a slight smile on my face.
"Ummm hermano that didn't make any sense." Blue Beetle said.
"Sure it does, the oxymoron at the end was just there to provide a little humor to the situation." After the conversation with Connor I realized that the only way for me not to be seen as emotionally compromised, was to not allow myself to become emotionally compromised. Therefore I took a page out of my old self's book and decided that I would try my hardest to find the humor in situations rather than dwell on negatives.
"Who is this guy and what did he do with our leader?" Blue asked. I allowed myself to snicker at his comment which caused his face to contort weirdly in reaction to me. "Seriously who is this guy? Why are you so happy?"
"Because I'm not dead, which could have been a real possibility." Artemis let out a sigh and Wally rolled his eyes at me. "Will you two stop I am fine!"
"Dude you are thirteen! How exactly is that fine?" Wally said walking up and sitting down next to my bed. I could tell he was going for a guilt trip because he was looking at me straight in the eyes, and I could detect what was beginning to be a speedster pout.
"I am very aware of my situation man, so calm down." The last thing I needed was for Wally to start babying me in front of my team. If I was going to maintain my status then I cannot afford for my 'Big Bro' to ruin my image. "Anyway it isn't like I haven't been a thirteen year old superhero before, so if anything I shouldn't be treated differently because I have already done it before."
"How do you know that stupid spell didn't affect you in more ways than one? How do you know for sure that you can still do all of the stunts you could do as a kid?" Okay now Wally was challenging me whether he knew it or not. Fine if he wanted to test that theory then I would be more than happy to try it out for him.
I quickly removed the IV in my arm and jumped on the wall scaling it to the ceiling. Artemis was calling for me to get down but I had a point to prove, and I wasn't going to stop until the others knew that I could handle myself even if I was technically a child again. I decided it would be fun to go out to the rec room and start to climb to the top of the cave. Everyone was running behind and following me.
Dick what are you doing? You could get hurt, please come down.
Sorry Miss M I have something to prove. I can't let this team think that I am unable to do my job.
We don't think that.
Really because if you really didn't then you wouldn't be worried about me right now. How many times have you seen me do this? And how many times have I been hurt?
Dick…
No Megan I am okay and you guys need to understand that.
I ended my little show by doing flips from side to side of the mountain until I finally reached the bottom. When I was about to reach the ground I landed on my hands and then pushed off into a flip that landed on Connor's shoulders. He only looked up with a small smile on his face that I returned.
"Of all the unbelievably stupid stunts that you have pulled this one has to take the cake! I cannot believe that you would do something like that! Do you know how much you scared us? Do you know how worried we were when you were up there flipping around without something to catch you? I swear sometimes you make me reconsider ever leaving you alone!" Now that last one hurt. I mean I knew that Arty would freak on me, but not like that. I know that she is very protective of me but I didn't think that she would throw her and Wally leaving in my face.
"Gee thanks for the trust." I jabbed. "It's not like I am an acrobat or anything."
"She just doesn't want to see you hurt man." Wally stepped in, I just shot him a glare telling him not to mess with me.
"Well maybe if you guys would stop being so insanely over protective then you would see that I am just fine. I have been doing this for nine years plus and yet you still don't trust me. What do I have to do to prove to you that I can handle it?" I lifted myself and flipped off of Connor and then got right in Wally's face. "Why can you not just except that I don't need your help right now?"
"Is it so wrong that I want to make sure that you are okay after you got struck by magic lightning?" Wally said.
"Yeah it is wrong when you are needlessly coddling me. You know I can take care of myself, you have witnessed it firsthand." I have known Wally for years and he should know by now that I don't need to be looked after.
"It is either me or Batman, take your pick." Oh no he was not threatening me.
"You wouldn't." I said.
"Bats told me to call him if anything happened to you because he knows that you are too bullheaded to report anything to him." Connor put his hand on my shoulder as a way to restrain me. "Just try me right now Nightwing, because I am more than willing to rat you out to daddy."
"I hate you."
"I love you too baby bro."
"Don't call me that!" Connor had to pull me back.
"Calm down Boy Wonder." Great now Arty was involved in the 'let's make fun of all of my old nicknames' game. "Don't think we won't let you go after the witch boy just because you are in this state. We know that Batman or no Batman you are going after him. We just want you to do it with our help."
"And supervision." I huffed.
"Why is that so bad?" Megan asked.
"Seriously? How would you feel if you have been treated like an adult almost you're entire life and then all of the sudden you are being treated like a little kid? I mean I expected this from the League but not you guys. I thought my friends would realize that even at thirteen I had some creditability and shouldn't be looked down upon." I looked straight at Wally. "Apparently I was wrong." I turned and began to leave the room. I saw Tim turn and follow behind me. I could hear another set of footsteps but I did not bother to turn around and see who it was. I walked into my room and allowed my body to collapse onto the bed. Whether I wanted to admit it or not I knew that I was still tired from all of the events that happened, and the emotional turn that I just took was not helping my exhaustion.
"You should sleep." So it had been Connor that came with us.
"Superboy is right you still need rest." Tim said as he walked over to the bed.
"Tell you what I will get some sleep if you agree to not say anything to Wally, Arty, or the team when I make my next move." Tim nodded and smiled at me. I knew that he already deduced that I would be going after that stupid cat loving witch boy without the supervision of my babysitters.
"Bats will not be happy when he finds out." Tim said.
"Yeah well when he finds out I expect to be my normal age again, so there is not much he can do to me. I mean he could cut me off but I have a job so it isn't like I couldn't live off myself." Tim frowned. "He wouldn't do that Tim it is okay. He will probably just lecture me for like an hour and a half about neglecting myself and putting myself in unnecessary danger."
"I didn't think Bats could talk that long." Connor said with a smirk. I laughed a little and then started to make my way under the covers.
"Dick you can't do this by yourself. You will need some back up." Tim said curling up into the bed with me.
"Is that code for you want to come along?" I asked and he nodded. "Well I would be a hypocrite if I told you that you are too young." He smiled and me and then closed his eyes for sleep too. "I assume you will be joining us Connor."
"Like I would let you have all the fun." Connor smirked.
"Then it is settled, we leave tonight."
A/N: Yay a plot is starting to develop! Tell me what you think and what you want to see in the next few chapters!