Chapter 4: Cupidity
Barbara dropped her knife as she turned the corner. Her pupils dilated and the hairs on her forearm stood still. She could not believe who stood before her; it was like she had seen a ghost.
"Babs," said Dick. He wore a burgundy suit and held a jet-black rose. "I-"
She slapped him right across his face. She needed ensure this was not, indeed, a ghost.
"Jesus Christ what was tha-"
She threw herself in his arms and kissed him. The romantic tension between the two had finally burst! As they embraced, they felt that somewhere, in some alternate universe, this surreal moment was always meant to happen sooner than it did. Their kiss felt anxious yet comfortable, so fresh and yet so familiar.
"I never thought I'd get the chance to do that let alone see you again." Barbara said, tears of joy began their stream down her face.
"Neither did I," Nightwing said as his hand grazed her cheek. "But I'm really glad I did."
As they leant in for more kissing, the sound of a broadcast directed their attention towards the kitchen television.
"We interrupt your scheduled programming tonight for a breaking news alert!" said the Gotham News anchor. "Almost half of a million dollars-worth of weapons have just been stolen from the Gotham National Guard base. Police are in route but the suspects have already destroyed 2 mar-" an explosion could be seen and heard from the live feed, "...oh my god, 3 marked cars have been destroyed. Five officers have been reported dead, two injured. Our sources have just confirmed that that thieves are led by the notorious crime boss Tony Zucco."
Dick's eyes widened. First in shock, but then in selfish wrath. It hadn't been long since Zucco, the man behind the Flying Grayson's death, seemed to turn over a new leaf. Without him, Dick couldn't have stopped the Prankster from destroying Chicago. He waited all his life to get Zucco behind bars, but not in such bittersweet fashion. Zucco turned himself in to set an example for his son and apologize to his wife for living a double life. Dick, always seeing the good in anyone, took this act as a silent promise; a promise to leave his criminal past behind him and live a happy, normal, family life. But here he was, not only running this heist operation, but out in the trenches himself.
"I'll go with you," Barbara blurted out. She could read the expression on Dick's face and his body language. "I'm not losing you again."
"No Babs," Nightwing replied. The inflexion in his voice confirmed to her he was flying solo. "He's mine..."
He ripped off his suit and dropped the rose at Barbara's feet. His costume ejected from a compartment in his watch and so too did his mask from his back pocket. As he stepped towards the window from which he came, his orange power ring began to glow. Again, it changed the chevron on his chest from red to orange, branding him with the lantern symbol in the center of his chest.
"You're a Lantern now?!" Barbara gasped. "Is that how you're back from the dead?"
"Yes, and I'm not exactly sure how," Nightwing assured her, "but it does make me feel alive."
And with that, he lifted his ring towards the sky.
"Later, Babs." Nightwing said as he began to fly.