"HOW?"
Nightwing was in the common room throwing a fit, the common room had messy, the sofa was flipped over, the T.V was smashed in, and all the wooden chairs, stools, and tables were broken. Cyborg and the rest of the team looked at him from the far side of the room.
"HE'S DEAD, WE WERE THERE TO SEE HIS DEAD BODY! WE WERE THERE TO BURY HIM! IT JUST MAKES NO SENSE!"
Cyborg spoke up,
"C'mon man, we're all shocked too, but you're."
He placed his hand to his chin.
"You're...kinda overreacting."
Nightwing turned to face him. His right mask slit was twitching, and he was foaming in his mouth. It looked like steriods and rabies made a baby then infected Nightwing.
"OVERREACTING? I'M NOT OVERREACTING!"
The rest of the team cowered behind Cyborg. Nightwing then restrained himself, and rubbed his chin.
"No. I might be overreacting."
Everyone made a sigh of relief. Nightwing then looked at Cyborg and pointed at him.
"BECAUSE YOUR COMPUTER HAD A GLITCH!"
Everyone(except Cyborg and Nightwing) gasped, Cyborg stared at him with eyes wide open with disbelief.
"SAY WHAT?"
"YOU HEARD ME! YOUR STUPID COMPUTER MADE GLITCH!"
Cyborg stomped his way towards. With clenched teeth he said.
"My. Baby. Is. Not. Stupid. I. Made. It. Myself."
Normally, people would be intimidated by Cyborg, but not Nightwing, he WAS intimidation, or at least he thinks he is. He poked Cyborg's robotic chest.
"EXACTLY! SINCE YOU MADE THE COMPUTER, IT'S NOW CRAPPY! JUST LIKE THE T-SHIP, T-CAR, T-TOASTER, T-CYCLE, R-CYCLE, ALL OF WHICH YOU CALL BABY, BECAUSE YOU DON'T HAVE A GIRLFRIEND!"
That was the last straw for Cyborg.
"THAT'S IT! SOMEONE CALL THE AMBULANCE, BECAUSE SOMEONE'S GOING TO THE HOSPITAL, AND IT AIN'T ME!"
Nightwing narrowed his eyes at Cyborg.
"Bring it."
They both glared and growled at each other, and got into fighting stances. Then Raven's monotonous voice was heard.
"Stop it, both of you. Fighting is pointless. No good can be accomplished from this, only harm. Even I'm not sure whether Reaper is Beastboy, even though I have complete faith that the computer is correct as it always is."
Cyborg smirked and crossed his arms. Raven raised an eyebrow and continued.
"With that said, no computer in the world is immune to glitches, so this could very well be a glitch. What we need to do is to find out a way to confirm what the computer had stated."
Raven looked at Nightwing who was leaning on a wall feeling thinking about...something.
"Nightwing, any ideas?"
After a long period of silence, he spoke.
"I have one theory."
He stood up straight again and faced his team.
"But we may discover things which we'd rather not know about."
"BASTA! BASTA! BASTA!"
(STOP! STOP! STOP!)
The Italian woman kept screaming that word at him as Reaper was grabbing the collar of her boyfriend's green dress shirt.
"CHUIDO IL BECCO DONNA!"
(SHUT THE FUCK UP WOMAN!)
The woman obediently stopped. Reaper looked back to the man.
"Where's Ciavo?"
In a strong Italian accent, he responded.
"I do not know of this man signore."
(Mister/sir.)
Reaper chuckled.
"Normally, I'd kill you for lying to me, but I'm in a good mood today."
He stabbed the wristblade into his abdomen. The man screamed in pain, while the woman screamed in horror.
"SI PREGA DI AVERE"
(PLEASE HAVE)
The man winced at the pain.
"PIETÀ!"
(MERCY!)
"Alcun modo stronzo."
(No way asshole)
Suddenly a man in a blue apron and a red shirt, with a red chef's hat walked through the door.
"HEY IT'S ME MARIO!"
He then saw Reaper who was grabbing his brother's shirt's collar.
"LUIGI!"
"MARIO GET OUT OF HERE NOW!"
Mario disobeyed him at tried to take his gun as fast as he can, but as soon as he touched the gun, his heart was pierced by a knife.
"MARIO!"
Luigi's girlfriend screamed in horror.
Mario was dead on the floor lying on a pool of his blood. Reaper was still looking at Luigi when he shot Mario with a knife.
"That's what happens to people like youwho sells mushrooms(the drugs not the food, obviously) to people in the streets. That's a lot of jail time if you ever get caught by the police. Me on the other hand will give a much better alternative if you tell me where Ciavo's hide-out is."
Luigi who at this point was close to tears, spilled it all to him.
"FINE! FINE! The hideout is under the old video-game store across from the pizza parlour. PLEASE TO HURT ME!"
Reaper dropped Luigi on the floor.
"Smart man. Now according to federal law, you would have been sentenced to jail for at least 30 years, at least."
"T-that is bad for me no?"
"Yeah, it's pretty bad. And you know what's better than a lot of jail-time?"
"W-what?"
"An eternity's sentence in hell."
"NO-"
He was cut off by a wristblade to the throat. Surprisingly the woman didn't scream. She went on her knees and begged.
"Please! Don't kill me! I am with child!"
Reaper may be ruthless, but he sure as hell ain't heartless, at least not yet.
"Go, but if I find out that you are plotting revenge against, you can say goodbye to your family, but don't worry, I'll make sure the rest join you shortly."
He walked out of what was revealed to be a dinner then shot a grappling hook at the edge of the roof of the building and got on top of it. Police-cars arrived at the diner, seconds after he left
Cyborg asked Nightwing through the tele-com.
"You sure going to Gotham is the right thing to do?"
"It's the only way to know."
The Titans were in the T-ship flying at mach 3 towards Gotham city. Everyone was silent in the T-ship. Cyborg was piloting the ship, Starfire, Hotspot, and Argent were sleeping. Nightwing was brooding about the discovery and Raven was watching recorded footage of Reaper fighting. His ruthlessness, his agility, showing no regret or hesitation at killing. This wasn't the Beastboy anyone remembered, far from it. She sighed.
"What's happened to you Beastboy?"
"Boss, Reaper's gotten into the storage facility, what do we do?"
A man in a white-blazer smoking a cuban cigar said,
"You cover my 6, I getting out."
"But boss-
"Would you rather face Reaper."
The 'boss' took out his cigar and put on a pair of brass knuckles.
"Or would rather face me."
The man, obviously frightened said,
"R-Reaper boss."
"Good, now I'll be headed to my Porshe and uh you watch for Reaper, ya hear?"
"Loud and clear boss."
The 'boss' turned around and walked away. Reaper was watching the whole conversation.
"Trust when I say, you'd rather face your boss."
Reaper dropped down, slamming his wristblades into 2 of the men. He quickly engaged the rest in hand-to-hand combat and killed them all. As the last man fell dead, Reaper walked down the hall.
"I know you're here, so there's no point hiding Ciavo, come out now and I'll kill you swiftly."
As he walked past a corridor, Ciavo silently walked behind Reaper while armed with brass knuckles. He then threw a punch at his head. Reaper raised his hand to block his punch, then raised the other hand to block the other punch. While grabbing his fists, he threw him down the hall. Ciavo screamed at the pain of his broken arm.
"Coming to Jump City was a big mistake, and now you'll pay for it."
Ciava was growling.
"Falcone will get ya, I promise that! He and his bastard children will whack you like he whacks all the others."
Reaper remained silent for a while then chuckled.
"Carmine, Mario, Sofia, and Alberto Falcone are all dead, thanks to yours truly."
Ciavo was about to scream, but he was cut short by a ballistic knife in his throat.
"That oughta shut you up."
He then walked his way presumably out of the Mafia's hideout.
"Batman."
"Nightwing."
Batman looked at the titans.
"I see you've brought your team with you. Do you think they can handle whatever they see here."
"You don't know what we can handle. Tell us about this Reaper guy."
Batman narrowed eyes then turned to his computer and began typing.
"Reaper's fighting style resembles the fighting style someone else in Gotham who wasn't hear for about a month. I've never fought him before but Cassie has, and lost."
"Is she dead?"
Starfire asked,
"Who is this Cassie whom you speak of?"
"She's Batgirl, at least the last time I remembered. So Batman what happened?"
"He spared her, she wouldn't tell me anything he said, that's all I know."
"Thanks Batman, I'll go talk to her."
"That incident was and still is a sensitive topic to her, tread carefully."
"I will Batman."
He walked up towards Cassandra's room, but ran into her in the hallway.
"It is good to see you, uh...
She noticed other people behind him.
"Who are they?"
"They're my new team Cassie, nice to see you too. You mind if I ask you some questions?"
"Of course."
"It's not that simple, it's about that event."
"What event?"
"The event where someone had defeated you in battle."
"While I am trained by Batman, even I lose to some people, you must be more specific."
"Did you know about Reaper?"
"Yes."
"Batman said that one of the people who had beaten you fought like him."
Cassandra narrowed her eyes.
"I will not speak of this any longer."
"Cassie wait!"
She kept walking away.
"That guy, that person that night, h-he might be one of our friends in the past and we need all the help we could get to get to the bottom of this."
"H-he was your friend?"
"An old friend, yeah, he died, 5 years ago."
"Died?"
"But-but h-he" She then realized that it was possible.
"The Lazarus Pits."
"That's what I , I mean we suspect."
"Shall we go then?"
"What about Bruce?"
"Do you want to find out who Reaper is or not, because I doubt Bruce will allow you to go to Ra's lair."
"Of course, lead the way."
In the league of shadows hideout, dozens of people, men and women, mercenary and warrior, went about. Suddenly, and obsidian glow appeared in the middle of the base, then dissipated, revealing Cassandra and the Titans. Every person drew out their weapons against them.
"I am Nightwing of the Teen Titans, I come to speak to Ra's, not to fight."
Then a young, beautiful looking Arabic looking woman step upped. Men who saw her the first would ogle her, including Cyborg and Hotspot, but not Nightwing, he knew what she's really like. He narrowed his eyes.
"Talia."
"Ah, the first Robin. Come to take my father in shackles, because we do not respond kindly to hostile assailants."
"No I-we came here to discuss about Reaper."
Her eyes softened.
"Reaper? What of him?"
"We took some of his blood from the blade of a sword and scanned for any matches, and found 1, a person who's supposed to be dead."
Nightwing to out a picture of Beastboy ,before he died, and tossed it to her. She caught it and he continued.
"Was he revived in the Lazarus Pit's?"
No-one in the Titans ever heard of the Lazarus Pits and they widened their eyes.
"What is this Lazurus Pits that she speaks of?"
"Is she bloody nuts?"
"Lazarus Pits?"
"You know anything about this, man?"
"Nightwing, I've read up on some of the most ancient magics, but never heard of the Lazarus Pits.
He narrowed his eyes.
"It's not magic, but it isn't exactly ordinary either. Batman told me that Ra's had discovered these Pit's centuries ago and discovered their powers, which to heal those close to death, or recently dead. He used to save a rich guy he was working for, but it drove him insane when woke up and he killed Ra's and his wife. "
"But how is this Ra's still alive?"
"Someone found him dead and apparently dropped him in the Lazarus Pits. He was raised from the dead and swore vengeance against the man who killed his wife and everyone else who has been deemed a criminal. That was when he because the Ra's that is known today, Ra's the leader of the League of Shadows, the so called 'Vanquishers of the dirt that are criminals.'"
The Titans were shaken by what Nightwing just said. He do not stop to stare at their reactions.
"Talia, was he revived here or not?"
Talia closed her eyes.
"We saw what happened to him that day, how he died. His pain, his suffering was so long, so much, I felt sorry for him, but my father only saw an opportunity. When you buried him 3 days later, we retrieved his body and brought his body here."
Nightwing slammed his fist into the wall.
"YOU TOOK OUT HIS BODY FROM THE GRAVE? DON'T YOU HAVE ANY RESPECT FOR THE DEAD?"
"My father does not, he, after all, used the Pits to save himself and others thousands of times. And why should you talk about respect, Garfield told my and some others all about you Titans, and most of them aren't nice things either."
Everybody gasped, but Talia smirked.
"When he was revived, he immediately tried to fight some of my men, but since he had no training, he was defeated soundly. He then talked about how he could no longer change into animals, I assume that was his old power yes?"
"Yeah it was, what happened?"
"It seems the Lazarus Pits have took away his powers, but it did not remove his green skin, his green hair, his little, adorable fang."
She smiled as she remembered that fang. The Titans were slightly disturbed by Talia's affection for him (No she does not like him like that. That would be kinda weird *shudders*). She continued.
"My father went to talk to him, but he was so hostile against him, against us. Heroes, always so stubborn and ignorant."
She sighed.
"My father then talked to him in private. I haven't seen them for hours (OH GOD IT'S NOT THAT EITHER! D:), but when they both came out, Garfield was a less 'tense', and he chose to stay. Long story short, he became one of us, left for some reason then became the infamous 'Reaper' in Jump City."
Argent asked,
"Garfield?"
Hotspot was also confused, but the Titans remembered that Garfield was Beastboy's actual name as they had discovered it during their run-in with the Doom Patrol, his old team. Nightiwng ignored her question. In an accusing voice he said,
"Ra's did something to him, I need to know what."
They then heard Ra's all too familiar monotone.
"Know what Nightwing?"
Ra's was standing the second floor overlooking them all. Nightwing shot a grappling hook at the edge of the floor and landed in front of Ra's. His guard instinctively aimed their guns and swords at Nightwing.
"At ease, this man means no harm."
"That depends on what you're going to tell me."
"I just spared your life, be grateful."
Nightwing just scoffed him.
"Now what is it that you ask of me?"
"What did you do to Beastboy?"
"Beastboy?"
"Or Garfield, they were one and the same."
"Ah Garfield, he was one of my best students in over centuries of teaching men and women the art of killing. He learned more in 1 year, than most of my men here learn in 8."
Nightwing felt rage boil inside of him. Ra's taught him how to kill, how to be a criminal, how to be the person he is today.
"What. Did. You. Do. To. Garfield?"
"It began like this..."
"No you're going to tell my whole team Ra's they deserve to know too."
Ra's laughed.
"Very well, Nightwing."
They both jump down to the ground floor.
"Well Ra's?"
"When I first met Garfield he was uncooperative with us, you know how uncooperative heroes can be with people whom they've considered villains. I asked for a private chat with him, during that chat he told me many things, how his parents died, how he joined and left the Doom Patrol, his former love interest Terra and his tenure with you."
"How his parents died? He never told us any of this!"
"Perhaps dying has given him a new perspective on life. So as I was saying, he has told me many things. He has a strong resentment against his murderer and against criminals in general, so I gave him a gist of my wisdom."
"YOU CORRUPTED HIM, YOU DID THIS TO HIM!"
"My dear child, he chose his path willingly, if anything it is you who had corrupted him and me who has saved him from his flawed morals of you heroes. Correct me if I'm wrong, he has killed criminals without regret or hesitation."
Nightwing growled.
"I'll take that as a yes."
"What happened when he joined the League?"
"Why I trained him of course, as I told you before, Garfield was a most proficient student. Since his revival he has shown great discipline and dedication to killing criminals. He always volunteered for patrols and missions, saying that experience is the best form of knowledge and training."
Again the Titans were shocked.
'Beastboy and discipline? In the same sentence without the words isn't or will never have in between them. His death must have changed him a lot.'
"Everyday for years straight, I have taught not only taught him how to kill and survive, but also the fundamentals of chemistry, physics, technology. He has taken a keen interest in zoology, so I allow to discipline himself in that area."
'THIS IS BEASTBOY?'
"Besides teaching him the fighting styles that I know, he had taught himself to wield certain weapons. By the end of his 1st year here I gave him his weapons of choice. He had chosen wristblades which isn't uncommon among us, but he also the first person to create his own weapons. As you may know he had created his own knife thrower, and of course you've all witnessed his trademark weapon or rather weapons."
Ra's chuckled.
"Of course you've seen it."
Nightwing wasn't about to let Ra's get away with taunting him.
"If Beas-Garfield was such a great, then why did he leave you?"
His face turned into a frown.
"The same reason you left the Batman, he wanted to be a bird released from its cage."
Nightwing narrowed his eyes.
"No, there's more to it isn't there?"
"No there is not! Guards! Escort these children away from here."
"LIES RA'S! TELL ME!"
"You insolent foolish boy! There is nothing more to say!"
"We're not leaving leaving here without full complete answers."
"Then you're not leaving here without injury."
Nightwing in turn took out his escrima sticks.
"Neither will you."
His team became alert and got into fighting stances, but they had to fight off the guards.
Nightwing charged at Ra's, on the contrary, he calmly stood there. Nightwing swung at stick at him, but Ra's ducked, slid his sword under Nightwing's foot and flipped him over. He then walked up to Nightwing's fallen figure a pressed the sword against his neck.
"Even the Detective knows when there is too much danger around, you on the other hand clearly lack the brain cells to comprehend a sensible situation."
Ra's pressed the blade even harder, the blade pierces Nightwing's neck causing some blood to spill. Nightwing glances at his teammates who were also either held down by guards or unconscious. Everyone then heard a deep and menacing voice. A voice that was all too familiar to the current and former residents of Gotham city.
"Let them go Ra's."
A certain man in a suit that resembles a bat.
SORRY IT TOOK SO LONG TO UPDATE, I WAS KINDA OUT OF THE FANFICTION GROOVE FOR A WHILE, BUT NOW I'M BACK. I MADE A FEW DRAFTS OF CHAPTER 10, BUT A REVIEWER SUGGESTED (well not actually suggesting)THAT I SHOULD PUT NIGHTWING'S/ROBIN'S REACTION'S TO THIS (YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE RANDOMGUY :D), SO I DID SO.