Hey wonderful people of the internet it is I, Anri with another chapter of The Nightingale's Song and I am so happy to say that we are getting ever so closer to finding out Nightingale's powers…well you guys are, I already know them so yup…*cough* any who you guys are going to enjoy this chapter, since it is an episode chapter being Masks and soon we will only have Apprentice part 1 and 2 before the second season. Oh boy so much wow, such awesome…okay I am done now. I really am so happy that this story is going as far as it has, still working on other fanfictions too, but I still feel…kinda proud of myself. I've always enjoyed writing, but I usually have trouble trying to fill in the middle parts of the story, like I know what I wasn't to happen and I know how it begins and ends…just not the middle. So writing here is helping me creatively I guess? It's hard to really tell if it is, but I have noticed my story telling is getting better hopefully.
The episode is still going to go the same way it always goes, but Nightingale has a big decision to make…is she batman's informant or is she a titan? That is something I want you to think of while you are reading this, because I know what she is and I know what she wants to be, but can she actually be that when she is being something else? Maybe. I dunno you gotta read the chapter. Anyways I am so excited to get to the good parts, like I am giddy about it because I just want to see if someone says called it or are genuine surprised at what she is or even just shrug it off. Aside from that it's just going to be interesting in a huge sense of the word because I know so many of you want to know what she is and I hear you, but what kinda writer would I be just spoiling it and giving you the answers huh? I would insult writers everywhere if I did that…um enough talking about that now.
Also there is a mention to DDR in this episode…and crepe. Love me some DDR and crepes…not in that order.
The weather around me has started to get better and a lot warmer, meaning I will be still hiding inside from the warmth of the sun because I can. I possibly will be going back to work soon when my tires on the front of my car are replaced and rotated meaning I will have less time to write, but only for a little bit; I just have to get back into the groove of going to work…not really looking forward to it, but it has to be done. Also still hunting for a better job as well, might have to go to the next town over to even get something like that, but I need a better car for that to even be a thing…god being an adult isn't fun, well it is never supposed to be in the first place I just hate how most people don't see that until it's too late.
Well I better start getting to the disclaimer, but yeaaaah fun times.
Disclaimer: Nope still don't own Teen Titans or the transcript for this chapter. Just Nightingale and my own story plot.
P.S. If I miss any sort of dialogue or part of the episode it was because I had to deal with a squished transcript again, but this one was a bit better to read to I hope I get all the action and juice part in that you all were probably wanting in the first place. So please bear with me on this and I will do the best of my ability to tell the story. Also this will be probably very long sooo…sorry about that.
So yeah on with the story.
Chapter Ten: Masks
Nightingale stared at her open email file as she read over her report again, leaving out a few things out since he didn't need to know about her little break down, but she still hovered over the send button for the longest time her body feeling hesitant to even give him another report as her phone had the encrypted network up just in case she was ready so send it. All she would ever receive back was messages from Alfred saying that Bruce had read them, but the more she was around the titans…the more she wanted to stop sending the information in the first place. He had to of possibly known she was holding back things from him, like most of her intel included the bare minimum to even count as one which to her would be counted as rookie work, even she could do a better job than this…but she knew that she didn't want to. Every fiber in her being fought with her brain whenever she had to send one of these stupid reports, hell on many occasions she just wanted to send a stupid message to see what he would do, but in the end she sent the report anyways as guilt would start to weigh heavily on her mind. These people were her friends now right? So why was she going behind their backs and still sending him files on what they were doing since there was no need to, Batman didn't even care, hell she even heard through James that he spotted Bats with a new Robin already. She let out a soft sigh while leaning back in her chair as she reached a hand forward to close the window saving it as a draft for now as she tried to think on it.
She looked outside at the sun as it was setting through her window, lighting up her room with a sense of warmth while she closed her eyes and enjoyed the silence that she was being given since everyone else was doing their own thing. A few days ago they had a run in with an aquatic villain named Trident and another superhero teen named Aqualad, though Nightingale had to stay on land and observe the mission from a computer screen since her place on the T-ship hadn't been built yet since Cyborg was busy on a new project, but she was fine with that since she possibly would have had a few moments of unease since she didn't like deep water…which is an extremely just able fear to have since you don't know what might be down there. When she finally met the hero, she was partially impressed by him, but he was hitting on her a bit too much making her uncomfortable and he was given a communicator as an honorary titan. She rolled her chair back forgetting that she had just placed a grey and black rug on the floor feeling one of the wheels bump into it, causing her to fall back and crash to the floor as her door opened revealing Cyborg with his mouth opened as if he was about to say something as she looked up to give him an embarrassed smile.
"Um…can I have a little bit of help here?" it took him a second before he reacted, helping put her chair back in the upright position as she grinned happily getting out of her chair and stretching a bit as she looked over at him. "Thanks for the help, you seem like you need something from me?"
"Well…Beast Boy and I were wondering if you would want to play some video games." He replied casually, but she knew why he was asking…they wanted rematches. She remembered on her birthday they both challenged her to the racing game they were so obsessed over, thinking she probably wouldn't win since she didn't really seem interested in games very much…but they were dead wrong. The first race she could tell they were being easy on her so she followed along, partially pretending to be bad at the game as they continued to play only for the second play through she demolished them, hell even the other titans were impressed, so now anytime they had down time they always would demand rematches to the point that she really thinks she should possibly take it easy on them…nah that would take the fun out of seeing their faces when they think they are so close to winning only to have their car get knocked off the course as hers vehicle passed by as she would steal first place. She gave him a sincere smile as she walked past him shaking her head only to earn a dejected look from the bionic man.
"Sorry I am really not in the mood for a game tonight and besides I really think you two don't need to be schooled again right?" she was almost out of the threshold of her room when a green figure stood in her way, making her curious if this was an ambush when he held up a game in her face, though she pushed it away enough to see the title, a stifled laugh escaped from her throat. "Dance, Dance Revolution...seriously that is the game you wanna play?"
"What you scared?" he taunted at her as he changed into a chicken and bawked at her before changing back, grabbing the game before it fell. "I mean if you don't want to we can call it a forfeit and we win…" She snatched the game from his hands as the urge to challenge them came over her while she pushed past him.
"Fine, but I swear if you blame me for a sprained ankle it's not my fault." She commented as she looked over the game front to back, wondering why they would even think of something like this as a high five could be heard behind her…they planned this…those sneaky fucks. She sighed lightly as she continued down the hall to the ops room, seeing that she was right as the couch was moved out a bit so they could dance as she sighed lightly, wondering if they had practiced when she felt the game taken from her hand as Beast Boy rushed forward to put it in as she spotted two mats as she wondered who would go first, but she guessed the boys would go since they were the ones dead set on a rematch.
As they booted it up she noticed a few newer songs than the other ones that were usually there, but she ignored it as she watched them pick something as they both danced, Beast Boy clearly being better than Cyborg as the got through the song with ease though it was probably because he had only his metal feet to play with as the other had his shoes off. It was a set up most likely since he was usually the one who got bent out of shape between the two of them. She heard the doors open to see Robin, Starfire and Raven walking in as the feeling set in that he wanted to show off that he was better…two can play at this game as soon as they finished making her glance at the score seeing the victor was the green skinned boy. She kicked off her boots and set them down near the couch as she walked over to the mat that Cyborg had been on taking note that it was not damaged in anyway as BB held out the controller to her.
"Ladies choice." He said as she grabbed it searching through the songs seeing that he also had changed it to expert before she even got on. She skimmed only for a second before she finally landed on a song she though was something they hadn't played called Despacito, though she heard the little pointed ear teen gulp slightly making her guess right…they hadn't played this one. She pressed the button to okay her selection as the song started as she stretched for a moment as the announcer spoke, readying herself as she started to see the arrows come up fast. She ignored Beast Boy, but it already sounded as if he was struggling as she kept her eyes on the screen hitting almost every one as a few were missed here and there, but it wasn't too bad…BB's score however was already terrible as she could hear his feet slip on the play mat as he almost fell, hearing the announcer say he should pick up the pace better.
The other titans however watched in awe and surprise she was even able to keep up with the pace that the arrows were moving as Starfire had started to cheer her on as the three other members looked on in awe as she continued while Beast Boy was starting to lose his groove. Nightingale was half tempted to start trying to dance backwards, but she thought against it as she went back to focusing, hearing the song near its end as she hit the last arrow to hear the audience scream and cheer as she heard the announcer tell player one better luck next time as she leaned over to him seeing him let out exhausted breaths.
"You know, you weren't very bad to be honest with you, but I think I win again." she spoke cheerfully earning a displeased look from his face as she started to laugh, but her cheerful nature soon disappeared as an alert went off, cutting her victory short as she moved over to the computer changing from the gaming plug to the proper input. "Looks like we got a baddie trying to steal something…"
"Titans move out!" Robin yelled as they all started to rush out as Nightingale slipped on her boots quickly and rushed to her room to grab her bow and arrows as she was ready to see who was robbing what.
Later
Nightingale watched from the shadows with her bow already drawn as she pointed it towards the center of the room as a red microchip was suspended in the center of a white light. It had been quiet since they all had taken their positions as she could hear her own breathing as she waited for whoever was planning on stealing it, only seeing glimpses of a large figure could be seen on the cameras that Cyborg had access to, but that was about it though she could tell Robin might have an inkling to who it was. Finally she heard someone enter the room from somewhere in the shadows as she took in a breath ready to fire at any movement as she hear something metallic walking forwards…armor maybe? She noticed they had come from the east side of the room, noting that she could clearly see some metal armor parts on their black costume along with the fact that their face and head was covered as well with an orange circle in the center of the mask. They were starting to reach for the chip as she waited for the signal she needed as a steel-gloved hand reached for the red chip, but they stopped when they had noticed Robin hanging upside down.
"Tell Slade if he wants this he can come get it himself!" their leader spoke as she spotted him tilt his head towards her position as she grinned letting the arrow fly slamming into the figure's gloved hand showing it stunned him for a second as Robin jumped down to slam him in the chest pushing him back into the darkness as Nightingale jumped down from her perch putting away her bow and switching it out with her shock batons while the lights started to turn on. She made her way over to the other titans as they looked towards the one intruder as the computers around them hummed loudly, but even the sound of a laser cutting through the ceiling caused Nightingale to look up wondering who else could be coming through as rubble started to fall down, hearing Robin backing away from the intruder as more exact copies of the first one jumped down from the opening as dust rained down from the hole in the ceiling as one burst forward at her, making her block a few strikes before getting caught off guard by a blaster as she ducked down tackling him from the waist…why was he so heavy to take down? She struggled for a moment only to be picked up and thrown across the room slamming into one of the computers that lined the walls. She hissed lightly as she got up seeing where the other titans were for a moment while putting her batons away wondering if brute strength might be needed as she assessed how the other titans were doing before her attacker came back with full force.
Robin had been dealing with the exact same problem, but even he was able to handle himself…so why couldn't she? She gritted her teeth as her eyes flashed purple for a moment as she rushed forwards towards her attacker grabbing onto his hand holding the blaster, feeling his other hand start to land punches on her right side while she started to crush his wrist hearing the familiar sound of wires and metal being compressed making her wonder if these people were even human before she pulled away seeing sparks come out of the steel gauntlet on his hand as the blaster they was holding clattered to the floor. She was about to tell the others about her find, but a loud crash caught her attention as she looked over the last spot Starfire was fearing the worst, only to notice that Robin had saved her before it was too late causing a sigh of relief to come over her as before a metal fist cracked across her face, making her wince as she tried to shake it off pulling out her batons again, knowing full well that they would work in this situation. The robot hurled itself at her as kept blocking his hits seeing as he could only use one arm at the moment, but that didn't bother her until she felt an electric shock travel through her body courtesy of it using the broken hand. She gave herself a few feet of distance as the sound of a computer cabinet scratching across the floor caught her attention as a few of the robot goons were crushed as Cyborg dusted his hands off, making her guess they already knew what they were. Nightingale prepared herself as she circled the robot, getting the exact motion back as she charged up her shock batons, she knew she had to take this seriously as she rushed forward using one arm to block an attack while the other baton crashed into the broken wrist of the robot as she charged it up to full power shocking it from the inside and out as it fell to the floor in a heap, but she didn't know another one was coming up behind her ready to strike.
Raven readying herself for an attack from a blaster as she put of a shield as the beam dug into the floor cutting it on the sides of her barrier as it went over. Once it was dispelled however, the enemy rushed forward hurling punches at her as she tried to block them with mini barriers as she was pushed backwards. A glance over that the other titans she could see they were handling well as she spotted Nightingale putting down the one she had been dealing with as another snuck up behind her wrapping an arm around her neck as it began to choke her out. Her violet eyes widened as she tried to think of a way to help as she struggled for a moment as she reached up dropping her batons to the floor as she placed her hands on the side of the commando's head, odd sparks of purple covered her fingers and gloves as she could tell she was gripping it tightly as cracks started to form on the mask small licks of purple flames could be seen leaking out, making whoever was holding her let go as they reached for their face as she kicked them away, but the flames soon disappeared…a trick of some sort or some sort of new gadget she had? Before she could finish that thought her legs were knocked from under her as she collapsed to the floor as a blaster was aimed point blank at her face. She thought it was going to be a fatal shot when she spotted a green blur slamming into the commando's side as they were hurled across the room finally seeing Beast Boy changing back while the intruder was on the floor barely moving. He started to brag that she owned him, but another one jumped down in his range, making him take note that it was too late to even save his own ass. He readied for impact only to hear the screeching sound of two computers crushing the attacker between them as black aura surrounded them, glancing over at the hooded teammate with visible sweat dropping from his forehead.
"Um…let's just say were even now." He commented as Nightingale rushed past him and into the fray of green starbolts along with a few sonic blasts as she started gave a running leap onto the wall as she tried to stay attached to it aiming an arrow at one commando who was making a flying dash for the chip, but her arrow only stuck into its side as she started to fall when gravity started to kick in, but she was caught by Starfire and was placed on the ground carefully as the commando finally got was he came for and was running for the exit, only to get a birdarang to the hand holding the red chip knocking it into the air as she watched it for a moment while it sailed across, only to get caught by a thin pink tongue as a green anteater skidded across the floor it one of the walls. Of course they couldn't have an easy victory as an attacker's boot slammed down onto the poor shape shifter's tongue making him let go as they had finally seized their prize one more before joining up with his four remaining buddies as the one with the chip threw down a smoke bomb to make their escape as a grey cloud covered the area they were once occupying. They had no time to waste when Beast Boy changed back Nightingale was ready to rush after them, not wanting them to have whatever was on that chip…who knows what their leader would do with it. Robin had rushed forward ready to go as Raven was right behind him along with the others hearing him give off a rally cry as they all moved down the grey hallway.
They all entered an area similar to the first place they were, but the grey replaced white as four different areas were laid before them to go through. A hatch was in the middle covered by a steel grid that perfectly was centered as dim lights hovered above them, Robin ordered them to split up as each titan leaving him and Nightingale alone for a moment.
"Alright Robin which team member do you want me to-." he cut her off by holding his hand up as she could hear the sound of rushing water, motioning her to look down the hatch where the sound was coming from to see a sewer tunnel underneath. She finally caught what he was getting at as she helped him open it up to spot a ladder leading down as she nudged her head forward for him to go first. When she finally got down into the sewer, she fought the urge to cover her nose as she pulled out her bow she had put over her shoulder as she was climbing down when they both noticed someone running away from them, knowing it was one of the thieves as they started to give chase. Robin was the first to attack as he was in front of her, but both of them avoided a laser being shot at them only missing Nightingale's face by an inch while the boy wonder retaliated with a birdarang. Sadly it didn't hit its mark as the thief was able to escape it while shooting another laser reducing it to junk when they skidded around a corner of a side channel only for seconds later to have a grenade tossed their way as Robin brought his cape up to block the debris from hitting them once it detonated. Smoke filled the air as Nightingale started to cough trying to clear her lungs as she spotted their path was now blocked by debris and rock, as both teens looked through the only opening spotting the thief still moving in the dark as sparks started to fly as she guessed they were using their blaster to escape, she put her bow away and cupped her hands together to help him get up in through the opening.
Nightingale climbed through after Robin as she finally saw that light was shining through as she could hear the sewage water cascading down what probably was the mountain as she rushed forward seeing Robin was catching up, making her cover her eyes a bit from the light that was coming in seeing a floating teammate speaking to the thief only to be attacked prompting the villain to be able to fly out of the opening as Robin rushed forward, hearing him scream Starfire's name as she fell caused the black-haired heroine to rush after him, not knowing how they were going to stop her decent. Before she could even react the boy wonder had hurled himself out into the exit, grappling hooks in each of his hands as he shot one high as the other went down guessing it wrapped around Starfire and the thief. All three soon started skimming across the water as Nightingale hesitated for a moment wondering if she should even jump down into the slightly dark blue water, feeling her boot crunch up against some rubble causing her to slip forward not even able to give herself a choice as a terrified scream escaped her throat as she splashed down into the water. She heard her ears pop under the pressure as she fought to get back up to the surface as her head broke above gasping for air as she started to swim poorly across the body of water before reaching the shore, hearing Robin asking the thief questions as she coughed up some water onto the shore as she was happy to be back on the ground before lifting herself up and walk towards her leader and Starfire dripping wet.
"Start talking!" Robin yelled as he held the thief by the collar holding the red chip in the other hand. 'Who is Slade and why does he want this chip?" Starfire took the chip from his hand as he reached for the mask planted on the person's face, though Nightingale was hoping a human face was underneath it as he stared to pull it off as his words started to trail off. "And why do you work…"
Once he had removed the mask, no it would be right to call it a mask since it took the front part of their face off, revealed a small monitor making Nightingale's suspicions right that all the other thieves were robots a well making her conscious a bit clearer. The blank screen blinked to life as the resolution waved and moved for a moment as the silhouette of a man with one eye could be seen in front. Robin hissed a familiar name out as the black- haired heroine squeezed the water out of her hair as she took note on who was on the screen at the moment. The man's name was Slade…but any time she looked him up in the criminal data base at the tower she only had a small folder compared to the others on file, even her contacts back at home couldn't scrape up anything on him. She watched as the image flickered for a moment and then back to a decent resolution as the man started to speak, a chill ran down her spine, but she couldn't tell if it was because of him or how cold it was now that she had water clinging to her clothes.
"I think your skills are improving," Robin interrupted him for a moment saying he was done with his games as the man kept his calm demeanor as he continued. "But you lack patience. If you are so curious about what I am doing, perhaps we should meet face-to-face."
"Tell me where you are hiding and I will be there in a heartbeat!" Robin yelled at the screen, but Nightingale knew that this person would not give that information so lightly as the image started to flicker and fade again, but not before the man was able to repeat his message from earlier…patience then the screen went dark as the body was dropped to the ground causing loose earth to rise into the air when a shiver ran down Nightingale's back, something bad was going to happen…hopefully not soon.
At the tower after the fight
A rough sneeze came out of Nightingale's nose as she turned into her elbow of her sweater to not get anything on the cooking utensils she was as a crepe cooked on the frying pan in front of her as her hair was tied in a ponytail to keep it out of the food as she sniffled lightly, wondering if the cold water from their last battle was causing her to get sick. She had changed out of her wet costume into something comfortable as she tried to get that thought out of her mind as she continued to cook until the one minute mark before flipping it over, glancing over at the other titans as they sat around on the couch trying to pick a move. Sure she could have joined them…but after she started making her own plate the others wanted some of it, Raven however wasn't really interested so she was glad that she had to only make three more plates aside from her own, but from what Beast Boy was selling either movie was good enough to make her forget about her odd feeling from earlier. When they all had gotten back Robin had already rushed off to his room to figure out what to do next about Slade, but even that worried her, he was starting to act like Bats whenever it came to the Joker. Another minute had passed as she finally took the crepe off the pan to place it on top of the last plate to be dressed as the others were already finished. Blueberries and whipped cream for Cyborg, Strawberry and mandarin orange for Starfire…though she had to fight her for it to have cream instead of mayonnaise, finally there was kiwis with nondairy whipped cream topped on a every non-vegan ingredient substituted with a hint of green coloring. Her own plate was topped with a mixture of blackberries and raspberries as she topped it with a heap of whipped cream as she smiled at her handy work.
She turned off the burner as she poked forks on each stack of crepes before picked up each plate one by one balancing Beast Boy's and Cyborg's on one arm while carrying Starfire's in her free hand before she moved across the room hearing the end of their conversation, the movies in questions were Super Ninja Showdown Eight and Manic Fury: Attack of the Protozoids which were both fantastic flicks in their own nature, but it was a hard decision to choose since she hadn't seen either film in a while as she held Starfire's plate in front of her hearing a soft thank you from her as she moved Cyborg's plate to her free hand, feeling her right arm shake for a moment giving the orange skinned alien a soft smile understanding she was worried about a certain hero. She moved past her and Raven, noticing she was face deep in a book again before holding out Cyborg his plate, earning a gratitude filled thanks as he started to dig in. Beast Boy placed the movies down as he grabbed his plate from Nightingale causing her to be shocked for a moment as she spotted the green skinned teen digging into his own meal.
"Yeah, it's a really hard pick." He spoke with a full mouth as blueberries stained his teeth as he started to grin. "How about we watch them both?"
"Perhaps Robin would enjoy potatoing the couch with us, tell me is he-." Starfire has started off her comment strong as she took a bite of her crepes…but she only took a small bite before Beast Boy interrupted her sentence saying the Robin was still where he was since they had come home making Nightingale give her friend a worried look as she saw the alien girl stand up and hold her partially eaten plate. "I did enjoy it, but I must check on friend Robin." And with that she was gone in a flash as Nightingale sighed taking her plate back to the counter to be packed away for later. Sure she would have gone after her, but it wasn't something she wanted to dig a hole into that she couldn't get out of as she placed the crepe pile into a tupperware container before placing it in the fridge as she went to go take a bite of her own food wanting to enjoy the flavor as she picked it up from the counter, but something that Beast Boy said caught her off guard.
"Dude I seriously wonder how you could cook something this good Nightingale, like your future husband is going to love this." he heard someone choking as he looked up to see Nightingale trying to regain her composure as she almost choked on the pieces of crepe on her mouth as she swallowed hard. "I mean if you don't have anyone in mind I wouldn't-."
"I-I'm sorry, but you are not my type BB no offense." She coughed lightly into her hand as she could feel eyes on her as a light blush burned on her cheeks as she looked over at them slightly glad that Raven had left only a few moments earlier. "What?"
"It's just kinda weird knowing you have a type." Cyborg commented as he was starting to finish his plate. "I mean you were literally beating Aqualad off with a stick because he wouldn't leave you alone after we got back from being underwater."
"Well excuse me I think my love life is none of your concern." She replied as she shoved a piece of crepe in her mouth as she could hear the boys rushing up to interrogate her as an irritated look appeared on her face.
"Sooo what is your type huh? Dark and brooding like Robin or someone who is laid back?" she almost dropped her plate on the floor as she could feel her face burning as she looked away from the two boys who were looking at her as they started to have a barrage of questions towards her before she finally slammed her plate down on the counter in rage silencing them as the words came out of her mouth…she didn't want them to.
"I don't like guys okay! I like girls so there can you leave me the hell alone?!" She blinked slowly and covered her mouth in embarrassment as she could feel her face feeling red hot on her palm as she turned away from them. "I-I have to go I lost my appetite." She rushed out of the ops room making a beeline for her bedroom as she could hear they guys protesting about her leaving, the genuine sound of apologies filled their voices as they echoed across the hall, but she was already gone. Beast Boy and Cyborg looked at each other with worried expressions as they put her food away as well knowing that they both crossed the line in that instance, but there was no way they could make it up to her.
Nightingale finally reached her room as she closed the door behind her as she leaned against it before sliding down in a heap, her face flushed with bits of red as she buried her face into her hands, making her wish she had kept her big mouth shut, but that was unavoidable at the moment since Beast Boy couldn't keep his mouth shut about these types of things so it was only a matter of time before the rest of the team found out. Sure it wasn't a bad thing, but it really just wasn't something she wanted to tell them at the moment, maybe at a later time not while she was being pressured to answer about her love life. She sat quietly in her room as she tried to think of something anything aside from what had happened.
A few hours later
The chamber that the titans had their battle in had been roped off from the other parts of the facility, making a few employees wonder what had happened, but they knew that it was some sort of hero thing so they left it at that. The microchip had been placed back in its place as it hovered peacefully in its suspension field as if it had never been removed, the only thing that really changed was two guards were now stationed on each side as they looked around the room in their helmets wondering how much damage a few super powered teenagers could cause as an eerie silence to fill the area making them feel like their night would be uneventful. The calmness was soon disturbed as the alarms started to blare through the silence as red washed over the darkened room as both rushed to the entrance opening the door to the other side where the titans had started their search for the thieves as they readied themselves for anything while raising their guns looking around in the darkened area as they red light continued along with the blaring alarm, but this made them unaware that the door they had walked through moments before had started to close abruptly and without warning as both guards looked at each other wondering if they had just lost their jobs for this incident.
The red light washed over the area inside the destroyed room as the silence filled the air as the alarm had been cut off by the door as a figure emerged from the shadows near the chip, ready to take it from its suspension field. The figure wore a skin tight costume with a large red X placed over the area on their chest where their heart would be as a black cape with a ash-grey interior rustled slightly as he moved towards his target, a grey utility belt glinted in the little amount of light being produced by the field holding the chip in place showing a silver buckle with a light gray body. A pair of serrated ash-grey gloved covered their hands as red X's adorned both the back and palms of his hands as black boots finished what could be seen before it revealed a black-helmet like mask covered their face with a white skull missing its lower jaw as a final red X had been placed in the middle of their costume. They easily pluck the chip from its safe place as the door behind them was blasted off its hinges by the two guards as they rushed in to attack the intruder and opening fire on them. The dust soon settled only leaving the two guards alone in the empty room knowing fully well that their jobs were possibly gone now because of this debacle.
Outside on the roof
The moon hovered above the titans as they reached the roof of the building, Nightingale glancing around wondering where the boy wonder could be as she tugged at her left fingerless glove as a nervous feeling started to come over her as she stayed to the back of the group avoiding Cyborg and Beast Boy all together hoping neither of them would bring up what happened, but it from the looks of it the green skinned teen was keeping quiet. She heard a small ring in her ear as she looked past the other three to see Cy pull his left arm up as a small screen lit up, making her guess that Robin had put in a com to tell them why he wasn't with them. Nightingale looked around as she heard him say he was looking into a Slade lead on the other side of town though that made her worried about her friend, but Cyborg already told him that they could handle themselves before his com blinked out seeing that Robin ended the conversation. The loud thud of a skylight opening caused Nightingale to jump slightly as she reached for her staff, turning to the noise to see a person exiting through; it's our thief from earlier. The other titans readied themselves as she could hear Cyborg's arm changing into his cannon as he spoke towards this new adversary.
"You work for Slade tough guy?" he commented as he aimed his cannon towards him, but the person's voice identified them as a male, but it was heavily distorted making her wonder if a voice changer was built into the skull mask.
"Red X works alone." Red X responded as he held out his palm towards the titans confusing Nightingale for a moment before something fired out of it, causing her to move quickly out of the way as the other three scattered along with her, but Cyborg stayed in his position as he began to fire back with his cannon, but the two first shots obliterate each other as a barrage send Red X every along the rooftop as he tried to avoid the attacks, jumping into the air quickly as he held both his palms out towards the bionic man shooting at him making him run for cover as Beast Boy decided to make his move changing into a lion and charging forward. This villain seemed to have a lot of tricks up his sleeves as he aimed an crimson X towards the oncoming beast while in midflight it changed to a liquid, sticking to the green lion's face like loose clay causing him fall back to the roof as the red liquid started to stick to the loose gravel and bits of solid roof as Beast Boy struggled to make his way out of it, changing into anything he could think of before knowing he couldn't escape.
The next team members to make a move were Starfire and Raven, but from a flurry of starbolts to a large aura hand reaching out to grab him, he nimbly moved across the roof again as if it was something as simple as gymnastics as he raised his hands again aiming for the girls as two X's shot out like before as one wrapped around the orange skinned alien taking her down to the roof as well while the other one remained small slamming itself into Raven's face covering her mouth causing her to lose concentration on her spell as she tried to take it off. Nightingale winced as she heard Starfire drop as she moved in the dark waiting for the prime time to attack this adversary, confused at how he was able to take down the titans so easily. Cyborg was the last teammate aside from her who hadn't been taken down, but he was soon dealt with easily as Red was able to get access to his panels to shut him down enough to get away, but Nightingale stepped out from the shadows and creeped up behind Red X as she slammed her staff into his side knocking him a ways away from the bionic titan as she rushed at him, she could hear Beast Boy yelling at her to kick his ass.
Red X blocked her staff a few more times as she tried to get in closer to him, but he always seemed to be a step ahead of her oncoming attack, but she didn't notice that he was reaching for his utility belt bringing out a red pellet until it was too late when he slammed into onto the ground as a bright light filled her eyes causing her to drop her weapon and stumble away as she tried to get the fuzz out of her eyes along with the ringing in her ear as she felt a firm punch being landed on her abdomen causing her to double over in pain as another hit, presumably from the elbow slammed into her spine making her crumple to the ground as she hissed in pain not willing to give up yet as she looked up only to earn a boot to the side of the face, making her eyes blur for a moment as she tried to regain her composure, but her arms shook as she tried to get up as she heard the other titans call out to her as her vision went dark for a moment as the sound of crunching gravel filled her ears as she heard the perpetrator run off into the night.
Nightingale could feel herself being shaken as her eyes started to open to see a familiar green eyed alien looking at her with worry as she helped her stand up on her own, noticing a silent Raven had been helping Cyborg get his body rebooted as Beast Boy was still slightly struggling to get out of his own trap, she grabbed her head as a familiar throbbing pain entered her mind as she could feel a slight bump on the side of her head had formed from the kick she had gotten from Red X…she clenched her free hand as she looked around wondering where the villain had gone to before going to pick up her staff and moving over to help Beast Boy escape from the lasting goo on him with Star's help.
The next morning
The team had gathered in the ops room once they had returned from their failed attempt to capture Red X, even worse they found out he had taken the chip they had fought to protect yesterday, making Nightingale infuriated at the thought of the masked villain. Starfire had planted herself on the adjacent counter helping Beast Boy by cutting his hair of the remaining red clumps of goo that were still in his hair from the incident last night as the black haired heroine reached up to her cheek, lucky that the kick she had gotten from Red X only left a bruise on her. Robin was listening to them tell him what had happened during the whole fight as she started to bounce her foot impatiently against the ground, knowing they would all be soon trying to figure out where he would go next, but more or less she wanted to get back at him for knocking her down…that sounded kinda petty now that she really thought about it. Sure she was mad that she he had gotten the best of her, but there was no reason to be so hell bent on getting back at him. Robin seemed concerned even mentioning he was sure Red X wouldn't pose such a big threat, but that was something they all should be used to by now…but it was like he knew just the right spots to take them down.
"I should have been there." Robin commented as Nightingale looked up from staring at her tapping foot, though she could see that he had been watching her impatiently waiting to say something as he nodded for her to speak.
"Look no offense Robin, but this guy even got to me, I'm lucky he didn't knock a tooth loose with that kick." She spoke calmly as she pointed to her cheek, the area had a slight darkened a bit from last night, but the red still lingered. She could see the green skinned member of the team sulking as Starfire continued to clip at his hair getting the red clumps, making her wonder if he was planning on leaving it the way it was or deciding to go to a hair salon and getting a touch up. He soon spoke up complaining about how he was going to be stuck with a few months of bad hair days, but the muffled sound of someone trying to speak after him made her glance of at Raven, a small snort escaped her mouth as she covered her lower half of her face as she shuttered with held in laughter at the poor cloaked member of the group who still had the red X covering over her mouth stopping her from speaking, but she soon tried to compose herself when she got an angered glare from her comrade. Cyborg reached his hand over to a edge of the X and made her brace herself as he ripped it off quickly like a band aid causing Starfire, Beast boy and Nightingale to wince for a moment as they waited for her reaction, but they only heard an annoyed sound of pain come out of her mouth before she spoke.
"Even if you had been there, it wouldn't have made a difference." She admitted as the imprint from the mark were now slowly disappearing as Cyborg held up the X to inspect it as it went limp in his hand.
"Dude knew exactly how to take us all down, I can bet that he had something special for you too." The bionic man remarked as he kept studying the X, but even Nightingale was interested in what the thing was made of. How it was somehow able to say applied to Raven's face even after multiple times of her trying to talk would be fascinating to understand, but she was going to leave that knowledge to Cy, it was more his department. Starfire mentioned that they all came out of it undamaged so it was a slight victory, but even that was a bit difficult to say as Beast Boy pointed at himself and Nightingale making the alien blush at her mistake before changing the subject on the leads that Robin had been hunting down on Slade his reply made the black haired heroine give him an odd look.
"Whoa wait a second Robin you and I were trained under the world's greatest detective…but you find nothing?" she protested make a few members of the team give their leader a slightly curious look. "There is no way in hell that you didn't find any…"
"The place I checked was a dead end Nightingale; I don't know what else to say about it. I should get back to work." Robin held his hand up to stop her mid conversation as he started to walk away from them, only to have her get in front of him.
"I could help you find out information Robin don't forget I would get data on a lot of villains so if I start making contacts…" he cut her off abruptly with a glare as she closed her mouth, knowing he wouldn't go that route, hell it was even rare for Batman to come to her for information before she began to speak again. "Look all I am saying is you don't have to be alone on this you have a team for a reason."
"I can get the data myself Nightingale." He spoke sincerely as his glare started to go away as he placed his hand on her shoulder squeezing it reassuringly as he walked past her; all the titans now were giving him very concerned looks as he left the ops room. She heard Cyborg mention he was going to analyze the material in the X to see if he could spot any components as Starfire and Beast Boy seemed to agree to help be lab buddies as the three soon left, leaving the empath and the azure eyed teammates alone with each other as a low hum filled her ears at the sudden silence. Her cheek slightly burned with pain causing her to wince a bit making her think she might need to head to the infirmary to get a bandage on her face and maybe some disinfectant to be sure as she started to leave the room, walking down the hallway towards the elevator seeing it was a bit closer than the stairs as she pressed the call button waiting for the familiar ding to fill her ears as she could hear someone walking down, guessing it was Raven since she was the last in the room. She glanced out of the corner of her eye to see the cloaked member walking down from the closing ops door, but as the doors dinged open Nightingale thought nothing of it as she started to press the button to reach the infirmary ready to go there, but the doors were stopped from closing as a grey hand paused there motions opening the door again to reveal Raven standing there. Nightingale raised an eyebrow at this, but she was unsure of why she even needed to be on the elevator as she stepped in as well pressing a button to the ground floor making her guess she was maybe going to meditate outside.
The melody of a butchered song crunched into elevator music filled her ears as the silence once again became present between the two as neither one knew what to say to each other, ever since Nightingale's incident both girls seemed to be on edge around one another, the other team members of course chopped it up to what she had said to her during the incident, but both of them knew it was much more than that. Raven had seen what her nightmares were though she didn't see the copycat at any point to Nightingale's knowledge, just that she might have seen the burning carnage…or did she see her teammates dead because of her? No it probably wasn't that one since she never saw her double. She started to find the ride uncomfortable before the violet haired teen spoke, causing her to jump slightly.
"Does your…cheek hurt?" she asked calmly, her voice carrying no emotion as usual making Nightingale subconsciously reach for her cheek as a twinge of pain leapt from it making the answer very apparent as she noticed her shift her eyes away from her as she finally lowered her hand.
"I...It kinda hurts, but not too much so there is no need to worry about me." she replied back to her as she could feel a familiarity with her words as she though back to when she said her lack of sleep and injuries were not her problem to worry about. The angered filled words floated around in her head getting louder and louder as she tried to drown it out. "Raven I didn't mean it like that I…" she found herself biting her lip as she tried to think of the words to say as silence filled the area once more.
"I didn't mean to intrude, I was just concerned." The violet haired girl seemed to mumble the words out of her mouth as she held a hand over her chest, feeling the familiar ache as it echoed for a moment as she tried to shake it off, though she was still confused at what emotion was causing this since it usually disappeared only after a few moments. Now it was starting to linger longer and longer the more she was around Nightingale, which was becoming a rare commodity since Starfire was usually trying to drag them around for bonding times since the boys did that a lot, but since the incident they were holding off on anything since Starfire had started to run out of ideas. She could feel the azure eyes starting at her as she looked over to see that she was now the one wearing a worried expression.
"Raven are you okay? You're kinda clutching your chest a bit too tightly there." She smiled trying to make a light of the situation as she could see the numbers crawling slowly making her notice there was only one more floor until the infirmary as she could tell the empath was having trouble with something. "Look if it's…because of what I said I'm sorry about that." She noticed her shake her head and lower her hand for a moment as she was going back to normal, her mind started to flood back to all the moments that had happened between them as a familiar one floated into her mind. The kiss was always in the back of her mind, sure it was used as a way to get out of Raven's grasp, but it was becoming harder and harder to escape the thoughts that crossed her mind sometimes about the violet haired girl…another person crossed her mind as hazel eyes and a dark grin passed through the image shattering it. No she doesn't need to think about her like that…not after dealing with her there was a need think like that, no one wanted something that was already broken like her. Besides Raven didn't show any interest so it would be the end of those kinda thoughts right? The elevator dinged as the doors opened giving Nightingale a small sense of freedom as she walked out of the metal rectangle as she turned to give her a small smile. "I promise Raven I am alright, just some pain relieving ointment and the bruise will swell down in no time. I hope you enjoy meditation." The door slowly closed as she caught a small smile from the empath as she could hear the elevator slowly creaking down as she let out a light sigh as she couldn't fight off the smile that had appeared on her face as a feeling started to fill her chest with a unknown yet familiar warmth.
Later, night has fallen
Before they were alerted to go to the ops room by Robin, Nightingale had been sitting at her desk again as she stared down the draft of the report she wanted to send to Batman, the urge to not send it was becoming more of an annoyance as her conscience and heart were telling her to just stop sending them while her brain was telling her that it was a job and the attachments were a formality. The knock on her door made a sigh of relief escape from her lungs as she exited out of the encrypted network on her phone and exited out of the window as she started to shut down her computer as she picked up her belt from the bed and attacked it around her waist, glancing over at her bow and arrows before deciding it was not needed for this. Other than deciding on what to do about the report she had also started to do a bit of digging on this Red X person only to come up empty handed on all accounts aside from information from news websites, but even those held little evidence to who he was. She opened her door to reveal Beast Boy trying to comb his hair while waiting for her to answer only to have it poof back to the jagged look it had, causing her to roll her eyes for a moment before grabbing it from him making her presence finally be noticed.
"Here you aren't combing it right, you aren't going with the contours of your hair." She grabbed his face making him hold still as she carefully combed his hair the proper way before giving the comb back to him. "There I am guessing Robin needs us?"
"Yeah…" he let out a small yawn covering his mouth before he continued. "He said it was urgent…I was just heading to bed when Cy woke me up." she nodded towards him and followed seeing the others were a bit ahead of them, but Beast Boy was able to catch up before the ops doors were opened to reveal no one was there…odd. Nightingale glanced around the room as Star started to call out Robin's name trying to find him only for BB to yawn again speaking his mind. "You mean Captain Research? He's probably filling out notes at the library."
"I was." Nightingale and the others jumped a bit hearing his voice come out of nowhere, but Beast Boy's reaction was the best as it seemed like he was scared awake as they all looked up at the screen to see their fearless leader. "But I spotted Red X pulling off a robbery at the tech sector. I'm on his tail, but I need all of you to get down here as fast as you can." They all nodded as she could hear Beast Boy falling asleep again as the screen went blank before they all started to rush out of the room as Cyborg dragged BB along with him. Everyone was ready for a rematch as Nightingale got onto a single black aura platform as she floated along with the others as Cyborg led them to the destination that Robin had given him landing in an alleyway as the rooftops above them loomed over as the night sky was blocked at every turn as they tried to find Robin and X, but the first one to spot them was Cy as he pointed ahead seeing Red X jumping down from a roof with Robin in hot pursuit, but it didn't last long as the black cladded villain threw a net towards him, entrapping him as Nightingale cursed under her breath upset that she forgot her kukri since she was so used to not having it as she rushed forward after the villain, knowing that they all couldn't be too far behind him as the others started to catch up to her as well guessing that Robin didn't need the help as she spotted Red X leaping down the escalator into the underground substation.
They all rushed down to the platform only to not spot him anywhere…that wasn't possible right? He couldn't just disappear out of thin air; they were almost right on top of him. The hairs on the back of Nightingale's neck stood on end as she looked around reaching for her staff, knowing the batons nor her grappling gun were right for this situation as Cyborg told the group he was checking with his red eye to see if he had gone invisible, though it had be explained twice since Beast Boy couldn't understand. It only took a few seconds after he switched before he was knocked back by an unseen force, making all of them guess that X had not left the station. Red X soon made himself visible as he rushed towards the woozy bionic man as he was trying to recover revealing one of the weapons he used on them all earlier as he attached it to him causing static to appear…but nothing happened as Cyborg grinned at him as he grabbed him throwing him towards the others. Nightingale smirked slightly, so he was a one trick pony huh? So it was going to be easier this go around as they were able to catch him this time. Starfire wanted to go the surrender route, but it seems like X wasn't planning on going that route as he started to attack them going for her first throwing another one of his weapons at her, but it is blocked off by one of Raven's barriers. The two stronger team members try to take him down, only to run into each other leaving the last three members in a standoff against him.
He rushed towards Beast Boy first as the green shapeshifter changed into a bear to attack only to miss as the attacker was able to nimbly move out of the way from him before moving onto Raven knocking her back into a pile of crates, Nightingale gripped her staff tightly as she rushed forward while rage flowed through her as she started to move closer to him slamming down harder and harder on his arms as he reached for his flash pellet as she slapped them out of his hand, causing them to explode a few feet away giving off an annoying glare as she threw down a smoke bomb making the dark grey clouds fill the air as her eyes glowed purple as she rushed forward hitting her blinded opponent until he grabbed her staff as the glow from her eyes disappeared as she noticed that they had exited the cloud. He was about to retaliate, but the sound of hooves clattering on tile distracted her as she looked over to the right to see a green blur coming from behind making her move out of the way as it slammed into Red X revealing Beast Boy had changed into a big horned sheep to land a hit on him as he changed back quickly before charging again at him. The assailant had used some of his momentum to grab a pole and whirl himself around to try kicking the titan rushing towards him only to have him duck and for Nightingale to take the hit instead as she tumbled backwards watching the villain land perfectly on the ground before throwing a punch at the titan who was rising up with a surprised attack to his jaw causing him to be hurled towards the subway tracks.
Nightingale's eyes widened as she tried to scramble to her feet as she heard the sound of an oncoming train screaming Beast Boy's name at the top of her lungs as the others tried to reach him as well when the unexpected caught her eye as Red X had rushed down faster than any of them to save the green imp from getting turned into mush as she closed her eyes hearing Starfire gasp loudly as the train screeched past them as most of them had feared the worst had happened to their teammate as the noise soon disappeared as the locomotive soon past revealing Beast boy holing his stomach as the last image of Red X running away was hit boot before he disappeared up the other platforms exit stairs. Nightingale gritted her teeth as she pole vaulted over with her staff as the others attended to their green skinned companion hearing Raven try and call her back as she rushed up the stairs into the crowded streets of Jump City, the cold air hanging on her breath while she looked around at the people passing by giving her odd looks as she felt someone grab her shoulder, making her turn around to see Raven with her hood up with a startled expression for a moment.
"Nightingale it's too late he is already gone. We need to regroup and return to the tower." Raven's voice held her own want to go after Red X, but there was no way they would catch him right now, he was already long gone. The black haired teen sighed lightly and nodded as she put her staff away back in its pouch on her belt collapsing it slowly. Raven didn't want to say anymore as she could see the familiar sparks of purple in her eyes as she tried to ignore it as she held the hand she had on Nightingale's shoulder to her chest as she could feel a small surge come off of it for only a moment…but from what she couldn't tell.
The titans soon were headed back to the tower as thoughts raced through the black haired teen as she tried to think of why X would even save Beast Boy, even now he was retelling it to the others as they were walking back into Titan's Tower, getting a message only moments before that Robin had arrived back. It was starting to be an odd occurrence, but she wasn't going to link that to X yet. The others were gathering in the ops room as she reached for a mug wanting something to calm her mind as she picked up a packet of hot chocolate and a half full gallon of milk from the fridge as Raven and the others were gathering around the computer trying to pin point where Red X would strike next as she held the packet on the corner with her teeth as she poured the milk into the mug and transferring it to the microwave and setting it to heat up the liquid as she glanced up at the screen seeing multiple dots popping up as a low groan escaped from her throat wondering if they would have to search all those areas for him.
She heard footsteps coming from her left making her look over to see Robin carrying boxes towards his room. Starfire greeted him happily about their search, but he was preoccupied…Nightingale heard the microwave go off as she opened it stopping the beeps so she could hear the conversation between the two as she ripped the packet open with her teeth pouring in the contents. Robin sounded very abrasive as he brushed them off to get more information on Slade, making her watch him walk out of her field of vision before the others started to talk again as the orange skinned alien held her head down in defeat.
"Just forget about him Star, he hasn't been much help anyways. If he wasn't always AWOL we would already have Red X captured." Beast Boy commented as he tried to cheer the alien up…bad move. Nightingale took a sip of her coco only to start coughing as Raven actually agreed with him; even Cyborg was making his case as Starfire seemed to be the only one who believes that Robin was still helping in some way. She felt a small gust as she looked up to see Starfire near her, making her guess that the alien was going to ask her as well.
"Friend Nightingale you don't believe that Robin is the AWOL do you?" she asked so nicely it hurt as Nightingale looked placed her coco down as she gave Starfire a worried look.
"Star it's just…look I don't believe he is doing anything wrong, but he doesn't need to handle what he is doing right now alone, I also think he should be helping us capture Red X more than worrying about Slade." Starfire was about to speak, but she cut her off as she continued. "Look I know you want to have faith in him, but he's…this isn't healthy for him to handle alone."
"But he is working harder than any of you! He works to catch Slade before something terrible happens!" a twinge in the black haired girl's chest appeared as she heard the words come out of her perky comrade's voice…she wanted to believe…she did, but something was wrong with Robin's obsession.
"Oh like you have room to talk Nightingale, Miss I can't sleep cause Nightmares give me goose bumps." Beast Boy mocking tone in his voice made her look past Starfire as she started to walk over to the green imp as he started to cower slightly. "H-Hey whoa I was just kidding at least I didn't bring up that yo-." Cyborg covered his mouth before the little gremlin could continue as the tension in the room disappeared as she looked behind her to see that Starfire must have left the room to chase after Robin as she started to head after her, stopping for a moment to glance back at BB and Cy.
"I am not done with him yet…personally I need to speak to both of you, but now is not the time." she sighed as she continued down the dark hallway leading towards their leader's room…had she ever been in Robin's room before? Sure she had been in his room at Wayne Manor, but at the tower it was a different story. As she approached the area the door was already opened spotting some of the newspaper clippings that covered his wall as she heard a gasp escape from someone's throat as something dropped to the ground. She rushed forward to see Starfire standing near a table covered in items that she could guess he had recovered from Slade's commandos as she noticed the ball that had rolled to the floor as an image started to flicker from it revealing Robin trapped in a net telling them to go after X. Her hands started to shake with rage as both girls soon came to the realization that their leader hadn't been truthful with them as the black haired teen walked over to the ball picking it up in her hand and shutting off the hologram, her grip tightened around the piece of metal as an alarm went off telling them that Red X was on the move. She squeezed harder as she could heard the metal crushing under her hand as Starfire saw purple sparks escape from it mixed with then normal yellow sparks as she was crushing the piece of machinery before dropping the contents on the ground knowing they both had to stop the team from attacking.
At Red X's Location
Red X had finally reached his goal, the last chip in the collection as the green one hovered before him in its stasis field ripe for the taking. He grabbed it quickly as an one of the overhead lights from above activated making him aware someone else was in the room as a familiar sounding voice filled his ears as he turned to see someone approaching into the light distorting their figure until they fully entered the light as Slade stood center in the circle. The man stood at 6'4" and wore a black and orange mask just like his commandos, but only his grey left eye was visible as he stared down at Red X as four parallel lines were placed where his mouth would be. He was covered in a black body suit covering most of his body only leaving his lower abdomen covered in a type of protective metal with pouches attached to his utility belt as his arms were covered in the same metal, some parts even contained overlapping parts. His hands were covered in black gauntlets as his legs were covered as well down to his boots as a grey sash came across his torso as a guard was wrapped around his upper chest like his robots. This man's body language seemed to scream power as he stared down at the person before him one could only guess that he could have been smirking or wearing a scowl on his face.
"Honestly, I couldn't have done better myself." Slade spoke as if he was complimenting Red X as if it was him doing all the work with his low and composed voice as he held his hand out to X who had held out three different chips in his own hand.
"So do we have a deal?" Red X's altered voice came out clearly as he seemed to be waiting for the perfect time to get the jump on Slade after he revealed his plans…but he was not going to be able to anything.
"Indeed, you and I are very much alike you know? It is only natural we should be partners." He commented coolly as his eye seemed to sharpen as he spoke his next words carefully as he heard Red X asking what he was planning on using the chips for, but he wanted to savor this moment. "Patience, you just can't expect me to trust you with such sensitive information right away…can you…Robin?"
Robin's eyes widened under the mask as he soon realized too late that his cover had been blown. Lights flashed on behind him as the three chips were soon taken from his hand by a net contraption as they were carried to Slade, the room was soon aglow with lights as he looked around to see several robots in the room with him, but they weren't his usual copycat commandoes, no these seemed to be a step above them as they looked military grade. He looked up a bit further to see commandoes had now stationed themselves on a platform above as he could hear the creaking legs of the enforcing robots moving towards his position as Robin is ready to put up a fight as the room started to shake as a loud explosion went off as the familiar cry came from Cyborg's mouth could be heard as the titans entered the scene. The three members dropped down one by one as Beast Boy started to grab a robot as he changed into a large octopus as Raven started to levitate another away so the green beast could deal with the one that was attacking. Cyborg rushed forward as he grabbed onto Red X's cape still not knowing who was under the mask as Starfire carrying Nightingale through the hole in the ceiling tried to stop him.
"No! Release him, he is-." The poor girl couldn't even finish before Robin tore his mask off as he pointed to the door where Slade had used the commotion to escape telling the others he had escaped, though the rest of the team stared dumbfounded for a moment as Nightingale tugged on Star's glove on her arm signaling her to drop her and she did so as the girl slammed into a large robot pulling out her staff as she cracked the lens that it used to see causing it to panic and shoot randomly, hitting a few commandos and two other large robots. She hesitated for a moment, but once she saw that the other titans were handling themselves well as she rushed to go find Robin and Slade, knowing they must have moved to the roof as she followed the path they had taken before noticing rain was starting to fall as she gritted her teeth before rushing forwards off the roof, seeing that she was only a few feet behind them before she skidded to a stop on the final roof as the rain started to roar around her seeing them fighting in front of a red glowing billboard as she took a deep breath, knowing that he was going to need help as she back up before rushing forward taking the leap of faith before catching herself on the edge of the building as she could hear the echo of the cars rushing below her as she struggled to get up onto the roof hearing them talk as gravel was moved around under their feet…they were circling each other like prey.
Robin had ditched his Red X outfit to his original costume, but she couldn't hear what they were saying over the rain as she pulled out her staff read to attack Slade at the first chance she could as she rushed forward as the taller man dodged a few of Robin's strikes making her hopeful she would land a hit, but he must have been aware of her as he turned around and grabbed her staff by the other end and hurling her towards the steel beams holding up the billboard, causing the air to escape her lungs as she smacked into hit as her staff echoed on the crushed gravel. Her ears started to ring as she struggled to get up feeling a urge to help as she rushed forwards again a low snarl escaping from her mouth as she started to help Robin fight back, only able to block a few of his hits before she was thrown back again, the metal on his gauntlets had cut the side of her cheek as she struggled again noticing her costume was getting torn the more she tried to help seeing Robin was suffering the same fate as she rushed forward again trying to hold his arm back from elbowing Robin back even further as she started to notice the fight was now moving to the other edge of the roof making her fear the worst as she held on as tight as he could, only to get a hard fist to the abdomen causing her to let go as she heard Robin gasp as he was soon too slammed hardly in the gut as he stumbled backwards hitting a few crates off the side of the roof before falling himself as he screamed.
"Robin no!" she gripped gravel into her hands as she could feel the pieces of it digging into her fingers as her eyes pooled with the color of purple as the whites of her eyes stared to fill with darkness. She charged forward again as she was going to take Slade down, no matter what they cost as smoke started to pour slightly from the open cuts on her costume as specks of black could be seen filling in the areas as she landed a few good blows on his body making the mountain of a man move, but not by much as he slammed her into the nearby steel beam causing her to cry out in pain as he glared at him as the man seemed to chuckle at her as he moved closer to her face. "You bastard I'll kill you!"
"Oh child I don't think you could be able to in this state." He held her up by her throat as she could feel the his grip tighten slightly as she started to gasp for air noticing Robin was struggling to come up from the side of the building as his mask leaned next to her ear as his voice sent chills up her spine as the purple and black stared to fade from her eyes as the pure azure color came back full of terror. "I know what you are." It was all she remembered hearing before she felt her head slammed back onto the beam as her world went dark as her body slumped to the ground as the rain hit her face hearing Robin scream her name as he tried to scramble up to help, only to have his grip slip causing him to almost fall, but Slade had grabbed his wrist pulling him up and throwing him over near the framework where a motionless member of his team laid as her blood started to was over the gravel from her cheek. The boy wonder soon was filled with rage as he hurled himself at the assailant, but this time he had more of a reason to beat Slade as he finally landed a powerful punch causing him and the chips to go flying as he soon landed in the rubble from the boxes that Robin had crashed through only moments ago grabbing him by his costume.
"This ends now!" he yelled over the rain as he tore the mask off only to reveal it was the same as the commando that he had done this to before as the screen flickered slightly revealing the mastermind hadn't even left his roost as he was probably smirking proudly under his mask as the video tried to fine tune itself.
"Patience Robin…We'll meet face to face some other time, oh and speak of the time." the video soon cut out as a timer stared to count down, staring on five showing that the robot he was holding was a bomb, he dropped it quickly as he rushed over to his fallen comrade carrying her on his back as he started to book it away from the robot bomb as he tried to get a good distance away on the roof as he placed Nightingale down quickly as he pulled his cape over the both of them as the explosion rung through the air as he lowered his cape to see the carnage as nothing was left of the robot. The rain soon started to drizzle as the other titans arrived on the scene multiple gasps filled the air as it wasn't Starfire who was the first person to rush over to Nightingale's side, but it was Raven as she crumpled to the ground looking her over as a slightly panicked looked could be seen on her face as she noticed specks of blood on the back of her head wondering what Slade had to her as she took in the damage to her costume, though some of the panic disappeared as she checked her pulse seeing that she was still there. She glanced over at their leader seeing that his own costume was in disrepair as he looked away from the two as Starfire moved in finally as her shock disappeared as she picked Nightingale up in her arms as Cyborg moved over to make sure her vitals were stable as they were ready to rush her back to the tower as they heard Beast Boy mention something about the chips not being in Slade's hands, but the chips were the least of their worries.
A day or two later
Azure eyes started to creep open revealing a dark infirmary as she could hear the familiar sounds of a heart monitor beeping softly near her ear as she moved her head slowly, wincing slightly as she felt a pain in the back of her head as flashes of Slade slamming her head into the steel beam of the billboard before her vision went dark, making her wonder how long she had been out as she could feel the bandage wraps around her arms wondering if she had cuts on them as she felt someone squeeze her left hand gently…it was softer than what Starfire would do. She tried to focus for her eyes on the area seeing someone sleeping on a small enough space for their head next to her hand, but pain washed over her as she could feel herself falling back into the lulling darkness of her mind. She woke up again much later to see light shining through the windows making her eyes flutter as they tried to get used to the brightness as she groaned lightly hearing a familiar voice echo in her hear.
"You're finally awake, you really had us worried there Nightingale." Robin's voice rung in her head like an echo as she turned to see him sitting to the right, making her wonder who was here earlier as she could see he was hanging his head in guilt. "It's my fault that you ended up like this…like that night too…"
"Robin…" his name came out hoarsely making him look up at her to see that she was trying to give him a smile. She hadn't seen the extent of what Slade had done though Raven was able to heal the wound on the back of her head so it was safe to say that she would be recovering quickly. The cuts and bruises on her body were already healing well enough and it had already been almost two days, though he wasn't sure how though. "Hey…boy blunder I am talking..." he was snapped back to attention, as he didn't notice she had continued talking. "It's not your fault if I wanted to help you fight him off and possibly get him in jail…did we get him?"
Robin shook his head as she gave a small frown as she looked down towards her bandaged hands, the warm feeling from earlier when someone squeezed her left hand was still there. She soon felt herself looking back at him seeing the Red X mask flash for a moment on his face before it went back to his normal mask. "Why…did you become Red X Robin? We would have been able to help you track down Slade-."
"The others have already got on me about that…even Starfire. I wanted to get close enough to Slade without drawing suspicion and you guys would have brought more attention to me. So I decided to become Red X until I was able to figure out what he was planning." Robin interrupted her as he leaned back in the chair he was sitting in as he seemed to be beating himself up over what he had done. "I know…what I did was wrong I just don't know how to fix it, the team they don't trust me I…"
"Mhm…this feels like a similar conversation we had a long time ago Dicky. Trust is something you need to earn, Bats was terrible at it because trust can easily be turned against you then you have nothing left. Your team had trust in you as a leader and you took that away from them…so you know what you need to do." She reached out and grabbed his hand; squeezing it a bit before she lied back down on the bed as she gave him an encouraging smile…understanding what he was going through as her mind finally came to a decision. "Hey Robin can you get my phone from by utility belt, third pocket to the left." He nodded as he went to go grab it, slightly curious about it, but he thought nothing of it as he handed it to her. She produced a yawn, a sigh to make him leave the room as she pulled up the encryption network on her phone as he walked away, pulling up her email reading over the report before deleting it all.
She started to type slowly, but her fingers soon started to tap wildly on the screen as she left a reply for her former mentor, finally telling him this was her last report as she attacked a file from her phone to it before sending as she waited for the folder to do its work.
Gotham, Bat Cave a few moments later
Alfred had been waiting for Nightingale to send a report when he finally got it, opening the email to see the report file attached to it as he opened it absent mindedly as he saw what she had wrote on the actual thing a small smirk appearing on his face as random codes and numbers started to flash across the screen as her email still lingered.
'Dear Bats, I'm done giving you information on your former subordinate and in the attached file I give you my last report, nothing. Well not truly nothing, I sent you a nice little virus with one purpose. Its purpose is to delete all the files that mention any of the titans by name and such like that…so any copies you have planned on making are getting gobbled up by my virus oh and you can't copy it either. Only my people know how to make it and once it's done eating those files, well it will destruct itself so you will never be able to figure out how I pulled it of…and my people take it to their graves so good luck getting it out of them. Yours truly, Black Bird p.s. you go after my people and you are done for.'
To the letter the virus soon started to infest the computers in the bat cave setting off alarms as Batman soon was brought on a com as he was trying to figure out what was going on as Alfred turned his screen to see the data on the titans and reports given were being deleted by a blue cat as it was eating them. It soon was through finding all the files it wanted to eat before it destroyed itself just leaving the email the only thing as the folder holding the virus disappeared as well. The dark knight himself was not pleased at this outcome, but he knew it would have come to this as the com link shut off as Alfred went back to his duties, glad that she had spare costumes still to work with.
Back with Nightingale
After a few moments she had gotten confirmation that all the files had been deleted as she smiled down at her phone before shutting off the encrypted network making her phone just a regular device again. She felt a weight lift off her shoulders as she tried to get comfortable in the terrible hospital bed they had in the infirmary only to hear her phone buzz, making her slightly hope that it wasn't Bats sending her a message as she looked down, not knowing the email address as she opened it, only to see a few words saying some strange things before she closed it as a way of ignoring it as she tried to drift off to sleep with a small smile on her face.
Somewhere else in the city
Slade sat in his lair as Wintergreen, his butler, brought him a steaming cup of tea as he stared down onto the shadows as someone was hesitant to step forward only to for them to finally make a move towards the throne like chair as they stopped at the steps revealing a girl no younger than sixteen wearing a uniform from a prep school as the crest on her left breast pocket held the letters GA in fancy script as long plain blonde hair cascaded over it as her hazel eyes looked up at Slade the emotions in them being hard to read as a sly grin covered her pale skin as she held a black duffle bag over her shoulder. "Now…what more can you tell me about Nightingale?"
Behind her pictures of Nightingale flashed across the screens as videos popped up in random places as well as the girl's sly grin grew wider as she spoke, her voice soft as silk. "I can tell you everything about her, sir. Just make sure that this gets into the hands of lowly street thugs and I can give you want ever information you want on her." she threw the duffel bag to the ground as the zipper opened a bit revealing nicotine patches with a green hue to them as she brought a finger up to her lip. "Just make sure these don't get traced back to me…not yet anyways." A low giggle escaped from her throat as it soon started to echo through the clockwork around her as Slade looked past her to see eyes glowing in the darkness.
Ooooh another cliffhanger right? Almost seeing Nightingale's powers too what is the meaning of this? What do the patches do? What does Slade want to do with our black haired heroine and who is this young lady he is talking to. My, my y'all probably have a lot of questions right? I don't wanna ruin the surprise you know, it's just gonna be wrapped in a nice present for you that has multiple layers to it sooo you gotta wait til chapter fourteen for all your answers. The wait won't be too long so don't worry you guys, now I gotta go take a really nice relaxing shower while trying to hide my cries because holy shit this was another long chapter.
Also I think you guys can understand why she isn't mad at him betraying her trust and who knew she had the guts to do that to Batman huh? I did lol. I shall be going y'all enjoy biting your nails until the next chapter which will be a regular one.
Anri out!
