Chapter 14 - Realization
This chapter is mostly Chalant.
Enjoy!
Recognized Nightwing B 01
Nightwing walked into the Cave. He found F. Zatanna watching a video from the last robbery.
"Zee, I need your help." Nightwing said to her.
"With what?"
"I need help tracing where the machine had went." He answered. "Sportsmaster and Luthor are still in prison and Match is back at Cadmus. Somebody working for them must have taken it."
"What about the others?"
"Let them stay here and take care of things. Wally, however, said he had to ask someone for a favor." Nightwing answered. Zatanna nodded.
They walked to hangar to get their motorcycles.
F. Wally walked knocked on a door and Jade answered it.
"What do you want?" Wally walked past her.
"I need a favor." He said roughly. He sat down on the couch. Lian crawled up to him and hugged his leg. "Hey Lian!" He picked her up and put her on his lap.
"Haven't you done enough." Jade said.
"This has to do with Artemis." Jade looked at him.
"What do you need?"
"I remember you saying that you were always there for Artemis, even though she never saw you. When she still training with your dad, what was her name going to be? I know she wasn't still 'Artemis'."
"Tigress. Her name was Tigress. Similar to 'Cheshire' but more aggressive than sneaky." Jade answered.
"The team thinks that Artemis is behind the recent crime wave along with Superboy."
"My sister is no criminal, you should know that."
"Artemis isn't. But Tigress is." Wally said. Jade thought for a moment.
"What do you need me to do?"
"Could you go around and find out what Tigress is up to or what she and Superboy did with the machine, if they took it." Wally said as he played with Lian.
"I'll do my best. But why can't your team do it?" Jade asked.
"You're our only connection to the bad guys and some of them still aren't over what happened." Wally said.
"I'm telling my mother about this, she would want to know."
"I don't want to get her hopes up but she does deserve to know." Wally said as he put Lian down on the couch and went for the door.
"Before you go, take Lian with you. Roy, is training with Green Arrow right now and I don't want her here alone."
"Where's your mom?"
"Physical therapy." She answered.
Wally took Lian and the stuff that she needed. "I'll take good care of her."
"I know you will. And I'll find out what I can about Artemis." Wally nodded. "Bye Lian, Mommy will back later." Jade kissed her daughter. Wally smiled before leaving.
Nightwing and Zatanna arrived at the warehouse in North Carolina.
"How are we going to get in? Cause I'm not going through that mess again."
"Don't worry, I re-downloaded the blueprints to the tunnels and found a shortcut that should take us there in 10 minutes or less." Nightwing answered. He brought his holo-computer as they walked into the building.
They walked around the huge trap door and up to the far back of the room. Nightwing typed in a code and the wall split in two and opened.
"I didn't know that was here."
"It was kinda hard to notice when we were falling down a hole." Nightwing commented.
"Right." Zatanna smiled.
A few minutes later, Nightwing brought up his computer again.
"We should be there in a few minutes."
"That was fa-" Something wrapped around Zatanna's foot and pulled back. "Ah!"
Nightwing quickly grabbed her hand and pull with all his strength. Whatever was holding Zatanna pulled harder and she groaned in pain.
"You keep doing this and I'll be the first magician to be ripped in two! Let go!" The thing that was holding her suddenly let go and Zatanna went flying. Right into Nightwing.
They stared into each other's eyes, trying to avoid looking at the position they were in. Zatanna landed directly on top of Nightwing. She tried not to move as she straddled him in an uncomfortable place for him.
It was like a weight had been placed on Zatanna's back as she was pressed against him. Nightwing leaned his head up as Zatanna leaned down. They closed their eyes when they got closer. Just when they were centimeters away from each other, something grabbed Zatanna by her neck and took her away.
"Not again." Nightwing said as the figure turned out to be a rusted up Red Torpedo. "You're not taking her again!" Nightwing did a low kick and knocked the robot off it's feet, releasing Zatanna along the way.
She gasped for breath as he kept attacking Red Torpedo. Nightwing took out his twin fighting sticks and stabbed them in the robot's chest. It's eyes stopped glowing red as it fell to the floor, completely offline.
Nightwing walked up to Zatanna and out his hand. "Are you okay?" She looked at him and took his hand.
"I'll be fine." She stood up.
"G-good, well, we should keep moving. The room is just beyond this hall." Nightwing stuttered and they started walking again.
"Now that we're here, search for anything that could be a clue." Zatanna looked around where the machine was while Nightwing snooped where Luthor was.
"I think I found something." Zatanna said. She held up a piece of black material. "Feels like a piece of clothing. There's a bit of red on it too."
Nightwing took it and studied it carefully. "It looks like a ripped piece of Superboy's shirt."
"How can you tell?"
"The red bit has part of the 'S' on his shirt."
"It could be Match's." Zatanna suggested.
"Match wears white not black. So it could only be Superboy." Nightwing explained. He looked down and picked something else off the floor.
"I know Superboy doesn't wear orange." Zatanna said. She looked at it. "Looks like it was part of a mask."
"Like the one the woman in the video was wearing." Nightwing realized.
"You're right! The light from the camera showed she was wearing orange. We've got to get back to the cave right away." Zatanna said.
The younger team sat in the library, watching Robin still freak out over his recent discovery.
"Batman would have my head if he found out I took this long to figure it out." Robin complained.
"I saw it when he laughed at Wally breaking my bed." Artemis said.
"I saw it when he said the mission was only for family." Conner added.
"I saw it when-" M'gann was cut off.
"Okay, okay I get it! I'm slow!" Robin yelled.
"You're not slow, you're just... clueless" Zatanna said. Robin glared at her.
"Not helping." He said through his teeth.
"Dude, calm down." Wally said as he put his hands behind his head. He laying down on table with his eyes closed. "Why are you so stressed out about it? You should be happy."
"Why?" Robin asked.
"You're a total badass!" Wally said. "I mean 'Nightwing', cool name."
"This isn't some kind off joke, man. I've been so blind."
"Stop complaining." M'gann said.
"You know what I just realized," Artemis said. "Nightwing and Zatanna are having-" She looked at M'gann and thought about what she was saying. "Adult fun. Well, they were."
"You could just say intercourse."M'gann said.
"Artemis. M'gann." Kaldur scolded them.
"What? They're right. Even F. Artemis said they went at it like rabbits." Wally commented.
"Dude!" Robin yelled.
"You did it to us, we do it to you." Artemis and Wally smirked as Robin and Zatanna looked slightly worried.
"How do you like it now!" Artemis said.
Raquel and Conner laughed. "This is gonna be funny." Raquel said.
Robin stared at Zatanna, when she turned to look at him he quickly looked away.
"I can't help but laugh at the thought that future Artemis said you were freaks." Wally chuckled.
"At least I'm man enough to get laid by a hot girl and be proud of it." This punched the smile of Wally's face.
"Hey, my future self gets laid all the time."
"By the sexy older version of Artemis." Artemis gagged as Robin smirked and Zatanna laughed.
"I hate you." He growled.
Nightwing ran in. "Debrief, tomorrow at 13:00." He looked at M'gann. "1 o'clock." She nodded.
F. Zatanna paced in front of Nightwing's bedroom door. She kept talking to herself, practicing what to say to him.
"Listen, this whole thing with Conner and Artemis made me realize that this thing between us is stupid and- No." She rejected it.
"After a successful recon mission I though we could-" She shook her head. "No."
"Maybe we could finish what we started in the tunnel." She stopped. "No." Zatanna leaned against the door in defeat. She heard voices inside and listened in more.
"Thanks Babs, I really needed this." Dick said. He sounded happy. Zatanna scowled.
"That's funny, you think it's over. We're not done yet, get on the bed." Zatanna backed away from the door with a look of hurt on her face.
She walked down the hall sadly. "Guess he got over me faster than I thought." She whispered to herself.
"What is that?" Wally said as he walked in the living room and saw a baby in his future self's arms. Robin, Kaldur, Artemis and Zatanna walked in after him.
"This is Lian, my niece." F. Wally answered.
"I'm an only child." Wally defended.
"She's my niece." Artemis said.
"I consider my niece because she loves me so much." F. Wally said.
"Jade had a baby? Who's the father?" Robin asked.
"Roy. Harper." Artemis said. Robin and Wally had shocked expressions on their faces. "I know. That was the same face I had when I found out."
"Roy and Cheshire.. very strange." Zatanna concluded.
"No kidding." Kaldur agreed.
"Does this make Roy your brother in law?" Wally asked.
"Yeah." Artemis said through her teeth.
"...Huh. So Roy and Wally will be brothers in law one day." Robin said.
"HA!" Artemis laughed. "That's funny!"
"Looks like I'm not the only one vacationing in Egypt." F. Wally smirked as he feed Lian some apple sauce.
"Ha! Now that is funny." Artemis defended. She laughed nervously.
"May I?" Kaldur asked F. Wally. He handed Lian to Kaldur. Lian smiled at Kaldur as she grabbed his finger and tightened her grip.
"Wow, she really likes you." Zatanna commented. Raquel walked in and saw Lian.
"Who's this cute little thing?" Raquel smiled.
"My niece." Artemis said.
"Odd." Raquel said. "Wow Kaldur, you're really good with babies."
"I used to help the queen with the new born babies back home." Kaldur said as Lian giggled.
"There's always something attractive about a man who's good with kids." Raquel flirted. Kaldur smiled nervously.
F. Zatanna walked in sadly. She sat down at the island in the kitchen. The others noticed she was sad so they didn't acknowledge her, knowing she didn't want to be spoken to. Nightwing walked in a few minutes later.
"Hello all." He said cheerfully. Robin looked him in the eyes, well, mask. He crossed his arms.
"I know who you are." Nightwing's eyes widened. "And I just gotta say... 'Nightwing' is such an awesome name." Robin smiled. "I mean where did you come up with it?"
"Oh, you know, it was just on the spot."Nightwing said and F. Wally rolled his eyes.
"Yes, we get it. It's an awesome name that you came up by yourself. No need to remind me." He complained.
"Oh, now that most of us are here," Zatanna said. "It's time for the scolding." She looked at Nightwing and her future self.
"Yes! I've been waiting for this. If only Conner and Artemis were here now. They'd be making the snacks." F. Wally cheered.
"I'm not in the mood." F. Zatanna complained.
"Why not? It's what you deserve." Artemis said and Wally agreed.
"What about everyone else?" Kaldur asked.
"They can see it on the cameras, continue." Raquel rushed.
"Look, I really don't feel like it right now." F. Zatanna reasoned. Nightwing put a hand on her shoulder.
"Come on Zee, It'll be-" F. Zatanna grabbed his hand and threw it off her as she stood up.
"I said I'm not in the mood!" She shoved him out of her way and walked toward the Zeta tubes. Nightwing went after her.
The others looked at each other, confused. "What just happened?" Wally said aloud and Kaldur shrugged.
F. Zatanna typed in where she wanted to go. She was about to step into the tube when Nightwing called her.
"Zatanna, what's wrong? They were just joking."
"It's not them I'm mad at." She said.
"Then what's the matter?" He asked.
"You!" Nightwing stepped back. "You're my problem! 'We're just friends. There's nothing between us!' Liar!"
"What are you talking about?" Nightwing was just plain confused.
"I heard you and Barbra earlier today."
"We haven't done anything."
"That's not what I heard. You know I don't like shit like this! I don't know what game you're playing, but I want no part of it."
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"I hope Barbra knows what she getting into. Because you're not worth it." She walked into the Zeta tube without a second look. "And if you need help again, don't bother coming to me." She vanished from the his sight.
Nightwing stood there utterly confused and feeling hurt.
A strong man walked into a base, carrying a big bag. "I got what you needed." He reached inside the bag and took out a very large diamond.
The woman looked away from her lap equipment to look at him. "Good. You weren't caught were you?"
"No. I made sure all the cameras saw was a dark shadow. I maintained my cover." He said.
"Very good. All we need to do now is break Luthor and Sportsmaster out of Bell Rev." She said.
"Then there will be nothing stopping us from taking over Gotham." He said to her. "But why stop there? We could easily threaten any villain into working for us. And then the world will be ours." The man said.
"Taking over the world seems kinda cliché. Every bad guy says that and they never succeed." The woman commented.
"But this time different," The man persuaded her. "We actually have the power to do it."
"And what about those annoying heroes?" She asked while smiling darkly.
"What heroes? You think they actually have a chance against us?" He said with a dark chuckled
"Please, one blast from our machine and they'll end up just like our pathetic counter selves. Dead in this universe and trapped in another." The woman said.
"Nice working with you, Tigress."
"Back at you, Superboy." Tigress smirked. "This world will be ours, just you wait."
Artemis shot up from her bed, in shock.
"Not her. Anything but her." she shuddered.