Author's Note:

Adam: And I never, ever mess with people's heads.

Chapter 38.

Starfire collapsed on the sofa so fast I thought she'd fainted. It was only because she spoke that I didn't rush to her immediately. "G'tuk de X'hal."

Tim stared at me, then shook his head. "No. There's another explanation."

"DNA proof," Bruce muttered. "He left some blood behind. I collected some for testing, I've run the results twice. It's his."

"Maybe it's a plant," Tim said, clear thinking. "People don't just come back from the dead."

"Lazarus pit," I mumbled, sharing a look with Bruce, who nodded. He'd thought of that too. After all, we'd thought of that when he'd died, but apart from not knowing the location, people brought back from through the pit often had life altering consequences. Like insanity. Or, if you happen to be the Joker, it makes you sane. Now, that was scary.

"Lazarus pit?" Tim asked, surprised. "Ra's Al Ghul's pit?"

"It's capable of bringing Jason back," Bruce said. "But that's not the only thing we need to consider."

I nodded. "He's so similar, yet different too. Same flaws but he's obviously been training too."

"He used guns," Starfire pointed out. "Jason would have no reason to shoot you. He is your brother."

"We killed him, Star," I explained. If he'd been brought back through the pit, that thought alone might be enough to explain why he'd shot me.

Her eyes filled with tears immediately. "No, we did not."

"From his point of view, we as good as did. He gave himself up for us and he died."

Starfire shook her head. "No. No, Dick," she said, emphasising by shaking her head. "If he is alive, why has he never contacted you?"

"Why did Ryand'r never contact you?" I countered.

"What reason has Jason to be afraid?" Starfire threw back at me.

I turned and looked at Bruce who stared straight back at me. "I can think of a couple."

"He tried to kill you, Dick. Family does not do that."

"And your sister never tried to kill you," I snapped, while Starfire went pale. I fought not to cringe, I didn't mean to snap at her, but not every family is perfect and loving. Even hers had its black sheep, why couldn't she see that?

"You're overlooking something," Tim jumped in.

"What?"

"Are we still assuming Red Hood is the one killing the underworld hooligans?"

"I don't think Jason would kill," I said. Unless it had been the Lazarus pit that brought him back, then I had no clue. Red Hood seemed sane enough when it was just him and Wyvern fighting.

"He was quite happy to shoot you," Tim mentioned.

"He knows I wear Kevlar."

"Not enough Kevlar," Tim noted.

"Dick," Bruce said with resign. "There's more. The forensics on the guns you recovered from him, they don't match the bullets used in the murders, but they are the same sort of gun. The bullet we pulled from your suit however..." he trailed off, unable to finish.

"Shit."

"Perfect match."

He just had to say it. I shook my head. "Run it again."

"Red Hood is the one killing the underworld. He is. The bullet from your armour proves that. Alfred ran the tests three times, talk to him if you're still in doubt."

I clamped all my protests back down. Do not question Alfred's skills, that was one of the rules. If Alfred said they matched, they matched. Fuck.

"We need more data before we can make any decisions," Bruce continued. "If Red Hood is Jason, he'll probably know that we know it's him. Or want us to figure it out."

"Not necessarily. He keeps running from us," Tim said. "Maybe it's not time for us to know it's him, which is why he reacted like he did when he shot Dick."

"If that's the case, we may be able to use our knowledge to our advantage. Don uniforms. Make yourselves known. See if you can draw him out."

I nodded. "If the Lazarus pit was used, he might not be responsible for his actions."

"It's a possibility," Bruce said. "And it begs the question, who put him in there? But we can't count the Lazarus pit being the answer. There are other methods, you know that. I'll… see if I can't locate Ra's Al Ghul's for a little chat."

With his fists, I hope.

"What do you want us to do?" Tim asked. "If we find him?"

"We treat him as any other criminal," Bruce said simply.

We all greeted that thought with silence.

"Bruce," Tim said with a cautious glance at me. "You two are compromised. I'm not, I never had a chance to know him. Maybe I should…"

"Dick and I have seen good guys turn bad before," Bruce continued. "Jason toed the line before. We don't know what's happened to him, if the pit was involved, if it wasn't. If this is Jason, and he's gone bad, we have to do our duty. We won't know until we get him."

"And we can't find out if we're sitting on our hands," Tim said.

"Tim, you may be right," Bruce said. "Jason's DNA could be a plant. Maybe someone thinks they figured out who we are and has decided to toy with us. That's why we need to show they haven't rattled us. We're still in control."

"Nightwing can't be seen yet," I said. "There's still the whole Redhorn incident going on."

"Nightwing and Starfire have just returned to Earth after being asked to return by Batman," Bruce said, glancing behind me at Starfire. "I already have all the records in place for Nightwing's return, I'll add in Starfire. Since you mentioned Starfire told your boss she was off world, I took the liberty in creating some paperwork to prove that would aid matters, sending that through to Gretchen, all you need to do is print it. Go talk to them as Nightwing tomorrow, then it doesn't matter if you were seen tonight."

I nodded. "Thanks."

"Stay together," Bruce cautioned. "Watch each other's back."

"Do you want me to come to Gotham?" Tim asked.

"No," Bruce said and vanished from the screen.

Tim looked between Starfire and me. "I'll go get changed," he said. "Betting it's going to be a long night."

I nodded, waiting until he'd gone to his room. "I'm sorry," I said to Starfire. "I didn't mean to snap. It's just… well…"

She nodded, looking at the floor. "Among my people, we have a… superstition, I believe the word is. A belief. If a warrior receives a death wound before their task is complete, the warrior will not be allowed to enter Cyr'sten and will not be allowed to enter the service of X'hal. They are forced to wander Tamaran as a T'ari. A living spirit. Doomed to linger until they complete their purpose."

I ran a hand through my hair and put a hand on my hip. "Red Hood isn't a ghost, Star."

She screwed up her face. "No. Not a ghost. They are flesh and blood warriors who have survived a wound that was meant to kill them. We have… There are three on Tamaran, my uncle Natand'r is one. He took a lyntec knife to the chest. Pierced his heart and he was pronounced dead, then awoke at his own funeral."

I blinked. "I don't understand. What does—"

"Allow me to finish," she said, holding up her palm, which she then dropped back on her lap. "T'ari have no status on Tamaran. We do not speak of them. They do not marry, they do not breed. They are no longer Tamaranians, they are… more… revered. If a T'ari wants food, we give it to them. If they need weapons, we give it to them, but nothing more. We cannot interfere with them. Their goal is to discover what purpose X'hal charged them with and complete it before they are allowed to enter Cyr'sten. Natand'r was only allowed to remain as an advisor to Galfore because he was royalty and some believed that was his purpose."

"Star, get to the point."

"There are so many different forms magic on Earth. So many with powers and ways of regenerating and even preventing death, are there not? This pit, it is one of them, yes?"

"It has the capabilities of restoring life. But it's also supposed to mess with your mind too…"

"Jason died before his time."

"He did," I agreed.

"You want this Red Hood to be Jason, do you not?"

"In a sense," I admitted. "Only because it'd mean Jason was alive."

She looked up at me with sorrowful eyes. "Dick, I cannot go through that again. It nearly broke us."

I sighed. "I know."

"I fear if we discover who Red Hood is, and he is not Jason, he will die all over again for you."

"I'm stronger now. I'm not going to turn away from you like last time. We're stronger together."

She tilted her head. "And what if it is Jason? What then?"

I bowed my head. "I don't know. All those murders, if Red Hood's been doing them… I don't know, Star."

Starfire sighed and sat back on the sofa, drawing her robe in closer to her body as she made herself smaller. "If Jason is T'ari… then I would be no good to you. I will not battle a T'ari. I cannot interfere with his journey."

I narrowed my eyes. "You think he'll be on a mission from X'hal?" I asked sceptically.

"I do not know what to think," she said, helpless. "I did not believe humans had the T'ari."

"We don't. If it's Jason, then he's got his own agenda, not a mission from God, and he needs help. If it's not, we take him down like any other criminal."

Starfire nodded, looking at the floor in defeat.

"You don't have to come on patrol," I said. "You just got back, if you're tired—"

She shook her head. "I would not leave you alone for this," she said as she stood. "As you said, we are stronger together. I shall change."

"Starfire—"

"It will be nice to do something normal," she said, walking toward the bedroom.

"Normal?" Normal is hardly going on a patrol.

She glanced over her shoulder at me, but she didn't answer. The door was almost too quiet as she closed it behind her.

I sighed and turned back to Gretchen. "Gretchen, I want data collation. Work with Jeeves. Databank… DR74, collate, cross-reference Nightwing, priority one. Evans, priority two. Blockbuster, priority three. Also, locate all information on Red Hood."

"Noted."

"And I want it in five minutes," I said. "Scan for hotspots too."

"Of course. Would you like me to brew some coffee?"

"Um… Yeah… thanks."

The coffee pot in the kitchen turned itself on before Gretchen said, "Collating data."

I left Gretchen and went to fetch my own uniform.

It was a solemn patrol. We didn't talk, not that I expected to. Starfire was subdued, rarely flying and appeared lost in her thoughts. She could fly, carrying us over those extra far jumps, so I tried not to appear as worried about her as I was. I stayed close. Stayed in contact, offering her what support I could, but I couldn't talk either.

Robin was pensive. Every now and then, he'd activate the minicomputer console on his arm, make some notes, then deactivate it. I could tell he was thinking intently about everything all at once, drawing conclusions and making his own research notes.

I wasn't much better. My mind was racing a mile a minute as I scanned the city. Solutions were discarded as quickly as I came up with them. Possibilities that Red Hood could be Jason. How'd he be alive. Who could have possibly done something like that and to what end. I didn't just think about Red Hood though, Redhorn's death concerned me. I was pretty sure that wasn't Red Hood, he did seem to favour a different gun, which meant there was another murderer running around. What was I going to do tomorrow with regard to going in as Nightwing? I had to work, Dick needed to be at work and I couldn't be at two places at once. I could call in sick, I suppose, but I didn't think that'd work.

Not for the first time, I cursed having a double life.

Bludhaven was suspiciously quiet. Too quiet. The silence before the storm quiet. I wondered how Gotham was.

Oh, there were the usual petty crimes. Rapes and robberies, thugs and thieves, but all the big boys seemed to want to stay at home.

Running scared of Red Hood? Or was something else going on?

"It's too quiet," Robin noted.

I nodded, standing on the edge of one of the tallest buildings in Bludhaven, looking out over the city. "I agree."

Robin sighed. "I wonder if Batman's having any more luck."

"I'm sure he'd tell us if he was."

"Yeah. Sure he would," Robin said sarcastically, and propped his foot up on the side of the building so he could peer over the edge.

Glancing over at Starfire, who was floating above the corner awning, her hands behind her back, I tapped my earpiece. "Gretchen, any alerts?"

"There are no alerts currently," she replied.

"Patch me through to Oracle."

"You're going to tell her?" Robin asked.

"She probably already knows, but she'd appreciate the call."

"Hey," Oracle said moments later, her voice wavering.

"You heard," I said simply.

"Yeah. Alfred gave me a courtsey call."

"Oh. How're you coping?" I asked.

Oracle's voice went blasé. "Yeah, well, you know…"

I knew how she felt. "Yeah…"

"Not much I can do about it," she said. "I mean… I thought we were friends and all, but he didn't even bother to call and say 'hey, I'm alive, go out with me for coffee?'" She sighed.

"Babs—"

"I know, I know, don't get my hopes up, it mightn't be him. Just the thought though, that he's out there somewhere… why didn't he call us?"

"I don't know," I replied.

Starfire lifted her arm to press her earpiece and join in the conversation. "How is Alfred enduring?"

"Hey, you're back!" Oracle exclaimed, brightening. "How was the trip? The family? Did you have fun?"

"It was… interesting," Starfire replied. "It was very nice to see my brother again and meet his family. I did not know how anxious I truly was until I saw him again. They will be coming to Earth soon, I would love for you to meet them."

"Oh, that'd be awesome. And the kids? I hope you got loads of pictures I can gush over, the idea of Dick being an uncle is just too good a teasing opportunity to pass up."

"The children are wonderful, oh I never expected he would have children."

"And you?" Oracle's voice went hesitant. "I heard about the—"

Starfire paled and dropped until she was standing on the edge of the building, so I interrupted Oracle. "As much as I like the girl talk, we have business."

Starfire gave me an appreciative smile. "Perhaps I could come for the coffee tomorrow?" she asked Oracle.

Oracle laughed. "Sure. That'd be good. I'll text you later."

"Have you got anything for us tonight, Babs?" I asked, hoping for some action. I'd settle for a mugging, something easy, but taking on Blockbuster would be awesome too.

"It's all quiet on the front," she said. "Same in Gotham, Batman's pestering me for petty crimes just so he'll have something to do. But I'll keep my ear to the ground. I'm currently looking into alternate ways for resurrection."

"Anything?"

"Not really. Not that we weren't aware of anyway. I've sent a message through to Raven, see if she has any ideas."

"Okay, thanks."

"Don't brood over this too much, Wingz," Oracle advised as she signed off.

I snorted and rolled my eyes as I crossed the roof to Starfire. "You okay?"

She nodded, then glanced at Robin who was working on his console again. "I did not realise she would know."

I cringed and put my hand on the small of her back. "Galfore let it slip. Beautiful, do you need to talk?"

She shook her head emphatically.

"You sure?"

She rested her hand on my cheek and gave me a sad smile as her thumb stroked my skin.

"You can talk to me," I insisted.

"I am the okay."

"You're not," I murmured as I lifted my other hand to press it on her stomach. "But I won't force it. I'm here if you need it, okay?"

She looked away and nodded. "I know."

I kissed her shoulder. "Love you."

She twisted and grabbed me, hugged me so tightly for a moment that I couldn't breathe, then released me before I could hold her. "We have the patrol to finish."

I really, really wanted to get her to talk to me, but I knew she wouldn't, not just yet. I had to wait until she was ready. I glanced back at Robin, astutely ignoring us as he typed on his hologram arm console. "What are you doing?" I asked.

"Planning," Robin replied. "I think I know what we're going to do about the Nightwing situation."

Starfire lifted her head. "What?"

"Well, Nightwing will have to show up tomorrow to offer his 'assistance' with the Redhorn case, won't he?"

I glanced at Starfire. "Yeah. If I don't, I'd take a huge reputation hit that I can't really afford. People are already wondering if I have something to hide."

"And it'd be so much better if he could do so to a certain officer, wouldn't it?" Robin asked, giving me a lopsided smile.

"It would, but I can't be in two places at once. A stunt like that would be too difficult to script holograms for, too many variables."

"So, I'll hand myself in as you," Robin suggested.

I stared at him. "What?"

"C'mon. I've been around you long enough, I can impersonate you. You be there as yourself, I'll be Nightwing."

"Someone impersonating me is what got us into this mess in the first place."

"Yes, but I'll have something they didn't."

"What?"

"Starfire."

We both turned and looked at her, while she got unnerved.

"As much as that might work," I said, scrunching up my face as I followed Robin's line of thought. "I'm not risking you. What if they arrest Nightwing?"

"They won't. Not unless they have really solid evidence. They'd be stupid to do so without. It's not like I can impersonate you as a cop."

"Too risky."

"If we plan this right, we can minimise that risk. With you there as yourself and Starfire there too."

"I do not understand," she said, timid.

I smiled at her. "If you escort Robin into my station tomorrow, and say you want to offer your assistance and ask for me specifically, especially since it's down we're friends, no one would question Robin was Nightwing."

She looked between us, concerned. "But—"

"As long as you're always present with Robin, you can help him cover any fumbles and we might get a clear look at this 'evidence' they have."

"You're irrevocable proof," Robin told Starfire. "After all, if you say I'm Nightwing, I'd have to be."

"You are asking me to lie?" Starfire asked with a frown.

"White lie," I said, then looked at Robin, already planning what we'd need to do. "Alright. But we'll need certain things in place first," I said. "An out. I don't want Nightwing arrested."

"Batman's documents and alibi will do wonders, they'd have to disprove that before they can justify an arrest. The police force will take a serious hit if they jump the gun on this one."

"We'd need to fix your face a little. Makeup. Change the shape. Make you a little older."

"Yeah. Spike the hair."

I grinned. "Pad your ass."

Robin scowled at me.

"My ass has its own fanclub, didn't you know?" I quipped.

Robin looked at Starfire for help, but she was looking concerned. "I do not know if I can do that," she said.

"Why not?" I asked.

"You are aware that I would need to be affectionate toward—" she flicked her eyes to Robin and faltered.

"Since we're hardly ever affectionate on the job, it wouldn't be a problem if you weren't," I said. "Touch his shoulder, hold his arm, that'd be fine, wouldn't it?" I glared at Robin. "And he promises to keep his hands to himself."

"Of course," Robin said. "C'mon, dude, she's like my sister."

Curious as to why Starfire looked concerned still. I hadn't expected that. "What's wrong with the plan?"

She dropped her eyes. "Nothing."

I hate it when she does that. Really I do. Says nothing when I know something's bothering her and it's got to be more than the Psions. And if I asked her what was wrong again, I'd get in trouble for fussing, if I dropped it, I'd get in trouble for not knowing there was something really wrong. No win situation.

I thrive on no win situations. "Star—"

Starfire sighed, closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead. "I am tired and hungry and not feeling the well," she said, sounding woeful.

Damn. "Do you want to go home?" I asked, concerned.

She nodded, which was something really new for me. Starfire never gets sick, never leaves before a patrol is finished. But she's also never been pregnant before. I wonder if she was more emotionally compromised than she was letting on.

"Do you want me to come with you?" I asked.

She actually looked like she wanted to say yes for a moment. "No, it is fine."

"You sure? I don't mind."

"Finish the patrol," she told me, stern.

"Okay," I said, crossing to her to cup her face. "We'll do a last sweep of the city then finish up."

She nodded, lifting off but I held her face, lifting my other hand to hold her in place. "Star, are you sure?"

She gave me a watery smile. "I will manage," she said and pressed her lips to my forehead. "Hurry home."

I watched her leave with a frown, aware that Robin had joined my side to watch her fly in the direction of the Nightwatch, she'd teleport from there, just to be on the safe side.

"She okay?" Robin asked, sounding as concerned as I was.

"Yeah… C'mon," I said. "Let's get this done."

Robin and I worked on our story as we continued our patrol, poking holes in our own ideas until we had something solid. We ran it by Batman, who said it was a sound plan, offering his own insights too. Robin's almost the same height as me, and with a little prosthetics to change the general shape of his face, we could make him into Nightwing.

Starfire had Gretchen beep me when she arrived back at the apartment, which was nice of her. We'd finished by then, having called the bikes and were racing each other through the deserted streets of Bludhaven back to the Nightwatch, so I sent back that we weren't too far away.

Starfire sat at the bench, eating pizza while talking to Alfred on the phone when we got back to the apartment. Checking in to see if Alfred was okay with the whole Jason thing, most like. It's nice, the relationship they have with each other, she sees him as a surrogate parent I think at times. Also, and I'm not ashamed to admit this, if Starfire's looking after Alfred, I know at least one of us is. She smiled tiredly at me and pushed two pizza boxes toward us without breaking conversation. I suspected she wouldn't be far from bed. Tim fetched us two sodas and we headed to the computer.

Gretchen had nothing for me. Nothing I didn't already know or had deduced for myself. Whatever evidence they had that linked Nightwing to the case, we hadn't got a copy of it when we'd broken into the police station. So it was either something that had come to their attention after that, or something they'd not logged as official evidence.

That second one worried me. If they'd not logged it as official evidence, which meant it could potentially be very damning. And they suspected I had a link into the police records and were determined not to alert me to what they had. I was not looking forward to tomorrow.

It would have been better if I could somehow figure a way for me to be Nightwing, but everyone at the station knew me too well. They'd know the moment Tim tried to impersonate Dick, whereas they didn't know Nightwing.

And Tim was right, as long as Starfire was willing to say he was Nightwing, there was no reason for them not to believe it. I just didn't like putting my brother in that situation, no matter that it was his idea and he volunteered.

Silkie sat on my lap, rumbling little larvae purrs as I worked through all the data, absently stroking his little belly. "Anything?" I asked Tim.

"Just the inside of my eyelids, dude," he muttered.

I glanced over my shoulder. Tim was sprawled on the couch, capeless, bootless, beltless, with his arm over his eyes. "Go to bed. We're as organised as we can be for tomorrow. Get some sleep."

He grunted at me, then heaved himself off and staggered toward the guest room. "Night, Dick."

"Sleep well," I called. Rubbing my eyes, I sighed. "Okay, Gretchen, can I have—"

"Unable to comply."

I blinked, then raised an eyebrow. "Huh?"

"It is currently oh-three-hundred in the morning. All access to data has now been restricted and will not unlock until oh-eight-hundred."

"Unlock it, override code—"

"Access denied," Gretchen told me, rather smugly for a computer.

"Who authorised—"

"Authorisation 'Koriand'r deems it is time for bed'."

I sat back on my chair and had to laugh. "Okay, okay, I get the picture."

Gretchen cheekily powered herself down and retracted into the floor, folding away my seat too, forcing me either to stand or end up on the floor. I chuckled and shook my head at the floor, carrying Silkie as I checked everything was locked and switched off the lights before heading to my room.

Starfire wasn't asleep.

She was curled up in a ball, quiet little sniffles as she stared out the window at the stars beyond. My heart went out to her as I crossed the room with rapid steps and crawled into bed beside her. "Star, you should've called for me," I whispered, gathering her up.

"I do not like to be rutha," she replied, twisting so she could bury her head in my chest. "And you were working."

"It's me," I returned. "If you'd asked, I would have come. You're allowed to be weak with me. Beautiful, it's acceptable, welcome. What's wrong?"

She shook her head.

"You need to talk about it. If not to me, then Raven."

She remained silent. She was trembling, little quivers against me, but I could feel her calming down.

"I don't ever want you to feel like you can't talk to me," I murmured. "Even if I'm working, if you need me, I'll be there."

"I know. I cannot."

"Please, Star. I'm worried."

She sighed. "Can you not just hold me?"

"I'd hold you forever if I thought that was all you needed."

"I was afraid," she whispered. "When they took me. I was so afraid. Not of what they would do, that I would never see you again."

I stroked her hair, her back, her face. "I know. I was too."

"Space is so big. We might never have seen each other again, I may have never gotten free to come find you. When we escaped, I did not even know which part of space I was in, had I gone the wrong way, we might never—"

"I found you," I murmured. "That's all that matters. Hold tight to that, Star, I'll always find you."

Author's Note:

T'ari is mine. A lot of warrior cultures on Earth have elite warriors, or warriors that they believe cannot be killed. Made sense that Tamaranians would have those who are revered because they lived when they should have died.