This chapter is posted in honor of my dear reviewers LuckyAsLockhart (Yes, it seems that way, doesn't it? As for appearances, this character's ability makes appearances something that are definitely going to happen. I'll have to research quite a few canon characters, though. Outside of one or two fics, I don't have any experience with Red Hood. So let's just say that I'm open to suggestions.), BubbleEwa (Well, saving people is a sweet though, but let's wait and see if it will happen. Heh, they'll probably be pretty good friends before this is all over. Regardless of pairings or not.), and Jessica Jayme Bell (Yes, that would be nice. However, in my personal opinion, [the majority of] stories that do that are boring. It's hard to pull off a plot that doesn't just feel like wish-fulfillment, although I've read some good ones, I suppose. So putting a character-save in my own writing would definitely go against my core, and if I do end up going that route, I'll try my best to make it flawlessly believable).

Do you guys prefer that I announce when the next update will be? It probably doesn't make a difference either way, but the next update is due for the 30th.

Just two and a half months into this story and I have to give slow updates. Sob.

~9.22.15

"My friend destroyed my old ride," Nightwing summarized. "This is his."

If Wally were dead, Dick would have taken time away from Nightwing. It stood to reason that a friend would come to bug him. Didn't all visits with good intentions end up destructive?

Or it could have been someone unfriendly.

Either way, Nightwing was in costume and parking between two dumpsters in the ugliest alleyway Ari had ever seen. She eyed the bike as they left it behind. "Is it programmed to protect itself?"

His smirk was just as effective as a full-blown grin. "It's not my bike."

"Or the helmets?"

This time, the smirk was directed at her. She tried to think about her ribs, instead, and quickly regretted it. "Here we are," Nightwing said once he'd led them to a dead end. He pulled back the ancient, decaying curtain over . . . okay, she didn't know what the filthy booth was, precisely. "Ladies first."

Ari eyed him with about as much enthusiasm as she'd given the creepy booth.

He shrugged. "It's just a Zeta-Beam. Teleportation technology. It'll scan you first, and then you'll be at the other end."

She didn't want to. She could walk just fine.

The exchange about the bike is 100% my favorite dialogue thus far. Good thing he's above being vindictive, right? Riiight?