Wow, I've been gone a long time! Here's the first of two new ones! Another's coming Sunday.
"Where have you been?"
Dick looks up from his computer and finds Garfield in front of him, in uniform. His arms are crossed, and he faintly smells of the heavy rain that's been pouring the past two days.
"Where have you been?" Garfield repeats. "You've been gone three weeks."
"Didn't you hear?" Dick folds up his laptop. "I'm not with the Team anymore. Leave of absence."
Gar's brow furrows. "So that's it? You're just not coming to the Watchtower? Again?"
"It's not permanent. I just need a break after….you know."
They're both silent before the green boy walks over to Dick's laptop and throws it with the strength of a gorilla.
Dick's eyes widened. "What was that—"
"Are you serious?! You? You need a break?! And the rest of us have to keep going?!"
"Without Wally, I can't—"
"Don't. Don't you dare talk to me about can't. I lost my mother, my best friend, my older brother, my home! Every single one of them was taken from me, and you were involved! And I'm still here! I was tortured for an entire week!" To demonstrate his point, Gar lifted up his shirt to reveal three scars along his left side where the Reach opened up his body.
Or worse.
"You don't have to see Artemis' face whenever she hears the Zeta Tube say that Bart's coming. You don't see Bart's face whenever Kal or M'gann call him 'Wally'. You don't see Flash after they come back from patrol."
"I'm sure Bart will do Wally proud—"
"Don't you get it? It's not about the stupid legacy! It's about you being there so everyone can move on! It's about you standing there with us and accepting responsibility for what you did." Gar turns away and lifts the warehouse entrance. Before shifting, he looks back at Dick.
"I need you there to help me through this. Like Barb helped you after Jason died." With that, he transformed into an eagle and flew away.
Three days later
"Gamma Squad, report," Aqualad ordered.
"We successfully managed to halt the Kobra Venom production plant in Minnesota," Tigress said.
"But we still aren't sure who's helping them develop more of it since most of the Light's in Belle Reve, Brain included," Beast Boy continued.
"Recognized: Nightwing, B-01."
Nightwing stepped out of the tube, full mission gear. Everyone looked at him with a mixture of shock and disgust.
"What are you doing here?" Blue Beetle asked. "Thought you were on leave."
"Temporary," the former Team leader replied. "Ready to get back in it. So, you say you don't know who's helping make more Kobra Venom?"
The rest of the briefing went for another twenty minutes. Throughout the whole time, Beast Boy was perched on Nightwing's back like a monkey. Dick knew what the boy was trying to say.
Welcome back.
