I marathoned the recent Arrowverse crossover and they had Lex Luthor there. And I remembered that at some point he was in the Justice League (?). And then I wondered what would happen if Dick was back from Spyral and Luthor would be in the League and they had to work together. And I wrote this. And it sounded a lot better in my mind at 3 am in the morning.

"So, to what do I owe the dubious pleasure of you contacting me?" voiced the man sprawled on the plush sofa once Luthor entered his penthouse.

Luthor's eyes narrowed slightly with annoyance, but he let the matter of breaking into his house go. He wasn't really expecting anything else from the man after all.

Instead, he directed his steps to the bar and poured two shots then placed them on the table and sat across his uninvited guest.

"I want to hire you."

"So you said in your message," the man allowed. "What a man like you would want a man like me for?"

"Protection."

"Don't you have an army of bodyguards at your beck and call?" the man snorted.

"Not for me," Luthor said. "For Nightwing."

"What?"

That got the man abandoning his relaxed slouch and sitting straight, visibly completely focused on the task at hand. Not that he wasn't before, but Luthor liked when his business partners acted and looked professional.

Lex smirked and took a sip of the whiskey.

"It's nothing official yet, I got just a draft for the schedule, but it's almost certain that in the next mission I get from Justice League tomorrow me and Nightwing will be teamed up. As you know, I don't tolerate failures. I want you to do everything you can to make sure Nightwing has his head in the game and feels…say... secure enough to not botch the entire operation."

"And why would that be?" the man tilted his head. "Nightwing wouldn't let anything interfere with the mission, just like the Bat taught his pretty little soldier."

"That's not up to me to tell you," Luthor swirled his glass. "But he proved to let his emotions get the better of him in the past and I'd rather not risk that now."

"I don't believe you."

Lex sighed and put his glass down, picking the tablet instead. He typed something for a few seconds and slid it across the table to the man. Then he took the glass and went to refill it.

The tablet was picked up carefully, as if it was set to explode and the man looked at the pulled up video.

It took a good ten minutes before the man laid the tablet down.

"Where did you get this?"

"I like to know everything I can about my enemies and associates," Lex shrugged. "But that's not important right now. I want you to protect Nightwing during the mission with me. It shouldn't take more than a week in the worst case. I pay one million. Upfront."

"The catch?" the man demanded.

"I stay alive," Luthor smirked like a shark. "Besides that? Nothing. I just really want this mission to go smoothly." He frowned, "Now that I think about it, it would be better if you took your entire team with you. I wanted just you, but that would just distract Nightwing further."

"What's the mission you're supposed to get on?"

Luthor shrugged.

"Some information gathering. I'll give you details as soon as I get them," he took a sip. "So. Do we have a deal?"

The man looked at the tablet for long moment.

"We have a deal."

"I'm sorry, what?!" Nightwing asked in disbelief as Batman handed out the assignments.

Everyone fell silent, looking at him curiously or in trepidation. One just didn't interrupt Batman while he was explaining the case. It made him more unbearable later.

Batman scowled.

"You'll be working with Lex Luthor on this case," the Bat repeated.

"But-" Nightwing looked at the bald man on the other side of the table he made a point to avoid entirely. Said man was engrossed in the file, not paying attention to the sudden shift in mood. "You can't expe-"

"This is your mission," Batman growled and a few members of the Justice League cringed and shoot Nightwing pitying looks. "End of discussion."

Nightwing clenched his hands on the folder and remained silent for the rest of the meeting. Once it finished, he followed Batman to the tubes.

"Bruce," he said urgently, swallowing the lump in his throat. "You can't seriously expect me to work with Luthor on this."

"There's no other way," Batman rumbled. "Luthor has resources and you have a way in to use them."

They stopped at the controls.

"I realize that..." Batman searched for words. "this may be difficult for you..."

"That's an understatement of the century," Nightwing snorted.

"So I asked your old friend to accompany you on this mission."

"Oh?" Nightwing raised an eyebrow. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad after all, if he had some distraction from the fact he was forced to work with his killer.

Batman smugly pressed a few buttons and a new person materialized next to them on the deck.

Nightwing's jaw dropped in shock and all his thoughts screeched to a halt and his entire body went numb when he saw who it was.

Skimpy outfit, long dark hair, red lips that parted on a smirk.

"Hello, lover boy."

The trip in the elevator seemed endless. Dick used that time to drag himself back online to face the task waiting ahead of him. He didn't remember what Bruce said once the woman appeared, it apparently didn't require for him to answer, because the Bat dumped him and her before Luthor's building a few minutes later.

After another few minutes of security check, they were escorted to the elevator and told to go up. At least Dick thought so. He still was reeling from the clusterfuck this mission turned into. And it didn't even begin yet.

Thankfully Catalina didn't say or try anything. She just leaned against the wall and hummed in boredom.

Eventually the elevator slowed to a stop and the doors opened with a ding.

Dick immediately felt adrenaline filling his body.

Red Hood was standing before him, talking with Luthor. Starfire and Arsenal were on either side of him.

Dick glanced around in the split second, looking for the grunts to take out and keep his Little Wing and friends safe. But no. There was nobody else besides them, and the Outlaws were fully armed and didn't seem like they were there against their will. What was Luthor planning?

At the back of his head Dick registered Luthor glancing at him and saw his eyes widen a fraction and maybe even his jaw dropped a little, but Dick was more concerned with his brother.

"Red Hood?" he asked, hurriedly walking to his side. "What are you doing here?"

"Hey, 'Wing," Red Hood replied, turning.

He was calm and relaxed, so Dick knew they weren't in the immediate danger.

"You wouldn't believe-" Red Hood trailed off, stiffening suddenly.

In a quick move, he took a step toward Dick, pulling him forward and behind his back. In the next second he had the pistol trained on the woman exiting the elevator.

Kory and Roy fell into battle stance at their back.

"What the fuck is she doing here?" Red Hood snarled.

Dick laughed hysterically. His head was spinning, but he felt somewhat safe squished between the three Outlaws.

"Batman send her to be my back up."

"What. The. Fuck." Red Hood repeated.

"Jesus Christ," Luthor muttered under his nose. He so didn't sign up for this. Now he wasn't dealing with just a potentially homicidal Nightwing, but also with pissed off Red Hood ready to commit murder right this second. "Red Hood, I'm changing the deal."

The trio around Dick moved so Red Hood could train his second gun on Luthor without taking aim off from Catalina.

"Why I'm not surprised?" the Outlaw growled.

"I'll pay you ten million dollars if you take Nightwing on a vacation and I won't see neither hide nor hair of the two of you for at least three months. Right now."

"What?!" Dick blinked. He couldn't hear that right.

"Deal!" Red Hood put his guns away and turned to Nightwing.

"WHAT?" Dick protested. "No! Hood, what are you- Put me down!"

"Pleasure doing business with you, Luthor," Red Hood called over Dick's objections as he carried him out, Arsenal and Starfire following.

Lex poured himself an entire glass of scotch and drained it in one go.

"Damn Bats," he sighed.