Dick's head hurt. His back hurt. It hurt to breath. But none of that mattered when he came to in time to watch Deathstroke slide his sword into Reyna's flesh.

"Noooo!" He tried to yell to get Deathstroke's attention, but it came out much weaker than he expected.

Then, to his horror, he watched as Reyna quickly cut off Deathstroke hand and then continued to behead him. Deathstroke's body crumpled to the ground, and so did Reyna. Dick managed to pull himself up and make his way over to her. Her eyes were unfocused and her skin was much paler than it should be. She was fading fast.

"Reyna, look at me! Look at me!" He called out to her. Her eyes focused on him for just a moment before they closed completely. Blood trickled from the side of her mouth.

Dick fought the panic that was rising. Instinct took over as he began unbuckling her armor. Once her armor was off, he pressed her purple cape against her wound. He felt for her pulse, and was relieved to discover that she still had one, even if it was weak. Then he remembered the medicine that was stashed in her satchel. He quickly opened it up to find the water bottle. He opened it and poured a little of the golden liquid over her wound. He didn't see any change to the wound or to her. He rolled her over and poured some more nectar over the back of the wound. He pulled out the Ziploc bag full of golden squares that looked like lemon bars. He remembered how he wasn't supposed to touch it, and carefully opened her mouth and placed a square in her mouth, keeping his hand on the plastic. Nothing happened at first, but he was relieved to see her starting to move her mouth a little bit as she chewed and swallowed it. He still couldn't see any changes. He worried about moving her, but knew she couldn't stay here.

He secured her wound to the best of his ability with her purple cape, strapped her armor to his back, and using the computer on his arm, called for the plane to park closer. He carefully picked her up, which hurt a lot more than it normally would have. He guessed that he definitely had some cracked ribs if not broken. He pushed past the pain as he lifted her limp body in his arms and began the long trek out of the building.

Twenty minutes later, with several periods of resting, he was able to get her secure in a bunk on the plane. He hooked her up to an IV, and checked the wound again. The bleeding had stopped, which Dick took as a good sign. He finally sat at the pilot's seat. "Emergency protocol's," He breathed. "Back to San Francisco base."

"Emergency protocol's." A femine voice spoke calmly. The back hatch closed, the engine started, and the plane rose in the air and took off at an accelerated rate.

Dick tried to even out his breathing so it wouldn't hurt as much, but his thoughts wouldn't let him. Something was off about the whole encounter. It wasn't just that Deathstroke was there, instead of monsters, or that they had gotten out barely with their lives. What bothered him was the fact that Reyna had actually killed a mortal. She had expressed such finality that they didn't kill mortals. It was one thing that he trusted when it came to their missions. He handled the mortals and she took care of the monsters. He found himself questioning Reyna. Something he hadn't even thought about for some time. He had come to trust her explicitly. Something he had only been able to do with a handful of people in his life. Then there was the fact that he had failed to protect her. He hadn't seen her this close to death since she fought the giant. The thought scared him more than anything, which didn't help him control his breathing.

"Nightwing! Come in!" The intercom to the plane startled him. It was Batman's voice. Dick groaned He had forgotten that when you activate emergency protocols, the Justice League is notified. Dick wanted to ignore it, but knew he couldn't.

"Nightwing here." He tried to sound strong, even though it hurt to breath.

"Nightwing, what's going on?" It was hard to tell if that was worry or anger in Batman's voice.

"Just got my ass handed to me by Deathstroke, no biggy. I'm fine." He tried to sound confident.

"Deathstroke?! Where?"

"An old Cadamus lab in Arizona."

"What were you doing there?"

"Just following a lead."

"Into an old Cadmus lab? Sounds like a trap."

"It was. I'm pissing someone off."

"This about those kidnappings?"

Dick glanced back at Reyna as he said, "Yeah."

"I've got some information about that. the van's Vin number gets scratched and changed every time they're used. But I found out who's supplying them. Now we just need to follow the trail to who they're supplying them to."

"What are you thinking? A night raid?" Nightwing shifted trying to get comfortable.

"No need. The CEO is going to be at a charity ball next week. All we have to do is bug their phone. Any other electronics they come in contact with, we'll have access to."

"Sounds like you've got it covered."

"Not quite. She likes younger men."

The implication hit Dick like a ton of bricks. As if he wasn't having a hard enough time breathing. "No."

"What?"

"I can't."

"I thought it was your favorite part?"

"Not . . .". He started to say not anymore but stopped. Since when did he not like keeping another woman's attention. It usually lead to other things. He was so confused, and his aching head didn't help matters "I'll think about it." He finally relented.

"We can't stop the kidnappings, if we don't know who is behind them. Regardless,this is getting serious. You need to bring us in on this. I'm turning your ship around. I'll see you in Gotham."

"NO!" Panic seized him as he looked back at Reyna's still form. He could just see Batman's reaction to seeibg Reyna, complete with his detective skills going into overtime. Batman had his hands full enough with all the villains of Gotham, he didn't want Batman exposed to a world of literal monsters. "I, I, I just need a little bit more time."

"Nightwing." Batman's voice was deep and commanding, but was that also concern?

"Just not now."

"We are stronger together."

"I know." Nightwing stared at Reyna as he spoke.

"I want to see you." He said with emphasis.

Dick sighed, "Okay. Give me a week."

"One week." Batman agreed, but he was clearly not happy about it. The comms went dead and Dick knew he had just dodged a bullet. How much longer he could keep avoiding Batman was in question.

The plane landed a bit rougher than he liked. He forced his aching body up and checked Reyna's vitals. "They were getting stronger, which was promising, but she was still weak. Luckily the bunk converted into a stretcher. He rolled her out of the plane and over to a table they had been using for research. He unwrapped her purple cape from around her waist, revealing the wound. The bleeding had stopped, but it was still gaping open. He pulled out her water bottle again and poured a little more of the golden liquid into the wound. He cut off her purple shirt, fully exposing the wound. He cleaned up the blood from her body as best he could and placed clean gauze on the front and back of her wound and wrapped a clean cloth around it. Satisfied with his work, he moved her to the only bed in the place.

He took some pain pills and wrapped his own ribs, which hurt more than when Alfred or Bruce did it. He lay on the bed next to Reyna's still form. It wasn't exactly comfortable, but he hoped the pain medicine kicked in soon.He stared at her for a moment.She looked so fragile, which was so different from the feirce warrior he was used to seeing. Why had she killed? It seemed she still held some mystery. Just when he thought he had her figured out, a whole different puzzle would come to light, leaving him restless until he had it solved.

He made sure that she was covered and checked that the IV was still going. He was no surgeon, and he was uncertain of what else he could do to help her. For the first time in his life, he prayed to the gods as he fell into a restless sleep.