Jay answers the door before his second knock lands.
He moves to let Dick through. "I figured I'd see you soon."
Dick waits until the door clicks shut before rounding on him. "Jay, what are you thinking?!"
Jay raises an eyebrow. "I'm thinking it's time I start doing what's right. Whether you like it or not."
"You're restarting the Justice Society," Dick accuses, clicking on the news where the breaking announcement scrolls along the bottom. "Now?! With this as your goal?! Jay, why?!"
"Well, it's more a policy group than anything" Jay corrects, smiling slightly. "You certainly won't see these legs trying to pull off spandex anymore. As for why, it's like you said, Dick. Heroes never quit, not when there's someone who needs saving. The new JSA is about promoting safety for the important things: kids like you."
"Well, you're not helping me with this," Dick yells. "Are you kidding me?! The news said that the Justice Society's new goal was the prevention of teen heroes! Do you know how much backlash the Titans already got before all this?"
"Then maybe it's time you listen," Jay reaches his hands out to land on Dick's shoulders. "Dick, I tried to go about this the easier way. I tried to convince you to stop this on your own. You're the one who refused. But, Dick, I'm a hero, too. I can't keep standing back while there's something wrong happening. And no, I can't exactly punch and run my way out of problems anymore, but I can still get people to see that children fighting their battles is wrong all on it's own."
Dick shakes him off. "It'll never work, Jay. You don't even have a back-up option to the Titans. Even if people do believe we shouldn't fight, when it comes down to it, they're still going to care more about being safe."
"Maybe," Jay agrees. "But then again, I still think there's a number out there that put doing what's right over even their own safety. After all, that same logic's why both of us put on costumes, isn't it?"
"Jay," Dick says through gritted teeth. "Don't start this. Please."
"Sorry, kiddo," Jay says and seems to mean it. "The longer you do this, the more all of you are going to get hurt. I can't let that happen anymore."
Dick's wrist pings at the same time the news lets out another alert.
"Breaking News: Titans hero Troia was injured following a battle with the Scarlet Horde. Going to the footage now."
The picture flickers before showing a clip of Donna, securing a red hooded figure, before turning and looking to someone right off screen. The sound of a shot fires and then Donna's on the ground, blood clear from a wound in her shoulder.
Jay turns to Dick. "You see. All that's going to happen is you kids getting hurt."
ooooooo
He makes it exactly two rushed steps into the Tower infirmary before an arm wraps around him and he finds his head pulled into dark black hair.
"Dick, it's fine. I'm fine. Everyone's okay and no one is going to die. It's safe."
And all the stress of the past day falls out of his body like it forgot how to even hold it up.
His arms come around Donna, pulling her in closer while careful not to jar the injury.
"You're not fine," he mutters into her shoulder. "You were shot. That is very much not fine. That is un-fine is what it is. Dis-fine."
Donna laughs. "You're a nerd and that last one didn't even makes sense. It was a through and through bullet wound to the arm. Jade already bandaged me up and, with my healing, it should be fine in a week. I doubt it'll even scar."
"It was still a gunshot," he says, coming back so he can see that she really is okay. Not dead from a bullet wound. Not lying broken on the ground. Not gone in an explosion or-
"I'm fine," Donna repeats, wrapping her good hand around his and maneuvering him down to sit next to her on the med bed.
He breathes, offering up a wane smile that she returns full force. She lets him sit there for just a few moments, focusing only on getting his heart beat under control.
"There's something else I need to tell you," Donna says, tone almost apologetic. "It's about Kory. She froze a few seconds before I got shot."
"I thought the fight was already over by the time you were shot. Why would she freeze?"
"I don't know."
Dick's head slumps back against her, closing his eyes. "I've got something for you, too. Jay's reforming the Justice Society. New mission: stop the Titans. Not sure if there's any goal except that, actually."
Her hand comes up to run through his hair. "What an asshole."
"He thinks he's doing what's best for us."
"What a morally righteous asshole."
Dick smiles. "I don't even know what the reformation plan is supposed to be for former teen heroes? Force us into college prep classes? Get us to work as camp counselors? What do normal teens even do anyway?"
"I don't know. Sounds terrible, glad we're definitely not doing that."
"...I'm glad you're okay."
"Thanks." Donna grins, hopping off the med bed and pulling him up. "Now, come on, we're having a surprise Titan's game night. Slightly injured person's prerogative."
Dick lets her pull him. "Anything but Monopoly."
"Killjoy."
ooooooo
"That's weird," Barbara says the moment he finishes telling her about Kory. "That's really weird."
Dick shrugs, leaning back against the billboard they're perched on. "Maybe it's some kind of delayed trauma? A reaction to falling adrenaline?"
"Only on that battle," she asks. "And how does this one relate to the earlier time with Toymaster? She's been fine on missions between then, right?"
"Exactly. She was completely okay during the covert operation with Omen and I down in Bialya and with the recon work in Nairobi with Cheshire. Both of which were arguably more dangerous than either Toymaster or the Scarlet Horde. I don't get the connection."
"Weird," she repeats and Dick nods. A pause and then, "You don't think she knew the shot was coming, do you?"
He shakes his head immediately. "No, based on the angle, the gunman was way too far away for Starfire to see. If the reaction was to the gunshot, then she would've had to known beforehand and that would mean…." Dick stops and shakes his head again. "She didn't know."
Barbara regards him steadily. "Okay. I trust you."
"Thanks," he says even as something turns uneasily in his gut.
A flash of orange catches in his peripheral and Dick jumps to his feet, only managing to disguise it as a stretch at the last second.
"I'm going to do a final run of the Diamond District? Catch you back at the cave?"
She nods, getting to her feet. "Alright, don't stay out too much longer. You deserve a break, Boy Wonder."
"Crime never breaks, Batgirl," he intones just to see her eye roll before he launches off the billboard, laughing.
The laughter fades by the time he's made it a block over, landing carefully on the shadowed roof, hidden away between two highrises.
"I thought you said I had time," Dick asks the darkness.
A chuckle answers back. "I did. That was just a warning shot, kid."
"A warning shot? Five inches to the right and it would've gone through her heart!"
"I don't miss," Slade Wilson says, emerging from the shadows with his mask already off. "And I told you, I don't like killing kids."
Dick scoffs. "Please, I've looked up your record. More than a few of your jobs had a civilian death toll. You don't care about getting blood on your hands."
"The civilians I killed were at least old enough to vote," Slade says, circling closer like an animal stalking his prey. "And the Titans are far from what anyone would call civilians. Not too late for them to go back to it, though. Disband them, let them have normal lives, and I can help you, too."
"Why would you care about helping me?"
"Funny thing, I guess," Slade's close enough that if he strikes, Dick will have to work to evade, "I just really hate to see wasted potential."
Dick tilts his head up to meet the mercenary's eye. "And is that what you think I am? Wasted potential?"
"Not yet," Slade's voice is soft, almost in a purr. "But, think about it like this. You've only had formal training since you were what? Thirteen maybe? It's been nearly three years since you last trained with anyone more experienced. Sure, you've done a pretty good job learning from your teammates, adapting to their skill sets, but how much more can you really improve from that? How long until you go against someone more dangerous than your friends, than even Batman, could ever hope to be? How long until you go against someone like me?"
Dick doesn't say anything, just glares back at the mercenary like he's something poisonous.
Slade smirks. "The thing about holding up the weight of the world, kid, is it makes it really easy for guys like me to come and push you down. And in a place like this, if you're not fighting to improve, you're basically falling already."
With that, Slade moves back, pulling his mask on and heading back to the darkness.
"Catch you later, kid."
ooooooo
The next week Roy and Jade's apartment blows up. Their civilian identities' apartment.
Jade catches his arm the second he walks into the ER waiting room and all but shoves him into a medical supply closet.
"Roy? Is he okay? Is he-"
"He's in surgery," Jade cuts him off. "Surface damage to his torso and arm, a broken rib, head injury, and a piece of shrapnel embedded in his right thigh that they're trying to remove now." She pauses. "He'll live. The shrapnel wasn't anywhere close to an artery and the doctors said the head injury was minor. He'll have at least a month of recovery but he'll recover."
He sits hard on the floor, leaning his head back on a shelf.
"What happened?"
"The explosives went off while I coming back from patrol. When I got there, I found him under the rubble and…" Jade shakes her head and her voice goes cold, an operative relaying facts. "I made sure he was stable, called in medical treatment, and did a preliminary analysis of the explosion before they arrived. Explosives were worked into the bricks of the walls-small, controlled, easy to get on the black market but impressive when used in bulk. Damage was almost exclusively to our apartment with no other resident injured, confirming a targeted attack."
He nods, trying to breathe. "...okay….okay, I'm glad you're alright. Have you already told the team?"
"Not yet." She looks down at him with dark, sharp eyes. "Well, are you going to say it or should I?"
"Say what," he asks even though he knows. He knows.
"There's a traitor," she says bluntly. "It was a targeted attack on our civilian identities. The only ones who know our identities are the team and the trainees."
Dick scrubs a hand over his face. "Your identities could have been compromised in other ways."
"Possible but highly unlikely. The explosives couldn't have been there for more than a week. A week ago, Donna was injured and Roy and I took off our masks while treating her. The trainees saw us. The timeline alone can't be coincidental."
"A lot of weird things can be coincidence. It's why it's called coincidence."
"You don't believe that." Jade accuses and there's something mean in her voice now, a hint of the assassin she used to be. "You're not thinking straight. You hate the idea so much that one of your precious teammates could betray their own team."
"Your teammates, too," he remarks sharply. "Remember?"
And Jade sighs, some of the fight going out of her as she sinks to the floor beside him.
"You're my Titans are my teammates," she corrects. "The trainees aren't. Not yet."
Dick accepts the correction and the two fall into silence.
"Dick," she starts again softly and he looks up because Jade is never soft. "The Titans aren't Young Justice. We're not innocents learning in the shadow of someone bigger. We're not some small covert team able to call back to the League when things get dangerous. We're a threat and when people come for us, they'll come to kill. There's no League to call for reinforcements."
"I know that." His nails dig in where he's gripping his arm. "Do you really think I don't know that? That I haven't always known that?"
Jade shakes her head. "You do, but I think you forget that we know it, too. It's not your burden to protect the Titans, we have to learn that on our own. It's your job to lead us. And not all threats come wearing masks and pointing a gun."
"...we still don't know it's a trainee yet."
"You don't believe there's a traitor because you refuse to believe anyone could imagine hurting their own team," Jade says, back to her usual quasi-comforting bluntness. "Especially after what happened to Young Justice."
"I'll consider the facts, Jade," Dick returns instead of denying. "...and if there's evidence of a traitor, I'll find them."
"Do that," she says, not entirely unkind, "before someone else nearly dies."
ooooooo
Dick dodges back a few seconds before he's impaled.
He follows through with a kick to the ribs but his attacker knocks the foot away before it can land.
A flip over the attacker's shoulder and then another dodge as the attacker swings in a wide arch, the metal almost connecting with Dick's knees and knocking him down.
He lands in a handstand, quickly springing from it to get out of range, but the attacker follows through just as quick.
After that, it's just the sound of metal against metal as his escrimas block against each blow, trying and failing to find any holes in the defense.
His arms are tired. He's tired. But he's not just going to give up not when-
The next hit forces his arm to fall back and one of the escrimas is knocked out of his hands, leaving him momentarily defenseless.
A sharp metal points lands on his neck, stopping just short of drawing blood.
"I yield."
Mera backs away, the trident withdrawn from his throat to be hit against the marble floor with a resounding clink.
"Good match." Dick says. "Really good match. Not that I ever expected anything different, Your Majesty."
"Flatterer," Mera accuses with a laugh, hanging the training trident back on the wall and retrieving her more ornate one. "You'll have to tell that to my guards. Half of them still refuse to spare with me out of some warped sense of propriety. Ha! As if Atlantean leaders aren't as much warriors as we are statesmen."
"They're probably just trying to avoid the bruises," Dick puts a hand on his ribs where he already feels a bruise of his own forming.
She rolls her eyes, healing him with an absent wave of her hand. Dick really needs to badger Garth into learning more of those tricks. If he can manage to pull him away from Tara long enough...
Mera regards him steadily. "You're distracted."
"Sorry," Dick says, walking to the edge of the training room to poke at the interwoven magic lattice keeps the water from rushing in and crushing him. "Long week. Well, weeks really.I take it Garth told you what happened."
"With your teammates being attacked, the mercenary after you, or the reformed Justice Society?"
"Um, all of the above, I suppose."
"Perhaps, I may lend an ear," she offers.
Dick smiles. "I don't want to burden you, Queen Mera."
Mera snorts. "Dealing with my so-called advisers burdens me. Finding a proper nursemaid for my son is a burden to me. Convincing my guards to leave me alone for combat practice is a burden. Yet all of these I face because the outcome is worth it." She looks to him. "You are not a burden. You are an ally, aiding each other is our privilege."
Well, when she says it like that, Dick can't really politely refuse, now can he?
"I'm honored." He inclines his head in a small bow of gratitude. Then, he pauses, wondering where to start.
"I think there's a traitor on the team," he admits finally. "...and I'm not sure what I should do. I'm not sure what I can do."
"Do you have any proof yet?"
Dick shakes his head. "Just suspicions. You know it's kind of funny-I mean not in the ha-ha kind of way but just….I don't know, back in-in Young Justice, Kaldur thought we had a traitor once and he didn't tell us. We were so mad at him when we found out but now," he shrugs, "hard to believe there was any better choice."
"Kaldur'ahm was always wise beyond his years," Mera admits quietly.
"Yeah, he was." And the thing that always rests in the back of Dick's chest aches almost pleasantly for once. He rubs it absently while his smile fades. "He always seemed to know just what to do."
He sighs. "Cheshire thinks I'm blinding myself to traitor on the team because of how Young Justice died and I'm not sure she's wrong."
She hums. "Maybe….but I don't think she's completely right either."
"What do you think?"
"I don't think it's quite so simple." Mera pauses before turning to him. "You know I never heard how you became leader of the Titans? When you first approached me, the decision had already been made even if you weren't yet calling yourselves a team."
Dick shrugs. "It's not that much of a story, really. Troia and Red Arrow asked me to do it because I was the most experienced."
"Did you want to do it?"
"I…" he hesitates, fighting back a flush that feels suspiciously like shame. "No, not after...I, ah, refused, actually. But...they told me I was the best option, so…." He trails off and restarts. "I love the team, though. Even if I didn't want to be their leader originally, I don't...it's not like I regret doing it or anything."
"And what about now? Now, if given the choice, do you want to be leader."
Dick stops.
"I love the team," he repeats, simply. "I'd do….I'd do anything for them. I just…."
He laughs quietly and abruptly, the sound scraping and jarring in his throat. Because he was Robin long before he was Nightwing. And when you're scared and you're Robin, you laugh. You laugh until you're not scared anymore.
And maybe there's something still to that because right now, he's still scared….but he manages to say it anyway.
"...I'm not sure I'm what's best for the team anymore."
He waits.
A sigh echoes through the room. It's not a disappointed one though and that's how Dick still manages to keep his head up. It's more like...understanding
"That's the part they never tell you about decisions made out of necessity," Mera says, soft like she's speaking to herself more than Dick. "They make it so, so harder to believe they're the right ones."
She shakes the thought away. "Your team is being clearly targeted for the first time since its founding-not only by the mercenary but also by a possible traitor threatening your trust and this new Justice Society placing you under constant scrutiny. Based on that, it is not only understandable, but reasonable to be afraid," She pauses. "However, your fear seems to not solely be centered on the dangers facing your team but on your ability to lead them through it.
She stops then, turning the trident in her hands almost absently, as she considers her next words. Finally, she looks up.
"If you want my opinion, I believe you've always made an extraordinary leader-far beyond what I ever expected when you washed up half-drowned in my throne room. However," Mera inclines her head, a strange echo of Dick's earlier bow, "I also believe that we've come to a time where the choice to continue as leader must be your own. Not made out of necessity, not because others tell you it's the best option, but because you yourself want to lead. If not, you'll never truly believe it."
A quiet once again rings through the air, neither fraught nor quite at ease.
Dick doesn't know what to say so, doesn't know what she wants him to say, so for once, he just sticks with what's safe. "Thank you for your advice, Your Majesty."
"Of course." Mera nods. "Either choice, you have earned my respect. Just remember the existence of fear is not in itself the mark of a bad leader. But, a leader must not only share his people's fears, he must be the one to prove that they can face them."
ooooooo
After all that happened in the past week, Dick half-expects the Tower to be so thick with tension, it's almost tangible.
Instead, he walks in and it's just….strange. Like something's wrong and he can't put a finger on it.
Vic and Tara are sparring in the center of the room, the later letting out a wild laugh as she dodges a swipe of Vic's arm. One their sides, Donna and Garth are shouting advice. Lilith and Zatanna have taken the other side of the room, making complicated hand movements around a set of weights that Dick can't look at too long before he gets dizzy. Stretched out beside them with a tablet, Raquel's taken monitor duty.
Only, Kory seems to be the outlier-hovering in the air by the trapeze ropes just far enough away from the others to seem awkward...if her discomfited expression hadn't already given it away.
He almost calls to her before Tara notices him.
"Nightwing!" The slightly older girl disengages from Cyborg and rushes at him, eagerly. "You just got back from the hospital, yeah? How's Red Arrow? How's Cheshire? Are they going to release him, yet? He's coming to visit soon, right? Tell him he has to because-"
Dick grins, holding up his hands to fend her back. "Red Arrow's fine, just loopy from the pain meds. Cheshire's staying with him. The doctors said he'll be released tomorrow and yes, I did tell him to stop by when he feels up to it."
"He better," Tara says, holding up a high-five for Lilith, who returns it while smiling shyly.
Questions satisfied, Tara begins pulling a lightly-protesting Vic back to the sparring mats with Lilith right behind them.
The rest of the Titans move to stand by Dick at the wall.
"I'm glad Roy's alright," Raquel remarks quietly and Dick nods.
Garth gestures up to where Kory is still flying alone. "She doesn't look very happy about it."
"Oh, leave her alone," Donna says, bumping him with her good shoulder. "We all handle things in our own way."
"Is kind of weird she didn't at least come down to hear the news, though," Raquel admits.
And there it is-the tension he'd been expecting-not absent, just kept hidden from the trainees.
The Titans knew there was a traitor.
"Lilith says…" Zatanna hesitates. "We've been working on Lilith's latent mood sensing-she doesn't have the full force of mind reading yet but at least this will give her a basic impression."
"What are her basic impressions," Garth asks.
Zatanna bites her lip. "She says Tara's happy pretty much constantly, Vic mostly feels relieved, and Kory….that Kory feels guilty."
A thick silence falls so deep that he can hear Tara's kick land from across the room.
"What does she have to feel guilty about," he asks because someone has to.
Zatanna shakes her head. "I don't know. Like I said, it isn't mind reading."
Dick sighs. "I'll go talk to her."
No one argues and luckily, Kory is still by the trapeze equipment so all it takes is a small climb and a simple jump to reach her….and if he throws in a few not strictly necessary spins and a flip before landing in a handstand on the swinging bar beside her….well, Dick's always been a performer at heart.
She gives him a small smile. "See, it is flying."
"Just not quite the same," he says, dropping down to sit on the bar. "I need to talk to you."
"I know." Kory turns idly in the air, a trail of light following behind her. "It's the team, is it not? They do not trust me. You have come to ask me to leave."
"No." Dick's hand shoots out to grab her shoulder before she can get any further and she looks up in surprise. "We-I don't want you to leave, Kory. It's just….it's not that the team doesn't trust you. It's that we don't know you."
"What more is there to know," she asks much too quickly. "I am only what I appear to be."
"Kory….I think we both know that's not true."
Kory's hand tightens around his in a death grip. "Nightwing….I….I can't."
And that's when the Tower explodes.
A loud rumble shakes the tower and that's the only warning they get before large parts of the walls break apart, crashing to the ground.
"ROCKET!" Dick yells. "FORM A BARRIER NOW! EVERYONE TO HER!"
A bright blue green lights up the room and Dick has just enough time to see everyone is within the perimeter before-
"I can help, too!"
"TARA! NO!" Garth shouts at the same time as Raquel's "NOT INSIDE THE BARRIER!"
But Tara is already pulling up a wall of solid granite, breaking the edge of Raquel's perimeter.
"TARA! WATCH OUT!"
One of the smaller pieces of rubble flies towards Tara, knocking her to the ground, not moving.
"NIGTHWING!"
The ceiling securing the trapeze gives out and Dick….
Dick falls.
Almost in slow motion, Dick can see the bar he was hanging from suspended above him, surrounded by falling debris, and there's nothing to grab onto. Nothing to stop his fall, nothing steady enough to shoot a grapple to, nothing even to slow it down. He's falling.
And then, arms wrap around him and there's warmth and light and…
"Kory," Dick breathes.
"Hold on, Nightwing," she whispers back. "Just, please, please hold on."
Pieces of the building are falling around them and there's no way there going to be able to make it to Raquel's perimeter before the building collapses on top of them. Maybe if Kory was alone, she'd be fast enough but…
"Just hold on," she repeats and they make it to the ground. Kory has her hands up and…
Fire.
No, light.
Burning white hot light coming from her hands, much brighter and hotter than Dick had even contemplated she could manage. The crashing metal is melting around them faster than it can hit, falling in a circle around them before it can get close to touching either of them.
It can't be more than five minutes and the tower has completely collapsed around them, leaving only an eerie silence in its wake.
Kory collapses to her knees the moment the last piece falls, light leaving her hands.
"Kory!" Dick is right beside her, a hand to her cheek and she blinks up at him, smiling tiredly.
"I am fine, Nightwing. We both are."
"NIGHTWING!? STARFIRE?!" Zatanna's voice echoes through the thick clouds of dust.
"Here," Dick calls back. "We're alright!"
"Raelc eht tsud morf eht ria!"
The dirt in the air vanishes and Dick can see Zatanna and Donna standing in the distance.
"Merciful Hera," Donna shouts, running and wrapping her arms around him and she must really be shaken if she's pulling out the Amazonian praises. She turns to Kory, still held in Dick's arms. "Are you alright?"
Kory nods, pushing herself up with only a bit of struggle. "I am fine."
"The team!" Dick's already on his feet, heading in the direction Donna and Zatanna came.
It only takes a few more steps but then he can see them and finally allows himself to breathe. Raquel's dropped her barrier and she's standing beside Vic, looking in as Garth and Lilith crowd around the still form of Tara.
Lilith's eyes are closed while her hands are pressed to Tara's temples.
Finally, Lilith's eyes fly open. "She's alright. No damage, just knocked unconscious. She should be awake soon."
Almost as soon as the words leave her mouth, Tara groans.
"Tara!" Garth's hands land on her shoulders, trying to keep her steady. "Just rest for a bit. Okay, beautiful? You took a hit."
"Yeah?" Tara cracks an eye open. "That why it feels like I got hit by a semi-truck?"
Garth laughs, holding up a hand until it glows with a very basic form of Atlantean healing. "Better?"
"Much better." Tara pushes up, kissing him on his cheek. "Thanks to my big strong Atlantean!"
They're staring at each other in a way that pretty much makes everyone around them look quickly in a different direction, Dick included.
He looks at the Tower. What's left of the Tower that is. Only a few of the building blocks and then….just nothing. Only chunks of metal and glass spread out on the ground like...well, like an explosion.
"Nightwing!"
He follows Zatanna's gaze, looking down at the rubble.
Black explosion marks. The same that were used in Roy and Jade's apartment, only this time on a massive scale. Placed into the very walls of the building.
Dick closes his eyes very, very briefly. It's still too long.
It's still long enough for Garth to break away from Tara to see what they're all staring at.
"You! You did this!" Garth yells, pointing at Kory with a tone's still more surprised hurt but coming quickly on anger. "It had to be you! Only the trainees and the Titans have access to the Tower!"
"I….it wasn't me. I promise." But even Kory doesn't seem surprised at being accused. Just resigned.
"Garth, back off," Dick steps in between them. "We still don't know what happened."
"Bullshit!" Garth yells, loud and big as a hurricane in the way the calm Atlantean only rarely gets. "Come on, Di-Nightwing! We know it has to be someone. It's her! She probably did Roy and Chesh's apartment, too! She nearly killed Roy! She hurt Tara! She destroyed the Tower. She just almost tried to kill all of us!"
"Garth-" Donna tries but is quickly interrupted
"What was that thing you did with the light," Raquel demands, looking at Kory. "The thing with your hands?! That was much more than you ever showed at training! Why didn't you tell us?"
Kory is paling at every word, stepping back in retreat until she's finally against the few pieces of remaining foundation.
"I….," Kory whispers. "I can't tell you. I'm so sorry."
And then she's gone, bursting off of the rubble and into the sky fast enough that it's like a shooting star against the night.
"Was that…." Zatanna swallows, tracing the last of the light in the sky. "Was that a confession?"
"That's not what she said," Dick points out and the excuse sounds weak even to his own ears.
Garth groans, hands in fists at his side. "She said she was sorry and then flew off. What else do you take that for?"
Dick can't answer and Garth's eyes narrow.
"Seriously," he asks between clenched teeth. "She just nearly killed us and you're still not even admitting it."
Dick meets his eyes, sees the team watching cautiously at the sides, and he…
He goes with his instinct.
"I'm going after her," he tells them. "Either...either way, we need to find her and I've got the best chance of getting her to talk."
"Fine, fine, Nightwing!" Garth angrily scrubs a hand through his hair. "Give her one more chance if that's what it'll take to convince you! But the team's done giving her chances. So, whenever you come to your senses, come and find us at….at wherever we can fucking find since the Tower's gone!"
"The lighthouse," Tara says softly, coming to grab Garth's hand. "Remember that lighthouse we found, Garth? It's perfect!"
Garth looks down at her, untensing just enough for a small sigh. "Yeah...we'll be at the lighthouse."
Dick nods and then….
The team leaves.
Each one giving him worried or outright concerned glances as they go and Donna looking a step away from dragging him with them but, in the end, Dick still finds himself alone.
And he's standing in the wreckage of what used to be the Tower and feeling more lost than he has in three years.
If this was the choice Mera wanted him to make, Dick hopes he made the right one.
It doesn't feel like it.
ooooooo
All said, it actually doesn't take much to find Kory. A few minutes with the satellite and one more of just plain old detective guesswork and he finds her, sitting on the tallest building in Jump City.
She doesn't look up when he lands next to her.
"You should not have come after me, Nightwing."
"You didn't go very far." He sits down beside her. "In my experience, people trying to run away go a bit further than the neighboring city"
Kory doesn't respond.
"Almost like you don't want to run away."
"Regardless of my wishes, I can no longer stay here." She sighs. "You should not even want me to stay."
"That depends," Dick says, slowly. "Did you blow up the Tower?"
Kory jerks up, finally turning to him. "I….No!."
"What about Roy and Jade's apartment?"
"No!"
"Did you know Donna was going to be shot?"
"Of course not!" She huffs. "But, I do not take you for a fool, Nightwing. I do not expect you to merely take me at my word."
"I'm trying," Dick admits. "I trust you, Kory. I don't have a reason for it, I just do. It's an instinct. But, for the team, I'm going to need more than just my instinct. I'm going to need the truth. All of it. I need to know what happened to Tamaran. What you've been doing since then. How you know how to fight. Why you didn't tell us how strong your powers really are."
Kory folds into herself, looking miserable. "I cannot give you the truth, Nightwing."
"You can," he disagrees. "You're scared. I understand what it's like to hide who you are," Dick takes a breath and makes a really, really stupid decision. "But someone once told me that it's more than just understanding the truth, it's almost proving we can face it, so…."
He takes off his mask.
Kory's eyes widen.
"You can call me Dick Grayson."
"What...what are you doing," Kory whispers, a hand raised almost to touch his face before she lets it fall. "If I was the traitor, I could use this to kill you! Why are you risking this?"
Dick smiles as if his heart isn't beating a mile a minute. "I trust you. I told you I'd always be there for you but...Kory, you gotta help me out a little, too. Trust me...please."
She's still staring at him, eyes getting brighter as tears slowly start rolling down. She closes her eyes, her head falling on Dick's shoulder as her next words come out in an almost inaudible puff of air.
"Tamaran was not destroyed," she whispers and the sentence sounds dragged from her. "It was I who was forced to leave it."
Dick's hands come up, wrapping around her shoulders. "Why?"
"I lied to you," she says, face still hidden. "My full title is Koriand'r, daughter of Queen Luand'r and King Myand'r, second princess of Tamaran."
"You're a princess?"
"Not for many years." Kory takes in a ragged breath. "I was trained to rule my people, sent away to be trained in combat, but my people were already in a century long war with our enemies of the Citadel. My father...he had no choice, our planet was on the brink of destruction, he traded me away to ensure peace."
His arms wrapped around her tighter. "Kory…"
"It was my duty for my people. An honorable sacrifice."
"You shouldn't have had to make it."
She leans back, a slight twist to her lips that could've been mistaken for a smile. "Should anyone?"
"How did you escape," Dick asks in lieu of an answer.
Kory takes another breath, bracing herself. "After six years, the Citadel grew tired of me and I was traded to the scientists of Psions. My sister...I did not know, but in my absence my older sister Komand'r had allied with the Citadel and attempted a coup against my newly crowned brother. She lost, betrayed by her supposed allies and was imprisoned alongside me with the Psions. They….they experimented on us." Kory looks down, her hand glowing with the same intense white light as earlier. "They gave me my strength...and my sister hers."
There's something dark behind Kory's eyes and Dick touches her arm, gaining her attention. "What happened next?"
The light in Kory's hand extinguishes and it folds into a fist. "A faction of my sister's former allies attacked the ship to save her. I thought….I didn't know about the attempted coup so I thought they had come to save me, too, but then….She attacked me. My own sister attacked me." Her expression darkens. "I made it to an escape pod and tried to make it as far away as I could. I fled for nearly a year while my sister used her new powers to take the throne of Tamaran and declare herself Queen." Kory closes her eyes. "I didn't try to stop her, didn't try to help my brother or my people. I couldn't...I just ran and I ran and I ran until my ship broke and I finally ended up here."
"That's why you wanted to join the Titans," Dick says, "because we could protect you."
She shakes her head. "No one can protect me. Not from Komand'r. She's too...she too strong, so much stronger than me. But...but you said you were protectors and I...I'm so tired of running. I thought that if I couldn't help my own people. At least, I could help yours here."
Kory turns away. "...But I haven't. I've been so scared. Scared of using my true powers. Scared of one of my sister's forces picking up your Earth broadcasts and recognizing me. I wanted so much to be part of the Titans when I am not even brave enough to show you who I really am….it is no wonder they believe I placed those bombs," Kory pauses, frowning, "though I am still unsure how I could…"
Dick freezes.
"Not that I would even want to," Kory adds quickly.
"No, that's not…" He frowns. "How could you? How could anyone….because the bombs were in the wall and that would take….that would take drilling and reconstructing and...and that's even if they were able to cover it up without anyone noticing. To do it in a week would be….that should be...impossible….unless…"
"...Nightwing?"
Dick thinks of the training room right before the bombs went off. Thinks of the wall. Perfect, seamless, not even a mark.
"Dick?"
"I'm an idiot," he says flatly and then he's pulling up his wrist computer and typing in commands almost as fast as he can think. "...Crap, crap, I've been such an idiot. Batman would….well, nevermind. I was so caught up trying to figure out how it wasn't you and with Deathstroke and then the stupid Justice Society and….and wondering what I'm doing wrong that I didn't look at the obvious. I'm a freaking detective, how did I…."
"Dick," Kory says cautiously. "What are you talking about?"
"You're not the traitor but someone still is," he tells her. "And you're right. Putting the bombs inside the stone walls that the Tower uses should be nearly impossible. Definitely without being noticed. Unless…."
He shows her the screen and Kory pales.
"...unless your power's manipulating stone," Dick finishes.
The smile of Tara Markov shined down on the them from the blue screen projection.
Dick minimizes the screen, already aiming his grapple in the direction of the nearest zeta beam. "Garth said they were going to the lighthouse. She suggested they go! It's a trap, it has to be!"
"Dick, what are you going to do?"
"I don't know, but I'm pretty good at thinking on the fly."
He shoots a line and gets ready to jump.
"Wait!" Kory grabs his hand. "I'm coming with you!"
ooooooo
Weeks ago, when Garth mentioned Tara finding an abandoned lighthouse off the coast of Hatton Corners that would work great to hide a zeta, Dick really didn't think much of it beyond marking it down.
Now, he's thinking about it. Small, isolated, far away from any existing zetas, and a small town the only thing for miles. Not to mention, surrounded by stone cliffs perfect for an earth manipulator.
When Dick makes it, he walks in alone.
"You're here!" Tara calls from where she's sitting with Garth. "Finally! Isn't this place great?"
She's smiling, big and wide and looking completely sincere, and….Jade was always right about fake smiles. They were just looking at the wrong person.
Donna picks up on the tension first. "Nightwing? You okay? Did you talk to Kory?"
"Yeah, I did," Dick doesn't take his eyes off Tara. "More important, I found out how the explosions were planted."
Garth frowns. "How'd she do it?"
"Pretty easily." Dick cocks his head. "Hey, Tara, how long have you had your powers?"
Tara laughs. "What are you talking about, you dork? All my life, duh! I was born with them."
"But you weren't, were you?" Dick pulls up a file on his wrist computer. "Tara Markov, daughter of combat specialist Viktor Markov, no reported powers or anything even slightly noteworthy all through childhood...well, unless you count the discipline warnings and a handful of unfollowed psychiatric recommendations."
"Nightwing, where are you going with this," Garth says, low and warning, standing in between him and a still smiling Tara.
"See, that's what I found when I looked into you," he continues. "So, imagine my surprise when I looked at what Batgirl found on H.I.V.E." Another file pulls up, this time of an older man. "Apparently, you're dad wasn't just a combat specialist, was he? He was a H.I.V.E mercenary….until he got on the wrong side of one of their elite-Frederick DeLamb, right?"
"Oh, Freddy!" Tara sighs. "What a frickin' pretentious blowhard!"
Garth stiffens. "...Tara?"
"I know H.I.V.E gave you your powers, Tara," Dick states. "But, how could you ever follow them after they killed your father?"
There's a moment of complete silence that's only broken by a wild laugh.
"Ah, so, who would have thought?" Tara grins, pushing a stunned Garth out of the way. "Nightwing still doesn't have it quite right! H.I.V.E didn't kill my father. I did. For H.I.V.E. Superpowers don't come cheap, you know? I had to bring something in to convince them!"
Around the room, everything goes utterly still.
"You're...you're psychotic," Dick mutters in realization..
"That's what the shrinks say!" Tara shrugs, unconcerned. "But, hey, that's better than you! You're dead!"
And then her hand slams into the ground and a stone spikes flies directly at Dick.
Dick didn't need the warning, already vaulting to avoid the spike and pulling a stunned Lilith out of the way.
"But...but, I don't understand," Lilith shouts. "You were always so happy!"
Tara laughs again. "Why wouldn't I be happy? I get to kill the Titans! Do you know how many people I had to kill for this chance?"
She spreads her arms, and two walls of stone-so, so much more than anything she'd shone before-rise from the ground and nearly take out Vic and Zatanna.
"Not to mention the opportunities," she continues, another wall coming up to easily block Dick's batarang and Donna's lasso. "I mean, for a mercenary, Dad was always so boring, ya know? H.I.V.E gave me a chance to work with real professionals. Isn't that right, partner?"
A shot rings out, coming inches away from hitting Raquel, and Dick looks up to see Deathstroke coming out of the shadows and onto the railing a few floors up.
Crap, time to change plans...
"Don't worry about him, though," Tara confides. "I get to be the real threat today. He promised! He's just here to catch any I miss." She winks and another boulder flies at Donna. "And I don't plan to miss."
Dick hits a button on his wrist.
"...Tara," Garth says, still the closest to her and the only one yet to be attacked. "...what are you doing? Why?"
"Sorry, babe, nothing personal" Tara frowns, looking almost apologetic for a half a second before it's gone. "….Huh, though, I guess that's kind of the problem, isn't it?"
Then, two stone walls are coming from either side to pulverize Garth, faster than anyone can get there.
"Now!" Dick shouts.
There's a blast of white light and the walls crumple apart to rubble before they can hit, two figures standing in the dust.
Standing beside Garth, Kory's hands glow white.
"You are not the only one with hidden depths." Kory advances on Tara. "But, I could never be like you."
Tara smirks. "Fine, just one more to kill."
Another shot rings out, this time at Kory, but Dick is already in the air, high above, with his foot slamming into the rifle barrel. The shot goes wide.
Dick doesn't pause, grabbing onto the railing and swinging around into another kick until the riffle is knocked to the ground below.
He dodges as a large arm almost hits him off the ledge.
"Time's up, kid." Deathstroke swing his sword off his back. "Gotta make a choice."
Dick brings up his arms, escrima sticks held steady. "I've made my choice."
Deathstroke's sword swings down at his neck and Dick flips up, using the railing to catch himself and aim a kick at Deathstroke's knees. He sidesteps and Dick has to pull up quick to block a split second before he's disemboweled.
Below them, there's the sound of high pitched laughter clashing with the tremble of earthquakes.
"Are you sure about that?" Deathstroke doesn't even sound winded as he follows through with a vicious swipe that cuts through the metal railing. "That girl down there, she's...not exactly screwed on right."
"Amazingly enough, I figured that out for myself, thanks." Dick grits his teeth, twisting out of the way not quite fast enough to avoid a slice to his shoulder.
"She's going to kill your team," Deathstroke continues, batting away Dick's escrima. "Painfully and viciously until you're the only one left. And the longer you're up here fighting me, the faster it's going to happen. What kind of leader abandons his team like that?"
"I'm not abandoning them!" Dick flips over Deathstroke's shoulder, landing on the other side only to get knocked further when Deathstroke's foot slams into his chest.
"Aren't you?" His sword comes down and Dick blocks with his escrima, having to use both hands to keep the sword suspended barely a foot from his head. Deathstroke presses down. "You certainly aren't down there fighting with them. How long do you think they can last? Without even their leader down there to protect them?...But, that doesn't mean you can't still keep them alive right here."
The sword is grinding into the metal of his escrima, a horrible scraping noise as the sword moves closer by inches.
"Last chance, kid," Deathstroke bares down on him until Dick's forced to his knees. "Terra's still young. Impressionable. She'll listen to me if I order her to back down. All you have to do is join me and disband the Titans.."
A shout sounds from below but neither Dick nor Deathstroke dare to look down to see who it was.
Dick makes a choice
"No."
Deathstroke sighs. "Pity and I thought heroes were all about protecting they're friends."
"They're more than my friends." He holds the escrima stick steady. "They're my team. They can protect themselves; it's my job to lead them." He smirks. "And, trust me, they can kick Terra's ass just fine!"
And then Dick kicks out at a rusted pole railing, already weakened by the sword, and the entire section goes falling.
With all the instinct of a trapeze artist, Dick catches himself and flips back into a crouch on the remaining railing.
Deathstroke isn't so lucky. He hits the railing bellow hard and his extra weight makes the entire structure creak ominously, forcing him to grab onto the metal to steady himself until he can figure out how to balance without bringing the whole structure down
But if there's one thing Dick's got over Deathstroke, it's balance.
Dick lands perfectly on the railing beside him, swiping out with his leg and kicking away the sword before Deathstroke can get a grip on it. He follows quickly with a kick to the gut that Deathstroke can't deflect without loosing his precarious footing.
"Ruthless," Deathstroke says and he almost sounds proud. "But, I don't need the sword and the gun to beat you."
"I think you have other priorities." Dick points down.
Below, Tara's laughter has faded off to incoherent snarls as her boulders are blown apart by the combined force of Vic's arm cannons and Kory's starbolts. The pieces they miss hit off of Raquel's shields or are tossed aside by Zatanna's spells.
"STAY STILL!" Tara shouts, just as another wall of stone is blown apart.
Her hands raise, ready to slam into the ground again, just as she's pulled roughly off her feet.
"Yeah? You first," Donna spits out, tightening the lasso around Tara until she can barely move.
Dick turns back to Deathstroke. "Even if you beat me, can you beat all of them without your sword or your gun….or your partner?"
Deathstroke pauses, looking down at the team in consideration.
Dick waits, tense and ready to move at the slightest shift.
Eventually, Deathstroke laughs. "You still vastly underestimate my skill, kid, if you think I can't still beat your team." He pauses. "...but not without risks. And you don't survive in this game as long as I have without learning which risks to take." Deathstroke regards him steadily. "Well played, kid….for now."
With that, the mercenary turns down, regarding is partner with a profound level of dissatisfaction that's obvious even through the mask. He turns to Donna. "We're leaving. If you don't mind removing that lasso from my partner, before I'm forced to remove your arm from your shoulder."
Donna turns to Dick, waiting for the order, when Tara lets out a wordless shriek.
"YOU...YOU COWARD!" Tara pulls at the rope around her. "YOU WORTHLESS TRAITOR! YOU TOLD ME I COULD HAVE THIS! YOU TOLD ME I COULD KILL THE TITANS!"
"Patience, kid. We need to regroup."
"NO!" She yells and Dick sees it a moment before it happens.
"TROIA! PULL HER UP!"
Tara's back hits the ground, her hands coming in contact with the dirt, and a wall knocks Donna away from the rope.
"You're trying to stop me," Tara mutters, pushing the ropes away and standing. "I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL DESTROY YOU! I'LL DESTROY ALL OF YOU!"
And then her hands hit the ground and the lighthouse starts shaking.
"She's bringing the building down!" yells Lilith.
"TERRA, STOP!" Deathstroke orders but Tara isn't listening, laughing to herself as parts of the lighthouse start to crumble around them.
Dick looks to Deathstroke, and just for a second masked eyes meet a single blue.
Deathstroke sighs. "What did I tell you, kid? I hate wasted potential."
And then, he's gone, disappearing back in the shadows as the walls start to fall around them.
Dick doesn't have time to go after him, already swinging down to the others.
"Kory fly Lilith out of here," he orders. "Vic, Zatanna, you two behind them! Raquel, cover everyone as they go!"
Kory lifts Lilith into her arms. "What about you?"
"I'm get Garth," he says before turning to Donna. "Go through-"
"TARA!" Garth shouts. "STOP! YOU'RE GOING TO BRING IT DOWN ON TOP OF YOU!"
Tara's only response is a laugh as the tremors of the building double.
"Get out now," Dick yells at Donna, already running to where Garth is trying to reach Tara.
"Tara, please, stop," Garth begs.
Tara sneers and another wall flies forward, almost hitting Garth before Dick tackles him out of the way.
Around them, the lighthouse is tearing itself apart.
He grabs Garth's shoulders. "Garth, we have to get out!"
"Dick, I…" Garth says, still partially in shock. "I don't understand, Dick. We have to save her!"
Dick swallows, looking back to where chunks of stone are falling around a still laughing Tara. "Garth….we can't."
And that's when the light on top of the tower finally comes crashing down, bringing the rest of the tower along with it.
"Garth, we need to get out! We need-"
Something heavy and sharp hits Dick in the back of the head and everything goes dark.
ooooooo
Dick wakes up in a medical room that doesn't quite feel familiar with Donna at his side.
Her lip quirks up. "Hey, Sleeping Beauty, new rule: no more falling buildings for at least a year. Titans order."
"Where are we?" His throat is dry, scratchy.
Donna sighs. "The old Young Justice cave….sorry, we couldn't think of anywhere else to go."
He blinks, the not-quite-familiar feeling setting in his stomach to be replaced by mild unease. "How long was I out?"
"Just a few hours," she reassures him. "You inhaled a lot of the dust though before Garth got you out."
"Garth? Is he-"
Dick starts to sit up before she pushes him down.
"He's fine...physically." She sighs and Dick notices the other bed in the corner, curtains pulled tight.
"Tara didn't make it out," Donna tells him quietly. "Garth...he got you both to the water where he could protect against the largest damage but...there was nothing left, Dick. Just rubble."
He looks down, not quite knowing what to feel.
Tara had betrayed them, tried to kill them and only killed herself in the process. Logically, there was no reason at all Dick should feel anything like grief at her death.
But, still, she was one of them….Almost.
Grief doesn't have to be rational.
"Garth has barely said a word since he pulled you out of the water," Donna says.
"Let me talk to him."
"Dick, you just woke up."
"Donna," Dick meets her eyes. "I need to see him."
Donna sighs again, but nods, moving to help Dick out of the bed and across the room-which is great considering Dick feels like a giant bruise.
She pulls back the curtain and Dick sees Garth….just sitting on top of the still made bed, obviously awake with legs pulled up around him, but not even acknowledging them past a brief glance before his gaze fall back to the sheets.
Donna carefully helps Dick into the visitor's chair before quietly slipping out of the med bay, leaving the two in heavy silence.
Dick's kind of used to silences, even heavy ones, but that still doesn't make it any less unpleasant.
He waits maybe ten minutes until it becomes obvious Garth's not even planning on looking at him.
"I'm sorry about Tara. I wish...I wish we could have saved her."
Garth jerks. "Why? Why when she….Why?"
"Because she was one of us," Dick says simply.
Garth laughs, bitter and broken. "But she wasn't, was she? Not really. She was just using me-using us so that she could kill us later. She never wanted to be a Titan."
"Just because she never wanted to be, doesn't mean we didn't consider her one."
There's a noise almost like a sob.
Dick moves down to catch his eyes. "It's okay to mourn her, Garth."
Garth buries his face in his hands. "...I'm so sorry, Dick. I was so...I was so stupid! I thought it was Kory-I accused Kory-and thought you were just being blind because you have a crush on her but….but it was just. It was me and the team nearly died….I'm so sorry, Dick."
"Garth, you couldn't have known," Dick says quickly. "None of us knew. She was a professional, she knew us, none of us ever ever thought that-"
"Just leave, Dick." Garth sighs. "Just….just please for now, I need to be alone."
Dick hesitates, watching him, before pushing himself to his feet, ignoring the aches. "...Garth, when you need us, you know the team is here."
Garth nods, but he's looking down at the sheets again and a bit of the blankness is back in his eyes.
And...there's nothing Dick can do. Nothing he can say. He can't bring Tara back. He doesn't have the words that'll make her betrayal go away, he doesn't even have ones that'll have it make sense. There's only one thing more that Dick can give him.
And that's time.
Dick retreats to the med bay doors, the slowness only partly due to his arches.
The second before he leaves, the doors slide open and one of the last people Dick expects to see walks in.
"Garth?"
Garth looks up, eyes wide. "...Tula?"
Their eyes meet and then Tula's coming to his side as if drawn by a magnet.
"Tula," Garth draws in a breath. "You're here? On the surface?"
Tula's hand closes around his.
"I'm here."
ooooooo
It's….uncomfortable being at the Young Justice cave again. Except for a few runs to scavenge old equipment, Dick hasn't been back since the invasion. It's not like he's been avoiding it exactly, there's just never been much reason for him to come here. And now that he is here-now that he doesn't have the excuse of the Tower to run away to-there's too many memories that Dick finds himself pressed beneath the weight of them.
He's not quite uncomfortable enough to go back to the med bay with Garth and Tula still there but running into Kory is more of a relief than he wants to admit.
"Hey." He sits with her at the mountain's back entrance.
She turns to him. "This place….this was the home of your old team, yes?"
"...yeah."
"It seems nice."
"It was," he admits and they both lapse into silence.
Kory breaks it first. "I told the team. About Tamaran, about the Psions, my sister. Everything."
"Why," Dick asks, surprised.
"They deserved to know," she states. "If I wish for their trust, I must give them my own first. And...and I have come to a decision."
He waits.
"I want to stay with the Titans," Kory says, voice firm. "If you all will have me, I want to fight by your side."
"What about your sister? Kory, I'm not going to lie to you, if you stay with the Titans, there's a very real chance she could find you."
Kory's eyes blaze with fire, almost literally. "Let Komand'r come. I am done running. I am done denying myself a life out of fear of my sister." She pauses and the fire doesn't go out exactly but it softens, turning into something bright if no less intense. "The Titans….for the first time in a long time, I feel at home here. I refuse to give that up."
She smiles. "You know there is an old Tamaran proverb that love must always be answered with love. That is my people's way. I thought I had forgotten but….I think I only needed a reminder."
Dick's throat feels tight as Kory turns to him.
"I want to stay here, Dick. With the Titans. With you."
She's looking at him, head tilted slightly, and Dick...Dick finds himself leaning in closer until almost all he can see is the glowing green of her eyes, the warmth of her face, the fire in her hair...Dick feels like he's on the edge of the precipice and he's leaning in about to jump when….
He leans back, his heart beating wildly in his chest.
"Glad to have you."
Kory blinks, looking momentarily confused, before smiling at him.
And Dick...he can't. Not here, not at this mountain with the memories just under the surface. Not now when he still has a team he needs to talk to. He's not...ready. Not now. Not here. Not yet.
He can't kiss her. But, for a second, he really wants to.
ooooooo
With a combination of Atlantean and Amazonian technology plus some additional funding by Wayne Tech, the Tower is rebuild in just over a month.
The first day the Tower is re-opened, there's a ceremony open to the public.
Not a memorial. An induction ceremony.
Starfire, Cyborg, and Omen are officially declared new members of the Titans.
Dick's grinning, clapping with the rest of the Titans, as the new three wave and answer questions for reporters.
Somewhere in the massive crowd that's gathered is a group that's not cheering. That's sitting, quiet and reserved, holding protest posters with Stop the Titans. Keep Kids Safe and Children Are Not Soldiers.
The New Justice Society of America.
For a second, Dick's eyes land on Jay Garrick, a sign in his hands and the same steadiness in his face that made him a hero for decades before.
Jay nods at him and Dick turns away.
Some problems aren't as easy as to be solved by punches and kicks.
Garth stands at Dick's side, still quiet and hurting but standing just the same. Dick doesn't have to look to know Tula's hidden somewhere in the audience, there to support him as she has been for the past month. They're not back together-frankly, Dick would be worried if they were this soon-but Tula's decided to stay on the surface more and Garth is slowly getting better. It's more than Dick can hope for.
After the ceremony's over and the last reporter has finally been sent away, Roy catches his arm as Dick heads to the team's after party.
Dick grins. "Hey, Jade told me you're cleared for missions again."
"Yeah, finally," Roy huffs. "My leg was barely even injured."
Dick has learned that, unless you're Roy, it is generally a bad idea to disagree with Jade's medical advice so instead he just says, "Nice to have you back."
Roy gives him a look. "You seem….less tense."
"Yeah, going a month or so without anything blowing up will do that for me."
That earns him an eye roll. "Less tense than you were before things started blowing up."
Dick looks up at him and this time, he doesn't pretend to misunderstand.
"I made a choice," he admits. "One I probably should have made a long time ago."
Roy nods. He doesn't ask what the choice was and Dick doesn't have to tell him.
A handful of companionable seconds pass before Roy rolls his shoulders and changes the subject as if drawing another arrow.
"So, H.I.V.E?"
Dick smirks, "Babs just cracked their finances last week. All of H.I.V.E's considerable and illegally acquired fortune has now been donated to save the bees from colony collapse disorder."
Roy chokes on a laugh. "You're a geek, who loves puns too much."
"Guilty." He shrugs.
"I take it without the funds, we won't have to worry about Deathstroke anymore either."
"His contract's been cancelled," Dick confirms and decides not to mention the note that was left on his favorite rooftop a few nights ago. See you soon, kid.
He frowns though, hesitating only slightly before pulling up a file on his wrist and showing it to Roy. "Barbara did find something else, though."
"H.I.V.E's mysterious backer?" Roy leans over, reading the file before frowning. "Dick, I've never heard of these guys before."
Dick sighs. "That's the problem. I don't think anyone has."
Five months ago, H.I.V.E received a single transfer in the form of five billion dollars. No bank listed in the transfer. No account numbers. Just two words.
The Light.
ooooo
A/N: Thanks for reading! Year 3 is now complete. Year 4 is next along with another important character that I'm very excited about. Also, since this chapter was the last one I had partially pre-written, the next chapter will take longer than a week to be posted (probably 2-3). Reviews always appreciated!
Coming Up Next: Year 4: Littlewing