DC Comics Presents: Killing Roy Harper
Chapter 8: Nightwing and the Huntress
By: Christopher W. Blaine
e-mail: darth_yoshi@yahoo.com
DISCLAIMER: Nightwing™, Huntress™ and all other related characters and situations found in this story are ©2002 by DC Comics Inc. and are used without permission for fan-related, non-profit entertainment purposes only. This original work of fiction is ©2002 by Christopher W. Blaine and may not be reproduced in part or as a whole without the express permission of the author.
"So, you're from Krypton…like Superman and Power Girl," the Huntress asked, speaking from behind the closed bathroom door.
Nightwing, who was removing his costume in the privacy now afforded by the empty hotel room answered back. "I'm not sure who Power Girl is, but I gather in your reality she was your version of Supergirl. In response, the answer is yes, I have the same powers they do under a yellow sun."
There was the sound of a crossbow falling to the floor. "Damn sinks are too small in here!" She paused for a moment and Nightwing's enhanced hearing could detect her picking up the fallen weapon. He could have used his X-ray vision to see through the door, but that wouldn't have been very friendly. Still, he had to admit he was more than slightly attracted to her. "My father, the Batman, told me that Superman and Power Girl were the only survivors of Krypton."
"Maybe in your reality, but I strongly suspect not. On Earth-1, the name attributed to where I existed, the city of Kandor was shrunk and stolen by Brainiac prior to the planet Krypton exploding. Years later, Superman rescued us and put the city in his Fortress of Solitude." He reached for the slacks that had been laid out for him the Huntress. The fashion was beyond him, but she understood what was in style and so he trusted her judgment. He had just finished zipping them up when the door opened.
"Oh…my, what big muscles you have," she said, staring at his chest. "Do all you guys from Krypton get so big?" She was dressed in a shirt of some light material and khaki shorts, complete with hiking boots. He found himself staring as well as he made a poor attempt to reach for his shirt without looking. It was difficult not to think about his wife, but he knew that she was not coming back. The Crisis had taken her away and now he was the sole survivor of his world.
She blushed as she realized they were staring at each other, she turned away. "So, you live in a bottle?" she asked as she went back into the bathroom to get something to tie back her dark hair.
"Yes; there I am a scientist by trade, but I am also one of the only two super-heroes. My partner is…was named Flamebird." He finished buttoning the shirt and sat down on the bed to put on his socks and shoes.
"I can't imagine what it must be like for a bunch of supermen battling it out in a shrunken city," she said as she exited the bathroom.
"Kandor is kept under a red sun projector so that none of us have any super- powers. We wish to live as if we were still on Krypton." He realized he was speaking of the city in the present tense. In his mind, he scolded himself for the error. Kandor was gone.
"I grew up surrounded by super-heroes," she said as she examined her sunglasses. "My father retired from the whole thing early on to go into real law enforcement. My mother was the Catwoman." She saw that he had no idea who that was. "A reformed thief. I became the Huntress to carry on my father's legacy."
"Forgive my ignorance, but wasn't Robin supposed to do that? I only mention it because the Earth-1 Nightwing of the Teen Titans was of particular interest to me."
"I remember dying in the Crisis," she began, her eyes looking out towards nothing, glazed over in the beginnings of tears that would never quite flow. "We held each other at the moment of our death, Dick and I. He had kept the Robin identity all of those years because he could never bring himself to try and replace my father." She caught herself and blinked away the tears.
Completely dressed, Nightwing stood up and looked at himself in the mirror. He was surprised how closely he looked like Clark Kent, the secret identity of his cousin Superman. Or, at least, the Superman of Earth-1. The Superman of this world was that man and was not. There were several similarities, but one major difference: Nightwing was far more powerful. This Superman was powered-down compared to him and that was what gave him a distinct advantage. "By the way, I think calling me Nightwing is sort of ridiculous. My name is Van."
She smiled warmly. "I'm Helena, Helena Wayne. So, Van, now that we're dressed, what do we do?"
He thought about it for a moment. "I think we should eat first; for some reason I feel like I haven't eaten in decades."
"Are you asking me out on a date, Van?" she asked with a sinful glare. There was more than humor to it; she was serious and he could tell as he listened to her heartbeat change. It was no wonder; they had been revived from the depths of nothingness and given life through a freak accident. The scientist part of him wondered if the human instinct to procreate was overwhelming them. It was possible since they knew in their heart of hearts they could die at any time, the need to continue the race was starting to effect their best intentions. "Excuse me, did I say something wrong?"
Van shook his head. "Sorry, just considering some possibilities. Are you hungry?"
"Speedy is from your Earth, isn't he?" Van asked as he cut into his second steak. Helena simply nodded her head and smiled as he gorged himself on meat. She picked at her non-dairy salad as she answered.
"He was. I met him only briefly as he wasn't part of the Justice Society that I joined. He was active mostly in the 1940's until he and the rest of the Seven Soldiers of Victory were lost in time. When he and Green Arrow were returned to the present, they were not very active." She took a sip of her diet iced tea. She liked the menus of this new Earth at least, if not the make-up. She had consulted a tourist map of Gotham City in the cab ride over. It was similar to her Gotham City, but also very foreign.
Neighborhoods she had prowled as the Huntress were not there or switched around or worse, so changed that they might as well have been the plains of Mars. Wayne Manor was in the same place, but she dared not even consider going there. She had heard that this Batman and Robin were nothing more than killers under the control of the Time-Guardian. "I understand he was quite a marksman."
Van reached for his wine. "Maybe, maybe not. I heard that Extant observed his skill and found it lacking compared to the real Roy Harper." He took a drink, savoring the flavor. It wasn't Kryptonian fair, but it was palatable. "Regardless, we have to figure out how we're going to find the Psycho-Pirate."
She looked around the room and saw that nobody was looking their way. The Joker had ended up getting killed along with Barry Allen when the Clown Prince began to ask about the Psycho-Pirate. "What is so special about him?" she asked as she returned to meal.
Van swallowed another chunk of raw meat. "The Psycho-Pirate, according to Kid Flash, allied himself with the Anti-Monitor during the Crisis and was allowed to exist outside the destruction. Because of that, he is the only person living in the prime reality that knew what the universe had been like before…completely. That made him the Time-Guardian's blueprint for the universe."
"I get it," she said with sudden realization. "He's the only one who can tell him exactly what the universe was like, so he would know exactly what to change."
"That's the theory. The prime reality was made up of a few of the remaining pre-Crisis universes, but the Time-Guardian, for all of his power, really only understood the Earth-2 universe. The Psycho-Pirate knows it all." Van finished his steak and looked over at a passing dessert cart. He decided to pass and turned his attention back to Helena. "By the way, you look stunning."
She looked down, embarrassed. "You're insane, you know that?"
"It's the yellow sun," he answered
The sun was still rising as the Helena and Van walked hand in hand in front of the headquarters of the Justice Society of America. They looked like nothing more than a couple of lovers enjoying the new morning, but they were busy observing every detail of the building as they pretended to be engrossed only with each other.
It took all of their discipline to keep from getting too involved in the act, for it was natural for emotions to run rampant when giving and receiving kisses from someone you were attracted to. Neither was a professional actor, though Helena had spent several more years than Van hiding her secret identity from the world. "I see a couple of members on the inside," Van said as he scanned the building with his X-ray vision. "It looks like the Flash, Batman, Robin and Speedy with the Atom on monitor duty."
Helena put her head on his shoulder and whispered. There was no need to speak up since Van could hear her literally from the moon if he wanted. "No sign of any of the heavy hitters?"
He smiled and gave her a peck on the cheek as they moved past the front of the building. The old brick mansion had been the meeting place of the Justice Society of America for decades and Helena felt a slight pang as she looked upon it. It reminded her so much of her own JSA. "I suppose that Speedy would be a heavy hitter, but if you're referring to Green Lantern or Superman, then the answer is no." He turned his head to the west and checked the goings-on in Metropolis. "Clark Kent is just getting up…well, it seems he's been busy." He explained that there was a toss of red hair in the bed of Superman and that it should have been fellow news reporter Lana Lang.
"Where's Lois Lane?" Helena asked as they turned a corner and headed off away from the headquarters.
"I don't know; to be honest, I wouldn't be surprised to find out she did a little snooping and found out the truth. Speedy might have killed her as well." He checked around them again to ensure they were not being followed and then guided them towards a diner that was just opening.
After they had ordered breakfast, they began to talk in hushed tones. "I hope the flight from Gotham to New York wasn't too bumpy," he said. In order to keep a low profile, he had flown them barely above ground level, skimming the surface of the Earth.
"It gave me time to think," she replied. "It's obvious that Speedy…the Time- Guardian…had used his powers to make everyone forget the Psycho-Pirate, except those he needs to keep an eye on him."
Van waited until the waitress had deposited their plates on the table and withdrawn before speaking. The smell of ham and eggs made his mouth water. "The Psycho-Pirate's ability to control emotions makes him especially difficult to keep a hold of. His powers are blocked by the golden Medusa Mask that he wears."
Helena stirred a single sugar into her coffee. "Do you think the Time- Guardian is affected by his powers?"
Van's eggs were a little undercooked and he focused a small amount of heat vision on them. "Yes, actually. The Anti-Monitor saw the incredible potential of the Psycho-Pirate and used him as an effective weapon. Like all of us, one of the Time-Guardian's weaknesses is his emotions."
"Okay, so what next?"
He thought about it for a moment as he finished eating. "Did you notice the heroes I said were in the headquarters? Those are the ones that he has the most control over, with the exception of Wonder Girl."
"Maybe the Legion of Doom is watching the Pirate," Helena offered. She nibbled on her toast and look out the window. If this Batman and Robin was anything like her father and "uncle Dick", then she was taking no chances. She did not like being this paranoid.
"Perhaps, but I'm sure that those heroes, and I use the term loosely, are also involved somehow, most likely the Batman since he would have the greatest emotional control." He saw that merely mentioning the name was enough to cause pangs of grief in Helena.
"Then I suppose we should go change into costume," she said solemnly.
The Batmobile roared down Interstate 64, the Caped Crusader at the wheel, his young partner napping in the passenger seat. His eyes were fixated on the road, glazed over as if he were drugged. It wasn't narcotics that were putting him in his stupor, his movements becoming more and more stiff as the days went on; it was instead the blue lightning burning through the synapses of his brain, eating away at that which made him who he was.
Deep in the darkest part of his mind, he knew he was being controlled and that his physical body was being used like a puppet on a string. He wanted to stop the madness, but there was no way to do it. He was under the spell of the Time-Guardian.
Robin woke up and yawned. "Are we almost there, Batman?" The teen was suffering from none of the effects that were torturing the Batman. It was almost as if he was enjoying going against the grain.
"We'll be there soon," Batman answered.
High above them Nightwing flew with the Huntress. She was wrapped in his cape to protect her from wind friction. He was picking up the entire conversation and relaying it to her.
Farther up in the stratosphere, a strikingly beautiful woman in a form- fitting costume followed behind the couple. Shyla recognized the Kryptonian as a relation of Superman; the family resemblance was too obvious. The woman on the other hand she did not recognize. It was by chance that she had been flying this way to commit an arranged crime that she spotted them.
When the Time-Guardian had resurrected her from obscurity in the cosmic toilet the Crisis had placed her in, she was more than thankful. She decided to dedicate her life to Roy Harper, eventually becoming his lover. They had a bond in that they both knew what it was like to watch the world go by. He had been a disembodied spirit for decades, she had been sentenced to imprisonment in the Phantom Zone.
Still, there was something missing from her life and when she had sat down to think about it, she realized that it was a proper Kryptonian mate. Despite her power and despite the Time-Guardian's omniscience, they were not even close to being compatible.
She had considered pursuing the Man of Steel, Superman himself, but had eventually given up on it. The hold that the Time-Guardian had on him was precarious at best and required a constant stream of good things to flow into the life of Kal-El. Any intteruption of that steady outpouring of happiness would alert Superman to what was really going on. After all, it really was all smoke and mirrors, a reality that was held in place by magic and abstract science. Shyla was quite sure that given the opportunity, Superman would be able to thwart the mechanisms that the Time-Guardian had in place.
Of course, neither she or her lover could allow that to happen.
Were Superman to wake up and shake off the Time-Guardian's influence, an influence that was based upon willpower and concentration, then it would require the death of Superman.
The building located halfway between Knoxville and the Kentucky border was non-descript and obviously older than any of the inhabitants. The Batmobile was safely hidden underneath a tarp with several deadly booby-traps set by a grinning Robin. The Batman had paused as he wanted to do something, but then the thought went away and he slowly walked into the building.
The Red Tornado, a reserve member of the Justice Society, opened the door to allow the Dynamic Duo entry. Inside, the Psycho-Pirate was clad in a straight-jacket and Medusa Mask in the corner. "Time is on my side," the villain sang, doing a very bad impression of a popular 60's singer.
"He is continuing to sing that song over and over," the android said, his purple cape swirling as he shut the door. "I believe his programming is flawed."
Robin pushed past both the Tornado and Batman and walked over to the Pirate. The villain ignored the teenager and went on singing his song. "Hey!" Robin said as he kicked the man. "Pay attention to me!"
"Wassat?" the Psycho-Pirate asked, stirred from his one-person rock concert. "I'm sorry, but I can't see you."
Robin punched him the shoulder, causing the Pirate to rock slightly. If the strike affected him, it did not show as he started singing his song again. Bored already, Robin stormed over to a small table with a pizza box and soda pop on it. "Any girlie magazines?" he asked.
"Son, you know that Speedy doesn't allow that sort of thing," Batman scolded. It felt unnatural to speak in this manner, and the Batman trembled slightly, his own mind fighting the effort to subvert his will.
Robin shrugged and sat in a chair, grabbing a comic book at the same time. "Speedy said that we are to turn the Pirate over to the Legion of Doom later tonight," the Red Tornado said to the Batman. "It appears that the Master Jailer has finished the appropriate confinement necessary for holding the Psycho-Pirate."
Batman nodded. "Let's hope the exchange occurs soon before there is a slip- up and Superman or Green Lantern finds out." It was a valid fear, but the Batman secretly hoped that they did. He was only now starting to understand how he was being manipulated, how he was living a life that was and at the same time was not his.
After the death of his original partner, something had changed in Batman. It was as if a wet blanket had been lifted from him, so great was his grief. Barry Allen had shared that pain with him and then, suddenly, everything changed. He felt completely out of it as his body obeyed commands he could not be sure he had given. Through it all, he could hear the voice of Speedy speaking soothing words to him.
A devilish situation that he had no certain way out of. He was a spectator to his own life and his fury was growing by the minute.
Salvation seemed to come immediately as something man-shaped crashed through the ceiling. Plaster, debris and smoke clouded whatever it was from the Batman's vision, but the Red Tornado was already on it, whirling towards the unseen attacker.
Batman turned to call to Robin to secure the Psycho-Pirate when something hit him in the thigh. He stumbled and saw a piece of wood sticking in the meat of his leg. Because of his sluggish movements, he had been too easy of a target.
The Red Tornado's twisters stirred up more flotsam as a hand reached out and grasped the android around the neck. "My X-ray vision reveals that you are an artificial creation," Nightwing said as he squeezed. Kryptonian muscle flexed and the Red Tornado's head flew away. "Very basic technology."
"Hey!" Robin screamed, followed by several select curse words. He threw a batarang at Nightwing, who caught it in mid-air.
"Run away, boy, this is no place for you," Nightwing told him as he crushed the weapon.
Robin spit and launched himself at Nightwing, who was taken aback slightly at the pure primal rage the teenager was exhibiting. Batman reached for his own batarang, but some other hand grabbed his. He turned to find himself looking eye to eye with a woman in short purple outfit and mask. "Selina?" he asked just before the Huntress flipped him.
Shyla observed everything from above and waited. Nightwing was a legendary super-hero of Krypton; if this were the real one, or even someone who had trained under him, then she was going to be outclassed. Her only hope was to surprise him if she wanted to defeat him. The only thing was that she did not know what she exactly wanted to do with him.
The Psycho-Pirate watched through the Medusa Mask as the battles raged. He could almost taste the emotions in the air and hungered to experience them. There was rage coming from Robin. There was confusion from Batman. There was sadness from the Huntress, or at least that was who he thought she was. The big, tall Superman clone was another thing all together. His emotions were all mixed up, a goulash of feelings.
The Psycho-Pirate wanted him.
He pulled at the straight jacket, pulling so hard that he dislocated his shoulder. The pain brought on a sensation of fear that was like a piece of chocolate cake after a big dinner and it gave him the strength to finally work his way free. He had watched this done on a movie once, but he never realized it would hurt so much.
The big fellow smacked Robin across the room, but the Teen Wonder miraculously got up. Finally free, the Pirate threw the straight jacket down and stood up. "Hey! I'm talking to you!" he cried at Robin as he pulled away his mask.
Robin turned to the Psycho-Pirate and met his unmasked gaze. Immediately, he felt the urge to begin crying. Caught in the emotional vise of the Psycho-Pirate, Robin fell to his knees sobbing, unable to control the overwhelming sadness that had washed over him. The Psycho-Pirate replaced his mask over his face and turned to see who else he could get the best of.
The Batman backed up, just able to block a roundhouse kick. He wanted to do a foot sweep, but his wound kept him from being able to do so, and so he reached for the smoke pellets in his utility belt. Again, the woman was able to guess his move and reached out to stop him.
His mind was burning and he was sweating badly. The pain in his leg did not compare to that which racked his soul. "Who are you?" he rasped. His lungs were burning and it dawned on him that the crossbow bolt had been drugged.
The Huntress had to choke back the tears as the Batman countered her strike with a backhanded slap. The sting was more from her breaking heart than from the brutal attack. When they had decided to raid the building, Nightwing had volunteered to go after the Batman, but the Huntress had said no. She knew that the only way to defeat him without killing him was through surprise and a manner he would not expect.
"A friend," she said as she now stepped back. Even drugged, he was an extremely dangerous man.
The Batman pushed off of the wall and made a half-hearted attempt to wrap his arm around the Huntress's neck. He was unconscious before he even made contact. She stepped back and allowed him to fall on his face. She ran her hands over the fallen hero's utility belt and found a pair of bat-cuffs in the exact same place her father had kept his.
She cuffed him and then looked to Nightwing, who was facing off with the Psycho-Pirate. The Kryptonian had his eyes closed and his face turned away, relying on his super-hearing to tell him where the villain was at. "Nightwing, be careful!" she called.
Shyla was about to make a decision when she noted an approaching van. Her X- ray vision and super-hearing verified the approach of the Master Jailer. Shyla decided it would be better to not be seen and turned to fly away.
She hesitated a moment and used her super-ventriloquism to send a warning.
"The Master Jailer is outside."
The Huntress looked around for the source of the mysterious voice, but saw no one besides Nightwing, the Psycho-Pirate and the crying Robin. "Nightwing, heavy-duty trouble coming from the outside!"
Nightwing took in a deep breath and blew the Pirate back into the wall, stunning him and turned to fly out to meet the Master Jailer before he could enter. The Jailer was stepping out of his van, scratching his head as he saw the column of smoke rising from the building. "What the hell…?"
Nightwing came crashing out of the building at lightning speed, barreling towards the Master Jailer. The criminal was fast to respond, as he was used to fighting Superman and Supergirl. He managed to throw out a small piece of clear plastic with a Superman "S" on it.
The plastic made contact with Nightwing and expanded to cover his entire body. The sudden attack startled Nightwing and he stopped his advance and stopped to hover. The Master Jailer laughed out loud and opened the side door to the van. Inside was a large rifle specially designed for use against Superman.
Nightwing tore through the plastic wrap and tossed it down to the ground. He saw the Master Jailer bring up the rifle and aim at him. The villain fired and a Kryptonite bullet went through the shoulder of the floating hero. Nightwing cried out loud and fell to the ground. The Jailer reached into his van again and pulled out a glowing green net.
"How many of you damn Kryp's are out there?" the Jailer asked as he heaved the net over the form of Nightwing. The Kryptonite radiation was weakening him second by second and he was losing blood from his wound.
The Huntress stepped out into the doorway, the Batman's batarang in her hand. Holding it, she remembered the first time she had held one. Her father had smiled at her and taught her the proper way to hold it, so that it always ended up where she wanted it. The batarang flew from her hand and struck the Master Jailer in the chest, knocking him back.
As the batarang returned to her hand, she was already lining up her next shot. The Master Jailer sat up and looked down at the gash in his costume. He looked back up in time to have the batarang hit him in the forehead.
Kid Flash watched as the Nightwing, flying with the Psycho-Pirate in one arm and the Huntress in the other, approached over the horizon. He was standing in the middle of Death Valley, chewing on a granola bar. While there was some urgency in their efforts, they did not appear to be in any hurry.
As they drew closer, he could see that Nightwing's arm was bandaged up and there was a distressed look on his face. By the time they landed just feet in front of him, he could tell right away that the hero was in great pain. "It's an allergic reaction to the Kryptonite. I would say it's from a Krypton not of the Earth-1 universe," he explained as he set the Psycho- Pirate down.
Kid Flash asked him if he would live and the Huntress said that they were sure he would, but he was out of action for the next few weeks. "The wound is pretty nasty as well," she commented as she and Kid Flash helped Nightwing sit on the ground.
Once Nightwing was secure, Kid Flash turned his attention to the Psycho- Pirate, who was unusually subdued. "Iyiyiyiyi don't know you, but you look like you could love me," the villain sang. Kid Flash noted that the Medusa Mask was secured with duct tape.
"He's not quite sane, is he?" Kid Flash asked.
Nightwing, though obviously winded, answered, his scientific mind unable to resist responding. "Actually, I think the problem is that his mind has been overloaded with too much information. He knows the history of time…imagine the faultless mind of Rao encased in the flawed matter of a human brain."
"Many worlds and many lives, got to send my alimony to five alternate wives!" The Psycho-Pirate's voice wouldn't be bad if he didn't try to hit notes far to high for him.
"What happened exactly?" Huntress explained the events that had occurred from the scooping of the Justice Society headquarters, to the tailing of Batman and there eventual confrontation with the Master Jailer. Kid Flash nodded. "Good, with the Pirate in our custody, the Time-Guardian will have to wing it whenever he comes across an anomaly. We suspect that he had to keep the Pirate because his barrier for keeping out the Crisis wave has small cracks in it. This causes changes he never counted on."
Nightwing nodded. "I surmise that he's being stretched to the limit of his abilities by now; without the Psycho-Pirate to give him an idea of the way things should be, we'll start to see physical representations of the Time- Guardian's madness."
The Huntress shook her head. "I don't understand."
Nightwing took a deep breath. "For example, we've pretty much figured out that while the Time-Guardian has created this universe by altering the Crisis Wave, he does not have absolute control. He can dictate actions, but not for every living being. He controlled Batman and Robin, but he has to constantly alter events to keep Superman, Green Lantern, and other powerhouses happy."
"It explains why he has a Legion of Doom," Huntress added, pulling back Nightwing's bandage. "He needs muscle to keep things in line if it ever hits the fan."
Kid Flash watched her for a moment and then went over to help the Psycho- Pirate up. "Anyway, he's going to have more to worry about if the Detective Chimp is able to find out where the machine making the barrier is at." He paused. "Didn't you mention that a disembodied voice told you about the Master Jailer?"
"It was female, that's all I know," the Huntress said. "Look, can we discuss this later? Van needs some rest before we can come back."
"Jay, come in," Speedy said, indicating a chair in front of his desk. Standing behind the chairman of the Justice Society was Jason Todd, now fully recovered from his attack of the blues. "You'll notice that Batman is not joining us."
The elder Flash nodded and sat down in the offered seat. "I heard about the death of the Red Tornado."
"Did you also hear that the Master Jailer encountered a Kryptonian and a female version of Batman as well?" Speedy seemed absolutely livid with anger, but he controlled it well. Jay Garrick had been the first person, even before Donna Troy, that he had put under his control. In the past few weeks, his control had grown to the point that he only had to use minimal effort. The Batman and Robin, his latest efforts, had been an entirely different story. He knew from the beginning that the Batman would be difficult to control should the need arise, and the Caped Crusader had proven him correct. In the end, he had to kill him, leaving poor Robin without a mentor. "Obviously, we have an enemy…a powerful enemy we hadn't counted on."
"I assume I'm here for a new assignment?" the Flash asked.
"Yes…you and Robin will be leaving the Society temporarily to upgrade security at Area Alpha. Once the Master Jailer is assured everything is okay, we'll proceed with a search and destroy mission to root out our enemies."
"Hell, yes!" Robin said. Speedy turned to him and gave him a look that indicated such speech would not be tolerated. The decision to use Jason Todd as a replacement for Dick Grayson as opposed to Timothy Drake had also been a risky decision. Todd had been more of a hothead, which had lead to his death, and that indicated a weak will. That weakness was what allowed Speedy to control him so easily, even more so than the Flash.
"Oh," Speedy added as he moved back to his chair behind the desk. When he sat down, he began to fiddle with his bow. "Later today, Oliver is going to hold a press conference where he will reveal that his ward, me, will be soon married to the charming Miss Donna Troy." He smiled, proud of himself. "I believe you should congratulate me."
Chapter 8: Nightwing and the Huntress
By: Christopher W. Blaine
e-mail: darth_yoshi@yahoo.com
DISCLAIMER: Nightwing™, Huntress™ and all other related characters and situations found in this story are ©2002 by DC Comics Inc. and are used without permission for fan-related, non-profit entertainment purposes only. This original work of fiction is ©2002 by Christopher W. Blaine and may not be reproduced in part or as a whole without the express permission of the author.
"So, you're from Krypton…like Superman and Power Girl," the Huntress asked, speaking from behind the closed bathroom door.
Nightwing, who was removing his costume in the privacy now afforded by the empty hotel room answered back. "I'm not sure who Power Girl is, but I gather in your reality she was your version of Supergirl. In response, the answer is yes, I have the same powers they do under a yellow sun."
There was the sound of a crossbow falling to the floor. "Damn sinks are too small in here!" She paused for a moment and Nightwing's enhanced hearing could detect her picking up the fallen weapon. He could have used his X-ray vision to see through the door, but that wouldn't have been very friendly. Still, he had to admit he was more than slightly attracted to her. "My father, the Batman, told me that Superman and Power Girl were the only survivors of Krypton."
"Maybe in your reality, but I strongly suspect not. On Earth-1, the name attributed to where I existed, the city of Kandor was shrunk and stolen by Brainiac prior to the planet Krypton exploding. Years later, Superman rescued us and put the city in his Fortress of Solitude." He reached for the slacks that had been laid out for him the Huntress. The fashion was beyond him, but she understood what was in style and so he trusted her judgment. He had just finished zipping them up when the door opened.
"Oh…my, what big muscles you have," she said, staring at his chest. "Do all you guys from Krypton get so big?" She was dressed in a shirt of some light material and khaki shorts, complete with hiking boots. He found himself staring as well as he made a poor attempt to reach for his shirt without looking. It was difficult not to think about his wife, but he knew that she was not coming back. The Crisis had taken her away and now he was the sole survivor of his world.
She blushed as she realized they were staring at each other, she turned away. "So, you live in a bottle?" she asked as she went back into the bathroom to get something to tie back her dark hair.
"Yes; there I am a scientist by trade, but I am also one of the only two super-heroes. My partner is…was named Flamebird." He finished buttoning the shirt and sat down on the bed to put on his socks and shoes.
"I can't imagine what it must be like for a bunch of supermen battling it out in a shrunken city," she said as she exited the bathroom.
"Kandor is kept under a red sun projector so that none of us have any super- powers. We wish to live as if we were still on Krypton." He realized he was speaking of the city in the present tense. In his mind, he scolded himself for the error. Kandor was gone.
"I grew up surrounded by super-heroes," she said as she examined her sunglasses. "My father retired from the whole thing early on to go into real law enforcement. My mother was the Catwoman." She saw that he had no idea who that was. "A reformed thief. I became the Huntress to carry on my father's legacy."
"Forgive my ignorance, but wasn't Robin supposed to do that? I only mention it because the Earth-1 Nightwing of the Teen Titans was of particular interest to me."
"I remember dying in the Crisis," she began, her eyes looking out towards nothing, glazed over in the beginnings of tears that would never quite flow. "We held each other at the moment of our death, Dick and I. He had kept the Robin identity all of those years because he could never bring himself to try and replace my father." She caught herself and blinked away the tears.
Completely dressed, Nightwing stood up and looked at himself in the mirror. He was surprised how closely he looked like Clark Kent, the secret identity of his cousin Superman. Or, at least, the Superman of Earth-1. The Superman of this world was that man and was not. There were several similarities, but one major difference: Nightwing was far more powerful. This Superman was powered-down compared to him and that was what gave him a distinct advantage. "By the way, I think calling me Nightwing is sort of ridiculous. My name is Van."
She smiled warmly. "I'm Helena, Helena Wayne. So, Van, now that we're dressed, what do we do?"
He thought about it for a moment. "I think we should eat first; for some reason I feel like I haven't eaten in decades."
"Are you asking me out on a date, Van?" she asked with a sinful glare. There was more than humor to it; she was serious and he could tell as he listened to her heartbeat change. It was no wonder; they had been revived from the depths of nothingness and given life through a freak accident. The scientist part of him wondered if the human instinct to procreate was overwhelming them. It was possible since they knew in their heart of hearts they could die at any time, the need to continue the race was starting to effect their best intentions. "Excuse me, did I say something wrong?"
Van shook his head. "Sorry, just considering some possibilities. Are you hungry?"
"Speedy is from your Earth, isn't he?" Van asked as he cut into his second steak. Helena simply nodded her head and smiled as he gorged himself on meat. She picked at her non-dairy salad as she answered.
"He was. I met him only briefly as he wasn't part of the Justice Society that I joined. He was active mostly in the 1940's until he and the rest of the Seven Soldiers of Victory were lost in time. When he and Green Arrow were returned to the present, they were not very active." She took a sip of her diet iced tea. She liked the menus of this new Earth at least, if not the make-up. She had consulted a tourist map of Gotham City in the cab ride over. It was similar to her Gotham City, but also very foreign.
Neighborhoods she had prowled as the Huntress were not there or switched around or worse, so changed that they might as well have been the plains of Mars. Wayne Manor was in the same place, but she dared not even consider going there. She had heard that this Batman and Robin were nothing more than killers under the control of the Time-Guardian. "I understand he was quite a marksman."
Van reached for his wine. "Maybe, maybe not. I heard that Extant observed his skill and found it lacking compared to the real Roy Harper." He took a drink, savoring the flavor. It wasn't Kryptonian fair, but it was palatable. "Regardless, we have to figure out how we're going to find the Psycho-Pirate."
She looked around the room and saw that nobody was looking their way. The Joker had ended up getting killed along with Barry Allen when the Clown Prince began to ask about the Psycho-Pirate. "What is so special about him?" she asked as she returned to meal.
Van swallowed another chunk of raw meat. "The Psycho-Pirate, according to Kid Flash, allied himself with the Anti-Monitor during the Crisis and was allowed to exist outside the destruction. Because of that, he is the only person living in the prime reality that knew what the universe had been like before…completely. That made him the Time-Guardian's blueprint for the universe."
"I get it," she said with sudden realization. "He's the only one who can tell him exactly what the universe was like, so he would know exactly what to change."
"That's the theory. The prime reality was made up of a few of the remaining pre-Crisis universes, but the Time-Guardian, for all of his power, really only understood the Earth-2 universe. The Psycho-Pirate knows it all." Van finished his steak and looked over at a passing dessert cart. He decided to pass and turned his attention back to Helena. "By the way, you look stunning."
She looked down, embarrassed. "You're insane, you know that?"
"It's the yellow sun," he answered
The sun was still rising as the Helena and Van walked hand in hand in front of the headquarters of the Justice Society of America. They looked like nothing more than a couple of lovers enjoying the new morning, but they were busy observing every detail of the building as they pretended to be engrossed only with each other.
It took all of their discipline to keep from getting too involved in the act, for it was natural for emotions to run rampant when giving and receiving kisses from someone you were attracted to. Neither was a professional actor, though Helena had spent several more years than Van hiding her secret identity from the world. "I see a couple of members on the inside," Van said as he scanned the building with his X-ray vision. "It looks like the Flash, Batman, Robin and Speedy with the Atom on monitor duty."
Helena put her head on his shoulder and whispered. There was no need to speak up since Van could hear her literally from the moon if he wanted. "No sign of any of the heavy hitters?"
He smiled and gave her a peck on the cheek as they moved past the front of the building. The old brick mansion had been the meeting place of the Justice Society of America for decades and Helena felt a slight pang as she looked upon it. It reminded her so much of her own JSA. "I suppose that Speedy would be a heavy hitter, but if you're referring to Green Lantern or Superman, then the answer is no." He turned his head to the west and checked the goings-on in Metropolis. "Clark Kent is just getting up…well, it seems he's been busy." He explained that there was a toss of red hair in the bed of Superman and that it should have been fellow news reporter Lana Lang.
"Where's Lois Lane?" Helena asked as they turned a corner and headed off away from the headquarters.
"I don't know; to be honest, I wouldn't be surprised to find out she did a little snooping and found out the truth. Speedy might have killed her as well." He checked around them again to ensure they were not being followed and then guided them towards a diner that was just opening.
After they had ordered breakfast, they began to talk in hushed tones. "I hope the flight from Gotham to New York wasn't too bumpy," he said. In order to keep a low profile, he had flown them barely above ground level, skimming the surface of the Earth.
"It gave me time to think," she replied. "It's obvious that Speedy…the Time- Guardian…had used his powers to make everyone forget the Psycho-Pirate, except those he needs to keep an eye on him."
Van waited until the waitress had deposited their plates on the table and withdrawn before speaking. The smell of ham and eggs made his mouth water. "The Psycho-Pirate's ability to control emotions makes him especially difficult to keep a hold of. His powers are blocked by the golden Medusa Mask that he wears."
Helena stirred a single sugar into her coffee. "Do you think the Time- Guardian is affected by his powers?"
Van's eggs were a little undercooked and he focused a small amount of heat vision on them. "Yes, actually. The Anti-Monitor saw the incredible potential of the Psycho-Pirate and used him as an effective weapon. Like all of us, one of the Time-Guardian's weaknesses is his emotions."
"Okay, so what next?"
He thought about it for a moment as he finished eating. "Did you notice the heroes I said were in the headquarters? Those are the ones that he has the most control over, with the exception of Wonder Girl."
"Maybe the Legion of Doom is watching the Pirate," Helena offered. She nibbled on her toast and look out the window. If this Batman and Robin was anything like her father and "uncle Dick", then she was taking no chances. She did not like being this paranoid.
"Perhaps, but I'm sure that those heroes, and I use the term loosely, are also involved somehow, most likely the Batman since he would have the greatest emotional control." He saw that merely mentioning the name was enough to cause pangs of grief in Helena.
"Then I suppose we should go change into costume," she said solemnly.
The Batmobile roared down Interstate 64, the Caped Crusader at the wheel, his young partner napping in the passenger seat. His eyes were fixated on the road, glazed over as if he were drugged. It wasn't narcotics that were putting him in his stupor, his movements becoming more and more stiff as the days went on; it was instead the blue lightning burning through the synapses of his brain, eating away at that which made him who he was.
Deep in the darkest part of his mind, he knew he was being controlled and that his physical body was being used like a puppet on a string. He wanted to stop the madness, but there was no way to do it. He was under the spell of the Time-Guardian.
Robin woke up and yawned. "Are we almost there, Batman?" The teen was suffering from none of the effects that were torturing the Batman. It was almost as if he was enjoying going against the grain.
"We'll be there soon," Batman answered.
High above them Nightwing flew with the Huntress. She was wrapped in his cape to protect her from wind friction. He was picking up the entire conversation and relaying it to her.
Farther up in the stratosphere, a strikingly beautiful woman in a form- fitting costume followed behind the couple. Shyla recognized the Kryptonian as a relation of Superman; the family resemblance was too obvious. The woman on the other hand she did not recognize. It was by chance that she had been flying this way to commit an arranged crime that she spotted them.
When the Time-Guardian had resurrected her from obscurity in the cosmic toilet the Crisis had placed her in, she was more than thankful. She decided to dedicate her life to Roy Harper, eventually becoming his lover. They had a bond in that they both knew what it was like to watch the world go by. He had been a disembodied spirit for decades, she had been sentenced to imprisonment in the Phantom Zone.
Still, there was something missing from her life and when she had sat down to think about it, she realized that it was a proper Kryptonian mate. Despite her power and despite the Time-Guardian's omniscience, they were not even close to being compatible.
She had considered pursuing the Man of Steel, Superman himself, but had eventually given up on it. The hold that the Time-Guardian had on him was precarious at best and required a constant stream of good things to flow into the life of Kal-El. Any intteruption of that steady outpouring of happiness would alert Superman to what was really going on. After all, it really was all smoke and mirrors, a reality that was held in place by magic and abstract science. Shyla was quite sure that given the opportunity, Superman would be able to thwart the mechanisms that the Time-Guardian had in place.
Of course, neither she or her lover could allow that to happen.
Were Superman to wake up and shake off the Time-Guardian's influence, an influence that was based upon willpower and concentration, then it would require the death of Superman.
The building located halfway between Knoxville and the Kentucky border was non-descript and obviously older than any of the inhabitants. The Batmobile was safely hidden underneath a tarp with several deadly booby-traps set by a grinning Robin. The Batman had paused as he wanted to do something, but then the thought went away and he slowly walked into the building.
The Red Tornado, a reserve member of the Justice Society, opened the door to allow the Dynamic Duo entry. Inside, the Psycho-Pirate was clad in a straight-jacket and Medusa Mask in the corner. "Time is on my side," the villain sang, doing a very bad impression of a popular 60's singer.
"He is continuing to sing that song over and over," the android said, his purple cape swirling as he shut the door. "I believe his programming is flawed."
Robin pushed past both the Tornado and Batman and walked over to the Pirate. The villain ignored the teenager and went on singing his song. "Hey!" Robin said as he kicked the man. "Pay attention to me!"
"Wassat?" the Psycho-Pirate asked, stirred from his one-person rock concert. "I'm sorry, but I can't see you."
Robin punched him the shoulder, causing the Pirate to rock slightly. If the strike affected him, it did not show as he started singing his song again. Bored already, Robin stormed over to a small table with a pizza box and soda pop on it. "Any girlie magazines?" he asked.
"Son, you know that Speedy doesn't allow that sort of thing," Batman scolded. It felt unnatural to speak in this manner, and the Batman trembled slightly, his own mind fighting the effort to subvert his will.
Robin shrugged and sat in a chair, grabbing a comic book at the same time. "Speedy said that we are to turn the Pirate over to the Legion of Doom later tonight," the Red Tornado said to the Batman. "It appears that the Master Jailer has finished the appropriate confinement necessary for holding the Psycho-Pirate."
Batman nodded. "Let's hope the exchange occurs soon before there is a slip- up and Superman or Green Lantern finds out." It was a valid fear, but the Batman secretly hoped that they did. He was only now starting to understand how he was being manipulated, how he was living a life that was and at the same time was not his.
After the death of his original partner, something had changed in Batman. It was as if a wet blanket had been lifted from him, so great was his grief. Barry Allen had shared that pain with him and then, suddenly, everything changed. He felt completely out of it as his body obeyed commands he could not be sure he had given. Through it all, he could hear the voice of Speedy speaking soothing words to him.
A devilish situation that he had no certain way out of. He was a spectator to his own life and his fury was growing by the minute.
Salvation seemed to come immediately as something man-shaped crashed through the ceiling. Plaster, debris and smoke clouded whatever it was from the Batman's vision, but the Red Tornado was already on it, whirling towards the unseen attacker.
Batman turned to call to Robin to secure the Psycho-Pirate when something hit him in the thigh. He stumbled and saw a piece of wood sticking in the meat of his leg. Because of his sluggish movements, he had been too easy of a target.
The Red Tornado's twisters stirred up more flotsam as a hand reached out and grasped the android around the neck. "My X-ray vision reveals that you are an artificial creation," Nightwing said as he squeezed. Kryptonian muscle flexed and the Red Tornado's head flew away. "Very basic technology."
"Hey!" Robin screamed, followed by several select curse words. He threw a batarang at Nightwing, who caught it in mid-air.
"Run away, boy, this is no place for you," Nightwing told him as he crushed the weapon.
Robin spit and launched himself at Nightwing, who was taken aback slightly at the pure primal rage the teenager was exhibiting. Batman reached for his own batarang, but some other hand grabbed his. He turned to find himself looking eye to eye with a woman in short purple outfit and mask. "Selina?" he asked just before the Huntress flipped him.
Shyla observed everything from above and waited. Nightwing was a legendary super-hero of Krypton; if this were the real one, or even someone who had trained under him, then she was going to be outclassed. Her only hope was to surprise him if she wanted to defeat him. The only thing was that she did not know what she exactly wanted to do with him.
The Psycho-Pirate watched through the Medusa Mask as the battles raged. He could almost taste the emotions in the air and hungered to experience them. There was rage coming from Robin. There was confusion from Batman. There was sadness from the Huntress, or at least that was who he thought she was. The big, tall Superman clone was another thing all together. His emotions were all mixed up, a goulash of feelings.
The Psycho-Pirate wanted him.
He pulled at the straight jacket, pulling so hard that he dislocated his shoulder. The pain brought on a sensation of fear that was like a piece of chocolate cake after a big dinner and it gave him the strength to finally work his way free. He had watched this done on a movie once, but he never realized it would hurt so much.
The big fellow smacked Robin across the room, but the Teen Wonder miraculously got up. Finally free, the Pirate threw the straight jacket down and stood up. "Hey! I'm talking to you!" he cried at Robin as he pulled away his mask.
Robin turned to the Psycho-Pirate and met his unmasked gaze. Immediately, he felt the urge to begin crying. Caught in the emotional vise of the Psycho-Pirate, Robin fell to his knees sobbing, unable to control the overwhelming sadness that had washed over him. The Psycho-Pirate replaced his mask over his face and turned to see who else he could get the best of.
The Batman backed up, just able to block a roundhouse kick. He wanted to do a foot sweep, but his wound kept him from being able to do so, and so he reached for the smoke pellets in his utility belt. Again, the woman was able to guess his move and reached out to stop him.
His mind was burning and he was sweating badly. The pain in his leg did not compare to that which racked his soul. "Who are you?" he rasped. His lungs were burning and it dawned on him that the crossbow bolt had been drugged.
The Huntress had to choke back the tears as the Batman countered her strike with a backhanded slap. The sting was more from her breaking heart than from the brutal attack. When they had decided to raid the building, Nightwing had volunteered to go after the Batman, but the Huntress had said no. She knew that the only way to defeat him without killing him was through surprise and a manner he would not expect.
"A friend," she said as she now stepped back. Even drugged, he was an extremely dangerous man.
The Batman pushed off of the wall and made a half-hearted attempt to wrap his arm around the Huntress's neck. He was unconscious before he even made contact. She stepped back and allowed him to fall on his face. She ran her hands over the fallen hero's utility belt and found a pair of bat-cuffs in the exact same place her father had kept his.
She cuffed him and then looked to Nightwing, who was facing off with the Psycho-Pirate. The Kryptonian had his eyes closed and his face turned away, relying on his super-hearing to tell him where the villain was at. "Nightwing, be careful!" she called.
Shyla was about to make a decision when she noted an approaching van. Her X- ray vision and super-hearing verified the approach of the Master Jailer. Shyla decided it would be better to not be seen and turned to fly away.
She hesitated a moment and used her super-ventriloquism to send a warning.
"The Master Jailer is outside."
The Huntress looked around for the source of the mysterious voice, but saw no one besides Nightwing, the Psycho-Pirate and the crying Robin. "Nightwing, heavy-duty trouble coming from the outside!"
Nightwing took in a deep breath and blew the Pirate back into the wall, stunning him and turned to fly out to meet the Master Jailer before he could enter. The Jailer was stepping out of his van, scratching his head as he saw the column of smoke rising from the building. "What the hell…?"
Nightwing came crashing out of the building at lightning speed, barreling towards the Master Jailer. The criminal was fast to respond, as he was used to fighting Superman and Supergirl. He managed to throw out a small piece of clear plastic with a Superman "S" on it.
The plastic made contact with Nightwing and expanded to cover his entire body. The sudden attack startled Nightwing and he stopped his advance and stopped to hover. The Master Jailer laughed out loud and opened the side door to the van. Inside was a large rifle specially designed for use against Superman.
Nightwing tore through the plastic wrap and tossed it down to the ground. He saw the Master Jailer bring up the rifle and aim at him. The villain fired and a Kryptonite bullet went through the shoulder of the floating hero. Nightwing cried out loud and fell to the ground. The Jailer reached into his van again and pulled out a glowing green net.
"How many of you damn Kryp's are out there?" the Jailer asked as he heaved the net over the form of Nightwing. The Kryptonite radiation was weakening him second by second and he was losing blood from his wound.
The Huntress stepped out into the doorway, the Batman's batarang in her hand. Holding it, she remembered the first time she had held one. Her father had smiled at her and taught her the proper way to hold it, so that it always ended up where she wanted it. The batarang flew from her hand and struck the Master Jailer in the chest, knocking him back.
As the batarang returned to her hand, she was already lining up her next shot. The Master Jailer sat up and looked down at the gash in his costume. He looked back up in time to have the batarang hit him in the forehead.
Kid Flash watched as the Nightwing, flying with the Psycho-Pirate in one arm and the Huntress in the other, approached over the horizon. He was standing in the middle of Death Valley, chewing on a granola bar. While there was some urgency in their efforts, they did not appear to be in any hurry.
As they drew closer, he could see that Nightwing's arm was bandaged up and there was a distressed look on his face. By the time they landed just feet in front of him, he could tell right away that the hero was in great pain. "It's an allergic reaction to the Kryptonite. I would say it's from a Krypton not of the Earth-1 universe," he explained as he set the Psycho- Pirate down.
Kid Flash asked him if he would live and the Huntress said that they were sure he would, but he was out of action for the next few weeks. "The wound is pretty nasty as well," she commented as she and Kid Flash helped Nightwing sit on the ground.
Once Nightwing was secure, Kid Flash turned his attention to the Psycho- Pirate, who was unusually subdued. "Iyiyiyiyi don't know you, but you look like you could love me," the villain sang. Kid Flash noted that the Medusa Mask was secured with duct tape.
"He's not quite sane, is he?" Kid Flash asked.
Nightwing, though obviously winded, answered, his scientific mind unable to resist responding. "Actually, I think the problem is that his mind has been overloaded with too much information. He knows the history of time…imagine the faultless mind of Rao encased in the flawed matter of a human brain."
"Many worlds and many lives, got to send my alimony to five alternate wives!" The Psycho-Pirate's voice wouldn't be bad if he didn't try to hit notes far to high for him.
"What happened exactly?" Huntress explained the events that had occurred from the scooping of the Justice Society headquarters, to the tailing of Batman and there eventual confrontation with the Master Jailer. Kid Flash nodded. "Good, with the Pirate in our custody, the Time-Guardian will have to wing it whenever he comes across an anomaly. We suspect that he had to keep the Pirate because his barrier for keeping out the Crisis wave has small cracks in it. This causes changes he never counted on."
Nightwing nodded. "I surmise that he's being stretched to the limit of his abilities by now; without the Psycho-Pirate to give him an idea of the way things should be, we'll start to see physical representations of the Time- Guardian's madness."
The Huntress shook her head. "I don't understand."
Nightwing took a deep breath. "For example, we've pretty much figured out that while the Time-Guardian has created this universe by altering the Crisis Wave, he does not have absolute control. He can dictate actions, but not for every living being. He controlled Batman and Robin, but he has to constantly alter events to keep Superman, Green Lantern, and other powerhouses happy."
"It explains why he has a Legion of Doom," Huntress added, pulling back Nightwing's bandage. "He needs muscle to keep things in line if it ever hits the fan."
Kid Flash watched her for a moment and then went over to help the Psycho- Pirate up. "Anyway, he's going to have more to worry about if the Detective Chimp is able to find out where the machine making the barrier is at." He paused. "Didn't you mention that a disembodied voice told you about the Master Jailer?"
"It was female, that's all I know," the Huntress said. "Look, can we discuss this later? Van needs some rest before we can come back."
"Jay, come in," Speedy said, indicating a chair in front of his desk. Standing behind the chairman of the Justice Society was Jason Todd, now fully recovered from his attack of the blues. "You'll notice that Batman is not joining us."
The elder Flash nodded and sat down in the offered seat. "I heard about the death of the Red Tornado."
"Did you also hear that the Master Jailer encountered a Kryptonian and a female version of Batman as well?" Speedy seemed absolutely livid with anger, but he controlled it well. Jay Garrick had been the first person, even before Donna Troy, that he had put under his control. In the past few weeks, his control had grown to the point that he only had to use minimal effort. The Batman and Robin, his latest efforts, had been an entirely different story. He knew from the beginning that the Batman would be difficult to control should the need arise, and the Caped Crusader had proven him correct. In the end, he had to kill him, leaving poor Robin without a mentor. "Obviously, we have an enemy…a powerful enemy we hadn't counted on."
"I assume I'm here for a new assignment?" the Flash asked.
"Yes…you and Robin will be leaving the Society temporarily to upgrade security at Area Alpha. Once the Master Jailer is assured everything is okay, we'll proceed with a search and destroy mission to root out our enemies."
"Hell, yes!" Robin said. Speedy turned to him and gave him a look that indicated such speech would not be tolerated. The decision to use Jason Todd as a replacement for Dick Grayson as opposed to Timothy Drake had also been a risky decision. Todd had been more of a hothead, which had lead to his death, and that indicated a weak will. That weakness was what allowed Speedy to control him so easily, even more so than the Flash.
"Oh," Speedy added as he moved back to his chair behind the desk. When he sat down, he began to fiddle with his bow. "Later today, Oliver is going to hold a press conference where he will reveal that his ward, me, will be soon married to the charming Miss Donna Troy." He smiled, proud of himself. "I believe you should congratulate me."