Part 10

Roy opened his eyes and lay quietly, the room was dark, but he could sense someone else nearby..He swallowed and pushed down the nausea that seemed to plague him constantly and turned to face his silent companion. "Hey Wingster." he said quietly, forcing a smile to his lips.

"Hey yourself Bow head...I gotta say, you look like crap." Nightwing replied, moving to sit on the edge of his friends bed.

Roy allowed himself a chuckle, which quickly turned into a cough..then a moan. "I gotta say I feel like crap!" he grumbled quietly.

"Look like crap..feel like crap..."

"Don't say it..I ain't in the mood for dealing with your terrible jokes...You really gonna have to take some lessons from the master of wittiness himself." Roy said.

"Well Batman keeps promising to teach me but..." Nightwing stopped as he friend burst into a snigger which turned into another fit of coughing, that caused the Archer of roll onto his side and curl up clutching his chest and groaning. "Oookay..no more jokes..I get it." he said seriously. "They really did a number on you buddy..you gonna fess up to what the deadly secret was that they so desperately wanted to know?"

Roy remained silent for a moment, looking at the wall, seemingly deep in though.

"Big stuff huh?" Nightwing prompted.

"Yeah..you could say that Wingster, I can't really tell you everything."

"Just tell me what you can then." Nightwing replied softly.

Roy sighed deeply, continuing to stare at the wall. "A few years back..I was still with Checkmate..I was sent to bring in an Italian Scientist..." Roy paused and swallowed. " He had been working on a formula for a gas that could destroy some of the common flu viruses..you know the ones that are rampant each winter...Well he'd come up with a formula that had potential..and it was in it's trial stage..."

"So he'd found a potential fixit for a cold..that's what your saying?"

"Just wait, there's more..They sent me in after this guy..and almost from the beginning I knew things weren't right..It just wasn't the kind of thing that Checkmate would normally be involved in..they'd fed me some crap about this scientist secretly working to develop a

bio weapon for some extremist group working out of the gulf...But like I said, something wasn't right..and I knew it.." Roy paused for a moment he'd never shared this information with any one else..it made him a little unnerved even talking about it. "What would you think Dick, if you knew there was a way to develope a biological weapon that could destroy every Meta human on the planet and leave normal humans untouched?" he whispered.

"Shit is that what this was all about?..You know some thing that will do that?"

"I know where someone is that know's how to do that."

"This guy..this scientist?"

"Yeah..he stumbled on it just by accident..a gas that's odourless, but when released into the air it changes the genetic structure of the flu virus so that the virus becomes deadly to almost any one that has a meta gene...some meta's are lucky and they wouldn't be affected by it..but more that eighty percent would...Checkmate wasn't pulling all the strings on that case..I found that out afterwards...There were others involved in the background that wanted the formula for less then ethical reasons"

"Where's this guy now?...How do you know he won't ever reveal what he knows."

"That's the stuff I can't tell you..No one will ever know because I'm the only one who knows where he is..and I ain't ever giving that up..not to anyone..All I can tell you is the guy's genuine, he was just as freaked by what he'd found as I was..he destroyed all his work..left everything behind and disappeared..he won't be found..I'm sure of that."

"You helped this guy vanish?"

"Someone had to..we staged his death..I knew the case wasn't kosher when Checkmate dropped the disciplinary action they'd threatened me with..Yeah I got my ass kicked but not as bad as I should have if everything had been above board...That's it Wing..no more..you get no more out of me, the less you know the better it'll be in the long run."

"Do you know what something like this could do in the wrong hands?" Nightwing said quietly.

"That's why it stays between us, no one else knows Dick...no one, not even Ollie..just you..That's why I can't tell you any more then I have...what you don't know can't hurt you"

The two men remained silent for awhile before Nightwing spoke. "So..how long you going to whimp out and be in here? I mean come on a little bit of pneumonia and a few bumps and bruises ain't that bad..Bet you've been enjoying the sponge baths you've been getting, that's whats keeping you here isn't it?."

Roy stared at the other man, he could see the mask move on his face and he knew he'd raised his eyebrows suggestively..he smiled. "Dude..I ain't having no sponge baths..one nurse is sixty if she's a day and the other is male...they ain't getting anywhere near me, at least not now I'm awake enough to know whats going on.

"Sixty huh?..I didn't think age would be a barrier to you Speedy..you're slowing up in your old age buddy." Nightwing said, laughing at his own joke..as well as the groan of disapproval from his friend. "I'm outta here Dude, before the new woman in your life comes in to check on you and see's me here." he added as he turned towards the window and climbed out, disappearing into the night.

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"Hey hey..whats this?..Real food kiddo!..You're gonna be back wearing those fancy PJ's and out bashing heads before ya know it." Ollie said as he stepped into Roy's room.

Roy smiled at the exuberant greeting from his former mentor."I might be able to eat it but it remains to be seen if it's gonna stay down or not." he replied, pushing the tray of food out of the way and leaning back on the pile of pillows behind him.

"You've gotta learn to be more confident my boy..be optimistic, of course it's going to stay down, and if it does you'll be coming home in the morning." the older man said, pulling up a chair and sitting down before propping his feet up on the edge of the bed and leaning back.

Roy's eyes brightened at that small detail. "Really?..They didn't tell me that..if that's the case it's staying down..well I ain't telling if it doesn't, cause I want out of here real bad..I can't wait to get home." he said sighing, and closing his eyes for a moment.

"Well by home I don't mean New York..You're headed to the belfry for a week or..."

"Like hell..c'mon Ollie, I not going there, you hafta be kidding me." Roy said, sitting up and looking agitatedly at the older man.

Ollie cocked an eyebrow, he had the feeling that little piece of information might be hard for the kid to swallow. "What are ya complaining about..your kids been staying there for the last couple of weeks." he said.

Roy rolled his eye's "That's different..she doesn't know any better..'sides Bat's actually like's her...he can't stand me."

"Don't be stupid..of course he like's you, he wouldn't have trounced all over the country..actually make that the world, with me trying to track you down if he didn't give a damn..He's all bark and no bite, you gotta stop needing clean underwear everytime he looks at you kid..just grow a pair!" Ollie grumbled.

"I've seen his bite..believe me it's definitely more that all bark...Why do I hafta go there anyway..why can't I just go home?" Roy whined.

Ollie held his hands up in a 'don't look at me ' gesture. "Dinah organised it..you got a problem with it take it up with her..She say's you need old Alfies cooking to fatten you up..I couldn't see why you couldn't come to my joint and I coulda fed you full of chile..but you know Dinah..no arguing when her minds made up.."

Roy flopped back on the pillows. "I feel sick." he groaned.

"Knock it off." Ollie said, smiling to himself..."You gutless wonder." he added jokingly.

Roy rolled his eyes.."Do you know how much torture it will be staying in that place...Can't you do something Ollie?..Talk to Dinah for me..please?" he begged.

"Kiddo..you know I'd like to I really would..But this is Dinah.." Ollie replied as he stood up and walked over to the bed, giving the younger man's shoulder a quick pat. "Seriously though son..I happen to agree with her, at least at the manor there will be someone hanging around the joint that's not going to have to rush off to fight crime..Alfred's a good guy..he'll take good care of ya, and don't argue about it..one look at you and I can see you need more than a pat on the back and a bowl of chile to get back into shape..Just give it a week or so okay?"

Roy sighed deeply. "One week?..I can do that..one week. I'll just stay outta dark and scary's way." he said..he could be brave for one week..couldn't he?..He smiled. "Lian will be there..she'll protect me." he mumbled.

"Atta boy!" Ollie said, chuckling and giving the redhead a playful punch on the shoulder, he was glad to have the young man back to some semblance of his old self..."It's good to have you back son..you had me worried for a while there...I don't know what I would have done if the worst had gone down" he admitted seriously.

"Had myself worried for awhile there...Now go away and leave me alone old man..don't go getting all deep and serious on me, I hate that stuff as much as you do." Roy said, closing his eyes and stifling a yawn.."I'm going to sleep and I ain't even gonna look at your ugly mug anymore anyway." he said..smiling to himself as he felt his mentor give his shoulder one last squeeze."I knew you'd eventually come looking..when the crunch comes I know you'll have my back." he mumbled sleepily.

"You can count on it son." Ollie said quietly, he stayed for a moment watching the young man, before turning and heading out the door.

"Thanks."came the whispered reply as the older Archer left the room.

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