Nightwing's a hero and Raven's just a 'random' civilian who just happens to know a lot about Slade. AU
Okay guys, there's a huge chance that the next chapter will come out in three months or so because my laptop broke and I'm getting a new one on my birthday. I had this chapter already finished and right now I'm quickly using my cousin's laptop to post this. There's a possibility that I'll update earlier, if I have access to a computer, but it's very likely you'll have to wait until July. :/
Protection
Raven wasn't surprised when he showed up at her window late at night. She had expected it, it was only logical for him to do so after she had 'carelessly' dropped the file with Deathstroke's information at his desk. She had also expected the storm of questions that followed, but what she hadn't expected were the first things he said once she actually opened the window.
"I'm staying with you until he's dealt with."
She blinked, not quite processing what he was saying. To be honest, she was pretty exhausted from the day's events and was ready to sleep, but, of course, a certain hero had to show up at her bedroom window in the middle of the night because that seemed to be the only time when he showed himself. So, she just tilted her head and said; "Come again?"
His lips twitched upwards, as if he was amused by her actions. He was still crouching in the windowsill, not making a move to step in, despite the fact that she had clearly motioned for him to come in so they could talk properly.
"You heard me," he responded, a bit cheekily.
"I did," she confirmed. "Although it isn't really necessary-"
"Oh, it is," he cut her off. "You're on his bad side now, I'm pretty sure he knows about you, no matter how careful you were. He's going after you."
She scoffed and crossed her arms. "Believe me, I know."
He cocked an eyebrow and shifted his position, still sitting on the windowsill but with his legs dangling inside the room. "Speaking of which," he started, looking behind him for a second, his eyes narrowing before he looked back. "How did you get all this information?"
"Shouldn't you be asking a different question?"
"The fact that you're avoiding the answer proves that I asked the right question, doesn't it?" He countered, almost too easily.
She nodded. "Fair enough, all I'm saying is that I do my research."
Nightwing tilted his head. "I've been doing my research for years now, even hacking into classified files and I still didn't come close to what you've discovered. 'I did my research' isn't going to cut it, Rae."
The purple haired woman raised an eyebrow at the nickname, but didn't comment on it. Instead, she switched topics again. "Hacking is illegal, isn't it? A hero shouldn't be doing that."
"So is holding back information about a wanted man, seems like both of us are acting on the wrong side of the law." He smirked, his tone only describable as teasing. "But, you're obviously not going to give in, so I'll ask a different question. How did you find out about my identity? This one's important, so just doing your research really isn't the right answer."
Raven looked away, a hint of a smile on her face. "You really aren't going to let that go, are you?"
"Nope."
"Then I'm really sorry, but I can't answer that either."
"Because?"
"Because you keep asking the questions I'm not allowed to answer."
His eyes narrowed. "Not allowed?"
For the first time since their conversation started, her stoic demeanor broke for a split second and he saw a flash of blind panic in her bright eyes before the shield went back up and her eyes went emotionless, empty. "I've said too much."
"You do realize this isn't going to change the fact that I'm protecting you, right?"
"I still think it's unnecessary, I'm not in any kind of danger."
Nightwing jumped into her apartment and walked past her, ignoring the way she immediately turned to watch him; arms still crossed. He just calmly picked up one of the pillows on her bed and tossed it out the window. Not even a second after it went out into the open, the pillow exploded and the amethyst eyed woman was left staring with wide eyes.
"That beeping had been bothering me for a while now," Nightwing grinned, making his way back to the window.
Raven clenched her jaw. "I still don't need any protection."
He winked. "We'll see about that."
With that, he jumped out of the window and left a quite pissed off woman all by herself.
"Protecting me is one thing, but do you really need to follow me around all the time?" Raven hissed quietly, cautiously looking around as she typed on her laptop.
Dick said beside her, coolly taking a sip from his coffee cup, blue eyes locked on her. "He's unpredictable, Raven, you should know that."
"I do, but-"
"Raven!"
She tensed up completely, her fingers freezing on the keyboard as that voice called out her name. She noticed Dick staring at her in confusion before his eyes went to the tall redheaded girl who had just entered the café but she ignored it. Instead, she closed her eyes and silently prayed to Azar that she wouldn't ask any questions.
But, of course, she wasn't that lucky.
The moment Kori spotted her best friend sitting next to an admittedly attractive and somewhat familiar guy, her vibrant green eyes lit up and her already bright smile seemed to be even brighter. She tried to act normal, going for the usual greeting (which consisted of hugging her shorter friend tight enough for her chest to crush against hers) before taking sliding into the booth right in front of the pair. She excitedly stuck her hand out and introduced herself, smile never leaving her face. "Hi! My name is Kori Anders! Are you a friend of Raven's?"
The black haired man smiled and returned the greeting. "Dick Grayson, and yeah, I guess you could say that."
Kori tilted her head. "She's never mentioned you before," as she said that, she shot an accusing glare at her closed off friend.
Before Dick could answer, Raven cut in, not even bothering to take her eyes off the laptop screen. "He's a childhood friend who just returned to the city, you know I don't like talking about my past."
Kori nodded her head in acceptance and Dick narrowed his eyes. For someone who seemed like a sheltered person; Raven was very good at lying. Her words did spark his curiosity though, why didn't she like talking about her past?
"I'm sorry, but you seem oddly familiar," the girl spoke, her brows furrowed. "Have I seen you before?"
Dick shook his head. "No, I don't think so."
"You have," Raven cut in calmly. "In magazines, he's Bruce Wayne's son."
Recognition flashed in her green eyes, but luckily for him, she didn't comment on it. She only nodded and switched her attention to her friend. Maybe she had picked up on how uncomfortable he got when his father was mentioned, or maybe she just didn't care. Whatever it was, he didn't mind.
The overly friendly redhead started talking about something he couldn't quite understand, but Raven seemed to. She responded almost in a monotone, asking questions and giving advice when needed; all the while keeping her cool and focusing on her laptop. There were times when she took the time to take breaks and look at her friend while she talked, smiling when she saw how excited Kori could be, but she was mostly focused on whatever she was doing on her laptop.
Dick had lost interest in the conversation a long time ago, choosing to stay silent and look out the window so he wouldn't intrude in the girls' conversation. Something strange caught his attention though and his body went rigid.
His eyes landed on the reflection of a carefully aimed red streak, he followed the reflection and found that it lead to a roof.
The one across the building they were sitting in.
And the sniper was aiming at Raven.
Despite the stressful situation he was in right now, Dick kept his cool and leaned back, casually fishing his phone out of his pocket and tossing it in the air before catching it. He tossed it, and just as the familiar sound of the gunshot went off (apparently, the sniper didn't really care about using a silencer) his instincts kicked in and he caught the phone, making sure to hold it up.
The glass shattered as the bullet shot through and multiple people screamed, including Kori, while Raven stayed unusually silent, but he couldn't focus on that now. He knew it was coming, but that didn't mean the force of the bullet didn't startle him when it made impact with the back of his phone. He shot back a little, but managed to catch himself before he bumped into Raven. His eyes went to the shocked redhead in front of him and he quickly forced himself to freeze up and look at his phone in amazement.
"D-did I just catch a bullet with my p-phone?" He stuttered, staring at the device in his hand with wide eyes.
That's when people actually started to realize that a sniper had just shot through a window. Immediately, people started screaming and running out of the coffee shop, which was Dick's cue to go.
He quickly leaned over towards Raven, lowering his voice so only she could hear him talk. "I'm going after him, you and Kori head to your apartment. Call me if anything goes wrong."
He didn't wait for a response, just slid out of the booth and rushed out the door.
Not even seconds later, Nightwing was grappling from roof to roof before landing where the sniper had been before. He wasn't surprised when he saw no trace of the sniper, it was common for them to run after they had made the shot. This one was probably pretty new, because he didn't even wait to check if he had hit his target and he left his gun behind.
"Barbara," he called into his earpiece, scanning the area with masked eyes. "Babs, you there?"
"Nightwing, what's wrong?"
"Remember that girl I decided to protect? The one that gave me information about Deathstroke?"
"You mean the one you were overly paranoid about? Yeah."
He rolled his eyes. "Well, apparently I wasn't paranoid at all because a sniper just attacked her."
There were a few seconds of silence as Barbara paused, he was just about to call her name again when she spoke. "Is she okay?"
"Blocked the bullet with my phone, so no harm done."
She chuckled. "I swear, all of us used that move at least once in our lives. So what's up?"
Nightwing picked up the rifle, his eyes scanning over the letters and numbers engraved in it. "The sniper dropped his gun, there's something engraved in it-"
"You want me to find out what it means?" She chirped, and he could already hear the sound of typing in the background.
He chuckled. "Of course I do, it says 11037K-SM*, think you can find it?"
"Is that even a question? You hurt me, Dick."
He smiled and quickly got out of sight when he heard the sirens in the distance.
"Still convinced you don't need protection?" Dick taunted when he entered her apartment, freezing when he saw the disaster in front of him.
All the furniture was knocked over, the glass from the window was shattered and there were oddly shaped holes in the walls.
"Raven?" He called, heading to her bedroom. He knew she wouldn't respond, but he couldn't help but try. "Raven!"
He entered the bedroom, blue eyes scanning the scene, his heart nearly beating in his throat. Her bedroom was in even worse shape than the rest of the house and he really hoped those red stains on the floor wasn't blood. He was breathing heavily, quickly looking through the whole room for any kind of clue on her whereabouts, stopping at her desk; the only thing that wasn't knocked over.
A small light blue sticky note was stuck on the desk, with an address written on it.
His phone rang and he had half the mind to ignore it, until he saw who was calling.
"Dick, I found out what those numbers mean," Barbara started. "It's an address, not in Jump City, but in-"
"Blüdhaven*, I know. I'm heading there right now."
"Please be careful, Dick, you know how dangerous this guy is."
"I know, don't worry, Babs. If I don't make it out alive, you can tell Tim he can have the suit," he joked.
"Don't even joke like that."
"I know, pretty unrealistic, I'd never give him the suit."
When Nightwing arrived at the scene, his blood ran cold.
Raven was nowhere in sight, but the necklace with the red gem she always wore was hanging from the ceiling. It stood out like a sore thumb in the dark lighting, and he already had a bad feeling about this.
He was so stupid! A sniper literally just tried to kill her and what does he do?! He sends her home alone.
The lights in the middle of the room suddenly switched on, the brightness startling the hero for a second before his eyes focused again. His grip on his sticks tightened when he saw a certain man sitting in a chair with his legs crossed and hands clasped together in his lap. "Hello, Nightwing."
"Slade," he growled.
"Oh dear, she even told you my name?" He sighed. "How disappointing," despite his words, his 'disappointment' was clearly faked. The way he was sitting, so calmly with no care in the world, proved he already knew about everything. "What more did she tell you about my private life?"
"Where is she, Slade?"
"Not what I asked for. Have some proper manners and answer my question, boy." The threat was clear in his voice, and Nightwing didn't want to risk anything, he wasn't about to play with people's lives.
"She told me about your son, Joseph, and about your daughter, Rose," he spat through gritted teeth.
Deathstroke hummed and clapped his hands, the remaining lights switched on and it didn't take long before the whole room was illuminated with the bright light. Nightwing looked around him and his heart nearly stopped when he spotted the figures in the corner of the room. Raven was hanging there, chained to the wall and multiple fresh scars and bruises on her body. Duct tape was covering her mouth and she was staring at him with wide eyes, although...for some reason...she didn't seem afraid at all. Only worried. For who, he didn't know.
Next to her was Kori, chained in the same position as her, only unconscious.
When Raven's eyes landed on Deathstroke, they narrowed and she started struggling against her chains.
"Oh? It appears she wants to say something," he spoke, calmly walking towards her and ripping the tape off.
She didn't even flinch, instead, she turned her head and spit the blood out of her mouth, making Nightwing flinch. She lifted her head, staring bravely into the villain's mask, still, there was no fear present. Not even a little bit, even if the man in front of her had clearly done some damage, she acted as if she was standing in front of an ant. Honestly, it was getting a bit disturbing. "Why did you take Kori?" She spat, not showing any type of emotion on her face or eyes. "She has nothing to do with this!"
The man didn't miss a beat. "She was in the way and I couldn't have any loose ends. But think of it this way, you and your friend will die together, what better proof of your friendship do you need?"
"That's enough, Slade," Nightwing cut in, clicking his sticks together into a staff; the tip of it sparking with electricity. "This is between you and me."
Deathstroke turned away from the chained woman and calmly made his way towards Nightwing until he was standing in front of him. "Gladly."
Raven watched with wide eyes as the two fought, from the way it looked, the villain was just playing with Nightwing. Merely dodging and at times pulling his punches, but even with that, the black haired hero was already pretty bruised. Her heart skipped a beat when Nightwing knocked him down, his staff hitting him in the face.
Deathstroke simply got up and adjusted his helmet before lunging at him.
"No.." she whispered, more to herself as she watched Nightwing get beat down, a spark of black energy appearing in her hands.
Right next to her, Kori groaned softly and chills went down her spine. If she woke up then...
"No.." her eyes started to flicker.
Nightwing lay on the ground, his right arm looked broken and was bent at an awkward angle. His staff was kicked somewhere across the room and Deathstroke stood over him, a gun in hand. "We're done here, boy," he spoke, cocking the gun and aiming it at the spot right between his eyes.
"NO!"
As that word left her mouth, her eyes turned completely white and bursts of black energy started flying everywhere. The moment she lost complete control of herself, the energy spread across the whole room; covering almost every inch of the room in black energy. And then, as if a candle had been tossed in a tank of gasoline, everything exploded.
When all the smoke cleared up, Nightwing was surprised to see he wasn't dead. He should be, the force of that explosion alone was deadly enough.
However, when he pushed himself to sit up, a cage of black energy was around him, and as he looked at Kori, something similar surrounded her too.
But Raven was nowhere in sight.
The 'cage' started flickering, until it completely disappeared from both him and Kori. It took a while for his eyes to adjust and for his ears to stop ringing, but when it did, he looked up and...
And there she was.
Raven was floating very close to the ceiling, looking down at the destruction she had caused with soulless, glowing white eyes. Her eyes locked on Nightwing and she started flying down, her eyes clearing up when her feet landed softly on the ground. She looked up at him with clear, amethyst eyes and smiled. "Didn't I tell you that I didn't need protection?"
He smiled, but before he could say anything, her body went rigid.
Deathstroke pushed a piece of rubble off his body, looking very close to death. He had a gun in his hand and was aiming it at Raven, although his hand was shaking wildly, his aim was bound to be off. Just as he pulled the trigger, four blood red eyes appeared on Raven's face and she turned around with a demonic growl; black tentacles appearing from behind her and snapping wildly at any living thing they could find.
Nightwing realized a bit too late what she was about to do. "Wait! Raven, no!"
The tentacles had already wrapped around the villain, knocking his shattered mask off his face in the process and revealing the face of an old man with multiple scars and an eyepatch. Two of the tentacles strangled him while one went straight through his chest, she only realized what she was doing when it was too late.
Raven gasped as her eyes went back to normal and cleared up, dropping the body almost immediately. Nightwing finally saw some type of fear in her eyes, but this was better described as pure and utter terror. She dropped to the ground, her back facing him as she stared at the body. "I..."
He walked towards her, holding his broken arm with his left hand. "Raven?"
She still didn't look at him. "I...I have some explaining to do."
You guys didn't really think I'd make Raven helpless, now did you? ;)
Ugh, that last part sucked. I think Civil War influenced my writing.
*Put a little DanganRonpa reference in there, if you played the game or watched the Anime then you should all know what 11037 means. For those of you who didn't, 11037 stands for Leon, K stands for Kuwata, and SM stands for Sayaka Maizono.
*Let's just pretend Jump City and Blüdhaven are close to each other.
