A/n:
1) This fic references Wings of Blue (posted on Archive of Our Own). If you didn't read that, all you need to know is that Dick has a type of air magic that lets him get information from the air.
2) Miiyahbin Marten is Equinox. She's Cree from Moose Factory Island, Ontario, Canada. She's part of the Justice League United/Justice League Canada. I gave her some powers that she doesn't entirely have in the comics.
3) M'gann M'orzz is nonbinary and goes by Mx. Martian. Tigress (Artemis Crock) and Essence are their teammates in the Outsiders. This series is wildly canon divergent, if you didn't already know :)
4) OC Wallflower is also present in Collision Course. She's a witch.
Dadwing
It takes four teams, twenty explosive/earthquake/fire/flood devices and an hour buried under a building before Nightwing begins to realize that Batman's adoption tendencies are contagious.
The situation with the Ninth Circle is a Team Arrow case. Batman, with his "no metas or magicians in Gotham" rule, had instilled in Nightwing a heathy respect for the right of other vigilantes to deal with their problems their way. That doesn't mean that Nightwing isn't keeping tabs on Green Arrow et al.'s fight against the bankers of the criminal underworld, but he leaves it alone after he confirms that it's not intersecting with any of his cases. Oliver is a responsible adult, and he can ask for help if he needs it.
Like hell. Responsible adults don't become superheroes and the whole community knows it.
Roy is the one who calls Dick, asking him to bring the Titans and meet up with Overwatch over the sounds of a sword fight. Dick takes a minute to gather more information and then he calls Tim and Artemis, because five more people is nowhere near enough for what's going down in Star City.
A sudden influx of superheroes at the location of the Star City zeta would be very noticeable. For this case, stealth is more important than speed, so the Titans split up. Dick and Garth zeta straight to Star City while Donna, Lilith and Wally zeta to Gateway City and fly or run, respectively, south to meet them. They're all in civvies, again for stealth, and Lilith will put an illusion over herself and Donna so that no one sees them flying in.
When Dick and Garth arrive in Star City, Dick dials into the comm frequency Roy gave him. "Overwatch, do you read?"
"Loud and clear," Overwatch says. "Nightwing?"
"Affirmative." Dick doesn't winch when he hears the faint sounds of an explosion to the north of them. "Mind giving me and Tempest some directions?"
Dick knows that the Arrows aren't as paranoid as the Bats. He still didn't expect their new base to be a side door and a staircase away from the zeta tube. By the time he and Garth get downstairs, Wally as the Flash and the Teen Titans have already arrived. Robin notices them first.
"No mask?" Robin asks.
"We'll suit up in a sec." Dick turns to Overwatch, Felicity Smoak outside of masks, who's sitting in front of a computer set-up that she and Barbara probably collaborated on. "Troia and Omen should be here in about three minutes."
Felicity nods. "Okay, the Outsiders have an ETA of five minutes. We can wait until then for a full briefing."
They do have the time. Star City is headed towards disaster, but it's a slowly creeping disaster.
Dick and Garth get changed into their costumes. Dick is quicker than Garth. Nightwing joins the group a minute after Dick leaves and asks Felicity if there've been any updates.
"Not really," Felicity says. "It's still an endless wave of burned zombies, those poor people the Ninth Circle turned into minions."
"They don't want to give you a chance to breathe," Nightwing says.
"Nope," Felicity agrees.
One of the Teen Titans raises her hand. She's a new one, dressed in an all-black costume that looks a lot like one of Black Canary's from a few years back. Not the one with fishnets, the one that got destroyed by caustic space goop, if Nightwing recalls correctly.
"Those are humans?" the girl signs in ASL.
Felicity nods. "There's brainwashing involved."
Another new Teen Titan (Nightwing would ask where they were finding these kids if he didn't know that teen superheroes pop up all the time. This one is Equinox, who usually works with the Justice League Canada) elbows the girl in black. "I told you they weren't demons."
The other girl smirks. "You haven't met enough demons."
"What aren't demons?" Tempest asks as he joins them.
"Those guys the Arrows are fighting topside," Flash says. "I did a run around and they do look pretty demonic."
Nightwing has seen pictures of the Ninth Circle's lower members. He agrees with Flash.
Donna and Lilith arrive seconds before a corner of the room fills with what looks like black smoke and Artemis's team steps out of the darkness.
Superboy flinches. "Did you have to use the death mist?"
"It's not death mist," Artemis—she goes by Tigress now—says.
"Technically, it is," Essence says, not sounding the least bit apologetic.
Mx. Martian steps between their teammates and Superboy. "The Bioship is injured," they say.
Superboy grumbles, but nods and doesn't send Essence any death glares. That's about the best Nightwing can ask for when it comes to him and Essence. There's a reason the current Teen Titans and the Outsiders don't work together often, and it's not because the Outsiders mostly work on Justice League black ops.
"Okay," Felicity says. "Briefing. The Ninth Circle has planted twenty Armageddon machines under Star City. They'll cause earthquakes, fire, floods, the works."
"A machine that causes floods?" Tempest asks. "That's new."
"Yeah, got to love it when the bad guys get creative." Felicity pulls up a schematic of the machines on her largest monitor. "We need to disable all of them."
Nightwing studies the schematic. "They go off at midnight, right?" That was what Roy had told him.
Felicity nods. "We have five hours. I've got the approximate location of each machine and I can talk you through disabling yours if you need me to. I was thinking groups of two with two machines each. Three for the speedsters."
There are eighteen of them total. Cyborg, Flash, Robin and Kid Flash will disable their machines the fastest. Judging by the map of locations Felicity shows them, what it'll take to disable the machines and what Nightwing knows of everyone's abilities, they have an hour of wiggle room.
That isn't as much time as it sounds like when they have to plan for something to go wrong. And they always have to plan for something to go wrong.
Nightwing and Equinox have no problems with disabling their first Armageddon machine. It's in a sewer tunnel and guarded by half a dozen more lower members, but between Nightwing's fighting skills and Equinox's ability to turn them back into normal humans that end up sobbing on the ground (Nightwing will be asking how she did that later) they get to the machine quickly.
"Keep watch for more of them," Nightwing says.
"Yeah, I know the drill," Equinox says. "Green Arrow complains about getting ambushed enough. C, not O."
Meaning Conner Hawke, not Oliver Queen. They have their ways of telling heroes with the same name apart. Some are simpler than others. Sure, it would be easier if no one used the same name, but where's the fun in that?
Nightwing gets out a flashlight so he can see what he's doing. It takes a minute to initiate the shutdown sequence and another five after that's done to open up the panels concealing the wires he needs to rip out. Once he's finished, the machine is nothing but a million-dollar doorstop.
"Number seven is taken care of," Nightwing reports.
"So's fifteen," Flash says over their comms.
"Twelve too," Mx. Martian adds.
That makes seven disabled machines an hour into the mission. It's about what Nightwing expected. He very quickly quashes the thought that this is going well. He knows better than to tempt any of the numerous gods, personifications and Powers That Be like that.
"What do we do with them?" Equinox asks, gesturing to the no longer Ninth Circle members. "We can't leave them here."
Well, technically they can. It's probably safer in the sewers than it is topside right now. But there is the risk that the Ninth Circle could get their hands on these people again.
"Overwatch, we've got civilians. Is anyone free to come pick them up?" Nightwing asks.
"Speedsters, how far are you with twenty?" Overwatch asks.
"Done," Kid Flash says. "Where'd you find civilians in the sewers, 'wing?"
Nightwing doesn't say that Equinox cured the lower members. Everyone is listening. Even if her teammates can guess that her powers could do that, he doesn't want to give them a legitimate reason to hesitate while fighting. That won't end well.
"Long story," he says instead. "Overwatch?"
"Sending you the speedsters now," Overwatch says.
Once the Flash and Kid Flash arrive, Nightwing and Equinox head for the next machine they've been assigned. It isn't the machine nearest to their current location. Getting to that one would require them to go through a hundred feet of solid concrete. Instead, they make their way to a manhole that's near a subway entrance, miraculously don't encounter any Ninth Circle members for the few seconds they're aboveground, and travel through the subway tunnels until they reach a station that's connected to a bank. The machine is in the bank's basement. Never let it be said that the Ninth Circle doesn't have a sense of irony.
The bank is empty of civilians. Nightwing suspects that anyone who was there tried to get home when it was clear the fighting wasn't going to stop. He hopes they made it.
Again, Equinox turns the lower members guarding the machine into traumatized civilians they'll have to protect. It'll be easier in the bank than in the sewers. This machine is of the flood-causing variety. It takes longer to disable thanks to all of the pipes they have to disconnect. Nightwing is on his third pipe when Beast Boy curses over the comms.
"Overwatch, this machine wasn't on the blueprints," Beast Boy says.
"Is that kryptonite?" a voice Nightwing doesn't recognize squeaks. That must be Wallflower, the Black Canary mimic who's paired with Beast Boy for this mission.
"That's kryptonite," Beast Boy confirms. "Overwatch?"
"I'm working on it," Overwatch says.
"Where are you?" Superboy demands.
"Nine," Beast Boy says.
"That's some sense of humour," Kid Flash says.
Multiple people laugh. Nightwing chuckles. It is a little funny, in a "if we don't laugh, we'll panic" kind of way.
"Where's the kryptonite?" Overwatch asks.
"Where the thermite would be in the fire ones," Beast Boy says.
Nightwing really hopes there isn't as much kryptonite as there would be thermite.
It takes a minute before Overwatch starts talking Beast Boy and Wallflower through how to disarm the kryptonite machine, with Robin jumping in every so often. Things seem to be going smoothly.
"Done with ten," Equinox reports when there's a pause. "We've got civilians again."
"Okay, seriously, where are you finding them?" Kid Flash asks.
The hairs on the back of Nightwing's neck prickle. He isn't in his element, magically speaking, but air travels in the manmade underground. He can tell that something isn't right.
A split second later, Wallflower shouts, "Gar, down!"
The floor ripples underneath Nightwing's feet, and the world goes dark.
Nightwing isn't knocked unconscious, thank the gods. There's no light and the ceiling is a lot closer than it was, but as far as he call tell, he's uninjured aside from what are going to be some bruises from getting knocked off his feet.
"Equinox, can you hear me?" Nightwing asks.
He hears a faint cough from somewhere to his left, where Equinox had been standing when the ground was ripped out from under them.
"I hear you," Equinox says. "What happened?"
"Explosion," Nightwing says. "Overwatch, do you copy?"
There's chatter over the comms, but it's quieter than it should be.
"Not so loud and not so clear," Overwatch says. Her voice sounds like it's coming from the end of a long tunnel. "Status?"
"Uninjured. Going to check how buried we are," Nightwing says.
"Stuck in a small space but unharmed," Equinox says.
"Beast Boy, Wallflower, status?" Overwatch asks. There's no reply.
Nightwing cracks a glowstick when his flashlight doesn't work and looks around while Overwatch repeats her request. He has enough room to sit up and that's about it. There's a wall of rubble between him and Equinox. He can't hear any of the civilians who were curled up on the floor a dozen feet away from the flood machine. He tries not to think about what that probably means.
Finally, Overwatch gets a response.
"My hearing aids are fine. My legs are trapped," Wallflower says slowly. "I can't see Gar."
Nightwing hears her more clearly than anyone else on the comms except Equinox. When Beast Boy croaks out a confirmation that he's alive, his voice comes through with static but at normal volume.
"What happened to the kryptonite?" Overwatch asks.
"I tried to…hold it but I…am not very good…with metal," Wallflower says.
Beast Boy coughed. "It looks like it's trapped in an armoured rock. I think we're good."
"Flower, are you okay?" Wonder Girl asks. "You sound…not okay."
"I'm not calm," Wallflower replies. "It makes English not easy."
English wasn't easy to start with, in Nightwing's opinion. It was about a hundred times worse under stress.
"And I might have hit my head," Wallflower adds.
There are a few seconds of silence.
"That belongs in the status update, Wallflower," Equinox groans.
If Wallflower has a response, it's not one Nightwing can hear.
"Wallflower, stay awake. Nightwing, Beast Boy, Equinox, we're working to get you free, but there are some issues topside," Overwatch says. "Stay on comms."
"Will do," Nightwing says. "Hey, Wallflower, how'd you make an armoured rock?"
"How'd I…? Magic," Wallflower says. "You—I need to keep talking—have to move without pause from one element into the next. Fire makes earth makes metal and then I get stuck there. My nǎi nai, my grandmother, might give up on teaching me."
"But metal isn't an element and I know you use air because you made a tornado," Equinox says in a light, teasing tone when Wallflower pauses for a bit too long.
"Four elements and five elements are not the same thing," Wallflower says. "And you know I use both. You called it code-switching."
They're treated to a twenty-minute diatribe about the differences between the Western four elements and the Chinese five elements in magic, plus a detour into medicine wheels and cultural appropriation that ends in Equinox and Wallflower grumbling about colonialism. It's interesting, but it also makes Nightwing very glad that he only has to worry about air.
Speaking of air.
"Wallflower, can you find out how much oxygen you have?" Nightwing asks.
"I can feel the air moving, that's all," Wallflower says. "You'd be better at it."
"What does that mean?" Beast Boy asks.
Before Nightwing can deflect, which is a good thing in a way since it means she's keeping up with the conversation, Wallflower says, "Aeromancer auras really don't stop moving when they're good with air. Nightwing looks like he's a tornado."
There's total silence over the comms.
"Flower, I think you did the spilling secrets thing again," Equinox says. "You told Martian Manhunter you'd work on that."
"I'm concussed, what do you want from me?"
Nightwing closes his eyes and sighs. "Please don't tell Batman."
"Dude, he's Batman. If he doesn't know already, he's probably listening to our comms anyway," Beast Boy says.
Okay, Nightwing knows that the other heroes who don't interact with Batman much have some ideas about how he operates but listening in on everyone's comms would be wildly inefficient. Beast Boy has to know that.
"Putting aside the 'Nightwing is magic' revelation for a sec, do the comms sound too quiet to anyone else?" Equinox asks.
The four of them go silent again. Nightwing listens hard but can't pick up even a hint of the chatter that should be going on.
"Overwatch, come in," Beast Boy says. "Robin? Cyborg? Literally anyone who isn't buried under a building?"
There aren't any responses.
"Well, drat," Beast Boy says.
Buried under a building with no way to contact the outside world isn't the worst position Nightwing's been in (Renegade and returning from a space mission to find Jason dead come to mind). It isn't the worst position Beast Boy's been in (he's got a whole graveyard of worse). It is bad for the two younger heroes. Equinox has been active for a little more than a year, Wallflower for less than that. They haven't had to deal with little disasters like this.
"I think being trapped under a building should get more than PG-13 swearing, Beast Boy," Equinox says.
There's a pause and then Beast Boy gives the audible equivalent of a shrug.
"It's a problem, but they'll still be looking for us topside," Nightwing says. "If Robin can get a lock on one of my trackers, it won't take a second."
"Tracker like a tracking chip?" Equinox asks.
"Trained by Batman," Beast Boy says.
Nightwing can't argue with that. The trackers were Batman's idea.
"I should have learned a teleportation spell," Wallflower says.
"I wouldn't let you teleport with a concussion," Nightwing says.
Beast Boy laughs. "Dude, you sound like such a dad."
Nightwing protests. Equinox agrees. Wallflower says that her dad sucks, so she wouldn't know.
"Screw that guy. Nightwing's your dad now," Beast Boy says.
Nightwing protests again. Equinox agrees with Beast Boy. Nightwing is feeling very attacked right now.
"Batman is going to have questions if I come home with an adopted—how old are you, Wallflower?"
"Almost seventeen."
"Batman is going to have questions if I come home with an adopted sixteen-year-old daughter," Nightwing says.
"Too late," Beast Boy says.
Beast Boy is right. Nightwing's resolve crumbles when Wallflower saying that she's tired sends him into momentary panic.
He blames Batman.
"Can you be my dad too?" Equinox asks. "My grandmother hates going to parent-teacher night."
It takes another half hour before Overwatch gets their comms reconnected to the rest of the group and tells them that the Teen Titans are working to dig them out.
"Great," Nightwing says. "We're all okay still, right, Wallflower?"
"I'm fine, Dad."
"Excusemewhat?" Kid Flash exclaims.
In the dusty, cramped darkness, Nightwing grins. "Yeah, I'm going to need to borrow Arsenal's parenting books."
He's only half joking.