Thanks to Patty and Tammy for beta reading this part and some of what is now 15 since we shortened 14 :-) Special thanks to Patty for making the suggestion to split the scenes as below. :-) You rock! I hope you all enjoy this part. Char :-)

COURT MARTIAL Part 14

"Hello, Roy."

"Jade," the name icily escaped his lips.


Barbara Gordon drummed her fingers on the dark wooden table, her green eyes staring ahead at the Tribunal. "I understand your concerns and the concerns the prosecution has. However, both my co-counsel as well as my client have both given you their word that Nightwing was not escaping. Further, Nightwing has agreed that he will not leave his cell and the secure area without a proper escort and without permission."

"But isn't that part of the problem, Oracle? Nightwing is, whether we like it or not, our prisoner. As our prisoner it should not be up to him to agree to stay confined," Wonder Woman stated from the Tribunal's table.

"Exactly," Green Lantern interjected. "That is exactly my point. We need to ensure that he is in custody, secure in his confinement, and not able to break out whenever he pleases."

"I didn't break out," Nightwing said exasperated.

"Hush. Don't say anything!" Barbara ordered. "Not another word."

Flash leaned over and whispered in Nightwing's ear, "Technically, you did." He shrugged when his friend gave him the famous Bat glare and added, "It's not like you were just in the neighborhood."


"Where you in the neighborhood or did you just miss me?" She taunted. She dropped the see through green robe from her shoulders and padded nude to the ornate wardrobe. It was white in the classic French style, trimmed in gold gilt. She seemed oblivious to the threatening stance Arsenal had taken upon her entrance into the room. "How is my daughter? Did you bring her to see me?" She pulled her Cheshire attire from the wardrobe and casually slipped into the clothes.

"What's your connection to Tarantula?"

"Who?" Jade asked pulling her lock black locks from her face with her headband, tying it behind her head.

"Female you trained and sent to Bludhaven," Roy growled.

"OH. Yes. Tarantula. Catalina. How is she? Irritating Nightwing I hope. At least that was my intent."


"Intent is important here." Barbara spoke up. "Obviously, Nightwing made a mistake. It was not intentional --"

"How can you say it wasn't intentional?" Ted Kord asked standing up. "Do you know what it must have taken to break out of those cells? That secure area was created with Kryptonian, Amazonian, and Thanagarian technology and he waltzed out of their like a child walking away from his corner. That took some thought, Barb, and that is intentional."

Barbara sighed, trying to contain her rising anger. She exhaled causing her bangs to fly up and back before she started speaking again. "IF I may finish my sentence uninterrupted this time," she glared at Ted who sat down, a sheepish look on his face. "Nightwing did not intentionally escape. He thought that by staying on the Watch Tower that he was still in the custody of the JLA. Now, I agree that may not have been the most rational thinking, but Nightwing has not been thinking rationally in the last few weeks. He's been under enormous stress and this is just the latest example."

"Oh God, what is this? Are you gonna try to use an insanity defense?" Green Lantern scoffed. "Let's stop side stepping the real issue. Nightwing escaped from his cell. He's an accused murderer. We need to devise a way to restrain him or perhaps send him off planet pending trial."

"Agreed," Wonder Woman said.

"What? Agreed to what?" Flash asked standing.

Diana turned her attention to Flash and responded, "We need to devise a way to restrain Nightwing so that his continued confinement is assured."

"But we aren't discussing sending him off planet, right? I want to be clear on that," Flash pushed.

"No, that is an option we have," she replied.

Flash's mouth dropped again as he quickly looked from Dick then back to the tribunal. "Bu t.. he ... he's not been convicted of murdering anyone --"


"She murdered Blockbuster. Nightwing's been arrested as an accessory. You trained her, you sent her to Bludhaven. Why? Was this your plan?"

Cheshire laughed as she faced her former lover. "Roy, you're giving me far too much credit. I saw her fighting Lady Vic. She was thoroughly beaten, but she had a spark of ... something. So I offered to train her."

"You just said it was intentional."

Cheshire nodded. "It was intentional in that I knew anyone not operating under him for whatever reason in his little dung heap of a city would irritate him."

"You told her you were a Titan!"

"No I didn't. She mentioned she was from Bludhaven, wanted to return there, and be a 'hero' for her 'people'. Such noble ambitions." The two former lovers had started circling each other in the beginnings of a deadly dance. "I may have mentioned that I knew Bludhaven's protector Nightwing from when he was in the Titans. If dear Catalina assumed that I was a Titan that was her mistake."

Roy's green eyes narrowed, his hand reading his bow. "So, you expect me to believe that you're in the hero in training business? Why would a known assassin train someone to be a new hero. Isn't that the wrong side of the fence for you?"

She laughed again. Once it was a laugh that mesmerized him, now it sounded so evil in his ears. "Roy, darling, have you met her? She's a sociopath. No one as psychotic as she is could ever successfully work on your side. Tarantula understands that morals get in the way. She doesn't have any. I trained her and sent her to be a thorn in Nightwing's side. I see I have succeeded in that better than I could have hoped."


"I hope you are kidding. You've got to be kidding me!" As his anger began to burn to the surface, his face reddened. "This is more than wro --"

Barbara reached across the table and took Flash by the arm. "Please ... sit down."

"NO! I'm not going to sit down. You can't seriously expect us to discuss sending him off planet. What about innocent until proved guilty? Are we using that in this court martial?"

"Of course we are," Green Arrow answered. "I'm going to make sure of it." He turned to the other members of the tribunal. "So you all know I am not going to vote to send that boy off planet pre trial. Period."

Aquaman nodded. "I agree that is harsh and I believe unnecessary."

Green Arrow continued. "For the record, I don't think he was doing anything other than what he said he was -- talking to Wal ... Flash. The same Flash WHO happens to be a part of his defense team. If Nightwing was really trying to escape, he would've." Green Arrow looked around the room. He knew they all knew his words were true. The boy was bat ... he could leave regardless of where they put him. "If he gives his word that he won't leave again, we do nothing more. Except maybe post a guard instead of relying on technology. That way if he needs to talk to someone he can get a message to them."

"A guard won't work," Aquaman interjected. "It puts someone in a very difficult situation. As has been said, if Nightwing wanted to, he could have left the station. It's not that I don't trust him, because up until this time I trusted him implicitly." He looked across at the young man he had known since he was a young boy. His heart broke to watch Nightwing hang his head in shame. He did not like the position he was in, but he had long ago learned how to separate his duty from his personal feelings. "However, I think we need to make sure that there's no chance that he'll be considered as not being held. I proffer another solution."

All eyes seemed glued on the Atlantean king. Tempest watched his mentor intently. Arthur turned his sea blue eyes toward the man he had raised as his son. "We could hold him in Atlantis, where the environment would be hostile enough that he could not walk away. If that solution is rejected. Give him communications access on a schedule, which was a mistake to deny in the first place, and ..." he looked away from Garth before finishing his thought, "restrain him."

Garth jutted his chin up. He stood, turned and walked out of the Hall of Justice leaving his Titan comrades to monitor the situation. Arthur looked at the grey tabletop and sighed, as Flash shook his head. "Once again ... what about the presumption of innocence? Nightwing --"


" -- did not kill Blockbuster!"

"Did Nightwing help her or did he just stand by?"

"He didn't have anything to do with it!" Roy yelled.

She smiled at him. "Yes ... that's why you're here, because he had nothing to do with it. He's under arrest because he was so noble. He did not do anything. He let her do it all, didn't he? Your ever fearless leader and his high moral code of honor fell flat on his face, didn't he? Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy." She threw poisonous darts at Arsenal. "Guess you're finally catching a --"


" -- clue you in on something." Green Lantern stood and stated venomously. "How we hold him needs to be secure, whether he's guilty or innocent. I know what the defense believes, they wouldn't be the defense if they didn't. However, his innocence or guilt isn't the question ... at least right now. It is his constant and consistent disregard for the rules that we set forth. Breaking out of his cell is just the latest." Wally's green eyes flashed as he whirled about on Stewart, but before he could speak, John continued. "It doesn't matter in the least what you think, because the bottom line is Atlantis won't work." John Stewart pointed at Nightwing, "Being on the moon isn't a deterrent to him. How much more hostile can the environment be?"

Arthur looked directly at the Green Lantern. "Whatever we decide regarding Nightwing, it must be a part of it that you nor Blue Beetle are allowed anywhere near him except in this Hall during the trial. In fact I believe that you two probably should not be on the Watch Tower at all except during court proceedings so you aren't tempted to check on Nightwing's confinement or participate in acting as guard."

"We need access to the Watch Tower to prepare our case," Beetle said joining his co-counsel standing behind their table.

"Just as I need access to my client in order to prepare his defense. Nightwing cannot have an effective defense, which he is Constitutionally entitled to, if he is off planet and unable to participate in the preparation of his own defense," Oracle calmly replied and once again interrupted Wally. This time she jerked hard on his arm and brought him down to the table. He sat hard and she instinctively assumed an attack posture. "Now the only ones who would have anything to gain by my client being moved to an off planet location would be the prosecution. They would gain an unfair advantage in what is supposed to be a fair and impartial proceeding." She smiled as she let her final arrow fly. "Since we are The Justice League and, therefore, trying to ensure that justice is done, I would imagine that the prosecution would have to join the defense in objecting to moving Nightwing to an off planet location and thus depriving him of a full and fair defense."


Instinctively he let his arrows fly defensively, slicing the darts in midair. "Why? What did you have to gain by sending her to Bludhaven?"

"That bastard friend of yours stole my child!" She screeched at him. "He SHOT me and took my daughter, and then he gave her to a loser like you."

"So you did try to set him up!" Arsenal growled advancing on Cheshire. "This is all your fault. You planned it."

She executed a flip over his head landing on the floor near the bathroom door; her hand let fly throwing stars one of which embedded into Arsenal's left arm. "I didn't plan on Tarantula involving your dear friend Nightwing in murder. How could I have predicted he'd assist anyone in a murder? That is more than my wildest dreams could have imagined."

Roy snatched the steel star out of his arm, blood flowed down making crimson stains on his black jacket. "Nightwing did not assist her in killing Blockbuster! This wouldn't have happened if not for you!"

She rolled her eyes as she cartwheeled from her place avoiding the arrows he shot. "Stop trying to free him from his sins. You can't shift the blame to me or anyone else. Nightwing is a killer. He just didn't have the guts to do it himself." She jumped towards him; her legs outstretched kicking him in the chin sending Arsenal reeling backwards. She continued her attack furiously. "He stole my child. You've kept my child. I know you hate the truth Arsenal, but the truth is you and Nightwing are nothing but common thugs and kidnappers! You both deserve anything that can happen to you."


"We must also make sure that nothing happens to Nightwing while he is in our custody." J'onn proclaimed. He caught Captain Marvel's eye who also nodded as J'onn continued. "Oracle's words ring true. Exiling Nightwing before his trial will benefit no one and we cannot and should not allow our obligation for his safety to be jeopardized or passed on to others. Also there is no benefit in banning the prosecution from the Watch Tower. However, Oracle is correct. Nightwing is not acting rationally and I see no need to place him or anyone else in danger. I've no doubt that no matter what the restraint, he maybe able to walk away again, but this would be a strong reminder that he is in a cell, that he is a prisoner, and that he has no right to walk out. I suggest that we add a guard and additional restraints to ensure Nightwing's continued confinement."

"I agree about the guard, not the restraints. He doesn't need to be shackled or manacled in his cell," Captain Marvel added his feelings to the discussion.

Wonder Woman felt the need to bring this hearing to a conclusion. Feelings and emotions were already heated beyond a comfortable level. She looked at Nightwing as he sat between Oracle and Flash. Her eyes then drifted to Batman who sat directly behind Nightwing. He had been silent during the hearing, but his strong, square jaw was flexing. His bottom lip twitching slightly. She had known him long enough to realize he was seething beneath the masks he wore. It made her job all the more difficult. "We have, then, two votes in favor of a guard and additional restraints and one vote for only a guard. I believe I know your position Green Arrow, but would you state it for the record?"

"You better believe it. Guard only. No restraints."

Nightwing exhaled the breath he had been holding. He didn't dare look toward the Tribunal. Batman, however did. His eyes were focused on Wonder Woman ... the only member of the Tribunal who had not vocalized a position, who had not voted. Their eyes met and she held his gaze. Her eyes said something to him ... but he couldn't quite read ...

"It seems the task falls then to me to decide. It is not an easy decision to balance the needs of justice and fairness and safety even against feelings and emotions and friendships. However, I think it all goes back to the fact that, like it or not, at the moment Nightwing is our prisoner. He is under arrest, he is being tried for murder, and as such his confinement must be assured. I believe that a guard should be added and additional restraints are needed."


Arsenal punched her in the abdomen. "Lian doesn't need you! That's for damn sure." He twisted out of the way of her kick grabbing her leg and using her momentum to throw her into the wall. He was like a feral animal in his unrelenting attack. Pummeling her to keep her on the wall. Finally he grabbed an arrow in his hand and charged at her. His hand went around her throat at the arrow tip slightly pierced the soft skin of her neck.

"Go ... on," she taunted him, looking at him through swelling eyes. "Kill me. It won't change anything. It won't save Nightwing from what he did. He did it Roy. I didn't make him, Tarantula didn't make him, no one made him participate in killing. He did that all on his own." She watched the green eyes that stared at her, the anger and frustration he felt raging behind them. "Go ahead, Roy, kill me. Be like Nightwing. Maybe they'll even let you share a cell together." Hoarsely she laughed.

"ARGHHHHH," he moved the arrow back and slammed it into her leg with all the force he could muster. She screamed in pain, reached up and scratched him with her poison tipped talons. Roy slammed his elbow into her face and watched as her unconscious body slumped to the floor, blood from the leg wound pooling around her. Bracing himself as the weakness from the quick spreading poison surged through his system, he gathered his thoughts and looked up from her body.


Nightwing looked up. First at the Tribunal, then to Barbara and Wally, before he swiveled in his chair to look at Batman. Batman turned his gaze from Wonder Woman to Nightwing. Reaching across, he placed his black gloved hand on Nightwing's arm. His fingers tapped a message -- 'It will be alright.' Nightwing nodded, hung his head and turned back toward the front of the room. He moved his hand under the table to take Barbara's in his.

Wonder Woman looked around the room. "Mr. Miracle, would you please devise and prepare the restraints?"

"No."

"And Plastic -- No?" Wonder Woman said turning back to Mr. Miracle. "Pardon me, I don't think I understand."

"I said no. I will not participate in this. I am an escape artist not a jailer. I do not agree with these proceedings, I certainly do not agree with your decision to put Nightwing in shackles, and I refuse to participate." Scott Free's eyes met Dick Grayson's. He gave Dick a nod, turned and walked out of the room. Barda and Orion standing and following the true son of High Father.

"I ... see," Wonder Woman said. Taking a deep breath, she continued. "I shall contact Themyscira and have the restraints made. Plastic Man, if you would please determine a guard detail and schedule for them?" Plastic Man nodded his reluctant assent. "Very well, I believe, unless there is anything else," she looked around and seeing no one seeming to have anything else to add, she picked up the gavel and clapped it down on the table. "This hearing is adjourned."

Booster Gold and Plastic Man moved to the defense table. Plastic Man placed his hand on Nightwing's shoulder. "Let's go back." He looked at Batman and Oracle, "Would you like to come?"

Oracle held Nightwing's hand in her's. She pulled it to her chest and smiled at him. Nightwing gave her a slight smile. "I'm kind of tired. If it's ok with you all, I'll talk to you in the morning." Flash patted his best friend's back as Oracle brushed her lips across his gloved knuckles before releasing her grip on his hand. Batman stood with him and their eyes met. "It's okay. I'm okay."


"I'm okay," Arsenal assured himself and staggered slightly. He regained his balance, and then shook his head. "I am so … so fucking not okay." He staggered again, lurched forward and activated his comm link. "Grace, ... need a ... pickup and bring ... restraints. Big ones ... that hurt." Half-sitting, half-falling he dropped on the bed defeated, nauseous and sick. He almost missed her reply, but the words some how struggled through the cotton that seemed to be packed into his ears. "Huh … no … no … I uh …" He coughed up a little blood, paused and then continued. "Gracie … give me a sec, gotta take care a' something." He broke open the package containing the antidote and jabbed it into his leg. Leaning back, his eyes drifted back over toward Jade as he continued. "Yeah … I'm okay. Just get over … we got a prisoner." His eyes lingered on Jade's still form He knew 'the how' behind how Tarantula could do what she did, but he still didn't know 'the why'. Rubbing his face, he tilted his head back and took a deep breath. He had to be sure about what Jade knew or didn't know. Her reasoning sounded like Jade, but just in case there was more ... Yet, he had a sick feeling in his gut that there wasn't more, and that she was right. Cheshire may have sent Tarantula to Bludhaven and put the ball in motion, but she wasn't responsible for ...

He thumbed his communicator and changed the frequency. "Oracle ... I- ... oh ... Robin, this is Arsenal. I need Black Canary here ... I know she's busy," Jade made a small movement. She was awake and slowly pulling up, so slowly he almost missed it. "... but tell her an old friend of mine and her sensei needs to be talked to." As he paused to hear the reply, he causally flipped two daggers out. He made a split finger throw and the dangers slashed forward. Embedding in the wall over her head next to the heavy wardrobe, she smiled at the apparent miss. Roy smiled back; shook his head, waved a finger and advised her. "Wait for it." Jade's eyes grew large as the creaking of the huge wardrobe became louder and before she could move, the tottering wardrobe beside her fell smashing her underneath. Roy shook his head. "That had to hurt…huh? Oh no Robin, that wasn't meant for you, just have Black Canary track to my location post haste…I'll wait."

TO BE CONTINUED . . .