disclaimer: I do not own these characters.
Nightwing had promised that he would be here. He said the only thing that would keep him away would be death and even then, he might just come back so he didn't miss out. Barbara had laughed, then made him promise not to die, because that was 100% not allowed. However, he was now long overdue. He should have been here an hour ago. Yet she had heard nothing. She had tried to call him but it was complete radio silence with him.
She was about to call Batman for back-up when she heard soft boots land behind her.
"You're late," she said turning around.
"Sorry, Babs, got held up," he said coming over to her.
"You could have called or texted and said you'd be late," she said.
"Sorry. Were you worried about me?" he asked. He leaned down and kissed her. "Am I forgiven?" he asked pulling away.
"Alright." She relented, "but you're still late."
"Yes, but not late enough." A new voice behind them spoke. They whipped around to see a man emerge from the shadows.
"Who are you and how did you get in here?" Nightwing asked stepping protectively in front of Barbara.
"Not to worry, I'm not here to hurt her."
"Then what are you here for?"
"I need something, and I know Miss Gordon will be able to get it for me."
"And what is that?"
"Batman."
"What makes you think I can get you Batman?" asked Barbara.
"Don't play games with me. I know that you are one of the few people Batman let's get close to him. You and his protégées."
"Just because Batman has saved my family a million times does not mean that we are close."
"Either way you know how to contact him without lighting that ridiculous Bat signal, and that's what I need. Had I known you were expecting company, I would have called ahead."
"Even if I did know how to contact Batman, I wouldn't to do it for you."
"Maybe not at first, but I have ways of making you cooperate."
"You won't lay a finger on her," said Nightwing.
"I don't intend to; everyone knows that Miss Gordon doesn't respond well to that sort of persuasion. Some speculate that Miss Gordon is the strongest student Batman ever had, but unfortunately she has the same weakness."
"What's that?" Asked Nightwing.
"You," said the villain. "Both Miss Gordon and The Batman would do anything to save you. Why? Because they both fell victim to human feelings of love and caring. I, on the other hand, am no longer burdened by those feelings. So, here's what's going to happen," he said. "Miss Gordon is going to call Batman, if she does not, I am going to kill Nightwing, then we will wait for Batman to come looking for him."
"I won't do it."
"Very well." The villain clapped and two men appeared and began fighting Nightwing. They never even got to touch him. But when he leaped over the villain, he sprayed some gas directly into Nightwing's face. He landed and coughed a bit before successfully taking out the two men.
"That was your plan to kill me?" Nightwing laughed.
"No, those me were just a distraction for the virus now entering your blood stream."
"What virus?"
"The one you just inhaled."
"You have about five minutes before you begin to feel it's affects, and you have about twenty min before it begins to kill you."
"Well, I feel perfectly fine, so, I don't believe you," said Nightwing.
The power to the apartment cut off as steel trapdoors closed in all around it.
"I can wait, when you are ready to contact him you just let me know and I'll turn the power back on and allow you to leave."
After about seven minutes of staring at each other, Nightwing began to feel sick. His vision started swimming and he started sweating.
"Babs?"
She looked up at him questioningly.
"Does it seem to be getting hotter in here to you?"
"Not really, I mean the air is off cause there is no power, but it's a cool night. Are you alright?"
"Yeah, just a little warm is all. Probably from the workout I did taking out the thugs." He flashed her a smile.
Twenty minutes later he was breathing heavily.
"Nightwing are you sure you are alright?" she asked.
"I'm fine."
The villain laughed. "No, he is not fine. He is feeling the effects of the virus. He is running a fever and his body is becoming weak, soon he won't be able to stand." The villain paused. "I can see what you two are working on and it won't work, you won't be able to remove the metal unless I allow it. Don't even think of bypassing the electrical outage to activate your security, I disabled the back-up generator too."
"How do you know so much about me?"
"Because Barbara I've known you for a very long time."
"Who are you?"
"We'll cover that later. For now, Nightwing is looking a little worse for wear."
"Babs?"
"Yes?"
"Don't let him get to Batman, ok?"
Barbara hesitated, "Why are you-" she stopped as Nightwing stumbled forward catching himself at the last minute. Her normally graceful and balanced boyfriend, seemingly tripped on thin air. "Nightwing? Are you alright?"
"I'm fiiinnnnneee" he said. His voice trailed off as he collapsed to the ground like a rag doll.
"NIGHTWING!" she shouted. He was breathing heavily, and his hair was turning gray, and his skin started to age.
"If you want him to live, I recommend you agree to my terms and contact Batman, I happen to have the cure with me, but I will only give it to him if you call Batman."
"Give him the antidote first, then I will call him."
"No, you have to call first."
Babs looked at Nightwing who was rapidly ageing. "Ok," she relented. "Turn on the power I'll lure Batman into your trap."
"Very good." The power instantly snapped back on, and she quickly sent out her message to Batman, warning him to be careful.
"Ok, I called Batman, now give him the antidote."
"No."
"but you said-"
"I lied." The man laughed.
Batman arrived at Barbara's apartment. He noticed the power lines had been cut so there was no power to the building. He went to her apartment and noticed that there was no one there, there was only a note.
"Greeting's Batman, I have the girl and another associate of yours at the Iron works. Joins us there if you dare."
Batman headed to the Iron Works as soon as he dropped down and metal closed down over every exit of the building and a giant spotlight turned on.
"Welcome Batman, I see you got my message."
"Let Barbara go."
"Never fear, I'm not going to hurt her." A screen dropped down in the room and turned on. "Take a look."
Batman saw Barbara sitting in her wheelchair by a couch, where an elderly man lay. Barbara had tears in her eyes as she clutched the man's hand. The old man was dressed as Nightwing, and if Batman was honest, he looked like him. If Nightwing were a 95-year-old man.
"Your eyes do not deceive you," said the villain, "I have injected Nightwing with a virus that is causing him to rapidly age. You have a choice, you can either save him or save yourself." A panel slide open revealing two vials. "One contains another dose of the virus the other contains the antidote. I will not tell you, which is which, but I will tell you this. You have one minute to choose one and I will give the other to Nightwing. Then I will let you go. If you choose the antidote then he dies, if you choose the virus then he is cured, and you die. Either way you are destroyed. If you choose neither then I will be forced to use another vial of the virus on Miss Gordon. You timer starts now. Tick tock Batman."
Batman weighed the possibilities, there was no way he could ensure that both Barbara and Dick made it out alive unless he chose the Virus, but he would have no way of knowing which one to take.
"10 seconds," The voice came over the speakers. Followed by mad laughter.
Batman grabbed a vial, as soon as he lifted it the other one dropped down a shaft, so he was unable to get to it. Batman hesitated and drank the liquid. It tasted awful like rotten fish.
Batman watched on the screen as a panel opened to reveal a robot in the room with Barbara. The robot grabbed Barbara and pulled her away from Nightwing and held her in place in her chair. Another Robot held the vial and prepped and injector with the liquid. He injected it into Nightwing. Then lifted up the old man and deposited him into a shoot that came out not far from where batman stood.
Batman grabbed Nightwing as soon as he landed.
"Batman?" A rough and dry voice asked. Nightwing's eyes were barely open, looking up at Batman.
"Yes, I'm here."
"I'm sorry." Nightwing said.
"No, I am sorry, I-" he stopped as Nightwing tried to speak again.
"Tell Barbara, I'm sorry." cough* cough*
"I will-"
"I'm sorry Bruce," said Nightwing as his eyes rolled back and his body fell limp.
"Batman?" Barbara called behind him. In the panic he hadn't noticed the metal paneling disappearing and a door opening for Barbara to enter. "Is he…?"
"Not yet, but he won't last much longer, we have to get him to the Watchtower, we have equipment there that may be able to keep him alive. He is so old that his body can no longer sustain itself."
Nightwing was in the Watchtower med bay hooked up to the life-support system. The only thing keeping him alive was the machines. Batman and the Atom had worked tirelessly to locate and isolate one of the white blood cells containing the antidote in Batman's blood so that they could replicate it in Nightwing's. After two days, they find something. Due to Dick's rapidly worsening condition they decided to try it.
After finding the blood cells, transfer some of Batman's blood enriched with the cells into Dicks body hoping they will multiply and save him. Batman refuses to leave his son's side for days. Finally, Barbara arranges for a cot to be brought in and she and Alfred force Bruce to rest at least a little bit.
Dick wakes to find himself in a medical facility. He looks around without moving his body and sees, Bruce Wayne asleep in the chair next to him, he slowly lifted his hands to his face and felt that it was his normal face, not the old wrinkly one he had just felt. He moved and the bed made a soft squeak. Bruce was awake in an instant.
"Dick?" Bruce spoke softly.
"Bruce? What happened? Where are we?"
His questions were cut short by Bruce grabbing him and squeezing him in a hug for few seconds before letting go.
"Bruce? Is everything ok?"
"How are you feeling?" Bruce asked, releasing his hold on his son and sitting back.
"I'm alright," Dick said, "but Bruce, what happened?"
"You almost died of old age from a virus created by a mad man. Atom and I were able to save you using the white blood cells in my blood stream from the antidote. You looked very bad until yesterday."
"how long have I been out?"
"A month."
"A month?!" Dick sank back down onto the bed.
"Don't worry, Alfred took care of all of your civilian stuff, and just about every person in the league knows something happened to you. Robin was here for a while, but he got called on the Teen Titans space mission, he calls regularly for updates. Alfred has been covering for us."
"What about Barbara? Is she ok?"
"Yes, she is fine, she is with her father at lunch he was very worried about not hearing from her for a bit."
"Oh."
"I'll go fetch the doctor," said Bruce. He stood and donned his bat cowl before stepping out into the hallway.
A few moments later Batman returned with the Justice League Doctor.
"Welcome back to the land of the living Nightwing. How are you feeling?"
"Better than ever, Doc."
"Glad to hear it, you gave everyone quite the scare. According to the readings we have gotten off you for the past 24 hours and the blood test we did about an hour ago you are completely cured and there is no sign of the virus in your body. So, you are free to go."
"Thanks doc."
"Just promise me one thing Nightwing,"
"What?"
"Next time you want to die of old age make sure I've have long since retired, ok?"
Nightwing laughed, "Deal."
Barbara arrived at Nightwing's room only moments after he and Bruce had left with all of his things to get one more test by Batman and the Atom before he went home. She was surprised to find the room empty and panicked.
She wheeled as fast as she could to the nurse's station.
"Where is Nightwing?" she asked in a panicked voice.
"He was taken out a couple hours ago," said the nurse.
"Meaning?"
"I haven't seen anything about him for a bit. He's gone." The nurse quickly turned away and rushed to the other side of the desk for the phone.
Gone! He couldn't be gone. She hadn't gotten to say goodbye, she hadn't gotten to kiss him again. She hadn't gotten to hear him say her name again. What was Oracle without Nightwing.
Barbara felt tears threatening to pour out. "Where is Batman now?" she asked another nurse.
"I don't know, miss."
Barbara started slowly towards the exit of the medical wing when she heard a cheery voice shout her name.
"Babs!" she turned and saw a man that looked just like Dick waving at her. How could he be waving at her if he was gone?
"Dick?" she didn't move as he approached her. Batman trailing behind.
"Babs, I'm so glad we caught you," As he got closer, he noticed there were tears in her eyes. "Why are you crying? What's wrong?"
"I thought… the nurse said… you were gone."
"Yeah, gone to the lab for another test, good news no more virus," he said. He hugged her. She buried her face into his jacket. (Bruce had brought him civilian clothes which he was wearing along with his domino mask).
"Hey, it's ok Babs, Everything is ok. I'm alright, I promise." He comforted her.
She soon stopped crying and backed away. "Don't ever do that to me again." She said punching him in the arm.
"Oww," he complained. Then he laughed a little, "Well, if you mean don't die of old age again, I'll have to disappoint you, because fully intend to live my life until I reach a ripe old age."
She punched him again, a little softer than the last time. "You know what I mean boy wonder."
"Do I?" he teased, leaning in and planting a kiss on her cheek.
"Let's just go home," she said.
"After you, m 'lady."