A/N: Please read and review!
They made their way to London on foot, traveling during the day to avoid looters and the strange creatures that around in the sky.
Strangely, Elaine never once spoke with any of them, even though she talked with Dick the days before. She ignored them. Mainly, she ignored Dick which did not go unnoticed by the vigilante, very little did, and for some reason, her silence bothered him. He did grow fond of her chattering. Dick tried to get her to talk, but she only gave him one syllable words. It really was not helping him.
"What's wrong?" He finally asked her, hoping Conner and Kaldur were too busy scanning the area around them to even pay attention to what he was saying.
"Oh," she said. "Nothing."
"No, not nothing."
She eyed him, trying to judge the right answer. "I'd rather not say."
Dick narrowed his eyes, choosing to accept what she told him, but he kept a close eye on her. He noted every gesture and look she gave him. He realized something there, and her silence began to make more sense. Elaine lost all the people she cared about, and she apparently did not want it to happen again.
Lex Luthor spoke quietly with Mercy. He asked her to listen in on many of the Light members from the moment it formed.
"It's not really about any of the Light," she said. "Your partner. . .he will turn on you."
"It makes sense," Lex replied. "We are planning the same thing."
"Much sooner than you think," she told him. "In fact, he's working on it right now."
They looked out the window as the strange creatures known as Parademons flew across the sky. Many of them began to build strange towers, possibly all across the world. He knew what they meant.
"Vandal Savage is an idiot," Lex said far too calmly. "This partnership. . ." He could not finish it. He was that mad.
"Who's the kid they're worried about?" Mercy asked him. "Maybe. . .maybe this kid will stop this?"
He watched their every movement in the countryside of that European country. It was empty, and one could have argue that the Total Tremor hit that country harder than all the others.
The people he followed did not even know he was there which was not too surprising as he was trained by the best. There was only one person he was more interested in: the one called Nightwing. The two of them knew each other during his years as someone else and before his death. They got along during that short period of time, but at that point, he was more interested in what he was doing in England.
The girl. That was it. Three founding members of the Team sent to keep an eye on an almost ordinary college-age girl. He watched the girl walk, and even from that distance, he could tell that she was trained to fight for most of her life. That was not what really interested him. Nightwing would keep close to her, nothing new for him as the girl did have red hair, but he was trained to look at the finer details of things. Nightwing was too kind to her. Too gentle.
The Red Hood had to smirk at that. Leave it to him to make sure a pretty young woman be kept safe during all that was happening.
He still followed them. The Red Hood was supposed to be dead, so he really had nothing better to do.
Elaine stared at the changed skyline of London. She vaguely remembered the from her early childhood. It was the last home where she had her parents. the attack of the creatures and the Total Tremor really did change things, almost falling apart.
There was a strange alien-looking tower being constructed just on the outskirts of the old city. More of those creatures flew over her, and Dick practically tackled her to the ground to keep them from even seeing her.
"Ow!" She whispered at him before she started to swear.
"Quiet!" He hissed, eyes scanning around them.
The creatures passed overhead, never even noticing the two of them. Dick did not get up, but he met her eyes. They were almost tender.
Elaine tried to ignore the butterflies she was feeling. They're gone. Get off. You weigh a ton!"
The look in his eyes disappeared, much to her relief, she was not ready to deal with that.
"You wound me," he said, but he did get off of her.
"I was lying on a rock," she replied, rubbing the sore spot on her back. "You weren't helping."
He helped her to her feet, but he was paying close attention to the tower that was being constructed. Dick began to mess with something on his wrist, and he started talking into it, requesting to whoever was on the other end to take a look at it and find a way to destroy it. His two friends agreed to stay behind and check out the tower as few others would meet them in London.
"Tomorrow," Dick told her quietly. "We'll see how this will end."
Black Canary was given a message that unsettled her to say the least. Around the world different towers were being constructed, and word on them was that they were operational. They could blow holes into Earth's surface and fill the atmosphere with something like hellfire. The Justice League gathered together to plan a way to destroy each of them, but they came up with nothing. The message should have come as a relief.
"Lex Luthor wants to meet with us," she told the incredulous League. "He claims he knows how to stop this from happening."
They crept through the once busy streets of London. Her citizens hid in their homes, if they were still standing, hoping and praying that their heroes would pull through and save the world. Godfrey's sermonizing played in the background, and he would say that the Light would solve all of their problems.
"The UN convened in a secret location," a woman reporter could be heard saying. "They met to discuss giving power to this group known as the Light. . ."
Dick listened to it all with a frown, Elaine noticed. Clearly, despite everything that everything that was happening, that little bit of information bothered him, even though he tried to hide it.
He stopped walking, stopping her from moving forward. He looked behind them, eyes narrowing as he tried to make out who was following them.
"Another one of your friends?" She asked in a whisper.
"They're already here," he answered, still looking back at the stranger. "I don't think so."
"Let me. . ." she tried to say, holding her swords.
"No." His tone was final, and he had her wrist.
Dick was looking at her at that point. There was that look again. More earnest. More worried. More. . .tender? That same look from earlier.
Elaine felt that same feeling from earlier. "My whole life was for this. . .uncle trained. . ."
Dick leaned toward her, one gentle hand on her neck, and he started to kiss her. She was startled at first, but she leaned into him, kissing him back. He pulled away slightly and grinned down at her. Elaine's two swords were missing.
"Not. . .fair. . ." she was still breathless.
They were still close, but she could feel someone watching them.
"You always had a way with the women, Goldie," a voice said from behind them.
A voice that Dick that made stiffen and snap his head around and let go of Elaine.
"Jason?"