Return Chapter 15
"Do you really have to go; it's such a long mission?" Dick said as they lay in Artemis' bed together a month after Dick had lost Damian at the arcade.
"For the hundredth time Dick yes I have to go, I'm one of the senior members of the team I have to make sure everything goes smoothly and that everyone returns home in one piece" Artemis said as she traced one of Dick's many scars on his chest.
Dick sighed "I know but you'll be gone for a week with a bunch on new kids who are still getting used to being superheroes".
"Are you worried?" Artemis asked lifting her head up to look at him.
Dick frowned "No of course not I know you can handle yourself" he said but Artemis didn't believe him, raising her eyebrows at him Dick sighed "Fine, yes I'm worried about you. Happy now?"
Artemis smiled "Yes I am, it's nice knowing you worry about me, but you won't have to, Connor is going with me as well".
"I know that but Connor can't watch out for you plus Beast Boy, Static, and Cassie" Dick said.
"We both know Cassie can take care of herself, as can I. If you're so worried you can rejoin the team and go with me" Artemis said, trying to get him to rejoin the team for the thousandth team, even though Dick had been back home for a long time now he still refused to rejoin the team or even meet them.
Dick sighed "I'm not ready for that 'Mis, I just got back into shape and things are still tense with me and Bruce".
"Bruce barely has anything to do with the Team except to give out missions. Don't let him dictate what you babe, plus I really want to see you in that uniform again" Artemis said.
Dick smiled "Were you checking me out in my Nightwing uniform?"
"Any straight female was checking you out in that thing. Of course I felt bad at the time but you looked good in that uniform, puberty did you good Grayson" Artemis said smiling at him.
Dick smiled cockily "Trust me Crock I know puberty did me good. I can show you how good puberty was to me" he said flipping them over so that he was hovering above her.
Artemis laughed "It took you twenty minutes Grayson, you'd better do a pretty damn good job boy wonder".
"You wound me Crock, you know I always perform" he said before kissing her hard on the mouth.
Line Break
Artemis stood at the end of her bed packing her duffle bag full of all the essentials she would need for the week long mission along with all of her equipment. Dick walked out of the bathroom wearing a pair of low blue jeans with no shirt, he had a towel in his hands as he dried his hair making it stick up all over the place.
"Hey have you seen my crossbow?" Artemis asked as she checked over all of her equipment.
"I think it's on the couch where you left it last night" Dick said as he threw the towel in the laundry basket and grabbed a shirt off the dresser.
"Right where I was trying to clean it and you completely distracted me" Artemis said with a grin.
Dick laughed wrapping his arms around her waist and kissing her neck "If I remember correctly you weren't complaining. I'm pretty sure you were making a lot of happy noises that I must say were quite hot".
Artemis turned around in his arms "Thinking so highly of yourself now aren't you Grayson".
Dick smirked "I always think highly of myself it's part of the play boy billionaire thing".
"Yes well if that play boy billionaire thing comes out while I'm gone, I'll make sure you can never have sex with anyone again" Artemis said looking at him sternly.
Dick smiled kissing her forehead "Trust me that playboy phase is gone babe, for some odd reason I want to keep you and I'm not going to screw that up".
"Some odd reason huh?" Artemis asked with a small smile.
Dick laughed "Yeah I'm still trying to figure it out".
"Yes well while you figure that out I'm going to go on this mission and you're going to be a good boy while I'm gone, now isn't that right Grayson?" Artemis asked with a smirk.
Dick smiled "Yes I'll be a good boy while you're gone. As long as you're a good girl and stay out of trouble while on the mission".
Artemis rolled her eyes "Since when have I ever avoided trouble?"
"That's my point, I'd rather not get a phone call from Barbara saying something's happened" Dick said seriously.
"I know, I can't promise I won't get to banged up but I promise to come home in one piece" Artemis said "Now let's go out to breakfast, and then you can walk me to the zeta tube" Artemis said as she stepped away from Dick and grabbed her duffle bag.
"Okay but I get to choose this time" Dick said as he grabbed his jacket "I'm not eating at another IHOP".
"Fine, just remember to be nice not flirtatious with the waitress" Artemis said as Dick lead her out of the apartment.
Dick laughed wrapping his arm around her shoulders "Being flirtatious is my personality babe".
"And being flirtatious is going to get you in trouble" Artemis said.
"I'm starting to think that everything I do gets me in trouble" Dick said with a grin.
"Only when you're doing it with people who aren't your girlfriend" Artemis said "I know you've been out of the whole relationship game for a long time, but seriously Grayson it's not that hard" she said with a laugh.
Dick smiled kissing the side of her head "Alright I'll try to keep up".
"Good" Artemis said as the stepped onto the streets of Gotham.
Line Break
For the past week Dick distracted himself by completely diving into his work for Wayne Enterprises, along with trying to get Damian and Tim to get along. Tim had finally came around and decided to give Damian a chance, but the two didn't get along very well, they constantly argued completely disagreeing on everything. It reminded Dick of Jason and he when Jason was first brought into the Bat family. Although unlike Jason, Damian was a lot more skilled in combat and killing methods then Jason was. Damian had succeeded in getting Tim in a head lock and pressing a pressure point successfully paralyzing Tim for ten minutes. To say Tim was angry when he could move again was an understatement.
"Are you burning that popcorn or what dude?" Dick called from the couch. He and Tim decided to hang out and have an action movie night like they used to when Tim first came into the Bat family. Both of them loved watching old school action movies like Die Hard, Terminator, Lethal Weapon, Top Gun, the original Robo Cop, and of course the Matrix, plus it kept his mind off of Artemis.
"No I am not, did you put the movie in?" Tim asked as he handed Dick his own bowl of popcorn.
"Yup starting the action movie marathon with the first Die Hard" Dick said "This popcorn is going to take hours to burn off tomorrow during my training" he said as he shoved a handful into his mouth.
Tim laughed "Why don't you just come to the mountain tomorrow night with me and train with Canary, you know she'll get that popcorn out of your system in ten minutes".
Dick shook his head "I'm good thanks. Now shut up the movie's starting".
Tim just shook his head at his older brother, he knew Artemis had been trying to get him to return to the team but he kept refusing, he was hoping he could persuade him but so far everything he tried hadn't worked. At this point Tim wasn't sure if Dick would ever return to the team or even crime fighting.
Tim didn't say anything as they watched the movie, occasionally both of them would comment on the fighting going on in the movies and how you could tell it was staged and really crappy. It was well past two o'clock in the morning, both Dick and Tim were both asleep on the couch when someone started banging on the door. It startled Tim so much that he ended falling off the couch, while Dick jumped straight into a fighting stance, his eyes wide and unfocused, and his hair sticking up all over the place.
"What's going on?" Tim asked as he sat up rubbing his head, right then another set of loud bangs rang out threw the apartment.
Dick blinked getting off the couch "I have no idea" he mumbled walking towards the door.
Whoever was on the other side of the door was very impatient because they had started jiggling with the doorknob like they were going to try and break in. Rolling his eyes at their stupid attempt he unlocked the door ripping it open to see a very dishelmed, and panicked looking Barbara in her Batgirl costume.
"Babs, what are you doing here?" Dick said as he looked at his best friend.
"Dick you need to come to the watch tower with me, it's important" Barbara said as she stepped into the apartment.
Dick frowned "Babs you we've been over this before I'm not ready to rejoin the team yet".
Barbara shook her head tears forming in her eyes "Oh god … Dick it….. it's bad".
"What, what are you talking about?" Dick asked confused as Tim walked up beside him.
"Babs calm down and tell us what happened" Tim said soothingly.
Barbara took a deep breath before speaking again "It was a trap, the whole mission was a trap planned by The Light".
Dick and Tim's eyes widened the panic starting to creep in "What do you mean a trap?"
"I'm so sorry Dick, but they have Artemis, when they were on their way home The Light attacked, only taking Artemis as part of revenge" Barbara said.
"They have Artemis?" Dick asked his voice dark and broken.
Barbara nodded her head "Yes" she said simply.
Dick didn't say anything as he closed his eyes taking a deep breath. Opening his eyes again his once clear blue orbs were now dark and full of rage. He didn't say anything as he walked towards the stairs, his footsteps heavy and full of anger.
Tim looked between his brother and the girl he considered his sister "What do you think he's doing?"
"I have an idea, but I'm not sure if it's a good thing or bad thing" Barbara said "Oh Tim, it's bad really bad. They sent a video to the watchtower twenty minutes ago, their torturing her" she said.
Tim's eyes widened "How bad?"
"Like Joker and Scarecrow bad" Barbara said.
"Oh god" Tim said as he ran his hand through his hair.
Seconds later Dick came down the stairs again but this time he was now dressed in his Nightwing costume, something that hadn't been warn since the day Wally died.
"Let's go" Dick said harshly as he opened the door. Sharing a worried look Barbara and Tim quickly followed after him.