So I wrote this and was ready to post (on time) and then I realized that I hated it so I just had to re-write it and it got exponentially longer so I decided to make it a two part chapter so ya'll aren't reading forever. I'll get the next chapter up ASAP, I promise.

As always I hope you enjoy and here's Part I of Rumors.

CHACHACHA

A couple of thugs lay unconscious and handcuffed to a street sign on the sidewalk. Tigress and Nightwing catch their breaths in the shadows of an alley. Red and blue lights suddenly fill the darkness illuminating in alternating colors one of the shadier districts of Gotham. The two heroes glance at each other and then take to the roof of an apartment building with grates over the windows. In silence they watch the officers collect the scum, put them in the back of police cars and drive away leaving the area to once again be still.

Unsurprisingly it's Nightwing who breaks the silence. "Is there a reason you wanted me along?" he asks, "Because I'm still on leave from the League. At least in theory."

"No," Tigress says hurriedly and then mentally kicks herself; he's going to find out sooner or later. "Yes. I've gotten information on some drug lord out here, the Red Hood."

Nightwing takes a pair of high-tech binoculars out of some pocket or another and puts them to his eyes to scan for more criminals to take down. "Guess I'm out of loop since I haven't heard about him," he admits, "what about this guy made you want to bring me into it?"

"There's talk it's Jason," she breathes, glad to have the information off of her chest.

He removes the binoculars from his eyes to look at her. "That isn't possible Tigress, Batman found the body; I saw it. He's dead. Who told you that?"

"My sister," she lies smoothly, "who else? Anyway, it's just talk, I don't believe it, Nightwing. I only figured you'd want to put the rumor to rest once and for all."

Her fingers lightly touch the little scrap of paper Cameron had snuck into her pocket while she'd been frozen and he'd been, well, distracting her. She'd had to brush her teeth twice that night. That little paper weighs heavily in her mind, though, making sure she's aware of its presence at every moment. Cam had been so sure about Jason. That pit he was talking about, the one that could bring people back from the dead, it could change everything. If he was telling the truth.

"Tigress. Tigress. Artemis," Nightwing's voice cuts through her thoughts.

She forces her attention back to the task ahead. "What? Sorry."

"I said how do we find this guy?"

She lets her eyes wander over the area. There's so much city to cover. "I don't know," she admits, "We're just going to hope we get lucky."

He must've seen something in her expression. "Look," he says softly, "Wal-Kid Flash's death has been hard on all of us-"

"This isn't about Wally," she cuts him off sharply, her voice doesn't even crack, "this is about zombies running around over Gotham."

"Zombies?" Nightwing asks and she's about to snap at him when she realizes that goofy grin is plastered over his face as if he's thirteen again; it's nice to see.

"Zombies." She says.

The lightheartedness dies just as soon as it had come and they're both suddenly serious again. "Well, we've been causing quite a lot of noise in some of the heavy crime districts. That alone might tempt a visit from this mystery guy."

Tigress just nods. Dark thoughts had begun to cloud her mind. If the Red Hood really is Jason Todd than it means he'd changed; that he'd gone bad. Plus, the zombie joke had struck a nerve in her. What if they did find Jason and he actually was a psychotic disfigured zombie? Then she wouldn't-she couldn't bring Wally back.

"Artemis," again Nightwing has to break her out of her thoughts, "you're off your game tonight. Is it about your loss to Icicle Jr. a couple nights ago?"

She glares at him angrily and then pointedly goes back checking the area for crime. They'd probably scared off any shady people with the sirens and light show. "Like you said I'm off my game."

"It's grief, Art-"

"This isn't about Wally," she growls, "and we're wasting time here, we need to find better hunting ground" her defensiveness is probably a dead giveaway that this is about Wally but, she doesn't have the energy to care. "Let's just find someone to punch, okay?"

Nightwing searches her eyes but, eventually relents. "Okay."

They leave the roof behind without another word. Not six blocks away they find a graffiti tag hastily scrawled over a previous one. "I don't recognize this one," Tigress tells him tracing it with a finger.

He snaps a picture of it. "It's new, I'll search the databases," is all he says.

It's in red. Not that that in itself means anything but, still. "There haven't been any gang wars recently have there?" she asks and he shakes his head, busy looking up the picture on his holographic computer built into his sleeve, "and no gang gives up territory without a fight."

"I've found something," Nightwing blurts out, she has to lean in close to see. "It's sort like a modified version of the symbol for the Lazarus Pit."

Tigress's heart suddenly clenches. "What pit?"

"Lazarus," the holograph computer suddenly snaps off, "just some mythical Pit. Not that important."

Liar. She thinks but, doesn't say. It's probably best he doesn't know how much she's already learned about the Lazarus Pit. "So why use it as a gang symbol?" she asks simply.

"Who knows," Nightwing shrugs, "whoever did this probably just liked the picture. We should see how big this new territory is."

Tigress nods in agreement despite being aware that he's just trying to turn the conversation onto another track. That prompts a question though; how much does he know about this "mythical" pit?