AN: Okay guys, it took me a while, but I'm back, and here's a new chapter...

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Enjoy...

Blue Bird - Chapter 14

One, fairly inconspicuous zeta-ride later found Nightwing and Ravager in Bludhaven, crouched in the shadows of the roof of what previously had been the upper floors of an underground facility belonging to the government, closed off from regular use due to a collapse that had happened nearly six months before.
Below the pair stood the team, clearly conversing telepathically, unaware of the three eyes fixed upon them;
"Can you get into their mind link?" Nightwing asked, not moving his eyes from the six teens, Ravager shook her head.
"Not without tipping them." was the reply.
Nightwing nodded and pulled up a holoscreen from his glove; swiftly hacking into security and pulling up a dossier of everyone on that, supposedly decommissioned, level of the facility.
Ravager gave a low whistle as she examined the list over Nightwing's shoulder,
"Wow, they are... Completely screwed, aren't they?" at the look she received from her former mentor Ravager raised an eyebrow, "What? Like you weren't thinking exactly the same? C'mon, look at these hitters; Clock King, Riddler, Mammoth... Oh and look at who they've got in reserve."
Ravager reached over and selected the file; "Our very own Slade Wilson, would you believe? What's the policy on dibs if events haven't played out yet?"
Nightwing pulled a heavy sigh, "Rose, let's make one thing clear, you are not going Mano-e-Mano with Deathstroke the Terminator, and that's an order."
Ravager pouted, "Tim always let me."
"I'm not Tim," Nightwing said, "And I feel the need to remind you that you left the Titans."
Nightwing closed his holoscreen and glanced down at the floor, where the team was preparing to split up.
"You take Aqualad's group, I'll take KF's."
Ravager smirked, "You made sure I got the group with my old friends in didn't you."
Nightwing smirked back but didn't reply as he leapt off the gantry to follow Robin, Artemis and Kid Flash down one corridor while Ravager was left to follow the other three in the opposite direction.
The tail was only marginally successful.
Nightwing managed to follow the trio for a grand total of eleven minutes before the silence and boredom became deafening, as such he began to throw flips from the gantries, just to see if his younger self and his two friends would notice.
They didn't, so the stunts got bigger, the tricks more complicated, until; finally, someone noticed.
That someone happened to be Robin, who, without warning turned and hurled something sharp at Nightwing's face. The vigilante caught it with a sigh.
"Are you people done throwing stuff at me?"
He handed the birdarang back to the caped crime-fighter and held out his hand; "You must be Robin."
Robin nodded, but didn't shake the offered hand.
Nightwing lowered it pretty quickly and, hands on hips, turned on the other two; "You went to Bludhaven without me? Hello! It's only my hometown!"
"Ten years in the future." Artemis retorted, "What makes you think this place even exists when you're from?"
"Uh, because I was the one who laid and detonated the C4." Nightwing said, "It's only gone because I blew it."
At this Artemis fell silent exchanging a look, first with Wally, then with Robin. Nightwing huffed; "Oh, go ahead and alert the others, I don't care."
Artemis frowned shook her head and stalked on, leaving the others to try and keep up, with Robin falling into step beside Nightwing. There was uncomfortable silence as the two walked in the wake of the speedster and the archer, who were also, for once, quiet.
"So, you're Nightwing, huh?"
Nightwing raised an eyebrow at his younger self, "Yeah."
Robin nodded; "Damian says 'hi'."
Nightwing nodded but didn't reply as the they continued onwards, still in silence, until Nightwing reeled like he'd been punched, clutching his ear.
"Ravager?"
"'Wing, we need help, like now!"
The sound of punching and several cries of pain before Rose resumed speaking; "They're after metas, Nightwing, and they've clocked the only one in their immediate vicinity."
"Crap."
Rose's voice turned icy. "You bet it's crap. And you bet we need help, so get your cute butt to corridor eight-C pronto before they start poking needles in me."
The line disconnected and Nightwing turned to the others, who were staring at him.
"Teammate in trouble?" Wally asked.
Nightwing nodded, "She needs help, and seeing as she was following the other members of your team I'm willing to be my inheritance that they're in trouble too."
Artemis raised her eyebrow, "How big's your inheritance?"
"About as big as his." Nightwing jerked his thumb as Robin, and Kid Flash managed not to gape as Nightwing turned for the nearest elevator and began to pry the doors open.
It wasn't long before he succeeded and the four of them were on their way down.

By the time Nightwing, Robin, Kid Flash and Artemis had reached the others, they were surrounded.
"... I got Riddler, Wotan, Clock King-"
Robin listed off, "It's gonna take a helluva lot more than us to get them outta that mess."
Nightwing gestured for quiet and Robin fell silent, deactivating his hologlove and focusing on the floor below.
"... Looks like you walked right into a trap, kiddies." Riddler crowed, "Now riddle me this... I'm the beginning of a madman, and the end of a problem... What am I?"
None of the teens answered and Riddler tutted, "Lost without your little birdie, are you? C'mon, this one's easy!"
"Mind if you repeat the question?" Ravager snarled.
Riddler laughed and drew closer, "Why would I do that?"
"Humour her." Clock King said, Ravager visably cringed, "We still need to find the others."
"They're already gone." Ravager said, "If they're clever."
This drew alarmed looks from Aqualad, Miss Martian and Superboy, but Ravager merely adjusted her customary smirk;
"But, upside, I've got the answer to your little puzzle."
Riddler smiled, "Do enlighten them then, Miss..?"
"Ravager." Ravager replied, earning glares from half a dozen low-rate assassins who recognised the name; "And I think the answer would be... Psyche!"
With a shout she leapt into action, sending Riddler flying with a powerful kick and vaulting neatly over Clock King before anyone knew what was happening. With a roar the rest of the villains moved to attack, but half of them were consumed by a tidal wave of water from several directions that Aqualad must have summoned.
Nightwing sighed as the other three leapt into battle, and followed.

Among the villains it was chaos, with the heroes cutting a huge swathe through their ranks. Nightwing spotted small-time thugs disappearing by the dozen, which meant Kid Flash had taken to scooping them up and depositing them who-knows-where, Aqualad was up against Wotan and a dozen or more magical henchmen, Artemis was going against Clock King with Ravager. Nightwing saw the others dance around the fog and smiled as he recognised Miss Martian and Superboy taking out Mammoth and Robin going after the Riddler.
He dropped from the ceiling and took out two goons who swiftly vanished and vaulted over his past self; who was grappling with the small, green suited Riddler, and pulled the two apart before punching Riddler's lights out.
Robin, who smirked as his opponent vanished in a blur, nodded in approval; "I take it you've fought him before then?"
"Yup." Nightwing agreed, "Never let him get talking. Rule número uno."
Robin grinned and turned to face the cleared room and the gathering team.
"Ravager, it would appear you have lost your mask." Aqualad said.
Ravager, who was extracting her sword from a wall, nodded as a grey blur skidded to a halt.
"I got it." Wally announced, holding the material aloft, "And get this, Ravager, here," he pointed dramatically, "was in stealth mode this whole time."
Miss Martian frowned, "Why does that merit comment?"
"Because," Nightwig noted Ravager's wince as the speedster drew the word out, "check it out when it isn't camo-ed."
Wally spread the two-toned material for everyone to see, and Miss Martian frowned, "I do not see the significance."
"I do." Robin drew stares as he turned on Ravager, "It's patterned off a design worn by Deathstroke the Terminator."
Artemis cut in with a snort of disbelief, "Seriously? Out of all the people to model yourself after, you choose him?"
"He's my father," Rose muttered, "At least ive the decency to come out and admit it." She turned a glare on the archer, "Like you're any better, Sporty?"
Artemis flushed, "That's different."
"How?" Ravager enquired, "My relationship with Deathstroke is near identical to the one you have with Sportsmaster, except the fact that your mother got off with permanent disability over death."
"So Deathstroke killed your mom, boo hoo," Artemis said, "He's killed alot of people."
"Yeah," Ravager agreed, and began ticking them off on her fingers, "Mother, two sets of foster parents, uncle, foster-uncle, two brothers, their mother, do you want me to continue?"
There was silence for a minute, before Ravager sighed, "You of all people should know that parentage should not define who you are."
"I agree wholeheartedly." Aqualad said, "But you understand that we cannot be sure?"
Ravager nodded and raised her hands above her head.
"I suppose this is the part where you arrest me?"
Nightwing sighed as the team did so, and moved to face the one remain security camera, behind which sat a man with white hair, a neatly trimmed beard and an eyepatch.
Deathstroke the Terminator leaned forwards in his seat, hand hovering over his communicator, ready to alert his employers to the situation, before thinking better of it.
"Another day, then." he said quietly, eye still fixed on the screen, which had exploded into static. "Another day."