It was raining. Again. His entire trip it had rained since he set foot into America. Making his way through countless cities, what felt like endless miles, and what seemed like millions of footsteps, he had finally reached Jump City. Home of the famous Teen Titans.
He was tired. God, he was tired. His long leather coat brushed against his pant legs as he walked. The wide brimmed hat he wore kept the rain from his face, but did little against the chilling wind. He was hungry, but needed to keep his presence as low as possible.
He needed to find the Titans.
TTTTTTTTTTT
Nightwing stared intensely at the computer screen, noticing the pattern on his map of the reports that had been sent to him.
"Anything good on?" Cyborg asked, peeking over his shoulder. Nightwing shrugged.
"Not sure." He leaned back in his seat, stretching his back. "Not exactly crime reports. But reports about criminals."
"Oh?" Cyborg knelt next to the desk and read the screen, turning it towards himself. "A bunch of attempted muggings stopped? Reported immediately after. All by payphone."
"Yep. And notice the time stamps?"
Looking back at the screen, Cyborg nodded.
"All consecutive in our direction. Some vigilante?"
Nightwing couldn't help but smile.
"We are vigilantes too, technically." He leaned forward and turned the screen back. At this rate, he should be in Jump by tonight." Cyborg smirked.
"He? You don't think a lady could handle herself like this?" His tone was joking. Nightwing swatted his arm.
"That's not what I meant, bonehead." He sighed. "Wouldn't be a bad idea for someone to do a scouting mission." He turned to Cyborg with an expected look in his eyes. Cyborg immediately shook his head.
"Not me. Robot eye can't see well in this kind of rain. Coming down too hard man. And you know B isn't going. He gets sick in the rain."
"Raven could-"
"But she won't."
"Maybe Star-"
"Man, you really think all that hair isn't going to be in the way?" He said with a smirk. "Besides, when was the last time you went on a scout?"
Nightwing turned back to the screen and huffed.
"Fine. I'll get the rain gear out." Cyborg ruffled his long black hair, which only worsened his mood.
"Pleasure doing business with you."
TTTTTTTTTTT
Nightwing grabbed his rain resistant suit. It would keep him warm and dry, even on a night like this. He huffed again, tightening his belt.
His least favorite part about doing hard rain scouts or missions was the prep time. He couldn't just up and leave or throw a coat on. Everything he had to wear was specifically designed to not give him any chances of being sick.
It wasn't a simple process either. It would take him about seven minutes to prepare himself, as opposed to his usual three and a half. He slid on his boot and pulled his hood over his head when a realization hit him.
"Wait a minute. He just went out to the bar last night! His eye can see fine!" He growled to himself. "Lying bastard."
But, he was already dressed and ready to go, so there was no point in arguing.
"Going somewhere?" A light voice asked. He smiled, turning towards the door. Starfire was in the doorframe, her wild red hair almost blocking the entire view of the hallway.
"Just a scouting mission. Nothing too serious I hope." His voice was light. He didn't want her worrying if there was nothing to worry about. "Shouldn't be more than a few hours."
She walked over to him and wrapped her arms around his neck, giving him a kiss on his lips.
"May your journey be safe and your endeavors fruitful." He smiled and hugged her tight. She always told him that whenever he went on a mission without her.
"That's the plan." He gave her a quick peck on the cheek and rushed out of the room towards the roof.
The sooner he started, the sooner he could finish.
TTTTTTTTTTT
He reached the roof and opened the containment chamber his "Birdwing" was kept in. A revamp of his old rocket glider, now black and blue with a far more menacing look to it.
Groaning at the weather, he looked out to the city.
"Why tonight?" He asked. "Of all nights, you had to make it here tonight?"
He fastened it to his back and put his helmet on, quickly adding a water-wicking agent to the visor, and took off into the sky.
TTTTTTTTTTT
Pulling his coat closer around himself, he decided to cut through an alley. There was a pizza place on the other side. It looked older, so maybe there wasn't a security camera system. Running a hand down his face, he strained the water out of his red mustache and goatee. He took off his sunglasses, revealing amber colored irises.
As he was halfway through the alley, he saw a figure step out to block his path and rolled his eyes. Even through the rain, the clinking of a knife opening up was unmistakable from behind him.
"Here comes the evil laugh" he mumbled quietly to himself. He'd been through the same routine countless times on his journey to Jump.
No later than he finished speaking, he heard the low, gruff chuckle come from one of the men behind him. He turned to see two men approaching him. Adjusting the bag on his back and the case in his hand, he began talking first.
"G'day fellas!" He spoke loudly enough for them to hear, his Australian accent taking them off guard. "What can I do for you?" He kept his voice cheery. This wasn't a good time. He was too tired to fight.
He was having enough trouble keeping his eyes open as it was. But he could feel the adrenaline coming through and felt energy returning to his body.
"Check it out! It's freaking Crocodile Dundee!" This caused all three men to laugh. He joined in, less enthusiastically than they were.
"Yes, that's a good one! I haven't heard that before…" they were beginning to move in to surround him. "Listen fellas, I'm not really in the mood for this. I've had a long trip, and I'm very tired, and very hungry."
He could see one of the men elbow his friend a few times.
"Why not throw some shrimp on the barbie!" He shouted, causing another wave of laughter. With a roll of his eyes, he responded.
"Bet it took you all night to come up with that one." The laughter stopped and they looked at him with anger.
"Listen, Mick, I wouldn't get wise if I were you!"
"Yeah, we slicer-dicers!" Another man said, waving his knife around.
"Oh yeah, top dogs I can tell. Listen, I don't want to fight. Can we please just forget you saw me?"
The first man tapped his chin with his knife in a thoughtful way.
"I think we can arrange that, right boys?" They laughed in response. He held his hand out. With a confused look, a simple high-five was given to him. It was met with an unamused glare.
"Just give us whatever you have in your pockets. All your money, cards, you name it, I want it." He held his hand out again.
"Sorry, mate. No can do. I need my stuff more than you do." It wasn't an answer muggers liked. He knew this was going to end in a fight so he placed his things down onto the ground, thankful he had splurged on waterproof supplies.
"Spud's straight stupid!" One of the men behind him said. "Not even scared! It's three-on-one!"
"That's okay." The leader spoke up. "I like doing things the hard way." He let forward quickly, swinging the knife in a wild arch. But it was quickly blocked and a shot was thrown at his sternum, briefly knocking the wind out of him and sending him to the ground.
Lowering himself into a martial arts position, he turned to face his other two assailants. Both men looked angry and surprised, but rushed in to defend their leader.
Easily dodging their knives and fists, a shot to the ribs and a kick to the thigh send them reeling. Unfortunately, he could feel his energy quickly fading. But when the three men charged at him, he didn't back down.
TTTTTTTTTTT
He couldn't have asked for worse weather. At least there was no lightning. Even switching back and forth from regular, to night vision, and even thermal didn't provide much help. The rain was falling in such great sheets, from his altitude the rain almost completely blocked the thermal readings from the ground.
"This is pointless. I can't see anything, I can't hear anything." The headset in his helmet chirped and a voice greeted him.
"Found anything yet?" It was Cyborg. He must have been at the main computer tracking his movements. He'd been circling for a while now and wasn't surprised to hear from the older Titan.
"Not yet. And at this rate, I'm not sure I'm going to. As much as I would love to stay out here and get ahead of who or what is coming our way, I just don't think it's a good night for it." He paused for a moment, wrestling with his thoughts. He felt lazy heading home without finding anything, but logically he didn't think he would. He compromised with himself. "I'll do one more slow sweep through the city and head back to the tower."
"Can you pick up some soda on the way back?" He heard Changeling chime in.
"No."
"But-"
"Over and out." He closed the call off with a button on his helmet. He smirked to himself imagining his green teammate pouting on the couch like a child, grumbling to himself. He swooped down and changed direction, trying his thermals one last time.
Most of the city appeared to be the same color aside from the heat of the lights on the buildings.
TTTTTTTTTTT
He was breathing heavily. The two goons were unconscious in a dumpster, but their leader was a lot stronger.
Suppose that's why he's the leader… he mused to himself.
The man was a brawler. He had no training, but he knew how to fight from experience. There was no style to it, so defense had to be made up on the go.
"What's the matter, Dundee? Getting tired?" He goaded.
"Shut up…" He panted. He knew he didn't stand a chance at his current state. And there was only one line of defense he had left. He felt the warmth build up in his hand and he drew it back. The mugger began to charge, so he threw his hand forward.
TTTTTTTTTTT
One last glance around the restaurant district and he was heading home. He saw a familiar pizza parlor and had to smile to himself, seeing the light on.
"Ah, Sal. You'd serve pizza if your shop was flying through a tornado." The old man refused to retire and would rather spend his days doing what he loved. Serving up smiles. He reached for his helmet and spoke into the microphone.
"Nightwing to tower. Returning home."
Suddenly he saw a ball of fire erupt in the alley across from the pizza parlor. It wasn't a big one, but enough to draw attention.
"Jesus Christ! Cancel that order. Stay on standby." He swooped down to where the fire had erupted.
TTTTTTTTTTT
The ball of fire knocked the leader back onto his rear end. The rain had dampened the effects quite a bit.
"You-You're one of them!" He shouted. "Stay back! I don't want any trouble!" He was running away as he shouted.
"Yeah, you'd better run!" Standing tall, and quite satisfied with his fireball, he waited until the would-be mugger was out of sight before collapsing onto his knees. Taking off his hat and laying it down beside his belongings, he took a few more deep breaths. Taking a glance over at the dumpster and seeing the legs hanging over the top, he laughed to himself.
"I need a nap…"
He felt a tapping on his shoulder and turned to see Nightwing standing above him. His arms were crossed and he looked like he was waiting for an explanation.
"What happened here?" He asked sternly. He looked around at the spilled trash cans and old boxes. He spotted the legs of the goons hanging out from the dumpster and pointed to them.
With a groan, the other man stood up. He was shorter than Nightwing, but wasn't intimidated. He waved his hand passively.
"Unconscious. Nothing to worry about, mate." The accent surprised Nightwing. Holding out his hand, he introduced himself. "Michael Koba, but you can call me Koba."
Nightwing tentatively shook his hand.
"Nightwing." This elicited a laugh.
"I know who you are." His voice was excited. He gathered his things from the ground, placing the wet hat back over his long red hair. "Believe me, I do. I've come a long way to meet you."
"The fireball?" He asked.
"Yeah. Third man. Just enough to knock him on his ass and send him on his way." He shrugged. "Don't know where he went. I tried reasoning with them, but you know how it is." He put the backpack on. "Been in the states for five days and slept about seven hours. Haven't been able to stop to eat. If it's all the same to you, I'd like to remedy at least one of these issues." His smile was wide, and slightly reminded Nightwing of Changeling's. "Not that I'm not tickled to meet a hero."
Nightwing couldn't help but smile at the friendliness and looked across the street at Sal's.
"Let's go there." A nervous look came over Koba's face.
"Is he discreet? It's absolutely necessary that I keep a low profile here."
"We can trust Sal. We just have to use the back door. He has a room just for us when we visit. Let's go."
Sure enough, Sal had greeted Nightwing the way he would an old friend. He was friendly and accommodating and quickly brought them to the private room.
"Will you be eating tonight?" The short man asked in a heavy Italian accent. Nightwing shook his head.
"I'm fine, thank you. But my friend here is very hungry." Sal looked to the newcomers who had swapped his hat for a black bandana, and put his long hair into a ponytail.
"Is this a community outreach? Help feed the homeless?" Sal asked genuinely. Koba laughed.
"No, I've got a home. I'm just very far from it." Sal laughed as well and set a menu on the table.
"Let me know when you are ready to order." Nightwing took a seat across from Koba and looked at him.
"So, the fireball." Koba was staring intensely at the menu.
"I've been able to do that for a long time. I try not to use it. Only when Plan A fails." He flipped a page and kept reading.
"Plan A being?"
"Shaolin. I was told it pairs best with my abilities." Placing the menu down, he put his finger on the meal he chose and looked up to talk to Nightwing more. "I had a good teacher. Another person with the same abilities."
"How long have you been practicing?"
"Eight, almost nine years. I would have been able to subdue them, but with my lack of sleep and food…" he rubbed his eyes. "I'm tired. I'm lucky I was able to get that blast out."
Sal returned to the table with a pitcher of water and two glasses.
"Thank you!" Kiba exclaimed, pouring himself a glass and eagerly drinking it.
"You are welcome, my friend. Now, have you decided on something to eat?"
"Yes, I'll have the chicken riggies, please. Large order. No mushrooms please." He looked up to the older man with a smile.
"Absolutely. I'll be back shortly." And with that, he was gone. Koba let out a sigh and put his head in his hands.
"You know, you left quite a trail in your wake." Nightwing was slightly amused. He expected someone taller, more muscular, and not looking like they just stepped out of an old western film. Koba threw his arms up in exasperation.
"I know! What is up with these muggers? You try to reason with them, warn them, even flat out tell them you can shoot fire out of your hands!" He slumped down in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest. "But they never listen."
"It made it pretty easy to track you. Judging by the alerts we tracked through our system, it basically put you right in Jump City tonight. That's the only reason I was out here." He poured himself a glass of water and drank from it. "You're very lucky I was out here." Koba smiled.
"Indeed I am. Saved me the trouble of having to find you."
Sal came into the room holding a steaming dish of chicken riggies and placed it down in front of Koba.
"Here you are, my friend. Enjoy!"
"Thank you very much!" As Sal left, he immediately dug into the meal. Regardless of how quickly he ate, it was still well mannered.
Nightwing decided to let him finish his food before asking any more questions. He clearly needed it more than he thought. Fortunately, long nights of stake outs and missions taught him patience.
After a short while, the plate was empty and Koba was leaning back in his chair. His face was content.
"So, you mentioned saving the trouble of finding me?" Nightwing began. Koba nodded.
"Yes, sir. Well, not just you. Your whole team."
"You came all the way from Australia to find us?"
"That I did." His face was serious. Nightwing leaned forward.
"Is there a reason why?" A troubled look came across Koba's face.
"To tell you the truth, I need your help."