Chapter 21 - Heroes Rising, Relationships Falling

I really feel good about this chapter. It has some really good moments. 270 reviews for an update. Review and enjoy.

Thurseday, October 27th 3:00 PM - Richard and Kori's house

Normal POV

"It's good to be home," Gar exclaimed as the group walked through the front door of Richard and Kori's house.

"You don't live here," Richard reminded him, as Kori assisted him into the house, much to his irritation and insistance that he could walk. During the plane ride the pain had became more severe, especially in his chest.

"We do for the next two weeks," Vic called as he walked into the kitchen to make himslef a sandwhich, while the rest of the group made their way into the living room.

Richard cringed as he sat down on the couch. His chest was really hurting now, much worse than it had since he had woken up. "Raven, couldn't you just heal me?," he asked, looking over at her.

"If I was there when you first got shot I could have, but by the time we had arrived your wounds had already begun the healing process. I couldn't do anything at that point," she replied.

Richard sighed and leaned back on the couch, but even that hurt.

Kori frowned as she looked at him. She knew by his face he was really in pain. "Bee," Kori began, looking over at the girl beside her, "please hand me the killers of pain from your purse."

"Yeah, sure," Bee replied, reaching into her purse and taking out a bottle of pills that Alfred had gave them before they left.

Kori took the bottle and opend it before taking out one of the blue tablets inside. "Open," she instructed, holding the pill up to Richard's mouth.

"Kori, I don't need...," Before he could finish, Kori stuck the pill into Richard's mouth, nearly causing him to choke.

Raven looked over at Kori. "Those pills are gonna make him really drowsy, you need to get him upstairs to bed."

Kori nodded and reached for his hand, but he pulled away. "Look guys, stop babying me. It's not like this is the first time I've been shot and the odds are it want be the last," he said, sounding much angrier than he had attended to.

Kori put a hand on his shoulder. "We are just trying to take care of you because we care about you."

"Yeah dude, it's not like we don't think your capable of doing anything, were just trying to make things easier on you," Gar added.

"Well, just stop," Richard barked, standing quickly and walking out of the living room.

Kori looked over at Raven. "It is not wise to go after him is it?"

"No, he's angry, going after him we'll just make things worse," she replied.

"I don't understand why he's being so grouchy, if people wanted to pamper me I'd be happy to let them," Bee commented.

"He feels useless. The best thing to do is to just let him pass out, and that'll be happening anytime now."

Kori sighed and just then Vic entered the living room holdin a plate in his hand, an insanely stuffed sandwhich on it.

"Where's Dick?," he asked, walking over to the couch a plopping down in the middle of Kori and Bee.

"Upstairs sulking about being babied," Bee replied.

Vic just laughed.

Gar glanced at Kori before looking at the rest of the group. "Guys," he said, getting everyone's attention. "Me and Kori have something we want to talk to you about."

Kori's eyes widend. Was she ready to discuss this? Gar could have at least gave her some kind of warning.

"What?," Vic asked after swallowing a bite of his sandwhich.

"Well, we were thinking that since Nightwing's out of commission for at least two weeks, that maybe all of us could do the hero thing. I've been wanting to get back at it since I been here, and Kori's decided that it's what she wants to do." Gar looked over at Vic. "I know you been wanting to do this forever, and I'm pretty sure you're in, Bee."

"You know I'm up for it," Vic replied enthusiastically.

"Me too. It would be fun to try this out," Bee added.

Everyone looked over at Raven, who seemed conflicted on the matter. "Dick doesn't know about this, does he?"

Kori cringed slightly. "Well no, but Jump City needs the protection, and I believe that we may be able to do this. It is what I want, and if we are to do a good job I do not think he will be as upset."

Raven thought for a moment. Considering she was the daughter of Trigon, it wasn't in her nature to be good, but maybe she could overcome that. "I'll go along with this, but there are a few problems with this whole hero plan of yours."

"What?," Gar asked.

"We have no idea what we're doing and how are even going to know when something happens?"

"That is not true, Gar was once the hero. He is aware of what he is doing, and as for the knowing of what is happening, I have this," Kori said, holding up Richard's phone. She knew all alerts involving Jump city were sent directly to his phone, so they would know what was going down the moment anything happend.

"How did you get that?," Vic asked.

"I was doing the texting Babs on the way home, and Richard did not ask for it back, so I put it away in my jacket pocket," she explained.

"This is great dude, we're all set," Gar exclaimed.

"Well, not quite," Bee replied. "We still need suits, we can't just go out in civillian close."

"Not a problem for me," Rvaen said. Black energy coated here entire body, like a swirling cacoon. When it faded she was wearing a white cloak, the hood over her head, making her face dark.

"Me either, Gar added. "I still have my doom patrol outfit at my apartment, and plus no one's gonna reconize me with my ring off.

"Yeah, I'm good too," Vic chimed in.

"So, me and you are the only one's without the suits," Kori commented, looking at Bee.

"Yep, you know what this means, right?" Bee asked, beaming.

Kori blinked. "I do not."

"We're going to the mall!"

Kori beamed the same enthusiastic smile. Being a superhero was more fun fun than she had thought.

She walked up the stairs to Richard's room, which at this point half of his closet was occupied by her close and she had her toothbrush in his bathroom, so it was kind of her room too. She wanted to tell him she and Bee were going to the mall, but she honestly hoped he was asleep so she didn't have to explain anything.

When she opend the door she found Richard sleeping sideways on the bed, his head hanging over the side. She let out a breath of relief before shutting the door softly, so not to wake him. Kori made her way back down stairs, meeting Bee at the front door.

"Ready?," she questioned, jiggling Vic's keys in her hand.

Kori nodded."Yes, let us depart."

Thurseday, October 27th 8:00 PM - Richard and Kori's house

Normal POV

Kori and Bee walked into the living room, now sporting their new unforms. Kori was wearing a short purple skirt, a purple top that showed her tanned stomach, a silver neck gaurd that she had already possed, and she even managaed to incoperate her beloved purple boots into the uniform.

Bee wore a yellow shirt with slots cut out in the back, so that her wings could hang out, and black tights. Her hair was done into two buns instead of down like it usually was.

"Wow Bee," Vic began, standing from the couch and approaching her, "you look different."

"It's the hair. Me and Kor stopped by the hair dresser after we got our suits," she replied. "I figured I'd better do something to change my appearance, and I'm so not wearing a mask."

Kori looked over at her. "What is your name?"

Bee cocked her head to the side and gave Kori a strange look. "Umm, Bee?"

"No, I am referring to your hero name. Richard said heroes need different names because we cannot call each other our real names to get one's attention in battle," she explained.

"Oh, I get you now. Hmmmm," She tapped her chin as she thought. "Bummble Bee," she decided for obviois reasons. "What about you?" she asked Kori.

"My Tameranian name means Starfire. It is the name I used when I helped the Batman, Nightwing, and Robin with the Joker, and I wish to keep it."

Vic slipped off his ring. "Just call me Cyborg." He had actually been thinking about what name he would go by the entire time they were gone, and he finally decided on Cyborg, mostly because it sounded cool.

"Dude that's totally a badass name," Beast Boy exclaimed as he came up behind Vic.

As the boys shared a high five Starfire looked over at Raven. "Friend Raven, what name do you wish to use?"

"Raven," she answered simply, taking a sip of the tea she was drinking.

"But are you not supposed to use a name differnt than your own?"

"Raven isn't my real name, and with the hood over my head, no one will reconize me, and if they do I'll just wipe there mind," She replied evenly.

Couldn't argue with that. "Has anyone done the checking on Richard, yet?," Starfire asked.

"Yeah, I went just before you got back. He might sleep through the night, those pills our really strong," Raven replied

"That is good. I do not wish for him to awake while we are gone. It would not be good for him to find out what we are doing before I tell him," Kori responded.

"Which is gonna be when?" Raven asked.

"Possibly tomorrow if he is in a better mood," Starfire answered.

"He probably ain't gonna be to happy about it either way," Cyborg commented.

"I believe I can make him understand. The reason he does not wish for me to do this is because he fears that I may get damaged, but if I show him that I can handle myself, then I do not believe he will be as upset."

"Let's hope so," Raven said, sounding a little unsure. She had a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach, but she swallowed it and turned her attention back to the t.v.

Thurseday, October 27th 10:30 PM - Richard and Kori's house

Normal POV

The group sat around on the couch, watching television. They had planned to go on patrol at eleven, the same time Nightwing usually did, but when the alarm on Richard's phone began to go off it got everyone's attention. Vic picked up the phone off the table and checked the alarm, his face losing color when he saw what the alert was about.

"Dude, what is it?," Beast Boy asked.

"Slade," was all Cyborg could get out.

"Who is slade?," Starfire asked.

"A mercenary who has taken a particular intrest in Nightwing ever since he was Robin," Raven replied.

"We need to go," Beast Boy said, sounding much more serious than he usually did.

Everyone nodded before rushing to the front door.

"What's the location on the alert?" Beast Boy asked as they made into the front yard.

"Some factory on the east side of the city, but it's been abandoned for years. I don't know what Slade's up to, but I bet it ain't good," Cyborg replied. He then looked around somewhat blankly. How are we gonna get there? I mean, we can't just pull up in my car."

"I can fly," Bummble Bee responded.

"Me too."

"As can I"

"Same here."

"Well, what about me?," Cyborg exclaimed, throwing up his hands.

"I can carry you," Starfire replied, taking Cyborg's wrists in her hands and taking off before he had a chance to say anything. Beast Boy shifted into a eagle and followed behind, Raven and Bummble Bee taking off after him.

The group arrived at the factory after about ten minutes of flight. Starfire placed Cyborg on the ground before zipping around the entire building in order to identify all the entrance points like she had seen Nightwing do. She paused to look inside on of the widows to see how many were inside, but she couldn't see anything, due to the inside being completely dark, so she flew back around to her friends, landing beside Raven.

"There are six entrence points, not including the front door, but I cannot see inside," she informed the group.

"He'd be expecting a sneak attack from Nightwing, let's just bust down the front door," Beast Boy said.

"Yeah, that'll catch him off gaurd," Cyborg agreed.

"I do no think that is...," Starfire tried to discourage him, but before she could, he shifted into a rhino and charged the door, everyone else following behind besided herself and Raven. Raven made a strange, as if she were unsure about entering the building, but she turned stoic and followed behind. Kori sighed before darting off behind the rest of the group.

Beast Boy crashed through the front door of the ware house, shifting back to a human once inside. The rest of the team entered behind him and almost instantly a section of the room lit up, revealing a tall muscular man with a half black half gold mask covering his face. He seemd somwhat suprised to see the unfamiliar hero's there, after all he'd been expecting Nightwing. "I wasn't aware this city had more than one hero," he said in an even tone.

"You bet your ass it does," Cyborg spat.

Slade studied them quietly for a moment. "Hmm, no matter, you all are of no concern to me. I suggest you leave," he waved them off as if they were absolutely no threat to him.

Starfire lit her starbolts. "That shall not be happening."

Slade pulled a remote like device from his utillity belt and pressed one of the buttons on it. Suddenly all the lights in the building clicked on, revealing a ridiculous amount of robots that were similar in appearance to Slade along with and laser like device off in the far corner.

Beast Boy's eyes widend. "Didn't see that coming," he swallowed.

"As I said, your little hero squad doesn't concern me. You should have left when I gave you the chance, and now you will pay with your lives. Attack my robots," Slade commanded, and the robots responded instantly, charging toward the group.

The group swallowed their fear, and charged as well.

Starfire slung her Starbolts through the air at a rapid pace, missing nearly all of her targets due to there speed. She found out quickly they had the abillity to fly, and soon found herself trying to flee them, but was eventually caught and slammed to the ground with great force, knocking her unconscious on contact.

Beast Boy, who changed into a gorilla attempted to overpower the robots, but there were just to many, and he was quickly taken down to the ground where a brutul beating comminced.

Raven managed to dispose of a few, but after a moment they mangaed to break through her energy sheild and subdue her.

Cyborg had the same problem and Beast Boy, failing to overpower the robots due to their numbers.

Bee evaded to robots as long as she could, but there were just to many for her to put up any kind of offensive. When the robots finally managed to catch her she was forcefully slammed into the concreate walls of the factory.

Twenty minutes into the battle and there laid five batterd unconscious heroes on the floor of the factory with Slade laughing eveily from the middle of the room. And the worst part was it wasn't over for them. Slade promised death, and he always deliverd on his promises.

Friday, October 28th 12:00 AM - Richard and Kori's house

Normal POV

Richard awoke sideways on his bed. He glanced at the alarm clock and saw that it was midnight. Where was Kori at? Getting out of bed, he walked to the door in search of his girlfriend. He figured she had probably slep in her bed, not wanting to wake him to tell to move so she could lay down, but when he opend her bedroom door he found and empty dark room.

Frowning, he shut the door back, and began to check the rest of the rooms upstairs, but found nothing in each. Becoming worried, Richard scamperd down stairs as fast he could with the pain he was in. He walked into the living room and found that the lights were on as well as the television. Where ever they were they were still awake.

He scowered the rest of the first floor, but came to find that it was just as empty as the second. Richard checked the garage, and of course both his and Vic's cars were there. Where could they be? He ran upstairs to his room in search of his phone, intending to call Vic, but he then remembered he had given Kori his phone on the plane ride home and she had nver given it back.

Suddenly the converstaion he had with her about her desire to be a hero flashed through his mind. "Shit," he spat as he rushed to his closet and placed his hand to the scanner. He ran down the stairs to Nightwatch, quickly jogging over to his giant computer that he could not for the life of him come up with a name for.

Richard typed something in quickly and all the recent alerts appeared on the screen. His eyes widend and his heart fell into his stomache. "Oh, no" he breathed.

Friday, October 28th 12:30 AM - Factory

Normal POV

Starfire awoke, her first image being the view of an empty factory and the laser that had been off to side earlier was now just twenty yards in front of her. She tried to move, but discoverd that she was strapped to a wall by some form of metal bracers. She looked to her left to find her friends were already awake, but were in the same situation as she was. "Friends, are you damaged?," she asked.

"A few bumps and bruises, but we're mostly okay," Bumble Bee replied. "What about you?"

"I have the aching head, but I am the okay," she answerd.

"Can you break out?," Vic asked

Before she could reply Slade enterd through the smashed in front door of the building. "Nice to see you all awake," he said in his even tone as he approached. "It wouldn't have been any fun to kill you when you were asleep."

"Let us out," Starfire growled, trying to light a starbolt, but nothing happend. She looked down at her hands in confusion.

"We already tried Star, we can't use our powers either," Beast Boy said.

Slade chuckled. "Your powers are useless as long as you're in my machines."

"What are you going to with us?," Bumble Bee questioned angrily.

Slade motioned his hand to the laser in front of them. "This laser here is my newest toy. It's beam is intense enough to cut through diamond and I have been dying to give it a trial run," he replied, walking to over to the laser and adjusting it so that it was aimed at Starfire's midsection. "You all just gave me the perfact opprotunity.

Starfire struggled to break free, knowing if she didn't she was going to die, but she just could't. She watched Slade's hand reach for the button that would activate the laser. She closed they eyes as did they rest of her friends as they awaited their death.

Images flashed through her mind, all centering around the time she had spent with her beloved. The first time they met, their first kiss, the beach, him telling her he was Nightwing, the first time they made love, how he held her at night, and every moment in between.

A tear fell from her eye, knowing she'd never see him again. "I love you, Richard," she whisperd to herself. If she were going to die she wanted those to be her last words.

She expected the beam to cut into her at any second, but all that happend was a loud yell coming from Slade.

Everyone opend their eyes to find a night-a-rang protruding from Slade's hand. Kori let out a delighted gasp. He was here.

Nightwing dropped in from the rafters of the building's second floor, wearing the black and red suit his father had gave him.

"Nightwing," Starfire sqilled. She thought she was dead, but of course Nightwing would come for her.

"Oh thank God," Bumble Bee exclaimed.

Slade yanked the night-a-rang from his hand and turned to face Nightwing, giving him his full attention. "Robin, you're late. The part's already over."

"Let them go," Nightwing spat.

"I had no intrest in them dear boy, they came after me," Slade replied as he got into a fighting stance.

Nightwing and Slade circled each other, but Slade was paying very close attention to the way Nightwing was moving. He barely moved his right arm and he had a slight limp in his walk. "Your injured," Slade observed. "Why would you come to face me when your less than one hundred percent?," he asked.

Nightwing was silent.

Slade glanced at the teens in the restraints, "They're your friends, aren't they? You've come to save them, but unfortionately for you and them, you don't stand a chance against me at the moment."

"We'll see about that," Nightwing growled before charging foward, trying to take Slade's legs out from him under with a diving tackle, but slade swiftly moved out of the way. Nightwing rolled to his feet and through a back kick at Slade's midsection, but the kick was caught and Nightwing was slung to the ground.

He winced in pain, but he couldn't give up. He had to save his friends, he had to save Kori. Nightwing staggerd to his feet, but right as he did a brutal knee from slade connected to his abdomen, dropping him to his hands and knees.

"Nightwing," Starfire called once again trying to break free.

"Pathetic, how do expect to save your friends when you can't even save yourself? Let's end this," Slade said, drawing his leg back to kick Nightwing in the ribs.

"Whatever you say," Nightwing replied,swiftly reaching into his utillity belt and pulling a disk shaped object before throwing it at Slade. The disk attached to the metal armor of Slade's suit, and suddenly electricity surged from the disk.

Slade let out a yelp as he dropped the ground like rock, almost istantly falling unconscious from the high voltage shock. Nightwing quitely thanked Bruce for the new gadgets before crawling over to Slade and handcuffing his hands behind his back. Nightwing looked over at his friends, who were all talking to him, but he was to tired, in pain, and pissed off at them to hear what they were saying.

He did notice that the bracers on the machine didn't have a type of lock whole on them, so he guessed they were unlocked by remote control. He searched the compartments of Slade's utillity belt until he found a silver remote with a single button on it. He pressed it and sure enough the latches unlocked, freeing his friends, if he could even call them that at the moment.

Starfire flew over to him with a delighted sqill, but as she tried to help him to his feet he pushed her away and stood under his own power.

"Nightwing?," she questioned, hurt. She already knew he was mad, and she also knew exactly why.

Without a word he turned and walked away from the group.

"Nightwing," Starfire called, but still no answer came.

"Where are you going?," Beast Boy added.

"Home, you wanna be heroes, you call the cops to come pick up Slade and the ray," he said shortly, without turning to look at them.

"He's mad," Beast Boy commented.

Raven looked up at him with a glare. "We went behind his back, got captured, and we would have been killed if hadn't rescued us, of cours he's mad."

Starfire hung her head in shame. This wasn't how she wanted this to go, she had almost lost her life, and now she had possibly just lost her boyfriend. Only one thing was for sure, the rest of the night was going to be really interesting.

Friday, October 28th 1:00 AM - Richard and Kori's house.

The group walked in through front door, all turning their heads to the staircase simultaniously

"So, how mad is he?" Vic asked Raven.

"He's in the Nightwatch, I can't pick up on him."

"Well, who's gonna go go talk to him?," Gar asked.

"We should all go, he did just saved our asses afterall," Bee replied.

"No, I shall go," Kori said. "I must speak with him privately."

Vic nodded. "Go ahead little lady."

Kori gave a slight nod back before making her way to Nightwatch. When she entered, Richard had already taken off his mask, and was in the process of unsnapping his utillity belt.

He didn't even look her way as she approached, which hurt, but it was what she expected. "Richard," she began reaching her arm out, but he moved away from her.

"Kori, don't touch me," he said coldly. She almost wished he was yelling, at least that would be showing some form of emotion. Right now he just appeared cold and stoic.

"Richard, I am truly sorry, but please let me explain. I...," she started before he interjected.

"It doesn't matter what you have to say Kori. The bottom line is you, who is supposed to be my girlfriend, and my so called friends went behind my back and almost got yourselves killed. I don't trust you anymore," he said, his tone unchanging.

Kori took a step back, reacting as if he had hit her. "You do not mean that, do you?"

"I do."

"Richard, are we doing the breaking up?," she asked, already feeling the tears form in her eyes.

He didn't say anything for what felt like a long time, not even sparring her a glance as he thought. "I don't know," he finally answerd.

"Richard, please do not...," she began, tears now rolling down her face.

"Kori, just leave me alone. I need time to think."

She hung her head, a few tears splahing against the concreat floor of the Nightwatch. "If that is what you wish." She turned to leave, feeling like her world had ended. This was definitely not how she wanted this to go.

Once she was gone, Richard allowed his anger to flow, slamming his left fist into the wall. How could she have done this? Not only had she and his friends did this without telling him, they had almost got themselves killed doing it. He really had alot to think about...