Miss Martian's POV
"Dick?"
Nightwing freezes at the name, his face a whirlpool of emotions. Shock, nostalgia, and, wait, fear? Why would he be afraid? If he's who I think he is, then he should be happy that he found us, not scared.
"Dick?...Robin?" I prod softly, taking a step towards him.
He snaps out of his daze and stiffens. His face becomes a blank state, wiping away any emotions I had seen before. "I'm sorry, but why did you call me a dick? I haven't done anything to you that I'm aware of." He says it so smoothly, so convincingly, that I feel myself almost believing him that he doesn't know anything. Almost. I've waited too long for answers and I want them now.
"I knows it's you." I stare him in the eyes, showing him that I won't back down. I need to know.
He frowns and opens his mouth to speak, but instead whirls around. "Hey, Drax, could you cover me for a little bit? Miss Martian couldn't sleep and would like to go for a midnight stroll."
The gigantic grey guy appears suddenly, I hadn't noticed him. He stares at Nightwing for a moment, "Why would I cover you with something? That would be inconvenient if you are to accompany Miss Martian on her walk."
Nightwing face-palms, frustration clear on his face. I wonder if that was sarcasm or if Drax really took it seriously, but I'm guessing it's the latter by the look on Nightwing's face.
"I-no-ugh. I'll be back soon. Will you be alright being alone for a short amount of time?"
Drax grunts. I assume it's approval because Nightwing leads me down the hallway, away from the rooms. I walk beside him in silence as Nightwing leads me through so many twists or turns that I can't remember where the rooms were. Nightwing will probably lead me back.
He stops me at a point on a bridge. It's one of those ones that connect buildings and have windows all along it. I can see Xandar all lit up and the nightlife thriving brightly.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Nightwing murmurs, staring off into the distance. I agree it is very beautiful, but not what I came to talk about. Not at all. I stare at him expectantly. He sighs and runs a hand through his hair. "Yes, it's me." He eventually says quietly, absently staring at Xandar through the window.
I-It's true...It's true! Robin's alive! We finally found him after eleven years. I thought this day would never come, that I'd be doomed to never know of my teammates fate. He's here though, standing right in front of me alive and well.
I yank Nightwing into a hug, silently crying into his chest. He leans back, his arms in the air. He's obviously uncomfortable, but I don't care. I haven't been able to do this in eleven years. Slowly, he wraps his arms around me, tentatively patting my back to try and calm me down.
I lean back, wiping away the tears. "I-I don't. I don't understand...What happened? Where have you been this whole time? Why haven't you come back?"
He pulls away from me, his face hard. "I got captured by outlaw mercenaries called Ravagers. I still don't know why they took me, I think they were paid to come to our dimension and take me here. Anyways, I was stuck with them for over two years. Peter found me after I turned sixteen and took me away from them. I've been with him ever since."
I frown, "That doesn't explain why you didn't come back."
"Dimension travel is hard, not many people can do it or have the technology."
"You still could have tried." I stress. "If you had explain your case to Nova Prime, maybe she could have helped you get home."
"Nova Prime wouldn't have helped me." He states firmly. "She doesn't run the galaxy anyways. Besides, there's nothing there for me anymore."
I gape at him, "'Nothing there for you'? What about us? Your family?" He just stares at me stoically. "What happened to you? You've changed. The boy I knew wasn't this." I gesture towards him, a deep scowl etched into my face..
"What did you expect, M'gann? That I would still be 5'2 and an optimistic little kid. I'm not a kid anymore, I'm a grown man. I grew the hell up. You couldn't have expected to me to run arms open at the first sight of you guys if you ever found me."
"I-I don't know. I didn't know what to expect, we thought you were dead! It has been eleven years, so I guess I would expect for you to be at least happy to see us!"
"You aren't my family anymore, M'gann. I have a new one and I don't need you here ruining things."
"Well, soorryy! I'm sorry that we found a rock that can explode people, I didn't mean for it to be such an inconvenience to you." I cross my arms. "Just wait until I tell the team about this."
"Don't you dare." He grits through his clenched teeth, looking upset.
"And why not?"
"My life is here. I have family here. Don't you think you, my previous family, coming here complicates that? Don't you think it makes it hard for me having everyone that I loved and lived with here after years?"
Oh geez, I didn't think about he would feel. I feel so bad now. I just yelled at him when it was already hard for him. "Nightwing, I'm...I just.."
"Just forget it."
"But-"
"Forget it!" He snaps. He turns and swiftly walks the way we came. I follow him, still wallowing in guilt. When the hallway with our rooms come into view, he pauses near Drax.
"I'm going out Drax. I'll have Groot cover for me."
Drax opens his mouth in question, but closes it at Nightwing's expression and nods. Nightwing then turns towards me. "Goodnight, Miss Martian." He says before he walks off, leaving me in the dust.
Dick's POV
"Can I get three shots of spirytus?" I ask as I lean against the bar's counter, running a hand through my hair.
"Tough night, huh?"
"You have no idea." I mumble. The bartender sets the glasses on the counter and quickly pours it before sliding them towards me. "Thanks."
He grunts and goes back to wiping out glasses. I down one, trying to forget the conversation I had only ten minutes ago. I can't deal with this right now. I groan, my throat burning like hellfire. Why did they have to come here?
Oh, that's right. There's a 'rock that explodes people'. Jesus.
M'gann reaction is exactly what I feared. I didn't want them knowing because I knew they would react that way. I wasn't even going to tell any of them who I was anyways, but I guess that's out the window. Hopefully, they'll leave soon and I can get on with the rest of my life with the Guardians. That probably won't happen though because M'gann will most likely tell them by morning.
I down the second shot.
"You look like you need to forget something for a while." A seductive feminine voice says as my throat continues to burn.
I glance over and see an alluring woman my age with fiery red hair that clashes with her dark blue skin. She presses her body against mine as she runs her hand over my arm. "I could help with that." The woman purrs, a sultry smile playing on her lips.
I down the last shot and toss twenty units on the counter as she links her arm with mine, leading me away from everything.
This time I wake up to a faceful of red hair and blue skin. I groan slightly and sit up, taking in my surroundings. Last night is a sorta fuzzy, but I remember the basis and of course what went down between me and...shit. I don't know her name at all this time. I don't think I ever learned it though. I slid out of bed, trying not to jostle it too much and wake her.
I grab my clothes from the floor and slip them on, glancing over at the clock on instinct. I blanch. Shit! It's almost ten, breakfast is about to start. I debate on leaving a note, but I decide that I don't have time. I quickly give her a kiss on the lips to wake her up and I rush out the door as she blearily looks after me.
I race out into Xandar, thankful that the girl lives right by headquarters. I'm in headquarters in twenty minutes flat. I quickly walk (who am I kidding? I run) through the halls and to my room. I see Peter standing by my door, waiting for me. His face lights up when he sees me and he sighs in relief. I push past him and into my room.
"Where have you been?"
"Out." I say as I finally find suitable clothes. I look at the clock. Fuck. Not enough time to take a shower. I'll have to take one later.
"Out where? Drax said that you went for a walk with Miss Martian and that after you came back, you ran off." He leans forward and sniffs me, his nose cringing. "You smell like alcohol." He sniffs me again and adds, "And happened?"
I shut my dresser with a loud thwack. "What happened? What happened? Miss Martian was listening to our conversation last night and found out who I was."
"Oh, shit."
"I know."
"Oh, shit!"
"I know."
"Jesus, Dick. What are you going to do?"
I quickly get changed, tossing my dirty clothes in a heap in the corner. "I don't know. I don't know what she'll do." I sigh, running a hand through my hair.
Peter narrows his eyes and looks me over, "Where did you go afterwards?"
"Take a wild guess." I spray body spray all over me, hoping it covers the smell. I narrowly avoid his disappointed gaze, I can't stand it right now. "How's this?"
"You do smell somewhat better. Come on, we're late. We'll talk about this later." He starts walking and after grabbing the majority of my weapon, I quickly follow. We arrive at the dining hall soon and I sit down the farthest from The Team/League. Gamora stares at me questioningly, but I shake my head, mouthing 'Later.'
I see Miss Martian glance at me sadly and I try to ignore it. A small part of me feels bad though. It has been eleven years and I guess that would be shocking. She didn't have much time to process either.
'M'gann?' I call out in my mind.
'R-Nightwing?' She asks, surprised.
'Yeah, I wanted to apologize for the way I acted yesterday. It wasn't fair to you.'
'I actually wanted to apologize to you. I didn't think about how you felt and that was very inconsiderate of me. I know this must be hard for you. Would you accept my apology?' She asks shyly.
'Only if you accept mine.'
'Alright. So, are you okay? You ran off after you brought me back.'
'I'm fine. Don't worry.'
'Do you want to talk later? You know, catch up?'
'Sure, M'gann'
Conner looks at her questioningly when she smiles, but she waves him off. He shrugs and goes back to eating. I realize that I do have food in front of me and I should probably eat if I don't want to pass out. Before I can eat though, the wall explodes. So close. So close.
Everyone leaps up in battle positions as figures emerge from the dust. Peter and I pull out our guns simultaneously. We find ourselves back to back as the figures surround us. They're all dressed in black, which is cliche-ish, but whatever.
Peter and I take them down as they come at us, keeping up the defense. Gamora and Drax go on offense, while Rocket and Groot go do their own thing. One of the people comes at Peter and I go on offense, pulling out my escrima sticks. I violently jab it in the stomach, electricity flowing. It goes down, but something about it doesn't seem right. It was too hard what I hit. I look over at Gamora and she looks confused as well. Drax looks like he's having fun slamming them down, so I doubt he cares.
Shooting the people behind me with one of my guns, I quickly rip the fabric away to see metal. They're robots! I press a finger to my ear, "Hey, if you didn't know, they're robots." Another one comes at me and this time I don't hesitate to shoot them in the face.
"No shit, moron!" Rocket yells.
"Hey, I said 'if you didn't know'."
"Any ideas on how to stop them?" Peter yells, interrupting the impending argument.
"I got an idea. Groot's covering me while I try it out. Keep takin' these suckers out." Drax roars in joy, now able to rip them apart.
Five minutes later, the robots suddenly all fall to the ground. Well, the ones that we hadn't taken out.
"I built an EMP." Rocket explains as he comes back towards us. "It won't last forever, but it'll give us enough time to destroy these asshats."
"Good, but we need to keep one. Figure out who sent them." Peter says, kicking one of their heads away from him.
"I'm pretty sure we all know why they're here." I say, gesturing towards the Team and Leaguers. They helped during the fight, but stayed mostly out of the way.
"Something doesn't feel right." Gamora says.
"What do you mean?" Peter asks.
"She's right." I say. "Why would they just attack us? They didn't try to grab the Leaguers, they didn't try to do anything, but attack us. It isn't really thought out if that's all they were after. " A thought springs up in my head and I start. "Oh no-" The words barely fall out of my mouth when the ceiling explodes, dust and pieces flying everywhere. A giant ship appears in the gaping hole, hovering over all of us.
The ship shoots out a stream of light which captures the three league members. It forms a bubble around the League and begins retrieving the bubble. They try to fight against their containment, but it doesn't work. I hear the team yell out, but I can't concentrate because the light lands on the Guardians, myself included. Peter shoves me out of the way before it can solidate.
"NO!"
It drags them away and I'm powerless to stop it. I scream, "Peter!"
Peter only has time to say one thing before he disappears into the ship, "Dick!"
The light falls onto the team and I, but before it can solidate, the Nova Air Force shows up, guns a-blazing. The light dies around us and the ship takes off, Nova forces following.
"Fuck!" I curse, kicking the head of a robot causing it to fly across the room.
How could I be so stupid? I should have known from the beginning that this was going to happen. If I had been quicker, I could have done something! Now they're both gone. And it' s my fault.
"D-Dick? Did he call you Dick?"
This has to be the worst day of my life.
