"Hundreds of years ago, the Tivan Group set up mining operations in the decapitated head of the Celestial to harvest the valuable bone, brain tissue, and spinal fluid from it. The absence of law enforcement turned Knowhere into a safe haven for outlaws and our dear friend Mr. Minkle. Be careful while we're here."
The team seems shocked to be inside the head of the Celestial. Dick was surprised, but they seem way too shocked. Then again, Dick more used to things by the time he saw this. At least they're too distracted to be mad at him right now.
"It's too light out to go after Minkle right now, we'll have to wait until dark. So, for now why don't we-" Dick cuts himself off when Gaina appears, her hips swaying towards him. Oh, yes.
Wally's POV
This is just wow. They're inside the head of a giant whatever. He wonders what was strong enough to kill this thing, it must have been enormous! There are a lot of people here, criminals he reminds himself, but they seem to be somewhat avoiding them. Wally thinks they're avoiding Dick, he probably has a lot of cred as an ex-Ravager and a Guardian.
Jesus. He never thought he would think those words. Dick shouldn't have to have cred or be in the criminal business at all! It's wrong and Wally doesn't understand how Dick doesn't see that. This is way different than Wally thought Dick was going to turn out.
Dick starts speaking again, "It's too light out to go after Minkle right now, we'll have to wait until dark. So, for now why don't we-" He cuts himself off and stares at something ahead of us. I turn to see a chick with pink skin and blonde hair strutting towards us. I glance back at Dick to see him smirking.
Is he a dog? On our world, he was so awkward with girls.
She walks straight up to him and Dick wraps his arms around her midsection, one hand gripping her plump ass. He passionately kisses her and the chick purrs, "I didn't know you were coming back so early. Just couldn't stay away could you?"
Dick grins, "How could I stay away from someone as sexy as you?"
"How about you take this sexy girl back to your ship and then we can have some fun?" She wiggles her eyebrows lightly. Ah, she must be a booty call. A hot one at that.
"Oh, I wish, but I can't right now." The chick pouts at this. "Hey, don't pout baby. I promise that I'll make it up to you."
"How are you going to do that?" She says seductively.
"Well, I'll..." Dick starts whispering in her ear after that, so I can't hear what he's saying. I lean over towards Conner, my eyes still on Dick and the hot pink chick.
"What is he saying?"
I look at Conner to see him eyes wide and his face red in embarrassment. "You don't want to know."
Damn, how did he get from not flirting at all to this...geez I don't even know how to describe it. He's like the king of flirting and dirtiness. I look at the team and they all have the same expressions on their faces. Seeing him like this first hand instead of the innocent thinking thirteen year old we knew, it's just...wow.
Dick finally pulls away from her ear and she's staring at him seductively. "I'm going to hold that to you, Nightwing." She pulls him into a kiss and then sashays away. Dick stares after her for a couple moments and then turns back to us.
"Anyways, as I was saying, it's too light out to go after Minkle right now, we'll have to wait until dark. So, for now why don't we go get a drink. There's this great place that's just up the street. We could go there-"
"What was that?!" Artemis yells, gesturing wildly at him and then the direction the chick went.
"Uh, what was what?" He stares at her confused for a second until it dawns on him, "Oh, I met her a few days ago when I was here with Peter. She's from Xandar. Sexy, isn't she? I thought so."
We stare at him again. Jesus. "What's her name?" M'gann asks.
"Huh, oh, yeah, her name's Gaina."
"Are you two dating?"
"What? No, no, definitely not dating."
"Have you dated anyone?" Artemis asks.
"Not really. Mostly physical relationships, if you know what I mean. Hookups are one of my skills."
"Oh my god, is that where you went the other night?" M'gann asks.
"What other night?" Wally asks M'gann, looking between the two.
"The night I found out who he was. We talked for a little bit and I said something that got him upset, so he took off. Did you go meet up with Gaina?" She directs the last part toward Dick.
"No, Gaina lives here."
"Oh."
"I did go to the bar for some shots and I met this saucy redhead, didn't catch her name. She was so smokin'. She was why I was late to breakfast."
We're all silent. God damn. How the hell did he get so playboy-ish?
"We should get headed to that bar I told you about. It's not safe to stay out in the open." He walks off and we all look at each other incredulously before following him.
Peter's POV
Peter's first thought when he wakes up is ooooooowwwwwwwwwww. Ugh, his head. Why does his head hurt so much? He tries to open his eyes, but they feel super heavy. He groans. Geez, what happened?
"Peter?"
That's Gamora. She kinda sounds angry, frustrated, and worried at the same time. Oh, geez. He must have gone drinking with Dick and Rocket again. Gamora is going to be pisssssseeeddd! She's going to withhold sex again! That was the longest month of his life! Oh, god. He has to get up and apologize, quickly. You do not want an assassin to be angry when you did something wrong.
He forces his eyes open with a moan. A green blob is right in front of his face. It shifts slightly and bends down towards him. "Peter? Wake up."
Oh, the green blob must be Gamora. Hey, in his defense, he thinks he may be hungover. He blinks a couple times, trying to clear everything up. "'Mora?" He slurs. The green blob clears up to reveal his wife. She looks tired and dirty, but she smiles. "Finally, you're awake."
He groans and tries to sit up, "Ugh, what happened?"
"Stinkin' cowards decided to kidnap us and then don't show their ugly faces!" Rocket shouts at the bars, while pacing. Oh, it all comes back to him. The fight, the bubble things, yelling for...
"Where's Dick?" Gamora looks at him with a mixture of happiness and sadness. Which doesn't make much sense, but that's how she looks. Wait. "He wasn't captured, was he?"
She shakes her head, "No, he wasn't."
He smiles, "Oh, thank god. He'll figure out how to rescue us. He's done it before. A lot." Wait, wait. Sadness? Why would she be sad? Wait... "Where's the other heroes?"
"The Justice League was taken by guards for interrogation." Drax says from the corner, watching Rocket pace. He notices that his fur is sticking up, but he doesn't really care at the moment.
Okay, so the JL is here, so why's Gamora sad? Okay, Justice League is here, they're here, so what's wrong? Is it because he's by himself to rescue them? He's rescued them by himself before and Gamora trusts his skills, so it's not that. The sadness seems similar. It was like the sadness when she was worried that the Justice League and Juniors would find out Dick's real identity. Wait, Drax said the Justice League was taken, not Young Justice.
"Dick is with Young Justice, isn't he?"
Silence. Rocket stops pacing.
"He is, isn't he?"
"I am Groot."
He takes that as a yes. Dick must be going crazy right now, being alone with people he had gotten over so long ago. He knows that if he had seen his grandpa again that he would be a mess. It's worse that they don't know that he's their old teammate and he does. It would be even worse if they knew he was Dick.
His head starts to hurt as he remember something. He gets up quickly and feels nauseous, but he ignores it. More's coming back to him. After the bubble was carried to the ship, a gas filled the air and they all fell to the ground. Something happened before that though. His eyes widen. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no! NO! He didn't, did he? He didn't yell his...Oh, god. He did! Young Justice knows! This just makes everything so much harder for Dick. They're going to want him to come back. They're going to reveal it to the Justice League members and he knows Batman is not going to leave Dick alone without a fight. Everything is ruined, because of him.
"Young Justice knows! They know. 'Cause of me! Man, am I stupid?"
"You are stupid." Drax agrees with a nod.
Peter starts towards the bars, hoping Dick's okay. "We need out of here, now. There has to be some way..." His hand is a centimeter from touching the bars when Gamora jerks him back.
"Peter! The bars are electrified." Gamora stares at Peter like the idiot he is.
"How do you kno-" He cuts himself off when he sees Rocket pouting. His fur… "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! You-you!" He has to sit down because of how hard he's laughing. His chest hurts so much, but fucking Rocket. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Rocket snarls, "Oh, just shut up, Star-Idiot. Did you even have a plan when you went for the bars?"
He stops laughing, "Well, I was coming up with one."
"How much of one?" Gamora inquires.
"Maybe twelve percent?"
Artemis POV
Dick strides through the doors of the bar and smiles when he sees someone's face behind the counter, "Hey, Gus!"
The bartender looks up at his voice and smiles. He has yellow skin, three eyes, and really boring, brown hair. "Hey, Nightwing! Back already? Oh, how'd it go with that Xandarian girl?"
He smirks, "It went like it always does."
"Atttaboy, nice job!" Gus highfives him. "Also, who are these people?" He gestures to us, his gaze curious and a little suspicious. Dick did say that this….uh, planet? It's a head, so she doesn't think it's a planet. She'll just go with community was filled with criminals. Dick turns his head slightly to spot them standing there awkwardly near the doorway of the bar. He waves Gus off nonchalantly.
"Oh, these are old friends of mine coming for a visit. Couldn't let them leave without visiting the best bar in the galaxy."
Gus smiles and shakes his head, "Always a charmer. Oh, you-know-who came around looking for you."
"I'll have to find AJ later. Oh, could we get six beers?"
"Sure thing." Gus reaches under the counter to get the glasses and sets them on the counter, "Hey, where are Peter and the rest of the gang?"
Artemis expects Dick to cringe or do something to give away something was wrong, but his face doesn't change. He just leans against the counter.
"They're stuck on Xandar. They have to babysit some visiting royalty. You know how it is, watching out for assassinations and the like. Luckily, Peter was able to get me out of it, thank god. Anyways, how's things with Danny?" He lies so smoothly that it shocks us a bit.
Gus rolls his eyes as he pours the drinks, "You know Daniel hates being called that."
"I know, that's why I do it, but you're changing the subject."
Gus sighs, "I don't know. Shana came to the bar the other day."
"Ah, geez. How'd that go?"
"She said that she was upset with how things ended with us all those years ago and wanted to go out for coffee."
"You didn't go, did you?"
Gus winces, "Well..."
"Oh, god. You did. What happened?"
"I told her I was in a committed relationship with Daniel and that we were happy. She said that she respected that and was glad that I was happy. It was just coffee with old friends. Nothing happened."
"Good."
"Well, there was this one weird moment."
"What?" He asks hesitantly.
"We kinda...kissed."
"What are you doing?! Don't you remember what happened before?"
"I know. I know! I don't know what happened. We were just saying goodbye one moment and the next we were making out!"
"Well, what about Daniel? Does he know?"
"Yeah, he knows. I told him as soon as it happened. He was forgiving and all that jazz, but he's been distant. I don't think it's going to work out."
Dick sighs, "We've known each other for years. Hell, I was the one that set you up with Daniel. What you have is something other people dream of...Just, don't give up, alright?"
Gus nods, "I won't. Oh, sorry guys, here are your drinks." He pushes them forward. "On the house."
"You don't have to do that, Gus."
"Nah, it's fine. We've been going on and on about my love life while they've been standing there awkwardly. You know you have." Gus directs towards them. "So, as an apology, free beers."
"Thanks." Artemis says, a little surprised.
Gus nods and goes to pour drinks for other customers. Dick casually picks his up and starts drinking it. "If you're worried you might get drunk, don't worry. These are the least strongest thing here."
Conner picks his up and curiously asks, "What's the strongest?"
"Asgardian mead. Ah, geez. I had a glass of that once and was hungover for days!"
"It can't be that bad." Wally says, suddenly sitting next to Dick, sipping his drink.
"Yeah." Conner agrees.
Dick smirks and if we could see his eyes, Artemis bets they were full of mischief. "Hey, Gus!" He throws over his shoulder.
"Yeah?" His voice comes from under the counter, I presume to get glasses.
"Can I get two shots of Asgardian mead?"
There's a loud boom as Gus hits his head against the counter. He stands up cursing and comes over. "You sure, Nightwing? The last time you had that you slept with an Aaskvarian."
Dick winced, "She was really nice, but you know Aaskvarians. She bit my shoulder twice and left these pin marks that didn't go away for months. Anyways, these two," He jerks his thumb towards Conner and Wally, "Don't think it'll be that strong."
Gus chuckles and pours the drinks, "It'll be your downfall, boys."
Wally eyes his shot. "You know my metabolism will probably burn through it really fast."
Dick shrugs, a smirk still on his face. They both down it fast, confident in their actions. The confidence went fast. They blanche and groan with Wally swaying slightly.
"It's not burning fast enough." Wally moans, clutching the counter.
They're a bunch of idiots. Artemis sees Megan glance at her and nod in union. Dick starts chuckling. "Told you." He leans back and takes a sip of his beer.
She plops down beside him, "So, who's AJ?"
"An ex. Went out for a while. Didn't work out. We're still friends."
She looks around at all of the aliens, well aliens to her, in the bar and takes a sip, "How do you remain friends with your exes?"
"Maybe that's my superpower." He decides to switch the conversation. "So, I assume that Nova gave you all temporary translators in your ears considering that you understood Gus?"*
"Yeah. So everyone is speaking something different right now, but we hear our native language?"
"Yeah. Well, you can pick what language you want to hear in. English isn't my native, but that's what I have it set to. Mine's permanent, see?" He pulls down his jacket and shows her a metal thing implanted at the base of his neck.
Before now, he's always worn his leather jacket and pants. At one point, he mentioned it was his Ravager garb and it protects him from the effects of space. He's never taken it off and all they've seen of his skin is his hands and part of his face that his mask hasn't covered. There's a jagged scar next to his implant and she gets a sinking feeling that there are more covering his body.
He pulls his jacket back up and Artemis clears her throat, "That's cool. So, when did you get it?"
"Yondu had it implanted a couple weeks after I became a Ravager. Hurt like a bitch."
She raises an eyebrow at him. He gives her an incredulous look, "What? I'm not allowed to swear?"
"No, you are. It's just going to take a while to get used to you all grown up. I'll get used to it though eventually." He shifts uncomfortably in his seat. A realization washes over her. "You're not coming back, are you?"
He stands up, "Yeah, I'll show you the bathroom. It's outback." What? He drags her through the back door and to the street. Woah, there are more people out here than there was before. It is just getting dark, so she guesses this is when everything starts happening.
He pulls her to the side of the building. She gives him a glare and gestures for him to talk.
He sighs, "Look, it's complicated. I've been with Peter since I was sixteen. He got me away from Yondu, he finished raising me. He's my brother, he's family. We've had each others back for nine years. I've known the others for seven. We're a team, a family. Gamora is like my mom or my over-protective sister. Rocket, Drax, and Groot are my uncles. They're my family."
"We're your family, too." She argues. "You're our little brother."
"Were. You were my family. I was your little brother. It all went down the drain eleven years ago when I was taken. I have a different life now."
"Do you know how awful it was when you were taken? We looked for you for years. Years! Eventually, we had to stop, but Batman still looks for you! Do you know what it's like to try to cling on to the hope that you would see even a glimpse of the person you want the most?"
"Of course I know! Do you not think how hard it was for me? All I wanted was to go back to Terra, to see you guys. I couldn't escape Yondu, especially when I learned it was dangerous to dimension travel and Yondu wasn't going to chance it again. I thought that you guys would find me. The Justice League, they always get the bad guy and bring justice. I had so much hope that first year, but as more forced thefts and more time rolled on, I gave up. I knew that I would never get to see you guys again. I decided that I didn't care anymore after being with Peter for a while.
"He became my family. I had forgotten what it was like to have a brother again. We both had been alone, him even longer than me. We helped each other heal. During the Infinity Stone thing, we met Gamora, Rocket, Groot, and Drax. They joined our family. I got to help people more. I stopped thinking about you guys less and less. I didn't need to, you were my past. They're my present and future. I had nothing left on Terra, I still don't, but it's hard to see you guys. You were my third family and I lost you, just like the other ones. Seeing you again has brought up so many memories. I can't choose between you guys and my family and I'm not going to.
"My life is here and this is my dimension now. I know that I'm staying, but with you guys here and especially knowing, it just makes things...hard." She cuts him off with a hug. He stiffens and his arms hover above her.
"Hug me back, you jerk." She mumbles into his chest. He slowly wraps his arms around her. After a moment, she decides to break the tension, "Damn, you're ripped." This gets a huge laugh out of him, a real laugh, which is nice to hear since she hasn't heard a real once since they got here.
She leans back, "In all seriousness though, I'm sorry that I didn't think about how you felt. I was just thinking of me and that was selfish. I'm sorry. It's not easy finding someone you thought was gone, but I bet you get that better than anyone. I just..I'm sorry. I won't bring it up again."
He gives her a small smile, "Thanks, Arty."
Artemis punches his shoulder, "Don't call me that!" He groans and rubs his shoulder.
"Okay! Sorry...Arty." He smirks.
She raises her fist to punch him again when Megan comes around the corner. She gives a sigh of relief when she sees us, "You guys have been gone for a while. Kaldur sent me to check up on you."
"Oh, sorry. We were just talking." She explains, putting her fist down. Dick smirks and she shoots him a glare.
"Is it time to go yet? 'Cause Conner almost hit a guy that was flirting with me and I don't want to partake in a bar fight."
Dick laughs, "I've been in a couple of those. Mostly because of a drunk Peter, but hey, at least I can cross it off my bucket list." He looks around. It's a lot darker and she sees more lights pop up like it does in a city. Artemis also see a lot of people that she can definitely put on her shady list. Dick looks down at Megan and her-which is when she realizes that he's taller than any of them-and says, "Alright, let's go do this."
