I changed the other chapters somewhat, so you should read those first.


"Why does it have to be me?" Wally grumbles one more time, tugging at his black apparel. Artemis bites her lip and looks away. She doesn't know whether she's fighting to laugh or if she's turned on.

"I told you, he's into redheads." Dick rolls his eyes and adjusts Wally's studded strap over his sheath shirt.

"Why not Megan?" Wally exclaims. Conner glares at him, but Dick quickly puts Conner's mind at ease.

"He's not into women, which is why it's gotta be you. Look, he has a prostitute come every Thursday, which happens to be today. So, you're gonna go in and distract him while I hack into his servers. He'll otherwise notice if you weren't there."

"I thought we wanted to know who hired him? Shouldn't we just ask him?" Kaldur asks. Wally nods furiously in agreement.

"Look, this is the easiest way. Don't question it."

"I don't even know what to do!" Wally blurts, looking wildly uncomfortable. He pulls at the leather collar on his neck.

Dick rolls his eyes again. "Look, all you gotta do is knock on the door. He'll answer, question why you're not his usual. You're going to say that he's out and you volunteered to be filled in. Say exactly that, he'll probably laugh. Also, go with the awkwardness angle. He's into the inexperienced. Don't ask how I know."

"Oh god. What the fuck did I get myself into?"

"It's time, so let's get this ball rolling."


It all goes like Dick said it would. He frowns when he sees Minkle's bloodshot eyes staring at Wally like he's a piece of meat. He didn't want to have Wally do this, but Minkle has to be distracted for the plan to work. He would have done it himself, but Minkle knows his face. Dick creeps into the warehouse window, having the rest of the team wait outside.

"Yeah..he, uh, he's sick. So, I volunteered to be filled in his place."

Minkle laughs a raspy laugh that sets Dick's teeth on edge. He hates that fucking laugh. "Too bad. I like Jukla. Me and him get along well."

"That's nice." Wally says, looking extremely uncomfortable. Dick scans through the information as fast as he possibly can, not finding anything from Minkles computer. He's starting to feel desperate and the air starts to feel heavy around him.

"You new? You seem a bit edgy."

"Y-yeah."

"Don't worry. Everythings gonna be great." Minkle says the word like it's part of an inside joke that Wally doesn't know about. Dick does. The next moment Minkle is in a chokehold and Wally looks shocked.

Dick grips Minkle tighter. "Don't you fucking touch him."

"H-how...did.. You-"

"Don't fucking worry about me. I'm not gonna let you touch him." Dick cuts off Minkle's air supply and black spots start to blur his vision.

"Dick! I'm okay!" Wally exclaims startled. He starts forward, looking frightened. "The plan remember! Stop! The plan!"

Dick grits his teeth and it takes all of the willpower he has to let Minkle go. He falls to the floor, gasping for air, which the piece of shit doesn't deserve. Dick takes a moment, trying to collect himself. He shouldn't have let himself fall apart like that. Dick knows why he did, and for a good reason, but he shouldn't have let himself. He's better than this. Dick lets out an exhale of air.

"You okay? What was that?" Wally asks Dick quietly by his side. Dick ignores him, afraid that the memory will overtake him again.

Dick crouches by Glarvis's side. "You designed the robots for capturing the visitors at Xandar. For who?" He grits out.

"I...ain't-"

Dick stabs Glarvis in the shoulder with his knife, pinning him to the floor. Minkle cries out, flailing as he tries to wrench it out. Dick steps on Minkle's other arm, pressing down forcefully. "I need answers, Minkle."

Minkle glares at Dick through the pain. "I know you. Y-you've been here before, stole some of my shit! I should kill you fa that!"

"Are you really in the position to be making threats?" Dick raises an eyebrow. "This is how it's gonna go. You're gonna tell me who you're working for, it's gonna happen. The only thing you have control over is when. You can tell me now and I can spare you some pain. Or, and I'm hoping you choose this way, you can be stubborn and I will skin you alive until you talk. So, which one is it gonna be, Mr. Minkle?" Dick's voice drops into a calm whisper by the end of it.

Minkle hesitates and Dick presses down hard enough that even the teensiest amount of added pressure will break his arm in half. Minkle cries out, "Okay, okay! It was Tivan!"

"Fuck." Dick curses to himself and steps off of Minkle. Minkle cries out again and Dick kicks him in the face to shut him up. Minkle goes unconscious, thank god.

"Great. Just great." Dick runs a hand through his hair. "Let's go, West."

Wally is staring at Dick, pale in the face and his eyes wide, but complies. As they exit, a young man comes up to the door, looking dead and anxious.

Dick turns to Wally. "Go ahead and get changed, I'll be right there."

Wally hesitates for a second, but decides to go. He looks back to see Dick gently approaching the red haired young man.

"Are you Jukla?" Dick asks softly.

"Y-yeah." Jukla looks cautious at Dick. Dick can only imagine why and he really doesn't want to imagine it.

"Look, you don't have to tell me and I won't pry, but I'm guessing that-that piece of shit in there doesn't like the word 'no'. Am I right?"

Jukla nods, his gaze at the ground. Jukla begins to shake and he hold his arms close to him. "I-I needed the units and my boss wouldn't let me switch."

"You don't have to explain. I'm not here to judge."

"He..I tried to say no, but he-" Jukla cuts himself off and looks like he might throw up.

"What if I told you right now he's unconscious in there and I doubt he'll be able to fight back." Jukla's head snaps up in surprise. "Do what you want. I won't stop you."

Jukla looks like he might throw up again, but for a different reason. He looks scared still, but Dick can see determination in his eyes and something that looks like relief. Jukla doesn't say anything and Dick doesn't expect him to. Dick departs without a glance back.


Dick doesn't say anything on the way back to the ship and neither does Wally. The rest of the team look at them concerned, Wally wouldn't talk about what happened in there. He only said that they knew who it was.

Dick slumps into the pilot's seat, rubbing his face. Fuck. It's gonna be hard finding Tivan and wherever the fuck the others are. Fuck, fuck, fuck.

Wally sits with the team in the main deck silently. He's never seen that side of Dick before, never. The calm, but deadly look in his eyes when he threatened Glarvis made his stomach flip just thinking about it. Not to mention Dick's reaction at whatever Minkle said that triggered him. Sure, Minkle was creepy, but Wally has no clue what set Dick off. He's really reluctant to know.

Three bangs sound through the main deck, startling Wally. He looks at the team, but they look as confused as him. The bangs sound again and Wally realises that someone is knocking on the bay door. Wally fumbles, trying to figure out how to open it, but he gets it eventually. Once it's opened, a blue haired, dark-skinned man steps in.

He blinks, his purple eyes looking a little taken aback. "Oh. Hello. I'm, uh, looking for Dick. Er, Nightwing. Um, who are you all?"

"We're old friends of his." Wally says, looking the stranger over. "Who are you?"

"I'm AJ. It's nice to meet you. I didn't know Dick had old friends." AJ reaches his hand out and Wally shakes it.

"Wait, you're AJ?" Artemis looking a little staggered. "Dick's ex?"

"Yeah." AJ drags it out a little, looking confused and feeling awkward. He rocks back on his feet. "Is Dick here or not?"

"Uh, yeah. Dick! Get out here! Now!" Artemis yells.

"What is i-AJ?" Dick looks surprised.

AJ's face lights up. "Dick. Gus told me you were here."

"Yeah, I was going to go look for you, but I had other things to take care of first." Dick's scowls, but shakes it off. He steps forward and hugs him. "How are you?"

"Fine. I just wanted to...what's wrong?" AJ mumbles, seeing Dick's face.

"Let's go talk somewhere else." Dick says before he kisses AJ's cheek. "I missed you though."

"I missed you too." AJ says as they start walking to Dick's room. "Why are they all staring at us?" He murmurs to Dick.

"I don't think they knew you were a guy or that I do guys."

"Ah. Sorry for the shock, but you should close your mouths." AJ directs at them before they close Dick's door.

Dick sighs when they're alone and flops on his bed. "I'm in a clusterfuck, Alo."

"How bad?"

"Oh, it's bad. I can't tell you how bad. How's Milo and Sailia?"

"Milo's fine and the baby's great. Thanks for telling us about the adoption agency."

"No problem, I was happy to help. What're you doing on Knowhere? I thought you left the life of crime behind when you became a doctor?"

"I did, but a friend of mine was in trouble, so I had to help. Now, it looks like another friend of mine's in trouble." He gives Dick a pointed look. "Talk."

Dick explains everything to him and even talks about what happened at Minkle's. AJ lays a comforting hand on Dick's. "I know that wasn't easy, letting him go. How it brought up…." AJ doesn't say it. "I hope the boy will be okay."

"I transferred a shit load of units to him, it should help." Dick says dismissively. "I don't know what to do about Tivan though. I know he's not here anymore and, while I know why he wants the Infinity Stone, I don't know where he is or the others."

"You'll figure it out. You always do." AJ smiles. "You found Blo when he ran away."

"Yeah, but that's only because-..." Dick stands up. "AJ, I gotta go."


"Okay, so Blo is AJ's little brother. He ran away when a few years ago and the only reason we found him was because we remembered that his girlfriend lived on Asgard. Asgard is home to Heimdall, who can see all."

"He can see all?" Conner asks dubiously.

"Yes, don't interrupt. Anyways, I did something for Heimdall and now he owes me a favour. So, I'm going to go to Asgard and see if he can see Peter and the rest of them."


So...yeah. I'm so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so SORRY! I didn't mean for it to go this long. At first, it was because of school, then I got sick, and THEN I started writing a shitload of other fics. I also discovered AO3, so there's that too. I'm also probably, after this fic is done, going to start posting there. Maybe I'll do both, Idk.

I'm really sorry though. Also, I hope this chapter is okay because I haven't written for this story in a LONG time...Which you know...I'm sorry again.

Review if you want to. I want to hear your opinions about EVERYTHING. Love you all and thank you for the past reviews!