And crash we did. About an hour of tense and silent flying my stomach dropping indicated our loss in altitude.
"Jay?" I said into his ear. "How you holding up?"
"I'm afraid…" he said weakly. The pain in his voice scaring me. "You're going to have to brace yourself Effie." I dared a glance back and immediately wished I hadn't. The ground seemed to be rising up to meet us at an alarming speed.
"Jay!" I yelled, his eyes were closed. I tapped him relatively gently across his cheek making him stir. "Open up your wings – just one more time, you need to slow us down a bit." He groaned but did as I asked. He turned slightly in the air, his wings folding forward so that they wrapped around me.
Jay hit the ground first, his back colliding with the earth, the impact threw me from his embrace and I tumbled several times before landing facedown into the dirt.
Slowly, I pushed myself up onto my elbows and saw that my bare skin was covered in cuts and bruises. Hauling myself to my knees I crawled over to where Jackdaw lay, a good ten metres from where I landed. I checked his pulse, letting out a sigh of relief when it throbbed strongly underneath my fingers. Praying that he was totally unconscious, I shifted my attention to his injured wing. Blood streaked down it, the wound itself a crimson mess. Worse still, I could see the bullet lodged in the muscle tissue, making me want to gag. I couldn't take it out myself – I was covered in dirt and would only make things worse if the wound got infected.
Without even thinking about it my hand reached into my bra – the Triad's security outfits having zero pockets – and pulled out the device Nightwing gave me. I hated to admit it but I needed them. Who knows how long I had before the Triad caught up to me. With shaking hands I pressed and held the small blue button. Immediately, it started flashing, casting a bluish hue over my pale skin. With nothing left to do I sat beside the injured Jackdaw, bringing my knees towards my chest and waited.
It didn't take them too long to find me. An hour? Maybe less. Enough time for me to watch the sun wash away the seemingly impenetrable darkness of night in the barren wasteland. It's light streaked across the sky in bright orange and scarlet.
I had closed my eyes momentarily, the wariness of the night's events washing over me. I opened them when I felt the wind pick up along with the familiar hum of a jet's engine. I stood up stiffly, my joints complaining that I'd been in the same position for so long. I had taken a few hesitant steps towards the machine before the steps descended and the team filed out.
Nightwing was the first to reach me, gripping my forearms he tried to read my expression. I stared back in a dazed sort of way, maybe I was concussed again.
"Fraya," his voice was stern but I could hear the strain behind his clenched jaw. "You're covered in blood."
I glanced down at myself. The cuts on my wrists had allowed the blood to flood down as far as my elbow, looking strangely like a scarlet glove. There were also spatters over my left shoulder and even more down my back, more than likely from Jackdaw throwing his injured wing around me. I took a deep breath to try and ease my stomach.
"Most of it isn't mine," I said to try and ease his worried expression. It didn't appear to work so I hurried on. "Jackdaw was shot in our escape. He couldn't fly us very far – the bullet's still in his wing, I didn't want to touch it encase I made things worse."
I watched Cassie fly past us kneeling next to Jay and assessing what I'd just described. Conner followed her and between them they easily took his weight, each holding an arm over their shoulders and carrying him back towards the jet without disturbing his injury. I scanned for the other team members.
"Where's Kid Flash and Card Queen?" I asked, frowning.
"Card Queen is monitoring the comms unit. We weren't sure what could have been waiting for us when we got your call and she may have had to call for back up." I nodded, his words making sense. "And K.F. is getting everything sorted for the mission overseas."
The mission. In all the chaos I'd completely forgotten. As we boarded the jet I glanced at the digital clock amongst the controls.
"Damn…" I groaned. All eyes turned to me, thinking I was hurt. I shrugged off there worried stares. "I can't believe I'm late."
Cassie and Conner smiled, Nightwing muttered something under his breath, I swear I caught a curse word. He led me to the back of the jet and sat me down in one of the extra seats.
"Superboy?" He called behind him. Conner nodded and came towards me, his hand stretched out for me to take. I eyed it longingly.
"I can't," was what came out of my mouth. Cursing my stupidity at getting cut.
"What do you mean?" Conner asked.
I glanced down at my sliced wrist and did a quick internal check. "This isn't a concussion or a broken bone. I've lost too much blood and don't have the energy to absorb."
"I didn't realise blood loss could affect your powers," Cassie remarked from Jayckdaw's side. She had a set of pliers in her hand which I immediately looked away from.
"My blood is what allows another person's powers to replicate inside my body. It's like it creates blood cells mirroring that of your DNA." I sighed at their confused expressions. "Just trust me. I need the bleeding to stop up and given some time before I could hope to absorb."
"Alright," Conner said shrugging, he turned and went back to the ships controls. Nightwing brought me through a portal in the back of the jet and into what looked like a small medical room. I sat up on the doctor cot as he reached up towards another first aid kit. The room was so small I doubted Jackdaw's wing span would ever fit inside. The fact that we were alone in the space was a little disconcerting though. He started taking supplies out and gently placed my maimed hand on a trolley between us.
"Go on," I sighed, watching as he obviously avoided my gaze.
"Go on what?"
"I'll give you a free pass to say it."
"Say what?" He played the dumb card again but I saw his mouth quirk up at one side.
"The I told you so? The whole 'working as a team keeps us all safe' speech?"
"It seems you don't need me to say anything, you've already put the words in my mouth."
"Whatever," I said absently. He began dabbing the wounds with antiseptic but I couldn't summon the energy to complain as it stung like hell. "Sorry for holding up the mission." The apology was out of my mouth before I had even thought it through. His hands stilled on his work.
"Was it worth it?" Was all he asked and continued cleaning the wound.
"Yes." I launched into telling him everything we heard during the meeting. His eyes never left my wrist and he didn't butt-in even once. It was one of the things I enjoyed about his company. His steady silence was calming once you got used to it. "We made it a few hundred miles before crash landing," I finished the story. He finally looked up at me.
"Interesting… there's still a piece missing though."
"I know… what the hell is my part in of this?"
"Hopefully we'll find these answers in Ireland. Then we can turn our attention on these microchips." He began rifling through the first aid again.
"Yeah, humans controlling us. Not my idea of a good time." He pulled out a small packet, opening it a sterilised needle fell into his gloved hand. My stomach sank.
"What?" He asked. I had obviously paled.
"Can't you just… I dunno – wrap a tight bandage around me or something?"
He frowned. "The wound is too deep, I thought you said we needed to stop the bleeding before you can absorb Conner's healing abilities."
"I did… I just didn't realise it would involve…" I eyed the menacing equipment as he filled it with antiseptic. To my surprise, he chuckled.
"The great Fraya Fairburn, wanted by villain's and humans alike, ability to replicate any mutants abilities is afraid of needles?"
"Hey!" I blushed. "I'm not afraid of them! I'm just… not comfortable when they pierce my skin."
"Just focus on something else."
"Oh yeah like what?"
He stood up then, pushing my legs apart so he could get closer. I could only watch as he bent to close the distance between us. I figured he meant to brush his lips softly against mine, but at our contact the intention vanished. The force of his kiss pressed me up against the wall, my good arm snaked around his neck, gripping his hair to pull him closer. I only barely felt a sting on the inside of my elbow, the feeling disappeared too as his hands took a firmer and lower grip of my hips –
The sound of the portal handle opening had us spring apart. My gaze turned away from him and he went back to rummaging through the damn torture – I mean medical kit.
Cassie stepped in, not seeming to notice anything unusual. She grabbed an armful of bandages out of the drawer.
"What are those for?" I asked, trying to bring my breathing back to a normal rhythm. I felt a slight tug on the skin at my wrist and tried not to think about it – the pain wasn't there.
"I took the bullet out of Jackdaw's wing, he'll need a few stiches but I have to make sure he won't spread it and pull them out. It'll need to be strapped tightly to his back so he won't be tempted to stretch." The thought of Jay prancing about with only one wing was comical enough for me to snort out loud. "Are you ok?" She went on, obviously noticing something off about me.
My grin flat lined. "What do you mean?"
"You're quite… flushed. You coming down with a fever?"
"I… uh…" my brain seemed to short circuit. I couldn't come up with a decent lie to cover the fact that I'd been in the heat of a make-out session moments before.
"She's fine," Nightwing saved the day. Oh, the irony in that sentence. "Just admitted to me her fear of needles."
"Oh!" Cassie smirked, making me blush even more. With a shrug she left the room. Leaving me alone with him, again.
"There," with a snip of scissors I glanced down to see a neat rom of stiches. "All done."
"Thanks," I didn't really know which 'job' I was thanking him for, the treatment or the 'distraction'. I stood up from the cot and wobbled, lightheaded from being suddenly vertical. Nightwing steadied me, strong hands gripping waist. The gesture was so like what we'd been doing previously that I turned away. Awkwardly holding myself steady by placing both hands on the cot and staring out the small window of the jet.
"Do we…" Nightwing broke the heavy silence. "Need to uh… talk about this?"
Whatever I thought he was going to say, it wasn't this. Dumbstruck I could only answer: "Talk about what?"
The tiniest of pink blotches appeared on the Boy Wonder's cheek bones. Had I not lost so much blood I probably would have laughed.
"I dunno… this… thing between us?"
I studied him for a moment. "Do you want to talk about it?"
"I – " He let out a harsh breath, running his hand through his hair and looking quite frustrated. "I don't know. I'm not used to this."
"Used to… what girls?" Ok, I'll admit I was teasing him slightly. Maybe because Batman's ex-side-kick was rarely teasable. Maybe to cover the fact that I had no clue how to answer his question.
"No…" he really didn't appreciate the teasing. "My past experiences… I'd known the girls for years and even then it wasn't a big thing, just slowly growing from teammate to friend to… more."
"And that's different to us because…?" Man was I stalling.
"Because we're moving so fast I can barely think straight!" His exasperation flooding as fast as the words spilled from his mouth.
Slowly, as if any faster movements would scare him I stepped towards him, keeping my eyes directed downwards.
"I've never…" I started but decided to take a different approach. "I mean, I don't… date."
"You don't?" I could hear the confusion in his voice.
"Not… really." I could feel my face warming at the lack of clarity.
"But what about Jackdaw?"
I snorted, trying to imagine dating the winged bounty hunter. "Jay and I fooled around, passed the time on missions but I never ever said that we were together, like, my boyfriend." The last word actually made me cringe.
"Oh…" I peeked up at him. His expression seemed caught between relieved and confused.
"Yeah."
"So… why didn't you ever make it official?"
"I –" this conversation was something I'd never planned on having with anyone. The fact that I never dated was due to the fact that I always felt like I didn't deserve anyone else in my life other than Sadira. I had decided a long time ago to dedicate my life, live it for her and dating would never benefit her. I couldn't tell him this though, so I opted for a half truth, the more reasonable non-emotional reason for not having anyone in my life bar a friend with benefits. "It was never practical, with Sadira at home and going to school and then my job at nights." I shrugged off my evasive answer.
He nodded, seemingly to buy it. I thought I was in the clear until he swallowed audibly. "And, now that we all live under the same roof?"
I looked down again, trying to scramble for something – anything to say. Bide myself more time. Almost absently I lifted my hand to brush my fingertips against his. The small contact giving me tingles all the way up my arm. Boy was I in trouble.
"Can we just, I don't know, not think about it yet? Just take it day by day and go with the flow?"
His next silence felt like a weight was pulling my insides down into my toes. I tried to keep my breath regular. What the hell was wrong with me?
He took my raised hand, lacing our fingers before rubbing circles into my palm with his thumb.
"Sure," he gave me a quick smile. "That sounds –"
There was a crash, cutting him off and had me pull my hand from his. The whole conversation immediately forgotten I pulled open the portal of our private room and stepped into the main cock pit of the jet. Jackdaw was awake and looked panicked by the unknown surroundings. One black wing was extended, the other taped awkwardly to his shoulder blade. He had taken a fighting stance towards Cassie and Conner who were staring at him warily.
"Jay," I spoke slowly, feeling like I was approaching a spooked horse – more accurately, a Pegasus. "Take it easy."
After taking in my form he appeared to blink a few times and shook his head. "Fraya? What's going on?"
"We're in the Beta League's jet. After you collapsed I had to call them encase the Triad caught up to us."
I reached him then and gripped his arm, using the contact to direct him back to one of the seats. He went with it, seeming to have lost all the energy he had before. He raised a skinned hand to his head.
"I don't remember landing," he admitted, frustrated.
"You were pretty out of it."
"Did you patch up my wing?"
I shook my head. "That was all Wonder Girl, I was… preoccupied."
He opened his eyes and glanced at Cassie, giving her a curt nod when she met his gaze.
"Thanks," the word came out brusquely before those keen eyes landed on my wrist. "You're hurt."
"It's nothing," I shrugged nonchalantly. "Just the cut I got from the glass, I'll be fine once I get enough energy to absorb." He reached out to trail his finger along the new stitches, I pulled my arm back from him uncomfortably. Feeling my spine stiffening despite my best attempts at trying not to be awkward. Jay's gaze caught something or I guess someone standing behind me and I saw his eyes spark angrily. I sighed internally.
"Bet you're wishing we'd gone for that drink now Effie," he said, obviously trying to get a rise out of me. I opened my mouth to chew him out of it before Superboy's voice called from the nose wheel.
"We're back in Gotham!"
I glanced out through the front window, watching as we landed before the colourful forms Kid-Flash and Card Queen. Next to them were suitcases full of supplies I guessed for our trip.
It was quite amusing that the last few hours were the easier part of our mission.