Author's Note: Hello! I'm back with another chapter 3 a chapter which I'm most excited about hehe. Uh, I don't think I have nothing else to say other than enjoy the ride! And surprisingly, I didn't had trouble writing this one...

Shout Outs: Thanks to Kichona Cho for favoring and following the story. Thanks to Guest for reviewing the story. Thanks to IIeana Mackenize Collins for following and favoring the story.

Response:

Guest: Sorry. I don't really know Black Racer that well so I don't want to include a character whom I don't really know that great. Hope this makes sense.

Summary: Realizing that they will need help, Aqualad sets out to find an old friend.

Chapter 7: Reunion

"So that's what happened to us…?" Beast Boy wondered, rubbing his neck. "Gee…I'm sorry."

"Yeah…all of us are sorry. We meant no harm." M'gann replied with a sad look.

"Don't be. You weren't yourself, that was all." Batgirl responded, placing her hand on Martian's shoulder.

"But we could've destroyed this place—I could've destroyed this place." Superboy then gave a look at Tim who was being treated because of the arm. He kept on squirming, trying to reassure Tigress that he was fine and he didn't need to be treated.

"I could've killed him." Superboy muttered.

He was angry. Angry at himself for putting the team in danger. Angry for himself that he couldn't control himself.

Superboy sighed, making a deflated face as he stared at the floor with a cold stoned look. Footsteps came and Superboy lifted his head up to see Tigress with a soft smile.

"If you kick yourself one more time, I'll brutally murder you." Tigress spoke with a Cheshire grin.

Superboy smirked. "Empty threat." he taunted.

"Yeah, man. I mean, it's totally fine. I'm fine. It doesn't hurt." Tim replied, joining them.

"If you're sure…"

"Positive."

Thinking, Tigress gave an evil grin as a thought came into her mind and she "accidentally" punched Tim's injured arm.

"Arghhh! That hurts!" Tim exclaimed, feeling his eyes watering. "What did you do that for?!"

Tigress carelessly shrugged. "I didn't do anything, honest."

"Yeah, right." he scowled. "You purposely did that."

"Did not."

"Did too."

"Alright, ladies. ("I'm a guy!"Tim muttered, angrily) Can anyone tell me where Aqualad went?" Blue Beetle quizzed.

"The last time he was here, he had mentioned that we needed help. Needed reinforcements. So, he went to go get some backup." Cassie answered.

"And where exactly is that?" Blue Beetle wondered.

:(/\):

Bludhaven 12:30am

A swoosh sound came, indicating that something had landed on the ground. The eyes narrowed in the darkness before it walked out of the shadows. It revealed to be Aqualad who examined his surroundings.

If this is the place, I better find him. This place stinks. he thought as he continued to walk further.

As he did, another swooshing sound came which alerted him at the last minute. He quickly turned to the side to avoid the surprise attack. The attack turned out to be a weapon which struck a wall that was beside Aqualad.

Eyes narrowed, Aqualad stared at the dark area where the attack had came from. He stared at it for a few minutes before he took another step. However, it wasn't even a step since Aqualad was forced to stop again and the minute he turned, he automatically took out his weapons to block what it looked like a silver staff that came from the shadows.

A loud clunk was heard and the jumper jumped backwards. The two clashed back and forth, each of them blocking the attacks. And then, when there was a chance to weaken the shadow, Aqualad took it by performing a sideway twirl which made a kick in the stomach.

The attacker flew backwards and not too shortly, Aqualad threw his weapon like a javelin. The weapon raced through the air but instead of hitting the attacker, the sword struck the wall…which was an inch of actually hitting the enemy.

"I thought I would find you here." Aqualad replied, walking towards the fallen person.

The figure gave a crooked grin and he took Aqualad's hand to get up.

"Kald'hur." he acknowledged.

Aqualad gave a small smile. "Nightwing."

The shadow that was once on the person gave out and it indeed revealed to be Nightwing.

"You could've struck me, you know. You had that chance." Nightwing pointed it out as he yanked the sword out of the wall and gave it to his old friend.

"I know but I didn't."

Nightwing shook his head. "You shouldn't be so forgiving."

He shrugged. "I guess it's just a trait of mine."

An awkward silence fell between the two.

"What are you doing here?" Nightwing asked, eyes slightly narrowed. He was curious.

Sensing that he was curious, the Atlantean got to the point. "We need you."

Nightwing stood silent, not answering instantly. He placed his staff away and walked out.

"You know I can't do that." he muttered quietly.

The Atlantean breathed in, knowing exactly that he would say that. "Nightwing, please. As we speak, we're fighting off an evil that we know we can't defeat."

"Every evil has a weakness."

"Yes. But in order to defeat this threat, we need as much help as possible. We need reinforcements. And I promise you…after this battle, I won't bother you anymore. You can go your own way like before but just please…just this once and it will be no more."

Nightwing breathed out a sigh. He has to admit…Aqualad can be pretty convincing. And he was struggling. Struggling of whether to accept it or not. But in some way…he owns it tothem. He owns them to help the team…especially after…he died. He still blames himself for his death—he used them and he used him.

He especially owns it to Artemis.

Sensing that he was at a war at himself, Aqualad spoke quietly. "You don't have to put all the guilt to on yourself, y'know. I agreed to it and therefore, I should also be sharing the guilt."

"Yea but it was my plan…"

Aqualad stared at the back of his old friend. "You know…in order to move on…you have to accept it. You have to accept it and move on. Only then you can truly be at peace with yourself. And if you're afraid if the team will accept you or not, think again. They miss you. Batgirl, Cassie, Blue Beetle, Beast Boy…everyone misses you. Tim misses you the most. You were like a brother to him." he paused. "And I'm actually not supposed to tell you this but even Bruce himself misses you. He doesn't want to admit it but I know he does."

Nightwing scoffed. "The old Bat? Isn't that a surprise?" he muttered.

"I know he's a cold hard-headed person but he really does misses you. I'm not only here to bring you back to the team but to also reform the bond that was broken."

Nightwing bit his lip, giving out a sigh as he ran his hand through his hair. It honestly sounds so tempting. And in truth, he does miss them too.

Taking another breath in, he turned around to see Aqualad's unreadable expression but he knew what it meant. The Atlantean is hoping to have him back and it looks like it worked.

"What have I missed?"

Aqualad smiled, graciously accepting that his old friend was coming back. Nightwing gave a small shake of his head.

Aqualad really is a good persuasive person.

That bastard.

:(/\):

After that had been happening, he honestly had forgotten about that signal…

The signal where Aqualad told all of them.

Whatever happened to it, the team most likely had forgotten about it as well but even so, it still raised suspicions and questions.

And even more so was the absence of Aqualad. He knew where he went but he wanted to know where and what he was doing.

Tim sighed. He didn't know if it was just him or if the team was getting more confusing.

Or maybe he was overthinking a lot.

As he turned a corner, Robin was unaware that there was a figure that was waiting at the corner and when he turned, the person took this chance to attack by zapping Tim which made him give an exclaim of shout before he passed out.

Nightwing looked left and right before he dragged the out-cold member in the nearby room.

And down at the hallway, in another corner, Batman narrowed his eyes as he watched the scene. He made a thought before he vanished.

Nightwing?

:(/\):

Tim groaned as he felt his consciousness coming back to him. At first, his vision was blurry but it eventually got cleared.

"What?" he muttered, trying to gain himself back.

"You know, you really suck at coming back. It literally takes you ten minutes just to wake up."

Tim scowled at the new voice. "Yeah well, you try waking up from a painful shock."

The person gave a crooked smile. "I've been there and I can personally say that I wake up a lot faster than you do, sleeping beauty."

Tim twitched his eyebrow and he pushed himself quickly to give a yell at the person but he stopped himself, eyes wide as he saw the figure.

"Nightwing!" he cried out, jumping off the bed to give him a hug.

Nightwing laughed, returning the hug. "Hey there, little bro."

"What are you doing here? I thought—"

"I know. But a persuasive little bastard named Aqualad decided to bring me back." Nightwing answered.

Tim widened his eyes. "He did?" he paused. "Oh, that's where he went." he mumbled.

Silence.

"So, uh, I hear you guys have been having a hard time?"

"Yeah. This Darkseid is getting difficult."

The former Robin nodded.

"Do the others know that you're back?"

He shook his head. "Only you and Aqualad know. I kinda want to be kept quiet for the time being so sorry for zapping you." he said, sheepishly.

"It's cool."

"But um in order for me to help, you have to fill me in. Aqualad only told me bits and pieces."

Tim nodded. "Well, according to Tigress—they were the ones who were set out to find Darkseid's weakness—Radon is the only thing that could defeat Darkseid but so far, we haven't been able to locate it. And…"

"And?"

"Back in the beginning…when my team went to set out to find more about Lex's new drink…there was a troubling information…" he struggled to say.

"What? What is it?"

"When we were in trouble, I've sent out a signal to warn them but when we came back here…Aqualad told us that there was another signal…a signal that didn't belonged to us. I may be wrong…very wrong. Nothing is confirmed yet but…" he took a breath. "Nightwing, I think Wally is still alive. I think that signal belonged to Wally."

Nightwing widened his eyes.

"Are you serious?" he cried out, shocked as he jumped out of his seat.

"Like I said, nothing is confirmed. We haven't checked it out yet with all of what has been happening—"

"Haven't checked it out yet? Are you out of your mind? Why didn't you checked it out on your free time? What were you thinking? Have you have any idea on how happy Artemis will be?"

"I don't know if it's true! I don't know if Wally is still alive. Hell, I don't even know if it belonged to him. Aqualad merely stated that there was a signal and that's it. He didn't even say who it belonged too."

Nightwing let out a sigh, going back to his seat. "Man…" he slumped forward, his head on his hand. "Oh man…" he the lifted his head up to stare at Robin. "And you said you don't know the location of Radon, correct?"

Tim nodded.

Nightwing paused. "Well…that could be arranged." seeing the look on his face, he continued. "I know a person who could tell us…I know where he is right now."

"Really? Who?"

Nightwing awkwardly shifted in his position. "Uh, you're gonna hate me but he goes by the name of Inertia."

"Inertia?" Tim exclaimed, jumping out of his seat. He refused, shaking his head. "No. Absolutely no way are we going to him! Nu-uh, I refuse."

"He's the only one who knows what's going on with the speed force. He could literally alter it."

"Isn't there any other way? What about Barry? Bart?"

"Bart still struggles with the speed force. Barry is retiring so I don't want to bring him in. It's him or nothing at all and I will go alone on this mission."

Tim stared at his brother with wide eyes as he was trying to decide what to do.

"I'm not trying to pressure you but—"

"Fine."

Nightwing blinked, being a bit startled from the answer. "What?"

"I'll go with you just so you won't be killed but you will do the talking. There's no way I'm going to talk to the sociopath."

Grayson smiled. "Thanks Tim." he ruffled his hair which made him frown as he tried to bring it back how it was.

"Now…I think I owe a team a visit." he said, having Tim smiling as he knew what he meant.

Just as Nightwing turned around he suddenly bumped into something and he almost lost his balance. However, he quickly regained it. He then looked up and saw that it was Batman who had unreadable expression.

There was a long silence until Dick broke it.

"Uh…hey, Bruce?"

If he had heard about the plan, he didn't acknowledge it. Bruce stared down at the former Robin with an intense gaze which made Dick be awkward.

"Um…rumors say that you had been missing me…I mean, it's okay to drop your cold stone act—I've disabled the cameras and all…and—"

Without a warning, Nightwing was quickly brought into the arms of Batman who hugged him. Dick widened his eyes as he didn't expected this.

He didn't expected this at all. In return, Dick hugged him back.

"Welcome back, son." Batman replied, bringing him closer.

:(/\):

"There have been recent activities in Bialya." Aqualad stated, showing the images of the country. "I want team Beta and Alpha to do some digging in Al-Qawiya. I want team Gamma to stay here in case of backup. Also, this guy was a former guard of the previous evil...he may know things about Darkseid so I want you to interrogate him as well."

"That sounds quite a lot. Do you need hand with that?" a voice asked.

This gained the attention of the group and everyone widened their eyes.

"Nightwing!" Batgirl cried out.

Nightwing smiled. "Hey guys, long time no see."

Author's Note: Yay! Nightwing is back! I hope this chapter made sense—it was basically having Nightwing going back to the team and Tim filling Dick what had been happening…and having Dick going to Inertia so that the evil speedster can tell them where to find Radon and how to bring Wally back...so yeah. Toodles!