Author's Note: Well, hello there! I can officially say that I'm done with college. I just need to do practicum which is in May—I think I have already mentioned this…-and I'll be graduating in October and that's that. Ugh, it's too depressing T_T but since I'm free I can update regularly ^^ so, let's get going!
Shout Outs: Thanks to RealityXIllusion for following and favoring the story.
Summary: Wanting to know more about the mysterious signal, Nightwing and Aqualad works together before confirming the real truth to the team. On the off-side, Nightwing and Tim sets out to find Inertia's location. Team Alpha and Beta goes to Bialya.
Chapter 8: Discovery
"Nightwing!" Batgirl cried out. She jumped on him, giving him a hug.
"Aww, you missed me that much?" Nightwing gave a crooked grin.
Batgirl scowled. "Well after you left us for literally a month, you didn't even think of calling us? Or to check up on us? No! You just left! No calls, no nothing! You're just as bad as Batman!"
"You had to ask, didn't you?" Blue Beetle pointed it out.
Nightwing rubbed at the back of his neck. "Guess I deserved a little of that…" he said, giving a sheepish grin. He paused. "So, uh exactly what is happening in Bialya?"
"Honestly, I could care less about that Bee." Bumblebee muttered. "She's annoying."
"Well, what else is new?" Dick grinned.
Cassie rolled her eyes. "But what she means is that Aqualad believes there's a secret organization that lies within the country. He wants us to find out what that organization is, find what the goal is and put a stop to it. He also found a guard that had once worked with a previous evil and he wants us to interrogate him since he may know more about Darkseid."
Nightwing smirked. "Of course. Aqualad always bombards the group with multiple missions at once." he laughed.
:(/\):
WatchTower 1:00am
Clicking sounds were heard followed after a frustrated sigh. Aqualad stared at the screen that contained pictures. Pictures about the Speed Force and the Flashes that were trying to destroy it.
A door swiped open but if Aqualad heard it, he didn't say anything about it.
"Aqualad? What are you still doing up? It's late. You should try to get some rest." Nightwing replied.
Aqualad gave a quiet scoff. "I wish I can sleep but I'm figuring this thing out. It's confusing and just plain frustrating."
Dick looked up at the screen to see pictures that were being taken apart. He also noticed how it was only focused on the Speed Force and the Flashes. A sharp pain went to his heart when his eyes landed on Wally who gave a silly grin as though nothing was happening. It pained him to see Artemis who was isolated.
"What are you doing?"
"Studying about the Speed Force and I'm also trying to locate where the signal but it feels like it has been blocked by something. I can still get the signal back but I just don't know how we're going to be able to pull all of this." he sighed. "Even if Wally is still alive, things are going to be more complicated."
Nightwing looked deep in thought. "Are you sure that was Wally's signal? I mean, wherever it came from, it can be anything."
"Nothing is confirmed yet but I do believe that it could be Wally."
Dick shook his head; a frown went on his face, letting out a sigh and running his hair through his fingers. "Is there anything else?"
Aqualad stared deeply into the mask of Nightwing and Dick could automatically tell that h was troubled with something.
"Yes. I took some time to study about the Flashes and how they use the Speed Force. To back up my theory on how it could be Wally, all Flashes have to run at top speed in order to destroy the vortex which is near light speed, as I'm sure you know this by now. But because Wally was slow—slower than the rest of the Flashes, Wally was transforming himself into energy which gives off light." he replied, showing the examined pictures. "Once his body was fully charged, the light then proceeded to accelerate again to the point beyond light speed. And theoretically, if one travels faster than the light, they time travel."
Nightwing widened his eyes as he knew where Aqualad's theory was going to end.
"Therefore, Wally is alive. Nightwing, it is quite possible that he had been sent forward to a different time." he concluded and Dick widened his shocked eyes even more.
:(/\):
BIALYA, CONFERENCE AREA
In a large room, in the middle of it was a huge silver table with ten people. Just by looking at them, the people can easily recognize them as the "highest" people. But the most important of all, was the one who was sitting at the very end of the table. She had dark skin with dark blue eyes and her eyes were narrowed with a serious look to match her current expression. She also had a crown, indicating that she was the Queen.
"We are gathered here today to discuss of the plan that had been going on. General, what is the report on your section?" the Queen asked.
A dark-skinned man with armor made an unreadable expression. "The plan is set and ready to be set out with your permission. My crew is ready for the next phase."
The Queen nodded. "Good. With my permission, you may set out."
At the door entrance, a guard made a steady face as he looked at the table; he didn't think that this plan was going to go good. It was too risky.
One of the people who were sitting at the table gave an eye to the side as she stared at the guard who seemed to be staring at her. The two of them gave them small nods before they diverted their attentions.
Are the others set into place? the guard asked through telepathy.
Yea. They're just waiting on M'gann's order.
Good. Tigress replied, nodding. And now we just sit back and let the course goes.
:(/\):
A whistling came followed by the twirl of the keys. The man with sharp eyes that were narrowed and a frown was upon his face walked down the dimly light hallway. He seemed to be coming back from his night patrol.
As the henchman took a step, a chilly breeze ran down his spine and he stopped, making a sharp turn around to see where it came from. When he noticed that it was nothing, he shrugged and continued to walk.
That was until another swooshing sound came and he stopped; this time having his eyes wide.
"Alright, who's there?!" he exclaimed with rough voice.
He scanned the area but the minute he turned around, he widened his eyes even more when he came face to face with something that was in the shadows. And then, he let out a scream as the man was dragged into the darkness.
:(/\):
A groan came followed by the flickering eyes. At first, the vision was blurry but it gradually became clear. The guard tried to move but he found out that he was tied and couldn't.
"What?! What happened? Where am I?" the henchman exclaimed, eyes wide with shock.
Because it was dark, a voice came and he couldn't see who it was.
"We are going to do this the hard way or the easy way." the voice replied and out of the shadows, green glowing eyes were seen.
:(/\):
UNDISCLOSED LOCATION
Robin landed on his feet as he narrowed his eyes. He then got up and took small steps.
"Nightwing?" he whispered. "You here?"
He continued to walk forward; maybe he could find him up ahead. Tim furrowed his eyebrows, muttering as he gave up on walking since he couldn't find him. He, himself, told him that they were supposed to meet here. Funnily enough, Nightwing wasn't here.
Nowhere in sight.
Isn't that lovely? Tim muttered in thought as he leaned against the walls.
He lifted his arm that contained the small computer; maybe he could contact him? As he was about to press a button, he felt a chilly breeze making him be on guard as he took out his staff. He narrowed his eyes and stared up ahead.
Curious, Tim started to walk forward but the minute he did, he turned around as though he felt a feeling. As he turned around, he used his staff to block the attack that came from the moving shadow that had jumped from above.
A strong blow between the two staff was emitted and the shadow leaped backwards. The silhouette jumped forward but Tim took this chance to strike him in the chest with his foot and then he performed a side sweep so that the intruder fell to the ground.
Without losing a second, Tim walked towards the fallen person and placed his staff on his chest.
"Heh, so much for the element of surprise." the voice responded, laughing sheepishly.
Tim lifted one of his eyebrows before he recognized that voice. "Nightwing?" he asked, incredulously.
The shadow fell off from the fallen person and it revealed Nightwing who gave a crooked grin. "Surprise."
Tim made a flat face, pulling his staff away. "You're an idiot, you know that?"
"Hey!" he cried out. "Is that any way to treat your partner in crime?" he whined.
Tim lifted one of his eyebrows. "Was using the sneak attack relevant?"
Nightwing crooked a grin. "Sure it was."
"Yea, you wish."
Smirking, Dick pulled Tim backwards and gave ruffled his hair. "You can be a prat sometimes, you know that?" he laughed as he was ruffling Tim's hair.
Tim struggled to get loose. "Argh, then what about you, Dick?" he smirked.
Grayson sneered. "Very funny."
Once they settled down, the two walked forward until they reached a pit that looked like it platforms that could be walked on.
"Well, that's the place alright. Inertia is locked away in a deep cold prison for the rest of his life." Nightwing announced.
"Yea until two idiots decided to come along and talk to him." Tim mumbled.
"Drama Queen." Nightwing peered down. "Well, might as well start scaling down. The faster we do this, the faster we get out of this creepy place."
"Aw, you're not scared are you?" Tim teased. Dick narrowed his eyes.
"Yeah well I wonder what happens if I push you off the edge and say it was an accident."
"Well, you're no fun." Robin pouted. "But…" he peered down. "Why go scaling when you can free dive?"
"Wait…what?"
Without a warning, Tim walked backwards a bit before he jumped off the edge which gave Nightwing a heart attack.
"Robin!" he screamed. "In case you have forgotten, you and I can't fly!" he exclaimed. "Robin! Oh for—"not too shortly, Nightwing followed after Robin and he eventually caught up.
"You are so dead."
"Oh live up. You only live once." Tim smiled, crookedly before he flew down even faster. "Race you at the bottom."
The two continued to fall until when they saw the bottom, Nightwing narrowed his eyes and he took out his staff to throw it at the ground when the time came. Instead of leaving it at the floor, the staff was extended upwards and he flew towards it, grabbing the tip and he allowed himself to slide down.
Meanwhile, Tim took out his grappling hook and he shot at the side of the wall. The device yanked him sideways. He planted his feet to the wall, sliding down as he still grabbed onto the hook.
"And the winner is…me, of course." Nightwing boasted as he landed on the ground. He gave a kick to his staff, twirling it around and then placed it back in its proper spot.
Not too soon, Tim came and took out his grappling hook. He rolled his eyes at his adopted brother before he started to walk forward.
"Whatever. Let's just find this…person."
"Why, you're staring right at him." an emotionless voice from the shadows came.
Eyes narrowed, Tim walked forward cautiously and then the shadow fell from the person which made Tim gasp with shock as he stumbled backwards.
Nightwing easily caught him before he could hit the floor.
"Well, well, isn't this a surprise?" the prisoner spoke as he gave a nasty grin followed by a laugh.
Nightwing widened his eyes as he saw the state of Inertia. "Woah…"
"Surprised to see me?"
"Er, not really." Tim answered, pulling himself up.
Inertia had a mad gleam in his cold lifeless eyes and was really distorted. But the face…the face resembled much like's Bart which was a bit disturbing.
"Now, tell me…what does two young heroes such as yourself have business down here? And mostly important, visiting me?"
Nightwing walked forward. "One of our friends, Kid Flash, died when he was saving the world but we believe that he's still alive."
"And you came here wondering if I know how to save him. Aw, how touching." Inertia said but his tone was devoid from any emotions. "Funny enough…I don't see why I should tell you. After all, your kind are the ones who put me into this forsaken place in the first place!" he raged.
"You had to be stopped. They did the right thing." Tim replied.
"Aw, the little birdie named Robin. Tell me, how's the big Bat?"
Tim narrowed his eyes but before he could do anything, Nightwing stepped in front of him, pushing him backwards a little.
"Knowing you, you want a deal, correct?" Nightwing asked.
His empty eyes lit up. "Ah, you know me well. Naturally, in order for me to tell you where's Kid Flash, I need something in return. I can't go away and give valuable information for nothing, you know."
"Wait so…Wally's…alive?" Robin asked with an incredulous look on his face.
"Perhaps…perhaps not…"
"What's your deal, Inertia?"
"Freedom. Freedom from this forsaken place and also, I want a sacrificed life. A life for the information."
"No." Tim stubbornly refused. "Forget it. We will find someone else—"
"Fine. You can take my life and I can give you freedom."
"What? Nightwing!" Tim cried out. "No!"
Inertia grinned, madly. "Done!" he exclaimed.
"Now the information."
"Yes, yes. Kid Flash is alive. One does not simply die from being hit from the light beams that came from the speed force. While Wally was the slowest speedster out of all speedsters, while he started to disappear, he was being transformed into energy. And with that energy, he gave off light. As his body was fully charged, the light accelerated again to the point beyond light speed. And what does one do when they travel faster than the speed of light?" Inertia gave an insane smile as he said the answer. "They time travel."
Robin widened his eyes in shock while Nightwing, who already knew this from beforehand, started to connect the dots.
"So, that being said, Wally could be in another time." Inertia answered.
"So…what…oh, man." Tim breathed out as he was grasping this new piece of information. He then remembered the conversation with Nightwing before he agreed to visit Inertia.
"But…you have the ability to alter the speed force, right?" Robin asked.
"Correct."
"Couldn't you just pull him back?"
"It's not that simple. It takes a lot of speed and time and we all know that, time isn't our friend. Even sometimes for the speedsters." he gave an impish laugh. "And now I'm assuming that's all, right? You know what happened to Wally and now you can go ahead and save him."
"But we don't know where he is. Even if he is in another place at another time, we would still have trouble locating him." Tim said.
"Well, that's not my problem, is it?"
"There is one last thing." Nightwing responded.
"Oh? And what's that? You want your mumsy and daddy back? Oh that's right. They're dead." Inertia grinned widely.
Nightwing made an unreadable expression as he ignored him. He went forward and stared Inertia with a cold hard stare. "Radon. Where is Radon?"
:(/\):
"Now talk." the green alien commanded.
The henchman scoffed. "Why should I? You're nothing but a lousy pest. Always pestering into other people's business when you don't need to." he muttered.
"Tough luck."
"Who do you work for? What plan was Queen Bee talking about? Who is Nitro?" M'gann interrogated.
"He's playing a fool. He obviously won't talk that way because he's loyal to the Queen." another voice said.
The two people that were in front of the man turned around.
"Now, let's make these a bit more interesting, shall we?" the voice, having an electrified weapon in her hand. She was about to make the weapon go to his chest but the henchman exclaimed, stopping her.
"Alright! I will talk!" he shouted.
"Good. Now then, who's Nitro?"
"Nitro is a secret organization that's tied with Darkseid." the previous henchman answered. "Nitro is what is being used to keep from prying predators—such as yourselves—hidden. Within the Nitro, a plan is being processed."
"But what is it?"
Before the man could even speak, something was shot in the air, zipping past by them and then it was shot into the man's chest, cutting him. Superboy, who was in the shadows, widened his eyes and he turned around to see many guards.
"Oh no."
:(/\):
"Radon? What is this Radon which you speak of?" Inertia grinned nastily.
Eyes narrowed angrily, Nightwing demanded. "Don't play stupid with us. You know what it is and the location of it."
"Well, I see that you're in a demanding mood, today." he muttered. "Radon is a toxic substance and it is capable of defeating Darkseid. But if one is looking for that substance and forged it with something else, well then…" he chuckled darkly. "They will have all the power they need. But you need someone who is capable of handling it as it requires killing the baddy."
Tim sighed, annoyed. "Yeah, we already know this." he paused. "It feels like you're stalling for something."
"Who? Lil ol me? Hehehe." Inertia giggled, impishly. "Now, that's a funny thought. A funny thought, indeed. How can I do something in the state of this?"
Growling low, Nightwing took out his staff and then he made a blow at Inertia who grunted from the pain.
"Ooohh, the previous Wonder Boy is playing a little rough." he grinned.
Nightwing grabbed at the scruff of his suit, bringing him forward. "Tell me."
Inertia glared at the previous Robin. An intense atmosphere was settling in and Tim felt a little uneasy about it but shrugged it off, nonetheless.
"Hmph. You're no fun. You're as grumpy as a Bat. Literally." he sneered. "Radon is covered deeply at an isolated planet called Kadroth. It is in the heart of the base. If you can manage to steal some, well then, my friend, I say that you are well prepared."
Nightwing walked backwards. "Fine. We have the information we need." he then offered himself up. "Now, you can take my life."
"Ahahaha. Not yet, my friend. The time for you to sacrifice will be soon upon us. Till then, enjoy life…while you can." he chuckled evilly.
As the two walked away from the person, the shadow fell once again on Inertia and within the shadows, the only thing that was visible was his glowing eyes of madness.
:(/\):
Bumblebee avoided the blast that came out from the weapons. She leaped forward and took a group of the men out with her weapons.
The man collided with the wall, hard and was knocked out cold.
"Come on! We have to go!" Superboy exclaimed. The group ran, occasionally turning around corners here and there until finally they were out of the building.
"This way!" M'gann shouted, turning at a sharp corner. They all hid there when the group of guards came out of the entrance and ran forward.
"Wait…where's Kid Flash and Beast Boy?" Superboy asked once the guards were gone.
M'gann gave a look and saw that the two boys weren't there. To their curiosity, they heard a loud sound that sounded people were shouting something so they walked towards a cliff and peeked out.
There were hundreds of people and in front of the crowd was a stage that had two machines. M'gann saw the familiar people who were brought down to their knees and she widened her eyes.
"Oh no."
And from the crowd below, they could hear Queen Bee's order.
"For intruding our place, we are giving the death sentence." Queen Bee looked up to the two men that were behind the two.
"Execute them."
"NO!" M'gann screamed but as the executioners brought down the axes, four arrows were shot from nowhere and they were pinned at the tips of the men's' suit, dragging them backwards so that they were restrained at the wall.
"What? NO!" Queen Bee raged. She sharply turned to face the crowd. "Who dares?!"
"I dare." a voice replied from the crowd. The crowd gasped as they were split into rows at the side only to reveal Tigress who had her bow and arrow ready. "And I order you to let them go."
Tigress, good work.
It's not over yet, M'gann.
"Surrender yourself." one of the men that got zapped said. The two armored people took out their helmets only to reveal Bumblebee and Superboy.
"What?" Bee raged.
"You're outnumbered." Superboy replied, joining the group.
Frustrated, Bee screamed. "Guards! Capture these fools! Kill them if you must! I want them gone!"
More guards came and Superboy looked to his right to see the two machines.
"When I say go, we go. Go now!" he exclaimed, ripping the machines right out of their spot and he threw both of them; one after another and the guards barely avoided the throw.
The group then ran, going to their destination; occasionally, Tigress and Bumblebee shot their attacks to reduce the guards but more of them came. Thinking, Tigress pulled her one of her special arrows.
"Bumblebee, when I shoot, you attack." Tigress shouted.
Tigress readied her arrow and when the time came, she released it. Not too soon, Bumblebee shot her electrified powers that struck the arrow. The arrow let out the smoke that was combined with the electricity and all they heard were the screams from the guards.
Using this chance, the two ran out of sight.
:(/\):
"B23-Kid Flash." a computerized voice announced.
"B17-Bumblebee."
"B04-Superboy."
"B05-Miss Martian."
"B07-Tigress."
The computerized voice went on until all of the members had arrived. Aqualad turned his attention towards the entrance and gave a small smile at the group. The rest of the group such as Gamma and Nightwing were already there.
"Glad you could join us." Aqualad said.
"I say our plan was a success!" Beast Boy cheered.
"Well almost. We found out what the organization was called which is Nitro but we don't know the plan still. The henchman died before we could found out." M'gann said.
"So I see." Aqualad said. "We also found something too which was why you arrived at a perfect timing."
"What is it?" Kid Flash asked.
They all saw the serious look on Nightwing's and Aqualad's faces. "We found something that was a bit disturbing but a relief. As you know," Aqualad showed the Arctic…the very place where Wally died.
Tigress turned away from the screen; the pain was still there.
"We all saw Wally die that day. He died saving the world but…ever since we discovered about that second signal, Nightwing and I decided to do some digging. At first, both of us assumed who the signal belonged to but we weren't sure. We wanted to find out more…"
"And what's that?" Beast Boy quizzed.
Aqualad locked eyes to the group. "That second signal…that signal…it belonged to Wally."
Tigress widened her eyes as she continued to hear the rest.
"Wally is still alive."
Tigress covered her mouth with both of her hands as she gasped.
Author's Note: Oh my… I finally finished this. Hallelujah. My hands are ready to pass out because they're so sore and I've literally had troubled with this one especially with Queen Bee's part; I can't tell how many times I had to change that part because I didn't like it so I hope you still understood what was going on with Queen Bee's part. But Nightwing made a very bad deal with Inertia…very bad…more will come on that later :D gehehehe. Also, this chapter was originally called Secrets but the only thing that was secret was with Nightwing and Tim visiting Inertia but because there was discoveries all at once, I decided to change the name to Discovery as it fits more. Toodles!