The search party find themselves in the grotto with the holograms of Artemis, Jason Todd, Tula, and Ted Kord.
"Hello?! Chum?! Where are you?!" yelled Lagoon Boy who kept looking around.
Superboy immediately shushes everybody when he suddenly hears footsteps with his super hearing. "Someone's coming. Get ready," he whispered.
They all got ready to fight, but suddenly become overjoyed when they see Nightwing coming down the steps.
"Dude! You're here!" Wally exclaimed joyfully. He runs towards him and passes right through him. "What the-"
Robin tries to grab his brother's arm and yells out 'hello' at him, but his hand passes through him. Nightwing doesn't react to their presence.
They follow him as he briefly glances at Ted's memorial and stops in front of Tula's memorial. "I wish we didn't have to exploit your death like this but there's no another way," he says to her hologram.
He quickly makes his way towards Jason Todd's memorial and begins to speak as he stares up at it. The Team gets as close to him as possible.
"Hey, Jay. I know how you complain that I should get to the point already so I'll make this quick. This is goodbye because this will be the last time I'll see you before the Cave is destroyed. There are still photos of you at the manor and my apartment, but it won't feel the same."
He bites his lower lip as a single tear rolls down his cheek. "I can't save the souvenirs, but I put already copied the Hello, Megan! tapes onto blank ones and I'll put the originals in a safe place since you can't find them online."
Nightwing pinches his temples and sighed, upset about Lagoon Boy getting himself captured. "I'm so sorry for this. Plan B would've been to fake my own death and leave out Wally and Artemis."
He slowly swings his right hand through Jason's hologram. Despite spending only a few minutes inside their leader's mind, everyone could feel their guilt increase and were horrified at the last sentence. Beast Boy lets his tears roll down his cheeks because he couldn't believe that he actually tried save the VHS tapes before the Cave's destruction.
Artemis who remembers her internal monologue after Miss Martian fried Aqualad's brain. She couldn't believe that Nightwing would consider such an idea.
Nightwing makes his way towards Artemis' memorial to stare and said, "Be safe." The Team follows him up the stairs to the lounge but he then fades away.
"He's gone. Now what?" asked Bumblebee.
"Hmm...M'gaan, does your mind link work while inside a person's mind?" asked Batgirl.
"Yes it does," replied Miss Martian over the mind link.
"Good. Can you make psychic contact with Nightwing?"
"I'm trying but I can't feel anything. Uggh. It's not working. I guess we'll split up and search for clues."
"Wait, let me check the security cameras just as a precaution."
Batgirl uses her holographic computer to hack the security cameras. "Nothing except there's snow outside," she commented confusingly. As if by bad luck, a few robots armed with lasers pop out of the snow and blast their way into the Cave. Artemis and Miss Martian start to have a bad deja vu moment because the robots look familiar.
"Guys, come on! To the Zeta-Tubes!" ordered Robin. Everyone did as they were told and when they reached the Zeta-Tubes, the robots have arrived. Before the robots could fire their lasers, Blue Beetle destroys them all with his sonic blasts. Rocket then quickly creates a force bubble around herself and the others just in case reinforcements arrive while Robin immediately activates the machine.
"Attention. Only destination available is Gotham City," announced the Computer before the Zeta-Tube activates without Robin's input, sucking the entire rescue party away. They all shot out of the phone booth one by one.
"Hey. Did the other originals notice something familiar about those robots?" Artemis asks once everyone was accounted for. "They look like mini versions of the ones from that failsafe exercise we had 6 years ago. You know, the one where Miss Martian turned everything into a nightmare after she thought I died but I actually was in a coma?"
"Hello, Megan! I knew they looked familiar," exclaimed Miss Martian.
"Haven't heard that in a long time," commented Superboy who gave a weak smile. Miss Martian smiled back.
"Sshhh! We'll probably be facing more threats the longer we're here," said Aqualad. "Miss Martian, Can you set up the mind link again?"
"Mind link reestablished," said Miss Martian.
"All right. Let's find Nightwing first. And be alert. As long as we remember that everything is an illusion, we won't get hurt," said Aqualad as he lead everyone out of the alley. They're shocked to see that everything around them has faded colors and in ruins. All around them are floating orbs that are the size of snow globes. Each one is colored yellow, blue, red, green, or purple. Some have more than one color in them.
"Conner, use your telescopic vision. I'll levitate you," suggested Miss Martian. Superboy nodded and was quickly levitated upward. "See anything?"
"I see Gotham Academy. Maybe he's in there!" answered Superboy. Miss Martian lowers him down.
The Team runs for several blocks and stops in the front of a deteriorating Gotham Academy. As they slowly walk towards the front doors, Guardian asks, "So Nightwing went to this school? Looks like it's for rich kids." Artemis, Kid Flash, Batgirl, and Robin didn't appreciate the remark, thinking that he meant that in a negative way.
"Hey, he's not a spoiled brat," said Kid Flash with a glare.
Guardian holds his hands up in defense. "Sorry. Just an observation. Didn't mean to be rude."
"It's fine. The longer we're here, the more you'll know. Just stick together don't snoop around," said Zatanna. She, Batgirl, Robin, Rocket and the other original 5 were worried because even though they already knew about Nightwing's past, they were concerned about finding out about things that even they didn't know and weren't suppose to.
"And no spoilers," said Robin as he glared at Impulse and Beast Boy when everyone stopped in front of the doors. Impulse acted all innocent and looked away while Beast Boy replied, "Noted."
Robin and Batgirl open the doors and turn on their flashlights before leading the others through the hallway.
Miss Martian tries to make psychic contact again, but can't feel Nightwing's presence.
"Maybe he's in a different part of the school. Keep trying," suggested Rocket.
Miss Martian tries again and yells out, "Nightwing, if you're here, please show yourself. We're all here to help you."
"We don't want you gone, hermano. We're all here to apologize and help," added Blue Beetle but there's no response.
"Shouldn't we split up?" asked Rocket.
"No. It might make it easier for any threat inside his head to-" said Artemis before being interrupted by the sight of a broken display that had a shredded poster of a young Dick Grayson with his mathlete trophy. Then, Robin and Batgirl gasped when their flashlights show 'Artemis this, Artemis that' spray painted in red on the lockers.
"OK. Creepy," commented Bumblebee. "Why would he be upset with Artemis when she supported him?"
Suddenly, the water fountains exploded. The fountain water forms into a big saw blade that was sent spinning at the Team, but they dodged it.
"Well, well, well. Take a look at the menagerie," said a little boy.
The Team turns around to see 3 kids, each with a different colored aura: red, green, and blue. Their glowing yellow eyes are protected by a black helmet-like mask that has a simplified white owl face. Emblazoned on the backs and palms of the gloves is an 'X' that matches the color of their aura. This matches with the color coded accents on their black body suits. They have gray holographic computer gloves with golden sharp fingertips; gray utility belts with 2 thigh holsters; and retractable brown owl wings. Gray body armor covers the neck, collarbones, shoulders, thighs, knees, and black boots. They're wearing black collars around their necks. Their weapons include 2 swords and a sash of throwing knives.
"Some old faces. Some new faces. And last but not least, Wally Rudolph West the friend stealer. So nice to finally get to meet you in person," said the girl sarcastically. She has a red X on her costume.
"Wait. Who are you and how'd you know my name?" asked Wally.
"We know a lot about you because we live here. This is the mind of 'your best friend' and OUR creator! How DARE you invade here after what you did to Dick?!"
Beast Boy chuckled when Nightwing's real name is mentioned, which enrages the trio. The one with the blue X shoots fire from his hand at Beast Boy, but Aqualad used his water bearers to extinguish it just in time.
"Stop! We're not invaders. We're here to help," yelled Artemis who was prepared to shoot her arrows, but the trio didn't want to listen and yelled out "liars" at them. Miss Martian felt an unusual and evil energy controlling them.
"We've waited long enough. You took Dick away from us and now you're going to pay!" yelled the boy with the blue X. His hands are engulfed in fire.
"We're Dick Grayson's imaginary friends and you can't keep us forgotten anymore!" yelled the trio in unison.
Robin and Batgirl throw explosive shurikens at them to knock them out so the Team can escape. The trio chases after the Team through the halls. Zatanna creates a copy of the rescue team to mislead the trio. The real Team runs into the cafeteria where they're greeted by delicious smells. The trio are heard moving past the cafeteria doors, chasing down the fake team. Impulse and Beast Boy grin like crazy and smacked their lips as they drooled. Their eyes begin to twinkle.
"Beast Boy. Impulse. Control yourselves. Miss Martian, try making psychic con-" ordered Aqualad before he was interrupted by the sound of food monsters being formed. Several tables and chairs are levitated and thrown to block the exits. After Aqualad uses his magic to create big hard-water serpents from fire sprinklers to dissolve the monsters, birdarangs that were hidden all over the place suddenly activated and broadcasted Nightwing's old childish laughter. Rocket immediately creates a force bubble around herself and the others just in time.
The force of the fiery explosion sends the bubble to the outside in front of Gotham Academy. The school is destroyed, leaving behind color-coded orbs floating everywhere. Rocket releases her bubble and The Team gets back on their feet. Miss Martian was still thinking about the evil energy emitting from the trio.
"That was so not crash. I didn't even get a single taste," complained Impulse.
An enraged Wally suddenly slams his cousin against a tree and tries to strangle him. "How could you be thinking about food at a time like this?!"
"Wally, please stop! You're hurting me!" cried Impulse as he struggles to breathe. He was too terrified to vibrate his way out of his cousin's grip.
"Wally, stop it! What's gotten into you?!" demanded Artemis as she tries to pull her boyfriend away from Impulse. Blue Beetle rebukes his scarab's suggestion of attacking Wally.
Wally immediately lets go as if all of his rage instantly evaporated. He takes a few steps backwards and looks at his terrified cousin. He also looks at his shaking hands before falling to his knees.
"Bart, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to do that. It's just that... I wished Nightwing was dead. After the Cave blew up, I became furious about all the extreme risks he was taking. When he apologized for my souvenirs getting destroyed, I pushed him because I was actually worried about Artemis and that Kaldur might be a triple agent. The last thing I said to him that night was that he only has himself to blame if anything else goes wrong. What really kills me is that despite everything that happened, he still tried to save me."
Wally briefly wipes the snot running from his nose.
"That's him. That's Nightwing," said a sniffling Wally. "Always worrying about those around him. He wouldn't be like this if I hadn't treated him so badly, but he just took it all in. He never thought about himself. He never does!"
"Because he cared…" replied Impulse as he watches his cousin break down in tears.
"I'm his best pal! I'm suppose to look out for him!...That's what I'm suppose to do!" cried Kid Flash as tears rolled down his cheeks.
Everyone was silent while listening before Wonder Girl breaks the silence. "But there's one thing I still don't get. Why didn't Nightwing tell us about his plan?"
"Six years ago, Red Arrow found out that he was a Cadmus clone and unwitting mole for the Light who helped Savage mind-control the League. Nightwing feared that if you guys knew the secret, you would've made the Light suspicious by holding back," explained Aqualad.
A few seconds of contemplation passed before a female voice asks, "Do you really mean all of that, Wally?"
"Yes, I-Wait. Who said that?"
"I did," said the girl up in a tree. The two other boys are with her. The trio does a quadruple back-flip before landing on the ground and drawing their swords and knives. "And it's too late to be sorry."