Beast Boy crouched on the roof top, facing off against the mystery attacker. For a long moment, they both just stayed there like that, their bodies tensed. In the distance a police siren could be heard. It drove by, unaware of what was happening on the roof. In that moment, it was only the two of them there, no one else. Beast Boy shifted slightly, and the opponent lunged at him. He was surprisingly quick. Beast Boy had guessed from the attacker's build and physique that it was probably a man. Even though he was completely covered, the attacker definitely appeared to have noticeable biceps and a broad, masculine upper torso. Not that Beast Boy was an expert in such things.
Beast Boy was caught off guard by the quick attack, and got the brunt of it. The man's shoulder rammed into Beast Boy's face, Beast Boy barely having time to turn his head just enough to avoid a broken nose. Beast Boy was knocked back. He rolled along the ground, but then turned into a fly. The knife came down at the spot Beast Boy would have fallen if he hadn't changed. Beast Boy flew a few feet, and the masked man tried to grab him. Beast Boy then changed, in midair, into a tiger and fell towards the man. The masked man rolled backwards as Beast Boy landed, but he still managed to slash the man's leg. Or at least, he thought he did. He didn't see any blood. Maybe the cut was too shallow, or maybe the man was wearing armor under his clothes.
The man still held onto the knife as he recovered, so Beast Boy was reluctant to simply lunge at him. Beast Boy was a tiger now, but it was still a big knife. Beast Boy started slowly pacing, and snarled. The man got to his feet. Beast Boy tensed. The man suddenly jumped backwards in a big leap, and then did it a second time, putting great distance between himself and Beast Boy. He was near the edge of the roof. He threw something on the rooftop. A smoke bomb. Beast Boy waited to see what would happen next. The smoke started to dissipate, and the man was gone. Beast Boy changed back to his regular self. He looked around and didn't see the man. Had he retreated? Beast Boy pulled out his communicator.
"Hey, Rob… I mean Nightwing. I'm up on the roof, and just got attacked by some-"
Before Beast Boy could finish, he felt something sharp hit his arm, causing him to drop the communicator. Beast Boy winced, and saw that it was a knife. Fortunately, not the big one the man had before, but a smaller one. Beast Boy reached to pull it out, but out of the corner of his eye saw the man running at him.
Raven walked towards the office door, heading over to where Nightwing was. She had the pictures and the information. Hopefully Nightwing found something useful as well. As she stepped through the door, she heard a loud sound come from another room. It sounded like something hitting metal. Raven started quickly walking towards the sound. She wanted to help Nightwing if he was in trouble, but resisted the urge to run lest she run blindly into an ambush.
Raven sensed that there was someone else in this place. She quietly said her incantation as she walked, so that she could quickly use a spell if she needed to. She turned a corner, and headed towards the room ahead. As she got closer, she saw someone. It took a moment for Raven to recognize who it was. Bumblebee? She thought. Bumblebee didn't seem to notice Raven yet. She was looking at something. As Raven entered the room, she saw Nightwing several feet away, in a fighting stance. Bumblebee had her weapons out. Nightwing started to say something, but Bumblebee fired her weapons at him. The blasts ended up hitting a black wall that Raven had summoned. Raven had anticipated an attack, and was already prepared to follow up with an attack of her own. It was only now that Bumblebee noticed Raven. Bumblebee stood there for a second with a surprised look on her face.
"Raven?" Bumblebee said.
"Bumblebee." Raven said curtly. "You okay, Nightwing?" she asked this without taking her eyes off Bumblebee.
"I'm fine." He said. Bumblebee quickly turned back to him, and then looked at Raven again.
"You know him?" Bumblebee cocked an eyebrow.
"So do you." Raven said.
"You knew me as Robin." He said. Bumblebee looked at him and squinted her eyes, and then blinked.
"Robin, damn." She said, while putting away her weapons. "Sorry man, didn't recognize you."
Nightwing and Raven both relaxed as well. "I didn't recognize you at first either." He said lightly.
Bumblebee spread her arms and smiled. "Yeah, this is the grown up me." She said. She had cut her hair short, and now wore something halfway between glasses and goggles over her eyes. Her outfit was a little different too, now with long gloves and yellow designs on the black pants.
"You look good." Nightwing said. He stepped closer to her.
"Thanks, you too." She said. "The colors suit you. And again, sorry about trying to kick your head in."
"I'm not hurt." He said. "Just ask who it is next time?"
"You didn't ask first?" Raven said. Bumblebee shrugged.
"I thought it was a bad guy. I wanted to get the drop, so I attacked. My bad."
"Where did you come from, anyway?" Raven said. "I didn't see you enter from the back."
Bumblebee leaned back against the drawers. "I got here before you guys did. I heard about what happened to Aqualad, and wanted to investigate. Our team broke up a while back, like you guys did. But he was still a friend." Bumblebee's face darkened. She took off her goggles, and rubbed her eyes. "Anyway, I… found his body. Seeing him all pale and cut up like that… I felt kind of sick. I had to use the bathroom." She looked away from them as she said this last part, and lowered her voice as well. She paused for a moment.
"That's when I heard someone outside. I saw someone messing with his body and… you know the rest."
They stood there for a moment before Raven spoke. "I'm sorry." She said quietly.
"I didn't know him as well as you did." Nightwing said. "I can only imagine…"
"Its fine." Bumblebee said, putting her hands up. Her tone quickly changed, sounding more casual. "So, is it just the two of you?"
Nightwing and Raven exchanged a glance. "Beast Boy's outside." He said. Bumblebee nodded.
"I should probably… close the drawer." She said. She walked over to the open drawer. As she did, Beast Boy's voice came through the comms.
"Speak of the devil." Raven said.
"Beast Boy?" Nightwing said. Beast Boy's voice came through.
"I'm up on the roof, and I just got attacked by some-" the signal cut off. Raven looked at Nightwing.
"Sounds like he needs help." She said.
"Let's go." He said.
Beast Boy was now in pterodactyl form, flying through the air. The masked opponent was below, looking up. Beast Boy could probably just escape if he wanted, but he couldn't just let this man go. He was probably the one that killed Aqualad. Besides, Raven and Nightwing were still in the vicinity.
Beast Boy swooped in to attack the man, but he dodged. Beast Boy turned around to try again, the man dodged a second time, and this time Beast Boy got stabbed in a wing. Beast Boy stumbled out of the air and fell. As he tumbled on the roof, he quickly changed into a wolf, ignoring the pain. He didn't want to turn into anything too big, because they were on the roof of an apartment complex. He didn't want to get too heavy and crash through.
Beast Boy got to his feet. As he got up, he was immediately kicked in the face, and then twice more. He managed to bite the man's leg, and jerked his head a little. He felt himself get stabbed again, this time in the shoulder. The knife went into the bone. Beast Boy howled and opened his mouth. He stumbled backwards on all fours. The man's leg was apparently hurt, which bought Beast Boy a moment to recover. But Beast Boy was hurt worse. He had been stabbed several times now, and he was starting to feel it. He was also bleeding a lot.
Beast Boy instinctively turned into a rhino, hoping the armored hide would protect him. As he took a step, he heard something shift beneath him, and he hoped he wasn't too heavy. He peered around the rooftop and didn't see his enemy, although rhinos didn't have the greatest vision. A flash of light came from one direction, hitting Beast Boy. It was a laser. Beast Boy turned, and saw the man standing at an air vent, holding a gun of some sort. The man aimed the gun and fired. Beast Boy moved to dodge the blast this time. Even though rhinos aren't known for speed, he still managed to dodge it, but his feet broke pieces of the roof. He was too heavy.
Beast Boy changed back into his normal form, and started running from the blasts, trying to think of a better form. He jumped and rolled as one blast flew by him. He successfully did a duck and roll, feeling a little proud at the Nightwing-like maneuver. But then he noticed something right in front of him. It was a small thing on the roof, beeping. Beast Boy quickly guessed it was a bomb or grenade of some kind. He got up and turned to run. He only took a few steps before being hit in the face with a laser blast. Beast Boy covered his face and yelled. He then felt the impact of the blast from behind. He was still too close to it, and it knocked him several feet. He fell on the roof, rolling a little. He was now near the edge. And he had been burned.
Beast Boy's body hurt. He had been kicked, stabbed, burned, and got knocked back by an explosion. His ears were ringing, and his vision was slightly blurry. He tried to get up, but it hurt too much. He saw boots stepping closer to him. He looked up, and saw the masked man looking down at him. He was holding the gun. He aimed it at Beast Boy. This is how I die? Beast Boy thought.
Nightwing looked up at the roof where Beast Boy said he would be. Raven and Bumblebee stood beside him. Nightwing pulled out his communicator. "Beast Boy, are you there?" No response.
"I can fly up and see what's going on." Bumblebee said.
Nightwing considered for a second, then said, "Okay, but be careful." As Bumblebee started to flap her wings, something came into view on the edge of the roof. It was a person. Their arm was hanging over the roof. Nightwing squinted. Nightwing had good vision, and even from below he could recognize the green hand.
"Its Beast Boy." He said. He pulled out a grappling hook and aimed it for the roof. They didn't have time to scout ahead first. He fired, and the rope pulled him up. The girls were right behind him. Within seconds Nightwing had made it to the roof, just a few yards from where Beast Boy was. When he got up there, he saw someone standing over Beast Boy, holding a gun. Without saying anything, Nightwing reached for his belt.
"Stop or I'll shoot." The masked man said. The voice sounded distorted. Probably modified electronically. Nightwing paused. Raven and Bumblebee were both hovering in the air, a short distance from the roof. The man kept his finger on the trigger, and started to squeeze.
"Alright!" Nightwing said. "What do you want? Who are you?" The masked man tilted his head slightly at Nightwing, but while still keeping the others in sight.
"I want you to get down on the ground." The man said. He shifted to Raven and Bumblebee. "And you two back away."
"Did you kill Aqualad?" Nightwing said. His hands were away from his belt now, but he was still tense. The masked man again tilted his head.
"I said get down on the ground, or I'll shoot him." The masked man moved a little closer, the gun just a foot from Beast Boy's head.
Nightwing grit his teeth, but said, "Fine." He quickly started thinking of a plan. He slowly got down on the ground. He had some devices in his gloves. He could fire a grappling hook at the man's gun. But he would have to wait for the right moment. He was now on the rooftop with his palms down.
"Are you the one that killed Aqualad?" Bumblebee was the one who asked this time. Her voice sounded level, but Nightwing suspected she was making an effort to not show her anger. The masked man turned towards her. This might be his chance. Nightwing brought up one hand and aimed it at the masked man's gun. Suddenly, the man kicked Beast Boy hard in the ribs, knocking him off the roof.
"Beast Boy!" Nightwing shouted. The masked man turned and ran in the opposite direction. In that moment, Nightwing ignored him and ran over to the edge. He looked down. He saw Raven hovering further down. She had caught Beast Boy with her magic. Beast Boy was carried on the translucent black essence that Raven summoned, being gradually brought down to the ground below. Nightwing glanced behind him. The attacker was gone, but he saw Bumblebee flying away in the direction he ran, presumably chasing after him. For a moment, Nightwing debated whether to go after them, or go down and check on Beast Boy. He looked down. Beast Boy wasn't moving. He had to know if Beast Boy was okay.
He used his gadgets to get down to the ground in a matter of seconds. He ran over to Raven. She was kneeling on the ground, with Beast Boy on his back. Beast Boy was burned, cut, and bruised. He was still breathing though. Nightwing knelt down.
"Beast Boy, can you hear me?" Nightwing said. Beast Boy didn't say anything. He did groan a little though. Nightwing looked at Raven.
"He'll be okay… right?" he said. Raven hesitated.
"…I'm sure he will be." She said. "I can try healing him." She moved her hands over his body, and began using her magic to heal.
"Bumblebee?" Raven said.
"I think she went after him." Nightwing said.
"You can go too. I've got Beast Boy." Nightwing shook his head.
"He's probably long gone by now." Nightwing tried calling Bumblebee on the communicator. Nightwing wasn't even sure if she still had one. There was no answer.
"I hope she's okay." Raven said quietly.
"We'll look for her later." Nightwing said. "Right now, we should get Beast Boy back to the tower. Before the cops show up." People had started to gather. There had been a lot of noise, and so hospital staff and curious onlookers were now standing around in the vicinity.
"Get your bike." Raven said. "I'll meet you back there."
A short time later, Raven and Nightwing, along with Beast Boy, arrived back at Titan Tower. To their surprise, Bumblebee was waiting for them at the entrance. She watched as they approached. She had her arms folded, and her face was dour.
"I thought you went after him." Nightwing said.
"I did. Lost him though. I chased him for a few minutes, and then he just disappeared." She stood there shaking her head.
"I'm sorry. We'll find him." Nightwing said.
"We really should get Beast Boy inside." Raven said.
Bumblebee looked up, only now noticing Beast Boy. She raised her eyebrows. "Damn, I'm sorry. I didn't…" She moved out of the way, letting them open the door. As they entered, Nightwing turned to Bumblebee, standing there still.
"Are you coming?" he said.
"Yeah." She nodded. They went inside, and the door closed behind them.
End Notes: About the characters' appearances...
Nightwing looks close here to how he does in the comics. I know the show gave him a different design, and I didn't dislike that design, but I like the comic version better. That said, I did consider giving him longer hair in this story like in "How Long is Forever", but decided against it, at least for now.
Beast Boy still has the black and purple outfit from the cartoon, but minus the gloves and shoes like the comic version. Bumblebee's outfit here isn't based on any particular version. I just felt she should look different from before since she's older, so gave her an outfit that I thought made sense for this version of the character.