Static crackled from the communicator as Nightwing held it in his hand. For a second, he thought he'd lost the signal. But a moment later Cyborg's voice came through, albeit not very clearly.
"Robin, that's you right?" Cyborg asked. Nightwing confirmed.
"And did I hear Raven too?"
"I'm here, Cyborg." Raven said.
"Great to hear." Cyborg said. "What about Star and Beast Boy?" A moment of silence passed.
"They're… not here." Nightwing said. "We haven't heard anything from them. But then, we haven't heard from you until now either." There was another pause.
"Oh." Cyborg said. "Guess I shouldn't be surprised about Star. She probably can't even hear us. And even if she could… Surprised Beast Boy's been radio silent though. As for me, I've been a little busy these past few days.
"I'm sure it was important." Nightwing said.
"Oh yeah. But we can talk about that later. You're looking into Aqualad's murder, right?"
"Absolutely." Raven said.
"We could use your help." Nightwing said.
"You got it. I know we're not a team anymore, but I wouldn't say no to this." The static increased as he spoke, making it a little harder to hear him. "I'm not getting a great signal here, so I'm gonna go. Is there anything else?"
"Just one question." Nightwing said. "How soon can you be here?"
"I'm not exactly in the area, so probably in a day or two."
"Okay, we'll see you then." Nightwing said. Raven and Cyborg said their goodbyes too.
"Well, that's some good news." Nightwing said.
"We were due." Raven said. She put her communicator away and sat down on one of the seats.
"Yeah." Nightwing said. "Hopefully we'll have this wrapped up in the next few days and be out of this city."
Raven sat there looking at the floor. Her hands were on her knees. "Yeah, but it's been nice working together again. Seeing each other."
Nightwing had had his back turned, examining his device. But he turned his head to look at her now. "Yeah. It's been nice. But… We don't live in this city anymore. We're adults now, with our own lives. I need to get back to Bludhaven, and I'm sure you have somewhere you need to be too."
Raven sat there in silence for a moment. She curled her fingers with her hands still on her legs. "…Yeah. Somewhere." There was a long moment of silence between them.
"We can… sit and talk if you want." Nightwing said.
Raven sighed and stood up, enveloping herself in her cloak. "I'm actually feeling tired. I think I'm going to go to bed early."
Nightwing stood there, watching her walk off. He looked at her blue cloak and hood from behind, obscuring her form. "Okay. But we need to decide what we're doing tomorrow."
Raven paused. Without turning, she said, "Can we talk about it in the morning?"
"…Okay. See you in the morning then."
Raven stood there a moment, and then started walking again. "Goodnight." She said. The door closed, and Nightwing was left alone in the room.
"Night." He said softly.
Another night passed in the tower without incident. The two titans awoke the following morning, and decided to spend the day travelling about the city to refamiliarize themselves with the area. However, Nightwing suggested that it would be better if they go separately, so they can explore different areas.
"It just makes more sense that way", Nightwing had said. "We can cover more ground, and see more of the city." And so, Raven now found herself walking along the streets of the city alone. Unlike Nightwing, she didn't have her own vehicle, so had to travel by foot. She could have used her magic to fly, but didn't want to attract that much attention at the moment. Besides, sometimes its better to observe things from ground level. And lastly, besides exploring, Raven also intended to do some shopping. They didn't know how long they would be staying, so she was off to buy some food and medical supplies. And maybe a new laptop, since a good chunk of the electronics in the tower was old and hadn't been maintained. Some of it just wasn't working, and some of it they weren't sure how to use.
"Cyborg will figure that out." Raven muttered to herself as she walked along the streets. She passed by various pedestrians, many of whom walked by her and barely noticed her distinctive appearance. Costumed heroes and villains were not an unusual sight in many parts of the world, so they were likely jaded to it. But some, particularly young children, would do a double take or even stop and stare. Raven ignored them all.
She headed towards the first drug store she saw, a chain store that had replaced a small local establishment. She hoped that there was also a place that sold computers nearby.
Nightwing drove along the streets on his motorcycle. The streets were a little busy at this time of day. He wasn't in a hurry to get anywhere though, so just went at a casual pace. All the same, after some time he turned off the road where the traffic was lighter.
As he drove, he looked at everything around him. At some points he would come to a stop, particularly when he saw some place familiar. He passed by an old sports stadium he went to a few times. And an old fast-food place. But he also saw other areas he recognized. Places where he and his friends fought criminals, and sometimes got hurt.
After driving a little more, he stopped the bike again. He was in the parking lot of a strip mall. The mall wasn't there years earlier. It had been built in the time since then. The stores didn't interest him though. He stopped because he recognized the spot. It was where the bratty daughter of Killer Moth had forced him to go on a date with her. He hated it. At least until he got to dance with Starfire. That, he did not hate.
"Starfire." He whispered to himself. For a long time, it was a favorite memory of his. But now, it was more bittersweet. In his mind's eye, he could still see and hear things from that day. Almost like he was back there. But then he blinked, and the vision was replaced with the unfamiliar mall. He sat there a moment longer, and then started to drive off. As he did, he got a call on his comm.
"Nightwing, its Raven." He heard her voice say.
"What's up, Raven?" he said.
"I got the medical stuff. I'm trying to buy a laptop, but my card… was declined. Just thought I'd let you know now, so maybe you can find another place that sells them while you're out."
"Better idea: just tell me where you are, and I'll pay for it." After a moment, Raven responded.
"I'll wait outside for you." She gave him the address, and he changed course on his bike.
After Nightwing showed up, they were able to buy the laptop, used and refurbished, without further incident. They had also bought some food, and then finally arrived back at the tower. All in all, the excursion took a few hours. When they got upstairs, they set up the laptop. Nightwing waited for it to finish updating while Raven put the supplies away.
"How's it going?" Raven said, while putting the last of what they bought in the fridge. Nightwing sat on the couch, elbows on knees and his chin resting on folded hands. He looked at the progress bar on the screen. His eyes were narrowed, and his mouth was set firm.
"Its going to be a little longer." He said.
Raven shut the fridge door and walked over. "You know that expression about watching a boiling pot?"
"No." he said without looking away.
"It'll take as long as it takes." She said calmly.
Nightwing sighed, and leaned back. "I know. Its just that we have to go out to the hospital tonight, and I wanted to get this done before then. It'd be good if we can look into a few things before we go."
Raven sat down across from him and crossed her legs. "I would have thought you'd brought some high-tech device with you that could do that anyway."
Nightwing made a face. "Normally I would, but I was in such a hurry to get here and find Aqualad's killer. I packed light."
"Me too." Raven said. For the next twenty minutes they sat there waiting for the computer to finish. Once it did, they connected to the internet and Nightwing began typing on the keyboard. He looked up information regarding the murder. He scanned local news articles. Naturally, there were no pictures of the body or crime scene released to the public. Even the information that was there was pretty scant. Just some details about Aqualad before his death, and the suggestion that his death was a murder. Nightwing then searched for information about local criminals. Mumbo had apparently retired from crime, and wasn't the murderous type anyway. Control Freak wasn't living in the city anymore. The Hive Five had broken up, although a few of them were still operating as solo criminals. Nightwing sighed, feeling he was making little progress.
After some time, Raven walked over to stand beside Nightwing. She looked down at the monitor, and the dead-end searches. "Did you look up the hospital he was taken to?" she said.
"Not yet." Nightwing said.
"It would probably be good to know the layout of the hospital so we know where the morgue is."
Nightwing nodded, and began looking up information on the hospital, and the morgue, and whoever worked there. Whatever he could find. Obviously, not all this information was available on official websites, so he also looked up comments from people who had visited the hospital, or previously worked there. As he typed, Raven leaned over and looked over his shoulder to get a better look. Nightwing noticed as Raven put a hand on his shoulder as she leaned in, but didn't say anything.
"From what I can tell, the hospital is actually understaffed right now." Nightwing said. "That might be good for us, since there's less chance of getting spotted."
"But bad for whoever has to pay a visit there." Raven said in a deadpan tone.
"From looking at these pictures online, it seems like there are a few entrances. Including a back entrance."
"That might even be where they bring the bodies in. The morgue is usually on the ground floor." Raven leaned in further, her face now inches from Nightwing. The glow of the screen colored their faces. Nightwing turned to face her.
"I think we should have enough information on the hospital to come up with a plan." Nightwing said. Their faces were inches away. Raven suddenly took a step back. She stood there a moment, and then put her hood up.
"Is everything okay?" Nightwing said.
"Yeah." Raven said. "Its just… can I ask you a question?"
"Yeah, what is it?" he said, looking up at her.
Raven hesitated. "This might sound a little weird, but what would you think about-"
"Wait, did you hear something?" Nightwing said. Raven paused.
"Not really." A second later, the sound of something breaking could be heard.
"Okay, I heard that." Raven said. Nightwing got up, and they exchanged a glance. They both quietly began walking towards the door. The sound had come from the hallway. As they got to the door, they both stepped to the sides, so as not to be standing out in the open. Nightwing opened the door, and peeked around the corner. There didn't seem to be anything there, but the hall was dimly lit. Nightwing slowly stepped into the hallway, escrima sticks out, while Raven stood by ready to use a spell. Nightwing took a few more steps forward, tense but slow. As he crept forward, a figure suddenly came from around the corner. It was a person. Nightwing raised his sticks as the figure turned to face him.
"Wait!" the person said. Nightwing stopped, just inches from the target. "Don't hit me." The person said.
Nightwing paused. He recognized the voice. "Beast Boy." He said. It was indeed Beast Boy. He stepped closer to greet them, moving into better lighting, which displayed his familiar green skin and hair.
"Beast Boy." Raven said quietly as she stood in the doorway. Beast Boy peeked around Nightwing's form to look over at Raven He raised a hand, palm open.
"Hey, Raven." He said.