"You'll be in Titan territory."

Ashe thought about the words The Boss had told them before they set off on this mission.

"I'm looking to extend our reach outside of Gotham, so I'm sending you on a little vacation. There will be a simple exchange between us and an allied gang. The two of you will meet with them. They have graciously proposed to give us supplies as a peace offering. Once you have established a base, I will follow."

It seemed easy enough. Ashe and Flare would meet with the rival gang and retrieve some goods. The only catch was…

"Nightwing."

Ashe had heard of Nightwing. A vigilante with a quick wit and a charming smile went off to start his own Justice League Jr. They were concerned about that, but truly their thoughts were still whirling around their run-in with Robin. Ashe had left the jewelry store that night and returned back to their base, they told a tale of how Robin fought back and managed to escape. But something kept bringing their mind back to him. Replaying the interaction over and over again in their head. There was something familiar.

"Hey," Flare growled. "Are you even paying attention?"

Ashe snapped out of it and nodded. Last night, they had left Gotham and started off to their destination. They were getting close to their scheduled meeting with the other group. The two were now walking through the frigid night air to a warehouse near the docks.

Flare motioned to a massive rusted warehouse and walked over to the large rolling doors to open them. Ashe entered the dimly lit open space, they halted for a moment before the floodlights abruptly turned on. The lights revealed several gangsters with large rifles in the center of the room, one of them was carrying a large silver briefcase.

Ashe took the lead in front of Flare but maintained a safe distance from the other gangsters. "Thank you for joining us. We appreciate your hospitality. We'll make this quick." From under their goggles, they looked from the briefcase to the man holding it.

The man raised his briefcase and opened it, displaying many syringes filled with a greenish liquid. Ashe and Flare exchanged glances; they hadn't been told what they were picking up. "This drug will enhance the abilities of any meta person. In a non-meta person, it will mutate their DNA into having an ability." He shut the case. "We give this to your Boss in order to foster a strong allegiance." The man set the case on the ground and went to slide it over to Ashe and Flare.

Suddenly, the room filled with several plumes of smoke.

"Alright, I'd hate to break up this little get-together." A disembodied voice echoed throughout the warehouse. "But it does seem like you're trespassing." A figure dressed in black and blue descended from above.

Ashe was deafened by the sound of gunfire ricocheting off the warehouse's metal walls. Ashe quickly retreated for safety. Flare hurled a slew of scorching fireballs blindly into the smoke. It was instantaneous chaos. Ashe couldn't see who was assaulting them, but there was a blur of black and blue that moved gracefully through the fog. Besides the bullets, Ashe could hear the yells of men as they were attacked by the vigilante.

"Nightwing!" a man shouted.

Ashe took cover behind a stack of huge crates. As they coughed from the smoke, they sought to assess the situation. Smoke from smoke grenades was now mixing with smoke from the flames that Flare had caused. Ashe surveyed the battleground. Flare was nowhere to be found.

The sound of a gun cocking behind Ashe's head.

Turning around slowly, Ashe now saw Flare with a gun aimed at them. Taking a quick dash away to put some distance between them, Ashe crouched into a defensive stance.

"What are you doing Flare? We need to get the case and get out." Ashe looked at him suspiciously.

Flare continued to point the gun forward. "You let Robin go, didn't you?"

Ashe shook their head confused. "What are you talking about? What does that matter?"

"You purposely let Robin escape. I know you did!" He shouted.

Ashe stood up straight and fixed their gaze on the barrel. "Gotham needs their Robin more than they need me." They snapped. "So what? You're going to kill me now?"

"We don't need someone as weak as you, I don't know what Boss sees in you." He scowled. "In all this mayhem, no one would question if you were wounded or even killed. If they did find your body, they would assume a stray bullet hit you and it would never be traced back to me."

"Then do it."

BANG BANG

The world seemed to slow down and become quiet as Ashe's body fell backward. The pain of their head colliding with the concrete was nothing compared to the anguish in their arm and side. The pandemonium around them seemed to die down. In Ashe's hazy vision, the flickering of the fire that was now engulfing the building seemed to twinkle. Ashe could come to terms with death. After all the pain they had witnessed in the world, this didn't seem that terrible. They lay limply on the ground.

Ashe closed their eyes and let the darkness take them.