Chapter Seventeen
One Heck of a Party
Dick fidgeted in his tuxedo as Alfred finished tying the bow-tie properly. Dick, just as Bruce, was absolutely hopeless at doing this himself and Alfred didn't even need to be asked to come and do it for him every time Dick had to dress up.
"All done, Master Dick." Alfred concluded and took a step back.
Dick gave him a tense smile and a jerky nod before leaving his room and heading for the kitchen. He needed to find Tim.
Tim was in the living room, pouring over an advanced biology textbook, scribbling furiously in his notebook.
"Test tomorrow?" Dick asked him casually as he strode into the room. Tim looked up and spotted his older brother, smirking at the suit. "Going on a date?"
"If only." Dick rolled his eyes. "Winter ball." He shortly explained.
"Ah." Tim sat back in his chair and set his pencil on the table. "Yeah, I've got a test tomorrow. My biology teacher decided to spring the news on us at the last possible moment. I've been studying all day."
"So you're ready for a break?"
Tim narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "What do you want?"
Dick sighed and settled into a chair opposite Tim, taking care to not rumple his suit jacket. "I obviously won't be on call tonight so I need someone to be ready for the League to contact in case the Team is sent on a mission. I was thinking you could do that for me? If anything comes up, you can just give me a call and I'll help out from a distance. Mal's on a date with Karen and I'd hate for him to have to cancel."
Tim considered his request. Then he nodded slowly. "Sure. I think I could do that."
"Thanks, man." Dick stood up, ruffling his younger brother's hair. "If you feel like you're in over your head, just ask Batgirl for help."
"Enjoy the party." Tim quipped at Dick's retreating back, a small smirk teasing his lips.
Dick groaned slightly. "I'll do my absolute best." He answered dryly.
"Morgan gonna be there?" Tim asked casually and Dick stopped in his tracks.
"Yeah." He replied shortly, wondering why that was relevant, before rounding a corner and heading for the Manor's main entrance.
He arrived at the party fifty minutes late, hoping that he'd be too late for the principal's opening speech that way. If he was smart, he'd leave early too so he would miss the present and then her long, heartfelt speech of gratitude.
Once there, he immediately set to work locating his friends – who all had dates on their arms, something Dick didn't (And chose not to thank you very much) – and then his eyes roamed around the room in an attempt to spot Morgan.
He placed himself by the wall to avoid being spotted by too many chatty people and to have a better view of the whole room.
Logically, it shouldn't have been difficult to locate a girl with wings, but because she was shorter than most people in the room, her wings could easily be hidden from his sight.
Instead, he tried to spot her big curly hair, her second give away.
"Yo, Dick." Greeted one of his friends; an Italian guy named Michele. "Who're you looking for?"
"Nobody, Michele." Dick muttered absentmindedly. "Just Darren."
If Darren had found his date already, he'd undoubtedly keep her close to his side for the rest of the evening. Meaning if Dick found Darren, he found Morgan.
"Isn't that him over there?" Michele helpfully offered, pointing behind Dick.
Dick turned around fully and spotted the immaculately clad back of his friend in the middle of sucking up to their chemistry teacher.
Next to him, Dick realized with a start, stood Morgan.
Despite the fact that it was very obviously her – he could see her wings, after all – it took him a moment to fully register it.
Her hair was all wrong, long and smooth, cascading down her back in a decidedly un-Morgan-ish way.
Darren laughed loudly at something their teacher said before excusing himself and offering Morgan his arm.
She accepted it – hesitantly, if the tense line of her shoulders was anything to go by – and he turned them around, finally giving Dick a proper view of his female team mate.
His eyes almost bugged out of his head when he got a good look at her face.
Morgan was, undeniably, absolutely stunning.
And didn't look like Morgan at all, which put him off.
The blond pair approached the table Dick was lurking by and as they hadn't spotted him yet, he took the opportunity to study her briefly. She walked almost gracefully on the same heels he'd seen her stumble around in only two days ago. The dress showed off her entire collarbone and a decent amount of cleavage, hugging her hips and waist attractively. Expensive looking jewelry clung to her wrists, neck and ears.
The entire look was so incredibly unlike Morgan, that the only thing that made Dick sure it even was her was the vaguely pissed of expression on her face, which made him chuckle silently to himself. Despite all the makeup and the fancy clothes, she was still Morgan.
Morgan spotted him and immediately made a grimace, jerking her head in the direction of her date, rolling her eyes. She was unimpressed with her company, it seemed.
Good, Dick thought.
"Dick!" Darren greeted, a smug tint to his tone and facial expression. "We thought you'd never show up!"
"We?"
"Well, me and Morgan, of course." Darren explained. "Isn't she a vision?"
He stepped to the side and lightly pushed her forward, making Morgan stumble as she suddenly found herself the subject of both guys attention.
"She's certainly something." Dick responded neutrally, grinning crookedly when Morgan narrowed her eyes at him and rolled her them again.
Darren, clearly not getting the answer he'd been expecting, waved Dick away and started up conversation with Michele instead.
Dick and Morgan both stepped to the side, standing against the wall and watched the room silently for a moment.
"He's been doing that all night." Morgan spoke up first. "Dragging me around, introducing me to people with some cheesy line and then forgotten about me as he talked to them." She crossed her arms in front of her – which pressed her breasts further together, creating an impressive cleavage on the already slightly low-cut dress, which Dick did his damndest to not notice – and sent Darren a reproachful look.
"Well, that's what these parties are really about. They don't just throw them for fun. It's practice for when the students grow up and have to start attending actual upper-class get-togethers. It's all about making connections and honing your social skills." He explained, leaning back against the wall to study the room again.
"It's still annoying." She complained. "I was about ready to spill my drink on his expensive little suit."
"He'd start crying if you did." Dick dryly responded. He looked at her again, eyes betraying him as they travelled lower.
Dick nearly jumped out of his skin when he noticed the lack of charmed pendant around her neck. "Where's your necklace?!" He hissed in slight panic, trying to keep his voice low so nobody else could hear. She had to be wearing it, otherwise everybody in here would've noticed her wings by now.
Morgan grimaced. "You don't want to know." She dead-panned, which of course sent Dick's imagination into overdrive as he tried to figure out where exactly she was keeping the necklace.
"Now I really want to know." He pointed out.
Morgan scoffed, obviously knowing his line of thought. "Pervert. It's strapped to my thigh."
Well, of course. The only logical place.
"Oh great, here he comes." Morgan breathed and Dick looked up to spot Darren approaching them with a drink in his hand.
"Morgan, babe," – Dick saw her visibly flinch as the nickname – "I was afraid you'd run off."
"Jeg ville ønske jeg havde gjort det."1 She smiled sweetly at him and Dick wished more than anything that he'd pull himself together and learn some basic Danish already so he could understand what she'd said.
His guess was it wasn't anything pleasant.
"Anyway," Darren got back on track, obviously momentarily confused by the strange words she'd spoken. "I got you a drink."
He proudly shoved the drink into her hands and Morgan accepted it with a raised eyebrow.
.. And promptly dropped the glass.
"Whoops." She said, voice flat. Darren looked crestfallen. Dick held in a snicker.
"You'd better get me a new one." She suggested, smile sugary. "I'd like one from that table over there." She pointed at the table that was at the absolute opposite end of the room. It would take him quite some time to maneuver around the big crowd of people and fetch her drink.
Darren paused for a moment, looking like he was about to protest before he sighed and plastered a smile onto his face again. "Of course. Be right back."
As soon as he was out of earshot, Morgan turned to Dick. "He's going to spike my drink and hope I somehow don't notice before I'm too drunk to resist his advances, isn't he?"
Dick sipped at his own glass of punch as he considered her question. "Undoubtedly." He agreed.
Morgan sighed. "This party blows."
"Yup."
"Wanna go fight crime?"
".. Hell yes."
Morgan threw off her heels and gathered them in one hand. She grabbed Dick's hand with the other and dragged him after her, ditching the party without a second thought.
They were outside in the dark, abandoned halls and Morgan headed for the wardrobe section. Here, she dropped his hand and crouched down in front of a large duffle bag. She threw her shoes inside before closing the bag and pulled the strap over her shoulder, standing again. "Give me five minutes; I'll be ready."
"You brought your costume?" Dick asked incredulously as they started walking down the hall again, heading for the roof of the building. There was a terrace up there with a small garden and the fourth years liked to hang out up there during the summer.
"Oh, like you didn't." She said, not a trace of doubt in her voice.
Dick sighed in resignation and pulled off his bow-tie, unbuttoning the top button on his shirt to reveal his Nightwing suit underneath.
"I'm beginning to suspect you sleep in that suit." Morgan quipped.
"I can assure you, I don't." He returned as they kept up their fast paced jog down through the third years' halls, both eager to get away from the school and into the city.
"Speaking of suits.." Morgan began, a displeased furrow on her brow. "I've noticed that mine looks almost exactly like yours. Did you do that on purpose?" She accused.
"I haven't noticed." Nightwing lied. He had, indeed, pushed her towards making a suit resembling his. It had been a mostly subconscious thing and even now, he had no idea why he'd done it. Maybe he just had an inflated ego? Or maybe it was just because he was drawing inspiration from back when he'd designed his own suit, not realizing he was basically repeating the process. "It was never my intention."
Morgan seemed to chew on his words. "I'll pretend I believe you, if only to keep the peace."
They reached the fourth floor and Morgan halted. "We can change in here." She suggested, opening the door to one of the many classrooms on the floor.
Dick soundlessly agreed and stepped in first, closing the door after them.
Turning their backs to each other, the only sound you could hear was the ruffle of clothing being pulled off and zippers being closed.
Dick had already taken his tuxedo off completely, now lying in a small pile by his boot-clad feet, and slipped his gloves and mask on when Morgan's hesitant voice broke the silence.
"Uh, Dick? Or Nightwing? Can I get a little help?"
He turned around and waited for her to elaborate.
Illuminated only by the moonlight, she was standing by a chair and had her right foot propped up on the seat. Her dress had been bunched up so it ended at the very top of her thigh, giving Nightwing a very much full view of her pale, toned leg. On the middle of the length of her thigh, he spotted the pendant strapped around it. It looked uncomfortably tight.
"The lock is stuck." Morgan admitted, sounding frustrated. "And the necklace won't budge. I think it's gotten tangled in a thread from the dress. I can't see what I'm doing because the lock is a blind spot for me."
She sounded extremely mortified and Nightwing knew she wouldn't have asked him if it hadn't been absolutely necessary.
He approached her wordlessly and Morgan looked over her shoulder briefly to confirm that he'd even heard her words. Once she spotted him approaching, she brought her leg down and held up her dress so it ended right below the swell of her butt.
He swallowed, throat suddenly dry, and licked his lower lip as he contemplated the best course of action here.
Crouching down behind her, he immediately knew this had not been the best course of action as his face was now right next to her butt. He cleared his throat to rid himself of awkwardness and studied the pendant briefly. The lock had indeed snagged on a loose thread from the dress and the thread had tangled itself into the mechanism, preventing the lock from opening properly.
"There is a thread stuck." He confirmed her suspicion, feeling like the silence was only making things much more awkward. "I'll try to get it loose."
Morgan waited silently and patiently as he brought up his glowed hands and touched the offending lock. Her leg clenched when he touched it as Nightwing pulled at the thread, slowly untangling it. Her wing's fluttered nervously and he got the tip of her right wing in the face. He batted it away and refocused his attention on the locket in front of him.
He managed to get it untangled relatively easy and simply dropped the thread on the ground before he undid the small clasp on the lock, the necklace coming off of her thigh easily. The black chain left behind a red line on her light skin and Morgan immediately dropped the fabric of her dress, turning to face her mentor, looking very red in the face.
He stood up from his previous crouch and handed her the pendant, which she immediately stuffed into the open duffel bag by her side. "I'll be ready in a moment."
"I'll wait outside." Nightwing announced, picking up his abandoned tuxedo and stepping outside quickly.
He tapped his foot impatiently as he waited for Morgan to change clothes, vowing to never bring himself into a situation like that again.
Morgan stepped into the hall a moment later, dressed in her superhero suit – or Sparrow suit, he supposed he could call it now.
She held out a hand for his small bundle of clothing and he handed it to her, watching as she stuffed it rather carelessly into her duffel bag. He couldn't even bring himself to care that she was treating his expensive, tailored suit like a used towel.
Next, Nightwing took the bag from her, slung it over his shoulder and, together, they walked down the hall.
Morgan placed her mask on her face and wiped at her mouth, removing the rest of the lip gloss there.
Sans her hair, which was no longer completely smooth and neat, but wavy, a few curls sticking out, because of all the jogging up stairs and down halls they'd done, Morgan now looked like herself.
As they stepped onto the roof, a powerful gush of wind blew her hair all over, some landing in her mouth. Morgan spat it out and pulled all of her hair over her left shoulder, braiding it quickly.
"You got a scrunchie?" She asked Nightwing.
"Morgan.." he exasperated.
"Kidding." Morgan grinned. "There's one in the side pocket of the bag. Hand it over, please?"
Nightwing unzipped the small pocket and pulled out a black hair band, handing it to her.
"So, where are we going first?" Asked Morgan cheerily. It was obvious that she was relieved about escaping that party.
"We're in Gotham." Nightwing pointed out, looking out over the city with a narrowed gaze though his stance and tone were relaxed. "You don't have to search long for some sort of crime."
He walked to the edge of the roof and pulled out his grapple gun. "I've got a police radio in my car. Let's go."
He fired the gun into the roof between his feet and lowered himself down the building, landing on the snow-covered ground a minute later. Morgan landed soundlessly next to him and folded her wings behind her back.
"Which car is yours?" She asked, looking out over the parking lot and all the luxury cars there.
Nightwing hoisted the bag further up his shoulder. "The expensive looking one." He elaborated.
"They all look expensive to me." He heard Morgan mutter behind him as she followed him towards his vehicle.
She whistled when she spotted the sleek, black sports car. "Nice ride." She drawled as he unlocked the car and opened the passenger door for her, handing her the duffle bag once she had settled in.
He walked around the car and got into the driver's seat, turning on the engine and radio at the same time. Waiting for the engine to heat up, he switched through the channels until he reached the special frequency Bruce had installed that allowed for Nightwing to listen in on the police radio.
Nightwing revved up the engine and sped out of the parking lot, Morgan quickly clicking her seatbelt into place and clinging to the strap of her duffel bag.
Knowing that it was the place most likely for a crime to take place, Nightwing headed in the direction of the slums. The police radio currently had nothing interesting to report so he decided to seek out the crime in his own way instead.
"Once we reach the poorer parts of the city, we'll ditch the car in an alley somewhere. I'm not risking anyone seeing us in it and tracking the plates back to Dick Grayson."
"Good idea." Morgan agreed.
While they were in the car, it had started snowing outside and Nightwing turned on the windshield wipers.
"This really is an awesome car." Morgan admitted after a moment. She sat up straighter in her seat and studied the interior. "How fast can it go?" She wondered.
"I haven't checked." Nightwing admitted right as they arrived at their destination. He found an old, poorly lit parking lot and turned to it, shutting off the engine once he'd parked the car.
"What about the police radio?" Morgan pointed out.
"Already got it covered." He said as he dug a small ear piece out of a pouch from his belt and placed it in his ear before turning it on. The familiar sound of the police radio crooning lowly in his ear let him know it was active. "I can hear the radio now in this ear. It'll keep us updated."
He stepped out of the vehicle and waited for Morgan to get out too before he locked it.
"You have got to lend me some of those handy toys when I get myself my own pouch-belt." Morgan begged. Nightwing's eyes dropped to the belt she had currently fastened around her waist, the old thing nostalgically familiar as he remembered wearing it himself when he first joined the Team. He'd only been thirteen back then and much smaller in size, so the belt fit Morgan pretty well. She smiled excitedly as she flipped her thick braid over her shoulder, snowflakes settling charmingly in her hair, her cheeks red from the cold.
In Dick's own, very very secret and personal opinion, she looked better like this than she'd looked at the party. She looked more alive, more free. More excited and happy.
"We'll see." Was all he said as he walked ahead, Morgan following close behind him.
He figured he might as well use the night to test Morgan in her skills so he stopped once they'd reach a small alley and disappeared into the dark shadows it provided. "Alright." He started. "What is the first thing we should do when starting a patrol?"
Morgan seemed to catch up to his line of thought immediately and answered, a small confident grin on her face. "We find some high ground where we have a better view over the streets so it's easier to spot any crime."
"Exactly. So, find some high ground."
Morgan looked up and pointed at the taller of the two buildings they stood between. "We'll go up there to see if we can spot the tallest building nearby."
Nightwing confirmed with a nod and followed her lead.
They reached the top and Morgan did a three-sixty, spotting the tallest building in the neighborhood and pointed to it. "That's our building." She said.
Two minutes later, Nightwing sat perched on the railing of the building, Morgan landing next to him. "Alright, Sparrow." He said, noticing the way her small smile grew at the nickname. "What now?"
January 26 th
"So, the entire school thinks we slept together." Morgan said conversationally four days later.
Nightwing looked up from the knot he was tightening on the rope around her wrists. He was currently teaching her how to break out of various forms of confinement. They'd been picking locks all afternoon and now, an hour after dinner, which Nightwing had eaten with the others at the Cave, Morgan had demanded a change of pace.
So, Nightwing had busted out some rope and tied her up, lecturing her on how to escape her bindings.
She'd managed to wriggle herself out of the ropes and Nightwing had now tied her hands behind her back. He'd placed a knife at the end of an obstacle course and she had to get it with her hands and wings strapped to her back, and use it to cut the rope loose.
"Why?" He asked after a moment's pause.
Morgan shrugged. "Because someone saw us leaving the Ball early together. Apparently it seemed more likely that we did it to have sex than to go dress up in costumes and terrorize the criminals of Gotham."
"Shows how much they know." Nightwing took a step back to study his handiwork. "Done. Go get the knife."
He took her time with a stopwatch and Morgan leapt onto the first crate, doing her best to not fall off, and hopped onto the next. She found that leaping from crate to crate without pausing too much between them made the task much easier. And she soon found herself standing in front of the next obstacle. This went on until she reached the end and now only had one task left. She'd only fallen on her ass three times during the obstacle course which she personally thought was impressive with her arms tied behind her back.
Now all she needed to do was get a hold of the knife and cut through the rope around her wrists.
She crouched down behind it and felt around for the knife with her stiff fingers, wanted to get this over with as soon as possible so she could get some blood flowing back into her digits. Finally grasping the handle, she let out a small woop of joy and started slicing through the bonds. It was slow work because her hands weren't allowed much movement, but eventually she managed to cut through the rope once, immediately decreasing her hands restriction. It was much easier to slice through it a second time, and she didn't even need to do it a third time as the rope had already loosened enough for her to wriggle her hands out of it.
"Done!" She shouted and Nightwing stopped the watch.
"How did I do?"
"Twenty seconds faster than the last time." He informed, sounding vaguely impressed.
It was the only praise she'd get, Morgan knew that, so she took it.
The gym's door opened and M'gann stepped inside. Morgan was kind of relieved she'd come now and not back when Morgan had been lying on the floor, completely tied up, with Nightwing hovering over her.
That would've been weird to explain.
"Nightwing?" M'gann spoke softly, sounding deflated. "Everyone is here. They leave in half an hour."
"I'm coming." He responded. Morgan threw the rest of the rope off of her and flew towards the other end of the gym, landing next to her Martian friend. "Who're leaving?" She questioned.
"Some of the Leaguers." Nightwing clarified as he and M'gann headed for the exit. Morgan hesitated for a moment before following after him. "I told you about the missing sixteen hours, right?"
Morgan nodded.
"Well, they're leaving to face some court in the sector they attacked."
"Wait." Morgan furrowed her brow. "How long will they be gone?"
Nightwing and M'gann shared a look. M'gann's face was drawn into a worried mask. "We don't know." She answered.
"Oh."
Morgan followed with them through the garage and through the small strip of trees. She figured if she hadn't been allowed to come, Nightwing would've stopped her from following them.
Still, when their feet hit the sandy beach and she spotted the small crowd of superheroes standing there, Morgan faltered, opting to stay by the trees.
Nightwing cast a brief look at her over his shoulder before continuing on when he saw the way she shook her head slightly to signal she wasn't going to go any further.
Morgan couldn't hear any of the words exchanged between mentor and protégée as she watched the seven small groups saying their goodbyes to each other. Several hugs and shoulder-pats were exchanged. Morgan watched as Nightwing, Batgirl and Robin received neither from their darkly-clad mentor, and found herself secretly glad that Batman wasn't her mentor too. He seemed cold to her. Emotionless.
As she took note of the heroes preparing to leave earth, a sense of dread started clutching her heart. Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman.. Martian Manthunter, both of the Hawks.. Green Lantern, Icon..
All some of the really important and powerful members of the League. Earth's defense would be severely weakened with them gone, however temporarily it might be.
She crossed her arms over her chest and from her leaning position against the tree behind her and smiled softly to herself when she realized her thoughts. She'd already started thinking like a Superhero, like one of earth defenders. She'd only been in the business for two months and she already felt so deeply involved. The thought should've scared her, but it didn't really. She liked the place she was in right now. She liked the turn her life had taken.
Slight wonder filled her eyes when she saw Green Lantern produce a green spaceship through thin air, the eight Leaguers completely engulfed in the luminous, see through material.
Her head tilted upwards as she followed the soaring spaceship with her eyes until it was gone from sight.
The small group that had been left behind disbanded soon afterwards and Morgan watched Nightwing approach.
"Get some sleep." He ordered. "You'll need it."
Morgan thought the last part had been unnecessarily ominous of him to add, but she nodded anyway and uncrossed her arms, pushing off of the tree behind her.
She walked slowly enough for the others to pass in front of her and, when everyone had gone inside but her, Morgan spread out her wings and flew into the sky. She felt restless and stiff in her limbs, needing a small, quick flight more than sleep at the moment.
Only when her wings were aching and shaking from the strain and her body was stiff and freezing from the cold January air did Morgan get back inside.
She knew that the Team was about to enter a difficult time. With most of the League gone, Earth's defense now fell to their small group of youngsters.
1. "I wish I had."
Shit's going down!
We are soon entering the next part of the Young Justice: Invasion plotline!
Seriously, when I first started planning this story and suddenly realized that there was basically a month between Malina Island blowing up and then the League leaving, I was like 'shiiit, what to write in between, what to write in between.. Screw it, I'm gonna make a school ball.'
Time gaps, I swear to god..
ANYWAY, tomorrow's my birthday! Yay!
So, in honor of myself (lol), and because I've gotten a shit load of writing done recently, I will post a new chapter tomorrow, if this one manages to scrape together more than twenty reviews. You guys have until midnight on the 13th of November!
Fun fact: When I turn 19 tomorrow, it'll be the first time one of my OC's are younger than me! Weird thought.