Chapter 3: Something old, something new

May 14th

Gotham

Morgan

Morgan sighed deeply and drew her covers even tighter, willing sleep to not let her go quite yet. Her bed was perfectly toasty, and the spring sun lit her room in a pleasant glow. As pleasant as was possible for Gotham, that is. She lay in a relaxed state, drifting on a knife's edge between sleep and the waking world, her thoughts awake but muddled.

It was not to last, however, when she slowly came to and realized what day it was. With a growing smile, she threw her covers off and looked at her bedside clock.

Eight. She had two hours before she needed to meet up with M'gann and the other girls of the bridal party.

Today, M'gann and Connor were finally tying the knot. Morgan sat in bed for a moment, stretching her back and wings out with an excited grin on her face. She couldn't remember the last wedding she'd been to. Maybe her mom's best friend when Morgan had been five. She remembered nothing from that event except eating too much cake and throwing up all over her baby blue tutu-dress. And now she was a bridesmaid!

She imagined M'gann must've been so relieved the day was finally here, but also nervous and stressed out. After all, working full time, being a superhero, and then planning a wedding on the side, were not an easy feat. She and Connor had been pretty busy the last couple of months.

With that thought in mind, Morgan decided to get up and arrive as early as possible. She was sure the Martian would need her for something, even if it was just sitting her down and telling her to breathe.

She went to the kitchen looking for coffee and a bit to eat. She knew there'd be some sort of brunch at the place the bridal party was gathering, but she was not braving Gotham City without at least one cup of coffee.

A few minutes later her mother entered the kitchen as well, no doubt drawn by the smell of freshly made coffee. Morgan held up the pot in invitation.

"Please," Abigail said behind a yawn. She was still in her pajamas. Morgan placed two mugs on the table and filled them both. "Excited for today?"

Morgan nodded enthusiastically, "So excited! I can't believe they're finally getting married."

Abigail smiled and took a long sip. She sighed with pleasure and balanced the rim of the warm mug against her lower lip and chin.

"Is Dick gonna be there?" she asked nonchalantly.

Morgan's good mood instantly deflated, and she groaned slightly. "C'mon, mom. Not this again."

Abigail put down the mug and held up her hands in surrender, "I'm just asking."

Morgan leveled her with a stern look. "You're not just asking."

"Alright, alright.." her mom sighed. "I just.. miss seeing him around. And I miss seeing you happy."

Morgan shook her head, lost in memories for a brief moment.

"I was happy," she admitted. Looking into her mug, she mumbled, "Until I wasn't anymore."

Abigail reached a hand across the table and Morgan relented, placing her own hand in her mom's. "So, is he? Going to be there, I mean."

Morgan bit into her bottom lip. She'd honestly done what she could to not think about it, doing her best to focus solely on M'gann and Connor's happiness and how excited she was to see them married.

"Yeah," she sighed, "Yeah, he's going to be there."

She must've looked apprehensive because her mom sent her a sad smile. "It'll be okay, sweetheart. It's a big wedding, right? You can probably avoid him. I know the two of you were planning on going.. together. You know, before the.. break up."

Morgan ran a hand through her hair. He was a groomsman, and she knew that meant they couldn't avoid each other entirely.

"Yeah, absolutely. I can avoid him, there's going to be plenty of people I can talk to." She tried not to think about back when they'd first received the wedding invitation and Dick had promised to teach her how to waltz so they could share a proper dance at the party. He'd never found the time to teach her, of course, no matter how many times she'd asked about it.

Morgan finished her coffee in one last big gulp, the drink only just cooled enough that it didn't burn her.

"Gotta go, mom. Don't want to be late – the bride needs me." She wished her mom hadn't woken up and started this conversation – surely Morgan would've been in a much better mood then.

Abigail looked regretful when she saw the deflated look about her daughter, but Morgan straightened her back and gave her best smile.

Half an hour later, she arrived in Metropolis via zeta tube. Currently, M'gann and Connor lived in an apartment there, but they were saving up to buy a house outside the city. Morgan knew Connor had spent the night at his parent's place, so M'gann could have the apartment to herself and her bridesmaids.

Knocking on the door of said apartment, Morgan determinedly pushed any thoughts about Dick away, to get into the proper mindset.

Seconds later, Artemis opened the door. "Morgan, hi!" she greeted, pulling the other blonde inside. Inside Raquel, Karen, M'gann, Barbara and Zatanna were already fast at work. Cassie was, as usual, late.

The next three hours were a flurry of activity. Each girl did their own hair and makeup before donning their bridesmaids' dresses – M'gann had given them a color scheme of appropriate spring colors and gold jewelry, but each girl had been allowed to pick their own style. Morgan had chosen a blushing, peach-colored dress with a flowing skirt and a halter-top – the style with the plunging back was a perfect fit for her wings. She did her best to style her hair in a sort of half bun-half ponytail style, high on the back of her head, but she wasn't sure if she'd managed to achieve the right look despite practicing many times at home. She wasn't used to trying to style her hair in any sort of pretty way. Usually, she just went for practical.

Noon arrived in no time and the group was off. The wedding was to take place at a secluded, private park just outside of the city. Morgan thought it looked real fancy-schmancy. Then again, she hadn't been to very many weddings, so she supposed she had no idea what the baseline was.

The girls arrived in a limo and found the wooden area already bustling with activity. M'gann looked like she was going to hyperventilate in the back of the limo.

Unexpectedly, as she was about to exit the car, Morgan felt nerves crop up. She'd managed to mostly push Dick from her mind for most of the preparation time, but now she was keenly aware that she was to walk down the aisle where he'd undoubtedly see her. Part of her felt extremely vulnerable at the prospect. She was sure he would judge her for her hair, her choice of dress, her jewelry.. Really, what had she been thinking, wearing peach? She knew her color was blue! And why had she decided to wear golden high heels? Surely, she looked ridiculous!

Maybe she should just focus on the small bouquet of flowers she was holding in her hands, and she wouldn't see him. Then again, M'gann had given them clear instructions to look up and smile when they walked down the aisle.

She wondered why the hell she was even getting nervous right now. She'd always known he was going to be there. What did she have to be ashamed of? Why did she care if he approved of her outfit or not? This vulnerability was stupid!

Ugh, having an ex in her social circle sucked ass.

"Morgan?" Artemis asked behind her when Morgan had taken several seconds too long to exit the car. She realized she'd been fidgeting with the flowers in her hand, the ribbon holding them in place starting to loosen. She came to and gave the other girl a quick smile before exiting the car with a fortifying sigh.

May 14th

Metropolis

Morgan

The ceremony was beautiful. People laughed, they cried, they cheered. It was like a fairytale.

Morgan felt incredibly single.

She'd managed to avoid locking eyes onto Dick for most of the proceedings, but once or twice her eyes had slipped in his direction. He had looked dashing in his tux, but also distracted. There was an antsy air about him. For a moment, she let herself imagine what it would've been like if she hadn't called off their relationship and they'd been at the wedding as a couple. She'd be sitting next to him, and he'd be looking devastatingly handsome in his dark blue suit, the one that made his eyes deepen. They'd share a few drinks at the reception and make jokes, Dick trying to stop her from getting a bit too drunk so early in the day and reminding her she wasn't even old enough to drink for a couple more months.

Or, you know, they'd be trying to play nice because they'd had a big fight before going to the wedding. And then halfway through the wedding he'd offer her an uncertain smile and she'd assure him they were good, and then they'd never actually talk the argument through and deal with whatever issue had caused it. There was that scenario too.

By now, the reception was well underway, and Morgan was standing close to the tree line with a large glass of champagne, torn between getting outrageously drunk so she wouldn't feel that dumb weight in her stomach anymore, or staying sober so she didn't risk making a fool of herself.

She was toying the middle road with her champagne, tipsy but still alert. She wondered if Superman was going to call her out for drinking while underage, but she assumed the Man of Steel didn't actually know her age.

The large clearing had tables along the sides with delicious food and drink. Strings of lights and large, luminous lanterns hung in the trees all around them, giving the clearing a soft, romantic glow. A dais made from wooden planks had been placed in the middle of the clearing, for dancing, with a pair of speakers playing slow, romantic music. M'gann and Connor had been slow-dancing in the middle of it for half an hour or so at this point, looking so heartachingly in love that Morgan almost couldn't bear to look at them.

Most of the League was here, save for the few members that coveted their secret identity very closely, such as Batman. They were all out of uniform, since M'gann and Connor had decided to only invite the heroes. M'gann had said that while they did have a few friends outside of the League, they wanted all their hero friends to be able to attend as they were, without masks. She watched as Green Arrow, boldly wearing a bright-ass green tux, led Dinah onto the dancefloor. Soon, Superman and his wife followed suit. A few of the younger heroes paired up as well. Everyone was having a great time.

Morgan's eyes traveled across the clearing and found Dick's form. He was doing something on his holographic computer until a gorgeous, golden-skinned woman in a purple dress sidled up to him. Her red hair was like a shower of fire down her back and her eyes blazed like emeralds.

Morgan liked Starfire, she promised she did. But the alien woman had taken an interest in Dick from day one – even while the two of them were still dating. Morgan remembered the mission where they'd run into Starfire for the first time. How the tamaranean hadn't understood their language and had attacked them. And she remembered.. well, she remembered how Starfire had somehow absorbed their language by kissing Dick. Right in front of Morgan. She'd been just about ready to jump on Starfire and rip her pretty hair out when the alien had pulled away and started speaking to them in English, explaining everything.

Since then, it had taken Morgan weeks to warm up even slightly to the other girl, even though Koriand'r had apologized profusely once she had found out Dick had been in a relationship with Morgan. And despite her being perfectly respectful of their relationship, something about the way Starfire looked at Dick just sent Morgan's Jealous Girlfriend Alarm ringing. And true to her suspicions, barely a week had gone by since they breakup, before Koriand'r had started pursuing Dick a little more obviously. She was sure if he'd been single back then, Starfire wouldn't have hesitated to shoot her shot.

Besides, her looks made Morgan feel like a prepubescent boy in comparison. And she knew that comparing herself was wrong, knew it shouldn't matter that Koriand'r looked like a supermodel because that didn't make Morgan any less pretty herself but..

still..

She watched as Koriand'r fluttered her lashes prettily and laughed at something Dick said.

Morgan took a long, deep drag from her champagne.

"How are you doing?" She jumped in surprise, so in her own head she hadn't noticed Artemis slide in next to her. Morgan quickly looked away from the tall, gorgeous pair she was sure she'd been intensely and miserably staring at.

She fixed Artemis with a casual look and took another sip from her drink, her glass finally empty.

"It's a beautiful wedding," she said.

Artemis gave her a knowing half smile but entertained her by looking out across the clearing. "Absolutely. And there are so many happy couples."

Morgan stiffened. Chancing a look sideways at Artemis, she found the other blonde sipping at a colorful cocktail, though her gaze looked far away. Morgan realized that as terrible as she felt, Artemis probably had it even worse. And yet, out of all the people currently gathered, the two of them seemed to be the only ones that could understand how the other felt. That might've been why Artemis had chosen to seek her out.

"It's.. hard to watch," Morgan haltingly admitted, "Isn't it?"

Artemis sighed deeply and took another slow sip of her drink. She nodded thoughtfully.

"Wally and I had – well, we'd talked about it. Marriage, that is." She ventured. Something in her voice was so sorrowful Morgan almost couldn't bear to listen to it. "I know he was looking at rings when he.. when it happened."

Morgan grabbed a second drink from the table next to her, needing the liquid courage to fortify her.

"I'm sorry." cheap words that fell infinitely short. Yet, what else was there to say? "I know being here probably kinda sucks."

Artemis snorted slightly. "It's great to see them so happy, obviously. I love M'gann and Connor. But then on the other hand.."

"It aches inside." Morgan nodded, gulping down half of her drink in one go. By now, she was feeling a pleasant buzz and she decided she needed it to grow stronger. Screw getting chastised by the older League members.

Artemis nodded. "How are you dealing?"

Morgan wondered at her infinite compassion, that she cared about how Morgan was feeling when the love of her life was dead. Morgan just had an ex, that unfortunately was also at the wedding. She chanced a quick look at him and saw him still chatting with Starfire.

She considered Artemis' question. Usually, she brushed people off whenever they attempted to pry. But Artemis was just as vulnerable as Morgan and she wasn't asking from a place of sympathy, but solidarity. Besides, she was slightly drunk and that probably made her less guarded.

"It sucks," Morgan sighed, taking another sip. "It sucks standing on the other side of the room and being unable to go to him."

Artemis considered this and shrugged. She opened her mouth, about to say something more, when a new voice cut through.

"A dance, sweetheart?"

Morgan looked to their other side and found none other than the third Lantern, Guy Gardner.

She snorted out a surprised laugh. Of course, he'd ask her. The two of them had a strange friendship – he flirted relentlessly, and she blew him off constantly, but somehow both intuitively knew it was all fun and games. His casual approach had often made her feel more welcome at the Watchtower, where every other Leaguer seemed so serious and professional. They were.. friends. She supposed.

"Oh, you'd love that, wouldn't you?" She found her first genuine smile of the evening blossoming when he bowed ridiculously low and kissed her hand. She snatched it away quickly.

"Baby, there's nothing I'd love more." He leveled her with a cheeky grin. Morgan rolled her eyes as the wine made her cheeks flush.

Artemis laughed and excused herself. "I'll leave you to it."

"So, that dance?" He pressed further.

Morgan smiled at him but shook her head. "Not a chance in hell, loverboy."

He pouted excessively. "I'm devastated. I've been picking up courage all evening to ask you."

"Yeah right, as if you spend more than two seconds contemplating anything you do."

"You got me there!" he laughed.

Morgan opened her mouth to respond when several things happened all at once.

A deafening boom behind her threw her on her knees and hands. Looking, she saw that a barrier Guy had put up behind them was the only thing that had saved her from being incinerated by a sudden wall of fire. Pain shot up from her left knee, but she forgot about it quickly as she got on her feet.

Deafening booms sounded all around the clearing. One by one, as if on a string, medium-sized explosions went off, until the clearing was surrounded by a wall of fire.

"Look out!" came a voice through the roar of the fire as a bright light above drew their attention.

A missile was heading straight for the party. Morgan gaped in horror at it. From the middle of the clearing, Superman, now wearing his super-suit instead of the black tux he'd worn all day, flew straight towards the missile. He collided with it some three hundred feet away, forcing the large projectile to alter its course upwards. The missile blew up right above them, fragments raining down upon the startled wedding guests.

Then, the loud crackling of the fires surrounding them was the only sound in the clearing, everyone rooted to their spots in shock. Morgan looked around.

All the tables with food and drink were destroyed. The trees were on fire and the speakers were destroyed, now playing a garbled version of the music. Soot and smoke mingled in the air.

The wedding was destroyed.

May 14th

Metropolis

Dick

With a furrowed brow, Dick focused on the data he was looking at on his holographic computer.

Still no sign of any Reach ships. It irked him beyond belief. How could the ship disappear into thin air? It had to be somewhere! They knew it hadn't left Earth – the Watchtower would've picked up on that. So where was it?

He felt like he was going crazy wondering about this. It was a riddle that didn't want to be solved. He adjusted the data-input on his computer slightly and asked it to run another scan, though he already knew it was pointless. He was starting to think the ship had slipped into another dimension.

"Are you seriously working right now?"

Dick quickly swiped the computer away and turned towards Connor, looking appropriately guilty.

"Just.." he shrugged nonchalantly, "checking up on some leads."

Connor crossed his arms over his chest and sent Dick a disapproving look. He sighed.

"Just give me a few more minutes and I'll stop."

"It's my wedding, Dick. You seriously can't take one night off?"

"You're right, you're right." Dick held up his hands in surrender. "I'll stop. I'm sorry."

"Good," Connor's look softened a bit, and he gave Dick a good-humored slap on the back. "You should be having fun! Get a few drinks and dance with a pretty girl."

Unwillingly, Dick's eyes immediately found Morgan across the clearing. She was talking animatedly with M'gann and eating petit fours. She looked lovely in the peach-colored dress she'd bought for the wedding. He remembered it well. She'd asked him all week if they should go shopping together for matching outfits, until he'd told her firmly that he just didn't have the time.

"I'll reuse one of my old suits. I don't have the time to go shopping right now, just go buy whatever damn dress you want, and I'll find some tie to match it with if it's that important to you!"

He cringed at the memory of his harsh words. She had come home to his apartment with her dress and thrown a matching tie right at his face before slamming the bedroom door behind her, not speaking to him for the rest of the evening.

Have fun and dance? He thought. Yeah right.

"I'll pass on the dancing," he mustered up his best laugh. "But that drink sounds good."

Connor eventually left him to go dance with M'gann. Ten minutes later, not without a bit of guilt, Dick pulled up the computer again and kept working. Connor was too enthralled with his blushing bride to notice.

Truthfully, Dick didn't even feel like he had time to be here. He had so much work to do – he didn't feel like he could relax as long as the mystery of that ship was still unsolved. He should be at the Watchtower or at the Batcave running scans and searching for additional clues. He needed to fix this. He didn't have time to have fun and go to weddings! He knew Batman certainly had declined to come, and he was probably sitting in the cave and working on this, while Dick was wasting his time.

As if noticing his own train of thought, Dick halted. He was doing exactly as Bruce would've done – as Batman had trained him.

At the realization, he felt bitterness pool into his stomach.

He'd sworn to himself he wasn't going to be like him. He didn't want to be Batman – he wanted to be his own hero, to be Nightwing. He clenched his jaw. Dick hated when he got like this, like Bruce. When he got so consumed by a case that he couldn't put it away, couldn't relax, couldn't sleep, until it was finished. He hated how sometimes he felt like he was becoming this thing he didn't want to be, this thing he feared.

This person he'd feared since the alien invasion - or earlier still, since the simulation that had gone so horribly wrong. Since he'd made choices he knew only Batman would have approved of, that had almost torn the Team apart.

He wasn't Batman. He wasn't, he wasn't, he wasn't.

"Greetings, Nightwing."

Dick quickly looked up once again, spotting Starfire approaching, wearing a tight, gorgeous dress and an even prettier smile. He felt his guard go down, just as he always did when the beautiful alien talked to him.

"Koriand'r," he smiled at her and shut down his holographic computer for good. "Having fun?"

She flashed him another gorgeous smile, "I'm quite enjoying taking part in this Earth tradition. Although, I suppose with the bride a Martian and the groom half-Kryptonian, it is not much of an Earthen affair."

He let out a chuckle. "I suppose you're right." He looked at the wedded couple in question, slow dancing as they were. Then, he remembered way back when they'd gotten the invitation a year ago. He'd promised Morgan he would teach her how to waltz so they could dance at the wedding.

He took a long sip from his drink, wishing he would stop having all these memories about the ways he'd failed his ex-girlfriend in relation to this wedding.

"Have you had a chance to dance yet?" He asked Koriand'r absentmindedly, dancing on his mind.

She looked demurely at her clasped hands and peeked at him through her eyelashes. "That's what I was hoping to ask about –"

She said something more, but her voice slowly slipped into the background as Dick focused on the scene happening across the clearing.

Guy Gardner was talking to Morgan.

What's that tool trying to pull?

Dick felt his teeth grinding together when the idiot bowed low over Morgan's hand and kissed it. He watched with satisfaction when she snatched it back. Good.

Was he bothering her? Dick wondered if he was going to have to swoop in and tell the guy to back off.

It was an illogical thought. Morgan was more than capable of defending herself, and she'd never been too meek to tell a guy to buzz off if she so desired. Besides, Dick had no claim to her anymore, so if other guys wanted to ask her out, they had every right.

Just not him. He sucked.

Dick felt his hackles rise when he saw that Morgan was smiling at the moron. He had to admit, she looked beautiful in her outfit. The warm tones of the dress and her jewelry made her blonde hair seem golden and the contrast made her gray eyes shine that much brighter. Even her smile, though aimed at an undeserving idiot, seemed bright.

Then, behind them, he noticed something even stranger than Morgan smiling at Guy. At the very edge of the clearing, partly obscured by the shadows of the tree-line, stood a young girl. She looked to be about eight years old, with round cheeks and a healthy tan. Her hair fell in chocolate ringlets, resting neatly upon her flowy garment of purest white. In her hand she held a spool of golden thread, which seemed to be writhing and growing ever longer all on its own. He blinked, and she was gone. Had he imagined her?

"Nightwing?" an uncertain voice drew him back to reality. Koriand'r was looking at him and he realized she must've asked for something he hadn't heard.

"Sorry, what were you saying?"

"I was asking if you would like to da-"

BOOM

A loud explosion cut off her words. Around them, the world erupted in fire, tables and decorations flying everywhere. Dick ducked and covered his head with his arm to protect himself from the debris falling like projectiles.

Superman flashed right by him, and he looked up to see the Kryptonian approach a large missile heading straight for their location. He managed to redirect it into the sky above, where it exploded, showering them in more fiery debris.

His training kicked in and instantly he was all Nightwing. Dick quickly scanned the clearing, looking for anybody in need of help. Luckily, all attendees seemed to have avoided getting badly hurt. He approached a shell-shocked Connor next, who was standing clutching a distraught M'gann. Dick felt a twinge of sympathy for the couple whose dream wedding had just gone up in smoke.

"What happened?" he asked, even though he suspected Connor had as few answers as he did.

"I don't know. It all just.. blew up." Connor sounded far away but blinked and seemed to snap back to reality. M'gann had tears in her eyes. "There was a missile – someone must've known we were going to be here."

Just then, Superman landed and went up to the couple urgently. "Whoever sent that missile might have more coming. I suggest we all get out of here fast before someone gets hurt. I'll stay behind to investigate."

The couple nodded seriously. M'gann let out a small sob.

Superman's face softened a tad and he put a hand on Connor's shoulder. "Are you guys okay?"

Connor looked at M'gann and pulled her closer. "We will be."

"The important thing is nobody got hurt," M'gann added through a sniffle.

By now, all the heroes had gathered close to the couple, a river of sympathetic words raining down on them. Dick's nose tickled from the smoke in the air. Dick saw Morgan, her hair a disheveled mess and her peachy dress dotted with soot. Her left knee was scraped up and bleeding. Still, she looked mostly unscathed, and it made him sigh with relief.

"Everyone!" Connor spoke over the noise. "Is anyone hurt?" People either shook their heads or verbally denied. "Good. We don't know what happened, but clearly, this place isn't safe anymore. The wedding is over. Thank you all so much for being here today, and we'll see you at the Watchtower when we come back from our honeymoon."

People began to disband.

Half an hour later, every last hero had left the ruined clearing. Kaldur and La'gaan had stayed behind to help put out the fires and Dick was helping Superman investigate.

He couldn't stop thinking about the girl he'd seen observing the wedding right before it happened.

Was this like the fire at Arkham? Or the incident at Happy Harbor?

Dick settled in for a long night - he wasn't leaving this clearing until he had answers. He discarded his suit - he had of course been wearing his Nightwing uniform beneath it, and slipped on his mask. Clipping his escrima sticks to their holsters on his back, he opened up his computer and began his search.

May 15th

Gotham City

Morgan

Morgan was tossing and turning in her bed, unable to find any peace of mind. She knew sleep was impossible after the night's events. She couldn't stop thinking about the devastated look on Connor and M'gann's faces, and she felt such fierce sympathy it was almost unbearable.

With a frustrated sigh, she threw off her covers and sat up in bed, looking out into the nothingness of the dark room. It was in the middle of the night by now, but she was antsy and angry, and she couldn't let this go. Getting out of bed, she went to her closet and pulled away the faux back, taking out her Sparrow suit. She was dressed in minutes and approached her window. Looking out, she ensured the streets below were empty before she jumped out, spreading her wings and flying off.

She was going to have a look around that clearing one more time.

/

Silently floating down towards the tree line, Sparrow folded her wings, grabbed hold of a branch, and let the momentum propel her forward. Landing in a crouch some ten feet ahead, she wondered with a small smile if it had looked cool.

Alright focus, you're here to investigate. For M'gann.

She approached the trees she'd stood by when the explosives went off, hoping to find traces of whatever had been used. She was sure someone else had already investigated this, but she needed to do this for her own peace of mind.

There was a hole in the ground from which the blast had clearly come, but aside from scorched earth, Sparrow saw no traces of explosives. There was no debris from potential containers, no visible powders or chemicals.

"Strange," she mumbled.

"I already checked there," came a deadpan voice behind her.

Sparrow jumped about a foot in the air and whirled around, landing in a defensive crouch.

Nightwing raised an unimpressed brow that he'd managed to catch her by surprise.

Great..

She wished she could say she was surprised he was also here, but she honestly would've been more shocked if he hadn't been.

"I trained you better than that," he said.

Morgan straightened and debated on what to say. They hadn't talked in weeks aside from that last time with the Reach ship. She studied his face for a moment but found it mostly relaxed and she felt her guard slip ever so slightly.

She hated this. Hated that they knew each other better than anyone, and yet they were as distant as strangers.

"You also trained me to stay focused on my task," she reminded him, deciding to keep things professional. "What have you found so far?" She hoped that they could still work together as superhero colleagues, despite their past.

Nightwing shrugged. "Nothing much, to be honest. There are holes similar to that one all across the clearing, but none of them have any traces of the explosives." He approached the hole and crouched down next to it, touching a gloved hand to the scorched earth. "I haven't been able to trace any chemical residue either. But I'll have to take a sample back to the Batcave to be sure. Even the debris from the missile seems to have disappeared."

"So, all we know so far is that someone must've planted bombs as a targeted attack towards us, but they used untraceable explosives. Is that even possible, though?"

The air between them was less awkward than it had been since that fateful January fifth. She supposed keeping their focus on superhero work was – easy. Familiar, at least.

Nightwing stood up again. He must've felt less guarded too because he let out a small groan and threw his head back, rubbing the back of his neck with a tired hand. "This is just like the Reach ship. Why do things keep happening and then disappear without a trace?"

"Did you notice anything weird before it happened?" Sparrow pressed. She wanted to know if there was any reason for her to even be here or if she was just wasting her time. "Or anyone – Oh."

She'd noticed something. Something strange, but familiar. There, hidden in the thick of the trees was a strange, pulsating, white light.

"Alright, this time you're following me so you can see I wasn't just making shit up." She walked past Nightwing and was just about to grab hold of his arm to drag him along, but she managed to squash down the instinct before she did it.

He obediently followed her. A second later he also noticed the light.

"What the.."

They rounded a particularly large oak and halted as the strange fog lay before them. Just as before, it was composed of many colors writhing together, the fog shimmering and pulsating with light.

Nightwing studied it for a moment in astonished silence before he pulled up his computer and started recording the phenomenon, running several scans.

Sparrow edged around it, glad that someone else was witnessing it this time, but also worried that this was the second one she'd encountered in roughly as many weeks. "I told you I wasn't making stuff up."

"I know," Nightwing admitted. "I had Zatanna check it out for me that same day. She detected magical traces. Besides, I saw something similar on the footage from Arkham."

He halted and put his arm with the holographic computer down. "I can't believe I forgot about that." He let out a single, surprised laugh. "I saw a child – a girl – hiding right here before the explosives went off! She wore a Grecian-looking outfit too!"

"Do you think she's the third Fate? Clotho?"

He looked surprised that she knew the name.

She shrugged, "Obviously, I looked it up."

"It seems like it." Nightwing sounded thoughtful. "The girl was carrying some kind of spool with golden thread. It seemed.. alive, somehow. Or like it was growing."

"Golden thread?" Sparrow repeated. As soon as he mentioned it she had noticed the very same lying on the ground right by her feet. It wasn't a large piece of thread, but it was glowing a pretty, shimmering gold, begging her to pick it up.

"Like this?" It was emitting its own glow, like it was spun of pure gold and sunshine. Before she could contemplate whether it was a bad idea or not, she picked up the thread with her gloved hand, holding it out for him to see.

Immediately, it sprang to life. She left out a surprised shout as it snaked up her arm, lightning fast, and towards her face. For a moment, her vision turned completely gold, and she realized the thread had somehow liquefied and entered her eyes.

"Morgan!" She could feel Dick grab hold of her upper arm, but all she could see was gold. She felt something powerful crackling beneath her skin, like an electrical current.

Fumbling without her vision, she managed to find his wrist with shaking fingers, grasping onto him for dear life. She heard Dick let out a pained gasp before a loud ringing in her ears and a buzz running across her entire body made her stumble sideways. Only moments later, the golden film across her vision subsided, and she found herself standing in the middle of the strange fog. She had pulled Dick with her and the two of them stood in shock for a moment, the mist enveloping their lower bodies. For a second, it didn't react to their presence. Then, the fog started writhing violently about itself, moving quicker and quicker around them like a hundred angry snakes. It sparked with power and Morgan realized with terror that the ground was starting to give way below them. The mist rose, surrounding them fully, pulling angrily at them and ripping them apart, like a powerful maelstrom.

"Dick!" Morgan cried, just as he called out to her as well.

"Morgan!"

They found each other in the tumult, grasping tightly onto the other as the fog surrounding them started to collapse in on itself. For a second, everything halted as her vision flooded with gold once more, and her ears started ringing as if someone had struck a mighty tuning fork. She felt a loss of equilibrium, her knees colliding harshly with the ground before the rest of her body followed. She lay for a moment as the ringing in her ears drifted away. Her vision slowly returned to her, though the gold never fully subsided, lurking in the corners of her vision like she was watching the world through an ornate picture frame.

Beside her, Dick was slowly sitting up, pressing a hand to his forehead, and squeezing his eyes shut as if to clear a disoriented mind.

Morgan rolled onto her side and rose onto her elbow, blinking rapidly in a vain attempt to get rid of the gold disturbing her vision. She sat up and rubbed her eyes. Giving up on her attempts, she looked around instead. Dick was already on his feet and offering her a hand up. Hesitating for a moment, she eventually accepted it and let him pull her onto her feet.

As far as she could tell, they were in the same spot they'd been in before the fog had attacked them. It was still dark, though the night sky was illuminated by Metropolis, the city just out of view behind the thick trees. And yet, everything looked different in subtle ways. It was the same but.. wrong. A sense of foreboding settled heavily on her mind. She walked towards the edge of the forest, jumping onto a big rock that allowed her a clearer view of the city beyond. A gasp left her lips at what she saw.

Metropolis was destroyed, the city only a shell of what it had once been. The light that had been illuminating the sky was not streetlights, but flames.

Dick jumped up onto the rock beside her and instantly bit out a shocked exclamation.

"What do you think happened?" She felt breathless, looking at the devastation.

His mouth was open in shock, but words never came as noise from the sky made him look up.

"Get down!" he cried, grabbing onto her wrist and dragging her with him underneath the thick canopy of the trees.

Morgan allowed him to press her close to the tree behind her, feeling the rough bark beneath her fingers. She followed his gaze and saw what had frightened him. Her mouth dropped open and her heart immediately started pounding in her chest.

Above, an entire armada of Reach Ships was passing by.

Morgan turned wide eyes onto Dick, who sat crouching beside her. He was staring the ships down with a concentrated glare, his body taut.

"Dick," she said, feeling a terrible cocktail of adrenaline and fear settle in her stomach as the reality of their situation dawned on her. "When are we?"

Im so excited to finally get the plot rolling. Since chapter 2 was basically me setting up plots and arcs at a break-neck speed, it feels good to slow down and have an entire chapter just covering a single day!

Fun fact - the arc we're entering now was actually not initially part of the story. But as I was writing, I realized I was doing a whole lot of telling, when I should've been showing instead. And the more I wrote, the less satisfied I felt about the way I was allowing the plot to unfold, and the more I realized how necessary this part was. So I did a pretty extensive rewrite and watched as all the stuff I had been struggled with started melting away. It felt like I had been trying to build a house, but had forgotten a load-bearing pillar, and once I added that pillar, the rest of the house just settled into place.

And now I honestly couldn't imagine the story without this upcoming arc. Like I can't stress enough how important these next several chapters end up being for the themes, the character arcs, the emotional stakes etc. And they're also just super solid chapters! It might actually be my favorite part of the story (not that it's just downhill from there, but if we're talking sort of self-contained miniarcs, then this is just a great arc and it was so much fun writing too!)

Anyway, let me know what you think! I know reviewing isn't as 'in vogue' as it was ten years ago, but reviews are honestly just so encouraging to me because I genuinely love to hear what you guys think. I've spent so long writing on this story without getting any feedback since I wasn't publishing my writing, so now I'm really itching for some interaction with my readers!