"Are you sure you can fix that?" M'gann asked incredulously as she looked up at Superboy who himself stood on a ladder in the middle of the living room.
The overhead light fixture in the room no longer worked and though the rest of the house had electricity they couldn't figure out how to make the room's lighting turn on. The light fixture itself had been taken down and hung in one of Conner's hands while he tweaked the wiring with the other, his blue gaze fixed intently on the copper wires and black electricians tape sticking out of the ceiling. "Sphere speed-taught me how to fix motorcycles in a few weeks, I think I can handle this."
A fizzing noise and a blue spark suddenly illuminated the room. Conner dropped the light fixture on instinct and without thinking M'gann reached up, keeping it aloft. She looked at the fixture then back to Conner. Her black and orange eyes were narrowed slightly but the ridges of her brows were faintly angled upwards, showing that while she was still dubious about his attempt at fixing the light she was also slightly amused.
At first Conner had been wholly unable to read her Martian emotions but he made a point of looking at her every chance he got and he was getting good at parsing through her non-verbal expressions.
"Thanks for the assist," Conner offered with a grateful smile. The ladder was tall enough to let them meet eye-to-eye and he found himself enraptured by the odd but pleasant coloration of her gaze. After what felt like a lifetime happily drowning in her eyes he forced himself to look away, tilting his head up and staring at the wire-filled hole in the ceiling. "I hope I didn't blow the power in the whole house."
M'gann gave a huff of amusement. "If you did I don't think it matters much. You can't really make this place much worse."
As if in agreement a strip of faded green wallpaper fell off the wall to their right.
The pair watched as the dingy scrap of wallpaper draped over a dusty chair and almost simultaneously they began to laugh.
Conner so very rarely ever truly laughed but when he did it was boisterous and full, a stark contrast to his personality all around, while M'gann's Martian laughter was somewhere between a chirp and a chitter. For the first time since they had arrived her laugh was exactly as it was supposed to sound with no crackling or wheezing or scratchiness to be heard.
Though she had come a long way since Perfection's assault there was no doubt she was healing.
Conner couldn't help but stare again at her as she expressed her joy. There had been little enough of it since they had started living there. He could have listened to her laugh forever but the moment she realized the sound was coming from her throat and not the mind-link she stopped.
"I could use a break," he announced before she could move away as she usually did when that dark shadow of White Martian realization washed over her. He took the light fixture from her hands and balanced it on top of the ladder, then hopped down and brushed the dust from the ceiling out of his dark hair. "It's lunch time anyway."
His refusal to let her dwell in her morose seemed to disrupt the coming gloom, at least sufficiently enough that she didn't walk off to commune with her tortured emotions. "I'll get the coffee going," she offered with a slight upward crinkle at the edges of her lozenge-shaped eyes – Martian smiling.
It was a small, wan smile Conner knew, but a smile nonetheless and too made him smile as well. "Sounds good. I'll try to clean up so we're not eating dust–"
The rest of the words froze in his throat. His smile faded as he suddenly looked towards the front door. Ease and happiness melted out of him and he tensed, the muscles of his biceps and shoulders tightening visibly beneath his black S-symbol shirt.
Wolf lifted his head as well, a low, dangerous growl starting in his throat.
"Conner?" M'gann asked lowly through the mental link.
The Boy of Steel's gaze remained fixed on the door. "Get ready for trouble. Someone's coming."
0000
The black and blue bike sped down the lonely road as if it knew where it was headed. While it could have been a passerby who had lost their way, out here, Conner thought that next to impossible. They were too far away from the main road, the house itself was three miles out of town and the entry to the long driveway was a blink-and-you'll-miss-it sort of affair.
No, someone had intentionally come looking for them.
The bike stopped in the gravel driveway and the rider hopped off confidently. The rider was certainly a male and wore a black motorcycle helmet with a blue strip running doing down the middle, a black leather riding jacket, black gloves, black pants and tough black boots. A thick brown messenger bag hung at his side, the strap crossed over his chest.
A sense of familiarity twitched somewhere in the back of Conner's mind but if it was good familiar or bad familiar Conner couldn't tell which made him all the more tense.
As the rider began to approach the house, his helmet still on, Conner decided he didn't want to wait to find out. With a yell the Boy of Steel leaped from the eaves of the house and landed solidly in front of the rider. Gravel and dust spewed up at his hard landing and left two footprints sized craters five inches deep in the driveway. He reached out to grab the rider but the man nimbly flipped backwards out of Conner's reach and landed expertly on his feet.
Definity not a lost stranger.
"Who are you?!" Superboy demanded.
Narrowing his eyes, he set his jaw stubbornly and prepared to throw himself at the stranger until a familiar mischievous laughter echoed from out of the helmet. "You know a 'hi' would have sufficed," the rider said in a voice that Conner knew all too well.
"Robin!" Superboy shouted, his tension melting into elation as he recognized his friend and teammate.
"The one and only," Robin replied with another laugh. "I'm glad it was me who came up that drive and not some lost family on vacation or something. You would've scared them half to death."
Superboy flinched inwardly, ashamed at letting his anger and rashness get the better of him. He had only meant to stay alert and unseen but as the bike parked he hadn't been able to take it anymore. M'gann had no powers at the moment and the thought of her having to face some sort of assassin had pushed him into action. "Sorry about that. I thought you might have been an assassin or something. No one's come up that road since Green Arrow and Black Canary escorted us here."
"I get it," the Boy Wonder replied understandingly. "Really I do. After the whole Bialya thing I didn't sleep for a week. I kept looking over my shoulder thinking some assassin was spying on me from a rooftop somewhere. I think we're all living with the tension of the Light knowing most of our secrets, but Batman hid us well. You two have been the only ones I've managed to find so far."
The mention of Batman made Conner arch a brow. "Speaking of Batman, I thought he told us no contact?"
"He did, but me and him we've… come to some irreconcilable differences." Robin frowned. "He shouldn't have broken the team up. I shouldn't have let him. But he's gotten even more stubborn than usual. We did a lot of good work. One mission shouldn't have sent us scurrying to ground all because of some secrets getting revealed. I guess that was the final straw for me. I uh… quit."
A troubled frown crossed Conner's face. "Being a hero?"
"No. Nothing like that." The Boy Wonder shook his head. "It's just that I think he still sees me as some lost ten-year-old kid fresh from Haley's Circus most days. So I've decided to cut my losses, move on, and find out the kind of hero I am outside of Batman's influences and rules." He reached up and pulled off the motorcycle helmet, revealing his full face for the first time, his visage cheered by a bright smile. "And the name's Dick."
The Boy of Steel couldn't help but smile in return. "Really is no coming back from breaking Batman's secret identity rule, huh?"
"And good riddance. I always hated those glasses. How was I fooling a mind reader about my identity anyway? The only thing that saved me was that M'gann was too polite not to peek." He canted his head faintly to the right as if a thought had suddenly struck him. "Speaking of, how is she, Conner?"
Superboy's shoulder's twitched in a shrug. "Still coming to terms with her healing." He paused a moment as he received a mental communication. "But she says hello."
"Hey Miss M." Dick smiled faintly but it vanished almost as quickly as it appeared. "She… she knows we didn't mean what we said, in Bialya, right? We thought she was a bad guy."
"She…," Superboy struggled to find the words but nothing that seemed right came to him. How could he explain everything that M'gann felt? He couldn't, and with a sigh he finally gave up. "It's complicated," He said at last. "She knows you didn't mean it. She misses the team, but what happened that night sort of just confirmed everything she thought about herself."
"Well if anyone is helping her through it I'm glad it's you."
Conner blinked in surprise. "Meaning what exactly?"
Dick rolled his eyes. "C'mon Conner. We knew. I mean, Wally didn't but the rest of us did. After a while I think you two just stopped caring there were cameras around the place."
Memories of their time in the cave flashed through Superboy's mind. Those had been days he would never forget, hours simply being near her, listening to her talk about her favorite shows, helping her bake, and a thousand other memories all surged forth and with them the fact that at some point when they had been alone they had just not thought about the cameras.
Conner rubbed the back of his neck almost apologetically. Many times they had forgotten the cave was a secret hero lair. It had become home and they'd grown very easy showing their affection when they were alone. "We thought we needed to keep it secret at the time. Thanks for not saying anything."
"What are friends for?" Dick replied with a nearly mischievous laugh. "Besides if not for you two I probably wouldn't have had the courage to ask Z out when I did so I owe you big time." The topic of relationships made a brief look of concern flicker across his face. "It's not too awkward between you and her is it? Batman didn't know, at least I don't think he did when he assigned you two to this place, but she is your ex and everything."
A smile twitched at the corners of Conner's lips. He thought he could hide it but the attempt failed miserably as M'gann filled his thoughts. The words "I love you" from those few precious weeks before kept ringing in his ears. "Ex, ex now," he revealed, unable to keep the contentment from his voice. Though once he might have shied away from admitting it for their relationship's sake, now that Dick admitted the team had known and now that he had M'gann again he wasn't going to hide what didn't need to be hidden.
He sensed surprise then a ripple of timid approval run through the link he shared with M'gann. It did feel good to say it out loud and she liked it too.
"You two are back together?" Dick asked, pleased but surprised.
Conner nodded. "Yeah. We're figuring it out."
"Well, if you're already in figuring-it-out mode…." Dick paused and tugged the strap to the satchel across his chest. "How about the case too? Are you still working on the whole Perfection thing?"
"Trying to, yeah, but we haven't had much luck."
Dick unzipped the satchel and pulled out a hefty manila folder from within "I figured. I'm working on it myself. After I leave here I'm going to be following up on some leads in Metropolis. Perfection hasn't been seen since that night in Bialya. Watchtower sensors showed that Red Tornado's attack on her didn't keep her down for long, but two days ago there was a break in at a lab in Canada stealing bits of an experimental alloy that might be compatible with Amazo's metal. I'm still a bit sketchy on the details but everything I know is in here and hopefully it'll give us a clue as to what Perfection is up to, and once we find out where she is I plan to take the fight to her."
"Do we have a way to stop her?" Conner asked as he took the thick packet.
Dick clicked his tongue. "That parts a work in progress, but hey I've got time. I'm still figuring out this not-Robin-anymore thing and I've still gotta find Wally, Artemis, Z, and Kaldur besides."
"Kaldur should be the easiest to find. Have you checked the bottom of the ocean?" Conner joked.
"It did cross my mind but I can't exactly reach him at the moment." Dick spread his arms expansively. "You're looking at all I got. I left nearly everything in the Batcave. It's just me and the bike so no more expensive bat-toys."
Superboy jerked a thumb over his shoulder. "If you need a place to stay you're always welcome here. Why don't you come inside, M'gann just finished brewing a pot of coffee."
Dick scratched his temple uncertainty. "Given the circumstances you sure Miss M would be okay with that?"
"She's the one who offered," Conner revealed with a smile.
Dick laughed at that. "I should've known! Same old M'gann. I'd love to, Miss M but I gotta go, Metropolis isn't getting any closer."
"Take care of yourself Rob- Dick," Superboy corrected.
The former Boy Wonder gave him a carefree wink. "You too, Superboy and you too Miss M," he said as he pulled back on his helmet and hopped on the bike. "Oh I almost forgot." He fished out a round, almost archaic communicator from his satchel and tossed it in Conner's direction. "If you two make a break-through call me. I'll stay in touch too. Hopefully the next time I see you both you're ready for round two with Perfection."
In a few moments the bike's tires spat gravel and sped off the way it had come, leaving Conner with the communicator, a thick file, and a renewed hope.
"It's going to be strange not calling him Robin anymore," M'gann said through the link. "I hope he'll find everything that he's seeking."
Conner nodded though he knew M'gann couldn't see it. "He'll be alright," he replied steadily as he headed for the house. "He's always landed on his feet before. It's about time he got from under Batman's cape. Something had to change eventually."
"Seems like we've been getting a lot of that lately," M'gann commented thoughtfully.
"Operation Android changed us all," Conner agreed. "But we're still who we are at our core. You didn't even hesitate to offer him a place to stay. That took a lot, I know."
Conner entered the house and M'gann offered him a steaming cup of coffee. Her bi-fingered hand brushed his as she gave a verbal huff. "No it didn't. It would've been selfish and wrong to refuse him a place to stay. He's our friend and even if he wasn't we couldn't turn away someone who needed help."
"I thought you said all White Martians were selfish." He smirked at her as he took a seat and sat the file and communicator on the table. "You didn't even think about it."
M'gann huffed again. "I'm still me, Conner."
"I wish you'd see that how I see it."
Her scalloped shoulders lifted faintly in a shrug. "Maybe one day," she conceded, but didn't sound hopeful.
Before Conner could offer a retort, her tall alien form drifted to his left and she loomed over his shoulder. She reached from behind and flipped open the packet the former Boy Wonder had given them. "Looks like Dick got more than just a little information. He's a great detective in his own right. Should we get to work?"
"Pull up a chair," Conner offer, slanting the packet at an angle so they both could look at it. "Let's see what we've got."
0000
Kaldur stood at ease as he watched the last of the crates from Canada be wheeled into the massive under-water ship called the Manta Ray, Black Manta's submarine fortress. His eyes betrayed no emotion as the men in their black scuba-suits lifted the crate from the trolley and set it before his father.
The Black Manta unsheathed a large knife he kept on his thigh, stabbed it into the gap between box and lid, and with an easy strength pried them apart. The lid went clattering revealing thick, long ingots of the experimental alloy shining beneath the harsh lights of the Manta Ray's loading bay.
Black Manta reached down, stroking the rich red and silver alloy. "Excellent, my son. You have proven yourself a masterful thief."
"Very few building materials can withstand the strength of your manta-beams, father." Kaldur tipped his chin to the manta helm tucked under his left arm.
A pleased smile crossed Black Manta's normally stern face. "You are much too modest. With my viciousness and your Atlantean training you will one day rule the seven seas by my side."
"It is my honor to help you take the throne from that scrap of seaweed, Aquaman." Kaldur bowed.
Black Manta walked from around the crate and put a strong hand on his son's shoulder. "Indeed but today is not that day. We must sail the storms that we call our enemies a little while longer. In the meantime, I have a gift for you, my son."
Kaldur arched a brow, saying nothing.
"You will one day be my general, son, my right hand Atlantean. But a general is nothing without an army to lead." He backed away from Kaldur, beckoning the prodigal to follow.
The two of them slipped silently down a wide metal hallway, closed hatches on either side of them, with a large hatch at the end of the hall. "It did not escape my notice that you acquitted yourself admirably as leader of your former team," Black Manta continued as they walked slowly down the deserted hall. "That leadership will be indispensable for what the Light has in store for you next."
"Which is what, may I ask?" Kaldur kept his intense gaze steady, showing not a hint of the sudden anxiety he felt wellspring inside him.
Black Manta reached the door at the end of the hall. He gripped the large round wheel in the center and with a forceful grunt pushed it open revealing the faces of Mammoth, Shimmer, Psymon, and Icicle Junior. "You will know when the time comes, Kaldur. Until then bask in your abilities as a leader of men and revel in this a gift – another team which you shall lead, this time to victory."
He looked back at Kaldur, his smile one of vicious pride. "The Light has dubbed you all the Fatal Five."
0000
Conner flipped the intelligence packet closed and sighed. He dusted the sand off the manilla cover and placed it on top of a sunny rock. After three hours inside unable to make heads or tails of the information they had ended up outside, hoping the cool air and the sun would clear their heads, but it hadn't worked.
"So this Black Menace took every scrap of alloy the research facility had," M'gann said thoughtfully for the dozenth time as she paced across the sand.
Conner would have smiled at seeing her out in the sun if his mind hadn't felt so much like mush. Once they had gone out the house that night and she saw no one came close to the cove, she had started going out in the sunshine more, revealing in the outdoors like she used to.
He could have said something but it wouldn't have been anything he hadn't already voiced. The only thing they did know for sure was that all the alloy had been stolen. And that was where the facts stopped and their speculation began.
"But what's the point?" she continued on, fully engrossed in the mystery. "They don't have the know-how to properly remake Amazo, that much we know, else they wouldn't have melded the parts with Tiffany. So if they don't have the full Amazo schematics they would just be building shells at that point and probably not good ones, either."
Conner gave a shrug that morphed into a stretch. "Killer robot army?"
"Seems like that would be Toyman's kind of thing, not the Lights," M'gann countered. She paced back and forth a few more times then a groan of frustration echoed over the mental link. "I feel like the answer is right there. Alloy that can be used as substitutes for another Amazo. An Amazo that's back online but is stuck to Tiffany. What are we missing?!"
"Perfection, the alloys, and a lot of conspiracy," Conner replied wryly then shook his head, banishing the unpleasant from his mind. "Let's come back and look at this with fresh eyes tomorrow," he offered. "It's getting late, sun's starting to go down."
M'gann continued to pace.
"M'gann?" Humor filled the mind link. "You listening?"
"Hm?"
He grinned. "I'll take that as a no."
"Sorry, I'm just…" She sighed. "What Dick said today really made me think. Round two with Perfection. She caught us all off-guard last time. I just want to be prepared. If we can understand the Light's plans maybe we can stop her."
"And you wearing a furrow into the sand is going to help?" Conner arched a brow.
M'gann stumbled to a stop and looked down. She had created a straight trough through the sand and was actually standing lower than the rest of the beach around her.
Sighing once more, she slowly spun to face him. "I just want to be ready," she replied. "Last time we barely made it out of Bialya alive." Trepidation wavered across their mental-link. "I don't want that to happen again."
"Believe me, I know," Conner said grimly. "If it wasn't for the mental-link's spark I would have thought you were dead. I don't ever want to relive something like that again."
"Then how do we prevent it?"
He shrugged. "We just do our best. Caution is one thing, so is wanting to be prepared but being worried isn't going to help and wracking your brain all night isn't going to help either."
"Well what do you suggest I do?"
"Just sit here maybe," he offered. "And try to take your mind off Perfection for a little while."
M'gann gave an audible chitter of frustration but pulled herself out of the sand-trough and lumbered over to join him. She plonked down to his right and pulled her spindly legs up to her chest. The fading sun bathed their bodies in the soft glows of an autumn evening, but with Perfection on her mind the majesty of the day was utterly lost on her. "I don't think anything is going to be able get my mind off this case."
"I can think of one thing." He looked at her steadily as he asked, "How do Martian's kiss?"
M'gann's eyes widened. She blinked a dozen times as if her brain was in the process of trying to digest the unexpected question while simultaneously chasing every other question away. "Well, I stand corrected."
"Do I get an answer?" he asked with a grin.
Had M'gann been in her human form heat would have risen to her face, but in her Martian form all she could do was look around flustered, trying to lock eyes on anything and everything but him. "Why? You were just trying to shock me and it worked."
"I wouldn't do that to you," he replied in that low gruff-growl of a voice he had. "I want to know how to kiss you again."
The self-hating part of M'gann spat at her not to indulge him, but she found that even as she was, she didn't want to leave the question unanswered. A bigger part of herself ached for the togetherness they had once shared. "It's uh not exactly exciting. Very uninteresting and droll. Why would you even want to know…." She laughed nervously, not able dismiss the question but not able to answer it confidently either.
"My girlfriend is from Mars, believe it or not," he chuckled. "And watching her pace for the last hour I realized I hadn't kissed her in over two months. I miss it."
"I… miss it too," she admitted as her inner hatred dimmed and her want to be close to him again brightened.
"So…?"
M'gann blew a sigh and turned back to face him. "I've never done it in this form," she admitted. "It's not like Earth kissing. We sort of just… well let me show you." She carefully leaned down and pressed her forehead to his.
Conner felt an expanse in their link. The same feelings he had when he they were making out enveloped him warmly. Kissing for a Martian was just the touching of brows and the intent of it which sparked the emotion.
Conner's struggled to mirror her. He poured his emotions for how he felt kissing her into their link, but it felt so new and strange, just like the first time they had kissed. It was unpleasant, just strange.
"That was good for your first try," M'gann said somehow breathlessly as she finally pulled away from him. "For me, it felt just the same as when we were in the cave."
Conner's blood raced. He ran his tongue over his teeth and though he couldn't really feel the warmth of her mouth on his, she was right, the other sensations he felt when kissing her were all still there. Hell, he almost felt as if he could feel her lingering touch on his mouth and he could definitely taste her on his tongue. "It wasn't quite the same for me, but it was strong. Felt like my mind almost had it right but was still trying to figure out the new feel of it. Guess we can only get better with practice, right?"
M'gann murred in agreement, the sound somewhere between a chirp and a sweet growl, and pressed her brow back to his. It was a more intense feeling now and he grappled it better, returning his own. He definitely felt the press of her mouth this time, even though it wasn't physically happening.
He could have lost himself in their mental link for hours but something queer caught the corner of his eye. He regretfully pulled away from her touch and looked towards the rock where he had set the folder only to find it floating in midair.
The packet hung suspended for a moment then he sensed M'gann's attention on it. A pulse of telekinetic power ran parallel to their link as she sent out her mind to grasp the object. Her black and orange eyes focused on the levitating documents and slowly they drifted back down to the rock. Her ridged brow crinkled somewhat as she let go of the concentration she had used to lower the packet.
Conner didn't need to ask her her thoughts to realize what she was thinking, they were the same as his own – slowly but surely she was healing.
M'gann looked back at him, her face one of indecision. "Should we… address that?" she asked at last, but her tone suggested that was the last thing she wanted to do.
Conner chuckled as he leaned forward and pressed his brow to hers once more. The sensation of her kissing him filled his senses and he felt her melt against the sensations he sent back in return. "Tomorrow."
0000
"Thank you for taking the time to speak with me, Robin," J'onn said pleasantly as he stood at the top of a fifty-story building located in the heart of Metropolis's business district.
"It's just Dick for now," the former Boy Wonder said as he stepped out from behind the steamy gloom of a huge heating unit. He was dressed as he had been when visiting Conner and M'gann but he had put on one of his old masks for securities sake. One never knew who could be watching. "And a deal's a deal. You got me the files. We get to have a chat."
"I'll try to keep it brief. I sense you have more than just business with me in this city," he commented observantly.
Dick huffed in amusement. "I hope you didn't read my mind to find that out, but yeah, I've got a few people to meet in this town. That's between me and them, though. No offense but I'm not exactly on too trusting terms with any Justice Leaguers right now, especially after no one spoke up about Batman dismantling our team."
"Understandable," J'onn replied in his same monotone way. "But if it makes you feel any better Batman doesn't know I'm here or meeting with you."
A ghost of a smirk twitched on Dick's lips. "It does kind of. Glad to know I'm not the only one skulking around. So what did you wanna know?"
"Something not quite expected, but relevant to an on-going investigation of mine. When did you start hiding the video recordings of Conner and M'gann?"
If Dick was surprised he didn't show it. "It's a little too late to start wondering about that isn't it?" They were both adults now the ship had sailed in regards to trying to keep the pair apart.
"Yes and no," J'onn replied.
Dick studied him for a heartbeat then heaved a shrug. "Alright, well it was a few weeks after it started happening. Batman always taught me to go through security footage every night with my own two eyes, that's how I caught it first."
"That's the problem, I fear. You didn't catch it first," J'onn explained. The reason Red Tornado never noticed was because someone went back and scrubbed after you yourself had done it. Someone knew where to look already and waited until after you had done it to try and make sure it wouldn't ever be found. Doing such a thing, especially remotely, isn't perfect, however, up until a few week ago it didn't need to be."
That did rock the former Boy Wonder. "I never thought to go back and examine what I'd already cleaned up. I didn't think… Do you think it was Bruce?"
"You tell me. You know Batman better than almost anyone," J'onn replied.
Dick huffed. "That's not saying much." He couched his chin on a fist. "Why would he do that?"
"So you had no idea about any of it?"
"Any of what?"
J'onn made a curious hmm sound. "There was no accomplice then," he ruminated aloud.
The former Boy Wonder crossed his arms. "You sniff a conspiracy?"
J'onn frowned. "I am afraid so."
"I'm not surprised," huffed Dick. "And equally as unsurprised that he didn't let me know. Partners against crime, yeah right. He let me in on things only when it suited him."
"Is that what caused the rift, if I may ask?"
Dick nodded grimly. "Bialya was the last straw. The night he gathered us for the debriefing he told us that a one Silas Stone had uncovered the forged Amazo pieces. Which was all true, but he failed to mention what tipped Silas off in the first place. During my investigation I had a talk with Dr. Stone. He said someone had tipped him off to go check out the Amazo parts and only then did he get into contact with Batman. Batman knew that and didn't tell us."
"So who told Silas?" pondered J'onn.
"I searched the Batcomputer for records of what Batman knew and didn't know. Batman had a ton of encrypted files on the matter, but me and Barbara managed to crack 'em in about a week. Batman figured out who had leaked the information, someone who's been using go-betweens to feed Batman information for years." A scowl thundered across his face. "Red X."
J'onn searched his memory for what he knew about the name but there was little enough he had heard, most of it the occasional comment from Superman. "They are a vigilante here in Metropolis, aren't they? Very outspoken against Luthor."
"They're no vigilante," growled Dick. "Just a criminal with a serious hatred for Lex Luthor."
"The enemy of my enemy as the saying goes." J'onn shrugged.
Dick shook his head. "Not with Red X."
"You and this Red X have a rivalry?" J'onn queried.
Dick neared the edge of the building and looked down at the flowing traffic below. The wind whipped at his leather jacket as he thrust his hands deep into the pockets. "Something like that. They've always been one step ahead of me. I always thought it was because they were just… better. Now I wonder if it was my own boss keeping them in the know so that they could run around the city and keep an ear to the ground. Regardless, I intend to end it. I'll be bringing Red X to justice and getting some long-needed answers of my own. I just need Batman to stay out of my way."
J'onn pondered the situation and frowned grimly against the darkness of the night. "You will have that opportunity sooner than you think. My investigation is nearly at its end. Batman will be otherwise engaged as he will have much to answer for."