Fan Fiction ❯ Nightwing: A Dark Beginning ❯ The Journey Continues ( Chapter 12 )

Wait a minute. A chapter update only a month after the last one? WHO AM I AND WHAT HAVE I DONE WITH MYSELF!? . . . . . . . . ahem, right. Getting back to the point, if I had one, this is the part of the chapter where I respond to my reviewers. As always I start off with the ones from Media Miner. First off, I'd just like to protest the management of MM for lumping Teen Titans into the “Non-Anime” category. It means we'll never be able to find decent TT fics ever again. I hate you all and will send my own personal army of Nightwings to punish you. Moving on. Let's get the ball rolling with lyncea; a movie you say . . . . . hmmmm. I could see this turning into a movie, provided the right people were cast of course. I'd definitely be either Rich or Jax, not sure which because they're both modeled after me and my dark side. I'm glad you liked the reveal part. It took a while to come up with just the right way to do it. Don't worry, Rich will come back (sometime) and things will work out (maybe). I plan on playing the darkness card for a few more chapters to come. Keep reading and I hope you enjoy this next chapter. Next was kalinchan; I'm pleased that you too enjoyed the reveal scene and the results of it all. I hope to keep you on your toes for a while too. That's all from MM, next comes Fan Fiction. Leading off is kylefighter1; sorry but Nightwing isn't getting stronger than Rich. Rich has given up the will to live sort of. It means that he's gone to live forever in darkness while Nightwing is free to do whatever he wants. Also, the final battle with Blood is far off man. That would essentially leave me no villains to fight and would end the story. Not a chance. Next was Scotty Boi; yeah I know it took forever but I'm back. I'm glad you liked how the chapter turned out. The Desperado; it seems that you liked my work there. It is indeed the ultimate powder keg, but is it wet dynamite or dry is the true question. Lady of Faerie; umm, glad you enjoyed it. Hope you like this one too. Please don't kill me. Empyreal Melody; holy crap that first word is in my spell check! Learn something new everyday. I'm glad you like the Rich/Nightwing drama. The willingness to do anything including going to Hell is always something I like to toy with. Shows true devotion and that you have the character to do anything you set your mind to. Enjoy. KenshinGal128; it loves you too. Dlsky; yet another long review, I like those. I worked hard on the reveal portion of that chapter. It took me a while just to write such a simple scene really. I have to agree with some of the things you pointed out, which you may see more off in this chapter. You thought I'd have Nightwing kill himself? You must be crazy. Torturing a soul is so much more fulfilling than claiming one. Keep reading to see the torment I'll put him through. ChErRyBlOsSoMs-FlOwErOfDeAtH; I hate trying to type your name. You did that to spite me didn't you? Here's your update, but begging won't work again. Ssgohan79; . . . . . . . . . . you disgust me. You sent me a review for each chapter on the same day telling me you liked it and to update soon. You suck. That's 11 notices all from the same person. You may review each chapter, but not like that. If you're trying to get into the ranks of the others who have been here since the beginning and replying to each chapter, that's not the way to do it. Keep reading and reviewing, but don't do something like that again. If you do, Lady of Faerie will be paying you a visit. Kokuryu; of course she was gonna take it hard. And if you were Rich and just had your ass kicked by your girlfriend and told she wished you were dead wouldn't you take it hard? I wouldn't but that's just me. Lastly we come to Kami-elf; I'm glad you like the story. Nightwing getting Azaran powers? No way in Hell. Sorry but it's not gonna happen. Please keep reading though.

 

Well that does it. Now onto the next sphincter tightening adventure. (bonus points for whoever can tell me where I got that from) Also, I'm looking for an artist or several of you to help me get some drawings of Nightwing and Red X. I've had a few requests for them but I can't draw to save my life. I'm also looking for some for my Inuyasha fic so just tell me if you're interested and we'll see if we can't work something out. You'll get full credit for doing the drawing and a walk-on roll in the next chapter of the story. Hope to hear from a few of you. Now, without further ado . . . . . . . . . .

 

Disclaimer: (as they tighten the restraints on the straight-jacket) I'm telling ya, I do own the Teen Titans. I paid for them with magic beans!!!!!

 

Chapter 12

 

Cigarette and cigar smoke permeated the air of the large room. The smell of cheap alcohol abounded. The steady thumping of bass rich music echoed off the walls along with the shouts and whistles of the patrons. The scantily clad or completely nude women dancing throughout the establishment paid no attention to them, unless of course they were holding out money to them. Of course, a few extra bills got you some quality alone time in the back. It was just another typical night in the Cat Call Club; the keyword being `was'.

The evening was shattered when a dull roaring was heard from outside the heavy wooden doors. The customers and employees, if they could be called that, closest to the door turned to wonder what on Earth could make such a sound. The problem was that this particular sound didn't originate on Earth, it came straight from the fiery pits of the deepest recesses of Hellfire and Damnation itself; and it was getting closer and louder.

The door was suddenly turned into splinters and flying wooden projectiles as a giant black object came screaming through it. The dark object skidded to a halt a few yards into the center of the dance floor, after having knocked down a half dozen scumbags along the way. The dark figure residing atop the black creature began to move as the creature quieted. Once the figure was standing upright, the upset and enraged onlookers suddenly paled with terror. It was Night, which was enough to scare them all shitless. The thought that actually made them lose the control of their bodily functions though, was that there was no sign that Red was anywhere to be found. Night was flying solo tonight, and it was not a good idea to be out at all.

Night grinned evilly with what could only be described as the look the Devil himself would have before collecting the soul of some innocent little girl scout for wanting to sell the most cookies. As the grin turned into a full blown vicious looking smile, even the Devil would have shivered. The music kept blasting out of the speakers, it had a good beat to it. It was the kind of tune he could definitely kick ass to, but it wasn't quite what he was looking for. He could tell everyone was terrified of him, but he wanted more. He walked over to the DJ and pushed him off the booth, all the while with that demented smile on his face. He selected the song he wanted and hit play. If possible, the smile he wore grew in size so that even the Joker would be envious. The thumping stopped while the new song began. Drowning Pool's Bodies began as Night pulled out some brass knuckles from his belt and slipped them onto his fingers. The crowd scattered as he dove off the booth with both fists flying.

The sound of snapping cartilage and breaking bone was heard as the metallic attachments on Night's hands connected with the center of the two rotund and greasy men. The blow sent them flying across the room, as blood and teeth fell from their screaming mouths. They bounced across the floor and slid before coming to a stop and spitting out what was left of their dental work in a sea of blood and spit.

A couple of thugs who were accompanying their fallen friends decided it was a bright idea to attack the figure crouched down on the floor. Night had seen his fair share of idiots in his lifetime, including maniacally laughing ones, but this was just plain suicidal. A lightning fast roundhouse kick was the answer to their charge. It connected with the temple of one of the approaching thugs and the cheek of the other shortly after. The blow was so fast and powerful it made the duo spin in place like a couple of human tops before they finally stopped and collapsed to the ground like a couple of limp noodles.

The song was pounding around the room. A scream in the lyrics was mirrored by a primal roar from Night as he charged into the crowd of seedy characters to weed them out one by one. Night was a dark and ominous cloud that passed quickly throughout the club unleashing lightning fast punches and kicks. In the wake of the storm were bodies covered in bruises, blood, and broken bones. The mangled shapes could have easily passed for what should have been corpses from the lack of movement, but that was only because movement caused pain to burn through their bodies. This didn't prevent them from moaning and crying out in anguish all the same.

In all the ruckus, Night made sure not to harm any of the dancers or the bimbos the crime-bosses had with them. This was because he knew they really didn't have anything to do with this. They were dancing to feed their drug habit or to get money for their pimps. That changed when one of them decided she didn't like the idea of missing her next fix because of some asshole in black. She pulled out a can of pepper spray and landed the stream right in the dark hero's face. It got in his eyes, nose, and even his mouth that was opened in a battle cry. To a normal person, this would have sent them to the ground grabbing their face screaming in a gurgling voice from the pain. Suffice to say, Night wasn't a normal person. You don't work for years with the Batman and then as the leader of the Teen Titans and not get exposed to chemicals, poisons, and abnormal amounts of pain which builds up some major tolerances in your system to the point of being a walking antidote farm for certain things. However, she had still attacked him. And the bitch was going down. Night debated with himself quickly what the best way would be to punish the whore before him. He knew that hitting her with the brass knuckles or his boot would be a bit over the top. Likewise he also knew that she was used to being bitch-slapped and slugged by her pimp. This left one option in his opinion; fight fire with fire. He reached into a compartment on his belt and pulled out a small can that looked strikingly similar to the one she was holding herself and even the stream of liquid he hit her face with looked the same. The difference came in the recipe of the foul substance she was now being hosed with. It was a special blend that he had perfected in his years under the watchful eye of Batman that burned three times worse than normal pepper spray and lingered ten times longer. It wouldn't be flushed out no matter how hard she tried; it was imbedded into the pores of her face and the membranes of her eyes now. Payback sure was a bitch tonight.

As the woman fell to her knees screaming a blood-curdling howl of pain, Night smirked. He glanced around the wrecked club at the devastation he'd caused. It would definitely be shut down for a good long while; if he kept showing up around the area he was certain it would be gone all together. There was no movement left in the room, it was time to move on. Night mounted his motorcycle and fired it up. He kicked it into gear and peeled out of the destroyed club. As he tore down the street, he realized that all the criminals had run home in fear of getting caught. For the first time in probably the history of the underground, it was quiet. This proved to piss Night off as he wasn't done blowing off his pent up aggression yet. Granted, it was shortly after midnight and he'd been at it for almost 5 hours now, but it was too early to turn in yet. There wouldn't be any crime tonight because of his little rampage unless some criminals hadn't heard about him on the loose or they were just really stupid. His earpiece chirped as the police radio relayed the message that Johnny Rancid was loose again and tearing down the streets on his bike with some kind of cement gatling-gun. `Now that could be promising,' thought Night with a smirk as he sped off towards that section of town. Too bad he was gonna meet up with some of the last people he wanted to deal with right now.

 

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Raven had teleported the team back to Titans Tower and they all went separate ways to their rooms. A short time later the group met up again in the main room and crowded onto the couch. Jax stood before them in his Red X armor, minus the ever-important mask, quietly contemplating the aftermath they'd witnessed tonight. He quickly glanced around the room to gauge the different reactions of the team.

Cyborg had his face buried in his hands and slowly shaking his head back and forth.

Starfire had her face firmly planted into Beast Boy's chest as tears slowly leaked from her eyes.

Beast Boy was still fighting back the urge to puke at having seen so much blood and gore that wasn't some fake Hollywood Movie Magic.

Terra had her arm around Raven and was doing her best to comfort the dark girl while still trying to come to terms with the horror show she'd just seen.

Raven just sat there, shoulders slumped over and staring blankly at a spot on the floor. She was in shock from realizing she'd been the cause for such destruction.

Jax turned to face them fully and sighed deeply. “Look guys. I'm really sorry you had to see that. I didn't think he'd start this early, nor did I think it would have been that bad. The one thing that really stumps me though, is why he didn't kill them.”

“Because he swore he wouldn't do that again, at least Nightwing promised me that,” Raven quietly said without glancing up from the floor.

“When did that happen?” questioned Cyborg. Raven then told them about the night on the roof and the conversation.

“Okay, Jax, you're the expert here; what do we do?” Terra asked.

Jax looked to his new team members and shrugged. “Nothing we can do right now. Just go to bed and tomorrow we'll have to try and figure out how bad the damage was.”

The Teen Titans just nodded and walked off towards bed, however sleep wouldn't find them all too quickly tonight.

It was a few hours later, when all had grown quiet in the Tower as the young heroes had finally found a fitful sleep when the alarm went off. Everyone jumped out of bed and rushed to the main room, fearful that Night was the cause.

When they got there, they discovered that Johnny Rancid was the culprit.

“Alright team, let's move out!” commanded Cyborg.

As they ran outside, Raven took to the air in flight followed by Red X. Terra ripped a boulder from the ground and Cyborg caught a ride into the city. Starfire and Beast Boy remained at the Tower watching the news for the impending confrontation between the villain and the heroes, but a third party would also be making an appearance tonight.

 

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Johnny Rancid was sitting on his motorcycle currently shooting the police squad cars with his newest toy. A backpack produced an unlimited supply of ultra-quick-drying cement, delivered in little balls in a blinding speed by a gatling-gun. The cops were stuck in their cars or to the ground themselves as they were coated in the rocky substance. All seemed lost, until the Teen Titans showed up to save the day; at least that was the thinking at the time.

Raven was the first to respond to the threat, she surrounded the police in her black aura and with some intense concentration managed to shatter the concrete so they could escape. While the police ran off to find shelter, she landed to catch her breath. The cement was a lot thicker than she figured and took a lot of energy to break. She wasn't paying attention enough though, as Johnny Rancid turned his weapon on the unsuspecting girl and fired. Raven looked up just in time to see the concrete balls coming towards her. A blast of red energy vaporized them however as Red X flew in and used his other palm blaster to fire a small volley of shots towards the criminal.

Johnny Rancid dodged the blasts and looked towards who had fired at him. “Well if it ain't the newest member to the ranks of costumed kids. What's with the mask? You uglier than that Robin dork that went missing all that time ago?”

Red X was mad. He may not have known Rich when he was Robin, but no one insulted his partner like that. He formed X-blades in his hands and began to hurl them. “I'm taking you down, Rancid!”

Johnny Rancid easily took down the flying blades with his gun. Red X was panting from the exertion of throwing so many weapons. Johnny Rancid just smirked, “looks like I get two for the price of one.” He then opened fire on the pair of heroes. His attack was halted when the ground suddenly erupted in front of them and blocked the concrete. A shock look crossed the villains face, but that was quickly wiped away when a sonic blast hit him from the side.

Terra and Cyborg touched down by their friends.

“You alright?” asked Terra.

“It's just tiring throwing that much crap at concrete that only swallows everything,” replied Red X

“And that concrete is really hard. I used a lot of energy breaking so much of it,” panted Raven as she still tried to recover.

“Titans, MOVE!” yelled Cyborg as another shower of concrete headed their way.

The heroes dove out of the way. The began to move around Johnny Rancid and trying to catch him off guard from the side or behind. Red X was throwing X-blades and energy blasts; only to have them turned into rocks or dodged. Cyborg found that his sonic cannon shots were dodged or absorbed by a spray of concrete. Terra was hurling small boulders but they would get coated in the special concrete; the strange chemical composition wouldn't let her control it so it neutralized any attacks. Raven was summoning all her power to pull anything that she could and throw it at Johnny Rancid; again having it coated in concrete like everything else and making it too heavy to control in her weakened state. Johnny Rancid was being attacked from four sides, just as he'd hoped. He pressed a special button on his gun and his pack suddenly blasted solid streams of the concrete out in all directions beside and behind him. The Teen Titans were forced to stand their ground in front of him now. As they regrouped, it was too late. They suddenly found themselves being pelted by the gun and incapacitated.

“Well, looks like I've got you all now,” glowed Johnny Rancid. “I'd love for you all to stick around, but you'd only ruin my plans. All I have to do now is cover your faces and you'll suffocate to death.” The gun was raised and readied to fire.

Cyborg was staring down the barrel and wishing he'd had just a bit more strength to break free.

Terra was terrified of being stone again, but this time she'd be dead for real.

Red X was beside himself as he realized he wasn't ready to die when he'd only just begun life as a good guy.

Raven sat there in quiet contemplation regretting that she didn't have the power to crack the concrete and that she couldn't tell Nightwing she forgave him.

Off in the distance, a black thundering demon sped towards the cemented road where the battle was taking place. His special shades showed him in magnified view what was about to happen. He raised his left fist and pointed it ahead of him. A single razor-like object shot off of his upper wrist. The blade sped through the air towards the target. Just as Johnny Rancid pulled the trigger on his gun, the blade arrived and severed the hose supplying the gun with the necessary chemicals.

All stood stunned as they looked at the dangling hose that now spewed forth concrete. Johnny Rancid turned off the pack and let it off his back. His eyes followed the path where the blade originated from, as did the eyes of the cemented heroes.

Out of the steam coming from the sewers, a dark shadow slowly approached. He made his entrance from the wispy unknown and came to a stop. Five sets of eyes widened at the sight before them.

“Night,” Johnny Rancid spoke. He then surveyed the man on the bike and looked for his partner Red. It was then he realized that Night was alone. “Oh shit,” he whispered. Johnny Rancid turned and ran for his bike. He climbed on and started it. He glanced around looking for an escape route. There proved to be only one way out of the area they were in, the street where Night was currently straddling his own motorcycle. In his haste to get rid of the Teen Titans, Johnny Rancid had cemented the entire block off. This did not sit well with the villain as he sneered at his new opponent. He used his legs to back the bike to the opposite side as Night and rested there.

The two stared at each other in determination. Johnny Rancid revved his bike, a low rumble emanating from the machine. Night answered by revving his own bike, causing a loud roar to echo around the vacant streets. The two looked like a couple of old western gun fighters. They stared each other down. They kicked their bikes into gear at the same time and screwed the throttles for all they were worth. Rear tires squealed as they were spun. The two rocketed towards each other in a dangerous game of `chicken'.

The Teen Titans stared in horror at the sight before them. Surely one of these two would veer off course. Then it became obvious that Night wouldn't do it because he would never shy away from any challenge; and Johnny Rancid was too stupid to do it himself. This was true, both figures knew this, but Johnny Rancid had other plans. As they approached the middle of the intersection with only seconds to spare, he jumped up onto his seat and prepared to jump over the head of Night. He leaped just before impact, but the blow never came. Night had known this would happen, so at the last minute he pulled back on his handle bars thus popping a wheelie. While he had the front wheel airborne, he engaged a button on the handlebars and small rockets fired on the rear of the bike. This propelled his ride over Johnny Rancid's bike, and right into Johnny Rancid himself knocking the wind out of him. Night sailed over the speeding bike and landed easily, then applied his brakes hard making Johnny Rancid fly off and roll across the ground.

Night flipped out his kick-stand and leaned the bike down on it. He walked over to the limp and groaning body of Johnny Rancid. “This is my town, Rancid. You should know that I don't pull my punches.”

The Teen Titans couldn't hear what was being said, but they did see when Night reached into his coat and pulled out a shiny object. Terror gripped them all as the dark figure knelt over his prey. To their horror, he grabbed his arm and attached something to it, then shoved the arm behind his back and brought the other arm to join the first. The group of heroes collectively sighed when they realized Night had just handcuffed Johnny Rancid. Night then walked back to his bike and kicked it alive. He slowly made his way over to the stuck teens. He slowed to a stop and narrowed his gaze at them. He reached back into his coat and the Teen Titans flinched. He produced a small sphere and smirked. “You kids shouldn't be sticking around rough neighborhoods like this.” He then pressed a button on the sphere and dropped it among them and sped off.

The Teen Titans all regarded the beeping object with wide eyes then turned to look at the retreating form of the dark figure.

“Night!” called Red X

“Please stop!” begged Raven.

“Awww, man!” panicked Cyborg.

“You suck!” screamed Terra.

The device stopped beeping and the heroes held their breath. A small shockwave erupted and they suddenly found themselves free from their concrete tomb.

“Oh, right. That was a shock bomb,” Red X said while rubbing the back of his head.

The other Teen Titans glared at him.

“You could have mentioned that when we were all panicking,” grumbled Cyborg.

“When we get home, I'm not making out with you for a week for scaring me like that,” declared Terra as she squinted her eyes and poked Red X in the chest.

“Aww, c'mon. I didn't realize it was a shock bomb. Please forgive me? Baby come back . . . . . .” the begging hero faded as he walked off behind his girlfriend.

Cyborg went over to Raven and put his hand on her shoulder. “At least he's alright, Rae. In a few days I'll have X take you and Terra back underground to see what you can dig up. Let's go home and rest for now.”

Raven turned and looked up at her big brother. “Thanks, Cy. I don't know how I'd make it through this without my friends. Sleep sounds really good right now too.” Raven surrounded herself and Cyborg in her soul-self and the black raven flew back towards the tower. They were joined by an upset Terra perched atop her boulder with arms crossed and a grumbling Red X who was flying backwards with his back to Terra mumbling about `being sorry' and `not being an idiot'.

It would have been comical to most watching, but the blue eyes hidden behind dark shades had no joy in them. The dark figure watched the heroes leave and then left towards his own run down apartment to rest up for the following night.

 

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The next day proved to be very uneventful for the Teen Titans. No criminals had attempted to do anything. Apparently Night's little party had forced all the criminals, even the severely hardened ones, to consider going to church to pray for forgiveness. They spent the day moping around in different ways. Beast Boy and Starfire were helping Cyborg work on the T-ship, which was working on the hybrid teen's very last nerve. Jax was trying everything he could to get his girlfriend to speak to him, finally wearing her down with a promise of personal servant for two weeks. Terra cheered for this and then ordered him to immediately make lunch for everyone from scratch. Raven was watching the antics of the couple with a heavy heart. She cradled the mirror she'd made for Rich against her chest as she turned her gaze out the window towards the setting sun over the city. She hoped Night would be safe.

As the sun began to set and day turned to night, a nameless figure turned to Night as well. He opened the window and descended the fire escape to his waiting motorcycle. He sped off towards the old steel mill where hopefully Brother Blood was setting up his base for the time being. Night knew it was a suicide mission to take on Brother Blood in his own base head on. It was a good thing he didn't have any intentions on doing that. Intelligence was the purpose of tonight's mission. All he had to do was sneak in and plant some bugs in strategic places and tap into a computer or two and he'd be out of there. No muss, no fuss.

He arrived a short time later and using every bit of stealth and cunning he'd honed under Batman, he snuck in like a ninja. He climbed a drain spout outside to gain access to the roof. He quickly ran across to an open roof panel. He peeked over the edge and attached a grapple hook. He lowered himself rapidly to scaffolding in the ceiling and began to make his way to where he could hear voices and see light. Using some metal crates for cover, Night began to run around behind the backs of the robotic guards planting the bugs. He planted sound and video on a few of the guards and some of the equipment. He found the main computer he was looking for and managed to get behind it. He tapped into it by clipping onto a couple wires and a circuit board and then was ready to leave. Unfortunately for Night, this was the time Brother Blood decided to walk into the area.

“Well, I'm glad to see that my favorite students are fully recovered. I didn't notice any problems today during your practice sessions. After a few days rest you'll be ready to go after the Teen Titans once again,” boasted Brother Blood.

`What the Hell is he talking about? What students?' thought Night. He slowly peered around the corner of the computer he was crouched behind to see the last people he'd expect. There before him, stood what should have been corpses that he himself killed. Jinx, Mammoth, and Gizmo were standing before Brother Blood.

“Yeah, good thing you had that nanotechnology put into us before the fight. It was barely able to keep us alive as it was though,” grimaced Jinx as she rubbed her neck with the memory of having it snapped.

“You shouldn't doubt that it would work. I built it myself,” sneered Gizmo as he scratched at his chest.

“So long as I get another chance at that Nightwing I've got no problems,” growled Mammoth as he held his stomach.

“In good time, my pupils. Now let us rest this evening.” With that said, Brother Blood ushered the students out of the room and followed them out.

Night took that as his cue and snuck out of the mill the way he'd gotten in. He made it to his bike and took off back to the apartment. `Damn, I go through all the trouble of making sure those scumbags never come back and here they are. Doesn't anyone just die and stay gone anymore? Well, in a way I guess it's not a bad thing. That was the same night that caused so much trouble in the first place,' thought Night as he remembered back to the battle that took place and his actions afterwards back at The Pit. `I'm so sorry Raven. I hope I'm doing what will make you happy.'

Night got back to his apartment and saw his phone blinking. He picked it up to play the message. Night couldn't help but to chuckle and smirk at the message he'd received. Night hit his speed dial and waited for the person at the other end to pick up. “I got your message. I've got some stuff I think you'll find interesting. Don't worry about the place to meet, just make sure to be in the area and I'll steer you in the right direction. Later.” Night then went over to his laptop and hacked into Brother Blood's computers to download some info for the next night and his rendezvous.

 

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The following night found Red leading Terra and Raven through the underworld he'd grown accustomed to. The girls were still a little bit uneasy about the whole place. Red felt the need to reassure them though. “Looks like things are a bit quieter than normal.”

“You mean things are normally worse than this? These guys are getting into fights and selling weapons and drugs, what could be worse?” questioned Terra.

“No one is killing,” Red pointed out.

Raven kept quiet the whole time with her mental powers spread out trying to feel if Night was in the area. It was proving to be difficult to weed out all of the random thoughts of the people around the area, but she was focusing on the bond she'd created with him back as Robin to find him. Suddenly, a flash of a memory whipped across her mental eye startling her. The same memory flashed again and Raven was able to identify it; it was how she looked when Nightwing had left the Tower. `Wait, that was from Nightwing's perspective. He's here.' Raven then turned to Red and Terra. “He's here. I just picked up a memory from him. He's around here somewhere.”

“Can you pinpoint him?” asked Red.

“No. It was too fast and he blocks me too well. He's not showing emotions either, so I can't pick those up.”

“Keep trying, Rae. I'm sure you'll find him,” Terra claimed while putting a calming hand on Raven's shoulder.

They continued to walk on. Raven suddenly had another flash; this one of the fight at the gold depository when he first killed. The raw anger and hatred at the exact moment were overwhelming; then the added guilt was tacked on afterwards. Raven had to hold her head. It was begging to make her dizzy. Just when she'd gotten over it, another flash came by; Nightwing and Rich were staring at each other and then Rich walked off into darkness. The waves of extreme sorrow, guilt, and loss were too much for Raven to handle. She fell to her knees holding her head as the dizziness increased. She became nauseous.

“Raven, what's wrong?” asked Terra in a worried tone.

“The memories are too much, I'm getting dizzy. It's making me sick.”

Red looked around and saw a bar, it was the cleanest one in the entire underground district. “C'mon, you can use the restroom in here to calm down.” Red took her elbow and helped guide her into the bar. “Give me the mirror to hold just in case you do get ill.” Raven nodded and handed him the specially crafted mirror that would be a pathway into Nightwing's mind.

Red walked over to the bar and set the mirror down while the girls went to the restroom and locked the door for some privacy. The bartender came down to take his order when a voice spoke from beside him.

“We'll have two Irish Car-bombs.”

Red turned his head to watch as Night took a seat next to him. “So sending Raven messages to make her dizzy and forcing us to come in here was your big plan?”

“Worked didn't it?” Night replied with a smirk. He then put a disk down on the counter next to the mirror. “You'll find the data on that to be most interesting. I can get more too, just need to set up a time to meet.” Night then noticed the mirror. “A bit gaudy to be carrying around to make sure your shades are straight ain't it?”

“It's a portal mirror to your mind, just like Raven has.”

“What did you need me to do to make it work?”

Red slid it over to his partner. “You have to touch it while bleeding. So I guess just prick a finger or something. Your call really I suppose.” He then noticed that Night seemed to be biting his lip as though thinking about it. Red was then puzzled when Night began to pucker his lips repeatedly and kissed the mirror. “A bit vain aren't we?”

Night smirked and showed the mirror to Red. It was then that Red noticed the mirror glowed lightly and then stopped. In the center was a kiss in blood. “I figure this way if Raven really misses me she can pucker up and kiss me whenever she wants.”

Red just shook his head. The drinks then arrived. Both young men grabbed the shots and dropped them into the glasses, watching as the black liquid turned a chocolate color. They lifted their glasses into the air to toast.

“To the criminals who keep us in a job,” stated Night.

Red raised an eyebrow then shrugged. “To the criminals.” Both men tapped their glasses and began to down their drinks. When Red finished he looked but Night was gone leaving his empty glass in his place. “I have got to learn how he does that.”

The girls came back as he paid the bill and they walked outside. Once outside they headed for a dark alley where no one was at. “Here's the mirror.”

Raven took it and gasped. “It's active. How?”

Without showing any signs on his face Red responded, “I ran into an old friend.” He then produced the disk with a Nightwing logo on it.

“Damn you! I told you to quit hiding stuff from me,” growled Terra.

“Especially something like this. We could have tried to bring him back,” joined Raven.

Red put his hands up in a defensive pose and began to back up. “Hold on here. You both know that if he didn't want to come back, there's no way we could have made him. We got the mirror working, we have some information to work on now, and we're all exhausted. Let's just go back to the Tower and get a good nights rest and talk about this tomorrow.”

“Fine,” grumbled Raven as she clutched the mirror to her chest yet again and began to concentrate her powers to transport them back to Titans Tower with her soul-self.

“You're still in the dog house, slave,” Terra said with a glare.

Red just bowed his head and slumped his shoulders. “I'm so whipped,” he mumbled.

As the dark shadow of a raven enveloped the trio and flew off, a dark figure perched on a nearby ledge couldn't help but smirk. “Yeah, you sure are, Red.” Night jumped down and began to walk off into the darkness he now called home. He knew that it wouldn't be long before they decided to use that mirror. He was sure that Raven would want to use it in the morning and probably alone. He was hoping she would at least. It would be the only time he could talk to her now. Night had to chuckle to himself at that. `I'm gonna be hearing voices in my head. It's official. I'm nuts.' As he walked off further, another thought crossed his mind; `I wonder if the Joker or Two-Face have this problem?'

 

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Jacketslacker: Someone once asked the music I listen to for when I right fight scenes, now you know one of them. Also, the drink that Night and Red order is a real drink consisting of half a pint of Guinness with a shot that's half Kahlua and half Jameson whiskey. You drop the shot into the pint glass and it mixes and tastes just like chocolate milk. I am of legal age to drink so I know these things, I do not condone the consumption of alcohol by anyone under the legal age. Remember, drink responsibly. That's all I got for this part. Remember I'd love to hear from some artists as soon as possible. We'll work out the details for your sketches and the roll you'll portray later on. Keep on trucking.