Nightwing: Heartless

Part 3: Cave Practice

For as long as he could remember, Dick had wanted to be in charge, be the leader. Now he was and it was... stressful. Kaldur had taken a step back the minute Dick had turned eighteen, as a birthday present. Was he grateful? Of course, there were definitely pros to being the leader. He had grown the Team so they had enough members to be multiple places at once. He had increased training for Team members, making sure everyone was prepared for any and all situations and, under his leadership, the Team had close to a perfect record. They were efficient, invisible, and strong. That didn't mean it was an easy burden to carry though.

"Alpha, status report," he said and heard Miss Martian's mic come to life.

"On our way home, Nightwing. No injuries, just a lot of mud."

"Good to hear. See you soon." There had been a mudslide in Haiti. League was busy dealing with off world issues so Dick had sent a squad to handle damage control.

He was in the Cave, monitoring the situation. Blue Beetle and Robin were sparring behind him with some of the younger members watching the match or hanging out in the kitchen. Dick heard a thud behind him and a few laughs.

"Don't drag your back foot, Robin!" Nightwing called without looking which caused even more laughs. "And Blue you shouldn't be using blasters when you're sparring." Both Beetle and Robin started talking but Dick wasn't listening. He just rolled his eyes. Kids.

Lag'aan took Robin's place in the sparring ring and Robin walked up to stand beside Nightwing staring at the holographic monitors. Nightwing was watching footage of Saturday night, when he and Batman had busted Harley.

"Did you and Batman have a good time Saturday?" Robin asked. He was a sweet kid but Dick could hear the hint of jealousy.

"Yeah, actually. But don't read into it, he'll take you out with him soon."

Robin scoffed but didn't say anything. Dick could understand the frustration. Batman had trained him then given him over to Nightwing to join the Team. As far as Dick knew, the only times Bats had taken Robin out was for a couple of night patrols and petty crimes. He knew Robin was itching for some action. If he was honest with himself, he knew Robin was itching for some one on one training with the big guy.

"What is that stuff?" Robin asked, pointing to the barrels of Joker venom.

"Joker venom. Harley was supervising its transport. I'm running some labs on it."

"Why would Joker need that much?"

"Not sure yet. Maybe he's selling it."

"To who?"

"Wanna help me find out?"

Robin's face brightened and he nodded, pulling up a keyboard and starting to do some research. He was turning into quite the detective. Dick hoped Bruce could also see it.

"That's no fair!" Lag'aan cried from the sparring match as he hit the ground. "No powers!"

"Sorry, hermano."

Nightwing sighed and turned around, "fighting without powers is a valuable skill, Blue."

Blue dropped from the air, apologetic. "It's a defense mechanism."

Nightwing raised an eyebrow, "and if it failed?"

"It would never."

"Or if you're up against an opponent it doesn't work on?"

Nightwing stepped into the ring, an easy grin on his face. Blue Beetle looked around and held up his hands. "I don't want to hurt you-"

"Try me."

"With powers?" Nightwing nodded, his stance still relaxed. "Okay," Beetle said a little reluctantly but his arm transformed into his sonic blaster. He took aim but Nightwing had already moved.

He dropped and slid between Blue's legs, forcing him into the air. Nightwing spun and grabbed his leg, twisting to throw his center of gravity off then flipping Blue over his head and to the ground. He slowed Beetle's fall at the last second, angling his body so his butt took the impact instead of his back, then stepped away while Beetle shook his head, stunned.

"Oi ve," he mumbled as he pushed himself to his knee.

Nightwing offered a hand, "fighting without your powers is a valuable skill."

"Yeah, yeah, message received."

"B17: Bumblebee."

A flash of light came from the zeta tube, eventually fading as Karen walked in, still in her lab coat. "Evening everyone, sorry I'm late."

"No worries, Alpha should be back within the hour." Nightwing stepped out of the ring to walk with Karen to the monitors. Robin was still hard at work. She watched Alpha Squad's flight plan as they got closer to the Cave.

"How are things at your lab?" Nightwing asked.

"Good, we're studying genetic anomalies in fruit flies to see if they can be altered."

"Cool." It wasn't what Dick would choose to study but hey, let nerds be nerds.

Karen lowered her voice, "how are you doing? School started last month, right? I know it can be hard to juggle both and I'm not even Team leader."

Nightwing shrugged, "I did it last year. And the year before."

"Last year was different."

They exchanged looks and Nightwing sighed, "yeah. But I'm okay, really. Classes don't take much effort yet and the Team runs like a well oiled machine."

"You ever need any help, or a tutor, you know where to find me."

"Thanks, Karen." He could tell she wasn't done so he smiled and looked over until she laughed. "Anything else, Bumblebee?"

"It's just, college isn't just about classes, Nightwing. Have you made any friends?"

He tried not to be offended. "I have friends."

"I know, but non super friends? Not everyone is a secret supervillain you know. Plus, a party or something would do you good."

He raised his eyebrows, "would it now?"

Karen shrugged, "you're a little uptight." It was getting harder not to feel offended. Karen laughed, "you know what I mean. You carry a lot of responsibility, it would be good to let off some steam before it builds up inside."

"So you're telling me to party?"

Karen slapped his arm, "of course not! GU has a game Friday, right? Mal likes college football, what if you come with us? Miss Martian can handle things for a few hours."

Nightwing tried to protest but he could see Karen had made up her mind.