Nightwing: Heartless

Part 38: M'gann Taken

"You should have told us." Connor walked away from Nightwing, leaving him alone in the med bay hallway.

Nightwing pinched the bridge of his nose and leaned against the wall. La'gaan was laying in a hospital bed with a broken leg. M'gann was in enemy territory. Kaldur was incapacitated. It was all up to Artemis to get them all back safely. And it was all Dick's fault. In the beginning, this covert undercover op made sense. Aqualad had laid the groundwork for the past two years and it was too big a risk to tell the whole Team. He needed their reactions to his betrayal to be real. Kaldur's life depended on it. But maybe keeping it from the senior members was a mistake. No, he knew it was a mistake. This whole situation was proof. Connor had every right to be furious. So did La'gaan. The girl they were both in love with had been taken. As powerful as M'gann was, he imagined the worry was eating them alive. Even thinking about Will being in trouble... no, he couldn't think like that.

"You look like you have the world on your shoulders." Nightwing turned to see Batgirl walking towards him. "Why don't you sit down." She led him to the seating area.

"You should probably hate me too," Nightwing told her.

She laughed, "nobody hates you. They still respect you."

"Do you ever wonder if our training... was wrong?"

Barbara looked over at him in surprise. It was something Dick had been thinking for a while now. He had always followed Batman without question, never doubted his skill and reasoning, even if he disagreed with it. He had accepted his training eagerly, content with knowing he would lead the Team one day, just like how Batman led the League. He had never doubted his own tactical knowledge or ability, because it was modelled after the Batman. But maybe he accepted it all too easily. The secrets, the spying, keeping everything about himself a secret from his Team, what if it wasn't the right way?

Barbara didn't seem to know what to say, thinking it over herself, so she changed the subject. "Willa seems nice."

"Hm?"

"I don't think I've seen you that happy in a while. It's nice to see you smile every now and then, not be so serious."

Nightwing placed a hand over his heart, faking being hurt, "me? Serious? That one hurt."

"You're such a dork." They sat in a comfortable silence for a minute, Nightwing glad to have her here. "Does she know?" Batgirl asked, obviously meaning all this.

Nightwing nodded, "she figured it out a while ago actually, I just didn't know she knew until recently."

"Just be careful, you're responsible for a lot of people. We need your focus." She stood up and squeezed his shoulder gently as a goodbye.