Nightwing: Heartless

Part 53: Objectives

Nightwing heard Kaldur walk up behind him and they both watched security footage of Beta Squad shutting down one of LexCorps soft drink plants. Lex had been putting out the product under a new name, trying to pull a fast one on the public. With the sample, Lois Lane was going to write an expose that was probably going to earn her a Pulitzer nomination.

"Looks like we can check that off the list," Nightwing said and closed the hologram.

"Yes, it feels good." Kaldur agreed. The two heroes stood in silence, feeling the space where Wally should be. "If you need a break-"

"No," Nightwing waved a hand, "I'm good. Batgirl is still tracking leads on Vandal Savage, and we need to find where the members of the Light limped off to."

Kaldur put a hand on Nightwing's shoulder, "and we need to make sure our Team is okay. Including its leaders."

M'gann and Connor walked up behind them, catching the last bit of conversation. It was good to see them together again. Nightwing was glad they had each other through this. "Aqualad is right," M'gann chimed in, "Artemis is still on vacation. Maybe you should be too."

"And what would I do with freetime?" Nightwing teased. Artemis was with her mom and Red Arrow. She had a family. Nightwing had Batman, who was busy, and Tim, who was great but preoccupied with Cassie, plus he didn't know Wally that well. Alfred was always there, and Dick went over about once a week as is.

"Have you heard from Will lately?' M'gann asked innocently but Nightwing knew that tone. He knew she was remembering their dinner together. Nightwing smiled at the memory, it had been a great night.

"Ah, no," Nightwing admitted and pulled up a screen, trying to find something to do to seem nonchalant, "I saw her a few weeks ago, after Wally... but not since."

"Oh yes," Aqualad smiled, "Willa. I've heard little of her."

"I thought for sure you guys would get back together." Connor crossed his arms, like he was an expert or something. M'gann kissed his cheek and exchanged a knowing look. "You guys always seemed good."

"It seemed serious," M'gann added.

"It was. It just got... complicated." That was an understatement. She had to watch her brother die because he hadn't gotten there in time. And then he lost his best friend. "Maybe in another life." Man, it would be great to see her though. He wondered if she had gotten that job, which would mean she would be in Boston once she graduated in May. He shook the thought out of his head, she was probably busy with the end of the semester around the corner.

He pulled up an image of the Light, "this is why I wanted to talk to you guys anyway. The Light has been broken in half, and we have intel on most members, but Deathstroke and Ra's al Ghul disappeared."

"They're obviously up to something," SuperBoy muttered.

"But what?" M'gann chimed in.

"I don't know," Dick answered and pulled up an image of Lady Shiva, "but this is Lady Shiva. Should be familiar." SuperBoy grumbled under his breath and Nightwing knew they all remembered their encounter. "She trained with Deathstroke, on par with him skills wise, but she's never been public. I've linked her with dozens of assassinations around the world. She's a legend to the League of Shadows."

"What do they want with the Team?" Aqualad asked. He pulled up another screen to playback their fight. The weapons calibrated to take them out individually.

"Do you think they're developing weapons to use on the League?" SuperBoy guessed, "testing them on us first?"

"Maybe. But she attacked me alone a few months ago." The other Team members stared at Nightwing in shock. He hadn't said anything because they had bigger problems at the time. "We were the targets. And she said something, she said she wanted to rip the League's heart out."

"Sounds personal," SuperBoy muttered.

"And troubling," Kaldur added, "who is the heart of the League?"

M'gann snapped her fingers, "that's why they went after us, or are planning to. If she really wanted to 'rip their hearts out' she would want them to suffer. The pain of losing family, children, would be more than dying." She looked at Nightwing, "but you knew this."

He shrugged, "I had a hunch. I saw the effect losing Wally had on everyone, even the League. If they wiped the entire Team out, picking us off or all at once, it would devastate the League, give an opening." The thought had actually kept him up at night. He thought about Jaime, Impulse, Wonder Girl, Static, and especially Tim. The young ones, but also the older heroes. All were too young to die. He sighed, Willa would give him an earful about it. She was never a fan of starting kids so young in this business. Maybe he would bring it up later, installing an age requirement, but right now he had to focus on protecting his Team. "So for the time being, no solo missions. No Squads with less than four members unless we're really stretched thin, and even then, three is a minimum. We're not letting any Team member get in a vulnerable position." Aqualad, M'gann, and SuperBoy nodded. The repercussions of any member falling, especially after the past year, were momentous.

"What do we tell them?" M'gann asked. The others looked to him.

"The truth," he decided, "keeping secrets got us in enough trouble. If we're putting in measures to protect them, they should know the danger."

Everyone nodded, relieved at his decision.