Night Rider

21: Back to the Fray!

Time Since Discovery: 11 months, 1 week, 2 days

Skill Set:
~See last entry~
- High speed traffic navigation apparently

Additional Notes:
- Despite best attempts, Nightrider continually bends rules and guidelines
- Has somehow become partners in crime with Red Hood despite his less than friendly approach towards partner work
- Is either terrible at keeping a secret identity, or terrible at avoiding those who would figure it out

Status: active (despite best efforts)

Codename: Nightrider

...

"And this is Alfred. Don't let his appearance fool you, he'll kick your butt into next week if the occasion calls for it." I said.

"How do you do Miss Park and Miss Ari?"

"Still coming to grips with the Bruce Wayne Batman thing, but pretty well thank you." Ari said pleasantly.

"Yeah, ditto on that." Park added. "Though you still haven't told us who that guy in the red helmet was..." She turned to me.

I shrugged. "You figured out Batman and Robin on your own, you can figure out everyone else too. It's not my secret identity after all."
That, and Jason would kill me if I told. Everybody else was probably moot but I didn't want to risk it.

"Please tell me you guys aren't dating or something."

I choked on my tea. Violently. Couldn't breathe to say anything, so I flailed my arms as I slowly suffocated on her words.

"Miss Lyn and Red Hood are not engaged in courtship as far as I know," Alfred supplied, "but perhaps you should make sure she isn't choking to death?"

Ari thwapped a hand across my back and I coughed enough to dislodge the liquid.
"You guys," I sputtered, "are jerks."

...

Damian appeared several hours later, scowl on his face per usual.
"Father wishes to speak with you."

...

I left my friends under Damian's supervision.

It wasn't the best of plans.

If I was lucky, I'd come back and they'd have only managed to plan world domination. If I was unlucky, WW3 would be in the works.
I took the party tube down to the Batcave to get my mind off of it.

Bruce was sitting at the computer waiting for me. He had a strong cup of coffee in one hand and a long suffering look on his face.

"So, any luck with those files?"

"Yes." He rubbed his temples. "And it's not good news. I can't believe I'm saying this, but it's a good thing your friends hacked those servers."

"What do you mean exactly?"

His eyes met mine. "The serum they created is aerosol in form, fully tested and operational as of last year. It affects the chemistry of the brain to make its victim vulnerable to suggestion, and while the natural portions of the mind are being tampered with, the serum has a secondary, unspecified component. This component allows for complete control."

"So, that means you contact your people and stop them before they infect anybody right?" I felt a sinking in my gut. "We track down the mess and kick butt."

"It's not that easy Lyn. Maybe it would have been a year ago, but we have no idea how many people they've infected, who they've infected."

A year ago. That meant- "A year ago? That means the Intel I sent you... It was before... No freaking way. That's why they wanted me off the map so badly... Did the drive say anything about who's been targeted?"

"Still decrypting."

"Anything on why they stole the horses originally?" It wasn't pertinent to the unfolding drama, not really, but it had been nagging me since I first delved into the mess years ago.

"Preliminary testing. Original serum was structured to make each subject more physically and genetically resilient as well, but the control aspect didn't work so they terminated those projects when it was clear they were compromised."

"Except for Tuffy and Sitdka." I tried to ignore the idea of my horses being terminated. Failed. Moved on quickly.
"But we have something there! There's at least a portion of the serum in them, otherwise why try to destroy them in the first place? Maybe we can extract some sort of antidote or-"

"The unspecified component was added later. We only have half of the serum at best."

"Half is better than nothing though, right?" I said softly.

He didn't say anything to that regard. "Until this is over, your friends cannot go home. They might have stayed off the radar so far, but Cadmus is going to know who they are soon."

"I sort of figured... How long?"

"I don't know. This is bigger than anything you've ever dealt with before," he leaned forward, "are you going to follow my lead for once?"

He wasn't shutting me out of the case. It made me feel giddy and concerned all at once. So much so that I blurted, "You aren't putting stupid rules up to keep me out of things?"

"Will you follow my lead? I can't tackle this if I'm babysitting."

"Yes. I can follow." It mattered, of course I could follow. Especially if I wasn't sidelined.

"Good." He swiveled back to the computer.

...

When I arrived back to my friends and their unsupervised supervision, I was shocked to find Dick too.
He was flat on the floor with Damian sitting on his back, legs crossed and Dick's arm wrenched up underneath. Dick was attempting to converse with my friends despite the ever increasing angle of his joint in socket.

"... and then she spent the rest of the day pelting him with fruit. Maybe they bonded over it, I don't know, but they're pretty buddy buddy nowadays, so it's plausible they might be a couple."

"Traitor."

His head turned around. "Oh hi Lyn! How was your chat? And why didn't you tell me you had friends over?"

"Save it for later. I have bad news."

...

AN: Short chapter, but things will pick up again I promise! And woohoo guys! 1000 reads! It's a miracle I tell you, considering I put this up on a whim- anywho, see you guys next week!

- Felicity Amber Grimm