Nightwing: Heroes

Chapter 21

*Authors Note*- Please watch the video above to prepare yourself for this chapter...*

Chapter 21

"Kaldur..." Artemis whimpered as tears filled her eyes. We all knelt down around him, me holding him in my arms as I watched yet another of my friends die. My heart slammed in my chest, its very beat agonizingly painful. "Everything will be okay. It'll all be okay Kaldur I promise you, I promise" Artemis added. Robin was speechless, I could tell she was also on the verge of tears. "He will pay" I muttered hatefully under my breath, my jaw clenched and my teeth grinding together with nothing but anger and hate inside of me then.

Kaldur's eyes began to close, his body went limp as he slipped into what I could only hope and pray was just unconsciousness. I shakily lied him on the ground, and lifted my hand to the side of his neck, checking for a pulse. My heart stopped, and my eyes were moist. He was dead. "No...No..." I said, standing up and backing away from him, my hands grasping the sides of my head in rage, fear, and despair. The last words I had said to him, the last words he heard in this life, were a lie. And they came from me. He had once told me I was someone he respected, and he had looked up to me. I let him down. 

Vehratrath is going to pay for this, no matter what the cost, and no matter what it takes. He's going to die. And I'm going to be the cause of that. My teeth were almost to the point of cracking, my jaw was clenched so tight. My fists were clenched tightly by my sides, my entire body was shaking in anger.

I felt a hand on my shoulder, and I was so lost in my own hateful plotting that it almost scared me. I whipped around and looked into Artemis's eyes. "It's my fault." I stated as a tear leaked out from under my mask, running down my cheek and falling onto the pavement. She grabbed my face, cupping it with her hands as she stared back at me. "Nightwing, you know it's not. You don't know what that...thing...was going to do. You couldn't have known." I wanted to believe her, I really did. But the guilt was too strong, and it wouldn't be relieved until Vehratrath is dead.

"It is my fault. It's my fault he was even here. I should have told you all to stay back, and let me take care of this. I could have prevented all of this if I would have noticed the gas leak the other day. And until that alien is back in hell where he belongs, I cant focus on anything else. I'm sorry." I took her hands into my own, and let them go, stepping away. She shook her head, her eyes filling with tears. "Dick..." she said, her voice shaky. I looked at the ground. I couldn't bare to look at her. "I'm sorry Artemis..." I muttered again as I walked away, pushing past the crowd of onlookers that had just witnessed the whole thing. The news reporters weren't even reporting anything, they stood there, mouths and eyes wide, and the watched as I jumped back onto my motorcycle, and drove off, heading back to the manor to gear up and get ready for my fight with Vehratrath.