~.: Nightwing's P.O.V :.~
"Acacia, I'm sorry, but-" She turned her back on me, hiding her face in her hands, "I just don't know what to say, Acacia. You left for 2 years without a word and now you're here with someone else. You hid my own child from me for all these years and then you almost killed her because I wanted to take her away from you and Jared..? I just can't-"
"Forget it, forget I ever said anything!" Acacia cut me off, her voice breaking as she tried not to cry in front of me. I sighed stressfully, rubbing the back of my neck as she ran away from me. /I can't forgive her after all that she's done to me and my team. She's changed too much and I just can't deal with her anymore./ I thought silently, walking in the opposite direction toward Aria's room where Wally would probably be arguing with my sister.
~.: De's P.o.V :.~
As soon as I heard those words come from Acacia's mouth, my heart fell into my stomach, twisting and tearing and spinning until I felt like I was going to be sick. I sank down beside the closed infirmary door and sat there, looking at the tile floor quietly. Addison and Robin walked into the room, glancing at me with concern as they came in.
"Hey, we'll take over watching Bella for you, you look like you need a break..." Robin began softly, walking over to me and feeling my forehead, "Are you feeling okay?" He inquired, tilting his head in confusion at me as I looked away from him.
"I'm fine," I quickly said, getting to my feet as Robin stood up once more beside Addison, "Just need something to drink," Before they could say anything more, I left the room. They could handle watching Bella for me while I went to calm down. Nightwing wasn't going to accept Acacia's apology, I knew that. Too much had happened between them and Nightwing had realized that Acacia wasn't the same person he once knew.
I wanted to comfort him because of all of this, but I couldn't comfort him while I was like this. So, I made my way out of the hideout, making sure that nobody saw me leave.
~~~~~
~.: ???'s P.o.V. :.~
The wind had picked up as the sun had set over the horizon, and my legs were getting cramped from crouching for so long. Red Hood, standing beside me with binoculars raised, and I had been watching this warehouse for hours. Groaning under my breath, I nudged his side with my left outstretched fingers.
"Nothing is happening. Can we leave now?" I grumbled, prodding him in boredom. Red scowled down at me, his masked gaze scorching through me.
"Shut up and stop whining. We're trying not to get killed, remember?" He hissed, swatting my fingers away then went back to eyeing the warehouse suspiciously. I huffed, rolling my eyes as I followed his gaze.
"But I'm tiredddd, Jason. It's been hours and there's been no activity while during this entire stupid stake- ouch!" I yelped softly as he kicked me to shut me up.
"Asshole! Why'd you kick-" Jason kicked me again and gestured sharply with his head to the back of the warehouse where a few men were loading something into the building. I instantly fell silent, my eyes narrowing as I stood up beside Jason, taking his binoculars. They were bringing in crates of Venom, Sportsmaster and Cheshire directing them as they set them down inside the warehouse. I looked sharply to Jason, awaiting his next move.
"Let's get a closer look at things before we decide to kick any butts," Red growled as I followed after him, having to put a little more effort into my strides being that my legs were somewhat asleep from lack of use during the stake out. As we ran behind one of the trees surrounding the strange warehouse, I heard movement coming from the foliage near us. Jason motioned for me to take care of the noise and with a silent nod, I slipped away from our hiding spot, my gaze searching the bushes and trees surrounding the clearing.
For a moment, I didn't see anything moving amongst the underbrush so I figured that perhaps an animal was wandering around nearby, but just as I was about to turn and go back to Jason, I spotted a dark haired girl walking amongst the trees. Her brown eyes gleamed in the shadows as she made her way along the forest path. I cocked my head to the side.
/What's she doing out here?.. wait a minute... isn't she one of those Justice League members that the Batman wannabe bossed around?/ I momentarily pushed those thoughts out of my mind for the time being when Cheshire left Sportmaster's side to do a perimeter check of the area. I gritted my teeth in frustration as the dark haired justice Leaguer stepped on a broken twig, shattering the forest's silence with the sound of her boot crushing the twig underfoot. I overheard Chesire cussing in aggitation, and thinking on impulse, I ran at the strange girl, tackling and pinning her to the ground and covering her mouth with my right hand.
"Shh!!!" I hissed in the girl's ear, silencing her muffled screaming. Her wide brown eyes narrowed suspiciously at me as I looked over my shoulder to watch for Cheshire. Luckily, the assasin had gone a different direction. I turned back to the strange girl as she bit down on my gloved hand. Gritting my teeth in pain, I yanked my hand away.
"What are you doing out here? You trying to get yourself killed? Who sent you? Was it that Batman-wannabe? Tell him Jason doesn't want his help-" the girl interrupted me with an alarmed gasp.
"Jason? As in, Jason Todd? But he's dead!" She yelped, trembling as she hurriedly got to her feet and got into a defensive stance as I put my hands on my hips and scowled disapprovingly at her.
(Meanwhile, back at the hideout)
~.: Nightwing's P.O.V :.~
"Hey, Wally, is Aria calm now? I didn't expect her to attack Addison like tha- what's going on?" I walked in on my best friend darting over to me, his face bright red, matching Aria's flushed complexioN perfectly. I scowled at him, sensing the tense atmosphere between them.
"What did you do while I was talking to Acacia?" I growled, narrowing my eyes at Wally as he rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.
"Nothing, I swear. Look, I gotta get going, so I'll see ya!" Before I could question him further, he zipped past me and out of the room. I glanced confusedly at Aria as she clapped a hand over her one side of her neck. I scowled.
"Please tell me that's not what I think it is...." I grumbled, face palming myself as my sister jumped to her feet and ushered me toward the door that Wally had just walked past.
"No its not what you think, now go find De and get out of my room-" Aria's voice seemed to have gotten squeakier as she ushered me into the hallway and closed the door in my face. Glaring at the door, I made my way to the infirmary, hoping to vent to De about this. But instead of seeing Deanne watching over Bella, it was Tim and Addison.
"Where's De..?" I asked confusedly.
~TBC~
