Not As It Seems

reveal

I would like to thank caught-in-deadlights for some help on this chapter, even though she does not care for YJ or Jason Todd, which is a damn shame.

Dick scoffed, looking at Will on the monitor. "You think I can't take an assassination attempt? Please, I've been the ward of Bruce Wayne for how long now?"

Will sighed. "This is different. We are talking about a trained, very deadly, assassin under direct orders from Deathstroke to end you."

Dick smirked. "I'll take my chances, thanks Will."

Will groaned. "Don't come crying to me when you're dead."

"Noted. Say hi to Lian for me." Dick ended the call, noticing all his teammate's eyes on him. He rolled his. "What?"

"You have an assassin after you and you don't think that's a big deal?" Bart stared at him in shock.

Dick shrugged. "I can easily take Red. What, do you guys not have confidence in me?"

The team said nothing, staring straight ahead as they reached the airspace above the Taos sanctuary. M'gann started to make the bioship descend when suddenly the bioship shook upon impact. The team looked around, wide eyed, trying to figure out what had happened.

Then came another blast and before the team knew it, they were crash landing.

"What the hell was that?" Wally cried out, helping his team members out of the bioship.

A third blast came and hit the ship, causing M'gann to scream in pain and fall to her knees, clutching her head. Everyone turned to the direction the blasts had come from and were only slightly shocked to see Red standing on the roof of the sanctuary with a rocket launcher on his shoulder. He waved at them when he saw they were all looking in his direction.

Red dropped the rocket launcher and jumped off the roof, landing gracefully on the ground. He stood up and drew his sword, pointing it accusingly at Dick. "Your time has come, Nightwing. Deathstroke has put a bounty on you and I intend to collect."

"Man, what the hell is with your voice?" Bart asked at the mechanical sound of the voice muffler. "And you do realize you are grossly outnumbered?"

Red shrugged, making a 'come here' motion with his free hand.

The team exchanged a look before charging at him. Red ducked underneath Artemis' punch, hitting her in the temple with the hilt of his sword and knocking her unconscious. He jumped off her body as it fell and dove at Bart, taking him by surprise as he violently kicked him in the side of the his knee and breaking it instantly.

Bart cried out in pain, falling to the ground. He glared up at Red. "What...what the hell did you d-do that for?"

Red scoffed. "I'm an assassin, be grateful you are still breathing." He turned around to see he was surrounded by the team, minus M'gann who was still recovering from the shock of her bioship being blasted three times. He twirled his sword, eyes narrowed at the team. "Who's next?"

Wally zipped up to Red and wrapped his arms around his torso. "We've got you now."

"Oh, really?" Red cackled, hitting a button on his belt. A shock went through both the boys, Red being used to it was less affected and able to stay standing. Wally, however, crumpled to the ground. Red looked away from his form just in time to dodge the bo staff about to hit his head. He growled. "Oh, I didn't realize the team was letting any rich snob onto the roster."

Tim faltered, just enough for Red to punch him in the throat and elbow him in the nose, making him tumble backwards into Cassie.

Conner was next, diving at Red. Red rolled his eyes, pulling out a shard of kryptonite that he may or may not have stolen from Batman and stabbing it into Conner's shoulder.

"I have been trained to take down the Justice League, of course I can take you down." He sneered through his mask at Conner's surprised face. He ducked when Barbara and Jaime jumped at him from opposite sides, knocking heads instead. Red rolled his eyes. "I wouldn't need to carelessly take down your whole team if circus boy over here would surrender himself up."

Dick stiffened. How did he know...?

He shook it off, remembering he worked for Ra's Al Ghul before Deathstroke. Of course he would know his origins.

Dick took a few steps forward. "You want me? Come get me."

Red smirked under his mask, circling around Dick. He noticed Cassie trying to sneak up on him so he whirled around and hit her with a nerve strike, rendering her temporarily paralyzed. He felt someone jump on his back, too light to be Dick. Red grabbed Tim's arms and flung him over his head, slamming him on the ground before whirling around to face Dick.

"Looks like its just you and me, Nightwing." He snarled as the team groaned from the ground, watching in horror as he drove his blade into Nightwing's leg.

The hero let out a grunt of pain as the sword was pulled back out. Dick looked up at Red as he went to strike again, this time managing to get out of the way. He rolled on the ground and leaped to his feet, stumbling a bit due to his leg injury. Dick glowered at Red, going to strike him with his escrima stick when Red ducked under it, hitting him on the chin with a solid punch.

Dick went sprawling on the ground, head dizzy due to the power of the hit and the blood he was losing. He felt Red kick him in the chest, knocking the wind out of him before the assassin's full body weight was on top of him. Dick opened his eyes to see Red's blade hovering over his neck, the assassin's head tilted to the side as if he was listening to something.

Red nodded, reaching into his waist band and producing a hypothermic needle. "Change of plans, Wing."

Nightwing batted the needle away and onto the ground, causing Red to leap off him and grab it. Dick took the opportunity to stumble back to his feet. He tackled Red, hitting him in the face with his escrima stick and wincing when he heard a crack. He looked down to see one of the eyes of his mask was shattered, revealing a shade of blue-green that haunts him to this day.

Dick gasped, about to acknowledge the eye when he was shoved off the assassin. Red was on top of him in an instant, holding the needle over his neck. Dick struggled to keep it from entering his skin, but ultimately failed as Red plunged the needle into his neck and injected the contents. Dick let out a groan as he felt a burning sensation take over his body.

He groggily watched as Red chuckled on top of him. "Well, now that you are one of us, might as well reveal my secret." He reached up and began to pull his mask off, stopping when he heard movement behind him. Red whipped around to see M'gann glaring at him, eyes glowing as she flung Red off of Dick. Red rolled to his feet, looking over at Dick with his exposed eye. "We will be in touch, Dickhead."

And with that he took off into the night, leaving M'gann to rush over to Nightwing. "Are you okay? What did he inject you with?"

Dick grunted, vision swimming. "Don't...know. Call Bats."

The last thing Dick remembers was seeing Red at the edge of the building. He squinted at the assassin as he winked with his exposed eye before disappearing around the corner.