Long Story Short {Second Book to Born For This}

Small Talks

BLÜDHAVEN, NEW JERSEY

April 1, 21:05 EDT

"So, this is the best we could come up with."

Ember arched a brow, crossing her arms as she observed the makeshift warehouse turned temporary station of operation. It wasn't that it was cramped, but it definitely lacked style and decor to make it feel homely. 

"As a last-minute base of operations, yeah," Nightwing sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. 

She could read the exhaustion all over him. It wasn't easy being the tasked leader when the core Justice Leaguers were a galaxy away and the Light decided to take over. To add, the Light's new partner, otherwise known as The Reach, made their public debut just the previous morning. Things were a little more than complicated. 

But this seemed to be something different. Like his mind was occupied with something simultaneously. Deciding to broach the subject as gently as possible, Ember asked, "Nightmares again?"

All Nightwing had to do was look at her and she knew. Walking over to him, the blonde woman took his gloved hand in hers, an action that startled him out of his thoughts. "Dick." His masked eyes finally looked over into her blue-grey ones. "I know things have been hard, especially with the anniversary today." 

Nightwing's head fell sadly, his bangs covering a portion of his mask. Raising her free hand, she held up his chin to look at her. "No matter what, I'm always here for you. You can tell me anything, remember?"

"I know," he smiled a little, tightening his hold on her hand gratefully. 

Knowing he understood, Ember chastely kissed his cheek and headed for the entrance, noting a security notification from his high-tech glove. It was a wonder how he moved so quickly with the setup of alarms around the warehouse. Then again, he was Batman's protege, so it shouldn't really have been that much of a surprise. 

Opening the garage door manually, Ember and Nightwing saw the Super-Cycle park just outside. Miss M, Wolf, and Mal sat in the back while Conner piloted from the front seat. Each of them glanced over the building warily, and Ember tightened her jacket over her as a gust of cold air blew through. 

"Nice," Mal complimented, hopping out of the Super-Cycle. "Perfect cover for our new digs. On the outside, I mean, it's downright nasty."

Ember arched an amused brow and led the group indoors, turning the main light on to reveal the premises. 

"And it's nasty on the inside, too," he muttered after assessing the warehouse. "April Fools, right? I mean, this is the Team's new HQ? Where's the secret trapdoor to our real base?"

Nightwing informed, walking over to him, "No secret trapdoor. And it's not our new HQ. For the time being, we'll operate out of the basement of the Hall of Justice. This is just a place to crash."

When it seemed that Mal was ready to defy, Nightwing interjected quickly with a raised hand, "A very temporary stopgap place to crash for those of you who were actually living at the Cave."

"It's fine," Superboy said dejectedly as Wolf made his way up the stairs to the second level where the couch was. 

Despite what her Martian friend thought of her, Electra still offered regardless, "M'gann, if you don't want to be the only girl living here, you're more than welcome to crash with me."