Nightwing - One Shots

~ Elemental - Part 3 ~

A/N: I honestly don't know why I attack Barry/Flash so much in these one shots. So just to let you know, I do love him, he's literally one of my favorite DC heroes, but he's also got a way of thinking sometimes that gets others (and himself) in a mite of trouble there and again, and I guess I couldn't pass up the opportunities! Still he doesn't deserve all I've put him through and needs some love lol.

Enjoy Part 3!

—

Nightwing nearly dropped his weapons, mouth agape for a mere second or two. How had he not noticed? Sure, Barry had been acting a bit odd recently. He was quiet on the plane, but that was the usual for mentors when they came on missions with them.. if they did. He assumed Barry was only concerned about defeating this latest enemy! Not because he was literally sending Nightwing to his potential death!

He took a deep breath and noted how long he'd been staring down at Barry's now still hand by his leg. Was it.. shaking? Too much, too late. He should've turned around quicker, because by the time he did, the man was backing up and disappearing into the rushing wind. Had he caught on to what was 'said'? Did he know morse code?

He had no time to ask or answer such questions, because time suddenly slowed down and everything seemed... unrealistic. The man, he had been backing up, only to rush forward and lunge at the bat protege. However, just as Nightwing noticed this, there was a pressure in his lower back, and he found himself slamming face-first into a patch of dead grass a mile away.

A shout came from the area they'd left.

Then silence.

"Dam-" he heard Barry begin, but his head pounded, and he couldn't hear anything but his heart in his ears. Nightwing couldn't help but collapse back onto the ground before he could even begin to get up. His ears rang for a moment, and wind moved past them.. almost whispering again. 'I'llgetyou' it almost sounded like, and that brought the hero to shudder, weary about the point of this mission.

He stayed down beside the speedster in the grass. Said speedster was silent, staring at his hands like they weren't his hands.

Nightwing breathed a moment, and then slowly turned to look at the Flash.

"..I thought.." deep breath, "..I was the inside man."

Barry snuffled, turned to look at him, and then got up. He knew the fight wasn't over. He looked to the bat protege, "Let's get a team on these fires, and come back when our team is a team again."

—

"It was too late. He's smart. He caught on. It wouldn't have worked anyways, because if I hadn't grabbed you and ran?" Barry shook his head, arm waving to the general direction of the front doors, to the fires, "He might've killed you."

Nightwing ran a hand over his face before turning back to where the rest of his team were scattered about the room, muttering angrily, "You don't know that. That was probably our only chance."

"No, it probably wasn't. He wants you, don't you get that? You can't.." Barry sighed, walking up beside him to grab his shoulder and turn him so that they were facing each other, "I can't allow you to get back on that jet and fly out there again. This was my doing, bringing you to him in the first place."

Nightwing glared daggers at the speedster, leaning in slightly with a gloved index finger being shoved into Barry's chest, "You are not the man who tells me what I can and can't do, Barry- and you certainly are not telling said man about what conspired tonight."

Barry gazed at the younger man with narrowing eyes, and a slow grin made its way onto his face, "First of all, you're not in charge of what I 'can and can't do', got that? Second of all-"

"-Second of all, too late."

Nightwing's eyelids slammed shut and he brought his clamped fist to his side shakily. A hand suddenly rested firmly on Nightwing's shoulder. He opened his eyes and glared at the floor, "Who told you? Barry?"

"No," a younger voice spoke up from the couch nearest to them. Richard turned to find Tim looking up at him with obvious worry in his eyes.. though in a corner of such worry, there was something else. A mix of guilt, bashfulness, and confidence. Of course. You can't trust a sibling when it comes to safety from an issue like this.

Nightwing ran a hand over his face, tired. He knew everyone in the room were watching the men argue. He knew everyone was listening intently, ready to break it off or hear drama.. and he knew that he was slowly crumbling in front of them every moment this charade was left to keep on spinning.

"You know what I'm going to say," Batman whispered behind him. It came out in a mixture of both soft and rough, something it seemed only he had achieved. For some reason, it made Nightwing's shoulders droop slightly. The exhaustion was already getting to him, and he couldn't help but give in a little more each time it offered a helping hand.

"Yes... but I'm not- I can't let my team face him alone..." Nightwing tried, not making eye contact with the rest of the team. They didn't need to see his guilt, or how much he wanted to shape shift into someone he wasn't. His attempt at making an excuse was futile, however.

Batman subtly squeezed his shoulder once before letting the hand drop to his side stoically, "You know as well as I do that this team will be better off if they don't have a leader that is being targeted. Wally can take over leadership- or M'gann, Superboy. They'll survive without you, Nightwing."

Nightwing nodded, reluctantly turning to his team with eyes unable to pick themselves up from the floor. Before he knew it, however, M'gann was crushing him in one heck of a bear hug. His breath was stolen from him and his arms (and hands, almost reaching for his escrima sticks- but thought better of it immediately once he knew who attacked him) spread out in surprise. Slowly her wrapped her in his arms, forehead falling to rest on her shoulder.

M'gann squeezed the leader a bit tighter and then whispered beside his ear, "I'm speaking for us all when I say this..." and she pulled back, holding him at arms length, speaking normal now, "we want you safe, and we will fight for you until you are."

Beast Boy yelled his agreement in the background, which drew out some other nods and confident grunts from the other team members. Wally and Superboy walked up beside M'gann with confidence radiating off of them. Superboy was slightly more angry than the others, though that wasn't surprising, seeing as he usually is no matter the occasion.

Wally grinned, clapping his best friend on the back, "Don't leave forever, man. Don't disappear and never come back. I know what it's like.. leaving the team like that. We're going to take care of this guy, and as soon as that's done, we're all going out for churros. My treat."

Dick chuckled softly, "If I'm not mistaken, I believe you're too broke to feed even yourself, Kid Flash."

Wally looked stricken, a fake scowl on his face, "Well then I'll see to it that you are uninvited, sir."

Superboy, though quite stoic, had the slightest smile on his face. He made no physical contact, but looking into his eyes was enough. He confidently nodded at Nightwing, allowing the young hero to take a step back and surrender himself to his mentor and brothers.

As the duo began down the path towards home, Nightwing slowed to a stop and turned back for a moment. He gazed at his defeated team, now with high spirits and boasted confidence, and he let himself feel the emotion. He let out a breath, and called to the team with meaningful words.

"Kick his a---"

-

A/N: AH okay I'll admit this is really hard and I don't know about you guys but I find it super stressful. I realize I put myself in this position, so none of the blame is on you guys at ALL. I enjoy all of the favorites, views, requests. All of it. Right now I'm so swamped with things and I suck at keeping these up to date ahaha. So I apologize about all of these long waits for each chapter. I'm not sure if I'll be able to make many more requests, seeing as how I'm apparently writing them as full short stories or something with all of these parts? I need to just mash all the parts together and call it a 'real long one shot'.

Okay! Next part comin' soon. X O X O YEAH
(as you can tell i'm beginning to lose my marbles here at home)