This has the epic distinction of being the first thing I ever wrote about the DCU.
*
Dick was scrutinizing the cable with something akin to dread when the slightest pat behind him alerted him to another's presence. Pinching the metal cable between two fingers, he turned around.
“I don't suppose you'd like to tell me what this is all about before you...”
The slight figure of Batgirl cocked her head to the side, and she raised her hands in the universal gesture for “I have no idea what you're talking about”. It also doubled as “I am unarmed”, her open palms turned toward the sky.
Nightwing shook his head. “Never mind. Thought you'd be someone else for a moment, sorry about that.”
The black orbits of her mask stared at him. Nightwing wondered if he was right in suspecting amusement in her stance, or if his Batman body language dictionary required a lot of updates before it could be consistently relied upon so he could have anything at all resembling a conversation with the family's newest addition. He'd been raised in a circus; he was probably the one of the kids who had the least difficulty getting Batgirl, but even he occasionally would've liked to go on something more solid than his instincts.
He eyed her for a second more before looking down at the cable again, rolling it between his fingers. It felt marginally more rigid than it should've been; cooked. Nightwing had used the Bat-cables countless times to get into burning buildings, and they'd never even got warm. It gave him a scale of how much damage it'd taken.
It had been neatly sliced off. Nightwing struggled to think of half a dozen day-to-day circumstances that might result in neatly sliced off Bat-cables. Of course, if his gut worry was founded, then the circumstance was about as far from day-to-day as you could get without referring to the Justice League, and even then...
That Batman was away on League business only added to his hunch.
“Batman wanted us to stick together,” he said, tearing his gaze from the portent of doom in his hand.
It wasn't a question, but Batgirl nodded anyway.
Well, that was that.
“I think we've found the root of his recent moodiness,” he added, finally dropping the cable. He wasn't going to learn any more from it, and unless they decided to stay put until something blew up, it was time to get a move on.
Batgirl had ducked her head forward as if biting down a smile or a chuckle.
“Yeah, I know, terrible thought. Don't tell him I said that.”
In anyone else, that could have been a giggle, he noted with some satisfaction as he retrieved his grapple hook.
“Anyway, I'm glad he's paranoid and you're here. If I'm right about what's got him in that mood and what cut that cable, we might be facing us an Amazo, and I don't think I need to tell you just how much I'd love to do that on lonely old some. Not.”
Her only response was to look back expectantly at Nightwing, her grapple in her hand.
Wordlessly, he shot the grapple, and the air started rushing around his ears.
Bruce, next time stop turning everything into a test for the new kid and leave us a word about your suspicions.
Every touch a smile, Dick+Cass
*
Dick was scrutinizing the cable with something akin to dread when the slightest pat behind him alerted him to another's presence. Pinching the metal cable between two fingers, he turned around.
“I don't suppose you'd like to tell me what this is all about before you...”
The slight figure of Batgirl cocked her head to the side, and she raised her hands in the universal gesture for “I have no idea what you're talking about”. It also doubled as “I am unarmed”, her open palms turned toward the sky.
Nightwing shook his head. “Never mind. Thought you'd be someone else for a moment, sorry about that.”
The black orbits of her mask stared at him. Nightwing wondered if he was right in suspecting amusement in her stance, or if his Batman body language dictionary required a lot of updates before it could be consistently relied upon so he could have anything at all resembling a conversation with the family's newest addition. He'd been raised in a circus; he was probably the one of the kids who had the least difficulty getting Batgirl, but even he occasionally would've liked to go on something more solid than his instincts.
He eyed her for a second more before looking down at the cable again, rolling it between his fingers. It felt marginally more rigid than it should've been; cooked. Nightwing had used the Bat-cables countless times to get into burning buildings, and they'd never even got warm. It gave him a scale of how much damage it'd taken.
It had been neatly sliced off. Nightwing struggled to think of half a dozen day-to-day circumstances that might result in neatly sliced off Bat-cables. Of course, if his gut worry was founded, then the circumstance was about as far from day-to-day as you could get without referring to the Justice League, and even then...
That Batman was away on League business only added to his hunch.
“Batman wanted us to stick together,” he said, tearing his gaze from the portent of doom in his hand.
It wasn't a question, but Batgirl nodded anyway.
Well, that was that.
“I think we've found the root of his recent moodiness,” he added, finally dropping the cable. He wasn't going to learn any more from it, and unless they decided to stay put until something blew up, it was time to get a move on.
Batgirl had ducked her head forward as if biting down a smile or a chuckle.
“Yeah, I know, terrible thought. Don't tell him I said that.”
In anyone else, that could have been a giggle, he noted with some satisfaction as he retrieved his grapple hook.
“Anyway, I'm glad he's paranoid and you're here. If I'm right about what's got him in that mood and what cut that cable, we might be facing us an Amazo, and I don't think I need to tell you just how much I'd love to do that on lonely old some. Not.”
Her only response was to look back expectantly at Nightwing, her grapple in her hand.
Wordlessly, he shot the grapple, and the air started rushing around his ears.
Bruce, next time stop turning everything into a test for the new kid and leave us a word about your suspicions.