If You Could Turn Back Time

Ch 19

Dick rolled out of bed and stopped the alarm on his phone, glancing quickly at the reminder that had popped up on the screen before rolling his eyes and grabbing his Nightwing suit.

It had been nearly a week since Dick had last dared to let himself to go on patrol. The first two days had been spent in bed fighting off a fever, but after that it was simply the fear of what would happen if he tapped into the strange magical force Salt had instilled in him.

It was an assignment from the JLA that was calling Dick back out as Nightwing, something he hoped wouldn't require him to do anything magic related, but he honestly wouldn't be surprised if it did.

—

Dick arrived at the watchtower with folded arms and a slight scowl on his face. It only took a few minutes from the time when his name was announced for him to be peering over Bruce's shoulder at a screen while the man gave him the details of his assignment.

"You're being assigned as backup for a mission with the young justice," Bruce said gruffly.

It took a moment for the information to sink in, but when it did Dick's frown deepened. "And why can't someone else babysit the mini league?" He asked.

"We're going on a mission that'll have us occupied in space for a few days. We just need you to monitor coms and possibly help out if things go too far south," Bruce replied.

"Fine," Dick finally agreed.

"The team is at the cave training right now. A room has been prepared for your stay," Bruce said, turning and walking away.

"Great... just what I need..." Dick grumbled, folding his arms and walking back towards the zeta tubes.

—

Dick's scowl was even more intense as he walked into the mountain. He was not looking forward to seeing the members of his original team... they wouldn't know him of course, but that didn't really make it any better.

There was a moment where Dick toyed with the idea of simply trying and find his temporary room on his own, but he ultimately decided that it would be rude not to introduce himself.

All training immediately halted when Dick walked into the room, and the heroes who'd been sent to apprehend him shared a look.

"Hi," Dick said awkwardly.

"I can't believe this is the guy we couldn't capture," Conner muttered under his breath. "He must be like 12 or something."

Dick turned to Conner, his annoyance growing. "For your information Cloney... I am a legal adult, which is older than you... What are you... 3?" He said, putting his hands on his hips.

Conner growled and stomped forward.

"Friends," Kaldur said, stepping between the two. "Let us not fight."

"You better say that again Salty... I don't think the clone understands what the words not and fight mean when they're next to each other," Dick said, knowing perfectly well he was metaphorically poking a sleeping bear.

Conner bellowed and rushed past Aqualad, lunging at Dick, only to be met with empty air where the acrobat once was.

"Didn't you hear what Salty boi said?" Dick mocked. "No fighting," he said slowly, dancing out of the way of Conner's strikes all while leading him onto the sparring pad.