Dick slipped into his Nightwing uniform, frowning when he noticed that the blue spot was still on his chest.

The spot was about the size of an apple, and it scared Dick to think of what it might mean.

A jazzy tone played from Dick's phone as his reminder for him to leave went off. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, his fingertips brushing against the staples Leslie had requested to check on earlier that day.

"Thank goodness for zeta tubes," Dick muttered as he climbed out of his window and headed to a nearby closed phone booth.

—

Leslie offered Dick one of her signature calming Doctor smiles as he sat in the exam room. She quickly found the line of staples, her brow furrowing when she saw the completely healed skin. "I... I don't know what to say..." she mumbled, taking a second look. "I know I just placed these staples yesterday, but it looks like your wound is already completely healed."

Dick's brow furrowed. That couldn't be right... he didn't have a healing factor... so how could he have healed so fast? "Maybe it has to do with something fate did..." Dick said.

"Uh... ya," Leslie agreed. "Well... I guess let's get those staples out for you then," she said, receiving a nod from Dick.

—

Dick swung around Blüdhaven, looking for any disturbances.

So far he'd only stopped a few muggings, not seeing much else, and he was about to call it a night when he saw the flash of gunfire on a nearby rooftop.

Swinging towards the action, Dick couldn't help but let out a sigh. So much for a quiet night...

Dick stopped and peered down at the gunfight that was taking place on the rooftop over. There was a group of 3 men and a group of four men firing at each other from their barricades of boxes. As he watched, the group of 3 advanced, the other group lowering their weapons and instead pulling out a few folders that seemed to be filled with something.

The folders were exchanged with something in a small black pouch.

That was when Dick made his entrance. He flipped onto the other roof and sent a series of bolas and wingdings toward the men, leaving all of them on the ground, either tied up, stunned, or knocked out.

"So gentlemen," Dick said, grabbing both the envelopes and the bag. "I hate to interrupt, but I'm sure whatever you were doing is probably highly illegal." He peered into the envelopes, seeing that they were filled with money, and the small pouch was filled with some sort of powder.

Dick grabbed a small vial from his belt and was taking a sample of the powder when he was hit over the head with the butt of a gun.

"That ain't for you pretty bird," a new man said, one Dick hadn't seen on the rooftop before.

Dick tried to stand, but was grabbed around the throat. He clawed at the strong hand that was closing around his throat as he gasped for air.

Black dots began to dance in front of Dick's eyes and his efforts to free himself began to weaken. His eyes drifted closed, opening slightly when he heard the click of the man removing his utility belt and tossing it over the edge of the building.

"Oh no. Looks as if I've dropped your little toy belt. You better go get it," the man said, dangling Dick's limp body over the edge of the building and releasing his strangling hold on his neck, letting him fall towards the ground below.

Dick's eyes snapped open when he realized he was falling. He reached for a grappling gun from his utility belt, breath catching in his throat when he realized he didn't have his belt anymore. There was nothing he could do to stop his fall.

The wind whipped past Dick's face, and a tear was swept off of his cheek by the wind as he couldn't help but think of his parents, and how they'd fallen.

He closed his eyes and accepted his fate...

But the deadly impact with the ground never came.

Dick felt himself stop falling and he opened his eyes. He gasped when he noticed that he was surrounded by blue light, hovering just a few inches off of the ground.

The blue light slowly faded and Dick was gently lowered to the floor.

Dick immediately jumped up and looked around, wondering what had happened... that was when he remembered the seeing the same blue glow flowing from Salt's fingers and being sucked into his own body.

'Is this what Salt did to me?' Dick wondered. 'But Salt is evil... he'd never do something that's simply good. There must be some sort of a catch.'

Dick furrowed his brows, suddenly noticing his utility belt on the ground. He took a step toward it and immediately fell to one knee.

His head was spinning, and sweat gathered on his forehead, making his hair stick to his head.

Dick managed to crawl the few feet to his utility belt and clip it around his waste before he collapsed again, shivering violently. 'So that's the catch,' he though wryly.

After a few minutes Dick attempted to stand again, leaning heavily against the wall. His forehead burned as the rest of him shook like a leaf.

Dick fought to keep his eyes open as he made his way out of the alley, guessing it was probably best for him to call it a night.

Near the end of the alley Dick ran into something hard, making himself stumble and fall onto his back. He looked up at what seemed to be a smudge of brown with a dot of red on top. "Santa?" He muttered feverishly, eventually loosing the battle to keep his eyes open and drifting off into unconsciousness.

—

Dick opened his eyes to find himself in an unfamiliar room. He looked around for a second before starting to sit up.

"Stay down," a voice Dick recognized as Jason said.

Jason's firm hand on his shoulder was what eventually got Dick to lay back down.

"I'm fine," Dick grumbled, folding his arms over his chest.

"Fine?" Jason asked. "I guess I should've just left you in that alley then."

"I would've been fine," Dick growled, stubbornly insisting on pretending everything was ok.

"Dick! You could've died!" Jason said, slamming his fist down on the bedside table.

Dick bit his lip. "I was-"

"Don't you dare say you were fine," Jason interrupted. "First I saw someone drop you off of a building, and then you stumble down an alley and pass out... I didn't know if you fell... if you were hurt..."

"Jay... I'm sorry," Dick said quietly. "I didn't mean to worry you."

Jason rubbed at his forehead. Why did he even let himself care about people again? "No... It's fine... I just... I lost everyone when I died, and it's been nice to have a brother again... so when I thought you were hurt... I was worried."

Dick smiled softly. "I really am sorry for worrying you," he said.

Jason let out a light chuckle. 'You should feel more sorry for that guy who through you off the roof."

Dick gave Jason a look, and the younger smirked.

"I didn't kill him... but he and his buddies will be enjoying matching body casts for a while," Jason said.

Dick groaned, covering his face with one hand. "You didn't..." he said, peeking through a gap in his fingers at the smug face Jason was making. "You did."

Jason nodded. "Hey," he said, "you should be happy I didn't kill them."

Dick laughed softly and closed his eyes. "Why is it we can't we ever have normal conversation?" He asked.

"Because we're vigilantes... nothing about that really screams normal to me."

Dick sighed again. "I guess you're right... now. If you're done being weird and protective, I'd like to go back to my own apartment."

Jason huffed. "Fine," he mumbled. "But just know that I'll be watching you," he said, helping Dick up.

"I wouldn't expect anything less," Dick replied.

—

Dick slid down the wall of his apartment to sit on the floor. He really had to figure out what Salt had done to him, and what was going on with this magic blue light that kept showing up.

He sighed as he pulled off the top part of his suit, his breath catching when he caught sight of the blue spot on his chest. It had grown, covering an area on his chest larger than his hand.

Dick leaned his head back against the wall and closed his eyes, but he couldn't banish the image of the blue skin that seemed to be glowing from within, illuminating blood vessels and bones in a supernatural way. He felt the urge to puke when he thought about how it pulsed along with the beat of his heart.

Since trying to forget about it didn't seem to be working, Dick pulled on a loose fitting T-shirt and went into his living room. He plopped himself down on the couch and took a few calming breaths.

Dick held out a hand palm up and concentrated as hard as he could. He focused on the thrumming in his chest and the memory of the blue light seeping into his skin.

It was only a second before Dick felt the tugging in his chest and he saw a stream of blue light flow out to circle his hand.

Sweat beaded on Dick's forehead as he focused on the blue light, watching as it bent itself to his will. He bit his lip when the tugging became more painful, but he was determined not to stop. The pain was probably just something he had to work through.

With a flick of his wrist, Dick sent the light flying across the room where it circled a small wilted flower.

As the light swirled around the flower, its stem straightened and it's petals regained their color, any that had fallen off floating up to join the flower as it was returned to its original beauty.

Dick closed his hand and the light disappeared.

A slight glow hung on the flower's petals for a few seconds before it faded, leaving a beautiful flower in place of the wilted one.

Dick stood, but immediately fell to the floor when he felt the stabbing pain in his chest intensify. Sweat dripped into his eyes, and his stomach roiled.

Tears pricked in Dick's eyes as his body shook. He managed to crawl through his house and into his bathroom before the urge to vomit became too much and he emptied the contents of his stomach into the toilet.

"Ugggh," Dick groaned, laying his head back against the wall. His head was pounding, and his vision blurred. He lifted his shirt and nearly sobbed when he saw that the blue spot had grown, now reaching nearly from shoulder to shoulder with glowing blue veins spidering off towards his limbs. The center of the spot glowed more intensely, and bile rose again in Dick's throat when he noticed that he could now see his heart beating through the nearly transparent skin.

—

Dick woke up on the cold bathroom floor of his apartment with a puddle of puke next to his head. He groaned as he sat up slowly, noticing how shaky and weak he felt.

The thought to call Jason popped into Dick's mind, but he ignored it, mopping up the vomit as quickly as he could before stepping into the shower to clean himself off.

Dick leaned against the wall of the shower as the warm water beat down on him. He felt so cold, but his face burned with fever.

A quiet sob escaped Dick as thoughts of what was going on swirled through his head. He needed to get some help, but the only people he could think of were the Justice League... and he refused to go begging to them for answers to his problems.

Once he was clean, Dick stepped out into the colder air and quickly changed into something dry and warm, taking a few sips of water before curling up on his bed under a pile of blankets.