a/n: my fyp on tiktok has been FULL of DC angst. so enjoy me moving said angst and depression to this season.

"Oh, you look-"

"Not a word. The flight was delayed twice and I had to do my makeup in the car. I haven't showered and I reek." I grumbled, throwing down my bags in the hotel room. "Next time, we're taking the fucking company jet."

"Dress is here safe and sound." Artemis called out and I nodded. "If you shower now and don't wash your hair, I can help fix your makeup and hair and we'll be on time."

"I have to shave my legs, Artemis. Because somebody picked the wrong dress and had to pick the one that shows my legs."

"Can't believe I'm saying this, but I'll help you shave. I have an extra razor." She sighed and dragged me to the bathroom.

"Hold up. You're helping her shave her legs?" Connor asked and we both nodded.

"Remember the time she was in a slump for two weeks and didn't shower? Zee and I gave her an everything bath." Artemis shrugged and shut the bathroom door.

"You had to bring that up?" I grimaced.

"Eh, gives those boys something to think about for an hour. That's not my problem."

"You do realize my fiancé needs little to no motivation, right?"

"Again, not my problem."

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"Worked your charm?"

"Yep, and I'm getting nothing. These Markovians are hard to break... Even raised my dress and everything."

"Showing your ankles like a Victorian whore." Barbara teased through the comms and I scoffed.

"Ma'am, these legs made the baddest crooks of Gotham pass out. There's a reason I do squats and my workout consists of mostly legs." I defended and Artemis snickered, passing me a flute of champagne.

"Everyday is leg day with Maeve." She chuckled. "But, do you really think the two princes could have had something to do with their own parents' deaths?"

"We shouldn't be making any assumptions." Dick pointed out, wrapping an arm around my waist. "That's Dr. Simon Ecks, a world-renowned geneticist, who, for some reason, has taken a low-paying job at the Markovian Children's Hospital."

"Maybe he likes kids."

"Maybe this is our guy." Barbara texted through our contacts and I nodded.

"Maybe he just likes to abduct kids and turn them into meta-humans. The fatality rate at that hospital is way above the norm." I suggested and pointed at the woman next to him. "Dr. Helga Jace, personal physician to the Royal Family. There's no indication she has the training for meta-work, but you never know."

"That's Baron Frederick DeLamb, the late queen's brother. Tomorrow, when Gregor's crowned king, Uncle Freddy becomes Regent until Gregor turns 18." Dick added, pressing a light kiss to my temple.

"There's your motive. For either of them." Artemis shrugged.

"Or both."

"Prince Brion's clearly not with the program."

"Noted. But Ecks is still our lead suspect."

"Nightwing. We've made the drop as planned. Your gear's in the northwest corner of the Markovian National Cemetery." Connor called out. "We'll head over to the Children's Hospital to check out its anomalous power usage."

"Targets are scrambling. I'll follow Ecks and the Prince. You get our gear." Dick ordered and we both nodded.

"I got all dressed up for nothing? Knew I should've stayed at the hotel." I grumbled, taking off my shoes once Artemis and I left the gardens. "God, my feet are killing me!"

"Wasn't for anything. Boy Wonder had his eyes on you all night while you were walking around doing things the old fashioned way." Artemis smirked. "Keep the dress pretty and wrinkle free and who knows?"

"Trust me, he'd rather have me suited and masked or look homeless than dress like a billionaire."

"He's a smart boy."

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"Domino, we've got a situation!"

"Currently handling one of my own, Artemis! Meet us at the hospital!" I called back, tracking Dick's car as he followed Ecks and the Prince. "I don't get paid enough for this."

"Babe, SB and Lightning aren't answering."

"Why is it that something always has to go wrong?" I grumbled, parking my cycle next to Dick and removed my helmet. "Your gear's in my bag so I suggest you change.... and you drive like Joker when he's high on crack."

"I was made for driving bikes, not cars." He smirked.

"If that's supposed to do something to me? Because it's really not doing it."

"Okay, you're crankier than usual. What's going on with you?"

"Everything... my dad, Bruce, the Knight, Steph and Tim, Cassandra, this whole op... it's all too much."

"You wanna go home? I can call Lucius and have the Batplane-"

"Dick, I have all these kids depending on me. They expect me to be the best version of myself... but I don't even know who that's supposed to be!" I exclaimed and gestured to the crowbar on my back. "I carry around the thing that killed my boy for crying out loud!"

"I don't think I'll ever fully understand how much Jaybird meant to you, if I'm being completely honest." Dick sighed, removing his jacked and bow tie before leaving the car. "But those kids look up to you because you wear your heart on your sleeve. Everyone we've ever crossed paths with says the same thing."

"I'm scared of failing Steph like I failed Jay."

"Sweetheart, you didn't fail Jaybird... y'know what he always told me whenever you weren't around?"

"Mm?"

"That being Robin was magic because you were there with him. And he was right... being Robin with you next to me? Baby, that was the absolute dream! You were the spark every Robin had."

"I can't fail her, Dick."

"And you won't." He promised and pressed a kiss to my forehead. "We can talk more about this on the ride home. Right now, we have a Superboy to save... again."

"He owes too much already."

"You and me both."

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"This reminds me of Cadmus."

"We were happy in Cadmus. And reckless."

"Who's to say we can't do it now? Go back to our roots for a bit?" Dick offered and I smiled softly. "We're negative two, but we can make it work."

"Little dynamic duo action?" I asked.

"It's long overdue, baby." He smirked, opening one of the doors to Bedlam. "Ladies first."

"I'll lose signal once the door closes, be careful!" Barbara texted. "And you're magic, M. Don't forget it."

"Girl, you have to stop being so nosy." I groaned, seeing the message go through.

"I'm bored watching your dad and your other dad chase each other and you two are my favorite soap opera🥰. Be careful!❤️"

"No word on SB. Artemis is two minutes out." Dick called out and I nodded.

"I just lost signal with Oracle. We're going in blind for this one."

"If it comes to it, wanna test out that new move we've been working on?"

"Depends on which one we're talking about." I teased and walked away, hearing him let out a small groan. "Keep it in your pants, bird boy!"

"Believe me, I'm trying to."

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"Got visual, babe. SB's in a pod next to the prince."

"Oh, he's not gonna like that. It's like tying me down to an electric chair or showing me barbed wire." I whispered, crawl up through the vents until I stopped right on top of Connor's pod.

"Barbed wire?" Jeff asked.

"Long story that involves Arkham, a Robin and a Joker." Artemis sighed. "We're going in."

"Negative. Let Domino handle this." Dick ordered. "We're just backup if things go south... which they always do."

"Comforting, Wonder Boy."

"Tell me about it." I grumbled, opening the vent and dropped down behind Connor's pod.

"Hon, Oracle scanned the place with the bug. Left side you'll find a panel. I know you're not tech smart, but I have the schematics here. I'll guide you."

"Lightning's over here having an aneurysm thanks to that, Nightwing." Artemis scoffed and I smiled, opening the panel and poked my head out to nod at Dick.

"Don't cut the yellow wire or you'll set off the alarms. There's a black one that you'll want to disconnect and hot-wire with the white one. It'll reroute the whole system and hopefully wake up SB." I did as he said and crossed my fingers when the pod turned off for a few seconds but luckily, nobody noticed. "Good job, funny girl. Now go hide before you're-"

Dick was cut off by an explosion and Artemis yelling through the comms. I turned to hide further behind the pod when Vertigo and the King left.

Dick slowly crept up and hit one of the guards on the neck, knocking him out and I stepped out.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me." I sighed, opening the pod and grabbed Connor before he fell. "Easy, big guy... I've got you."

"I hate these things." He groaned and we both laughed.

"You and me both, SB. Kinda brings me back, huh?" Dick teased and we rolled our eyes.

"Back to when Domino tried to carve a smile on my face?"

"You don't smile enough, SB. I can still fix that."

"I'll pass, but thanks."

"Nightwing! Shut this place down!" Artemis yelled and we both turned to the doctor on the floor.

"How do we shut this down?" I asked, pointing a gun at her. "Answer me!"

"I- I will show you." She said and I lowered the gun.

"You have five minutes before I stop being nice. Move it."

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"We've got the evidence we need to bring down DeLamb and all of Bedlam. Dr. Jace's testimony will seal the deal."

"We lost eight kids! Plus that... that Plasmus kid they had their hooks into." Jeff yelled and I let out a small sigh, leaning against Sphere.

"We saved Artemis' friend here and the Prince, and countless other kids who would've been Bedlam's next victims. It's not the victory we wanted. But it is a victory." Dick tried to reason.

"I already have Oracle working on finding the kids, Lightning. Spoiler and Red Robin are working alongside her on this case and SB will alert the Team once we're on international waters. We have to do this the right way without risking a war, please." I scoffed and heard the Prince stir awake. "Please don't be Meta... please don't be Meta."

"Who are you people!?" Brion yelled, jumping off Sphere and immediately burned a hole on the dirt, causing me to jump into Connor's arms before I got burned.

"Nope, not your man." He said and passed me over to Dick.

"Make it stop! Make it stop!" Brion begged just as Connor ran up to him.

"The more you panic, the less control you'll have... just focus on controlling your breathing."

"Turn on the news. You're gonna want to see this." Barbara texted as Dick held out his Gauntlet to transmit the news.

"This footage shows Prince Brion undergoing an illegal meta-gene activation. This evidence irrefutably links Brion Markov to meta-human trafficking in Markovia and, quite possibly, to the abduction of his own sister, Princess Tara. And given their stance against meta-trafficking, Brion is most likely responsible for the assassinations of his own parents, King Viktor and Queen Ilona."

"Lies!" Brion cried, losing control of his powers and tried to make his way back to the palace when a Boom Tube opened to reveal Plasma and Vertigo.

"And he used a Fatherbox to track Super-Cycle." Artemis groaned.

"This is ending fast because I say so. I need to go home to my kids." I said, pulling out the static gun and shot Vertigo and the others on the forehead. "Artemis, Nightwing, now!"

Dick threw a smoke bomb while Artemis threw an arrow and electrocuted Vertigo and Ecks while we all ran to grab Jace and the girl.

Plasma grabbed the girl by the face and burned all of her skin before turning towards us.

"Oh, I do not wanna be barbecued! That's not how I wanna die!" I yelled as Dick shielded me.

"You can fight with death after we say 'I do'. For now, fight to stay alive, please?"

"Come on! You want to kill something?! Try me!" Jeff yelled and we all turned to see him shoot lightning at Plasma. "Domino, I need more juice!"

"On it!" I called out and started shooting at Plasma.

However, a civilian killed it with a bullet causing all of us to widen our eyes.

"I killed the monster!" He exclaimed and I threw a disk to knock the gun away.

"You killed a fucking kid, you asshole! Give me a good reason as to-"

"Easy, baby. Easy." Dick whispered and held my shoulders. "Don't go there."

"It was a child, Nightwing! You can't expect me to-"

"Stay here... say it."

"Stay here." I repeated and rolled my eyes.

"Good girl."

"Nightwing, what do we do now?" Artemis asked and we both sighed.

"We go home. We're done here." He said and I widened my eyes.

"What about them?"

"Look, we saved their lives. We never promised to adopt them."

"You're so full of shit sometimes, you know that?" I scoffed, pushing him away. "Stop being Batman for five seconds and get your head out of your ass."

"Domino-"

"Looks like Mom and Dad are fighting again." Connor sung and I glared at him. "Sorry..."

"I can take the halo-girl, monkey. You already have a full house with the kids spending every other night with you and the Arkham Knight and Joker situation you've got going on." Artemis offered.

"You have Lian and-"

"She's two and a half and her daddy and auntie sleep with weapons beside them. Plus, her godparents are on speed dial and a Zeta away. She'll be fine."

"I'll take the Prince." Connor called out. "He'll be okay with me and M'gann."

"I'll fix this." I promised and they both nodded.

"Aren't you always fixing your family's messes?"

"What's one more, huh?"