A/N: Hey, readers! I was looking through some old word documents and found that I had another chapter of this story that I'd never uploaded. On the off chance that anyone's still waiting for more chapters of this story, I decided to upload this one. I still have notes for this fic stashed away somewhere, so I can definitely continue working on it if people are interested in that. But I can't promise frequent updates, since I'm working on another fic at the moment and I'm currently attending graduate school, which takes up a lot of time. However, if I get enough reviews asking for more, I'll definitely work on this fic some more.

Without further ado, here's the next chapter!

Chapter 7

Over the next six months, Nightingale became fast friends with many of the members of the Justice League of America. She'd grown especially close to the younger, more easy-going members of the team: Green Lantern, Flash, and Plastic Man. She spent almost all of her free time with them, working out in the training room, exploring the Watchtower, and just hanging out and learning what it means to really have fun. That was something she hadn't been allowed in the future, when her time was spent running and fighting.

One day, she was hanging out with Green Lantern in the mess hall.

"That's so good!" Nightingale laughed, looking at the cartoon Lantern had just created with his ring: a comical picture of Batman sticking out his tongue while trying to be scary. "You're amazing, Kyle! I've never seen anything so funny!"

Lantern laughed in return. "What can I say? I'm an artist and League meetings bore me. Gotta find something to do, right?"

"True. I didn't know you could do things like that with a power ring." Nightingale reached into a slot in her utility belt and pulled out a Green Lantern ring, holding it carefully, as if it was made of glass. "Dad taught me that it was a weapon. He never mentioned that it could be used for anything other than that."

"You have a power ring? Does that mean you're-"

"No. My dad gave it to me. It was yours from the future, actually. But I guess it was deactivated. Dad told me that when the Guardians didn't get it back from us, they'd have deactivated it. It'd be pretty cool if it did work, though."

"Have you ever tried it?"

"Not really, I-"

"There you are." Superman was standing in the doorway, his fists resting firmly on his hips and a smile on his face. "I've got a job for you two."

"Like a mission?" Nightingale asked, slipping the ring back into its slot.

"A small one." The Man of Steel walked over and handed Lantern a file. "That's what J'onn's gathered in the past hour. Some sort of riot broke out at the foot of the Appalachians in New York. The authorities are having trouble and have called for assistance."

"C'mon, Supes," Kyle interrupted. "Send Plastic Man on this! It's going to be boring!"

"Plastic Man is busy. And before you ask, so is everyone else. I'm actually on my way back to Metropolis right now; Parasite broke out of prison again. You can both handle this. It shouldn't take too long. Just put down the riot and you'll be back here before you know it."

Lantern sighed. "Right you are, chief." The sarcasm was obvious in his voice. "We'll head right down there. C'mon, Nightingale." With that, the two of them headed to the docking bay.

"Aren't we taking the teleporters?" Nightingale asked as Kyle led her to the hatch leading out into space.

"No. You said you thought the ring could only be used as a weapon, right? Well, I'm going to show you how else I can use it."

A beam of green energy shot out from the ring on Kyle's middle finger and then, as it hit Nightingale, covered her with a protective aura. The same sort of shield covered Kyle and he smiled, opening the airlock. At first, Nightingale was petrified, although she tried to hide it. But when she realized she could breathe, she looked at Kyle.

"The ring can protect us? Cool. But how is there enough oxygen in here? I mean, how do we keep from using it all up?"

"Cool thing about the ring," he replied, grinning. "It recycles carbon dioxide we exhale into new oxygen. Sweet, huh?"

"Very. Well, let's go!"

Kyle nodded and with a thought, the two of them lifted off the ground and flew out into the vacuum of space. Nightingale knew she shouldn't logically be able to do this, and that knowledge along with the slight bit of fear about being in space with only Kyle's thoughts as protection sent a rush of adrenaline through her.

"So what happens if you lose concentration?" Nightingale asked curiously, trying to sound nonchalant.

"I've been doing this long enough that it's pretty hard to break my concentration," Lantern replied with a smile. "Heck, I can usually keep a shield up when I'm unconscious, too. Subconscious willpower."

"Cool. Y'know what would be great? It would be cool if after we get back from this mission, you helped me try out my ring and see if it works. And if it does, you could teach me how to use it. Wouldn't that rock?"

"Hey, that could be pretty awesome. We could try it. For all we know, the ring might still work."

They started flying faster toward Earth, and Nightingale concentrated on the mission. She'd probably have to hold back, since they were going to be dealing with just civilians. She was mostly used to fighting metahumans, especially in the future, when her life was in danger; normally, she would go all-out in a fight and cause as much damage as possible in order to avoid any injuries of her own. She'd have to be careful not to hurt any of these civilians too badly, or there could be problems. She didn't want to kill any of them, after all. Within minutes, they'd reached the Appalachians and touched down on a ledge a few hundred feet above where the rioters were attacking police officers.

"They all look like they're armed with weapons," Kyle said, assessing the situation. "Chains, bats, knives…typical gang stuff. We'll be heavily outnumbered, but it doesn't look like it'll be too bad."

"You look uneasy, though," Nightingale observed.

"I just have a bad feeling, that's all. You know, one of those feelings in your gut like something bad's going to happen? That kind of feeling."

"Hey, it'll be cool, Kyle. What good are bats and knives against us? I mean, you've got the most powerful weapon in the universe on your finger! We'll tear these guys apart!"

Green Lantern smiled. "Can't dampen your optimism, huh? Well, let's go then. But stay close. We don't know what these guys can do yet."

Kyle used his ring to lower the two of them down to ground level and Nightingale jumped right into the fight, taking out two thugs instantly with ease. She waited for Green Lantern to land next to her and to join in the fray, then continued her attack. The first few minutes of the fight were invigorating. Adrenaline rushed through Nightingale's veins, making it easy for her to take out her enemies with powerful hits driven by excitement. Once the rush died down, she concentrated, using her honed skills to drop her opponents with well-placed one- or two-hit knock-outs. After half an hour had passed and nearly half of the brutes had been knocked out, the two heroes were still fighting hard against the remainder of the gang members.

"I don't know how much longer we can keep this up, Nightingale," Kyle called over the comm link. "I've tried contacting the others for backup, but something's wrong with the comms. I can't send any outgoing messages. I think we should back off, wait for the others to come."

"Oh, come on, Lantern!" she replied, knocking out another challenger. "We can take 'em! They're just thugs! We've got half of 'em down; we can do this!"

Nightingale didn't realize that she'd been drifting farther and farther away from Green Lantern as they fought. If she'd been closer, or even if she'd just looked across the field, she might have been able to prevent what happened next. She'd have seen Green Lantern receive a hard blow to the back of his head. As he fell forward, the thug holding the large steel bat would have come into view. She would have seen the blood, flesh, and skull fragments clinging to the widest end of the bat, would have seen the blood pooling around Kyle's body as the thug reached down and took his ring and visor. She would have been able to stop the brute from covering the lifeless Lantern's body with heavy boulders. She probably would have been able to heal him enough to save his life.

But Nightingale was still caught up in the fight when all this happened. She didn't notice that Kyle had fallen, and didn't even think to check up on him. He was, after all, a professional hero; he could handle himself, she reasoned. To be completely honest, Nightingale was focused more on the distinct tattoo each of the thugs had on his arm or chest, always in plain view: the symbol of a red cape, burning away amidst harsh flames. She knew that there must be some meaning behind that emblem, but couldn't quite figure it out while still trying to fight.

The fighting lasted for only a few more minutes and, inevitably, Nightingale began to tire. As her energy waned, her technique got sloppy, and one of the thugs managed to land a hard punch to her left temple. She collapsed, groaning, not quite unconscious but temporarily paralyzed and disoriented from the blow.

"Let's get our guys out of here," one of the thugs said, picking up a couple of his unconscious comrades. He held up an item, but all Nightingale could make out was a green blur in his equally blurry hand. "We got what we came for, and the girl's knocked out, so let's get while we still can."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," another rioter said. "Let's go."

The remaining conscious gang members gathered up their fallen companions and disappeared from Nightingale's field of vision. Some minutes later, she finally climbed to her feet, shaking her head slightly. She looked around.

"Some fight, huh, Kyle?"

There was no answer.

"Kyle? Dude, where are you?"

Beginning to grow anxious, Nightingale searched the area for any sign of her teammate. Her stomach knotted up and she felt faint as she noticed a green glove sticking out from beneath a pile of rubble. She ran over and began digging through the rocks frantically. When she finally had the body free from the debris, she paled, looking at the blood coating her gloves and the ground around her.

"…oh, God…Kyle…"

A/N: Yeah, cliffhanger. I do those a lot. Read and review, please! I love reviews; constructive criticism, especially! If there's enough interest still around for this fic, I'll continue, but I can't know you're interested if you don't review!