First story! Yay!

I. Own. NOTHING! DON'T SUE ME!

(DG)

I looked down at the old paper making factory, smoke rising from the pipes reaching out of the ceiling. I raised my hand up to my ear to contact the League, but hesitated and let it fall back to my side.

When I was younger, there would have been no thought of hesitation. I would have immediately called my team or mentor to update him on the mission's progress. But now, nearly two years into my solo career, I held back.

I really wish I hadn't done that. I mean, even though I was now in charge of the Young Justice team and we were still tasked with finding the resident aliens, I still had my own city to take care of, and I couldn't let my priorities falter. I didn't need help.

All I had to do was go in, take down a small drug cartel and be done with it. Simple. Easy. Routine. I thought I could do it on my own. I didn't want to call it in.

I used my grappling-hook to fire a line and it wrapped around one of the smoking pipes I had seen. I smirked confidently and walked off the side of the roof I was crouched on earlier.

I didn't fall, remember the grappling-hook? It yanked my body up into the air as I swung around the side of the factory, my weight causing me to arch onto a window ledge that jutted out from the square building.

I reeled the line back in and placed it back into the belt around my waist and slowly edged the window up so I could crawl inside. Way too easy. I knew I was being cocky, but at the time, I felt I could without anything going wrong. What an idiot I was.

I slipped inside and quietly landed on an inside cat-walk that would allow two people to walk around the perimeter of the factory without having to step down onto the lower level where the machinery was.

I crouched down and leaned over the protective railing to look down at the goons I would fight. Oblivious to my presence, the cartel kept on with usual business. It was too easy.

I started suddenly when a pigeon decided to fly inside the window that I had left slightly open to quicken my escape. The loud flapping made me flinch and caused the gang below to quiet and glance at where I was hiding.

They turned to the one I assumed was the leader. No noise or command was given, but something happened because they scattered to corner me.

I gritted my teeth and chastised myself for leaving the window open. If Bats were here he would've had my head after we beat these idiots into the ground, assuming we won.

A gun shot brought the world back into focus as the sound of gunfire surrounded me. I cursed and flipped into the air over the boss's head. He turned to face me, but before he completed the spin, I pulled out my escrima sticks and whacked him upside the head. He grunted and collapsed to the floor, dropping the gun in the process.

The rest of the goons turned to me, but I was already across the room kicking one's gun across the floor. I got back into a fighting stance and blocked his erratic punches before pinching a joint in his neck letting him fall and join his boss in the land of the unconscious.

I did a double-backhand spring to avoid the continued gunfire. I noticed a few of the group backing away towards the drugs. My guess was that they were trying to salvage what wasn't already destroyed by their own bullets.

"Oh no, you don't," I muttered. I tossed a batarang to hit the bag of the white powder in front of a reaching hand which was quickly retracted. He yelped and backed away towards a now open door in the left wall.

I ignored him, knowing that the police probably had arrived already and caught him. Turning instead to the other grunt that had been reaching into the bundle, I noticed that the others had already escaped.

I grunted in annoyance and began cuffing the unconscious gang members. The click of the metal locking and the now loud wailing of police sirens were now filing the empty silence.

I stood up from the last grunt as my com-link buzzed. I lifted my hand and narrowed my eyes under my black domino mask as I opened the link.

"Yes?" I asked, "What's wrong?" Batman answered on the opposite end with his usual gruff voice. "Nightwing, your presence is required at the Watchtower. The Justice League needs to brief you on the next mission for your team."

I smirked into the earpiece as I answered, "You mean, you, need to brief me? You know that the rest of the League can't give the 'get 'traught or get dead' atmosphere you give to the missions?" He turned his head slightly as a bright red light flickered in his peripheral vision, a steady beeping accompanying every flash.

Batman grunted at my signature abuse of the English language and continued explaining what was required of me that night, but I stopped listening and went to investigate the red light.

I walked closer to the red dot with a feeling of foreboding quickly spreading through me. When I walked around the last stack of drug packs, my fears were soon realized.

The beeping grew louder and faster within the minute I had been talking with the Bat. I gulped as it reached its peak and turned to run out of the building. Muttering continuously about how obvious the danger was and how screwed I would be when I got back.

Batman stopped talking and quickly demanded, "Nightwing, what's wrong? What happened?" I touched the com-link and rushed to answer, but what I was about to say was changed as the whole place blew to pieces around me.

"Oh, shi –"

I yelled as the shockwave propelled my body through the air and directly into the far, concrete wall. I groaned and slid down onto the floor. The debris fell from the ceiling and onto the ground around me.

The fire that had started around the drugs was quickly put out by the dirt raining down from the residual blast.

The dust settled and I took a quick inventory of myself. It could have been worse. I had killer back pain, a strong migraine, and multiple cuts and bruises. Oh yeah, and I couldn't move my lower body or left arm. Yeah, it could definitely be worse. I tried not to look at what had happened to the gang members I had cuffed earlier, all of them being too crushed to be recognizable.

I coughed up some of the dust and dirt that had gotten into my lungs when my face and the wall introduced themselves. I reached up one hand to wipe my mouth, pulling it away with a dark red liquid splattered on one side.

I flinched when my com-link buzzed angrily in my ear only to be replaced with the even louder sound of Batman yelling in my ear. I hissed slightly in pain and gently took it out of my ear, only enough to ease my headache, nothing more.

"Nightwing, report. I'm getting interference from your end. Do you need assistance?" I groaned again and shifted, muscles aching with the effort. I coughed a laugh and admitted quietly, "Hah, yeah, Bats. I messed up, bad. At least you don't have to say it was me who blew the roof off this place this time, huh?" I coughed again and leaned my head back against the wall. The building gave a dangerous creak in agreement.

. . .

"Are you alright?" I cackled quietly and murmured, "Careful there, B, your personality is showing again." I looked up through the dust that clouded my view of the wreckage and up at the steel beams looming over my head.

The support beams groaned again and started to break, soon about to fall directly on top of me. Fun.

"Hey, Bruce?" I hesitated again, unsure of how to continue, "If I don't come back this time, tell Tim I'm sorry for leaving him alone, and – and make sure Alfred gets a break every once and a while, kay?" The beams fell a little more and I swallowed nervously. "Don't work yourself to death, B, you have a family that depends on you and your health, plus, we worry." I grimaced and coughed a little harder.

I smirked again and closed my hand around the com-link, pulling it close to my mouth as I nearly whispered, "Sorry."

"Dick, what–"

The support beams finally broke and came hurtling down. I pulled the hand holding the com-link above my head, unable to move and protect myself otherwise.

Within seconds I knew what the Greek titan, Atlas, must have felt when he held the sky up from the earth for years.

A sickening cracking sound came from my raised arm, and my world turned a deep red before reaching an empty and endless black.

I fell into it, but not before a distinct crackle buzzed in my head. The yells of my adopted father faded and disappeared only to be replaced by the calm static of nothingness.

(3rd pov)

The building, or what was left of it, was filled with the horrible sound of crashing metal accompanied by its groaning as it settled around the still body of the former Boy Wonder. Red liquid slowly circled his only visible hand under the broken steel support beams.

The cops outside stopped their interrogations of the surviving drug cartel members, and instead turned their attention to the collapsed building, soon returning to their work, if not with less enthusiasm. The cuffed leader slowly let a smug grin come over his pig-like features as he started to cackle. His laughter ringing in the night as fear filled the orbiting Watchtower above.

(JLA Watchtower)

Batman slammed his fists angrily against the moniter systems in the Watchtower, startling the members currently occupying the satellite. He leaned over the screen and cursed loudly.

"I will not let you die on me, Dick. I'm coming, just hold on," he whispered vehemently. He straightened and turned to the five League members watching him. His face hardened. "We have a problem."

Yay! DaddyBats to the Rescue!

See you guys soon!