Ataraxia Praeteritum, Perdidit Futurum

Chapter 1: A Good Death

The cold stung my skin as I ran through the frozen woods. Even in the form of a cheetah, my lungs burned from the frigid air.

I could hear the crashing of trees behind me, the thunderous rumble of machines coming for me, but I had no time to look behind me.

Ahead, always ahead I told myself.

If I had looked behind me I would see what was left of a frozen mountain. The entire mountain had collapsed in on itself after a self-destruct sequence. We were deep in the wilderness; it wasn't like there was anyone to worry about.

I pushed through deep undergrowth; it clawed at my skin as if it were aligned with the ones chasing me. I pressed on, deeper and deeper into the forest.

It felt like hours before the sounds disappeared and I finally reverted back to my human form. I had stopped at a riverside, little pieces of ice were already beginning to form at the edges from the extreme cold.

Living in the wild for a few months made me forget about my dietary code or any rules about the cleanliness of where I got it. Turning into a dog I began to drink as much liquid as I could without belching. The cold stung my thought, but I never winced, I was used to pain.

It had taken me quite some time to locate the hidden base, I was filthy, and when I got back to the cave the first thing I was going to do was take a nice shower. I hoped that there would be some kind of food stored in the kitchen, without anyone there it was likely. However, the state of the food would be in question, knowing Nightwing he probably stocked up on canned goods.

I found a nice boulder nearby and sat down. Looking out over the water I noticed how smooth it was and looking down at my reflection I saw the image of the man I had become.

Starfire's old predictions of me balding seemed to be inaccurate. Instead, I was sporting an untamed mop for hair and a beard that had grown much too large. Instead of the short pudgy person she saw, I was tall, standing at 6 feet and much more muscular.

My suit was tight against my muscles and my belt was lined with more gadgets than I could count (thanks to Robin's advice). The old purple shirt was replaced with a pure black one and kevlar padding could be seen woven into it. Down the sides, the suit had a darker strip. If anyone saw the state of my skin underneath they would probably throw up.

It was a variation of my second costume, one that I made when I grew a bit older. During the last few years, I needed something more advanced. This suit incorporated light elements of the last suit Batman created. It was more like an exo-suit truly, but he never got to put it to good use. Nightwing had the full abilities of the suit like flight and enhanced stamina, I never really needed those.

On my right hand, a finger bore a ring. At first glance, one would think it was a golden band, but if one looked close enough they would notice the red gems embedded inside. I quickly sighed, how long had it been since I had seen any of them.

Swiping my right hand through the air a dark green energy with a black trimming appeared. It grabbed perfect stones and threw them across the river, breaking the smooth surface in the process.

It didn't matter now; I would never see them again. With that thought, my eyes began to tear and my hands shook.

It doesn't matter now, it's over.

But one thought still poked from the back of my mind.

It would have never started if…

Suddenly, the ground began to shake again and across the river three of the things that chased me appeared.

They were the some of the finest creations to ever walk the Earth, Cyborgs tech and Amazo's ability to copy powers made them the perfect machines to bring down an organization that relied on teamwork, or what was left of it.

They were a bulky 7 feet and had a humanoid appearance, but instead of Amazo, they made no effort to conceal the fact that they weren't human.

I could feel the machine's efforts to get into my mind, no doubt an ability from Jericho, but I resisted, 'lessons' from Raven had paid off.

I gestured my hand to the boulder I was sitting on and the same dark green aura with a black trimming appeared on it. On my hand, the ring began to glow with cryptic black markings.

The machines then began to charge across the river, two of them flew, while the other had to wade.

I put my hand out and jumped off the boulder as it flew and smashed one of the robots back to the shore.

The second flying machine reached me first, with one hand it morphed into a sonic cannon, while the other charged Starbolts.

I quickly transformed into a pterodactyl and flew up to face it. Dodging all the shots coming towards me I shot towards it and transformed right before hitting it into a grizzly bear.

Entangled with each other we fell from the sky into the water. Reemerging I transformed into a Gorilla and tore off both of its arms.

It froze up and took the time to revert back into a human and plucked an explosive charge from my belt and stuck in onto its chest.

Turning into a trout I swam until I heard, or more like felt, the explosion. The shockwave rippled through the water and rattled every bone in my body, forcing me to revert.

I sat up in the shallow water, only to find the last machine standing over me. It threw both its arms down to try and crush me, but I rolled out of the way.

Sprinting onto the shore I looked back to see it just standing there, that was when I noticed the levitating rocks.

One was glowing black and white, while the other had an aura of gold. Anger built up in me as I pointed my right hand and an explosion came from my ring. It blasted right through the humanoid machine before it could even throw the rocks.

I let out a sigh of relief and after all that I was feeling drained. I sank to my knees, only to be brought back to my feet by and object landing behind me.

It was the first robot, rock and debris littered its front but otherwise, it was fine. Before it attacked it looked back to the river. I watched as the second robot rose from the river, reattaching its arms, and the third also sat up, still with a hole in its chest.

All of them began to glow with white energy as they blasted it at me. I threw up a shield with my ring, it wouldn't be enough.

Ideas floated through my head, turn into a badger and tunnel away, not fast enough. Smoke bomb, they have thermal imaging and I would just be running again. Teleportation would be good; I wouldn't be able to even if I had the time to try.

It doesn't matter... mission accomplished.

With that a surge of energy surrounded me and I melted into the ground.