Sparks Fly [Book Two in the "Fire And Lighting" Series]

Chapter Thirty-Eight- Finding Answers

"We got this. Go."

Atom seemed only too eager to leave, and I understood why, but I was still mad that they left me alone with Rick. At least when they made me wait on the Watchtower, they kept Aquaman with us.

"I'll get a bird's-eye view," I huffed and took off, landing on a catwalk above the docking bay and looking around. I could feel his eyes on me every so often as we both walked back and forth across the bay, searching for clues in deathly silence.

Richard cleared his voice, echoing through the bay.

"I'm sorry."

I gripped the iron railing, staring at him walk below my feet without looking up.

"That's it? That's your big apology?"

"Well, I had it all planned out, but now I forgot it. I tried to give it to you earlier, but you threw something at the door! What was that, a body?"

My hand flew to my mouth to cover the giggles as I thought of my mangled laptop, back at home in Wayne Mansion.

"Why did you keep it from me?" I was whispering, but the acoustics carried my voice through the room as I examined knocked-over boxes and scuff marks on the floor below. Definitely signs that a struggle had taken place.

Richard sighed. "It was Kaldur's idea."

I stopped studying and started listening. I crouched low in the catwalk, face peering between the poles. Nightwing's back below faced mine as he searched for the words.

"Well, I wanted to tell you, we both did. But Kaldur..." He stopped, lost in the memory. "He loves you, Emma."

I still didn't know if I believed that or not.

"He didn't want the secret to put you in jeopardy. He thought if you knew, you'd go running to help him at the first sight of danger-"

"Would not," I thought, miffed.

Richard continued "-And, if the Light discover he was a double agent, it would be better for you to think he died a traitor instead of mourning his death."

A chill ran through me, and I was immediately grateful for Kaldur's acting skills, brought to light when I needed a rehearsal buddy.

"And, well, I agreed." Nightwing finished, quietly.

I sat down, letting my legs hang over the walkway. There was the familiar sound of a grapple gun, and soon Rick was seated beside me, kicking his legs back and forth.

I wrapped my arms around him. "I love you, you idiot."

He grinned and tugged my ponytail playfully, "Love ya too, sis."

We were a tumbling mess, wrestling around the catwalk and agily keeping each other from falling off the edge.

Then, my eye caught sight of something sticking out of the wall by the airlock. Something bright yellow that definitely looked like it did not belong in the brown-and-navy-blue furnishings of the Warworld.

"Oh my gosh," I grabbed Nightwing tighter and flew us over to two of Mara's birdarangs, sharp tips just barely wedged in the wall. He quickly scanned them both, and pointed out several blue spots at the molecular level.

"Matches with the scan she found of the Reach metal she and the other girls found in the Lexcorp warehouse."

"Blue's armor." I nodded. Richard pocketed the weapons as a red light began to flash in the corner of his holo-screen.

"Team SOS!" I gasped.

"But it's not coming from the Warworld," Richard told me. He checked the GPS. "It's coming from..."