"Oh Dick, I love the look of our new home!" exclaimed Kory excitedly, hauling two large moving boxes into the newly built house they had purchased for themselves.
Dick, carried his own luggage inside, and surveyed the surrounding building and land. It was spacious, large, beautiful, and had a nearly perfect view of Jump City, since their house was located on the outskirts of their former Titans base. It was almost perfect...almost. There was just one little thing about it all that slightly annoyed Dick--
He had wanted their house to be a lot smaller, like a homely little cottage just for the two of them;what they got was a sizable villa that had way too many rooms and details that they either didn't need, or couldn't afford.
And speaking of expenses, the extra bit of land that Kory bought behind the villa didn't help with things, since Kory had recently expressed a desire to create a lush garden in that area.
"It'll be truly wonderful, Dick!" Kory had explained to Dick while he scanned the extra bill from the landowners, "I want it to be a beautiful oasis that contains all the unique and beautiful plants from all over Earth, and maybe even beyond that! Ooh, what if we visited Tamaran, and I could bring some of my flora here! The snervian vines would be there, and we could have a fresh supply of sputflinks and zorkaberries every morning!"
But Dick didn't have it in him to say no to another of things, Kory was just so adorably cheerful about their new living situation, and future financial problems aside, Dick was happy, too.
The villa consisted of a main bedroom with a glass door balcony on the top floor, and a living room connected to the kitchen that came with a small bar, a gaming/relaxation room that Kory insisted could also be a "party room", a small gym that Dick planned on installing his training simulators with, three bathrooms, with one containing a large hot tub, a movie theater room, a small storage basement that could be expanded into a "Nightcave'' for Dick, (Kory's words, not his) that would be a perfect place to put all the their supplies/gadgets/weapons and Dick's Wingcycle. There was also a patio at the back of the villa that came with a pebbled path that encircled their fourteen-foot long in-ground swimming pool and where Kory had planned on placing her garden.
While all of this was a lot, Dick could justify having a larger house for these things--except for the additional four guest bedrooms on the second floor. That was excessive.
"We really don't need that many guest bedrooms!" argued Dick as he moved the coffee table into the living room.
"But what if we have multiple 'guests' that wish to spend the night with us, and our bedroom is not enough room? Or if they need a place to stay, or--"
"Guests." snorted Dick skeptically, "You mean other women, right? I get that...but four rooms? How many women do you want us to 'spend the night' here, Kor?!?"
Kory simply threw him a mischievous look, biting her lip in anticipation...and then spoke with a more formal tone, placing her hands on her hips, "If money is really such a concern to you, why don't you just get a higher-paying job, because at this moment, I am the only one who has a steady career!"
Sighing to himself, Dick relented, "You got me there--but I'm still working on what to do as Dick Grayson--I've already been a police officer in Bludhaven, a bartender, a museum curator..."
Kory's eyes lit up as Dick listed off his previous professions. "Ooh! I know of a perfect job for you, it pays well and I have some connections that will make it easier for you to get in!"
Dick raised an eyebrow. "Hey, as long as it's not--" But a muffled vibrating noise from within his pocket cut him off. Someone was calling him through an encrypted phone number...and it was from Gotham.
"Batman?" He asked, holding his phone to his ear.
"No, it's Dinah." came the familiar, stern yet alluring voice of Dinah Lance. "Are you not too busy, Nightwing? The Birds of Prey need your help with something, and Batman's with the rest of the Justice League right now."
Dick glanced at Kory as she said this. Pulling the phone away for a moment, he relayed what Black Canary had just told him to his girlfriend. "It's the Birds of Prey, they need my help with something in Gotham."
Kory rolled her green eyes, placing down another moving box. "Then go help them. If it is truly important, then you cannot afford to wait here."
"And leave you here to unpack everything on your own?"
"I will be fine!" assured Kory confidently, waving Dick off as she began to move the nearby couches around. "This means I will get more time to organize the look of our house!"
"Yeah, I'll be there, though I might be a little late." affirmed Dick to Dinah, mentally reminding himself to get his own 'Nightplane' at some point in the future. Depending on the T-Jet for long-distance trips was getting old. "So who's with you there? And what are we going up against?"
"Right now it's just Huntress, Lady Blackhawk and myself." said Dinah, "Who we're fighting is Solomon Grundy."
"Great." said Dick sarcastically, "And here I was assuming this would be difficult."
"And one more thing...you're going to be working with Huntress when you get here, so I wouldn't be such a smartass...Helena's not in a good mood." continued Dinah casually.
"She never is."
***
Hours later, Dick stood on top of a building near the Gotham Museum of History, where he was supposed to meet up with Huntress. Apparently, Solomon Grundy had somehow gotten smarter or was remembering more of his past life, because he had placed himself in charge of the Blackout Gang, and was looking for some kind of rare item, leaving many antique shops in ruins in the wake of his rampages. But the undead gangster wasn't Dick's primary concern at the moment--it was Huntress.
She was late, but this wasn't too much of a surprise to Dick. Helena Bertinelli had been active as the Huntress around the time Dick became Nightwing, and despite her frequent vigilantism in Gotham, she wasn't exactly part of the "Bat-Family" with her tendency to brutalize and occasionally kill the criminals she fought against.
Helena also did just not work well with others, and Dick knew this from personal experience, in the few times they'd crossed paths. She always jumped into the action without a single plan or strategy, and whenever Dick approached her on coming up with any unified tactics, she'd wave him off calling him a "Batman-wannabe."
He didn't know how Dinah managed to get her to stick with the Birds of Prey for so long, as Dick distinctly remembered Helena having a "my way or the highway" attitude...she also just didn't like him specifically.
"It's about time you got here!" came the irritated yet enticing voice of Helena from behind Dick. He turned to face her, taking in the view of the vigilante in her tight-leather purple, black, and white suit, adorned with her pointed purple mask which barely hid her beautiful features, a matching cape, an assortment of weapons hidden in her purple belt pouches, and most notably, her exposed skin that peeked out from her purple-black gloves and boots, as well the wide opening below her covered chest that exhibited her toned and muscled stomach.
She wore dark lipstick on her lips, which were currently in the shape of an annoyed scowl, though the intimidation factor was greatly lessened by how attractive her overall demeanor still was, even when she was being a bitch.
"You're the one who's late, I've been waiting here for almost an hour." retorted Dick back at Helena, crossing his arms.
"Only because you took too long!" snapped Helena walking closer to Dick, "So while you were standing there pretending to be brooding like the Bat, I was actually doing something productive! And by that I mean the three muggers I left bleeding in that alley over there."
"Bleeding?" questioned Dick, "Not sure if Canary would approve of that."
"Really, Boy Scout?!? You think I'd waste my bolts on thugs with what we're up against tonight? Take the stick out of your ass for once...and since we're on the subject of your ass..." She trailed off from her tirade as she walked behind him. Dick didn't need to be a genius to guess what part of him had drawn her gaze...
He turned around defiantly, looking over her stunning figure, eyeing her uncovered tummy, her shapely breasts which bulged out from under her costume's fabric, and her wide hips which were constrained in the black booty shorts that made up her bottoms. Dick unfortunately couldn't return the favor and shamelessly leer at Helena's own shapely derrière, as it was hidden behind her cape.
"You still look good in that tight outfit of yours," continued Helena, locking eyes with Dick, "Really fills out every muscle...mmm...I'm still surprised you haven't paraded around in a Bat-costume yet, yelling 'I am the night' to every criminal you see--"
And like that, the brief moment of flirtatious tranquility was over.
"Can you talk to me for five minutes without any Batman comparisons?!?" grumbled Dick, "Like what exactly am I doing differently from you that makes me the 'wannabe Batman'?--we both dress in black like he does...and technically you're the one with the cape!"
"Oh, come on, you were literally his sidekick!" jeered Helena derisively, "You're here to help me in his place! If I just so happened to cave one of Grundy's goon's heads in today, you'd be having a spastic fit just like he would! Probably give me a lengthy lecture about 'what heroes do', or some shit!"
"No, I wouldn't do that." answered Dick slowly, stepping closer to Helena and staring into her flushed face, "I'd just punish you."
The previous times Helena had "teamed up" with him, she'd always been a tease, mockingly flirting him whenever she had the chance, leaving him flustered and unsatisfied, made worse by the fact that he had been pretty much cock-blocking himself from his own girlfriend as well. But now...
It was her turn to be put on edge, to be teased to the point where she'd be unable to resist him.
"How would you-" began Helena with a lecherous smile on her face, but just then Dick caught sight of dark figures in the distance sneaking into the ventilation exhausts of the museum. Dick jolted upwards at what he saw. Oh, right...the reason they were there.
"Huntress, the Blackout Gang." vocalized Dick with a sarcastic tone, waving his escrima stick in their direction.
"Shit!" swore Helena under her breath as she turned and saw the last gang member slip into the vent, and then turned and glared at Dick scornfully, "This is all your fault, you distracted me with your...whatever, if Grundy shows up, I'll be more ready for him than you will!" She pulled out her crossbow and shot out a long grappling hook which latched onto the top of the museum building.
