"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.
