Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters portrayed, this fanfiction is based on the universe and characters of DC comics.

Dick woke up to a piercing sound, it instantly annoyed him, a lot of responsibilities comes from respected vigilantism, and Dick at heart was a soft man. Six foot tall, one hundred and seventy five pounds of muscle, he was strong, fast and precise. He was terrifying as Nightwing, his voice was gravelled from his days as Batman, his body scratched and riddled with bullet holes and healed broken bones, and a couple of ribs that haven't quite set. He was tough, his family knew it, his enemies knew it, but this morning, he wasn't tough, he was tired and a little grumpy and that alarm wasn't helping. It was a long night when Scarecrow decides to resume his experiments on live animals.

Right on time there was a knock on the door, and the alarm was still screaming, just as his cell phone started singing its tuneful alarm getting louder every three seconds. Suddenly Dick was angry with all the noise, he yelled and in his hazy sleep deprived state he managed to fumble the alarms off. He trudged to the door grumbling all the way and opened it to see a familiar red head in a leather jacket, jeans and boots waiting half patiently, half amused.

'Thank God,' Dick exhaled

'You look like crap,' said Barbara, ever the poet, she smiled and walked past Dick into his loft apartment. 'You ok?'

'Hmm' Dick grumbled, 'Long night, Professor Crane got some new pets, dogs and birds, nothing I couldn't handle' he winced due to his ribs, Barbara noticed.

'What's wrong with you? The good doctor looked at your ribs?'

'Of course he didn't. Couple nights ago, outside a bar, guy tried to have his way with a woman and I felt he didn't say pretty please, he pulled a gun out I didn't notice, thank god for nomex'

Barbara nodded, she didn't need to ask how it went, if the vic had died he would be quiet, thoughtful, guilty, if the guy had escaped he'd be angry, and if the guy won Dick wouldn't be here. Reasonable responses for each situation. But Dick was here, a little grumpy, but there was a lot of noise when Barbara got here.

'Coffee?' Dick offered,

'Sure,' Dick poured coffee into a big mug, for himself, offered up a matching cup to her, both an offer and a question, you staying long? Barbara hesitated and nodded, she hadn't seen Dick in a long time and he hadn't smiled yet, and she wasn't overly busy, though she did come for a reason. Dick set down her mug in front of her, and asked 'So why are you here? I'm expecting a call from Bruce, so-'

'Well that's partly why I'm here, Bruce had to go away, he knew you were sleeping after Scarecrow, so he asked me to call, thought I'd come tell you, he has to go away with the League, some stuff Green Lantern accidentally screwed up in Khandaq or something. So of course Black Adam's pissed out of his mind at the rest of the world.'

'Of course, so we gotta look after Gotham for a few days?'

'Or weeks, if nothing else comes up. I called Tim he's on his way home he can help, Damian's at the manor Bruce gave him strict instructions to stay at home'

'Can't wait to see him out on patrol then,'

Barbara giggled, Dick smiled, she immediately smiled back, it had been a few weeks since they've seen each other, crime fighting takes up social life time, she leant in and kissed him, he reached his hand around the back of her neck and held tight, he had missed her.

'Shower.' Babs ordered,

'Excellent decision' Dick replied, he walked into the bathroom, and took off his shirt and boxers, he caught himself in the mirror, he looked awful, dark circles under his eyes, hair everywhere, all across his face, a beard coming on, bite marks on his arms, purple red and blue bruises here and there and a couple of yellow ones healing, slowly. He shaved and showered, showers often feel calming, cleansing, this one hurt, no matter the temperature, it stung.

He came out in a towel, got dressed and poured another mug of coffee, he noticed Barbara had refilled her mug, she was staying for a while.

'How've you been?' he asked tentatively, there were rumours of the Joker resurfacing, Harley had "broken out" of Amanda Waller's super prison Belle Reve, usually when Harley is out and about Joker is soon to follow, a terrifying co dependant couple.

'Fine, you heard about Joker? I heard the Red Hood was tearing down places he had been, even though he's only rumoured to be back'

'Jason?' Dick exclaimed, 'Usually he only goes after solid leads, he's not on any killing spree I need to stop is he?'

'No, no he's fine, Dick you gotta cut him a little slack the Joker killed him, Ra's brought him back and Joker was still around, even I've wanted to kill him especially what he did to us all last year and under the caves.'

'Yeah I get that, I do, but he shouldn't go around killing people following a whisper of Joker, I understand, I even kind of understand, but as soon as innocents die I need to step in'

'Name one time he's killed an innocent person'

'Alright, alright.'

Barbara always understood Jason when he came back, they never got on too well when he was Robin. Kids. As soon as they learn to punch they think they're invincible, especially with the big bad Batman behind them, Dick was exactly the same even if he would never admit it. People die, but people don't come back, but when you add a Lazarus pit, it causes insanity from a few days to a few years. Luckily it only lasted a few months for Jason. But he was darker when he came out, he died because he cared, his emotions got the better of him and the Joker caught him, beat him, and killed him.

Barbara thought Jason must be so incredibly lonely. She understood Jason's hatred, Joker crippled her for years, the only way she could walk again was thanks to time, persistence, and Bruce. He had researched into spines among other things, his own back was broken by Bane a few years ago, back when Tim was Robin. He had funded the best treatment by the best Doctors, and three years after the bullet tore through her abdomen and lodged into her lower spine, it was removed, nine months later and she was weakly standing. And now, she was back to Batgirl.

Barbara thought for a moment, 'I'll get in touch with Jason, see what whispers he's found,' she started typing a text for Jason,

Dick nodded, he was tired, he would have agreed to pretty much anything.

A few hours later Barbara's phone vibrated, she looked at it and her soft expression became stern, 'now this could be problematic, apparently Wilson might be back'

'Slade?' Dick replied,

'Mm-hmm, Jason found a couple of his assassins a couple blocks from here actually-' she stopped mid-sentence, Dick made the connection too, if Slade Wilson, Deathstroke, was back and a couple of his personal assassins were close to Dick Graysons apartment in Gotham City, then there was a very likely chance they were on their way to kill Dick Grayson. They both dropped to the floor as the glass shattered and wind howled into the room, the counter where Dick was leaning exploded, big bullet, how flattering, Dick thought.

The two crawled to the bedroom where their uniforms were, and a handy panic room was installed to change. Once they were battle ready they made a quick assessment, Dick said, 'if it's Deathstroke shooting, he'll want to conserve ammo, he won't shoot if there's a chance he'll miss.'

'And if he had a group of assassins coming for us then there's likely to be more maybe a ground team, so that might not be him, just a wary foot soldier' Barbara added,

'So we have two solid facts. Someone just ruined my counter top with a large gun and large bullet. And Deathstroke is a thing.'

'Yeah, there may be more snipers, there may be people coming, or there's Deathstroke himself coming, they could be outside this panic room waiting to shoot us, or they could have broken down on the way here, or sprained their ankles, the possibilities are endless.'

'I hope Batman hasn't bugged this room he'd hate to hear us like this'

'Shall we?' Barbara smiled,

Dick sighed, opened the door and burst through, if anyone had come in the house alarm would have been blaring. But Dick didn't want to have any extra holes in him, hence the speed. Who knows, maybe the assassin only brought one bullet? A man can dream…