An elderly woman made her way down the cruelly defaced isle of the train, finally locating her seat she promptly sat in it. As she looked up she noticed that she wasn't alone in the cart as she usually would be but was instead accompanied by an attractive 17 year old boy who was silently staring out the window lost in thought. The look in the boys piercing sky blue eyes was focused as though the whole world was on his shoulder.
Dick sat quietly staring as the city he once called home as it slowly retreated further down the horizon. He was finally leaving; the events leading to his abrupt departure seemed to be endlessly replaying in his mind. A simple recon mission gone south, a fallen teammate sprawled in a pool of blood, her auburn hair jutting from her ponytail. The news had a field day with that one; "Commissioners' daughter paralysed at the hands of the Joker" seemed to be plastered on the front page of every newspaper in the city. Bruce didn't want to talk about what had happened but Dick could see the incident had upset the Dark Knight greatly and so could the Police after said Dark Knight reluctantly handed the psychotic man, who despite being bloody and beaten still had a sick grin spread across his face, over to the authorities.
But it was the aftermath of the tragedy that finally pulled him from his stupor. Seeing the enthusiastic, young, energetic girl he once loved in the wheel chair she will have to spend the rest of her days in he snapped, finally taking off his cape Dick stepped out of the Dark Knights Shadow. He was no longer Robin the boy wonder and sidekick of Batman, or Richard Grayson adopted son of Bruce Wayne...
The train suddenly skidded to a halt breaking his trail of thought. Stepping into the gloom of the city before him, his path became clear to him... he was no longer a "kid" he was now Nightwing protector of Bludhaven.