Disclaimer – I don't own DC, Young Justice or Batman Beyond. This was written for one of the contests for Wattpad's profile Superhero. The prompt for this contest was, "but, once a hero, always a hero. There's a new super villain in town, kidnapping kids and asking for ransom gifts. How would you defeat the thieving 'Santa Slay'?" For this, I used an alternate origin story for Terry, but I'm not saying the what the alternate origin is. This one was one of the ones chosen for addition to their one-shot book.
Christmas Crash
If not for Damien Wayne...
In truth, Dick Grayson gave up the mantle for what felt like ages, in an attempt to distance himself from the old man. Bruce never approved of his choice to become a police officer, and in turn, carry a gun. Bruce never approved of Dick's dating choices, but when the man found out about his one-night stand with Huntress of all people, Bruce threw a gasket.
Yes, the man who had a sordid affair as Batman with Catwoman threw a gasket over Nightwing having a similar relationship which lasted nowhere near the time frame of any of Bruce's on and off relationships with Selena Kyle. In fact, finding out the two knew each other since childhood...
Bruce wasn't one to lecture Dick on relationships, yet with every breakup, the man did. Every failed relationship felt like another one of his failures, which simply seemed to add up with all the other failed expectations Bruce held for him, including not ever finishing college, or again, becoming a police officer and carrying a gun.
"You what?" Bruce's eyes were cold, his facial features twisted in anger when Dick told the man about the Huntress breaking up with him after their one-night stand, though whether one could consider that being together, Dick honestly didn't know. He'd felt a connection, but she didn't, and he thought to talk to Bruce about that, only for Bruce to go ballistic.
More specifically, nothing the man said made sense as if Bruce wasn't guilty of sleeping with someone wearing a mask. Worse, at least the Huntress wasn't the enemy, yet Bruce acted as if she were. "Fine. If you're going to be that way, I quit." After all, if one thought about it, all of his failed relationships revolved around the mask somehow.
"What?" Bruce seemed surprised.
"Nightwing's dead." Boy, was every single member of the bat family stubborn, and Nightwing remained dead, much to the irritation of certain friends from the team, including a Kid Flash coming back from the dead to find out that while Dick hadn't quit over his death, that he had quit over family issues.
"Come on. A hero is always a hero. How long are you going to keep Nightwing dead? How long are you not going to talk to Bruce?"
Yet there he was, drawn back in after eight years because of Damien.
He'd found himself investigating the incident as a cop, thinking the Batman would handle the incident. Some man calling himself the Santa Slay was kidnapping children, and asking for ransom gifts. No bodies, no sign of life, no ransom paid, simply because of how fast the man kidnapped children with only hours between, the latest being one Terry McGinnis, all seven-year-old kids. It was almost as if the man wanted to keep the kids and used the ransom drops, the first of which wasn't until hours after Terry disappeared, to hide his real goals.
At least until Damien decided to open his mouth on television, giving the man the middle finger, sticking out his tongue, and saying – in a manner only an eighteen-year-old brat could muster – for Santa Slay to pick on someone his own size, thus leading to Damien ending up the next kidnapped victim, but putting Batman in a predicament as Bruce got pulled into the spotlight, and unable to make a move.
Not that Damien couldn't take care of himself.
Which was the real reason Dick found himself deciding to become a hero again, not to save Damien, but to save the villain from Damien. Dick of all people knew how Damien could be, particularly with children involved. Without Batman there to control his youngest, there was no telling what Damien would do.
Greeted by Alfred, a twinkle in the man's eyes, Dick found himself down in the Batcave, catching himself up on all the data Batman – not Damien – collected on Santa Slay. Analyzing data wasn't Damien's strong point, but was his. How Batman hadn't noticed the pattern already, Nightwing wasn't sure, yet Bruce was busy making appearances, with a look on his face saying he'd been so close to making his own move, only for his own test-tube offspring to mess things up.
He arrived at the warehouse and used his ninja stealth to get up into the rafters. He could see one of the cages the kids were kept in, which reminded him of the cages beasts were kept in at the circus size wise, yet there were bars covering the top. He saw some of the kids in the cages sobbing, yet others were covered with cloth.
He saw the person moving about, wearing one of those creepy Santa masks, which would likely give the kids nightmares regarding Santa if Damien had not already regaled them with terrifying stories of Santa Claws, a story the fourth Robin found himself far more interested in than stories involving the real Santa Claus.
The man walked over to one of the cages, and let out a sharp bark. "Hey! What are you doing up there! How did you get up there!"
Dick winced, the sound of something thudding with the culprit's skull echoing through the warehouse. Dropping down and looking in, he expected to see his former Robin. Except, "Wait. You're not Damien."
One of the seven-year-old kids swung from the roof of the cage as if they were monkey bars, having obviously given the man in question a sharp kick with both feet to the head. There was something familiar about the boy's blue eyes, but before Nightwing could place the eyes, he found one of his eskrima onto the creepy Santa's head to knock him out definitely.
"What are you doing here?"
Dick grimaced, turning slightly to see a rather irate Damien Wayne standing in the entrance of the cage, his arms crossed. "Hey."
"Don't hey me. Did you not think I could handle this?"
Dick opened his mouth, only to find to hear the seven-year-old swing down. "Uncle D! Uncle D! I beat up the bad guy!"
The kid rushed past, wrapping his arms around Damien, only to glare at Nightwing. Damien let his eyes roll. "Fine. I get it. Why you came."
Damien's hand patted the top of the kid's head. The precocious child then said, "Uncle D. The kids at school told me it's Santa Claus who brings presents on Christmas Eve, not Nightwing."
Nightwing's eye twitched, giving Damien a death glare, only to receive a tongue stuck out in return. Also, a death glare from the child which almost felt like looking into a mirror of his younger self, but Nightwing brushed the thought away. Damien looked at the crying kids in the other cage. "Ho, ho, ho! Who wants a ride home in the Batmobile! Nightwing's taking us!"
Nightwing's mouth formed a circle, remembering who exactly the spawn of Satan was at that very moment, cursing his luck. In fact, there was that evil glint in Damien's eyes, but a look of wonder in the one child's eyes. "So you do really make deliveries for Christmas?"
Someone was going to get it once they got back to the Batcave. One by one the children were dropped off, snuck back into their homes unaware by their parents, though some parents started waiting outside as soon as the news hit the waves that the man was arrested, though Nightwing suspected both the police and Batman weren't pleased with the fact the police weren't the ones doing the job they now did.
The final child now lay asleep while Nightwing tuned the radio to the news, frowning as he did. "Seriously..."
"Come on. Getting a ride in the Batmobile? Best present ever for a traumatized kid."
"This isn't to make up for the fact you perhaps told them about Santa Claws?" Nightwing held up his hands in emphasis. The twisting of Damien's face indicated he'd been caught. "Uh-huh. What about his last one?"
"Terry? We can take him back to the Batcave."
"Yeah. No. He's going back home to his mom and dad. He's not some orphan you can adopt, and I doubt Batman would let you..."
"Didn't you hear him? He's my nephew?"
"Who also believes I'm Santa Claus!" Nightwing stopped short, catching the annoying smirk on Damien's face.
"Come on. You didn't come because you didn't think I could do it, or because you thought I'd kill the guy."
"Fine. You're family."
"Let's spread some Christmas cheer to the Batcave."
"How about we don't?"
Yet the still went back to the Batcave, to receiving a glare from Batman, and a, "Nightwing."
And for some reason Huntress was there, her arms crossed, glaring at him. Then, lobbing a well-aimed punch to his face before scooping up the sleeping Terry and leaving. Damien pouted. "No fair."
Batman glared his glare. "You know that Terry doesn't know."
Nightwing rubbed his chin. "Am I missing something?"
"Ask Warren," said Damien.
"Don't," said Batman.