*I guess this another Batman project, I got the idea after watching Batman Beyond Return of the Joker, so enjoy and review*

Prologue

Crying filled the air of an old prestigious hospital with in Gotham as the staff celebrated yet another child brought into the world safely due to their handy work. The source of the crying came from a small delivery room on the thirteenth floor of the hospital that only contained a doctor, a few nurses, and the newly formed family.

"Look at her Richard, isn't she the most beautiful thing you've ever laid your eyes on?" A woman with long flowing blond hair questioned her husband as she watched the medical team who had delivered her baby clear out to give them some space, which she happily accepted after nine hours of labor.

"One of them," Dick replied with a soothing warm voice as he sat next to where his wife was lying on the hospital bed with their new-born daughter. For a moment his wife was speechless as she held her husband's loving and warm gaze, while her cheeks burned red with a light pink blush as she acknowledged his indirect compliment. Out of all the daring victories and his exciting life as the boy wonder none of those experiences could ever be compared to this one in Dick's heart. After years of playing lone wolf since he quit being Robin and left Wayne Manner he had a family he could call his own; one, in which, he had complete freedom in and one he intended to protect no matter what the cost was.

"What shall we name her?" Dick's wife questioned while noticing that the little baby snuggled up in blankets had managed to cry herself out and was now peacefully fast asleep. This question made Dick fall deeper into thought as he flipped through possible female names that might suit the beautiful baby girl who had soft pale skin, a full head of black hair that resembled her father's, and dazzling bright green eyes. For countless moments the air was filled with nothing but the calming ticks of the hospital room clock as the time moved closer to midnight as they pondered hard looking for a name that the little girl would grow up with, a name that she could bear with confidence. It was moments before midnight when a name flashed into the mind of Dick's wife who blurted out the name Tarrin. The utterance of the name brought a surprise look upon Dick's face but as he thought deeper upon the suggestion he started to like the name, after all, it wasn't too girly sounding, a few nicknames could be derived from the name, and the more it was repeated in his head the more he liked the sound of the name.

"Fine, well I guess we'll call her Tarrin, Tarrin Grayson," Dick announced as he hugged the most important girls in his life while he kissed his wife on the forehead in celebration of all their hard work of making their relationship work finally paying off, and nothing not even the even batman could ruin this moment. Even though it's been some years since he had gone underground and quit his crime fighting days he could never really could shake the feeling of fear of not being able to get away from the world he once lived in, but most importantly Bruce Wayne and everything he stood for. Right now he had; it seemed to him that ever since he had met his wife the fear of not being able to leave his past behind him had disappeared, and the birth of Tarrin had just confirmed to him that maybe everything was really just behind him. And maybe, just maybe he can also live for once like a normal human being who could come home to a loving family.

A sound of an explosion and the shattering of the hospital's window that held a view of the whole of Gotham brought Dick back to a reality he never wanted to face again, a reality that he had thought he washed his hands of it three years ago after he had met his wife. An excoriating pain had ripped through Dick's chest, which sent him falling limply across his wife's lap, just barely missing the baby. The very sight came with an agonizing cry from Dick's wife that consumed the air. Dick tried to calm her down in fear of waking the baby to the sight of her father gushing out blood all over the bed they were lying on, but as much as he wanted to tell her everything would be alright he couldn't not with the fact that he had been shot in a vital spot in his chest, not to mention by the way his body convulsed in out of a paralyzed state that bullet probably was poisoned.

It was a matter of seconds before they faced the sick bastards who just ruined three years of security that Dick had finally left the part of him that lived for the evil that lurked in the dark allies of Gotham during the night. Loath and hate radiated off Dick's being as he saw the head of the whole sick operation, and to be honest Dick wasn't really surprise to see the man who walked gracefully into his family's hospital room, from a rope that was coming out of his probably clown themed helicopter, after all he always knew Joker was capable of such evil. The evil clown walked gracefully and confidently towards them along with his foot soldiers with a crazed and maniacal face as if it wasn't out of sorts that he was here ruining Dick's only chance for a normal life.

"Why isn't this is a lovely family…well was a lovely family scene," the evil clown cooed as he casually sat at the end of the hospital bed, while in the same motion raising a gun towards Dick's wife's head.

"W-w-why are you here and what do you want with us," Dick's wife demanded with gritted teeth as rage poured into her with a glance at her husband's deteriorating state. If Dick wasn't at this moment losing a truck load of blood, fighting against the urges from unconsciousness, or constantly slip in and out of progressively longer periods of paralyzation, Dick may have fond a whole new reason to have fallen in love with the woman he had married.

"Oh, Dicky boy or should I say Nightwing never told you about me? Wow I'm hurt and to think we had such great times together when he and Batman were fighting crime together, but I didn't come for you I came for…what was her name again…Tarrin was it?" Joker replied with a mock wounded expression plastered across his face. Dick's face darkened as he saw the clown pointing to his wife who was snuggling the new born towards her body to protect Tarrin from the lights of the psycho in front of them.

"Y-you…well…never…"

"Take her, Dicky? Well while you're in that state and when your wife is dead there won't really be anyone to stop me."

With that he ended it all before Dick's wife could blink or begin to call for help the Joker in front of them pulled the trigger releasing a powerful bang that sliced through the air sending the love of Dick's life to appear lifeless as blood gushed out of her head from where the bullet had entered her skull. By this time Tarrin was a wake the noise of the gun firing had awoken her almost instantly into a crying fit. Although Dick knew that Tarrin may never understand what had just occurred, why she was now lying in loose and limp arms, or the significance of the blood that was now dripping from her mother's onto her forehead, but the very thought of her witnessing the whole seen through her bright green innocent eyes enraged him. How dare the Joker taint her with the curse Dick now knew he could never escape, one that will continue to hunt him long after he's under a grave.

"Grab the child," the clown ordered with satisfaction as he took one more glance at his handy work before getting up and motioning to the rest of his clown dressed minions to follow him as one firmly took hold of Dick's squirming child as she wailed hard and louder, as if she could tell that she would never see her parents again.

"Bring…her…back…you-"

"Oh yeah, and finish him off too," the Joker ordered while stepping out of the hospital room while the rest of his soldiers followed him. That night during one of the happiest moments of Dick's life it end both because of the metal bullet wedged into his head, but also since both of the girls he held most dear, the ones he vowed to protect and make happy both were brutally taken away from him for unknown reasons he may never comprehend.

"I'm sure deep down Master Dick knew your feelings, he was just getting to that time all children most past to claim their adult hood and that's leaving the nest, sir," Alfred stated. Bruce pondered over the matter on Dick and his wife before the two men buried the last of the Dick's wife's body the only one they managed to uncover from the crime scene covered with the blood of her husband to the point they assumed no one could have survived the massive blood loss no matter where Dick's body was.

"Yeah, from now on I will strive to bring justice to this case," Bruce vowed as he took one last look at the gloomy sight before disappearing along with Alfred with the darkness of Gotham City.