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Chapter 1:

It was a very rainy night in Bludhaven, the water coated streets devoid of all people, the dark sky pouring a downpour onto the city. For most, this was terrible weather, the cold air mixing with the water to freeze anyone to the bone. However, this weather was actually somewhat nice to Nightwing. The young hero sat atop a gargoyle on one of Bludhaven's many skyscrapers.

The young hero watched over the city just how he had been taught, granted he was in a crouched position rather than his dark mentor's way of watching the city while standing, but that was just trivial to Nightwing.

It had been a whole year since he had given leadership of The Team back to Aqualad and had left to get some time alone, away from his friends. He hadn't changed much since then, he had grown his hair out slightly and had grown about an inch taller. He had changed his costume a little more, the once gray color was now changed to black, giving him a somewhat darker appearence, and the blue bird on his chest was now much larger, the bird's head now pointing straight up and reaching to the edge of the suit on his neck, and the wings of the bird now reached his shoulders. His arms also sported the same spikes that his mentor wore, and he now realized just how handy they were.

He sighed lightly as he tried to focus on the city, but failed, he missed his friends dearly, and although he talked to most of them occasionally, it just wasn't the same, plus he still hadn't entirely gotten over Wally's death. The speedster was his best friend, and his departure from this world was one of the things that pushed Nightwing to leave The Team.

His eyes widened as he heard a scream down below him, he looked far below him and frowned as he saw a woman was being pinned to the outside wall of the building Nightwing was currently resting on.

He drew his grapple and shot it at the building across the street, the hook latching onto the wall. Nightwing leapt from his position and flew through the air and toward the building. He quickly adjusted his position and pushed off from the building as his feet hit the wall, sending him toward the ground. He flipped in mid-air and his boots made a slight sound as he landed on the ground.

He looked up and glared at the man who was now laughing as the woman struggled in his grasp. Nightwing ran forward and grabbed the man's collar, pulling him and tossing him onto the ground.

The man grunted in pain as he hit the ground, landing right in a large puddle. Nightwing glared down at the man, almost laughing at the man's clothes; dressed all in black with a black ski mask. "Could you dress anymore like a mugger?" Nightwing asked.

The man growled and pushed himself up, he reahced to his waist and drew a knife, the blade glinting in the light from a nearby street lamp. "Shut up freak!" He bellowed and charged at Nightwing.

The young hero rolled his eyes under his mask and dodged as the mugger stabbed at his chest, Nightwing quickly brought up his hand and easily knocked the weapon out of the man's grasp. The man gasped slightly and stumbled back, fear in his eyes as Nightwing simply stared at him.

He turned to run, but was surprised when he felt something slam into the back of his neck, causing him to fall to the ground. Nightwing shook his head as he rolled the man onto his back so he wouldn't drown in the large puddle he was laying in.

Nightwing looked behind him and was surprised to see that the young woman was still standing there, she wore casual clothes, just jeans and a dark blue hoodie, with the hood up and covering her face. Nightwing smiled kindly, hoping to calm the young woman down.

Nightwing calmly approached and smiled again. "Hi, I'm Nightwing, what's your name?" The young woman seemed to just look at him confused for a moment before she decided he wasn't a threat and pulled her hood up enough for Nightwing to make out her face.

The young woman had slightly tanned skin, her eyes were an extremely odd color of indigo, something Nightwing didn't even know was possible, and she had black hair that reached her neck, with some hanging over her eyes. She looked to be around 5'5" and was slightly thin. Overall, Nightwing classified her as somewhat of a goth.

Nightwing waited for a moment to see if she would answer, but still smiled when she remained silent. "That's alright, I'd be scared if this happened to me too." Nightwing said comfortingly. "Do you live around here?" Nightwing asked.

The young woman seemed hesitant, but nodded slightly. Nightwing smiled. "Alright, how about you let me cuff up this guy, then I'll escort you home, it's a pretty bad night to be wandering around."

Nightwing turned around and drew a pair of cuffs from his utility belt, he would call the cops and tell them to pick up the man. He just put the cuffs around the man's wrists when he heard the young woman speak.

"Rachel," She whispered, her voice sounding both calm and nervous. "My name is Rachel."

Nightwing smiled and turned when he was finished, expecting Rachel to be standing there, but frowned when he saw she was gone. He looked around and saw that she was nowhere to be seen on the streets. "She couldn't be that fast, could she?" Nightwing mused.

He shrugged and figured she just ran home. He quickly drew his grapple and shot it at the building above him and returned to his previous perch, he then took out his phone and was about to begin calling the police, but ironically, his phone began to ring.

He looked at the Caller I.D. and frowned. Tim. He quickly pressed the answer button and put the phone to his hear.

"Red Robin? What is it?"

"Dick!" Tim's voice came out hurried and scared. "We have a problem!"

I hope you enjoyed the first chapter, I promise it will improve with time. Your trivia question for is: Who was the woman that Nightwing saved, which should be pretty obvious, and who do you think Deathstroke's mysterious partner will be?

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