Nightwing ran along the top of an A frame roof, the balls of his feet padding lightly as he propelled himself forward, his balance, as ever, superb. He was in the Northeast part of Bludhaven where all the hoity toities lived. You'd never see it said like that in a travel brochure for Blud (mainly because there were no travel brochures for the stinky, broken down city) and Nightwing usually didn't patrol here, because it was where police presence was highest, but he had a little bit of business up here and the flat topped roofs found in the rest of the city were much less fun to run across. They took no balance, required little effort or finesse. Here, if he just closed his eyes and stepped, one foot in front of the other, he could almost pretend he was on a tightrope, many, many years ago under the big top tent of Haley's circus.

Just as Nightwing did so, a loud, adolescent voice called from behind, "Busy, Nightwing, or should I come back when you're done idling uselessly?"

Shaking the memories from his head with a sigh, Nightwing turned to face Robin-Damian Wayne his adoptive younger brother and former partner, when Dick had donned the cape and cowl.

"Robin, as much as I'd love a little bat-family reunion, I'm kind of in the middle of work right now." Nightwing said, hoping he was firm but not harsh.

"Is that what passes for work these days? Standing around sniffing the flowers or whatever it is you were doing for the 5 minutes I spent watching you from the balcony across the street?"

"Always a slave driver, aren't you?" Nightwing chuckled. His slow going, quasi night off was officially over. It wasn't that he wasn't glad to see Damian-quite the opposite, in fact. The two had grown quite fond of each other in their time as Batman and Robin together and Dick was silently thrilled that Damian had come to pay him a visit. As with most relationships in the bat-fam, feelings ran deep but silent and under many layers of stoicism, sarcasm, and secrecy.

Damian had not replied, deigning Dick's statement frivolous and without much reason to respond so Nightwing prompted, "What can I do for you, Robin?"

"I need to talk to you." He replied briskly.

"Yeah, I gathered that by my awesome powers of deduction." Again, Dick received no response. "I have a few cameras and bugs to place. You can either come along with me or meet me at my place."

"Although both sound dull, I will accompany you on your business. Clearly you are in need of backup, if my observations thus far are indicative of anything."

"Sounds like a plan, little man." Nightwing chuffed. Dick actually missed Damian's abrasive nature every once in awhile- though mostly irritating, Damian was almost always honest and straightforward, which was sometimes refreshing in a life of masks.

Deferring to Dick, as it was Nightwing's city, Robin followed closely behind his former partner a small smile that was mostly smirk playing at the corners of his mouth.

"I need eyes on all angles of this building and a couple ears on the inside. I'll place the bugs if you can handle the cameras outside."

"Of course I can handle it, Ri-Nightwing," Damian overcompensated for his near error with a loud scoff and a rather sassy flick of his cape.

Dick watched Damian for a minute as he gauged the proper angles and heights and then scaled the wall of a building opposite the the one they were surveilling, deftly placing the penny sized camera in the exact same spot Dick would have, had he been alone. Smiling to himself, Nightwing leapt from his building, landing on the roof of the target building-the suspected home base of operations for a rather fatal line of designer drugs flooding the streets and bloodstreams of Bludhaven's most prestigious.

Bellying up to the edge of the roof, Nightwing dropped his head over, scanning for the window he knew was close by, just one of a long line of windows just like it. It was one of those small rectangular windows placed high into the walls of industrial buildings, meant to let in light-not people. Too bad for drug runners, they were up against a world class acrobat. Using a small knife he always had tucked in his boot, Nightwing sliced the small window pane from its wooden frame, placing the glass on the ledge he was currently resting upon.

With his trademark confident smirk and a lurch of muscles, he flipped from where he lay above the window and ducked through the small opening, perfectly pointed feet first.

Dick dropped silently to a support beam about 6 feet below him, eyes scanning for his next point of contact before his feet even touched down. The building he was in, a large open storage facility, was empty of people- of course, he had confirmed this before he had entered, but it was always nice when he got what he expected to get. Though the high roofed building had three or four office spaces in the east corner, none of them had ceilings, making access to them a virtual trip to the candy store. Aside from the four small office rooms, the rest of the large space was an open floor plan. The wall opposite the offices was lined with many cardboard boxes stacked on wooden palates-most likely the drugs they had already cooked up and/or the supplies to make said drugs, but that wasn't what Dick was after tonight.

Making his away across his beam, Dick headed for the offices. If his previous surveillance was right, the big guy in charge-Axel Devlin-had the office closest to the center of the building and his finances guy-Elliot Mayfield-was in the next room over.

Dick made quick work of placing the bug- both a listening device and remote access device allowing him (via his lovely friend, Barbara, AKA Oracle) free reign over Mayfield's computer. Snapping a few pictures of the paperwork left out on the desk on his way out, Nightwing made sure everything was placed exactly as it had been when he entered. A running start and a well placed foot on the back of a heavy wooden arm chair and Dick was launched over the wall and into Devlin's room where he repeated the same routine. A quick leap from the top of the wall dividing the rooms, up into the beams and Dick was wiggling out onto the roof once more.

Dick was back in the cool night air and replacing the window within minutes.

"Took you long enough." Robin was once again behind him, his characteristic criticism hanging in the air.

"You really take the fun out of a family reunion, you know that?" Dick asked, reaching over and ruffling Damian's hair despite knowing he didn't like it. Or maybe because Damian didn't like it. Hey, the kid was a little annoying.

"I'm not here for fun, Nightwing." Hands on his hips, Damian scowled up at Dick, but something wasn't quite right. Maybe his nose wasn't scrunched quite right or his eyebrows weren't close enough, Dick wasn't sure what alerted him, but it didn't really matter. All that mattered was that something wasn't quite right with Damian enough so that he was here, in Bludhaven asking for help without asking.

"Course not. Alright, let's go."

It was a quick jog to the one of Nightwing's many safe houses- okay, safe house was being generous. Dick did have quite a few safe houses, but this one, on the corner of Elm and Pine, was not one of them. Safe houses require a lot of paperwork, hoops and clever disguising to keep hidden from wandering eyes-mid sized buildings that seem to stay eternally empty in prime real estate locations? Not very under the radar. So, in addition to a few safe houses he had managed to acquire, Nightwing, with the help of Cyborg and The Bat, had created what Dick liked to call "security closets" which of course only prompted several gay jokes from Jason after he found out. His security closets were essentially that-6'x6' segments of real estate, essentially large janitorial-like supply closets chock full of medical supplies, extra weapons and a virtually impenetrable door (in the likely event that he needed to duck into one for safety), erased from the blueprints of buildings and tucked into allies, corners, behind dumpsters or old phone booths.

Anyway, this was the particular "security closet" where he had stashed his Motorcycle. The boys shucked off their uniforms, stashed them in the saddlebag of his bike and changed into their civvies- just another of the various supplies Dick and been smart enough to stash. His shirts were really big on Damian, but it would only be a short ride on the freeway and then Damian could change into clothes Dick kept just in case his favorite little brother decided to spend the night, which he did on occasion.

The two boys rode the elevator up to Dick's penthouse apartment in silence.

Once into the spacious, open floor apartment, Dick played perfect host; Alfred would never let him hear the end of it if he ever heard Dick had been inhospitable. "Dami, you want anything to drink? Tea, juice, soda? I'll be whipping up some tacos for dinner, if you're in the mood."

"Tea sounds fine."

"Alright," Dick affirmed, becoming ever more suspicious of Damian's behavior. Setting a pot on the stove to boil, Dick followed Damian into the living room just off the kitchen, nestled between the master bed and bath and the guest room. Damian stood next to the couch, facing the wall of windows which looked out onto the city. Damian was busy fiddling with something that was resting on the couch. Just as Dick was about to inquire what he was up to, a black and white cat streaked around Damian and past Dick into the guest bedroom.

"What the-" Dick cursed, ducking away from the fleeing fur ball. "Damian what the hell is the cat doing in my apartment?"

Turning, Damian responded, "I couldn't very well leave Pennyworth at the cave with father and the old man."

"You go on trips and leave him behind all the time, Damian." Dick narrowed his eyes, hands resting firmly at his hips. "Out with it, Damian. What aren't you telling me?"

"I'm moving in, Grayson."

A/N: Hey guys! Hope you enjoyed the first chapter. I've already written the whole story so I'll be posting every few days. Let me know what you think!