"Nightwing, you okay?" A dark figure stood behind him.
Nightwing never turned, nor did he stand. He simply continued to kneel and stare at his hands. "What are you doing here? I thought you went back to your dad's place."
Robin positioned a hand on Nightwing's shoulder. "I stuck around to hear the rest of your conversation with Bats. I wanted to see if you guys would really work things out. What the hell is going on between the two of you?"
Nightwing let out a fake laugh. "You actually believed he would talk it out and deal with the problem at hand. Batman thinks he's right and no matter what I say or do that will not change."
Robin removed his hand from Nightwing's shoulder and stepped in front of him. "Why don't you tell me what happened, what you know, and how much the Bat knows? I'll stick around and help you."
Nightwing slowly raised himself to a standing position. "You know he'll kill you if he finds out you're helping me with this."
Robin chuckled and rubbed the back of his head. "Batman doesn't kill. Glare, yes, but kill no. He'll probably give me that I'm really disappointed in you stare and then walk away without a word. So, tell me what's going on."
Nightwing heaved a large sigh. "I feel like I'm spending more time talking than actually getting work done tonight. Anyway, not a lot to tell, old friend murdered, trying to find said murder. Bruce is not with the whole helping thing."
"Okay, call me crazy, but I don't think you're telling me everything. Why did you say you could have saved her?" Tim was tired of playing the manipulative bat game.
Nightwing sighed once again. "She called me a week before she died. She told me she needed to talk to me, something about needing my help with something. Unfortunately, I was busy with Nightwing work. The day she died she was coming to see me. I have no idea why Batman is keeping me from the investigation though." Nightwing looked down at the ground.
"You don't think he knows something we don't, do you?"
Nightwing shrugged. "I don't know, probably, Daddy Bat normally does."
Robin ran a hand through his hair. "Mind if I ask how she died? It might help figure out who killed her."
Robin noticed Nightwing shutter ever so slightly at his question. "She was decapitated with piano wire."
Robin gripped Nightwing's shoulder tightly. "And you found her? Man, I'm so sorry."
Nightwing's shoulder slumped down and he wiggled to remove Robin's hand. "It doesn't matter. So, does any of that give you a clue to who her killer is?"
Robin began stroking his chin with a gloved hand. "Well, it may not help me figure out who murdered her, but it does help me eliminate who didn't. I don't think it's any of the mainstream villains from Gotham because it's a little too straight forward for most of them, especially The Joker or Harley Quinn, and that's not how Two-Face likes to play. Everything has to be twos with him."
Nightwing glared at Robin. "Tell me something I don't know, Tweety."
Robin folded his arms over his chest. "Well, sorry, I'm still playing catch up here, and what's with the Tweety comment."
Nightwing rolled his eyes behind his mask. "Can you please just let it go? Now, can we get a move on? We have a limited time before you have to be back to take those finals, or, more likely, the Bat figures out you never made it to your dad's place." Nightwing shot off a jump line, and once again Robin was quickly following him.
To be continued…
