Part 3: Nightwing's Vision

Dick Grayson put on his Nightwing costume and headed out for patrol. It was like any other night except something was nagging him. Ever since he became Nightwing this past year, something didn't feel right. Oh he managed to apprehend several of the criminal element, a drug lord who's sick agenda included the youngest members ever to be recruited, a madam who's high paying hookers stole more than just the money from their customers, to a faceless madman who's crimes reminded Nightwing of the Joker. They called him the Prankster. Within a year, Bludhaven's streets were no longer filled with the screams of fear, but with the laughter of happy and contented citizens. Bludhaven was becoming more like the sleepy town it had been when first envisioned by its founders almost 200 years ago. And it was on another uneventful patrol that Nightwing was realizing that Bludhaven was not like Gotham City; and that made Dick Grayson feeling homesick for the first time in years.

Dick Grayson had turned 10 that year. It was the beginning of summer and they just squelched a crime spree by a new villain. Dick saw the flier in the Gotham Gazzette. The Haly Circus was returning to Gotham City and they were planning on staying for three weeks, the longest any circus had stayed in one place. A new aerial act had been added. They had their own tricks, but none could do what Dick and his family could do, the quadruple spin. Dick remembered pleading with Bruce to let him go.

"They were my family, my circus family."

"What if I need you?" Bruce asked.

"I'll take my come link and my Robin costume if there's trouble. Maybe I can show their new aerial act how to do the quadruple spin."

He had been so excited about going, but little did he know, after just a few days, the knots that formed in his stomach weren't just from the exercises and the somersaults he had been doing. Memories of his parents and their death became too much. The memories were just too fresh and with the time he spent with Bruce and Alfred, Dick realized he needed more than just what the circus provided. The routine of family, and Bruce and Alfred had become his family.

As Nightwing's thoughts returned to the present tears were streaming down his face. Those memories, though old, were still strong in his heart. Lately, he couldn't seem to get his act together, even though he had succeeded in capturing several criminals. Something in his heart was tearing him in two, though he tried to deny it. Then the pain came, striking Nightwing with such force that it nearly toppled him from the building. In the past year, visions and dreams had haunted his thoughts. It was as if something was telling him this was wrong, very wrong.

In those visions he continued to relive the final argument that he and Batman had before he left. It still bothered him, and they still had not spoken to this day. The visions and dreams changed, and he saw another face enter the picture, a young lad slightly older than when he had become Robin. This new Robin ran at Batman's side, but the look in Batman's eyes did not hold the same warmth as they held for Dick. The visions grew more terrible and frightening. Nightwing saw the new Robin taken by the Joker, lured into a deadly trap by the use of a hostage. He saw the Joker beat the new Robin to the point of death. Broken and bleeding in a dozen places, the Joker set his final trap for Batman. The bomb was to go off when Batman opened the door, but Batman got there too late. The bomb exploded just as Batman arrived on the scene. Nightwing watched in horror as Batman tore through the rubble and uncovered the new Robin's lifeless body.

"NO!" Nightwing's shouting brought himself out. Previously, he witnessed countless other visions, of Bruce becoming dark and terrible, more monster than crusader. And now this new vision, the loss of a new Robin tore at him.

'A new Robin?' Nightwing thought. 'Are these visions of the future? Is Batman really turning into this monster? And is he planning on replacing me? And Bruce, what's happened to him?'

The thought was just too unreal. Only Alfred would know. 'But how could I go back to being Robin? I can't be a kid again, but if I don't go back . . .'

Nightwing shivered. He recalled the first time he had visions, days just before his parents died. He dismissed them as merely bad dreams, but now . . . maybe they weren't. He had several others while with Bruce as well. He never told him about them, now he wished he had. Then a memory, when he was 11, he'd forgotten about it.

'Bruce told me about him years ago. He said he was a Shaolin, someone whom he could talk to about a lot of things, even about dreams. I remember doing a research paper about the Shaolin, but I didn't find much, just that they were Buddhists and martial artists. Bruce did tell me his name. It was unusual, a Chinese name mixed with an American name. But I can't remember. Also learned something else. Only thing is, how do you find a Shaolin that doesn't stay in one place very long?'

Continues with Part 4: Connections From the Past