Nightwing shifted his weight from one foot to the other, trying to keep moving so he wouldn't feel the cold. He paused, exhaling, watching the steam from his own breath twist into the night air. He could hear the bustling city below, alive even in the dead of the night. It was around two am, and the patrons from the local bars were starting to spill out into the streets.
I have movement on 9thstreet, Babs whispered in his ear, jolting him back to reality. Looks grisly.
Nightwing paused, "I was just there a few hours ago."
Yeah I know, I saw movement on the GCPD cams, and there is some blood spilling onto the sidewalk. She paused, Should I call Bats?
"No, it's fine, I can handle it," He put his finger up to the communicator before looking back down to the streets below. The drunks were laughing, nothing suspicious.
Nightwing turned to the opposite end of the rooftop before breaking into a light run. He jumped to the next building over, landing hard on his ankle. He swore under his breath before hitting the gravel again.
You can just take a cab you know, Babs teased. He forgot she had eyes everywhere.
"You shut it, I meant to do that," He smiled before catching his stride again, leaping to the next rooftop with ease. He heard her crystal-clear laugh cut through the stillness, and it almost melted his heart.
After Jason had died, Dick had isolated himself a lot more. Having Babs guiding him, in his ear, was helpful. It reminded him that he wasn't Bats. He had help, people everywhere who cared about him. In a way, he loved Babs because she had showed him what real love was like. She cared for him, and made sure he was okay. He hadn't even felt close like that to Bruce, as he grew up fairly independent at the manor.
He admired Babs. Especially after what had happened. She had survived something that would break most people. She didn't let her trauma tear her down. In reality, Dick didn't quite understand. He saw her disability through rose-colored lenses. He thought she was miraculous, seeing her happy and healthy. He didn't see the times she was really hurting. He didn't pull her up off the bathroom floor after she had fallen. He wasn't the one fighting with countless surgeons, physical therapists, and doctors. He wasn't the one who lost his legs. But even without the rose-colored lenses, she was a powerful force to be reckoned with. That much was true.
By the time Dick had bounded to 9thstreet, the stench of death washed over him. Just seeing the blood on the sidewalk, illuminated under the streetlight was enough for him to call for backup.
"You know," He paused, eyes locked on the dark stain on the pavement, "I think you should call Bats. This is his city. He'd want to know."
At least, that was how he justified it to himself. No matter how much he trained or prepped, he wasn't Batman. He was Nightwing, and death still affected him. Besides, he'd rather have Bats deal with the GCPD. He was better with cops. Batman wasn't unnerved by death, like most people were. It comforted him, in a way. It was static, unchanging. Everyone would die, and everyone would decompose. He was able to disconnect himself from the suffering and pain, and get to the truth under all of the carnage.
Nightwing silently crept to the opening in the buildings. It was a dark ally, in between a coffee shop and a dollar general. This part of town wasn't exactly known for random killings. This was a nice area, popular for tourists from out of town. The shopping mall was close, and the homeless seemed to avoid the area.
He paused, looking into the ally. It was dark, but the silhouette against the back wall was identifiable.
"Shadows?" Batman's voice cut through the air and Nightwing literally jumped out of sheer fright.
"Jesus Christ," Nightwing took a deep gulp of air before turning around and meeting Bats face to face. "Good thing you didn't bring Tim. He's not old enough to see this."
Batman said nothing. He paused before walking to the puddle of blood on the sidewalk. He knelt down carefully and took a small sample of the blood before looking into the ally beyond.
Straight back, there was a brick wall dead end. There were a few big garbage cans lined across one side, but in the middle of the wall was the figure of a man slumped over. The blood trailed from the street to the wall where he lay, as if he had been killed and then dragged backwards.
"This doesn't seem like Shadow's M.O." Nightwing said, walking closer to the body in the darkness. "You should get the Commissioner on the phone."
"He already knows. They'll be here in a few minutes," Bruce said, resting a hand on Dick's shoulder. He was so rarely touchy like this, but clearly Nightwing was upset. His stomach was queasy and he didn't want Batman to notice. But, Batman being Batman, already had.
The man was slumped over to one side, but his head was missing. Well, not really missing, it was just not where it was supposed to be. His head was in his lap, cradled in his hands, horrified expression still on his face. Dick took a deep breath, somehow smelling the metallic scent of pennies in the air, it was starting to make him gag.
Batman touched the wall, noting a red bat-symbol painted above the man's neck. It looked like it had been haphazardly drawn with someone's fingers. It was still wet too, as blood was starting to drip from the macabre mural.
Dick turned his back to the scene, trying to focus. "If he was killed in the street we can pull up the GCPD traffic camera footage."
"This doesn't look like the work of an amateur," Batman paused, "I doubt whoever did this would do it in plain sight."
"So, what are you thinking?" Dick asked, hearing police sirens in the distance.
"Looks like someone is trying to get my attention," Batman paused, trying to put all the pieces together like a puzzle.
Nightwing hesitated, blinking a few times. If someone wanted attention from the Bats, that usually didn't mean well. He bit the inside of his cheek, "Are there any prints on the wall?"
"A partial," Batman paused, looking over the scene again.
The sirens were getting closer as Nightwing jumped up, grabbing a hold of the second story apartment fire escape above the first-floor coffee shop. From above, the scene was a lot clearer. The guy had been beheaded near the street, then dragged backward and posed like a mannequin in a shop window.
"New serial killer?" Nightwing asked. Batman was busy inspecting the man's shoes for whatever reason.
"Could be," He raised his voice slightly as the sirens pulled to a stop outside the ally. "Although the guy has training. This is clean cut."
Batman pointed one gloved finger to the man's neck, "You have to be pretty strong to slice through someone's neck with one blow."
Nightwing nodded, "Must be a damn sharp sword too."
Batman nodded before realizing that they had accurately figured out the murder weapon. Although neither of them could think of someone who had a sword like that, training, and wasn't a shadow.
Several cops rushed to the ally, guns drawn. Nightwing was almost surprised Bats had called them, as they tended to be more of an annoyance, especially on complex cases like these. Batman shot his bat-a-rang to the fire escape several floors above Dick as the first of the cops walked into the ally.
Nightwing climbed up slowly before meeting Bats on the roof. The scene was still fresh in his mind; he knew he probably wouldn't sleep after seeing that. He wanted to talk to Babs. Maybe she would have a fresh perspective on all of this.
"I'll stick around here," Bat's said, motioning to the cops below destroying all the usable evidence. "You don't need to concern yourself with this."
Dick blinked, annoyed at that. He didn't necessarily want to stay, or to figure out what this was. He would rather Bruce handle it all, in a selfish way Dick didn't want to think about it. Something about all the decay, just made him panic. It quite possibly could have just been the fact that death reminded him of Batman. Something inside him told him that this wouldn't be the last he heard of this. He didn't bother to fight Batman on it, though. He didn't want to be surrounded by so much darkness.
Nightwing watched a scene for another few minutes, next to Bruce. The Commissioner made his way inside before looking up directly to Batman. He put his hands up in a shrug, almost a 'what the fuck is this' motion. Dick almost smiled. Before he could say anything, Bats made his entrance, jumping back down to the pavement below to talk to Gordon.
Is my dad there? Babs asked quietly.
"Yeah he and Bruce are talking. You were right, pretty grisly. Did you find anything on the GCPD feed?" He asked, still watching the scene below. The commissioner started whispering in a hushed tone to Batman, still somehow commanding all the authority there was to give. He wasn't intimidated by Batman, he just wanted to keep the city safe. They had the same goal. In a way, Dick and Babs were raised on two different sides of the same coin.
Well yeah, but I don't know how useful it will be to you. She paused, I'll patch you in.
The lenses of his domino suddenly flashed away from the rooftop and instead flipped to showing him a view from the neighboring coffee shop. They had a security camera in the doorframe, and just to the left Nightwing could see the man standing on the sidewalk. He had his phone in his hand, almost as if he was anxiously waiting for someone.
As if from nowhere, a silver flash of reflective light sliced through the feed before the camera cut off.
"What was that?" Nightwing commed to Babs as his domino turned back to the dark Gotham night around him.
I'm assuming it was a sword. Babs said. He could hear the hesitancy in her voice. But Dick, it's not right. This isn't the GCPD feed. This is from the Batman Inc files. Batman and the family are the only people who have the codes to access these files. How would anyone know that? And then know to cut the feed preventatively…?
Nightwing paused, looking down below again. The Commissioner was tentatively looking over the body, still hollering instructions to all the others behind him. Batman stood back, a dark shadow looming over the entire ally.
"So you're saying-" He paused again, franticly trying to think.
Yeah. This is an inside job, or we have a leak.