The first thing Nightwing became aware of when he awoke was that the dull yet painful ache that had echoed constantly through his leg for the past 4 years…was gone.
He shifted slightly trying to sit himself up, there was an awkward pull on his hand that stung, looking down he saw an IV needle. He stared at it curiously, trying to remember what had happened.
He had been at the mountain, had fought with Robin, and then Bats, Bats had sedated him. He ran away after that blank.
"Your awake I see" the voice behind him made, Nightwing's blood run cold. It was the same voice that had haunted his nightmares for the past few weeks, the voice that had terrorized him when he was Robin. He turned slowly to look upon the orange mask.
"Slade" he whispered unable to hide the fear in his voice.
"How's the pain? Gone?" Nightwing paused, it hadn't been his imagination, the pain in his leg really was gone.
"What did you do?" Slade came forward and Dick pushed himself back against the wall trying to get away from him. But the villain didn't strike; instead he took his hand gently and removed the IV.
"Coursing through your veins is a very powerful drug that removes pain completely. How else do you think I take on the Justice League without getting a scratch?"
"Why?"
"Because as my apprentice I can't have you giving anything but 110%, you cannot do that when your leg is paining you" Nightwing frowned
"And what makes you think, I'd follow through being your apprentice" he growled when Slade laughed.
"You're welcome to leave if you wish. But you should know that the drug keeping you from feeling pain will wear off in a day. If you thought the vicodin you were religiously taking was addictive you will be amazed at the effect this has. And here the cherry on the cake. I am the only one who knows how to create it. So go ahead run. But you will come back to me willingly. Your body will begin to painfully crave the drug, eventually killing you if you don't get another dose".
Nightwing's eyes widened. Was Slade bluffing?
"The door is over there. Feel free to run home to daddybat…there's nothing he can do to save you. Only I am your saviour".
He walked away leaving Nightwing alone. Deciding that the last thing he was going to do was sit here and be a sitting duck for The Deathstroke.
The air was blissfully cool on his skin as he took to the roof tops; it allowed him to feel free. Freer than he had felt in a long time. He hadn't realised how much his leg had been holding him back!
He flipped off on the building, doing a triple flip and landing it perfectly, his leg not so much as twinging.
The drug, whatever it was, had worked. But if what Slade had said was true, then it would wear off soon and if he didn't get more he would die.
Nightwing sat down with his legs hanging over the side of a roof, not even bothering to check where he was. What was he going to do?
He sat there for a long time, weighing up his options. Finally deciding that he would see if Slade had been telling the truth, if he and he should start feeling the withdrawal symptoms in about 15 hours, then he would tell Bats, who he was sure could help him despite what the masked man had said.
After all he was the world's greatest detective.
"Nightwing?" the voice caused him to jump slightly; he turned to see Batgirl approaching him slowly
"Babs" he said relived it was her and not anyone else, but her posture confused him, she was approaching him like he was a wild animal.
"Relax Wing, I'm not going to hurt you" he frowned
"I know that. What's got into you Batgirl?"
"I'm going to take you back to Batman, he and Leslie are going make sure you're alright" then it all came rushing back, the reason he and Robin had been fighting, why Batman had drugged him, why he had run away. Red Hood was Jason but everyone thought he was crazy.
Batgirl seem to register a change in the man before her as she rushed at him, with what Nightwing could now see was a sedative in her hand. He dodged missing her by inches.
"Night, it doesn't have to be this way; you could just come with me"
"You're the one lunging at me with a bloody big needle in your hand" he hissed "Bab's I'm not crazy, you have to believe me" he dodged her again, his legs pressing against the wall that ran round the roof.
"How can I believe you? Jason is dead! He isn't Red Hood"
"I know it sounds crazy, but I know I'm right!"
"I'm sorry Dick" she approached again, Nightwing pushed himself back, falling over the wall and off the roof, quickly pulling out a zip line and swinging away.
"Robin he's heading your way" Batgirl said into her ear piece
"Rodger that…I see him"
Robin cut off the transmission and began running after his brother. He chased him over the roof tops trying to catch him up, he soon realised he was losing him. Nightwing wasn't a slow runner by any means, but due to his injured leg he was slower than Robin; so why was he outrunning him now?
"Batman, I'm losing him, he's heading over to the edge of the city!"
"On it" Came the stern voice of the bat, but Robin could hear the stress in his voice, he was worried about his son.
Once he spotted the masked hero he was in pursuit. Finally they ran out of roof.
"There's nowhere to run Dick" the younger of them looked around for an escape, but Batman knew in order to make the gap between roofs tops, Nightwing would have to pull off a quadruple flip across the space. Something he hadn't been able to do in 4 years.
Suddenly Robin and Batgirl were at the Dark Knights side.
"Doesn't have to be like this B, I'm not crazy"
"I know" Batman took a step forward but Nightwing took one back, carefully removing his grappling hook from his belt.
"You're a really bad liar Bats" he shot the hook and jumped off the roof, he was aware that the grapping line would not take him even half way across the void, but if his calculations were correct, and they usually were, with 4 flips he would make it…just. He just had to hope Slade's drug would do what he said it would. He felt the line tug and released it, using his momentum to carry his body round into a turn.
1
So far so good, and again
2
He felt himself start to descend
3
One more, he told himself using all his body weight to push forward into the last roll
4
He felt his feet hit the floor and he rolled into a recovery, standing and noting he wasn't in pain, looking over his shoulder he saw all three of the Bats, staring at him with shocked expressions.
He wished he had a camera.
Being too busy congratulating himself on doing his first major stunt in 4 years, he didn't notice the blue and red figure behind him until he turned and literally walked into the man of steels chest.
He felt the hands go round his arms and his feet being lifted off the ground as Superman flew them back over to the caped vigilantes on the other side.
"No Uncle C put me down!"
"Sorry kid, It's for your own good" Nightwing fought against the aliens strength as his father approached him, he suddenly wondered if this was how the villains felt, when that dark shadow looms over them.
He felt the prick in his arm again and felt his body starting to grow still. The fight fading out of him.
"Take him back to the cave, Leslie is waiting there" Once again Dick felt himself being lifted up at he tried to fight the unnatural sleep.
"We're gonna make you better Dickie" he heard Clark say when they were in the air
He could only mutter out a muffled "No" before the darkness took him again.
A/N Oh Dick you so silly. Heres the next chapter. Thank you again to BuringBright222 for helping me with plotbunnies :) Hope you enjoying the story. Please review. Karin xx
