Notes: This is the final chapter. This is pretty much all I had planned for this story from the prompt/conversation given. Also, it's a day late because this site wouldn't load any account pages, I kept getting errors. So I went to bed and left it until today.
Chapter 7
One moment Dick Grayson was standing outside Wayne Manor, ready to go after his brothers. The next, he felt like he had been thrown into the ocean as he dropped through time to where they had been.
It hadn't taken long to reclaim the weapon from Tim's attackers. What had taken a while was the discussion on whether Dick would go in costume or civilian clothes. Bruce decided that Dick should wear his costume as Nighting going after Gotham residents was more believable than Dick somehow managing to time travel. However, by that time, Alfred decreed that rest was in order before time jumping with strange equipment they barely understood.
Dick appeared in the spot his brothers had occupied the day before in the Watchtower and found only Black Canary sitting there and having breakfast. She looked up.
"Nightwing?" She took in the uniform he was wearing, slightly more streamlined than the one he recalled wearing in this time. "From the future?"
"Something like that," he responded flippantly. "Did three boys appear sometime yesterday? One grumpy one, one lanky one and one little bitey one?"
"Bruce Wayne's boys?" she questioned. Dick nodded. "Of course." After a pause, she asked, "so how are things?"
"Good," he responded automatically. Black Canary wasn't a confidant of his like she had been back when he was Robin. "Could you call them here?"
"Are you really going to be about business?" she questioned curiously.
Dick sighed. "The longer I'm here, the more risk there is of losing our way back to our time as things may change. I'd rather that didn't happen."
He waited, leaning against the wall as he did. The team slowly made their way to the watchtower in order to hang out. First M'gann arrived. Then Connor. La'gaan arrived with a couple more members following right behind. They gave him curious glances but didn't interact with him.
Finally someone gathered the courage to ask.
"Are you still with the team?" M'gann asked.
Dick knew that his past self from this time would hear the hopeful tone in a negative light. He would have thought that she was acting hopeful of him leaving. However, he had worked long and hard to counter such thoughts.
"No." It was a flat response but he saw the hurt flash across her face. Yes, she had been hoping that he was still a part of the team he founded. "I gained a protégé for a time and that left me with no time for the team." He wasn't about to tell them that he had to take over as Batman for a while. That had not been an easy year.
"Really?" Connor questioned sceptically.
"My protégé's a special kid," Dick responded. "And I still hang with you guys. We had waffles together last Sunday."
"Waffles?" Connor questioned with a curious glance at M'gann.
M'gann looked amazed. "I can't make waffles yet. Were they good?"
"It's a specialty of the one who made them," Dick explained. "And I'm going to stop there because that's getting into spoiler territory." He smiled at his pun. Even if they didn't know Stephanie Brown, future Spoiler and Batgirl, yet.
They all nodded like they understood.
"Are we really going to be buddy-buddy?" La'gaan asked.
"We're going to be pleasant with each other, yes," Dick said to him in a clipped tone. "Unless you have a complaint or advice to offer?"
"Yeah. Stop being a puppet master," La'gaan responded with a grin. It was obvious that he expected Dick to back down.
Dick faintly remembered times back here when he had backed down. His own self-worth made him take the blame because it came from someone else. Maybe he also started seeking it out through his actions and words. However, as he needed to constantly remind himself, he was working on his negativity.
The time Leslie had let Jason shoot him with foam bullets anytime he said anything negative had probably been one of the best days of Jason's life, Jason had certainly been smiling throughout.
"Have you voiced this more than once?" Dick didn't need to wait for an answer. "I don't need to hear this unless I've engaged in such unbecoming behaviour again even after your... not quite helpful advice."
"Now, come on. That's a little harsh," La'gaan said.
"If I remember correctly, you've been saying whatever you want, thinking that everyone agrees with you because they're silent. I'm sorry to say, they might not and remain silent because it's not nice to level criticism at others."
There was a slow clap from the door as Jason, Tim and Damian walked in.
Jason stopped clapping and grinned. "How very after school special of you, Nightwing. Although I'm glad to hear someone speak up. That kid has been running his mouth off since we got here. It got so bad we went to hang out in Bludhaven instead."
Dick raised a masked eyebrow at Tim.
Tim shrugged. "Jason's half right. Thanks for coming to get us Nightwing."
"It's fine. Bruce Wayne's footing the bill," Dick responded.
"Really? Father paid you to get us?" Damian grumbled.
Dick walked over and ruffled the kid's hair. "Of course not. He paid the Justice League. I think he was looking for some way to pass them a few hundred thousand into their hands without it getting caught in red tape so it was a bonus."
"Father always has multiple reasons behind what he does," Damian said proudly.
Robin looked up at Nightwing and then to Dick. "Does this mean you're taking them back?"
"Correct."
"I guess Zatanna, Zatara and Superman won't be needed then," Nightwing said. "I'll call them now."
He left the room. Robin looked Dick up and down.
"I'm fine," Dick said. "Just... and this is the only time I'll say this but, follow Jason's advice. If I remember correctly, there are other things going on right now that I didn't want to talk about."
"Like what?" Tim and Robin said in unison. Instead of getting the answer they wanted, half the room started laughing at the similarities. Thankfully, those not in the know just thought they were both interested in knowing.
"Time to go!" Dick announced, pulling out the weapon which made the portals between here and their home.
"Of course you avoid the question," Jason sighed as he walked towards the portal Dick shot into the ground.
"Hey, how many people can say they've jumped through a hole in the Justice League headquarters?" Dick quipped.
"I wish I wasn't one of them," Jason muttered, shoving Tim into the hole. Tim cried out a 'hey!' before he was swallowed up. Jason gave Damian a meaningful look before jumping in.
Damian knew what it meant. Make sure Dick comes back. He took the vigilante's hand and gave him his best 'I'm just a kid' look. It was the one he used to get out of trouble in the street, right before beating people up.
"Alright, let's go," Nightwing said, pulling him into the hole. They were gone moments later.
"That was weird," La'gaan said. "Did it sound like future Nightwing knew those kids personally?"
"Uh," Robin found the question awkward but he had prepared answers for every question they could ask. "Possibly? I mean, Bruce Wayne is an important man in Gotham. It wouldn't surprise me if his kids got kidnapped on an almost daily basis."
"But you don't know them?" La'gaan asked.
Robin shook his head and lied, "I don't handle kidnappings of prominent people in Gotham. Batman likes to hand those cases personally." The second part wasn't much of a lie though.
Nightwing stayed away from the team for a little bit, only meeting up for missions or outside social gatherings. Batgirl managed to get him to talk to Leslie and he seemed to slowly have more energy. Time crawled forward, until a day when a group tried to kidnap Tim but got Jason and Damian as well.
When the boys reappeared in their time, they stuck close to Dick for the rest of the day and patrolled with him during the night. Jason found a moment between thieves and carjackers to check that Dick wasn't still using knives for hurting himself. Dick hadn't.
Tim found a moment to ask his question again. Just what had Nightwing not wanted to share back then which had been hurting him so much?
Dick had never been happier to hear a police car rush past. He quickly hurried after it in case they needed assistance. Later, he just told Tim to check with Leslie, knowing that she would never tell Tim what had happened to Nightwing around the same time as the invasion. Being unable to save someone, having the person you thought you were teaching become a murderer and... the other things she did to him, and then losing his best friend only weeks later were things Dick had spend years trying to move past. Wally coming back helped... a little. It didn't completely erase the initial pain of believing him gone forever or the missed moments in between.
Leslie had only one piece of advice, given in the moments where he handed her a man found beaten in the street.
"Since you're all together, why not spend some time with them? Watch a movie or something."
Dick decided to pick up some Chinese take away and downloaded a movie involving time travel. It would be ready to stream to the TV the moment they walked through the door.
