Chapter Ten

When Dick arrives home, the first thing he always does is put the Nightwing costume away in the space behind the large oriental picture along the one side of his lounge wall, if there's one thing that Batman has taught him and he respects is always make sure you're identity goes unknown, hence why he left his mask on whilst with Huntress, it wasn't that he didn't want her to find out who he was really, he just knows that it wouldn't only be him giving up his identity, it would be Bruce's and Barbara's as well and he knows how much they both have to lose and he would never want anything bad to happen to Barbara. So he puts the costume away and heads towards the bathroom to take a shower before noticing the memo board on the wall which is barely full as he has a good memory… unless he though he did before spotting the bold letter 'COP TEST 12:00,' with everything else going on in his life he had completely forgotten that he was meant to be sitting his test to try and get into police academy, he has already had his fitness reports and health check done and all he has to do is past this test and he would have a place.

Dick hadn't told anyone that he had been thinking about joining the force, he was definitely not going to tell Bruce even if they were on speaking terms, although Bruce supports the police, he doubts that he would be all that pleased that a vigilante was joining and could cause a possible threat to his activities as Batman but Dick knows that this could be a reliable source of information to Nightwing, as Officer Grayson could get access into the police files and background knowledge that Nightwing couldn't and he also hopes that he can help, he knows that crimes doesn't just happen at night in Bludahaven and so by joining the force he would be able to help stop crime without worrying about being chased or shot at by the SWAT team or anything else Flash decides to tag onto him, he also hopes to get a little of the gratification he deserves just by being Dick Grayson… police officer.

Looking at the time 11:42, he quickly pack a large duffle bag with clean clothes and makes a u-turn back out of his apartment and down the stairwells and onto the street towards police head quarters.

"I'm… I'm here for the entry test," Dick pants as he enters the reception

"Name" The pretty blonde says from behind the desk

"Grayson, Richard"

"Well take a seat over there sir and Sergeant Mathews will call for you shortly, might give you chance to get you're breath back" She smiles at him flirtatiously, Dick smiles back but reminds himself that he is already in such a mess right now with Barbara and now Huntress he doesn't need to add a Blonde cop to the list as well.

"Richard Grayson" A loud voice comes form inside the room behind him

"Sir" Dick enters the room and closes the door behind him, he glances at the many photos of old police academy classes scattered on the walls before looking at the centre of the room to see a small desk and chair opposite a larger desk where Sergeant Mathews sat.

"Take a seat and fill in the front page, you have an hour to complete this test and you will need an hour to complete this test and stand a good chance of passing" His voice matched him perfectly, he was a large man, height and build with a large dark moustache, which compensated for the thinning hair.

"Yes Sir" Dick sits at the desk and begins the test, he was right, the test was hard and it would have taken most of the applicants an hour to stand a good chance at passing, but with what Dick knew about Law enforcements and having Commissioner Gordon as a close friend to Dick and Nightwing, it barely took him half that time but he felt it would be a good idea to sit there for the whole hour, it wouldn't be a good start being know as Mr know it all.

He was relieved when Sergeant Mathews called time, it has been years since Dick had been in school and he didn't like them much then. When he was with the circus he was home schooled a little, most of his time then he was being taught how to walk on the tight ropes and how to catch the bars in mid air, he never thought he needed an education, that circus life was all he was going to need, but of course that all changed when his parents died and Bruce took custody of him, with Bruce, knowledge and a good education was everything, that was what his father believed in and so does he, and so he was sent to the best schools available, most of them boarding schools with six day weeks, they were hard for Dick, especially never really setting foot in a school before. He use to find it difficult to fit in, a circus life was really tight nit, every one knew every one, with the wealthy that was not the case, Dick knew he wasn't one of them and at the beginning the boys knew that too, Dick was the only one that had a earring in private school before he took it out, it was then that he knew he was never going back to circus life, he still keeps the earring safe as his father gave it to him, he use to have the exact same one. He use to have to put up with a lot of stick once they found out that he use to be a circus boy, he'd never tell Bruce that he was having problems and it made Dick more determined to succeed and he excelled in every class he was in, which in return caused him more grief from the boys in his class. At the beginning Dick never use to defend for himself, he use to try to shut everything off, including his parents death, he use to get his head in his work and that was it, try and ignore the taunting, the shoves as he walked down the halls and the wet dorm beds, leaving him to sleep on the floor. He soon found out that he would have to start defending himself, as they grew older, the teenage boys use to get more physical towards him, sly punches as they walked down the busy hallways, Dick use to try hard to cover up the bruises on his arms and back when he use to go home in the half term, he finally agreed to Bruce's offer on martial arts training when he realised that it was the only way he could make it stop, so he perfected every move and skill that Bruce showed him before going back to school that next summer, the taunting soon stopped after that, the teachers never found out how or who gave most of the class the facial bruises when questioned the next time they tried picking a fight with him. After Graduating with highest remarks, he was glad to see the back of a class room and so he finds it quite amusing that he is going back to class so many years later.

"Okay Grayson go and wait outside and well call you"

Dick walked down the hallway into the room with "Waiting area" hung above the door, as he opened the door he was welcomed by dozens of eyes glaring at him from there chairs, this made Dick unawkward as he stood in the doorway.

"Why don't you sit down, you're making the place look untidy" He heard a voice coming from the corner, he stared over to it to see a hand up in the air "Here"

"Thanks" Dick said as he sat down next to him

"Nah, they did the same to me when I walked in… Names Chip" He holds out his hand to Dick

"Dick" He replies as they shook hands

"Really, is that your real name?"

"It's my real name" He could tell he wasn't saying it offensively, unlike many, which have done in the past, but he has learnt to get over it

"Hey Dick and Chip, we could be the next Starsky and Hutch, what do you think?"

"Sounds good" Dick laughs, he could tell Chip must have been the classroom clown, from a public school because of his English. He was a lot smaller build that Dick, very faired freckly skin with red hair, much lighter than Barbara's, almost an orange shade and the gap in his front teeth made him look almost comical but Dick could tell he was a good guy, he's a good judge of character, besides he was the only one out of twenty three of them to offer him a place to sit.

"Hey, what did you think of the test, pretty damn solid weren't it?"

"Oh the test, yeah, think I'm cutting it a bit fine if I get through"

"Well you sure as heck look the part, think id run the other way if I was a crook"

"Thanks" Dick tries to act rather blasé about it 'You should see them run when I'm Nightwing'

"Alright quiet" Sergeant Matthews voice enters the room, drowning out every other voice in it "We have marked the papers and those who have been called out need to move next door"

Dick sits there for what seems like ages as names were being called out and the group started dwindling down, he was still in the room with Chip who was still looking confident although Dick wasn't so sure now if being in the same room as chip was a good sign then the names stopped being called and he realised that he was left in the room with twelve others.

"Right then lads, you seem to be the best that Gotham has to offer for now, well done you're through, now if you will follow your Lieutenant Connors, you will be under his watch from now on"

"Oh yeah, were through Dick, I knew it" Chip smacks Dick across the back in excitement as he walks out of the door in front of him

"Grayson" A voice from behind him calls form outside the door, he watches as the rest of them carry on walking up the hall

"Yes Sir"

"Do you know what you did Rookie?" He looks at Dick blankly

"No Sir" Dick replies rather confused, what's he already messed up now he thinks to himself

Sergeant Mathews passes him a piece of paper, Dick looks up at him and he nods his head to give him permission to look at the paper, it was his test sheet

"Full marks Grayson, the last time I saw one of those was when I sat mine"

Dick looks at him in silence, not quite sure what to say without making himself sound big headed or overconfident

"Now with you're health and fitness checks being passed with 100% I would have no doubt in saying that you were a machine if that were possible"

"Um… thank you"

"No not thank you Grayson, lets just say I expect big things from you and I know what you're capable of now, you're going to make a good cop so long as you keep you're head on board"

"Thank- um I mean yes sir"

"Okay now get back to your class"

Dick walks quickly through the corridors to a large courtyard to see his classmates face first on the ground in a line doing press-ups, or at least trying to.

"Where the hell have you been Rookie"?

"Sorry sir, Sergeant Mathews wanted to see…."

"I don't give a damn about you're apologies Rookie you're lacking on your press-ups, drop and give me fifty now!"

Dick does exactly what he was told and started to do the press-ups, maintaining the rhythm perfectly, he could feel Lieutenant Connors eyes on him and could hear the panting and wheezing of his classmates around him before he realised that he had already done over fifty and the others who started before him were still counting "23… 36… 28" So he carried on, besides he hadn't even broken a sweat yet which he didn't think was going to help with him fitting in whilst most of the others shirts were now starting to show rather large sweat patches.

"You're pathetic all of you, you were all meant to have passed your checks, what a load of bull, get up and go shower now"

Dick stands up and watches the others weakly trying to get up, half of them their feet were almost buckling under them as they walked to the showers.

Dick was heading to the showers before having his path blocked by Connors, although towering over him by about five inches, there was something about him that made Dick feel threatened by this little man with and even smaller moustache and glaring grey eyes.

"Can you not count Rookie?" He finally says after staring at Dick

"Yes sir"

"Then tell me why you felt the need to do seventy five sit ups when I only said to do fifty"

"I don't know sir… I just though I'd-"

"Prove yourself, isolate yourself from the rest of the group"

"No sir I"

"Did I tell you to speak, you speak only when I tell you to or direct a question to you"

Dick stands there trying not to make it obvious that he was biting his lip hard, he doesn't like to be dictated to, let alone by some guy with little man syndrome that he could easily knock out with a quick fist that no one would see him do, even Connors wouldn't know what hit him

"Do you understand"?

"Yes sir"

Lieutenant Connors moves closer to Dick and looks up to him, Dick keeps his composure and maintains his eyelevel forward "Don't think I don't know who you are Grayson, I don't know what cheap stunt Wayne has pulled to get you in here but don't think for a second that I will be rolling out the red carpets for you"

Dick doesn't say anything, he knows that by doing so it will make his life here harder, he's already got Sergeant Mathews keeping an eye on him as well as having Lieutenant Connors on his back also

"Now, since you were so eager with the push ups, I want you to do another hundred… lets see if pretty boy can sweat"

Dick knows that he hasn't made a good job of blending in so far, which is going to make it harder to try and sneak out of the complex tonight so that he can go enforce his own law. He decided its probably best if he stays in the bunkers for the time being, after all most of these guys still live with there parents and this is the first time they have had independence, so it didn't seem wise to say that he has a large disused warehouse which he has converted in to an apartment, where his lounge is probably the size of most of there entire ground floor.

"See you've made friends with Connors then?" Chip sarcastically comments as Dick enters the room

"You think" Dick mumbles

"Here you can have the bottom bunk if you want" Connor mockingly poses in front of the less than comfortable looking bunk beds with five located on either side of the walls.

"Thanks" Dick was relieved, at least it would be easier to get out of the bottom bed as opposed to getting off the top bunk unheard.

Dick waits a good half an hour after the lights went out and the talking was replaced by loud snoring before removing the sheets from over him and grabbing the backpack from under his bed and entering the shower room where he remembered seeing a high window which he would be able to get through, whilst in the room he quickly changes into the Nightwing suit and applies his eye mask and takes and run towards the wall before vaulting up towards the window, he was impressed at how well and silent he managed to do this and lands neatly on the dirt under the window, he does the same over the walls, being careful not to get clipped by the barbed wire on his way over, it didn't take him long before getting out of the confinements of the complex and into Gotham. He crouches over the edge of a building as he does every night before he heads out, preparing himself for whatever awaits for him once he gets down there, it also gives him time to think, to reflect on things when he's up here alone, in the silence, whether he has made the right decision to join the police force and what Bruce will think once he finds out, if he doesn't already know, to think about Huntress, how he's going to deal with her when he meets her one of these nights which is a sure thing and also time to think about Barbara, of how big he's messed up this time with her, he wishes he had just swallowed his pride and apologised but instead he goes into defensive mode like he did every time he was around Bruce. Nightwing sighs into the dark air and watches as his visible breath fades into the night, but his thoughts are soon interrupted as he hears a almost silent swishing sound behind him, he knows what the sound was but his reactions were too late as the enforced ropes bind around his torso, fixing his arms to his sides and the metal balls fixing it in place, Nightwing looses his balance from the sheer suprisement and almost falls off the ledge before being grabbed and thrown to the ground.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Nightwing snarls towards the dark figure

He stands there silently and study's Nightwing's rage for a moment before walking up to him and gassing him out, Nightwing struggles for a moment before the gas fully takes its toll.