Nightwing left his bike outside the safe house and opted instead to ride with Batman in the jet, but only because it was faster. Needless to say, Nightwing was pretty mad at the man that sat silently to his left. After all the insanity and pain, he had finally seen Jason at the end of the tunnel, but Bruce had taken dynamite to that dream; not intentionally, but disastrous all the same.
"He's not the only son I have to look out for," Batman said suddenly, barely audible over the roar of the engine.
Nightwing stared straight ahead. He knew without turning Batman did the same. "What do you mean?"
"Jason has a very large sense of entitlement. It's probably due, in equal parts, to the manner of his life and death. He feels that because of these hardships, I am obligated to love him and obey his will. But I have other duties. To Gotham, to Tim, to Damian." He paused. "To you. I can't become what he wants when he wants."
Dick clenched his fists. He saw that it all made sense, and he knew Jason saw that, too, and the fact that he saw it only made him clench his fists harder. Because what Jason wanted, what Dick truly knew that Jason wanted, wasn't supposed to make sense. It was supposed to be irrational and comforting; two things, Dick was sure, Bruce could never be. "Doesn't it bother you that you can rationalize the alienation and abandonment of your most vulnerable and hurt son?"
There was silence in the cockpit, but the tension in the air said it all: this conversation was over. Nightwing sighed inwardly. No one ever won when it came to Jason Todd. Not even the Red Hood himself.
"This passing of judgment will have to wait," Starfire said through the communicator in a clipped tone. Nightwing winced; she had heard. "It seems we have company ahead, over Gotham airspace."
Three planes, what looked to be unmanned drones, hovered in the distance, directly over downtown Gotham. Starfire flew ahead, fire trailing behind her. One drone broke off from the pack to meet her, guns blasting with energy. She dove low to avoid it and flipped underneath the aircraft, which turned hard left to dodge her attack. The two other drones waited, hovering, for the Bat.
Batman narrowed his eyes and slowed the jet a bit. Nightwing didn't notice as he was watching Starfire's fight intently. Every time she got close, the drone maneuvered out of her way unpredictably. This meant it wasn't an algorithm. Someone was controlling it remotely.
"This doesn't make sense," Batman said. "Deathstroke has decided to target you personally. But he has drones meeting us. That's cold, impersonal."
Starfire finally grabbed a hold of the drone's wing and ripped it off the plane, swinging it off into the atmosphere. Nightwing's heart rate slowed as the drone immediately fell to the ground.
"He could be controlling them from a safer place," Nightwing suggested as the two remaining aircrafts split apart from formation. One shot Kori in the back, but she fell only a few feet before turning and engaging in another firefight. The other turned towards Batman's jet.
"Unlikely. If he was in the area, he'd taunt us. Taunt you. Call Red Hood."
"Why? Do you think they're in trouble?" Nightwing had already changed radio frequencies and began to signal for Arsenal and Red Hood.
Batman's eyes narrowed. "I'm not sure yet."
Three hails and thirty seconds of radio silence did nothing to calm the acrobat. "No answer," he said grimly, and already had about a thousand scenarios rattling in his mind.
"That means nothing," Starfire grunted, dodging and attacking in the same swift movement, hoping to hit something that would make the drone go down.
"Focus on the fight at hand, then we'll go back." Batman ordered.
Three more drones appeared on the horizon.