Wow! Sorry it's been a while I had to sit my psychology exam. An hour and a half talking about privation and god knows what else. I'll confess, I found it hard to write this chapter so sorry if it isn't up to your usual standard – although it is slightly longer than usual.

Disclaimer – I only own Charlotte/Starling, Chase and Aspen/Corey, I have yet to buy out DC comics.

Nightwing's Daughter – 10

History Repeats

"You don't look like you slept well." Those were the words that greeted me at the front door as I opened it to reveal a curly red-headed Chase. He walked over the thresh hold uninvited and splayed himself over the settee. "Come in." I stated sarcastically as I shut the door in a huff. He made a taunting 'Oooo' noise. Seeking to change the subject I walked into the kitchen and offered to make him coffee, "Yeah, yeah sure. So uncle D at work?" I nodded, putting the kettle on. "So what you here for?" he fanned mock hurt, removing the cream from the fridge and placing it next to the sugar. "Well I thought you might need someone today, what with your mums thirteen anniversary coming up I thought I'd come with you to… you know? The grave." I nodded mutely, inwardly pleased that he was coming.

-N.D-N.D-N.D-

It had rained during the night, the graves were damp, the ground like a sponge, soaking up every spare rain droplet until the sodden surface seeped out water on contact with the bottom of a trainer or high heel, more often or not trapping the heel in its muddy green tendrils. "Dame it!" I muttered angrily as my left heel got caught for a fifth time, Chase let a dignified chuckle escape his lips, "Come here." Despite my best protests he picked me up and carried me the remainder of the distance to my mother's head stone. He placed me down just in front of it. Dad had decided he didn't want her in the Wayne plot, but with the other innocent victims that the Joker had killed over that money scandal. I think it was an attempt more than anything, to show that we were just like any other family, that we were just as breakable as them, and that we grieved despite our money.

I sighed and placed the lily's – her favourite flowers – on her grave, I heard Chase walk away, giving me some privacy, when he was a distance away I became to talk, "Hey mom, how are things? I've been good… well mostly, I-I finished college early, I'm that smart. They're gonna let me sit my exams early. Woohoo. So you'll never guess what? I met Poison Ivy's boy a while back, he's different from the others, with Arkham's help I'm trying to turn him good. I had the first meeting with him last week, Dad was easy to convince to let me do it, mind you I have him wrapped around my little finger. I had to threaten granddad, I said I'd never speak to him again, he gave in eventually. I think we're connecting over books, which is good. I'm going to go and see him later today; this will be the second visit. Sorry dad isn't here, he had work, he'll come later. Chase offered to bring me for moral support, yeah he's walked off, but he'll be back, you would have killed him if you were here, he's been so bad lately, he ran off to Peru and everything…"

For the next ten minutes I filled her in on all the things she had missed this year, I went into detail over my transformation from 'Sparrow' to 'Starling' in particular. Chase was making his way back, so I brought the one sided conversation to a close. Standing up I took one more look at the grave when something caught my eye.

A card. His card. Right there, like it had been on the tree the day she died. The Joker.

"What's..?" Chase's question died in his throat as he followed my gaze to a neighbouring head stone. We stood there, the two of us, both unsure of what to do. I walked forward, going to pick it up. "DON'T!" I froze, the Joker had a habit of lacing his cards in all manner of nasty chemicals, I remembered reading one of Batman's old case studies on a mob dealer that the Joker had a run in with. 24 hours after the argument, he was given a calling card with his symbol on it, on contact, his skin began to turn all manner of dark colours, it got into the guys veins and basically suffocated him, much like you would suffocate if you painted your entire body gold, your skin wouldn't be able to breathe. That was the last thing I needed.

I got out my phone, "Don't touch anything around the crime scene." I began to take pictures of the card and around the surrounding areas. Once I was done I got my phone, calling the first person I thought of, which happened to be my grandfather. He picked up after a couple of rings, "So, you're talking to me then?" there was no time to waste for pleasantries, we needed to talk. "So I'm at mum's grave and I've just spotted one of the Joker's callings on a neighbouring head stone. I've taken pictures and haven't touched anything, but I don't know what to do now, should we keep this quiet? Should I take the card? What am I meant to do?" We exchanged words quickly, I threw looks at Chase at regular intervals, I hung up the phone. "He says to call the police and leave a tip off, but to be gone by the time they arrive." He nodded, he walked forward gesturing to my mobile, "I'll do it, if they turn up and see that one of the graves is connected to you, they'll hound you." Awe he could be really sweet some times.

We left the tip off to some poor intern, he was going to have a field day, part of me felt bad, the other part of me said that he needed the experience. "Right I'll drop you of at your granddads and then I'll go." He looked at me sceptically, one eyebrow raised, "Although, I'm not sure I'll be able to carry you all the way at super speed." I deadpanned, looking daggers at him, "Are you calling me fat?" He laughed good naturedly walking forward to pick me up, "Your words Birdy, not mine." He scooped me up and we ran off just as police sirens flooded the street.

Chase dropped me off at Wayne Manor in the blink of an eye, saying our quick goodbyes he flashed off into the distance as I ran up the stone steps to the front door. I ripped open the doors and tore through the manor at top speed, heading for the old grandfather clock that concealed the entrance to the Batcave. That's when I ran headlong into Tim. "Hey, Bruce sent me to pick you up, how did you get here so fast?" We arrived at the grandfather clock and made our way down to the cave, "I was with Chase when I made the call, he ran me there." Tim looked impressed as we entered the cave and made our way over to the Bat computer. "Wow, you made that call what four minutes ago? He's getting fast." I nodded in agreement as Bruce walked over. "Thank-you for getting here so quickly." I gave a nonchalant shrug, making my way over to the suit I kept in the cave. Batman briefed me as both Tim and I got changed in separate little cubicles. "I just got off the phone with Gotham P.D. they want as many bats at the scene as possible, the three of us should be plenty." I walked out all suited up, all different shades of silver and grey with Nightwing's emblem embedded across the chest. I finished updating dads on what was going on, telling him as usual not to worry in the parting line, once I pressed send I shut down the phone, "Ready to go. I'll follow the Batmobile on my bike."

One of the perks of being a vigilante is that you can break the speed limit. It is for this sole purpose that I volunteered to ride in my bike back to the cemetery, I could get to higher speeds faster than the Batmobile and I needed a rush right now, although admittedly when I parked up the car was only seconds behind me. As the doors opened I jumped off of my bike. The first thing I noticed was the amount of police there were for just a calling card, Tim and I shared confused looks at each other as we followed batman, what was even stranger was that there were men from Blüdhavan P.D. They all parted when they saw us coming, I met the commissioner that had taken over from my grandfather, and he didn't look happy. That's when we saw it.

A body, next to the grave that had been marked by the card. Under my domino mask I threw Tim a horrified look. That defiantly hadn't been there when I left with Chase, but the cop cars weren't that far away when we left, in that small time gap when there was no one – which could have only have been two or three minutes – a body had been left. I walked forward to examine the surrounding area as Batman and Tim looked at the body and spoke to the Commissioner and various other police officers. The whole cemetery was being cordoned off to the public. The majority of the police force was being told to return to their stations, it wasn't long before Commissioner Johnson, Batman, Redhood and a couple of the Commissioner's most trusted men were left behind. One of the these men began to take pictures.

I took it upon myself to search the rest of the grounds for clues, left probably no other than the Joker himself, and sure enough when I was right, because when I came to a wall, covered in weeds and ivy, I saw a message, "BATMAN! RED! Come quick!" I yelled over my shoulder. When they arrived they were met with the message scrawled in acid green spray paint.

'He won't be the last; everyone that survived the last time will die.'

I heard the familiar click of a camera as the police officer took the picture. We hadn't been away for more than fifteen minutes at the most, he had to be close, he had to be. "What does he mean, 'Last time'? What last time?" The Commissioner asked Batman, who could only shake his head. Wait… I turned around and sprinted back over to the headstones, the party calling my name in confusion. "What are you doing?" asked Hood as I looked frantically at the headstones. "The names," I said hastily, "Make a note of the names." The other men walked over to see us running between 22 headstones making notes of the names. "What's going on?" asked a non-pulsed cop. "Where are we?" I asked the group at large. "The cemetery." Oh my god thank you captain obvious! "Yeah, but where are we specifically?" When no one answered I pushed ahead, "We're in the part of the cemetery that is dedicated to the men, women and children that lost their lives thirteen years ago due to the threat carried out by the Joker in relation to that money scheme, you know, 'For every day he didn't get paid, an innocent, yet important family would be torn apart.' The two police men still looked none the wiser, "You're new aren't you?" They nodded. The Commissioner looked vaguely aware of what I was on about and Batman, well Batman looked like he had been hit by a bus, of course it was only because I knew him so well that I was able to read his body posture.

"Yeah, I remember reading the case files on those crimes." Said the Commissioner slowly. "'Everyone that survived the last time..." Trailed off Hood, he walked over to the body, "Do we have a positive ID of this guy?" There was a murmured 'yeah' from one of the cops. "Odd," Thought Batman out loud, "Like he wanted us to know who this man was... What was his name?" The name 'Carl Oscar' was relayed. I looked down at the grave next to his body. 'In loving memory of my wife, Elizabeth Oscar and my unborn child.' I grimaced sadly. "The immediate members of each family that weren't killed thirteen years ago are being killed off one by one. 'He was the first, He won't be the last.'" There was a dead silence as the party digested this; I looked down at mum's grave, imagining my dad's mangled body slumped across the stone, his vigilante alter ego unable to protect him. "We need to contact the immediate family of these victims, Husbands, Wives, Sons, and Daughters. They all need protective custody." When I heard 'Protective Custody' the image of a small defenseless bird being locked in a cage always sprang to the forefront of my mind. Well that definitely wasn't happening. "Make sure you give them the option to decline it if they want."

The Commissioner looked at me straight on, "I always do, it's not compulsory." I nodded, Hood looked at me as though I had gone crazy, and Batman looked very moody indeed. "Right, well, this isn't really my territory I have other commitments you understand, Nightwing will be informed of today's happenings. Good day gentlemen, Batman, Hood." I nodded to each person in turn and as i got on my bike and got on, I could almost feel Batman's daggers penetrating my back through my bullet and fire proof cape. I ignored him internally and turned on the ignition, it was time to head for Arkham for another round of Aspen rehab. I would deal with the fourth coming drama later.