Nightwing #24: Surrender the Night Interlude- Father & Son

By Joey West

THE NEXT DAY

11:05PM

Dick Grayson lays flat, arms spread out on his bed. A shadow falls upon him from the other side of his bedroom window, fluttering in the night. It's hand touches something on his arm until it flies away above the window. Within the room, Dick's communicator sounds off, his hand reaching out of his own slumber and pressing the button on it.

A deep, bassy voice jumps out of it, the voice of a complete and utter tightass, as Grayson would put it, Dick groaning, "God damn it. What? What do you want?"

"I saw what happened last night. I want to talk."

"Not happening."

"I feel like we really need to talk."

"Nope."

"Are you sure? I mean, with how the situation is in Bludhaven..."

"No. I'm good. I'll be fine. Yeah, fine. Good... fine and dandy."

"We haven't spoken since before Beryl- passed."

"I'm okay, Bruce."

"I really feel like we should talk."

"No. I'm good. Fine. Straight and dandy. Excellent. Wonderful." Dick continues to stall until he reaches over for the communicator and shuts it off.

He sits up, the bruises from last night leaving him the gift of pain. In his underwear, he takes what feels like a long trek across his apartment until he reaches a wall, pressing a button on it. The wall rotates, both sides of it switching and revealing Dick's red and black Nightwing suit. "Bludhaven v Nightwing, round one." Reaching out, he grabs his domino mask, pressing it onto his face. The lenses blur out his irises and plurals, his eyes completely white. "I don't stand a chance."

Bludhaven Police Department

11:09PM

Bette Kane storms into Commissioner Dalton's office, the old man's cigar dropping out of his mouth in surprise. In an uncontrollable rage, she begins to shout at her boss, "So, a little birdy told me that you're putting together an Anti-Nightwing Task Force."

Slowly, Dalton reaches over, lifting the needle from his record player, Elvis Presley's voice ceasing to echo around the room, "...yeah?"

"Well, haven't you noticed how much better the city has gotten since he came back?" She yells, "I mean, we certainly can't do anything with the ham sandwich funding the goddamn mayor has given us."

"I don't like it much either, but we can't risk going back to where we were a month ago, right after that EMP blast... you know that, Kane. I know you know that."

"He's the reason we got out of that! People aren't scared to step out of their own doors anymore, taking out the only hope this city has is just going to ruin everything!"

"All we're going to do is apprehend him-"

"-and hand him over to the... alien church..."

"It's final, Kane. I worked with him too. I like the guy as much as you do but the city comes first. Always. Hopefully, your friend Nightwing knows that well enough to hand himself over."

Mealtide, Bludhaven

11:34PM

"Empty the register!" A masked man bellows as he points his pistol at the head of a seemingly harmless convenience store owner. His hand shakes, his head turning to his driver, who hurries him. "Empty the goddamn register!"

"You're making a big mistake here, kid."

"Shit, man, you're really testing my patience here. I have a guy waiting in the car for me... and he's not a very nice man. You see him?" The owner looks past the armed robber, the gun following him. "I said do you see him!?"

"He's... He's sleepin'."

"Sleepin'?" The thug asks, ready to turn his head to his partner but then coming back to his senses, "Okay. Tell me what it looks like."

"There's a... a hole in the windshield..."

"Bullet hole?"

"Naw. Too big. There's something sticking out of it, it's black... looks like a... like a baton."

"Shit."

"Speaking of...!" A baton flies from the back of the room, smacking the thug in the back of the head and bouncing back to its origin point. Nightwing leans against the wall, catching his baton and heading over to the owner. "The police will be on their way shortly, Mr...?"

"You're that Nightwing fella, aren't ya?"

"The one and only... AAAAH!" Nightwing instinctively dodges a shotgun blast from the owner, who fiercely pumps his sawn-off. "God damn it!"

"Not again! Not letting them do that to us again!" The man frantically shouts as he fires away. Grayson bounces around the room, counting under his breath until he stops and drops to his feet.

"If my math is correct- you're out." Nightwing says, confidently, staring into the barrel of the gun. A second of silence passes until Nightwing leaps into the air, pushing the gun down by the barrel and kicking the man in the face. He's out cold. "So unappreciative."

Confidently, Nightwing walks out of the store to be met by more than the chilling air of the Bludhaven night. An entire SWAT team greets him, guns, loaded with rubber bullets, pointed at him. Tear gas. Riot shields. Batons. Commissioner Dalton steps forward from the crowd, shouting, "Nightwing! You are surrounded!"

"...it seems so..."

"Put down your weapon, lift your arms and surrender!"

"Hmn." Nightwing pauses, looking around, watching the team's every motion. "Say... say I do surrender, what happens then?"

"We book you. Like anyone else."

"Please don't lie to me, Commissioner."

Dalton pauses, stepping forward to his old friend until he's about a metre away. "Please, son. Just... give up. I know you care about this city, these people. Just... do the right thing."

"I'm trying to. But I don't know what that is right now."

"This city does not need what these people are threatening it with.

"I-"

A gruff third voice shouts from behind, "

From behind, someone shouts, "It's... it's THE BATMAN!"

A fist smacks Dalton in the face. He drops to the floor. Unconscious. Ping. A smoke pellet, thick gas rising from the ground. The Batman's hands grab his ex-protege's shoulders, he orders him to "Move Fast."

The Caped Crusader's cape flicks backwards as he turns, back to back with Nightwing. Canisters of tear gas fly into the air, hitting the ground with a thud. Grayson turns to Wayne, "What the hell are you doing here!?"

"I came here to talk."

"What? Now!?" Dick shouts, the Batman snickering, "So... my half and... your half." He says, pointing to the silhouettes of two separate clumps of police officers.

"Seems fair enough... one, two..."

"No. No. That's not how things work now." Nightwing says as they both wait for the smoke to clear. "I do the counting."

"Fine."

"Uno, dos, tre... CUATRO!" They both strike like bolts of lightning at the absolute best time possible, each knocking about 3 of their 5 assigned enemies down with their initial attacks. Nightwing's baton charges with electricity, it "slipping" from his hand and clanging into a riot helmet, the police officer wearing it dropping on his back. The quick electric shock takes away the pain, Batman taking note of this in his head.

The world's greatest detective grabs a police officer by the head, leaping into the air and cracking his nose against his knee. He then hits the other with his elbow, the man's teeth flying out as he does.

Nightwing takes a less brutal route, opting to jab his last man in the stomach with his electric baton. He drops. Batman and Nightwing stand in an empty street surrounded by unconscious police officers. Bruce turns to Dick, "Good job."

His former protege raises an eyebrow, flabbergasted, "Thanks..." He slaps the Dark Knight on his shoulder, "You weren't too bad yourself." Batman glares at Nightwing, picking up sirens in the distance, grabbing Grayson by his side and using his grapnel gun to lift them both onto a nearby skyscraper. The younger of the two steps back, gesturing with his hands, "I could've gotten up here myself. I do have my own grapnel."

"We need to talk."

"Yeah, I get it. What?"

"About what happened in London..."

"Bit late for that." Dick says bitterly. "How long has it been? A month?"

"I tried to talk to you. You weren't returning my calls."

"Because I knew what you'd say. "You can't let this distract from your duty to protect people.""

"I guess you didn't listen to my message."

"What!?"

The Batman pauses for a second, removing his cowl in front of his son and looking into his eyes. Wayne then softly speaks, "I told you to give up. To live a regular life... away from all of this."

Grayson thinks for a second, "No. No, that doesn't sound like you."

"Dick... son. When I started all of this, before Batman, before my training... on the day of my parents' funeral I swore an oath to them that no one would have to feel the pain I felt that night. Nobody would have to go through what I went through. This life. I could tell it was killing you. We're different, you and I. You always would shine a light in my darkness... and I didn't want that light to fade."

"Romantic." Nightwing utters sarcastically, taking a breath, the seriousness in his voice returning. "You were wrong."

"Maybe."

Dick sighs, "Can't ever admit when you're wrong, can you, Bruce?"

"This city. It's trying it's best to break you. It's been turned against you... it's been nothing but hell for you for a month now."

"You're..." He chuckles for a second. "Worried about me?"

"When you break, when you feel the ultimate pain. When the entire world is against YOU. The boy whose smile wouldn't fade. When the world clips the Flying Grayson's wings... I've failed."

"That's not going to happen... not now, not ever. I'll always have that beautiful, pearly white smile on my face, don't you worry."

Bruce Wayne heads over to Dick, Grayson's face one of confusion. "What are you...?" Nightwing is cut off as Wayne's muscled body embraces him, Dick hugging his father. "Bye, Bruce."

Bruce pulls his cowl over his face, adjusting it and then turning around to Grayson. "Goodbye, son." He leaps off the building, grappling away.

Dick sighs under his breath, "Well, would'ya look at that? The Tin Man had a heart after all."

NEXT- THE LIGHT FLICKERS as SURRENDER THE NIGHT nears its end!