Summary: Underwhelming title, I know. Takes place about a month after Jason joins the team, around March/April of 2016
Disclaimer: I don't own DC
Nightwing soared through the skies of Gotham, swinging around free as a bird. Batman was with the League on an off-world mission. Normally, he would have left the city in the hands of Batgirl and Robin, but Babs was visiting her family in Star City and Robin just wasn't ready to fly solo. He was with the team right now, and so Dick chose to take over for Bruce on his own.
For the first time in quite a while, Dick felt like his life was going well. Almost too well. He and Zatanna were really happy together, Detective Grayson was quickly becoming Commissioner Yin's most trusted ally in the BPD, Jason's training was going rather smoothly, things with Wally and the others were fantastic, and Nightwing had Blüdhaven purring like one of Catwoman's kittens. On top of it all, Dick and Zee had even begun looking into apartments in Blüdhaven, and though their search was going rather slowly due to the fact that the city was still being remodeled after Blockbuster had been taken down, Dick was over the moon with excitement. Finally, he and Zee could actually move in together with nobody else there. As much as he loved his other friends, living alone with Zatanna in an apartment or house sounded really nice to him. It would be a massive step forward for them, and he was always more than happy to advance his relationship with Zatanna. They had agreed not to go to Bruce for every little money issue; they wanted to be dependent, and Zatanna's impressive show revenue combined with Dick's admittedly meager detective salary offered more than enough money to pay for what they needed
As Nightwing swung through the skies, he caught a glimpse of something going down in one of the many alleys of Gotham. Why is it always in a creepy-ass alleyway? Can't the bad guys mess with people in a well-lit studio or something? Dick watched from above, surveying the situation. Alright, 4 baddies, no guns, should be easy. Before Grayson could move, he saw a kid shove past the guys and block them from the elderly man they were trying to mug. The man made a break for it, leaving the thugs to beat on the kid, who tried to defend himself but quickly dropped to the floor, trying to shield himself from the kicks and punches. Oh, hell no! Nightwing leapt into the alley, enraged at the fact that these big, bulky crooks were beating on a helpless teenager. He took out one of the thugs with a kick to the face before landing in front of the group, who all turned to him. "Does it seriously take 4 guys to rob a kid?! C'mon now, I thought criminals have standards!" Dick wasted no time in incapacitating all 3 of the remaining goons, and the kid only watched in amazement as he flipped around effortlessly and delivered swift, accurate strikes to various parts of the goons' bodies before they all dropped. Whoa...
Once all 3 thugs were on the floor, Dick walked over to the kid, helping him up as he looked him over. The boy was a head or so shorter than Dick, around Robin's height with brown eyes, black-brown hair, and the build and appearance of someone who seemed about a year or two younger than Jason. His eyes widened as he took Dick's hand, allowing the hero to help him up to his feet. Man, who the fuck beats on a kid like that?! Especially one as innocent-looking as this dude? What the hell is wrong with these guys? Dick smiled at the boy, who was not letting go of the hero's hand for one second as he excitedly shook it. "Oh man, y-you're...you're Nightwing! Jeez, I-I-I've always wanted t-to-" Dick chuckled at his enthusiasm, clapping his shoulder gently.
"Slow down, kid. Catch your breath. You took quite a few hits back there. You sure you're okay?"
"Y-yeah, yeah I'm good. Th-thanks for, y'know, saving me and all." Nightwing grinned.
"My pleasure. What's your name?" The boy gulped as he tried his best to compose himself.
"T-Timothy. B-but my friends call me Tim." Dick nodded, not letting the smile disappear from his face for one second. This kid, Tim, reminded Dick of himself back when he first met the Batman, so brimming with excitement and eagerness. Something about him just brightened Grayson's mood. And judging from the t-shirt with a Bat emblem on it and the black jacket with a tiny Robin 'R' on the shoulder, he was quite the fan of the Dynamic Duo.
"Nice to meet you, Tim. You, uh, you need help getting somewhere? It's not really safe out here at night, trust me on that." Tim nodded.
"Y-yeah, yeah, I w-was just walking home when I saw...that." Dick smirked.
"Listen, that was really brave, standing up to those guys. I'm impressed. But next time, let's try leaving the crime-fighting to the vigilantes or the cops, okay? It's not exactly the safest thing in the world." As Dick turned to leave, Tim followed him a bit, calling out to him.
"B-but what if I'm th-the only guy there?" Dick stopped dead in his tracks, smiling. Kid's got a point. Plus, he was seriously brave. Least I could do...He turned around and walked back to Tim, shaking his hands off a bit to ready up.
"Alright, let's do this. Put 'em up, let's go." Tim looked in bewilderment as Dick raised his hands into a combat form.
"S-seriously?"
"Yeah, why not? No offense, but you look like you could use some self-defense lessons. Let's get started." Tim slowly raised his hands, trying to mimic Nightwing, and nodded. "Okay, now listen up. Combat is all about controlling conflict. You should always be acting, never REacting. It's okay if you're fighting someone stronger than you, you've just gotta be quicker. Make sure they can't get a hit in, and when they're exposed, go for it." Dick slowly thrust his fist forward, and Tim moved in motion with it to dodge, moving his hand where he would counter. "Nice move, but I think you'd be better off going for the neck or jaw than the chest." Tim redirected where his punch would go, and Dick smiled, nodding. "Yeah, that's better. Now, let's try this again, but this time, I'm really gonna try and go for you, alright?" Tim gulped and nodded, and Dick threw a punch, albeit far slower than his normal combat speed. Tim dodged and countered, and Dick grinned. "Nice. Let's do this one more time, but this time, I won't telegraph the move, alright?" Tim nodded, and Dick threw three consecutive punches with moderate speed, all of which Tim barely dodged before countering. This time, he really put force into the punch, and his fist collided with Dick's jaw, sending him reeling a bit as he clenched the place Tim hit.
"Oh, shit, s-sorry! I-I didn't mean to-" Dick laughed and nodded.
"N-no, no, nice hit. Heh, I wasn't expecting that. That was pretty good. Keep that up and you'll be just fine." Dick shook off the wound and grinned at Tim before checking his wrist-computer to see a message from Zatanna. "Gotta go. Good luck out there, Tim." He smiled as Nightwing walked off, shouting out to him.
"Uh, th-thanks." Dick turned around and nodded, waving with two fingers.
"Anytime. See you around." He grappled to a rooftop, performing complex aerobatics to make his way up to the building before swinging away. Tim watched his athleticism and smiled, analyzing the vigilante's moves as he thought to himself. Quadruple backflip, midair corkscrew twist, yeah...yeah it makes sense...he IS the only person on Earth who'd be able to pull that off with that kinda ease. Plus the raven hair, roughly same height, similar build...yeah, I think I've got it! I mean, I'd better watch that circus act clip to confirm it, but...Nightwing is totally Richard Grayson!
I hope this reads better than it felt when I wrote it. For the next few weeks I probably will have a very scattered upload schedule. I really want to upload consistently, but college applications are killing me right now. I promise, this book isn't going anywhere, but I'm just swamped with work, so if I go a few days without uploads, I'm sorry but I just can't help it. I'll do my best to be consistent with the uploads, but no promises, at least not for the next few weeks. After November 1st, my college apps will be done and over with, so I'll be back to my regular upload speed, but before then my uploads may be scattered all over the place. Again, I'm sorry but I just can't help it. I won't completely stop until then, I'll still try to upload, but honestly with the amount of essays I have to write, expect 1-2, maybe 3 chapters a week. Feel free to leave comments or suggestions for chapters you wanna see. Next chapter up soon.