Summary: Takes place a few days after Zatanna's 5th anniversary without her dad. I tend to do poorly on chapters with this character, so I'm sorry if it's not that good, especially sorry since I've made you guys wait a longer time than normal for this one. As I said before, after around mid-November, I will have way more time to work on this book since college apps will be done with for me, so I will do my best then to grind out chapters at least once every other day. Also, I wanted to say a big thank you for the comments on the last chapter. I didn't think it was anything special, but regardless, I greatly appreciate the support.
Disclaimer: I don't own DC
Nightwing and Robin soared over Blüdhaven together as they looked for trouble and people in need. Jason's training was going slow these past few weeks, and Bruce had asked Dick to take Jason on patrol with him in the hopes that the Aerial Avenger could have better luck training him than the Dark Knight.
Truth be told, Jason wasn't unskilled. He was just...headstrong, arrogant, pigheaded, what other words were there? He reminded Dick of Connor back when they first freed the clone, except he was somehow worse. He had every right to be angry, his parents had abandoned him at a young age and he was left to fend for himself on the streets, but even still, the amount of seething rage in him was shocking. And the problem was, unlike Connor, Jason wasn't invincible. He could get hurt, and he did. Just last week, his arrogance and prematurity had caused him to run right into the line of fire and take a few rather heavy hits from the Light's Kobra-Venom brute. Before then, he had gotten Donna hurt, and before then, he almost got Kory, Tula, and Megan incinerated by Match. It was getting out of hand. Even on patrol with Bruce, he was an occasional nuisance. Grayson wasn't exactly the most obedient as Robin either, but he at least knew when to follow orders. Jason listened to Bruce, but he also had a tendency to go after thugs like Riddler and Two Face on his own. Dick didn't spend as much time with the Bats now that he was Nightwing, so Barbara was really the one who tried to reel Jason in. They had formed a rather strong bond with one another, though even then the Boy Wonder wouldn't always listen. Add to the fact that these past few weeks, Barbara had suited up far less since her father was helicopter parenting her after finding out she was Batgirl, and Jason was running wild. Dick hoped patrolling with good old 'Golden Boy' would help teach him how to look before leaping.
"Robin, set up position on that roof, it gives a good view of the streets. I'll set up camp up here."
"Copy that." Jason leapt down to the lower rooftop to scan and survey the streets below. Man, Blüdhaven's way less looney than Gotham! I kinda wanna move here, at least not everyone's trying to kill me with exploding penguins or shit here! Jason analyzed the streets for a bit before radioing back to Dick. "All clear. Should I come up to you? 'Wing?" A silence overtook the comms, and Jason narrowed his eyes. Could use my help. I'd better get over there.
Dick had set up his own survey point on a higher rooftop, but before he could do much, a high-pressure line snagged onto his back and yanked him into a wall. He groaned as he collided with the wall and fell to the floor, quickly cutting the cable with a wingding. Damn, that hurt! Better radio Jason. Dick pressed on his comm, but all he got was static. Or not. He narrowed his eyes as he calmed his nerves, trying to center himself so he could sense the enemy. A swift sound came from behind him, and so Dick turned quickly, dodging the attack and knocking the assailant back. His eyes widened as he recognized him. "What are you doing here?!"
Deathstroke cracked his jaw before pulling out a sword and leaping at Dick, not even acknowledging his question. Grayson pulled out his escrima sticks to fight with him. I-is this about Grant?! Dick struggled to keep up with the assassin. He had learned a lot in the past year, but he still wasn't a match for Slade. The Terminator quickly knocked the wind out of him, sending him flying into a water tank. Before Dick could get up, Slade had already grabbed him by the back and flung him into another wall. He gritted his teeth, rolling out of the way of the oncoming kick and raising his escrima sticks to block the sword slash Deathstroke had prepared. Nightwing remained on the defensive, unable to match Slade in combat prowess, and even then, he was struggling to keep up thanks to the several broken bones he had no doubt just received thanks to the Terminator.
Robin grappled up to see Nightwing and Deathstroke locked in combat and leapt at the assassin, tackling him before getting sent flying back. Dick helped him to his feet, and the trio prepared to once again jump right back into it. Slade took on both Boy Wonders at once, quickly knocking Jason away before attacking Dick. "Pathetic. Even sadder than your brother." Jason gritted his teeth and lunged at Slade with a roar, who knocked Dick back.
"Robin, don't!" Jason tried to tackle Deathstroke, only for the assassin to flip him over and knock him out swiftly with a punch to the face. Dick tightened his grip on his sticks before going back in to continue the fight, calling out to him as their weapons locked. "What do you want?! Money?"
"Revenge. You killed my son. Now I kill you." Grayson growled.
"I didn't kill your son, I saved him! He dug his own grave when he tried to hurt my friends. His heart gave out, remember?!" Slade roared in anger before kicking Dick to the floor, walking over to Jason's unconscious form.
"I told you to back off! You all didn't listen! You got him killed, and I will end you. Then, I'll end your team. One. By. One. Starting with the kid. Then, I'll find your precious girlfriend, and put her in the ground next to her mom." Dick was furious, and he threw one stick at Slade, which he caught effortlessly. He pressed a button on his belt to activate a shock capacitor in the stick, sending hundreds of volts of electricity coursing through the Terminator, who yelled in pain and dropped the stick. Dick picked it up before bombarding the stunned assassin with a flurry of hits and kicks, not letting him get a single swing in between attacks. Dick did not let up for even a second, too infuriated to think straight, but Slade grabbed one of his sticks mid-swing and flung him away, groaning from the pain before shaking it off and tightening the grip on his sword. He once again lunged at Dick to take him on, but at this point, Jason had recovered. He jumped onto Slade's back, wrestling for control before ultimately being grabbed by the cape and flung to the side like a pest before Deathstroke started beating on him. "Sad." Dick tackled Slade to get him away from Jason, and before he could move back in, a Batarang landed in between the two.
Batman and Batgirl landed at Dick's side, and Slade gritted his teeth before vanishing. No matter how skilled he was, he couldn't take all four of them at once. "This isn't over, Grayson." He dropped a smoke pellet and disappeared as Barbara ran over to help Jason, who shook off the help and scowled as he attempted to walk off. Bruce helped Dick with his own wounds, and the two brought them back to the nearby Batwing and flew off.
The two were taken to the Batcave for recovery, and Bruce confronted Dick about the fight. He had been bed-ridden for at least a week, and Zatanna was already on her way to the Manor from her magic show. Bruce had just finished talking with Robin, and he had really hoped Dick would go better. "You took some pretty big hits from the looks of things. How are you?"
"I'll manage. How's Jason?" Bruce sighed.
"Not good. He's...he'll be okay, physically, but...he's angry. Angrier than I've seen him in a while. He's pushing Barbara and Alfred away, won't even talk to me. I'm afraid this encounter may have sent him over the edge." Dick looked down, nodding.
"He's having self-doubts?"
"He's sick of being kicked around, Dick. First it was Bane a few weeks ago, then Ra's and his men, now Slade. Hell, even in training he gets knocked around a lot by us. I'm worried one of these days he's gonna snap." Dick frowned, an option coming to his mind.
"I think...I think you should consider taking him out of the field, Bruce. Before he gets himself killed." Bruce shook his head.
"He wouldn't listen, this job's too important to him. Remember how you used to be?" Dick nodded. Bruce had tried to keep him home a few times back when he was Robin out of fear for his safety, but he never listened. He was too determined to be a hero, and Jason was the same.
"I think he should get some help, Bruce. He can't be out there like this, he barely plans his moves as is. I don't want him getting hurt cuz he's not careful."
"Agreed." Bruce thought about it for a minute before responding. "I'll talk with him about it. Try to get him to take a small break, maybe get some therapy. I'm not keeping him grounded, but I'll hold off on taking him out until he's more...in control. He won't be happy about it." Dick nodded in agreement. Jason would almost certainly be peeved off at being taken off duty, but it was for the best, especially after how...humiliated he was today.
"Yeah, definitely not gonna be happy. But it's for the best." Bruce nodded before going off to tell Jason his decision, and Dick groaned as he attempted to stand. He wasn't too worried about his wounds or anger; Zee would be here soon, and she always knew how to help him in those regards. But what he was worried about was Jason. Taking away the mantle of Robin wouldn't make him any more pleased with the others than he already was. Even if it was for the best, it could have disastrous consequences on their relationship, especially considering how...angry the kid always was. But it was the right move. They couldn't risk Jason going out when he was this unstable.
Again, sorry if it's not that good, I'll do my best to make up for it in the next chapter. I reread some of my older chapters, particularly the first 25-30 or so, and it physically hurts me to go back and look at how god awful my writing was back then. I am so sorry for putting you all through that crap, you guys deserve a medal for sticking with me through that period. If you all want, I'd be willing to go back and maybe rewrite some of them just to make it a bit more tolerable and less of a struggle for both rereads and for newcomers reading for the first time, but that's completely up to you all, if you would rather I focus on current chapters more, I understand. Feel free to leave comments or suggestions for chapters you wanna see. Next chapter up soon.