Chapter 1:
"A Little Hero Admiration"

Nightwing shook hands with a member of the GCPD as Batman and Commissioner Gordon spoke to each other about something on the side. Red Hood had helped against Professor Pyg's latest caper, followed by Batman after the fact, but Jason quickly left the scene because the police didn't think highly of his gunslinger ways.

Good deeds never go unpunished, Nightwing thought. I'll thank Jay later.

To Nightwing, it was yet another day encountering yet another super criminal with yet another fiendish plot against the good citizens of Gotham. The full scope of Professor Pyg's scheme was not yet known, but the investigators would find out. They would thoroughly comb through his makeshift lab in the basement of an average looking apartment complex building downtown.

Nightwing had received a tip from an informant that something strange was going on in this area and he personally checked it out. It was only by the grace of God did he smell something bizarre when he was about to leave, initially finding nothing. It was the smell of ammonia. Leaving no stone unturned, he checked the area again, and just happened to hear noises coming from a vent in the back alley.

Using a sophisticated device invented by Tim, he unleashed a synaptic controlled mechanical spider whereas he was able to navigate through the vent that only a rat to get through and used its telescopic lens to look through a grated ceiling vent.

Here he found Professor Pyg's lab. Since this was on Jason's turf, he called him for backup. He also let the rest of the team know; Batman coming later, being half-way across the city.
Jay was enthralled to assist. Super-villains were one thing, but the man who wore a pig's mask and butchered his victims was an evil beyond itself, and one more than one occasion, Jason had said, he wanted to blast a hole through 'Little Piggy's' face!

Jay was closer then Nightwing thought. In fact, he said he was already monitoring the area for suspicious activity, receiving a tip that something unusual was happening in the building.

They entered the building, picking the lock to the main entrance, and made their way underground. Then they swooped in like bats and took care of their prey. Of course, Professor Pyg tried to fight back with a giant carving knife while protecting his projects—for which HAZMAT had to be called in to remove. There were also signs of animal experimentation that needed further investigators to categorize and document.

Afterwards, Nightwing experienced a little fanfare with his popularity in Gotham. He had spent some time in Bludhaven, Gotham's sister city across the bay, but he was most known as the Caped Crusader's second hand, and was the most renowned former Robin. Every one of law abiding status knew him and admired him for what he was doing.

Dick Grayson, aka Nightwing, enjoyed a little praise every once in a while. He considered himself a frontline deterrent against crime and he had had put his life on the line many times to stop most of the notorious criminals ever to wage war on humanity. He enjoyed the job of the majority of the time, some days, not so much.

He once told Barbara that: 'Life was a Carnival', and from a circus performer's point of view, that seemed apropos. Even when he grew into a man from the boy who was adopted by Bruce Wayne after his family died at the hands of a criminal, becoming his ward and partner in fighting crime, he never forgot his roots, and he never forgot his family—biological or adopted.

Over the years, his adopted family grew, but he made it a point to remember all their birthdays. But of course, some people forgot his, and some people did not even pay attention. Jason once gave him a birthday gift in March, Tim gave him a gift in December, but at least Damian remembered his true birthday—which was the first day of Spring.

"Nightwing", the cop said, after shaking hands, "my son is a big fan of yours. Would you be free to drop by his birthday party next week? It would really make his day."

Night blushed and smiled. "How old is your son, Officer?"

"Eight, but he'll be nine next week. He follows your exploits all the time. He has media excerpts, newspaper clippings, and he even went as you last Halloween."

Nightwing looked down at his costume, then looked back at the Officer. "I hope he wore something brighter for people to see him? My costume isn't exactly favourable in the dark—which is exactly its intention. I don't want criminals to see me."

"Of course, he wore a reflector jacket," the Officer replied, "and he was with lots of friends."

Night smiled. "Thank you for the invite. Sure, I'll attend; crime permitting, of course. I'll be there with bat-bells on," he said the little humour. "Just provide me with your address."

"Oh, awesome!" The officer said with a little bit too much excitement. "Kyle's going to be absolutely thrilled that an actual full-blown superhero will be coming to his birthday party."

"But I'm sure you'll be the hero of the day," Nightwing said back with a smile.

There was just some things that made Dick Grayson smile and being invited to a kid's birthday party because an officer's son was a fan was one of them. Of course, it was for his alter ego, but it was nice to be recognized for his good deeds, and that he may inspire future generations to pick up the mantle when he couldn't do it anymore.

In a policeman's uniform, of course, he thought. I wouldn't wish being a crime fighter, or even Batman's partner, on anyone. But I'll keep that opinion to myself.

After he was finished with the officer, he slipped away into a back alley to have a moment's peace, and to get away from all the excitement. He took a deep breath and leaned up against a back wall, shutting his eyes.

With recent events over the past year, subjected to amnesia after being shot in the head, and battling an old Sypral body of his, and all the nonsense that came with, he was glad to be back to his old self.

He was surprised that someone didn't take advantage of his vulnerable situation during his memory lapse, and try, heaven forbid, to brainwash him into being something he was not. The first thing that came to his mind was the Court of the Owls, who would love to have him back among their ranks as a Talon.

Maybe in some other universe it did happen, and his grandfather, William Cobb, was feeding his other self false memories to make him believe that he was a killer for hire instead of a saviour of the masses.

But thanks to Damian, that didn't happen.

The little twerp managed to bring him back from the brink of nothingness—literally giving him a hard reality check. And with the help of Barbara, Tim, Jason, Bruce, and even Jon Kent, and others, his memories were fully of restored.

He was able to enact revenge against Jake Handles, an old Spyral buddy, who tried to dispose of him, hiring KGBeast to shoot him in the head, so his plans to build and sell a massive sonic weapon to the highest bidder would come to fruition—a weapon that Dick thought Spyral had summarily destroyed.

Obviously Jake wanted Dick out of the way, so no one knew what he was doing. Because once Dick figured things out, and how sudden unexplained earthquakes were ravaging cities and people were dying by 'sound attacks', it would lead straight to Jake. Being the brilliant man Jake was, he was able to rebuild the weapon with even greater power with schematics saved on an unknown database.

When he was alone, a small crackle was heard from the bud in his right ear, and he sighed heavily to himself from the disruption to disquietude.

Tim said, "A veteran and his fans. Quite an honour being invited to a kid's birthday party, eh Dick? I'm jealous."

Dick smirked. "Doing this as long as I have, it would only stand to reason that I would develop a fanbase," he said. "Maybe in another ten years, you'll be as popular as I am, young Padawan."

"Tsk!" he suddenly heard someone scoff over the comm frequency. "Who needs fans?" came Damian's voice. "We're here to do a job, not cater to admirers. And from what I know of your exploits in Bludhaven, Grayson, you were the epitome of vainness, never shy from the camera."

"Every once in a while it's good to be acknowledged for the work you do, Damian," Nightwing said. "And some admirers you want to cater to, especially of the female persuasion. Speaking of which, how is Supergirl?"

Damian grumbled. "Shut it, Grayson!"

Nightwing laughed. At one point, Damian had developed more than a passing fancy for Supergirl when they worked together, and every chance Dick got, he would tease the young teenager about it. It was tough to be a kid these days with all those raging hormones and there was so much more variety, too, when he was a kid.

To be continued...