A Scheme in the Works
Dick wished this particular case had been assigned to anyone but him.
As soon as those wannabe heroes had shown their faces, he'd gotten the urge to bang his head against the nearest wall. Repeatedly.
Sure, the case was beginning to prove more complex than he'd initially figured and no one else likely would've caught the navel injections, but he didn't want to work with spandex-clad children.
Technically speaking, they were all older than him by a few years: Wally West; college goer. Artemis Crock; also in college. Kaldur'ahm; military Atlantean. M'gann M'orzz; Martian stowaway. Conner Kent; Cadmus super clone.
Experience wise, however, they were worlds apart. Dick wasn't bragging (maybe he was, just a little); it was just the way things were.
He knew each and every one of their secret identities, the ins and outs of their very lives. Batman made it his business to know everybody's secrets, and, by default, so did his protégé.
Past protégé, that is. Dick didn't work with the man anymore. Their partnership was on suspension. Indefinitely, if you asked him.
There were some things not even the Dynamic Duo could come back from.
Which brought them to now; awkwardly waiting outside the coroner's door, garnering curious glances from any passing officers.
Officer McKibben had to leave for patrol, taking his cloud of attitude with him, and the commissioner had long since returned to her office. Her last words to Grayson being a hissed, 'behave'.
The door opened, revealing Ms. Garcia's greying hair. "Come in," She muttered under her breath. "Quickly please, I've got other corpses to inspect."
The heroes filed into the room behind him, all avoiding looking at the teenage bodies.
Pushing their presence to the back of his mind, the raven-haired detective stepped forward, "What'd you find?"
"It's the strangest thing," The coroner's face lit up passionately. "I've never seen anything like it before. There's heavy amounts of something in their blood, but its unrecognizable."
Dick frowned, gesturing at the microscope, "May I?" It wasn't that he didn't trust the woman's opinion—she was a professional, after all—but he wanted to see things for himself.
He hadn't done an in-depth background check on the coroner yet; for all he knew, she could be just another paid-out gangbanger.
Unlikely, but paranoia had kept him alive thus far.
The woman waved her hand and he took that as an affirmation.
"I have seen many strange, borderline impossible things on the job, but this takes the cake." She straightened her white robe with trembling fingers, "This could be a new discovery. A big one."
He narrowed his eyes at the sample, adjusting the scope so he could see it better at his height. He was no chemist, but during his time under Batman's wing—cape? Whatever. Point was, he'd picked up a few tidbits.
Chemical compounds being one of them.
Ms. Garcia was correct; he couldn't recognize any of the elements in whatever this was. No joker gas, no recognizable combinations. It contained something that didn't exist.
And someone had wanted to keep it that way.
"I need to send this to someone higher up," The woman's eyes glimmered. "Think of the possibilities!"
That meant it was dangerous; anyone who knew about it; touched it; interacted with it, was likely in danger.
"No." He pulled the sample out from its slot and pocketed it carefully, "You're going to forget what you just saw, understood?"
She shook her head adamantly, "People need to know about this! It could be—"
"No." Dick pierced her with his blue gaze, hoping it conveyed the solemnity of the situation at hand. "Whoever killed these people are ruthless, cunning. Big enough to hire a skilled mercenary and smart enough to stay out of the limelight. That means they're dangerous."
"I'm not scared of them," Ms. Garcia's voice was determined, but her trembling lips betrayed her words. "I'll do what's right."
"Yes, you will." His gaze softened and he placed a steady hand on her shoulder, recalling what he'd learned of her from his hurried background investigation into her personal life. "You have kids. A wife. Do you want them to end up hurt?"
She breathed out softly, casting a glance at the loitering heroes as if she didn't want them seeing her like this. "Never."
"Then you forget this, make sure nobody else finds out." He gave her one more squeeze before turning to leave, the junior Justice League standing there in all their multi-coloured glory.
Without acknowledging them, he made to head upstairs, only for his exit to be blocked by an avid Atlantean.
Breathing in harshly through his nose and resisting the urge to drop kick the man, he fixed the trademark Grayson smile on his face instead, "Yes?"
Aqualad's dark brows cinched low over his eyes, "We cannot allow you to leave."
Dick felt his already faux grin become even more strained under the Atlantean's accusatory stare, "And why is that?"
"You're trying to escape with possibly game changing evidence," Kid Flash—who really should've changed his name, seeing as he was no longer a kid—stepped up beside his leader. "And acting mega-suspicious about it."
"Look," The detective had to resist the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose. "It's just a theory, but whoever gave this," He waved the sample in front of their faces, "to those kids, wants all trace of it gone. Hence the shooting."
Aqualad looked unimpressed, but allowed him to continue speaking.
"Which means that they'll come after whoever knows. I don't want Ms. Garcia becoming a target because she went and spewed to the media in a fit of scientific excitement."
"I hate to admit it," The green archer spoke up from the back. "But he has a point."
"He would have an excellent point, if he wasn't a prime suspect." Conner, or Superboy was the rest of the world knew him, sent an impassioned stare in Dick's direction.
The red-headed Martian jumped right onto the super's crazy train, defending his sentiment with surprising fervor. The detective glanced between her and the Kryptonian clone, reading their body language; the way they subconsciously leaned towards one another…
Oh?
Oh.
They were a 'thing'. Interesting.
"—that makes sense!" Miss Martian nodded, shooting Dick an apologetic look. "Sorry."
And this, this right here, was why Dick worked alone. Unnecessary thoughts and loyalties made things unnecessarily complicated.
His grin had probably reached maniacal proportions, but he fixed each member of the team with a stare anyway, "Look, Bludhaven does have a lot of corrupted cops, and you really shouldn't trust anyone in this city, but I can assure you I'm one of the less nefarious ones."
"That's exactly what a corrupted cop would say." Kid Flash—that was too weird, he was calling the hero KF from now on—muttered under his breath.
"Or an innocent one," Dick shot back.
The ginger grinned. "Touché."
"Alright," Aqualad held up a hand to silence his team.
The detective begrudgingly admitted the guy was a good leader; not perfect, but certainly not bad. The team knew when the Atlantean meant business.
Dick would never admit it to anyone, least of all himself, but he'd always wanted to be a leader. Being Batman's partner had had its benefits and he honestly wouldn't've changed a thing, but there were some days…some times when he just wondered….
"—We'll escort you to the commissioner's office, then."
The ebony was jolted out of his speculations. "What?"
Aqualad studied him again, those passive eyes seeming to take in every detail. "I said we'll escort you to the commissioner's office."
Hmm. That was bad. Dick had actually been intending on taking the sample back to his apartment. It was no Batcave, but at least no one else would be endangered by it.
"That's not necessary," He stated, fear spiking at the thought of such a sought-after product being in the commissioner's possession.
If people were willing to kill for the foreign substance, the last thing he wanted was for it to be anywhere near Griffin. Or anyone in the station, for that matter.
Except maybe McKibben, that guy was a pain.
"Nope," Artemis placed a hand on her hip and fixed him with what was likely meant as an intimidating glare.
It probably would've been, too, for someone who hadn't stared down Gotham's worst.
"Either you give it to us now or we watch you give it to the commissioner later." She continued, lips drooping into a frown.
"I do not want to fight you, detective, but we will do what is necessary." Aqualad took a step towards him, "Will you accept our offer?"
Dick felt his smile fall off his face as he scrutinized the man. Technically, if he really wanted to, he could be out of here in less than six seconds.
Take out the Atlantean, go for KF's knees. Drop a smoke bomb and disappear in the following chaos. Foolproof.
But he was Grayson right now, not Robin. Not Nightwing.
Sighing, he motioned for them to follow. "Fine."
As he headed towards the precinct elevator, trying to block out the clack of the heroes' heavy boots behind him, Dick began to plan.
Leaving it with Commissioner Griffin was too risky; he couldn't lose the only person he trusted in this hellscape of a city.
So, he'd just have to 'borrow' the sample back.
His hero entourage garnered a few curious glances from fellow cops, each of them pausing in their work to stare as the strange group marched past.
Dick didn't know how the junior Justice League dealt with the near-constant publicity, all the knowing looks and cameras. Sure, he'd been popular as Robin, but he'd also avoided the limelight.
No one, except for B himself, knew anything revealing about his vigilante persona. And Dick intended to keep it that way.
He rapped sharply on the commissioner's door, hoping she wasn't back in her office yet. Maybe, just maybe—
The door opened, revealing a frowning Sheila Griffins. "Detective Grayson. Back so soon."
Dick sent her his signatory celebrity smile. It was easy, almost as easy as putting on his Nightwing mask. "I have an update."
"Already." It wasn't a question, but he nodded anyway. "Alright, come in."
He slipped through the door, ignoring the heroes' presence at his heels.
Unconsciously, he straightened his back and adopted a neutral tone.
This, at least, was familiar territory. It felt like he was thirteen again, briefing Bruce in the Cave after they got split on a mission.
"Mrs. Garcia found an unknown compound in the deceased's' blood. This being the only un-factorable in the equation, I surmised that the compound is the reason why they're dead. It's not clear whether they were willing test subjects, or if this is a new drug hitting the streets. What we do know is that whoever released this is willing to kill for it, and has enough resources backing them to hire Sniper."
"Thank you, detective." She turned to the heroes, expression calculating, "Do you have anything to add?"
Aqualad cleared his throat, his usual stoic demeanour giving way to something verging on sheepish. "Not at this time, no."
Dick had to withhold a smile.
It's not that the heroes were useless, it was more just that…they were useless.
The commissioner inspected the vial carefully, pinching it between her fingers and frowning at it. "I'll hold onto this. Does anyone else know of its existence?"
Dick shook his head, indicating the heroes behind him and then himself. "Only us and the coroner." He twitched, twisting his fingers together as he fought for the right words.
Griffin gave him one of her rare, practically nonexistent smiles. "Just spit it out before you choke, detective."
"Could you, possibly," Dick did not like asking her for things; he didn't like asking anyone for anything, really.
He hated that second of conflict, when hesitant reluctance masked their features. Their sense of self preservation and overall unwillingness going toe-to-toe.
They always said yes, in the end. You couldn't just say 'no' to a Wayne or his ward.
He didn't know how Bruce ever got used to it; Dick hated it.
"Grayson," She shot him a look, sculpted brows arching. "We've talked about this."
He chewed on his cheek, remembering the conversation the woman was referring to, when they'd been forced to address his reluctance for asking favours when he'd winded up in the hospital. Because calling for back up would've 'inconvenienced' her and the precinct.
It'd only been a few broken bones, he honestly didn't understand the big whoop.
"Could you spare some people for a temporary stakeout at Garcia's? She doesn't even have to know, but…" He trailed off, waving absently. "She could be a target."
The smile was still in place, though the commissioner's more seriousness countenance quickly swallowed it whole. "Of course, detective. It's a good idea."
Dick quickly pulled his police persona back in place, offering a single nod in answer. "If that'll be all, ma'am."
"That's all, Grayson. You're dismissed. I'd like to speak to the heroes," She gestured for them to make themselves comfortable. "If they have time."
"This case is our sole priority at the moment," The Atlantean offered her a tight lip smile.
Dick took that as his cue to leave, slipping out the door and closing it softly behind him.
His mind was already calculating how to get the vial back as soon as possible, strategies and scenarios flurrying desperately for attention.
If he was going to do this, it had to be tonight.
The detective's first genuine smile of the day pulled at the corners of his mouth, a plan starting to take root.
It looked like 'Nightwing' was going to make another appearance after all.
(A/N): We get Nightwing next chapter, folks :D
Thanks to those who read! And a double thanks to those who reviewed, EveningSongEnchantment, Guest, and Emily! Hearing from readers really encourages me to keep going with this 3
Stay safe!
~ASL