Author's Notes:
Ok, First off this is going to be a long fic. So those of you who are not interested in such fics, you have been forewarned. I cannot promise regular updates but I will do my best. This fic is born from a plot bunny foisted upon me by Sarah (SKH). Therefore the working title has been Sarah's Fault. I would like to thank all those who have given me advice and encouragement through the planning and writing of this fic: Sarah and Char (the best Betas) and also to Robin, Q, Patty (title helper), Rach, 'rith and Greeno.
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Just ask my wife. All these characters belong to DC Comics. I am just playing with them.
Summary: "What would have happened if Haly's Circus had been in Metropolis when Dick Grayson's parents were killed?"
Rating: PG-13 for peril and violence
Nightwing of Metropolis: Origins
Prologue:
10 Years Ago....
Clark Kent sat in the back seat of a yellow taxi. He was so excited to get this assignment from Perry. A human-interest story like this was a nice break from the investigative reporting that he had been doing for the Daily Planet since he started there about a year before. Writing about the lives of itinerant circus performers for the Sunday magazine section, also gave him an excuse to go see the circus. It had been a long time since he had been to one, and as his luck had it, Haly's Circus was in town at the Metropolis Fair Grounds.
He remembered Ma taking him to see that circus once back when he was about 12 years old, and he was hoping that the young aerialists couple that awed him then was still with the troupe. Their highflying stunts were just about the only thing he could talk about when told Pa about the circus. He remembered wondering what it must have felt like to fly through the air like that. If he had only known that a few years later he would actually soar to heights unimagined by the trapeze artists. Clark adjusted the glasses he wore and smiled to himself.
The cabbie let him off at the entrance to the fair grounds, about three quarters of a mile from the Big Top. The performances had already begun, and as he started the walk to the big top, he took a deep breath and consumed the smells of the carnival. Cotton Candy, popcorn, hay, trampled grass, the animals. Hundreds of memories were triggered by these scents--memories of annual trips to the Kansas State Fair in Hutchinson with Ma and Pa. He heard all the sounds that brought him back to his youth: laughter, the sideshow barker, the calliope, screams of delight, screams of terror.
WHAT!
The tall bespectacled young reporter looked around quickly as only he could and saw a scene of chaos through the canvas of the big top. A man and a woman were falling from the trapeze. Clark Kent ran faster and faster until he was a blur and his feet were barely touching the ground, trying desperately to get to the falling performers, and then he stopped suddenly.
He looked down in front of him and saw a brightly clad, dark haired boy of no more than eight years. The boy dropped to his knees and screamed. In front of the boy, was the similarly clad couple, bodies broken in the fall. He was too late.
Ok, First off this is going to be a long fic. So those of you who are not interested in such fics, you have been forewarned. I cannot promise regular updates but I will do my best. This fic is born from a plot bunny foisted upon me by Sarah (SKH). Therefore the working title has been Sarah's Fault. I would like to thank all those who have given me advice and encouragement through the planning and writing of this fic: Sarah and Char (the best Betas) and also to Robin, Q, Patty (title helper), Rach, 'rith and Greeno.
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Just ask my wife. All these characters belong to DC Comics. I am just playing with them.
Summary: "What would have happened if Haly's Circus had been in Metropolis when Dick Grayson's parents were killed?"
Rating: PG-13 for peril and violence
Nightwing of Metropolis: Origins
Prologue:
10 Years Ago....
Clark Kent sat in the back seat of a yellow taxi. He was so excited to get this assignment from Perry. A human-interest story like this was a nice break from the investigative reporting that he had been doing for the Daily Planet since he started there about a year before. Writing about the lives of itinerant circus performers for the Sunday magazine section, also gave him an excuse to go see the circus. It had been a long time since he had been to one, and as his luck had it, Haly's Circus was in town at the Metropolis Fair Grounds.
He remembered Ma taking him to see that circus once back when he was about 12 years old, and he was hoping that the young aerialists couple that awed him then was still with the troupe. Their highflying stunts were just about the only thing he could talk about when told Pa about the circus. He remembered wondering what it must have felt like to fly through the air like that. If he had only known that a few years later he would actually soar to heights unimagined by the trapeze artists. Clark adjusted the glasses he wore and smiled to himself.
The cabbie let him off at the entrance to the fair grounds, about three quarters of a mile from the Big Top. The performances had already begun, and as he started the walk to the big top, he took a deep breath and consumed the smells of the carnival. Cotton Candy, popcorn, hay, trampled grass, the animals. Hundreds of memories were triggered by these scents--memories of annual trips to the Kansas State Fair in Hutchinson with Ma and Pa. He heard all the sounds that brought him back to his youth: laughter, the sideshow barker, the calliope, screams of delight, screams of terror.
WHAT!
The tall bespectacled young reporter looked around quickly as only he could and saw a scene of chaos through the canvas of the big top. A man and a woman were falling from the trapeze. Clark Kent ran faster and faster until he was a blur and his feet were barely touching the ground, trying desperately to get to the falling performers, and then he stopped suddenly.
He looked down in front of him and saw a brightly clad, dark haired boy of no more than eight years. The boy dropped to his knees and screamed. In front of the boy, was the similarly clad couple, bodies broken in the fall. He was too late.
