Dick and Babs, A New Chapter In Life Part 3
Richard Grayson was a very angry man. It had been two weeks since his confrontation with Barbara Gordon. Neither had spoken with or about the other since. Standing in the holographic simulator at Titans Tower, he waited. The simulator was set on progressive difficulty. Upon completion of one level the next level immediately started at a much higher degree of assault on the occupant. After quickly dispatching Gizmo of the Fearsome Five, Nightwing moved on to Red Panzer. then Gorilla Grodd. then Two Face and the Joker together. Dick was extremely efficient in that fight. He took an almost perverse pleasure in taking them out. His anger far from being soothed he screamed at the computer, "IS THAT THE BEST YOU GOT, YOU PIECE OF JUNK?" As if sensing his needs, appearing in front of him was Deathstroke, The Terminator. "That's more like it." Forty-five minutes of evade and assault and aerial impossibility the Deathstroke simulation went down. Nightwing stood victorious.
"Not bad kid, though if it were really me, you wouldn't be standing now. I don't think you got my voice quite right either."
Nightwing whirled around to see none other than Slade Wilson in the flesh. "Wilson. What are you doing here?" Nightwing seethed.
"Thought I would stop by and let you know about a job offer I received a few weeks ago. It seems Roland Desmond wants you handled, permanently."
"What else is new?"
"It seems he is pulling out all the stops this time kid. I hear through a source that he contacted Al Ghul for help."
"Heh, he must be hurting. Looks like my plan is working better than I thought. Thanks for the info, Slade."
"Anytime. Watch your ass Grayson. This guy is dangerous. See ya around, and anytime you want a workout with the real deal, give me a call."
"I'll do that Wilson. I trust since you broke in without setting off the alarms, you can find your way back out."
"That's because I am damn sneaky. Good luck, kid," Slade said as he exited the simulator room.
Upon the mercenary's exit Nightwing commanded the computer, "Resume program, and computer give me somebody good." The fallen simulation of Deathstroke disappeared and appearing before him was the man who broke the Bat.. Bane. "Oh shit."
Barbara Gordon sat at her computer screen. She had been watching Dick Grayson in the simulator. She had never seen him more violent. When she saw Bane appear on the screen she could not watch anymore. Shutting down her connection to Titans Tower and holding back her tears she called out, "I know you are here, Bruce you might as well come out." With this declaration, the dark figure known as Batman stepped out of the shadows. He too had been watching his son on the computer screen.
"Barbara." It was not the voice of Batman nor was it the voice of Bruce Wayne the flake. It was of Bruce Wayne the man.
Barbara turned to see Batman standing there with cowl removed revealing the uncharacteristic emotions of Bruce Wayne.
"He's hurting Barbara," he stated. He tried to hide his feelings to the perceptive woman.
"I know he is hurting. I am hurting too. He had no right to do what he did."
"He did it because he loves you."
"So I take it you know what he was doing. of course you know. Batman knows everything."
"Yes, I know. Why didn't you hear him out?"
Starting to appear angry, a sudden calm sadness shined bluntly across her face, "Because I was angry that he did this without telling me." Barely above a whisper she said, "Because I am scared."
"I know I am the last person to give advice on this, but you should tell him how you feel."
"I.I can't. The world is not black and white as you and Dick see it. My world is a grey area. I don't fit into your conformity of what life should be."
"Barbara."
"Don't you see? Dick was right that night. He said.."
"I know."
"Oh. Well he was right. The Joker did take more than my legs that night. As much as I have tried to move on, I still go back to that night, to those events and he keeps coming back and taking from us all."
No longer trying to hide his emotions a look of sadness was drawn on Bruce's face. "I know what you feel. I feel it too."
"You and I are a lot alike Bruce. We both surround ourselves in darkness. Dick is the one shining light in both of our lives. He is the only one that can save us from ourselves, yet we both push him away. We both hurt him. We both love him."
"Go to him Barbara."
"I can't. Not now. Not yet," she said as an alarm went off on her computer. Turning from Bruce she rolled to her computer. "Bruce it's the batsignal." She turned back around only to find that she was alone in the room. Finding no comfort in her conversation with Bruce, all Barbara could do was cry.
Having finished his simulation, a bruised and bloody Nightwing entered the shower room at the gymnasium and exited Dick Grayson. Angry, anxious and still not satisfied with his workout he began his warm-up kata. Upon its completion, he began his pain dispelling kata that was taught to him long ago by Batman. Satisfied with the outcome, he worked through the forms of the six most prominent martial art styles in his favor. He moved on to climb the rope installed to get him to his trapeze. Without a partner to work with, the trapeze had an automatic gear to move his catch line. After a few basic moves back and forth, Dick pressed a button to release the net. As soon as the net hit the floor, he began doing triple somersaults with blinding accuracy. After his seventh triple he moved on to the quadruple somersault.
A lone figure was sitting in the observation deck watching the set of near impossible quadruple somersaults.
Watching from below, Donna Troy did not relish in the thought of the confrontation she was about to have. They had been down this road before, in a gymnasium similar to this.
Upon his last quadruple somersault, the thought of Barbara slipped through Dick's mask of concentration. "Damn," he said as he began his descent towards the floor. This was going to hurt.
"Dick!" Donna yelled as she leapt into action to save her friend. Catching him with ease and lowering him to the floor, she scolded him, "What were you thinking? You could have gotten yourself killed."
"Well, I didn't. Listen Donna, now is not the time for this. I know what you are going to say. Save it. I am angry and I want to work through this."
"Honey, you know I am here for you. Talk to me."
"Leave," Dick said in "the voice."
"Ok, Dick. For now I will leave you be. You may not want to talk now, but you know where to find me. This conversation is not over."
"Yes. It is," Dick stated as Donna was walking to the door. As Donna walked out, Dick added, "Donna. Thanks." He was almost too angry to feel guilty for the way he treated her.. Almost. Donna gave him a warm sisterly smile as she left.
Without further interruption, Dick began an assault on his body consisting of 1000 pushups, 1000 sit-ups, and 200 standing back flips. Moving over to the punching bag he began an assault of kicks and punches until he could no longer move. Falling to the floor in exhaustion, Dick heard the elevator coming down from the observation deck. When the door opened, out walked Roy Harper.
Looking at his friend, sadness came over Roy. It was hard to see the man hurting so. This man was his friend. He sat through endless nights of detox with Roy when he was kicking his heroin addiction. This was the man who helped him gain custody of his daughter and he was now in pain. Roy knew he had to do something to help. "We need to have a talk, bud."
"Dad, what are you doing here?" Barbara asked as she opened her apartment to her father, Commissioner James Gordon.
"I wanted to check on you. You have been more distant than usual. I thought you might want to talk."
"Oh, Dad. It is complicated," she replied with a sad look on her face.
Jim Gordon had seen his daughter through more pain than any one human being should have to endure. He could tell his daughter was being eaten away by whatever was bothering her. He was going to help her come Hell or Highwater. "How can I help?" Barbara began to cry. Jim walked over to his daughter who was in such a world of grief. He wrapped his arms around his girl and held her tight. Straining to hear the soft whisper from her lips, he heard simply, "Just hold me, Dad."
"Talk to me Dick," Roy Harper said sharply. "You are acting more Bat-like than usual.
"Stay out of this Harper. And there is nothing wrong with being Bat-like. He doesn't have to deal with his emotions. He buries them. He does not have to be burdened by such things as love. He uses his pain and rage and focuses it on his work."
"Yeah, but it makes him one scary bastard. That is not you Dick."
"Maybe it should be."
"That's bullshit, man. The fact that you have emotions is what makes you better than him."
"Yeah well if I were more like him I never would have been in that relationship. I never would have hurt. Bar. my friend."
"Talk to me. What's going on?"
Defeated from exhaustion and emotional pain, Dick Grayson broke down his defenses. "I have this friend. She is confined to a wheelchair."
"And you are in love with her," Roy added. With the look of astonishment from Dick he also stated, "Ah c'mon Grayson, it's written all over your face."
"Yeah. Yeah, I love her. With Jessie's help, I found a way to help her possibly regain the use of her legs."
Jim Gordon was shocked. Was it possible? Could his daughter actually be able to walk again? "Barb, honey. This is great news!" he said with a smile. He could tell as soon as the words left his mouth that to Barbara it was not. His smile quickly faded. He studied his daughter's face for what seemed like an eternity before addressing her. "You're scared of leaving that chair behind aren't you?" Barbara's eyes widened. "Barbara, you shouldn't. Don't use that chair to hide from life."
"That's what HE said I was doing."
"Dick's right in that part honey."
"Dick? You know I have been seeing Dick?"
"Of course. You would be surprised at what a decrepit old Police Commissioner knows. What else did he say, Barb?"
"You told her that you wanted to marry her?
"Yeah."
"Dude, that is some serious shit." Roy was surprised at his friend. He knew that Dick was serious about this girl. He just didn't know how serious. "Then what happened?"
"Oh Barbara. It's not too late to fix this. You two have loved each other for years. The man gave you his mother's ring. That means that it is not too late."
"Dad, I said some really awful things to him. I told him that I . hated him," Barbara said through her flood of tears.
"Talk to him. I know you can work it out. Do it before it is too late. Life is too short to push away the ones we love," Jim said with sadness.
Barbara knew he was now talking about himself. He had lost his wife Sarah to the Joker's madness during No Man's Land. Another bullet, more lives destroyed by that maniac. "I do love him, Dad. I just don't know if I have the courage to face him again. I don't know if I have the strength to do this."
"You are the strongest person I know and I KNOW some strong people. Think about what I have said tonight. You will do the right thing." Jim still pondered the idea that his daughter could walk again. It occurred to him that she never told him how this was possible. When he asked her about it, he discovered that their confrontation never allowed the opportunity for her to find out.
"I found a doctor who could replace her damaged spine with cloned implants," Dick told his friend. "Jessie helped me get information from Russia from the scientists who helped Vic. Through Gar's connection with Dayton and his genetic research, I found Doctor Jayson Stryker. He has been studying cloning technology for several years. Instead of cloning whole bodies, he has focused his research to replacing lost body parts. I had hoped to show.. my friend the breakthrough Dr. Stryker had after the grant I gave him with the money I borrowed from Bruce and the information I had from the Russian scientists. She wouldn't even hear me out."
"I see you are still making decisions for other people, Batboy."
Dick and Roy both turned to see Victor Stone, Cyborg standing in the doorway. Dick's head dropped when he saw the man who once had been a close friend. Roy jumped up to greet the man.
"Vic! It is good to see you, bud."
"Harper. It's been a while. Good to see ya. Let me talk to short pants fer a minute."
"No problemo, gotta head out on the town anyway. The city is full of women just dying to meet me. Later, Dick." Roy left the gym leaving the two men alone for the first time in many months.
"Vic," Dick said after a long pause of silence.
"Looks like you got yerself in a tight spot again, Robbie. You and I need to have a talk that is long overdue."
After her father left, Barbara sat in silence, thinking of his words and the events that transpired a few weeks ago, she came to a decision. Going to her computer, she input a code.
"This is Batman. What can I do for you Oracle?" the voice came through her speakers.
"I need to you to come by tonight after your patrol. We need to talk."
To be continued....
Richard Grayson was a very angry man. It had been two weeks since his confrontation with Barbara Gordon. Neither had spoken with or about the other since. Standing in the holographic simulator at Titans Tower, he waited. The simulator was set on progressive difficulty. Upon completion of one level the next level immediately started at a much higher degree of assault on the occupant. After quickly dispatching Gizmo of the Fearsome Five, Nightwing moved on to Red Panzer. then Gorilla Grodd. then Two Face and the Joker together. Dick was extremely efficient in that fight. He took an almost perverse pleasure in taking them out. His anger far from being soothed he screamed at the computer, "IS THAT THE BEST YOU GOT, YOU PIECE OF JUNK?" As if sensing his needs, appearing in front of him was Deathstroke, The Terminator. "That's more like it." Forty-five minutes of evade and assault and aerial impossibility the Deathstroke simulation went down. Nightwing stood victorious.
"Not bad kid, though if it were really me, you wouldn't be standing now. I don't think you got my voice quite right either."
Nightwing whirled around to see none other than Slade Wilson in the flesh. "Wilson. What are you doing here?" Nightwing seethed.
"Thought I would stop by and let you know about a job offer I received a few weeks ago. It seems Roland Desmond wants you handled, permanently."
"What else is new?"
"It seems he is pulling out all the stops this time kid. I hear through a source that he contacted Al Ghul for help."
"Heh, he must be hurting. Looks like my plan is working better than I thought. Thanks for the info, Slade."
"Anytime. Watch your ass Grayson. This guy is dangerous. See ya around, and anytime you want a workout with the real deal, give me a call."
"I'll do that Wilson. I trust since you broke in without setting off the alarms, you can find your way back out."
"That's because I am damn sneaky. Good luck, kid," Slade said as he exited the simulator room.
Upon the mercenary's exit Nightwing commanded the computer, "Resume program, and computer give me somebody good." The fallen simulation of Deathstroke disappeared and appearing before him was the man who broke the Bat.. Bane. "Oh shit."
Barbara Gordon sat at her computer screen. She had been watching Dick Grayson in the simulator. She had never seen him more violent. When she saw Bane appear on the screen she could not watch anymore. Shutting down her connection to Titans Tower and holding back her tears she called out, "I know you are here, Bruce you might as well come out." With this declaration, the dark figure known as Batman stepped out of the shadows. He too had been watching his son on the computer screen.
"Barbara." It was not the voice of Batman nor was it the voice of Bruce Wayne the flake. It was of Bruce Wayne the man.
Barbara turned to see Batman standing there with cowl removed revealing the uncharacteristic emotions of Bruce Wayne.
"He's hurting Barbara," he stated. He tried to hide his feelings to the perceptive woman.
"I know he is hurting. I am hurting too. He had no right to do what he did."
"He did it because he loves you."
"So I take it you know what he was doing. of course you know. Batman knows everything."
"Yes, I know. Why didn't you hear him out?"
Starting to appear angry, a sudden calm sadness shined bluntly across her face, "Because I was angry that he did this without telling me." Barely above a whisper she said, "Because I am scared."
"I know I am the last person to give advice on this, but you should tell him how you feel."
"I.I can't. The world is not black and white as you and Dick see it. My world is a grey area. I don't fit into your conformity of what life should be."
"Barbara."
"Don't you see? Dick was right that night. He said.."
"I know."
"Oh. Well he was right. The Joker did take more than my legs that night. As much as I have tried to move on, I still go back to that night, to those events and he keeps coming back and taking from us all."
No longer trying to hide his emotions a look of sadness was drawn on Bruce's face. "I know what you feel. I feel it too."
"You and I are a lot alike Bruce. We both surround ourselves in darkness. Dick is the one shining light in both of our lives. He is the only one that can save us from ourselves, yet we both push him away. We both hurt him. We both love him."
"Go to him Barbara."
"I can't. Not now. Not yet," she said as an alarm went off on her computer. Turning from Bruce she rolled to her computer. "Bruce it's the batsignal." She turned back around only to find that she was alone in the room. Finding no comfort in her conversation with Bruce, all Barbara could do was cry.
Having finished his simulation, a bruised and bloody Nightwing entered the shower room at the gymnasium and exited Dick Grayson. Angry, anxious and still not satisfied with his workout he began his warm-up kata. Upon its completion, he began his pain dispelling kata that was taught to him long ago by Batman. Satisfied with the outcome, he worked through the forms of the six most prominent martial art styles in his favor. He moved on to climb the rope installed to get him to his trapeze. Without a partner to work with, the trapeze had an automatic gear to move his catch line. After a few basic moves back and forth, Dick pressed a button to release the net. As soon as the net hit the floor, he began doing triple somersaults with blinding accuracy. After his seventh triple he moved on to the quadruple somersault.
A lone figure was sitting in the observation deck watching the set of near impossible quadruple somersaults.
Watching from below, Donna Troy did not relish in the thought of the confrontation she was about to have. They had been down this road before, in a gymnasium similar to this.
Upon his last quadruple somersault, the thought of Barbara slipped through Dick's mask of concentration. "Damn," he said as he began his descent towards the floor. This was going to hurt.
"Dick!" Donna yelled as she leapt into action to save her friend. Catching him with ease and lowering him to the floor, she scolded him, "What were you thinking? You could have gotten yourself killed."
"Well, I didn't. Listen Donna, now is not the time for this. I know what you are going to say. Save it. I am angry and I want to work through this."
"Honey, you know I am here for you. Talk to me."
"Leave," Dick said in "the voice."
"Ok, Dick. For now I will leave you be. You may not want to talk now, but you know where to find me. This conversation is not over."
"Yes. It is," Dick stated as Donna was walking to the door. As Donna walked out, Dick added, "Donna. Thanks." He was almost too angry to feel guilty for the way he treated her.. Almost. Donna gave him a warm sisterly smile as she left.
Without further interruption, Dick began an assault on his body consisting of 1000 pushups, 1000 sit-ups, and 200 standing back flips. Moving over to the punching bag he began an assault of kicks and punches until he could no longer move. Falling to the floor in exhaustion, Dick heard the elevator coming down from the observation deck. When the door opened, out walked Roy Harper.
Looking at his friend, sadness came over Roy. It was hard to see the man hurting so. This man was his friend. He sat through endless nights of detox with Roy when he was kicking his heroin addiction. This was the man who helped him gain custody of his daughter and he was now in pain. Roy knew he had to do something to help. "We need to have a talk, bud."
"Dad, what are you doing here?" Barbara asked as she opened her apartment to her father, Commissioner James Gordon.
"I wanted to check on you. You have been more distant than usual. I thought you might want to talk."
"Oh, Dad. It is complicated," she replied with a sad look on her face.
Jim Gordon had seen his daughter through more pain than any one human being should have to endure. He could tell his daughter was being eaten away by whatever was bothering her. He was going to help her come Hell or Highwater. "How can I help?" Barbara began to cry. Jim walked over to his daughter who was in such a world of grief. He wrapped his arms around his girl and held her tight. Straining to hear the soft whisper from her lips, he heard simply, "Just hold me, Dad."
"Talk to me Dick," Roy Harper said sharply. "You are acting more Bat-like than usual.
"Stay out of this Harper. And there is nothing wrong with being Bat-like. He doesn't have to deal with his emotions. He buries them. He does not have to be burdened by such things as love. He uses his pain and rage and focuses it on his work."
"Yeah, but it makes him one scary bastard. That is not you Dick."
"Maybe it should be."
"That's bullshit, man. The fact that you have emotions is what makes you better than him."
"Yeah well if I were more like him I never would have been in that relationship. I never would have hurt. Bar. my friend."
"Talk to me. What's going on?"
Defeated from exhaustion and emotional pain, Dick Grayson broke down his defenses. "I have this friend. She is confined to a wheelchair."
"And you are in love with her," Roy added. With the look of astonishment from Dick he also stated, "Ah c'mon Grayson, it's written all over your face."
"Yeah. Yeah, I love her. With Jessie's help, I found a way to help her possibly regain the use of her legs."
Jim Gordon was shocked. Was it possible? Could his daughter actually be able to walk again? "Barb, honey. This is great news!" he said with a smile. He could tell as soon as the words left his mouth that to Barbara it was not. His smile quickly faded. He studied his daughter's face for what seemed like an eternity before addressing her. "You're scared of leaving that chair behind aren't you?" Barbara's eyes widened. "Barbara, you shouldn't. Don't use that chair to hide from life."
"That's what HE said I was doing."
"Dick's right in that part honey."
"Dick? You know I have been seeing Dick?"
"Of course. You would be surprised at what a decrepit old Police Commissioner knows. What else did he say, Barb?"
"You told her that you wanted to marry her?
"Yeah."
"Dude, that is some serious shit." Roy was surprised at his friend. He knew that Dick was serious about this girl. He just didn't know how serious. "Then what happened?"
"Oh Barbara. It's not too late to fix this. You two have loved each other for years. The man gave you his mother's ring. That means that it is not too late."
"Dad, I said some really awful things to him. I told him that I . hated him," Barbara said through her flood of tears.
"Talk to him. I know you can work it out. Do it before it is too late. Life is too short to push away the ones we love," Jim said with sadness.
Barbara knew he was now talking about himself. He had lost his wife Sarah to the Joker's madness during No Man's Land. Another bullet, more lives destroyed by that maniac. "I do love him, Dad. I just don't know if I have the courage to face him again. I don't know if I have the strength to do this."
"You are the strongest person I know and I KNOW some strong people. Think about what I have said tonight. You will do the right thing." Jim still pondered the idea that his daughter could walk again. It occurred to him that she never told him how this was possible. When he asked her about it, he discovered that their confrontation never allowed the opportunity for her to find out.
"I found a doctor who could replace her damaged spine with cloned implants," Dick told his friend. "Jessie helped me get information from Russia from the scientists who helped Vic. Through Gar's connection with Dayton and his genetic research, I found Doctor Jayson Stryker. He has been studying cloning technology for several years. Instead of cloning whole bodies, he has focused his research to replacing lost body parts. I had hoped to show.. my friend the breakthrough Dr. Stryker had after the grant I gave him with the money I borrowed from Bruce and the information I had from the Russian scientists. She wouldn't even hear me out."
"I see you are still making decisions for other people, Batboy."
Dick and Roy both turned to see Victor Stone, Cyborg standing in the doorway. Dick's head dropped when he saw the man who once had been a close friend. Roy jumped up to greet the man.
"Vic! It is good to see you, bud."
"Harper. It's been a while. Good to see ya. Let me talk to short pants fer a minute."
"No problemo, gotta head out on the town anyway. The city is full of women just dying to meet me. Later, Dick." Roy left the gym leaving the two men alone for the first time in many months.
"Vic," Dick said after a long pause of silence.
"Looks like you got yerself in a tight spot again, Robbie. You and I need to have a talk that is long overdue."
After her father left, Barbara sat in silence, thinking of his words and the events that transpired a few weeks ago, she came to a decision. Going to her computer, she input a code.
"This is Batman. What can I do for you Oracle?" the voice came through her speakers.
"I need to you to come by tonight after your patrol. We need to talk."
To be continued....