Nightwing and Black Canary got off the Wing-Cycle and looked around, seeing the city of Washington completely destroyed in flames, explosions and craters.
Nightwing, or more precisely Dick, was already thinking about a generous donation from Wayne Enterprises to rebuild the city.
At the center of the destroyed city was, of course, Doomsday, a basically nearly immortal monster between three and four meters tall, and many heroes attempting to take him down.
Key word: attempt.
Nightwing narrowed his eyes as he saw something, or rather someone, fast approaching them, as if... "Move!" he ordered his girlfriend and he moved to the right while Black Canary moved to the left.
That someone was Superman who had been hit and thrown like a rag doll. Unfortunately, he hit the former Bludhaven vigilante's motorcycle, breaking it and creating a huge crater in the ground.
The first Robin frowned at his wrecked motorcycle, making a mental note to make Doomsday pay (somehow).
Superman stood up, his costume shredded and full of bruises and blood, shaking his head, and only then noticed the two newcomers. "Nightwing, Black Canary, I'm glad you're here." he smiled at them. Then he looked at the bike and gave the former Boy Wonder an embarrassed smile.
"We certainly couldn't stay home and watch." returned Black Canary's smile. "Have the civilians been evacuated?"
The hero of Metropolis nodded. "Not a one left, though already a dozen casualties have come out." he announced sadly.
"So, how is the fight going?" asked Nightwing, although he feared he already knew the answer.
The smile on the Kryptonian's face disappeared but not entirely. "It could be better but it could be worse." he sighed.
The pair nodded. Black Canary clenched her fists menacingly as Nightwing pulled out his escrima sticks. "Let's show them the true value of the Justice League!" the blonde smirked.
Nightwing ran, first rolling to the right and then leaping into the air, avoiding the several cars Doomsday was throwing at him. He arrived in front of the supervillain and attached the escrima sticks crackling with electricity to his chest. Electricity quickly spread through the body of the enemy, who roared in pain.
Doomsday growled and tried to hit the hero with a solid punch but he avoided it by executing several backward flicks and getting a good distance from the enemy.
Superman flew a few inches off the ground and landed a punch to the head of the enemy who flew meters away.
Hawkman hit him in the back in the air with his mace and sent him flying into the sky. Next Shazam struck him with lightning bolts and Wonder Woman trapped him with the lasso of truth and threw him against a building meters away.
The supervillain was then buried in the rubble of what was left of the building.
No sound emerged, no sign that Doomsday was recovering.
The Justice League came together forming a horizontal line. Green Lantern Guy Gardner crossed his arms. "That was easy."
"Too easy." narrowed his eyes suspiciously Black Lightning.
"I agree. I remember the first time we went up against him and it wasn't that easy." nodded the other Green Lantern present at the time, Hal Jordan.
"Shouldn't we be glad we got rid of him so easily?" smiled Flash.
Immediately after the speedster's words there was a slight earthquake. The heroes watched in horror as the rubble of the building was hurled away from which emerged the much taller Doomsday who growled monstrously in anger.
"Never mind." stated Flash in a flat tone.
"Am I wrong or has he grown a few feet?" asked Green Arrow nervously.
"You're not wrong." replied Martian Manhunter calmly, although he himself was slightly nervous.
Doomsday issued another menacing growl and, with far greater speed than usual, charged the group of heroes. Not all of them, however, were able to dodge the blow and Black Lightning was struck violently by the supervillain's fist and hurled some twenty meters away, crashing into and destroying several houses and rolling painfully on the floor.
Thus the heroes scattered.
Hawkgirl flew to the wounded hero and observed his wounds before activating his earpiece. "This is Hawkgirl. Black Lightning is out but he will be fine."
"Extent of injuries?" asked Martian Manhunter.
"A few definitely broken ribs in addition to cuts and bruises. Add a severe concussion as well."
"Get him to a safe place first and return here immediately. With one punch he knocked one of us out. We'll have to be careful." ordered Superman, and the Thanagarian did as she was told.
Hal Jordan materialized a sword while Guy Gardner a chainsaw and both struck the enemy.
Any other enemy would have died painfully from this combo but that was not the case with Doomsday who merely grunted and hit Guy with a hard slap who was thrown away but saved by a soft mattress created by the other Green Lantern.
Shazam charged with a scream at his enemy and threw a punch at him. Doomsday blocked the punch and a sickening sound of cracked bones resounded in the battle area (some heroes shuddered) and the hero's scream of pain as he was thrown forcefully to the ground, forming a large crater only to be kicked violently and far away.
A red and yellow streak passed many heroes and stopped beside the wounded body, picking it up carefully and disappearing as quickly as it appeared.
The first Robin sighed.
It was going to be a long battle.
Four hours had passed and no news, either positive or negative. Shazam and Black Lightning were still the only two heroes to be knocked out.
Nightwing shot his grappling hook toward a building and easily climbed up it, briefly enjoying the wind whipping past him. He landed with ease on the roof and watched the fight in front of him.
Green Arrow was operating as a kind of sniper, shooting different kinds of arrows at the enemy hoping for a positive result. The only signal was Doomsday's slight grunt as he sought the archer's position and then focused on the heroes beside him.
Wonder Woman and Superman flew around him, trying to succeed in striking him and inflicting serious damage but rarely succeeding. Also coming to their aid were the two Green Lanterns, although Guy was still stunned from the blow he had received earlier.
Aquaman threw the trident that lodged in Doomsday's knee. The supervillain frowned at the weapon and pulled it out smoothly and, with impressive force, threw it back at the sender. The king of the oceans managed by a whisker to prevent the trident from lodging in his skull and killing him.
He really came close to dying.
Martian Manhunter tried to break through the enemy's mental barriers. Doomsday growled annoyed, shrugged off Superman and Wonder Woman, and charged the Martian. The hero suddenly disappeared and reappeared behind the enemy's back, who, surprising the alien, turned sharply, grabbed him and threw him right in the direction of a burning building.
Nightwing gasped and started jumping over rooftops to save his "uncle" but stopped after a few steps when he saw Black Canary doing the same, so he left the rescue task to her.
He heard a scream and turned around only to see Plastic Man being thrown so far that the vigilante was pretty sure he would land in a different city.
He would have laughed if the situation had not been so horrible.
Immediately afterwards Hawkman swooped down and violently struck Doomsday in the head with the spiked mace. The supervillain emitted a growl of pain and grabbed the Thanagarian with one hand while easily destroying the weapon with the other. He subsequently threw Hawkman, striking Hawkgirl in the process.
Flash ran around Doomsday hitting him every so often, playing some sort of role as a distraction.
Nightwing rotated both shoulders and braced himself, mentally and physically. He began to run and, at the very last inch of the roof, jumped, landing with a somersault on the roof of a building a few feet away, all without the grappling hook but only with his extraordinary acrobatic skills.
He performed the same action a couple of times approaching the enemy. Doomsday noticed him and began to destroy the building on which the hero was currently standing. The vigilante managed just in time to jump onto another building but the villain, with a solid punch, destroyed that one as well.
Nightwing emitted an involuntary scream as he fell, slamming his back and hips several times against the building's various collapsing foundations. He managed to cling with a trembling hand on a beam that miraculously still held. He looked below and saw, meters and meters deep, all rubble.
He looked up when he heard a disturbing noise and saw a piece of the roof falling right on top of him.
Shit.
Black Canary, who was carrying injured and weakened Martian Manhunter, opened her eyes wide when she saw her boyfriend fall along with the building. She saw Wonder Woman growling dangerously and punching Doomsday in the stomach, sending him flying away. The princessas of Themiscyra then flew toward the downed building, lifting and throwing every piece of what was left of it.
The former Green Arrow girlfriend distractedly noticed Superman furiously pummeling the enemy and was mildly pleased, except that concern rose in her when, a few minutes later, Wonder Woman still could not find Nightwing.
She gently propped Martian Manuhunter up in a fairly safe place and also ran to Wonder Woman. "Tell me you found him!" she almost shouted.
The response she got was a huge rock that was thrown away. Both women moved just in time avoiding what was left of the roof.
"Nightwing!" called Black Canary worriedly.
Still no response.
Wonder Woman unclenched her fists menacingly, her blue eyes turning steel, barely holding back pure rage. "I swear to Zeus if anything happened to him I'll kill Doomsday!" she growled.
"I'm with you." nodded the blonde as she fervently hoped nothing bad happened to him.
She could not go on without Dick Grayson.
The Justice League would not stay together without Nightwing.
The Batfamily could not possibly lose Dick also.
Her worries were momentarily interrupted when she heard a grunt behind her and turned around, only to see her fiancé alive and well, covered in soot and a few cuts and bruises but nothing serious after all.
Immediately relief flooded her and she ran toward him hugging him tightly. "What the-" the 20 year old was interrupted when his fiancée pressed her lips to his, kissing him as if it was her only need in life for her.
The vigilante overcame the initial moment of surprise and confusion and happily returned the kiss. They broke away about ten seconds later and smiled at each other. Wonder Woman approached them with a sweet smile and crossed her arms. "I'm glad you're okay, Nightwing."
The hero returned the smile to his mother figure with an arm around his girlfriend's waist. "Did you really think a building collapse would be enough to kill me?" he asked amused.
"In our defense, we could no longer find you. Even Superman got mad." the three saw the Kryptonian shoot heat laser beams at his enemy and then deliver a violent punch to his stomach by throwing him about ten meters away and following him into the air.
"He's really angry." he noted, raising an eyebrow under his mask.
"And worried." added Wonder Woman.
"You don't have to worry so much about me." said the first Robin.
"Like you wouldn't have acted the same way if it had happened to one of us." the Amazon stated sarcastically.
He shrugged his shoulders. "Touché." he looked around several times. He narrowed his eyes when he saw Domsday punch Superman hard and shrug off the two Green Lanterns. "We're not going anywhere." he unconsciously straightened his back.
Both women recognized the change. "What should we do?" asked Black Canary.
"Round up all available League members and let only Flash continue to distract Doomsday as he is doing now." he ordered.
Five minutes later the Leaguers gathered, forming a circle. Nightwing brought a hand to his ear. "Flash, are you having trouble with Doomsday?" he asked, perfectly hiding his concern.
"Nah, I can keep this up all day." came the speedster's prompt reply.
"Good." Nightwing stared seriously into the faces of his League colleagues. "If we continue with the same tactics as before we will get nowhere and only continue to destroy Washington." he stated with nothing but seriousness.
"What do you propose to do?" it was Hal who posed the question.
"Wait a minute!" interrupted Plastic Man with a deep frown. "Who made you leader?"
"Indeed! Just because Batman made all that weird talk doesn't mean you can come and boss us around!" nodded Icon, crossing his arms. A few other members murmured in agreement.
"Moreover, he didn't even have the courage to leave the team in front of everyone but with a stupid video message." came a disgusted snort.
Nightwing's left eye twitched and repressed the urge to stab him with a wing-ding.
"Let's all calm down." intervened Superman to prevent the former Boy Wonder from becoming more violent toward some League members. Although his voice sounded outwardly calm, Nightwing knew he was in truth also annoyed. "Nightwing is a very important member of this team and is one of the best, if not the best, leader we could have ever had. I trust him with my own life."
Green Arrow nodded seriously. "Our Kryptonian is right." he addressed the vigilante directly. "Ignore these idiots who don't know your true worth. Now, since there is a monster near us that is destroying this city, how about illustrating your plan so I can get back to Star City in time for dinner?"
"Did someone say dinner?" came Flash's question from the other side of the communicator.
Nightwing laughed for a moment, nodding in thanks to his two uncles before turning serious. "Okay, here's the plan."
Nightwing waited patiently on the rooftop as he carefully observed his teammates. He had to wait for the right moment.
Superman flew toward Doomsday who was still distracted by the Flash. He struck him first with his heat vision, causing him to stagger backward and then hit him with all the force he could in the chest.
From behind Wonder Woman tied him up with her lasso and crashed him to the ground many times. She pulled him toward her and gave him a fierce punch on what could be considered his jaw. She then spun him around many times and released him, throwing him toward the two Green Lanterns.
Hal and Guy created different weapons (swords, chainsaws, anvils, etc.) and hit him with such speed that it was hard to notice the two superheroes' changing weapons.
Green Arrow stretched his bow and fired six arrows at the same time which, as soon as they made contact with Doomsday, exploded, creating a cloud of smoke. The enemy roared in pain from all these attacks and stepped back, futilely trying to hit someone.
As soon as the fog of smoke vanished, Aquaman threw his trident, which stuck painfully in the monster's eye, which let out a scream that made the earth rumble.
He did not even have time to dislodge the trident that Flash, running at a speed so fast that it cannot even register, slammed his fist into his chest, sending him flying away. He then ran after him and hit him again in the back, and then repeated the process a couple of times.
Hawkman and Hawkwoman blocked Doomsday and, joining forces, flew high into the sky, dragging him in seconds with them to a height of about one hundred meters. Immediately afterwards they swooped down until the villain's head violently crashed to the earth, creating a very large crater.
The very hard impact caused a medium-sized earthquake, causing some members of the League to lose their balance. The building on which Nightwing was standing trembled but fortunately remained standing.
In addition, a huge amount of dust and smoke rose, momentarily obscuring the battle. The heroes remained silent and in fighting stance, ready if Doomsday should rise again.
A few seconds passed and the villain rose again, looking fiercely at his opponents. With a menacing growl he lunged at all of them but they avoided him by scattering. The heroes noticed that Doomsday was more shaky and dazed than usual.
A good clue.
Superman took Black Canary's arm, twirled her once and threw her with all his might toward the enemy. Doomsday turned around only to receive a hard kick to the face.
On the other side Wonder Woman caught Canary before she could fall and approached her enemy. The blonde took a deep breath and released her canary scream, then gave an apologetic smile to the Amazon who grimaced in pain.
The villain screamed and backed away a couple of steps, lowering his head and instinctively holding his head in his hands.
Nightwing smirked.
It was his turn.
Nightwing ran and, right on the edge of the roof, jumped. As he flew (many heroes who could fly always claimed that the first Robin could practically fly because of his extraordinary acrobatic skills) he combined his escrima sticks into a single stack, now longer.
He felt the adrenaline pumping throughout his body as he got closer and closer to his enemy.
He raised his weapon in the air and struck the monster's skull with all his might. Doomsday screamed in pain and tried to push it back but the acrobat was faster.
He twisted his body backwards and let himself fall as he disconnected his staff, getting the escrima sticks again. Immediately afterwards he raised the electricity level of his weapons to the maximum, more than 100.000 volts, and connected them to Doomsday's chest.
The enemy's entire body was shot through with a multiplicity of very high voltage electrical discharges. He screamed in pain as the electricity continued to run through his body.
Electric sparks could even be seen crackling out of his body because of how high and powerful the electricity emanating from the vigilante's escrima sticks was.
Nightwing sprinted away from the enemy and, without much concern, let himself fall.
From about ten meters.
He heard a gasp coming from the other heroes and saw a red and blue spot flying toward him.
But Nightwing was faster.
When he was seconds away from crashing to the ground (though he would still be rescued by Superman) he grabbed his grappling hook and fired, the line connecting firmly to a tree that had miraculously remained standing and flew into it.
Eventually he came down from the tree with his typical defiant grin as he ignored the deadly stares he was receiving.
"Are you crazy?" shouted Flash, vibrating from his seat with worry.
"You gave me a heart attack, boy!" Green Arrow brought a hand to his heart.
Black Canary ran up to him and jabbed him in the chest with her finger. "Don't you ever do that again! You scared me to death!"
"I can't promise that." smiled the vigilante, this time with more warmth.
"God, it's a good thing Batman is not here otherwise you would have given him gray hairs behind that cowl!" breathed a sigh of relief Guy.
Those who knew the true identities of Batman and Nightwing stiffened, fearing that Guy's comment (for once genuine and not presumptuous) might upset the 20 year old.
Nightwing initially froze in place and they already feared the worst, but soon an amused laugh escaped his lips, surprising them "He tells me that all the time." he chuckled.
They noticed that he had used the present tense instead of the past tense, probably so as not to arouse suspicion. If they hadn't known better, they wouldn't have even noticed that little detail.
"All right, we get that Nightwing is a thrill-seeker but I'll remind you that we're facing Doomsday." Hawkman stated, crossing his arms.
Nightwing smiled and pointed to the aforementioned monster whose body was still shot through with electrical discharges. A few seconds later, the electricity disappeared and Doomsday stood still as a tense silence came over the heroes.
Doomsday took a trembling step forward, causing the heroes to stiffen, but the next second he fell unconscious, causing the earth to shake a little.
Nightwing smiled. "That's for the Wing-Cycle, asshole!" he shouted, raising his fist in the air in clear jubilation, then followed by the other heroes.
The super-force heroes picked up Doomsday and took him somewhere in space far away from Earth (Dick didn't know the exact details and frankly didn't care all that much) while the other heroes scoured the city, looking for any injured or missing people.
Nightwing turned as he heard a pair of footsteps approaching him and raised an eyebrow under his mask when he saw that it was a reporter.
Andrew Penny, the nametag said.
It had been a while since he had been interviewed as a hero and vigilante.
"Mr. Nightwing, do you have time for a few questions?"
The 20 year old smiled his typical smile, finding the situation quite amusing.
If he had been like Dick Grayson, the reporter would not have even bothered to ask and would have pestered and peppered him with questions.
"Sure, go ahead."
The first questions were about the fight against Doomsday and the supervillain in general, to which he voluntarily answered.
"I have a question that everyone at home has been asking for some time." the reporter continued. "Is it true that The Batman has retired from the Justice League?"
Nightwing, professional that he is (one of the best), was unperturbed by his father's mention and continued to smile. "The news is true."
Andrew nodded and made notes on his notepad before returning his gaze to the vigilante, an excited smile on his face at being the first to report this news that will be spread like wildfire.
Also maybe the boss will give him a few raises.
"Can you tell us why?"
"He's busy with Gotham." he answered briefly.
He frowned at the brevity but wrote anyway. "I have a question for you directly from the citizens of Bludhaven." Nightwing shivered inwardly, already not liking the subject of the question. "They wonder where their hero has gone. You have been missing for a few months and, other than today, have been spotted a few times in Bludhaven."
And for that I have Jason to thank, otherwise today would have been Nightwing's first reappearance.
"I've been very busy this past period. Personal matters." he replied vaguely, though there was undoubtedly a trace of truth in it.
"So you have abandoned Bludhaven?"
Nightwing almost winced. "I wouldn't really say abandon it," he began slowly. "just that I have other priorities right now."
And there was a kernel of truth in that too.
"And will there be, one day, Nightwing's return to the city of Bludhaven?"
"Only time will tell." he replied with a shrug.
"There is a rumor in Gotham that the hero of Bludhaven has inherited the cape and cowl of the Dark Knight. Any comment?" the reporter looked at him intently, his mouth pressed into a line waiting for the scoop of the century, probably.
"It makes no difference whether I inherited it or not. Batman has been spotted in Gotham a lot lately, right?" Andrew nodded. "Well, that's all you care about. If you think Batman might die," he gave a smirk that startled the poor reporter. "you're just poor fools." he threw a smoke ball on the ground and smoke flooded the air.
When the reporter stopped coughing from the smoke after it dissipated, he noticed that the vigilante had disappeared.
"I shouldn't be surprised." Andrew muttered. He looked down at his notes and a smirk broke out on his face. "This news will be all over the world in a few minutes!"
"Good interview."
Nightwing turned and saw his girlfriend smiling. He smiled back as he approached her and pulled her to him, lips brushing sensually against each other. "Really?" he murmured, his warm breath making Canary shiver.
The blonde wrapped her arms around his body and kissed him firmly as she pulled her own body closer to her boyfriend's until there was not an inch of distance left. They both murmured contentedly into the kiss.
Black Canary pulled away slightly, her lips still close to the vigilante's. "I have a question."
"Go ahead." he said with his playboy smile.
"How will we get home?"
Nightwing quickly lost his smile and groaned.
Eventually they returned home thanks to Hal Jordan.
Nightwing, or rather Dick Grayson, smiled as he was scolded by his siblings for keeping them away from the battle.
They were so cute when they were worried!
He made no comment when, during the night, they all entered the major Wayne's room and huddled around him and Dinah.
He gave a sad smile in the darkness as he watched his whole family sleep peacefully.
He made a promise to himself, similar to another he had made to himself long before, a few months after Bruce had taken him in and become Robin.
I will protect my family, no matter at what price or sacrifice.