Cassandra Cain stood atop an 8-story tenement in the Zee Moores, inspecting
Bludhaven's skyline. There were several differences in the overall
appearance of the city when she compared it to Gotham, her new hometown.
Gotham's eerie, almost gothic architecture, ornately decorated with
foreboding statues of gargoyles and other mystical beasts, was designed to
instill fear. The idea, she surmised, was to have the city's countenance
serve as a criminal deterrent, and there was no doubt that the frightening
decorations helped foster the terror that her new mentor found so easy to
inflict on his prey.
Bludhaven was different, Batgirl observed. There is the same sense of overwhelming unease, perhaps even a bit moreso. But in Bludhaven, fear isn't perpetuated by architecture or by accident. The citizens here remain afraid for their lives simply because their lives are in almost constant danger. Sure, the run-down and haggard appearance of the city doesn't help, but fear permeates everything in Bludhaven, and it runs far deeper than aesthetics and visual perception. Everything feels cold to the touch, even in summer. A deep breath reveals the stench of violence and bitter taste of corruption.
Cassandra felt the city's atmosphere lash out at her senses, and her ears felt the worst of it. Gunshots, screams, sirens…the maniacal laughs of Bludhaven's predators, and the quickly retreating footsteps of their intended victims.
It reminded her of something Robin had once said. "We could go visit Nightwing, but he's back in Bludhaven. That place give me the creeps."
Cassandra had no idea what "the creeps" were, but she was fairly certain that she had just gotten some.
In the thick of this madness was her newfound teacher, Nightwing. Having met only a few times, Cassandra's opinion of the young daredevil wasn't completely complimentary. They had never worked together to any great extent, but he didn't carry himself as a true warrior should. His speech was almost always driven by emotion. He often seemed impatient or frustrated. In contrast to that outward impression, his results were unquestionable. The first time they met, during No Man's Land in Gotham, the Bat had instructed Nightwing to take control of Blackgate prison. The shocked looks on the faces of Azrael and Robin demonstrated their belief that the task was impossible. Cassandra also overheard Oracle discussing her anger at the Bat for assigning such a mission to one person, and her fear that Nightwing may not come back alive.
But he did. Not exactly unscathed, but he survived. And Blackgate was his.
Her trouble with the written word prevented her from doing a thorough investigation of Nightwing, but the visual files in the Batcave and Clocktower revealed a proven track record with Batman, with the Titans, and on his own. The only two people she truly trusted, Batman and Oracle, had the utmost faith in Nightwing's abilities.
Why? What was she missing?
So when Dick told her to sleep, then meet him atop this tenement after his patrol at 3am, she hadn't exactly obeyed. He said that she would need to trust to learn to be a partner, and she wasn't quite convinced that she could trust him with her training. The man she'd met that morning wasn't the hot-tempered, emotional person she had perceived him as. He was very casual and at ease. Affable and funny, almost aloof. But when he began to speak to her as a student, Cassandra found herself mesmerized by his intellectual prowess and quiet confidence. Cassandra likened his personality to a light switch with three settings, and was impressed by his ability to move between them.
The first was obviously Dick Grayson, the man she had met for the first time that morning. The second was Nightwing, the hero whose accomplishments spoke for themselves. And the third…that was the bad one. The third is the man Dick Grayson becomes when the Bat is near.
That was something she'd learned while following after him on his patrol, being careful to avoid detection. Batgirl observed from afar as Nightwing tackled his routine patrol, and was impressed with his fighting skill. Obviously trained by the Bat, Nightwing incorporated his natural gifts and tactical mind into his battle approach. There were also fighting styles that Cassandra didn't recognize, most likely learned from his warrior Titan friends, who had trained with the Amazons, Titans of Myth, and the Warlords of Okaara. The blend made him unpredictable to most, and Batgirl made mental notes to try some of his moves out in her dojo.
About an hour into the patrol, Batgirl discovered the most shocking thing about Nightwing…
There were times when she couldn't read his body language. The way he moved and his perception of movement were unlike anything she'd encountered before. It came in glimpses at first, mostly while he was in combat with unworthy opponents. But then she noticed his head cock slightly to one side, a telltale sign of Oracle calling him over his earpiece, notifying him of something that required his attention.
Batgirl readied a line to follow as Nightwing began his trek across town. After no more than five minutes, he'd lost her. She couldn't keep up. It had been simple enough at first, lagging behind, anticipating his movements. But when he approached a traffic cloverleaf in the center of Bludhaven, a spot where highways, train tracks, and bridges all converged to create a nightmarish maze of motor activity, she was unable to follow.
Cassandra watched slack-jawed as Nightwing bounced from the rooftops of moving vehicles to utility poles and overhead signs and back again, steadily moving forward all the while. At one point, he rolled underneath an oncoming bus, but before Batgirl could fully clutch her jumpline in one hand and medkit in the other, Nightwing emerged on the other side and launched himself upward again, landing smoothly in the back of a pickup truck.
When it was over, when she watched him reach the far side of the enormous intersection, that was when she learned that the real Nightwing is nothing like the man she'd assumed he was. Though he was fully immersed in his daredevil acrobatic feat, smiling the whole time, his senses were obviously still very acute…
Because when he reached the far side, he adjusted the magnifying lenses in his mask as Cassandra had done only moments earlier, then looked directly at her, stuck his tongue out, and waved mockingly.
Batgirl scowled as Nightwing moved away. She sat down on the rooftop and contemplated her inability to read the way he moved. Cassandra had been trained from birth to master that skill. Human movement was a "language" she spoke fluently, perhaps better than anyone on Earth. She had encountered a handful of opponents with similar skills in her travels, but never anyone like Nightwing. It seemed as though he understood movement as she did, yet somehow spoke a different language. In short, to the best of her knowledge, Nightwing had apparently created a method of movement that was completely his own. His perception of what the human body is capable of was unlike anything she'd ever seen.
Even with her level of mastery, she stopped cold when she saw the intersection below her, and began looking for a good spot to secure a jumpline to start her way across.
Nightwing, on the other hand, didn't even break stride. He saw exactly what she had, only his instinctive reaction was, "Okay, I'm gonna grab that utility pole, swing onto the bridge, roll under that bus, vault into the pickup," and so on.
It made her just a little jealous and…what was it Oracle always said? Pissed off. That's it. Batgirl was pissed off. So she decided to start following orders and headed for the tenement. Upon arrival, she simply listened, watched, and waited.
Nearly two hours had passed before she heard his feet hit the rooftop. As she expected, he was trying to sneak up behind her. Cassandra readied herself as he approached. Once he was within range, she struck. In the blink of an eye, Batgirl leapt into the air, spun, and lashed out at Nightwing with her foot.
"Batgirl!" he shouted as he fell backward, avoiding the blow. She scared him half out of his skin.
Cassandra landed gracefully and removed her cowl. "Got you."
"You ALMOST got me," Nightwing said amusedly.
"No. Got you," Cassandra replied, pointing to Dick's face.
Dick reached up and touched his face, noticing at once that something was missing…
Batgirl had kicked his Nightwing mask off of his face. On purpose.
"Whoa."
"You lose me, I scare you," Cassandra stated simply. There was no smile on her face, but there was a slight twinkle in her eyes as she spoke.
She's learning fast, Dick thought. "Fair enough. You ready to fly?" he asked as he reattached his mask.
Cassandra nodded confidently now that she felt she had a better understanding of what Nightwing meant when he said "fly."
He guided her to the edge of the building's rooftop.
"Give me your decel launcher," he ordered, holding out his hand.
Batgirl obeyed without question, surrendering the device that provided her decel and jumplines.
Nightwing then pointed across the narrow street to the building opposite them, which was identical in height. "Okay, I want you to jump to the other rooftop."
Cassandra briefly examined the distance of the jump, then shook her head. "No. Too far."
"Trust me, Cassandra. Just try to get as much height as possible into your jump and you'll be fine."
"Too far!"
Nightwing's eyes narrowed and his voice deepened. "Batgirl, JUMP!"
Trust, Batgirl thought as she took two strides and launched herself from the rooftop. She knew right away that she wasn't going to make it, but held her focus on her intended destination. Just as she reached the apex of her jump, she noticed a shadow looming over her.
Nightwing was above her, having achieved more height and velocity from his jump. When he noticed her height peak, he reached down and grabbed her wrists, then smiled as she instinctively did the same. Now anchored to him, Cassandra felt herself momentarily lifted as Nightwing took control of her direction. He then abruptly tucked into a forward spin, pulling her after him. He released her as he completed his rotation, literally propelling her forward into the air.
She easily covered the remainder of the distance between the two rooftops and landed pat, then turned quickly and scanned the area below her for Nightwing.
"Thanks for the jumpline," a voice said from behind her. She whirled around to face him.
"Again!" she shouted excitedly.
Dick laughed, glad that Cassandra was enjoying herself. "Okay, I'm ready when you are."
Over the next several minutes, they repeated the stunt three more times, ending up back where they started. Batgirl's energy seemed boundless, and Dick was fairly certain that he'd finally found someone who loved flying as much as he did. Tim, Bruce, and even Barbara had all accompanied him many times on his acrobatic jaunts across Gotham and Bludhaven at the end of their patrols. They loved the rush, but the biting air and flowing adrenaline wore them out fast. Dick never understood that. He could spend all night flipping and soaring across the skyline, and would freely admit that responding to a crime in progress was often an unwelcome distraction from his nightly flights.
Cassandra loved every minute of it, and her natural mobility and advanced acrobatic skill allowed her to keep up. Nightwing was convinced that after a few months of flying with him, Batgirl might be able to match him stunt- for-stunt. He landed next to her after completing their fourth jump, and started reeling in his line.
"Now you!" Batgirl demanded.
"Now me what?"
"You jump, I throw," she responded.
Nightwing laughed and motioned for her to sit down. "Cass, you would have to eat a LOT more pizza to be able to throw me. I'll have Babs work up some visual files for you that'll demonstrate the importance of counterbalance and weight. As fun as it is, I'm not trying to teach you to fly tonight."
"No more flying?" Cassandra asked forlornly.
Dick smiled. "We'll fly some on the way home. The idea was to see how willing a partner you are. You did extremely well," he said with a grin as he threw an arm around her.
Cassandra beamed, leaning in a bit for the congratulatory show of affection. This was a very rare thing for her growing up. "Praise" was a word that Oracle had to explain to her, though she never knew it could feel this way. The Bat had told her she'd done well many times, but this wasn't the same for many reasons.
First, Dick was smiling, so his words seemed that much more genuine. Second, his praise didn't seem conditional. Cassandra had the feeling that if she hadn't taken so quickly to Nightwing's flying, he would still be pleased with her for trying. Dick reminded her of Alfred in that way. As a result, there was a lot less pressure, which was why she found the flying so exhilarating and fun. Fun was another thing she wasn't accustomed to.
And lastly, Cassandra was a willing participant. Nightwing taught her things she wanted to learn, and seemed just as interested in her reaction to the training as he was in how well she performed. Nightwing is simply a natural partner and leader, and a part of that, Cassandra reasoned, is making you *want* to work with him. The Bat and her father were excellent teachers, but both are obsessed with successes and failures…especially failures. Neither was big on praise, either.
"Something on your mind?"
Batgirl was shaken from her reverie as Nightwing stood abruptly and returned her launcher.
"No. What next?"
"Well, we've established that you fall very easily into rhythm with someone, at least when you're having fun," Dick answered.
Cassandra smiled her reply. "Fun."
"You and I made a good team just now, and I think you're starting to get the hang of what it takes. You trusted me completely, you didn't panic, and you let yourself have a good time. You understand the point of what we just did?"
Batgirl didn't hesitate. "Yes. What one person can't, two people can."
"Right. It's all about teamwork. Two people, five people, five hundred people…it doesn't matter. What we do is dangerous, and the more we work together, the safer we are out here," Dick said sincerely.
Cassandra narrowed her eyes. "Then why Bat fight alone? Why you alone here?"
"I'm here because Bludhaven needs help. I'm not alone here by choice, though sometimes it is nice to be on your own. After working with Batman and the Titans for so long, I guess I needed to know that I could count on myself. That lasted a while, but now I've got plenty of help. Babs is always close by, so to speak. Tim stops by some, and so do some of my friends. And I've got a partner as a cop, too."
"Now me," Cassandra said proudly.
"That's right, Cass. Now I've got you, too. As for Bruce, that's a different story. Bruce started the same way I did. Talking about how he changed would take the rest of the day."
"No. Let's fly," Batgirl said with a grin as she launched her jumpline and headed for the ledge. Dick matched her stride and they both kicked off the roof together.
"We're gonna get along just fine, Cass!" Dick shouted above the whipping wind as Batgirl's line grew taut and she raised abruptly out of his line of sight.
Nightwing closed his eyes and smiled, waiting until that last precious moment to launch his decel line to slow his descent. It caught and held, and didn't pull tight until Dick reached street level, allowing him the illusion of jumping from the ground like a rocket as the line's elasticity yanked him back into the air.
He aimed himself so that he'd pass Batgirl at top speed, giving her a mocking "meep meep" as he did so.
Nightwing released the line when it began to slack, still rising at top speed. He rode out his momentum and enjoyed his freefall once again.
"Man, something tells me that guiding the next generation of heroes shouldn't be this much FUN!" he yelled.
"Meep meep!" Batgirl exclaimed as she passed him on her way up.
Nightwing and Batgirl's high-flying hijinks continued until daybreak.
Okay, maybe a *little* longer than that, but don't tell Batman.
Bludhaven was different, Batgirl observed. There is the same sense of overwhelming unease, perhaps even a bit moreso. But in Bludhaven, fear isn't perpetuated by architecture or by accident. The citizens here remain afraid for their lives simply because their lives are in almost constant danger. Sure, the run-down and haggard appearance of the city doesn't help, but fear permeates everything in Bludhaven, and it runs far deeper than aesthetics and visual perception. Everything feels cold to the touch, even in summer. A deep breath reveals the stench of violence and bitter taste of corruption.
Cassandra felt the city's atmosphere lash out at her senses, and her ears felt the worst of it. Gunshots, screams, sirens…the maniacal laughs of Bludhaven's predators, and the quickly retreating footsteps of their intended victims.
It reminded her of something Robin had once said. "We could go visit Nightwing, but he's back in Bludhaven. That place give me the creeps."
Cassandra had no idea what "the creeps" were, but she was fairly certain that she had just gotten some.
In the thick of this madness was her newfound teacher, Nightwing. Having met only a few times, Cassandra's opinion of the young daredevil wasn't completely complimentary. They had never worked together to any great extent, but he didn't carry himself as a true warrior should. His speech was almost always driven by emotion. He often seemed impatient or frustrated. In contrast to that outward impression, his results were unquestionable. The first time they met, during No Man's Land in Gotham, the Bat had instructed Nightwing to take control of Blackgate prison. The shocked looks on the faces of Azrael and Robin demonstrated their belief that the task was impossible. Cassandra also overheard Oracle discussing her anger at the Bat for assigning such a mission to one person, and her fear that Nightwing may not come back alive.
But he did. Not exactly unscathed, but he survived. And Blackgate was his.
Her trouble with the written word prevented her from doing a thorough investigation of Nightwing, but the visual files in the Batcave and Clocktower revealed a proven track record with Batman, with the Titans, and on his own. The only two people she truly trusted, Batman and Oracle, had the utmost faith in Nightwing's abilities.
Why? What was she missing?
So when Dick told her to sleep, then meet him atop this tenement after his patrol at 3am, she hadn't exactly obeyed. He said that she would need to trust to learn to be a partner, and she wasn't quite convinced that she could trust him with her training. The man she'd met that morning wasn't the hot-tempered, emotional person she had perceived him as. He was very casual and at ease. Affable and funny, almost aloof. But when he began to speak to her as a student, Cassandra found herself mesmerized by his intellectual prowess and quiet confidence. Cassandra likened his personality to a light switch with three settings, and was impressed by his ability to move between them.
The first was obviously Dick Grayson, the man she had met for the first time that morning. The second was Nightwing, the hero whose accomplishments spoke for themselves. And the third…that was the bad one. The third is the man Dick Grayson becomes when the Bat is near.
That was something she'd learned while following after him on his patrol, being careful to avoid detection. Batgirl observed from afar as Nightwing tackled his routine patrol, and was impressed with his fighting skill. Obviously trained by the Bat, Nightwing incorporated his natural gifts and tactical mind into his battle approach. There were also fighting styles that Cassandra didn't recognize, most likely learned from his warrior Titan friends, who had trained with the Amazons, Titans of Myth, and the Warlords of Okaara. The blend made him unpredictable to most, and Batgirl made mental notes to try some of his moves out in her dojo.
About an hour into the patrol, Batgirl discovered the most shocking thing about Nightwing…
There were times when she couldn't read his body language. The way he moved and his perception of movement were unlike anything she'd encountered before. It came in glimpses at first, mostly while he was in combat with unworthy opponents. But then she noticed his head cock slightly to one side, a telltale sign of Oracle calling him over his earpiece, notifying him of something that required his attention.
Batgirl readied a line to follow as Nightwing began his trek across town. After no more than five minutes, he'd lost her. She couldn't keep up. It had been simple enough at first, lagging behind, anticipating his movements. But when he approached a traffic cloverleaf in the center of Bludhaven, a spot where highways, train tracks, and bridges all converged to create a nightmarish maze of motor activity, she was unable to follow.
Cassandra watched slack-jawed as Nightwing bounced from the rooftops of moving vehicles to utility poles and overhead signs and back again, steadily moving forward all the while. At one point, he rolled underneath an oncoming bus, but before Batgirl could fully clutch her jumpline in one hand and medkit in the other, Nightwing emerged on the other side and launched himself upward again, landing smoothly in the back of a pickup truck.
When it was over, when she watched him reach the far side of the enormous intersection, that was when she learned that the real Nightwing is nothing like the man she'd assumed he was. Though he was fully immersed in his daredevil acrobatic feat, smiling the whole time, his senses were obviously still very acute…
Because when he reached the far side, he adjusted the magnifying lenses in his mask as Cassandra had done only moments earlier, then looked directly at her, stuck his tongue out, and waved mockingly.
Batgirl scowled as Nightwing moved away. She sat down on the rooftop and contemplated her inability to read the way he moved. Cassandra had been trained from birth to master that skill. Human movement was a "language" she spoke fluently, perhaps better than anyone on Earth. She had encountered a handful of opponents with similar skills in her travels, but never anyone like Nightwing. It seemed as though he understood movement as she did, yet somehow spoke a different language. In short, to the best of her knowledge, Nightwing had apparently created a method of movement that was completely his own. His perception of what the human body is capable of was unlike anything she'd ever seen.
Even with her level of mastery, she stopped cold when she saw the intersection below her, and began looking for a good spot to secure a jumpline to start her way across.
Nightwing, on the other hand, didn't even break stride. He saw exactly what she had, only his instinctive reaction was, "Okay, I'm gonna grab that utility pole, swing onto the bridge, roll under that bus, vault into the pickup," and so on.
It made her just a little jealous and…what was it Oracle always said? Pissed off. That's it. Batgirl was pissed off. So she decided to start following orders and headed for the tenement. Upon arrival, she simply listened, watched, and waited.
Nearly two hours had passed before she heard his feet hit the rooftop. As she expected, he was trying to sneak up behind her. Cassandra readied herself as he approached. Once he was within range, she struck. In the blink of an eye, Batgirl leapt into the air, spun, and lashed out at Nightwing with her foot.
"Batgirl!" he shouted as he fell backward, avoiding the blow. She scared him half out of his skin.
Cassandra landed gracefully and removed her cowl. "Got you."
"You ALMOST got me," Nightwing said amusedly.
"No. Got you," Cassandra replied, pointing to Dick's face.
Dick reached up and touched his face, noticing at once that something was missing…
Batgirl had kicked his Nightwing mask off of his face. On purpose.
"Whoa."
"You lose me, I scare you," Cassandra stated simply. There was no smile on her face, but there was a slight twinkle in her eyes as she spoke.
She's learning fast, Dick thought. "Fair enough. You ready to fly?" he asked as he reattached his mask.
Cassandra nodded confidently now that she felt she had a better understanding of what Nightwing meant when he said "fly."
He guided her to the edge of the building's rooftop.
"Give me your decel launcher," he ordered, holding out his hand.
Batgirl obeyed without question, surrendering the device that provided her decel and jumplines.
Nightwing then pointed across the narrow street to the building opposite them, which was identical in height. "Okay, I want you to jump to the other rooftop."
Cassandra briefly examined the distance of the jump, then shook her head. "No. Too far."
"Trust me, Cassandra. Just try to get as much height as possible into your jump and you'll be fine."
"Too far!"
Nightwing's eyes narrowed and his voice deepened. "Batgirl, JUMP!"
Trust, Batgirl thought as she took two strides and launched herself from the rooftop. She knew right away that she wasn't going to make it, but held her focus on her intended destination. Just as she reached the apex of her jump, she noticed a shadow looming over her.
Nightwing was above her, having achieved more height and velocity from his jump. When he noticed her height peak, he reached down and grabbed her wrists, then smiled as she instinctively did the same. Now anchored to him, Cassandra felt herself momentarily lifted as Nightwing took control of her direction. He then abruptly tucked into a forward spin, pulling her after him. He released her as he completed his rotation, literally propelling her forward into the air.
She easily covered the remainder of the distance between the two rooftops and landed pat, then turned quickly and scanned the area below her for Nightwing.
"Thanks for the jumpline," a voice said from behind her. She whirled around to face him.
"Again!" she shouted excitedly.
Dick laughed, glad that Cassandra was enjoying herself. "Okay, I'm ready when you are."
Over the next several minutes, they repeated the stunt three more times, ending up back where they started. Batgirl's energy seemed boundless, and Dick was fairly certain that he'd finally found someone who loved flying as much as he did. Tim, Bruce, and even Barbara had all accompanied him many times on his acrobatic jaunts across Gotham and Bludhaven at the end of their patrols. They loved the rush, but the biting air and flowing adrenaline wore them out fast. Dick never understood that. He could spend all night flipping and soaring across the skyline, and would freely admit that responding to a crime in progress was often an unwelcome distraction from his nightly flights.
Cassandra loved every minute of it, and her natural mobility and advanced acrobatic skill allowed her to keep up. Nightwing was convinced that after a few months of flying with him, Batgirl might be able to match him stunt- for-stunt. He landed next to her after completing their fourth jump, and started reeling in his line.
"Now you!" Batgirl demanded.
"Now me what?"
"You jump, I throw," she responded.
Nightwing laughed and motioned for her to sit down. "Cass, you would have to eat a LOT more pizza to be able to throw me. I'll have Babs work up some visual files for you that'll demonstrate the importance of counterbalance and weight. As fun as it is, I'm not trying to teach you to fly tonight."
"No more flying?" Cassandra asked forlornly.
Dick smiled. "We'll fly some on the way home. The idea was to see how willing a partner you are. You did extremely well," he said with a grin as he threw an arm around her.
Cassandra beamed, leaning in a bit for the congratulatory show of affection. This was a very rare thing for her growing up. "Praise" was a word that Oracle had to explain to her, though she never knew it could feel this way. The Bat had told her she'd done well many times, but this wasn't the same for many reasons.
First, Dick was smiling, so his words seemed that much more genuine. Second, his praise didn't seem conditional. Cassandra had the feeling that if she hadn't taken so quickly to Nightwing's flying, he would still be pleased with her for trying. Dick reminded her of Alfred in that way. As a result, there was a lot less pressure, which was why she found the flying so exhilarating and fun. Fun was another thing she wasn't accustomed to.
And lastly, Cassandra was a willing participant. Nightwing taught her things she wanted to learn, and seemed just as interested in her reaction to the training as he was in how well she performed. Nightwing is simply a natural partner and leader, and a part of that, Cassandra reasoned, is making you *want* to work with him. The Bat and her father were excellent teachers, but both are obsessed with successes and failures…especially failures. Neither was big on praise, either.
"Something on your mind?"
Batgirl was shaken from her reverie as Nightwing stood abruptly and returned her launcher.
"No. What next?"
"Well, we've established that you fall very easily into rhythm with someone, at least when you're having fun," Dick answered.
Cassandra smiled her reply. "Fun."
"You and I made a good team just now, and I think you're starting to get the hang of what it takes. You trusted me completely, you didn't panic, and you let yourself have a good time. You understand the point of what we just did?"
Batgirl didn't hesitate. "Yes. What one person can't, two people can."
"Right. It's all about teamwork. Two people, five people, five hundred people…it doesn't matter. What we do is dangerous, and the more we work together, the safer we are out here," Dick said sincerely.
Cassandra narrowed her eyes. "Then why Bat fight alone? Why you alone here?"
"I'm here because Bludhaven needs help. I'm not alone here by choice, though sometimes it is nice to be on your own. After working with Batman and the Titans for so long, I guess I needed to know that I could count on myself. That lasted a while, but now I've got plenty of help. Babs is always close by, so to speak. Tim stops by some, and so do some of my friends. And I've got a partner as a cop, too."
"Now me," Cassandra said proudly.
"That's right, Cass. Now I've got you, too. As for Bruce, that's a different story. Bruce started the same way I did. Talking about how he changed would take the rest of the day."
"No. Let's fly," Batgirl said with a grin as she launched her jumpline and headed for the ledge. Dick matched her stride and they both kicked off the roof together.
"We're gonna get along just fine, Cass!" Dick shouted above the whipping wind as Batgirl's line grew taut and she raised abruptly out of his line of sight.
Nightwing closed his eyes and smiled, waiting until that last precious moment to launch his decel line to slow his descent. It caught and held, and didn't pull tight until Dick reached street level, allowing him the illusion of jumping from the ground like a rocket as the line's elasticity yanked him back into the air.
He aimed himself so that he'd pass Batgirl at top speed, giving her a mocking "meep meep" as he did so.
Nightwing released the line when it began to slack, still rising at top speed. He rode out his momentum and enjoyed his freefall once again.
"Man, something tells me that guiding the next generation of heroes shouldn't be this much FUN!" he yelled.
"Meep meep!" Batgirl exclaimed as she passed him on her way up.
Nightwing and Batgirl's high-flying hijinks continued until daybreak.
Okay, maybe a *little* longer than that, but don't tell Batman.