Chapter 4-Wings of the Shadow

(AN: Special thanks to those who review you guys are the best. That's right you heard me all you non-reviewers out there who've read my story so far. Shame on those who don't review when asked nicely! Anyway please review in anyway possible I would like that. Thanks!)

"Robin is what?" said Batman whose voice was nearly a whisper as the thought that he helped raise the descendant of a being of ultimate darkness.

"I'm sorry you have to hear this from me my friend, but I speak the truth about your adopted son. Robin came to see me shortly after an incident involving a metahuman that caused the powers inside him to awaken. Since then he has been trying to master his dark powers and understand them as one tries to understand a poison. Apparently he has been doing that for some time before he came to see me asking questions and seeking answers. I won't lie to you Batman he has progressed at an accelerated rate and has already been able to summon several Shadowkahn with a snap of fingers. I told him to go to the Bat Cave to see you and inform you of his new found abilities. However, I take it from the look on your face and the fact that you're even here means Robin has done neither. Care to explain why?" said Fate in a neutral voice, but with curiosity in his question.

Batman regain most of his composure after brief moment as the shock left him and the question Fate asked him replayed in his head. "We had an argument one night about family ethics involving trust and in my anger I had him...exiled for the lack of a better word. It was shortly after the next day that he was gone. He had taken theR-cycle and all thathe couldas he headed for Jump City to get way from me. After that I learned he had formed the Titans with a few of his superhero friends and became their leader," said Batman calmly.

"Whoa! Bat's you mean to tell me you exiled your own adopted son because of a simple argument over family ethics and trust? Jeez man that's cold," said Flash who was clearly surprised by Batman's actions involving Robin.

Just then a beep sound went off in Batman's utility belt telling him it was an emergency back at the cave. Batman plug the electronic device into the Justice Leagues holovid system in the conference room as it was a security camera feed. His Bat-computer was transmitting to the plug to give him the live feed that was being recorded. What they saw shocked them all as an unrecognizable figure was at Batman's workbench. The unknown figure was working with different electronic components and other things around the Bat Cave like he had been their before. "It's Robin and he's not wearing his normal uniform, but something else I've never seen before," said Batman watching as multiple figures that were dressed in black with glowing red eyes retrieving certain items that were too far for Robin to get while he was working.

"What are those guys? Are they ninjas, shinobi, and are they even human?" said Green Lantern watching the feed with interest.

"They are called Shadowkahn Green Lantern. They are both ninja and shinobi, but they are by far not human. They are warriors of shadow and whoever they serve they obey without question whether it's to protect or hurt someone," said Fate as they saw Robin stop working for a moment and turned his face to the camera for a moment before he spoke to one of his Shadowkahn and pointed to the camera.

"What did he just say?" said Wonder Woman only to find the camera disabled from multiple ninja throwing stars thrown by one of the Shadowkahn.

"Does that answer question?" said Flash sarcastically as the holovid shut down.

"Prepare the teleporters and send me to the Bat Cave I'm going to face him and get to the bottom of this matter," said Batman as he rushed out of the conference room to the main area of the tower where multiple heroes were.

By the time Batman was on the platform J'onn was already at the controls waiting for the Dark Knight to get into position. "Ready?" said J'onn knowing Batman was as he put in the coordinates to the Bat Cave.

"Hit it!" said Batman in a very angry voice and J'onn activated the teleporter sending the dark knight to the Bat Cave.

(Bat Cave)

Nightwing had just finished creating his utility belt from the now dismantled and then rebuilt one from his old Robin uniform. It was similar to Slade's, but it also had several similarities to the Batman's as well along with some quirks of his own design. His mask was thinner now then his old one, but it still had the same effect as the old one. "Perfect. Now to get out of here before he gets...," said Nightwing, but stopped when a flash of light illuminated the cave briefly and sure enough Batman appeared before him.

"Robin! What are you doing?" said Batman as angry as he ever could have been.

"First off I'm not Robin anymore. My name is Nightwing: The Wings of Shadow or just Nightwing for short if you want. As or what I'm doing I was just getting ready to leave with my friends here that are slowly becoming more like family to me. Something you seemed to have forgotten long after you exiled me away from here," said Nightwing whose calm demeanor turned cold with anger in his voice as his Shadowkahn appeared in front of him in ready stance in case Batman decided to go on the offensive.

"I exiled you because you didn't see things from my point of view and thattrust meant trust me and my decisions to hide things from you. Who is who beyond ones mask would be revealed to you on a need to know basis and at the time you didn't need to know," said Batman who couldn't believe they were having this argument.

"You knew Barbra was Batgirl yet you didn't tell me! Why? I'll tell you why because at the time in your 'infinite wisdom' we were going out. It wasn't because of a need to know basis you were afraid that if she knew who I was and I knew who she was it would cloud our judgment when we went out on patrol! It was only because of your fears and your paranoia that caused my exile and for Barbra to end our growing relationship. As far as I'm concerned it was all your fault and you know that as well as I do, but your ego as the Dark Knight as being the world's greatest detective and never being wrong makes you narrow minded. You never saw things from my point of view in life and that's what made me hate you the most. You always had to be right Bruce no matter what and I was always in your shadow (no pun intended) as the Boy Wonder in training!" said Nightwing whose anger rose to a fever pitch as his Shadowkahn with their red eyes all around him glowing as they stared at Batman.

"Robin...," said Batman who was immediately silence by Nightwing.

"I SAID MY NAME WAS NIGHTWING! REMBER IT!" yelled Nightwing causing the cave to shake with a great force before he motioned with his hand and the entire glowing eyed army of Shadowkahn released smoke grenades as they all vanished with Nightwing into the shadows.

"Batman this is Diana what is your situation with Robin in the Bat Cave? Fate said he sensed a disturbance in the mystic alignment coming from the Bat Cave," said Wonder Woman to Batman's ear piece receiver through the Watchtower's COM unit.

"He's not Robin anymore Diana at least he refuses to be called that and his hatred for me just made itself known. He had decided to call himself Nightwing now for his own personal reasons to step out of my shadow. I fear my ways as the Dark Knight have given the League a possible enemy, but I'm not completely sure. We will have to keep a careful eye on Nightwing's behavior in the near future to determine that," said Batman to his ear piece communicator.

"All right then well teleport you back while Fate takes care of observing your adopted son since only he can. Although in my opinion I think at this point he's already declared his independence from you with prejudice," said Diana back to COM unit.

"I know Princess it was clear during our little conversation that we had only moments ago. And it's because of that I'm terrified beyond all means at knowing that it was me who helped feed this darkness that now reside within him, and that he may not be able to control it if he pushes himself too hard," said Batman whose voice had a bit of worry in it and Diana knew what it meant.

"Will deal with it if it comes to that, but for now will monitor the situation and move in before it becomes dangerous," said Diana reassuringly.

"You mean when HE becomes dangerous don't you?" said Batman as he was then beamed back to the Watchtower before Diana could answer him.

(Gotham City: Central Gotham Apartment Complex)

Nightwing arrived through his shadow portal with only two Shadowkahn in tow rather then the army he created in the cave. He decided it would be best to have them standing by should he need them in the near or distant future. The rooms in the apartment looked like any normal apartment with normal furniture and a normal cable TV. "Stand guard hidden in the shadows and if anyone tries to enter without identifying themselves knock them out and detain them till morning. Understand?" said Nightwing to his two shadows.

"Yes master Nightwing," said the shadow to his right as both went to a wall and became disguised as part of the shadow within the apartment furniture.

Nightwing went to the bed room and with a wave of his hand opened a portal that had consumed the bed since he wouldn't need it. 'Meditation is all I need,' thought a tired Nightwing as he sat down in the center of where the bed was suppose to be and went into a meditative state to focus his energy.

'So how does it feel to release that stress of your back and chest? I bet it felt really good didn't it?' said the devil's advocate in Nightwing's mind and would have smiled had it been given an actual mouth.

'Yeah it did. It felt...good. It was like I had something inside me become free at that moment. You know you still haven't told me who you are, but from what Fate told me you must be ancestor? Right?' said Nightwing mentally to his devil's advocate with curiosity.

'You are correct my boy. I am in fact Shadogun or rather his spirit that lives in your subconscious mind, but I still like being called devil's advocate. However, I think it doesn't matter since you now know who I am so I'll digress from such things,' said Shadogun seriously.

'Why didn't you tell me who were in the beginning?' thought Nightwing wanting to understand his ancestor better.

'What would be the challenge in that Nightwing? If I told you then you would have been less interested who was talking to you. I became a mystery and challenge for you to peak your interest and find more about me and your powers. I knew it was the only way to get you to understand your powers. Even when you were a child I found your potential to go beyond all expectations,' said Shadogun in Nightwing's mind.

'Why choose me of kids? Surely there were other potential children out there who could have been your ticket to a new life. Why choose me?' said Nightwing mentally.

'There were no others to choose from and if there possibly were others they wouldn't be around for another century or millennia. You were right for the taking because your mind was uncharted and I could sense it even as you were being developed. While growing in your mother's womb I could tell that you would want to grow up and learn many things. I knew you wanted to be apart of something great in the world when you were born and that is why you are the one...at last,' said Shadogun mentally in Nightwing's head.

'Wait! What do you mean at last?' thought Nightwing who was frowning on the outside of his face physically as well as mentally.

Before Shadogun could give him an answer an explosion could be heard in other room breaking Nightwing from his meditative state. 'Another time perhaps, but it looks like you have uninvited company,' said Shadogun in his successor's mind.

"Who ever it is going to find their stay very unpleasant," said Nightwing out loud as he walked to the door and went through it with his shadow powers to find the last person he expected to find in front of him.

"Why hello Robin I good it is to see you again after all this time. I like your new uniform it makes you look much more dangerous, but it seems the armor you place on your new suit is similar to mine. How very interesting that you would honor me by molding apart of your new look by taking things from mine. Its most unfortunate about yourlittle loft here. I always thought you were the tidy one of the Titans?" said Slade with his robots behind him and to the sides covering all exits of escape.

Nightwing cricked his neck and smile at Slade as if he was waiting for a challenge. "Its Nightwing now and if I knew you were coming over I would have gotten ready sooner and introduced you to two new friends of mine," said Nightwing and as if on cue his two Shadowkahn that were hiding in the shadows struck taking out several of Slade's robots from behind while Nightwing attacked Slade.

Slade found that Nightwing's new found powers other then summoning shadow warriors included faster movements, enhanced strength, and unimagined reflexes. "I see your ancestor's powers do wonders for the body when it comes to fighting Nightwing, but without them you are nothing without them," said Slade as he through a round house kick at Nightwing who caught it and threw the mastermind into the apartment wall.

"What makes you think I'm using my shadow powers to fight? If you really wanted me too though all you had to do was ask," said Nightwing who was slightly using his powers to fight Slade, but only a fraction of them; however, Slade didn't know that nor was he going to tell the man as he slowly got up from the ground.

"I see...so you are holding back on me in this fight. Interesting indeed Nightwing I can see why theBrotherhood of Evil has an interest in you and why they would want you in their ranks," said Slade secretly pulling out a trigger device behind him as Nightwing's two shadow warriors destroyed all his robots.

"I will never serve the Brotherhood of Evil willingly and you know it as much as they do Slade. You know as well as I do that if this power I wield serves people like you and them it will bring about a living apocalypse. One that would make Trigon's little attempt look like a sugar rushed 10 year olds temper tantrum gone south," said Nightwing.

"Perhaps my former apprentice, but to be honest I always knew that Trigon was in over his head to end the world in such a way. YOU however, are unique and if you surrender now I promise everyone in this hotel gets out of this alive," said Slade as he revealed the device in his hand that was a detonator to a bomb.

"You wouldn't dare," said Nightwing in a near demonic voice as his fangs in his teeth extended dangerously.

"Before I came in here with my robots I had them place multi-bomb booby traps on the key structural points of building Nightwing. They are on a timer and each has a proximity trigger to prevent anyone from getting close to them as well as a self-detonation device. If such a thing happens they will all explode 10 seconds after the first one. My design really that I created just in case someone or rather something tries disarming even one of them. I press the button on the detonator once the timer stops, but if I press it a second time then all four bombs will...well you know. You don't want everyone in the complex to die do you Nightwing? All the men, women, and children sleeping in their little beds unaware that their fate lies in the decision you make now that would force me to end their lives...with a push of a button," said Slade who was smiling now behind his mask.

"You're a disgusting, egotistical, and unrelenting asshole who should have been killed when you were a child or at least have had your remaining eye removed to cripple you," said Nightwing who saw Slade's remaining eye go into slit form as if Nightwing had hit a mental nerve in Slade's mind.

"That wasn't very nice Nightwing, but I'll cut you a break and strike a deal with you seeing as I owe for defeating Trigon. You will send your impressive shadow warriors away and head to the roof with me. When we get there a troop transport chopper will pick us up and we then head to the Brotherhood of Evil's HQ. I will then deactivate the bombs afterwards and I will have the bombs removed once you are more...properly restrained. Do we have a deal?" said Slade holding the detonator in his hand a little higher for Nightwing to see.

"This brings back a lot of memories of a similar situation you pulled with me before and you were serious then and I'm sure your serious now," said Nightwing as he turned his head to his Shadowkahn and nodded his head towards them to leave, which they obeyed, but not before glaring at Slade as a sign he would regret it later.

"I take it that was yes Nightwing. Let's go," said Slade as the two warriors walked up a flight of steps to the roof where shortly with enough waiting a troop transport chopper appeared and the two got in.

"Remember Slade you have to deactivate the timer or the building goes boom," said Nightwing as they were now in the air and Nightwing had been placed in restraints.

"Oh yes I did say that. I will do that right now," said Slade who pressed the button on the detonator once, which deactivated all four bombs in the hotel complex.

"At least you're a man of your word Slade I'll give you that much since I've known you," said Nightwing as he put his head back against the steel wall of the chopper with several robots aiming their tranquilizing weapons at him and fired to sedate him in case he tried something later.

"I said it before and I'll say it again Nightwing. A deal is a deal and as long as someone honors their half I will honor mine," said Slade as he sat in the opposite side to face his former apprentice now turned prisoner who was asleep while the attack chopper headed to their current destination. Salde knew thatthough this as not part of the Brotherhoods plan and would proabably get yelled at for it he really didn't care. Afterall...he had Nightwing in his grasp and that was all that mattered.

(A/N: Next chapter...I can't say as I just realized I would spoil everything. Sorry.)