Part 3: Unexplained Trust

Peter was just walking down a dark alleyway in the middle of the night. It's not his fault that a group of five goons attempted to mug him. Okay, that might have been a stupid move, but he did fight back, and beat a few of them up, but it was too many for him to take on alone, and that's when Nightwing came in.

Peter heard his voice before he saw him, his tone slightly playful but also threatening.

"5 to 1?" the hero quipped, "Now I don't think that's a fair ratio. Why don't we even the odds a little?"

With that, he landed next to Peter and started attacking his assailants, swinging punches and aiming kicks. Peter just stared at him in awe. He had seen this sort of fighting before, of course, it happens when you're a part-time semi Avenger, but he had never seen it done so… gracefully. Nightwing moved so fluidly, every movement as one single motion, and Peter just couldn't tear his eyes away.

The fight soon ended with all five of the goons unconscious, and Nightwing standing beside him, who hadn't even broken a sweat.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, thanks," Peter replied, dazedly.

Nightwing gave him an assessing look, taking in the suit that he wore.

"What's your name?"

"Huh?"

"What's your name?"

"Oh, uh it's 'Spiderman'."

Nightwing nodded his head slightly in acknowledgement.

"I thought you stayed in Queens. What are you doing all the way in Bludhaven?"

Peter stiffened slightly. He shouldn't tell any personal information to a stranger, no matter if he's a hero or not, but he felt drawn to him in a trust sort of way, as if he'd known him his whole life.

"It's kinda complicated," Peter explained," if I'm going to tell you, I would prefer to go somewhere where we are less likely to be mugged."

Nightwing thought for a moment.

"Okay," he agreed, "I'll take you to my place."

"My place" was a warehouse, Dick's 'base of operations' or 'headquarters', if you like. He watched Spiderman as he glanced over all the equipment, as if itching to get his hands on the tech.

"So," he asked the red-clad hero, "What are you doing so far from home?"

"Well, um," Spiderman began nervously, shuffling slightly, "It, uh, all kinda started yesterday I suppose. I came home from school and my Aunt, whom I live with, was pacing the living room. I asked her what was wrong and she told me that she had some news for me and asked me to sit on the sofa, which I did. She came to sit beside me and told me that, that, I was actually adopted."

Spiderman paused nervously again, while Dick's heart seemed to beat loudly within his chest, though he wasn't sure why

Spiderman continued," I guess I went into shock or something, and I ran off to my room, not wanting to believe her. My adoptive parents died when I was six, so I had lived with her most of my life. I didn't want it to be true, so I contacted a friend and, using a lab he had access to, we ran some DNA tests."

He passed for a moment, taking a shake breath, "As it turns out, I was adopted. My real parents were trapeze artists, The Flying Graysons, but they died about 10 years ago. I have a brother though, Dick Grayson, and he lives here in Bludhaven, so I came here to find him."

Dick just stared at him, his mouth dry and his breath coming shortly. It was him. This kid was his brother whom he had been looking for for the last 6 years, and after all that searching he was right in front of him.

"Are you sure," Dick asked, carefully, "that Dick Grayson is your brother?"

"Yes," Spiderman, Peter, Dick reminded himself, replied, "I mean, that's what the test results said. Why?"

"Look, Peter," Dick began, but was cut off when he saw Peter's eyes widen.

"H-how do you know my name?" he asked, "I-I never told you. How do you know?"

Dick glaced around the room anxiously as he tried to calm his beating heart and come up with a suitable response. How could he have slipped up like that?

"Well, you see," Dick began, turning away from Peter and staring at the wall opposite him, not willing to let Peter meet his eyes while he explained, "When I was 3 years old, my mom had another child, my brother. But my parents were poor and didn't have enough money to support both children, so they gave my brother up for adoption, in the hope that he would have a better life."

Dick paused, "Six years later, when I was 9, my parents were killed, and I was adopted myself. As it turned out, my adoptive father was actually Batman, and after much nagging, I got him to train me and I became known as Robin. 7 years later, we had an argument, and I struck out on my own as Nightwing. I moved to Bludhaven, became a cop, and have been pretty happy ever since."

Dick tilted his head up slightly, as he continued with his explanation, "It's been about 6 years though, since I started the search for my missing brother, but every time I've tried, I've come up empty. Granted, there aren't actually many things I know about my brother, having been so young at the time of his birth, but there are 3 things I do know for sure; He's 3 years younger than me, he was put up for adoption in Queens, and his name"

Dick paused to give a dramatic flair that he couldn't help.

"His name is Peter."