Synopsis: Dick and Jason go out on their first mission in a long time, and the results have lasting, unwanted effects.
Their first mission together in years, or as Dick liked to put it, centuries. It's been awhile since Dick and Jason of all people have teamed up. After all, the two were complete opposites. Jason couldn't stand Dick for two minutes and Dick couldn't stand being without Jason for one. Regarding whether this was a good idea or not? Only time would tell. Or really two seconds because that's all it took for some Gotham criminal to peek out his tedious crime and for Jason to suddenly decide he hated Dick. Though Dick firmly believed it was not hate but rather a slight annoyance on one of Jason's bad days.
Yet when the Penguin's stupid schemes came to light and Jason was fully prepared to punish the other's moronic ideals into oblivion (for his stupidity as well as wasting their time) Jason could only describe his next emotion as hatred when Dick decided then, of all times, to reprimand Jason on the importance of not using a gun.
"Dick, now is not the time for your lectures on how and how not to fight!" Jason snapped angrily. "I know what I'm doing, and if I need some stupid morals rant about rainbows and ponies then I'll be sure to call you!"
Jason's angry scolding had ceased to affect Dick as the other only did a backflip and an effortless punch to the jaw of another crony. Jason blinked in confusion before contemplating the sudden silence and what it meant. It was then that he realized, through his burst of anger and moment of distraction, that stupid, backflipping Golden boy had cleared the warehouse.
"Not. A. Word," Jason stressed out as Dick shot him another victorious smirk. Ignoring him, Jason then turned to one of the collapsed men on the ground. The man's oversized trench coat reached the tips of his ears from his shrunken neck looking strikingly similar to a turtle hidden halfway in its shell. "So..." Jason said while grabbing the other by the coat's collar and dragging him up so that his short feet hung limply in the air. "What's the big plan?"
The man said nothing, only pursing his lips and looking away with an angry glare. Jason smiled. Defiance gave him excuses that Dick couldn't question. At least not until it became too violent, but that was awhile away. So, without hesitation, Jason punched the crony in his long, crooked nose, and watched the blood flow freely like twin rivers. "Come on," Jason taunted. "What's it going to take?" The man remained vigilantly silent though Jason prided in the sudden intake of air from his wheezing lungs when Jason pulled out a gun.
Jason only dug the gun deeper into the soft nook where the man's meaty jaw met with his sunken neck before tapping lightly against the gun's handle. "Choose your last words carefully." The man took another stuttering breath, but Jason didn't have time to slice off his fingers or shoot behind the knee where he knew it hurt. Instead, Dick had grabbed Jason's shoulder in a firm hold. "No killing," he said in a somewhat exasperated tone yet the warning was obvious, layered in his voice that bordered line upon Batman's own tone.
"That's it!" Jason shouted, turning on Nightwing. "They're criminals! Do you honestly expect them to learn with just a pat on the back and a "play nice"?!" Jason snarled in the other's face though Dick wasn't fazed, didn't even react to Jason's sarcastic taunt though that moron was probably internally laughing at Jason anyway. "I'm sick and tired of your silly little games. If you want to change the world you're going to have to make an example of it starting here and now! And if you want to continue playing naive little hunts with the same criminals every night, then be my guest, but don't get in my way when I'm doing something you can not!".
There was silence. Then Dick smiled. "Come on," he said. "Let's just do it my way tonight and if it doesn't work, you can go back to your gunslinging habits." Jason didn't even get a word of response in before Dick had side stepped him and hoisted the criminal, now bound and gagged, over his back.
And that was how they ended up here. "This is stupid," Jason said for the upteenth time while Dick flipped another christmas light over the side of the skyscraper where the bright greens and reds turned vivid and opaque in the reflection of the glass. "You've said that already," Dick countered with a pointed look at the other before returning to his lights and flipping hoops of wires out onto the lamp posts below. "Besides, this is more fun than Batman's way, and more human friendly than yours." Jason only rolled his eyes while crossing his arms and leaning his back against the cold cement of the roof top. Dick below only continued his exploits as Jason watched, unamused and utterly bored.
"It's not christmas," Jason commented at the night sky when the silence continued and his own thirst for blood died down to even more boredom. Nightwing, merely a blue light among the pitch darkness of black against the skylight only shrugged. "Penguins, cold, winter, christmas. It all made sense in my head." Dick then had the audacity to look sheepish as he glanced up at Jason. "It's been a while since I hung christmas lights with you."
Jason frowned. "I do not hang christmas lights," he growled under his breath though Dick only smiled beneath his domino mask with a slight, breathless laugh. "You were so excited for your first christmas it was adorable!" he laughed out though Jason's threatening glare, added with the red hood, prevented Dick from shouting it over the rooftops. But Dick only continued without hesitation. "So I figured we could do something fun together again."
Jason sighed, watched as his warm breath, now smoke, vanished into the midnight air. His gaze then turned to watch their prisoner now hanging forty feet in the air, upside down by a single string of lights. The man now panicking and writhing in a cocoon of red and green though, after Dick had dropped him a few feet, stopped to stare in wonder upon his own situation. "Only you would string the city with villains and call it family bonding."
"Of course!" Dick chimed gleefully, "Family bonding comes in all forms and sizes."
Jason gave him a dumbfounded look before closing his eyes and feigning sleep. "Sounds boring." he mumbled under his breath. "Especially if there's no killing involved." Dick pouted, and, after checking the crony was secure, leaped over the ridge of the building and landed next to Jason with a slight huff of amusement. "Just give it a try! We get to take out bad guys and have some bonding time while doing it! It's like killing two birds with one stone minus the killing."
Jason frowned. "I've already tried your method, and newsflash, it's not working. We need to pry information from this Penguin grunt even if I have to break every bone in his body to do it." Dick sighed before sitting on the ground next to Jason. "Your a lot like Bruce," he then commented and watched as it only took Jason a second to leap up from his reclined position and shout "I'm nothing like him!" in defiance. Dick immediately raised his hands in peace. "Fine, fine. Whatever lets you sleep at night," he added before walking over to the edge of the building where loops of christmas lights hung over the gargoyle's horns. Jason then watched as Dick kicked all but one of the wires down below.
There was the sudden sound of rushing wind, a whirring of moving cables, and a sudden muffled gasp followed by breathless silence and petrified screaming down below. Jason's eyes widened before he ran towards the edge and peered into the dark streets illuminated by the glow of man made lights. There the crony hung with half a foot of space between the crown of his head and the sidewalk as pedestrians looked on in horror. The Christmas lights, still dancing like a disco ball as he spun, seemed awfully cheery compared to the man's life threatening drop. Jason then turned to Dick with a raised eyebrow as the other shrugged in a playful manner. "I think he's ready to talk now. And newsflash. It worked."
But that had been some nights ago. Jason thought nothing of the matter, and with little care, continued his hunting missions in Gotham's streets. Until now.
Damn it. Damn Dick and his inferior ways. Damn it all!
Jason's gun must be stuck. Thats got to be the reason. Because there was no way, in hell, that Jason was having difficulty shooting a criminal because of a guilty conscious. Yet here he was with his trusted gun that he had checked thrice to ensure it wasn't broken at such a critical time, and yet it still wouldn't shoot. His finger just couldn't press the trigger as if some invisible force was holding him back, and even when he tried, Dick's bloody voice echoed in his head in warning. "Damn it!" Jason spat out angrily before punching the criminal in the temple and watching as the man flew backwards, collapsing unconscious into a puddle.
He would have to go on a trip to the red light district to correct this. Whatever this was. But first.
"Dick Grayson!" Jason shouted as he swung his legs forward into the glass paneling and watched the entire slide shattered. Window now broken, Dick looked up in shock from his position on the couch and watched as Jason literally swung into his apartment flat, once again seeming to have forgotten there was a door though truthfully they were trained for the element of surprise, before he marched his way towards Dick, ragged breathing and all. "This is all your fault!" Jason spat out, gun in hand.
Dick could only blink in confusion before sighing. "You owe me a window."
AN- First of all, Happy Thanksgiving! Second of all, good night!