Hey guys, please excuse any mistakes I may have made. As you know, italics is personal thought, and bold italics is electronic communication. I do not own DC Comics of any of their characters. Thanks to those who reviewed last chapter, please do so again. Thank you for reading and enjoy!
Last Time:
"Oh yeah, he's crazy." Kid Flash muttered.
"If Deadshot likes him, he has to be some kind of weird." Artemis muttered.
"You do know that just because you say it quietly, doesn't really mean I can't hear you." Nightwing said.
Kid Flash and Artemis looked embarrassed.
"Sorry." They said.
Nightwing laughed.
"No, don't be. I'm very aware that I'm some kind of something." He said.
"Bats I like this one. Keep him." Red Hood commented, receiving a batglare.
"What? It's not like you haven't already decided to make him permanent." Red Hood defended.
"Hey, I haven't decided this is permanent." Nightwing said.
Red Hood and Robin exchange a look.
"I haven't!" Nightwing said, knowing what they were thinking.
"Oh yeah, he fits in." Black Canary said.
Nightwing groaned.
"I have things to do." Batman growled and ended the call.
"What things?" Robin asked.
"We're taking Nightwing out on patrol." Batman said.
"Okay, I thought you wanted me out of the fray and here you are throwing my in the middle of a huge mission and patrol!" Richard exclaimed.
Batman glared at him. Laughing, Red Hood clapped a hand down onto Nightwing's shoulder.
"This'll be fun." He grinned.
"Why did he think it was a good idea to shoot fire in a Rosenfield Timber plant?!" Nightwing yelled as he jumped over falling debris with Robin slung over his shoulder.
"His name is Firefly!" Red Hood yelled back, "It's kind of his thing!"
Both of them had Batman by the arms and were helping him out. Nightwing was carrying Robin in a fireman's carry. Well how the hell did I end up carrying Robin, and how did Batman end up getting hurt?! On my first patrol?!
Nightwing and Red Hood were patrolling the south and west side. They stood on a tall company office building. They made a good team. The two had stopped a bank robbery, a rape attempt, a kidnap attempt, and helped bust a drug ring. Patrol was almost over.
"Batman to Nightwing and Red Hood."
Nightwing and Red Hood's hand flew up to their comlinks as they answered.
"Responding." They said.
"Rosenfield Timber."
They began making their way to the plant.
"Firefly, Penguin, and Catwoman are here. Batman's holding off Penguin and Catwoman, but we need assistance! I can't hold Firefly! Now!"
"We're a few blocks away now!" Red Hood responded.
The two exchanged looks and increased their pace. They arrived in a matter of minutes. Nightwing and Red Hood could the flashes of orange light through the windows. No doubt this Firefly man. The two jumped off the roof and aimed for the windows.
"I'll help Batman. You help Robin." Red Hood shouted over the wind as they jumped through the windows causing glass shards to rain down with them.
As Nightwing landed, he tucked into a roll and quickly got to his feet with the grace of the acrobat he was. Nightwing started sprinting to Robin. The bird was barely dodging the fireballs Firefly threw at him. Nightwing made his presence known when he jumped and slammed both feet on the custom flamethrower. He jumped off into a flip. FIrefly stumbled off to the side in response. Firefly's attention turned onto him. Nightwing nodded to Robin and he nodded back.
"You're not the bat, but I'm sure you'll cook the same!" He yelled.
"Well yeah, we're both human…" Nightwing responded with a 'duh' tone as he flipped over Firefly.
Firefly just yelled louder and shot more fire. Nightwing noticed some of the logs near the wall catch fire.
"Hey, now, do you honestly think it's a good idea to shoot fire in a timber plant?!" Nightwing warned.
Firefly didn't seem to care as he shot more fire. Robin had been sneaking up behind Firefly to play with his suit. Nightwing acted as a decoy. All according to plan. Not really know what to do, Robin stabbed the gas tank feeding the flamethrower with a birdarang. FIrefly spun around.
"Robin! Move!" Nightwing yelled.
Robin dove out of the way of flames. The fire ignited the gas and began traveling up Firefly's suit. Nightwing rushed forward and ripped the tank off and dropped it. He then shoved Firefly and Robin into moving away from the flames as the tank exploded. The explosion threw everyone off their feet. Nightwing heard someone grunt in pain as he yelped when his back slammed into a metal pole. He saw Robin get thrown into a couple of boxes, and they fell on him. Firefly was nowhere to be found.
"-wing! Robin! Where are you?!" Nightwing heard Red Hood shout over the roar of flames.
"Here!" He yelled as he struggled to get up.
He groaned as he got onto his hands and knees. His ears were ringing slightly, but he forced himself to get up and go over to the logs Robin was under. Nightwing climbed up onto the boxes and looked around for Robin. He found him under one. Red Hood appeared out of the flames with Batman hanging off of him. Red Hood noticed Nightwing picking up Robin.
"Bats hit his head hard against the concrete. You and Rob okay?" Red Hood said.
"I was slammed against that pole." Nightwing gestured to it. "Robin was thrown into the boxes." Nightwing grunted as he helped support Batman and began hurrying out of the flames. "They fell on him." He finished.
"Some first patrol, huh?" Red Hood said with a breathy laugh.
"You're laughing?!" Nightwing said.
Red Hood stopped.
"Why did he think it was a good idea to shoot fire in a Rosenfield Timber plant?!" Nightwing yelled as he jumped over falling debris with Robin slung over his shoulder.
"His name is Firefly!" Red Hood yelled back, "It's kind of his thing!"
They were outside in the cool night air in minutes.
"Alfred! Bats and Robin were injured we're sending them through zeta together. Nightwing's hurt too, but he can stand." Red Hood said, not waiting for Alfred to respond.
Red Hood rushed the four of them to the nearest zeta tube and stuffed Robin and Batman inside and sent them. Red Hood then put himself and Nightwing in, it was a tight fit, and activated the tube. They stumbled out and helped Alfred with Batman and Robin. Nightwing couldn't bend down due to the combined aggravation of his ribs and back. Red Hood noticed this and went up to Nightwing and straightened his back.
"You need to take your shirt off and sit on the examination table." He said .
Nightwing began to protest but Red Hood was having none of it.
"Just do it." He growled.
Nightwing sighed and did as he was told. He painfully stripped his shirt off and sat down. He tried to look at his back but couldn't. He could, however, see the bruising on his chest where his broken ribs were. He checked the stab wound. It was healing nicely, but his recent activities aggravated it to redden. Jeez, I can't get a break. Red Hood came up to him and told him to stay there until Alfred came. It wasn't long until he did. The old butler poked and prodded at his back. He hissed in pain and arched away.
"How are the other two?" He asked.
"They're fine, Master Richard. Both may have a concussion, but we won't know until they wake." Alfred answered.
"That's" he hissed again, "good."
"You certainly bruised yourself very well. I'd think you tried to do this on purpose if I didn't know what happened, Master Richard." Alfred said.
Richard let out a breathy laugh.
"It seems everyone's out for my torso. It's because I look so good." He said.
He heard Jason laugh as he came in.
"Woah, that's a bruise. Daaaamn." He said and poked his back.
Richard arched his back away from the cold finger.
"Your hands are cold! And that hurt!" He yelped.
Only to cause Jason to place his whole hand on Richard's back. The male laughed as Richard yelped, jumped away, and complained to Alfred that Jason was molesting him.
Richard was laying in his hotel bed for the first time in days. A knock came at the door. Groaning he got up and answered it. Gordon was at it with food.
"Hey, heard you got roughed up from Batman." He said.
"You talked to Batman?" Nightwing asked.
"Yes, he also told me about the whole Nightwing business." Gordon said.
Richard looked at Gordon.
"I can explain." He started.
"Batman already told me the deal." Gordon interrupted. "This means you knew the Bat gang's identities for a while now."
"Yes…" He said.
"It was awfully hard not to give away that I knew." Gordon smiled. "It's actually kind of a relief."
Richard looked at him with wide eyes and blinked.
"Yeah, I knew. He said something one time that gave him away. Although, I am kind of pissed that you got involved with that business." Gordon said as he handed Richard food.
"It's not permanent." Richard said.
Gordon scoffed.
"It's always not permanent." Gordon muttered.
"Why is everyone saying that?! I'm not fit to be a hero." Richard responded.
"Why do you say that?" Gordon asked. "It seems every time something about this kind of business comes up you say that line. 'I'm not fit to be a hero.' So why is that?"
"I just…" Richard trailed.
Silence filled the space between them.
"You don't know why, do you?" Gordon asked.
"I just get a feeling. Every time the subject comes up, and I know I did something bad, but I can't remember it." Richard sighed.
"Well, no matter what you, kid, are a hero. I don't know what you did, but I know you'll make up for it." Gordon said.
Richard heard a laugh from the window. Both detectives spun their heads to the window. Deathstroke was already standing inside the room when they processed him.
"He'll pay off his debts in hell." He said menacingly as he drew his sword.