Teen Titans; The Fighting Life – Epilogue Story; Chapter 27: The Last Vision of Richard John Grayson
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~This time, this era…. I want to make it count. I won't live in a world where we must fight for our freedoms. But…As you've already seen…I can only move forward. He's older, stronger, better. I tried; I really didn't face the music long enough…Star was molested by Slade - Bots right in front of…m... SHIT! If I ever get out of this world, even if I have to kill him to be happy…. If he can even die of old age…Then, there's still hope. I can't let that go. This has to be it. Raven's vision. My reality. That time has to be, how we return to the present…~
/
Spoiler! Epilogue is at end, don't miss it!
To likely clarify with that little "musing" of a fallen hero, Slade controls way too much, so what happened with the heroes? Well, they didn't really die because Constantine was able to convince the gods of time when he was banished by Slade's attack, to set them free from Trigon. Questionably, Slade had believed them ACTUALLY dead. So? They somehow kicked him out of Wayne Manor, and after that, Slade founded his base of operations in a lair close to Jump City. He's still a ruling overlord of sorts, but he's not public about it. You'd think that drones eating his Taffy would have the man on a golden seat, but he's been still left with the shadow of Lady Justice looming over him, and under him. BURN!...
BEING, Dick is his ultimatum. He gave SLADE that desire to go into overdrive, and Dick will be the one later to take to his last shift, to fix the past maybe?...
When he disbands the world and finds peace…Because as they've said - this world shouldn't even exist.
/
In the sky, cars did not hover with ease. There was still the desire to control industry; political feuds were a thing of the past…But, that was only because of WHAT and WHO had stopped the fights between distant planes.
Slade was aging. Dick had taken over his business empire as expected. As of now, despite his meta- healing…. He was….
Nearing thirty…. not yet. Twenty-five was a bummer. At eighteen he'd learned to go incog in a drunken round about and even slashed a technology - dealing sleaze on one international hit to get at his target's many secrets behind his MASTER'S back...
How that had royally pissed Slade off…So much, but so worth it.
At twenty-one? He'd severed the cracked life of an important Star City official; between he and his mangled wife, in order to have the company his master planned to start up, booming.
The competition; then, culled.
Here he'd stay, in Gotham. As if it had already left a very bad taste in his mouth. Slade was losing focus, possibly his sight according to his doctors. Part of the serum's effects on a long-term basis. Would Dick lose his eye - sight too? He liked being about keeping order, but this…was still a gray sky to him. A very gray area… The night was always there, outside his window.
At twenty-three, he'd found out that Princess Starfire; Kori' Ander of Tameran, had founded a new city state and The New Tameran Empire with aid of the Dirmoxian Government. She'd even gotten married and was a part of the Galactic forces congressional committee as an ambassador of her newer home world. A princess, she'd lived….And she'd never told her friends about her past. As she moved on to greater things.
While, Dick had stayed. Grounded, and buried in past sins.
The Titans?
They'd never known it, yet how could they have? Dick had thrown them around like paper dolls in the wind. He'd been glad, but….
Cy had become the new group's senior commander. He was the top - gun leader who had almost once injured Master Slade in a one-on-one fight. Richard, had backed his master. For the sake of today…. However…
Oh!
Raven…Arsenal…and Jinx or Wally?
They'd come to call him a dictator, too. Just like the man who'd taken Dick's time from him.
If he was so bad, then why was "healthcare for all" not a good thing? Why was Capitalism a thing of the past? Why was Environmental Protection mandatory in every home, workplace, and…Was that all true?
Had Slade brainwashed him into thinking that this place was his new paradise?
Dick leaned him arm against the glass of the office's wide window. His head rested in the crook as his forehead touched to cool surface, feeling the guilt subside. Gotham looked so peaceful at night…no, it looked, empty.
Like his heart. He sighed into the night as the guilt then resurfaced to redirect his thoughts to a much, darker space in time…
His office had the echoing Buzz* and hum of machines and buzzing of monitors in the background. He stayed as he was, breathing deeply as Slade had taught him. As Rav…
Slade had needed a release before his apprentice could protest, and after that…Dick gritted his fists and whimpered into his arm.
He shivered. He was aggressive in his old age…Slade was still the best when it came to tearing him down.
A week later, he was given the keys to the city where his old mentor Bruce had fallen, he'd been gone ever since the shot had... The city…It was…" A present for all of his efforts over the years, so he'd continue to spread the good word to the people of New Gotham."
Slade had created a perfect and ideal home on the surface, but only he and Dick knew about the ones that fought to live as before. He gritted his fists and leaned harder into the glass, hoping to fall into the air.
Slade was a dictator. Perfection was the "biggest" selling point. If you spat out your candy, you'd see that the world was as ugly as it had always been.
But…
Time.
Where was it? Was it real –
A sign; as Dick was called by his master, upstairs. Dick sighed at his reflection in the glass. It knew he was probably hoping to, chat. To be mind manipulated by the seventy – five -year-old.
Dick could counter that. Besides his senile leader's grimmer circumstances, his gorgeous hair was now shorter; his muscles not a defined as his master's, but there. He was always an acrobat since birth. He'd die in his own skin…
He'd die with a way to get back home…
/
The man's office stood in front of Richard. Floor Fifteen…
The first question that came to mind….
How tall was this building?
~Come in.~
The C.O.M.M; or his super – ears. One of them relayed the voice through its speakers.
What next…
Dick knocked on the door while it was wide enough to poke his neck through. He pushed just a slight.
"You rang, Master Slade?"
"Mr. Wilson. We talked about this, Grayson…" Slade sat in one of his office chairs and was frowning, sighing. His hair had gotten whiter, but his face looked to carry the age of one who didn't need to be among the gods just yet to prove his worth.
"Yes, Sir. I apologize."
"So, apologetic as usual… It's what you are. Even I could not rid you of that mindless sincerity…just…A doormat." Slade shrugged and beckoned the younger man to enter on in. He did so in suit and tie, yet he looked a bit messy. The night had come to drain his energy…
Looking like a demi - god by that perfect stature even so, Slade was going to have to save their upcoming, tryst for another time.
However, his hunger could be baited by the boy's ruffled, bed - head another time.
The kid was far to pretty to mess with, his suit needed to keep for the evening. He was just as ready to collapse.
Poor slob.
"You've been up here, all alone?" Dick blinked and saw that the fire in Slade's eye was also ebbing with sleep. He was asking by, now?
"I can take care of the extra work load." Dick smirked from the doorway, trying to stay in his sights, "You might have to rest though, Mr. Wilson." Talking this way, sounded too much like role play between... -
"I know you well enough that insomnia to even a god is –
"Don't mock me, brat." Slade cleared his throat. "Sorry, but unless you can negotiate with foreign diplomats – not two but seven all at once, then I might reconsider having a "cat" nap, in the near future." His master (now employer) smirked cockily at the frowning twenty-nine-year-old.
"You do have limits, that's all I'm saying." Dick rubbed the back of his neck. "So, sir? How might I be of service for you, as for tonight?"
"A nearly excellent response, Mr. Grayson. Not one to put down the baton to hand it to another. Just like how I taught you to be ready for anything that may present itself to you." Praised the elder assassin (made tycoon in only five years time.)
"Thank you, sir. It's what I am. As you said."
"Grinning like that, will end you up tonight with a good spanking. Don't be arrogant if you know how to. Well, the fields being worked with the ingredient "heximade" as an added pesticide have…been with a few concerns for the farming families there… The lower classes are no more, but the rebels detest our progress; saying we've controlled all of the industry surrounding that region of the country and have disposed of countless bodies that have inhaled the toxic substance as a result…I need you to quiet them for me while I work on a way to remedy this disaster. I don't want anymore dead; you can also agree. But the fact that they'd put the blame on the ones who have feed those cattle?"
Slade was angrier; at the cost of having Trigon's immortal sense of life – energy, he was also becoming more detestable to get along with…As if senility once again was the culprit.
"Is the Lazarus pit, ready? You wanted to test its newer formula to see if it would restore –
"Boy, I'm speaking and I know you can hear just fine." Slade gripped the sides of his seat.
"My mind is perfect; You, however, are distracted…As I thought." Slade saw the man…toss a hand to his brow and sigh.
He blinked, thinking that his option would be to either console his master or try to explain his goodbyes…
"Mr. Wil –
"Slade" his elder corrected with a mutter. "You and I are now on a first name basis as well, Dick."
"Sure…But, you wanted me to be totally honest with you before…" He swallowed.
First on the list, defy and get sent to the principal's office.
Or…
"I want to know; an old question. Why did you keep me? I mean, I was the one who had Batman's city rebuilt. I made Ollie's life a living hell. I took out the JLA with you until we'd cornered them with the rebels…. And the Titans…Why the risks? Why the fire power? Was it all about me, or your pride –
"What a very…Stupid question…Rather, you are leading yourself down a path that should not be "tread, or…in this case, rediscovered." Slade shook his head and rose, though with his legs as weak as someone who was just getting up from hours of resting.
He was still as deadly in his best gear. Dick would make no mistakes this time.
"I told you; the reason was both professionally handled and a personal one. You fit the bill; Bats was out of my league, and with your combat history, you made that fall of his empire, happen. You opened that door and let me take control. The Titans? They let you starve by playing the hero, only to suffer. I wanted you to thrive by my side…And yet…Curious, even..." Slade rubbed his chin.
"You know of that same reason, and yet…You act as if you're going off to war. A confession?" He raised his brow again and asked.
Dick simply shrugged, hiding away his true feelings as much as he could. "Just, a reminder of why I'm what I am…I use that method, as a tactic to not lose –
"You think that matters?" Slade was annoyed. Right…never lecture the world's most stubborn super genius.
He stepped up in front of the hero and eyed him right where he'd best find a weakness. Still inches above, still the dominant male figure. But Dick's ego had already been picked clean. There was nothing left to take.
"You work for me until I say I can't stand to see your face…But, we all know that won't be the case. You are the catalyst that made New Gotham. You destroyed the Titans and the League with simply your presence alone..."
"Yes, sir." Dick nodded, even if his voice was super level right aboutb now.
Fake it…
"Without you, I'd be lost. And we don't want to re – open any old wounds…do we, Apprentice? –
"I'm a V.P of this company now." He told the mad man. "An apprentice is what Robin was. And…I don't consider you a threat, just meant to be revered, sir. As in, partners."
Slade looked him in the eye for a long time, until a smile later graced his face. "You're right about that. Just like those citizens of New Gotham. You are a devoted, partner. I would respect your judgement –
Slade sent his fist at Dick, who caught it. "You need to rest. The doctor said that need to run tests on your condition in case –
"I don't need their medicine." The tycoon growled back. "I have the Lazarus pit to satisfy my own, needs."
Slade tugged away his shaking, raging fist from the ex – hero. Those younger blue orbs were so full of that same apologetic emotion that it made bile rise in his throat.
"In a way, I really can't stand to see that face of yours."
"Same here, partner." Joked the younger male as he let Slade sit himself back down.
"What about the rebel legion? We took a squad out only a few weeks back –
"They've regrouped. Found new homes to keep silent in. I've been tracking them, and the fields…That may be them, trying to get my attention."
"Maybe you should hear them out…"
"And decide to lose face to those" Richard saw the older man's arms tensen up. "No…I won't bow to unorganized criminals. If they have a mission, they should appoint a better leader to send them to their deaths."
"Ouch. Those are people too –
"Who would gladly see my head set on a flag pole, DICK." Slade breathed out the last word and got up from his seat.
"I can't pity our actions. You and I both know…" Dick stopped himself, then…Slade put up a hand to speak.
"That we are nothing but what they've become. We allowed them to thrive and rage and have hunted them for months on end without rest…But, we won't stop it…"
"Stop what?" Dick saw Slade's eye change as they both went quiet. Slade returned to this rumored passage in time. The vision that Raven had shown Dick through their bond…Even if she was elsewhere in the universe about now, it pointed towards this time.
"When they will overthrow the leaders of this city in a month, you'll be the one they'll cling to." The man walked in his favorite "hands behind the back" pose up to the glass of his window scenery. This showed him in the place where none could touch him, yet everyone wanted him dead. One shot would only wound the master assassin at large.
Even his apprentice (VP) was a target, but Slade didn't bother to flinch.
"New Gotham needs a new, hero."
"I'm no one's figurehead. I swore to let you –
"You should, though. If it gives me reason that you'll keep this city standing upon my death –
"You're not able to die!" Shouted the ebony haired VP. "You are just as sick of this life as I –
Slade didn't just goad him out of the answers he sought. He'd used his loyalty against him.
"I've always known, you know. That was only three years and maybe longer…You were fighting Raven in Bludhaven and we were separated in battle. I tried to log into the link but it was jammed. By magic."
"The Belafonte case?" Gawked the ex -hero. "We had to get the latest intel… scope out that syndicate –
"And she found a way to take you from under my eye…" He said the last part with some malice. Such contempt for the witch that he did respect by her abilities, but also, he wanted to see her suffer a slow and painful death.
"I'm not all - seeing like Trigon was. I do have a breaking point, Dick." Slade went up to his hidden weapons drawer that was tucked into his desk like a sealed door.
"If you can use that trick to defy me here, then maybe you'd like to leave."
"Why?" Dick didn't let this get to him. Slade was an over powered psycho. He had no off switch when it came to being on top. "I'm on y -
"To fight. Here." Slade tossed the ex - hero a katana that was not as long as he would have liked. Looked like Slade had to downgrade to save on space.
"Why are –
"If you are truly against me, I should have you earn your place, beg for remorse – if you lose…I'll break you from start to finish. If you win, per our agreement, I will let you go, and tear up our contract. I am a man of my word, after all."
He readied his stance and took one look at the ex- hero in his office. The path was clear. As dramatic as could be ever in a lifetime, he did want to go out with a bang. Even if it meant losing his own equal in the process.
"You've trained for this, Richard! Now, is the time to show me how you'll defeat me. Come at me, apprentice, show me everything you've got left to lose!"
/
Didn't you know? Didn't you know?
What? What?
That the spell is breaking! The prince is waking up?
What? Was he really asleep? Asleep all this time?
Was he? Was he?
Hey! Hey! Did you know? Don't you know?
A fallen angel is coming to save us! To save the prince!
How? How can that happen? Time is still turning, turning.
We have to wait and see…
Did you know? Did you know?
In dark shadows, we carry the memories of everything
Even, our greatest regrets.
/
Thank Azar…it was almost time.
While the void widened to allow a gap, a way in…she took it and never once strove to wish to see her future.
She knew how it would end. She had always known through a vision from the past….how the world would turn out.
/
A swat from a mosquito might have been a safer description; of what the attacks even bothered to bring to Deathstroke in his office, on the fifteenth floor of his massive empire, that was what they had felt like.
Was Dick holding back? He'd soon see for himself.
The fight was half hearted. As if to stall. The boy seemed to favor this tactic.
Today was the day, but Dick couldn't find himself in this battle. To him, he almost wanted to just be dismissed and start over. But he had a plan. He'd gone and taken it upon himself to hunt down the only remedy; the only object that could take away an immortal's power.
"You're not even trying to tick me off, boy! You act like a boss in our board meetings, yet you still cry like my boy…in the bedroom –
"I'm trying to get therapy for that!" Dick chuckled and blocked another hit with his own sword. "Look; I'm not gonna be your bitch – boy until I'm ninety. You'll be gone and I have to move on –
"Then show me if you're capable! You've done nothing but hide in your room and grovel like a brat – the bat would even –
"Bruce is dead! Leave him out of this –
"All this…TIME!" Slade sent his arm to knock into Richard's jaw, but missed. Almost. He'd been close to knock a few teeth loose from that pearly white gleam in perfection. He'd not created the cock of the walk that Robin had always been. Since Bat's intervention, the kid had shown him that losing the boy, meant losing a greater opportunity. It could have been the demon – afflicted madness over the years, or maybe even –
"HHRRUYYYAA!" Slade came at him, not wanting to lose his apprentice to the memories of their past. Moving on, he'd already tried to eradicate the boy's happiness. His past. His friends. His dreams that were still unclear.
They fought, and Dick readied the medicine that would give him at least a head - start to re -do what he could. He couldn't get rid of this nightmare, yet that wasn't how time worked. He had to replace one nightmare with another, and that scared him.
Trauma had led him down this path.
Slade had dragged him into the shadows until he was screaming HER name, the ones who had abandoned him were still sharpening their pitchforks.
"Push me…. Just push me one more time…. DICK! You've undone our trust; if it was even real…You are going to pay dearly as not my partner, but my "personal" kicked puppy for all –
"HERE THEN! TAKE IT!" Dick struck out as syringe from his hidden space; from a spot on his chest like a bomb, he drove the pointed tip into his master's chest as the man shouted out. A beast, he dragged the ebony ex- hero with him, punching him in his wild frenzy.
"YOU…. YOU!... GAHHHAAAAA!...How….cou…."
Wilson fell to his knees. Enough time. Slade was down for the count. Like his enemy's kryptonite, he'd make….
Dick suddenly dropped the katana. Walking away, Slade growled out, demanding an explanation.
"AGH…Grayson! This is u…un…expectable!...You...explain. Yourself… –
"I'm done." Dick simply worded as he walked away, leaving the killer stunned and on his knees. His mouth gasping open like a fish. Sputtering curses without end, without remorse for all he had caused.
"I'll…. hunt you down! I'll never rest until your life is forever in ruins by this betrayal! I gave you more than…than…. Bruce…. even could have…. you ungrateful, little!...–
The door slammed as Slade was left to wait until the serum kicked in.
Good thing that Dick tested it on himself to make some improvements. It would be days before the stun effects would let the killer loose to hunt down a dead man.
Dick would have then, already left the building.
/
He went back to his office and took all the files he needed to for the Titans to throw the man in to the slammer until his dying day. Even Dick had to pay…
Maybe, since he was under the man's cont –
The probes! He ran over to the spot where in the building, the man kept even more secrets. Or, rather, Dick made sure to see any footage of the places Slade kept wired.
There. The one thing that could free….
"Wait…. He said I'd go insane if…" No good. The probes would not control him while the man's abilities were halted. But…
It wasn't proven. He could break loose.
Have him whippe….
"Are you always this cheerful before bed?"
Dick turned around to see the face of one his mind couldn't have been happier to imagine.
"Raven…. You came –
"I did, because this world has to disappear." She nodded and Dick knew it too. He was a – shudder with that determined angst. Or did he look tired?...
"We planned this for years..." He sniffled, trying to stay together. "I'm not glad to be going, while everyone still…"
"It never was supposed to come to pass." Raven put a hand on to her weary friend's shoulder. "We are going home. I know how to take us there. But you still, have to trust me…"
"I do, I want to…. But…. What about this world?" He gestured to the window, where the city stayed asleep and in darkness.
"It won't exist." She replied. "Trigon's magic over time and space, I inherited enough of it to make extra time for us… to learn about how to travel through it. We decided to wait, to see Slade when he was truly at his weakest."
"We did that." Dick nodded noticed Raven was "white" Raven right now. She'd become stronger, as had….
"We won…." He wanted to cry, not laugh. It was all too much…He broke down quite a bit. Glad to be going away on a castle in a cloud. Not staying in this pit any longer.
She soothed him quickly, for they had very little time. "It'll be ok…But…We still have to concentrate. Remember the day, when Slade took control, and then lost it…. You can do this..." She gripped his hands and they began a chant, just the two of them. Dick was breathing, he was alive and ready to try over again.
"It…. was…not a dream…" He looked at her and smiled. "It was a dream…."
The world went to blanket itself in that one hour. The hour of the Titans and of their solid victory over the mad man who'd been forever running Jump City, from the underground.
In the shadows…
As the world came crashing down around them.
In the dark, a light shone through and carried them….
/
Time, was it real? Dick blinked; the sun was so bright today that it made him dizzy.
Was that outcome really a false one?
Only time would tell us; just what the heroes might encounter, who that man behind the mask really was…
Raven and he sat around. Waffles on the table. Laughter, happiness…. Star! She was there…Dick closed his eyes, and knew that he was finally home…
The worst was finally over.
/
Jump City. October, 2003...
Slade was done. He'd destroyed his own lair and Robin had gone home to help clean sweep the probes from his and his teammates' bodies. IT was good day to celebrate.
However, every feeling. A grab.
A scream.
A bruise.
And…. a name.
Apprentice.
Apprentice.
Dick now stood on the rooftop of Titans Tower, that next morning. A part of him was glad that Slade had been driven from the city. But…. a part of him knew always, that he'd never face that pain again. Very soon…It always lingered in the darkest corners of his mind.
At least, he didn't believe Slade wanted him as anything more than a worthy adversary.
Well, it wasn't that which upset the hero.
It was more like…
Something didn't match up.
Was he really ready to move on?
Well, he had no choice. Dick frowned. Batman had already briefed him to heck and back about the destroyed Wayne Enterprises Building and the "mysterious thief" that had ransacked a few things…
That Dick, had been taken in with blackmail by a crazed sociopath.
He'd heal from that…but…
Unlikely that, he'd heal from those bruises…slower…than necessary.
And…
His words still wouldn't die…
Never rest….
Never fail…
Never fall…
He looked over at the water below. The shore crashing, and the sky as blue as his brilliant eyes.
Dick let his cape flutter in the breeze. Those eyes saw it all. The outcome. And yet, they'd missed so much…
Until the next time Slade returned? He wondered.
They'd be ready...and…He was never alone.
Because the Titans would always be there to catch him.
/
I wanted to make it sound like the only thing that could hurt an overpowered man like Slade, was time. In this I made them in 2003; 15 and 47. Now, in 2032, 75 and 29. As in, he was hoping that his good fortune would last forever. But, if Dick had really left his friends and he'd not trusted himself to make the right choice, then nothing would have been saved. Not even our heroes' futures. So, he did lie. He did fight it, but in the end, he had to play the good boy and THAT was a big ego trip that he was afraid would ruin him.
He was in this forced to look deep inside himself and to dismantle that hope in order to prevent Slade from knowing his plans for later... Raven was his only lifeline, so the Titans had to be kept in the dark.
Like Red X, it was a big risk. Dick never escaped Slade as an adult because he failed to believe in himself and was so engrossed in stopping the madness of this true enemy, that he lost sight of his team trying to be of some use…And we all became mad at Robin's madness as a result….Agh.
Slade dragged him under, because the obsession was what Slade was expecting to happen.
Holmes and Moriarty, anyone?
And no "all dogs go to heaven" but it's interesting to see Raven as the one to do like that movie, where he was allowed to go back. Neh. Plus, her powers transcend time and space…
The only way that he could redeem himself, was like walking away from a bully. Slade cried out for attention and Dick heard the call. Not trusting strangers is starting to make a lot of sense, but it to me sound like Dick was really more for his heroic image and that he would eventually tire of it. Want that spark to come back. If Slade was right about that, was the reason Nightwing came to be due to that spark's rekindling? His darker side? Wild horses should not be tamed, so Slade may have picked at that in Robin's case by attacking his past and present lives as Wayne's ward and the Titan's young leader. Using his own "precognition" may have been a way into the mind of others, but at the same case…Slade became blinded by what he thought possible by his lust for power in this fic. Remember; Slade is a merc for hire in the comic, so this is dark even for his tastes. He's also very hard to keep on your side. He trusts no one and Robin was his Achilles all along. He kept him close, because Robin introduced him to nameless (Nameless) opportunities inside the Super – Hero and Villain spectrum. He was given access in this time line and all the power over his foes - and prowess; thanks to his tampering with the Titan's trust in their one leader, and Raven said it right.
This time should not have existed. She was told that Trigon would use her, and that had existed. So, Dick helping Slade to destroy a part of the world, was highly improbably to the witch of space and time.
So, in the real epilogue, you won't see it. Dick will still be fighting and it might happen. Cliffs are more fun, and I like to leave a few famous last word notions before I stir up my potions into a new arc or fic take on the Titans. Makes for better theatrics.
Poetic, even. Sigh…
Sooner or later, I'm going to attempt another fic that is a bit more…. Jericho meets Daddy, or "around" the Ep Haunted, later. Sounds like a fun way to kill time anyway. A lot to work with here and the Haunted bit will by T. Dick by the way won't remember that time line and the abuse because IT NEVER EXISTED. Bummer, Dude…
The reason here for the M rating, was to make the trauma far more vivid to the reader. Hope you enjoyed? Let me know with a few more views and the rest is said and done.
Until, next time. Read on and stay curious!
/
Untitled epilogue;
Time. Waiting at a glance. Time ticks, and it came to be...that our time almost ran out.
Jump City; 2032; December:
His empire fell, and like the history of Rome.
My image was dead, but the hero in me is still alive.
We found hope and returned to a city covered in ash and snow.
Since I'd caused his madness to turn my home into a living wasteland, the Titans and I were tasked with rebuilding it.
The only heroine left to fix and aplogize to, she was lightyears from Earth.
Probably having forgotten my face.
My friends still knew, still kept their distance.
After all, my former master had almost destroyed the world.
Thanks to my betrayal.
Thanks to my desire for a taste of freedom.
I am not who I was before, but who I have decided to be.
I, am now Nightwing.
I've hurt a lot of people in my past, and now...
I'm forced to become the hero the whole world wishes had died in that blast.
This is day 27 of Apocalypse Zero. As a vigilante, it is my duty to maintain order in the name of justice.
My former master may be gone, but some wounds may never heal.
So I won't rest until I've lived out my sentence of fixing what was broken by his tyrranical rule...until that is paid up.
Neither will my teammates; the Teen Titans, who want me to pay with every bit of my soul that still remains.
I, am Nightwing...And this was the price for my disobedience years later...after escaping my apprenticeship, from the man who now haunts the ouskirts of Jump City.
My eternal enemy, and my greatest fear come to life.
In the darkest corners of my mind, that obsession to do what is right will never let me go.
I am indebt to serving it until my dying day, as a vigilante, a hero, and a monster.
A truly despicable human being.
Just like him...