My name is Dick Grayson. Ever since I was young, I made a vow to uphold justice, and lived under the shadow of a dark knight. But the dark knight has his city, and I needed my own. It was time I moved out of the dark knight's shadow, and step up. This is my city. My story. And now, it's time for me to rise.
-Starling City Warehouses-
There was a low hum of machinery whirring and whizzing and chemicals bubbling as the intricate operation was conducted. Only the essential electronics were given power- the rest were deactivated to maintain the greatest secrecy. It might have been the dead of the night, but that wouldn't necessarily mean that prying eyes and curious ears wouldn't find a way into noticing the production of the new Vertigo.
Strolling down a line of workbenches at the heart of the new Vertigo plant was the new Count Vertigo himself. Dressed resplendently and in black, he offered honeyed words that concealed veiled threats to his workers. The more scientifically-minded men set to creating the miracle drug… and the deadly toxin. Meanwhile, those with a greater aptitude for strength- or were, to put it bluntly, hired guns- occupied themselves guarding the warehouse and transporting the finished products into shipments. Vertigo use might have dropped off in Starling City, but this new Count Vertigo would make sure that everyone would get a new dose once more, and prove that he was the true heir to the Count's legacy- not that nobody street dealer that the Arrow fought with.
"Hurry, hurry! The more we make, the more we make!" Count Vertigo reminded his chemical engineers.
Outside the warehouse, three masked thugs were smoking a pack of cigarettes.
"Hey Bud, did you catch the Rockets game yesterday?" one of the thugs said to one of the others.
"Yeah. Crazy score, huh Pat?" the thug named Bud replied.
"I saw it coming," the third thug, named Pat, answered. "Kev here didn't believe me, but I knew we could blow the others out. Nothin' like the Rockets, gotta tell you that."
"Shut up. You wouldn't be so happy if it weren't for all the money you made on the bet," Kev bitterly commented.
"Hey, what can I say? I believed, and I was rewarded. Ask and you shall receive, right?" Pat grinned.
"I don't think that's how that saying's supposed to go," a fourth voice suddenly commented from behind the three thugs. Surprised, the three turned around, and while the two flanking thugs were knocked out by sleeper holds from behind them, the central thug was quickly brought unconscious by a pinch to a pressure point that quickly knocked the thug out cold.
"Huh. I finally got to use that," the man commented.
"Well, maybe if you didn't go rushing in head first and played the predator game more, you'd get more chances to do it," the woman next to the man remarked.
"Could we get on with it? I'm beginning to get worried," the second man said.
"Alright, alright… Everyone remembers the plan?" the woman asked. The other two nodded. "Good. Let's go."
With their plan of attack in their heads, the three split up, blending into the shadows and making their way into the interior of the warehouse.
-X-
"And now, for the early morning news. Last night, Starling City police officers were alerted to suspicious activity within a warehouse in the city's docks area. Upon arriving at the scene, they were surprised to find what seemed to be a manufacturing plant for the dangerous street drug known popularly as Vertigo. SCPD officers arrested nearly fifty men in this drug bust, though according to police captain Quentin Lance, the mastermind behind this Vertigo operation still remains at large.
"While Captain Lance was reluctant to divulge his sources of information, as well as who called in the initial tip on the facility, local analysts believe that the SCPD cooperated with the city's own resident vigilante, The Arrow. Though sightings of the mysterious, green-hooded archer have been scarce lately, it seems that his actions still remain firmly dedicated to protecting this city."
Dick Grayson turned the TV off, smiling to himself as Roy Harper walked in with some mugs of coffee. "Figures we don't get the credit," Roy grumbled.
"Aw, c'mon, Harper. Cheer up- we still busted the Vertigo operation," Dick voiced with evident weariness.
"I guess. You sure you're ok with your friend walking back to Gotham by herself?" Roy asked taking his spare Arsenal suit back to the closet hidden in his room.
"Babs? Boy, you don't know her like I do," Dick replied.
"And how do you know her?" Roy countered with a teasing voice. Though he couldn't see it, Dick could just imagine the smirk on the young man's face as he said it.
"That's for me and her to know, and for you to find out the day you hang up your hood," Dick retorted. "Besides, you saw her in action tonight- do you really think there's anyone stupid enough to mess with her?"
"A beautiful redhead walking by herself at four in the morning? In the Glades, anyone can be that stupid," Roy remarked, walking back into the room.
"Well then, I pity the fool that even thinks about messing with her," Dick said, nodding knowingly as he sipped from the coffee. The two vigilantes were silent for a few minutes, absorbed in their own thoughts, drinking their coffee and trying to keep themselves awake. While Roy worried about Oliver's business in Nanda Parbat, Dick hoped that the shirt and jeans he was borrowing from Roy was dark enough so that his Nightwing suit underneath wouldn't show.
After some time had passed, Dick yawned and, putting his mug on the coffee table in front of him, stood up to his full height and stretched. "Thanks for the coffee, Roy, but I really ought to be getting back to Bludhaven. I've already been gone for a few days, and I miss it. I'm sure the place misses me too."
"If you say so." The former boy wonder got up and went to leave, with the Arrow's partner in crime fighting following suit. They made it out to the street, and side by side the two young men watched the arrival of dawn, and the brightening blue sky of a new day. "I know I already asked about your friend, but will you-"
Roy turned to look at his fellow vigilante, only to find that he had disappeared. Surprised, he looked this way and that, trying to find any clues as to where the other man had vanished off to. Though his senses weren't as sharp as Oliver's, his senses were still no slouch, and yet he didn't even pick up a slight hint of the other man disappearing. "Where did he…?" Roy wondered.
Meanwhile, on the way back to Bludhaven, Dick Grayson laughed to himself- a slightly boyish laugh that conveyed both arrogance, and a creeping feeling up one's spine. "Man, I love doing that."
-X-
-Bludhaven Police Headquarters-
"DAMN THAT MASKED FREAK!" Chief Delmore Redhorn angrily shouted. He slammed a mug of coffee on his desk, shattering the object as he crumpled up a newspaper that bore the headline MASKED MYSTERY: 'NIGHTWING' CLEANS UP STREETS.
"Oh dear. Looks like you're making a mess," Inspector Dudley Soames coolly commented, lighting up a new cigarette. "I wonder how much that suit's gonna cost to clean, Del."
"Damn my suit! I want that vigilante in police custody yesterday!"
"Well, what do you want us to do? That blue bird of yours only comes out at night, and we haven't so much as even gotten a glimpse of him yet."
"Get me the task force. I want them in the conference room in one minute. And if anyone's late, they're fired! Now go!"
"Alright, alright." With an annoyed shrug, Inspector Soames shuffled off to gather the members of the anti-Nightwing task force. Meanwhile, Chief Redhorn got off his chair and marched towards the meeting room, where he found the members of the task force anxiously gathered. Perhaps Soames had warned them quickly- or perhaps they simply heard his threats. Nevertheless, they waited with bated breath and rapt attention for the chief's orders.
Chief Redhorn stared each and every man and woman on the task force in the eye. "For the past five years, we have been tracking a unique individual we called 'Nightwing.' A few weeks ago, we confirmed the presence of this mask. And now, here he is, stepping up his activities and being a vigilante. I don't care who they think they are, whether they're some rich boy with toys or an invincible man-god- NO ONE takes the law into their own hands in MY city. You got that? Dead or alive, the mask stops his activities TONIGHT. Now, I don't care what you have to do- just stop him now!"
"Sir yes sir!" the task force members responded. Just as swiftly as he had entered, Chief Redhorn left the meeting room, allowing the task force to begin planning a strategy to capture the elusive mask. As this went on, Inspector Soames smiled in a corner.
"Well now, this'll be interesting," he commented to himself.
-X-
Gliding like a bird from one rooftop to the next, Nightwing maneuvered through the Zee Moores neighborhood. In part, he was in search of Tad, though he doubted that the misguided youth would remain in the neighborhood; more importantly, however, he was on patrol, and breathing the Bludhaven air felt good, as it reminded him that he was back in the game.
As he kept a vigilant eye out for any signs of trouble, he thought to himself, That's odd… the Haven's quieter than usual. Maybe I should try a different neighborhood tonight…?
However, a shriek in the night forced Nightwing's head to turn in that direction. "Bingo," he muttered to himself. Adjusting his route, he quickly parkoured his way onto the nearest available rooftop to the source of the scream, where he found a young blonde surrounded by five men.
Ok… so they're big and muscular. I don't know why they're ganging up on her, but that doesn't really matter now, does it? I don't see any weapons so far… Still, that doesn't mean they don't have any concealed on them. Actually, curious thing about the woman…
After making his quick analysis of the situation, Nightwing dropped to the ground. With a cheery voice, he announced, "Howdy! Wanna dance?"
The entire group turned to look at him. "What are you?" one of the men asked.
"Me? No one special- just the guy that's gonna whoop your ass if you don't disperse," Nightwing bantered back with a threatening smile. Chuckling amongst themselves, the five men all focused their attention on him.
"Y'know what? This might be fun. Let's teach this punk a lesson!" Thus yelling, the five thugs rushed at Nightwing.
Too easy. With lightning fast reflexes, Nightwing extended his arm, and a metalling Wing-Ding flew forth, making contact with the farthest man's shin and forcing him to collapse to the ground. Still with a cocky smile, Nightwing dove forward, bypassing the two front men, before springing upwards and kicking both of the back men upwards on their chins. Quickly turning around, he dodged two punches and hit both of them on the gut, before grabbing their skulls and bashing them together.
Meanwhile, the fifth man had recovered, and was trying to sneak up on Nightwing. The vigilante straightened himself up, and the fifth man thought he had the perfect opportunity to squeeze the life out of the mask. Unfortunately for him, however, Nightwing threw a back hand that caught him completely by surprise, staggering him backwards a few steps. As he clutched at his face, he had only enough time to see a face come flying his way, before being knocked out cold.
"No student of the Bat's gonna get caught by something like that," Nightwing muttered to himself. After checking to make sure that the men were on the ground, either groaning in pain or out cold, Nightwing rushed to check on the would-be victim. "M'am, are you ok?" he asked with evident concern in his voice.
"Thank you, sir," the blonde teared, reaching into her purse to grab something. "If you didn't show up… if you didn't show up, I-"
"Would've kept trying to get my attention with your buddies on the ground?" Nightwing suddenly interjected. With a twitch of her eye, he knew his suspicions were correct. The young woman tried to pull something out of her purse, but the vigilante let loose two more Wing-Dings, with one of them cutting the straps off her purse, and the other embedding itself in the back of her hand, forcing her to drop the gun she was holding. "So, who are you?" Nightwing asked.
"BPD, anti-Nightwing task force," the woman grunted. "You've just made your biggest mistake, mask."
"Why's that?"
"Because you fell right for our trap."
Suddenly, bright flood lights blazed in the area around Nightwing, illuminating him. An entire squadron of BPD officers, all dressed in swat gear, saw the simple black suit with eskrima sticks sticking out of the back, a bird colored blue with a red bill emblazoned on his chest. Though he was momentarily blinded by the light, Nightwing began to think of his escape route.
As Nightwing began fiddling with his left wrist, a bullhorn screeched, "Put your hands up! Fail to comply, and we WILL shoot you!"
Slowly, Nightwing began raising his hands. "Even with your officer here still in the crosshairs?"
"Yes!"
Nightwing shook his head. "Man, that's cold." Turning his attention then to the injured officer next to him, who had a look of shock on her face, he advised, "You know, you might want to think about getting a career change. Your buddies over there want to light me up, and they don't care about hitting you in the process." The officer could do nothing but turn her head away in disgust.
"Nightwing! You have the right to remain silent!" a new voice yelled.
At the sound of an incoming aircraft, Nightwing smiled and said, "Pass." Suddenly, he let something drop from his hands. They rolled out in a circle around him, until they burst open and huge quantities of smoke billowed forth, forcing the cops to gag and retch and obscuring their vision.
Time to make my escape. From the sky, a vehicle dropped to the ground. Nightwing quickly mounted it and revved the engines, and through the smoke he burst forth riding a sleek black motorcycle.
"Da- dammit! After him!" one of the officers ordered. Some officers began rushing back to their patrol cars, while others began radioing in for help. Finally, BPD squad cars began to take off in chase of the lone vigilante.
Meanwhile, Nightwing tapped the left side of his mask, and his left eye activated a digital screen, showing a GPS map of the entire city. Following this, Nightwing tapped his right ear, activating his communicator that led him directly to the switchboard of the Network: Oracle.
"Hey Dick. What's up?" Barbara Gordon's voice asked from the other end of the line.
"Hey Babs, do you think you could do me a solid and hack into BPD's comms?" Nightwing asked as he swerved his way through some traffic. He could hear sirens in hot pursuit behind him, and the worst thing he could do at this point was take a wrong turn and get caught in a bad situation.
"No probs. What did you do this time, Grayson?"
"The BPD set up a sting operation to try and get me, and now they're right on my ass."
"Sounds painful. Will you be able to get out of there?"
"I should be able to. I have the GPS of the city on my left eye visor, but it's tough concentrating on that and the road ahead of me. I might need some additional assistance."
"In other words, you need my help?"
"Of course, Babs. Not usually, but I do need it right now."
"… Eh, close enough. Take a left here."
From that point onwards, Oracle helped Nightwing make his way through the streets, avoiding as many potential roadblocks as possible. The BPD increasingly put more and more vehicles on Nightwing, until it seemed that the entire police department had been mobilized to capture him. Whole streets and sections were closed off in order to get as many cars as possible chasing the lone vigilante on a motorcycle, and yet with Oracle's help and the GPS in his eye, Nightwing was able to outmaneuver them all.
After a long chase, Nightwing was finally able to lose his pursuers. He arranged to have his motorcycle picked up by a Wayne Tech drone from the outskirts of the city, while he then stuck to the shadows. Taking the rooftop express once more, he parkoured his way back to his apartment, and quickly entered via the window. Suspicious that perhaps people may have seen his hasty entrance, he quickly shed his Nightwing suit and donned normal pajama clothes.
Having put away his gear, his cell phone ringing caused Dick to pick up. "Hello?" he asked.
"You got away then?" Barbara asked.
"Yup, thanks to you," Dick responded. "I knew the BPD didn't like me, but I wasn't expecting them to move the entire police force to try and capture me."
"Looks like you'll have to be more careful from now on, former Boy Wonder," Barbara observed.
"Looks like it, yeah," Dick confirmed. "They didn't catch me tonight, but they sure put up one hell of an effort. It's definitely worrisome."
"Will you be alright by yourself there, Dick?"
"Are you suggesting calling Tim or someone else for backup? Now's probably not the best time, especially after tonight. Leave me to deal with the BPD. I've got this."
"Alright. Just don't get yourself arrested, Dick."
"Hey, what's the worse they could do to me?"
"I don't know, but you know the rumors about the BPD, Dick. They're not good."
"I know. Don't worry, I'll be careful. Talk to you later, Barb."
"Alright. Talk to you later, Dick."
With that, Dick hung up the phone. Yawning from his thrilling escape, he walked straight to bed and collapsed, quickly finding sleep.
-X-
"HOW IN THE DAMN HELL DID HE ESCAPE?" Chief Redhorn demanded of the anti-Nightwing task force. "YOU IDIOTS MOBILIZED THE ENTIRE POLICE DEPARTMENT TO TRY AND CAPTURE HIM, AND THE BEST YOU GOT WAS A PICTURE OF WHAT HE LOOKS LIKE? YOU MISERABLE FAILURES!"
The task force members bowed their heads in shame, though they were also afraid of what could be their consequence for their failure.
Trembling with rage, Chief Redhorn threatened, "Fail one more time, and you'll BEG that I just fire you. Now, get him!"
Without needing another word, the task force quickly left Chief Redhorn's presence, running back into their meeting room to devise another strategy and try to arrest him.
"Man, look at 'em, quaking in their boots," Inspector Soames smiled.
"I don't see why you're so cheery, Soames," Chief Redhorn grumbled.
"Because this was quite entertaining."
"Well, laugh it up now, but you better get your ass in that room and help them figure out their next move. My threat goes to you too."
At that word, Soames stopped smiling. Staring Chief Redhorn dead in the eyes, he quietly said, "Don't get yourself too worked up there, Del. Don't forget about my… contacts, alright?"
Redhorn stared right back at Soames. Just as quietly, he replied, "… Just please help them capture that vigilante, alright? He's messing up our city's status quo, and that's not good."
A smile returned to Soames's face. "That's better. I'll get right on it, boss." With that, he walked off towards the meeting room.
Chief Redhorn looked out the window at the night sky. It was definitely something, dancing with the devil under pale moonlight.
-X-
- Within a dark location… -
"Tetch was able to get me some good information. I had hoped for more, but this will suffice. Redhorn's a fool if he thinks he'll be stopping the masks. I will be the force that stops these vigilantes. And I start with you: Nightwing!"
A/N: Hey everybody! BKA37's back, and I've got some new art that my friend and I worked on for this profile! If you're wondering what the Nightwing logo looks like as I described it, just check out my profile pic! I'm sorry that I've been out longer than both The Flash and Arrow's random hiatuses, but I've been kept busy by life. I can't promise with any regularity that I'll be uploading new episodes of Nightwing every week on Thursday at 8/7c (just look at this episode, coming in late!), but I will try to write and upload as frequently as I possibly can.
Here's my question for y'all: Do you like it when I tie in Nightwing to what happens on Arrow and The Flash? Like when I made that one reference about Pied Piper, or when I opened up an episode with the Battle of the Glades? Let me know what you think! And please leave me comments telling me what you liked and didn't like about this episode, and the series so far. I want to write a good story about Nightwing, and I'd like your help and feedback to do that.
This A/N's getting too long as is, so until next time everyone!
(PS I haven't forgotten about the crossover special, and I hope you haven't either.)