Dick Grayson-Wayne awoke groaning disoriented. His head was pounding painfully.
What the hell had happened?
Had Roy and Jason taken him to a bar to get him drunk again?
He stood up, wobbling slightly in his own steps, and the first thing he noticed through his blurred vision was that he was still in his Nightwing costume.
So the idea of a bar hangover was just thrown out the window.
The vigilante blinked in an attempt to banish the fog from his view. After a few tries he smiled in satisfaction when he saw more clearly.
The second thing he noticed was that he was in a lost and empty alley with the sun slowly setting.
He frowned, remembering that the fight between the League of Assassins and the Batclan was taking place during the night. Besides, where the heck had that magic orb come from?
And where the hell was everyone else?
He fiddled with his holographic glove and noticed that the date of the day was the same while the time was different.
He brought a hand to his ear but to his horror discovered that his communicator was absent.
Just perfect!
With a sigh the first Robin looked around until he noticed several meters away Deathstroke The Terminator and Talia Al Ghul, both passed out on the dirt road.
It was very strange and frankly even a little disturbing to see two of the world's best assassins in such vulnerable positions.
Nightwing licked his lips nervously. He was pretty sure that this was not his Gotham, or at least he was more than 90 percent sure.
He knew he should wake them up but he also knew there was a risk that their killer instincts might get the better of them and slit his throat before they were even 100% awake.
Talia would probably be pleased.
Eventually Nightwing sighed.
Screw it.
He headed first toward Talia knowing that he would be able to subdue her in case she tried to kill him.
Instead, with Slade, the odds were against him.
Nightwing crouched beside Talia's unconscious figure and, after a brief hesitation, gently shook her body. "Talia?"
Talia snapped her green eyes open, and it was thanks to his reflexes that Dick barely managed to dodge the knife that grazed his right ear and it stuck in the opposite side of the alley.
Where the hell did she kick the knife out of?
Talia narrowed her eyes on the acrobat and, after a few seconds that she needed to overcome her disoriented state, growled. "Get your dirty hands off me!"
The former Robin peacefully raised his hands in the air and moved slightly away from her. "Is this your way of thanking me for waking you up?"
The assassin ignored him and stood up, brushing the dirt from her clothes. "What happened?" she looked around and her lips curled. "And where are we?"
"I'm not sure yet but... do you remember that magic orb?" the hero asked instead, getting an impatient nod from the young woman. "There, I am afraid that it has teleported us to another Gotham."
Talia was silent for a couple of seconds contemplating the idea of the 21-year-old in front of her. "Are you just implying that we are in another Earth?" she asked, perfectly keeping the disbelief out of her tone of voice.
Nightwing shrugged, his lips coming together to form a straight line. "I'm afraid that's a very high possibility." he let out a sigh and stared at Deathstroke still unconscious. "Help me wake him up. I don't want to accidentally end up as cannon fodder."
"I didn't think you were afraid of Wilson." Talia taunted him with a mocking grin.
"I'm not afraid of Slade." immediately defended Dick as the two approached the unconscious mercenary. "Just, you know: super soldier reflexes?"
Talia rolled her eyes and pulled back her right leg. Nightwing's eyes went wide as he realized her intentions and yelled at her to stop.
Too late.
Talia's kick connected with the mercenary's shin.
Before Talia could even blink, she found herself lying in pain on the ground, the weight like tons of steel of Deathstroke on top of her and the knife pointed upward heading quickly toward her heart.
"NO!"
With reflexes that could be mistaken for superhuman Nightwing dove at Deathstroke pushing him away from the woman and the two men collided, the knife falling harmlessly beside the daughter of the Demon's Head.
Nightwing stood firmly over the mercenary, an escrima stick pointed at the super soldier's throat. It was as if time had frozen, with the hero staring at the mercenary and vice versa.
Finally after what seemed like centuries Slade broke the tense silence. "I must say your reflexes have improved, kiddo."
The former Robin gave a sigh of relief and rested the escrima at his back. He walked down to the older man and offered him a hand. Slade took it and Dick grunted as he helped him to his feet.
The mercenary turned to Talia who had meanwhile gotten to her feet. "That was pretty stupid of you. If it weren't for Richard you'd have a knife sticking out of your heart by now." he said more amused than concerned despite the fact that he had nearly killed Ra's Al Ghul's daughter.
He did not look the least bit sorry.
Talia looked at him coldly. "I had the situation under control."
"Of course. And I never killed anyone." drawled Deathstroke sarcastically, and the woman's gaze intensified.
Nightwing snorted in amusement and raised his hands in mock surrender when Talia turned her icy green eyes toward him.
It seemed as if Talia was weighing her own words before she nodded abruptly toward the acrobat. "Well then. Although I knew what I was doing I still extend my appreciation to you for your unnecessary but appreciated gesture." she declared stiffly.
The Bludhaven vigilante blinked stupidly before looking at his former mentor with an exaggeratedly dramatic gaze. "Did Talia Al Ghul just apologize? It must be the end of the world!" he asserted bringing a hand to his forehead while pretending to faint.
"If before this moment someone had come to me and told me that Talia Al Ghul had apologized to someone I would have laughed in their face and then killed them." said Slade impassively.
Talia emitted a haughty snort and muttered probably some insult directed at the two if the mercenary's slight snarl was any indication. "Well, as for me, I accept your gratitude." smiled the first Robin.
Talia rolled her eyes but expressed no insult toward him, and Dick took it as a small victory.
Deathstroke craned his neck noisily and stared at the other two people as he crossed his arms. "Where the heck are we? The last thing I remember before I passed out was that damn magic orb."
"I think we might be in a Gotham from another Earth." sighed the vigilante.
Slade looked at him, and despite the mask Dick knew him well enough to know he was looking at him with a raised eyebrow. "You're fucking kidding me." he said impassively.
"As much as I hate with all my heart the mere idea of staying in another world with you two, I'm afraid Grayson is right." Talia asserted, wrinkling her nose.
"If anyone can complain, it's me. I am trapped with you two: a powerless hero, the world's deadliest mercenary, and a ruthless assassin. Sounds like the beginning of a joke." joked Nightwing.
"Look on the bright side: at least we're on your side." casually remarked Slade leaning his back against the wall.
"Speak for yourself Wilson." snorted Talia.
Deathstroke turned his gaze toward the woman and growled dangerously, his hands clenching threateningly into fists. "Try to hurt Richard and I'll use your head as a bowling ball." he stated coldly, his whole posture screaming danger and threat as if at any moment he was going to pounce on Talia and kill her.
Talia harshly returned the stare but said nothing, merely crossing her arms and squinting.
Dick rolled his eyes and tapped the mercenary's shoulder. "Don't be frighteningly protective of me, old man."
"I'm not protective." grumbled the older man but dropped the subject.
Slade knew when a battle was lost and this was one of them.
"Well? How are we going to get back to our Earth?" asked Talia, clucking her tongue noisily.
Slade shrugged his shoulders having no answer to give her, and the two assassins turned to the acrobat who raised his hands in the air. "Don't look to me. I am an expert in many things but interdimensional travel is not one of them."
"So? Are we going to stay here until a deity takes pity on us miserable mortals and magically returns us to our world?" the mercenary asked sarcastically.
Nightwing ignored his sarcasm. "We have two options. Either we wait for Batman and the others to figure out a way to track us down and return us all to our world or-"
"Or we should come up with something ourselves to return home." Talia concluded, easily guessing the first Robin's reasoning.
The aforementioned hero nodded at her.
"I opt for the second option. There's no way I'm waiting for the Bat to swoop in here to save my ass." Deathstroke stated bluntly.
"I'm leaning toward the second option, too. I'm not going to spend any more time than is necessary with you two when we can leave as soon as possible." nodded Talia dryly.
The two turned to Nightwing who nodded in agreement with them. "I am with you. Besides, we don't know how long it would take them to get to this dimension. That is, if they get there at all." he added the last part as an afterthought.
"I didn't know you were so pessimistic." observed the daughter of the Demon Head curiously.
"I'm usually not but for all we know they might even think at some point that we're dead or something, though I seriously doubt Batman would consider that an option without our corpses."
"Very reassuring." said Slade impassively. "So where do we start?"
"First we have to assume that there is, I won't say a friendly relationship or anything like that, but at least a basic trust and cordiality between the three of us, and that we're not going to try to stab each other in the back." Dick began, looking specifically at Talia.
The olive-skinned woman rolled her eyes at the insinuation behind the Bludhaven hero's words. "I am aware that killing you will certainly not help me return to our Earth. Consequently, I will refrain from stabbing you." she declared dryly.
Nightwing nodded happily at the assassin's words. "Good because, like it or not, we now form a proper team and we will not get far if there is distrust and mistrust between us."
"What a strange trio we form." observed Slade amusedly, removing his mask and revealing his one gray eye shining with humor.
"Tell me about it." muttered Talia getting a small laugh from Dick and an amused grunt from Slade.
"So all that remains is for us to declare a truce to our discord until we each return safely to our respective homes." continued the former Robin and raised his right pinky with a serious look.
Talia frowned in confusion but Deathstroke looked at his former student with a steely gaze. "I'm not doing that."
"Too bad for you but you'll have to." Dick said in a serious and grave voice.
Hero and mercenary entered into a staring challenge that lasted about 30 seconds until they heard the question come from the only woman in the trio.
"Do what?"
The last Flying Grayson broke eye contact with his former mentor and looked at Talia with a smile that slowly began to bloom on his face. "Pinky promise!" semi-giggled the 21-year-old with a bright smile.
Talia's frown intensified and she looked fiercely at the younger man. "I am not going to dabble in such childish and foolish actions."
"For once I agree with Al Ghul." agreed the other assassin with a grunt.
Dick gave a patient sigh and stared gravely at Slade. "Shall I show you my secret weapon?" he asked as he put his hands on his hips and looked at him defiantly.
Talia curiously noticed how the super soldier paled slightly at Grayson's words. Whatever the acrobat's secret weapon is it must be really efficient if even the world's deadliest mercenary was scared of it.
In spite of herself she remained curious and fascinated by this secret weapon of Richard's.
"You wouldn't dare!" hissed Slade, his one eye flashing dangerously.
Nightwing proudly raised his chin in defiance without ever taking his eyes off the older man. "Want to bet on it?" he asked with an arrogant smirk, his voice coming out calm.
Deathstroke merely returned Dick's gaze but eventually to Talia's surprise and shock the mercenary let out a defeated sigh. "Fuck you." he bit out with no real heat behind it.
Talia had to do a double take when Deathstroke The Terminator was pouting.
What the heck?
"But if I have to do it, Talia has to do it too or else I'll kill you in your sleep!" growled Slade, casting a glare at the acrobat.
Talia was actually surprised when Grayson did not wince or startle at the mercenary's threat.
Of course, she knew that Grayson and Wilson had a mentor and pupil history and that the two respected each other and that Slade, despite what he claimed, would never kill the younger man.
She was sure that Deathstroke would never back down in a fight with Nightwing but he would never kill him not because he was afraid of the Bat but for two other reasons: the first was that he respected him too much and saw something in him that Talia and Ra's themselves never saw (and that she still does not continue to see in the fool who corrupted her son), and the second reason was that she dared to say that one way or another Slade had grown fond of the boy and genuinely cared for him.
She scoffed mentally.
Emotions were not going to lead anywhere but to your death.
But still, the fact that Grayson was not the least bit afraid of Deathstroke was still impressive and in a way also to be respected.
"I don't know what your so-called secret weapon is, but I won't take any pinky promise. I'd rather die." declared Talia honestly, her gaze squinting in defiance at the young hero.
Nightwing tilted his head to the side with a smile clearly accepting her challenge and Slade chuckled. "I warned you Talia. Now you're screwed and you won't stand a chance."
The Bludhaven vigilante took off his mask, took a fairly dramatic deep breath, and looked at Talia with his famously and highly lethal puppy-dog eyes.
For a reason unknown to her, Talia felt herself falter in the face of that gaze. It was as if her determination and resolve were slowly and irreversibly crumbling, as if she could do nothing to counteract that damn look.
Talia shuddered at the intensity of that gaze and she felt something move inside her at the sight of those baby blues so bright and full of emotion.
What that was she did not know and at that moment she did not care.
Despite all her very hard training as a ruthless assassin she could not hold a candle to his gaze and she sighed, her shoulders slumping in defeat. "None of you better talk about this or I'll slit your throats." she grumbled disgruntled.
Dick triumphantly raised his fist in the air and Slade shook his head with a mix of affection and exasperation. "How the hell you do it I'll never understand."
The last Flying Grayson merely chuckled his eerie laugh (and both Slade and Talia would deny shuddering) and put his mask back on. "A magician never reveals his secrets." he said as he raised his pinkies, the excited smile present on his face.
Slade and Talia rolled their eyes and muttering something under their breath connected their pinkies with each other.
Dick had a Cheshire grin on his face while internally he was laughing madly.
They didn't know that his mask was registering everything.
Oh man, Dick would have gained so much blackmail material on the two of them.
They might have been catapulted into an alternate universe and locked up there for who knows how long but that wouldn't take away Dick Grayson's opportunity to have fun and act like a dick.
