"I expected more from your son. So easily manipulated, and hell of a light weight. So easy to push him around, beat him black and blue, he didn't make a sound. " Deathstroke spoke as their weapons collided.
Nightwing growled as he pushed off Deathstroke to avoid the knife the rogue slashed at him. "That's because you mind-controlled him!"
"Point still stays," Deathstroke dodging the fury of hits coming from Nightwing. "You never were this easy to control."
Dick growl intensified as he swung his escrima sticks, dodging a blow to side sweep Deathstroke's legs. Deathstroke flipping backwards, taking Nightwing further from the fight between Danny and his brothers.
"However, I must admit. He was great target practice." Deathstroke deflecting Nightwing's darts back at him with his knife. "Every time I sliced his throat, he came back good as new."
Dick saw red as he lunged for Slade, the man flipping over him, but Nightwing saw his opportunity to strike. He spun shooting at the man, hitting Deathstroke as he skidded back. The darts exploding on impact, however the man seemed hardly affected. Nightwing hurried and cart-wheeled over to get a few kicks and hits in. Deathstroke able to block a few of them, before grabbing Dick's ankle and flipping him over.
Nightwing recovered quickly, using the momentum to twist his body free, landing back on his feet. Allowing him time to block Deathstroke's blades with his escrima sticks.
"You'll pay what you've done, Slade." Dick snarled.
Deathstroke snorted amused, "We'll see about that."
With that, Deathstroke smoke bombed. Nightwing hurried to flip out of the smoke, not wanting to get hit. He glanced everywhere to figure out where the assassin had gone, barely dodging the blades tossed his way. A couple nicking his arm and cheek. His eyes snapping towards the man tauntingly standing on a fence line.
"Let's make this a tango shall we? Only need two." Deathstroke stood up, lowering his head. He pressed his thumb and middle finger together, the red stone ring shining in the streetlight.
"Renegade. Finish them." He commanded with a snap of his fingers.
No. Dick quickly turned back to see Danny, dressed in costume Slade had made to be a combination of Dick's renegade outfit and Slade's, knocking everyone to the ground with an ectoplasmic wave.
Ice had formed around Jason, Damian, and Cass, freezing them to the ground. They struggled from their binds, trying to call Danny to his senses, but Danny blankly charged his hand.
Nightwing turned to run towards Danny, only to be knocked to the ground by Deathstroke. His arm twisted behind his back as he struggle to wrestle the man off of him. Deathstroke grabbed a fist full of Dick's hair, reeling his head back to watch the show.
"No-DANNY! Snap out of it!" Dick yelled in desperation. He failed Danny. He failed his siblings. Deathstroke was taking out two things in his life he held dear to him. His new found relationship with his son, and his siblings.
"Kid! C'mon! We're your uncles! You don't want to do this." Red Hood struggled, against the ice that pinned his right side to the ground. Him trying to reach for his gun that tauntingly lay a little too far from his right.
"Weren't you trying to devise a way to melt his ice?!" Robin hissed, glaring over at Red Robin's direction. His entire top half being trapped in ice, barely exposing his face.
"I was working on it! Only thing I found was unstable at best, and couldn't find a convient way of containing-" Red Robin tried to explain. He was frozen to the ground by his staff. The ice traveled from the point his staff touched the ground up over his hands. He was pulling with his whole weight, hoping to break his staff from the ground, but it was useless.
"Maybe we should work on getting our ghostly nephew to hesitate instead of arguing about why we can't break out of this ice!" Red Hood yelled at the two. His fingers brushed against the handle of his gun.
Danny raised his fist, eyes glowing out of the mask Slade gave him. He was aiming at them.
"I never forgiven you for taking my daugther away. How fitting I do the same?" Deathstroke taunted.
"That was your own damn fault, Slade!" Dick grunted between his teeth.
"Then this is yours. I can only imagine what's running through your head. The guilt, the shame. Your past coming back to haunt your child and you," Deathstroke leaned in close to speak into Dick's ear. "Unable to save him."
Nightwing tried to leaned his head away from the assassin. He stared desperately at his child. Tears briming his eyes, as Danny released the energy from his hand.
Except, it didn't barrel straight towards his brothers. Instead a flash of green flew by his head. He felt the weight disappear off of him as his head was released. A heavy painful grunt as Deathstroke hit the wall behind him.
Danny stood there, panting. One eye shining green as the other red, his hand in a finger gun position with his pointer aim straight at them.
"D-DAD... hurry." Danny shook as his voice cracked.
Dick pushed off his hands and spun to his feet. He picked up his escrima sticks, and lunged for Deathstroke before he had a chance to recover. Using the electricity on his sticks he whacked Deathstroke in the jaw. He used the other one to slam down on Slade's fingers, destroying the soft gem inside of the ring. Deathstroke swipped at Dick with his blade, Dick dodging by flipping away. The blade struck into the brick wall, sticking straight into it.
Nightwing spun around to land a kick onto Deathstroke's abdomen, but the assassin had recovered, rolling out of range of the kick and grappling onto a near by lamp post. He held his face with his hand. A green scorch mark was freshly on display.
"Maybe I was wrong, only slightly. He's stubborn, just like you.," Deathstroke stood up. His eye falling back at Danny, who glared back at him, with same fiercness as his father. "Hmph. I'll shall look forward to our next encounter."
Deathstroke then grabbled onto a nearby police helicopter as it flew by assessing the area. Nightwing tried to follow him, pulling out his grappling hook.
"Not so fast-"
"Get your kid!" Jason yelled.
Dick snapped his head towards Danny who was wobbling in place. A white ring appearing around him. He grappled onto the near by railing to give him speed and air. He landed onto the ground with a roll, catching Danny just in time as the teenage boy fell into his arms.
Dick sighed, hugging the passed out boy tightly in his arms. He buried his face into his hair, feeling tears burn his eyes. It was his fault Danny was kidnapped by Slade. His fault he was taken advantage of... hurt.
"I'm so sorry, champ."
-
Slade. He hated that man.
Dick felt the sweat fall from his face as he punched the punching bag. He wished he could have clocked the man harder. He wished he focused on the ring sooner. He wished he paid more attention.
He KNEW after Slade made himself known, attacking Danny that he be around again. He failed to protect Danny.
"Hey, big bird. Keep this up and we'll have to expedite that new punching bag in."
Dick stopped his punching, grabbing the bag to hold it still. He was panting for air as he looked back at Jason. His brother was leaning in the doorway, his arms crossed. One half of his body still red from the ice.
"We'll just hang up Slade and use him instead." Dick snorted as he wiped his face off with the towel that hung around his neck.
"We gotta catch him first, but I be down for that. Bastard deserves it for what he done to Danny." Jason said.
An awkward silence fell between them. Dick staring at the floor, shame filling his gut again. Luckily Jason was the first to break the silence again.
"He needs you, ya know."
"Yeah, I know. I just... I just can't believe I didn't prepare for this."
"You had your hands full. We should have been better at it too."
"But he's my son! I-I should have known Slade wouldn't leave him alone. I should have protected him better! I-" Dick pulled at his hair.
"Ifs, ands, and buts never change anything." Jason placed a firm hand on Dick's shoulder. "Danny manage to break out of it. Honestly, I think being your son helps."
Jason patted Dick's shoulder, giving a gentle shake before lowering his hand. "The only thing we can do is make sure that bastard can't even take a glimpse of Danny without us knowing. And even if he manages too, we'll make sure our little ghost can beat him to the punch."
"Yeah... You're right.. I just."
"I know. Now hurry up and shower, before you start stinking up the place, chum. Danny should be waking up soon if his vitals are anything to go by." Jason turned to leave, hands into his basketball shorts.
"Ugh. Danny mentioned that, didn't he?" Dick shook his head, moving to follow Jason out of the gym.
"Well you fucking know it wasn't Bruce." Jason grinned, sticking his tongue out at his older brother.
-
Dick found himself hesitating on opening the door to Danny's room. Thankfully he wasn't injured enough to keep him in the infirmary bay, so they moved him to somewhere more comfortable for him to wake up in. The room Alfred had set up for when Dick and Danny visited.
He took a deep breath then cracked the door open. He knocked on the door way, waiting before opening the door all the way. He heard shuffling of sheets and a grunt, signifying he could come in.
"Hey, Champ." Dick greeted once pushing the door open, walking straight in. "How you feeling?"
"Like I got hit by a truck and it repeatedly ran over my head." Danny stated as he pushed himself to sit up in the bed. He let out a heavy breath as he rubbed his arm. He avoided eye contact.
"Oof. Sounds rough. Want me to dim the lights?" Dick offered, incase the lights were too bright.
"Nah. I'm fine." Danny answered, pulling his knees to his chest.
Dick nodded as he slowly walked up to Danny's bed. His eyes glancing towards Danny neck. No leftover scar or mark left, yet the idea still made him sick. He wondered how much Danny remembers. Was terrible to pray Danny didn't remember any of it?
"Besides the headache, how you feel?" Dick asked as he pulled a chair up to Danny's bedside, sitting in it.
He watched as the teen clenched his fists tightly on his blanket that drapped over his legs. He took a while to reply, "Stupid."
Dick's shoulders fell. His lips pressed into a sympathetic smile. "Its not your fault Danny-"
"Like the Hell it isn't! I knew someone was following me! I.. I just didn't think it was him." Danny's voice cracked as he rested his cheek on his knees.
"You didn't tell me?" Dick tilted his head, a bit surprised at learning Danny wasn't that unaware of the assassin's presence. Also, he needed to talk to Jay about swearing so much in front of Danny.
Danny sighed, "I wanted to handle it and what a shit job I did."
He definitely needed a word with Jay-bird. Dick pursed his lips in thought. He had to be careful about his words, thought part of him was amused as Danny did exactly what he would have.
"I forgot about the stupid stones." The teen continued without needing to be pressed on, hugging his knees tighter.
"You've been under their affect before?" Dick asked.
"...Yeah. I just... yeah. Funny enough. I was in a circus too once..." Danny chuckled weakly. "Ring leader used it. I almost didn't break out of my trance then either."
Dick felt heat burn in his chest again, he took a breath to keep his anger in check. He'll have plenty of time finding this bastard later, just another added to the list. He reached out to place a comforting hand on Danny's shoulder.
"That's good though, Danny. The breaking out not the... you know." Dick smiled, as his head ran over the facts. Danny broke out of the mind-control, twice. Which means he has a big chance be able to fight against it and win, before it can take effect.
"Barely! Just barely! If I didn't Sam would had fallen to her death. Your brothers would have died.. I... would have killed..."
"Barely means you didn't. Barely means a whole lot of difference in our line of work. Barely is the difference between life or death. Yes, Danny you BARELY broke out of the trance, but the important part is that you did. Many don't, can't, but YOU did." Dick squeezed the teen's shoulder.
"And the fact that you did, means you can again."
"What if I can't?"
"Then we'll be there to snap you out of it. We won't let the same mistake happen twice." Dick smiled, moving to sit on the side of the bed. He pulled Danny into a one arm hug. "Pinky promise."
Dick held out his pinky in front of the small teen. Danny sniffled before hooking his pinky finger onto Dick's. "Alright. I trust you."
Dick smiled, ruffling the kid's hair with the arm he kept around Danny's shoulders. The teen pushed back, swatting the hand away.
"Ack! Stop!" Danny chuckled. He fixed his hair once Dick stopped ruffling it, a grin on his face. He glanced back at the older vigilante with a quirked brow, "I just thought of something funny."
"What's that?"
"We attract fruitloops." Danny said with a grimace, but his lips keeping a smile.
"What you mean by that?" Dick raised a brow. He knew his protege liked using fruitloops to talk about people who were deranged in some way.
"You got adopted by a man in a batsuit. I got someone trying to adopt me who looks like Dracula. Both billionaires." Danny started off using his fingers to list it, "We both have rogues that are trying to force us into apprenticeship."
"Yours the same guy though." Dick pointed out. Danny had told him about Vlad Masters, and his true identity especially after Danny freaked out seeing him at the gala. He couldn't know Danny existed yet.
"I can't help I got the loopest of fruitloops." Danny spun his finger. "Though, Vlad does care about his appearance. I think thats only thing that keeps him from diving completely into the cereal bowl."
"Yeah, having something to keep intact does hold a lot of people back. Villains are the most dangerous when they're desperate." Dick explained.
"Yeah..." Danny nodded in agreement. Dick watched from the corner of his eye as he saw Danny chew his lip. His grinning expression replaced by one in deep thought. "...Deathstroke's... like that.. isn't he?"
"I think.. he's different. In a way." Dick hummed in his own thought. Slade lost a lot, but it was the man's own fault. "If only slightly."
"I'm sorry, you had to go through all that Danny- I.. I should have-"
"Don't worry about it. I've been blasted and threatened to be pulled apart molecule by molecule by my own parents. Honestly... his methods were less painful."
"That doesn't make me feel better about it."
Danny shrugged, "I just... don't want to loose control again. I don't want to hurt anyone."
"You won't," Dick smiled softly. He poked at his own head. "We bats are hard to control. I should have taught you sooner, but important thing is we're going to get to it now. I bet B already started buying up the mines for and red stones even similar to what Deathstroke used."
"Teach me?"
"Mmhm. A lot of mind-control can be negated with mental training. It probably take longer than time we have to get you 100%, but combine that with being half-ghost, I'd say it be more than enough." Dick explained, "Of course, we will only do what your comfortable with Danny. It can get pretty intensive."
"But you really think I could do it?"
"I think you can do anything you set your mind too." Dick winked, earning him a rough shove that made Dick fall off the bed. Dick laughed, pushing himself up onto his feet.
"I'm serious. You really can." Dick brushed himself off, giving Danny a comforting smile.
Danny chewed his lip, shrinking into himself. He never could take compliments back. He then laid his forehead down on his knees and let out a heavy sigh. "Thanks, D."
"Anytime, Champ. Try and get more rest, before the welcome party comes along, will ya? I think Alfred said he was planning on making his English muffins for breakfast."
"His muffins are the fu-fricking best!"
Silence past between them as Dick stared at Danny with a raised brow. Danny never looking up.
"So, uh.. yeah I better get to laying down again.. then." Danny shifted to lay back down, still avoiding eye contact.
"Mmhm. Night Danny," Dick smiled walking towards the doorway.
"Wait- um.. Da-ick." Danny called out, looking a bit embarrassed.
"Yeah, Champ?" Dick turned back.
"..I- nevermind. G'night."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah.. It's dumb." The teen was burying his face, face down into the pillow.
"I don't think so." Dick claimed as he leaned back onto the door behind him.
"You don't even know what I was going to ask." Danny peeking his head up to glare at the man, half of his face still buried in the pillow.
"Try me."
"...could you stay for a bit?" Danny hesitantly asked in a quiet voice.
Dick blinked back in shock, before smiling. "Sure thing."
He walked over to the bed. He flipped over the side of it, above Danny, landing beside him. The bed bounce, shifting all the pillows beside the one Danny was clinging too. He ruffled Danny's hair, then reached for the remote.
"Want me to put it on something too? Space Trek?" Dick asked already turning on the tv.
Danny just nodded into his pillow, still feeling embarrassed. He just didn't want to be alone again. He wanted to hear people around him. The manor was way too quiet despite it being a full-house at the moment.
He really wished they were back at Dick's apartment. The city constantly made noise, and he could always hear some sort of life around him. But for now, he had to settle for voices on the tv and the sound of someone breathing beside him.
At least until tomorrow.