Gotham City
Amusement Mile (Haly's Circus)
9:00 A.M.
"Raya, no. It's a bad idea."
Dick and Raya were walking through the train cars to the room where Dick was staying.
"Come on Dick, you can't say no to something like this."
"I just did."
"This is who you are Dick, you can't just throw that away. None of us can."
"I'm not throwing anything away Raya, but there's a psycho out there who wants me dead. And you go and suggest something like this? My answer is still no."
"Don't worry Dick, we'll hire extra security and make sure GCPD knows about this guy."
"Yeah, like GCPD and local security can stop this guy. You did see what that guy did to those cops right? There's hardly anything left of them."
"This IS Gotham right? That Nightwing guy showed up and made quick work of him. What about Batman? He'll show up if anything bad happens."
"No, Batman won't show up here."
"How do you know that?"
"Beca- Look Raya, that's not important. I'm not going to agree to something that puts the circus in danger."
"Fine, if you won't do it for the circus then do it for me."
"Sorry Raya, answer is still no."
Rachel was reading in her room, she could hear Raya's footsteps, Dick always walked so lightly you couldn't hear his, she did hear his voice though, and knew by the sound of it that he was frustrated.
"Damn it Dick! Then at least do it for John and Mary! They deserve to be remembered."
Dick opened the door to his room and walked in slamming the sliding door behind him. He could hear Raya scream in frustration and walk to her room. Dick slammed his head against the wall then collapsed onto his bed. Thirty seconds passed and there was a knock on the door.
"You don't have to knock Rachel, I know it's you."
Rachel slid the door open and closed it quietly behind her, Rachel leaned against the wall without a word, all those years of knowing Dick, and she knew when to talk and when to let him talk. This was one of those times to let him talk.
"I assume you heard all that?"
Rachel took her hood down.
"I heard you arguing with Raya but I didn't hear what it was about."
Dick shifted and reached into his back pocket and pulled out a flyer and passed it to Rachel. Rachel grabbed the flyer and sat down next to Dick on the bed. She looked at the flyer and her eyes got wide, it was a flyer for Haly's next show. The cover showed two acrobats on it, the headline of the flyer was in bold lettering; "FLYING GRAYSON'S MEMORIAL". Rachel peered back at Dick who was still laying on his back. Rachel opened the flyer and kept studying it before she spoke.
"Dick is this… is this for real?"
Dick sat up.
"It would be, if I had agreed to it."
"And why wouldn't you?"
"Rae, there's some assassin running around who wants Dick Grayson dead, we have no leads on who the hell this guy is, except for those high profile assassinations in Chicago, now Raya wants to throw this memorial which I obviously will be attending. It's like setting off a flare. Why should I agree to this when it puts everyone who attends in danger, along with everyone in the circus that I grew up around and care about in danger?"
At that moment, Rachel came up with a devious plan. Rachel stood up and walked over to the door and stuck her head out, she looked down the hall to make sure nobody was wandering around and there was nobody eavesdropping. She walked back to the bed and sat down.
"Dick, you're looking at this the wrong way."
Dick sat up and looked at Rachel.
"What do you mean?"
"You wanted us to go undercover, draw this Saiko into a trap and find out who he is. This way we don't have to go undercover and when he shows up Nightwing and Raven will be waiting for him."
Dick sat up and looked at Rachel.
"Don't you think I thought about that possibility, it puts too much risk on the circus. A guy like this just screams collateral damage."
"Then what are you going to do? Let this guy attack the circus with no protection and random GCPD guys that will get torn to shreds again? That's not you."
Dick dropped his head.
"Damn it Rae! This isn't like putting the Titans or any of the Bat-Family. These are civilians, untrained and the slightest thing happens there's a panic."
"How many times did you set a trap with nothing but civvies in jump city? The football game with H.I.V.E? The senior Prom when high school kids were being abducted? Hell, you drew Slade into a trap that he didn't even see coming! What's so different about this?"
Dick looked up at Rachel, she could feel the emotions streaming from him.
"Because, this is my childhood Rae. I grew up with these people, most of the older ones helped raise me. Everywhere I look, I see memories of the circus. Falling from the ropes, doing parkour races on the train tracks, stealing the keys to Haly's truck and joyriding around the field."
In that moment, Rachel understood. He had never talked about the circus. He mentioned it at times and told the Titans about where he was from but other than that he never mentioned it. Rachel knew that just talking about it, made him miss it more each time. Rachel put a hand on his shoulder, his emotion were almost too strong for her.
"Dick, you remember my home; Azarath. I trained with the priests there, they taught me about my powers, and they raised me. Then Trigon came, burned the place to the ground, slaughtered the priests and ripped them to shreds…."
Rachel's hand tensed, her eyes started to glow. Black lightning bolts of magic started to creep around the room. Her anger was swirling as she tried to make her point. Dick looked over to see Rachel holding her eyes shut; she hated it when he saw her when the demon blood began to flow. Rachel then focused on her mantra.
"Azarath. Metrion. Zinthose."
The magic stopped and Rachel's emotions came back under control.
"My point is Dick, is that if I could go back and save at least one tiny part of Azarath, I wouldn't hesitate."
"You always know just what to say to me, don't you?"
Dick stood and walked out of the room, Rachel could hear him knock on Raya's door, then Dick talking.
"Raya? Put on the show… For Mom and Dad."
The door opened and Raya threw her arms around Dick hugging him.
"For John and Mary then. I'll go tell Brian right now."
Raya kissed Dick on the cheek and released her hold on him then began walking back the way they had come to tell Brian about the show, Dick wandered back into his room and looked at Rachel.
"This was a mistake…"
"Everything will be fine."
Rachel walked over to Dick and put a hand on his shoulder, Dick was still tense. Rachel looked at him with her deep violet eyes. Nothing else in the room even came close to the color of them. Then she smiled, it was rare, but she could smile.
"I promise."
Dick relaxed some and sat down on his bed, Rachel sat beside him and assured him again that everything would be okay.
"Look, we'll come up with a battle plan. Find choke points, scout the arena and find all entrance and exit points. We'll have an exit for all civilians when things go bad, we'll also find areas where he can infiltrate through, obviously he has some skill in stealth if he slipped in undetected."
Dick looked over at Rachel with a smirk on his face, she knew that meant he had a quip or sarcasm or something else he just couldn't help but say.
"I love it when you talk dirty."
Rachel pushed Dick over onto the bed, and stared at him. They were both thinking the same thing, but neither of them wanted to give in. The room had an awkward silence to it, Rachel snapped out of it and stood up.
"Uh, right. I should probably go and do… something."
Dick sat up.
"Yeah, and I should probably go and scout the arena. We'll meet back here when we're done."
"Right, yeah, ok."
Dick walked out of the room again and headed for the arena, Rachel watched him leave then slammed her head against the wall hard enough for everyone to hear.
"Damn it Rachel! Focus!"
Rachel then turned and left the room.
Gotham City
Amusement Mile (Underneath an old roller coaster)
10:39 A.M.
While Dick and Rachel were away scouting the arena and preparing their trap, Raya was meeting with an unknown entity.
"Grayson took the bait, the Flying Grayson Memorial takes place tomorrow night. If everything goes according to plan, he'll be right out in the open, perfect for you to make your move. I'll make sure the girl doesn't interfere."
"I'm not worried about Grayson's little plaything."
"Batman, then?"
"I don't think the Bat will interfere. At least not right away."
"Then what about Nightwing? He beat you once, and you said you were coming back so he'll be here."
"Oh, I'm counting on it."
"But if Nightwing shows up, he may stop you before you get to Grayson."
"Haven't you figured it out yet Raya? Grayson IS Nightwing…"
"What?! How is that possible?"
"I can't believe I didn't see it earlier… The way Nightwing magically appeared when I turned my back… And the way he moved… He moved like a Grayson."
"So… this could be harder than we thought..."
The figure moved closer to Raya.
"That makes it more fun. There's a reason I call myself Saiko."
"Okay, I guess you're right. You can take him this time though, right Raymond?"
The figure known as Raymond took another step towards Raya.
"Trust me, Raya Dick will not survive the night."
"So… We're really going through with this then."
"He only came back because we lured him back. Haly's Circus comes back to Gotham for the first time in eleven years, AND on the anniversary of their deaths. We lured him back, he didn't come back because he cares about you. Remember that."
"Okay…"
He took another step.
"Look, I know this is difficult for you, but we agreed. Dick Grayson, is as responsible as anyone. NOTHING has changed. It's just me an you, Raya. The way it's always been."
Raymond and Raya embraced then kissed.
"Go prepare, I'll do the same…"
Just like that the unknown figure known as Raymond, was gone.
Gotham City
Amusement Mile (Haly's Circus)
2:23 P.M.
"Hey Rae, any luck?"
Dick was standing over a desk studying blue prints of the arena he had acquired from the Bat-Computer.
"Yeah, found an exit that leads straight outside to the parking lot. Perfect place for police and EMT's to assist since the parking lot has a main road."
Without looking up Dick answered.
"The south west exit right?"
"Yeah, that's the one."
"Good choice. The south east exit that leads to the parking lot is too compact, can't handle a swarm of people. Also has too many load bearing walls, an explosion near there could level the ceiling onto anyone passing underneath."
"How did you-?"
Dick turned around and smirked.
"I downloaded the blueprints from the Bat-Computer's files. Figured they'd come in handy."
Raven scoffed in frustration.
"Y'know, just once I'd like to surprise you with something."
"If only you knew how many times I have said that to Batman over the years…"
Rachel walked over to look at the blueprints Dick was studying. It showed every exit, every little detail they needed to know to make their trap work. Rachel studied it for a few seconds, she pointed to a security door that lead straight to the exit she talked about.
"These doors, there's one in each corner, it leads straight to the hallway. Will they work as an exit?"
Dick looked at where her finger was pointed and trailed off.
"Reinforced steel, almost impossible to pry open. Looks like they're wide enough for three people shoulder to shoulder, in a panic they could evacuate the stadium in maybe a minute and a half; too slow. Add about another forty seconds because of the crowd. Longer, if they need to go through that exit you found."
"Is there another way?"
"No, three minutes will have to work. And it'll only be three minutes if we can open those security doors in time."
"How do they open?"
"Panel next to the door has a red switch, flip it up and the arena goes into emergency status and all doors will open."
"As soon as you give the signal I can flip the switch with magic, it will take a second and a half."
"Good. But don't wait for a signal, things go bad flip that switch and focus on evacuating first. Then I want you on crowd control, keep everyone back, if people get separated I want you to help find them."
"Dick, I'm not useless, I can help fight."
"No."
Dick's answer was cold and emotionless again, he sounded just like HIM again. Dick realized this and turned to see Rachel watching him.
"Sorry Rae, it's just…"
"Don't. I get it. This is personal for you. I'll keep the crowd back and help tend to any wounded."
"Thanks Rae, I know you want in on the action but this is just something I HAVE to do alone. If this guy has some sort of vendetta against me then I have to figure out who he is and why."
Rachel put her hand over his, Dick looked up at her. Nobody needed to say anything, her actions and the psy-link spoke for them, but that didn't stop her from saying it anyway.
"You will. Just don't lose control when you find the truth."
Dick looked away, he knew he would lose control. Rachel felt what he was feeling; anger, frustration, and fear that he was putting everyone he cared about in danger to catch one guy. Dick didn't say anything, he just looked back at the blueprints.
"We need a contingency plan for every situation imaginable. If one plan doesn't work, we need three more."
Dick and Rachel went on planning for the rest of the afternoon. Finding every hole, security issue, or problem they could find on the blueprints and in the stadium. It was almost five by the time they could barely read the blueprints, so many markings and notes in the margins and at places where they could set a trap. Dick took a step back, closed his eyes and rubbed them.
"Ugh, eye strain… I don't know how you spend countless hours reading."
Rachel shrugged.
"I guess after years of reading six to eight hours at a time you get used to it."
Rachel watched as Dick held his hand over his eyes.
"You going to be okay?"
"Yeah… Just eye strain. I'm just going to sit down for a few minutes, then I'll be fine. Keep going over those plans Rae, make sure we're not missing something."
Dick walked over to the bed and sat down, he out his back flush against the wall closed his eyes.
Rachel poured over the plans for another ten minutes.
"Did you search the arena for infiltration points? He got in through the roof last time."
There was no answer. Rachel turned to see Dick fast asleep. His head was turned to the left, Rachel didn't need the psy-link to tell her that he was in a deep sleep. Last few nights had left him exhausted, he could go four nights without sleep, but it still took its toll. Rachel walked over and sat next to him on the bed thinking the shift of weight would wake him, it didn't.
"Dick? Dick wake up."
Still nothing. Rachel watched him sleep; he looked so peaceful that she couldn't bring herself to wake him, even if this was important. She smiled and put her hood up, covering her face as she always did. Rachel laid down next to Dick, resting her head on his thigh, she closed her eyes. She felt safe whenever she was close to him, in another moment, she was asleep.
Gotham City
Amusement Mile (Haly's Circus)
7:00 P.M
Rachel awoke to the sight of Dick looking down at her, he had been watching as she slept. She was tired too, running all over the place, getting two hours of sleep a night, it took its toll on both of them. Rachel rubbed her eye with the back of her hand.
"What time is it?"
"Seven."
Rachel dropped her hand.
"Seven? Damn it! We must have overslept."
"Didn't you try to wake me?"
"I did. I called your name twice but you didn't wake up."
"You could have woke me up you know."
"You looked like you needed sleep, and you looked so peaceful that I couldn't bring myself to wake you."
"So instead of waking me, you fall asleep as well, and let our emotions feed off each other to the point of sleeping for two hours when we should be planning?"
"Dick…?"
"So because we weren't planning, this Saiko guy has an advantage, an advantage to harm everyone at Haly's because I couldn't stay awake."
He stopped blaming her, and went straight to blaming himself, something he always did. Every time something goes wrong, he blames himself.
Rachel sat up, she wrapped an arm around his neck and pulled him in, and her lips met his. She could feel frustration. Rachel released her grip and backed off.
"It'll be okay Dick. You know what you're doing."
Rachel reassured him again with another kiss, that's when they heard a knock on the door. Rachel quickly sat up and walked to the table with the blueprints and the gear, she pulled her hoodie off and threw it over the table to cover everything. Dick walked to the door and opened it, Raya was standing on the other side.
"Hey Raya, what's up?"
Raya looked passed Dick to see Rachel leaning against the table with her arms crossed. Raya looked back at Dick.
"I'm not interrupting anything am I?"
"Course not, we were just going over some things. Need something?"
"I was just wondering if you wanted to take a walk, it'll give us time to talk more. And finalize details for the show tomorrow night."
Rachel's interest piqued.
Dick looked over to Rachel and saw that look in her eye, not a look of jealousy, a look of trust, he had seen it a hundred times.
"Sure Raya, sounds good. Wait outside for a minute, I'll be right out."
Raya looked at Rachel with a look of spite.
"Sure, just don't be long."
Raya kissed Dick and walked out of the room. Dick turned to Rachel.
"On the blueprints I marked six locations on the catwalks of the stadium, there are eight motion and thermal sensors in the bag with our gear. I need you to place the sensors at six locations and two more wherever you think they should go. When Saiko shows up, we'll see him."
Rachel smirked.
"You're letting me pick two of the locations, why?"
Dick smirked.
"Why do you think?"
Dick winked then walked out to meet Raya. Rachel blushed, good thing nobody was around to see it. Rachel uncovered the blueprints and put her hoodie back on, she studied the six locations then grabbed the bag with their gear in it and waited a few minutes for Dick and Raya to put some distance between her, then she left to plant the sensors.
Gotham City
Amusement Mile Park
7:36 P.M.
Dick and Raya were walking through the abandoned park in Amusement Mile, they were crossing the old bridge that went over to the other side of the park. They were arguing, again.
"Well you're not exactly great about staying in touch."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
Raya spoke with an accusing tone.
"It means you stay ahead of the things you don't want to deal with… Including people. Hell, it's probably why you're so good at the trapeze."
They kept walking over the bridge.
"You look forward instead of back, Dick. It's who you are."
"Is that what you really think?"
Raya crossed her arms and her steps got heavy.
"Hey, you're the guy who couldn't be bothered to leave that billionaire's mansion for Raymond's funeral. What do you think?"
Raya stormed off, leaving Dick on the bridge to contemplate what Raya had said. Dick walked back to his room where Rachel was waiting for him.
"Sensors are all placed, found to locations to put the last two, the other six are at the locations you specified."
Dick was quiet, he just sat on the bed and stared at the wall. Rachel sensed something was wrong.
"Dick?"
No answer. Rachel walked in front of him and kneeled down on to her knees.
"Talk to me Dick, what's wrong?"
"I don't swing back…"
"What? I don't…"
"When we were Titans, and I ran away to Tokyo. You found me in that Dojo, with the Masters. I told you that I couldn't leave you because I always swing back… I was wrong, I don't swing back."
"What are you talking about? What brought this on?"
"Raya. She was right. I could never face my past, I always look forward, not back."
Rachel looked back at Dick. She wasn't sure what to say. He was right, but she never looked back either, she always looked forward.
"Dick that's not a…"
Dick cut her off.
"I once asked Alfred if I was a bad son. I asked, because Bruce always went back to Crime Alley, to where Thomas and Martha were killed and I never went to see my parent's graves. Alfred said it was because I was healing, maybe he was wrong."
"Dick, two weeks ago, we were in Bludhaven mall, I was fantasizing about having a normal life, but you stopped those thoughts. Do you remember what you said to me?"
"Rae, don't…"
"You told me; 'We are who we are because of our past.' You don't look back because there is no point. What matters is the present."
Dick looked up at her.
"And I WAS there…"
"Wait, what?"
"What Raya said, she's wrong."
Dick stood up.
"I need to go talk to Raya, I'll be back later Rae."
"Oh okay."
Dick stood up and walked out of the room. Rachel spoke under her breath.
"Glad I could help…"
Dick knocked on Raya's door, he could tell she had been sleeping judging by the pink undershirt she was wearing and the short shorts. Along with the heaviness of her eyes.
"Hey…"
"Hey Raya, so there's something… Something I need to talk to you about. About what you said before."
Raya rubbed her eyes, her fiery red hair was shining in the light of the train car.
"Okay…"
"You're right, you know. About me always looking forward and never looking back. About not dealing with the past. But you see, here's the thing, Raya. The night of Raymond's funeral… I WAS there."
Raya looked confused.
"I've never told anyone this before… Not even Rachel. But I snuck out that night. Away from Bruce, away from the Manor. And I took two buses to get there, to be with you all. Except…"
Dick paused.
"Except when I saw you. You were standing in front of his closed casket, crying… It was the same look you had the LAST time we saw each other at my parents' service. The same look you had when I said goodbye to you. And I… I couldn't do it again, Raya… I couldn't say goodbye again. So I ran."
Raya's face widened, tears started creeping their way down her face. Her emerald eyes glowing from the water.
"I want you to know, I'm not running this time. I'm staying right here. Mom and Dad would want me to stay here. They would want me here, with all of you. And until we figure out who the hell this guy is and what he wants, I'm staying RIGHT HERE."
Night of the Show
Amusement Mile Stadium
8:49 P.M.
Dick and Rachel were back stage looking at a phone that showed all the motion detectors and thermal cameras, they couldn't see anything out of the ordinary.
"Nice job with the cameras Rae, we can see every angle."
Rachel almost blushed. That's when Raya came walking up behind them, Dick heard the footprints and passed the phone to Rachel who slid it into her pocket. Raya didn't even acknowledge Rachel, why would she?
"Hey Dick, take a walk?"
Dick looked to Rachel and nodded.
"Right, I'll catch you before the show."
Rachel looked at Raya.
"Have fun you two."
Dick and Raya walked around back stage; Raya didn't say a word.
"You're pretty quiet tonight. You okay?"
"Hm? Oh yeah, sorry… I was just… thinking."
"Anything good?"
"Well… It's actually kind of about your parents, actually."
"What do you mean?"
"I've been thinking a lot about them. Ever since I came back to Haly's. I mean, they're the ones who taught me trapeze in the first place. They always included me in everything."
Raya hesitated.
"You guys were the closest thing to a family I ever had. The ONLY family I ever had. That's why we're doing this show."
"That would have meant a lot to them to hear."
"Just thought you should know. In case you… never come back."
"Whoa, hold on Raya. I'm not going anywhere, I told you that."
"But you've been gone for eleven years Dick, without even a damn phone call. Now, after tonight you won't be around anymore…"
Dick had a confused look on his face, Raya noticed what she said and covered it.
"What I mean is after the show you'll just disappear again, go back to that billionaire's mansion and forget about all us regular people down here."
Dick stopped dead and got a serious look on his face, he stared into Raya's green eyes.
"Do you remember what mom used to say?"
"Dick don't…"
"Mom used to say that we were inseparable, two kids that could take on the world. When one of us was unhappy or something bothered us, the other one was always there."
At that moment Dick realized he just wasn't talking about Raya anymore, he realized he and Rachel were the same way.
"That was a long time ago Dick… Things ha-"
"You know that day you were really sad? You were jealous and felt left out because I had parents, along with most of the other kids raised at Haly's. You were crying in your room and mom went to see you… She said 'Family is not who you're related to. Family is who you care for, and those you surround yourself with.'
Tears started running down Raya's cheeks. She hugged Dick with more strength than he was expecting, she couldn't look at him.
"I have to go…"
She turned and walked out of the tent. Dick went to find Rachel, he walked passed the performer trailers when something caught the corner of his eye. He turned to look at it, it was an old poster. A few of the edges were tattered and torn, there was a circus tent in the background. There were pictures of John and Mary on their respective sides, Dick was in the middle wearing his old acrobat suit, he was in the middle of a jump, out stretched and ready to catch the next line. The bottom of the poster was in bold yellow lettering. 'The Amazing Flying Graysons'. Dick stared at the poster, he almost didn't notice Rachel approach from behind him. He hadn't seen the poster in years, it was the one they used to promote the show the night they died.
"She's pretty…"
Dick looked to see Rachel standing beside him.
"Your mom… She's pretty. You have her eyes…"
"I haven't seen a picture of them in so long."
Just then they heard a third voice from behind them, a voice they both knew. It was a heavy British accent.
"That really is a lovely picture of you all-"
Dick and Rachel turned around to see Alfred behind them.
"-Master Richard."
"Alfred!"
Dick ran towards Alfred and hugged him.
"They dragged you into this thing, too?"
"DRAGGED is far from the proper word sir. Though I regret I won't be able to stay for the actual performance. With Master Bruce still working on that lead and still mourning the loss of Damian I should be nearby, in case he returns needing assistance."
"That's why we love you Alfie, always there when we need you."
Dick let go of Alfred.
"And how about YOU, Richard? How are YOU feeling in the hour before the proverbial curtain lifts?"
"Terrible. This place is so big, it's logistically a NIGHTMARE to secure."
"That's unfortunate."
"Tell me about it, Rae and I set up motion and thermal cameras, scouted all the exits, got an escape plan, and I gav an anonymous tip to GCPD but-"
"That's not what I meant. I understand the need for precaution… I only hope that in taking these extra measures to protect the show, you're not taking extra measures to protect YOURSELF from EXPERIENCING it."
"Huh. Why don't you tell me what you really think…"
"I think this is your FAMILY'S night, Richard, and the last time I checked you're a part of that."
"I don't follow…"
Rachel stepped to beside Dick.
"He means it's okay to enjoy the show and the night dedicated to John and Mary, and you."
"Precisely Miss Rachel. Well, time for me to get back to the Manor. But before I go, Master Richard, please enjoy the show, in fact, I believe John and Mary would want you to."
Alfred walked out of the tent to drive home, Dick turned and looked at Rachel.
"Listen Rae, before this night goes to hell, I need to tell you something."
"Dick, you don't have-"
"When I was walking with Raya, I realized that yo-"
Jimmy came running from behind Dick.
"There you are! C'mon Grayson! The show is starting soon."
Dick and Rachel walked to where all the performers were, the opening act was about to start. Dick pulled out his phone and was watching the motion cameras, none of them were tripped yet.
"Damn it, what is he waiting for!?"
Dick looked up at Rachel, she was wearing her hoodie, in an instant she could easily put her hood up and blend in to a crowd, hiding her magic.
"Rae, I want you in that crowd, you see anything you let me know and throw that switch."
Dick pulled out his phone, still no cameras were tripped.
"Hey! You can text later. It's time for speeches! Go!"
Jimmy pushed Dick out into the light behind a microphone, the spot line centered on him. The stadium erupted into a roar of cheering and applause. Dick looked around, he saw Rachel find a seat in the middle of the arena, she nodded.
"Okay, this is… Sorry, I wasn't really expecting to…"
Dick cleared his throat.
"My name is Richard Grayson. I guess I'd just like to thank you all for coming tonight… For supporting the memory of my parents; Mary and John Grayson."
Dick looked at Rachel; dead in the eyes as he continued.
"I've never been someone who's great at dealing with the things he'd rather avoid. Especially if one of those things is ME. But as I stand here tonight, looking at all the hard work everyone at Haly's has put in… Well, being here reminds me that even though I lost my parents…"
Dick shifted his gaze to back stage, he saw Raya watching him.
"I'll never lose my family."
He looked back to Rachel.
"I recently remembered some advice I got from my mom, she said it about a week before she died. Mom once said to me 'Family is not who you're related to. Family is who you care for, and those you surround yourself with."
He repeated himself.
"I'll never lose my family. And with that kind of support, there's NOTHING I can't deal with."
Dick waved to the crowd.
"So thank you all, and enjoy the show!"
Dick walked off stage to see Raya waiting for him.
"Did you mean that?"
"What?"
"What you just said- About us all being family… Did you MEAN that?"
"Of course I meant it…"
Dick sat on a wooden box and pulled out his phone.
"Why wouldn't I…?"
Dick's face got white.
"Damn!"
"What, what is it?"
Dick grabbed his bag and ran off. Rachel heard his voice in her head.
"Damn it! He's already here! Stupid Grayson!"
"Wait, where?"
"Don't move Rae, don't draw suspicion. I'm headed up top, I'll call if I need you."
Dick changed into his gear and headed to the top of the tent. A shadow jumped from above him, it was the same voice from a few nights ago.
"Seems only fitting that it end in the same place it started…"
Saiko lunged with his claw.
"Wouldn't you agree, DICK?"
Nightwing jumped backwards to dodge the attack.
"Saiko!"
Saiko launched and tried another flurry, Nightwing dodged them all effortlessly and then pulled out his escrima.
"It's been building to this, after all- The night that EVERYTHING changed."
"I don't know what's going on in your head, but you're right…"
"Something IS going to change tonight."
Nightwing landed a kick to Saiko's abdomen launching him backwards. Saiko landed on his back then stood back into a ready stance, his claw at the ready.
"Come on then- We'll just take it outside. Just you and me."
"Ha! You still don't get it? Guess I shouldn't be surprised, you're only supposed to be the 'Former Boy-Wonder', nobody said anything about the world's greatest detective."
Saiko reached to his mask and pulled it off, the figure looking back had scars around both eyes, and his eyes were glazed over. He had brown hair, Nightwing hadn't seen the figure in eleven years, he still recognized the man.
"Raymond…?! But you…"
Saiko jumped to the next catwalk with Nightwing launching a grapple line to follow him.
"Died? Exactly, Dick… I was your best friend, FAMILY even according to your speech-"
Saiko threw a kunai at Nightwing's line severing it.
"And you killed me."
Nightwing began a free fall but launched another line and attached it. The recoil almost dislocated his shoulder. Nightwing was hanging freely out of sight but over the arena while the performers were below.
"They came from the shadows and took me, Dick… They kidnapped me, tortured me, they RUINED me."
Saiko pulled out a detonator, he placed his thumb over it.
"They turned me into THIS. And it's your… And THIS fucking place's fault."
"Rachel! Door now! BOMB!"