The rain. It didn't matter where it rained or how heavy, Dick didn't like it. It made jumping off buildings more risky, visibility low, wrecks more likely to happen, and worse of all... it made him panic.
Every time he was caught out in the rain, he felt his chest tighten. An uneasy chill in his spine that wouldn't go away. His stomach would churn and it took all his mental power to focus on anything else.
This time wasn't any different. Or at least he thought.
He stood perched on the edge of a rooftop, staring down below at the lights blurred by the heavy rain and mist. He was doing everything in his willpower to focus on the few moving lights. Keeping his mind blank as his hair stuck to his face.
Just a few more hours, and then it will be time to head home. To a warm shower, and cool bed. Just to wake up in a couple hours and head off to his day job. No rest for the wicked nor for the vigilantes that fight them, as they say. Well, as they should say.
Dick flinched, as his eyes saw movement in corner of his eye. There was a grayed out figure on the rooftop of one of the abandon buildings below. Small and staggering. He furrowed his brows watching the figure, as it stumbled closer to the edge of the roof. No. That's not good.
Dick stood up from his perch, he took a step back and leapt forward off the roof, diving to the building below. He curled his body in the air to flip himself around, using his grappling hook to grab onto the billboard sign just above the building. Slowing his descent and landing onto the rooftop with a roll.
The figure seemed startled as it fell back onto its bum. Water splashing as they hissed in pain. Nightwing smiled apologetically, as he took in the other's form, now that he could see it better.
He couldn't be older than fifth-teen if he was being generous, though he looked closer to thirteen or twelve even. His hair was black and scruffy, and his eyes were piercing blue. Striking and clear despite the heavy fog and mist. He wore a torn hoodie, holding his arm to his chest. It was bandaged with ripped fabric. Presumably, from another article of clothing. A backpack was slung around one arm, looking just as worn as the rest of him.
"Sorry for dropping in, but you look like you could use a hand." Nightwing forced a grin, kneeling down as he offered his hand out to the boy. He didn't mean to scare the kid. Just to stop him from potentially dropping himself.
He half-expected to be cussed at, after all, Nightwing was not well liked here. Neither was any vigilante. Instead, he was greeted with an annoyed glare, and quick wit.
"I already have two, thanks." The scruffy teen showing off his hands, letting go of his injured wrist for a moment. He then hissed in pain and returned to put pressure on his injury.
"One and a half." Dick pointed out, still keeping his distance. He didn't want to overwhelm the teen, but he really hoped he let him look at his arm. "An extra pair, wouldn't hurt?"
"No thanks, I can make do with less." The teen scooted back from him, before shifting to get up on his knees. His feet ready to push himself up and run if need be.
"Doesn't mean you have too." He couldn't let him run away. His eyes glanced back at the injured arm. Nightwing offered, "At least let me clean up your arm."
The boy glared at him suspiciously, keeping his injured arm to his chest. "Its fine."
"The fabric is soaked in blood." Dick pointed out, which seemed to be the wrong answer as the kid panicked down at his arm, hiding it away from him.
Strange. Nightwing peered, trying to get a better look at the arm. At least he knows it wasn't self-inflicted by the way he reacted. Or at the very least, not intentionally created to be as bad as it was.
Maybe he was running away from the gangs? They didn't have any problem hunting down a teen who was struck with bad luck, or anyone really.
If only he could inch.. just a little.. closer-
The teen glared at him, moving back even more. Nightwing held up his hands, with a sheepish grin. "I concede."
Way to mess up. He had to be patient. Think. "So water wing, why did you come up here all by yourself?"
"Water wing?" The teen repeated with a raised brow.
"It's raining, and you're holding your arm like a broken wing." Dick tried to explain, when really he was just trying to think of what to call him on the spot. He doubted "kid" would receive a good reaction. "Unless you have a name for me to use?"
"That's fowl." The teen stuck his tongue out, but his response made Dick grin. "A real quack way of asking who the heck are you. Normally people, I don't know, start with their own name before they ask someone else's."
Name. He could do that.
"Nightwing. I'm here to help you." Dick held out his hand, hoping the teen take it.. or at least shake it.
The teen raised a brow at the hand, then stared hard at Dick's face. His face trying to hold back showing his expression, as his mouth stressed trying to keep in place as he thought. Then his eyes widened, muttering. "Duck."
"Duck?" Nightwing uttered before he could register what the Teen meant. "Not so far off. It is a waterfow-
"No. DUCK!" the teen lunged forward into Nightwing.
Dick let the teen push him out of the way, as he protectively wrapped his arms around him. They rolled on the rooftop as a whirling blast went over their heads and left a scorch mark where they had sat. Nightwing craned his neck back, pulling the kid up with him. The teen was hissing in pain.
There, floating above them, was a robotic man with green flames for hair, green goatee, and a large smoking barrel poking out of his shoulder blade. "There you are, whelp! Time can't protect you now."
Nightwing instinctively moves to shield the teen from the man. One of his arms moved back to grab the weapon off his back.
"Skulker." The teen hissed, glaring between the gaps Dick's body couldn't shield the boy from. "I knew something rotten was around. Couldn't ya give me a break?"
"Skulker" grinned, "Of course. Once I have your pelt on my wall, you can have all eternity resting!"
Dick wrapped both his arms around the teen again and pulled him out of the way as another blast whirled and shot at them. Nightwing didn't stop until they were behind the entrance to the stairway, using the tiny building as cover. He peered around the corner only to flinch back as another shot whirled past. The metal man was laughing at them.
Dammit, they were locked in place. Dick gritted his teeth, cursing at himself. He glanced back over at the teen, who slung his backpack on the ground and shuffled into it. He already had a plan.
Which meant this game of cat and mouse had been going on for a long time.
"Got something good?" Nightwing asked, spinning one of his escrima sticks in his hand, paying attention to Skulker's location.
"Not really, just the thermos. It'll capture him, but it won't take him down." The teen stated, dropping his bag as he pulled out the thermos. His stuff scattered a bit on the ground.
The supplies in his bag seemed random, as he must have left in a hurry, but Nightwing was more focused on the item the black-hair teen pulled out. "Thermos?"
"No time to explain-just trust me." The teen huffed, shifting to watch the other corner of the building.
"That metal head is targeting you, so I trust you understand that tin can more than me." Though trust and concern were two different things. He trusted the kid as the confidence he held was far too common of those in vigilante circles. However, he was very concerned about why the kid knew his stuff. Bruce didn't adopt a child when he wasn't looking again, did he?
"Glad to know." The teen didn't sound that convinced as he kept his back turned to him. Eyes squinting-
Dick couldn't hear the robotic hunter anymore. The green blasts had stopped. Nightwing peered around his corner, gritting his teeth. The guy was gone. That's not good.
"Nowhere to hide, and nowhere to run, runt." The voice of the tin can hunter came from above them. How could he fly so silently in that thing?
"Who needs to? You couldn't hit a fly!" The teen retorted. His body language didn't match the smirk on his face. He was prepared to dodge, or be hit. Trying to knock Skulker off his game.
Dick could work with this.
Skulker growled and aimed his guns at them. "We'll see about that!"
Nightwing and Danny rolled in opposite directions as Skulker blasted at where they were hiding, knocking a hole through the building. Nightwing wasted no time to back-flip onto the stairway entrance, after the blast. He ran and jumped with the momentum to try and reach Skulker.
He flung his escrima sticks, while in mid-air. Pulling out his hook shot, he quickly grappled at one of Skulker's jet pack wings. The sticks bounced off Skulker, knocking him back a little with an "oof!". Nightwing used his body weight to yank him down hard into the rooftop, snapping the wing right off.
"You puny human! You think you can beat me? Skulker! The greatest hunter in all the realms!" Skulker growled. He slowly stood back up, ripping the rest of the wing off.
"I don't think so. I know so." Nightwing smirked. He ran and jumped, flipping and spinning to dodge Skulker's barrage of shots.
He flipped onto his hands, right on top of the escrima sticks that had dropped. He grabbed them and cartwheeled onto his feet. He spun to face Skulker, going into an attacking position with the escrima sticks in hand.
"We'll see about that." Skulker slid out a jagged blade out of the side of his arm when he slung it. He lunged forward at Dick, slashing at him.
Nightwing back-flipped over the first swing, then used his escrima stick to block the next. Skulker's blade caught on the stick as he tried to inch it closer to the vigilante, chuckling darkly. Nightwing twirled using his other stick to knock Skulker's arm down. Using the momentum to spin kick Skulker's jaw and spin some distance between them.
"Argh." Skulker growled as he stumbled back. He glared at Nightwing before a grin curled on his face.
"I see, this will be more interesting than I thought." With that, Skulker vanished into thin air, making vigilante tense. A cloaking device?
Nightwing turned on his infrared vision, trying to locate the man. The area was void of any signatures, beside himself and-
"Watch your feet!" The black hair teen yelled.
Nightwing didn't stick around to look, flipping out of the way. Glancing back, he saw the torso of the metal man sticking out of the rooftop. Skulker's arm with the blade having missed Dick's ankles.
How could he phase through the wall? How high tech was his suit?! He shouldn't even be able to fly, right? Were the wings just for looks? He does look like he compensates.
Skulker rose to his feet, raising his hand and inching it in a taunt to come at him. Nightwing smashed a smoke bomb down to the ground. Using the cloud of smoke, he hurled projectiles towards him. They were mini explosives. Under the cover of smoke, Nightwing made his way to circle behind the overly equipped hunter.
Shots fired at him through the smoke. Nightwing cartwheel to dodge the blasts, unable to get closer as the smoke clears. Add vision enhancements to the list of suit abilities. Damn.
"Cheap tactics won't work on me, human." Skulker smirked as he lunged forward with his blade to attack.
Dick dodged the blade by jumping back. He swung his escrima stick at Skulker, but it went straight through him. Skulker grinning at Dick's bewildered look as he slashed with the blade back.
Nightwing twirled to avoid the blade, barely being nicked by the jagged knife. He kept the momentum of the spin and swung both his sticks down at Skulker, using the electricity. Hoping the shock would help stun the suit's functions.
Unfortunately, it didn't do as he wanted, but it did do something. It made Skulker angry... and a little sparky.
Skulker grabbed Nightwing's weapon, yanking the vigilante with them and slamming him to the ground. He aimed his gun that popped out of his other arm and shot green blasts. Nightwing continued to roll on the rooftop to get out of range, before somersaulting onto his feet.
He bolted into a cartwheel to dodge the incoming blasts. Nightwing jumped after the last blast and twirled horizontally in the air. He shot darts at Skulker as a blast of green missed him. The darts landed in front of him and exploded on impact, sending Skulker back to the edge of the roof.
Nightwing landed on his feet with a skid, water splashing. He spun his escrima sticks, preparing for another attack. Skulker was already lunging forward. His arm guarding in front of him with the blade sticking out as the other arm stuck out, aiming to fire.
When a green blast from Dick's left, shot at Skulker, smacking him and smashing him into the stairway entrance. The entrance crumbled to rubble, burying the man under it.
"Why don't you just KNOCK it OFF?!" The black-hair teen stood, but his eyes shone green. Smoke was sizzling off his right fist, despite it being clenched tight to his side. The green eyes weren't looking at the metal man, but at Nightwing, though his head was still faced towards Skulker.
It sent an eerie chill down Dick's spine.
"Getting way too aHEAD of yourself, don't cha think?" The teen kept eye contact with Nightwing until he said 'ahead', then they flicked back to watch Skulker emerge from the wreckage.
Nightwing furrowed his brows. Head? His eyes widened under the white lens of his mask.
"Because I'm still here. Skin's perfectly attached." The teen mocked, spreading his arms.
"Not for long. My suit has an upgrade you've been dying to see!" Skulker grinned as he flipped up a panel on his arm.
"Don't you mean, 'I've been dying to use'?" The teen pointed out.
"Nope." Skulker pressed the button causing multiple weapons to pop out of his arms, torso and back. All of them aiming for the teen.
"Aw crud." The teen's shoulders deflated for a moment, then he shifted his stance.
Just as the weapons fired at the teen, a grappling hook found its way around Skulker's neck. A forceful tug, causing the head to pop right off, flying up into the air. The metal body falling to its knees and crumbling to the ground like a lifeless puppet.
Nightwing wasn't focused on that as his heart pounded in his chest, glancing over to the dust cloud where the kid was. Was he too late? Running towards the smoke, he heard a voice up in the air behind him. Spinning in place, Dick was shocked to see the teen high up in the air, catching the head in his arms.
"It's over Skulker!" The teen smirked down at the helmet, as he flipped with the momentum of catching the metal head. He landed on the rooftop, kneeling to the ground on impact. He yanked a small yelling green thing from the head, no bigger than the teen's hand.
Nightwing jogged over, both out of concern for the teen and curiosity at the true form of their adversary.
"That's Skulker?" Nightwing asked, bending over the two, hands on his knees as he tried to get a better look at the green blob with tiny arms and legs. It was flailing in the teen's hand, trying to free itself.
"I am the mightiest hunter! When I return, I will skin you, whelp, and use your pelt as a doormat!" Skulker growled.
"Yep, that's him." The teen said as he struggled to take the cap off the thermos with his injured arm.
"Here, let me get that." Nightwing reached for the thermos, but the teen held it out of his reach.
Nightwing pulled his hand back. The teen pressed his mouth into a hard line as he stared at the vigilante. After a minute he spoke.
"Twist the cap off." The teen sighed, holding the thermos out, keeping a death grip on it.
Strange... but considering it was unfamiliar technology, he could reason the kid was just trying to keep him safe. He hoped.
Nightwing gently put one hand over the teen's and the other over the cap, twisting the cap off. He released his hold and kept the cap in his hand for safe keeping.
"That it?" Dick asked, twirling the cap on his finger.
"Yep, now it's time for the hunter to be the prey." The teen grinned, as he stood up with a wobble. He tossed Skulker into the air, aiming the thermos at him. He pressed the red button, sucking the tiny green bean into the thermos with a vortex.
He then pointed the thermos at the metal head, sucking it up like he was vacuuming. He turned and walked towards the crumbled body doing the same. It only sucked in everything that was once Skulker's. Interesting.
"No wonder that guy had a serious screw loose. He couldn't keep his head on straight, or at all huh?" Nightwing stood up, tossing the cap to the kid when he finished, while walking over to him.
The teen snorted away a laugh, a smirk half-placed on his face. He caught the cap and spun it tight onto the thermos, giving the thermos a good shake. Then the boy deeply sighed, deflating his shoulders. He looked exhausted.
"I'm guessing this happens more than once?" Nightwing asked casually, though his mind was racing. So many questions he wanted to ask. So few he probably could.
The teen groaned aloud in response, so he took that as a 'yes'.
Nightwing reached out, patting the boy on the shoulder. He felt the teen tense up, eyeing him suspiciously. Dick smiled apologetically, slipping his hand off the boy's shoulders. The teen relaxed his shoulders a little, staring at the hand Nightwing had dropped.
Nightwing knelt down, so he could look at the teen properly and hopefully keep the boy from tensing up. He wanted him to feel safe.
The teen's hair was plastered to his face, and his eyes were blue again. There were bags under his eyes and he looked thin. Clothes tattered and worn. He must have been on his own for a while, or at least.. he wasn't from a good situation. Was he used for experimentation? Or was he an alien? Meta?
All conclusions Dick could think of left a sour taste in his mouth and a lump in his throat.
"I.. don't know what your situation is," Nightwing chose his words carefully, with a click of his tongue. "But.. I really want to help you. Because, no offense, being chased by a robotic suit ready to skin you alive isn't what I exactly call normal. …Or safe."
The teen rolled his eyes and snorted with a faint smirk, "Skulker is the least of my worries. I'll be fine."
"I think we have two different ideas of fine." Dick stated, concern growing.
"IT'S fine. Sorry for the trouble or whatever-Don't worry about me." The teen turned from him, with a shoo of his hand. He walked back to his bag and its contents that were drenched with rain and partially covered with rubble.
"Wha-hey, hey, hey. That wasn't any trouble at all-" Nightwing stood up chasing after the boy. "I deal with tougher guys than him every week. I would say Tuesday, but crime doesn't particularly have a set schedule."
The teen glanced back at him, skeptical. He opened his mouth to say something then snapped it close. He knelt down to push rubble off his stuff, shoving what he could recover back into his bag.
"And asking me not to worry is like asking a fish to breathe on land." Nightwing rushed to say as he knelt down beside the teen to help pick up his stuff. Think Dick!
He reached for a torn NASA hoodie with a giant hole was in the center of the shirt, as it caught his eye, covered in brick dust. He glanced around the edges of the scorched hole, it was caked with a dried green substance. Looking at the sleeves that dangled, one was torn off. It must have been what the teen used to wrap his arm. He handed it out to the teen, masking his uneasiness with a smile.
"At least let me get you somewhere dry and warm for the night. Could even wash your clothes, they smell a little ripe." Nightwing pleaded, "I won't ask for an explanation, just.. Please let me help."
Though he wanted to ask, he'll forgo the questions if it means the teen will stick around with him long enough to trust him. To let him help.
The teen paused, staring at the hoodie Nightwing had in his hand. He glanced back up at Nightwing's face, his expression twisting in thought. Or perhaps confusion.
"Could even get pizza." Nightwing offered.
"Everything's closed." The teen stated bluntly.
"I got some frozen ones in the freezer that I can heat up." Nightwing grinned, at least... he thought he still had some. Unless his brothers decided to drop by just to steal his food... He wouldn't put it past them, though to be fair, he has done the same.
The teen flinched back, giving him a bewildered look. He tilted his head, as if unsure what to make of the gesture. He glanced down at his bag, then subtly scanned the area with his eyes.
A gesture Dick could pinpoint, he was trying to gauge if this was a trap or not. His heart ached recognizing it. He wanted to get this kid safe, fast.
The teen straightened his back. His mind made up as he stared Nightwing dead in the face. "Danny."
Nightwing blinked, "Danny?"
"My name." Danny finished shoving the rest of the objects into his bag, slinging it over his shoulder. He stared straight at his eyes. "If I'm going with you, I'd rather be called by my name instead of kid or whatever you called me earlier... waterwing?... Right? ..all night."
Relief flooded through Nightwing, as he grinned in return. He stood up dusting himself off, before playfully replying. "What? Why not? Not a fan of water?"
"Not a fan of being called fowl." Danny smirked, sharp canines poking out.
Nightwing paused for a moment, then let out a hearty laugh. His hand over his gut as he laughed. He took a deep breath once he was done laughing, grinning back at the teen. He liked this kid, already.
"Then we better not wade around." Nightwing winked. He then pulled out his grappling hook, spinning it in his hand before tightening his grip on the handle. He showed it out to Danny.
"So let's soar on outta here. We shouldn't be too far. You'll have to hold on tight though." Nightwing waggled the grappling hook, before pointing it to a higher building. He opened his other arm out, to invite Danny to hang on.
Danny glanced at the hook shot, then up at the ledge Nightwing was aiming at, arms crossed. He threw his head back with a sigh.
"Fine, if you drop me I swear I'll haunt you." Danny snorted, awkwardly shuffling over to throw his arms on the vigilante.
Nightwing wrapped his arm tight around the teen, making sure he had a good hold. Being reminded again how skinny and small he was under his clothes. Nightwing never once dropped his smile.
"I had plenty of practice-"
"Dropping teens?" Danny cut in.
"Pfft, no. Carrying them. Even if you did fall, I would catch you." Nightwing chuckled, as he fired his grappling hook.
"Yeah, okay..." Danny glanced downward, while they were reeled across rooftops. He missed the concerned look and worrisome frown from the hero carrying him.