"Dick!", Damien called out, running to him, with the others following, and Dick smiled, "You came! Oof!", laughing as he hugged Damien, and then collapsed into the grass as the kids piled into him, hugging.
Jane grinned, "Of course we came, Dick. We swore we'd be there for you over our group text, right, guys?", and Sean nodded, "Yeah! Friends stick together, and besides, how else can we know that you can do great if we weren't there, hmm?".
Dick chuckled, smiling, "Can't argue there...Thanks, guys...I really needed those hugs...I'm so excited yet so nervous!", and Daphne replied, "You'll do great, Dick. We will be up front and all, and we will cheer for you when we see you up there, and watch you do your awesome stunts, and then stand up as an ovation when it's over.", and Dick nodded, "I know...Alright, alright, let me up, guys...", with a laugh.
Meanwhile, John and Mary looked at their friends as John replied, "We will make sure that he's safe and confident.", and Mary nodded, "Yes. We're just so proud and excited to expand the family act...Why, our boss is calling us the Amazing Grayson Family now as the new title of the act, and I worked so hard on some new costumes for us and Dick. Thank you for all coming...Dick really was very nervous, even if the group text of the kids has been continuous all day throughout practice, and we reassured him that he'd do remarkable, and we wouldn't be disappointed if he missed a step, and the nets catches him.".
Poppy asked cautiously, "Are you going with the small nets as usual?", and John replied, "Not all of them...We are sticking with the small nets around the corners of the act, but we've put up the big net in the center of the act, as that's where the most mistakes happen.".
"Makes sense.", Poppy nodded. "Honestly, if it was me, I'd put a dozen big nets underneath to be sure.", with a look. "Well...", John snickered. "That many nets and no one could see anything from above; might as well be looking through a ceiling."
Waylon chuckled, "He got a point there, Poppy. And besides, people paid for this, so they can see the act.", and Poppy sighed, "True...".
Mary squeezed her shoulder, "Don't worry, Poppy, everything will be fine.", and Poppy nodded, "I believe you, Mary. You and John taught him well.".
Mary gave her a warm, appreciated smile, "Thank you. What are you doing before the acts start with us as the last act?", and Bruce replied, "We're going with the games, so the kids wouldn't be too psyched up or anything to freak Dick out.".
John nodded, "Good plan there. Well, we and Dick better still walk off our dinner and check on our friends, and get changed and all.", and Selina replied, "You two will be great.".
Mary smiled, and then called out, "Dick! We better get going. Hug the others before we go!", and Dick nodded, "Okay, Mom! See ya later, guys!", leaving the huddle of his friends, "See ya later, Dick!".
Dick hugged each set of adults, and Waylon and Poppy were the last ones, and Poppy smiled, ruffling Dick's hair warmly, "Do not rush, take your time through it, okay? Yes, it's important to fly flawlessly and quick, but not too fast, eh?".
"I won't rush my time, I promise, Poppy.", Dick smiled, and Poppy nodded, "Good. Remember that and have fun. Good luck, Dick. We're all here for you, not just your parents, and pretend that it's only us, okay?", knowing that it'd be daunting with hundreds of eyes watching.
Dick nodded, "Thanks, Poppy.", with a grateful look, and then left with his folks to continue their stroll, and Martha whispered to Poppy as they turned around into the main carnival to play some games, "He'll do great, Poppy. He may be a wonderful, great kid thanks to John and Mary, but he still got part of you and Waylon.".
Poppy smiled, "I know...", and so, she turned her attention to encourage and have fun with the kids and the others in the games, getting prizes and such for a long awhile before they checked their watches, and headed into the circus tent after using the bathroom, and went to enjoy the acts throughout the hour before it's time for the final act, unknowing that in the mass of the audience, way over from the Wayne-Pennyworth-Jones family, having sneaked into a weak spot, the remaining Zucco family was here in the seats.
Tony Zucco replied softly, "Not a bad night for spectacular acts, eh, brothers?", handing a tub of popcorn to his brother next to him, and he and his other brother next to him picked out popcorn, munching before they felt steel moments later in the tub, and they glanced down to see lug nuts, and glanced over at Tony who only smirked.
Meanwhile, Dick bit his lip as it was minutes before when he goes climbing up with his folks to the platform, "What if I freeze up there?", looking at John and Mary nervously, having recently changed into a colorful costume like his folks, as his mother worked so hard on them to be introduced as the Amazing Grayson Family.
It was one thing doing it in practice, but with people watching, it's another thing, and Mary kneeled down, kissing him on the forehead, "Shh, my little robin, it's like Poppy said, forget who else is watching, just know that our friends are there to support you. You can do this, Richard Grayson, and we will be catching you when you go to us on those swings and all, alright?".
"Alright.", Dick took a deep breath. "And listen, if you have stage fright or feel like you can't do this, just motion to us... we won't try to force you to do anything that you don't want to..", Mary added. "Thanks, Mom... I'll be fine though, don't worry.", Dick smiled.
John smiled, hugging them with his arms, "Our boy knows where he's at, Mary. You got this, Dick, and we'll be proud of you no matter what, son.", and Dick nodded, "Yes, Dad.", hugging his folks and smiling before one of the backstage people called out, "You're coming up, Graysons!".
Dick let go of his parents as they traded a kiss on the lips, leading the way, with Dick not far behind them, using the shadows and the stage edges as they then went up, with John first, then Mary, and then Dick.
They warmed up for the last minute as the act of the balance artists ended, with the ringmaster then announcing, "Ain't they fabulous? Couldn't imagine balancing on huge balls like that! Now, for the final act, with a new change to the roster, we have a dazzling, high-flying, and thrilling performance for you all, and so with great excitement, I now introduce you to the Amazing Grayson Family, starring John and Mary Grayson, and for the first time, their son, Richard Grayson!".
"You think he's nervous?", Waylon asked as he sat with the family, leaning over to Poppy. "I think I'm more nervous than he probably is... I mean, makes sense...", Poppy sighed as Waylon chuckled.
"Hey, he's our child deep down in some ways; obviously, this sort of craziness is kinda in his blood, considering what we do.", Waylon said.
"I'd feel more better for him though if I knew he could... go green and easily handle a fall. Remember that 9 story building I fell off a few years ago? Landed hard on my back and barely felt a thing.", Poppy replied quietly.
Waylon spoke softly, "I know...But they made sure to have nets all over, small and big.", as they watched John start his part of the act for a few minutes before Mary joined him, swinging to him, twisting and turning for the next few minutes, and then it was Dick's turn.
Poppy frowned, "There's something wrong...", as she immediately felt danger in her gut, and indeed, up there on the platform, as Dick was taking a deep breath and to step forward, somehow, over the noise of the audience and all, he heard something up above, and looked up to see the trapeze hooks sliding upwards, with no lug nuts to stop them!
Dick's eyes widened as he waved to his parents in a panic. "Get back on the platforms!", he shouted. "The trapeze isn't tightened down!". From down below, Poppy and the others could tell that suddenly, something was very wrong, and that Poppy's gut feeling wasn't wrong.
But there wasn't time for them to get to the platform as they saw the hooks suddenly free moments later, as John and Mary were focused on swinging, with John holding into Mary's feet as he hung his legs from the swing, as the repeated swinging, their weight, and all had finally snapped the trapeze wires out.
Dick reached out helplessly with tears, clenching into the edge of the platform as Mary called out, "Dick!", as Dick screamed, "MOM! DAD!".
They felt gravity take over them as the swing went out under them, and the force of the wires had turned the swing out to the side, bringing them down and down into the small, heavy net narrowly that has snapped under being cut halfway with a knife, Tony Zucco's knife, and John's back hit the pole hard as he protected Mary while he turned over to embrace her, and fell down and down to the ground, where sounds of bones cracking was heard in the mess of rope and blood and such as they landed.
Poppy's eyes were straight on Dick who watched it all with traumatized eyes, and she barely heard her father shout as he ran straight from his seat, "I'm a doctor! Call the circus paramedics and the hospital now! Any of you, help me get the net off!", and she looked at Waylon who was holding the twins to his chest, hiding them from the horror, and he nodded, "Go.", knowing that the other kids are held against their parents from the sight.
She ran to the ladder of Dick's platform, and climbed up, relieved for her well-conquered fear of heights over the years, her acrobatics, and of course, patrolling Gotham, making it to the platform, her heart in pain to see the sight of Dick's body shaking in terror and traumatized horror, and she grabbed Dick's shoulder gently, turning him around, seeing swarms of tears and red eyes as he said nothing before sobbing as he all but lurched into Poppy's body, clenching into her, "It's my fault! They're dead...I should have heard it sooner!".
Poppy rubbed his back, "Shh, shh, it's not your fault, Dick. And Dad is getting everything off them, it's going to be okay. They are only badly hurt, I think. No, don't turn around and look, you didn't deserve...to see it happen...Wrap your arms and legs around me...That's it...I'm here, darling...", kissing his forehead as she got up, and went to climb down the ladder steadily, hearing Dick's sniffles and sobs, realizing with a stabbing pain in her heart that he was still a little kid, a kid where his innocence had been broken...eerily similar to Bruce. There's a part of her that wanted to kill the Zuccos for what they've done, realizing that Tony Zucco would escalate to murder, but right now, all of herself knew that she needs to be there for Dick, to be secretly a mother.
"Come on, you two, don't give up…", Thomas muttered as he was trying to attend to them. They were both still breathing; that was a decent sign, but their injuries were pretty nasty. They were lucky that the nets were there; even if sabotaged. Might have saved their lives.
Some of the audience turned out to be doctors, current or former, assisting Thomas as they levered John and Mary with crude cushions for their necks, the broken areas of their bodies, with the rest of the audience clearly calling for the cops and paramedics with their phones or trying to comfort their families including their little ones, like how Waylon is comforting the twins, Alfred and Caroline holding into Jane, and Selina and Bruce holding into Damien in their section of the seats.
The circus paramedics arrived with slabs and blood bags as Thomas ordered the other doctors to assist in lifting John and Mary into the slabs, checking for their blood type and such, as their lives hung in the hands of Thomas and the incoming hospital helicopter of the closest hospital.
Thomas somehow knew he needed Fate's help sooner or later if the other doctors declare them to be taking too much time in the emergency ward, suffering and all, as he only knew that there's another way to save them, not Leslie's unique medicine vials, but blood transfer of either Poppy or Waylon's blood, if they match Mary and John in blood type despite the extra gamma genes, for perhaps it would save their lives further, as he would see no other chance, for the Pit is far gone, and he wouldn't want Dick's hopes that way, considering his age.
Meanwhile, John and Mary groaned lightly as they found themselves in a beautiful, neutral place, as John replied, "Are you alright, Mary?", and Mary said, "I think so...What happened? Where are we?".
"I don't know...And last thing I remember was Dick saying something like he was calling for us to get back on the platform...something about the trapeze...", John said, and Mary tried to remember and then her face paled, "John, I think we fell...Dick...Oh, god...The trapeze wires, they weren't locked in! That was what Dick was saying! Oh, god, his face...John, he saw us! Oh, god, please, tell me that he didn't jump after us!".
A warm, female voice replied, "Don't worry, he didn't...He was too shocked and traumatized to do anything besides holding into my daughter like a monkey...Poppy is holding him safely down on the ground, you can be assured of that.", and they turned around to see a sight they heard about in rumors, the news, and the gossip, a literal She-Hulk!
"You...", John whispered. "Yeah... take a few moments to get used to the 7-foot green amazon talking. Was more than I could say for a lot of those creeps and thugs I roughed up through the years.", Kel chuckled.
Mary was speechless for a few moments before she blinked, "Poppy is your daughter? B-but she's human!". Kel chuckled, "My wife, Martha, and Thomas, my husband had a part for that. Poppy is a shapeshifter, you could say, just like my wife...", with a smile.
John widened his eyes, "H-hold on, are you saying that Martha and Poppy are the Incredible She-Hulk and the Sensational She-Hulk?!", and Kel nodded, "Yep, through in situations when they are together, they call each other Alpha and Delta in codenames.".
"And Bruce?", Mary asked, and Kel replied, "He's strictly Martha and Thomas' son, but I also loved him as a son too...", with a warm, sad smile.
Mary exhaled, "A-are...are we dead?", and Kel shook her head, "No. This place, a neutral place we call limbo, is where you are still alive, but hanging on, as long as Thomas and the other doctors figure out how to stabilize both of you. It was Tony Zucco that sabotaged the trapeze wires and the net, but if it wasn't for the net...well, I would be meeting ya in heaven instead...".
"I should've guessed that bastard wasn't done with us...", John cursed as Kel nodded, "Agreed. Tony Zucco indeed didn't let what happened go and his attempt... well, almost worked. Almost, I must stress.". Kel then sighed, "But... I need to be honest, Dick, he'll... you two recover, he'll still be traumatized by the incident for a long time to come... just like Bruce was, on the night I was truly born...".
Mary blinked in confusion, "What do you mean, truly born?", and Kel replied, "Well...I suppose you could say it's like a mix of the Greek Gods giving birth to their ideas and emotions into beings, and a alter ego like Hyde and Jekyll. Martha, she had hidden powers that just got activated, and I came into being, not a baby or anything of the sort, but a full-bodied being, created from all her emotions of that night, and being in love with her and Thomas, as I wanted to do something to protect my pack, my family. It was self-defense of saving my husband and son, killing the mugger who just shot Thomas, and almost attempted to kill my wife as well if I wasn't there. He was the only one I took as a justified reason, I promise.".
John exhaled, looking at Mary, and then replied, "That's a good reason...umm, what is your name?", and Kel smiled sadly yet proudly, "Kel Emerald Wayne. And before you ask, it was 10 years ago when I sacrificed my life, my power, my soul to save Martha from being killed in a very painful procedure thanks to enemies we had before a friend and some ingenious bombs killed our enemies in a great avalanche and chains of fire and explosions. I was the first She-Hulk, the Incredible She-Hulk who patrolled over Gotham before Martha took my title to honor me...".