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When the justice league came together, it was said to be a collective effort. The trinity, was called that for a reason. The first three to come together. But they knew better. It had to start somewhere. And it had. In a cave teeming with bats, in front of a computer showing metas and demigods and aliens with two things in common—dangerous...good...
It didn't start with two heroes teaming up for the first time because they shared a border. It started with an eight-year-old sleeping in his father's B's arms—still in a small bright costume—tired after a long night of close calls. It started with soft eyes staring at the sleeping child with the helplessness of a human father in a world of supernatural threats. Bruce was paranoid but he was also smart. He saw the deeds on screen and saw them for what it was. An innate goodness he could not claim to possess. But the fear persisted. The paranoia planted seeds of doubt where there shouldn't have been much soil to sow.
That lasted as long as his first team up with Superman. Bruce couldn't help but think him a fool. Yet as he stared up at the figure floating in front of him, the sun's rays clinging to his form, he saw his mother's kindness in his smile. Later, faced with an Amazonian princess, the storm itself seemed to circle, he saw his father's patience and steadiness in her eyes. Bruce saw the only good things he knew and he started looking into acquiring a mountain.
Years passed and everyone claimed that the trinity made the justice league. Everyone knew it wasn't the trinity that made their base and designed it to cater to everyone's specific needs. But no one would say that in front of the grumpy bat, in front of whom insult and praise seemed to merge into a single concept.
They might have grown fond of their resident brooding soul but they feared him no less.
They came together not knowing that past rumors of the little bird that was the reason behind it all, were true. They didn't know when the bird fled the nest. They didn't know when another perched in its place. They didn't know when it fell. They should never have found out...
XxX
It had been months since Batman had stopped attending meeting he used to be diligently before time for. Everyone's quiet concern had led Clark to the gritty city across the bay, though he took no ferry.
Clark returned with a haunted look of someone who'd witnessed a murder. Close enough to it at least. He had not found the bat, just a trail half dead bodies. The sight of bone sticking out of that many places would haunt him for a while. But a bat that did not want to be found would not be found. He didn't tell the team what he saw. But they saw the hint of fear—not for himself—in his eyes.
That same day a message came through from Gotham.
Out of commission until further notice.
They decided to just give Batman some space. Even Hal Jordan didn't complain.
XxX
"Titans, this is Martian Manhunter, the league requires assistance in Gotham, alien invasion, large enough scale but concentrated enough for maintaining a perimeter, spaceship approaching earth’s atmosphere within 7 hours, requesting backup immediately."
Every head in the Titans tower common room snapped to attention as Kori accepted the call from the Watchtower and Martian Manhunter's unwavering voice filtered through. "This is the Titans; we will be ready for arrival in..." She looked at the other in the room helplessly. All of the core Titans but one... "30 minutes." She finished.
10 minutes later they still had not been able to contact Nightwing on his comms. After they came back from a space mission a few months ago, he had become harder and harder to contact. Kori was worried about him.
"Guys? I think this constitutes as an emergency. We should call that phone number Wing gave us." Gar spoke up, his voice too, tinged with that same hint of worry.
"He said if someone's dyin-" Raven started.
"Yeah this is an alien invasion without our team leader and strategist present for best coordinating with the league, we all could be dyin’ pretty soon man!" Garfield replied, eyes searching for Kori's instead.
Kori did not meet his eyes as the words took root in her mind.
“He did not seem…stable enough to care for un-based fear, last time we saw him, Gar…” Raven continued but Kori wasn’t listening. This was an emergency.
All it took was one nod towards Cyborg and the dial tone echoed through the tower living room.
"What?" Nightwing’s sharp voice sent a pang through her even as she tried to hear past it to his obvious attempt at masking something.
"Nightwing, there is an emergency...alien invasion in Gotham. 7 hours to prepare. Big enough for a joint mission with the league."
"I'll meet you at the watchtower in 20." Now, Kori could hear the rasp in his voice, something was wrong and he did not trust her enough to tell her. Before she could say anything the line went dead. The others looked at her for their next move.
"The suit up is in order now, is it not?" She raised her eyebrows at the team trying to maintain the banter like Nightwing would. It worked, even if only a little.
XxX
Nightwing had always been the best of the titans with the heart of Superman and the mind of Batman—not that anyone knew of that one. They always pretended to hate each other’s guts. It used to be hilarious. Every team up came with friendly conversation, jokes with Flash and Green Lantern, and bonding with Superman. Everyone knew Superman adored Nightwing.
He led the Titans with the control only complete and utter trust could bring, even though no one knew his identity.
They did not need to know his name or face to know what kind of a person he was. He was a formidable leader but a kind companion.
They had seen Nightwing at his best and worst—none of the titans could ever forget what happened with Slade. They thought they had seen every side of him. his paranoia when it got the best of him, his sharp comments when he felt like he was losing control over himself. They had seen his smiles and his fear. But apparently they hadn’t seen everything.
They had been on a space mission, on their way back with bad music, funny Tamaranean snacks—only for Starfire—and horribly off key singing. It had been a long mission dragging on for months yet they did not tire of each other. They were practically a family.
They did not know what changed but that was the last time they saw Nightwing that happy and it would remain so for a long long time to come. He snapped and snapped but unlike ever before they were attacks—verbal attacks. He had left happy after their journey and come back angry, oh so unbearably angry.
Nightwing had been a lot of things before—sad, happy, afraid, lonely but he had never been cruel.
Don’t you think if I thought you deserved to know I would’ve told you?
A few words he could not take back. A few words he did not even look like he wanted to take back, despite the tears they left in Kori’s eyes. He left after that. Back to his city.
Don’t call unless someone’s dead or dying.
XxX
The meeting had already started by the time Dick walked into the room, his uniform on, hair messy and red rimmed eyes hidden safely behind a domino. Every eye turned to him, some worried, some curious, one disappointed...and one missing.
"Where's Batman?" he asked.
"Batman is unavailable due to personal reasons right now." Superman said his eyes flitting away with a hint of hesitation at the mention of Batman.
"I thought this was an all hands on deck situation..." Dick raised an eyebrow under his domino.
"We were unable to contact him at the moment but he might show up when he hears about the fight from wherever he is Nightwing." Diana spoke up, a pillar of strength even when one of their own was missing. Dick wanted to Scoff. Of course Bruce did not even give his team a way to communicate in case of an emergency.
"We can handle a fight without him." Heads turned his way at his sharp tone and his eyes met Kori's accidentally, worry swirling through her gaze. He looked away.
"Nightwing can I speak to you outside?” Superman said, his voice firm setting the others in the room on edge. He followed the man who was once his hero outside suppressing an eye roll. Classic Superman disappointment.
“While I do not know what happened between you and Batman, Nightwing, I am disappointed you would take up such a tone in a professional setting. Batman is one of the most respected members of the justice league and he is clearly going through something right now. I know you and him are constantly at odds but when he’s away for personal reasons… And don’t think I didn’t notice the smell of alcohol surrounding you. This is highly unprofessional and I expect better from a hero of your stature.” Clark paused seeing Dick’s lack of guilt even at being lectured by Superman. “if something is wrong Nightwing you can—”
“You don’t know what happened between us because it’s not your place to, big blue. As to my state, I will assure you I am fully functional and you can’t really send me back, can you? Without your usual strategist at hand?” Clark flinched back at the venom in Nightwing’s tone. Nightwing had always been the most jovial individual around and his bond with Superman was well known to the point that people speculated wing was his kid. Hearing such words from the kid stung.
“I can and I will if I think it’s a hazard to you Nightwing but…If that’s all you have to say…let’s get back to the meeting room…” Clark said not looking at Dick as he left the room. Dick tried not to let the sudden tiredness he felt weighing his bones show as he squared his shoulders and went back to the meeting room.
After two hours of planning ways to handle the attempt at peace talks with the aliens, it was decided that Superman, Wonder Woman and Starfire should be in the lead.
Thankfully, the spaceship was set to land somewhere near the warehouse district in Gotham at night, getting it empty was not much of a problem.
The league and the titans secured the area clearing up as many unnecessary canisters of god knows which genre of Gotham weird and tried to account for everything in their surroundings that could help. Within the next few hours they had several plans prepared and the heroes all in place.
As the sound of a spaceship landing at such a high speed, to a normal eye it looked like it blipped into existence, everyone held their breath. The peace negotiations were immediately out of question as lasers erupted from the ship.
They were on attack.
The fighting immediately began with Superman and Wonder Woman working on disabling the space ship’s attacking mechanisms with Cyborg directing them to the main points as the heroes started fighting the aliens emerging from the ships—they were barely humanoid creatures with gray skin that looked tough, entirely too many limbs and what appeared to be minimal communication abilities, they were just pawns sent to slaughter so the leading species could come and conquer what remains with ease.
“Go all in, they’re mindless fighters.” Dick said into the comms as he engaged the first alien, it was insanely powerful.
He flipped away using his blazing escrimas to fight. One of the aliens went down as soon as it came in contact with the electricity. Probably not dead. Stunned. “Flash, Cyborg, electricity stuns them.”
“Noted.” Came the response from the two heroes.
He fought the next which used all its seven bendy limbs to its advantage, avoiding the tips of Dick’s escrima sticks. He noticed a flicker of movement in the corner of his eyes and ducked. Too late. He felt one of the strong limbs hit him in the gut so hard he felt the breath knock out of him. his feet were definitely not on the ground anymore. He gasped as he landed through the wall trying to get a breath in. he blinked trying to reorient himself.
Focus your senses.
His voice of reason sounded suspiciously like Batman. He tried to tamp down his irritation at that. He could see the wall broken where he had been knocked into it hard enough. He could feel the suit sticking to his skin and a bruise forming on several places as they ached.
He took a deep breath, he could smell a weird smell of wood and rot surrounding him.
He focused his hearing, most of his team and Superman were trying to ask for his status and a weird hiss around.
He took another deep barely steadying breath. “They’re only stunned for 5 minutes by electricity. I’m fine. Rejoining the fight.”
He ran back taking on three aliens at once, dodging flying limbs—too many of them.
Something felt off. He shook his head and dodged another attack.
He ducked as another alien joined the fight, eyes darting taking in possible weak point.
There!
“They have an inner pouch like structure that they guard with all their limbs, possibly major organs, aim for that.”
He kept fighting trying to aim for the pouch avoiding the several swinging limbs. The alien doubled over. It let out the most horrifying screech.
Dick covered his ears as its screech got louder and louder. He was too close. He needed to get away. His ears hurt.
That screech…
That…scream…no…not again…
It was not real…It was not real he was just hallucinating again…
‘Why didn’t you save me, Dick…Why weren’t you there…’
It was an accusation. His breathing picked up. It was not real. He grappled to the top of a building, out of sight. He looked down. Blood. So much blood. The fight was not going in their favor. This was not the time to let his mind play tricks on him. He jumped back into the fray ignoring the taunting faceless figure of his younger brother haunting the corners of his vision.
‘You don’t remember my face do you Dickie?’
He flinched. He kept fighting. Kept dodging. He took on two aliens. Three. Five. He couldn’t count anymore. They seemed to be blurring. A smile taking over where their face should’ve been. A red smile. Dick saw red. He fought harder. How dare they? How dare they. He slashed and swiped. He shoved the escrima stick into the pouch on one of them where a chest should be and lit it.
He did not mind the screeching now. As long it was him screaming not Jay. He did that. They did that. His brother…his little brother. It was all their fault. How dare they.
He was the only one on that battlefield. He was the only one willing to fight. No one would stop him. He hit and slashed and hit again. He did not care about dodging. He deserved that pain. They were laughing. It was his laugh. Dick killed them without mercy.
He could feel the blood on his skin. His suit clung tighter. It was thick. That blood. He could smell it everywhere. He looked down at Joker as he pummeled him. That laughter. Why was he still laughing. He hit him again and again and again and again.
‘Dick stop please!’
Wait…no…Jason…
He froze looking down at what he had done. He looked down at the crowbar in his hand. No…what had he done…
‘Why did you do that Dickie? You really are no better than him. Bruce was right…killing does that. You are nothing but a murderer now Dick. You killed him…You killed me…’
“Jason no…”
XxX
Batman had joined the fighting seamlessly and none of the leaguers quite knew how to address him.
“Report.” He barked.
“Alien invasion, species unknown, we have deducted that this specific subset does not have any intellectual capabilities. Mindless killing machines.” Superman said automatically.
“And can I trust your judgement on that?”
“It was Nightwing’s call…” Hal spoke up on the comms grunting as he struggled with quite a number of aliens from the air. Everyone in the league knew that despite the animosity between the two, Nightwing was one of the few who’s judgement Batman did not question much.
“Nightwing is here?” He spoke up sharply.
“Yeah, all the titans are.” Cyborg spoke up, clearly trying to take attention off Nightwing, weary of Batman’s tone.
“Where?” Bruce grit out. He had to keep him within sight. He would not fail another son.
“Batman please be kinder he’s—” Kori tried to say.
“I asked a question.” He said, with more than the usual growl in his voice. Never again.
“He crashed through the wall into the warehouse on the east side of the battlefield last I had eyes on him, he confirmed he did not need assistance.” Diana spoke up.
Bruce was immediately moving towards where Nightwing last was, dodging attacks from the aliens without engaging. It was not his first priority. The league shouldn’t have been here in Gotham without informing him, Nightwing was with them.
They dragged Nightwing into a league level threat. His kid should not be facing threats of that level.
He ran faster. The area was mostly cleared up, only a few aliens lying dead around. The rest had probably moved towards where the fighting was. But where was Nightwing?
He found where the wall was broken and his heart dropped. The warehouse…his kid…
He ran in. No one was there but he heard the faint echo of laughter in every breath. He shook his head. That wasn’t right…He heard a slight hiss. He moved towards the sound. A broken canister with a half hidden symbol.
This was scarecrow’s hideout.
Fear gas.
He had to find Nightwing.
XxX
Why had they stopped hurting him…whoever it had been. He could not remember them. He deserved that pain. He looked down at the bleeding hunched figure of his little brother. He watched as those bloody lips twisted into a smile. Blood red smile. He flinched. He needed to go.
The body under him was faceless except for that smile…that scarred smile. What had Jason gone through at the hands of that clown. Those mocking lips parted and the words spilling through were the cruelest of taunts. He deserved them. “But where would you go big brother? Where is your home? Who do you even have left? Bruce? Turn around.”
He turned sharply as he felt a looming presence behind him. He was too late. Again. He felt the sharp prick of a needle in his neck. He kicked the assailant away. The giant looming figure of a monster in all black. A mocking image of what was once his father.
His vision flickered. It was his dad. Or was it…
He watched as the giant form flickered between his dad and a monster. Had he done this too? In his anger? Had he let grief do this to Bruce? He flinched back.
“Don’t come any closer! I will fight you!” His voice trembled as he said that reaching for the escrima on the ground beside him. When had he fallen? His hand pulled back with a crowbar. He threw it away as if burned. His vision flickered again.
“Nightwing focus. It was fear tox—” the words jumbled again and the form flickered again.
Fear toxin…the canisters…the hiss as he fell through into a warehouse…the alien invasion!
He blinked rapidly trying to regain control. Deep breaths. The hand on his shoulder. Monster. No Batman.
Antidote. The needle in his neck.
Breathe.
He opened his eyes again. The aliens were still there. Batman was here too. Real.
Jason beside him. not real.
The flicker of smiles on the alien faces. Not real.
Superman looking over from the sky with worry. Real.
More aliens were climbing onto the roof they were on. Real.
Whatever Bruce had done to hold them back for so long obviously wasn’t working anymore. He needed to focus. He picked up his escrima stick from where he had thrown it in his panic. He didn’t know where the other was at this point. He looked over to Batman who had already begun fighting the first of the aliens climbing the roof. Dick gave him a nod.
He did not receive a nod back. He couldn’t let that stop him. He started fighting again. He was slow. Bleeding from several cuts from the whip like attacks of the alien limbs that he had not bothered dodging in his haze.
It burned. He had had worse.
He targeted their weak spots dodging as many limbs as he could and dealt with the pain the others caused.
He ignored the tears in his eyes. After effects of fear toxin. Nothing more. The small figure standing in the corner of his vision was not real. That smirk was not real.
He did not let the tears deter him. He focused away from that figure. He turned his head away just enough. It worked. Somewhat.
He did not see the alien figure approaching him from that side. He had created a blindspot. Big mistake.
“Nightwing!” He turned. He did not have enough time to dodge the slashing teeth jumping towards his neck.
He had even less time to do anything as something- someone shoved him to the side.
“B! No!” Dick banged his shoulder on the edge as he went down. He did not care. He moved towards the figure now on the ground where he should’ve been. He felt like he was in a daze.
His breath ragged, eyes blurry, he looked down at his dad. So much blood. Too much blood. His neck. The slash. The images seemed to almost flicker in his head as he took it in. He felt disconnected. He could hear his own breaths. His own heart.
“I couldn’t lose you too…I couldn’t lose another son…”
It all rushed back in all at once. The breath whooshed out of him as it hit him all at once. He sobbed at the sight. He could do nothing. He could do nothing but fall to his knees and hold pressure on his dad’s neck.
He couldn’t see clearly. He was in no condition to even give first aid.
“We need medical support here right now…Batman is down…I can’t help much. Please…soon…” His breath punched out of him as he suppressed his sobs. His head burrowed in his dad’s side.
“Wing its ok…” B’s voice sounded soft even now. He didn’t deserve it. He pulled his head away eyes burning, sight blurry.
“What about what I have to lose, huh?! Jason meant just as much to me as he did to you Bruce!” He screamed. “It’s always about what you think we need! Why can’t you ever just do something right Bruce!!”
He did not care who was listening. He would not continue being a vigilante if anything happened to Bruce anyway. He wouldn’t let his dad die just as the Batman. He’d tell the world who his dad was. What he had sacrificed…
“Can you ever just talk to me!? You didn’t even have the guts to tell me that he was dead! I missed his funeral because of you now you go ahead and get yourself hurt! I swear to god if you die B…dad…You’re the only one I have left B please…” he buried his head deeper into his shoulder as the sobs broke free, “please don’t leave me too…I feel so alone dad…dad please…”
He felt arms wrap around him and he sobbed harder. He did not let go of the wound. He clung to his dad.
“Wing…chum…look at me please.” He was already shaking his head before Bruce could finish. He couldn’t. He couldn’t! “It’s ok. Just look once.”
He pulled away slowly still applying pressure to…a flesh wound?
“I’m fine chum. See? It was probably another hallucination from the last of the fear toxin and adrenaline in your system. See I’m not leaving you chum.” Dick crashed into his chest ignoring how stiff the bat suit was, sobbing. “I’ve got you…It’ll be ok…”
XxX
The League and the Titans watched from the sidelines as father and son clung to each other and cried. None of them had known. None of them had been let in by either hero. They did not have it in themselves to care right now.
Batman had lost a kid and Nightwing had lost a brother.
It did not matter that the other heroes hadn’t been trusted with this information. They knew no part of this was about them.
It was clear the vigilantes hadn’t even trusted each other…
The heroes gave the father and son the space they needed, only approaching when Nightwing had finally fallen limp against Batman.
“Batman…? You both need medical attention…the watchtower medbay—” Superman approached, voice soft as if dealing with an easily spooked deer.
“That won’t be necessary. I’ll take my son home. I think we’ll be fine now…” The rasp to Batman’s voice sounded wrong to everyone. The very idea that Batman had been crying…
The others dispersed. Kori too after a long worried look towards the sleeping form of Nightwing.
Superman stayed behind. “Batman…if you need any help…Please call me…Wing too. You know I’ve thought of him as my own kid for a while B…You…you can talk to me…please know that…” the desperation in Superman’s voice would’ve been enough to raise Bruce’s hackles with the way he’d been since Jason…
Bruce reached up slowly pulling the cowl down. Superman stared speechless.
“I think it was my fault Dick has been so alone…I have a habit of isolating when things get hard…I never could teach him to rely on his team. Maybe this is where I can start…help me carry him home, Clark?”