Crossing the Lines [Batman]

[Dick Grayson - Nightwing]

Rushing, and racing in circle. Dodging and jumping. It almost seemed to get no where at times. Not when your were up against ten thugs by yourself and three gunmen set up on the observation decks of the old warehouse.

For some reason, Nightwing found himself more and more in the warehouses of Gotham bring down the gangs and thugs that have ties to those back in Bludhaven.

This was something he wanted to do alone. The most Batman would have heard about it was the men that were sent to jail that had been left for the police. Sure he might know who had been doing it. But Nightwing came with no advance warnings.

Nightwing had been coming and going between Gotham and Bludhaven for a bit. Something he did to help more of the city out than he was Batman.

Dodging another fist and grabbing someone's arm, Nightwing flips them over his back as two more men come at him. He keeps hold for a moment to give himself some leverage to spring over the man as he fell. This allowed Nightwing to kick two men coming at him as he flipped over the man he had just flipped.

As sooner as he lands, he finds two more coming at him. The gunmen not firing in fear of hitting their own men. Which meant, Nightwing had found the right head of operations if they were concerned about taking any of their own guys down.

Two more came at him and he pulled out his escrima sticks and blocked the one man's arms between the sticks. Then ducking down and swiping the man's legs out from underneath him as turns and blocks the other man coming at him with a crowbar and with two swift, quick hits, Nightwing has the crowbar flying across the room and give a quick few punches and bring the guy bent forward and hits him in the back with the escrima stick to knock him to the ground.

He steps back on second and the guns start to go off. He jumps back, doing a few flips to get out of the way. And with the last flip onto the cargo boxes, throws two wingdings with bomb timers on them in both directions of the men.

They land and blow near the men, knocking them back and out of the way for now. It would by him time. Another man begins to fire at Nightwing as he stands on the cargo boxes. He quickly jumps off and down to a loading truck and a few more men come out.

Not exactly what he was hoping for. He backs off a bit and heads to attack the ones at the heal of the truck as more men start to come towards the fight. Ok, now they were starting to out number him.

[Deleted]

Same old Richard. Getting himself into a hole that he cant climb out of. It always seemed like batman wasnt too far away when he needed him. Nightwing may have become the master of acrobatic melee combat, but he would never amount to the master of stealth and tricks that was Batman.

He watched from an elevated location, concealed by the darkness of the warehouse. Dick clearly had the men at hand to his mercy, but Batman had anticipated that back up wasnt too far away. Dick had the moves, and the heart, but what he lacked was experience, and anticipation of any attack.

Had the squad of men coming to aid their comrades actually been paying attention to their surroundings, they would have noticed the gel explosives Batman left on the wall. Before they even made it out to fire a single shot, the explosives were triggered, knocking all the men out of consciousness, and barracading the entrance.

The sudden explosion caused the other men to stop their engagement and turn back to the site of the explosion. Before their minds could even register what had happened, they grasped the sides of their necks, and fell over, asleep. From above the room, Batman dropped down before his former apprentice.

Batman looked upon him with the same cold, dark eyes from all those years ago.

"I suppose I should have known that when I came into your life, this would be a full time job.."

[Dick Grayson - Nightwing]

Nightwing had been working to try and get through the fight. But when the explosive went off, his attention shifted. And he knew who was there. This annoyed Dick more that he had been followed. He didn't need Batman to show up to know that he was being tracked ever since he had left Gotham.

Heck, when hadn't Batman been trying to track him. Batman always kept an eye on everything and everyone. Another reason he had tried to get away from this all. But it seemed he was always being watched.

Nightwing brought this arm up to block his view for a moment as the explosive seemed to have a chain reaction as it went off and the gang members turned their attention to that. There was nothing for Nightwing to do at this point. He glared at the scene before him as he stood. Why was he always watching. Just because it was his town didn't mean he needed to interfer with everything.

Nightwing did not move a single inch when Batman came and landed in front of him. He simply glared back at first in return to the Batman. He was intimidated by him. Hardly any more. Dick knew who he was and why it had come day to this. And with the death of Jason, things had not gotten easier between them. Bruce was taking too much of the. Lame for Jason's death. And at times he felt the heat of that guilt.

And Dick had a feeling at times lately that Bruce blamed him for not being there at the time. Dick had just ignored it most of all. And he had stayed away from him most of the time.

At Batman's words, Dick narrowed his eyes. "Well it's good to see you too," he said sarcastically. He didn't care how annoyed Bruce was with him over him just coming into Gotham unannounced. It wasn't his fault that the work of the gangs in Bludhaven were spilling over into Gotham at times.

"I had it going under control. You didn't need to step in at all," Dick said with annoyance in his voice. "And you didn't need to be following my movement."

[Deleted]

"Under control?"

Batman said with annoyance in his voice. Theres no way he could be serious. The one thing about Nightwing is that he never fully anticipates the escalation of all these situations. When you go after a man in a wharehouse, theres always 30 more men, all armed like a 3rd world country. Nightwing didn't bother to learn the schematics of the area, or perform a reconaissance mission, to see what he was up against. Running in there blindly as usual

"I see how well you had things under 'control'. Back peddling away from those blazing machine guns, and bull dozing brutes."

Batman approached Nightwing to the point of a boxing weigh in stare down.

"If its under such great control, then why have the gangs from your part of town been spilling into mine?"

Batman demanded an answer to his question. If Richard were truely ready to go on his own, and become a lone legacy in his town, this shouldnt be a problem. Batman shouldn't even feel the need to keep an eye on him. Not like he has to keep an eye on Superman in Metropolis. Or the Flash or Green Arrow.

Batman didn't want to have to bury another member of his family. Between Jason and his parents, it was simply too much. The stress, the pressure. It was pilling up and pushing. Any lesser man would have succumbed by now, but not Batman. He cant succumb, he cant let the darkness get to him, he cant cross that line.

"Im not burying you, Dick.."

[Dick Grayson - Nightwing]

Nightwing just glared back at Batman as he spoke. And as he got closer and more in his face, this only angered him more. He always felt like he was being watched and this was getting ridiculous how protective Bruce seemed to be getting over everyone.

Dick was more angry over the current situation. He would have handled it. Not like he hadn't before. He knew the gangs in his town. He knew what they were up to. And this was just his way of setting a warning path to all of them. Letting them know that in whatever town they were in, he was always watching them.

Dick looked up at the older man before him. The Batman. His mentor. How much had changed between them. Dick was no longer under his control and free to do as he wanted with his crime fighting. A lot of which he did not lose what he had been taught from the year past.

But with all this pressure lately, he had been taking down more than he should have been. He had taken on a town that was nothing but fear of gang wars. He didn't have all the craziest in his town. Nightwing was almost seeming to fit his style to fit the way of the town he had taken on.

With force, and quick action. Trying to stomp out what he could when he could. And as often and fast as possible. It had been working. But there were more challenges. Something was going on between the gangs in Gotham. Some one was back and pulling strings. And bringing his town into this. Getting trades going. Trying to tear more into the cities than most.

"Listen, this is only one of a few. And it isn't just my town getting into yours. I've already stopped three trafficking operations from Gotham to Bludhaven in the past few weeks. Some thing is up. Or more of someone is moving on with something. I've already brought down more than half the street wars in my city. I've got a lot of cleaning up to do there. I'm only cutting down the source before it brings more trouble into my town," Dick said straight forward. Partly through gritted teeth in the beginning.

"I'm only sending out a message to these that I am watching and I will strike," Dick finished.

He continued the stare down between them. Not wanting to be the one to break it. He was old enough to stand his ground. He wasn't afraid of Batman. Bruce couldn't stop him. Nightwing was someone else. He wasn't Robin. He didn't need to follow the play by play rules of the Dark Knight. Not that Bruce ever did.

Nightwing had just gotten rougher with the work he had taken on. But he wasn't going to let up until he got more done. He had already stared to make Bludhaven that much safer. But he still had his work cut out for him.

At Bruce's next words, Dick eased up. His glare softened slightly. Was this what that was all about? Jason's death causing the Dark Knight to be over protective of those around him? To be more controlling and annoyed? Dick knew Bruce had not taken it easy at all with Jason's death at the hands of he Joker.

And Dick wasn't making anything that much easier for him. He had gone off on his own at the time of Jason's death. He wasn't there. He and Jason never saw eye to eye. But part of him started to wonder if this was really Bruce's talking or more of his guilt over all this.

"You won't," Dick said out in response to Bruce's words. He had a bit of an understanding over him getting involved in this. Well maybe part of an understand towards this. He knew there was more too it. He wasn't going to push it.

"I know what I'm doing. It may not look like it at times. But just trust me on that would ya," Dick spoke up. He didn't want to press the subject on the reason of why Bruce was so anger over all this. He knew if he pointed this in the direction of Bruce's guilt, it would not end well.

And Dick could see what he had done wrong that night in the warehouse. But still he didn't need a lecture. Dick still kept his guard up. These things never ended easily between him and the Dark Knight.

Ever since he had decided to move out of Bludhaven, things had gotten rocky between everyone. Batgirl was hardly speaking with him now a days. But that was because of the break up. Dick had taken the chance to leave Gotham and listened to Kory on the idea of getting out of there. And after being in New York a couple of times with her, he had felt the choice was much needed.

The change of scenery was better for him. On his own and working hard. Maybe over doing it at points. But he had kept up the pace. He still have his ties to Gotham with the others. Tim, Wulfen, and a few others. And he had the ties to the Titans in New York. And Kory was never too far to contact. But he was fighting how he wanted to. Alone.

[Deleted]

Same Richard, same attitude. Even in the face of potential failure, he still denied the need for any help from Bruce. His gangs were coming into Batmans city, Batmans gangs were going into his city. All of a sudden, nothing mattered anymore, nothing made sense anymore. If Dick was so resilient towards him, then fine. He could be on his own. Batmans darkness shifted back around. He went back to his cynical way of thinking. If Nightwing got himself killed, it wouldnt be his fault because he didnt keep tabs on him.

Batman turned his back and began to walk away from Nightwing. Not saying a word to him.

He reached down to his grappling hook and aimed it into the air. With the sound of gas blowing off from it, the line was launched into the air, and connected to the roof. Batman set the gun against his hip, and for one last time, he turned and looked at his former ward.

Batman took a deep breath, and ascended into the night.