No Welcome Home Party [Jason]

[Dick Grayson - Nightwing]

Another quick shift to cover in Gotham. The Outsiders work could pile up against you when you take off for two days to work on your own town. So to say 'take off' was an understatement.

He hadn't exactly clarify his need to take the time off. Nor did he feel he he needed to justify the need. Nightwing had his own work to attend to outside the team's work. As well as cases he often took home from work. Doing some overtime without pay.

Ok, so he's a workaholic. No more than the rest of them when it came to protecting a city.

Though in views of Dick Grayson to those closest to him...he could over do it. He was a cop by day and a vigilante by night.

He had heard talk over the city of a new 'vigilante' in town. Though this one struck more than a wrong note with Nightwing. Shooting people and taking down criminals in cold blood. Taking justice in his own hands.

There was only one feature that stood out the most about this figure, and that was the red helmet the guy wore.

Nightwing wasn't out for a witch hunt. Not yet any way. He knew he was bound to cross paths with this guy.

All he knew was that the time was coming soon. People don't just go walking around killing people without the bat-family tracking them down.

And right now Nightwing was out on patrol. He had just finished up breaking up a major drug problem in Gotham. At least one of the main veins for them getting into the town. There was still more work to be done towards this.

There was more to be done. But all in good time.

Nightwing was on the rooftops heading back to where he had motorcycle hidden away. He had more work he needed to do at headquarter for a short bit. Then he'd head back to Bludhaven.

[Deleted]

Jason took quick, shallow breaths as he jumped from rooftop to rooftop. His leather jacket flapped in the wind behind him. He rolled across one roof and was about to jump off, before he stopped himself right on the edge of the roof. He almost fell, but he balanced himself. He sat down on the edge of the roof and got lost in his thoughts. He again considered going to Bludhaven to see Dick. Jason had been keeping in contact with Dick's girlfriend, Kori, who had been nagging him to come to Bludhaven. He shook off the idea.

Jason began jumping from roof to roof again. His red helmet seemed to shine in the dark moonlight of Gotham. He had recently been training himself, learning the city again. It had changed since he left. Jason took down a few muggers. It was a slow night. He decided he would patrol a few more blocks, then head back to his bunker.

As Jason finished patrolling, something caught his eye. It seemed like a blue shimmer. He turned around, and jumped from rooftop to rooftop in the direction he saw the light come from. He looked down into the alleyway below him and saw what he was hunting.

"Speak of the devil..." Below him stood Dick Grayson, Nightwing. Jason smiled a little bit under his helmet. Fate was obviously giving him a sign. He pulled out his .22 pistol. Jason aimed with perfect precision, and shot right next to Dick's ear, almost nicking him. "What's up, Dicky-Bird?"

[Dick Grayson - Nightwing]

Nigthwing was just about ready to climb onto his bike when something zipped pass him. And the sound was unmistakable.

Someone was trying to use him as target practice.

Then the call from the rooftop....What the hell?! Who knew who he was?!

Looking up, he spotted a man in a red helmet. Who was this clown? Security was his first reaction. Figure out who this guys was and why he might have been following him. And how long he may have been.

Right a way, Nightwing was not reacting too kindly to this uninvited guest that night. Especially to someone who knew his name and tried to shoot him.

Nightwing fired off the line gun right away to get out of rage of another shot. Using the line to zip him up to the roof level once again.

He look out his escrima sticks and charged at the strange figure. He would be quick on his feet to throw a wingding at the guy if a gun was pulled on him again. And there was plenty of spring to his movement that he could jump over the guy with ease for a better combination attack.

"Who the hell are you? And what do you want," he responded. The serious cold tone of Nightwing's voice unfazed by the name being said.

Just taking on the part of attack mode like any other vigilante. Keep cool and collected don't react to the name being said.

[Deleted]

Jason watched as a surprised and puzzled look crossed Dick's face. He had definitely gotten the shock and awe factor he has hoped for, but that was to be expected. Besides, Jason himself would be surprised if a random costumed person knew his identity. As Dick ran towards Jason, it reminded him of when he was training to be Robin. He remembered the day Dick turned over the original Robin suit to him, and trained with him. Dick had ran at Jason much like he did today, and told him to defend himself. That memory felt like just yesterday, but it was almost five years ago. Jason snapped back into the present.

Red Hood placed his pistol back into his holster and prepared to counter Dick's attack. He remembered what the older boy had taught him to do when someone charged at you. When Dick was close enough in range, Jason ran forward and planted his knee into Dick's stomach. Jason back flipped over Dick's head, and landed softly behind him. Quickly, Jason landed a kick right into Dick's lower back. It's not like Jason wanted to fight the older boy, but he also wasn't going to let himself get pummeled by him. Red Hood backed up. He stood in a defensive stance, getting ready for the attack that he knew was about to come.

Jason silently began to worry. Yes, Jason was good, but so was Dick. If all went south, Jason could bail out, but he didn't want to. He felt obligated to talk to Dick. Of course there were only two reasons he felt obligated. When Jason reunited with Kori, she nagged him endlessly to talk to Dick, so Jason felt he owed it to her. Besides, he kind of owed Kori quite a few favors, since he never called her after their intimate run in on Kori's island. Also, Roy had told Jason that if he wanted to join the Outsiders, he should consider sorting things out with Dick. Jason snapped back to the current situation.

"Don't make me hurt you, Grayson."

[Dick Grayson - Nightwing]

Nightwing had seen the move coming, but only had seconds to respond. In reaction, he only had one choice to got slightly into a defense mode. And went the knee came at his stomach, he had pulled and arm in with an escrima stick to at least block some of the impact.

It had worked slightly to his benefit. Sure he took part of the hit with his own arm, but it protected the lower portion of his ribcage.

This guy was quick. Before Nightwing was to regain his breathe and stick again, the red hooded figure jump over him and kicked him in the back.

This cause Nightwing to go off balance, and he recovered with ease by performing a one handed cart wheel and sprang to his feet again to face the figure.

He recovered and stood in an attack stance.

The guy really knew him.

"You're already given me reason enough to take you down," Dick replied.

He took out two wingdings and threw them toward the figure. Both aimed to hit, but the one had a slight curve to it's blade to cause it to land to the ground and explode at the guys feet. Enough to cause him to lose his balance.

"Answer my question now and we can end this quicker. Who are you," Dick said.

[Deleted]

Jason widened his stance and copied the other man's stance. Jason had to be a little more careful now. Dick was angry, and obviously a bit flustered at the mention of his secret identity. Not a good combination. Under his red mask, Jason furrowed his brow in worry. He knew it would be a struggle to beat Dick. Dick was equal to Jason in fighting skill, if not, better. Quickly problem solving, Jason figured out what skills he was going to have to rely on to beat Dick. His guns, and his training by the League of Assassins. Batman had taught Jason how to fight, but the league hat taught Jason how to fight dirty.

Jason scanned Dick's body in an attempt to find possible threats. Jason smirked in achievement as he noticed it. Dick's hands had moved slightly. Jason zoomed in using his helmet. Dick had a Wing Ding in both hands.

"You're already given me reason enough to take you down,"

Jason scoffed.

"Like you ever could."

Jason dodged the wingdings as they flew towards him. He looked down at the small object imbedded in the ground in front of him.

"Nice tr-" Jason began to say before he was cutoff by a fast chirping.

"Crap!" Red Hood yelled before the modified shuriken exploded and knocked him off of his feet.

Jason quickly recovered and kneeled down behind an air vent. He peeked over to see where the other boy was. This was not good. Jason was dazed, and Dick was getting the upper hand.

"Answer my question now and we can end this quicker. Who are you,"

Jason reached into his utility belt and pulled out three concussion bombs, and an EMP. Hopefully, the EMP would take out the electronics in Dick's domino mask, so that the concussion grenades would actually have an effect.

Red Hood launched the EMP at Nightwing, followed by the three concussion grenades. Jason rolled out from behind the vent and ran at Dick. He begane throwing fists, hoping to catch Dick with one of them.

"Isn't it obvious? My moves? My behaviors? Hell- Even my voice! I didn't think you would all forget and replace me so easily! Let me spell it out for you. I am you. Well, a better version of you anyway. Say, Dick Grayson 2.0! Did you know Bruce even made me dye my hair black, so I would look more like you? And he didn't do it so the public wouldn't suspect anything, he did it because he was still hung up on his little Richie Grayson! Figure it out yet, Circus Boy?"

[Dick Grayson - Nightwing]

Dick knew it would catch the other man off guard. That's what he was going for. And as soon as he managed to do so, he took the chance to adjust his angle of position to keep an eye on the guy.

Simply go jumping off to the side to avoid the explosion himself.

He saw the other man down and could tell the fall had taken a slight toll on him. This would be the chance to strike.

Pulling out the escrima sticks, he started off in a charge toward the younger man. He'd set them into shock mode once he was close enough.

It was then that he saw something being launched his way before he could avoid it. He wasn't exactly sure what it was at first until it started sending out a signal.

He notice more movement from the man before something else caught his attention.

The systems of his mask had blacked out! How could someone managed to do that without finding the right coding and or device to get to the mainframe of the bat family's equipment? They weren't that easily taken down. But this guy had managed it.

Ok, maybe not the best thing to have a mask completely running with computer systems...but this rarely...correction, never happens to them before now.

Dick was left fighting blind. It was a moment of surprise, and then quickly regaining himself. This was Dick Grayson. He was trained and put through a multitude of tests and training when he was younger. And relying on your senses was on that was stressed for night training as well. And fighting in general.

The training was second hand to him. It was something he often liked to work with Tim on when he got the chance.

Before the view lenses had gone out he had seen other objects being thrown his way. Ok, time for plan B. Taking the defensive mode, Dick's first reaction was to listen and dodge.

Successfully he managed to avoid them. It was an art for the acrobat. Not like Barbara wouldn't be able to handle something similar.

The sound of rushing steps come from his left and he got ready. He listened for movement from the other man. Avoiding the first few swings. Then to bring up his escrima sticks to block a few.

Then the man began to talk. This was causing him a bit of a distraction from trying to fight blindly.

At the first few comments, he was starting to figure it out, but replacing...there was only one person who would say that that knew who he was.

"Jason," Dick said.

Ok, that he hadn't exactly expected....

"You've been causing a lot of trouble from the looks of it," Dick replied.

He took a swing at Jason this time. Though as soon as he might miss, he turned on the electric feature of the escrima sticks.

He had heard of this red masked menace running about. Not only trying to spot crime, but rather putting an end to them all together.

Dick may be fighting blindly, but he was putting up a good fight. Though his annoyance was noticeable over the fact that Jason was the one behind this mask.

[Deleted]

Quickly moving around Dick to avoid attack, Jason listened to the older man talk.

"You've been causing a lot of trouble from the looks of it,"

"Trouble? No... I'm just like you. I'm just taking our line of work to a different, and better, level. I'm willing to do things cowards like Bruce never would." Jason retorted. Talking to Dick was distracting. The escrima stick connected with his head. His helmet protected him from most of the shock and damage, but it still dazed Jason a little bit. Jason did a back flip so as to land a few feet away from Dick. He needed a few seconds to get his balance back. Dick was good. Very good. Even when he was blind. Jason needed another advantage to beat Dick EASILY.

"Alright, Bluebird. Lets make things even harder for you. Then see how well you fight." Jason yelled. Sure, he sounded confident, but if not handled correctly, this fight could go VERY wrong for Jason. Jason pulled thre concussion grenades and threw them at Dick. Hopefully this would disorient Dick enough for Jason to get the upper hand. Red Hood plunged back into the fight. He threw some fists at Dick, hoping some of them would connect. Jason tried his best to avoid Dick's attacks, but a few connected with Jason. They hurt, but Jason had to fight through. Hopefully they would stop fighting soon. This wasn't what Jason planned on doing tonight. Jason attacked Dick as hard as he could while getting ready to speak.

"Dick" Punch. "Stop!" Elbow. "I" Uppercut "Just" Knee. "Want" Kick. "Talk!" Palmheel. This was not going to end well.

[Dick Grayson - Nightwing]

Once he made contact with the mask, Dick was getting a better sense where Jason was. But he could hear more movement. Jason had taken the chance to back way from him.

Space. Dick was left to focus on where he went. Easy. There was sound and feel to movement. Working blind allowed him to focus on those factors.

"Cowards are the ones pointing the gun at the innocent. And pointing a gun to someone's head for justice is just a weaker way of trying to get power," Dick replied to Jason's comment.

He knew of the guns. It was the cowardly way to deal with people.

At Jason's next comment, He was more aware of the threat and how venerable he could be if he let up for just a second.

He could hear something being thrown his way. And he tried to get away, diving off to the side and rolling. But Jason must have aimed wide and knowingly.

Dick barely managed to get away from them, breathing in a slight amount of the chemicals. Enough to cause minimal issues. Just making it a slight bit more of a challenge to stay focused.

Dick wasn't going to let up any time soon though. You get injured, you carry on til the fight is won.

Dick charged back in to take action. Taking swings at Jason as well as taking a few himself. Jason had trained further since the last encounter. That was obvious given the technique. Jason managed to get a few connecting hits, but not enough to stop Dick from striking back.

And with that he continue throwing attack after attack. Keep Jason moving and he knew how to keep him distracted.

"You want to talk, than talk," Dick said as he pulled out the escrima stick again to try and strike Jason. If Jason provided a convincing enough reason or act to stop or grab Dick's attention, it would give Jason the upper hand. And at this time, Dick was rather annoyed with being attacked and now blinded.

[Deleted]

    Jason moved around Dick as if it was a dance.

"No. Cowards are the one who aren't manly enough to pull the trigger and end the life of slime who kill innocents. They just lock them up, so that they can break out and kill more innocents. I know what you and Bruce are. You are just cowards with Hero Syndrome who allow innocents to get in danger just so they can save them and feed their egos. I'm man enough to actually end their lives and save innocents from further violence."

    Jason smirked as his concussion bombs did their job. He threw more attacks at Dick. He could tell that Dick still wasn't going to back down.

    Jason landed a few hits, but then he tripped into Dick. All of Dick's attacks landed. Jason couldn't focus. He was seeing stars. Dick was winning. No. Dick had won.

    Jason fell to the ground and yelped in pain. He rolled out of the way and laid on his back. He had his legs in the air, ready to trap Dick in a full guard if he had to. Jason pulled out two escrima sticks and folded them across his arm, ready to block if he had to.

    "Dick! Stop!"

(Sorry for the short post)

[Dick Grayson - Nightwing]

"Saving and killing are two different subjects. Saving someone is trying to help them. And sometimes saving the crooks in a way of trying to help. If we cross the line that give the authorities all the more reasons to arrest us as well as the crooks we stop. I went after Zucco once. And that got me nowhere. I turned down the chance to cross that line. And I won't," Dick said.

Dick's attacks were successful and he knew it. He could hear Jason's reactions to the impacts. Take away on sense and the others intensify.

Charging forward, he heard Jason yelp in pain. Maybe some points would soak in. After all the fight was pretty much won.

Though the call for him to stop, the tone actually seemed to hit a different note of emergency rather than earlier. Compare to the 'lets talk'.

Dick knew he had him beat. He would show mercy at this point. Give Jason the benefit of the of doubt. But if he tried anything, he was ready.

He stopped short, not even a few feet away.

"Fix the glitch and we'll talk. Otherwise I won't be afraid to tie you up and leave you for the Gotham PD to find you," Dick replied.

[Deleted]

    "Saving and killing are two different subjects. Saving someone is trying to help them. And sometimes saving the crooks in a way of trying to help. If we cross the line that give the authorities all the more reasons to arrest us as well as the crooks we stop. I went after Zucco once. And that got me nowhere. I turned down the chance to cross that line. And I won't,"

    "I'm preventing those innocents from other harm. I'm protecting them from homicidal maniacs who will beat them mercilessly and then blow them up. I don't know about you, but I would that to happen to more people. But I think atleast the families of those innocents wouldn't just sit and do nothing while their son's killer was roaming free." Jason knew saying that was a low blow, but he wasn't trying to be nice to Dick.

    Once Jason was on the ground, he could feel that Dick was stopping and hesitating. He took advantage of that moment and cartwheeled off one hand, the other clutching his side, and he lept off the side of the roof. He landed on the fire escape below the ledge of the roof. He winced in pain as he clutched his side. Dick had landed a few good hits. Even through the body armor, Jason could feel that Dick had cracked one of his ribs. Or two.

    Jason pulled off his cracked red helmet, revealing his domino mask covered face. He yelled over the side of the roof.

    "I'm turning it back on now! Don't attack! I'm coming up."

    Jason reached down to his utility belt and pressed a small silver button on the side of the buckle. There was a quiet electrical noise.

    "It should be working now."

    Jason grabbed the ledge of the roof again and flipped back up onto the roof. He held up his hands, showing all he had in them was his helmet.

    "Can we talk now?" Jason said sarcastically.

[Dick Grayson - Nightwing]

Dick could hear every movement Jason made. His voice coming nearer as he got back to the rooftop. At least Jason was keeping to his word and unjamming his computer system to his eye mask.

Nightwing's vision was returned and the computer systems were in working order.

"Do that again and you'll be landing on your head with the helmet on," Dick said coldly.

Whether that was off the rooftop or on the rooftop. Who could say. Dick could easily kick Jason's butt if he tried harder. There was one thing Dick did not lack in and that was determination.

Set him off on a rampage and you'd regret it.

"Start talking. My patients is wearing thin," he replied.