Bats of a Feather

[Dick Grayson - Nightwing]

A deals a deal, and Dick was going to keep good on his word. Though whether he was going to regret this agreement had yet to be known. After the last time he had trained with Tim, they made a little wager on their last workout. The deal had been if Tim had beaten the clock on their timed training section, that they would train in the Batcave.

Lately Dick had been avoiding the cave with some of the work that had been sent to the Outsiders. There had been a few time he had butted heads with Roy over the missions Bruce had sent there way. That and Dick had been crossing over in his spare time at night in Gotham, to take down a few more crooks in some of the territories Batman usually patrolled.

Sure one would think Bruce would be glad to call it an early night. Then again, this was Bruce. And Dick was sure he'd hear about how there could have been possible information on some future crimes. Usually there wasn't much to tie together within the crooks he had been taking on lately, petty crimes and pathetic crooks.

Once again, this was Bruce...his city, his way or the highway. What did this mean to Dick....nothing at all over this. Yet, still enough to want to keep away from Bruce til he could cool off or find a larger lead/case to take on lately. Dick wasn't so sure he would luck out this time.

Especially with Tim's mind being set on asking as many questions as he could about the Titans lately.

So, Dick found himself heading to the cave early that evening. A good two hours before Bruce would be sure to turn up...hopefully.

Dick told Roy he wouldn't have time for Outsiders work that night figuring it might be rather quiet that night. Not really true, but Dick promised him they could spar at some point.

He had left his bike on its kickstand not too far off from where the Batmobile was parked. He left his gear near by figuring he'd suit up before they were finished with their training.

Waiting for Tim to meet up with him, Dick sat barefooted near the weight equipment, wrapping his hands and wrists with tape. He was wearing black athletic work pants that had white stripes down along the sides of them, and a white wife beater.

Soon enough he heard the sound of footsteps coming down the staircase from the Manor.

[Deleted]

     Tim walked up the long stone steps to Wayne manor. Tim was elated. It had been a great day and it was about to get better. The school day had gone really well, but that was only part of what was making him feel great. Tim had won the timed training challenge with Dick, and that meant Dick would come to train at the cave with Bruce and Tim. It was the closest thing to a family reunion that Tim would see in a while. He also had a few questions about the Teen Titans , plus a few new moves he had been trying out. Tim's biggest worry was that there would be unnecessary tension, and that a fun event would turn into an argument. But, Tim couldn't do anything to stop that.

     Tim opened the large oak doors and jogged up to his room. He threw his red backpack down on his bed and walked over to his dresser. He pulled out black athletic pants and a red under armor shirt. He threw the clothes down on his bed and walked over to his computer.

     The teen pulled up his coding program and continued working on his school project. He had to make some sort of program or animation for a grade, but Tim didn't mind it. Tim was so good with computers he was already equal to Bruce, and while Barbara was still a bit better, Tim could still give her a run for her money. The computer genius had decided to make a short game, and so far he was really proud of it. After about an hour Tim slipped to sleep. A teen's body doesn't usually hold up to about 3 hours a sleep a night, so Tim had to get it in whenever he could.

     Tim woke with a start an hour and a half later to the sound of a motorcycle flying toward the manor. He flung off his shirt and pants. He grabbed his clothes and ran out of his room, while pulling on his athletic pants. He ran across the manor and into the study. He quickly unlocked the grandfather clock while pulling on his shirt. He jogged down the cold, stone stairs into the spacious cave, where he saw Dick standing.

     Tim skipped the last 5 steps and jumped down to the base level of the cave.

     "Dick! What's up!" Tim said excitedly. "We've got a lot to go over."

     Tim walked over to the Bat-Computer.

     "Come'ere. I gotta show you something Barb and I have been working on." Tim said while typing in a few commands. "This is so going to up our training. And here. We. Go."

     Tim slammed his finger down on the enter key and a large orange light scanned the two of them. The cave filled with structures and humanoid shapes made of orange pixels. The virtual thugs ran at them, and Tim hyped at them, landing multiple blows, causing them to shatter and fade into pixels. Tim flipped back to the computer and ended the program.

     "It's a virtual fight. You can change difficulty, give the enemies weapons, and a whole lot more. And if you get hit so bad that if it were a real fight you would die, the program restarts itself. It's pretty sweet."

[Deleted]

There was a tinge of hesitation when Tim asked if Dick could come to the cave. Bruce and his oldest ward hadn't agreed on much anything the past few years, their relationship strained to an unusually cold and silent tension. Of course, the two had seen each other semi frequently over the years, but it was mostly on duty and in costume. Neither of them were much for family reunions.

But, suffice to say, Bruce allowed the training session, be it with a secret agenda of sorts. He had no qualms with Dick operating in Gotham, he was a damn good crime fighter and Bruce would welcome the assistance. But when Nightwing purposefully crosses into The Batman’s patrol route, goes after known gang affiliates, and does this all without saying a word to Bruce, then there are going to be some words. However, he figured this would be a quickly resolved issue , unlike that of the Teen Titans. Tim made it no secret he wished to join the Titans, and Bruce made his stance equally clear- no. Tim was a genius, no doubt about that. He surpassed both of his predecessors with his intellectual and intuitive abilities, but this comes at the price at his combative abilities. No, perhaps one day when he improves these skills, He will allow Tim to join the Titans. But not now, especially not after Jason.

Bruce stepped out of the Ferrari, basking in the ever Gothic glory of Wayne Manor. He had left work early to arrive for training at a reasonable time, nothing that caused a commotion of any sort at Wayne Enterprises. In Fact, they were quite used to the billionaire finishing his work and returning home early.

“Welcome home, Master Bruce. Masters Dick and Tim await you in the cave if I am not mistaken sir.”

Alfred was waiting atop the stairs, prompt as ever. “Thank you,” Bruce replied with a nod, “Mind parking the car?” Alfred replied with a slight nod and took the keys from Bruce’s hand, and was off with the car before thanks could be exchanged. Bruce smirked, typical.

Stopping by the wardrobe for a quick change into his sweats, Bruce headed for the study, taking advantage of the entrance behind the antique grandfather clock. He started quickly down the stairs, finding his wards together at the bottom. Bruce had to admit, it was odd seeing Dick out of costume for the first time in a while, it was easy to forget the actual person behind the mask.

He simply nodded to him for now. “Dick,” he said in his own aloof manner. They would talk more later, in private. Quickly, Bruce turned to Tim, now taking a more authoritative stance “Now, I trust you've made considerable progress on your school work,” he said, once again in his own aloof nature. “That was of course our deal.”

[Dick Grayson - Nightwing]

"Not much, see this place hasn't changed all that much either," Dick replied as he stood up as the youngest member of the bat-family approached him.

It was good to see Tim again of course, yet to be back in this place knowing Bruce was bound to show up sooner or later was on the other hand not so pleasant of a situation. There wasn't going to be much he could do to avoid Bruce for long. If Bruce wanted to get a hold of him, he would have by now.

Then again, sometime he waited for the opportunity to arise.

Dick walked over to the take computer mainframe as Tim hit a button and the orange light scanned over their form. Ok, next up, a few figures appeared. Within second, Tim struck them down.

Dick smiled at Tim's enthusiasm at the new program, it was a success after all in the cave. Next to take it for a spin. "Nice. Beats tossing around the training dummies," he commented.

He was quite looking forward to the new program.

It was then that his attention was turned to the approaching figure to the cave. Of course he wouldn't have been able to avoid Bruce in the Batcave.

By the tone of Bruce's greeting and the way he addressed him, he was sure he'd get more of the words Bruce was saving for later.

"Bruce," Dick responded not really expression showed in his words nor on his face.

[Deleted]

     "Not much, see this place hasn't changed all that much either,"

     Tim chuckled at Dick's response. "Nope, not much change. You know, dark, dreary, same old same old. But, you know, Bruce wouldn't be able to do his hourly brooding in a bright and cheerful place."

    Tim smiled up at Dick's reaction to the program.

     "Nice. Beats tossing around the training dummies," Dick commented.

    Tim shrugged. "Babs and I are pretty proud of it, but hitting it doesn't feel quite the same as a dummy or a real thug." Tim peered up at the stairs as he heard Bruce approaching. He had that stern look on his face that meant this was going to be a bit dramatic. The young Robin rolled his eyes and scowled at the computer in reaction to the immature exchange between Dick and Bruce.

     “Now, I trust you've made considerable progress on your school work.“That was of course our deal.” Bruce said coldly.

     Tim smirked up at Bruce. "Of course. Besides, it's all easy anyway. And have I ever not lived up to a deal?" Tim replied sarcastically. Tim turned around and leaned against the batcomputer, waiting for Bruce to make his way all the way down the stairs. It was a strange feeling, being excited, anxious, and scared. Training would be fun, but Tim could sense multiple lectures coming.

     Tim stood up and draped the white towel around his neck on the chair next to the computer. He crossed his arms. "So what are we doing first?" Tim asked in a loud and commanding voice. This was going to be interesting.

[Deleted]

Bruce let the sarcastic comment slide as he made his way down the stairs and into the cave. He chalked it up to Tim being a teenager... granted, a teenager who was one of most gifted detectives in the world, a martial arts master and costumed vigilante, but a teenager nevertheless. He gazed into the training area and looked at the virtual reality simulation laid out in front of him. Bruce wasn't sure if he approved of this methodology or not. Virtual thugs, sliding difficulty levels, point scores... this wasn't a computer game. Despite the advances of technology, in Bruce's opinion, nothing beat going a few rounds in the ring. There, the sweat was real and the pain even more so. Turning this into a game would lessen Tim's caution and possibly increase his recklessness.

Just like... no. Tim was not Jason Todd. Bruce banished such thoughts from his mind and looked at at Tim.

"Impressive set up Tim, but remember... don't treat this like a game," he said, "You get punched in the simulation, then the simulation stops.... you get punched in the streets and it doesn't stop until you're dead."

Bruce walked past the simulation and came to a wooden training dummy. A few warm up katas on the dummy before he got down to the real stuff. But before he did, Bruce looked over at Dick. Dick Grayson, the first Robin. The relationship had been tense between the two and things hadn't helped when Bruce found a street gang beaten to a pulp by Dick... or Nightwing as he was going as now. He didn't want things to devolve between the two of them but Bruce needed to know if Dick was going to pull another stunt like that again... he hated not knowing what was happening in his city.

"Dick, after you've trained with Tim... a word please."

And with that, Bruce began training on the dummy... punches, kicks... each one thrown at the dummy with precision and speed that the two Robin's had yet to reach yet.

[Dick Grayson - Nightwing]

"I've heard once Batman laugh at Harley's stupidity over the false love the Joker has for her that she said it was creeping her out," Dick replied on the matter of Bruce staying to the dark and dreary caves.

Dick should know from year of working along side of Bruce the major changes his mentality would allow. The only time he had ever seen a smile on Bruce's face was often the fake Wayne image he gave to the public. More for the media to eat up and spin their webs. Though most of all to protect his true life. Who would ever think Bruce Wayne was Batman?

It was at their own risk of how they acted in public and who they trusted with their true identities. Maybe Dick was the largest liability of the Bat-family. Many old teammates knowing who he was as well as some of the JL ie. Superman, Wonder Woman. Even there, very few knew who Bruce was. It wasn't like Dick told every teammate. Sometime it happened in a family setting and the Outsiders were growing closer at points. He knew the team now since it consisted largely of the old teammates from the Titans. It's not like current Titans knew who he was.

"And that is why I do not give up the training time in the gym or combat sessions with the Outsiders," he commented in regards to practicing virtual verses the real world.

He had learned a lot over years the consequences of his actions. It has resulted in the death of one man in the hands of Two-face because he had hesitated on save the civilian or Batman.

Granted he was maybe a bit younger than Tim at the time when he had first started out in the field of crime fighting. It ending in a beat down from Two-face.

Dick listened to the conversation between Tim and Bruce. Quite possibly the same conversations Bruce and himself had gone through back in the day. Some good, some bad.

And of course the lecture...he knew exactly what Bruce was thinking and going to say. You didn't train with someone for more than half your life and not start to understand what makes them tic. And the training verses reality was the exact same discussion he had gotten about training in the practice sessions growing up.

Dick stood there his arms crossed as he waited for the two to finish up. It was then that Tim piped but about what they were going to do. The smallest bit of a smile came to his face over Tim trying to cut the tension in the room. Dick was glad his brother was there. Adopted brother didn't seem like the right word anymore between Tim and him. The kid knew where to step in and when to help break the tension for the meantime.

"What do you say a quick warm up in the simulation and then a sparing session," Dick said to Tim.

Bruce's voice rang out clear and stern over a word. And before Dick had the chance to throw in his two cents, Bruce had turned his back to them. Of course he would end the discussion before it could be started.

"Hey Tim, what do you say to a sparing session against Bruce for old times sake," Dick suggested, a slight smirk on his face.

Yeah he saw the speed in Bruce's movement, wouldn't stop him from challenge his mentor in a spare. It was always a good way to get anger out in the training rather than on the field.

[Deleted]

    "I've heard once Batman laugh at Harley's stupidity over the false love the Joker has for her that she said it was creeping her out," Dick replied. Tim chuckled at the humorous reply. It was great to have Dick at the cave. It felt nice to have someone you could actually talk to and have fun with. Not that Bruce wasn't fun, Bruce was great. Without him, Tim's life would be totally different, he wouldn't be Robin, and he would be living with some random family. But... the two didn't always share the most lighthearted conversations.

    "Impressive set up Tim, but remember... don't treat this like a game," he said, "You get punched in the simulation, then the simulation stops.... you get punched in the streets and it doesn't stop until you're dead." Bruce said. Tim did a small combination of a shrug and a nod, agreeing with Bruce while also being a bit disappointed with Bruce's unenthusiasm. However, in the end, Bruce was right. Nothing compared to a real life battle, when Two-Face is holding two men hostage, or when bane is holding you above his knee, or when Joker is beating you with a crowbar, there is no restart button.

    "What do you say a quick warm up in the simulation and then a sparing session," Tim looked up to Dick as he said this. He nodded and smirked. Tim raised his eyebrow at the exchange between the two men. He could cut the tension with a knife. Tim followed Bruce with his eyes as he walked over to the wooden dummy.

    So much for training together. Tim thought to himself. The boy looked up at the older boy as if to say "oh well", until he heard the older boy's suggestion.

"Hey Tim, what do you say to a sparing session against Bruce for old times sake," Dick said. Tim smiled a mischevious smile.

"Over under." Tim quietly commanded before printing at Bruce, preparing to leap at his torso and head, and waiting for Dick to take the legs.