Dick Grayson (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
daringyoungman) wrote2013-10-26 02:46 pm
daringyoungman) wrote2013-10-26 02:46 pm
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Since Columbus Day Bruce has been as broody and as snappish and as often out on patrol as anytime Dick's known him. Not just out after Two-Face and the other crazies, but closing in fast on the Hang Man.
He's out tonight. Dick, looking out of the window in one of the highest, never used rooms in Wayne Manor, saw the Batsignal shine then disappear from the sky above the city. That was hours ago, and he's been in the Batcave ever since, waiting for Bruce's return. Sitting on one of the highest banks of computers, he stares down at his costume hidden behind it.
Tonight. Tonight he will tell him. Or maybe Alfred. He tells him himself that tonight is the night, definitely.
Just like he told himself that yesterday.
He's learned of a number of entrances to the cave in the past few months, and he knows that sometimes it's hard to predict how Bruce will return. From Dick's vantage point he can see most of these entrances, and he can be seen from many of them, as well. What he isn't expecting is the sound of an electrical explosion from a tunnel deeper below him, from a tunnel that is NOT on the list of known entrances.
He certainly isn't expecting a deep throated scream and the sound of people arguing, one of which is a woman, and none of which is Bruce, with or without his Batvoice.
Dick went climbing down there last month. He knows for a fact that while there's a tunnel down there, it's sealed off with an electrified grating. He threw a baseball at it and earned himself double chores for a week. That must have been the scream, and now intruders are enterring the cave. Dick slips into the darkness, easy when there's so much of it, and watches the intruders step into the artificial light.
He recognizes each and every one.
Two-Face
Mr Freeze
Poison Ivy
The Joker.
It's a very serious situation, breaking into the Batcave, Bruce's great secret potentially hanging in the balance. Any one of the four of them would kill a boy like Dick without a second thought.
He grins to himself and drops down to his folded clothes.
"Showtime."
First things first - he throws a grappling hook hard and watches it circle and wrap around a stalagtite that he noticed two weeks ago was weak and about to fall. One hard tug and the heap of rock falls right on Freeze's helmet.
He's been trained, sort of, by X and by Bruce, but not for this. At least, no one out loud has admitted it's for this. Dick would probably not last a second against any of these psychos in any other situation, but they're in his home. (And how weird is it that Dick has a home? When did that happen?) He's spent the entire summer with nothing to do but explore these caves and the manor above it, and he knows it better than anyone, except perhaps Bruce himself.
He doesn't need to look to scoop up a rock and catapult it into the side of Ivy's weird green face, knocking her out as well. The upside of that is it detracts Joker and Two-Face's attention away from the sewer tunnel, and they don't see the swish of the cape that Dick sees.
The down side is that they look up at the upper level, and the yellow of Dick's own cape is unmissable. A second later and they're firing.
The sound of the gunshots fill the cave, leaving Dick's ears ringing. As he leaps through the air above them, clutching the bowstaff Bruce has been training him with, he can feel the whip of the bullets' slipstreams as they miss him by inches. He should be scared.n He should be terrified. He should, at the very least, be angry.
He feels great. He feels the lightest, and the happiest he's felt since his parents have died.
He's flying.
"What the Hell is this?!" Joker sounds like he can't tell his he should be annoyed or laughing his ugly head off.
"Some kid all by himself." Two-Face definitely sounds angry.
"Okay, Batman!" Dick screams to the shadow below. "Let's take them!" He somersaults in the air and throws himself down, feet first. "Not alone, mister! A dynamic duo!"
He feet hit the side of Joker's grin just as Batman rises up from beneath them and throws a mother of a punch into the good side of Harvey's face. Dick knows a punch like that should make a sound, but either his ears are still ringing too much from the gunshots, or Bruce fist and feet land on their targets at the same time.
With the Joker down, Dick turns to Batman, to see him throwing punch after punch at Two-Face. They have history, Dick knows. Harvey Dent was a friend of Batman's until a year ago. Dick's heard it from Alfred. He's read it on the file. He's seen the way Bruce tenses when thinking about Two-Face. His face can't be seen, but as he watches, Dick is worried that Bruce might lose control.
Until suddenly Two-Face pulls out a gun.
"Batman," Dick says, "I can..."
"Stay back, you!" Bruce doesn't use Dick's name, and he appreciates that.
"Gotham City is mine, now," Two-Face says, less gloating and more relieved. "Everyone else is dead."
The single gunshot sounds louder than all the shots fired at Dick earlier. As Two-Face falls off the ledge of the cave, Dick realises that's because it came from right by his own ear - the Joker, who wasn't as down as Dick thought he was.
"Not everyone, Harv. HA!"
Then the clown turns the gun on Batman, and starts ranting himself, and Dick can see it - the way the lunatic's world narrows to just him and Batman, on each end of the gun. He doesn't even notice the kid who just kicked him in the teeth.
So he doesn't notice at all when Dick swings hs staff around and whacks him right in the centre of that ridiculous grin.
"Screwball in the corner pocket!" This time as the clown falls, Dick takes a good look to make sure he's going to stay down, resting a foot on his chest so he'd feel him move. Then he swings his staff onto his shoulder and looks over the other at Batman.
He grins.
"Pretty cool, huh?"
...
"What is that you're wearing?"
He's out tonight. Dick, looking out of the window in one of the highest, never used rooms in Wayne Manor, saw the Batsignal shine then disappear from the sky above the city. That was hours ago, and he's been in the Batcave ever since, waiting for Bruce's return. Sitting on one of the highest banks of computers, he stares down at his costume hidden behind it.
Tonight. Tonight he will tell him. Or maybe Alfred. He tells him himself that tonight is the night, definitely.
Just like he told himself that yesterday.
He's learned of a number of entrances to the cave in the past few months, and he knows that sometimes it's hard to predict how Bruce will return. From Dick's vantage point he can see most of these entrances, and he can be seen from many of them, as well. What he isn't expecting is the sound of an electrical explosion from a tunnel deeper below him, from a tunnel that is NOT on the list of known entrances.
He certainly isn't expecting a deep throated scream and the sound of people arguing, one of which is a woman, and none of which is Bruce, with or without his Batvoice.
Dick went climbing down there last month. He knows for a fact that while there's a tunnel down there, it's sealed off with an electrified grating. He threw a baseball at it and earned himself double chores for a week. That must have been the scream, and now intruders are enterring the cave. Dick slips into the darkness, easy when there's so much of it, and watches the intruders step into the artificial light.
He recognizes each and every one.
Two-Face
Mr Freeze
Poison Ivy
The Joker.
It's a very serious situation, breaking into the Batcave, Bruce's great secret potentially hanging in the balance. Any one of the four of them would kill a boy like Dick without a second thought.
He grins to himself and drops down to his folded clothes.
"Showtime."
First things first - he throws a grappling hook hard and watches it circle and wrap around a stalagtite that he noticed two weeks ago was weak and about to fall. One hard tug and the heap of rock falls right on Freeze's helmet.
He's been trained, sort of, by X and by Bruce, but not for this. At least, no one out loud has admitted it's for this. Dick would probably not last a second against any of these psychos in any other situation, but they're in his home. (And how weird is it that Dick has a home? When did that happen?) He's spent the entire summer with nothing to do but explore these caves and the manor above it, and he knows it better than anyone, except perhaps Bruce himself.
He doesn't need to look to scoop up a rock and catapult it into the side of Ivy's weird green face, knocking her out as well. The upside of that is it detracts Joker and Two-Face's attention away from the sewer tunnel, and they don't see the swish of the cape that Dick sees.
The down side is that they look up at the upper level, and the yellow of Dick's own cape is unmissable. A second later and they're firing.
The sound of the gunshots fill the cave, leaving Dick's ears ringing. As he leaps through the air above them, clutching the bowstaff Bruce has been training him with, he can feel the whip of the bullets' slipstreams as they miss him by inches. He should be scared.n He should be terrified. He should, at the very least, be angry.
He feels great. He feels the lightest, and the happiest he's felt since his parents have died.
He's flying.
"What the Hell is this?!" Joker sounds like he can't tell his he should be annoyed or laughing his ugly head off.
"Some kid all by himself." Two-Face definitely sounds angry.
"Okay, Batman!" Dick screams to the shadow below. "Let's take them!" He somersaults in the air and throws himself down, feet first. "Not alone, mister! A dynamic duo!"
He feet hit the side of Joker's grin just as Batman rises up from beneath them and throws a mother of a punch into the good side of Harvey's face. Dick knows a punch like that should make a sound, but either his ears are still ringing too much from the gunshots, or Bruce fist and feet land on their targets at the same time.
With the Joker down, Dick turns to Batman, to see him throwing punch after punch at Two-Face. They have history, Dick knows. Harvey Dent was a friend of Batman's until a year ago. Dick's heard it from Alfred. He's read it on the file. He's seen the way Bruce tenses when thinking about Two-Face. His face can't be seen, but as he watches, Dick is worried that Bruce might lose control.
Until suddenly Two-Face pulls out a gun.
"Batman," Dick says, "I can..."
"Stay back, you!" Bruce doesn't use Dick's name, and he appreciates that.
"Gotham City is mine, now," Two-Face says, less gloating and more relieved. "Everyone else is dead."
The single gunshot sounds louder than all the shots fired at Dick earlier. As Two-Face falls off the ledge of the cave, Dick realises that's because it came from right by his own ear - the Joker, who wasn't as down as Dick thought he was.
"Not everyone, Harv. HA!"
Then the clown turns the gun on Batman, and starts ranting himself, and Dick can see it - the way the lunatic's world narrows to just him and Batman, on each end of the gun. He doesn't even notice the kid who just kicked him in the teeth.
So he doesn't notice at all when Dick swings hs staff around and whacks him right in the centre of that ridiculous grin.
"Screwball in the corner pocket!" This time as the clown falls, Dick takes a good look to make sure he's going to stay down, resting a foot on his chest so he'd feel him move. Then he swings his staff onto his shoulder and looks over the other at Batman.
He grins.
"Pretty cool, huh?"
...
"What is that you're wearing?"