Chapter Text
Bruce scowled as he impatiently waited inside the Hall of Justice. The Crime Syndicate was back after a multiple year absence, and the first thing they demanded was to see Nightwing. He had a very bad feeling about this whole situation.
First off, there was the fact that to his knowledge they hadn’t even tried to come to this universe this whole time. Normally, about once or twice a year they’d try to eliminate the Justice League and take over. However, that hadn’t happened once in the 5 plus years since they’d been seen last. Clearly, something had forced them to stay in their universe.
Bruce’s eyes narrowed when Dick walked into the Hall. He could instantly tell that Dick was nervous. This confirmed to him that Dick had somehow been involved.
“Nightwing, Owlman refuses to speak with anyone other than you. Do you happen to know why?” Clark immediately got out the moment he spotted Dick.
All the color immediately drained out of Dick’s face. “I might have an idea as to what he wants.” Bruce noticed that Dick had adopted that cocky tone he used when he was worried about something. Oh, something was definitely up, and he was going to get to the bottom of this one way or another.
Bruce glanced around, and to his relief, it looked like everyone was here now. Good. The sooner they could get this over with, the sooner he could start doing damage control.
After a few more minutes, Clark nodded at Dick. “Nightwing, we’ll follow your lead.”
“Sounds good,” Dick weakly said, before striding out of the Hall. The rest of the Justice League followed him out to where the Crime Syndicate was patiently waiting for them. Whatever Dick had done, they clearly wanted the League to hear about it.
Dick stopped a few feet in front of a smug looking Owlman. “Talon,” Owlman pleasantly greeted Dick.
“Owlman.” Bruce could practically hear Dick’s teeth grinding together. “You’re violating our contract.”
Bruce felt his blood run cold. Contract? What contract? Bruce had a very bad feeling about this. He glanced around, and everyone else seemed as confused as he was.
Owlman smirked, clearly enjoying this. “Actually, I’m not. The spell on the contract is gone.”
Bruce immediately looked over at Zatanna, who looked utterly bewildered. If Zatanna hadn’t made it a magically binding contract, then who did? Perhaps Raven had done it?
Dick, what did you do? Bruce frantically thought.
Owlman gave Dick a look, seeming curious. “You know, I’m surprised I didn’t die the first time I tried to violate the contract.”
“I’m not a killer,” Dick indignantly snapped out, and Bruce felt a surge of utter relief to hear that. Not that he would think for a moment that Dick would do something like that in the first place. Still, it was nice to hear Dick say those words out loud.
“I’m surprised we haven’t heard about any of you coming back here.” Dick seemed faintly confused.
Owlman lightly shrugged. “The contract was clear. No one from our universe could come within 100 yards of you.”
Bruce blinked in surprise. From what it sounded like so far, Dick had created a restraining order.
“I... that’s the length of a football field. We literally could’ve been in the same town as long as you kept a decent distance from me.” Dick seemed torn between bewilderment, exasperation, and shock.
Owlman and the rest of the Syndicate seemed faintly surprised to hear that. “I didn’t see the point in coming here if I couldn’t get near you. The rest of them didn’t have much of a reason to come here.” Owlman lazily drawled after a few.
Owlman looked at all of them, before letting out a low snicker. “You never told them about our little deal, did you?”
“No. I didn’t see a point in doing so. I assume you aren’t interested in making another one?” They all knew the answer to that.
“I’m not in the mood to get trapped in another contract. Besides, I don’t just what you gave me last time. I want more.” Without warning, Owlman strode forward and kissed Dick.
Bruce froze as he immediately realized what had gone down. If Owlman was doing this with Dick, then his relationship with his Talon obviously had been more than a father and son. Dick must’ve found out about it and had used it to his advantage in writing up the contract.
Dick, why didn’t you come to one of us if you were having problems with Owlman? Bruce bitterly thought. All it would’ve taken was one phone call and he would’ve been over to help immediately. However, Dick was almost as stubborn and prideful as him and had most likely wanted to solve this on his own.
Bruce had to force down the urge to throw up as a thought came to mind. He knew Dick saw him as a father, or at least he hoped. Since he and Owlman were brothers, they had a very similar build and appearance. Oh god, he couldn’t imagine what it was like for Dick to have sex with someone who looked like his father figure.
He distantly noticed that Owlman had a tight grip on Dick’s chin and waist. To his utter relief, Dick had his hands on Owlman’s chest and was struggling to get away. Owlman took his time in kissing Dick, obviously aware that this might be the last time he’d be able to do this for a while if the Syndicate didn’t succeed today.
Eventually, Owlman broke off the kiss. “I’ve missed being able to do that and more,” he said in a breathless voice.
Dick immediately shoved Owlman away, wiping his mouth on the back of his glove. “I didn’t.” Bruce finally snapped out of his shock and glanced around at the rest of the League. Damn it, they still were frozen in place, which he honestly didn’t blame them for.
“Liar. You enjoyed getting fucked by me, didn’t you?” Bruce glared furiously at Owlman.
“I did what I had to do out of necessity. I didn’t enjoy it,” Dick hissed dangerously, and Bruce could hear the tone of disgust in Dick’s voice. Good.
Owlman let out a disappointed noise, barring his teeth at Dick. “Your actions that night painted quite a different story. Moaning my name, begging me for more. You - ”
“Shut up!” Dick screamed as he lunged at Owlman, his weapons out. Dick clearly didn’t want to find out how Owlman was going to finish that sentence, and neither did he.
Luckily, this seemed to pull everyone out of their shock, and the battle ensued. Out of the corner of his eye, Bruce noticed that Dick was fighting more viciously than normal, which wasn’t surprising. Nobody tried to help him out, obviously realizing that it was best to allow him to have this fight.
Eventually, the League managed to defeat the Crime Syndicate, who all went back to their own universe to recuperate. Owlman was the last one to leave, knocking Dick to the ground and hissing something at him, before disappearing.
Bruce carefully approached Dick, who was still lying on the ground, seeming to be in shock. He crouched down, before helping Dick to his feet. Dick took one look at him, before nervously swallowing, obviously realizing he was in a lot of trouble.
A few minutes later, they were all seated comfortably at the round table listening to Dick’s explanation. Bruce massaged his temples once Dick finished talking. “Dick, would it have killed you to ask for help?”
Dick glared irritably at him. “Alright, say I called the League. You all come down and kept me safe until Owlman goes away. Then what? You couldn’t stay in Bludhaven forever, you had your own places to protect. Once you all left, he could easily grab me again.”
Bruce grimaced, knowing Dick had a point. “So, your solution is to create a magical restraining order?”
Dick took a deep breath, obviously trying to calm himself down. “Look, I’m sorry if you all don’t agree with my solution, and if you think it wasn’t a heroic thing to do. But I did what I had to do to prevent myself from being trapped in Owlman’s universe. I didn’t intend for the Syndicate to stay out of our universe for about half a decade until they could break the contract. However, I don’t think anyone’s complaining.”
“Ask yourselves this, how long would it have taken anyone to realize I was missing? Days, weeks, even months? Nobody noticed I had gone MIA for over 24 hours to complete the contract.” Dick bitterly spat out the last sentence, barely repressed rage and sadness about him.
“We came almost immediately when we heard you took a bullet to the arm,” Bruce irritably got out.
“Was that because you got a phone call from the BPD along the lines of: ‘Your idiot son decided to chase after a masked freak and got shot. Knock some fucking sense into him, because the last thing we need right now is one of our cops getting killed while trying to play a goddamn hero.’?”
Bruce indignantly opened his mouth, about to refute that statement when he remembered that was exactly what had happened. When he closed his mouth, Dick looked smug. “What happened with Deathstroke anyways? All you said was you’d dealt with him.”
“Slade was paid $30,000 to complete the contract. I offered him $1.50 extra not to complete the contract. He accepted.” Dick calmly got out.
Bruce’s eyes narrowed. There was no way Wilson would step aside on a contract unless... Bruce felt a surge of dread. “Dick, please don’t tell me you slept with Deathstroke in order to get him to accept the counteroffer.”
Dick didn’t say anything for the longest time before he eventually got out “And if I did?”
“Richard John Grayson! What were you thinking?” Bruce thundered furiously.
“What was I thinking? I didn’t want one of the few honest cops in Bludhaven to be murdered for the measly price of 30 grand!” Dick yelled back angrily, before taking a deep breath. “Besides, it wasn’t like I hadn’t wanted to fuck Slade for ages. I was merely saving the sex card for the right time.”
“The what card?” Bruce got out incredulously.
Dick scowled at him. “Before Bludhaven, Slade never made a move on me, despite having multiple opportunities to do so. Therefore, I decided I was going to wait to have sex with him until the circumstances were just right, so I could make the best of a bad situation.”
Bruce pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation. Since when had Dick started thinking like this? Did he have that attitude while he was with the Titans, or was that a new thing with Bludhaven? He’d try to figure that out later once he addressed a more pressing issue. “Dick, have you made any other deals like the ones you made with Owlman and Deathstroke?”
After a few moments, Dick said “No” in an even voice. The fact that Dick had to even think about his answer concerned him deeply.
Despite the fact that everyone else seemed to accept the response, Bruce didn’t. His gut was telling him that Dick had done else something like this. He didn’t think it would’ve have been with the Titans, because he hoped they would’ve prevented Dick from doing it.
Unfortunately, there weren’t many people from Bludhaven around that could answer any questions. After a moment of thought, Bruce realized there was someone who could hopefully help him out. Amy Rohrbach, Dick’s former police partner and the woman whose life Dick had saved with his deal with Deathstroke.
Perhaps if he gathered a bunch of photographs of the numerous villains around, perhaps she would be able to identify one of them that didn’t belong in Bludhaven. That way, he could go straight to the source.
First, he had to find out where Rohrbach was nowadays. That shouldn’t be too much of a problem with the resources he had. If he asked another favor from Oracle, she should be able to track the former cop down within no time flat.
“May I go now? Or do you have any other questions you’d like to ask me?” Dick irritably grounded out.
Everyone exchanged looks before they all shook their heads. “Good,” Dick snapped, before storming away. Nobody made any moves to go after him, knowing it was best to leave him alone for now.
“Well, I’m going to talk Jason Blood,” Zatanna hesitantly got after a few.
“I’ll come,” Bruce immediately said.
Zatanna shook her head. “Bruce, I know Jason much better than most of you. He’s not going to appreciate a bunch of near strangers preaching and yelling at him. That will most likely make him reluctant to help us out the next time we have a magical emergency.”
“Fine,” Bruce growled out, before stalking out of the building. Once he was back in the Batcave, he dialed a special number. “Oracle? I need some information on...”
Several hours later, he was in Captain Amy Rohrbach of the Chicago PD’s home, carefully explaining as much as he could about what had happened. “So, you want me to see if I can remember any and all villains Nightwing might’ve had contact with?” a shocked looking Rohrbach asked.
“Yes. I don’t want to be blind sighted later on if another deal Nightwing made somehow becomes public.” Bruce explained.
Rohrbach pursed her lips, before sighing. “Give me the photos.”
Bruce gratefully handed over the packet of mugshots he had procured for her. “Thank you so much. Did you know about the specifics of the deal he made with Deathstroke?”
“Yes. As I was escaping, I couldn’t help but linger behind to make sure he wasn’t going to get killed. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but I saw them kiss. I confronted him afterward and he seemed rather nonchalant about agreeing to have sex with the assassin in exchange for sparing my life.” Rohrbach said, seeming upset.
Bruce nodded as he pulled out a pad of paper and settled a bit away from her. He had a feeling she wouldn’t appreciate him hovering over her.
Most of the criminals Rohrbach proceeded to identify he knew had been in Bludhaven, so he wasn’t too concerned. It wasn’t until about 10 minutes in that she said a name that he hadn’t been expecting. “Deadshot?”
“I only got a glimpse of him, but I remember his mask because of that weird red thing over his right eye.” Rohrbach seemed mildly confused.
“Deadshot is the world’s greatest marksman who boasts of never missing. He’s considered the second deadliest assassin after Deathstroke.” Batman explained.
Rohrbach looked worried to hear this. “Well, he came by about a week after Deathstroke tried to kill me. I meant to ask Nightwing about him, but I didn’t see him the next day and forgot about it.”
Bruce pursed his lips, his mind whirling. If Deadshot had come to Bludhaven, he very well could’ve tried to kill Dick. If Dick was desperate enough, he might’ve agreed to sleep with the marksman. Might’ve. Dick should’ve had plenty of other options if he didn’t want to end up having Deadshot hunt him down.
The only thing he couldn’t understand was why Deadshot would come to Bludhaven. Perhaps Blockbuster had contacted Deadshot after what had happened with Deathstroke to try to take out Dick. Either that or someone had tried to take out Rohrbach again and decided to try the second-best option after Deathstroke.
No matter what other names Rohrbach gave him, he was definitely going to confront Deadshot. He wanted to know why he had been in Bludhaven.
A couple of minutes later, Rohrbach had finished going through the list. Nobody else stood out, so he thanked her and left. He needed to call a few people to arrange a visit with Deadshot. He’d make him talk, one way or another.