Chapter Text
Tonight, Bludhaven feels like Gotham City, and not in a good way. The Riddler has decided to make a name for himself by targeting Nightwing, which means he’s targeting Bludhaven. It happened about an hour ago. All the streetlights had turned a bright green, and then there were random explosions based on whether a passerby could guess the right riddle or not. Not one of Nigma’s best or most creative plans, not the worse, but definitely doing its fair share of damage.
Currently, the C-list supervillain has managed to take over most of the city streets. Babs is helping out as much as she can, picking up on riddled frequencies across the city to try to pinpoint his location. She’d been the one to figure out Riddler is using wireless beacons, scattered throughout the city to hide his true location. The beacons serve as mirrors reflecting the frequency back and forth to each other, making it nearly impossible for Babs to track him down. Dick being back with the Bludhaven Police Department made it easier to coordinate with the cops to have them go out in teams and start hunting down the beacons to destroy them. Once they were out of the way, all he needed to do was get a beacon to Babs and have her decode it. then, viola, there’d be one less supervillain roaming the streets and one more in Arkham.
Now, he’s patrolling with his current partner, Vincent. In the past few months, Dick had cycled through numerous partners, lost either to corruption, died, or simply left. Either way, Vincent is Dick’s fifth partner in three months. He’s not the worst. It’s just very apparent that this is a part-time job for him. The man has a wife and two kids that he’s eager to rush back to at the end of the day, and he’s told Dick enough times ‘when he clocks out, he’s done for the day.’ If a person was being robbed right next to him and he’d already retired for the night, he’s sure the older man wouldn’t try to do anything. It’s not Dick’s favorite thing about him, but at least he’s not on any mobster’s payroll. Now, he guides Vincent down the dark backways of Bludhaven using the beacon tracker that Bab’s had given him. The tiny red light indicates where the beacon is and how close they are.
They pull into an abandoned shipping yard. At first glance, nobody’s there, but as his eyes adjust to the darkness, he notices the small outline of a homeless person leaning up against one of the shipping containers. The sight tugs on his heart. He hated how vulnerable homeless people were, especially during the winter. Whoever it looks cold. The only thing keeping them warm is an overlarge vintage denim jacket embroidered with a black fist on the front. They keep trying to warm up their hands by breathing on them. He walks over to them, taking out his wallet. As he gets closer, he realizes that the homeless person is a child. Large brown eyes stare up at him from underneath an abundance of curly hair.
“Are you out here by yourself?” he asks her, holding out a couple of twenties.
She eyes the money, suspiciously, but takes it. “No, I’m waiting for someone,” she says as she quickly counts the assorted bills.
Dick frowns. “There’s a citywide lockdown. You should probably get somewhere safe. My partner and I can drive you home or to a shelter if you want.”
Her gaze shifts from him, to Vincent, then rest on the car, assessing. “No thanks, I’m meeting someone here.” If he thought that was true, it’d only be more of a reason for him to stay. But she’s clearly uncomfortable the longer their conversations drag on. He’s sure she just made it up so he’d stop talking to her. Either way, he’s not going to continue to harass her. She probably lives somewhere nearby, even if she is homeless. He’ll just have to hope the money will be enough to take care of food and shelter for a few days.
“Stay safe,” he tells her, turning around to leave. He looks back down at the tracker, trying to pinpoint the beacon, only to find he’s right on top of the blinking light. He turns back around to the kid, about to ask her if she’s seen anyone when the beacon turns to face him on the tracker. He takes a step back. The beacon moves a step away from him. Then, he takes two steps forward. He’s practically on top of her, and the beacon. She takes a step back, and the beacon moves with her. Well, that’s convenient.
“Strange question,” he asks her, “but have you seen a green beacon-looking item.”
The girl freezes. He knows what’s going to happen before it does. In the next second, she's sprinting down the docks at full speed.
“Vincent!” he shouts at him. The man pauses briefly, looking at the situation, eyebrows scrunched up in confusion. That’s one of Dick’s biggest issues with the man. He’s a little slow for a detective.
“She has the beacon!” that snaps him into action.
He starts to follow, but both Dick and the girl are too fast. As they run, Dick realizes she has no idea where she’s going. The shipyards are built like a maze with similar patterns to ensure that crewmen don’t get lost inside. From previous experience on the docks, he knows she’s heading straight for a dead-end. Based on the angle of shipping containers. He does a quick vault on the side of one, then the next, using momentum to vault himself to the top. A quick walk has him staring down at brown hands as they try to clutch the edge, no doubt trying to escape the dead-end she ran into. He crouches down next to them, leaning slightly over the edge to meet a pair of copper-colored eyes.
“looks like you could use a hand.”
Her eyes grow wide with panic. Without thinking, she lets go of the container’s edge. The young girl falls before he can stop her, yelping in pain when she hits the ground. From this height, she could’ve sprained an ankle or worse. He leaps down, flipping as he does to slow his momentum. It was a simple trick he’d learned when he was a kid. Still, the young girl’s eyes are blown wide in awe when he lands.
“I grew up in the circus.” He explains.
“Is that why you dress like a clown?” she says, more likely from pain than spite. He sighs, going over to her to check on her ankle. She winces as he approaches, but relents, removing her hands so he can inspect her ankle. It’s a little swollen, but other than that seems mostly fine. Likely just sprained. Gently, he helps her to her feet, letting her lean most of her weight against him for support.
“I wasn’t doing anything illegal,” she says after a while.
He cocks his head to the side. “Even if I believed that a teenager standing outside in the freezing cold on a school night who just lead me on a chase through an abandoned shipyard, wasn’t doing anything suspicious, the Riddler beacon on your person, dispels that belief.”
“That’s not mine,” she says quickly, too quickly. “I mean, it is,” she corrects, “but I’m only holding it for a friend. I mean… even if it was a Riddler beacon.”
“You have the right to remain silent,” starts Vincent from behind him, a little out of breath. He walks up behind them, quickly slapping one metal cuff around her wrist.
Dick stops him. “You don’t have to arrest her. She’s technically right. Technically,” he emphasizes at her triumphant expression. “She’s not doing anything illegal. Just take her to a hospital and call her parents so she can explain to them why she’s colluding with the Riddler.”
“Come on!” she complains. “You just said I’m not doing anything illegal! Can’t you just take me home, and say you saved me from the Riddler or some nonsense. I can’t get in trouble with my grandma, again. Please?”
“Sorry,” says Vincent, sounding not the least bit apologetic. “You should’ve thought about that before you started colluding with the Riddler.”
“I’m not colluding with the Riddler!” she pouts. “I was only holding that beacon because my friend told me to. He said he and some of the boys were boutta bust a shop or sometin. I’d get a percentage if I stayed out here, waiting for them, and the beacon would blink when they were on their way. I’m not doing anything illegal, but they are. How about you stand here with the beacon, and you arrest them.”
“Fine,” says Vincent after a while. “But only once we have your friends will I let you go.”
If Vincent did that, then it would take them hours to get back to Bludhaven. Dick looks back at the two of them. He needed to get back to the city, soon.
“I need to get this beacon to my… contacts so they can track the Riddler down.”
Vincent gives him a dry look. they both know that contacts meant vigilantes, and while he doesn’t know much about the officer, he knows that the man has an issue with vigilantes. The older officer stares down at the girl then back up at him.
“Go,” he says, surprising Dick. “I can take care of her.” he shifts so now it’s him that’s supporting her as she limps back towards the car. He doesn’t need to be told twice. Already, he’s calling in his motorcycle to his current location.
“You’ve got this covered right?” he asks as he turns his back on his partner.
“Yeah, I’m all over it.”
Dick doesn’t look back. if he had, maybe things would’ve been different. Mabey he would’ve seen how his hand moved up, resting on her chest instead of her hip. Mabey he would’ve realized that something was very wrong in the way Officer Vincent’s eyes rested on the girl. Or, maybe he wouldn’t