Work Text:
Julia was always a supremely divisive child. If there was something that she wanted in the world, she was unafraid to ask, and undeterred by rejection.
It was less than a surprise, then, that she’d known what she wanted to do in life since she was in third grade.
On the tv, a lady in a bright red and white leotard balanced precariously over a steep drop, carefully setting one foot in front of the other before executing a perfect cartwheel across the cord. The camera angle was wide so as to capture the true danger of the gap below, but Julia could still make out the radiant smile on the performers face as she stepped back onto stable floor.
Julia sat there in front of the tv, ignoring her mothers warning about sitting to close and just watched, enraptured by the performances that followed. Her eyes followed the jumps and twists and bends of the performers, confident in every movement and full of balance and grace.
Her attention was ripped away from the screen as the tv clicked off and her mother sternly announced dinner time. But by then, Julia was already far, far gone.
That night, Julia’s mom informed her in no uncertain terms that she was not permitted to leave and go join the circus, but she wasn’t deterred.
Though she eventually acquiesced on the circus bit, Julia found better ground in arguing for gymnastics lessons, instead.
This route faced a much easier reception, and soon enough Julia was outfitted with a shiny new leotard and ready for her very first lesson at the gymnastics gym.
Her first classes were very beginner. She was surrounded by a gaggle of young girls of similar age but varying levels of enthusiasm. While the class was fun, and certainly worth the commitment, it didn’t quite meet her previous expectation built from all the shows on the tv.
Where were the flips! The vaults! The back handsprings!
But like all things, with a little time and effort, the fruits of her labor soon came to bloom. She started advancing steadily, and was soon learning new moves and trying out her own tricks as quickly as she could(under adult supervision).
Any hope her mom had that this would just be a passing fantasy was dashed as Julia moved up, and up, and up in classes, training hard and putting the work in.
She soon found new idols to latch onto in the form of gymnasts who would gather from across the globe to complete. While she would always admire the acrobats that first inspired her to this path, she had shifted her goals to new heights.
Now, she finally had an end goal that all the training she’d pushed so hard through was working towards. The Olympics.
A global event, held for millions of viewers to see and hundreds of countries to take part in. To think that one day she could even perform on center stage in front of those giant crowds, doing the craft she had adored since she was a child, it was her dream.
Despite her steadfast dedication to her lofty goals, Julia still followed her mom’s advice and traveled off to college at the end of high school. It certainly wasn’t her first choice, but she understood the need to have something to rely on if all else fails.
But! That did not mean she was in anyway going to slack on her training after moving away, not at all! The very first thing Julia did after putting her bags down in her new dorm was text her new trainer about when she would be able to make it to the gym. While she was sad to leave her old teacher behind, the man had personally recommended this new trainer, and she was excited to get to know them.
Despite the juggle of full time school, part time work, and training, she still never gave up her final goal of making it to the Olympics. Julia trained harder than ever at her new gym, focusing wholeheartedly on improving as much as possible.
The only thing stopping her from spending all night at the gym and only leaving in the day for classes and work, was the handful of friends she’d somehow managed to collect along the way. To be fair, they were mainly just her roommates friends, but it worked for her. Even though they had competing interests, Julia fit in well with the band of tech nerds and geeks she found community in.
She didn’t always have the time to stay and chat, but she always tied to make time for them when she could(read: last time she missed movie night they kidnapped her from the gym with her coach’s full consent. Chloe, her roommate, then promised that if she missed movie night again, she’d personally hack the school’s database, fail her in every class she was taking and call Julia’s mom on her.)
(She didn’t know if that was even possible or how Chloe had her mom’s number, but she certainly didn’t want to risk it.)
It was nice, though, to have a group of people who supported her wholeheartedly in her dreams.
Of course, Julia knew her mom loved her, but she also knew that she’d always had higher hopes for her than doing gymnastics, or joining the circus. It was an understandable notion, but saddening nonetheless, to know her mom might never understand her passion.
But with her friends, she could really put her all into the craft and get their full support in her endeavors.
In a way, it was really freeing to be surrounded by a group that believed in her as much, if not more, than she believed in herself. Sure, she could never break the shackles of mandatory movie nights, but she truly had never felt more like she could be whoever she wanted to be. Especially when she was so close to finally reaching her goals.
Just recently, her trainer had submitted her for the competition that would potentially nominate her for a place an on the real American Olympic team! How cool was that!
Even with all the stress and excitement going around, she tried made time to focus on her other interests. Recently, Julia had even found the chance to get back into watching circus performances, finding new inspiration in the shows she used to watch as a kid.
That long held passion she kept flickering in the back of her mind flared to life watching the acrobats flip and fly through the air without a care in the world. She was once again entranced with the complex moves and tricks that were unique to each performance.
But it wasn’t just the circus. Along with rivitalizing old interests, college had also provided her new passions to cling to.
One of her friends, Jake, born and raised in the city of Metropolis, was crazy about any and all superheroes and vigilantes he could find. If there was a new hero on the loose, chances are he knew as much as the press did, if not more.
And just recently, their interests converged into one over a single vigilante figure—
Nightwing
A vigilante, crimefighter, and goddamn performer. The moment she saw the guy do a flawless back handspring on a dark rooftop, Julia knew she had to find out more.
With Jake’s help she soon learned Nightwing was an established vigilante in Bludhaven, New Jersey, who was recognized by his unique acrobatic skill and proclivity for witty one liners. He was a well loved figure in his city, with the support of many community members and organizations who he’d aided in the past. Jake told her his personal theory that he had previously been a Robin in Gotham, but Julia didn’t know enough to say.
Regardless, he was absolutely awesome.
It was truly a shame they didn’t allow vigilantes on Olympic teams, because they could really use his talent.
He was a total showoff, yes, but rightfully so. He was even good enough to once complete a quadruple somersault with ease, a move previously coined only by the Flying Graysons of Haley’s circus. The only living member of them being Richard “Dick” Grayson, who had quit acrobatics long ago, later to became a cop.
…
The quadruple somersault, which supposedly was a trick passed down through the Grayson family, and never taught to anyone outside it.
…
Done by Nightwing, who was about the same height and build as Dick Grayson, according to Jake’s estimates.
…
And who was just turning 18 when Nightwing showed up to turn new ground in Bludhaven.
…
After, according to Jake’s note being Robin for nearly nine years, starting coincidentally around the time of the death of Dick Grayson’s parents.
…
Fuck
Okay, so obviously she couldn’t just tell anyone the secret identity of a well known vigilante, especially not one known to work with the Justice League. Not only would people suddenly be paying way too much attention to her for all the wrong reasons, she’d probably be laughed at for even suggesting it. The whole thing was based only on a timeline of coincidences a possible overlaps she had basically no way of proving, and one single (albeit nearly impossible to do correctly) acrobatic move.
Who would even believe her?
She told Jake.
He didn’t laugh, or even call her crazy for bringing it up.
Instead he opened his backpack and unzipped a small pocket she hadnt noticed before in the side of the fabric, reaching inside to retreive a thick manila folder filled to the brim with papers.
He told her he knew that one of them would come to him eventually, and flipped to the file labeled ‘Nightwing’.
Julia just stared blankly and tried very hard not to be creeped out by the whole thing.
The file was…extensive, to say the least, detailing every overlap in the facts and timelines, along with every “accident” Dick Grayson had as they correlated to an injury sustained by Nightwing. He even had records of their matching blood types, which were cited from “anonymous sources”.
Julia ignored everything wrong with that knowledge, and just breathed a huge sigh of relief thay she wasn’t going crazy over coincidences.
She was subsequently sworn to secrecy by Jake, and the file quickly disappeared from wence it came.
So…Dick Grayson, huh?
Still a shame he was a cop, but very cool that he was still exploring his acrobatics. Like she said, skills like his could do wonders in the gymnastics scene, and it wasn’t like the American team didn’t need the help.
They still had some good people, especially the women’s team, but Julia doubted the men’s team could make it to gold without someone who could go beyond.
It was her dream to be that person one day. Julia knew she wasn’t at that level quite yet, but she was nearly set to make it to the Olympics this year, if all went well. Just a damn shame Dick Grayson wasn’t willing to take that spot. And it’s not like she could force him to go.
wait
WAIT.
[Batcave: Incident Report Form]
[Date: XX-XX-XXXX]
[User: Nightwing; Code_Gamma-Golf-November-Zero-Zero-Six]
[Voice Recording Begins After The Beep]
[Beep]
[Um…Hey, Bruce]
[Uhhhhh.]
[Audio crackles for a moment]
[Really hoping you don’t get to this ’til I’m out of the country, but here goes nothing—]
[Audio interupted by a loud sigh]
[Um, so I may have just been blackmailed into competing in the Olympics…maybe…yeah, yeah, that’s what happened. ]
[Um, okay, incident report. About a couple months ago, I got a phone call from an anonymous source later identified as Julia Simmons.]
[Um, she, haha, she said she figured out my secret identity as Nightwing, and would tell the press unless I—]
[Voice trails into stuttering laughter]
[I mean, it just sounds ridiculous saying it out loud, but she said she’d reveal my identity unless I…joined the U.S. Olympics team and competed this year. Uh, in the Olympics. I, uh, I tried to track the call on my own but it was a completely secure line. I asked her how she did that and she said it was her roommate. I mean kids these days!]
[Anyway, yeah, so I agreed to meet up one afternoon, um, without telling anyone, and turns out she’s actually a real person. Like I said, Julia Simmons, gymnast and Olympic hopeful, apparently. Haha, let me say, she was all business about this whole deal, I mean she had some serious data on me, kinda creepy to be honest…]
[So, yeah, she dragged me over to her gymnastics trainer to, um, “evaluate me”, and they just kept asking me to do moves, so I did them and honestly I must’ve been in shock at that point ‘cause I barely knew what I was doing.]
[But, apparently I passed with flying, ha, colors ‘cause they just kept talking excitedly. I don’t remember a thing they said, but the trainer, I think she said her name was Nakamura or something, recorded a video of some of the moves and soon enough, I was back in my car. ]
[Muttered:God, I really should’ve gone to Oracle when I got the call.]
[So, that’s why I haven’t been around so much lately. I pretty much got kidnapped every week to practice a gymnastics routine and apparently I’m, um, going to the Olympics! Haha, they said the judges liked my performance and were okay with me joining later than usual. I think I remember signing some paperwork somewhere, but its still a bit of a blur.]
[Um, I asked them to keep my attendence on the down low for the most part, but I guess there’s no way your gonna miss this when the news finally breaks, so I just figured I’d get this out of the way while I could.]
[So, uh, yeah, hopefully you hear this before you see me on TV, but, um, that’s where I’ll be for the next…while.]
[Muttered: How long is the Olympics, even?]
[Tell Alfred I’m sorry that I’ll be missing Sunday brunch for a little bit, and tell Damian and Tim to eat their vegetables and stay out of trouble. If they, I guess, aren’t already listening to this message.]
[Anyway I got a flight to catch now, so Nightwing out—]
[Wait, one more thing. Absolutely do not let Jason know about any of this. I don’t care if you have to lock him in the panic room of the mansion or send him out to Antarctica, he cannot know this happened.]
[Recording Ended]
The Gotham Gazette
Breaking! Bludhaven Superstar Richie Grayson Wins Gold at the Paris Olympics!
Plus, an exclusive interview with Brucie Wayne on his son’s success: “I’m just so happy to see him reaching for new heights, though I always wish he gave me more warning before—“
HoodWatch! @RedHoodWatchers
[UPDATE] Red Hood spotted laughing for 10 minutes straight on a Crime Alley rooftop. Witness says he was ‘staring at his phone when it happened’ and that he ‘looked like he was going to run out of breath’ laughing so hard.