Chapter Text
A tall, dark figure crouched outside a closed window outside an old apartment building as the sun was beginning to show the dawn. Taking care to remain silent, the figure swiftly unlocked the window and slid inside the dark room. Closing the window, the figure, a man no older than twenty released an exhausted sigh. Reaching up to his face he removed the black mask covering his eyes, transforming himself from Bludhaven’s hero, Nightwing, to Gotham’s White Prince, Richard “Dick” Grayson. Dick rubbed a hand on the back of his neck and walked towards the far wall of his modestly decorated flat. He entered into the bedroom removing the rest of his costume gently, taking care to mind his newly acquired set of cracked ribs.
“Next time I see Harley’s mallet, I’m gonna whack HER with it.” He thought to himself as he entered the bathroom. Looking in the mirror he saw an eighteen year old with dark ebony hair and cerulean blue eyes that were underlined with deep purple bags of exhaustion. His body was lean, yet fit with well-trimmed muscles and riddled with scars from a decade of fighting crime. His chest was wrapped in an ace bandage that had been forced on him by Alfred before the older man had let his second eldest charge leave the BatCave to return home and start a patrol of Bludhaven. Deep black and purple bruises lay underneath the bandage as well as around his torso and back.
Since Batman and the other members of the Justice League that had attacked Rimbor had left to stand trial, Dick’s schedule had tripled in size. Thankfully part of the stress had ended with Artemis and Kaldur’s returns. The Atlantian had taken time off for two weeks to visit his home leaving Dick still in command of Young Justice. His day began at seven o’clock for basic training at the Bludhaven police academy with college courses following later on with studying accompanied by one or two phone calls from Lucis Fox at Wayne Enterprises if Lucis needed his confirmation on speaker, thank God Bruce had had a cover story and plan set so Dick could at least try to have a normal life, until four when it was time for hero training and missions with the team. Training would finish by eight giving him time to transport to the BatCave with Barbara and Tim where he would remove his Nightwing suit and put on the Bat suit. He remembered the first night he had donned the cowl.
“I became what I didn’t want to become. I didn’t want to be Batman, not after the failsafe mission.” Alfred had asked him if he was sure he wanted to take on the mantel while Bruce was gone. “I didn’t have a choice though. Gotham needs Batman.”
Grabbing a drink of water and rinsing his face, Dick collapsed onto his bed. He silently thanked God for letting tomorrow be a Saturday so he could get a little sleep until nine when the team had training. He closed his eyes and drifted off for a three hour nap.