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Whenever it had been a while since they've been to a city, Haley liked to build hype. Haley’s was and still is one of the best circuses around so it didn't really need else to sell out shows for weeks in the same city.
But sometimes on their way to a big show they'd stop for a day or two in small a town and if they'd been there before they'd roll out the big beautiful posters: The Amazing Flying Graysons: Here For One Night Only.
Dick hadn't planned on coming to Gotham at all. When he learned that some of his own Bludhaven gangsters were looking to buy weapons in Gotham, he was almost tempted to leave them to the Bat. And then he remembered that the whole point of his transition into Nightwing is that he didn't need Bruce to clean up his messes anymore.
And so he reluctantly dragged himself to Gotham and prepared himself for the same knock-down, drag-out fight that happened the last time they saw each other.
It didn't take Bruce long to find him, not that he was expecting otherwise. Of course Dick knew that Bruce was already all over the deal and he also knew how territorial he got over his city. Still, when he offered his help, he felt like he got a better response than some of the other brave souls that came before him.
“No,” Bruce said in his growly Batman voice. There was a pause. “I don't need your help, Nightwing.” Was that a slight hesitation when he used the name?
Dick tried not get angry. “Sure, you don't need my help,” he said lightly. “But, I thought maybe you might want the company. I know how boring stake outs can get.”
“Then save yourself the trouble and go home.” Bruce was already turning to leave.
“Br- Batman,” Dick said frustratedly. “These are mostly guys from Bludhaven. They're my responsibility. You can't push me out of this.” Damn it. He was falling back into old arguments. And he almost said Bruce’s name in the field. He'd pay for that one.
But Bruce made no mention of it other than a brief glare. “This is my city.”
And there it was. The line he gave every other vigilante when they used to chased them out of town. But Dick wasn't just any vigilante.
“It used to be my city too,” he said. “I didn't realize when I left I would never be allowed back.”
Bruce looked like he wanted to say something, probably something like it was your choice or you know the rules, but he stayed silent. He turned away and his form melted into the shadows, until even Dick, probably one of the handful of people who could follow his disappearing act, couldn't see him anymore.
But Dick wasn't naive enough to think that he wasn't still within hearing range.
“I already have the location and time,” he called. “Unless you're actually gonna run me out of town I guess you'll see me there.”
There was no response. But Dick didn't need one.
…..
They didn’t avoid each other. But most of the night was spent in silence. The rooftop they had picked had a perfect view of the docks down below and so the duo saw the string of vans coming long before the thugs piled out of them and stood across from each other.
Nightwing had been on enough stake outs with Batman to know that they wouldn’t be moving until the weapons were in sight.
They watched as the Bludhaven thugs spent a few minutes trying to intimidate the Gotham locals. He could tell that the Gotham dealers were getting impatient. The Bludhaven thugs might have reasons to try play the game, but the Gothamite had their own reasons to want this to be over with quickly.
What looked like the Gotham leader said something that shut everyone up. He then turned his head to someone behind him and barked an order. The subordinate left for a moment and came back with a metal case. He typed in a code and then faced it towards the Bludhaven thugs to inspect.
Nightwing felt Batman go still beside him. He realized that whatever was in that case, Batman didn’t expect to see.
Batman recovered quickly. In one smooth motion he was standing and then he leaped off the roof, his cape in the air behind him, no doubt striking fear in the hearts of every single man down there.
Well, if this was his and Bruce’s last fight together he would make it one hell of a show. Dick leaped down after him.
If any of the Bludhaven or Gotham thugs were surprised to see him they didn’t exactly show it. The Bludhaven guys wasted no time spraying him with bullets from the AK-47’s they brought with them. A much higher grade of weapon then he was used to dealing with. Apparently they brought upgraded guns to the deal that involved them buying upgraded guns.
It looked like they weren’t completely unconcerned about doing business in the Big Bad Batman territory. But if they thought that was enough to take down either one of them, they’d be in for a bit of a surprise.
He avoided the bullets without too much trouble, backflipping away until he had some cover. He landed near Batman, who had already taken down three of the thugs. And oh wait, there was a fourth.
Alright Grayson, time to get in the game.
He rolled out from under the crate that he’d been hiding behind and brought one of his escrima sticks to the side tripping up a guy who was charging him. His other stick slammed into the underside of a man’s chin and his head cracked upward. Another blow to the stomach brought the perp down and he pivoted to bring a stick up behind him. It lit up with electricity and he grinned as he heard a high pitched gasp and a thump.
He looked around the clearing and noticed that most of the thugs were already down. But Batman was squaring off with the leader of the Gotham group. Further ahead, the remaining thugs were crowded around a truck and opening the cases inside.
One of them leveled a gun at Batman who was still fighting with the Gotham leader. Which he definitely saw right? There was no way he didn’t see it. He was the Goddamn Batman.
Dick was sure that Bruce could more than handle it. But years of watching Batman’s back kicked in and his body moved before he could think.
Pain blossomed from his shoulder and he winced. Great. Since when did random Gotham gangsters have armour piercing rounds? He gave himself a minute before he was across the clearing and knocking out the group before they could fire another shot.
The docks were silent and then Batman was suddenly beside him evidently finished with his own group.
“Nightwing.”
“Stop,” Dick raised a hand and winced at the pain. “I’m fine. It’s just a graze.” And it was. Hardly anything to get worked up over. But Dick knew Bruce would just see it as a mistake. Another thing that proved he should work alone.
“You shouldn’t have gotten in the way.”
Bruce was just getting predictable now.
But Dick was tired, and he wasn’t in the mood for another argument. “I didn’t realize armoured piercing rounds had made it street level yet, Batman. And from the looks of things neither did you. So i guess we both missed something tonight, huh?”
Nightwing might have missed his own criminals moving up to AK 47s, but Batman made the exact same mistake. And if this deal had gone down as planned, those same guns would have trickled into Bludhaven. Bruce had no right to look down on him from his high horse.
Bruce disappeared behind the Batman persona again and Dick tried not to feel guilty. Batman pressed a button on his belt and the Batmobile pulled up in front of them. The hood opened and Batman pulled himself in. Dick sighed and took out his grappling hook, ready to head to his Gotham safe house and take care of his injury on his own, but Bruce stopped him.
“What are you doing? Agent A will want a look at your arm.” He nodded to the open hood. “Get in.”
Dick thought about simply grappling away, but he decided he really didn’t look forward to grappling to his safe house with his arm the way it was.
…
Alfred had been pleased to see him. He had been less pleased about his injury. But he stitched it up with only a small shake of his head at “Master Dick.” He even got some of Alfred’s famous cookies out of the deal, which might have been what he missed most about this place.
“Well,” Dick said getting up and stretching. “I guess we're done here. I should get back.”
Bruce nodded from where he was typing up a report at the cave’s computer.. “You did good work today,” he admitted. It was a long time since he needed Bruce to voice his approval, but it made him smile anyway.
Not trying to push his luck, they haven’t had a real fight all night, statistically it was only a matter of time, Dick started to his old motorcycle which Bruce had apparently kept in the cave.
“You're not unwelcome here, Dick.” Dick turned around, but Bruce was still watching the screen. “I'm sure that Alfred would enjoy it quite a bit if you'd drop by for dinner sometime.
Dick’s smile widened. “I'll think about it,” he promised.
He turned his cycle on with a rumble of the engine and made his way through the familiar tunnels of the cave.
All in all that went a lot better than he had expected. Maybe there was room for the occasional patrol in Gotham. Even with his new found independence. After all, no matter what the posters said, Haley’s always had a return performance.