Nightwing

Clancy had been the landlady for her building for nearly two years now. Through earthquakes and former Gotham City villains living in her building she thought she had seen it all. She was going to college to get her degree; she had changed her major three times now, but had been able to keep her grant from the Wayne Foundation all the same somehow. She figured by next semester she could change again to law, that would be a tough profession but she was a tough gal after all.

She was walking up her steps thinking all of this when a hand touched her shoulder and scared the life out of her. “Good evening miss.”

She whirled around nearly having a heart attack. “Jesus Mister, are you crazy? You nearly frightened me to death!”

The man smiled slightly. His face had several scars going across it making Clancy think the poor guy had been in a bad car wreck at some point. “I’m so sorry miss, but I was wondering if you could tell me which apartment belongs to Richard Grayson.”

Clancy smiled, “You’re a friend of Grayson’s, huh? He has the weird ones. He’s on the third floor, but I don’t think he’s home. I could leave a message for him if you like.”

Mr. Zsasz smiled. “Yes, I believe you can.”

“You know what, Mr. Grayson? I think that some nights you might be the most damn charming man on the planet.” Barbara Gordon leaned over and kissed Dick Grayson as he drove their car toward the parking garage at Babs’ clock tower apartment. It took all the poking and prodding that he could muster but finally he had pulled her away from her duties as overseer of a vast computer network and liaison to crime fighters as the super smart Oracle and spent an evening having some fun outside.

“You know,” he said in a soft voice as he put the car in park and leaned in close to her, “every night could be like this Babs, every night, day, and moment. You just…”

Dick Grayson didn’t finish his sentence as a loud thud shook them both from the moment. In front of the car with her hands leaning against the hood stood a bruised but otherwise unharmed Black Canary. The bruises were mainly around her throat in the form of handprints. Barbara was the first to break the silence, “Dinah, what happened?”

Black Canary swallowed hard and grimaced in obvious pain. “I had a guest spot on prime time television tonight and it wasn’t on FRIENDS. I ran into Murmur at the Phil Duncan Show and had quite the night. Of course you would know this if you had been there for me like you told me you would. What happened, Barbara?”

Barbara looked confused as she looked from Dick (who was quickly reaching in the backseat for his mask to hide his identity) to Dinah. “You never reported a disturbance and it was past the show’s ending so my…friend and I went to dinner.”

Nightwing, dressed in his formal wear and mask exited from the driver’s side door. “Do you usually go about trying to blow the secret identity your friends build for themselves Canary or was this a special night?”

Canary smirked at Nightwing. “Don’t try the Bat voice with me kid, you and I both know you aren’t him and you don’t even want to be. Sides, I think you should take it as a compliment that I knew if she was with someone it had to be you.” She turned her attention back to Oracle. “And I did call it in, just as the attack happened, just as the show was ending, you didn’t answer!”

Barbara was about to shoot back at Canary when a realization washed over her. “Nightwing, you were supposed to be watching for anything coming in for me from Dinah. Are you saying she never called in?”

Nightwing looked at the two women who stood in front of him in accusatory stances. “Listen, let’s not try to play the blame game here. The important thing is that Canary is all right. Now what about Murmur?”

Canary cut him off with her hand held up in the air. “Murmur is in custody. He nearly choked me out with that grip of his, but once I calmed myself slightly I was able to use my Canary Cry at a hypersonic level to mess with his equilibrium. Not an easy cry to do when there’s a madman on your throat, but desperate times and all. Thing is I think you owe your girlfriend an explanation as to why you lied to her. Don’t worry about apologizing to me, I’m used to you Bat people doing things without and excuse or permission, I just didn’t know it was hereditary. Talk to you later, Barbara.”

As Canary left, Nightwing couldn’t even muster an apology as she tore off on her cycle. He stood in the darkened garage as Barbara rolled her wheelchair over to him. “Why?”

“Babs, I had the best of intentions, believe me, you just are so wrapped up in being Oracle that I thought one night couldn’t hurt. Then there was the Madden game and well, I blew it, all right?”

“All right? All right? Dick one of my best friends almost died tonight because you were playing around! You talk about us being together and how it will be, but when do you ever listen to me when I tell you to ease off? You’re a cop by day and a crime fighter at night for crying out loud! When do you sleep? How long before the grind wears you down so much that you just start forgetting things that cost people their lives?”

Nightwing was looking straight at the ground. “You know that won’t happen, Babs.”

“How do you know, Dick? We live in this world together you know. Eight years ago I never thought I would be in this chair because the Joker showed up at my dad’s door and randomly shot a girl he knew nothing about, but…it…happened. In the real world that you and Bruce and Tim keep trying to forget about are friends that don’t always live, they get hurt, and they can die. And tonight you almost cost me one of mine because I wasn’t there, just like…”

“Just like I wasn’t there for Tim Fencik right?” Nightwing jumped back in the car and tore out of the garage leaving Barbara Gordon alone in the dark.

Barbara dropped her head. “No Dick, not like Tim…like me.” I was so mad that you weren’t there when I got shot…I was mad that it took you so long to come see me…I was mad that it wasn’t you that brought him down…I was mad because you weren’t there when I needed my best friend the most…and I was mad that after it happened you didn’t treat me like everyone else did…you didn’t treat me special Dick. You treated me like I was still part of the group and running around. I was mad at you and I loved you for it all at the same time Dick. But that was then. She raised her head and started to push her chair towards the elevator. This is now and I don’t know why you can’t see that I would throw all of this away for a chance for you and I to make it on our own away from madmen with guns and knives and men who fly to the moon. When you figure that out I hope you come back.

Dick Grayson drove the long way back to his apartment in Bludhaven. He thought about the evening, he thought about Babs, and he thought about Nightwing. And he thought about giving it all up.

Mr. Zsasz closed the shade to the apartment; he didn’t need anyone tipping his hand before Officer Grayson came home. He looked over at the recliner that Clancy sat in, her head tilted slightly to the left so that the blade mark would let her blood pulse out at a faster rate. She had died perhaps twelve minutes ago, but what fun it was to watch the light fade from her eyes.

He looked over her desk until he found a piece of tape and walked with it and the note he had written to the third floor. The note simply asked Grayson to see Clancy about a problem with his electric bill. The real note was Clancy herself, a warning that Grayson would pay along with the vigilante Nightwing for there intrusion in his affairs.

As Zsasz taped the note to the door he helped himself to the mail in Grayson’s box. Most of it was junk mail until he saw the phone bill. Curiosity being what it is Zsasz ripped open the bill as he walked outside and strewed it’s contents out behind him until he found something of interest. The long distance itemization page, with many phone calls to a number in Gotham City. I wonder who monopolizes so much of your time, Mr. Grayson? Maybe I should find out.

Mr. Zsasz whistled Pink’s latest hit to himself as he made his way to his favorite bus station.

Dick walked up the steps of his apartment building and reaching his door noticed a small piece of paper attached to it. Problem with my electric bill? Great, like I need any more problems tonight. Sorry Clancy, it’ll have to wait till the morning.

Dick entered his apartment and changed into his Nightwing gear. Exiting the building via the roof he started his rounds early that night; he needed something to take his mind off of Barbara.

Mr. Zsasz sat in the back of the bus as it exited Bludhaven and headed for Gotham City. He had decided that slaughtering another busload of people would not be necessary tonight, like it was when he first arrived in Bludhaven. He was going to save all the excitement for tonight when he payed a special visit to Richard Grayson’s special friend in Gotham. A quick call to a man named Topper, a sort of underworld cyber genius, got him an address after some digging around and it even produced a name. Barbara Gordon.

Zsasz leaned his head back in the seat and closed his eyes in thought. If the landlady wasn’t enough to rattle the cop, then the mutilation of his girlfriend might be. Zsasz wanted Grayson broken down when he finally ended his life.

Daybreak

As Dick changed into his uniform and readied himself for work, he saw once again the note left for him by Clancy. Guess I better see exactly what the problem is before I go to work.

As Dick knocked on Clancy’s door it slightly opened. Okay, this has bad written all over it. Cautiously Dick walked into Clancy’s apartment, checking everything out he saw Clancy as she sat in the recliner near the television, he then noticed the pool of blood on the floor.

Rushing to her side, Dick saw that Clancy, his friend since the first day he moved to Bludhaven, was dead. His instincts took over and he started checking the location for clues to the identity of her killer. He was on total autopilot, thinking the situation out as Batman had taught him many years ago, not thinking of Clancy as his friend, but as a victim.

Dick finished a thorough search of the apartment and determined the only thing missing was Clancy’s key chain. He picked up the phone and placed the 911 call and waited for the paramedics to arrive. He looked at the victim, his friend, another one that he wasn’t there for, and he thought about who would be next, who else would he grieve for because he wasn’t there for them.

Mr. Zsasz stared up at the clock tower in front of him. Barbara Gordon was going to get a visitor today.

To Be Continued...

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