Chapter 58: The Bat-Scheme #58

The Batcave

"You know nothing good will come out of this, Dick..." Barbara Gordon, daughter of the police commissioner, currently known as Batgirl, said with a frown as she turned to leave.

"I know that. But I still have to do it," Dick Grayson, also known as Nightwing, replied with a helpless sigh as he watched the redhead walk away to the cave's exit.

"He needs to explain himself. You know that, Barbra," he added, shaking his head with another tired sigh and his frown only deepened as the redhead kept walking without replying.

Frustratedly passing a hand over his hair, Dick couldn't help but reminisce about the past as he watched the redhead leave the cave, images of his time as Robin flashing in his mind.

Things were much simpler then, especially in his first year acting as Robin. Although his career as a vigilante only started because of the death of his parents, Dick managed to find the culprit with Batman's help and get over the trauma of losing his family.

He found solace in the crusade against Gotham's crime and the oath he shared with his mentor that night in the bat cave. It was something straight out of a fairy tale, and he couldn't help but see his vigilante activities as an adventure.

However, everything took a turn for the worst when Two-Face kidnapped the new district attorney and got the drop on Batman, had each suspended from a hangman's noose, and dared Dick to appeal for their lives.

Desperate, Robin played along, calling for neither man to hang if Two-Face's next two coin-flips came up clean. Both flips landed in Dick's favor, but he didn't account for Dent's obsession with the number two.

It was a two-fold trap, and the floor gave way, dropping the D.A. into the water, where the man drowned. Dick couldn't prevent his death and received a beating at the hands of Two-Face.

A beating witnessed by Batman, still tied up on the platform, trying to free himself. Eventually, Bruce was able to free himself and apprehend Two-Face. This event, however, scarred the young crime-fighter, and it haunted him for the rest of his life.

Still, Dick didn't give up his identity as a hero and even started a superhero team of his own, the Teen Titans. Together, with his team, they foiled a major conspiracy and even cured the Justice League members from brainwashing.

Dick found his purpose, calling, and self-worth in the new team as its leader. He also found love in Starfire, a beautiful alien who joined shortly afterward.

And things looked like they could only go up from there. However, fate had other plans.

At the age of 19 and after six years of being Robin, Dick was shot in the shoulder by the Joker, which prompted Batman to end the young vigilante's career as a crime fighter for good.

Distraught by such a turn of events and uncertain what to do with himself, Dick turned to someone he knew would understand: the man of steel himself, Superman.

Very briefly, Dick had considered giving up the whole crime-fighting gig, but he couldn't imagine his life any other way; but if he couldn't be Robin, who would he be? Superman had the answer.

Never one to disappoint those who seek him and always the ever-shinning beacon of hope, Superman told Dick about a Kryptonian cast out by his family - just as he had been.

The man dreamed of a world ruled by justice and set out to protect the helpless of Krypton. He was known only as Nightwing, and no one figured out his identity.

Inspired by the man of steel's story, Dick fashioned and donned a suit inspired by his father's old circus costume and took on the name Nightwing, creating a new identity for himself.

Tough Dick stepped out of Batman's shadow; he and Bruce remained at odds. Their conflict only escalated when Batman found and trained another protégé (Jason Todd) to act as his sidekick, despite ending Dick's crime-fighting career.

The conflict affected the new Robin as Dick's friends and colleagues in the Teen Titans sensed his anguish and inadvertently alienated the young Jason, despite the latter's lack of guilt.

Dick didn't stop his friends from mistreating the young Robin, much to his later shame, as he came to regret it greatly later, and has been trying to patch things up with Jason, but the latter wasn't making things easy either.

"What are you doing here, Dick?" Batman blankly asked as he interred the cave, noticing Nighwing's presence, which caused the latter to snap out of his reminiscences-induced daze.

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"Barbra asked me to keep an eye on Harley Quinn and the new guy while you were away since she was busy," Nightwing calmly replied, shrugging his shoulders as he struggled to keep a neutral expression at the caped crusader's estranged tone.

"I know," Batman replied, his tone even blanker somehow, and Nightwing understood the hidden dismissal of his former mentor's question, which was a polite way of asking him to leave.

"We need to talk," Nightwing firmly remarked, shaking his head to make clear that he won't be leaving without the talk he was here for, and to no one's surprise, Batman didn't show any reaction.

"Then talk," Batman said as he walked towards the Bat computer, passing by Nightwing without giving the latter a second look, much to Dick's frustration.

"Harley Quinn, why did you leave her with the kid? You know damn well what she's capable of..." Nightwing asked as he followed behind Batman, standing beside him as the latter began working on his supercomputer.

"It was a test. I needed to understand the boy's bottom line and breaking point," Batman casually replied without twitching an eyebrow, much to Nightwing's shock.

"You what?!" Nightwing exclaimed, immediately losing his temper as he moved to get into Batman's face with a scowl, which again did not phase the caped crusader.

"The boy was a sickly, malnourished mess not long ago, and in the short span of a month, he's grown strong enough to fight people like Killer Croc and Kyle Abbot," Batman replied, still calm and collected as he looked his former sidekick in the eye.

"He has a power that allows him to control a pocket dimension of sorts and different advanced gadgets of unknown origins," Batman added as he brought up what precious few footages he had of Gray on the Bat computer screen.

"There are even rumors that he'd killed the beast in the docks," Batman explained as a video showing Gray fighting Killer Croc on the street started playing.

"The boy is dangerous, and you know it. Don't make me repeat myself," he dismissively concluded, maintaining the same neutral, emotionless tone he had since the beginning of the conversation.

"That doesn't justify leaving with a nutcase like Harley Quinn or leaving her loose in Gotham," Nightwing exclaimed, his tone even more outraged at the cold reason Batman had given him.

"For fuck's sake, Bruce! The kid was halfway through beating Abbot to death in the shipyard. He might have gone through with it if I didn't stop him," Nightwing exclaimed, forcefully slamming the Bat computer with a palm in his anger.

"It was part of the plan. Harley would push the boy to the limit of his patience, and Abbot would drive him past it by simply refusing to stay down," Batman replied, dismissively waving Dick's anger off with a gesture.

"As an immortal werewolf, there is nothing the boy can do to put him down permanently," Batman explained, his tone growing slightly cold as he finally displayed some emotion.

"Had you not interfered, I would have been able to see how far the boy would go to vent his anger on an unkillable target and how long it would take him to get his emotions under control," Batman concluded. He quickly regained control over his emotions as he gestured to the side in dismissal.

"And what about Harley Quinn? What if she started killing the moment you left her there? What about all the people she killed and crimes she committed after escaping Arkham?" Nightwing questioned as the caped crusader's words did nothing to assuage his anger.

"Irrelevant. I know Harley well enough to be sure that she'd play nice, and I was going to capture her and send her back to Arkham after she played her part, regardless of the outcome," Batman quickly replied without hesitation.

"You think you have the answers to everything, that you know everything, don't you, Bruce?" Nightwing asked, gritting his teeth in frustration, his scowl deepening.

"There was a time when I thought that about you myself. But you're only human, Bruce, and what you're doing now is clearly a mistake!" Nightwing stated, clenching his fists as he took a deep breath to calm himself.

"Are you done?" Batman blankly asked, much to Nightwing's annoyance, as the latter heaved a sigh and turned to leave.

"Remember the people your paranoia pushed to villainy, Bruce, and mark my words..." Nightwing calmly remarked as he turned to leave without bothering to give his former mentor a second glance.

"If you push the kid away into a darker path, that would be your biggest failure as a hero to date, and I will never forgive you for it..."

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