Nightwing: Heartless

Part 1: Harley Op

The warehouse looked empty, but he knew better. Dick had seen so many versions of "abandoned warehouses" he was starting to doubt the existence of an actual abandoned warehouse. It was such a cliche, but at least it made his job easier. He was perched on a rooftop across the street from the old, brown warehouse, perfectly melting into the night.

Movement below caught his eye the second two men exited the building. They were the typical hired muscle types: big and ugly. They fit right into the cliche. He watched them walk to a waiting van and open the back doors before going back inside the warehouse.

Nightwing pressed a hand to his ear, "moving in," he whispered then stood from his perch. He could've just shot a grappling hook across the roof and into the window but that was no fun. He did use a grappling hook, but instead of sliding in the window, he landed on the roof, tucked his line back into his belt then lifted himself into a handstand on the edge of the roof before falling over the top, flipping to catch himself on the window ledge at the last second and picking the lock silently to sneak in.

His earpiece crackled. "Was that little show necessary?"

Nightwing grinned, "just having a little fun." He chuckled silently at the sigh he received in reply.

Once inside, he climbed across the rafter, silent as a bat, spying on the scene below him. There were twelve men, all busy carrying barrels of liquid across the warehouse, presumably to the waiting vans. In the middle of the work was Harley Quinn herself, sitting on a barrel, on her phone. She looked up every few minutes, yelled at some poor fellow to move his butt, but it was obvious she didn't expect trouble. Some people never learn.

Nightwing stayed unmoving on his rafter, invisible, until Harley realized that men were going out but not coming back.

"What in the world," she muttered, her voice as distinct as always. She hopped off her barrel, bat in hand, to check outside but a body dropped in front of her.

Nightwing cocked his head, an easy grin on his face. His stance was perfectly calculated to look easy, loose, but he could move in the blink of an eye. "Hey, Harls."

"Boy Blunder," she snarled and swung her bat.

"I really thought I'd outgrown that, new symbol on the chest and everything." Nightwing easily dodged Harley's swings, leading her away from the entrance.

"I'd know that voice anywhere, Bat Brat."

"Shame, I thought puberty fixed that."

Harley paused and looked him up and down, "don't worry, it still did a heck of a job."

Nightwing flipped onto a crate and laughed, "easy, Harls."

Harley paused to roll her eyes, "relax, you're legal."

"Don't you have a boyfriend?" He flipped over her head.

She pulled a gun out of her waist band and fired a couple of rounds. "True. That would be a lousy thing ta do."

"Out of everything you've done, that would be lousy?" Nightwing dodged the bullets then straightened as Harley charged him again. He ducked and swept her legs out from under her.

Harley grunted in frustration. "Mistah J is not going to be happy with you taking out his crew."

"Wasn't me."

Harley froze. Her lips only had time to form the question before Batman hit her on the back of the head, knocking her unconscious. Nightwing crouched down beside her slumped form. "Why were you supervising a moving crew?" Obviously she didn't reply.

"It was Joker venom," Batman said gruffly as Nightwing stood up to stand beside him. He looked out the door and saw the unconscious bodies of Harley's crew.

"I took out twelve men and you couldn't handle the clown?" Batman crossed his arms.

"I could've. This was more fun. It gave you a more dramatic entrance. I know you love those."

Batman stared him down but Nightwing met his gaze evenly. Eventually Batman cracked a smile, small, almost imperceptible to anyone but the few who knew him. "It's good to have you home."

"Feels like old times."

Batman clapped him on the back as police sirens sounded a few blocks away. The dynamic duo climbed out the window Nightwing had used to come in and watched the police make the arrests from the rooftop across from the warehouse.

"How are things with the Team?" Batman asked without taking his eyes off of the scene below.

"Good. It's a lot handling so many kids at once," Batman looked over, "not too much to handle. They're just... teenagers."

"Not so easy managing them all is it?"

"Not as hard as you made it look."

"Maybe they're just better kids."

"Speaking of," Nightwing started, "why didn't Tim come out with us? He's more than ready for easy missions like this."

The stiffness in Batman's fists were the only indication of his feelings. "He's not ready."

"He's not or you're not?" Batman didn't answer which gave Nightwing his answer. He knew Batman would never admit to it; never let it show, but he was coddling the kid, more than he ever did Dick. He wasn't just being cautious, he was being timid. "I know, after what happened with-"

"I'm not bringing Robin out without full tactical support. It'd be too dangerous."

"You're weary of putting him in danger," Nightwing stated. Batman gave a curt nod, still watching the thugs being loaded into cop cars. "So your solution is to put me in charge of putting his life in danger?"

"Let's go. Alfred's making breakfast in a few hours." Nightwing got the message. He had pushed too hard. The conversation was over.

A/N: hello everyone, thank you for checking out my story! I've read dozens of others and thought I'd give it a try and put something on here! This story loosely follows Season 2 of YJ but the original Team has been aged up about two years. Feel free to like and comment and let me know if you want me to check out your story!