In The Shadows

I See You...

Nightwing's POV
Man, it's been a year since I left the manor. Kinda miss Alfie though, not Bruce, no, definitely not. Just Alfie. Got myself a good new job, a good college, heck, I even made my debut as Blüdhaven's new vigilante, Nightwing, 8 months ago.

I'm pretty sure Bruce knows it's me behind the mask. Kinda figured it wouldn't be too hard to guess for 'The World's Greatest Detective'. I'm still mad at him for firing Robin, but he can't stop me this time, oh no. I don't work for him anymore. I fly solo now, under the name of 'Nightwing' as I said earlier.

I'm currently chasing a band of robbers that robbed the bank earlier, and honestly, I'm not really feeling the aster today. I think I came up with a fever, and the cracked ribs Harley gave me from last night (yeah, I went to Gotham last night to see how Timmy's doing as the new Robin) didn't actually help either, but I can't actually stop now, can I?

3rd Person POV
As Nightwing took down the robbers, a pair of trained eyes watched closely at his movements. One of the robbers sneaked up behind him, and when he noticed it, the robber already had his knife above him whilst another one had his gun trained on Nightwing. Then, out of nowhere (*cough**behind the crates**cough*), came 2 dart-like things that flew right into the two robbers' hands. The first one dropped his knife and the other one dropped his gun. They passed out because there were sedatives in the darts.

Nightwing seemed shocked and looked right where the projectiles came from. His eyes narrow, looking for any movement that came with the shadow. And then, just then, a childlike but a bit deep voiced cackle (like the ones you might hear from teenage boys) resounded through the warehouse, and then came a masculine(ish) voice. It said, "Try hard as you can little bird. You'll never see me. I am a shadow. But I can see you, and ready or not, here I come....Dickie-bird", it ended with a similar cackle like earlier as Nightwing's eyes grew wide.

Once his shock slowly dissipated, he asked, "Who are you? And how did you know my name? Why did you help me back then?"

The giggle sounded again as the voice spoke once more. "You ask to many questions. For the first one, it's classified. Though, around here, I go by the name of 'Nightmare'. The second, umm... I've got my sources. And the third one, well, I helped you because we're the same. That and you look awfully exhausted." The voice deadpanned at the last sentence.

Then, behind him, a hand touched his shoulder. He quickly turned around and grabbed the hand, but it was quicker. As he grabbed it, another hand came as a fist and punched his abdomen, hard. He choked at this attack and he could feel darkness was slipping over him a he slowly fell to the ground. The cold ground never came to him though, as a pair of well trained hands caught him as he collapses. Then he didn't feel anything else as darkness took over him.

Nightmare's POV
I smiled.
Richard John Grayson, known as Dick Grayson, the last living Grayson.
In my opinion, he's cute. Not to mention hot. Okay, now ain't the time for that. I must get him home, or, whatever he calls that charming apartment room he lives in now. Truth to be told, I'm a bit mad at Brucie for firing his baby bird. He even got a replacement for him!

I slung Wing's arm over my shoulder and held his feet so I'm carrying him bridal style. Then I melted into the shadows.

3rd Person POV
They went in through the window. Then she put him on his bed very gently and turned off the lights because it's already 3 AM and she knows that he has to go to college in 5 more hours. Well, technically she has to go to college too. So she quickly peeled off his mask and took off his uniform top, but left his pants on (well duuuh!! Her mind ain't THAT dirty). She prodded his chest gently for any sign of injuries because she saw him slightly favoring his ribs while fighting earlier. As her hands touched a part of his ribs, she felt a bone gave way a bit under her touch and a slight stir from the unconscious person. He let out a pained moan and she immediately knew there was something wrong.

She checked her utility belt for ace bandages and wrapped them tightly around his chest with butterfly clips as the finishing touch. Then she got out a thermometer which shows 102.5 degrees.

She sighed and raided Dick's apartment for a small towel which she dipped in cold water and put on his forehead, just above his eyebrows.

She pulled his blankets to cover him from below his chest and opened the window to head home without even bothering to set his alarm clock for the morning. Oh, and she also left a note on the wall right in front of him saying not to try anything stupid because she's watching him.

Nightmare's POV
Now to patrol for Grayson. Tch... And call the Blüdhaven University to tell them Dick's got a fever and can't make it. Or, I'll just tell them in the morning. We go to the same college anyway. At least, starting tomorrow morning, because I just graduated from high school last month. Best thing is, I'm still 16 Y.O. !! I may or may not have skipped 2 grades.