Nicole...Wayne?

Ch-10: Dick, I know.

Yoohoo

------------

"This place is so big. What'd Bruce even do with it before you got here?"

"Mostly moped in the study and Alfred would keep everything clean."

Nicole smiled, "That sounds like something he would do."

"It does, doesn't it? Ooh, that's my favourite spot." It really wasn't, but Dick had a 'favourite spot' that didn't let anyone else see them or hear them for each of his siblings, where they would go to talk or whatever. They were all high above the ground and different for each sibling

He'd started the 'tradition' when Jason had tried to keep him from leaving after a fight with Bruce and whenever they needed an ear, a hug or just some silent company.

Nowadays, it really helped with Jason, especially when the pit was bothering him. And now, it was Nicole's turn to get a spot.

"Pretty high up, huh?"

"I like being up high. Flying like a not-so- little birdie."

"That's why you became Nightwing?"

She had to give it to him, Dick was not flustered in the slightest, brushing it off like a simple joke. "Ha, I wish. Pretty sure it would be fun to be a superhero and all but I can't do any fighting stuff that the bats do."

"Dick, I know."

He didn't respond.

"I have powers, and it really makes sense that you guys are the Bats. You have resources, motivation, skills, whatever."

He set her down gently, putting on a very calm and composed demeanour although his voice had an edge to it. "Are you a meta? What powers do you have?"

A very sharp edge.

"I can sense souls and— and kind of, auras of people. I can recognise people no matter how good of a disguise they put on."

"What do you want?"

"Nothing, really."

Dick reached into a pocket, no doubt he was pulling out a weapon and Nicole immediately held her hands up. "I'm serious, Dick. I could have killed you all in your sleep or leaked your identities much earlier, but I didn't. Dick, you have to believe me, I don't mean any harm!"

"Are you a meta?" His voice held no emotion.

"I don't think so? What exactly is a meta?" (I'm not 100% sure but I think this idea sprung from our queen, @sparrow-_-2020, and I'm piggy backing. It may be someone else's fic I read, but I think it's Ghost king meets batman so uhh, yeah it's not a weird original idea that spawned from the depths of hell aka my brain.)

"Someone who has powers given to them by magic or a scientific anomaly due to an accident or other causes."

"No, no magic or science-y stuff here."

"Why did you tell me?"

"You seem more approachable than Batman and your brothers."

Dick laughed, but it didn't really reach his eyes. "What else can you do? Why, or how, do you even have powers?"

"Let's just say that when you're the daughter of the Lord of the Dead, you get some pros and cons on the side."

————————————————————

"You heading out, Jason?"

"Well, obviously. Why else would I be suiting up?"

"Will you be back soon?"

Jason paused momentarily. He hadn't planned on returning anytime soon, not after last night. He didn't know anymore, does he hate Nicole, or............. not. (I'm so so sorry I'm supposed to be doing redox reactions)

"Maybe in a couple of days' time, Replacement."

"Did something happen?"

"No, of course not. Why would you ask that?"

"It's just— you've been staying for longer periods of time and usually saying that you're going to be leaving in advance. You seem to be rushing today."

Jason smiled wryly, "Clever, Timbo. I just need to... sort some things out."

"Is it because of Nicole?"

"Kinda. We don't want me going pit green, do we? Plus, wearing contacts half the time up here isn't very fun."

Tim looked around and dropped his voice, "..... do you think she's meta?"

"She might be, but I don't think so. Why? You think so?"

"I walked in when she was looking out a window and I guess I startled her. She seemed to, sort of, glitch? Like, she faded into darkness for a split second. Every time I try to remember it, it gets harder. I don't know."

Tim saying he didn't know something was rare, and everyone knew he hated not knowing. He was frustrated, but Jason didn't know what to say. That was Dick's thing, guy always knew exactly what to say.

So Jason offered whatever he could think of, "Check the security tapes?"

Tim lit up, "Why the *bleep* did I not think of that?"

He rushed off and Jason smiled, shaking his head as he moved to leave again.

Apparently, it was Little Brothers Keep the Older One from Leaving Day because Damian was standing at the main door.

"What do you want, Brat?"

"Your aversion to di Angelo is making you run away."

"I'm not running away, Demon Spawn. I don't want to accidentally kill her!"

"So you are hiding from your so called problem."

"I am not." Done™ with the conversation, Jason shouldered his duffel bag and shoved past Damian.

————————————————————

"Di Angelo. What did you do to Todd?"

Nicole immediately reached for her cagger. "Me? Nothing."

"He left early afternoon. I demand to know what you did."

"Damian, I've been with Dick this entire time. Why do you think I did something?"

"Both of you dislike each other."

"So what? You think I tried to murder him or something?"

"You say you didn't. Could you? If you wanted to, I mean."

"If you mean Jason in particular, maybe, I don't know. If you're saying in general, yeah. You have to be able to defend yourself if you're going to be in a city like Gotham."

"Interesting." Damian muttered under his breath as he walked away.

"What?"

"Nothing meant for your ears, di Angelo."

Nicole wasn't entirely convinced that Damian wasn't going to 'challenge' her or do something stupid but she didn't pay him much attention, thinking about if Bruce would give her access to the Cave. She hadn't known Dick very long, but she could recognise a brilliant negotiator when she saw one.

While she was lost in her thoughts, Damian had some planning to do.

----------------

May write more and put it here, or another chap

I'm just trying to get to a point where I can finally publish the entire, roughly 3k word chap that I was too excited about to wait before writing it

also I finally got discord

add me paradoxinsanity #6436

Doohoo

ps. I know it's not very long but I don't feel like braining to make this chapter unnecessarily longer