If You Could Turn Back Time

Ch 13

Ever since Bruce had started looking into Nightwing Dick had known the Young Justice would eventually come for him. He was prepared to be attacked by a bunch of ammature teens, but what he hadn't been prepared for was to see another Robin. This, he knew, must have been Tim.

Dick had thought he'd gotten over Bruce's taking Robin from him, but he was reminded just how wrong about that he was when he froze up upon seeing the familiar uniform in use once again.

"Nightwing, we are here to talk to you," Aqualad called, obviously trying not to look too threatening.

Dick snapped out of his silence and smirked, trying to cover up how shaken he was. "Oh ya," he called. "Why do you all have your weapons out if you're just here to talk, hmm?"

Aqualad glanced around, looking at all the teens who stood there gripping weapons. "We want to talk with you in peace, but we have our weapons just in case you decide not to do this the peaceful way."

"Seems to me like we're already talking," Dick called back to Aqualad, enjoying the opportunity he had to sass the atlantean. He looked around, taking in the spread of heros before him. There were 6 of them. The original team, plus a new Robin.

Kaldur awkwardly scratched the back of his neck. "It would seem we are," he finally said.

"So... what did ya want to talk about?" Dick asked, plopping down on the rooftop opposite of the team and resting his chin on his hands. "I don't think we're good enough friends yet to talk about girls... or boys, whatever your preference is."

There was a snicker from the back of the group. Wally, Dick knew that laugh anywhere. For a moment, his heart squeezed in his chest as he stared at the man he'd had a crush on as a teen.

"We would like you to come with us. Batman believes that you could potentially be a serious threat, and he would like you to either join the League and fight for good, or be stopped," Kaldur said.

Dick couldn't stop himself from laughing out loud. "Bats wants me to join up with the league and tell my identity to their council of powerful elders so he can file it away just like he's done with all of yours," he howled with laughter, tears starting to form in the corners of his eyes. Why was this so funny? "Batman is saying I can't be a vigilante hero if I'm not part of his little kevlar over-undies club? That's rich, coming from the mysterious dark knight himself."

The team stood there in awkward silence.

"I'm sorry," Dick said, standing again. "You'll have to tell the League that I'm not interested in joining their play group."

"Then our orders are to bring you in using force," Kaldur said, grabbing his water bearers and shifting into a fighting stance.

The Young Justice team charged forward as one, leaping across to the rooftop of the building Dick was on.

Dick smiled and threw a mock salute their way as he lept off of the roof, shooting his grappling hook out and swinging away, hoping to be able to outdistance and hide from the teen heroes.

Instead of swinging, Dick was suddenly falling through the air, grappling line having been cut by one of Artemis' arrows. He panicked as the ground rushed up to meet him, the scene of his parents falling suddenly replaying in his mind. He crashed hard onto another rooftop, crying out when his arm cracked under his weight, and his head slammed into the ground.

The sound of someone skidding to a stop alerted Dick to Wally's presence.

"Not so high and mighty now, are we Nightwing," the speedster said, walking towards Dick slowly.

Dick grit his teeth, forcing himself to continue laying on the ground, letting himself go limp, and pretending he was unconscious.

"Nightwing?" Wally asked, his concern obvious in his voice.

Dick's thoughts were beginning to get muddied, most likely caused by the fact that he probably had a concussion. His body was throbbing with pain. He suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder. His body reacted to the touch almost of its own accord, legs sweeping out and knocking Wally off of his feet before finishing the take-down with an escrima stick to the back of the speedster's skull.

None of the other young heros were in sight, so Dick pulled out another grappling gun and swung clumsily off into the night.

—

Dick crashed down into an alleyway, stumbling into a group of corroded trash cans that smelled like a skunk regularly used them as a toilet.

Looking around, nothing seemed familiar to Dick. He had absolutely no idea where he was, something that hadn't happened to him in a long time... at least not in Blüdhaven. The ringing in his ears blocked out all other sound, and the rest of his senses were dulled as well.

For some reason, Dick wasn't surprised at all when he found himself on his hands and knees with a bullet hole in his leg and the barrel of a gun pressed roughly into the back of his head. His head felt like it was stuffed with cotton balls, and his body simply felt numb, all thoughts abandoned.

A heavy booted foot pressed down on Dick's back, pushing him down into the dirt and grime. A groan escaped him as his arm, leg, and head throbbed painfully.

The boot continued to press down on Dick's back, and a low voice said, "Well well well, what do we have here?"

Well there you have it, it sure has been a while... but here's a short chapter