There in the back of the bar seemingly unnoticed by all parties present was the prodigal Wayne, Dick Grayson, reading a newspaper while sipping a club soda. He had gained quite a notorious playboy reputation through the media, even more so than his father- a feat he once didn't actually think was possible. Every blog, talk show, and gossip magazine from Jump to Gotham had long since written him off as a rotten brat freeloading off the Wayne fortune while contributing nothing to the name's legacy. As such, it was no surprise to find the big shot playboy in a dive like this. The bad press had never bothered him before, but he would be lying if he said he wasn't disheartened by the looks some of the wait staff shot him. Every girl was in one of two categories as far as he could tell. They either snap-judged him, their eyes disapproving of what they perceived as smug arrogance and spoiled laziness or else they wanted to sleep with him. Rarely, a girl would check both boxes. That part of the job always got to Dick and exhausted him, but it came with being a Wayne, and he had long since accepted that. As he surveyed the scene, watching over quite the collection of old friend and enemies, he read some of the headlines of the paper. He couldn't hide a bemused smile as they read more like tabloids than anything.
Wayne Enterprises Announces Jump City Youth Initiative
Gotham Bad Boy? Heir Apparent to Wayne Enterprises skips Charity Gala for Nightclub
Dick sighed and chuckled at the taglines, both authored by Vicky Vale, before tossing the paper aside and watching Beast Boy on stage with an impressed look on his face. He had bought some of ‘Cypes’ music and liked it, but this was actually his first time hearing his old friend live. It was hard for Dick to believe that this was the same friend that had competed with Cyborg for the title of goofiest Titan back in the day. He was proud of his friend and how far he had come.
As he took another sip of soda, his eyes went over to Wally and Jinx. Were they here for Cypes, the beer, or was it something more? Ever since the team broke up, Dick had kept close tabs on all the Titans and their foes. It was how he knew Terra would be here tonight, along with Beast Boy, and it was how he knew that Jinx was no longer a threat; she hadn’t been for a long time. He also knew that the fling with her and Wally had ended, or at least that was what his intel suggested. So why the rendezvous? Maybe he was just being over analytical, Bruce had trained him that way after all, but something about all these old connections in one place felt funny in his gut. Even if it really was all just a coincidence, it was enough to put him even more on edge. There were two other figures in the room that caught his attention as well. The first was a nicely dressed girl with tanned skin and dark hair. To the untrained eye, she wouldn’t stand out from the crowd; but Dick noticed that there was something odd in her demeanor. She seemed almost frozen in place. Everyone here was either engaged in actively listening to Cypes, socializing, drinking or some combination of all the above. This woman seemed in a daze of sorts, not all that interested in the music and not all that interested in the drink she was holding. She clearly wasn’t socializing either, so just what was she doing? Why was she here? The second suspect to the detective’s eye was a girl with white hair. Dick noticed her as soon as she walked in, it was hard not to notice a white-haired young woman, but he didn’t think much of her at the time. Now as he watched her a bit closer, something again seemed off. One moment she seemed fine, able to hold her drink down and still move undisturbed throughout the throngs of people. There were no visible signs of impairment...at least not until she caught sight of Terra. He moved in, keeping range on both girls of interest, and watched as the white-haired girl crashed into his original surveillance target. Dick had pulled the move enough times while undercover with Bruce to recognize intentional contact when he saw it; this girl was up to something. A direct confrontation was out of the question, but he would definitely keep an eye on her. Now that he was closer to her, he caught a look at her face. A chill went down his spine...there was just something familiar about her in an unsettling way. Dick moved out of her range of vision and returned to his original position to observe from afar. His eyes widened as he felt a vibration on his hip. Instinctively he reached down and snatched his Titans Communicator. A prison break? Damn. He was already up and on his way out when it happened…
--------------
Thunder roared out in the night sky at a volume that almost completely drowned out Garfield's music. Flurries of lightning bolts shot down from the heavens like furious feathered arrows from an unseen archer. The event was focused solely on the club, lightning and thunder from what would be the worst storm in the history of Jump City, except there was no storm. Not a single drop of rain fell. Whatever was happening caused the ground beneath the club to shake. Dick had already fallen once but was quickly on his feet running outside. The sky seemed to split open as if tearing back the layers of space itself, ripping the skyline in half for a fraction of a section. Something was falling. At first, it was tiny, just a speck to the naked eye and maybe even not visible against the darkness if not for the flashes of lightning that were now shooting down like bullets from a machine gun. The roar was getting louder, deafening and ear-splitting. Some patrons were ducking for cover beneath the bar tables while others ran as far away as they could in panic. The falling object was starting to get larger now, gradually taking shape until it looked humanoid.
------------
‘Damn, damn, damnit…’ Dick covered his ringing ears and ducked away from watchful eyes to change into costume. It was a quick change, but even in his Nightwing suit, he was unsure what to do next. The lightning was mostly striking in a circle pattern about fifty feet from the club’s entrance, but stray bolts were still firing and causing danger. To make matters worse, the rumbling of the ground had evolved from a small tremor to a full-on earthquake. Dick’s first instinct was to look for Terra to see if her powers had reemerged in full, but he stopped himself with a thought. She didn’t control lightning. This was something else entirely. He kept his hands pressed to his ears as he watched the lightning circle begin to shrink its perimeter. It almost looked like...was it forming a landing zone for the object in the sky?
------------
Closer, closer, and closer still came the object. The thunderclaps were getting louder and louder, like miniature sonic booms or bombs exploding from above. The lightning was so frequent and bright now that it simply lit up the night. It was a surreal look, almost daylight but under a milky white sky instead of blue. The bolts seemed to know precisely where to land to avoid casualties. If anyone was going to die from this, it would be from stampeding and trampling each other only. Even when grounded, the lightning’s shockwaves didn’t disperse as they naturally should have. It was all of the intimidation, all of the magnificence, all of the danger, and yet no death. At least, none yet. As the object came closer still, it could be made out as definitely a human figure. Someone was falling from the sky. The figure wasn’t showing any signs of controlling their movement in the air. They were still as if unconscious. The lightning circle had finally shrunk to roughly the size of a human figure. As if this were a grand finale, the strikes gave out their greatest intensity yet, thunder screaming, and ground rocking, sending Nightwing to his knees. At last, the figure slammed in the circle with a thud that sounded like a bomb going off. The thunder, lightning, and earthquake ceased immediately leaving an eerie quiet. The impact of the landing sent out a huge gust of wind in all directions blowing back any onlookers, Nightwing included. When the dust cleared, a figure in greek praetorian battle armor was lying in the circle, a crater formed around him. The size of the figure looked smaller than an adult, perhaps teen. He laid perfectly still, asleep, unconscious, or even dead.
-------------
Nightwing was the first one over to investigate. He had recovered quickly from his tumble and was now standing above the crater. His scowl wasn’t quite as brooding as Batman’s, but it was intense all the same. Whoever was in this crater would have a lot of explaining to do. He slid down the small embankment of the crater and looked the figure over. It was definitely not an adult beneath that armor. He noted the spear several feet away from the outstretched left hand of the boy, who was lying face down in the shape of a cross, and also a shield just out of reach of the boy’s right hand. Nightwing bent down and turned the boy face up. Suddenly, the boy’s eyes shot open.
----------------
The boy shouted in a harsh voice and a foreign language. He lunged at Nightwing and suddenly the two were engaged in a wrestling match...
Bookmarks