Nightwing: Sins of the Fathers

The Dying Of The Light

I had a horrible sense of dread. A foreboding feeling that was rising as if it were about to consume me entirely. As I stood on the top of the half-finished Stromwell building, I knew, I don't know how, but I knew things would never be the same come the dawn.

Roy called up to me, "All clear."

I'd asked him and Steph to evacuate the settlers from the building while I monitored the GCPD's progress in quietly doing the same to the surrounding apartment blocks. Gordon wasn't sure what to think of our little conspiracy theory, but he trusted Bruce enough to follow orders regardless. We had to make sure the evacuation was as discreet as possible; we didn't want the Court, or Crane's followers to know we were coming.

The maps we'd taken from the frat led us to a sewer intersection where several pipes from the area met and spilt into an extensive sewage duct, like the one Steph and I had climbed up. The intersection happened to sit right beneath the road in front of the Stromwell building.

Bruce and Barb were already down in the tunnels, scouting ahead. He insisted that we wait above ground for his signal; I was growing impatient. The documents Roy had stuffed in the bag suggested they had enough C4 to blow up the Frat House 10 times over, not to mention whatever explosives they'd managed to make themselves.

"Did you both make sure to top up on the vertigo vaccine?" I asked.

"Yes, boss," Roy replied sarcastically.

Steph zipped up to the beam where I was standing and sat down behind me, tapping me on the shoulder and nodding in the affirmative.

"What do you think's gonna happen if they blow up the Court?" Steph asked.

"If the frat was anything to go by, it'll make a very big hole in the ground," I sighed.

"That's not really what I meant."

"I know," I said, pausing for a moment, "I guess if he's successful, there'll be a vacancy at the head of the table. And he'll inherit whatever influence the Court has, so long as he has the manpower to back it up."

"Right," Steph replied.

"Or, he blows them up, and we take him down right after."

"Makes our jobs easier, I guess..." She said grimly.

"We..." The hypocrisy of what I was about to say gave me an uncomfortable pang of guilt in my stomach, "We don't kill."

"No, I know, I was just joking. Gotta have a sense of humour, right?"

I turned around and smiled, "Yeah, true."

"You've been in this since you were a kid, right?" She asked as I sat down next to her.

"Yeah."

"So you've had to deal with stuff like this before?"

"Unfortunately," I nodded.

She gulped, "Is this... Bad? Like, compared to what you've dealt with in the past?"

"It's bad."

There was dead silence for a minute or so as she seemed to digest what I said.

"Batman told me I could go home, you know. He said I didn't have to be involved," Steph explained.

"Do you want to go home?" I asked, thinking that I'd be happier if she did go home.

"I do," She said, to my surprise, "But I can't."

"You can; I won't judge you. In fact, I'd prefer it."

"Oh, thanks for the confidence."

"It's not that I'm not confident; I just don't want you to get hurt."