Vigilante Justice - A Young Justice Fanfiction

Chapter 1: A Walk in the Park

Working in the homicide division of Blüdhaven PD wasn't exactly a walk in the park, but it did pay the bills and put food on the table.

Not that Dick actually had any time to grocery shop or eat, but that was beside the point.

"Detective Grayson, you still with us?" A sharp, feminine voice interrupted his contemplation.

He snapped to attention, back straightening immediately, "Never left, ma'am."

The speaker, commissioner Sheila Griffin, snorted skeptically, "Just in case your memory of the last few minutes was a little...foggy, I was informing you of your new partnership with Detective Bollocks."

Dick's dark brows arched as he gave the man beside him a calculated once over. The other man was clean shaven, muscular, blond, and his hand just a teensy bit too close to his holster.

Definitely a rookie.

After his quick investigation, he cleared his throat and shot the woman across from him a perturbed stare. "Might I speak with you in private for a moment, commissioner?"

The woman's stone-cold features shifted into something decidedly darker, brown eyes shining with undisguised disappointment, "You are dismissed, Bollocks. Grayson will meet you outside."

The boy—hardly a man—nodded nervously before disappearing out the shuttered door.

Griffin stood, muscled arms crossed over her immaculate uniform and lips pressed into an unforgiving line.

Shelia Griffin was both the first African American and female commissioner in all of Blüdhaven history, having to fight tooth and nail to get the basic respect and appreciation she deserved. She had climbed to the top without a drop of bitterness; her simple hardworking determination eventually winning the approval of the higher ups.

All of this to say, she was one of the few people Dick actually trusted in his mess of a city.

"Please speak your mind, detective," Her voice was laced with equal amounts sarcasm and honesty. "I know how hard it is for you to share your opinion."

Now that last bit was just plain sarcasm.

Dick contained a dramatic eyeroll and instead opened his mouth obligingly, "I seem to recall that when I first came to the precinct, we had a mutual understanding I would never be assigned a partner." Something bitter flashed in his frigid blue eyes. "Am I mistaken?"

Griffin sighed, absently twirling a lock of her long hair around her pointer finger. "Look, Dick, I know you honestly believe going solo is what's best for you, that carrying out this lone wolf charade is the only way to save everyone."

He was about to object but she silenced him with a single glare,

"Don't argue with me. You've been with us six months, but I can already tell you're carrying a heck of a lot more than homicide cases on your shoulders. I don't know if that has anything to do with the recent tabloid scandals I've been hearing about or if you're just the broody type, and I honestly don't care."

She pressed a finger to her temple, breathing in deeply through her nose, "That man out there needs a mentor, and I think you could learn a lot from him too. Would you at least give him a shot?"

Dick shifted from foot to foot, still reluctant to tether himself to the junior detective.

Her brown eyes drew him in, the hard wrinkles wreathing them betraying her age, "Please?"

If anyone else had asked this of him, any other officer in the region, he would've laughed them out the door. Griffin, however, was different. He respected this woman, which is why he found himself nodding.