Deja Vu

Chapter 5

Dick's breath stutters as Batman drops from the sky, Batarangs in his hands, poised to fight. Jason's somewhat behind Dick and it seems like he's stopped breathing too. Dick can feel the tension rolling off them both in waves. And he's right in the middle.

"... hey B," he says weakly, complete with a little wave. "I told you I had this one didn't I?"

"Nightwing," he says dangerously. "Report."

Dick throws a look over his shoulder at Jason. "Well..."

"What's your deal anyway, old man?" Jay cuts in very unhelpfully. "Head home. I'm not going to mess with your precious city tonight."

Dick can see Bruce straighten and quickly jumps in, heartrate picking up again.

"B, whoa, hold on... Hood and I were just... talking. And it seems like we actually have some common goals currently."

Bruce's gaze snaps to Dick. "...talking?"

Dick forces a smile. "Yah. After the high speed chase of course."

Bruce just looks at him for a moment. "...what."

Dick feels a face palm coming on. But decides that wouldn't help things currently.

"While I was looking into that lead, I ended up in one of his safehouses. So then I chased him down, we both crashed..."

"Look," Jason cuts in, heat in his voice. "As much as I'm enjoying the play by play, are we going to wrap this up anytime soon or...?"

Dick spins to give him an incredulous look. Does he want this to escalate?

What's he saying?

Of course Jason wants this to escalate.

"Hood," Bruce growls. "Stand down."

Jason stiffens. "Make me."

Bruce growls again and suddenly, there's a shuriken whizzing past Dick's ear. He moves out of the way, just seeing as Jason leaps away from the projectile, tucking into a roll on the asphalt.

But suddenly Bruce is there and Jason is dodging and moving, staying away from Bruce's fists.

"B, wait!" Dick cries, moving in to try and help. Though what he's going to do he isn't sure. "Stop!"

"Nightwing!" he growls sharply, as Dick moves in front of him, hands up. "Get out of the way!"

Dick's heart is beating out of his chest. "You have no idea what's actually going on right now!"

"You're right!" he yells. "I don't! Why are you protecting a murderer?!"

"I..."

"You've been acting strange all night," B says softly, drawing back slightly. Then his voice lowers. "Who are you?"

Dick's eyes widen.

"Well this is bad," Jason says lightly. And it takes all Dick has not to yell at him for getting them in this terrible situation.

But as it stands...

"Move!" Dick yells, lunging to the side as Bruce drops a smoke bomb.

Jason yells something as the smoke rises and then there's a whirring sound. Something rips into Dick's legs and he hits the ground hard, elbows and jaw smarting at the impact.

Blinking rapidly, he attempts to flip over... what?

He looks down to see a bolo wrapped around his legs, effectively tying him up.