𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐍𝐀𝐋 𝐃𝐄𝐒𝐑𝐄 , nightwing

024 family ties.

"𝐘𝐄𝐀𝐇." Dick trailed off, his face pained, expressing his clear trouble with his past.

"That must have sucked." Jason paused, unsure how to comfort someone in a situation like this, care tugging at his brows but also trying to remain professional, clearly holding a respect and admiration for his predecessor. "He burns them with acid."

"Hydrofluoric acid." Dick added a little too quickly. It felt a little insensitive given that this was his family burnt like kebabs here, still he seemed not too bothered by the acid aspect.

"Calling card of the Marconi crime family." Batman sure made this little birdies do their homework.

"Cool..." My voice was barely a whisper yet somehow deciphered as Dick looked at me, a little concerned and questionable.

"What! Sorry, it's not about them and all this per se," I motioned to the pictures, hesitantly. "I just like the touch of using acid, it's... cool." I shrugged. "Would be great for using on bad guys." Both of them seemed a more than a little concerned now.

Jason stared at Dick. "Where did you say you met them exactly, again?" He looked partially excited by my willingness to explore unorthodox methods to deal with crime, though still concerned enough it didn't alarm Dick.

Dick groaned, Jason continued, as if that little slip of my tongue was never mentioned. "Harvey Dent, your parents-"

"I know." A pregnant pause was shared, something burdening the older Robin clearly about the whole circus ordeal, more than just the untimely ends. "Tony Zucco worked for the Marconi's when he killed my parents. But they were put away years ago."

I walked closer to the sofa and leaned on the back of it beside Dick, now much more interested in the conversation, now it had come to the topic of Dick's history. Jason seemed just as intrigued. "Why'd he do it?"

"Haly owed the Maroni's protection money. Couldn't come up with the cash." I slid my hand onto Dick's shoulder the moment I noticed a hesitance, a lump caught in his throat and a slight quiver of his lip. Cautiously out of sight from the third party, my hand still drew a slight flutter of Dick's eyelids, the weight not appearing to bear down on him as much now I shared it too.

"So, my parents paid the debt with their lives." Everyone was fairly silent after that. I let my hand lightly squeeze his shoulder, keeping him aware of my presence and support.

After that, they talked of someone dubbed the 'melting man,' the culprit of the circus-based crimes. The questions left unanswered mainly centred around who the person behind this could be. Dick's only suspect was six feet under and the police had no leads so far otherwise.

We were led into a dark room with Wayne computers, Dick sat at them with Jason aiding him in his access, now he's been shut out of the systems. Their search was for a man supposedly alive, from Dick's old family circus, a possible next target. He wasn't answering his phone.

"Damn, this tech is cool, I need some for myself." I felt myself mumble, sliding into a seat beside Dick and taking control of one of the other monitors, searching up celebrities I'd learnt of recently that I wondered whether Bruce would have any dirt on. In the end, I only got Barack Obama's voicemail.

Dick was now about to leave, planning a short drive to see if his old friend and family remained alive and well. Jason was eager to join however hastily shut down. I stayed quiet: unsure whether Dick would want me along with him for the personal journey or if it crossed boundaries.

Moments later, a system alert blared on the monitor. To my surprise, up popped a live feed of Kory, Gar and Rachel outside the safe house waiting to be allowed in. Kory have a short wave while Gar flashed a toothy grin at the camera, imagine if no one was watching and they were foolishly just interacting with a camera.