Don't Fear the Reaper

19) Le Birds Be Preyin

Duke sat on the side lines while Damian and Dick spared. The oldest had been unusually silent all day, but wouldn't say why. Duke had tried to ask, but the Dick would just mutter that he was fine and leave.

Duke was sure it had something to do with Nico.

The kid had been more withdrawn that day compared to usual. He was always quiet, but he had been even more so all day— even his facial reactions becoming close to non existent.

"Is it weird to see him fight again?" Jason asked, sitting down next to Duke, though the question was obvious for Nico, who was standing against the wall a few feet away.

Nico didn't respond for a long while, his eyes just tracking the movements of the duo. "Bruce made a songbird out of a bird of prey."

Jason just hummed, as if he knew what that meant.

"What?" Duke asked, completely not understanding.

Nico glanced at him, no emotions in his eyes, before looking back to the fighting duo. "He was created to be the Demon's Head. Born and raised to be skilled in combat, and yet here he stands, average."

Duke looked at Nico before looking to Dick and Damian. "I don't know what you're seeing, but that is definitely not average. Dick's nearly twice his age and his size and Damian is still holding his own."

"And he should have won 5 minutes ago," Nico said simply. "Grayson left his head exposed while he was gearing up for a hit."

"We try to avoid head hits during training," Duke said.

Nico shrugged slightly. "He could have faked the hit, signaling the end of the spare, but he didn't. Instead, he went on defensive. Bruce took Damian, and clipped his wings. He rewired the way his brain sees things in order to make him less deadly, and effectively took away some of his ability to see weakness. He doesn't look for head shots anymore, instead focusing on ways to hit the legs or abdomen. He has a blind spot."

"I mean, I guess, but he's still way above average," Duke contested.

"For him, this is average," Nico just said simply before nodding to the mat. "Grayson is about to win."

"What? No way-" Jason began to say but was cut off by Dick getting the upper hand and pinning Damian. "Son of a bitch."

While the duo stood back up and began discussing the fight, Duke looked to Nico. "Okay, so if this is him average, what did he used to fight like?"

Nico seemed to hesitate for a moment before looking to Jason. The two seemed to have a silent conversation before Jason clapped his hands together once and started laughing excitedly. "Fuck yeah!"

Duke looked between the two. "What's happening?"

Nico let out a small breath before rolling his shoulders slightly and talking off the hoodie he was wearing, revealing a black long sleeve shirt. "An example," he muttered before pulling off his face mask and pulling his hair back as he began approaching the mat.

"Ibn al Xu'ffasch," Nico said, drawing Damian's attention immediately. "دعونا نتقاتل" (Let's fight)

Damian looked at him in shock. "ماذا؟" (what?)

"دعونا نظهر لهم ما يمكننا فعله" Nico said as his hand disappeared into the shadows for a moment before coming back with two nearly identical knives in hand. One seemed to be bronze while the other was silver, both of the grips were made of a deep red color. (Let's show them what we can do.)