Still A Hero

Role Model

Artemis had seen a lot of tricks during her time as a teenaged hero and it took a lot to impress her, but Nightwing accomplished that the moment he stepped on the course.

Artemis watched in awe as he twisted and spun in the air. Nightwing moved with apparent ease and looked more comfortable flying through the air than he did when his feet were on the ground. Now Artemis has a full understanding of where the title 'Robin' came from. The first Robin really was a bird, all he was missing were feathers and wings.

The expression on Nightwing's face gave away how much he enjoyed acrobatics and Artemis thought it was almost sad that he had to land.

Once on the ground again, Nightwing turned to the team and looked at them with apprehension.

'He's nervous that we won't like him and is trying to impress us!' realized Artemis with a laugh. 'Who would have guessed that the famous protégé was the type to need validation from his students?'

"How was that? Was that okay?" he asked, scratching the back of his head in nervousness.

"That was awesome," breathed Wally in amazement. "I've been seeing you do those kind of tricks for years and it still hasn't turned old!"

"Great," Nightwing smiled, "Okay, any questions?" he asked, turning to face the group.

This reminded Artemis that the whole reason why Nightwing did those stunts on the first place was because the team was supposed to try to replicate his moves. "Soo many questions... I have absolutely no idea how to do that," she groaned.

Black Canary took that as her cue and motioned for Artemis, Wally, and Tim to follow her and Nightwing towards the equipment. "I'm going to have you three go work with Nightwing first, he can answer any questions you have while you guys stretch. After a while you'll switch with Conner, M'gann, and Kaldur. Remember, you're not going to get it all right in one day."

Tim grinned widely while Wally and Artemis shared apprehensive looks with each other. "I'm going to snap in half and you're all going to have to glue me back together, just so we're all on the same page here," said Wally.

Nightwing smiled. "I've got you covered, don't worry about it. Once you guys feel ready, I want you guys to start on the course. Try to incorporate the movements that you saw from what I was doing, but don't force it. This is all about becoming better prepared and being able to get yourselves out of situations. You're not going to copy my movements in the middle of a fight, so practice what feels natural."

"Ok, I can go first," said Tim, who looked pumped to be training with his brother.

Tim proceeding to go through the course with speed and efficiency that only came after a lot of practice. He definitely wasn't at Nightwing's level, but he was still really good.

Tim didn't seem to think so though because when he walked back to the start of the course he looked embarrassed. "Ehh! That was so hard, I didn't even make the landing right and I've been watching your routine for a while."

Nightwing flashed a smile. "No-no-no! That was great! All you really need to do is to focus on your legs instead of what's going on below you. If you're legs aren't locked in the right position you might fall and break something. You did really well though. And you're going to keep improving over time."

Then it was Artemis' turn. Being an archer meant that she didn't have as much experience as the others in evasion and dodging and sadly it showed. Artemis walked back, her face flushed, as she thought about her clumsy performance.

Nightwing didn't seem to share that opinion though. "That was really well done. I know you're better at attacking from a distance, so don't worry to much about this. It's important for you to become proficient in defensive tactics, but for you, we're really going to use this course so that you can get better at moving your body to a place or position that makes it easy for you to hit your target. For you, we need to focus on being more comfortable with being up close to an opponent."

Artemis smiled, it felt good how Nightwing was able to critique her without bringing her down or saying that she messed up.

Artemis, Tim, and Wally went though the course several times before they switched with their other teammates. They did a light cool down while they watched how the others did. Nightwing was doing more specific training with them that was more suited to their non-human abilities. It took a while, but by the time everyone had finished, Artemis was exhausted.

"Hey Di—Nightwing!"

Artemis watched as Tim ran over to his brother to invite with to their after-practice dinner. Artemis was interested, but tired, so she just eves dropped their conversation.

"Yeah?" Nightwing asked Tim.

"We're all going to the cafeteria to get some dinner food. Wanna come? It'll be good for getting to know everyone."

"Are you sure that I wouldn't be interfering with your guy's quality friend time?" Nightwing asked, looking nervously at the group waiting by the doors.

"Please come!" Megan said.

Conner nodded in agreement. "I would like to know more about Batman's first protégé."

"Alright," said Nightwing, following the group.

"Soo... How was the first part of your day today?" asked Tim

"It was fine. I was mostly just preparing for today's meeting. I was a bit nervous, so I don't think I really did by best for you guys today," Nightwing said.

Wally rolled his eyes. "Sure... It's not like you're the best protégé and pulled off some pretty damn cool stunts that we'll never be able to do without pulling a major muscle," he said sarcastically.

"Nightwing, you're mistakes are nonexistent to people at our level. I'm just happy you didn't get so nervous that you pulled out," said Tim, throwing is arm over his brother's shoulder.

Nightwing nodded and laughed. "Yeah. I almost did that."

"What was it like being the first sideki—I mean protégé?"
asked M'gann.

Nightwing's expression turned into one of excitement. "Oh that! That's a tale of a lot of movie nights! But I can start with the story of when I first met the Pinguin. It was when I was first starting out and..."