NightQuinn

In Case You Need Someone To Talk To

Dick Grayson's apartment, Gotham, 9:44 PM

Dick's eyes shot open as he lay on the couch with some mindless trash playing on the TV in front of him. Quickly, he threw a hand up to his face, making sure his mask was still on, which it was. Dick made his way to his feet and looked over to his bedroom door. Still shut. He reached for the TV remote to turn off whatever had started playing as he slept. When he turned off the television, a disturbing silence fell onto the apartment. Not a sound in the room. Not a sound in the adjacent room where Harley remained. Dick walked over and, with slight caution, opened the door. The room was dark with a light coming from a small phone screen which lay in Harley's hand as she slept. Dick looked to the window and was about to leave for his patrol as Nightwing, but he decided there was something he had to do first. He quickly left a small note and an earpiece by where Harley was sleeping if she woke up and needed to contact him. And, with that, Dick went and geared up into his armour and made headed out through the window.

Nightwing watched from above as he tried to spot any kind of criminal activity for him to put a stop to. Though, this was Gotham after all, something would happen, sooner or later. Dick began leaping, climbing and grappling his way across the city's rooftops. Zipping around the skyline of Gotham always just felt right for him. It made him feel at home. Ever since Bruce had adopted him and he had left the circus, he'd relished every opportunity do use his acrobatic skills like this. However, there wasn't much chance for him to enjoy this for any longer. He had found the criminal activity he was seeking on the street below.

Meanwhile, back at his apartment:

Harley slowly opened her eyes and realised it had gotten dark, with the only light coming from her phone screen. Before she had fallen asleep, she was deciding whether or not to call or text Joker. She kept telling herself she had to, then she told herself she couldn't and shouldn't. She lay there for another ten minutes before deciding that, if Joker cared he would have got in contact. Realising that, she suddenly clicked. It had been a long time since Joker truly cared about her. In fact, if he cared, he wouldn't get in contact, he'd trace her phone and get to her location as soon as possible, but there was no sign of him. He viewed her as little more than a hench-woman at this stage, a weapon, just someone who can run his errands. Not anymore, she decided she was done with that. Done with him.

She made her way to her feet, she was almost too overcome with her emotions to realise the sharp pain her injuries were causing. After throwing the phone on the bed, she removed her choker necklace which read "Puddin" and looked at it for a few seconds. In a way, that had represented their relationship, she had the necklace made for herself, not him. It had written across it the nickname she had lovingly given him, she wore it to make him proud, but her never felt that way. She took a deep breath before moving to the window, opening it and discarding the necklace. As a tear rolled down from her eye, she turned around to turn the lights on. In doing so, she noticed a note and an earpiece. The note read: "In case you need someone to talk to :) ". Harley smiled and picked up the earpiece, before placing it in her ear.

Five minutes earlier:

Dick surveyed the situation before him. Two men dressed in dark clothing with bandanas, one carrying a baseball bat, if they were planning something criminal, the other is likely carrying a concealable weapon, perhaps a switchblade. In the alley ahead of them was a fairly wealthy looking woman who seemed lost, possibly new in town. This wasn't 100% certain that a mugging was gonna go down, but Dick decided to settle for a 99% certainty. He dropped down behind them, purposefully loud as to draw their attention. They turned around, shocked before brandishing their bat and, as Dick guessed, switchblade. One of the thugs said something to the other, who then rushed over to catch the woman they intended to rob, who had been stood there in surprise. "Two of you? That's not fair." Dick sighed. "You should have brought at least six." The bat-wielding thug charged towards Dick, who leapfrogged over him to catch the guy trying to rob the innocent woman. Dick quickly grabbed the mugger from behind, grabbing his neck and sweeping his leg so he dropped to the ground and let go of the switchblade. Quickly, Dick smashed his escrima stick into the head of the thug, knocking him unconscious.

Dick felt a sudden pain in his back. He had forgot about the man with the bat. Rookie mistake. He went for another swing with the bat before Dick rolled away and back to his feet. He jumped, pressed off the wall and kicked the assailant in the head, taking him out. Dick looked back at the unconscious muggers, then towards their almost-victim. "You alright?" He asked, to that she replied with a nod. "You, uhh, might wanna call the cops before they wake up." He smiled slightly before using his grapnel gun to ascend to the rooftops. He perched himself on the edge of a nearby building and looked over the Gotham horizon before hearing someone talking to him through his earpiece. "Hey, Nightwing? You there?" Dick recognised Harley's voice.

"Yeah, it's me." He put a hand to his earpiece. "Is something the matter or are you just calling to chat?". He heard Harley sigh slightly.

"I, umm... are you and your Bat-buddies tryin' to find Joker?" She said, piquing Dick's interest. "Because I might be able to help you guys out on that one."