Steady On Forward

Chapter 1

Flying never got old for Dick. The feeling of the wind in his hair, the split second of free fall before he shot out another grappling line — even though it had long since become second nature to him, it was thrilling every time. It just felt so free in a way that almost nothing else could compare.

Well, perhaps the trapeze, but even that wasn't nearly as thrilling without someone else to do the tricks with, and the only one available to him was in the Batcave. Some of his fondest memories were of his parents tossing him from one to the other on the trapeze, spinning end over end before being safely caught in one of their hands. There was never any real danger, but it was still so exhilarating flirting with the idea.

He shot out another grappling line, vaguely heading uptown but not really caring where he went in particular. He reached the peak of his swing and let go, doing a backflip before he shot out a line again, and an invigorated laugh burst out of him.

"Well, guess we've gotten to that time of the night where Nightwing's doing stupidly fancy flips off of buildings or some shit to keep himself entertained," Dick heard Tim say over the comms.

He was patrolling with the rest of the bats in Gotham, as was becoming increasingly common for him. It wasn't that he'd given up on Blüdhaven, he did still check in every so often, it was just that there was nothing really tying him to the city anymore. He didn't have a job there anymore — he'd quit the police force several years before — and once he and Jason had become more serious, it felt stupid to put more distance between them. So he'd moved back to Gotham.

At first, he'd tried to keep up with going to Blüdhaven every night, but it just wasn't sustainable. He still kept a couple safehouses there, and he still took cases based there, but mainly he worked out of Gotham.

Everyone seemed to be on the comms tonight, spread out across the city on various cases or patrol areas. Everyone except Jason, that was. He'd decided to take a case with Roy out in stupid Arkansas, much to Dick's displeasure.

"It wasn't off of a building," Dick protested.

"So you are doing unnecessary acrobatics," Tim shot back.

"Found Scarecrow," he heard Barbara say, interrupting their banter. Scarecrow had broken out of Arkham the night before, and it had only been a matter of time before he showed up again. "He's got a couple of civilians cornered in the alley beside the laundromat on 6th, probably going to give them some fear toxin."

"I'm nearby," Stephanie's voice came over the comms. "On it."

"You're not taking on Scarecrow alone, who's backup?" Bruce asked.

"Me, already on my way," Tim said. "ETA three minutes."

Dick made an abrupt turn midair, and started heading east, toward where he'd left his motorcycle just in case they needed extra backup. Scarecrow could be nasty, and he'd managed to gas or shoot up several of them with his fear toxin before.

He could hear Stephanie and Tim fighting Scarecrow as he started his motorcycle and took off.

"Shit, Red just got an armful of fear toxin," Stephanie said over the comms, and Dick urged his bike faster. "Scarecrow's run off. Heading toward seventh."

The buildings blurred as Dick whipped past them. Scarecrow on the loose was never good — who knew how much fear toxin he had on him.

"Red Robin has some antidote in his belt, should I bank on Scarecrow not having changed the formula since last time?" Stephanie asked.

"Try it," Bruce directed. "I'll pick him up and bring him back to the Cave. I'm five minutes out."

"I'm almost there," Dick said.