Off the Deep End

Mandatory Emotional Baggage

So he grappled to another building, moving with ease throughout the streets, till suddenly someone attacked him from the side.

He rolled, just a centimetre from the edge, but stood before he'd even stopped moving.

And he was face-to-face with Batgirl.

Great.

He'd heard rumours, but found no evidence. She'd apparently been skulking for a few years, not long before Jason Todd became Robin.

Well, here was his evidence.

She attacked, she fought well. Batman had definitely trained her. He'd considered the idea that she wasn't affiliated with him and had just started fighting because she could.

But this was taking way too long. He managed to use her momentum to throw her, she flipped and turned back to him.

Dick slid his sword from his sheath, enjoying its familiar weight in his hand.

"who are you?" Batgirl asked. And Dick felt... did he know her? She sounded familiar.

Dick smirked, bottom half of his face hidden behind the mask, "no one you'd know."

He didn't give her a chance to prepare herself, moving in to attack. She flicked out a bo staff to protect herself.

He twisted under any hit she gave, never allowing her to gain the advantage. He stayed on the offensive and she slowly crumbled in her defence.

He didn't have time for this.

After his great grandfather's attempt at turning him into a talon he'd had accelerated healing, but sometimes when he was particularly panic-y or in need of a boost, he felt a... well, he assumed it was some kind of affect from Cobb's meddling.

As soon as Slade noticed he'd started training Dick to be able to harness that. Now he reached for it and turned to Batgirl, feeling a new energy thrum through him. a calm settled over him. his breath was relaxed, every movement turned precise.

He flicked between a hit and landed three fast ones of his own. He tripped her up and she rolled back to standing, turning back with ease.

He twisted out of a hit, instead of attacking he hooked his sword around her staff and used it to pull her closer. He wacked her under the chin with the pommel then elbowed under her shoulder, she dropped the staff with that hand and he kicked her leg out from under her.

He didn't wait for her to get up, he jumped back as he slid his sword away. As she stumbled up he jumped off the roof, vanishing.

He met Duvall, hovering near the top of a building. He jumped without hesitation, the door was open and he stumbled through, grabbing the handle nearby and swinging himself into the seat. His arm was sore from the impact, but at least he hadn't fallen into the other side's door.

He swung his side closed and tossed the rifle onto the seat, then buckled himself in and placed the helmet over his head.

"any problems?" Duvall asked over the comms of the helmet, the sound of the helicopter distant but still present behind the noise proof headset in the helmet.

"a small interruption on the escape, nothing to worry about," he answered.

A successful mission, plus proof of the rumoured Batgirl. Nothing to worry about indeed.

"then you'll be able to make the parade without trouble."

Dick's heart stopped, the parade.

Fuck, he'd forgotten about the parade.