Dynasty: A Batman Tale - Part 7

NOW

As always Bruce kept the conversation short and to the point, but unlike any other time when Bruce’s voice would command confidence, Dick heard uncertainty. They seldom spoke since Dick had moved to Blüdhaven. Bruce had refused to believe that Dick was ready to go out on his own, and it took quite some time for him to admit being wrong. Blüdhaven was seventy-five miles southwest of Gotham, but for as different as the city was from Gotham it could have been on the other side of the country. Dick arrived in the city coincidentally at the same time the mysterious figure known as Nightwing started patrolling the rooftops. Much smaller than Gotham, Blüdhaven had its share of corruption bleeding through the streets and Dick made quick work of cleaning up the city. Blüdhaven had an average sized criminal population, but as for organized crime the city had none.

So when Dick heard Bruce’s voice laced with fear on the line instead of Alfred who had been playing messenger between the two for years, he was already in route to Gotham.

THEN

Richard Grayson decided it was time to stop traveling with the circus. After more years than he could count, he felt it was time for his family’s act “The Flying Grayson's” to settle in it’s own venue, somewhere in Gotham’s Theater District. Richard and his brothers had grown up in the circus and become a world-renowned trapeze act. Over the years the Grayson brothers married and their wives and children all eventually became part of the act. Richard was the eldest of the brothers and took it upon himself to insure his family’s security.

They had been fortunate enough to earn enough money to open up their own venue and at first they were a smash hit, but over time the audience grew smaller. That was until the Grayson Children were old enough to perform in the act, Richard’s son Dick was the youngest of his cousins, and they all helped attract more people to come see the show.

In the time while attendance was down, however, Richard sank his life savings into keeping their doors open and Dick had overheard a number of arguments between his parents over money, always ending with Richard’s promise not to do anything desperate. One day while hanging from a rafter Dick saw that his father had done just that. Dick watched as two sinister men approached his father.

“Time to pay up Grayson,” said the larger of the two who was well over six feet tall, bald with a large beard and Dick noticed a pair of dice tattooed on his head.

“Yeah, Mr. Falcone has run out of patience, he finds it disrespectful that your show seems to be prospering again, yet you haven’t settled your debt.” The smaller one said, he was much more round, his hair cropped military style with long side burns that ran to the edge of his mouth. “Did you think you could just take Mr. Falcone’s money and not pay it back.”

Punching his fist into his other hand the bigger man repeated himself, “Time to pay up Grayson.”

Richard Grayson saw his son up above listening in, but kept his attention on Falcone’s men, “Please, tell Carmine…”

“Mr. Falcone!” The big man cut in.

“Mr. Falcone!” Richard corrected himself, “Please tell Mr. Falcone He’s going to get his money, I almost have it all. They were going to shut our doors, but it’s been getting better and…”

“Time to pay up Grayson.” Again the big man said.

“My friend here is correct. It’s time to pay up, so do you almost have Mr. Falcone’s money or do you have Mr. Falcone’s money? Because we have very explicit instructions, you see Richard, Carmine, well he’s the next boss. His pop Vincent is on his death bed and Carmine can’t have any little people disrespecting him, you understand?”

“I swear, I almost have…” but before Richard could finish, the bigger man punched him so hard in the stomach he immediately fell to the ground. Trying to regain his breath, he looked up at his assailants. “Please, my family,” but the two men had started walking away. Dick’s father waited for the men to exit the building then told him to come down where he assured him that everything was going to be fine. The scene had caused the rest of the family to appear on stage to inquire what had happened. Before sharing the truth with his family, he thought it better the children not listen. Richard gave Dick a few dollars and instructed for him and his cousins to go down the street to the corner diner and enjoy an ice cream. Dick agreed, but as they were about to exit the theater, his older cousins decided they wanted to know what was going on and sent Dick out on his own.

Twenty minutes later Dick was heading back towards the theater carrying a bag of ice cream sundaes. Upon exiting the diner, Dick thought it sounded like somebody was setting off loud firecrackers. Police cars with their lights flashing and sirens blaring drove past him. His heart began to race when he noticed they were all gathering in front of his destination. As he approached he saw officers running in thru the entrance, one policeman stopped him from continuing onward. The young Grayson overheard the voice coming from the cop’s radio “My God, they’re all dead...oh Jesus! We got dead kids in here. There are bullet holes everywhere...wait there’s something beeping.” Panic stricken, the voice on the other side of the radio yelled, “BOMB!” Dick saw the officers run out just as the building exploded, the force lifting their bodies and throwing them out onto the street. Dick himself felt his leave the ground, but quick instincts allowed him to summersault and land on his feet. That’s when the reality of his family’s tragic death overwhelmed him with such emotion, he slumped to his knees and cried.

Dick spent most of the night at the Police Department answering questions. Between tears, he was able to describe the men that he had witnessed assault his father before the explosion. A sketch artist was able to produce a close representation, but no matches were found in the GPD database. Dick was wrapped in a blanket holding a cup of hot chocolate while detectives and patrolmen were scrambling throughout the offices. Dick sat across from a door that read, ‘Detective Jim Gordon’. Inside were three men, Gordon and two others. They seemed to be having a very heated discussion. Dick’s hearing was exceptional, he heard them arguing about the men Dick had identified, and that the probability of finding them especially if they had organized crime ties would be close to zero. The arguing stopped as one uniformed officer ran by Dick and stormed into Gordon’s office. Just as fast, the officer led Gordon, the other two detectives and almost everyone else in the office towards the main doors. Dick looked around to see that most of the office had emptied at some sort of commotion outside, and then just as suddenly as they exited, they started to enter.

Gordon had a smirk on his face. He appeared to be trying to hide a smile. He walked over to Dick, knelt down and met his eyes. “Son, I want you to do me a favor, ok? Look over there and tell me, are those the men that you saw assault your dad?” Dick turned his attention to the men that Gordon was speaking of and began to cry. There they were, the same two men he saw with his father before they all died. They were both limping with multiple facial bruises babbling about their sincerest willingness to confess who hired them. Gordon handed Dick a folded piece of paper. Dick put his hot chocolate down wiped the tears from his eyes took the paper and unfolded it. It was a note that had two words written and a doodle. It simply read “For Grayson”. Dick looked at the drawing scribbled under his surname. It was a Bat.

A week later while sitting on top the monkey bars that spanned across the entire length of the Gotham Home for Boys playground, a limousine pulled up and Dick noticed the older gentleman who had been driving was heading in his direction. As the man approached Dick, the Home’s director Mr. Talbot joined him.

“Dick, This gentleman is here to see you,” said Mr. Talbot.

The man offered his hand to Dick. “I’m very sorry for your loss.” Dick sat silent, but took the man’s hand and shook it. “Mr. Talbot, I thank you for your assistance, but now if you’ll please, I would appreciate a moment with young Master Grayson in private.”

To Dick’s surprise Mr. Talbot nodded and walked away. The man waited until Mr. Talbot was out of earshot and said, “As much fun as it looks up there, I’m afraid I no longer wear a young man’s shoes. Forgive me for asking, but perhaps you wouldn’t mind coming down for a chat?”

“Who are you?”

“Pennyworth, Alfred Pennyworth”

Dick stared at the man for a moment, and then fell backwards off the bars flipping in midair landing on his feet.

“Yes, very good!” Alfred said impressed. “Let’s walk, shall we?”

“What do you want?” Dick said following Alfred.

“How are you handling your stay here? I understand you’ve been in a few squabbles since you arrived.”

“Some boys don’t know when to shut up.” Dick noticed they were heading towards the limousine, he also noticed that some random members of the staff were placing all his belongings in the trunk. “Where are we going?” Asked Dick.

“To your new home.”

“Where?”

“Have you heard of Wayne Manor?”

“I overheard my father mention Wayne once or twice…” Dick’s eyes began to water, “…while arguing about money. Why?”

“Both you and Master Bruce have quite a few things in common, I think you two will get along very well.”

“I doubt it.”

“Really?”

“Once he finds out what I’m planning, I doubt he’ll like me very much.”

Alfred opened the back door and closed it after Dick sat down. As they were heading away from the Gotham Home for Boys, Dick turned to see the building get smaller and was thankful to be leaving. When he turned back around he saw Alfred looking at him through the rearview mirror.

“So what is it you are planning?” Asked Alfred.

“I’m going to kill Carmine Falcone.”

Alfred stared at Dick for a moment and then to Dick’s astonishment, Alfred smiled. “Yes, Master Grayson, I believe you and Master Wayne will get along very well.”

NOW

Dick pulled up on his motorcycle in front of Wayne Manor just as the sun was setting. Alfred had heard him pull up and was waiting with the door open. Dick embraced his old friend. “How is he?”

“He’s seen better day’s, I believe we all have.”

“Is he downstairs?”

“Where else?”

Dick walked into the library, opened the clock and accessed the hidden door that led to the cave. Dick figured Bruce would be seated at his console, but found him standing in front of the vault. He was looking at their uniforms, the matte black of Bruce’s armor, the cowl that darkened out his eyes and sent fear into the heart of the underworld. Next to it was Dick’s first uniform, dark red and green, the yellow R centered over the heart with matching cape. God was I really that small once.

“Yes, you were once that small.” Bruce said without turning around as if hearing Dick’s thoughts.

How does he do that? “We’ll get Tim back.” Dick said.

“I know.” Bruce turned around to face Dick. “You look good.”

“I wish I could say the same for you Bruce, Jesus, when was the last time you slept.”

“I’m fine.” Bruce looked at his watch. “We have less than ten hours, let’s get to work.”