part one!
Dick had been on edge since the conversation with Jason and Bruce. There was so much more he wanted to say to his former mentor on the subject of Jason, but was sure it wasn't his place. He knew the topic wasn't an easy approach. He'd learned long ago there were things in the Bat family that were just better off unsaid. Still Bruce had been out of line. So very out of line in telling Jason he didn't care, Dick had been there after Jason was murdered. He knew Bruce cared. He almost crossed that line he once swore against. Bruce had pushed everyone away so coldly that Dick himself refused to once again reclaim the partner title. He also knew Bruce was the type of man who didn't like to share public emotion but he had dug his own grave in that respect this time around. Dick felt guilty, he should have said something to both of them. He'd been wanting to find Jason ever since their little family chat had gone wrong, but when Jason didn't want to be found he was impossible to track. Until tonight.
Nightwing was out as he had been every night since arrival. He knew it wasn't his city, but old habits died hard. He'd been slowly introducing himself to the criminal underworld, letting them know there was another cape in town. The rumor on the street was the capes were everywhere and they were real, not some kids playing dress up but authentic vigilantes. VigilantesDick noted mentally, as in plural. He was getting a little frustrated. Jason had already beaten him to the punch at every turn. Someone's been busy. Nightwing thought as he wrapped up his meet and greet with a local mob boss by taking out his two best gunmen with nothing but a pair of escrisma sticks. He didn't kill them, but they were good and unconscious. Dick didn't kill. Even after everything Bruce had shown and taught him as Robin. Not even staring down an apocalypse would he kill. He knew that now. It took him a while but he was determined to keep blood off his hands. Jason having been proud of him was enough to push him to his conclusion.
Still he remembered exactly what it was like after Bruce had fired him. He was much further along then Jason was in the emotional healing process, and that was what worried him. He remembered how easy it was to get caught up in those feelings of resentment. The last thing he wanted to see was Jason fall down that path again. When he'd first arrived solo without Batman, Jason almost seemed normal. Obnoxious, but normal. He could carry a conversation without sounding as though he were on the verge of a mental break down. Now after the Joker's death Dick wasn't sure where Jason was at, but wherever it was it was a dangerous path.
Bruce wasn't helping. They had all watched Harley Quinn shoot down the Joker where he stood. Dick knew that didn't mean it was over. The storm was just beginning and was only going to get worse before it got better. That was how it worked. One step forward, two steps back. Bat luck true to form. Jason wasn't the only one reliving memories that night as Dick went back to eavesdrop on the Don he'd been staking out for the last hour and a half. While Kansas wasn't as riddled with crime as Gotham was, there was still an underground rumble. Every city had it. Nightwing crept around the ledge of the building where local boss Johnny Borgata comfortably went about conducting his meeting with several other gang leaders, unawares of his missing security.