NIGHT ON THE TOWN

One night in Gotham, a little girl and her parents walk down a dark street after watching a movie. While they walk, a man wearing a trenchcoat slowly follows them with both hands in his pockets. The little girl then drops her stuffed animal on the ground. She turns around to pick it up, she sees the man following them and gets scared.

As the man gets closer and closer, the father quickly moves infront of his wife and daughter. The man then pulls out a gun on the family.

"Give me your wallet, that watch, and the kids necklace. Now!" The man demands.

The father agrees, slowly taking out his wallet, taking off his watch, and removing the little girls necklace as she cries. As he gives it to the man, he also takes the wife's bracelet and takes off running. As he almost gets to the end of the dark alley, a shadowy figure jumps infront of him. The man stumbles back a bit, then pulls a gun out on the mystery figure.

The mystery individual quickly grabs him by the wrist and breaks it, causing him to drop the gun. He then kicks the mugger into some trashcans. The mugger gets angry and swings at the shadowy figure but the mystery man dodges, kicks him in the gut, and punches him in the face. He then grabs him by his shirt, pins him against the wall, and punches him repeatedly in the face, knocking him out.

The mystery man then looks over at the family and slowly walks over to them. As he steps out of the shadows, it is revealed to be Nightwing, the new vigilante in Gotham. He throws the man his wallet and watch, and the woman her bracelet. He then kneels down and pulls out the necklace with a smile. The little girl runs over and grabs the necklace. As she is about to walk away, she gives Nightwing a hug before going back to her parents.

"Thank you, so much." The husband says.

"Just doing my job. He'll be out long enough for the cops to come. You guys have a nice night."

Nightwing shoots his grappling gun and swings away.

The next morning, as Dick Grayson opens his locker to get his books, he hears two of his classmates talk about Nightwing and smiles. When he closes his locker, his friend Bette Kane shows up next to him.

"Hey Grayson. You look like crap, as usual." She says with a playful smile.

Dick smirks at her.

"Very funny. I had a late night, last night."

"I heard about your "late night" in the news. By the way, we have got to workshop your superhero name, because "Nightwing" sounds like a really crappy metal rock band."

"Hey, that name was given to me by Superman, for your information. Besides, I like it."

"We'll talk about it later. It looks like people are still freaking out about batman being gone."

She holds up a newspaper photo of Batman with a question mark on his chest that reads "Where is the Dark Knight?".

"Yeah. I want him back too."

Dick grabs the news paper and stares at the photo, remembering what happened to Bruce.

"You know I- keep expecting him to come back- somehow. It just- doesn't feel real that he's actually gone. But he is. Without Batman, this City needs another protector. Someone to make sure that everything he did for Gotham doesn't just fadeaway. I can do that for him."

Bette smiles, then grabs Dick by the arm.

"I'm sure you'll kick some ass, Dick Grayson. You'll be a protector with a stupid name, but a great one none the less."

The two chuckle and walk into class, as Dick mind drifts to Bruce's last words to him, before he died.

"Be a better Batman."

He snaps back in the present day, with a determined look on his face.