Blowing off Steam

I opened my mind and located Dick at a trailer where there was a lot of one sided yelling going on. Dick, "I am telling you Bryan, I don't want to take over the Circus. He gave me the deed and said something about a debt to my parents."

Bryan, "Just get out Grayson, I don't want you anywhere near this Circus right now. All you do is bring death wherever you go. GET OUT!" A loud crash of glass was accompanied by some crying as Dick opened the door and exited the travel van. 

Dick, "Hey Logan. Your back." His voice just seamed to have no life to it. 

Logan, "Yeah, quick trip to Tartarus with Diana. Doom and gloom landscape with power mad wizards and cannibalistic Wendigos with a few Greek God's thrown in. You know… Tuesday stuff."

My nonchalance got me a chuckle from him but there was spring missing in his step. 

Logan, "What say we go grab Connor and head back to the junkyard. We can get drunk and break shit no one cares about for a change?" 

Dick, "That would be one of the most normal things I have ever done, Let's do it."

After grabbing Connor, we head back to the hotel and picked up our stuff from the room then headed for the airport. While Dick and Connor were talking to the pilot's I stepped aside for a quick call to Diana. As they walked back to the passenger portion of the plane, I was just finishing up my phone call. [Great, thanks a lot, Diana. Just let me know and ill come get it. Oh, it's there already, that's truly fast shipping. We can't thank you enough.]

Dick, "What's that all about?" he asked as I hung up the phone. 

Logan, "Just taking care of the drinks and getting permission to have Wolf go through the Zeta tubes to meet us at the junkyard."

As Connor was about to sit down, I stopped him. "You better not sit there Connor; it has a bit too strong a scent of Dick and Raya there." Looking at Dick, "You better get this plane cleaned before Matt needs it. His senses are just as strong as mine."

Dick looked at us a little sheepish.

Logan, "So what happened?"

Dick took a deep breath, "Raya asked me to get her to Atlantic city and later told me it was because of Mr. Haly asking her to get me there as soon as she could because he was sick."

Logan, "You had your doubt about that from the beginning, didn't you? You said it's the only way you could see him walking away from the show."

Dick, "Yeah but it was way worse than I thought. Cancer had him and it was the late stages. He gave me the deed to the Circus and rambled on about how sorry he was for everything the Circus did. He was kind of confusing there, but I just let him talk. He also dropped the bomb that he knew who I was in Gotham. Said he figured it out when he first saw a video of Robin swinging in the sky and later, he pieced together who the Devilbat was." 

Logan, "Ouch, sometimes you just can't fool people that know you."

Dick, "Yeah, we kind of just reminisced for a while and then he sent me on my way telling me he would explain it to the crew and Bryan the next day. So, Raya and I decided to fly back to Metropolis."

Connor, "I assume that's when you ah… Shared a seat with Raya?"

Dick got a gleam in his eye that every guy knows, and Connor and I just shook our heads.

Dick, "Not long after we got to sleep one of the pilots brought me the phone saying the call had been pushed up to the flight cabin. I took it and then I heard the voice of the guy that tried to kill me back there in Metropolis."

Logan, "You skipped a part somewhere, someone tried to kill you? Or Nightwing?"

Dick, "Yeah, he was after Dick Grayson." He quickly explained his fight and we filled him in with our own fight that same night. (Ch 49-53)

Dick, "So he was talking about it all making sense and said his name was Saiko and again talked about me being some great killer and especially he was unhappy that I had an Owl following me around a lot lately. That really set him off. That's when he dropped that he was with Mr. Haly and had tortured the name Nightwing out of him along with Devilbat."

Connor, "The Japanese word Saikou means The Highest, or Supreme. Maybe that's where he got his name and just doesn't pronounce it correctly. He wouldn't be the first to appropriate a word in a different language to sound tuff in America to only sound foolish in the native land. Or it could be a slang term, who knows anymore." 

Logan, "I assume you turned the plane around and went to save Mr. Haly?"

Dick, "I did, and I found that fighting Saiko when I was prepared wasn't too hard, but he had a wrist attachment that fired small grenades. That was troublesome because he started the warehouse we were in on fire. I was only there to get Mr. Haly out so I got past Saiko grabbed Mr. Haly then pulled the roof down and escaped. Unfortunately, Saiko tortured Mr. Haly so bad that he didn't make it, his last words were another apology then something about him being killed for a secret that was in the heart of the Circus."

Connor, "Did you see if Saiko got out?"

Dick, "I didn't see him and there was no body found, so I am operating on the premise that he is still alive." 

Logan, "That's for the best. What about the Circus, and Raya?"

Dick, "Like I told Bryan, I don't want to run the Circus, but if it was intended for my family then… I don't want to give up ownership if I'm being honest. It was my childhood until my parents were killed. It may be my hubris, but I don't think anyone can take care of it like I can."

I noticed he left Raya out of his answer but I let it slide.

Connor, "You have any idea who has it out for the Circus? I was talking to Cali and a bunch of others and they said there has been a long streak of bad things happening the last couple years."

Dick, "I tried to get Matt to investigate it, but he hasn't returned my calls for a few days now. He must be deep into another case right now. I will have to do this one on my own."

Logan, "That's not an option man, we are here and that means we are in this too. I get that it may be personal and we will let you take lead, but I'm betting Connor feels the same as me that you aren't alone in this." 

Shortly after we landed in Gotham, we realized that with Connor here someone needed to double up on the bike and I pointed out that mine was pushing the weight limit with just me. Dick grumbled as he went to get his bike and I explained to Connor that for safety he would need to hold Dick tight in a hugging embrace and once they were moving at a good speed to place his head on the back of Dicks head, so the gravity was centered on the bike. With a mental snicker at the thought of them snuggling on the bike i had to stop a laugh.

With those final words I shouted out that I would meet them at the junk yard and took off quickly. 

When I got the junkyard, I saw it was almost quitting time, so I slipped Arnie a few hundred bucks and told him to take the guys for a few beers. I told him that some 'abnormal' friends would be over and we intended to relax from girl and life issues. Arnie got the idea and quickly vacated the area with the shop mechanics. 

Not long after they left I saw Dick and Connor pull in and Connor pointed in my direction. Dick started revving up the bike and then he pulled out a wing from his belt and threw it at me. As soon as it left his hand he started after me with his bike also with Connor shouting out "Charge!" I changed into a cheetah and raced away dodging the occasional wing thrown at me and leading them on a merry chase around the junk yard. At some point I ran and opened the pen for the dogs, and it turned into a guessing game of who was chasing who. Then to top it off Connor at some point got to the zeta tube and then Wolf joined in on the fun. It was a fun stress relieving hour among friends new and old.