Nightwing

Origin

Dick Grayson grew up with the Haly’s Circus with his father John and his mother Mary. He was a part of their family act, known as the “Flying Graysons.” He was a reckless child growing up, participating in “parkour training races” with his circus friend Raymond. Although he was reckless, he had a good heart.

During the day of his parent’s murder, Dick and Ray were partaking in their usual train race. It was normal until Raymond accidentally knocked over the train guard onto the rails as a train was about to pass through. Being the nimble acrobat that he is, Dick was able to save the man. The man, however, wasn’t too pleased with the close call and his parents had to process him all day at the police station.

Back at the trailer, Dick’s parents were not happy, and they really showed it. Instead of celebrating Mary’s birthday, they instead had to deal with Dick shenanigans. After the whole debacle, John tells Dick to give the present they got for her. The mother was surprised, and Dick gave her a bracelet with two robins on it. Once Dick left the trailer, they revealed their true thoughts, that they were proud of their son. It would be the last happy member that Dick would have of his parents.

Before the show began, Dick overheard Tony Zucco trying to swindle the owner for some extortion money. But the circus had low funds, so they weren’t paid. Dick didn’t think of it much. Until the Flying Graysons’ act began. In the middle of their performance, the wires snapped, causing them to fall to their imminent demise. Dick stood there, watching as his life was ended right before his very eyes. In the crowd was Bruce Wayne, a man who shared a similar fate to Dick.

Bruce tried his best to take care of Dick by sending him to the Wayne Care Center. To the outside viewer, it seemed that he was just playing computer games and reading by himself. But actually, he was sneaking out, researching and trying to find Zucco. But, while on his endeavors, he encounters a new person: Batman. While he fought low-life criminals, Batman seemed to be there every time, which was concerning at the time. One night, the Batman decided to take Dick to the batcave, where he revealed that he wasn’t tracking Zucco: he was tracking Dick. Batman then reveals himself to be Bruce Wayne. He then offers Dick to teach him the ways of the Batman and to bring Zucco to justice. Dick agrees, and training begins.

Dick trained for a long six months, disciplining himself to become both physically and mentally peak. When Bruce went on outings, Dick would be at the Batcomputer assisting him. It functioned like this until one day, where Bruce was ambushed by Lady Shiva. When Lady Shiva beat him, Dick had no choice but to assemble his suit that he made from other Batman costumes, took the batcycle, and went to his location. His training came in full circle then, where Dick was able to fend off the attackers, but not enough to beat Shiva. However, she was most definitely impressed, and thought it was a shame for him to have Bruce as a mentor. But Dick didn’t care. From that moment forward, he became… Robin.

He would be Batman’s sidekick for a long time, seeing a lot of things a kid shouldn’t see. Bruce took Dick off the role many times, due to Bruce’s nature of trying to protect him. But Dick would eventually create a new group with his friends to “distract” him for the time being: the Teen Titans. Working with Wally West, Donna Troy, Garth, and Roy Harper, they were able to unite and take on many threats as a team. It got to the point where he prioritized his friends more than Bruce. However, during an outing with Bruce, he was shot in the shoulder by Joker. Bruce would take Dick off of the role for the last time, since Dick was done with working with Bruce and wanted to be an independent hero. In order to do that, Bruce told him that he must drop the mantle and leave his life. Dick abided by that point, and eventually dropped life with the Titans as well because of his adjustment to not being Robin.

Not sure of what to do, he went to Superman to ask for advice. He wanted to be a vigilante, but could not be Robin. It was then where Superman told him about a man of similar struggle on Krypton. A man who was ostracized by his family, who swore to himself to fight for justice. A man only known to the public as Nightwing. When the Teen Titans got captured by Deathstroke, Dick finally sprouted his wings. No Batman. No Robin. He was… Nightwing.

**Nightwing Arc**

Nightwing has left Batman and is in Bludhaven (he may or may not come back to the Titans depending on if they want him and look for him to come back as their leader), he doesn’t resent Batman anymore but he doesn’t work with him often unless their needs intersect or he needs help or Batman calls on him. His 1st arc begins on a lead he got from one of Penguin’s goons to a drug producing site. This lead will lead to multiple leads all connecting to one main team which will be one of the 1st events tied to Gotham’s heroes and villains.