AN. LOOK at this picture of Nightwing I found in a comic yesterday. LOOK at it. He literally could not be more perfect.

PS. This is how he tells Barbara he's alive when she thinks he's dead. That is beautiful.

Dick could honestly say he loved his life right now. During the day, he fought street criminals and took them down as a cop. And during the night, he saved the city as Nightwing alongside an amazing, badass girl.

He and Seabird used her apartment as a base of operations, moving some of his supplies and weapons into her secret basement. As it turns out, she had something very similar to the Batcave, only smaller. She had shown it to him the first night they went out as partners. She even had a place to spar and train, which they did very often. He taught her some of the things Batman taught him and, in return, she taught him some moves from her mysterious fighting style.

"Damn, who trained you?" he managed, dodging some of her blows.

"The heroes of the old, what about you?" she teased, feinting left and turning back for a kick.

"Batman," he said, trying not to sound bitter.

He realized it didn't work when she paused. He tried to take advantage of it, but she regained her senses and quickly grabbed his outstretched arm and flipped him over.

"I win," she said in a sing-song voice.

"Good for you," he groaned, not really minding losing to her.

She pulled him up and he shook out his sore limbs.

"Now what about Batman?" she asked, serious, "Are you not on good terms with him?"

Nightwing sighed. "I don't know. Sometimes it feels like he doesn't trust me and he's always shutting me out. I still look at him as my mentor but I get the feeling that he looks at me like a sidekick."

Seabird looked at him, a sad smile on her face. "I get the feeling he appreciates you but doesn't know how to show it."

Dick knew that she barely knew Batman, but the thought still helped.

"What about you, did you have a mentor?"

Seabird looked like she was a million miles away.

"I did, once. He was like a father to me."

"What happened?" he urged.

"Nothing, I guess. We were still on good terms when I left, but I haven't seen him in a very long time. If I went back, it would just bring up a lot of memories," she said.

"Good or bad?" he asked.

"Both," she sighed, looking at him now.

"I wish we didn't have to have secret identities right now," he admitted. I want to see your face.

Seabird nodded, then looked thoughtful.

"Maybe, I don't.."

"What do you mean?" Dick asked, inhaling sharply.

"Well, I don't think it would do any harm if I showed you my face, would it?" she said, to which he had no reply because he wanted to agree with her.

She slowly reached up, placing her fingers at the sides of her mask. She closed her eyes and slowly started to peel it off.

Dick's breath caught in his throat when he saw her entire face. She was beautiful. Then she opened her eyes and that's when he really stopped breathing.

They were an astounding sea-green, a color he had never seen before in a person. If he took all the oceans and combined their hues, he wouldn't even come close to describing them. They were so surreal, he would have thought them to be fake, if not for the countless emotions swirling in them. He could stare into them for hours.

He unconsciously took a step closer and Percy fidgeted nervously under his intense gaze.

"Wow," he breathed.

Seabird immediately blushed a heavy red and rubbed the back of her neck but didn't break his gaze. She smiled softly at him and Dick registered all the tiny details he couldn't notice before. How her eyes lit up with the smile and crinkled at the edges. How she looked at him like he was the only person in the world.

Finally, he snapped back to reality.

"You know, I would -- if I could -- show you what I -- who I-" he tried to tell her but she cut him off.

"It's fine, Nightwing. I get it. You have a family to protect; Batman, Robin, all the others, they count on you. You can't give away their secret. You shouldn't," she told him firmly, "Not until you have their permission. Not until you trust me with not only your life but theirs as well."

Dick sighed in relief. He thought she would be mad he wouldn't reveal his secret when she had just reveal hers.

She laughed. "What? Did you think I was going to force you into giving me your secret identity?"

He shrugged sheepishly. "I thought you'd be mad, or hate me."

"Hate you? Never," she snorted to which Dick's heart swelled.

"Glad to hear it," he replied. Then he realized something. "I never even got your name."

"Persephone Jackson, but call me Percy," she said.

"Percy," he repeated, testing it out. It suited her. Simple, but strong. "Weren't you accused of terrorism? A couple of years ago?"

Percy buried her face in her hands groaning. "Oh, don't remind me. That was a mess. And no, I am not a terrorist. Nor did I blow up the St. Louis Arch."

Dick laughed at her and she picked up a sweaty towel from their time training to throw at him. It hit him dead center on the forehead, sliding down slowly. He smirked evilly.

"Oh, you're gonna pay for that."

He lunged at her unexpectedly and tackled her to the ground. She kneed him in the stomach, getting up when he released his hold. The continued to play fight each other for another minute or two before he had her pinned to the ground again, his face inches from hers.

"What're you going to do now?" he taunted playfully.

Percy grinned.

"This."

She suddenly kissed him and Dick, in his initial shock, loosened his hold which allowed her to flip him over, so he was the one pinned down.

"I win again," she said smugly.

She got up, and like before, held out a hand to pull up Nightwing.

Dick still looked at her, shocked. Percy had just kissed him. Like it was no big deal. There was no way she was getting away with this.

He took the hand, and when she pulled him up, he used the momentum to crash his lips into hers. She immediately responded as he wrapped his arm around her to pull her closer. Her hands were flat against his chest and she tilted her head to deepen the kiss. It was fierce and passionate, as they released all the pent up emotions they had been suppressing. Percy slid a hand into the bottom of his shirt and he moaned, burying his fingers into her soft hair.

They finally broke apart to breathe and stared at each other.

"Finally," Percy expressed, still stroking the scars she felt on his chest.

She could tell he was raising an eyebrow underneath his mask.

"What," she asked innocently, "I may or may not have wanted to do that for quite some time now."

"Good, because so have I," he said with a smirk that she wiped off his face with another kiss more passionate than the first.

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It was about 2 weeks later when Dick slept over at her apartment again. He climbed through her window, tired from a night of solo patrolling. Percy had had an important meeting with some people from work late at night. She barely jumped when he entered as if she was expecting him to come.

"I missed you," he explained while shrugging.

Percy shook her head in amusement and got him a shirt and a pair of shorts. He frowned before Percy laughed and pecked him on the lips.

"Relax, a cousin slept over a while ago. Now go change," she said, urging him towards the bathroom door. He emerged a minute later, his hair drooping into the whites of his mask. He started towards the couch but Percy bit her lip and called him back.

"If you want," she said, nervously, "you can sleep here." She patted the bed space next to her.

Nightwing widened his eyes a little before creasing his eyebrows. "Are you sure?"

"Positive," she affirmed.

He brightened and climbed onto the mattress and under the blanket. He slipped around Percy so that her head was comfortably buried into his side. He was about to drift off to sleep when he noticed something.

"What's that?" he asked her and she untangled herself from him.

"What's what?" she asked in concern.

"That." He pointed to a slight discoloration on her back, peeking out from behind her shirt.

She noticed what he was referring to and sighed. "My collection." He knew what she was talking about and an unspoken question passed between them.

Can I see them?

She closed her eyes and slipped off her shirt. He inhaled sharply.

There were whip marks and a couple slashes stretching across her back. Stab wounds made with clean knives and ones made with jagged edges. Some were old, very very old but others looked they had been made recently, within the last 2 years or less. He also saw a G on the upper right side, stretching forward.

"My, uh, stepfather was not a very nice guy as you can see," she tried to joke, noticing how Nightwing had completely tensed up behind her.

He ran his finger over the G, his stomach twisting. She must have known what he was tracing because she explained.

"That was when he thought I had tried to run away, which was silly because I'd never leave my mom there alone with him. Anyways, he marked me with that, so I knew I belonged there, with him."

Dick moved his hand over to one of the jagged cuts.

"That one I got because I tried to tell him to get his own beer instead of making my mom get it for him. He waited until night came and then stabbed me with his broken bottle."

His fingers found a long slash.

"That, um," she paused regaining her confidence, "He was trying to hurt my mom and I tried to defend her with a kitchen knife. He pulled it out of my hands and...Yeah. He killed my mom that night."

She sniffled and took a deep breath before turning around, trying to get Nightwing to look at her.

"What's his name?" He said lowly.

"Gabe. Gabe Ugliano."

He started to get up, but she grabbed his arm and pulled him down.

"Where are you going?" She asked in confusion.

"I'm gonna find him and make him wish he was never born," he growled trying to get up again. Percy used all her strength to pull him back.

"Hey! Hey, look at me," she said softly. Her eyes found his and she put her hand to his cheek. "You are not going to do anything."

"What? Why not?" He asked, incredulously.

"Because, I left him a long time ago. I left that part of me a long time ago. I don't know where he is now, and I don't care. I've moved on and I'm okay now," she explained, trying to make him see her view, "Please."

Finally, Dick gave in. She leaned forward and kissed him softly.

"Thank you."

"If I ever see him, though..." he grumbled. Then he frowned. "But what about those newer scars? How did you get those?"

Percy took a deep breath before answering.

"Hell."

His mind was swarming with answers and possibilities and she noticed.

"Forget about it, 'Wing. Even that's in the past now," Percy said comfortingly, "Now how about we go to sleep?"

"Alright," he grudgingly agreed before she slipped her shirt back on and they got into the same position as before.

"Goodnight."

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Another week later, he stepped into her apartment through the window wearing civvies and a mask. He heard the shower running so he sat on her bed until she was done. He heard the water being turned off and Percy came out wearing only a towel.

Dick opened his mouth to speak when he realized something.

She was completely dry. Dry, as in there was no moisture on her skin, it wasn't even damp. Her hair looked like it always did, in dark waves down her back; not a single drop of water on it.

She noticed him there, his mouth parted in surprise and confusion, and sighed.

"I guess I should probably explain."

She walked into her closet, came out wearing normal clothes, and sat down beside him.

"How are you dry?" he blurted out.

"Short explanation? I have powers," she replied, raising her hand to show him. She condensed water from the air and twisted it around to form a small superhero mask. She let it evaporate. He was looking at her in surprise.

"Why don't you ever use them?"

Percy shrugged. "I can fight without them so I figured having a couple tricks up my sleeve can't hurt if I'm up against a powerful villain."

Dick nodded in understanding. "Long explanation?" he asked, joking but Percy apparently wasn't.

"You know about the Greek Gods and Goddesses and Mythology and all that, right?" to which he nodded. Wonder Woman was the daughter of Zeus and they had fought Ares before, plus other Amazons and the witch, Circe. "Well, I'm a daughter of Poseidon."

Dick blinked. "Yeah, why not?"

"I'm serious," she punched his shoulder, but smiled nevertheless, "World War II was basically a war between the children of Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades. After that, they swore never to have children again, not wanting to risk another war. But A millennia of having affairs does not go away that easily. Zeus had two kids, one in his Roman form and one in his Greek form. My dad, Poseidon had me. Then there was this whole thing about killing us to prevent this terrible prophecy about Kronos rising and then later, Gaia rising. It was just this really big mess."

"Wow, ok," Dick said, his head swimming with questions.

Percy then told him about her adventures in the Second Titan War and the Second Giant War.

"Before, you said that you got those scars in hell... Did that have have anything to do with this?" He asked.

Percy smiled softly. Nothing got past Nightwing.

"When we were trying to stop Gaia, I fell into Tartarus which is the Greek-"

"Hell," Dick finished for her, understanding dawning on his face. He wrapped her in a powerful hug. He couldn't begin to imagine what it was like in there. He had heard stories about it from Diana, and it seemed terrifying. She even shuddered thinking about it and told him that no one has ever survived the pit.

But Percy did.

"I wasn't the only one," she began, "I had a cousin Nico, son of Hades, who also went down there and survived. He didn't survive the battle afterwards, though. Neither did his sister, Hazel."

He understood now. She had lost so many of her family members over the course of a few horrific years. She had been through war and battle and come out of it, still as strong as ever.

"You're amazing," he whispered into her ear before kissing her. She pulled back and laid her head on his chest.

"Thank you."

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Blockbuster stood up in front of his audience.

"We're all here because of one common enemy. Nightwing. He has been a thorn in the side of each one us, and I have called you all here to take him down. Obviously, simply killing him isn't an option. No, death is the easy way out. He has to feel pain for all that he's done. And torturing him isn't the way, either. No, he has to see people he cares about suffer. That's how we break him. And this is the first target."

He pointed to a picture of a masked girl, in black and green, standing on a rooftop smiling at Nightwing.

"Now are we clear?"

He looked into the smirking faces of Deathstroke and Saiko.

"Crystal."

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AN. please comment on good or bad or ok. Thank you!

, Saiko is a real villain btw. He is a childhood friend from Dick's circus days. Dick was in line to become an assassin for the Court of Owls, but because he was adopted by Bruce, they had to choose the next best athlete who was Raymond, or Saiko. However, because Raymond was not as good as Dick was, The Court left him to die. Obviously, he didn't and blamed Dick for it.

, I am not the best at writing super dramatic scenes and storylines because I have this issue where there has to be a happy ending and I don't like character deaths either. So, just warning you, if you are looking for a gigantic, torturous struggle between Dick and the villains, you will be kind of disappointed and for that, I am super sorry.

, thank you for the idea about the Gabe scene!

, I will be leaving to go out of the country at the end of the week, so I might be able to write one more chapter before I go. I promise I'll try my best. If not, I won't be updating until August. I am so sorry to you guys who like this book.

And yeah, that's it. Thanks!