Chapter Text
Dick
Dick wakes up suddenly to the distinct ticking of a bomb timer, a sound he is far too familiar with. He feels a pit of dread in the bottom of his stomach, as he hastily gets out of bed and pulls on his Nightwing suit. He knows who is behind this of course Roland Desmond, or "Blockbuster" has been targeting anyone related to Dick's personal life ever since he discovered Nightwing's identity. He dreads to imagine who will be next.
Putting his anger aside for the moment he grabs his escrima sticks and rushes out the door of his apartment. Nightwing knocks on every door he runs past and ushers out everyone he can, directing them to the closest exits. After leading them out, Nightwing hurries back into the building and looks for anyone left. He spots an elderly woman and hauls her into his arms. The ticks from the timer are coming quicker now, knowing there's not much time to spare, Nightwing picks up the pace and sprints out of the building.
He leaves the woman a safe distance from the building along with the other trembling residents. Nightwing assumes from the size of the crowd there are still people in the building, but he doubts he has time to go back in before it explodes. Instead he desperately searches for the bomb in the hope he'll be able to disable it. However he is interrupted by a loud boom as the bomb explodes and the building bursts into flames.
Dick stares at the burning apartments filled with hopelessness. He's so tired, tired of losing anyone he associates with, tired of not being able to save everyone, tired of the bounty on his head, tired of blockbuster looming over him. Blockbuster's never going to stop, Dick realises, and Dick doesn't know how to stop him, but he knows he can't let anyone else get hurt because of him, because Desmond decided Nightwing was responsible for his mother's death. The sense of depressing resignation that hangs over him feels the same as what he felt the night Catalina shot Blockbuster. When Dick stood aside and let her shoot him. Dick steers his thoughts away from that night he can't let himself think about that incident and what happened after, he can't afford to have a breakdown right now. Dick is still weighed down by guilt over the fact he was willing to stand aside and let a man be killed, but equally sometimes he wishes Blockbuster hadn’t turned out to be bullet resistant. That brief moment before the shock overtook him when Blockbuster hit the floor and Dick thought he was dead, all Dick felt was relief, and that scared him.
As Dick watches his home burn a thought interrupts his memories. This is an opportunity, Dick Grayson had lived in that apartment building and Nightwing had been saving residents, then running back towards the fire and not resurfacing. Blockbuster isn't interested in exposing Nightwing's identity, only using it to torment him. Nightwing dies and that is mute.
So Dick fakes his death, Dick Grayson died in his apartment, he couldn’t get out in time before it blew up and Nightwing had rushed back in to get more people out and got caught in the blast. The explosion is convenient in a way, the fire would have burned any bodies, which explains his lack of corpse. Dick hates to do this to the people he loves, but at least they will be safe from Blockbuster and that's what's important. It will be worth it, it has to be.
Dick sneaks away from the scene, he wants to check on the residents he rescued but that would blow his cover so he refrains. He grapples to the rooftop a few streets over and grabs a rucksack of essentials he padlocked to the edge of the rooftop in case he got stuck out on patrol. Thankful for the deserted rooftop, Dick quickly changes out of the Nightwing suit into a t shirt, trousers and a hoodie from his backpack, then stuffs the Nightwing suit in the backpack.
Dick doesn't know how long the news of his "death" will take to spread, but he's sure he doesn't have much time until Bruce and the Justice League catch wind of it. Then Clark will listen for his heartbeat and Dick can't let that lead to him. He's hit with another pang of guilt at that thought, he hates to do this to his vigilante family, but he needs them safe. Luckily, Dick knows a magician who won't rat him out to the JL and owes him a favour. He rummages through his rucksack and pulls out a burner phone, dialling a number that picks up immediately.
"Grayson" Constantine huffs, but Dick can hear the smirk in his voice, "Calling in that favour?"
"Actually yes" Dick responds, he's long past being shocked John knows it's him from a burner. When Dick asked the man just said "magic" and left it at that.
"Where are you?" Constantine asks, voice losing it's teasing edge as he hears the urgency and exhaustion coming from Dick.
Dick rattles off his address, and Constantine assures him he'll be there soon, knowing people who can teleport is useful Dick muses.
A moment later John appears on the roof.
"So what's this about luv?" he asks.
"I need a way to mask the sound of my heartbeat, hide it from Superman" Dick says.
"I can do that" John replies, pulling a small chain out of his bag and murmuring over it. "There you go" he says, handing the bracelet to Dick, "That will mask your heartbeat while you're wearing it, and will appear invisible to anyone other than you and me."
"Thank you" Dick replies gratefully, slipping the bracelet on his wrist.
"So... why exactly are you hiding from Superman" John enquires.
Dick sighs, John has repaid his debt, he's just asking out of curiosity. He'll probably let it go if Dick protests, but Dick finds himself wanting to tell someone. So he does, recounts the whole tale in fact, to John on a dingy Bludhaven rooftop. Dick wasn’t intending to tell John so much but he's realising how much he had bottled up, how long it's been since he opened up to someone like this. Dick hasn't seen his friends or family much recently, that was by design, he didn’t want Blockbuster targeting them, but he misses them and finds himself wishing he'd spent more time with them lately. Dick ignores the thought that he might never see them again. He has to believe that this is temporary, that he'll find a way to lock up Blockbuster and he'll be able to return. But even if he has to stay "dead" forever Dick would rather those he loves be safe than in his life.
Constantine gives him a sympathetic look as he finishes his story. "I'd offer to take you to the house of mystery, but if they think you're dead, I assume I'll be getting some caped guests pretty soon. Want me to teleport you anywhere?" Dick considers that, pleasantly surprised that John is still willing to help. It would be best to lie low for a while let the investigation into his death run its course, assuage any suspicions. Dick doesn't want to stay away for too long, knows he'll want to discretely check on his loved ones, but he understands it's necessary.
"I have a safe house in Germany under the name Richard Brown" Dick says and rattles off the address "I'll lay low there for a while."
"Okay luv", John replies, "You know I'm not one for charity but you've been dealt a bad hand here and ended up in a shit situation, and it sounds like I'm the only one who knows. Just call me if you need anything."
"Thanks John" Dick says, his voice sounding suspiciously watery. He's had particularly rough few days, and this unexpected kindness means a lot to him.