Title: Dusk
Characters: Dick Grayson, Alfred Pennyworth, Damian Wayne, Barbara Gordon, Jason Todd, Cassandra Cain, Stephanie Brown, Tim Drake
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Mention a murder case.
Summary: Being the big brother of a family has never been easy. But at least, he still has a family.
Word Count: 2563
Notes: Again, great great thanks to Esther-Channah's amazing beta work. Thanks for tolerating my full-of-flaw fic and help me make it better! The mention Dick and Tim knocking Jason out to treat his wound is from a wonderful fanfic in this site, but pitily I lost its link on the history record of my computer. So, if anyone know that fic, tell me.

It was six pm in Gotham, and the storm had ended. Late afternoon sunlight pierced through thick clouds, driving them apart, painting golden and rosy hues on edges of slate gray. The air out side smelled crisp and clean. Every water droplet on the penthouse's window glittered like crystal. Dick was looking at the Gotham skyline absentmindedly, turning back every now and then to type in a chat window.

[eggplant]: I know, I know. Just call me if you need backup. You know I'm always on. :D

[ManInBlack]: You have a presentation tomorrow. I'm sure you won't want be bleary-eyed.

[eggplant]: LOL . You have a point. How's the little one doing?

[ManInBlack]: Predictably.

[eggplant]: LMAO. See you. Give him my regards. :D

The purple icon dimmed. Dick opened another window to send Tim a message. He wasn't sure if Tim would answer it, though. His younger brother had gone into another round of brooding after Clark and Booster had gone through history for Bruce, but at least he hadn't turned down his suggestion about attending Gotham U. There was still time for them to run into each other on patrol tonight. A face-to-face talk would be more effective.

A few seconds later, another window popped up and Oracle's icon flashed a vibrant yellow. Dick smiled as he picked up the earphone and mike.

Information started coming in: recent League events, new cases in town and several other important matters were scrolling past as Oracle's voice came over the comm-link.

"I've got something for you, tonight. One of the cameras in the depot caught sight of this guy just a few hours ago. His face matched one of the ones I've got on file." Barbara's voice was calm and clear, businesslike.

Dick clicked open the file and frowned. The man on the screen before him was an average guy, the type that one might pass without noticing on the street. The only extraordinary thing about him was that he was a killer. Thanks to a murder he'd committed, his face had been added to a wanted list. He'd killed a kid in cold blood and in broad daylight, then vanished without a trace. He had to have cold-bloodedly planned the whole killing process, and his escape like it was a game to him-it was bad, it was more than disturbing. And now, here he was, walking about freely as though he hadn't a care in the world.

"I've tagged him. Every camera in town will ping me whenever he comes in sight."

"I'll stop him." Dick studied the trace pattern carefully, lowering his tone to Batman-mode.

"Tonight. Gotham can't afford to have him running." The voice on the other end was still even, but full of fury and disgust.

"Yes, tonight." said Batman.

A faint sigh came through the earphone. Dick was about to say something when Barbara spoke again.

"How's Scarlet?"

"Well, she turned down my offer of school and a chance to start fresh," he grimaced, responding in his own lighter tone, once more.

"And?"

"She was much more polite than Jason." He heard Barbara chuckle. "Help me keep an eye on her."

"I still say it's a risky move, luring Jason to cooperate."

"Still worth a try."

He had already learned that telling Jason to stop was like building a sand castle one grain at a time: not very easy, and not very practical. He needed to try other ways.

"If situation goes south, I have a couple of backup plans."

"How many?" Oracle asked dryly.

"Plenty! ...OK, at least five. I am the goddamn Batman now, after all," Dick laughed. "Wednesday? Lunch or dinner?"

"What?" Barbara sounded surprised.

"Dorsia? Or any other restaurant you like. "

"Richard John Grayson, do you hate me thatmuch? You really want to see me being strangled by all those billionaire fangirls?" Barbara complained halfheartedly.

"Heir of a billionaire," corrected Dick happily.

"As long as you make it worth the risk, then. I'll expect beautiful flower." teased Barbara. Her laughter brightened his mood.

They chatted some more, and then cut the link. Dick put down the headphones and looked up. Alfred was already setting the table. Patrol would be starting earlier than usual, tonight.

"Do you think lilies would be good enough, Alfred?" he asked.

A lot of things had happened between them, and they still had some issues that they were working on. But their relationship seemed to be heading into engagement ring territory, slowly but surely. He hoped he could keep things moving in that direction.

"Strelitzia would do in my estimation, sir." suggested Alfred helpfully.

He pondered that for a moment, and then nodded, smiling. With a grateful sigh, he asked, Alfred, how would we cope if you ever left?"

The old butler gave no answer but smile, and he continued preparing dinner. The smell of roasting beef pervaded the room.

Damian was clearly unhappy when he came inside for supper. His steps were a bit heavier, his muscles slightly tenser than usual, and his expression irritated. The boy ate angrily without saying a word.

"Who's the big fish tonight?" Damian finally demanded just before dessert, glaring at Dick.

"A scumbag," Dick answered. Alfred raised an eyebrow in disapproval. "He kills kids."

"Some piece of work," the boy sneered contemptuously. "And may I again state that your deciding that I stay home tonight is still absolute nonsense."

"It's a tradition. Robin doesn't patrol on schoolnights." He shrugged off Damian's jibe with ease.

Damian tutted at that. "Grayson, the whole school thing makes no sense. I was raised by the League of Assassins. Maintaining a secret identity is easy as pie for me. I don't need to prove it."

It had taken the boy almost the whole meal to mention the League again. He was improving, Dick noted with some amusement.

"I'm sure you know your stuff. But, much like your slang, if you don't get a chance to apply it, you'll never really master it. You need to learn how to relate to kids your own age, too. Besides, this was Bruce's idea in the first place."

Bruce had always taken care of this stuff. It was an obligation Dick had never planned to take up this early.

The boy muttered darkly in Arabic and finished his apple pie.

"Try not to bully those bullies. I'm sure you can find a better way to deal with problems like that; something a little more subtle… and cleaner." Dick winked at him with a mischievous smile.

Damian snorted in frustration and stormed off to the library, slamming the door shut behind him.

Tantrum. Dick smiled inwardly. Then he checked his cell phone. Predictably, Tim hadn't responded. He sighed.

"I see your relationship with the young master is improving, sir." Alfred looked in the direction that the loud bang had sounded from as he returned from the kitchen.

"I hope so." Dick shook his head helplessly and smiled. "I only hope the strategy works. I don't think Bruce would be happy hearing Damian was bullying someone twice his size. Nor am I."

"If I may say so, sir, you might have a tad some more faith in Master Damian,"Alfred said quietly, as he poured out coffee for Dick, and then took a cup for himself.

Dick nodded slowly and sighed, enjoying the hot dark liquid.

"And you are doing quite well, sir,"Alfred reassured him.

"I hope so,"Dick mumbled. But he gave a small smile to the old butler. Alfred studied him carefully, then took a long sip of coffee. The smile on the old butler's face passed swiftly, but Dick caught it.

After the coffee, Dick went downstairs to make his final preparations before going out on patrol. Damian had been maintaining the supply lockers well—all gadgets and other equipment had been neat and organized.

Damian's enthusiasm gave Dick a rush of pride. His youngest brother was difficult, true, but at the same time he was treating the Robin mantle with a kind of extreme seriousness that Dick sometimes found worrisome.

He made everything ready and went back upstairs one more time.

Damian was reading a book in the library. When he noticed his mentor, the boy bolted up, alarmed, and asked, "What now?"

"Go to bed before ten and don't even think about sneaking out,"said Dick."Or I will tell Bruce when he comes back. Big brother is watching you. Remember that."

For a moment, Damian looked puzzled. The next moment, he looked like he was about to throw the book at Dick. Maybe it was just the costume that reminded him not to do so.

Not everyone shared Dick's brand of humor. He'd known this for years. But somehow, his jokes seemed to have a magical effect on Damian, helping the small boy to unleash some of his angst. Besides, his little brother was always fun to tease.

Damian scowled at him, searching his vocabulary for an angry retort. Finally, he declared in frustration,"You're hopeless, Grayson."

The sky was dimming when the Batmobile sped down the streets. The last streaks of vivid color were burning on the horizon. Cars on the highway were like fireflies crawling on a vine. The daytime white noise of the city slowly faded away, turning into a rhythm of hiss and murmur and screech. Gotham was starting her night song.

Oracle's voice came over his comm-link with an update. "She went out two minutes ago. Tim left even earlier. I'll let them know the plan."

"Kids," Dick muttered, watching as the two trace patterns twined,

"Remind me to give Steph a day off at a spa for her birthday."

Tim still hadn't responded to his earlier message. Dick would have to have a talk with him about that.

He hid the mobile and moved onto a terrace. A few seconds later, he caught a glimpse of crimson red as a new figure landed in another corner.

"You two are really setting a new record for nosiness,"chided Jason.

Dick regarded his brother carefully. No gun, but Jason had brought his trademark knives. He was still wearing the skintight costume, which revealed the shape of a bandage beneath the fabric. Dick breathed a sigh of relief when he realized that the bandage had to have been changed after their last encounter. Not by Jason himself, though, as Dick could recognize his unique way of tying bandage knots.

Jason's body tensed, as another dark figure landed on the terrace and retreated silently into the shadows by a gargoyle. Dick gave her a nod of greeting. He heard Oracle sighed in relief at the moment Cass showed up.

After a whole week of freaking chaos, they'd lost track of Jason and Cass, one of whom had been resurrected from the dead, the other had been missing for quite a while. The thought of them getting into the Black Lantern rings trouble had horrified both Dick and Barbara.

Three days later, they'd managed to find Scarlet, Red Hood's former sidekick. But it had taken Dick more than a week, with Oracle hacking every spy satellite she could locate, to find the other two.

Dick recalled last week, when they'd finally caught up with Jason. He'd taken Tim along to make sure they'd take him down successfully when they invaded his safehouse. Then they could safely to change the too-old bandages, which covered their brother's body. Both Dick and Tim had been shocked to see the numerous scars and bruises that had been revealed once they'd gotten him undressed.

"Good to see you safe and sound, now,"Dick greeted him.

"Cut it out!" Jason snapped. "I'm here just to return some stupid favor. Make it quick."

The dark shadow by the gargoyle shook a bit, as though she was chuckling. The awkwardness of Red Hood's body language became even more obvious to Dick.

"Easy, Jay. You're not fully recovered, yet,"Dick said reasonably, "Besides, I've checked up on Scarlet and made sure she stayed out of trouble. So you owe me two, now. I'm calling one in: leave this to Cass."

A stream of curses spewed forth from under the hood.

"Don't bother calling on me if you don't even trust me, Bats. Besides," mocked Jason in the raspy tone he'd adopted for the Red Hood persona, "that scumbag deserves Hell. He killed a child before his mother's eyes."

Dick listened as he slid into full Batman-mode. Jason hadn't updated his twitter for quite a while, but Dick knew that the mother in question had sent a message to Jason's account. Jason had come in response to the cry, rather than to talk to him.

"I still think that murderer deserve a decent trial, not just a summary execution,"he pointed out calmly.

"I don't think they need to hear any stupid bullshit about the killer's mental health,"Red Hood retorted.

"Then, just do me one favor, tonight. Don't kill anyone." he added quickly. "Good to talk to you again, Jason."

Red Hood snorted, still cursing, but jeering no more as the dark figure melted gracefully into the shadows once more.

Dick paused for a second, then said calmly, "Bruce is alive. Tim found the proof. Clark and Booster had already gone searching for him."

There was a sudden hush as Jason and Cass turned and stared at him. His comm-link beeped twice. Batman started to explain the night's game plan to Batgirl and Red Robin.

He soon finished the rundown. As he finished talking, he noticed that Jason had turned back to exchange a few words with Cass.

"Jason,"Dick said mischievously, "change your costume. The helmet looks like..." he paused for a second, "a vibrator. And quit smoking. Your clothes reek. It's bad for your health and worse if you're trying to get a girl to look at you"

Jason froze. Dick could almost feel the burning glare under the hood. His brother looked like he was going to punch his face.

"You're hopeless, Grayson,"Jason snarled as the wind carried away the former Batgirl's joyous laughter.

"Time to get moving, people," Batman said in a low tone. Jason swooped away cursing. Cass stepped out of the shadows, then slipped into the night as Oracle relayed some new information.

The sky was getting darker now. Stars appeared in the clear sky. Street lights in Gotham always seemed too low for so many tall buildings packed tightly together pointing up at the sky. It was a city that should only have existed in faerie, with a dawn as bright as Metropolis, the city of hope and of the future, but with dark nights that nourished the craziest kinds of insanity and justice.

Dick had been living in this city longer than he had any other place in the world. He'd seen her darkness swallow Bruce, seen her shadows reach out to consume anyone fool enough to try to shine a light on them. He'd placed his mark on her, first as Robin, then Nightwing and now as Batman. She'd marked him in return, adding scars on his body and strength to his heart.

A smile formed on Batman's lips as a gust of wind caught his cape. He walked to the edge of terrace. Thirty stories below, street lights stretched out in all directions, like a reverse starry sky beneath his feet.

He took a deep breath, leaped and embraced the abyss of darkness and light.