Legacies

Sharp eyes envisioned calculated moves in the span of a blink, a quick mind moved through the planned motions in a nanosecond, muscles tensed in preparation, and breathing was kept even as a steadily beating heart pumped adrenaline in place of blood. With one last self-assured nod, mind and body moved as one as quick as burgeoning experience would allow towards the crouched target, only to be met with training mats that were only slightly more forgiving than the floor.

"Damian, you are not focusing." Dick sighed as he stood beside a fuming Damian Wayne, who was currently laying facedown on the mats the two had been sparring on for the better half of a day.

"Up yours, Grayson. I'm focusing plenty." Damian bit out as he pushed himself up, directing a dark steely glare upon the man standing over him. Dick sighed again, reaching up to rub at the headache that had formed a good two hours before and had yet to give up.

"I tripped you." Dick pointed out, pointedly ignoring the growl aimed at him. "If you had simply allowed me to sidestep you that'd be one thing, you could have just bounced back and kept at it, but you let me trip you." This was becoming more trouble than it was worth.

A barely covered snicker from the cave's main computer board certainly didn't help the situation, as Damian swiftly leveled his glare on the other dark haired teen in the room.

"You've got something to say to me?" Damian demanded, looking ready to march over and take Tim on.

"Oh no, don't mind me. I'm just sitting here minding my own business." Tim waved airily, attention never leaving the numerous screens before him. Dick noticed that Tim had pulled up over a dozen profiles of linked criminals as well as differently angled maps of Bludhaven. Tim, Dick silently noted, was the only saving grace to this whole infuriating situation. If the safety of Bludhaven was to be trusted to anyone for an extended period of time, Tim was definitely Dick's first choice.

"Okay Damian, ignore him and let's continue, this time make sure you're watching me just as much as you're controlling yourself." Dick tried to get the younger boy back on track, backing up a bit and lowering back down into his sparring stance.

Damian muttered something incoherent under his breath before mirroring Dick's move and readying himself again. He was going to show those two that he had what it took to do this right.

An hour later and Dick had successfully thrown Damian to the mat a total of nine times, which he guessed was better than the twelve he'd managed to pull earlier that morning. By this time they were both more than a bit sweaty and Damian resembled a gasping fish on land, a very red and angry gasping fish.

"You're getting better-" Dick tried to head off the explosion but instead seemed to trigger it.

"Save it Grayson, I don't need your pity." Damian spat out before stalking off the mats to grab his bottle of water and plop down with his back resolutely facing Dick and a quietly chuckling Tim.

Sending Tim an exasperated look to quiet him down, Dick resolved to pop a bottle of aspirin when this was all over before walking over to Damian's hunched form. Ignoring the fact that Damian petulantly shuffled away from him when he sat down, Dick reached for his own water bottle and proceeded to take a few long gulps in silence, letting Tim's steady typing be the only sound to fill the cave.

"I don't pity you, at all." Dick finally said, voice soft but firm. "Quite the opposite, I respect you, and I know what you are capable of doing. If I thought at all that you couldn't do this, I wouldn't have chosen you to be my Robin."

"Gee, thanks." Damian's words were sarcastic, but they no longer held any venom.

"Take it as you will, but it's the truth." Dick shrugged.

Damian continued to ignore the older superhero as they rehydrated, keeping his face perfectly blank as he digested Dick's words. Even when Dick finished his water and went to help Tim with the database Damian still refused to look up, but he did allow a small satisfied smile to momentarily creep across his face.

"How's it going?" A familiar deep voice asked from behind Dick's slightly hunched form, pulling him from his thoughts and absent calculations. A slight squealing and shifting of rock signaled Bruce's approach, making Dick huff out a breath before turning around.

"Could be worse." Was all he managed to get out before a loud thump followed by a shout of triumph and strings of curses resounded throughout the cave. Reaching up a hand to firmly pinch the bridge of his nose, Dick wondered once again how he got sucked into this.

"Cheater!" Damian's voice suddenly pierced through Tim's happy crowing.

"Don't need to cheat with you because you just make it too easy." Tim smirked down at his fallen trainee, hastily dodging out of the way as Damian leapt back into the fight with an almost inhuman roar of anger. Dick absently wondered through his headache if it wouldn't have been better to have just left Tim out of Damian's training, as it seemed as if the middle child of Bruce's patchwork family did nothing but infuriate the youngest.

"Master Bruce, your tea." Alfred suddenly materialized, hand diligently holding a tray laden with four glasses and a pitcher of iced tea.

"Thank you Alfred, impeccable timing as always." Bruce smiled as he accepted a glass.

"Hey Alfie, you wouldn't happen to have some headache pills on that tray would you?" Dick asked as he stood up to help the older butler. Reaching into a coat pocket, Alfred wordlessly pulled out a small bottle before tossing it to Dick with a knowing smile. Returning the smile, Dick gratefully poured himself a glass of tea before downing two pills.

"I hate you!" The angered shout startled the three older men to the point that Alfred nearly dropped his tray and Dick was prepared to dive in between the two younger superheroes to prevent any bloodshed.

"Oh come on, just because I'm trying to help you." Tim frowned down at the body he was currently using as a cushion.

"You're not helping me, you're just taunting me and it's freaking annoying." Damian groused, rolling quickly to the side so that Tim was dislodged with a sharp exhale of breath.

"Masters Damian and Tim, would you two care for refreshment?" Alfred asked, ignoring the fact that the two boys were currently glaring daggers at each other from opposite sides of the training mat. While the stare down made Dick want to shift about or do something to lessen the tension, Alfred seemed calmly unfazed as he engaged in his own little stare down of his two youngest charges. Eventually, the two simultaneously jerked their eyes away from each other before getting up to accept Alfred's offer.

"How does he do that?" Dick stage-whispered to Bruce, watching in awe as Alfred served the two sweaty boys their drinks.

"I decided a long time ago that not questioning his methods is much easier than trying to figure them out." Bruce replied, his lips quirking up at Dick's short burst of laughter before returning to their normal position as a serious air fell upon the two. "Do you think they'll be ready soon? You look exhausted."

Dick sighed for the umpteenth time that week before taking a long sip of his tea. "I'm doing alright, it's not that bad. Damian's progressing fast, he just needs to control his temper more. Tim's doing well with the training we do at night. They'll be ready in no time." Dick's confident voice sounded as if it was trying to convince himself just as much as Bruce.

"I am sorry for putting you in this situation, Dick." Bruce rolled his chair back a bit so that he and Dick were facing each other full on. Seeing the sincerity in his mentor's eyes, Dick felt his expression soften as a smile appeared on his lips.

"Really Bruce, it's no big deal. It's not like you could have prevented the accident." Dick assured.

"Stupid drunk driver," Tim muttered from his resting place on the cave floor. "He didn't deserve to walk away unscathed. Then again, the great Batman was incapacitated by a car. I always thought you'd go down in some epic fight or something." Tim grinned cheerfully back at Bruce's glare, seemingly as immune to the glare as Dick now was.

"Well, keep up the work but don't kill yourself. If you think you're ready, I'd suggest starting tomorrow night. I imagine watching Gotham and Bludhaven are too much for one person to handle for very long, even if it is you." Bruce clapped Dick on the shoulder before wheeling his way to the elevator to take him back up to the mansion.

Watching Bruce's retreating back, Dick wondered briefly how he was supposed to take the words he'd been given but decided to dwell over them at a later time, for judging by the shouts of rage coming from behind him Tim and Damian were at it again.

"Damian?" Tim asked quietly, not wanting to cause Damian's touchy temper to flare up more than it already had. When Damian refused to look up and instead continued to stubbornly fight the cape that seemed intent on defying him, Tim decided to take pity on the boy. Pausing in his own act of suiting up, Tim walked over to kneel beside Damian and took the cape out of Damian's still ungloved hands.

"It does take some time to get the hang of suiting up fast." Tim assured gently, deft fingers sorting out the unruly cape in no time. "You'll get it." He tried for a reassuring smile but was, surprisingly, met with a downtrodden expression.

"What if I don't?" Damian asked, masked eyes not meeting Tim's. Tim felt his heart pause for a moment at seeing this unusual display of uncertain vulnerability coming from Damian. Maybe the kid was human after all.

"Hey, you're part of the family. We're fast learners." Tim gave Damian's shoulder a light shove before standing up, grinning brightly down at the glare being sent his way. "Now finish suiting up, Robin needs to look good when he takes on Gotham." Tim said airily, returning to his own changing area to search for his wayward mask.

"Looking for something?" Dick's voice interrupted Tim's search, making him look up to see the man who might as well be his older brother holding a thin piece of black fabric. Stepping forward, Dick carefully positioned the dark mask over Tim's eyes before assessing the superhero stood before him. "Well, at least everything fits."

"It seems as if all I ever do is fill your boots." Tim joked as he pulled on the last piece of the uniform he'd only ever seen Dick wear. Although he'd really only meant it as a joke, the serious look in Dick's eyes made Tim pause in pulling on his boots to look up questioningly.

"No, you don't just fill them. You make them bigger." Dick replied. Tim blinked owlishly at his brother for a few moments before his face broke out in a sincere smile.

"Thank you."

Straightening up, Tim looked at his reflection in the row of mirrors installed into the cave's wall for changing purposes. Although slightly shorter than Dick, Nightwing's skin still fit Tim's lithe body like a glove. Giving himself a once over, Tim gave his reflection a satisfied nod before turning back to face the cave.

"Do I look good or what?" Nightwing asked proudly, puffing out his chest a bit.

"Yes, 'cause Bloodhaven's criminals are going to care." The sarcasm was practically dripping from a fully geared Robin's voice as he watched Nightwing's display with unmasked disinterest.

"Well, I guess we're just about ready then." Dick intervened to hold off any further verbal sparring. It was funny how the process of training the two had caused the older superhero more stress than actually sending them out to the world's baddies did.

"Just one more thing then," Bruce came wheeling up to the suiting area, a sea of dark material draped across his lap.

At his second father's motioning, Dick kneeled down so that the two of them were at eye level with each other. Taking a moment to look his oldest son in the eye, Bruce seemed to be sizing Dick up and weighing something in his mind. Knowing the process, Dick simply kept his gaze steadily locked with Bruce's, waiting patiently until the shadows lifted from Bruce's expression to be replaced with a small smile.

"I knew this day would come eventually, I just never thought it'd come like it did." Bruce started, lifting the cape and cowl from his lap. "You've earned this, and I know you will make me proud." He carefully settled the last part of Batman's identity into place on Dick's head before rolling back a ways.

Opening his eyes to see the world as Batman for the first time, the first thing Dick saw was the pride shining evidently from Bruce's eyes. If nothing else went right during his foray as Batman, the look in Bruce's eyes at that moment would make the whole thing worth it.

Rising from the floor of the cave, Batman looked over at a waiting Nightwing and Robin. Seeing the eager looks behind both their masks, a hardly ever seen smile appeared on Batman's face and Bruce, seeing the strong men his sons had become, couldn't help but smile as well.