Poisoned Love

By: Freedom98 & NightHawk01

Chapter 2: X-Me-What?!

Dick let himself be suspended. Sweat dripped from his brow. "Nngh…this hurts." He thought, still hanging there. "Oh, well. No pain, no gain."He thought, trying to give himself a pep talk. He closed his eyes let the strain on his arms flood through him. Instead of rejecting it (a common mistake many made) he accepted it. He let it flow over him, let itself write itself into every sense of his being, until it was part of him. Then he began to focus on molding the pain to his use. "In…Out….In…Out…" He thought, breathing. Soon he was doing it without even feeling the pain it was natural.

"Nightwing. Report to my office, immediately." Batman's deep, rumbling voice echoed across the training room walls. Nightwing opened his eyes, visibly annoyed at having his training session interrupted.

"Coming." He replied, flipping down. The other trainees in the training room glared enviously. Even though none would admit it, they were quite jealous of the team leader. He did everything without the aid of super powers.

Nightwing grabbed a towel wiping himself free of the sweat he had acquired during practice. He jogged up the stairs that led to the room the Bat had spoke of. He came close to the door and he could hear voices that were loud in a heated argument. He listened, trying to pick out words but they were muffled by the thick door. He decided to knock, cautious.

"Damn it! Come in!" Batman's agitated voice roared. Dick winced, Bruce rarely was that enraged by anyone (apart from himself). He tentatively opened the door (not that it showed).

"Come in and close the door." Batman said quickly. Dick complied, and stood by his ex-mentor. A man stood directly across from them. Dick looked carefully at the man, taking in every detail. He wasn't overly tall but definitely not short. He was at least five inches taller than Nightwing. His hair was cut…unusually, it flipped up in the back. In a way it reminded Dick of an animal. It was so dark black that it looked slightly blue. Two elongated eye teeth peeked over snarling lips. He wore a biker's jacket.

"Do you still want him? Look at how scrawny he is." Batman said, his voice edgy and tight. Nightwing could tell the small amount of desperation in his voice and only he and Batman knew why he was so desperate. Suddenly this room felt too small.

"Definitely. I haven't seen that kind of…tricks in a long time, Bub." The man replied, smiling. Somehow his smile didn't make Nightwing feel good.

"Wait. Rewind and freeze. Want me for what?!" Nightwing asked, dreading the answer.

"You're gonna be the X-men's new trainer." The man said, abruptly. Batman gave him one of signature glares.

"X-me-what?!" Nightwing exclaimed, his mouth hanging uncharacteristically open. Batman sighed, pinching his brow feeling a headache coming on. Dealing with the X-men always gave him a headache.

"What Wolverine is trying to say is that you will be staying at the Xavier Institute for a period of time. Your duties will be to train the kids." Batman explained, gently. Though not gently enough for Nightwing.

"No! You can't do that!" Nightwing practically screeched. He felt sweat forming and it wasn't from his recent training session. "I can't…not now. I have my duties here and it wouldn't be proper to leave now." Nightwing quickly said, covering up his outburst of emotion.

"Would you let me talk to Nightwing for a few moments in private, Wolverine?" Batman asked. Wolverine narrowed his eyes but nodded stepping out of the room leaving Nigthwing and Batman, mentor and protégé, father and son alone.

Nightwing felt like a small boy once again. Completely helpless watching his parents fall to their deaths and not able to do anything. "You can't…please. You took away Robin from me and now you're sending me away. I can't do it, please…Dad." He whispered staring down at the carpet. He could feel tears pricking his eyes; no he wouldn't let them fall.

"I don't want this. If I could I would stop this but it's out of my hands. I…the Justice League needs the X-Men's support and if they don't get the trainer I promised they will back out with their support and sue us. We can't afford that at this time. After what happened with Poison Ivy… we need all the help we can get. It also is a good way to get you out of Poison Ivy and her gang's radar." Batman admonished. Even to him his words sounded hollow.

"I need to stay here, I need the medication. I need to be monitored and crap like that. Please, now is not the time to leave Mount Justice!" Nightwing said, beginning to feel desperate.

"Richard, I need you to do this." Batman said, exasperated. Nightwing knew he was completely serious because he used his full name. He hung his head once more. "Look at me." Batman demanded, gently cupping his chin with his black gloved hand. He pulled his head up to see tears in the light blue eyes.

"If I could I would change this, but in some ways it will be to protect you. Please, you must trust me. I promise nothing will happen to you." Batman promised. Nightwing stared at his mentor, his father. His heart was undecided, part of him wanted to refuse but the other wanted to trust his father.

"I'll go, but only because you promised." Nigthwing replied, softly, barely above a whisper. Batman pulled him into a hug, squeezing him fiercely. Nightwing clung to his father and for once he knew that he was truly, completely loved by the Dark Knight. There was no doubt in his heart as he was embraced by him. He wasn't Batman or the Dark Knight when he hugged Bruce, he was his Father.

"Wolverine!" Nightwing called. The door opened and Wolverine sauntered in. "I agree." He turned to the mutant. His gaze was as steely as Batman's beside him. "I'll be in my quarters, meet me in ten." A smirk formed on Wolverine.

"Trust me, I'll be there." Wolverine replied, his eyes alight with delight.

a/n: Here's the next chapter! I wrote most of this one (hee hee just had to say that...) it's late right now so I'm just gonna say hey and fall asleep on my key board...toodaloo (Freedom98)