'Like the movie rental place?' Dick asked, but A.J. knew that he was stalling as the hands released them, as their captives decided to do what their boss had suggested. The guy behind her widened his stance, balled his fists.

Despite everything, despite how her head was spinning, she slipped the familiar knuckledusters out of a pocket, mentally thanking Teddy for putting the addition into the suit. It was something that she had always complained about. She felt the familiar coolness of the metal as she curled her fingers around them. As she forced herself to focus on the motions of a fight.

'We ready, Flamebird?' Dick asked softly, his voice barely audible over the thrum of blood in her ears, over the low grumble of threat that seemed to emanate from the wall of muscle that consisted of Blockbuster's men.

'Oh yeah,' she murmured, before aiming a punch at the chest of the guy directly in front of her. The odd attack had him glance down at where she had hit him, but she didn't find it amusing. She didn't think, merely aimed another punch for the guy's chin, smashing his teeth together and his head backwards. He stumbled, but she was already looking towards the other two. They were both advancing on Dick, their boss watching on from the darkness. None of them had guns out, which startled her slightly.

This really was just a message. The intention couldn't be to kill.

She shook the thoughts clear. Part of her longed to attack Blockbuster, to make sure that he knew there was no one who could mess with them and get away with it. She wanted to prove something; topple this little show from the top. But Dick needed her to stop him from doing anything that he might regret, something that his emotions might blind him to.

She advanced, rolling her shoulder in the hopes that she might be able to deal with the ache running down her arm. Already she could feel the bruising from the knuckledusters, feel the aches that were going to make sleep a nightmare. She heard the guy she'd punched groaning as he stumbled back towards them, probably dazed but refusing to give in.

Dick grinned at her through the gap in his attackers before jumping, using the Eskrima sticks to wind the men. In one swift movement, he grabbed onto the railing above. Despite the skill, A.J. didn't ogle at him, instead she crouched, hit the calf of one man. When he rounded to attack she hit him firmly in the solar plexus. The quick succession of attacks had him keeling over, groaning lowly.

A gunshot rung through the alleyway. Wall rained down on her. A.J. reeled around, attention on Blockbuster. He had a gun resting on his shoulder, almost lazily. In the dim light she could see the irritation burning behind his eyes as they darted between her and Dick. Weighing up who to attack for maximum injury.

Refusing to give him the opportunity, A.J. shifted behind one of his henchmen. She guessed the man wouldn't hesitate to attack his own, but it was something at least. She looked up at Dick, who had flipped himself over the railing to crouch on the fire escape.

'Any bright ideas?' she asked, shifting backwards when her human shield moved to attack. Leaning back on the wall she used it to kick out at the guy's face, just as Dick jumped onto the other. They fell in a tangle of arms and legs, but she knew Dick had it under control. Or, at least she hoped he did.

'Don't get too badly injured,' Dick suggested over the struggle.

A.J. just about resisted the urge to roll her eyes. It was only the sweeping motion of the gun that stopped her as she ducked a fist flying at her face. They needed to get out of there. Yes, they had been in far closer scraps, against worse people than these thugs with orders to only send a message, not to kill, but that had been in their own city. They were, for the moment at least, out of their depth.

It was a thought that soured her usual focus.

'But dying is an option,' sneered Blockbuster as his other henchman got shakily to his feet. 'After all, an example needs to be made of people upsetting the balance in my city.'

Dick made a sound that could have been a scoff or it could have been a murmur of hurt. Instinctively, A.J. glanced around at him. He was rolling away from the other henchman, getting prepared for a better attack. The man on the floor looked as though he was out cold, his gun scattered in pieces around him.

Her moment of distraction, however, earnt her a hit to the side of the head. She barely stopped herself from colliding with the wall, but she felt the cold roughness of it under her hands. She ducked, head slightly discombobulated, but she forced herself back into the moment of the fight.

'You two can't just swoop in here,' Blockbuster was saying, but A.J. was only half listening. She rolled to one side, the world spinning far more than she thought it should. She swept her legs out, knocking the guy in front of her off balance. He tumbled onto his companion, and it was only now that A.J. realised Dick was on the other side of her, a hand carefully on her back. Concern made his eyes seem even darker.

Sirens screeched somewhere in the distance. A.J. tried to stand but she stumbled slightly. Dick caught her arm, steadying her as he kept his attention on Blockbuster, who seemed to be swimming in her vision when she tried to look at him.

'This isn't your city,' Dick said through gritted teeth, before propelling them into the air.

A.J. wanted nothing more than to keep fighting, to make sure that they stopped the group from getting away, that they did something to properly make the city a little bit safer. But she couldn't. All she could do was hold onto Dick, her head spinning in protest as the city sped past her.

***

Dick felt sick. He'd heard the crack as A.J.'s head had collided with the wall. The moment of distraction had earned him a hard punch to the gut. But it didn't matter. All that mattered was making sure that A.J. was all right. He couldn't lose her. Not after everything they'd been through. Not like this.

He held her close as they were propelled through the air, up onto the building that not ten minutes ago had felt like a place for their new life to begin. He could hear Blockbuster calling out to them, his sneers and orders mixing in with the bustle of the city at night. None of it actually made sense though. It was just noise, competing with the buzzing in his head.

A.J. was little more than a dead weight. He could see the trickle of blood running from her hairline. It wasn't until they were on the roof, until he scooped her up by putting his arms behind her knees, that he allowed the worry to completely crash over him. His heart thundered against his chest as he carried her, looking for the safest route back to their apartment.

His mind raced. Why had they gone? They weren't ready, of course they weren't. National City had proved that to them. They needed time, time to remember how they worked together; to get used to the new suits that Teddy had made them. Going out there had been a reckless need that he should have ignored, should have persuaded A.J. to ignore.

'Hold on, Amy,' he said softly, glancing down at her briefly. 'You're gonna be OK.' He said it in little more than a whisper, a promise that he wasn't sure was for her benefit or for his, but one that he needed to voice nonetheless.

***

'I knew this was a bad idea,' complained Teddy, pacing the floor of the living room. Barbara was sitting on the sofa watching him carefully, and Dick could see that she was holding her tongue. She wanted nothing more than to tell them all that they shouldn't have done it, that they should have used this as a time to step back from the world of protecting a city and get used to this new stage in their lives. But there was no way that they would listen, least of all now, and they all knew it. 'Why did we do this?'

'Because it was the right thing to do,' muttered Dick, glancing towards Wally. The other man was tapping his leg, getting rid of the excess energy that he had. He'd met them on the roof, skidding to a blurred halt which had all of Dick's nerves on edge before reason had assured him it was all right. Wally hadn't taken A.J. from him, but he had made the climb back to the apartment that bit easier.

'Not all of this rests on your shoulders, remember that,' Barbara said softly, not quite meeting his eye.

Dick shook his head. He knew that, truly he did. But there had been trouble and they needed to do something. It was, after all, part of the reason he had chosen Blüdhaven; it was a city that didn't have the luxury of a protector, one that possibly needed it more than any other he'd seen. But this wasn't how he had expected their first foray into protecting a city to go. They weren't ready; keenness had been their downfall. The urge to do something rather than just relaxing like they should have.

A.J.'s door opened, and Tim hastily slipped out. He looked more shaken than Dick had seen him before, his expression slightly solemn. Dick's chest felt as though a weigh had been dropped on it.

'How is she?' asked Teddy, moving closer to the door. He'd have been the best person to make sure she was all right, but they all knew he was too worked up to notice anything. He'd think she was dying, think that it was all far worse than it probably was. It wouldn't have done any of them any good, least of all him.

Dick pushed himself off the back of the sofa. His muscles screamed at him, his own wounds pulling slightly with the movement, but he ignored them all. His suit was folded neatly down to his waist, a loose t-shirt protecting the bandages that Teddy had put on him from getting caught on anything.

'She'll be all right,' Tim said, his attention shifting towards Dick. There was something more that he wanted to say, something that he was worried about but didn't want to burden Teddy with. 'She just needs to rest.'

'She's got a thick head. Of course she'll be all right,' teased Wally, a slight smile curling his lips. But the joke was half-hearted, Dick could hear it in the tone of his voice. He was just as worried as the rest of them.

'Who even was it?' asked Tim, moving to sit on the sofa, his attention still on Dick.

'Some guy called Blockbuster,' he told them, his attention straying to A.J.'s door. It had all felt so right. Being out there with A.J. by his side, calling each other Nightwing and Flamebird even thought they'd not had that conversation yet. But of course they hadn't needed to, it was a given with them. It was different from when he had been with the Titans, when he'd been with Young Justice, and yet it had almost felt more natural than either of those had, in an odd kind of way.

But now it was all crumbling around him, and it was taking all his willpower not to buckle under it all.

Tim nodded, as if everything was falling into place. 'Come on,' he said, tapping Teddy on the shoulder. 'We can find everything out about this guy. Make sure that next time you're better prepared.'

Dick shot him a slightly grateful smile as the two of them hurried off. He could tell that Barbara wanted to go after them, that she wanted to help them with the research, with getting all the information together. But she couldn't. She needed to say something more to him so she hovered, concern pinching her brow ever so slightly.

'She'll be all right,' Wally said, moving over to clap Dick on the shoulder, his attention glancing briefly towards A.J.'s door. 'Give her my best.'

He was already fizzing with the speedforce when Dick assured him that he would. And then he was gone, needing to go off back to Central City, to make sure that everything was OK there. Wally didn't like situations like this. It was best for all of them if he rushed away, leaving only his thoughts of goodwill in his wake.

Dick sagged slightly against the back of the sofa once more, glancing down at his hands which had a few scrapes on them, the telltale signs of his fighting. He heard Babs moving towards him but didn't look up. 'Maybe we're just too out of practice.'

'That's not it,' she said, resting a hand gently on his back. He tensed slightly. 'You just need to get to know the city. Remember, Gotham was in your blood when you were working there.'

'But I worked everywhere with –'

'With a team of more than two,' she said, a slight chuckle behind her voice that made him look up at her. The softness of her expression startled him slightly; he'd been expecting irritation, maybe something that suggested she was telling him off. Not that. 'You were mini armies with the others.'

Dick scoffed, shaking his head ever so slightly. That wasn't quite it, but he was glad that she was there. That, at least for the moment, she was resisting the urge to say "I told you so."

However, he couldn't deny that she had a point. The two of them had gone rushing in there like it was nothing. They hadn't planned, they hadn't even had coms for the others to help them with. It had been reckless. The kind of recklessness that only came with being so close to home, with thinking that things were the same. With thoughts of Jason swirling in the backs of their minds, even if they didn't notice it.

Next time they wouldn't, though. Next time they'd be prepared. He'd make sure of it.

'You made the news!' said Tim, glancing around at Dick as he entered the apartment. He'd had to go for a jog, unable to stay inside knowing that A.J. was resting, that this was, in part, his fault. He'd wanted to check on her, but he knew Teddy was there, that he was refusing to let anyone help despite offers.

'What?' asked Dick, pulling out an earphone, glad that the lull in music had actually allowed him to hear what the boy had said. The city in the morning had given him an idea of what they were up against. It wasn't quite the darkened streets of Gotham, but there was something about it that made it seem even more dangerous. Fear underpinning everything else. There was an almost quiet to the city that made it more ominous. All the criminal activities were hiding in the shadows, rather than outlandishly announcing themselves like in Gotham.

Tim didn't say anything. Instead he flicked the news channel on again. The reel at the bottom was mentioning something about Blockbuster, about house prices falling again. But the news anchor was talking, and Dick forced his attention that way.

'It seems as though the madness of Gotham is slowly sneaking its way into our city,' she said, her eyes alight as if she were grateful for the new story, for everything that was obviously going to come with this new revelation. 'Last night two masked vigilantes were seen fighting with some of the criminals in the city. But, is this really how we want our city to protect itself? Is it –?'

'Blüdhaven's obviously never heard of gratitude before.'

A.J.'s voice snapped Dick's attention towards her door. She looked a little paler than normal, and Teddy was hovering close behind her, ready to catch her if she fell. But A.J. didn't look as though she would. The fire of determination shone behind her eyes, refusing to be ignored.

'How're you feeling?' Dick asked, shifting forwards a little. He wanted to make sure that she was all right, but he knew she wouldn't appreciate it. So he held back, balled his hands by his sides for something to do, worried that she might see them shaking.

But of course, it was A.J.. She probably already knew how he was feeling. She'd probably read it in his expression before he'd had the chance to try and mask it.

'Like we need to make sure this city doesn't destroy itself from the bottom up,' she said, moving into the living room. Despite her attempts not to show it, Dick could see the strain being there was having on her. He regretted not taking her to the hospital, but none of them could come up with a reasonable explanation for how she'd managed to get concussion – and why her knuckles were busted. 'Looks like Nightwing and Flamebird have their work cut out for them. You up for the challenge?'

Dick grinned, glad that she was still there with him, that she was going to be by his side no matter what. 'Can't wait for it,' he assured her, knowing that there was no one else he'd rather have by his side than her.