August 16, 0033h

	"Now young man -"
	Spud steeled himself for the inevitable lecture, scowling and 
pointedly refusing to meet Dick's eyes.  Except Dick wasn't saying 
anything.  Spud risked a look up, confused.
	Nightwing wasn't looking at him.  Instead, he appeared to be 
scanning the horizon, his body in an attitude of readiness.  Before Spud 
could ask, a gauntleted hand was clamped on his shoulder, steering him 
towards the windbreak for the building's rooftop access door.
	Once behind the small brick shelter, Nightwing dropped to one knee 
in front of Spud.  He put a finger to his lips and gave the deeply 
shadowed corner a significant look.  His message was clear.  Stay here. 
Hide.  Seeing that Spud understood, Nightwing nodded once and slipped 
back into the night.
	Spud counted to thirty before he heard a sound, a faint metal 
hiss.  It was quickly followed by the clash of weapons.
	"Ah, Vigilante," a soft voice said.  "You are as quick as I have 
been told.  I had thought the others exaggerated."
	Spud closed his eyes, listening hard.
	"Others."  It wasn't a question.
	A soft chuckle.  "Don't worry, Vigilante.  I would not sully my 
hunt by inviting the usual Desmond rabble."
	"You might wish you had."
	Sounds of a scuffle, silent but for an occasional crack or clang 
of a deflected weapon.  Spud knew the sounds of fighting from listening 
to Scorch with the gang, hiding much as he was now.  In the gang fights, 
though, someone had usually landed a punch long before this point. 
	He heard them break off again, from their voices back to circling.
	"You have some of Cain in you, Vigilante.  You were trained by one 
of his pupils.  I wonder -"
	A whistle of steel through empty air, then in a slightly louder 
voice: "Oh, and a hint of Shiva!  How did such a one as you end up on 
these shores, Clever Bird?"
	Spud could almost hear the grin in Nightwing's voice.  "Home field 
advantage."
	A first blow - glancing - but still the squishy sound of flesh and 
a startled grunt, followed by the soft sound of landing feet.
	"Well played, Vigilante.  It seems you may be worth the price on 
your head."
	"That cuts your profit margin, doesn't it?"
	"But satisfies the sportsman."
	Re-engagement.  This time more blows landing.  Spud almost jumped 
out when he heard Nightwing gasp and dance back.  Both he and his 
opponent were breathing heavily now. 
	"Your kevlar will not stop a blade, Vigilante.  First blood."
	"Wait - I've seen this movie.  Isn't this the moment when you tell 
me the blade is poisoned, yadda yadda yadda..."
	A snort.  "Such subterfuge is beneath such warriors as we are."
	"Then you'll have to get more blade on me to make that stick."
	Another attack, punctuated by grunts as still more blows found 
their mark.  Spud huddled down smaller, eyes wide as he strained to 
determine who was getting hit with each sound.  He was rewarded by a 
sudden howl.
	"That *hurt,* Vigilante!"
	"It was supposed to."
	"You will regret your smugness!"
	"Bring it on."
	More sounds of battle.  How long had this lasted?  How long could 
it last?  Spud shifted anxiously.  Nightwing had called Robin -
	The fight broke off again.
	"You want me to fight angry, Clever Bird.  You are as smart as you 
are skillful.  No wonder you have come so close to toppling my 
employer."
	Nightwing's voice, relatively near, "He is toppling himself by 
overpaying the help."
	Another soft chuckle.  "You will not bait me again, Vigilante.  I 
will bide my time.  I am rested, you are not."
	Robin really should be here by now, Spud agonized.
	"Care to test that theory?"
	Spud squirmed.  He could hear a catch in Nightwing's voice, and 
now that he was listening closer, a hitch in his breathing.  He had 
called Robin ages ago.
	"In good time, Vigilante."
	"But sometime tonight, I take it?"
	*Quit dissing him, Dick!* Spud pleaded silently.  *He'll hurt 
you.*
	"You are too close to victory to let live, so yes, tonight."
	"Well then."
	Spud couldn't take it anymore.  He needed to peek out, to see how 
Nightwing was, to see if Robin was coming across the rooftops.  He 
peered around the edge of the wind shelter.
	Nightwing saw him.  Spud could tell by the way his head tipped 
just the slightest bit in his direction.  That was all the other man 
needed.
	Spud barely registered the dark blur of the man before his world 
was consumed by the gleaming blur of twin machetes.  He opened his mouth 
to scream a warning, but no words came out.  He could only watch as the 
two rapid swipes raked Nightwing's body, cutting him down in his instant 
of distraction.  Dick didn't even cry out as he collapsed to the ground.
	Moonlight fell on the face of Nightwing's assailant, highlighting 
a fierce grin.  He held his blades over Nightwing, blood clearly 
dripping from them.  "Game, set, match, Vigilante.  You tried," the man 
said, turning away.  He was just dropping off the edge of the building 
when Spud found his legs and ran forward, torn between pursuing the man 
with the blades and -
	His legs betrayed him again as he froze at the edge of a growing pool of blood.  His eyes tracked 
unwillingly to the source, his mouth crying out in soundless rage and fear.  Nightwing - Dick Grayson - lay 
still, a gaping hole in his belly, just like Scorch.