This kind of carries on from the "Firing of Oracle" and airs some of 
the problems that would arise from the situation. To be honest I 
never gave these problems much thought until I was presented with 
them, ok hit over the head with them repeatedly (Ta, Ant!) 

Disclaimer bit, I don't own any of the characters mentioned in this 
story they all belong to DC comics but the plot is all my own so if 
you see any mistakes or you don't like it then its all my fault and 
no one else's. 

Any feedback at all would be appreciated, Thanks for taking the time 
to read this, 

Ta, Nuke    

***

From the Ashes
By Lee Hughes (lph112@hotmail.com)

***

"I have discovered in my long life that there are many words and 
phrases that have more power than magik. The most well known of these 
is, of course, I love you. But by far the most deadly is, if only. "

--David Gemmell, 'Morningstar'.

***


Chapter 1


It had only been a matter of days since the transformation and Dick 
Grayson still could not believe his eyes. He sat in the Oracles den, 
lounging in an easy chair waiting for his love, Phoenix sauntered 
into the room and removed her mask,

"Dick, we need to talk." 

As both Robin and Nightwing he had faced many perilous situations but 
these few words sent a cold shiver through his body as fear took its 
hold.

"Talk, what about?"

As he answered his mind raced to come up with any possible problems 
and their solutions.

"About us, Phoenix,Oracle."

Dick looked over at his love and steeled his heart against what was 
coming next.

"Is there a problem?"

"Yes."

He knew what was coming up next. It had all started on their first 
routine patrol together.

It had been a quiet night, three break ins and a mugging when they 
had got they had came across a hold up. Three teens with guns decided 
to get a little extra money by holding up a petrol station. Nightwing 
and Phoenix arrived as the three youths emerged onto the fore court,

"Hey Mick, where's Neil with the car?"

"I dunno what do you think I am 'is keeper?"

"You two shut it! I don't like this something's wrong."

Nightwing flipped from their vantage point and landed silently behind 
the trio. Using The Voice he had learnt from Batman he answered 

"You got that right!"

With out any hesitation he kicked with his right foot hitting the 
nearest teen in the solar plexus knocking him winded to the floor and 
pivoted on his left foot he span and kicked the second with a 
spinning heel kick. The third deciding that discretion was the better 
part of valour ran, out of the corner of his eye he saw Phoenix land 
in front of the youth and settle into a fighting stance. Without 
Nightwing threw one of his escrima sticks hitting the advancing teen 
just before he got in striking distance of his love.

This he knew was the problem, in every potentially dangerous 
situation they had come across he had stopped Babs from getting  
involved, from getting hurt, putting himself in danger so that he 
wouldn't fail her again as he had the night the Joker crippled her 
body and crushed her spirit.

Babs sat down pulling Dick from his thoughts, Dick sat studying her 
face her face was smiling but the twinkle was gone from her eyes "Uh 
oh here it comes " Dick muttered to himself.

"Its about us, we can't go on like this !"

Dick was stunned his chest had tightened and a cold shiver ran up and 
down his spine," Wha wha …"

"No listen to me please, this is hard enough to say as it is so don't 
interrupt. I need some time alone to discover who I am and the 
direction that my life is going to take and I can't do that with you 
acting like Bruce all the time protecting me from every little 
thing."
	
Dicks mind whirled what could he say. He knew he should say that he 
only wanted to help, that he loved her with his heart and soul. That 
he would do anything for her. Anything for her, that was the problem 
she needed time and if their love meant anything then he had to give 
it to her.	

Barbara Gordon stared at her love she could see the pain in his eyes 
as her words decimated his soul. The defences that she knew so well 
snapped into place as he tried to grin convincingly and laugh off her 
comments and hide her from his pain. 

Altering his voice to sound like Bruce in his playboy persona,

 "Well you know what they say darling like father like son, God 
forbid the son of such an infamous playboy be seen with the same 
woman for too long!"

With that he stood up and walked to the window, with a last glance 
over his shoulder 

"See ya round hot stuff."

"See ya round my boy wonder" she whispered in reply as tears filled 
her eyes.


Chapter 2


'Wing drove his cycle into the cave at a sedate almost lethargic 
pace, this its self was enough of an indication for Tim to know that 
something was wrong. 

Since becoming Robin the bond between the two heroes had grown 
closer, they were more than just friends they had found in each other 
a kindred spirit sharing the same passion for justice, the same love 
of the mask.  They were brothers not of blood but of the soul.

He felt Dicks hand ruffle his hair,

"Hey Tim what's up?"

The boy known as Robin turned around his face sombre and looked at 
his brothers face. Dicks easy smile graced his face but Tim could 
tell that Dick was hurting, There where few people close to Dick 
could hurt him this way and it didn't take training from the worlds 
greatest detective to guess who.

"You an Babs had a fight huh?"

Dick shrugged his shoulders and gave a non committal grunt,

"What are you working on?"

"Nothing serious its just something that has been nagging at me. The 
other day I was hangin' with the guys when WonderGirl walked in with 
a new computer Virtual Reality game called 'Consequences'. The 
machine is able to select the perfect consequence for your actions 
for you based on information it gathers from your answers to 
questions that it asks".

"What's the problem? It just sounds like a high tech version of Truth 
or Dare."

"Well Cassie said that the game only became really fun on the highest 
level so they all input their information and started to play. I was 
on the computer searching for some information for Bruce so I just 
watched. After playing for around half an hour them all doing some 
really funny stuff to watch they all started to act strangely.

"What do you mean by strangely?"

Dicks interest had been peaked and besides he thought to himself its 
better to keep busy than to brood about him and Babs.

"Well Cassie threw her self at Superboy kissing him and trying to 
undress him, While she was doing that Superboy was trying to peel her 
off so he could go and look at himself in the mirror ….

"And Impulse?" Dick interrupted 

Tim smiled.  "Who can tell with him what's normal and what's 
strange!"

"So what's the problem it just sounds like a game that's got out of 
hand?"

"Well I've done a little research and it seems that there has been a 
rise in child crime over the last few weeks ever since this game came 
out. When questioned all the children have answered that it was 
something they had dreamed of doing.

Nightwing sat down next to Tim and thought, It was hard to carry out 
your dreams and desires it took guts, courage, the ability to over 
come your …..

Dick looked up acting casual it was obvious that Tim hadn't put it 
all together yet.

" Well do you have an address for the company that makes this game? 
After all I have nothing better to do so I can go check it out for 
you and relive your worries."

Tim pressed a button and printed out the address. Dick recognised the 
area it was down by the docks in the old industrial area. He walked 
over to his cycle and picked up his helmet,

"I'll check in if I find something.


Chapter 3


It was one of the first rules that Bruce had taught him, you give 
100% and then you give more. It had been a mistake to go after him 
while he was preoccupied with what was happening between him and 
Babs, he had broken the rule and so he had paid the price, he had 
been captured, brutally beaten and bound. He tested he ropes that 
held him in place, there was no give, no room to manoeuvre. He looked 
around for something to use to escape nothing.

He walked over his face obscured by his mask in his hand a syringe 
full of a viscous green fluid, full of nightmares. 

His voice was thin and wheezy as he spoke yet filled with the 
confidence of his convictions, filled with madness.

"We have more in common than you might suppose, you and I. We both 
act on the strength of our convictions we were both formed nay 
created through fear. We only differ in how we react I embraced mine 
and let it shape me.YOU on the other hand reject yours and fight it 
letting other emotions rule you. As Lovecraft said,
'The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear !"

"I knew sooner or later that one of his brood would discover my ploy 
and track me down after all 'I believe that children are our future.'

With this he started to cackle loudly,

"Through the youth of this city I will rule for Fear is a tyrant more 
potent than the deadliest viper more terrible than the wildest 
animal, and I the Scarecrow am fear incarnate ! But before my reign 
of terror starts there is something I must do….."

"Ooo,Don't tell me find the magic sword, defeat the wicked Queen and 
kiss the princess! Get a clue Crane if I'm here then Batman knows and 
your days are..

Nightwing's reply was cut short as the Scarecrow kicked him in the 
chest breaking a rib and robbing him of breath.

"As I was saying I must face my fear and overcome it, did you know as 
a child I suffered from ornithophobia? A fear of birds, and what do I 
find on my escape from prison but my city has become a regular roost. 
I will not have MY city infected with these winged scavengers 
therefore my plan to eradicate the Bats birds,Robin, Nightwing and 
Phoenix!"
 
With that Crane stuck the needle into Nightwing's arm.

"NOOOOO!" Nightwing's body was racked with convulsions as he tried to 
curl up into a ball tears streaming down his face. In his minds eye 
he could see his parents falling, Babs being shot by the Joker, The 
Joker killing Jason and the look of hurt on Bruce's face when he had 
left. He gave voice to his pain, an inarticulate scream more animal 
than human.

"So," The Scarecrow wheezed, "What does he who inspires fear fear?
May be Merinthophobia, a fear of being tied up? No, he must be used 
to that by now.

As the Scarecrow mused on Dicks anguish Dick softly repeated,

"It's all my fault, its all my fault"

"Aahhh, of course atychiphobia, the fear of failure, so who did you 
fail bird boy? Who did you fail?"
Cranes voice had dropped to a sibilant hiss.

"If only you could have been there, if only you were better, if only 
you had reacted quicker, if only you had really loved her, if only, 
if only,if only …"

Each whisper sapped his resolve, stole his strength, if only it 
wasn't all true.Nightwing lay on the floor quietly repeating to 
himself,if only, as the Scarecrow left the room cackling to himself 
in glee.


Chapter 4


Tim sat in the Batcave staring at the monitors, it had been two hours 
since Dick had left and he hadn't checked in. He started to worry, 
Dick had been preoccupied maybe he should call Babs just to see if he 
was there, then again they had been arguing so the likely hood that 
he wasn't. He activated the tracker on Dicks cycle, it was still in 
the Docks area, Dick must have ran into trouble.
Whatever could take down Nightwing was more than he could handle, 
with out thinking he activated the computer link to Oracle.

After a while Babs activated the link, from her red eyes Tim could 
see that she had been crying, he wondered briefly what they had been 
fighting about.

"Babs its Dick …"

Oracle made Tim tell her everything from his small worry to Dicks 
reactions and questions. As he was telling her it struck Tim.

"Scarecrow !"

"What?"

"It's the Scarecrow, kids acting out their dreams, without fear of 
consequence, fear, it's the Scarecrow. he even called the game 
'Consequences' its almost as if he wanted to be caught !"

"Which means it's a trap. Tim give me that address I'm going after 
Dick, It I'll be all my fault if he's been hurt, if only…."

It took Phoenix ten minutes to get to the Dock area and find 
Nightwing's cycle. She decided to scout out the area before entering 
the building after all he had managed to capture Dick.

"If anything's happened to him," she murmured.She felt a presence 
behind her and with out turning.

"OK, Robin show yourself." He walked up to her sheepishly looking at 
the floor.

"What are you doing here?"

"Well you never said don't come down and Dick would kill me if you 
got hurt and …."

He paused and looked down to the roof they were standing on.

"And you where worried about your big brother and wanted to help."

Tim looked up a shy smile lighting up his face," Yeah, but I was 
worried about you to Sis."

Phoenix looked at him a shocked expression on her face, she knew her 
and Tim where close but this was the first time he had called her 
family. She wiped a tear from her eye and smiled at the young hero.

"Lets go teach Scarecrow what it means to mess with our family!"

***

Security on the building was minimal but as they knew that it was a 
trap the two heroes expected reinforcements. From their vantage point 
they could see Nightwing through a broken window lying bound on the 
floor gently rocking repeating some unintelligible litany.

Resisting the urge to surge in through the window and comfort her 
love she signalled to robin to aim for the adjacent roof. Landing 
lightly she watched with pride as her new little brother took out the 
sentry silently. Checking the door for traps she led the way in to 
the stair well closely followed by Robin. They quickly descended the 
stairs to the floor that held Nightwing.

Letting Robin in front she watched as he picked the lock and oiled 
the door hinges to allow them to enter stealthily. As they scanned 
the room they could see two possible exits one leading to Dick the 
other Jonathon Crane. Creeping forward silently they each took a door 
on the count of three they both burst into the same room. As they did 
spotlight beams where shone on them and they could hear the scuffling 
of feet, the cackle of laughter and the pain of Nightwing.

"So my other guests have finally arrived, well it is time to lay my 
fear to rest, I must admit I have always enjoyed killing birds".

With that Phoenix threw her escrima sticks at the sources of light 
breaking their blinding beams. As her eye sight returned she could 
just make out Crane sitting at the back of the room watching as his 
thugs approached.

With a quickness born from constant training Robin and Phoenix took 
the initiative and attacked. Robin unfurled his collapsible Bo staff 
and took care of the three thugs on the right leaving the three on 
the left to Phoenix. Moving so they stood back to back they fought as 
a team each defending the other as if they had fought together 
before. They hadn't but each had fought next to men whose moves were 
identical to each other so they complimented each other well.

The thugs were trained to fight as a team trying to separate and 
overwhelm their opponents but their efforts where in vain. Then it 
happened Crane entered the fray and saturated the combatants with his 
fearful neuro toxin each curled into a ball all succumbing to their 
own darkest fears sinking into a state of helplessness.

Phoenix faced her inner demons,

	"Your useless, He didn't love you he pitied you, from physical 
cripple to an emotional cripple pathetic!, look at you the perfect 
hostage, its your fault he is in this mess, If only you had told him 
that you still loved him, if only you hadn't sent him away, if only, 
if only.."

From her position on the floor she watched as Crane pulled a gun and 
stalked the prone figure of her beloved.

"No intricate traps, No last minute rescues, no explanations for what 
I am doing I'm just going to shoot you and leave your bodies to fuel 
the Bats neuroses.  For 'where fear has gone there will be nothing. 
Only I will remain'. 

With her passion for research and books Phoenix fought to remember 
where she had read that quote. Then it hit her it was a passage from 
'Dune' by Frank Herbert but it was taken out of context for it was 
from the litany of fear a passage to help overcome is fear not to 
surrender to it.

Phoenix began her own litany to fight her fear 'There is nothing to 
fear except fear itself, fear is the emotion that deadens the mind 
and closes the heart.' She repeated it to herself each time taking 
strength from her love and her need to protect him.

Slowly, shakily, silently she stood and faced the Scarecrow, 
preferring speed to stealth she threw herself at the Scarecrow 
hitting him in the shoulder with her flying kick spinning him away 
from his target as he fired. The bullet hit the opposite wall.
Crane dropped the gun and assumed a fighting stance.

"So the Phoenix rises from the ashes of her submission how apt."  
Cranes voice dripped with irony 

The two fighters began to spar each testing each other for weakness 
and pressing for advantage. Within a few heartbeats Phoenix had 
identified the Scarecrows style.

"White Crane Kung fu, how predictable"

Pushing the Scarecrow back with a flurry of kicks and punches Phoenix 
could now hear Nightwing's litany 

"Its all my fault, if only, if only "

Distracted by the pain in his voice Phoenix found her self being 
forced back as the Scarecrow pressed the advantage. Getting desperate 
Phoenix deliberately lowered her guard as if fatigue had taken its 
toll. Immediately Crane lunged in with a lunge punch, Phoenix parried 
the blow with her left arm and span to her right trapping his arm and 
using her momentum to strike the back of his neck with her elbow. 
releasing his arm she struck him with a ridge hand across the 
shoulders and swept his legs driving him to the floor and 
unconsciousness.

After securing the Scarecrow and his thugs Phoenix took the Anti 
toxin from her utility belt and administrated it to both Robin and 
Nightwing before calling the police and untying Dick.

By the time the police arrived to take her prisoners into custody 
Robin had revived but Nightwing was still catatonic. The police 
offered to call an ambulance but they had declined saying only that 
he was family and they would look after him.


Chapter 5


The next day at the Wayne estate Barbara Gordon sat watching her love 
as he twisted in his drug induced nightmare. It had been only minutes 
since Alfred had wished her good night and Tim had left to get some 
sleep himself. She sat watching contemplating all the heartache that 
her love had suffered and how he blamed himself for things beyond his 
control. Touching his face she settled down facing him.

"Dick, I know that you can hear me so please listen. What happened to 
your parents, to me was not your fault.I know you feel guilty for not 
making people listen  about Zuco being in the tent but you tried and 
that is all anyone can do understand, no one blames you ! And my 
getting shot was no ones fault but mine for not checking the door,You 
where not even in Gotham so how can you blame yourself. The only 
thing that you can blame yourself for is making me love you, do you 
hear me I love you." 

Barbara started to cry and buried her face into her loved ones hair.

Dick stood facing his Demons.

"You could have saved your parents, if you hadn't left Jason would 
never have been killed, You should have been there to stop the Joker, 
How can you say you love her when you let her get shot."

Barbara's words filtered through his fears, It wasn't his fault.

The voices got louder," If only you hadn't gone, If only you had made 
them listen, If only you had been there."

"She loves me !"

"If only you hadn't gone, If only you had made them listen, If only 
you had been there."

"She loves me !"

"If only you hadn't gone, If only you had made them listen, If only 
you had been there."

"SHE LOVES ME!"

With this final declaration Dick banished his demons and opened his 
eyes to find his love sobbing into his hair," I love you my boy 
wonder "

"I love you hot stuff".

Barbara looked into his face and smiled the twinkle in her eyes 
lighting up once more, she dropped her eyes to her hands,

"Dick, when I said I needed time, it was to think about whether to be 
Oracle or Phoenix and to see if you only pitied me because of the 
chair, I wanted to give you a way out, I wanted to ….."

The rest of her words where lost as their mouths met, their bodies 
melting together as his every action screamed I love you.

The End 

~

Thanks to all those who helped me with this and to class 5 who 
insisted that if they should have to write a story then I should have 
to write a story.