With the tigers watching him, Nightwing waited for Edward Nigma to arrive. Eddie had dressed quickly, choosing a question marked suit for the occasion. If the vigilantes were going to keep doing this, he might as well show up in the costume he was known for. Dee remained cloaked in her fur, a pace behind Eddie, eyes glowing with smoldering anger at the disturbance.

As he had dressed, Dee had checked to make certain Edward was still sleeping. Indeed, the boy slept on, undisturbed by the excitement, his jaw moving as if he were still suckling. She left with the baby monitor in hand, following Eddie out to the garage. Eddie might need her help with the questioning, but she wasn’t going to neglect her son.

In the garage, Eddie found the vigilante securely tied to a chair, surrounded by the three tigers. Nightwing’s face was smudged with mud. On his forehead was a dirt encrusted gash, slowly oozing blood. Though Rebus was busy gnawing on the toe of Nightwing’s left boot, the man looked as stoic as his mentor.

Nudging Rebus away, Eddie placed the tip of the cane he carried against the vigilante’s chest. Pressing a button, he sent a jolt of electricity into the man’s costume. From past experience, he knew the suit itself was insulated against electric shock. However the suit carried its own high voltage charge. He had since devised an addition to his cane to counteract the suit’s defenses. With his retirement, he had never gotten the chance to use it on any of the Bat brood.

“Now that your little suit won’t work, and your communications are down, we can talk,” Eddie said, leaning against his car, slipping into the cool, calm confidence he had when he was being the Riddler.

“Nice fur. Is your nurse maid uniform dirty?” teased Nightwing.

Dee, who had been leaning next to Eddie, literally bristled. With a snarl, she started to move forward. Eddie braced her back with a restraining arm, shaking his head. The last thing he wanted was for her to lose her temper. As it was, she would be hard to soothe once Nightwing was gone. She was more agitated at his appearance than Eddie, mostly because she wanted to use the vigilante as an example of what would happen if Batman continued this harassment. Eddie knew that would just bring Batman down harder on them.

“Let’s not toss insults here like juveniles, Nightwing. It suited you better when you were the Boy Wonder, but no longer as a grown man. Dee is an excellent mother, and your attempts to impugn her honor in that matter will not be tolerated. Is that understood?”

Nightwing gave an indifferent shrug, wondering what, exactly, would be done to him if he continued.

“I’ll take that as a yes. Shall we get to what has brought you to see us at this time of morning? And let’s not play at that ‘I was just in the neighborhood, and decided to check on you’ crap. We know it isn’t true.”

“Very well. I was just in the neighborhood…” he began with a smug grin.

The vigilante was cut off with a snarl from Dee, followed up with Rubix biting down on his right ankle. It was hard enough to cause discomfort, yet not enough to do more than leave a few bruises.

“Care to try again? Or shall I have him break your ankle? Because I would be delighted to have the latter happen,” Dee said, adding a small purring noise. Rubix bit down a little harder, causing the man to visibly wince. “Answer the question.”

“You already know. Batman asked me to check up on you.”

“He has told you that we’ve repeatedly asked him to leave us alone so that we may move on, hasn’t he? This is harassment, Nightwing, and you know it. Every costumed criminal knows that the two of you were at odds, and that you left. You left Gotham to get away from him and to move on with your life. We will not be chased from our home in order to accomplish the same goal.”

He had always hated it when the villains made sense. As much as he wanted to deny it, Nightwing knew the difficulty of moving on while Batman insisted on breathing down your neck. A part of him could also relate with the wish to stay in the place known as “home”. Gotham had really been the first place he called home after his parents were murdered.

“He won’t stop. You know he won’t,” came the man’s reply.

“Then we’ll get a restraining order against him and any of you,” said Eddie, turning the cane over in his hands, as if examining it.

“Or we could…” began Dee, only to be cut off by Edward crying. As if she hadn’t been speaking, she squeezed Eddie’s arm and hurried off. She looked nervous as she went through the door.

“As I was saying, I will get a restraining order to keep all of you away from my family. You were always more level-headed in these matters than your mentor. He lives in shades of grey, but only sees black and white where people like me are concerned. Perhaps you can explain to him that his grey world spreads beyond just him.” He paused. “On second thought, you would have to explain the fact that he lives in a grey world first and get him to understand that.”

Nightwing contained his amusement, but still let his smile show. Batman really was living in the grey more than he wanted to admit. The man seemed to think he was a white knight of some sort, when his actions put him on the same level as those he fought against. Long ago Nightwing had figured that out himself. He was going to respond, only to stop when he heard Dee’s voice through the monitor she had placed on the roof of the car.

“There’s my big boy. What’s the matter, hm? You don’t need changing, and you just ate. Is it the company, sweetie? I’m sorry. We’re trying to get the bad people to leave us alone.” There was a heavy sigh. “Look, sweetie! Look what Mommy has!”

The crying didn’t stop. If anything, it got louder.

“He knows she’s stressed. He knows both of us are stressed,” Eddie said, watching the vigilante. “Release, Rubix.”

Rubix released his hold as Eddie came forward, drawing his dagger. He walked around behind Nightwing and sliced through the knot in the rope.

“I have more important things to do tonight than talk to you. In case you didn’t notice, the child is mine as well, and I’m sharing the responsibility.” Opening the outer garage door, Eddie gestured for Nightwing to step through. “Go. She’s going to kill the next one of you she catches on our property. That isn’t a threat, that’s a warning. I don’t want my child’s mother being taken away for protecting her interests.”

The former Boy Wonder nodded his understanding. “I can’t do anything about him, but I’ll pass your message on.” Saying nothing more, he jogged off into the shadows, off to where he had left his motorcycle. Either those two were exceptional actors, or they were serious. One thing was certain: The child was the most precious thing they had.

When he reached his bike, he used the comm-unit to contact Oracle. He asked her to relay the warning Nigma had given him, along with a suggestion that any further surveillance be done from a distance. At least until they had something to go on, at any rate. Once that was done, he gave Oracle a brief on what had occurred.

~ ~ ~

“He won’t stop crying!” Dee fretted when Eddie entered the nursery a few minutes after letting Nightwing go. She was on the verge of tears herself.

“Let me see him.” He pressed the baby’s forehead to his cheek. “He doesn’t feel warm. Maybe he’s still hungry after all. Have you tried feeding him?”

Dee shook her head.

“Then let’s try that, ok?”

Again she nodded, settling herself in the rocking chair. The child refused her breast, turning his head away to squall. The fur that still covered Dee’s body was on end, and her feline ears were laid back. The nervous twitch of her tail told Eddie that she was closer to the threshold of tears than when he had first entered. Taking the boy back, Eddie tried letting the child suck on his finger. The two sighed in relief when Edward accepted the finger.

“Kitten, how old is he again?” Eddie grinned, knowing the answer.

“Almost four months, Eddie. You know that,” she sighed, pressed to his arm.

“Right. And I’m surprised that you haven’t noticed that his gums are getting swollen. They feel more tender than when I fed him earlier.”

“He’s… He’s teething?!” she gasped, clutching his arm.

“Yes. Just starting the process, it would seem,” he laughed.

Dee’s arms flew around his waist and she hugged him, laughing. “I didn’t even notice when I fed him! Oh, let me feel!”

They switched fingers, Dee squealing in delight as she felt the tender tissue. Changing back to Eddie’s finger, Dee hurried to get the jelly-filled teething ring she had placed in the fridge earlier that week. That he was teething already tickled her. She found herself giddy with all of his firsts, so far.

“I told you he would grow up too fast. Soon enough, we’re going to be sending him to college!” she sniffed.

“Not that quickly, Kitten,” he soothed.

Both sat down and comforted the child until he fell back asleep. Then, arm in arm, they walked back to their bedroom. Ad he undressed, Eddie told Dee what was said after she left. She agreed that the next vigilante to show his or her face at the warehouse would end up dead.

In bed he rubbed her back, while she cuddled against him. Tapping their words out in Morse code, they came to an agreement to push their plans back, and concentrate on playing it straight for a few more months.
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