The silence between them was heavy, broken only by the distant murmur of rain tapping against the manor windows. Batman's gaze hadn't left Rex—scrutinizing him with a quiet intensity that made Rex feel like a puzzle under a spotlight.
Then a soft beep pierced the quiet.
A comm on Batman's belt flared to life.
"GCPD just confirmed," a mechanical voice crackled. "Multiple hostages. Chemical plant outside Burnside. Joker's signature written all over it."
Batman didn't flinch. His cowl shifted slightly, acknowledging the voice. Then his gaze slid back to Rex.
"I don't have time to explain the multiverse," Batman said flatly. "But right now, Gotham needs Nightwing."
Rex exhaled. "You've got the wrong guy."
"No," Batman said, turning away. "Gotham doesn't wait for the right guy. It just needs someone willing."
He walked to the far wall of the room. With a quiet click, a section of wood paneling slid open, revealing a hidden chamber beyond. Lights flared to life, casting a cold blue glow over rows of armor, gadgets—and there, in the center—a suit.
Sleek. Black with a bold blue emblem arcing across the chest like a pair of wings.
"You want me to wear that?" Rex asked, stepping forward like the suit might bite. "I've never held a baton in my life. I don't even know martial arts."
"You'll remember when it counts," Batman replied, already moving toward the Batwing in the hangar below. "It's in the body now. Muscle memory. Instinct. Just move."
Rex looked at the suit again. It felt like it was staring back.
"This is insane," he muttered. "I'm a detective, not a superhero. I talk to suspects. I read crime scenes. I don't jump off rooftops."
A pause.
"…But I also didn't bleed out in that alley just to sit on the sidelines now."
He grabbed the suit. It felt strangely natural in his hands, like he'd worn it a thousand times before. The fabric stretched perfectly, snug like second skin, light but armored. The gloves flexed with precision, and the boots gripped the floor with practiced silence.
As he looked into the polished glass of the case, he barely recognized himself.
Not Rex Mallory anymore.
Not just a detective.
He was Nightwing.
He turned, half-walking, half-stumbling into the hangar where Batman waited beside the jet-black jet already rumbling to life.
"I'm going to die doing this," Rex muttered.
"Possibly," Batman said, handing him a pair of batons. "But if you don't, someone else will."
Rex took the weapons.
The doors of the Batwing opened with a hiss. Red lights bathed the platform. He followed Batman inside.
Somewhere across the city, innocent lives were at stake.
And the Joker never played fair.
But for the first time since waking in this strange new world, Rex felt something stir in his chest.
Not fear.
Purpose.
The Batwing cut through Gotham's rain-choked sky like a phantom. Below, the chemical plant loomed—its rusted towers belching steam into the night, lights flickering erratically like dying stars.
"Joker's inside," Batman said over the comm. "GCPD perimeter holds, but they're not going in. Too many hostages. Too unstable."
Rex nodded, heart hammering in his chest. The Nightwing suit clung to him like purpose—but it didn't stop the nerves. He checked the batons again. They were light. Perfectly balanced. But foreign.
Still, something deep in his limbs knew how to move with them. A buried rhythm. A ghost of muscle memory.
They landed on the rooftop, slipping inside through a ventilation shaft.
The plant's interior was a carnival of madness.
Bright purple graffiti splashed over chemical drums. Laughter echoed from somewhere deep in the bowels of the plant. Balloons. Music. And mannequins dressed like civilians, tied to chairs beneath a flickering spotlight.
"Hostages?" Rex asked, crouched beside Batman.
"Decoys," Batman said. "He's playing."
Rex scanned the floor below. Something gnawed at him. The shadows were too even. No breathing. No flinching. Just… silence.
"That vent—above the scaffolding," Rex said, pointing. "It's bolted from the outside."
Batman followed his gaze.
"He's watching us."
A slow clap rang out across the rafters.
Then came the voice.
"Oh, very good, Dickie-boy!" The Joker's laugh crawled over the walls like a spider. "You brought a friend—how quaint! Though I must say, you're looking awfully fresh for a corpse."
Spotlights snapped on.
Goons poured from catwalks above, weapons raised.
"Trap," Batman growled.
The fight erupted.
Batman moved like a demon, his cape a blur of black wrath. Rex—hesitant at first—let his instincts take over. He ducked a swing, brought a baton across a goon's temple, spun and disarmed another before he even realized what he was doing.
This body knows what I don't, he realized.
But then—chaos.
A goon tackled Rex from behind. They crashed against a stack of crates, scattering gas canisters. The thug raised a crowbar, snarling.
Rex reached out—instinct gone, replaced by survival.
His hand found a pistol on the ground.
He grabbed it.
The goon raised the crowbar again.
BANG.
The shot echoed.
The man fell. Moaning, bleeding, alive but very much hit.
The room froze.
Even Joker's laughter cut short.
Batman turned slowly, his eyes hard as marble.
Rex stood there, gun shaking in his hands, chest heaving.
"I, he was going to"
"We don't use guns," Batman said, voice like thunder.
"I'm not you!" Rex snapped, lowering the pistol. "I'm not even him. I was a cop. I've been shot at. I know what it means to kill or be killed."
Batman's jaw tensed. Behind the cowl, something flickered - anger, yes, but also understanding.
"You saved yourself," he said quietly. "But remember what that costs."
Sirens wailed outside.
Joker was gone.
Somewhere in the chaos, he'd slipped away—again.
And all that remained was silence, smoke, and the bitter taste of compromise.
Later, on the rooftop, the rain washed the blood from Rex's gloves.
"You mad?" Rex asked, not turning to look at Batman.
"Disappointed," Batman replied. "But… I understand."
"I'm not Nightwing," Rex said. "Not really."
"You're not," Batman agreed. Then he stepped beside him, cape billowing in the wind.
"But you can do the same good he did"
And for the first time, Rex undestood that he is gonna need to try hard to survive in this world.