N I G H T
H A W K S

STORIES FROM THE CITY: NIGHTHAWKS
by BAYPORTS

SUMMARY

The massacre of the Kos family, though violent—gruesome, even—was not in any way unique. In a city like Gotham, murder is boilerplate; death, even more so. Victoria Kos, now Kaleta, knew this. Long before her mother, father, sister and brother were killed in their home by an unknown unassailant; left to suffocate slowly and painfully on their own blood as well as each others'. Leaving Victoria the sole survivor, leaving her childhood soaked crimson with no hope of getting out the stains, and leaving her completely, utterly alone.

There's no way to move on from a loss like that, not when everywhere you turn there's another bloody horror. Gotham, the Cold City, the Gargoyle City, is full of such horrors. A decade later, Victoria—having freshly dropped out of her journalism program at Gotham-U—has learned to embrace them. If not embrace, then at least immortalise: a photographer of sorts, she sells gratuitously violent crime scene photos to sleazy Gotham tabloids for quick cash. Easy money is what she calls it. Blood money is what it is.

The kind of perversity that lives, breathes and breeds in Gotham like rot is not the kind that makes the front page; nor the kind that shocks anyone. It's senseless and, sorry to say, after a while, it's the same. Victoria, jaded as she is, as obsessive, holds onto this belief as she focuses the shot, adjusts the frame. Known as the 'Vulture' for always being the first at the scene of the crime, she's gotten used to getting blood on her shoes. But not on her hands—until a new player emerges: a killer quickly dubbed 'The Birdwatcher', who fashions mocking tableaux of his murder scenes; who recreates old killings with the keen eye, and touch, of an acolyte.

Victoria doesn't question it at first. She just shuts up, shuts off, and takes the photo. But when the Birdwatcher recreates the Kos family massacre, for the first time it's not a stranger's tragedy she's photographing: it's her own. Against university policy, Gotham-U's campus paper, The Mirror, re-opens its doors to Victoria to give her the space to process the recreation as well as the damage. With it comes full creative control of the award-winning crime/investigative column, The Truth in Sight—and one Dick Grayson, who was one class away from dropping out himself until he saw the Birdwatcher's latest work, a rare page-one feature for a murder: two young trapeze artists with their skulls smashed in, lovers, arms wrapped around each other, suspended forever in the open air and in death.

Underneath this image: Photograph by Victoria K. Kaleta.

Dick knows death. More importantly, he knows loss. Freshly fired from his tenure as Robin and now, reminded once more of what made him put on the mask and cape to begin with, he's not just remorseful, he's angry. And though his anger starts with Victoria—cruel, cold, exploitative and ruthless Victoria—he knows it's not her fault.

It's Gotham's. This sick, broken city—

—that he loves more than anything, even after all this time, even after all this blood. Sure, it's commonplace here, as frequent as the rain and just as relentless, but the pain is his. His, Victoria's.

Even Bruce's.

Not the Birdwatcher's.

Victoria agrees. So when Dick, her new car crash, her new drug, her new obsession, enlists her to investigate their shared tormentor, she doesn't say no. How much worse can things get, she wonders, when you're not even living, you're surviving? How much worse can things get when you know you should be dead, just like your family, just like everyone you've ever loved?

Well, not everyone. Not Dick, and not yet.

But loving, Victoria comes to know, loving truly and deeply—and being loved in return—is a different kind of dying. A different kind of killing.

And it's not something you can survive a second time.

This time, she hopes, it'll be quick. Quick, and painless, and clean.

But she should know better. Hope is for children, and she hasn't been a child in a long, long time.

Anya Taylor-Joy   ╱   Victoria Kaleta, once Kos
VULTURE.

i knew it all along.
the heart of the world is

blue.

Brenton Thwaites  ╱  Dick Grayson
NIGHTWING.

also featuring . . .

Barbara Gordon, once  BATGIRL now ORACLE
Bruce Wayne, BATMAN
Julian Gregory Day, CALENDAR MAN
Ash Thornton, DIEBACK
Austen  Mori,  MEMENTO
Jason Todd, ROBIN  II
Sierra Reva, NINE LIVES

and

???,  THE BIRDWATCHER

THE  NIGHTHAWKS, of THE  TRUTH  IN  SIGHT investigative column, of the GOTHAM-U  MIRROR:

Victoria  K.  Kaleta
Dick  Grayson
Ash  Thornton
Austen  Mori

SOUNDTRACK

scan to listen

AUTHOR'S  NOTES

📝  let's party, people! welcome to NIGHTHAWKS, my dc campus thriller!

📝  for dick's faceclaim i'm not serious about brenton thwaites playing him. genuinely imagine him as whoever you want or however you want. i just wanted to round out the layout for the character section of this introduction chapter; this story is definitely not set in the titans continuity. it is in the same universe as CRUSH and DEEP GREEN as well as the now-defunct DEATH KIT, and is part of the BIRDWATCHING duology; though this book is first, chronologically, it is the second book in the duology (with CRUSH being the first.) they are not linked in any way except by virtue of existing in the same canon, i'm just obsessed with duologies right now. something about beautiful women and their serial killers. #SierliForever

📝 i did a lot of work fleshing out gotham-u in my now-permanently-drafted dc au fic, MIDNIGHTS, and wanted to put it to good use. so please be aware that the portrayal of the gotham nighthawks (both the investigative team and the sports team, the latter of which is canon information but the portrayal still here belongs to me), the gotham-u mirror, the truth in sight column, and the general layout and structure of gotham-u, is mine. i have based gotham-u off a multitude of universities, namely princeton and nyu.

📝 i'm really excited for this fic. gillian flynnheads will recognise inspiration taken primarily from dark places, which is one of my favourite books ever. i've also taken inspiration from ethel cain's preacher's daughter, until dawn, no exit, gone girl, hannibal, nightcrawler, and the girl with the dragon tattoo (both the book and the david fincher film.) and of course, nancy drew and the hardy boys. dickvic... (funny name)... close enough, welcome back francy! jokes aside, i'm really excited to introduce victoria to you guys. she's a ruthless character, but understandably so. there's a lot of mystery and ambiguity surrounding the murder of her family, and much like dark places, things aren't at all what they seem.

📝 though i'm not a massive fan of dick grayson, nightwing is actually one of the first comic titles i've ever read and the one i've read for the longest amount of time / on-going. i don't know what to do with him the same way dc doesn't so that's why, in this fic, he's just begun as nightwing. for NIGHTHAWKS canon purposes he's based in gotham, but don't worry; he will eventually move on to blüdhaven. babs has just become oracle and jason is about a year out from death.

📝 austen mori of DEEP GREEN / DEATH KIT and ash thornton of DEEP GREEN will return in this fic as supporting characters, and as the other two titular 'NIGHTHAWKS'. sierra reva of CRUSH fame will also be mentioned.

‼️ this fic will contain extremely mature and possibly triggering content, including but not limited to: murder, mass murder, body horror, SA, mentions of CSA, abuse, child abuse, substance abuse, written descriptions of graphic violence, medical procedures, and bodily decomposition. please continue at your own discretion.

DEDICATIONS

there are so many people i'd like to dedicate this fic to and so many people who asked to be dedicated... i'm terrified i'll forget someone.

first up, to elfaouly, my best and dearest friend, who supports everything i do even if it's to the detriment of the stories for fandoms she's actually a part of. thank you for your infinite support, kat, i don't know what i'd do without you. 🪡

my husband, sweetjawregui

my loves, soulofstaars, pelides, stxrmborn, comicwhore, dancefevers, eidclons, neplutos, luckyvirgo, clampdown and nightwvngs

the aurora to my ash, galentineday

my enablers, laevinics and keupid (lark is not coming back you FOOLS) 🤣

the always amazing people of the watchtower server, including but not limited to siIverveils, achilleias, fatalfIaw, gryzons, kateprydes, maenadscult, goldenveils, glenpowells and metalbenders

and to the lovely people who requested a dt: junebluesfever, -CELESTIELS, xElsyLight, ilangbuwan, houndwolfz, bulletrains, CassiddeeMickaelson, adonysiac, iunnues, -rosepetal, apollomooney, zamaronian and -songbairds 🌟

DARKLY, SOLEMNLY, SOFTLY,
OVER AND OVER

© 2025 BAYPORTS