WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Future State: Nightwing #1 by Andrew Constant, Nicola Scott, Ivan Plascencia and Wes Abbott, on sale now.
When Future State began, Future State: Teen Titans story showed how far gone Dick Grayson was after leaving Gotham. And he's so far gone that he's essentially become his own version of Deathstroke, keen to help Red X fix a mysterious problem he thinks will destroy everything he and Starfire worked so hard to build.
However, Future State: Nightwing #1 offers a bit more insight into exactly why Dick became so broken. And in a clever twist on the Bat-Family, he even teamed up with Tim Fox's Batman for a dangerous mission.
Nightwing makes it clear that he's hurting without Bruce, as he tries to police Gotham from Cybers and augmented humans acting as bounty hunters. One particular battle sees him getting shot by a sniper, but after he takes the people who view him as a threat are out, he returns to his cave, which is underneath the rubble of Arkham Asylum.
There, Dick checks in with Barbara and other vigilante members of the Resistance like Two-Face and Huntress, but little does he know the new Batman's tracked him down. After he showers, he's attacked by the Dark Knight, eventually incapacitating him with electric shocks.
Dick rigged the place just like Bruce did his cave, but he doesn't need to pull the mask off this new Caped Crusader. He knows it's Tim Fox, Lucius' son, and he's interested in his intel and why the new Batman is after him. However, Tim wants to join the rebellion after realizing people he saved, such as a young girl named Sarah, are being killed when the Magistrate's lackeys interrogate them.
Dick's open to the idea, since he knows Tim is a worthwhile soldier, which shows how Bruce's spirit did rub off on him. And ironically, their first litmus test together is coming sooner rather than later. That's because Dick allowed the sniper to hit him with a homing beacon in the earlier skirmish with the Cybers, which means the Deadshot-like Marks like Peacekeeper-06 and her troops are literally right outside their doorsteps.
Bruce Wayne's original protege is tired of running, and he wants home-court advantage now, since they've come onto his turf. It's a nice spin on the Arkham video games where the Bat-Family are the intruders, but in this case, Dick is setting the rules down, and he makes it clear that he isn't going to be trapped in the building with villains; they're going to be trapped with him. Nightwing is up for a war, and the new Batman has his work cut out for him as their partnership begins in earnest.