Mary and John Grayson were two of the most talented acrobats of their day. They had both been skilled enough to, at a young age, be selected for the illustrious and world-famous company of Haly's Circus. There, they fell in love, married and formed a death-defying duo.
Circus acrobat meets circus acrobat. They get married. They have a kid. Tale as old as time.
Richard John Grayson was raised around the circus and was tumbling and walking the high wire since almost before he could walk. His parents never pushed him into the high flying life, but it nevertheless called to him. He was like a duck to water, and he was a part of the act since his youth. His first memories involve handstands and tumble-rolls through the air into his father's waiting arms.
There are photos of that time. A child dressed in yellow and green with a bright, red vest. His mother had called him her little robin.
The Flying Graysons (as they had come to be known) were performing in Gotham City. The owner, C.C. Haly, had gotten himself into some hot water by refusing to pay protection money to a local gangster Tony Zucco. Zucco got his own back by sabotaging the trapeze rig, causing Dick's mother and father to plummet to their deaths as they performed the centrepiece of their act.
A lot of things happened in the months that ensued. Dick left the circus, the memories were painful and he couldn't much stand the pity everyone lumped on him. He tried to put on an act alone, but he knew that the audiences were just flocking to see the poor orphan boy whose parents had been murdered.
He wound up back in Gotham, half-intent on striking out on his own before he got wrapped up in the system and became a resident of an orphanage. It was here, as a youth, that he met Batman and the masked vigilante convinced him there was a way to vent the frustration and anger he felt at the world and do some good in the process.
Almost a decade has passed since those fateful first nights. Dick has recently given up the mantle of Robin, part in an effort to pass it on to those who need the Bat's tutelage more and part as a way to break out of the looming shadow that always seems to hang over him. Instead, he has chosen to become Nightwing.
Dick has no real supernatural powers. Everything is the result of training or technological design.
Acrobatics: Dick has been performing acrobatics since almost before he could walk. As a child, he was a member of the Flying Graysons arguably the most famous acrobatic circus troupe in the world. After he became Robin, he learned to improve his skills tenfold while facing death on a nightly basis. A lifetime of practice and self-improvement has made him one of the finest acrobats in the world, who would put even the most gilded Olympic Athlete to shame.
Combat: Dick has been studying myriad forms of hand-to-hand, melee and ranged combat since he was twelve years old under the tutelage of perhaps the greatest warrior to have ever lived. While there is always room for improvement, Dick has become an exceptional martial artist to the point that he will often come out the winner when facing off against multiple, armed foes. The list of martial arts he has mastered is a mile long, though he had blended them all into a unique style that focuses on the use of Escrima fighting batons.
Criminology: If Batman was not the greatest warrior to have ever lived, he was certainly the world's greatest detective. While Dick never had the same amount of patience and willpower to match him, he nevertheless picked up enough tricks to outdo even the most grizzled FBI investigators. He knows how to detect and interpret motives, how to run forensics and how to mentally connect the dots to come to the (usually) correct conclusion.
Leadership: Dick is a natural leader, and that is partly why he had such issues being under the shadow of Batman for so long. He knows how to make his own decisions and be accountable for them. Beyond this, he can think tactically and has no qualms about being looked to for guidance and instruction.
Pilot: Let's face it, you can't jump and swing everywhere you need to go and when your former boss has all manner of air, land and sea vehicles that you're required to understand inside and out, well, you learn a few things. Dick is capable of death-defying manuevers on everything from a bicycle to a fighter jet, and possesses the mindset required to quickly understand whatever machine he happens to be at the helm of.
Ninjutsu: Dick uses the darkness to make himself seem more than he is. When you can be a looming shadow, criminals tend to think twice. Theatricality and deception. Dick knows how to hide himself effortlessly in his environment as well as move silently, making him difficult to spot or track if he does not wish to be. On top of this, he's very skilled at getting into places where he shouldn't be he can bypass all manner of locks and usually get in an out without leaving a trace.
Multilinguist: Dick can speak French, Spanish, Russian, Japanese, German, Swahili, Mandarin, and Cantonese fluently.
Escape Artist: Dick has been trained from an early age how to get out of being restrained.
Dick Grayson is on his own and thus no longer has access to the Wayne Foundation or the Batcave. He is a college student at the moment and has a part time job as a waiter in a local restaurant. Currently he is helping to found a team called the Titans with fellow heroes but their resouces are limited at the moment. He has a pair of tonfa he uses along with his own skills to fight crime.
Dick tends to be impulsive. He likes to rush in and do what needs to be done. When people are in trouble? Well, hell get in there and help and worry about the danger he might be facing later. He has a strong desire to help, and it is not easily quashed. Beyond this, he prefers to mask all the tragedy in his life behind humor he prefers to crack wise even during a fight. When he was Robin, this was a way of offsetting the dark and brooding nature of his partner. In short, he is something of a thrill seeker looking to make a name for himself and become his own man after living in a long shadow for too long.
Father Figure: Bruce Wayne raised Dick from a young age. While not his biological father, Bruce certainly had a father's influence on Dick Grayson. Now that Dick is a teenager and wanting to get out on his own, he is like every other teenager. He does not want to be anything like his "Father" even though he is very much the Heir Apparent to Batman. They think alike. They sometimes act alike. It is a bit unrational that Dick wants to get out of Batman's shadow as much as he does but he doesn't want to be Batman and this can cause him to screw up on occasion.
Human: Nightwing is a human in a Superhuman world. He is skilled and can hold his own with the best of them, but there will always be threats simply stronger than he is. He routinely has to go into fights when he is outmatched physically. He cannot always punch his way out of trouble. He has to outthink it.
Lack of Resources: When Nightwing was Robin, he had access to the Batcave and all the toys that Batman gets to use. Now that he is trying to distance himself from Batman, he has obviously lost access to all the resources that go along with the Wayne Foundation. He has to rely on himself more and get a regular job which obviously cuts into how effective he will be as a hero.