Chapter One The Bird and the Bat It was a dark night in Gotham City. Bats flew across the moonlight, and all of the scum and dirt moved through its underbelly like some sort of psychotic snake. Despite this, the center strip of the city was lit up with thousands of lights, creating the illusion of normalcy. Inside a club on the corner of Jackson and Wayward streets, a pair of men sat at a table for two in a non-descript corner. The first of them appeared to be older, though he could not be described as anything but handsome. He had thick, ebony hair and a pair of playful eyes. His shoulders and chest were quite broad, and seemed to almost be straining against the expense suit they were clad in. The man exuded social grace, using the proper fork and bringing it to his mouth slowly. He seemed to be waiting for something, his patience neverending. Across from him was a man about half his age. He was also broad shouldered and broad chested, but was only about half the size of his older companion. His hair was also dark, but was shorter and a dark shade of brown rather than black. His dark brown eyes were not playful rather, they were full of impatience and a fire that would seemingly never die.
"You could try and relax and enjoy the evening, you know." The older man said, his voice holding just the right amount of control for someone of his status.
"This is me relaxing Dick. I'm just...itching for a little bat-beatdown. Trust me, I'd rather be here than at home with Barbara and Luna." The young man replied, a wide smile breaking out over his face.
"She is a bit of a handful at times isn't she? Ah well, at least she likes Babs. I'm still saying sorry to her last babysitter. At least she has you to serve as her role model Thomas." Richard Grayson replied, a small smile gracing his face as he thought of his adoptive daughter.
"Speaking of Barbara, are you ever going to-" Thomas began, before the lights in the club went out around him. The two men ceased their talking and stood up, making a beeline for the bathroom. The doors of the club blew open, and several men armed with laser pistols and dressed in ski masks stepped through them. Some people began to panick, but others just lay flat on the floor with their valuables out in front of them. It was Gotham after all. The armed men quickly swept the area, picking up any valuables along the way before heading back toward the door and standing on either side of it, guns raised. Just then, a woman's voice floated through the door.
"Riddle me this boys, what's filthy, dirty, and red all over?" The voice asked. The men didn't answer, as though they knew the voice would simply tell them. "No one? Okay, I'll tell you. What's filthy, dirty, and red all over? This club after I paint it with the blood of the Batman. He'll show up after all, he's their knight in shining kelvar." The voice said, a sick sort of laugh following the rather dark statement. A woman walked into the club then, her gait and movement casual as can be. She was dressed from head to toe in green clothing. Her shirt ended just above her belly button and was marked with a purple question mark, while a green hat with the same quizzical mark covered her fiery mane of red hair. She wore a short green skirt and green boots and twirled a golden cane topped with a question mark in her hand. She stepped up to the middle of the club, throwing her arms out to the side.
"The Riddler has arrived!" She proclaimed, throwing her arms out to the sides. The club was silent, and the woman put her arms down and scowled out at her audience.
"That means clap!" She yelled, firing a brilliant jade beam of energy from the tip of her cane toward the crowd. It soared straigt toward a group of well dressed civillians, until it was deflected by a long silver object. "What?" The riddler asked, looking out at the crowd. Thomas stood there, a smile on her face as he held a silver baseball bat in his hands. It was still smoking slightly from where it had deflected the beam, but didn't appear to be damage. Thomas had shed his suit from earlier and was now dressed in a black, skin tight bodysuit with a pair of black boots on his feet. A stripe of gold ran from the center of his chest in a V formation out to his arms and then down to his wrists. A domino mask covered his brown eyes, making them appear white. A belt with several pouches and compartments ran around his waist, hiding a myriad of weapons and devices for his use. "Nth metal bat. Pretty nice, don't you think?" He asked. "Hawkeye. The Bat sends his birdy to play with me. I'm afronted!" The Riddler cried, her eyes narrowing in disgust. She raised her cane to fire a second burst of energy, but a whirling batarang struck her hand and force her to release her weapon. She clutched at her now wounded hand, and turned to see Batman standing there, his cape wrapped around his shoulders and his whited out.
"Riddler. Too much to hope that you actually learned something during your last stint at Arkham?" How's your Dad?" He asked. Riddler trembled with anger.
"Don' you dare talk about my father Bat-bastard! You're the one that put him in a coma!" She shrieked, throwing herself to the ground to grab her cane. She held much like a shotgun, and a small missiled fired from its base toward the Dark Knight. Throwing himself to the side, Bataman avoided the explosive, which destroyed the outer wall of the club and left it open to the street. Riddler barked an order, and her men began to swarm around both the Dark Knigth and his baseball toting young ward. Batman merely leapt over their heads to get back to his main goal, swatting them like flies. Behind him, Hawkeye blocked laser bursts with his bat, his eyes having darkened. His good natured humor was gone, replaced by the gaze of a warrior. With a fluid, almost inhuman movement, Hawkeye smashed the knee of the closest henchmen, before taking him out with a powerful uppercut to the jaw. Two more henchmen came up behind him, but he easily brought them to the ground with a sweep of his leg, his body literally a machine as he punched, kicked, and practically glided around the room. He turned for a fraction of a second to see Batman dodging laser bursts and missiles fired from the Riddler's cane, though he could tell from just this brief glance that his mentor was simply waiting for her to run out of ammo. She was becoming sloppy, almost hysterical. Hawkeye could hardly expect better from someone as broken and insane as she was. Looking around, Hawkeye noticed that there were only a few henchies left, but that they were surrounding him. The barrels of their guns began to glow hot and were ready to fire. They released the shots, but Hawkeye easily ducked to avoid them. His hands began to heat up, and a burst of flame was released from them and knocked the remaining henchmen to the ground. Hawkeye stood up, and picked up his bat from where he had dropped it a few seconds ago. Henchmen cleanup was all he ever got, and it bored him. Shaking off the thoughts of monotony, he watched as Bats easily disarmed and subdued Riddler. Richard Grayson may have grown up quite a bit since he was the Boy Wonder, but he still kept some of who he used to be. Hawkeye walked up to his mentor, who smirked.
"Ready for the real party to begin?" He asked. Hawkeye nodded, and the two walked over the henchmen and out the backdoor, police sirens sounding off in the distance.