A/N: Tuesday feels like a random day to update after I just decided I would update every Saturday, but I had the chapter done so thought why not? I have this annoying tendency to get obsessed with my fanfictions.

Chapter 2: Rescue

Nightwing froze as he saw what the room contained. A girl around his age, seventeen or eighteen, lay unconscious on a metal bed. He stepped forward slowly, looking around the room for signs of a trap. Why would there be a teenage girl in a warehouse owned by the League of Shadows? And locked up behind a door requiring a retinal scan to get in, no less. She had to be a prisoner.

Pausing a few feet away, Nightwing studied the girl. She reminded him a little of Zatana with her thin build and long dark hair, but she was paler, and had a red jewel in the center of her forehead. He frowned at the black robe covering her as he wondered who she could possibly be. His first thought was a traitor to the Shadows, but no traitor would be left unguarded. They were either killed on sight or brought immediately to Ra's Al Ghul for judgement.

Could she be a hapless innocent walking by who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time? A young reporter sticking her noise too deep into a story? Surely the League of Shadows would have simply killed someone under those circumstances, meaning they needed something from this prisoner. Information maybe? Deciding that standing the in middle of a League of Shadow's warehouse was not the best time to speculate on this, Nightwing reached down and shook the girl's shoulder to wake her up.

No response. He shook her harder before feeling for a pulse. It was slow, but steady. He lifted one eye lid and his shoulders slumped at what he saw. The girl was drugged, meaning that the only way she was leaving this facility was if he carried her. Picking her up and slinging her over his shoulder, he made his way back to the door. He regretted the lost opportunity to investigate what the League of Shadows was up to in Bludhaven, but saving the woman had to take priority.

He just stepped into the hallway when he heard the faint whistle of something sharp flying through the air. He dodged back into the room before the door slid shut and put the girl gently on the floor, placing her so the door wouldn't automatically shut behind him. "This will just take a minute," he assured the unconscious teenager as he scanned the hall.

There, to the left, a darker shadow. He flicked an explosive batarang from his belt at the shadow. The shadow dodged and the batarang embedded itself in the wall behind it. The red light in the center blinked twice before the weapon exploded. The force knocked Nightwing's attacker onto the floor and the light of the explosion revealed a man with a utility belt full of knives.

Nightwing ran at the man, dodging two more knives as he did so. The man tried to get to his feet before Nightwing reached him, but only managed to get halfway up. Nightwing delivered a kick to his midsection, knocking the man back down. Reaching into his belt, Nightwing grabbed one of his short fighting staffs and brought it down onto the top of the man's head, rendering him unconscious.

Replacing the staff, he hurried back to the girl and picked her up again. He sprinted back into the main room of the warehouse, headed for the door he entered through.

He ducked behind a large box when he heard a gun being cocked, shielding the girl with his body as he waited for this new attacker to give his position away.

"Put that away!" Someone hissed. "If you hurt the girl, there will be hell to pay." So they did need the girl for something.

"If she gets away our lives might as well be forfeit," a second voice argued.

Nightwing ducked between two boxes, hoping the two men were too engaged in their argument to notice him. The light of the moon showed him the outline of two men standing on the walkway hanging above the room. Whoever these goons were, they were either hired guns, or brand new to the League of Shadows. They were way too green to be Ra's skilled assassins. Either this girl wasn't that important, or the Shadows were confident that no one would come looking for her here.

Grabbing two more explosive batarangs, Nightwing judged the distance between himself and the walkways support pillars before letting them fly. The weapons detonated and the walkway tilted sideways. Both men yelled out and grabbed the rail for support. The man with the gun tried to aim for Nightwing, hitting the box above his head, and then the box to the side. The box to the side started sizzling and Nightwing realized that whatever was in that box was not something that should be shot with a gun.

He lunged for the girl, scooping her up in his arms and running for the door. The men on the walkway yelled after him, but the screeching sound of metal told him the walkway was titling further, and their yells became more panicked.

By the time Nightwing reached the door, the box that had been shot was on fire and the sound gunpowder igniting filled the room. With a smirk Nightwing wondered how many of those boxes held gunpowder or worse. When Nightwing and the girl were half a block from the warehouse, he heard the sound of breaking glass and the rushing wind of a conflagration. He turned to see the entire building on fire, flames shooting out from the broken window. So far as distractions went, that one was pretty good.

The men couldn't chase after him now, they had to get rid of the evidence that they warehouse was a front for smuggling weapons before the police arrived. A pity this warehouse was situated on the pier. He was sure all the weapons would be dumped into the ocean or placed on a nearby ship, but he could always leave a friendly tip with the police to lead them right to the illegal contraband.

This was not how he expected the night to go, but it wasn't the worst turnout for a recon mission.

He slowed his pace when he got closer to his motorcycle, catching his breath. It wasn't easy to run with a teenage girl in your arms.

He stopped when he reached his ride, looking from the woman to his bike. How was this going to work? As he heard the sirens of fire trucks and police cars, he hurried over to the bike. No one would spot him in this alley, but he still wanted to be gone soon. He straddled the bike with the woman still in his arms, then situated her in front of him, using a piece of rope from his grappling gun to tie her to him.

"Sorry about this," he muttered. "It'll only be until I get us far enough away from here." Which also brought up the question of where he should take her. He knew nothing about her or what the League of Shadows wanted from her. Was she friend or foe?

Starting up his bike, he decided to take her to his hideout and wake her up there. He could always knock her out if she turned out to be hostile.

Nightwing drove quickly to the abandoned underground parking garage he, Batman, and Robin had turned into his base of operations. Once there, he laid the woman on a couch, for once grateful that Batgirl had insisted he have a comfy place for people to sit.

He blushed when he noticed the pale skin of her legs peeking through the robe and adjusted it to cover her completely. She must have been kidnapped from her house in the middle of the night, the poor woman.

He had just decided to get a sample of her blood to find out what kind of drug had been used on her when she began to stir. He stood there awkwardly as her eyes fluttered open, not knowing what he should say to her.

When the girl's eyes fully opened, she sat up with a gasp, her eyes flying all around the room before settling on Nightwing. She clutched the front of her robe and stared at Nightwing in fear. "Wh-who are you? Where am I?"

"Uh—I'm Nightwing. And this is—somewhere safe. I rescued you from the group that kidnapped you." He scratched the back of his head. "Sorry about all this, I'm sure this situation is overwhelming."

Her brow furrowed in confusion over his emphasis about this being overwhelming, but then she titled her head as she studied him. "Why is your name Nightwing? And why are you wearing a mask?"

He paused, not sure how to answer her question. Surely that should be obvious. "I'm a superhero. Nightwing is just a codename, and the mask it to help protect my identity." Another pause. "You've never heard of Nightwing before?" Not that he was vain or anything, but he had been the sidekick of one of the most famous superheroes in the world for years.

She looked more confused. "A superhero?"

"Yeah, you know like Batman and Superman. I know, it's surprising that a place like Bludhaven would have its very own superhero. I haven't been here all that long."

She still looked blank.

"Let's try a different track," Nightwing suggested, sitting down in the chair across from the couch. Him standing over her probably wasn't helping the poor girl feel any more comfortable. "What have I said that's not making sense to you?"

"None of it," the girl said with a shake of her head. "I've never heard of a Batman or Superman. Or Bludhaven."

"Never heard of Bludhaven? Where did you get kidnapped from then?"

Her eyes turned wide and panicked. "I—I don't know. I can't remember."

"It's okay, it's okay," Nightwing said soothingly, holding his hands out in a 'slow down' motion. "The drug they sedated you with is probably just clouding your mind. Give it a couple minutes."

"No," the woman said with a shake of her head. "I can't remember anything."

"What's the last thing you do remember?" Nightwing asked slowly. He should have checked her over for injuries. Maye she'd received a blow to her head and that was the source of her memory problem.

She put a hand to her head as she tried to remember and one of her fingers brushed against the jewel in her forehead. She frowned as she fingered the jewel, then winced when she tried to pry it off and nothing happened. "What is this?"

"I don't know, other than that it looks like a red jewel. I was going to ask you."

She looked frantically around the room before turning to Nightwing again and asking, "Do you have a mirror somewhere?"

"Yes," Nightwing said, standing up and reaching out a hand to help the girl up. She seemed even younger when she was awake and looking vulnerable and scared. He almost asked how old she was before realizing she probably didn't know the answer.

He took her to the bathroom and stood outside as she peered into the mirror. She paused when she saw her face. "I don't even recognize my own reflection," she murmured quietly before turning her attention the jewel. She tried prying it off again, and again winced in pain.

"What do you remember about being kidnapped?" Nightwing asked, leaning against the doorjamb and crossing his arms. "Do you know who did it? Or why?"

The girl slowly tore her attention from mirror and shook her head. "The only thing I remember is being locked in a room with bright lights. Someone carried me in there, but I don't remember their face." She shrugged helplessly. "And I don't know why anyone would want to kidnap me. Or at least, I can't remember why anyone would want to."

Nightwing's heart went out to the young woman. "Don't worry. We'll find out why they kidnapped you and we'll get your memories back. I promise."

"How?" She asked, tilting her head to the side.

Nightwing smiled and said, "I have some friends who I think might be able to help."

A/N: As a side note, Raven will probably be a fair bit out of character. The poor girl does have amnesia, after all.