A/N: Hello everyone and welcome to chapter 4 of 'Nighco' well last chapter dealt with Batman going to Zatanna for help with trying to bring back home and speaking of the former boy wonder, he, Ico, and Yorda are still trying to get out of the castle and ran into some more shadow creatures which is starting to be more of a challenge for them.
Well now it's time for a few things to be answered like Nightwing and Ico finally learning Yorda's name, and the strange voice that told Zatanna to 'Stay away' so here we go with chapter 4 of 'Nighco'.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything what so ever in this story, it is all the property of their respective owners.
(Castle)
"I have to admit that the view this place has is pretty overwhelming." Nightwing said as he, Ico, and the girl took in the view of the castle.
The three of them stood on a ledge overlooking part of the castle, they could tell that they were so high up they weren't even able to see the ground, though the mist surrounding the castle also factored into that as well. Even with everything that's been happening to them Nightwing had to admit that the architectural stone structure was an amazement to say the leas. Nightwing looked over at the ocean for a bit and listened to it's waves while noticing the rail tracks from earlier, he figured that would help lead them to a way out of the castle.
"Well it looks like we got a train to catch." Nightwing told Ico and the girl jokingly as they all ran up the stone stairs which took them to a second level.
They saw another flight of stairs right beside a barred gate that contained nothing but crates behind it. Once they made it up those stairs the girl started to shake with fear again because right from the edge across from them a dark portal started to open up in front of them and they all knew what that meant. As Nightwing and Ico prepared themselves for the upcoming shadow creatures that was sure to attack them, the girl pointed up towards the small tower right next to them and noticed another dark portal appearing up there as well.
Each one of them produced a shadow creature but these two were unique to the ones that the three have been encountering, that was because they could both fly and that spelt trouble for them. When the two of them landed in front of Nightwing and Ico they took notice that one of them was skinny just like the one they encountered in the previous room they just left, and the other one was bigger and bulkier than any other shadow creature they've encountered plus . There was one thing Nightwing took notice of and that was the fact that they both had a pair of horns sticking out of their head.
"You take the skinny one, I'll handle the big guy over there." Nighwing suggested as the young boy simply nodded his head as both of them charged at the creatures.
To their surprise though the shadow creatures jumped and flew out of the way of the charging heroes and landed right behind them, then they attacked both Nightwing and Ico with their claws knocking them both to the ground.
"These guys seem a little smarter than the last ones." Ico stated as he stood back up holding on tightly to his stick.
"Yeah, but not by much though." Nightwing replied back as he and Ico charged at the two shadow creatures again.
This time though when the creatures jumped up into the air Nightwing and Ico did the same thing and scored a direct hit with their weapons knocking both of the creatures to the ground. They didn't stop their assault there, knowing that if giving the opportunity they would most definitely take to the sky and attempt several Aerial attacks on them, so they beat the creatures out of existence.
"Well that takes care of them." Ico said relieved at the fact that those shadow creatures were now gone.
"I wouldn't be so sure about that." Nightwing told him as two more of those shadow creatures climbed out the portals and flew right towards them.
After another finishing up the second set of shadow creatures they checked to see if either of the portals were still open and to their relief they both vanished into smoke. The girl slowly walked over to the other end of the roof with Nightwing and Ico not far behind they found the steps that led to a small ledge and right underneath that was the rail tracks Nightwing had spotted.
"look, I see something over there that we could use to travel to the other side." Ico said as he pointed towards an old trolley.
"Good eye, alright you guys wait here while I go catch us a train." Nightwing said as he climbed down the ladder and ran through the archway towards the trolley.
He examined the old trolley very carefully to see if it was still in good working condition, there was a bit of rust here and there but nothing too bad though. He hopped onto the trolley and checked the lever to see if it would work, he pulled back towards him a bit and the trolley moved in reverse. Glad that it was working he pushed the lever forward and the trolley moved to where his two companions were waiting for him.
"All aboard the castle express where today we have a special that involves kids with horns and lovely young ladies riding for free." Nightwing said jokingly as both Ico and the girl climbed down the ladder gotten onto the trolley.
Once they were on board Nightwing pushed the lever forward and off the trolley went, though it didn't take them very far due to how short the track was but it did get them to the end of the line though. As the three of them got off of the trolley they then found themselves walking high on a steep ledge on the side of the castle; as they walked the came across a gap that was small enough for them to jump across.
Ico jumped first with Nightwing right behind him, they both turned to see that the girl was still standing there unsure if she should jump or not. Nightwing extended his hand out to her in assurance that he will catch her when she jumps, she nodded her head then stood on the edge and jumped across the gap. She didn't make it all the way to the other side because she was dangling in the air with a firm grip on Nightwing's arm as he effortlessly pulled he up onto the ledge.
"Guys look down there, it's the spot we saw earlier from behind the barred door." Ico said as he pointed towards the little grassy tower from before.
"You're right, and look on the other side of that is another entranceway that could hopefully get us out of here. All we need now is a way down there, hey that's it we'll use that crane over there." Nightwing said as he pointed towards a crane with a large steel crate attached to the other end of it.
"I'll see if I can operate it and try to get us down there." Ico stated as he grabbed hold of the metal rail sticking out of the castle wall and began to move towards the crane's circular turret as both Nightwing and the girl watched hoping that he would be okay.
Once Ico made it in there he waved to both of his companions to let them know that he was alright relieving both of them, he then walked over to the lever and pulled it towards him and watched as the crane lift the crate up and swung towards Nightwing and the girl.
"Hold on to me as tight as you can alright." Nightwing instructed the girl who did as she was told and held on to the former boy wonder as he leaped onto the top of the steel crate with the girl still holding onto him.
Nightwing signaled to Ico that they were both on the crate so Ico pulled the lever again and watched as it slowly swung back towards it's original position and then lowered itself back down across from the small tower.
Nightwing jumped towards the tower with the girl still holding to him with no problem, then they both turned around and watched as Ico climbed the three wooden boards that was tacked to the wall of the castle. Once Ico made it to the top of the torret he slowly climbed onto the top of the crane itself and walked over towards the edge, then he began to slide down the chain where he stood on top of the steel crate and jumped over to where Nightwing and the girl were.
"Good job operating that thing Ico, we wouldn't have made it over here if it wasn't for you." Nightwing said as he ruffled the young boy's hair.
"Don't mention it, look another lever over there." Ico said as he walked over towards the lever and pulled it towards him.
To their surprise the bars had risen up reviling the metal door and a wooden bridge began to extend towards them.
"Well it's nice to know that we have a quicker way back this time, anyway come on guys it's time for us to keep moving." Nightwing instructed as the three of them walked through the dark entranceway that took them back into the castle.
Once they were inside they found themselves standing high on the ledge of another one of the castle's large rooms only this one was huge and multi-leveled and it had a broken bridge at its center, there wasn't much light shining through it as well, and not only that but there was also a giant chasm at the bottom of the room. The three began to head to the other side of the room and out of the doorway that had light shinning through it hoping that it would be a way out of the castle.
"Should have known that it wasn't going to be this easy." Nightwing said to himself as the three of them found themselves staring at multiple drawbridges that were all being held up by chains.
"Looks like we have no choice but to go back in there and find a way out." Ico pointed out as Nightwing agreed with him and the three of them went back inside of the room they just left.
When they were back in the room Nightwing and Ico tried to figure out a way to leave, they both knew that the only way out was most likely going to be at the bottom. They knew the chain hanging from the ledge would be quicker for them, but they also knew that the girl wasn't strong enough to climb down in her current state. While they brainstormed the girl pointed towards a chandelier hanging from a cross-beam which gave Nightwing an idea for getting out of there.
"I think we just found a way to the bottom, thanks." He told the girl as he began to climb the window ledges.
He then spotted a ladder and used that to climb on top of one of the supports that ran along the top of the room, once he made it to the center of the cross-beam he jumped onto the chandelier and despite his weight it was still hanging from the beam. He could tell that the chain wouldn't hold out much longer and with one good hit then it would break, so he took out his escrima sticks and with one good swing the chain broke causing it to drop the lighting apparatus and crash into the bridge, hit the ground, and fall into the giant chasm below.
"Man that was a close one, it was a good thing I jumped out of there just in time." Nightwing said as he stood back on the ledge with both Ico and girl checking to see if he was fine.
He assured them that he okay and noticed the chandelier knocked the podium holding the bridge off-balance a bit, all they needed to do now was figure out way to bring the whole bridge down.
"Hey I know way we could get to the bottom of the room just follow me." Ico said as he led his two companions out of the room through the way they first entered.
They were soon back outside at the small tower from before and Ico pointed towards a spiral staircase, he explained that he spotted it when he was climbing down the crane. With that they descended down the stairway and when they reached the doorway they spotted six big round objects, Nightwing knew right away that they were bombs and realized that they might be just what he needed.
So he grabbed one of the bombs and walked through the doorway with the other two right behind him, they then ended up back in the huge room with the chasm only this time they were at the bottom. Nightwing then carried the bomb over to the podium holding the bridge up and placed it down beside it, then he instructed Ico to use his stick to light the fuse with is stick. The boy nodded his head and walked over to one of the torches and placed the edge of his stick into the flame and ran over to the bomb lighting the fuse.
The three of them ran back and watched as the bomb exploded and caused the podium to fall over and made part of the bridge fall down over the chasm providing them a way across now.
Once they got back up to the top and started to walk down the bridge, but when they got halfway down some more of those flying shadow creatures started to show up in around them. Without wasting anytime they dashed towards the doorway with more of those stone statues in front of it, and to the surprise of both Nightwing and Ico as soon as the girl touched the statues lightning started to shot out of them and hit every single last one of the shadow creatures turning them into nothing but smoke.
"Wow, if only we knew this a while back, oh well lets go guys." Nightwing said as the three of them ran right through the doorway.
They soon found themselves in a open courtyard and could spot the stone statues at the lower part of the courtyard and knew that was their way out, but as soon as they took their first steps more of those shadow creatures suddenly appeared and darted towards the girl.
Nightwing and Ico fought them all off as they tried to protect her from those vile creatures, Nightwing figured that the fastest way out of this was to get to the stone statues at the bottom of the courtyard. Nightwing picked her up bridal style and started to leap down there from archway to archway with Ico not too far behind them; then once Nightwing put her down she quickly dashed towards the statues and caused lightning to shoot out at the shadow creatures.
"Well it looks like we're almost done here." Ico said with Nightwing and the girl agreeing with him.
When they walked through they saw a beautiful garden in front of them, but the thing that really caught their attention was the two humongous stone gates in front of them wide open just ready for them to run right out. Without wasting any more time Nightwing, Ico, and the girl dashed towards it with Ico holding the girl's hand; then without warning the gates began to close in front of them.
Suddenly the girl fell onto the ground without warning causing both Nightwing and Ico to stop running to see if she was all right, in doing so the stone gates had closed behind them and then suddenly a portal opened up and this time instead of a shadow creature it was a woman a very tall woman.
Her body was shaped by shadows and dark fumes, which also formed her garments, her face was also snow white along with her chest being the only things that wasn't covered in dark shadows. She towered over the young girl and began to speak to her.
"Come back Yorda." She spoke in the girl's langue and then she turned her attention towards the two boys where were ready to fight her.
"Who are you?" Nightwing asked ready to throw down with Ico having his back for the fight.
"So, you two are the ones aimlessly leading my Yorda around. Do you know who this girl is?" She asked the two boys as they just glared at her.
"No, but we would sure would like to know who you are though." Nightwing stated holding onto his escrima sticks; she simply chuckled at him before answering his question.
"That girl you're with is my one and only beloved daughter." She answered back which shocked the two boys.
"You're her mother? Well then tell me, what kind of mother would lock their 'beloved' daughter in a steel cage then?" Nightwing asked with a bit of anger at the woman.
"Stop wasting your time with her, she lives in a different world than two little boys with horns! Now, know your place and leave here." She told them before vanishing from their sight.
"Are you okay?" Ico asked Yorda who was still lying on the ground crestfallen and somewhat afraid.
"I have angered her…" She said as she looked at the two boys in front of her.
She saw as both of them held their hands out for her to grab and helped her up, but then they heard her mother's disembodied voice speaking out to them one last time.
"Yorda, why can't you understand? You cannot survive in the outside world."
A/N: Well there you go guys' chapter 4 plus the introduction to the queen and also the boys know Yorda's name now, and I'm sure some of you have already guessed it and yes she was the one who told Zatanna to stay away last chapter.
Well sorry if the ending was a little rushed and next chapter we'll check back in on things in Nightwing's universe.
Read and review and I will see you guys later.