Hey everyone! I'm so sorry I've put this story on hold for so long, but I've been running out of ideas, so I'm going by the Batman: Gotham Adventures comics for a bit, okay? Disclaimer: I own nothing but Kiki, Wolf, and my other Ocs, got it? BTW, this chapter has parts taken from the first issue of the Batman: GA comics, K? Hope you enjoy!
The next few weeks after the art show were peaceful for Kiki and the others, since all the major baddies were locked in Arkham for the moment; it figures that it wouldn't last. Kiki was in the living room of the second story of the townhouse drawing a random pattern in her notebook and thinking about her brother as the TV droned on in the background; he had called the night before just like she had predicted: in complete excitement, tripping over his words to tell her about everything he had seen.
Kiki had listened with a smile, reassuring him several times that she was still on the line. He told her that her newest care package was on the way to Gotham as they spoke, and asked her to tell their aunts, uncles, and cousins when she saw them that he was okay, and that he was going to try to send everyone something sooner or later. When he hung up, Kiki was happy that he was able to be a globe-trotter like their father had been, and wondering if she had a few psychic abilities like their Aunt Jean and cousin Joey.
Kiki's attention was diverted from her brother as a news broadcast interrupted the movie that had been playing.
"We've just received word that Batman and The Joker have been sighted in Gotham Square. . ." the reporter, Summer Gleeson, said with a smile.
Bats and Joker? What now? Kiki wondered, flipping her notebook shut as the reporter went on.
"Camera crews are on their way, and we'll cut away there as soon as we're ready. In the meantime, we're about to go to the boardroom of Reid Pharmaceuticals, where President and CEO G. Douglas Reid has called a sudden and mysterious press conference."
"Reid? He works with Uncle Warren; why would he call a press conference?" Kiki frowned, sitting up and focusing on the TV screen. A picture of a man of at least sixty years with gray hair, glasses, and a small gray mustache, holding a giant pair of scissors with an even older man on his right, and a very familiar figure on his left.
Is that Bruce? She asked herself in surprise as she examined the third figure in the enlarged photograph.
"Reid has long since been a newsmaker in Gotham City. . .since his unsuccessful bid for Mayor eight years ago. He has stayed in the news with his spectacular donations to local hospitals and clinics." The image on the screen changed to a quick spread of different hospitals and clinics that Reid had helped, then settled on a picture of Reid with a man about thirty years younger than himself with brown hair and eyes against a background of ships and seagulls.
"But these days the news has been tragic for the Reid family. He is pictured here with his son Glenn, in a photo taken one week ago-"
The picture changed, and Kiki's eyes widened in horror. "Just two days before Glenn became the latest victim in The Joker's recent crime spree." The young man's face had changed; it was paler, and a wide smile adorned it, his eyes glassy and empty.
Poor Mr. Reid; does Uncle Warren know about this? Kiki thought, the former with sympathy, the latter with concern and curiosity. The image on the screen changed again, this time into live footage of Mr. Reid in front of a podium covered with microphones.
"Originally tonight, I planned to announce a reward for The Joker's capture. I've just been informed, however, that that might be moments away. I realize now that it's not enough. He will never meet up with justice in liberal Gotham City. He will simply go back to his comfortable cell-and my son will still be dead," Mr. Reid held up a wanted poster with Joker's profile on it and the paper below it rolled up; as he spoke again, he unrolled the rest of the poster, revealing an incredibly high amount of money.
"So instead, I'm offering fifty million dollars to the person who kills this inhuman fiend, once and for all, and makes sure no other family has to go through what we've suffered." Kiki's jaw dropped and she rushed into her room without bothering to turn the TV off. She quickly slipped into her costume and pulled on her mask, grabbing the Nightcom(1) Nightwing had given her after their last get-together. As she stepped back into the living room as the footage on the TV changed into The Joker being captured by Batman with Ms. Gleeson's voiceover on the footage.
"We'll be coming back to the remarkable developments at the Reid Corporation in moments. But we cut away live now as the camera crews are on the scene of Gotham Square to witness Batman's daring capture of Gotham's fifty million dollar man."
I gotta find Wings, Wolf thought as she turned off the TV and left by the bay window in the opposite wall, traveling by rooftop until she saw her partner run by on foot.
"Yo, Wings!" she called, jumping from the rooftop to the ground to join him. He looked at her in surprise.
"What are you doing here?" he asked her, not slowing his stride.
"I saw the news; thought you guys could use another able body." She replied, jogging to catch up with him. He nodded, coming to a stop as he reached a motorcycle with a black and blue paint job. He tossed Wolf a dark blue helmet with black stripes and donned a plain black one.
"Hop on," he ordered as he started the cycle up and got on. Wolf saluted, put the helmet on, and hopped on the bike behind him, putting her arms around his waist. They sped past most of Gotham, and Wolf watched as crowds of citizens gathered together as they plotted how to kill The Joker. She shook her head sadly at them as they went by.
How could they even think of trying to kill a fellow human being? Okay, it might be a stretch with the Joker, but still, he was a normal human once. . .
Her attention was averted as Nightwing pushed a button and a wall opened up in the nearby hillside; as they went through it into a long tunnel, Wolf finally asked Nightwing, "Where are we going?"
"The Batcave," he replied. "It's the only safe place Batman can keep Joker until Arkham and the city are safe again." Wolf nodded, lightly resting her chin on his shoulder as they finished going through the tunnel and finally entered the Batcave.
It looked just as Wolf had imagined it to: an underground cavern with dozens of nooks, crannies, and levels for training and other things with a main floor adorned with a supercomputer and room for the Bat vehicles, plus a high ceiling with plenty of room for the resident pet bats to make their homes and not be disturbed. Batman and Batgirl stood on the main platform with the Joker handcuffed to the railing along the edge of the platform; Robin was entertaining himself by doing tricks on another piece of railing not too far away from the others. The Batfamily members looked up as Nightwing came into the cavern and stopped behind the Batmobile. Joker was in the middle of a pointless rant when Nightwing and Wolf came in.
"Call Amnesty International. Every man in a free country is entitled to TV!" he said, then noticed Nightwing get off the bike and pull his helmet off, blocking Wolf from view as she did the same. "Hey Lucy! Little Ricky's home!"
"Saw the news; figured you'd have him here." Nightwing said to Batman, ignoring Joker's comments.
"Do you have any idea of the time, young man? Your father and I have been worried sick!" Joker scolded with a smirk; he noticed Wolf and his smirk grew bigger. "And you brought a friend home for dinner!" Wolf glared at him, then turned to Batman, unconsciously moving closer to Nightwing.
"Need a hand?" Nightwing asked Batman.
"It's completely under control, Nightwing." Batman replied, looking Wolf over with a frown. He paused as footsteps were heard; everyone turned to look at the staircase leading down to the Batcave.
"More company? It's a party!" Joker exclaimed cheerfully.
"Robin!" Batman ordered, going over to join Nightwing and Wolf as Robin raced for the staircase, stopping whoever was going down to join them.
"I suppose this is the former jewel thief that was eluding capture?" he asked Nightwing as Wolf tensed at the tone of his voice. Nightwing frowned and narrowed his eyes at his former mentor.
"She's gone straight; she's my partner now, Batman." He answered firmly, his hand going to Wolf's shoulder and squeezing it in reassurance, making Wolf relax slightly. Batman didn't look convinced by Nightwing's statement.
"We'll talk later, Dick," He said in a voice too low for Wolf to hear. Nightwing scowled but nodded as Robin came back down the stairs.
"We're needed; Gordon's lit the signal." Robin told them.
"Robin, you're with me," Batman told the newest Boy Wonder who raced over to the Batmobile and hopped in the passenger seat in response.
"Nightwing, you and your. . .partner. . .are welcome to come along. . ." Batman added, glancing disapprovingly at Wolf.
"No thanks. I patrol the streets with a different partner now." Nightwing answered, putting his helmet back on and getting back on the bike, Wolf following him with a slight smile. They took off as the Batmobile pulled out of the central cave.
"What do we do now?" Wolf asked as she and Nightwing sped back into Gotham.
"We monitor the crowds and wait for something to happen," Nightwing answered calmly, pulling over and stopping at the building around the corner of the police station, getting off the bike and taking off his helmet. Wolf followed him, then climbed up the side of the building to the top, Nightwing behind her. They perched on the edge of the building and watched the crowd of people, waiting for something to happen. Luckily, they didn't have to wait long; a blond guy dressed in black walked up to the station steps with a handcuffed Joker in tow. The man turned out to be Clayface trying to get his hands on the reward money.
"I'll go first; you follow me." Nightwing ordered, throwing a mini bo-staff at the lump of clay before jumping down.
"Believe me, Clayface, I'd rather not do this. . .you're way on the far side of disgusting," Nightwing said as he landed in front of the villain. Wolf jumped down to join him and they cart-wheeled through Clayface and finished the taunt as they landed behind him.
"But some things in life you've just gotta go through, right Wings?"
"Hey!" Clayface complained, turning to face the two vigilantes.
"Sure hope this works; it'll take me a week to clean out my hair." Nightwing muttered to Wolf, who snorted in amusement. They lifted the hood of the rig behind them and removed a set of the jumper cables, each taking a cable half and hiding it behind their backs. (If you don't get what I'm saying, try tracking down this issue online and you'll get it.)
"Come a little closer, sewer lips. . ." she taunted with a smirk.
"You're gonna pay for this, you runts!" Clayface growled as he came closer, changing one of his hands into a giant mace.
"Pay? How about we charge it?" They asked together, jumping up and clipping the cables to Clayface, letting the electricity from the rig's engine turn Clayface into mush. Smoke scented with burning clay surrounded the two, making Wolf gag and wave it away while Nightwing coughed.
"Ugh, 'Fried Clayface'. . .I think we discovered a brand new smell." Nightwing said, grimacing.
"And it's not gonna turn into the next big thing, either," Wolf agreed.
They got away as soon as everything was taken care of, and made their rounds without a problem. They spent a little time together on their rooftop lookout point just hanging out and not saying much to each other until Wolf got up to leave.
"Thanks for letting me come with you to the 'cave, Wings. I've always wondered what it looked like; your team seems like good people, too." She said to him as she stretched.
"They are; Batman's just very protective of us and who we work with. He doesn't like outsiders putting themselves at risk trying to do what we do, either. He'll probably give you 'The Lecture' on vigilantism the next time he sees you," Nightwing warned.
"I think I'll be able to handle it, Wings. My family's more involved in heroism and vigilantism than you'd think; later, Wings!" She saluted and blew him a kiss before she leapt to the next rooftop, leaving Nightwing to puzzle over what she'd said.
Kiki got home without any problems, changed out of her Wolf costume and settled down in front of the TV in pajama pants and an old T-shirt of her brothers with a bowl of ice cream. She turned on the TV and flipped channels until she found the news. She settled on that, putting the remote down and digging into her ice cream as Ms. Gleeson spoke.
"The Joker is back in custody tonight after G. Douglas Reid announced a retraction of the fifty million dollar bounty for the criminal's murder, using the money, instead, to create the Glenn Reid foundation, a fund to benefit the victims of violent crimes and their families here in Gotham City."
Kiki smiled in approval. That's a much better way to spend fifty million than using it as a reward for the death of a human being.
She watched the news until it was over, then changed it to the Dueling Channel(2), settling in for an all-night Dueling marathon.
1. I know Nightwing has no such thing, but I need some way for Wolf to communicate with him in the future.
2. If half of you have looked at my profile lately, you'll know I'm a hard-core Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan.
There will be a few cameos and mentions of superheroes from other comics and cartoons every now and then, so be prepared! In the meantime, R+R, and no flames, please! Be warned, though, that I'm only going to include the issues that have Nightwing featured for obvious reasons.
