Rita and Terry left long before Cat Lady returned with Rita's estimate. They were curious as to what laid behind that door. Terry decided it was best to follow them, where as he had the active camouflage. Rita was not keen to be left behind, but she too changed into her suit.

"I get to sit out again. Yay." Rita sighed from the Chimera Institute's rooftop. Terry smirked to himself as he slunk towards the ceiling of a laboratory that was well hidden in the Chimera Institute's winding halls. He wondered why it was so out of the way, when he spied Covier and the three spliced teen's from earlier, Bull, Snake and Cat. He was splicing them, again.

"It's all over the news." The Bull teen growled as they situated him into a circular harness. The harness held all of his limbs in a secure bind, something tha Terry raised a brow at. If splicing was so safe, he wondered why they had to be held down. "Those scared old stiffs are gonna shut us down."

"Then we must strike tonight." Couvier smirked, pressing several buttons on the keyboard before picking up a splicing gun. "The Splicers revolution cannot be stopped." He told his cronies, shooting the gun into the Bull's arms. "If the law intends to shut us down, then we shall take first blood from the throat of DA Young." Terry's heart nearly stopped and Rita's mouth dropped on shock.

"Rita-"

"Way ahead of you." Rita told him, taking off from her rooftop perch and in to the night. "Directions?"

"On their way." Bruce informed her. "Terry, stay a bit longer, see if you can find out any other targets they're planning to hit."

"Will do." Terry whispered. "And Rita," Her paused, thoughtfully. "Be careful." Rita smirked into her cowl, jetting off just as her NAVI voice came over her coms.

It wasn't a long flight, the atjet did most of the navigating for her. The flight wasn't what was making her nervous. After she had left, Bruce and Rita lost communications with Terry. She wanted to go back, but Bruce wouldn't her any of it; She had a job to do, she has to save Sam Young.

"Terry will be fine, Rita, right now you need to worry about your job." Bruce told her, trying his best to calm her down. He wasn't good at this type of thing, another reason why he didn't understand why Dick would leave her in his care.

"Yeah, yeah." Rita agreed, sitting quietly a top of the front porch of Sam Young and Barbara Gordon's condo. But she couldn't help worrying about Terry, dropping off the radar wasn't like him at all. It seemed business as usual and she began to wonder if the Chimera's were all talk and no action, until a loud crash from the roof top caught Rita's attention.

"Rita!"

"I heard it!" She shouted back to Bruce, taking off towards the rooftop. The three Chimera's from the Chimera institute had taken siege to the small condo, entering through the roof. By the time Rita arrived, Sam and Barbara had already been held down by the two male Chimera's. Rita wasted no time, diving into action. "Hey! Freak show!" She shouted, diving through the window, her foot connecting with the snake like Chimera that held Sam. He went flying across the room landing hard against the back wall.

"You!" The Bull chimera snarled, shoving Barbara to the side. "Batman's sidekick, what a pleasure." He teased, lunging at her.

"It's Nightwing, Nose Ring." Rita spat, removing from her holsters her set of batons. She lengthened them threateningly, and the bull growled, diving for her. Rita dodged him easily batting him upside his head, sending him stumbling. "Remember it!"

Rita had no time to gloat, as the cat woman from before shouldered her in the side. Rita groaned, falling face first to the ground. A very strong hand found the back of her skull, pressing her face into the floor of the condo.

"No need to. After tonight you'll be dust!" The Bull Chimera sneered, lifting Rita's head and preparing to slam her face down into the carpet. Rita never ate floor though, instead, she was thrown across the room with the Bull Chimera, landing on top of him hard enough to knock the wind from her. With a growl she stood, kicking the Bull hard enough to make him groan. Surprised be to her when she found Terry in the middle of the room.

"Batman!" She said happily, though the look on Terry's face did not make her feel hopeful. He was breathing, hard, hunched over and in obvious pain. His body shuddered, as he pointed behind him, towards where Barbara and Sam lay injured. Rita obliged, running past her partner and joining the DA and the Commissioner.

"Nightwing?" The Commissioner asked. Rita said nothing, only watched the former Batgirl as she cradled her husband's unconscious form.

"You need to leave, We'll handle it from here." Rita told Commissioner Gordon, as a loud, animalistic growl erupted from the fight behind her. Rita turned, to find Terry throwing off the three Chimera's in a feat of unimaginable strength. The Cat and the Snake were down for the count, but the Bull, he didn't know when to quit. As he charged at Terry, Terry easily deflected him, and he began to pound on the Bull brutally and with abandon. Barbara and Rita exchanged terrified glances.

"Help him!" She pleaded.

"Which one?!" Rita returned, jumping over to her partner. As he reared his fist back for another blow, Rita grabbed it, holding on for dear life. Terry was much stronger than he usually was. "Batman! You're killing him!" Rita pleaded with her friend, surprised when he turned on her. With a shove, Rita hit the ground, Terry standing over her menacingly. "Batman..." Rita whispered, hands up in surrender. She was terrified, and it was evident on her face.

In her fear, she searched the room for her batons, which sat discarded where she was leveled by the Cat woman. She could reach them from here, but he would get to her first, that much was obvious. Terry was foaming at the mouth now, with actual fangs instead of teeth, and he screeched at her, an inhuman screech, before raising his fist.

"Terry! PLEASE!" Rita cried out in fear, Throwing her hands above her head. Terry to faltered and that was all the time Rita needed to get to her weapons. In a panic, Rita dove for her baton, setting them to taze, and turned, holding the stick to Terry's abdomen, sending a course of electricity though his already trembling body. He screamed, loudly, grabbing for his head before hitting the ground, unconscious. Terry twitched once before his body went completely slack. Rita breathed a heavy sigh, tentatively crawling over to his face. He was breathing, which was good, but it was ragged and heavy, a bad sign.

With trembling fingers, she pulled open his upper lip, revealing the un-human fangs that filled his mouth. Slowly she removed his mask, only to reveal a face that was no longer his. Rita gasped, bringing her hands to her mouth; Where Terry's head would be, sat a face that was much more bat-like in appearance. His ears were holes in the side of his head, his eyes sallow and sunken. His nose was there, but more snout like. Slowly, Rita reached out to him, putting a gentle, albeit scared, hand to his cheek.

"Oh Ter..." She muttered, dropping her head. They'd spliced him, that's why they lost contact while he was at the lab. they'd found him and he'd been spliced. She'd find it ironic that they took the time to splice him with Bat DNA, if his splicing hadn't been so severe.

"Is he alright?" Barbara spoke from across the room. Rita jumped, turning to the Commissioner. She could hear Bruce screaming in her ear, but she ignored him. Rita nodded her head sadly, gently stroking Terry's cheek. Terry shuddered under her touch and she pulled away from him. Barbara sighed, gesturing to the broken skylight. "The Chimera's escaped."

"Don't worry, I'm going to take care of this before they have a chance to come back." Rita told her angrily, standing. She pulled Terry's dead weight onto her shoulder, stumbling once under him as she adjusted his body over her back. Barbara reached out to help, but Rita gestured her to stay where she was. Commissioner Gordon was already hurt enough as it was.

"Rita." Barbara said quietly. Rita looked over at her in shock, and Barbara smirked at her. "I may be old, but I'm still sharp." Rita gave her a weak smile and she continued. "You've grown since the last time I saw you." Barbara quipped, reminded of Rita's christening. It had been 17 years since she'd seen the girl, and equally as long since she'd seen Dick. Barbara frowned at the thought. "Take care of Terry first. We'll be fine, the hospital will put us under armed guard."

"I know," Rita muttered, glancing back at Terry's unconscious face. "But this time it's personal." She explained, taking off through the skylight, back towards where she parked the jet.

Terry's head was throbbing, he was moderately cold, but a distinct feeling of hands running through his hair left him feeling warm. Muffled voices could be heard in the background, a deep, gnarly male voice and one that was much lighter, much softer. Rita. Slowly he opened his eyes, to a blurry world. he couldn't make out details, only shapes and colors.

"Terry?" The soft voice came again, Rita's face coming into focus above his. She smiled at him, sitting back, her fingers paused in his hair line as they trailed softly down his cheek. "Oh, Terry!" Rita sighed, hugging him tightly.

"What... Happened..?" He muttered, bringing his hand to his forehead. Glumly he looked around, his cowl had been discarded somewhere, and his Batsuit lay shredded on his body. A cold table was under his legs, and he was surprised to find himself in the Batcave. Rita scooted over as Terry sat up, the action making his head throb even more.

"At least now we know that the cure works. Fast acting, too." Bruce gruffed from his chair, not even looking up from his computer screen. Terry's brow furrowed and Rita gave him a sympathetic smile.

"Cure?" He asked. Rita nodded.

"You were practically bat by the time I got you home." Rita frowned, biting her lip. Terry growled

"Couvier, he dosed me in his lab." Now he remembered. They'd ambushed him and had pumped him full of splice juice.

"With a massive overdose of Vampire bat serum." Bruce informed him. Quietly he turned to the pair, holding in his hand four viles of red liquid and two giant dart guns. "Rita told me about the attack on Sam and Barbara." He told him, clicking over to the Television. The news had just broken about the attack on the DA's life.

"After Batman and his partner, Nightwing, foiled the assassination attempt on DA Young, the Chimera institute was raided by local police forces, but Dr Couvier and his followers have already gone into hiding." the anchorman told them, cutting to a video of Sam Young. Terry looked to Rita for answers, he couldn't remember anything.

"After you arrived at Sam Young's you didn't speak, you almost killed one of the Chimeras!" Rita frowned at him. "I had to taze you or you would've gone after me..."

"Rita..." Terry began, taking her hand in his.

"You scared me, McGinnis." Rita's admission left Terry feeling guilty, and he fought against the flush of his cheeks as she wrapped her other hand around his. Bruce watched them quietly, clearing his throat. To his pleasure, they let go of each other.

"Couvier will be deadlier than ever, now that he's being hunted." Bruce told them obviously. Rita sighed, now that they'd gone into hiding, there was no way of finding them until the tried another attempt on DA Young's life. Quietly, Bruce stood from his chair, joining Rita and Terry off the table. From on Terry's Batsuit, Bruce pulled forth what seemed to be a piece of claw. "What's this...?" he pondered, crossing back to his computer.

"One of Couvier's claws." Terry muttered. "Too bad we can't use it to find him." Rita bit her lip, looking down at Bruce's noble guard dog quietly.

"We can't." Bruce told them with a sly grin. Ace whined, looking up at the three humans expectantly before huffing and laying his head back on his paws. Terry groaned, he didn't like where this was going at all.