Chapter 10
Nightwing couldn't help himself. He froze on the rooftop opposite of City Hall and took in the scene below him. Red Hood stopped next to him, and even with the red monstrosity that he called a helmet on, Nightwing could hear the quick intake of breath as he surveyed the scene.
People weren't acting in the usual manner when there was an explosion, they were not running away, trampling the people who had fallen. Instead, they were snarling and screaming, fighting and stabbing each other. Nightwing clicked a button on the side of his mask and zoomed in on the scene below him. Next to him, Red Hood was doing the same thing. It was strange. The people had genuine fear in their eyes as they brawled with the people around them. They weren't even fazed by the burning building, it was as if the people around them served the greatest threat. Red Hood read his mind, "What the ever loving fuck?"
"Ditto. Let's make sure the building is clear."
"Agreed. After we make sure everyone is out, we can start establishing a perimeter in case the building comes down, and wow, I sound way too much like Red Robin for comfort."
"Sounds good. And Hood? Be careful. Those people down there seem to be a little stabby."
"No shit Sherlock. But, uh, you too."
Hood swung down to the street and waded through the chaos, running into the burning building like the hero he was. Nightwing took a moment to revel in the concern that his younger brother had just showed him, concern that his brother had always been careful to conceal even when he remembered just how they were related. All in all, he only gave himself five seconds to submit to the warm and fuzzy feelings before shoving a rebreather in his mouth and diving off of the building.
###
The smoke was thick and consuming. Red Hood was glad that his helmet covered his whole head and had an air filtration system. He didn't know where Nightwing was exactly. They had split up to cover more ground, with Red Hood taking the main floor and basement, and Nightwing taking floors two and three. All he knew was that the man was wearing a rebreather, one that looked shockingly similar to the ones that Batman, Robin, and Red Robin used. Perhaps he had stolen it. Not that he actually cared. He'd probably buy the guy a round if he'd actually managed to pull one over the Bat and co. Not that the man would except a round bought by someone who was 'under twenty-one.' How he knew that he was technically too young to drink, Red Hood would never know. Though he would pester the man relentlessly once this whole mess was resolved.
The whole building creaked, the fire popping and spitting around him. Grimacing, Red Hood checked the last room in the hallway. He needed to hurry up his search before the building came down on him.
Hearing a screech, Red Hood jerked around to see a young woman crouching in the corner of the room. She pressed herself further against the wall as he approached, screaming the whole damn time. She must have heard some of the less savory gossip about him. Not all of it was true. Most of it was true. Okay, so all of it had at least some truth to it.
Ignoring the screams, Red Hood chucked her over his shoulder in a fireman's carry. He quickly regretted that action when she imbedded a shard of glass into his shoulder. Switching her over to the other shoulder, Red Hood ripped the glass out of his shoulder and gave it a disgusted look before throwing it to the ground. The kevlar of his uniform was thick enough that the cut would not require sutures. But she did ruin a perfectly good leather jacket.
The woman thrashed in his grip, pounding on his back with her fists and kneeing his chest and stomach with all her might. "Cut it out lady. I'm not such a nice guy that I won't leave you in the burning building if you don't stop."
She settled momentarily while he was talking, but the second he stopped she started thrashing harder than she had been previously. Resigning himself to his fate, Red Hood carried her out of the building, depositing her just outside of the brawling citizens. He wasn't sure, but it looked like more people were there fighting. On the bright side, emergency crews were there, paramedics making a triage center, firefighters working on the building, and cops attempting to break up the fight.
Red Hood debated entering the building once again. He hadn't cleared his section, but the Bludhaven F.D. was here, so perhaps he should let them do their jobs, and get the city under control once again.
The decision was taken from him when the building groaned loudly before the top floor seemed to cave in. Red Hood could only watch as City Hall partially collapsed. Nightwing was nowhere in sight. He must be still in the building. Red Hood started forward, ready to run into the burning building that was likely to fall on his head for a guy he barely knew. He couldn't figure out why, and he hated emotions and soul searching, so it was unlikely that he would determine the reasons anytime soon.
Red Hood was just about to shove his way past the firemen and into the building when Nightwing proved himself to be a dramatic fuck and appeared out of the smoke one arm slung around the waist of a woman, half carrying her, and his other arm holding a toddler on his hip. Both were screaming and weakly struggling to get away from him. He brought them over to the triage center before sauntering over to Red Hood a pleased smile on his face. "You were about to run into a collapsing building to save me!"
"No I wasn't."
"You're right. You were about to run into a collapsing building on fire to save me!" Red Hood rolled his eyes as Nightwing practically danced around him and looked very much like the cat that ate the canary.
"Whatever Wingnut. See if I want to save you next time you need it."
"You're my knight in shining armor, Little Wing."
Little Wing. That dreadful nickname was so familiar. He had the strongest sense of deja vu that he had ever had. It made his skin crawl and his stomach churn. What the hell? Why did he know that nickname? And who the hell came up with it? They needed a serious lesson in creativity.
Nightwing seemed to notice his discomfort at the name and stiffened to the point that his muscles must have started cramping. That in itself was odd. The sound of breaking glass broke him out of his train of thoughts. They could deal with this later. Right now, they had to deal with the chaos that the bombing released on the city.
Nodding to the roof of the opposite building, Red Hood shot his grappling gun. Nightwing was a split second behind him. Red Hood dug into one of the pockets on his utility belt, tossing the content to Nightwing. "Take this."
"A comm?"
"Yes."
"A Bat comm?"
"I guess?"
"No thanks."
Red Hood was glad that his helmet covered his face because it kept Nightwing from seeing the gobsmacked look on his face when Nightwing tossed the comm unit back at him. "Why? We're gonna have to split up again to take care of the chaos that the bombing unleashed. This way we can still communicate with each other."
Nightwing caught the comm unit when it was tossed back at him, giving it a distasteful look. "Yeah, no. I might like you, but the last thing I need is you guys listening in on my conversations and keeping tabs on me."
The comm unit was once again tossed back to Red Hood. "Nobody's gonna listen in on you. If you're that paranoid, we can use channel five, the family knows that that's my personal frequency. I use it for when I team up with Starfire and Arsenal."
Red Hood threw the damn comm unit back at Nightwing, hoping that his words had ended this ridiculous debate. "I know all about your all seeing Oracle. I highly doubt changing comm frequencies is gonna do anything." Apparently, the debate was still going, and Nightwing wasn't quite as oblivious to the going ons of Gotham as he sometimes appeared to be.
"You really think that she doesn't already know everything there is to know about you?" It was a bluff. Despite being a not-so-evil, evil genius, Oracle hadn't been able to find a single thing on the Bludhaven vigilante. Whoever he was behind the mask, he was very careful and meticulous about keeping his identity hidden.
Nightwing gave him a deadpan look. "I have my own ways of getting information. Even in Gotham. You guys don't have a thing on me, and I'd like to keep it that way."
"Fine. Don't use it on a normal basis. Just today. Besides, you said you had a thing for redheads, right? Oracle is a kickass, gorgeous, and brilliant, redhead. Totally your type, don't you think?"
Nightwing let out a boisterous laugh that lit up his whole face. "Fine. You win. Give me the damn comm unit. If I get an autographed photo of Oracle, I might even consider keeping it after this mess is cleaned up."
"I doubt that will happen."
Nightwing fiddled with the comm before expertly sliding it into his ear. Interesting. "Shame. I'll go take my disappointment out on the looters by First Street. Think you can handle Park Avenue?"
"Sure thing, Boss."
"Don't call me that. I'll see you later. I'll even buy you a virgin drink."
"You're a lame ass loser who has never had fun in his life. And I'm willing to bet that you are also a hypocrite. No way you waited until twenty-one to first have a drink."
Red Hood waited momentarily for a response before realizing that Nightwing was long gone. Letting out a dramatic sigh, the bastard had the comm unit in so it wasn't like he didn't have an audience, Red Hood walked to the edge of the roof before simply tipping forward. He allowed himself to freefall until the very last second before shooting his grappling gun and swinging across the city. He had looters to scare to death.
###
Nightwing stopped more than a few looters, all of them convinced that the apocalypse was starting. He was kind of surprised. He expected it to be business as usual, people in Bludhaven were used to things exploding and buildings collapsing. Granted, it had never been City Hall before. Then again, everything about this case was strange. Why had the people outside and inside the building been so damn terrified? And what caused them to fight?
Also disconcerning was the sheer amount of text messages he was receiving from Amy and Robin. He was glad that the tech in his mask allowed for him to pull up text messages from both Nightwing's and Dick Grayson's cell phones, making it easy for him to know what was being sent and where.
Robin's text messages were politely inquiring about his safety and asking if he knew what exactly was going on in Bludhaven. As much as he wished to respond, his little brother would have to wait.
Amy's texts were different. She informed him that all off duty cops were being called in due to the explosion. He would have to figure out a plausable excuse for his absence later. Most of the messages were angry and he got the feeling that if he was in the same room as her, she would be yelling at him. It was the few text messages that showed concern that made his gut swirl with guilt.
Amy: Grayson, you're not responding. Where are you?
Amy: You were off tonight, so I hope you left your phone off somewhere
Amy: I'm not mad at you. Please respond
Amy: I'm at City Hall, there are a lot of injured people. Please text me so I know you're not one of the thirty-seven (so far) people matching your description.
Amy: Grayson, I love you, but you're driving me to an early grave. Please respond.
Amy: I have to focus on City Hall. CALL ME WHEN YOU SEE THIS!
On the bright side, Nightwing now knew what his excuse was going to be. On the not so bright side, Amy was absolutely going to kill him the next time that she saw him.
###
Barbara leaned back in her chair, her eyes narrowed. There was nothing. Not one single detail when it came to this new hero. No paper trail. No money transfers. No mysterious disappearances and reappearances. Just plain nothing. If he wasn't in regular contact with Red Hood, she wouldn't believe that he existed.
Hood had finally managed to convince him to wear a comm unit, so she listened as he laughed, and suppressed a snort when he started to sing ' terribly off key the lyrics to 'Kung Fu Fighting.' If the sounds of flesh meeting flesh were any indication, he was actually hitting criminals in beat with the song.
"Was that a peal of laughter I hear? Way to feminine and pretty to be Hood's. You must be the brilliant, kickass, and gorgeous Oracle with the awe-inspiring red hair."
Barbara stilled. He must have heard her. "Oh? I won't disagree that I'm brilliant, kickass, and gorgeous, but who says I have red hair? It's statistically unlikely you know."
Nightwing huffed a small laugh, and Barbara's heart gave a little flutter. She had never even seen the guy, this was the first time she had even heard his voice, and she already had an inkling of a crush on him. Great. Just what she needed. "Well you have to have red hair, unless Red Hood was lying about you being my type. Was the only other vigilante I trust lying to me, Miss All Knowing Oracle?"
Well shit. Either she tells him about her red hair, or he loses trust in the one guy feeding them status reports. Though he had to know that. Nightwing had already verbally maneuvered her into a corner. There was no way that he wasn't intelligent enough to know that Hood was operating under Batman's orders.
"I have red hair. And what exactly did you say your type was?"
"Redheads who can kick my ass."
"Then I'm definitely your type."
Nightwing laughed, loud and carefree. "The real question is: am I your type?"
Barbara rolled his eyes. He was definitely flirting with her. "I don't know, are you?"
"You'd have to tell me your type first, gorgeous."
"I'm afraid you'll have to earn that information. It would help if you stood in front of a security camera so that I could get a good look at you."
"That would ruin the mystery and the intrigue! I think I like what we have right now. I don't want to ruin it because you took one look at me and decided I'm not your type. I'll get you to fall in love with me long before you ever see my face, gorgeous."
Barbara was about to give him a witty yet flirty response when a loud throat clearing interrupted them. "As nice as it has been to listen to you two flirt, I'm gonna have to ask you to stop before I puke all over the pitchfork wielding mob in front of me. Apparently they're convinced that the apocalypse is coming. Something about only the upcoming apocalypse being able to rattle Bludhaven citizens. Apparently the destruction of City Hall should be business as usual and not a huge brawl with everyone screaming in terror."
"Where you at, Hood?"
"By the Costco. Apparently this is the place everyone goes in case of the apocalypse."
"I'm on my way. Oracle, I'd appreciate if you stopped listening in on us, and trying to locate me using security cameras."
The comm cut off. Barbara blinked in surprise. Who was this guy? He went from flirting and light-hearted to serious so quickly that her brain just couldn't keep up. She couldn't help it, a small smile blossomed across his face. One thing was for sure. Whoever he was, he was certainly interesting.
###
Damian watched the news with a carefully blank expression. Bludhaven was a mess. City Hall was in ruins and the citizens were rioting. The reporters were showing footage of the officers attempting to calm the mass hysteria and the street fights. What worried Damian the most was that he had yet to see footage of Grayson.
The news reporter had earlier stated that Bludhaven was 'in a state of emergency' meaning that all first responders had been called in. The man had texted him in the morning stating it was his day off, but by now he should have been with Rohrbach in front of City Hall. Damian couldn't help but worry that Grayson was injured somewhere in an alley. Alone. Scared.
Perhaps he should put on his Robin costume and go to Bludhaven. He could potentially help with the looters while he searched for Grayson. It sure seemed like Bludhaven could use the help. Besides, he was Robin for far longer than the newest vigilante 'Nightwing.' He could potentially teach the man a thing or two. And figure out what Todd's strange fascination with the man was.
The man must know that he was thinking about him, because he got a text message a mere second before he got up from the couch.
Todd: Don't you dare come down here Demon Spawn.
Todd: We have this under control
Todd: He barely trusts me, he won't like it if I start inviting other vigilantes to his city without his permission.
Damian: My friend Officer Richard Grayson has yet to respond to my text messages. I am worried that his kind heart has lead to him being murdered in an alley
Todd: I'll let Nightwing know. He has a thing for that guy
Damian: A thing?
Todd: Don't worry. Your friend is not a redhead so he should be safe from Nightwing's charms.
Damian: As soon as the city is safe I shall meet this Nightwing and inform him that Grayson is my friend.
Todd: Please leave your sword at home when you inform him. Now stop texting me. I have a city to help save.
Damian: Imbecile. You texted me first!
Todd didn't reply, and Damian could just imagine the smirk that he wore underneath the ridiculous helmet that he wore. As much as it pained him, he would follow Todd's advice and wait. In all likelihood, Grayson was fine. He was probably just too busy to respond to Damian's text messages. He would respond when he had time. It would be fine. He just had to wait.
###
Red Hood watched as Nightwing dropped out of nowhere and knocked out the rioters around him quickly. The conscious rioters turned to Nightwing, stunned. Red Hood could certainly see why. With electricity sparking from the tips of his escrima sticks, and a dark expression on his face, he looked nothing like the happy-go-lucky hero that Bludhaven's inhabitants had come to know and love.
"I'm only going to say this once. You either go home right now, or I knock you all out and leave you tied to various flag poles around the city in your underwear. Choose wisely."
The rioters looked at each other nervously before throwing down their pitchforks and baseball bats. They shuffled backwards, slowly dispersing down the street, keeping a watchful eye on Nightwing.
Something dark and angry flitted across Nightwing's face. Red Hood had no idea why. He had sounded fine earlier when he was flirting with Oracle earlier. So what had happened to him between then and now?
The look vanished and a smile took over his face. "That was easier than expected." Nightwing positively chirped.
What the fuck. How did the man's moods change so fast? Or was he just so good at masking his emotions that Red Hood couldn't tell the difference between real and fake. And if that was true, just how often had the man hidden his true feelings without him noticing?
"Hey. You're offly silent and you just stiffened up. Is everything okay?"
Cursing in his head—why could he read him so well?—Red Hood shrugged nonchalantly. "Yeah. Just thinking. Robin is worried about Dick Grayson."
"Oh?"
"Yeah. Apparently the dude's not answering his text messages right now."
"He could be busy."
"True. But the kid's really worried. Had to convince him not to come and search."
Nightwing frowned a little at that before he started chewing on his lip. Finally he let out a small sigh. "Look. I get why the kid's worried. And I can see that you care deeply for him, which is why you're worried about a guy that you never even met before. I don't think I can say or do anything that will put you at ease. But I can tell you that Dick Grayson is a fucking survivor. He won't go down without a hell of a fight, and even then, I'd never count him out. We can keep an eye open for him, but I can't honestly see him in an situation that he can't find his own way out of."
"Is that why you used him as your police contact? He reminded you of yourself?"
A smile quirked on his lips, and he looked like he was suppressing a laugh. "That was one of the reasons."
"And the others?"
"Are not nearly as interesting."
"And if I want to know?"
Nightwing grinned at him before exaggeratingly tapping his chin. "Hmm. I guess I'd tell you that you'd have to earn them."
Red Hood laughed. The voice modulator in his helmet making it sound mechanical. Nightwing grinned like he had been aiming to make him laugh. He looked way too pleased with himself, and some part of Red Hood itched to knock him down a peg.
Suddenly Nightwing stilled, his head tilting slightly to the side. A worried frown replaced the smile on his face and he looked like he was mere milliseconds away from beginning to pace. "We need to go. People are fighting in the hospital."
"More worried citizens worried about the upcoming apocalypse?"
"No. More like every single person in the damn hospital. Reports say that they barricaded the doors. Apparently, it's not just patients, but doctors, nurses and techs. Basically everybody in the damn building who is able to, is trying to kill the people around them."
"Shit."
"No kidding."
"What the hell is going on?"
"I have no clue. We can figure that out after we stop the the hospital from being the site of the next mass massacre."
"Agreed."
They both took off without another word. There was nothing left that could be said.
###
When they arrived at the hospital, Nightwing was not surprised to see that it was complete and utter chaos. Police were swarming outside and Nightwing was pleased to see that Amy was outside looking frazzled but otherwise okay. She seemed to realize someone was watching her, because she spun around and looked up, making eye contact with him. She gave him a brief nod before spinning back around and going back to whatever she was doing.
Turning to Red Hood, Dick nodded to the hospital. "We won't be able to go in traditionally, but I was thinking that we could find an open window."
"Can't we break a window or go through an air vent?"
"Windows are bullet proof and shatter resistant after the last shoot out at the bank across the street killed ten patients who were near closed windows. The air vents are too small for me to fit through, so unless you have something on that belt of yours that makes you shrink, there's no way in hell you can get through."
"Open window it is."
"That's what I thought. There should be an open window in the pediatric unit. I like to visit when I have time, so the kids know to keep the windows open."
Red Hood kinda just tilted his head like he was trying to process that information. Like he was trying to figure out just when Nightwing had time to visit sick kids.
Sure enough, they found an open window and crawled through. Immediately, the sounds of screams filled his ears. Children ran past them, their terrified wails filling the air. They saw the two vigilantes and started screaming harder, running away and crying. Some of the older kids were clutching needles and scalpels, holding them in a threatening manner.
Nightwing frowned. What the hell was going on? This was out of the ordinary, even for Bludhaven. Red Hood seemed to be equally perplexed. "Have you ever seen anything like this?"
"No. Have you?"
"No."
Nightwing frowned. He was beginning to feel a little lightheaded. His vision was dark around the edges, and he couldn't seem to focus on anything.
"Hey, are you feeling okay? You don't look so good."
Nightwing turned to face Red Hood only to see a hulking monster with spiny scales in his place. Before he could process the information, his body moved automatically into a back handspring to put some distance between the two of them. The monster seemed to hold his hands out in a placating gesture. It seemed like it was trying to talk to him, but all that he could hear were growls and grunts. Around him, small monsters ran around hissing and spitting. Nightwing blinked. This didn't make any sense, he was just in the hospital room.
The big monster made a move to get closer, and Nightwing took out his escrima sticks, turning on the electricity threateningly. The monster once again backed off. He had the sudden urge to attack it. To rip the monster to shreds, but he fought it. This didn't make any sense. He was in the hospital. Red Hood was right next to him.
Red Hood. He had been next to him before the monster appeared. Did the monster eat him. No. Nightwing would have noticed that. Then again, he hadn't noticed when the whole hospital floor was invaded by pint sized monsters and all the children went missing. Or perhaps, he was the one missing something. Perhaps the only thing in the room that changed was him.
Nightwing kept a watchful eye on the big monster while he dug out his rebreather. Sticking it in his mouth, he squinted at the monster trying to discern if it was a hallucination. He couldn't tell. Approaching it slowly, he reached his hand out to it's head. Instead of the spiny scales he was expecting to touch, he felt the smooth metal of Red Hood's helmet. Oh. The monster appeared to be talking to him but Nightwing couldn't understand him. Instead he went back to the open window and jumped out, grappling to a nearby rooftop.
The monster, Red Hood, Nightwing reminded himself, followed him. Nightwing took out his rebreather and started talking before Red Hood could say a word. "There's some sort of gas in there. It makes people look like monsters, and it makes you want to attack them. I'll be honest, I really feel like I should be driving one of my wing dings in your throat right now and it's taking everything in me to fight that feeling. I'm assuming your helmet has an air filtration system in it which is why you aren't affected. And before you try to answer that, you should know that when you talk, all I hear is grunt and growls."
Nightwing paused, gathering his thoughts. Red Hood waited, correctly assuming that he had more to say. Or perhaps, the man was trying to process all the information given to him. "Look, nothing like this has ever happened in Bludhaven, and right now I'm hallucinating things that make my skin crawl. If we are going to protect this city before there's another bombing or gas attack, or whatever the hell is going on, we're going to need reinforcements. So as much as I hate to ask this, call in your family. We need all the help we can get."
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
A/N: Sorry for the delay in updates. I had finals to focus on. I told myself that I would write over winter break, but I literally spent most of it attached by the hip to my friends. Anyways. I hope that this chapter lives up to all the hype and expectations you guys have! I really really really love all the reviews you guys have been leaving. It inspires me to continue to write. This is the longest chapter in a little while, so I hope that makes up a little for the lack of updates.
.
Happy New Years!
.
Thanks to Xiaohou as usual. You keep this story going.
.
R
E
V
I
E
W
!
!
!