Chapter 11. Begining of the End
Instantly, Nightwing braced himself as he was forcefully launched upward from the cockpit! His skull was on the verge of exploding once again, but the pain couldn't break his airtight focus! He looked down to see that he was directly above the helicopter's rotors! He expertly swung his body to dodge them, only to then fire a grapple line into the side of the chopper!
By the time he reeled in the line, he was so close to the rotors that it was getting difficult to feel anything but his head. He managed to pull a baton from the pouch on his back though, and smashed through the nearest side window!
However, when he tried to climb in through the window, Bladeson was waiting for him! The chopper must be on autopilot, Nightwing thought. While Nightwing's legs were still sticking out the window, Bladeson pulled out his spear like weapon and tried to stab his enemy! Nightwing deflected the shot with his baton though, which caused Bladeson to accidentally shove his weapon through the wall of the chopper, only inches above the hero's head, where it became stuck.
Nightwing then attempted to throw his baton into Bladeson's face, but the killer stuck out his arm and deflected it. Nightwing didn't care though, because it had done its purpose and distracted Bladeson, giving the hero time to grab the spear above him, and pull himself all the way into the chopper. It was a little bit more quiet in here, meaning that his head felt better, even if it was just by a little bit.
He didn't have long to enjoy it though, because he was forced to dodge Bladeson's fist only a moment after entering! He sidestepped the punch with relative ease, but this only served to set him up for the upcoming kick to his face! Nightwing saw it coming though, and grabbed Bladeson's foot at the last second, only to perform a kick of his own to the knee of Bladeson's other leg, sending the killer falling face first!
Unfortunately, Nightwing made the mistake of letting go of Bladeson's foot. As the killer fell, he put his hands out in front of him, as if to stand on them, only to swing the foot that Nightwing had just held, and prop it up on the nearby wall of the chopper, allowing him to balance in an unusual position! He then tilted his body sideways, and used his other leg to kick at Nightwing, but the hero stuck out his shin to block it, and swung at the killer with his second baton!
But Bladeson dropped to the floor to dodge the attack and rolled away from Nightwing, right up to the wall that still had his weapon lodged inside of it, where he jumped to his feet! he reached to pull the spear out of the wall, but Nightwing didn't let him!
He ran at the killer, about to strike with the baton once again, when he realized his mistake. Reaching for the spear was an incredibly obvious move, that left Bladeson completely open for an attack. Anybody with as much combat skill as him would have the sense to know that they'd be dead in the water!
That is, unless of course it was a bluff to lure an opponent closer, for a counter attack.
It was.
The exact moment that the thought occurred to Nightwing, Bladeson kicked him in the wrist, sending the baton flying out of the hero's hand! Bladeson then grabbed Nightwing around the throat, placed his right leg behind his enemy's left, and shoved him to the ground!
In the two seconds in which he was falling, Nightwing could only think of one way to get out of this situation. He kicked Bladeson in the groin! Hard couldn't describe the power that he felt he was putting behind that kick. For less then half of a second, all of his remaining strength was put into his leg! That may not have been much at the time, but it was enough to shake Bladeson off of him!
However, Nightwing was unable to enjoy that small victory though, because it happened at the exact same moment his head slammed into the ground! He had already been in pain, but this pushed it over the edge!
He tried to stand up, but that was extremely difficult. Not only was his vision blurry, but The floor of the helicopter was shaking. That coupled with the fact that he couldn't see any of the horizon, was so disorienting that he physically vomited!
After he finally managed to stand, Nightwing spotted Bladeson's silhouette. The tall shadow walked up to him, paused for a moment, and then Spoke.
"I've done everything from throwing you off the back of a truck onto the highway, to asking you politely to leave me alone. I don't want to kill you, but your narrowing my options."
Nightwing wanted to make a witty comeback, but his brain was having trouble registering the words. He Ignored Bladeson, and moved to the broken window that he had climbed through. Outside of it, he saw what he considered his only chance of survival.
only half a dozen yards away from the helicopter, was the Batwing! Nightwing limped to the window as fast as he could, praying that he could fire a grapple line into the bat-shaped jet in time.
Unfortunately, Bladeson walked in front of him, blocking his path. He knew that the killer was about to hit him, but it was impossible for Nightwing to effectively deflect the shot. He was far to distracted by the strange new form of vision he was suddenly experiencing. His already blurred vision had turned to something that was like double vision, only one of the two Bladeson's in front of him would disappear every few seconds.
He was slightly relieved when Bladeson only gave him a gentle shove to the floor.
He then glanced out the window, mumbled what Nightwing assumed was a swear, and then ran to the cockpit. When he came back, he held a portable surface to air missile, which he shoved the end of out of the window, and fired!
It was at the moment that the missile fired, that the noise finally caused Nightwing to black out.
He didn't see the jet explode. He didn't feel the guilt of having destroyed something that belonged to Bruce. He didn't here Bladeson say, "I hope nobody was inside that thing." All that Nightwing saw, felt, and heard, was blackness.
About an hour later, he slowly opened his eyes. He was still in the helicopter from before, but it was going much slower. In fact, it soon slowed to a complete stop. He tried to move, but his arms and legs were tied with some sort of rope. He felt wet for some reason, only to realize that he was laying in a puddle of his own vomit.
Bladeson soon exited the cockpit, and looked at Nightwing.
"Ah, your awake. And just in time for the show." he said. Something felt strange about the way Bladeson was looking at him.
That's when Nightwing realized he wasn't wearing his mask!
He quickly started to panic, until Bladeson spoke again.
"You can relax, I don't recognize you at all. For now, the secret of your identity remains."
This gave Nightwing some comfort, and he turned his attention to the ropes that bound him.
He tapped a hidden button on his left gauntlet, which caused a small blade to pop out. It was only about an inch long, making it improper as a weapon. It was however, sharp enough to cut through almost anything, making it an ideal tool for an escape artist in a hurry. He cut slowly so that Bladeson wouldn't notice, starting with his legs.
Bladeson didn't notice at all, as he walked to the other side of the chopper. He then suprised Nightwing by opening the door!
Was he going to jump? Or worse, was he going to throw Nightwing out?
The hero began to cut the rope faster!
However, he soon learned that it was neither, when Bladeson pulled a small object out of his coat.
"W-what isss th-that?" Nightwing said, realizing that he was still a bit to groggy to speak.
"This, is going to make the world a better place." Bladeson said.
He then pushed a button on the object, that caused it to blink red.
Nightwing now knew what it was...
It was a bomb!
A moment later, he managed to cut all the way through the rope that bound his legs. But instead of Cutting off the ropes on his arms, he jumped to his feet, and without considering his actions, ran up to bladeson and rammed his body into him!
He knocked the bomb right out of Bladeson's hand, but unfortunately, he also knocked it right out of the helicopter!
Worse, he had knocked Bladeson and himself out too!