Chapter 11

"Are you ready?"

"I don't have much of a choice but to be."

"You have a point."

Nightwing looked over at Batwomen after his statement. They were crouching on the ceiling of Penguin's nightclub. She seemed tense, and really, he couldn't blame her. The way this night would end was crucial to the future of both Gotham and Bludhaven. If they failed, then a large amount of the populations would become drug addicts with their minds enslaved to Penguin. Of course, he was rather tense as well. However, he has handled situations similar to these plenty of times before. It was probably easier and more natural for him to handle than it was for her. However, at the moment, he felt more pressure for this night to go right. All those other times, he had never made a promise.

Never would Nightwing have imagined what had happened last night. Well, maybe he had imagined it, but he never really thought that it was going to happen anytime soon, and surely not when it had. Now, he just wanted her to stay away from the fight, and let him do it. The last thing he wanted was to see her get hurt, let alone killed. A small fear had been gnawing at him, which all focused on the promise he made to her last night. He couldn't die today. It was something that he typically wouldn't worry about, but with the Red Hood guy…he had no idea how he fought. Nightwing wanted to uphold his promise. Not just for her, but because he didn't want to die either. It definitely wasn't on his list of to-do things.

"Of course I do," Batwoman chuckled quietly.

Nightwing smiled slightly from what she said. It was almost hard to imagine that Jasmine had been any different before. Hell, for a year and five months. He had missed her smile, her laugh, just every aspect of her in general. He knew that he had been around her more than usual since they made up. He was being a "puppy," in the words of both Jasmine and Tim. The thing was, he just didn't want to be apart from her. They had already been separate for seventeen months, and quite honestly, Nightwing had doubted the possibility of them being even close to what they once were. When it had actually become that way…he had been so undeniably happy, and he couldn't help but think that it was some kind of dream. Holding her in his arms made it real.

"Be modest now," Nightwing said, cracking a smile.

"Oh? Nightwing telling me to be modest? Now this is a change in events," Batwoman smiled, looking over at him.

"I am a very modest person, I'll have you know," He grinned.

"Mhm. You think that, Big Shot." Batwoman drew out before her smile fell, and her eyes narrowed. The sound of a car engine caught his attention, and Nightwing followed her gaze. Immediately, his smile fell as well, and he became completely serious.

"It looks like the shipment is here. That's our que."

"Yeah. Stay safe, Nightwing," She breathed and he looked to her.

"You too, Batwoman."

Batwoman gave him a small nod then took her batclaw out. He took out his line launcher and the two jumped off the roof and twisted in the air at the same time, both shooting. The grappling hook part of the launchers stuck in the building and they swung towards the wall, softening the landing by bending their knees. Their feet hardly made a sound. Nightwing, being the closest to the window, moved towards it. He noticed there was already a hole in the windowpane, and glanced at Batwoman, who simply smiled lightly. Ah, so she had come in this way before. Nightwing smirked lightly before moving his hand in and unlocked the window…only for it to swing open like a gust of wind hit it. His eyes widened and tried to catch it, but the window slipped past his grasp. He tensed, waiting for the loud bang…only for it to never come. Blinking, Nightwing looked over, seeing Batwoman had caught it.

"It did that to me last time," She whispered. Nightwing breathed out in relief and shook his head. He was lucky she had been there to catch the window, or their plans would have failed.

Silently, Nightwing slipped in the window, standing off to the side as Batwoman moved in as well, pulling the window closed and locking it as she did. Quickly, he took in his surroundings. They were on a balcony overlooking the bar area where multiple tables were placed. They were in rather close proximity to the back door, which would lead them to the loading area and ultimately the drugs. Gesturing to move, he quickly and silently made his way along the balcony until he was directly over the doors leading deeper into the club. It was the sound of voices and a door closing that made him grit his teeth. Grabbing Batwoman's arm, he crouched down, pulling her with him just as two men burst through the front doors. Penguin's men.

"Any sign of'em?"

"Nope. No Batman, Batwoman, Robin or Nightwing in sight on the left side of the building. I can't believe that the Boss's plan has really gone this far. By the end of the night, we'll be the top dogs in Gotham and Bludhaven," One of the men snickered.

"I dunno, Tommy. That Red Hood guy…he makes me nervous," The other one stated.

"Psh! Red Hood? He's just a paid mercenary. There is nothing to fear about a clown behind a red mask," The man, Tommy, spoke rather arrogantly.

Nightwing glanced over at Batwoman then nodded. Immediately, both the vigilantes sprang out. Batwoman used her cape to glide over, kicking the wary one and landing on him. Nightwing charged the other after landing on the ground, drawing his escrima sticks and slammed one of them against Tommy's head. He heard the sound of a punch, and figured Batwoman took out the man she had landed on.

"If there is anything someone from Gotham should know, it's that there is everything to fear about clowns," He spoke to Tommy lowly before knocking him out. The criminal had barely registered what was going on, which was why he hadn't raised any kind of alarm.

"Alright. Let's get going," Batwoman said seriously. Nightwing twirled his escrima sticks in his fingers before returning them to their place behind his back.

Nightwing and Batwoman quietly ran to the back door. Upon reaching it, Nightwing leaned against the door, setting his ear to it. There were voices, but they seemed pretty distant. So, he pulled back a little then opened the door, peering through the crack first. No one. The hallway leading to the loading area was bare. Gesturing to Batwoman, he then ran down the hallway, letting Batwoman close the door soundlessly before joining him. He paused as he came to the turn, holding up his hand to signal Batwoman he was pausing. Nightwing pressed his back flat against the wall then slowly peered over the side.

Red Hood and Penguin's henchmen alike were loading boxes into two different vans. Penguin stood off to the side, leaning on his umbrella and looking mighty proud of himself. Red Hood stood beside him. At least, Nightwing figured the guy was the Red Hood. He had never seen him before, after all. What his emotions were, Nightwing couldn't tell due to the red helmet that concealed his face. However, his arms were crossed over his chest, and his posture was stiff. He had on black cargo pants, and had a belt that held packs at his waist, along with two gun holsters. A knife sheath was strapped to his right leg. He also had a dark brown leather jacket on. Since his back was facing Nightwing at the moment, he had no idea if he had any body armor on or the likes. The man towered over Penguin. It was almost comical seeing the two by each other in appearance.

"Hurry it up, you useless fledglings! We don't have all night!" Penguin's voice shouted out, and he picked his umbrella up and waved it in the air warningly. Red Hood seemed uninterested, and slowly drummed his gloved fingers along his arm.

At the moment, Nightwing assumed that they might as well attack. Using smoke bombs like they had discussed in the strategy should give them enough time to confuse the criminals. While they tried to orient themselves, he would go after Red Hood and Penguin, giving the two villains the assumption it was only him. Then Batwoman would take out the vans by first slashing the tires. Hopefully, he will be able to hold off the two gangsters long enough for her to destroy the shipment, or at least a portion of it. He glanced at Batwoman, who held up smokeballs between her fingers. With a small smile, he nodded to her and switched places with her. Then, she rolled the four smokeballs into the room. They almost instantly expelled black gas.

Nightwing took off at a sprint with Batwoman right beside him at first before she slipped off as they entered the main part of the loading area, her suit allowing her to easily meld into the smoke. Henchmen shouted in their confusion and disorientation, and the sound of a few thuds told him Batwoman was taking a few out that got in her way. He was doing the same as he made his way towards Red Hood and Penguin. What worried him was that Red Hood was still just standing there, his arms crossed over his chest. However, he had stopped drumming his fingers along his arm. Penguin, however, was in more of an uproar, shouting at his men then looking around the smoke with darting, furious eyes. Taking a deep breath, Nightwing then moved himself before the two bosses, giving a wide, infuriating smile.

"Oh come on, Cobblepot. You really shouldn't be that surprised that you're plans are being ruined. It happens every time," He spoke with a smirk, earning a scowl from Penguin, who had to squint his eyes to make out Nightwing in the smoke.

"You are an infuriating little brat," Penguin spat, raising his umbrella. Immediately, Nightwing rolled to the side as bullets shot out and he chuckled softly before drawing his escrima sticks.

"It's what I do best," He spoke up.

Nightwing struck forward, swinging an escrima stick towards Penguin's head when…it was blocked, and Nightwing found himself face to face with Red Hood. The masked man was a few inches taller than him. White glows came from where his eyes were covered, no doubt the technology of his helmet, much like Nightwing and Batwoman's masks. He had blocked his escrima stick with a knife. There was something intense about being in such close proximity. It was as though Nightwing was missing something about the whole confrontation.

"Batwoman is ruining your vans, Cobblepot. I would suggest focusing on her as your target. Nightwing is mine," Red Hood spoke. While his voice was altered due to a voice modulator, there was this almost dark kind tone to it. If Nightwing had to guess, it was almost gleeful followed by…pure hatred and rage.

At this point, the smoke was starting to clear. Multiple henchmen were collapsed on the ground unconscious from Nightwing and Batwoman's attack. Nightwing narrowed his eyes a little as he regarded Red Hood before pulling back a safe distance from the man that would allow him to assess him with a quick glance. He wore a black shirt that had a small multitude of armor on it. It wasn't anything extravagant, and seemed to be made from a durable fabric. Two gun holsters hung at his waist as well, though Red Hood twirled the knife in his hand before gripping it. By the way he stood, it was obvious that this guy wasn't going to be some kind of pushover. He knew what he was doing, and Nightwing didn't have time for a fight like that. He needed to keep Penguin busy long enough for Batwoman to take down the vans and destroy the shipments.

"After the pest, boys!" Cobblepot shouted, and then waddled quickly to the van on the right. From the sound of the ruckus coming from the other van, Nightwing assumed it was the one Batwoman was putting out of commission.

"Sorry, but I have more important matters to attend to," Nightwing spoke to Red Hood, pulling a wing-ding out and throwing it towards Penguin in only a few seconds. It started towards the villain, when it suddenly exploded into pieces, followed by a gunshot. Nightwing narrowed his eyes and looked back to Red Hood. He had drawn his gun extraordinarily fast, which was now pointed at him.

"Too bad. You're going to have to put me as your first priority," Red Hood said.

Nightwing grit his teeth before ducking and rolling to the side as the gun went off. This was bad. At this rate, if Penguin's henchmen kept Batwoman occupied enough, Penguin would get away with a van. Dick pulled a spare smoke bomb out and threw it to the ground, immediately shooting his line launcher by the van as the smoke came out. Just as he was about to zip off towards the van, something cut his line, and his arm was grabbed. Nightwing's eyes widened as he was thrown back roughly. He flew back before hitting against a wall, making his head snap against it. He remained standing, though his head burst out with pain. He gazed up as he saw Red Hood slowly walking out of the smoke as if he were made out of it.

"I told you. I'm your opponent, Nightwing. If I were you, I wouldn't take that fact very lightly," Red Hood stated lowly, then chuckled quietly, "You never do take things very seriously though, do you?"

Nightwing narrowed his eyes and straightened up, pulling his escrima sticks out and activating the electricity, "Oh, I wouldn't say that. I take plenty of things seriously. Like how I'm about to kick your ass."

Nightwing struck forwards in a blur, swinging his escrima sticks towards Red Hood lightning fast. However, one was block by the knife, and Red Hood caught his arm with his hand. Nightwing smirked a little, and then jumped up, kicked against Red Hood chest, causing his grip on his arm to loosen. He then used Red Hood as leverage to backflip away from him and landed in a ready stance, a small, humorless smile playing on his lips. Red Hood had a hand against his chest before a small laugh came from the hooded man.

"Still using your old tricks, huh, Grayson? Not that I'm surprised, but taking you out will probably be easier than I expected," Red Hood said, and Nightwing immediately frowned deeply and swallowed hard. How did Red Hood know who he was?

"Who are you?" Nightwing demanded, glancing to the van for a moment. Penguin was getting in, and Batwoman was just now sprinting over, probably having taken out the rest of the henchmen.

"Your worst nightmare," Red Hood spoke darkly, only to then pull his gun out and aim the shot at Batwoman.

Nightwing felt his heart skip a beat and he quickly bolted forwards, putting back one escrima stick and catching Red Hood's arm and shifting it right as he shot the bullet, making it miss Batwoman. However, Red Hood then landed a hard punch to the side of Nightwing's head, making him stumble to the side and split his lip, causing blood to trail from his bottom lip. His vision swam for a moment, but Nightwing wasted no time in twisting around just in time to catch Red Hood's wrist. The knife being held in his hand pricked against Nightwing's neck. A small smile traced his lips, and he tightened his grip on Hood's wrist before easily maneuvering himself away from the knife and behind Red Hood, taking his wrist with him, and bashed his head with his escrima stick.

A small grunt came from Red Hood at the contact, and the impact forced his body to the side, which allowed the shoulder of the arm Nightwing was holding to dislocate due to how far Nightwing had it pulled behind his back. He then kicked Red Hood hard in the back of the knees, letting go of his arm as he did, making the man fall to his knees and catch himself with his good arm. Red Hood didn't say anything, but kept his head a bit ducked. There was a small crack in the side of his helmet. Nightwing walked around, standing in front of him.

"Give it up, Red Hood. It's over," He said to the criminal lowly, tensing as he heard the sound of tires screeching from behind him. However, a dark laugh came from Red Hood, who slowly sat up and looked up at him. He moved his good hand to his shoulder, and Nightwing widened his eyes a little as he popped it back into place without a single wince or outward sign of pain.

"It's only just begun, Dick," Red Hood laughed, slowly getting to his feet, holding up a device in the hand that belonged to the arm of the once dislocated shoulder. He must have had it in his pocket, and grasped it when his shoulder had been dislocated. Nightwing lunged forward, only for his thumb to press down on the button. He heard an explosion along with a shout from Batwoman, followed by the impact of her hitting the ground.

*Jasmine!* Dick shouted in his head.

Immediately, Nightwing spun around on his heels, spotting Batwoman lying on the ground instantly, and sprinted over to her. His heart raced as he fell onto his knees in front of her, Red Hood quickly forgotten for a moment. Her back faced him, but he could see the rise and fall of her body, followed by a soft groan of pain. Relief immediately flooded through him. She was alive. Her cape and areas of her suit were in tatters, but if he had to guess, Red Hood's explosive devices had been placed on her cape, which ultimately saved her life. Not only that, but the devices must not have been too entirely fatal, but strong enough to take her off her feet. She rolled onto her stomach and slowly pushed herself up onto her hands and knees before looking over. The words asking if she was okay caught in Nightwing's throat and he followed her gaze, resting his eyes on Red Hood who stood there with his arms crossed. Why hadn't he shot them? He was going to regret his merciful choice soon. Slowly, Nightwing got to his feet, anger boiling inside of him. Now he was pissed.

"Batwoman. Are you able to stand?" Nightwing asked slowly, not taking his eyes off of Red Hood, who stared at him as well. He heard her get to her feet from behind him.

"Yes. I have a tracker on Penguin's van. We can still catch it. Let's go," She said immediately, though he could hear a small faintness to her voice. She was still recovering from the impact of the explosions. All the more reason to get her away from Red Hood. There was no way in hell he was going to let her get targeted by this guy. Besides, Red Hood was his, and Penguin needed to be stopped. She should be safer going after the van.

"You go after Penguin. I'll handle Red Hood," He said firmly, and felt her catch his arm.

"Nightwing I can't just-" She began, and he looked to her fiercely, making her trail off, despite the fact that he couldn't see his eyes.

"I made you a promise. I'll be fine. Now go." He said strictly. Batwoman paused for a second, looked at Red Hood almost conflictingly, and then ran out to go after the van Penguin had taken.

"So. You do love her," Red Hood stated, uncrossing his arms and clenching his hands into tight fists.

"Shut up and fight," Nightwing said coldly, then attacked.

Adrenaline hummed through his body. He traded blows with Red Hood, who had his knife in his right hand. Nightwing, of course, was using both of his escrima sticks. While he was able to block or dodge Red Hood strikes, the crackling sound of his opponent getting hit by his escrima sticks and their electricity reached his ears. However, each hit was simply minor. Finally, Nightwing jammed the head of his escrima stick against Red Hood's chest as hard as he could, making his opponent stagger back, creating distance between the two.

"You always have fought better when you're pissed off," Red Hood said darkly, "You're fault is that you are much too cocky though."

"How do you know anything about me?" Nightwing asked sharply then began to attack again. This time, Red Hood did a better job of blocking his attacks, and Nightwing grit his teeth as he swiped his knife along his side pretty deeply, and then landed a punch to his jaw, sending Dick staggering sideways. He quickly rolled to the side and crouched on the ground facing Red Hood, knowing he had blocked a fatal stab from his opponent's knife. Blood welled in his mouth and he spat it out before rising to his feet. He watched as Red Hood spread his hands out.

"I'm thoroughly disappointed that you haven't figured it out yet, Dick. Jasmine was the same way," He snarled, lunging forwards just as fast as Nightwing which caught him off-guard, along with what he had said. How did he know…Jasmine?

Nightwing let out a pained shout as Red Hood sunk the knife into his shoulder then shoved him back roughly against the wall before ripping his mask off. He dropped it to the ground then stepped on it with is combat boots. Nightwing heard the snap of it beneath his feet. He grit his teeth and glared at him fiercely with his exposed, blue eyes, catching Red Hood's fist as it came towards his head by dropping his escrima sticks to the ground. He then ducked under Hood's arm and stepped to the side as his enemy swung his other, which made contact with the wall, putting a hole in it. Red Hood looked over before turning towards him. This was bad news. His escrima sticks were out of reach at the moment. Not that he couldn't fight hand-to hand though.

"I'll ask again. Who are you, and how do you know me and Jasmine?" Dick asked, glaring at Red Hood, who chuckled seemingly humorlessly.

"You'll figure it out eventually, Dick. For now, I'm simply enjoying beating the shit out of you," He smirked, dropping his knife to the ground. This time, it was Red Hood who struck forwards.

At first, Dick had to play on the defensive. He blocked or caught some of Red Hood's attacks. However, his enemy was much too fast for him to be able to land a successful counter attack. What really bothered Dick was the fact that Red Hood fought very similar to how he did. Not in the jumping around or anything, and while he was fast, he wasn't Dick fast. It was just the basic style. The thing is, Bruce taught Dick the basics of fighting. He had the whole flexibility part when he was a little kid, since he had been a trained acrobat, but not the whole fighting part. Of course, over the years, Dick has tampered with the basics to create his own kind of fighting style, but in the long run, it was based off the fundamentals that had been taught to him. Red Hood's fighting style seemed to be based off of the same fundamentals. As Red Hood let out a hard punch, Dick narrowly sidestepped it, giving him an opening, and then landed a punch to the already cracked part of Red Hood's helmet.

Now it was Dick's turn. He wasted no time attacking Red Hood, landing punches to his helmet, lengthening the crack, along with his stomach and the shoulder he dislocated earlier. He then swung his leg up, which Red Hood caught. Before Hood could throw him or anything, Dick used it as leverage and swung his other leg up, kicking Red Hood's helmet as hard as he could. Red Hood let go of his leg as he was thrown back against the wall, and Dick somersaulted in the air and landed in a crouch. Fragments of the red helmet had fallen onto the ground, and Dick stalked up, swinging his fist and landing a punch to the helmet once more, making another piece of the helmet drop. At this point, his enemy's pitch black hair, and the light tanned skin of his forehead was visible. A small corner of the eye had broken off, and the light was out, but it still covered his irises. There wasn't enough gone to make out his appearance.

"Now. Let's see who is behind the mask," Dick said, grabbing the edge of the helmet. However, right as he began to pull on it to expose who Red Hood really was, he felt something jab into his neck.

Shocked at the sudden pain, Dick froze in his actions, only for his vision to blur for a moment. He staggered back from Red Hood, placing his hand to his neck. His mind began to become clouded, and he fell onto his knees, catching himself with one hand. Dick's eyes kept focusing and then blurring. His mind kept getting cloudier and cloudier. Slowly, he looked up, trying to make sense of everything. His mind…it wasn't working. He saw Red Hood walking over to him, letting a syringe drop from his hand and shatter on the ground.

The…the drug…did he inject me with…Dick thought slowly, but the words were whisked away before he could finish it. He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to fight back against the drug.

Jasmine. I promised her. I promised her that I…what did I promise? …I can't die. That's it. I can't die. I can't let this overpower me. Red Hood can't gain control of me. Just think of last night. Her soft sighs, the lingering kisses…Dick then felt fingers twining into his hair then pulling on them, forcing his head up. Groggily, his eyes peered open, landing on Red Hood.

"You listen to my orders now, Dick," He spoke slowly.

A settling, peaceful feeling of calm came over Dick, and all of his thoughts stopped. His whole mind became completely blank. In fact, he couldn't even recall what he had been thinking about before. All that filled it was a sense of happiness. He was glad to take Red Hood's orders. Why wouldn't he? Red Hood gave him the drug that was making him feel so euphoric. That meant he could give him more.

"Now stand up."

Dick stood without hesitation, his blue eyes dull and expressionless, but fixed on Red Hood, waiting for his next command.

"Let's go find Jasmine. You're going to kill her."