"Can our goal be not to die before Christmas?"

A soft chuckle came from the man checking around the corner. When he decided that things were safe, he glanced over his shoulder, a twinkle in his eyes, and a grin on his face.

"That seems like an awful lot to ask given how we're hunting Croc here."

"Yeah, and whose bright idea was it for us to hunt Croc?"

That grin stretched wider. "Aw, c'mon, Double R, you gotta admit this is fun."

"No, Wing, I don't have to admit this is fun." A rat scurried across the tip of his boot, further adding to his annoyance. "Hunting for Croc in the sewers is the last thing I'd consider fun."

"Could be helping Batman root Ivy from her hothouse."

"Killer plants are less dangerous than Killer Croc."

Nightwing snorted. "Not by much."

"You don't have to fear having your head removed from the rest of your body."

"No, just gotta worry about it being bitten off by one of her overgrown Flytraps."

Red Robin grimaced. "I keep telling you that Satan's Spawn tried to shove me into that Flytrap."

Nightwing shook his head with a sigh.

"I still don't believe he was actually trying to kill you."

"Really?" Red scowled. "And when he kicked me off that platform in the cave he was trying to what? Teach me how to dance Gangnam Style?"

"He was just feeling insecure."

"Insecure?" Red said the word slowly. "The Hell-spawn is never insecure."

If anything, he thought the current Robin more egotistical than anything else. Even the Titans thought the little twerp entirely too brash and bold.

"He doesn't know you."

"... and hasn't done a whole lot to try to get to know me."

"You gotta admit that he's been a lot better lately."

"Yeah, he's only pushed me into man-eating plants, sprayed some sort of bat-pheromone on me that got Man-Bat to follow me around for a week, and let me become a Claything just so he could use the Freeze gun that Batman confiscated from Freeze."

"You just gotta earn his respect is all."

Red harrumphed. "I'd rather stick my boot up his..."

"Sh! Listen!" Wing pointed to a corridor up ahead. "I think I heard nails scrapping on the rock."

Red moved up to stand beside Wing. Sure enough, there was the scrapping of nails from the corridor ahead. Red glanced at Wing.

"So, how do we plan on taking Croc down?"

That grin returned. Wider this time. "How do we always take him down?"

Red groaned. "Didn't I ask that we not get killed before Christmas?"

"Aw, c'mon! We can beat Croc!"

"More like he's gonna beat on us," Red grumbled. "And here I was hoping to have one Christmas without something broken."

"What's Christmas without broken bones and contusions?"

"A normal one."

"Booooooring."

"So you say."

Wing started to hum The Twelve Days of Christmas as he made his way into the next corridor. Red sighed and followed him, imagining waking up in the hospital on Christmas with a concussion.

If he woke up.


A/N: Hello, all, and Happy Holidays!