INFILTRATION

The wind in the face, being suspended in the air, that moment when gravity kicks in, I saw someone else end up on the wrong side of that.

We saw activity in the River Tower building we were keeping tabs on and took the Batwing to venture out. There was a snowstorm that night and only the main roads and highways were clear. We took out some guards and found a backdoor entrance. He took point and I followed behind going through the halls taking out a few henchmen on our way. After sneaking around a little more we spotted Black Mask entering a room and I was filled with nervousness and excitement. This was the moment we have been waiting for and we had to play this right.

"Robin, you are taking out the guards, if you don't get them all down by the time the smoke clears, make an escape and get out of here," Batman whispered. He proceeded to take out his explosive gel and spray it against the wall of the room Black Mask was in. "Once you start I will bust through this wall and surprise Black Mask and anyone who is in there. Got it?"

"Yeah."

"Go whenever you are ready," he told me.

They all had guns concealed so I knew I had to strike quick to make sure they didn't get a chance to use them. I rolled a smoke pellet in the middle of the three of them and threw a batarang at the first one's forehead as they all looked down at the smoke pellet. As the other two turned to look my direction I was already sprinting at one to give a jump kick in the face just before the smoke pellet went off. With the smoke everywhere I had one more guy to put down. I could hear his movements and was able to sneak behind him and do a leg sweep. Then while on the ground I choked him out. I checked the other two to make sure they were knocked out as well. I tried to open the door where Black Mask was but it was locked. I ran around to where Batman had blown a hole through the wall and saw him getting double teamed by Sportsmaster and Huntress. There were a few goons laid out on the ground along with Black Mask's mask. The mask wasn't near anybody so it was hard to identify if any of the goons was him. Batman was holding his own but was certainly in trouble and once again I felt compelled to jump in.

Sportsmaster and Huntress were two homegrown Gotham criminals. Sportsmaster was a hitman that often carried hockey gear in a sports bag when traveling only to surprise someone by killing them with a hockey stick. There had been reports that some of his murders occurred while impersonating coaches of other sports as well giving him the nickname. Huntress was known for her crossbow and springing traps on innocent victims. Often finding a way to trap people in rooms or hunt them with her crossbow. Each was very capable fighters and wouldn't hesitate to kill Batman together and split the reward.

I charged in on Huntress keeping in mind some of my sparring with Catwoman and what I had learned about how some of these assassin women fight. She wasn't quite as technically skilled as Catwoman but I still couldn't get the upper hand on her. I was playing it a little safe though as my goal wasn't to win the fight but just keep her busy so Batman could win his. There was no backup plan outside of that. I had faith in him.

The other fight was to my back but I could see Huntress's eyes start to wander. I turned into an NFL lineman as all she was trying to do was get around me and I kept getting in her way to help out her man. I saw the desperation in her face and actions. The Batman fight had spilled outside of the room through where he had blown the hole through and was now near stairs. Huntress dashed through the door to the room and ran around to rescue her boyfriend. I ran to catch up but was going to be late, I yelled out to Batman to watch out. Huntress had taken to the air in her attempt to pounce on Batman but in his struggle he had pulled Sportsmaster in Huntress's path. In her attempt to avoid hitting her boyfriend she lost all balance and ended up tumbling down the nearby stairs and crying out in serious pain. I knew how tough she was and hearing her bawl like a little girl was definitely alarming. Sportsmaster immediately ran down to tend to her and started to carry her away.

"Do we go after them?" I asked.

"Hopefully, we don't have to," Batman responded. Afterwards he ran down and cornered Sportsmaster with his girlfriend in his arms and laid down his threat.

Batman said to Sportsmaster, "If you tell me where Black Mask is, I'll let you go."

"Fine. The real meeting is in the Gotham Royal Hotel. He likes setting up decoy meetings in places that he believes have been compromised to test if they really are compromised. That's where he is right now."

"If you are lying to me, I'll hunt you down. Don't make me do that."

"I'm not in the mood to mess around. Paula…. I mean Huntress needs me right now. We may cross paths again someday, but as for this Black Mask bounty business. I'm out."

We left and made our way to the luxury hotel. Batman explained on the way that when he entered the room he found out that the Black Mask there was actually Sportsmaster in disguise. We weren't as close to ending this as we thought but at least we hadn't hit a dead end and were on to our next location.

Years later we would face Sportsmaster again but this version of Huntress was never seen or heard from again. She is still alive somewhere but there is no doubt in my mind that her hitwoman career ended that night.

The night was still young though and this was only the beginning of our gauntlet.