Ch. 12: Hoodwinked

Dick Grayson has traded his worn red leather jacket for black BDU fatigues. His face is smeared with black grease paint over the bridge of his nose and across his cheeks and brow, camouflaging him in the night, but also giving the impression of a mask. He locks a small video camera into a tripod and points it to the darkened alley below. He switches the camera to low light mode, allowing him a night vision of a sort through the LCD monitor on the camera.

While watching the street below, he straps a black mesh tactical vest over his shoulders and around his torso, discretely pulling the zipper into place. He steps into a rappelling harness, pulling it up to his waist and tightens the nylon straps around his legs. Pulling a metal figure 8 ring from his vest, he clips it to the metal karabiner in the rappelling harness and secures a cord to the other end of the ring.

He spots movement on his improvised night vision camera and zooms in for a closer look. Within the green glow of the LCD screen, the grainy image of two people meeting in the street below is now his focus.

Then he sees what he has been looking for, a man wearing a red hood.

Dick crouches on the ledge of the roof waiting for the men to back into the shadows near the side of the building. Peering into the darkness he sees his chance and dives over the side of the structure. The bungee cord attached to his harness follows and the slack in the line stiffens to support the weight of the dive, stretching to slow his silent descent.

The two men in the alley feel his presence only milliseconds before he is in their space. As the bungee line stops his freefall and hoists its passenger skyward, he grabs the Red Hood by the jacket and lifts him back toward the roof. The man left in the alley flees from the fray, fearing that whatever took his cohort might come back for him next.

"Nice try" is the only reaction Dick gets as the hooded man pulls a gun from his waist and aims to the adjacent building. With a small pop, a tethered line shoots across the alley and connects to a fire escape.

The Red Hood locks the line to his waist and retracts, pulling himself and Dick toward the fire escape as gravity begins to pull them back to the ground. The bungee line stretches with a low groan as the opposing line pulls them farther away from the launch site.

The Red Hood palms a small blade and slices the bungee cord harnessed to Dick, and the two swing through the alley as the tension in the line is severed. The bounty hunter now clings to his prey to keep from falling. He knows it is a distinct tactical disadvantage, and quickly surveys the streetscape passing him by.

Seeing his opportunity, he releases his captive and tucks into a midair somersault to reposition his body for landing. With perfect aim, he lands on a balcony overlooking the street. Across the alley, the Red Hood has reached his fire escape and is fleeing up to the roof.

Dick pulls a collapsible climbing hook from a pouch of his tactical vest, and with a flick of his thumb, the spring-loaded barbs jab outward. At the sound, the Red Hood looks across the alley from the fire escape ladder, watching intently as the young man produces a mini crossbow from within his tactical vest with much the slight of hand as a magician pulling a rabbit from a hat. In seconds, the crossbow is assembled and drawn as he nocks the climbing hook in place.

The Red Hood dashes up the fire escape toward the rooftop as the bounty hunter releases the bowstring and sends the grappling hook soaring across the alley. It makes contact with the building as the hooded man leaps to the rooftop and begins ripping off his hood and jacket, becoming one with the darkness.

Swinging across the alley, Dick Grayson curls his legs forward to land vertically against the adjacent building. The muscles in his arms tense as he hoists himself up the side of the wall with the same ease as walking down the street.

Pulling himself over the building's ledge, he pounces to the concrete crown of the structure and studies the darkness to look for clues to track his prey. The puddles from the alley below had saturated the boot treads of his target, leaving a faintly stamped trail on the concrete rooftop. Each print fainter than the one before, Dick knows he only has seconds to get within visual range or he will lose his mark. Running across the roof just as the footprints vanish, he spots the crook's jacket and the red hood discarded randomly on the cement, but their owner is nowhere in sight.

Bending down to retrieve the hood, a voice comes from behind him. "Looking for me?"

Still crouching, Dick pulls a collapsed baton from his mesh vest and readies his thumb on the release. As he springs to his feet, releasing the trigger on the baton, he spins swinging the rod toward his foe. The baton hits the gloved forearm of Batman. In one graceful motion, Batman uses the protruding scalloped hooks on his gloves to trap the baton and, with a twist of his wrist, rips the wand from the bounty hunter's hand to send it hurtling out of range across the rooftop.

Not one to take urban legend seriously, Dick is momentarily dumbfounded being face to face with a myth. Refocusing quickly, he uses the hood as distraction. Lifting the red hood up for Batman to see, he stakes his claim. "I want him."

When Batman's eyes shift to the hood, Grayson makes his move with a hook punch from the other fist. It catches the caped crusader off guard and gives Dick a chance to mount an attack. He drops the hood and pulls a pair of brass knuckles from the vest. Slipping them on to his right hand, he is ready as soon as Batman regains his balance.

Hoping to knock the wind out of him, Dick launches an uppercut into Batman's gut, but the bi-weave Kevlar absorbs the blow. Batman glances down at the fist without as much as a grunt. Grabbing a pressure point in Grayson's wrist, Batman brings the hunter to his knees.

"The Red Hood isn't just one man." Batman's revelation startles Dick as he realizes he may not be the only person interested in Joseph Kerr.

Dick grimaces through the discomfort in his arm and looks up at his opponent, "I know which one I'm after, how about you?"

"Let me save you the trouble. Joseph tried to overthrow his father years ago and lost." Batman releases his grip and backs away from the bounty hunter.

Dick is simultaneously impressed and astonished that his mission has garnered the Batman's attention. "How did you…"

"I saw your stunt on the bridge and decided I should get to know the new kid in town. Kerr was excommunicated from the family after his failed coup. He disappeared after that, and not just from Gotham. Mob traitors don't get to retire peacefully."

"Why are you telling me this?" Dick's skepticism of the Batman's information is all too obvious.

"Because I want you out of my city. Your search is over."

"So that meeting tonight was just a set up to get to me."

Batman walks to the edge of the building, leaving Dick Grayson kneeling on the concrete. "It also effectively destroyed the criminal persona known as the Red Hood. Rumor will spread that it was me who dropped in on that meeting and took the Hood out. The credibility that accompanied that mask is now gone."

Dick shouts to the masked avenger as he turns to face the street below, "Why should I trust you?"

Batman doesn't even turn to face to the young man. "I don't want your trust."

Batman steps from the roof and silently disappears into the night, leaving the young Grayson to contemplate where his life goes from here, with the red hood laying in front of him.