AN: Only three chapters left to go, which we will start off with the Huntress facing off against Red Hood for a final battle.

-X-

The Huntress blocked a Talon's sword with her quarterstaff and kicked him in the stomach, then belted another Talon across the face, as Robin came in behind his sister and struck the first Talon, switching targets as the Huntress turned back to the first Talon, beating him into unconsciousness, while Robin took care of the second Talon. They made quite a perfect team and Helena was thankful that her brother was by her side. It was also making her think otherwise about waiting a year for him.

"Okay, that's them taken care of," the Huntress started, as her phone rang, "Hello?"

"How's it going, Helena?" the Red Hood said, "Me, I'm going great. I've got your friend, John, with me. He says hi. Old boy should know better than to try and relive his youth."

"Let him go."

"As appealing as that sounds, I think I'll pass. See, your friend and I have some unfinished business. Then again, so do you and I. So here's how this works: if you want to see him alive, meet me at Crime Alley, the place where your grandparents died. The place where it all started for the both of us."

He hung up and the Huntress growled in frustration, as Robin frowned at her.

"What's the problem?"

"The Red Hood has got John hostage and wants me to meet him. So until I bring the Red Hood in, I want you to find Tim and Stephanie and stick with them. Okay?"

"Sure."

"Tim. Stephanie. Do you guys copy?" the Huntress asked.

"Yeah, we copy," Red Robin answered, "We're at Midtown, taking care of a few Talons. Batgirl, try not to knock them all out. We need to find out where they're coming from."

"Okay, I'm about to send Damian to you. If you can, come and get him, then see if you can find their nest. I'm about to go and confront the Red Hood," the Huntress said.

"Kick his ass, Helena," Batgirl said, "Take that, you stupid assassin!"

"Barbara, what was John's last location? Barbara?"

There was no reply and Helena started to panic.

"Change of plan, guys. Get to the cave. I think Barbara's in trouble."

"On it!" Red Robin replied.

The Huntress and Robin left the building, getting into their borrowed car and headed towards Midtown for Crime Alley. They were soon joined by Red Robin and Batgirl in the Tumbler, as the Huntress pulled over so Robin could get into the vehicle with them and then they were off towards the cave. Helena hoped that Barbara was okay and sent a quick text to Jesse, telling him that she was about to face the Red Hood, hoping that everything was okay with him and that she loved him, before driving off towards Crime Alley. Pulling up, the Huntress stepped into the alley, looking at the very spot where her grandparents had died nearly sixty years ago and forged her destiny.

"It's kinda nostalgic, isn't it?" came the Red Hood's voice.

The Huntress whirled around, seeing him standing before her, but wearing a completely different costume. He still wore the Batsuit, although it was now more armoured and he had discarded the leather jacket in favour for a flowing, scalloped cape. Weapons were visible on his body, long sharp spikes were added to the shoulder guards, while the cowl was similar to Batman's, with a few notable differences. The ears now resembled devil's horns, the eyes were glowing red and there was a metal mouth plate. All in all, the Red Hood was dressed as a heavily armoured and demonic-looking Batman.

"Like the look?" Jason smirked, "I added a few touches here and there. It really gets into the whole fear thing. I won't even have to throw a punch, as criminals would be begging for their lives as soon as they see me!"

"You're not even going to get the chance," the Huntress said, "I'm taking you down. Now."

"You'd like to think so. Did you know that there are still some remnants of the League of Shadows? And that they're willing to train people? So while we may be equal in terms of fighting skills, there's a difference between you and I: I'm willing to kill. For example, the Great White Shark will never cause problems again."

"That's why I'm here, to take people like you down."

"Yeah, but never for good. You gotta think like me, Helena. It's the only way you're going to eradicate scum for good."

"Keep talking and I'm going to be tempted to take you out for good."

"Let's see if you can be tempted."

The Red Hood whipped out a Panzer forty millimetre hand-cannon, firing off a single explosive round. The Huntress dived into a roll, the round exploding nearby and the Red Hood moved for her, only to see a mine bomb land at his feet.

"Oh cra-"

The mine exploded and the Red Hood rolled onto his feet, the flexible armour plates protecting him from the blast, as a fist crashed into his face. The Huntress struck him again and she blocked his punch before hitting him a third time. Parrying the Huntress' fist, the Red Hood finally landed a blow, as the dark clouds above rumbled and began to rain. Dodging his punch, the Huntress hit him in the stomach, then the face, as he blocked her next move and struck her under the jaw with his elbow, then slammed a kick against her stomach. He whipped out his handguns, but she shot him with a heavily-padded arrow, the blow surprising him and the Huntress grabbed both his wrists, lifting herself up to slam both feet against his chest. Rolling forward onto her feet, the Huntress landed a kick on his inside thigh, then struck him in the ribs, as he jammed a gun into her face. She felt the heat of the bullet passing by her cheek. Deflecting his second gun, the Huntress grabbed his wrist and yanked him off-balance, then punched him in the face, as the rain started to intensify. Tucking his guns away, the Red Hood leapt back from the Huntress' next move, drawing both the Panzer and his grapple gun, then launched himself towards the rooftops while firing the hand cannon towards the ground. The Huntress dived away from the explosive round, although the shockwave still caught her and she hit the ground hard, blood running from her split lip. Drawing her own grapple gun, the Huntress reached the rooftops, where she was greeted by a kick to the face. Groaning on the ground, the Huntress was hauled to her feet and thrown across the rooftop, another kick being slammed into her ribs, as the Red Hood then slammed her against an air vent, pinning her down.

"Why did you have to deny me my revenge?" he demanded, "For years I dreamt of nothing more than killing the Joker for what he did to me and you took it away from me."

"Grow up," the Huntress shot back.

She drew her crossbow and fired a heavily-padded arrow into his groin. Despite the armour, the Red Hood felt the blow and pain shot through him, allowing the Huntress to hit him.

-X-

The gun skittered along the floor, as March shoved his feet against Batman's stomach, forcing him away. Batman moved for the politician again, but March held up a familiar gun with a large barrel and fired, capturing Batman in a net that pinned him to the floor.

"Nice gun. A Wayne Enterprises prototype?" March said, admiring the weapon.

"How did you get your hands on it?" Batman demanded.

"You have a lot of secrets, Mr. McGinnis, but I have to commend you for making it difficult. Thankfully, I had some help from someone."

"Red Hood."

"Once I learnt your secrets, it wasn't that hard to gain access to your toys."

March smirked as he stopped by Jesse's body, then moved on towards a large safe, using an eye scanner, a fingerprint scanner and a digital code to open it, as Batman struggled to free himself from the net, knowing that the more he struggled, the tighter the net became.

"You're one of them, aren't you?" Batman questioned, "You're part of the Court."

"Indeed I am," March replied as he started removing items from the safe, "I was a sickly young boy living in a children's home that was falling into disrepair. The carers, well, they didn't care, but the Court did. They paid for all my medical expenses and took me in, raised me, trained me and helped me put my company together."

Batman noticed that the items March was removing from the safe were actually clothing and not just any clothing, but an armoured suit made in the similar fashion to Bruce Wayne's second Batsuit. As March shed his jacket, tie and slacks, Batman curled himself up so he could reach a razor-sharp batarang and discreetly began using it to cut the net.

"So, you lured Helena to the Old Wayne Tower to have her killed, didn't you?"

"Yes, although the Talon wasn't meant to strike me down. The Court said they did that to make Helena's death look convincing, but I wasn't convinced. Old Joseph Powers never liked me, I knew that and he just wanted a chance to get me out of the way. That's fine, because now the Court won't get in my way. And neither will you."

The tri-weave suit was jet-black, along with the majority of the armour plates, although there were several pieces that were snow-white, such as the thighs, calves, forearms, shoulders and part of the chest that was shaped to look like an owl's face. March pulled up a black hood that covered the upper half of his face and had two backwards spikes on the back of the head.

"Now, hurry up and cut yourself out of that net so we can finish this," March ordered.

The next thing he removed from the safe was the prototype Wayne Enterprises jetpack and Batman realised just how much March knew about them and he knew he had to put an end to the politician right now, as March fixed the jetpack onto his suit, then put on his mask. It was snow-white, with no features apart from red eye lenses set in a permanent scowl. While the suit was similar to the Batsuit, it looked very much like an armoured owl-based suit, as Batman finally cut himself free and stood up, wondering if he could take March. If he had received the same training as the Talons, then Batman knew he had his work cut out for him.

"Now, we end this, Owl vs. Bat!" March cried as he swung at Batman.

-X-