-Krishna's POV-

The job was a simple one: a drug deal was occurring by the docks, lead by minor gang members. They would most likely be armed with firepower, however it was still a cake walk compared to some of the jobs I'd been on this month. There was only five men, and the trade seemed easy to even the ones performing it, and I doubted they belonged to big name gangs such as Penguin's gang. This was also shown in their plain dark attire which held no emblem of who they belonged to.

Due to this only Dick and I had been sent to stakeout; Dick Grayson was much older than me but he was the first Robin Bruce had taken on, and the first child he had adopted, which had started his commitment to taking on orphans such as himself. Dick could have passed for a genuine son of Bruce's due to his shaggy jet black hair, and bright blue eyes, which were now hidden behind his black domino mask. His suit had remained the same for several years as he went by the name Nightwing, and entailed a black armoured suit, with a blue bird stretched over the chest from arm to arm.

He had married Barbara Gordon - the first Batgirl and Oracle - almost five years ago, and the two had settled down for a while, before Dick was desperate to get out on the streets again, and that's why he was here beside me now.

My own suit was also an armoured black suit, however my boots and gloves were silver, along with the emblem of a bird on my chest as my name Shrike pertained to. A mask hid my features, and my honey hair spilled out of the back in a controlled mess.

The two of us perched on a viewpoint high above the docks, watching as the deal went ahead below us. We were hidden by the early Gotham morning darkness, and we were removed enough from the ordeal that we could talk quietly between ourselves.

"So why's Damian a no-show?" Dick asked, as he used special binoculars to observe the dealing.

I hmphed. "Dad appointed John as the new Oracle, and Damian really disapproved of having him involved in the missions and in his ear all the time you know." I explained.

Dick laughed lightly, shaking his head. "Of course Damian would have a tantrum in times like this. John is the new kid, right?" he asked in return.

I nodded. "Dad tried to force Damian to go but I refused. The thing worse than having Damian missing is having him forced to be here and making sloppy mistakes to get back at Dad." I replied, sighing.

He nodded. "True, Bruce goes too hard on him sometimes, in my opinion. He is just a kid, and I remember myself being just as bad when I was his age and younger, but Bruce just used to sit back and do little."

I looked over at him. "But you used to run away all the time didn't you? Maybe you're the reason Dad treats Damian so tough now, you were the blueprint, and Jason and Tim were just good enough to slip by."

I noticed him frown at the mention of Jason, one of the past Robins that had thought to by killed by the Joker, but actually had reappeared as more of an issue for all of us as Red Hood. Nevertheless it faded within a moment as he put away the binoculars, in order to look over at me.

"That could be true, but sometimes he does have a reason. I mean, don't you think he might have a point this time to be mad? Like this John... Bruce only actually took him on mere days ago, and now he's giving him an important job working alongside us. Not to mention he's the biological son of the Joker, how do we know this isn't just a big trap?"

I paused. "We don't know. Anyway don't you know it's rude to talk about someone when they can hear you?"

I was referring to the earpiece Dick and I wore in one of our ears that let us hear the Oracle back in the Batcave, but also for them to hear us and relay important information.

Dick nodded, realising this. "Sorry, kid, it's nothing personal." he spoke, holding the ear piece.

John's voice poked it's head from across the line. "It's fine, it's nothing I haven't heard before." he responded, seemingly calmly.

I felt a pang as I heard him, and I couldn't help but think that whilst it was unusual for Bruce to be giving this twenty year old all of these opportunities, he usually had a plan and didn't fall for tricks easily, especially nowadays. My heart hoped John could be relied upon, I had kissed him after all; although I had hurt and been hurt by many boys in the past, I did hope that I could experience something with him. Something special. All I had to do was trust my dad and wait to see how John blossomed. If he turned out to be a bad egg then Dad would deal with him and I could move on.

I'd trained even harder after he had beat me at fighting, in worries than if he did betray us then I could take him down without a problem. This applied to my physical issue, my emotional issue I would just have to push through.

"Looks like there's a window." Dick murmured to me, as he noticed the money finally coming out in wads from a briefcase. Weapons had been sheathed in order to properly hand out the money and what looked like cut cocaine, and so if we struck now we were less likely to be shot at. Not that being shot at would kill us, as our suits were both bulletproof, albeit it still hurt like a punch to be hit by them.

"Alright, you lead front, I'll get from behind. On your signal." I responded, before grappling to another viewpoint above a different angle of the thugs where I could still see him.

Soon after when he saw I was waiting, he waved a hand in a go motion, and flung himself from his spot. I swiftly followed suit, gliding down from my spot with enough momentum so that I could position myself in the air and send my feet into the back of a goon's back. This sent him crashing to the floor with a yell, and I fired off projectiles at some of the other men around me that could interrupt me.

I slammed the fallen man's head into the concrete of the dock floor to knock him out, before quickly handcuffing him. Dick struck out at two other guys, before incapacitating one of them with his escrima sticks. By now the two others were recovering from my projectiles and so I started on one, kicking him in the side of the head hard, no matter how bad my muscles ached from overworking them yesterday. I dodged a punch the other thug threw, and used the current guy I was beating on as a shield for his next hit.

I cuffed the guy I used as a shield and threw him aside, however I noticed the last guy was reached for a gun, and so I threw a bolas at him which took his feet from under him and caused him to fall on his face on top of the drug pile. Dick finished knocking the other two out and handcuffing them, before the sound of police sirens could be heard.

This was the signal for both of us to get out of here, and so we both grappled up to higher ground, allowing the forces to detained the five thugs.

"It's done, Oracle." Dick confirmed into the earpiece.

The feed from both his and my earpiece was the same, so I heard John as he replied. "Well done. I'm sad to say but there's a police report in now about a shoot out in the industrial district, most likely a gang war." he spoke, his voice strictly serious, and I could tell that he wasn't treating this job like a joke.

"Right on it, we'll head there now." I replied.

He paused. "Will you two both be there without anyone else? Kate and Tim are involved in other affairs and can't back you up." he stated.

I knew he cared about my wellbeing, and here I detected an issue - I didn't want it to reach a point where he wouldn't let me go on missions in case I got hurt. Being hurt was always a possibility, but I was making the city a better place.

"We'll be just fine, the best thing to do about a gang war is to take out the stragglers and not focus on the centre. Send us the location." I responded simply, trying to dismiss his worry.

I didn't hear a response from him, albeit from the built in database in my mask I saw when he sent over the location.

"Just got it, thanks John." Dick added, before turning to confirm I'd also received the coordinates.

I nodded in return and the two of us took off grappling from building to building, and gliding the distance in between with my cape. The target, the industrial district, was a five minute glide from our position, but we soon got there and took to a spot on a nearby crane to perch on.

The supposed gang war was still taking place beneath us, and I immediately caught on that this was between the Penguin and Two Face gangs due to their insignia. Little police were staking out due to the danger on the area with two gangs killing each other, instead leaving it to a GCPD helicopter that circled the skies above. It was sure to be more distracting and could even draw attention to our spot on the crane, and so I grimaced.

The fight was taking place at an abandoned warehouse, most likely one of their hideouts, though I couldn't place which gang. All I could say was that there was a lot of dead bodies in the entrance from either sides.

"The shootings moved inside, we'll have to get closer before they both kill each other." I murmured to Dick, and he nodded.

"Take the window on the top floor, it's a death trap going through the front door." he replied.

The two of us aimed for the top floor which thankfully didn't contain any men stationed there, but we moved quickly and carefully to the window in case of any snipers we may not have spotted around the area. Using a tool from my utility belt I pried opened the window with relative ease, and Dick and I snuck into the building.

This floor seemed to be a storage area, and was covered in dust. It also was a ledge that looked over the rest of the warehouse, which contained no usual items a warehouse may have, and instead was made up like living quarters. The main storage area was now built in with seats and darts, which looked used. These seats were also now being used as cover as thugs shot at each other from different sides of the room.

"You take the Two Face thugs and I'll take the Penguin ones." Dick murmured as we both scanned the main floor. "They're usually more dirty with their tricks and I don't want them getting away. No offence."

I raised my eyebrow and smiled. "None taken. Don't dive in head first whilst they're shooting." I replied.

He smirked. "What do you take me for? Damian?" he responded with a laugh, before swinging down the the second floor.

I took a different route along the stairs, so was yet at a different angle so I could better see the Two Face goons. There were seven compared to the five Penguin members, but due to Oswald Cobblepot's status internationally, they had much more efficient weapons.

Using my heat signature visor built into my mask with the press of a button, I located a stash of grenades on the Two Face side, which were being thrown across the room. The explosions were rattling the walls, and I didn't want to trust that the place could survive another blast, so I used a disrupting device to disable the hand grenades, which from experience turned them into nothing more than weak firecrackers.

Dick and I waited for one of the goons to throw one of these tampered explosives, and when it fizzled out and merely created a loud noise confusing both sides, Dick threw down a smoke bomb and jumped down into the action. As he took out Penguin's men, I threw electric projectiles and shocked as man of Two Face's goons as I could before one thought between and aimed their gun up at me. I disappeared around the back and snuck around to their blind spots. The electric projectiles had managed to take out three goons, but four was still too many armed goons to face at once, even with a smoke bomb.

With a mix of tools at my disposal I knocked that number down to two. I threw a bolas at one of them which swept them to the ground, whilst the final one I glided down and knocked down with my feet. Dick had finished with the Penguin goons, and so walked over to my side.

We were both breathing hard, and I gave him a grin. Before either of us could speak, I noticed one of the Two Face was still conscious - a woman with a buzzed head that I recognised as Sydney Cole. She'd been in an out of Blackgate more times that I could count on charges of battery and premeditated murder. Currently she was slouched against the back wall, clutching a wound in her side which she had received from the shootout, though it looked like the adrenaline was dropping and she was feeling it more.

"Tell us what was going on here and we can get that wound looked at." I demanded in a collected and calm manner.

Sydney's breathing was ragged. "I ain't talkin' to no vigilantes or cops, you're wastin-" she spat, before the act worsened the pain in her torso. She cried out and clutched it harder.

I raised an eyebrow. "Really? Because I can fix that up for you quick, unless you're so keen on bleeding out?" I suggested. The colour was shrinking from her face, and so I estimated had minutes until she bled out or at least lost consciousness. I knew Dick wanted to try the old Batman route on her and dangle her off of a building, but most of the time it only put them into shock even if it was more effective. Realistically I would allow her to bleed out either way, but it was the sense of letting them believe you were.

Sydney tensed her brow, but groaned and gave in. "Penguin found out we set him up with the girl..."

"The girl?"

"Yeah, the Joker girl, the one we gave him. He found out she was a mole..."

"Fox?"

"That's her, Dahlia was on her way to get her- shit!" The woman clutched her side as her attempt to sit up straighter backfired.

"Where was she planning to take her?"

"Ion know, she don't tell me everything. Now I've given you a ton, fix up my fucking wound!"

Sydney grew agitated which led to her bleeding more aggressively, so I took the sign from Dick to take care of her wound so it was good enough until the services arrived. There were sirens in the air after Dick confirmed it was a clear zone, and so the both of us took our leave before they arrived.

Dick smirked to himself. "The plot thickens." he stated, as we perched on top of the crane again.

"Were they talking about my sister?" John asked, from over the earpieces.

I sighed. "I'm afraid so. The leader of the Two Face gang has gone after her again."

Dahlia Dent was the boss of the Two Face gang after the original boss, Harvey Dent, has tested positive for lung cancer. She had been a more unpredictable leader than Harvey, more often than not switching sides, whilst taking all the cut. Her gang had decrease in size over the years due to some of the goons preferring to work for other gang leaders, but the Two Face gang was still a fierce thorn in Gotham's side.

I'd heard from John and the news that Fox had been kidnapped by Dahlia, however it looked as if her placement in the Iceberg Lounge wasn't a money making scheme for Dahlia by selling her off to the most powerful man in Gotham, but rather as part of a larger plan.

A plan which it was our business to dismantle.