Dark clouds started to move into Blüdhaven, quickly engulfing the city with rain. A pair of thugs waiting for unsuspecting citizens walking home from a night on the town were sitting in an alley way, and as the drops started to pour, they looked for cover. "Ah shit, looks like we aren't getting anything tonight, Louie. No one gonna wanna walk in this crap." said the one thug, large and brutish, as he threw his cigarette onto the ground.
"God dammit, ever since the Bat blew up, you can't get any good work around here. All the crime bosses gone quiet. Now the weather is screwing us out of money, too." said the other, leaner and taller, wielding a knife to use on those who might walk past or into the alley.
Suddenly, a dark figure jumped down from the building above to meet them. "Well, fellas, you're not getting good work cause all those bosses are in jail, or dead because of me. Sounds like you might be meet them soon if you don't start running."
"You think we're scared of you, punk?" the brute laughed, taunting the shadowy figure. "It's two of us, and one of ya." A shot soon met the brute thug, and he fell to the ground instantly.
"I guess I just evened the odds." The other thug yelled some sort of profanity and charged the figure, his knife in hand, but was soon countered with the figure's own blade penetrating the thug's chest, stopping the thug's momentum, with a swift kick to the stomach that separated the knife from his body. "Well, that was anti-climatic. Toodaloo." The figure jumped to a fire escape, and jumped from rooftop to rooftop to escape.
"Huh, third one this week." highlighted the detective looking at the one body riddled with bullets in the Gotham alley way. "Lunatic is offing the fellas before we can even touch them." He turned his attention to the other body, which had a huge gash in the stomach region from a sharp blade.
A slim, tall officer with jet black hair tucked beneath a peaked cap walked up to the scene. "Matches the M.O of the other murders too." he said, chewing a piece of gum. "Or let me guess, Jerry, you knew that already?"
"Hey Grayson, can I do my job please? I realize that it's probably the same guy. I also realize your name is Dick, but you don't gotta act like one, kid," snarkily replied the older detective. "Don't you got something better to do than bother me, Batboy? Or are you gonna call one of your Bat buddies, Nightwing or Robin to help you out?" The detective smirked at his comment, believing he was some clever mastermind, but Officer Grayson, son of the famous, now dead, billionaire Bruce Wayne, also known as the Batman, was barely amused.
Dick Grayson chuckled at the comment. "If I knew who those guys were, I'd tell em to beat you up, Jerry. Besides, Commissioner Cash from GCPD called, told me about similar murders in Gotham. Figuring my ties with the place, Chief Redhorn told me to check it out. So I'm here." The cop grabbed the yellow caution tape surrounding the scene, and ducked underneath to get a closer look. "This seems similar to the Black Mask murders too. Same casings. Wonder if it's the new Red Hood guy."
Jerry, the detective, laughed at that. "Probably another copycat. We need Gotham to stick to Gotham and Blüdhaven to Blüdhaven." Grayson rolled his eyes in response. "I mean, Cash has got it figured out, and Robin has been doing a fine job. I'm sure they will figure it out."
"Yeah. I'm sure they will. But we should still work together." Dick replied. "Well, I'm gonna report back to the Chief. Oh and, uh, Jerry, lay off the smart ass comments, you're no Harvey Bullock." The officer got back into his cruiser, and drove back to his apartment, only a good four blocks away. Unbeknownst to Detective Jerry, it was actually Dick's day off. Well, as a cop, anyways. After parking his cruiser in his apartment's parking garage, Dick walked into the rundown building he called home. Going up a couple flight of stairs, he unlocked his apartment, the first one on the right. He then went into his room, and reached underneath his bed to pull out a suit case that held his prized possession: a pair of electric escrima sticks. He grabbed his iconic black and blue suit of his closet, got dressed to impress, grabbed the sticks and left through his apartment window. "Well, Jerry, let's test your theory and see what Robin knows."
Jumping down the fire escape along his apartment, Nightwing went to receive his signature motorcycle, hidden in a voice-command locked garage across the street. Once he activated the door, he hopped on the bike and sped towards Gotham City. He had a meeting with his brother.
"We got a... looks like a turf war. Looks like some of Harley Quinn's men and... uhhh... some of the Black Mask men. It's uhhh... near the Port Adams, Founders Island" came over the GCPD radio on his motorcycle. Dick thought to himself... Black Mask? Isn't he dead? Must have been a body double. Looks like a change of plans. "Not what I intended today... but I'm sure Tim is on his way there, anyways..." he said out loud, before speeding onto a ramp that led towards the island. After passing through Miagini, dodging between cars, Nightwing skidded in front of the entrance to the port.
After ducking behind a box to avoid detection, he observed the scene. He saw thugs on both sides, hiding behind shipping containers, firing guns at each other. "Alright... let's... hmmm." Nightwing grappled to a building behind the shipping container that Black Mask's thugs were hiding behind.
A thug shouted to the other guys in his crew, "Alright, boss wants us to take out the crazy bitch on the other side! She didn't want to listen to 'em. So let's take em down..." the thug grabbed a grenade and pulled the pin. "Quinn won't like this one..." he chuckled, and tossed it towards the opposite side. Time to act, thought Nightwing. He got ready to throw his escrima stick at the grenade, but before it left his hand, the grenade blew up mid-air.
"Didn't I already kill your boss, assholes?" said a figure with a red mask in a leather jacket, who appeared out of nowhere to meet the Black Mask thugs. He pulled out a pair of guns and shot two of them in the head. Nightwing jumped into action and glided towards the figure, who, in response, grabbed Dick's leg and flipped him onto his back. "Oh come on, you've got to be quieter, man." While Nightwing was on the ground, the figure shot two other thugs, and the rest started to run away. While the figure was distracted by the dispersing thugs, Nightwing jumped up and punched towards the figure's chest.
Soon, the two were throwing punches at each other, blocking each one. "Who are you?" the acrobat demanded, sweeping his leg low, tripping the figure. Nightwing put his foot on the throat of the figure. Nightwing realized that he matched the description of the murderer operating in Gotham and Blüdhaven. "Why are you killing thugs?" Dick shouted. Suddenly, rounds were fired from a group of thugs approaching him and the figure. This allowed the figure to kick up towards the chest of Nightwing, knocking him away, and onto his feet.
"Oh c'mon, Dick. You know I go by Red Hood." The figure turned his attention away from Nightwing, and ran towards one of the thugs, punched him in the face, before stabbing another who charged him. Nightwing was bewildered; how did he know his name? His shock had to wait, though. Harley's thugs were coming to attack them both.
"Harley's gonna wanna see you too, the impostor and the blue birdy." shouted one of the thugs, who had a gun pointed directly at this Red Hood guy and Nightwing. Another figure, clad in a purple outfit that consisted of a hood, a mask that covered their mouth and a dark cape, jumped into the scene and kicked Harley's thug in the back, sending him to the ground. Red Hood threw a flash bang towards the new person, who hid behind their cape for protection from the blast. The other thugs, with no protection, fell to the ground, dazed and out.
Nightwing was bewildered. He and Red Hood stared at the new player on the battlefield. "Who are...?" asked Nightwing, but they ran towards Red Hood and kicked him in the gut before Nightwing could finish his sentence.
"You. You know about Black Mask, I've seen you following him. What is he doing, working with Cluemaster? What's his gameplan?" said the female voice, much to the surprise of Dick and Red Hood. She pulled a staff from a harness on her back, and placed it to his temple. "I'm not fucking around." Nightwing was definitely confused; is she friend or foe? Hell, is this Red Hood friend or foe? He stepped into the dispute. "Stay out of this, Nightwing." she snapped. During the split second she looked away, Red Hood pushed her off. She rebalanced herself, and went to charge him, but he put his hands up in defense.
"Hold up, kid. Why else do you think I'm here? I need to talk to the clown to see what's up. If you're so disgruntled, I'll let ya talk to her too." he pleaded. "As for you..." he glared at Dick. "Stay out of this. You should stay in Blüdhaven, it's pretty clear you're not doing so good at stopping crime there. Place was a hellhole until I stepped in. I cleaned up your mess, now don't make another, brother." With his hands still up, he dropped a smoke bomb and grappled out of the scene. During the smoke, the girl also ditched the area, leaving Dick by himself, perplexed.
Dick got back onto his bike, and radio'd Oracle, his old friend who was like IT on steroids. "Hey, Nightwing, what's up?" she answered gleefully.
"Tell me what you know on Red Hood. He knows my name, and is leaving a trail of blood everywhere he goes." he asked. A moment of silence followed, as Dick remained without an answer. "Oracle... hello?"
She jumped back in. "I think you need to be here for this one."