Police Commissioner Jim Gordon was smoking a cigarette on the roof of the Gotham City department. As soon as they had called him to warn him that all the inmates of Arkham Asylum had escaped he had immediately run cursing to the roof to light the Bat-signal.
To tell the truth, he was a little worried that something had happened to Batman since he had not been spotted for days and crime had increased by a lot since then.
He sighed. He really needed to go home and sleep but he had a job to do. He threw his cigarette on the ground and put it out.
When he turned around he jumped up when he saw Batman and Robin behind him.
"Hell! Don't you people ever get tired of giving me a heart attack?" he brought a hand to his racing heart and gave a mental sigh of relief knowing that the Caped Crusader was okay.
He had to do a double take when he saw Batman's lip turn up slightly amused.
At a better glance he noticed that he was not the usual height and sturdiness he has always been.
"You're not Batman." he asserted, confident.
After all, he had worked with the Bat for more than 12 years and dared to even consider him as a friend.
Immediately the smile disappeared and white eyes stared directly at him, making him slightly anxious but he did not outwardly show it.
"How did they all get out at once?" asked Batman snarling and ignoring his question.
Jim sighed but answered. "Somehow Poison Ivy managed to control a guard and free herself. Afterwards she freed everyone else and they killed all the guards."
"Why did Poison Ivy free everyone? It's common knowledge that Gotham's criminals rarely cooperate with each other." Robin pointed out as he crossed his arms, a frown on his face.
Jim shrugged. "I don't know, although I suspect it has something to do with Batman's disappearance." he glanced at the vigilante. "Or should I say apparent disappearance."
There were a few seconds of silence that was interrupted by Batman "Thank you, commissioner." he said in his normal voice, surprising Robin and Gordon.
"Nightwing?" he asked, unsure if he had heard correctly.
"Not anymore."
He glanced at the boy in front of him. He had watched this boy grow up. He had first seen him when he was Robin at the age of eight and already knew he would grow into a great man.
With him as a vigilante partner he could see that Batman (the first) was less dark and more...human.
Besides being the first partner in the hero community and doing things adults would dream of doing, he accomplished something impossible.
Eliminate Batman's darkness and be his light.
The transition into Nightwing had shown that he was one of the best heroes around and had claimed Bludhaven, Gotham's most corrupt city, as his own and had made great progress.
And now that he was wearing the cowl of Batman... Jim preferred not to think about why.
"I don't know what happened to your... predecessor," Jim began slowly, finding the right words to say. "but I'm sure he would be proud of you."
Silence.
"Thank you, Jim."
Gordon nodded, thoughtful for a moment, and when he looked up they were already gone.
"Some things never change." he shook his head with a small smile as he reentered the department.
He had a job to do.
Red Robin and Black Bat were standing at the city's port.
"Are you sure this is the destination?" whispered Black Bat.
"For the twenty-seventh time, yes!" groaned Red Robin annoyed as they skulked around the harbor.
The two were looking for the Riddler who, as usual, had left a riddle at the police station that was intercepted by Oracle.
The girl had immediately communicated it to Batman's third partner, who solved it in just three minutes.
Too bad the trip to the harbor was not so short.
"Look I'll hurt you badly if it's not the right destination." she declared impassively.
"Batman would prevent you." he replied with a smirk.
When she was on the verge of countering, her brother gave her a "shut-up-is-important" look.
So the girl followed his gaze only to see, some twenty meters away, the Riddler surrounded by a dozen men.
"Can it be that none of those Bats have solved the riddle yet?" the villain was complaining to a guard who simply shrugged in response.
The two vigilantes looked at each other briefly before nodding and springing into action.
"Ehy Nigma!" called Red Robin to him as he threw some batarangs to disarm a couple of men.
"At last you have arrived! The clue wasn't that hard." frowned the Riddler.
The 14 year old pulled out the staff and struck a man's temple painfully as he ducked to sweep the thug's legs behind him. "We were just a little distant from the harbor."
Black Bat nodded as she grabbed her opponent's arm and threw the man three times her size hitting two other men. She kicked disarming a thug and then threw a roundhouse kick at his face.
Red Robin ran toward two armed men. He threw his staff at the one on the right hitting his forehead (a nice concussion) as he slid to his knees to avoid the gunshot and then jumped up on one hand and hit the other's face with an accurate kick (he mentally thanked Dick for teaching the whole family some acrobatic tricks).
Black Bat blocked one of her enemy's punches and twisted it painfully behind his back and then elbowed him in the temple. With lightning speed she threw three punches to another man's stomach and then headbutted him in the face.
Red Robin had just knocked out two more men when he felt cold metal on his back and the Riddler's voice taunting him. He imprecated under his breath for underestimating him. "Guess this: what's a red robin without wings?" he could hear the smirk in the voice.
The vigilante shifted his back toward the firearm and, with surprising swiftness, moved his own right leg so that it was behind the criminal's and pulled hard, knocking him off balance. He did not even give him time to blink before he knocked him out with a simple punch to the face.
As she sent the coordinates to the police department, Black Bat approached him and they gave each other a fraternal punch.
"Congratulations on the promotion." joked Batwoman to the other vigilante at her side.
Batgirl giggled and smiled and gave her a thumbs-up before bringing a hand to her ear. "Oracle, are there hostages in the bank?" she asked perched above the building.
They only knew that Penguin and his men were robbing Gotham's bank and hoped there were no hostages inside.
"Yes, exactly seven hostages."
Luck is rarely on the Bat's side, it seems.
"All right." murmured the blonde more to herself than to Barbara.
She and Batwoman exchanged a look that lasted a few seconds before the redhead nodded slightly.
Batgirl took a deep breath and stepped out of the building, entering it quietly, completely relaxed as several guns were pointed at her.
The blonde took a quick look at her surroundings. The hostages were being targeted by Penguin's men and their escape route was the rear exit.
Penguin had a shoulder bag with a lot of bills inside and was pointing his umbrella that he always carried toward the vigilante. "If I were you, I wouldn't do anything rash. You wouldn't want them" he nodded to his men. "blow your brains out or the hostages's brains out" he sneered, startling some of the civilians.
Batgirl tilted her head as her right hand took a few batarangs from her utility belt without being seen by anyone. "Do you really think you'll get away with it without any problems?" she smiled.
"Who the hell are you?" asked one of Penguin's men rudely.
"I am Batgirl!" she shouted dramatically, and before they could fully comprehend her words she threw several batarangs disarming the men who were pointing their weapons at the hostages. At the same time a bank window suddenly broke and Batwoman swooped down throwing batarangs disarming the other men.
"Hurry up! That way!" shouted Batwoman in the chaos making a quick dash for the rear exit of the building. She stood protectively in front of them to prevent any of them from being injured as she engaged the men who were guarding the civilians in quick hand-to-hand combat.
Batgirl meanwhile had easily taken down some thieves and then came face to face with Penguin. She put her hands on her hips and looked at him sternly. "We can do this the easy way or the hard way. Your choice."
In response the criminal pulled his gun and pointed it at the vigilante.
"The hard way it is." she muttered as she rolled avoiding the shot. She disarmed him with a kick but doubled over when Penguin hit her in the chest with the umbrella.
The blonde growled and blocked another shot and stole his umbrella, breaking it in half.
"That was my last umbrella!" whined Penguin.
"Buy it back with money that wasn't stolen." joked the vigilante and threw an uppercut at his face followed by a kick to the chest, sending him crashing into the wall.
Batgirl smiled, and her smile widened when Batwoman proudly rested a hand on his shoulder. The blonde victoriously raised her fist in the air with an excited little shout.
"Batgirl 1, crazy criminals 0."
"I have yet to understand why most criminals hide in a warehouse! It's a fucking classic!" stated Red Hood with a sigh as he and Black Canary stood in front of said warehouse.
The blonde simply rolled her eyes and did not respond. The two approached the entrance and leaned out slightly to observe.
Inside was only Two Face walking back and forth, coin in hand.
"What is he doing? And why is he alone?" whispered Black Canary.
"I don't know. I say we go in and kick his ass." without waiting for an answer the vigilante entered making as much noise as possible to get the criminal's attention.
"A Bat brat!" he sneered, and his grin grew as he saw Black Canary approach Hood and assume a fighting stance. "We also have Nightwing's little girlfriend! By the way, where is he? Did you leave him for Hood?" he laughed.
"If I had stolen his girlfriend, Nghtwing would have already killed me." muttered the second Robin.
Black Canary ignored Two Face's taunt and charged at him, surprising him. She drove her elbow into his ribs and threw an uppercut.
The enemy blocked her arm and turned it sharply, resulting in a grunt of pain. Before he could actually break it, he was hit full in the face by a rubber bullet fired from one of Red Hood's many guns and cursed, releasing his grip and backing away.
"Didn't your mother teach you not to swear?" joked the vigilante.
Two Face growled and kicked out two guns. He began firing them both, forcing the two heroes to hide behind a pillar.
"You had to piss him off, didn't you?" said Black Canary.
"Pissing people off is my middle name." he declared with a smirk.
When he heard the gunfire cease, he leaned off the pillar and fired twice, hitting Two Face on the hands and disarming him of both guns.
Meanwhile, Black Canary ran and jumped, turning 360 degrees to hit him with a violent kick to the jaw.
Two Face's head snapped to the right only to meet Red Hood's fist. He fell to the ground unconscious.
The 16 year old whistled impressed. "Nice kick, blondie."
"Nice punch, tin man."
Red Hood looked at her for a moment.
"That's why I'm okay with you being the golden boy's girlfriend: you're fucking tough."
Black Canary chuckled. She watched her boyfriend's little brother put handcuffs on Two Face and send the coordinates to the Gotham police as it occurred to her that Night...Batman would have to go up against the Joker.
Although she knew her boyfriend could hold his own against the mad clown, that did not stop her from worrying.
For heaven's sake, you're all right Dick.