Any characters or names in this story that are recognized as property of either DC Comics or Capcom or any other company are not mine. I did not create any of them. So don't sue me cause again, I did not create them. Just borrowing them for this story.
Commissioner Gordon is cold, wet and tired. Well of course he is, standing out in the rain for over an hour can do that to you. However he gets paid to do this, so its not all that bad. Could be better but then again it could be worse. Either way he is cold, wet and tired and that is where we will begin the story, in the cold rain at about 9:15 Pm on a Friday night. He is not alone however, a forensics team, cops and of course the media surround a spot where a body had lay before it was found buy some guy at around 7:59 Pm tonight and immediately phoned in.
Harvey Bullock stands by him looking rather depressed and of course miserable. "So, where's Bats? Usually he'd have been here an hour before us and taken half
da evidence back to his cave lair leaving us to stand around lookin' stupid and holdin' back the crowd." He says finally with a hint of irritation and two hints of sarcasm, hold the sugar.
"Who knows, he could've come and gone already" replies Gordon rather dryly.
"Come, but not gone; who's the victim?" booms a deep voice from right behind them startling both men. It's Batman as gloomy as ever and unusually late. He steps up to the scene and the men follow him.
"Jonathan Lee North, founder of the Gotham City martial arts tournament this spring, took home the top medal, considered the best fighter in Gotham and not just by himself he had his own fan club and three martial arts schools. Found earlier beaten to death and all cut up by what looks like claw marks." Replies Gordon.
Batman looks around observing the scene. The poverty stricken and the drug addicts inhabit this part of town. It always seems to be darker than other parts of town because of the psychological atmosphere. There are a lot of abandoned buildings around, mostly because of instability in the structures or because of economical reasons. Why would Jonathan North be in this area of town? He often seemed to be kind of cocky and overly confident of his skills, perhaps he was called out on a fight. Someone wanted to test his metal, and worked on Jon's ego to assure a fight. Everyone wants to challenge "The Best" everyone wants a piece of the fame, to be able to say "I beat the best". And beat they did.
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Nightwing and Batgirl perch atop a building on their nightly rounds. There have been very few disturbances tonight, which is probably thanks to the rain. It pours constantly and has drenched them to the bone, despite their uniforms.
"I'm calling it a night, I can't stand this any longer, I'm drenched to the bone. Seeya later Dick." Batgirl finally says as she leaps off the roof and disappears. Nightwing watches her go. He debates whether or not he should give it up too…no he mustn't it wouldn't be very professional. Batman would never leave and so he must stay more to prove to himself than anything else that he is every bit as good as his former…partner…leader…whatever. Ever since he began his solo career…act…crusade…yeah crusade, he has pushed himself harder than he ever did as Robin to prove to himself, Batman and everyone else that he didn't need Batman.
He returns his focus to the streets below where something caught his eye very briefly. He scans the streets…it was gone…or was it? He eyes every shadow but the rain and the darkness seem very much at home in Gotham tonight making his job much more difficult than he'd like. He stands up to get a better look and bends out over the edge a bit balancing very well via his years of circus performance but whatever it was is gone now. Still he felt…watched…and then a blur of motion blocks his sight and foot is rocking his head back and a knee is in his gut in mid air as he falls back and then still a punch to his sternum and then a bone jarring landing on the other side of the building. He hits on the large of his back between his shoulder blades and skids until he nearly falls off of the building, barely gripping the side. He coughs blood and nearly looses his grip when he winces at the pain and the surprise. He then shoves himself back onto the roof of the three-story building. He scans the area…nothing. He can hardly see a thing anyway, much less his attacker…but then a glint of metal in a sudden lightning bolt-lit sky gives it away. A batarang flies out as the lights go out and Nightwing can hear it break a window about fifty yards away on the other side of the street. He moves and pulls out his Night vision goggles and fits them to his eyes in time to see his attacker in mid jump kick. Nightwing twists to the right of the oncoming attack but he is hit anyway when the attacker twists and changes attacks in midair in a blur and catches him with the left leg across the chest, the heel digging into his solar plexus and causing spots in Nightwing's vision as he falls back this time falling off before he can catch the edge but thankfully there is a window sill that he grabs instead on the second floor. He looks up and the attacker's feet come crashing down tearing his hands from the sill and crushing him into the sidewalk and then the attacker leaps impossibly high and into a back flip landing about twenty freaking feet from him. Nightwing gasps for air and he feels the warmth of blood spew from his mouth, the cold wet of the rain everywhere and intense pain…his rib cage has been injured badly crushed and broken from the impact just as the sidewalk had cratered a bit under him. He lies there broken and bleeding while the attacker runs and leaps high into the air above him and then a pair of claws, three of them about a foot long suddenly brandished and aimed for his head. In this moment before death Dick can only watch and look on. The attacker wears a mask, white with an inscribed snake bearing it's fangs under his left eye. A long blonde braid hangs suspended in the air and coiled…like the snake tattoo on the bare chest of the man. Another flash of lightning illuminates the night and a figure leaps at the attacker and flips into a kick that sends both the attacker and the figure through the window just a bit above arms length above Nightwing where he lay.
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Batgirl had returned just in time, having decided to go back and resume her post feeling somewhat unprofessional leaving just because of cold rain. Imagine if the Joker used cold rain and she ran…and now she is saving Nightwing from a psycho in a mask. Through the window they go and into an old diner, closed and abandoned thank god, and she lands on her feet and pops on her own goggles and watches as the masked man lands gracefully an in a blur dives and rolls towards her with the greatest of ease and in the time it takes her to blink he has impaled her on three foot long claws…right through her torso and the same attack knocks her back into the wall between the windowsill and the floor and into the broken glass. She falls to the floor eyes wide from shock and absently pulls out her communicator and manages to say "B..." before it is kicked from her grip and replaced by a stomp breaking her left hand against the wall and with that the attacker leaps through the broken window and into the street. Barbara feels more pain than she has ever felt before and at the same time weariness, exhaustion and from a battle that in all from the attack of Nightwing to her fall lasted about twenty seconds at most.