Donning his mask and shedding his work clothes, John became Nightmare and prepared for his traditional street cleaning. Thoughts of Grey and Alvosta were put aside. Tonight, street punks were all that he planned on fighting. This is what he lived for. Tonight was all that mattered.
Jumping to a nearby telephone pole, he scanned the street. On a building, only a few feet away, he could see a shadowy figure on the roof of a small bank trying to break in. "Typical," he smirked.
Stealthily going until he was right behind the person, he spoke. "It's a little late for this…"
The figure turned and revealed his face. Grey!!! Hands grabbed Nightmare's neck and dug in hard. Trying to break the hold, Nightmare realized something that made him shudder in fear. Grey was a lot stronger than he used to be. Losing his breath, Nightmare gave his foe a nice kick on his cheek. Nothing. A punch in the mouth. Nothing. He was starting to lose consciousness. Suddenly, he used a great judo throw, using Grey's weight against his own, and sent the monster flying over his back.
Grey landed a mere five feet backwards. Leaping onto Nightmare, he sunk his razor teeth into the masked adventurer's neck. With a scream of pain, Nightmare tripped Grey and dashed to the other end of the building as fast as his legs would permit.
Grey was much too strong for mere fist fighting. He needed a weapon. A pipe, a rock, anything. Looking closer, he saw a baseball bat left over from a previous heist. Perfect.
Grabbing it, he barely avoided a punch with a duck. With all the strength he could muster, he swung the bat like Mark McGwire at Grey's chest. He was yet again sent flying, but this time in pain.
With hatred burning in his voice, he screamed, "Now- you- dieeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Another blow from the bat made the indistinguishable sound of two ribs meeting each other for the first time. Bending over in pain, he grabbed Nightmare unexpectedly and lifted him above his head. The bat dropped harmlessly to the ground below. He prepared to throw Nightmare to his doom.
Suddenly, a bullet whizzed past his ear. He loosened the grip and the now unconscious hero fell to the roof's floor. Another bullet nearly removed his ear. A spotlight shone on him brightly, and he heard a female voice.
"Come down from the roof now. This is the NYPD!"
Grey turned his head in panic. He had been seen in public, and Nightmare was still not dead! If he tried to kill him now, he would be killed and Alvosta traced to him. Scooping Nightmare up, he jumped the opposite direction and took the fastest route possible to Alvosta's building. Alvosta would know what to do from there, he thought.
Nightmare had lost.