Disclaimer: I own none of these characters.  This story is strictly fan fiction.

I am aware that Barbara's real eye color is green, but in the Animated Series, it's blue, so don't rant me about it.

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Chapter Three (Decoy):

The plane landed about thirty miles from Ra's hideout.  Nightwing, Batgirl, and Robin rode in V-Formation, while Superman took the skies to monitor if anyone was coming and surveyed the direction.  He flew down to the three vigilantes.  "It's only a bit further.  Be ready, no doubt Ra's would have spiced up his security knowing you three would probably look into Bruce's kidnapping."

The vigilantes nodded.  Motorcycles weren't the best form of transportation.  It was a lot slower, but definitely faster than foot, so they had no reason to complain.  They stopped at a sand dune and crawled to the top, making sure that the guards didn't notice anything.  Nightwing signaled the other two vigilantes to cover the left and the right side.  "Eight guards… great…" he whispered to himself.  As soon as they were in place, he charged.  The guards were taken aback.  They hadn't expected anyone to interfere with their master's plans.  The first guard grabbed his spear and met Nightwing.  He swung the spear with devastating accuracy, but Nightwing was prepared.  He caught the spear right below the sharpened steel and tugged.  The man carrying it was tossed forward.  As he let go, Nightwing swung the spear; it made contact with the guard's nose.  The guard won't be able to stand for a while. Come to think of it, he won't be waking up for a while either.  Nightwing's blow had taken its toll.

As another guard advanced toward Nightwing, Batgirl appeared from out of nowhere and met him with a devastating kick.  The kick threw the guard backward as it met his stomach.  Another guard paused and then proceeded to attack Batgirl.  Before he could sneak up on her, Robin fell from the sky and gave him a knock in the noggin; compliments from the Man of Steel.  Unfortunately, the winded guard that Batgirl had knocked down recovered and as Batgirl was thanking her rescuer, the guard grabbed Robin from behind and snarled at the other vigilante.  "I could break his neck! Don't move!" the guard threatened.  Before anyone could react, Robin flipped back, relinquishing the guard's grip on him with a series of acrobatic blows.  The guard fell back in a heap.  Nightwing, just finishing the last few guards, stared at Robin admiringly.

"Not bad… kid…" the last word was added with affection.  Nightwing admired Batgirl and Robin.  He turned around to see that one guard was faking unconsciousness.  You could see that he was trying not to gasp.  When the guard noticed that his charade was over, he jumped up, and charged at Batgirl, who hadn't noticed at thing.  Unfortunately for him, the Man of Steel knew his maneuver.  Superman flew down and landed between Batgirl and the charging guard.  The guard, realizing that his move was final just ran harder.  Pity… no human could withstand such an impact when the Man of Steel was the target and hope to grip consciousness.  As soon as the guard hit his six-packed chest, he bounced backward and stayed down.  "Nice move…" Nightwing smiled.

"Err… thanks!" Batgirl stuttered.  The Man of Steel said his welcome and walked to the front.  Nightwing didn't mind.  He slowed his pace and walked alongside Robin.  As soon as Batgirl looked their way, her fellow vigilantes winked.  She blushed, of course she didn't like Superman, but no woman can completely resist the Man of Steel's body.  Superman had recently been on the front pages of Gotham's Stud Magazine.  He attracted as many girls as the infamous Bruce Wayne.  Talk about rivalry.

They walked into a large room.  No windows, no doors, it was the end of the line.  No one was there except for one person: Bane.  Bane had recently joined Ra's Al Ghul in his mission to end Batman.  "Well, well, if it isn't—." He stopped, suddenly noticing Superman's flashy red, blue, and yellow, with the bulging "S" on his chest.  He gaped.  "Oh sh—." Bane started.  What came after those words was no big mystery.  He was utterly dumbfounded to have the Man of Steel knocking at his door.  Nightwing knew it was best not to let Bane take his time.  The three vigilantes surrounded him.  Bane smiled.  Maybe he could take on the three pigeons and get a bonus.  Superman wouldn't, couldn't kill him.  It was against his code of honor.  "Flashy tights…" he mocked.

Nightwing punched as Batgirl kicked.  Robin decided to find another position in which to hit him in.  Bane caught Batgirl's foot and threw her to Nightwing.  Nightwing caught her as Bane hit him backward… way backward.  Robin decided to land a spinning kick on Bane's neck.  Needless to say, he did so, but it had absolutely no effect on the big lug.  Superman walked up to Bane.  The oversized dumb nut decided that no amount of money or desire for revenge was worth going toe to toe with the alien bench-pressing machine.  It was too late though.  Nightwing landed a punch, knocking Bane against the wall.  The wall wasn't in the best shape after that.  Its perfection was… cracked and dilapidated (hey, try smacking a five-hundred-pound middle-school-dropout with bulging muscles and a very hard head into your house wall; let's see how well that goes).  Bane tried to yell for mercy, but he was winded.  All he got out of his lungs was a groan.  Superman used Bane's stomach as a punching bag until Bane flew backward, past the wall, or rather… where the wall used to be.  Robin cheered as his companions ran to the Man of Steel.  Bane groaned in a heap.  A normal human being would have broken his neck after a beating from Superman, but definitely not him.  However, it was still not too late for the alien to kick his oversized butt to the other side of the corridor, so he decided to stay down.  From now on, he would pick his battles.

"What do we do with him?" Batgirl asked.  Nightwing stared at the pile of shaking cowardice on the floor.  Hard to believe that piece of manure was beating them but a few moments ago.  No doubt Ra's had overlooked help from Superman.  He pondered upon Batgirl's question, and Superman seemed to await his decision also.  So he was the leader in this game, he observed.

His gaze fell on the tube that allowed the venom to circulate through his body.  He walked up to Bane to dismantle it.  Bane knew what was happening, but he couldn't resist, he had been given the worst beating in the history of his life since becoming the oversized muscle.  Nightwing detached the wire.  In no time, Bane became a scrawny teenager lying on the floor, choking.  Nighwing took the equipment from Bane and laid them on the ground.  Superman knew what to do.  He used his laser vision to vaporize it.  "Good show!" Robin piped in.  Superman smiled.  Bane rolled his eyes, then suddenly lost consciousness.

They walked out of the warehouse.  Maybe the guards knew something.  Whatever it was, Nightwing would get it out of them.  Superman was less physical with them, but Nightwing could interrogate Batman-style.  All the guards were gone except two.  One was still unconscious, while the other was struggling to flea.  Nightwing jumped and glided easily to the pathetic guard.  Nightwing grabbed the guard, as he was about to make a break for it and slammed the gasping filth on the ground.  "Where's Ra's?" He raged.  Batgirl rolled her eyes.  Nightwing's tone was so Batman.  The grim tone echoed with a hint of Dick's macho voice.  She giggled and Nightwing looked up to glare at her.  She suppressed her laughter and decided that Nightwing needed to do his job.

The guard stammered.  He couldn't form a single word.  "Wrong answer!" Nightwing declared.  He lifted the guard and slammed him to the ground again.  The guard was winded this time.  Superman frowned.  It was clear that Nightwing used Batman's method for interrogating, but he highly disapproved of it.  Batgirl and Robin noticed the dark look on Superman's face.  As Nightwing was about to slam the beaten down guard again, Superman stopped him.

"Enough." The Man of Steel said.  Nightwing stared after him as Superman flew to the plane.  He looked at the guard and gave him a snarl.  Grudgingly, he relinquished his grip and headed for the plane after getting on his Nightcycle, with the other two vigilantes at his heel of course.

Static erupted from Batgirl's cowl.  Suddenly, "Testing… testing… 1… 2… 3… Batgirl, do you read?" Batgirl flinched.  Everyone heard the call.

"Lower the volume, Alfred!" She said.  A few knobs turned as static whined and died.  Alfred was adjusting the signal.  Of course, this was only temporary.  The communications was just newly installed on Batgirl's cowl.  There were a few bugs to work out.

"Terribly sorry, Batgirl." Alfred apologized humbly.  He was truly sorry.  "I've been looking into Batcave computer files.  Ra's is on the move.  He knew that you'd eventually be after him, so he set up two hideouts, one as a decoy.  The other one is below the decoy, but on another entrance."  This was disturbing news.  The vigilantes stopped.

"Typical of Ra's.  We should've guessed, it's his style." Nightwing observed.  "If we took the easy way in and took the decoy, he must've counted that Bane would finish us off.  He didn't count on Superman being there, though, did he?" Nightwing smiled.  "Let's go!" The vigilantes rode to the plane.  Fifteen minutes later, they were in the air with Superman scouting for the hidden entrance.  His X-Ray Vision assisted in The Search for Ra's Head on a Platter.

Suddenly he spotted something.  "Nightwing! Do you read?" He checked on the radio that transmits to the Batplane.

"Roger that, Superman, you see anything?" Nightwing knew time was running out.  Every minute that passed took away some chance of Bruce being alive.  Bruce hadn't exactly stayed on the criminal's good side.  After all, he rejected her daughter, who, by the way, still wanted him.  "Bruce… you big idiot… if I had a babe like her on my heels, I wouldn't be in this suit trying to help get you get the hell out of there…" he whispered to himself.  Barbara heard this, and glared.

"Shut up, Dick!" She yelled playfully.  Nightwing couldn't suppress a tingling on his lower regions.  Barbara was definitely a babe.  Why did he have to be so stupid and convince her that it would never work out? Stupid! Stupid! Oh well, he thought as he shook it off.

"Not sure…" Superman reported.  "It's some kind of facility, but I detect no life signs.  Could be another abandoned base.  I'll look into— AAAAARRRRRGGGGHHH!" A devastating scream from Superman broke the radio… both his and the Batplane's.  Shock filled the Batplane.

Nightwing was the first to react.  He pinpointed the radio's locator.  "Batgirl, turn the radio off, it's broken." He was right.  Static was the only thing heard throughout the Batplane.  They flew low and stopped.  "Batgirl, fly the plane, Tim and I will investigate." As Batgirl was about to say something, Nightwing interrupted her.  "I know it's a trap! But what choice do we have? Regrouping would take its toll on the hostages! Ra's is ruthless!" His voice cracked with emotion.  Superman was one of his idols.  Bruce was his adopted father and mentor.  He couldn't let anything happen.  No matter how much he despised Batman, he owed him, and repaying favors was something Nightwing would die for… especially for Bruce.  Superman had also saved his hide a few times.  Batgirl nodded and took the controls.  Robin leaped down as Nightwing glided to scout for cover.  Ra's would pay… oh, yes, when Nightwing was done with him, there wouldn't be much left of the old maniac.  Nightwing was coming for Ra's Al Ghul.