"Firestorm"
Teen Titans/Batman: The Animated Series
By Amos Whirly
Chapter Two: Mastermind
He awoke to a throbbing ache in his lower back. With a grunt of discomfort, he took a deep breath.
"Easy now, Master Dick," soothed a voice with a light British accent. "You had a nasty fall, I hear."
He opened his eyes and gazed into an old face lined with worry.
"Alfred," he whispered.
"Yes, yes, good to see you too, Master Dick," the old butler nodded as he finished bandaging Nightwing's burned hands. "Heaven knows, you don't come around here nearly as often as you might."
Nightwing sighed and leaned back against the pillow. He was lying in his old room at Wayne Manor. He noticed with a small smile that the huge room had changed very little from when he had last lived there.
Bruce never did like changing things, he thought wryly and moved to sit up.
"Uh-uh-uh," Alfred pushed him back down with strength surprising for a man his age. "You're not moving until I'm sure you don't have a concussion."
"Did I break anything?"
"Just the car you landed on," came a snicker from the door.
Nightwing turned to look at the doorway where a teenage boy grinned at him.
"Real funny, Tim," Nightwing pulled himself up in spite of Alfred's protests and swung his legs onto the floor. "I'm fine, Alfred. I promise. I could use some tea, though."
"You are insufferable, Master Dick," Alfred shook his head, though his dark eyes sparkled. "Tea it is, then."
He hurried from the room, and Nightwing stood up, wincing at the pain in his ribs.
"Sure you're okay?" Tim's voice took on a somber tone.
"Yeah, I'm fine," he sighed. "I didn't hit all that hard, I guess."
"Tell that to the car," Tim chuckled, moving to sit on the foot of the bed. "Bruce is still down – er – you know. Studying."
"How long?"
"At least since we got home. I don't think that man ever sleeps."
"You learn quick, Tim," Nightwing ruffled the boy's black hair and moved slowly out of the room. "Where's Babs?"
"She doesn't live here, remember?" Tim snorted. "She went home."
"Right," Nightwing stepped into the hallway and made his way toward the living area of the imposing manor. "This place is still as spooky as it ever was."
He walked through the living room and into the study area where an old grandfather clock leaned against the wall. With a slight smile, he flipped the hidden switch on the clock face, and the clock slid to the side, revealing a dimly lit stairway descending into the heart of the earth.
Silently, he and Tim walked down the stairs.
The cave was dark and dank and filled with bats. The car and the jet sat ready for action at one end of the cave, and the huge computer system rested at the other end. Bruce sat at the main computer skimming through information.
Nightwing walked behind him, his footsteps stealthy.
"How are you feeling?" Bruce's voice echoed in the cave.
For a moment, Nightwing marveled at how the man's voice could change in tone just by removing his cowl.
"Fine," he answered shortly. "Have you found anything?"
"Looks like there were at least a dozen other hits last night," Bruce said, "but not here. All over the world."
"What for?" Tim leaned against the computer.
"I don't know," Bruce was scowling, his square jaw set in impassively. "They seem random."
"Maybe they are," Nightwing shrugged. "It is the Joker, after all."
"True," Bruce nodded, "but something's bothering me about all of this."
"What do you mean, Bruce?" Tim asked,
"Where was the gimmick?" Bruce leaned back in his chair, steepling his fingers. "Where was the gag? The opportunity for a laugh? It wasn't there."
"I see your point," Nightwing nodded, glaring at the screen which was now displaying data about the downtown building that had burned. "You think he's working with someone else?"
"Possibly. I'm not really sure."
"Well, the only way the Joker would go to all the trouble of blowing up a building would be to either torment us or get himself a laugh. I'll tell you right now, Bruce. He wasn't really laughing last night."
"Think he was trying to prove himself or something?" Tim asked.
"What makes you say that, Tim?" Bruce looked at him.
"Well," Tim crossed his arms, "he obviously wanted Nightwing to come to the top floor because he knew it would take a lot of trouble for any of the rest of us to get up there. But you said there weren't any gags or tricks, right, Dick? Just that he was covered in an old blanket?"
"Yeah," Nightwing nodded. "I thought he was an old woman or something. He used an old easy chair to mask some sort of detonator. That's what the explosion was."
"But no flowers that squirt poison gas? Or razor sharp false teeth? Or toy guns?"
"No."
"And that's what's weird," Tim shook his head. "It seems to me like he was trying to prove he could actually fight seriously."
"But why would he do that?" Nightwing sighed hugely. "Who does the Joker have to prove himself to? The whole world knows he's crazy, and he's renowned as one of the greatest criminal masterminds of all time. Who would he possibly respect or fear enough to throw away his gags for? There's no criminal like that in Gotham."
"Agreed," Bruce stood, pushing his chair back. "If you're right, Tim, it means he's working with or for a criminal who's more powerful than he is."
The doorbell rang suddenly, reverberating through the empty halls of the Manor.
"That would be Barb," Bruce turned toward the stairs.
The three of them trekked up the stairs together.
"Need a hand?" Bruce asked Nightwing as he hesitated on the stairs.
"I told you, I'm fine," Nightwing brushed past him.
Nightwing stepped into the antechamber as Alfred was greeting Barb.
Her red hair was pulled high in a ponytail, and her big blue eyes were bright.
"I see you've recovered," she smiled at him.
"For the most part."
Tim bounced into the room, and Barb caught him in a friendly hug. The study door opened, and Bruce strode in, his face solemn.
"Did you guys figure it out?" Barb asked.
"Maybe," Tim spoke as he squirmed out of her embrace.
"Tim, you and Dick fill her in on what we know," Bruce said. "Then, all of you get some rest. It'll be a long night tonight."
"Yes, Master Dick," Alfred came up behind Nightwing. "Your tea is beside your bed, which is where I must insist you return. Your injuries require—"
"I'm fine!" Nightwing threw his hands over his head and stalked toward the door. "Tim, you brief Babs. I'm going back to my loft."
"But, Master Dick—!" Alfred started to protest but stopped as Bruce raised his hand.
"Let him go, Alfred," Bruce said. "He can take care of himself."
"Yes, Master Bruce," Alfred sighed resignedly as he moved toward the kitchen. "Master Tim, would you care for a hot cup of tea?"
The wind was cold again, but the moon was out. For once, very few clouds inhabited the skies over Gotham, but the night was dark enough without them.
Nightwing perched on his favorite flagpole again, scanning the shadows for any sign of the Joker or his henchmen.
Robin landed on the window ledge beside him with a thud, and Nightwing glared at the teenager.
"Do we know that he's even going to show up tonight?" Robin asked, the wind blowing his black cape. "I mean, there were attacks all over the world last night. Maybe he'll level a building in—I don't know—Timbuktu or something."
Nightwing hushed him severely.
"Do you hear that?' he asked.
"Hear what?" Robin leaned forward.
The two vigilantes strained their ears listening for anything out of the ordinary.
"I hear it," Robin whispered. "It sounds like a generator of some kind, but where's it coming from?"
Nightwing's left eye twitched as he strained his ears.
"It sounds close," he mumbled, "but it's too faint to make out."
Suddenly, it stopped. Both of them waited quietly.
"Where'd it go?" Robin finally asked.
And the building erupted in flames. The force of the explosion blasted Robin and Nightwing into the air. They crashed through the windows of a nearby building and scrambled to their feet in time to see the other building collapse in a fiery cloud of ash and smoke.
Maniacal laughter echoed above them, and they gazed upward. The Joker perched on the skids of a helicopter waving at them like an idiot.
"What is he up to?" Nightwing spat, spreading his wings and soaring into the clouds on a gust of wind.
The Joker motioned to the pilot, and the helicopter flew away. Nightwing threw a hook around one of the skids and held on as the vessel blasted through the sky.
Robin fired his grappling hook and swung to the neighboring building. In a few moments, Batman and Batgirl arrived.
"What happened?" Batgirl asked.
"The Joker again," Robin said. "He blew up the building and took off in a helicopter. Nightwing is—"
The building on which they stood suddenly shuddered.
"Move," Batman ordered, leaping off the side of the building.
Batgirl and Robin obeyed as the building erupted in a blaze of blinding violet light. Batman gathered both his partners under his heavy cape as the shockwave hit them.
Hand-over-hand, he climbed up the rope until his fingers were in reach of the helicopter skids. A white shoe suddenly crushed his gloved hands to the skid! The Joker half-leaned out of the passenger compartment and smirked evilly at him.
"Well, if it isn't Nightwing?" he drawled, his dark green hair flapping around his white face. "Big Daddy Bat lets you fly on your own now, eh?"
Nightwing tried to pull his hand away, but the Joker crushed it harder.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk," the Joker ground his
foot into Nightwing's hand. "The four of you are
going to really have to work to get your hineys out
of this one."
"What are you up to, Joker?"
"Oh, now, if I gave the game away, we wouldn't have any fun," the Joker pouted. "Besides, you should be able to figure it out yourself."
Laughing, the Joker kicked Nightwing hard in the face. His hands still sore from the burns, he could not hold onto the rope or the skid! He managed to stop his fall, though, as he spread his blue wings.
He sailed on an updraft for a moment, growling to himself as the helicopter flew to the east.
He turned himself in the air and headed toward the demolished building just as the sky filled with violent purple light.
Clenching his aching fists, he flew toward the light.
The building had vanished.
There was nothing left.
No rubble. No debris.
Nothing.
Except a woman levitating where the building once stood.
Batgirl and Robin climbed out from under Batman's cape and gawked at the woman.
She was tall and slender, and her hair was long and black. It fluttered around her frame like an ebony cape. She wore a suit sculpted of silver and violet metal, and her eyes glowed with purple light.
A sadistic smirk was set on her beautiful face.
"What's the plan, Batman?" Batgirl asked, tensing.
Before he could answer, the woman disappeared.
Three orbs of violet light burst out of nowhere and knocked the three vigilantes off their feet. Batgirl crashed through a storefront window, glass cascading around her. Two more blasts of light knocked Batman to the ground, and he barely managed to roll out of the way before another blast left a crater in the sidewalk.
Robin flung two explosive charges at the woman, but she moved around them easily and dealt the boy a fierce blow. He smacked the cement hard and rolled. She plunged for him, but he rolled out of the way as she crashed into the street, the force of the blow sending a shockwave through the street. Robin jumped up and kicked at her, but she snatched his ankle out of the air and flew into the sky, dragging him with her. Viciously, she flung him toward the ground!
And Nightwing caught him.
Nightwing set Robin on the street and ducked under a ferocious punch from the woman, but he could not get under her kick. The blow landed on the left side of his face, driving him into a brick wall. Peeling himself off the bricks, he lunged at her, but she flew out of his range.
She waved at them, blew a kiss at Robin, and soared into the sky.
"Man," Robin moaned, limping to stand by Nightwing's side, "who was that?"
"Want to bet it's the Joker's new partner?" Nightwing snarled.
"Yeah. But who was it? She could fly. I mean, you can fly too, but not like that. It's was like—like she wasn't even human."
Nightwing glanced toward the shattered storefront window where Batman was helping Batgirl to her feet. The moonlight shone off Batgirl's fiery red hair.
"Like she wasn't even human," Nightwing murmured.
He glanced toward the sky, his eyes narrowing.