Disclaimer: Batman, Robin, Nightwing, Batgirl, Oracle and all other characters affiliated with Batman or DC Comics is property of DC Comics and Warner Bros. I do not own them, wish I did, but I don't. I do own Oni, The Draco and any character affiliated with them. If you'd like to use them, then by all means ask, I'd be honored.

Young Knights

A new clan in town: part Two

Cassandra Cain could feel the pain shoot through her side, felt the warm, wet, somewhat sticky sensation of blood running down from her nose, underneath her mask. She was on her hands and knees, could feel the paneled wood beneath her gloved hands and the sharp sting of a bruise on her arm that was being pressured by supporting her body weight. The twenty fourth floor, she remembered that, she was on the 24th floor of an office building. In the conference room, it was empty, never been used, but it was nice, hardwood floor, walls were oak, lined with marble and a huge bay window. Four other men occupied the room, the first three were back, near the oak wall, two looked to be the average mafia thug, nice suits, no ties, and from the bulge under their arms, packing. The last of those three was an older man, was a face like worn leather neatly trimmed snow white hair and a cropped goatee. He wore a grey suit with a silver vest and tie under the jacket and held himself up using a cane made of redwood with an ivory pommel.

These weren't the people who worried Batgirl, it was the fourth man. He stood prominently above her, hands clenched into fists and a light smirk across his face. He was Asian, Japanese she guessed, and could be at most, twenty nine. Dressed in a suit that was all black, and a pair wire frame glasses with dark blue lenses covered his eyes. This man, and this man alone, had reduced her to the beaten and bloodied state she now held. The Asian grabbed her by the back of her neck and hoisted her up, holding her parallel with his face. Damnit, she thought, how fast is this bastard?

His free hand grabbed the seam of her mask, pulled it up until it folded just over her nose, "such soft skin," he muttered, tracing a finger over her cheek, "for someone with such a strong spirit." With a rough jerk of her neck, Cassandra felt the man's lips pressing against hers, his tongue forced its way into her mouth. She could feel her insides churn and her gag reflexes begging her to vomit and she wondered if she should deny them.

But before she could choose to puke on her assailant, he pulled away, smiling devilishly at her, "You should make this easier on yourself, surrender."

Now it was Batgirl's turn to smirk. She inhaled sharply, making a harsh sucking sound and promptly spit in the man's face, "Go to hell," she retorted, thankful in her still new found ability for coherent speech.

The man just smiled, calmly wiping the saliva away with his free hand, "Very well," was all he said, and he let her go. In the half a second it took for Batgirl to fall, before she even hit the floor, she felt impact! In a blur of motion and finesse the man drop kicked Cassandra in the gut with enough force to cough up blood. She skidded across the floor and was stopped with a hard thud into the wall. The Asian stalked towards her, she wished she could put it another way, but it fit his actions so perfectly, the way he composed himself, the small smile, the way he addressed her with respect, and then treated her like little more than cattle. Cassandra saw the look in the man's face, even without being able to even see his eyes, she knew his intentions, and Cassandra could feel a fear start to grow in her stomach, small at first, but growing by the second, Cassandra Cain thought she was going to die, beaten, bruised, alone, and going to die.

When he was no more then five feet away from her, the familiar sound of air being cut, and with a poignant "thuk!" a throwing bird embedded itself in the floor between Batgirl and the Asian.

"No, no, no, that ain't nice." He was half cloaked in shadow, perched on the sill of an open window with his cap hanging down to the floor, all the could be seen was a sliver flesh and green mask, and a streak of yellow where the edge of his cape folded over. If Cassandra could move, she very well may have jumped for joy.

Tim slowly stepped off of the ledge, his cap silhouetting him against the illumination from the hundreds of streetlights, lit windows and few tatters of moonlight With a shrug of his shoulders, Robin flipped the cape behind him, and extended his staff with a snap of his wrist, taking a ready position.

Okay, I'm really trying not to show how nervous I am, not to mention how much I'm really hoping that the reason Batgirl's a bloody mess is because this guy caught her by surprise. Cass is one of the best martial artists I know, and while we've never gone full out one on one, I'd be willing to bet money that she's better than me. The fact that the two goons at the wall haven't moved isn't the best of signs either.

The Asian Crouched down into a fighting stance, one palm extended, beckoning Robin to make the first move.

The Boy Wonder didn't disappoint. Charging in, Tim faked a quick smack for the man's head then reversed for his legs, the Asian shifted his balance onto one foot, sticking his butt back and leaning forward, making an triangle shape in his body that caused Robin's attack to go wide. The Boy Wonder Kept pressing the attack, spinning his staff counter clockwise for the man's throat, blocked by a forearm, another reversal to attack the other side, blocked with a palm.

What the hell?! I should have broken bone with those hits, whoever this guy is, he's trained.

Tim went in for another attack to the man's mid section but pulled short, sending a punch right into the Asian's face, connecting solidly, the sunglasses were sent shattered and a trickle of blood ran from the edge of his lip.

You know, I'd actually feel like I accomplished something here, but…

The Asian was laughing. "You're good Boy Wonder…"

Suddenly Tim was on the defensive as his enemy came in with a flurry of punches and kicks, aimed for any crucial part of Robin's body, it was all Tim could do to keep blocking each shot. Then a snap kick from the Asian ripped Robin's staff from his grip and lobbed it into the air. The Asian reached out and grabbed the staff from mid air before Tim could recover it and spun three hundred and sixty degrees, swinging the composite steel rod like a baseball bat, right into Robin's gut.

The impact was devastating, Stumbling backwards, he knew a rib cracked and that he'd have a punctured lung if it wasn't for his Kevlar armor. Still reeling from the shock, Robin fell into the pane window, feeling it break under weight, falling through, and in a flash the Asian was there, he reached out and grabbed Robin's utility belt, stopping the boy's fall, smiling callously.

"…But you're not that good," he finished, and the next actions may as well have been in slow motion for Robin. The man unclasped his utility belt, pulling it in, taking with it Robin's throwing birds and grapple lines, and then he sent a hard side kick into Robin's stomach, Robin heard the gut wrenching snap of his rib cracking even more and the nauseating momentum of free fall as he plummeted from the window without a line.

Okay, I'll admit that times that these can be terrifying, and frankly I'm as surprised as you that I'm not wetting my tights, but if there's one thing I've learned doing this, its that no matter what, someone's always there to break your fall.

Robin fell towards the street below, clawing desperately at the air, and amazingly, his futile grabs made contact! He felt the sudden jerk of a mid air stop, the horrid pain on his ribs and looked up to see his green gloved hand holding onto an arm covered in a black and blue glove.

"Nightwing!"

Sure enough, it was no dream, no last minute of life hallucination, Nightwing had pulled through for Robin again, dangling from his grapple line, garbed in his black and blue uniform and flashing that classic Grayson smile, the one that Tim was never really sure if he thought was Cocky, or boy next door innocent.

"You looked like you could use a hand," The older of the two commented,

"Batgirl's still up there."

Within minutes both Nightwing and Robin were back in the conference room, their hair tussled by the stormy gusts of wind. The Asian stood across from them smirking, still holding Robin's utility belt in his hand.

"We take him together." Nightwing instructed, and Robin gave a quick nod, know full well that he'd be unable to take the man on his own. Muscles flexing like coiled springs, Nightwing and Robin pounced in, moving like mirror images, both punched to the face, both of them moved to kick for the gut, both were dodged, both were blocked.

The Asian man burst into another speedy attack, grabbing Nightwing's fist in mid punch the warrior twisted around and released, sending the former Boy Wonder into the opposite wall with a grunt of pain. Without missing a beat the Asian was able to get behind Robin and loop the boy's utility belt around his opponent's throat! Pulling it tight Robin felt the back of his head knock against the man's collar and he clawed at the makeshift noose, gasping for air.

"You can't win," The Asian whispered into Robin's ear, "Just quit, and let the inevitable happen.

Robin had the tips of his fingers under his belt, trying desperately to open his airways, "quitters…never win…" he grunted in his best attempt to speak, "and winners never quit!" Spurred on by Adrenaline and anger, Robin sprung off the ground and flipped backwards, using his own noose as a pivot point, he twisted through the air and kicked out hard, smashing into his opponents nose!

The Asian stumbled back, letting go of the belt, a hand on his freshly broken nose, he was still smiling, "You have more of a warrior spirit than I first believed."

"Oni!" The voice shocked Robin, crisp, harsh and definitely commanding. Robin looked over, the oldest of the three others had locked eyes with the Asian; the one who Robin assumed was Oni. The two grunts were already walking through door, "our time here is finished." The old man turned and left, and Oni smiled devilishly at the bloody and bruised Boy Wonder, "another time then."

Every bone in my body wanted to take up the chase. I wanted to bring this guy down and I wanted to do it hard! Forget the fact that he just wiped the floor with the three of us! He needed to be a taught a lesson. But I've never let my emotions rule out better judgment. Nightwing had just pulled himself back up from his trip to the wall and Batgirl was seriously hurt and the truth is that I wasn't much better off.

Robin ran over to Batgirl, checking her over and saw just how serious her wounds were, "Jesus…" he muttered.

"How bad?" Nightwing asked, stepping up behind Tim's kneeling form.

"Very bad, but I think we can move her."

"Tim, we can't carry her all the way to Oracle's by grapple line!"

"Don't need to," Robin countered, "The Redbird's outside.

Cassandra Cain Woke up to sunlight glinting in through the room's window. Stirring in the unfamiliar bed she realized that she was in Barbara's guest room. Her costume was on a chair to the side and a pair of sweat pants and a tee shirt were folded on a small table by the chair. She had been bandaged, her stomach and her arm, as well as various Band-Aids over her body, she figured Alfred had been the one to tend to her wounds because of the precision and care given to her wrappings. She pulled herself out of bed and yanked the shirt over her head. After she had dressed, the smell of bacon caught her nose. Making her way to the Kitchen Cassandra found Tim at the stove. He was barefoot, and he was still wearing the pants from his uniform. Tim didn't have a shirt on and his lower stomach was bandaged, kind of like Cassandra's, but not as bad.

"Morning," Tim smiled, "Offering her a plate of bacon and some French toast, "You've been out for most of the night, it's almost noon." He set two more plates down on the table and then took a seat with his own food, pouring himself a glass of Orange Juice. "Dick and Barbara should be out soon, he went in to wake her up a half hour ago," he joked with a smile.

Cassandra laughed, she knew he meant it as a joke, at the same time, she was sure his measurement of the time that Dick and Barbara had been spending in her bedroom was probably fairly accurate.

The two came out soon enough, though both Cass and Tim were surprised to see that Dick was fully suited up and putting his mask on.

"Not going to eat, man?" Tim asked, feeling somewhat insulted that he went to all the effort only to have Dick leaving without eating so much as a strip of bacon.

Well, now I know how Alfred feels almost every day. He thought of all the times he'd seen an uneaten sandwich sitting on the ledge of the Bat computer.

"Sorry kid," Dick apologized, "Bruce wants me to put the heat onto the Penguin, find out just how much he knows." Nightwing walked to the door, waving over his shoulder to the three, "I'll see you guys tonight at Bruce's."

Oswald Cobblepot was one of Gotham's elite. Not to mention one of the city's biggest tabloid material. The papers loved him, after all, what better sob story than a man who fell into a life of crime through the hardships of his childhood, only to reform and become one of Gotham's most upstanding businessmen. Of course it was all a load of crock, Oswald, otherwise known as the Penguin, was a criminal through and through, the legitimate businesses were fronts for his illegal operations. The only legal business he had was his Nightclub, the Iceberg, and even that was mostly so he'd have a secure space to discuss His less than admirable business affairs. Normally these thoughts would have made the Penguin smile. But Oswald Cobblepot was doing anything but smiling today. Last night his club had been broken into, by that confounded bird boy no less! Penguin pounded his gloved fists on his desk, causing it to rattle as he let out an aggravated growl that sounded remarkably like a duck quacking.

"Something got your feathers in a ruffle, birdie?" The Penguin quacked again, this time in surprise as Nightwing stepped out from the shadows near the door.

"How long have you been there!?" The Penguin shouted, jumping up from his chair and reaching for one of his trick umbrellas. His fingers were inches away when a batarang sliced into the pommel of the trick weapon.

"Don't even think about it," Nightwing stated coldly, taking a seat in Penguin's chair and kicking his feet up on the desk. "Now, Mr. Cobblepot, We're going to play a game. I ask a question, you answer, I ask another, and so on."

The Penguin gave an indignant squawk, storming over and leaning over the desk, glaring at the former Boy Wonder, "And just tell me why I should help you!"

From what seemed like nowhere, Nightwing slid a sealed folder onto the desk, keeping his fingers spread across it, "Well I don't know about you, but I'm sure Commissioner Akins, not to mention the FBI, would be really miffed at you if they find out you've been selling weapons to terrorists."

It took every bit of training and observing Batman's stone cold face, to keep Dick from bursting out in laughter when The Penguin's cigarette stick fell to the floor from the fat man's gaping mouth.

An hour later Nightwing landed on a rooftop a few blocks from the Iceberg lounge, "Oracle come in,"

Barbara's voice sounded in his ear, "Yeah hunk wonder, what's up?

"Just checking," Dick smiled at the nick name, "what did you do with the files Tim got from Penguin's office?"

"Sent them to Akins' this morning, why?"

Dick's small smile became a full out grin, "Just checkin…"

Bruce, Dick, Babs, Tim and Cass were all seated around the oak dinner table in Wayne Manor, dining on a steak dinner barbequed to perfection by Alfred.

"So Cass, what are your plans tomorrow?" Tim asked, looking over to the other teen as he so attractively stuffed his face with a spoonful of mashed potatoes.

Cassandra giggled at Tim's puffed up cheeks and almost laughed at the what? Look he was giving her, "I have to go over some files on the city's crime families and I'll run some simulation drills."

"I didn't mean what are you working on, I meant what are you doing? You know having fun." Tim took a gulp of milk, leaving a white mustache that he quickly licked away.

Cassandra shrugged, "…training drills…" she muttered again.

"Jesus Cass!" Tim slammed his glass onto the table, "that's your idea of fun!?" pushing out from the table Tim grabbed the phone book and started flipping through the out of town pages.

Cassandra raised an eyebrow, "What are you doing?"

"Getting some needed help" he shot back, running a finger about halfway down the page, smiling when he found what he was looking for. Kent, Jonathan – Smallville.

The End.

Next issue: Robin and Batgirl are joined by Superboy, Kid Flash and Wonder Girl for a day at Metropolis Beach. It's fun in the sun and mischief galore as the Teen Titans join the show for Youthful Knights #3: Surf, Sand and Superheroes.