Hey guys, I know you hate me so, but I come bearing another update! I do not own DC Comics or any of their characters. Please excuse any mistakes I may have made. Thank you to those who reviewed last chapter and please do so again. As you know, bold italics is comlink communications and italics is thought. Thank you for reading and enjoy. This will probably be the last chapter.
Last Time:
"You didn't really think I'd go that easily, did you?" Nightwing grinned as he held the sword and gun.
Nightwing could hear the remaining Leaguers approaching the fight. He aimed the gun at the villains and the sword towards the heroes. They stopped.
"Don't interfere! This is my fight!" He yelled at the League.
"Don't be stupid! We have to help you." Red Hood argued.
"No. This is my mess. My fight. Now get back or I will make you." Nightwing responded threateningly.
There was no way he was going to allow them to interfere with this fight. Red Hood, Batman, and the rest of the League seemed to realize this. As a warning, Nightwing briefly took the gun off of the villains and shot a bullet in front of Batman, Black Canary, and Red Hood. He trained the gun back on the villains not a second later. He noticed the Talon had moved towards him in the brief period of time. With reluctance, the League returned to their previous position. Nightwing trusted them to stay away and turned back to the villains at hand. He focused on them.
"Here I was hoping you wouldn't be stupid." Deathstroke growled.
Nightwing glared at the mercenary. Quickly accessing the situation at hand. Queen Bee will be easy to take out. She said herself that she can't use her powers. Ra's Al Ghul and Deathstroke will be difficult, but the Talon is the biggest threat right now. Okay, think Nightwing! You are a Bludhaven detective. Nightwing's eyes briefly left the four villains in front of him. He noticed that the jet was still landed and cooling down. The pilot is going to open the door. I can use the distraction to bring down either Ra's Al Ghul or Queen Bee. Nightwing, Deathstroke, Ra's Al Ghul, Queen Bee, and the Talon stood, tense and ready. None of them moving a single muscle. Nightwing kept his eyes flickering between the villains. Ra's Al Ghul's gaze kept flickering to Deathstroke every now and then. A silent question. The Talon's area of focus couldn't be determined with the mask, but Nightwing could tell he was staring at Nightwing hungrily. He's looking forward to the fight. Waiting to see what I bring to the table. Deathstroke stared at Nightwing's chest with hard focus. Probably trying to find the weakest point. Queen Bee was full on staring at Nightwing's crotch. Her gaze would crawl up his chest and roam back down. Classy. Where the hell is that pilot? As if reading his mind, the pilot opened the door.
"What's the big i-" The poor man began.
As soon as the door opened, Nightwing hastily put the gun on his escrima hostler, grabbed Queen Bee and held her close to his chest, not to her full opposition, and slammed the side of his hand into her neck. She went limp in his arms and he dropped her. He was done doing that when the pilot was at 'the'. He lunged for Ra's Al Ghul and disarmed him, snatching his sword from his hand. Nightwing could hear the cheers of the Justice League behind him. Some in awe of how fast he had been able to move. To be honest, I'm impressed, myself. Taking no time, Nightwing held the sword at Ra's throat. The man put his hands up and had a grin on his face.
"What, child, are you going to kill me?" Ra's asked.
"I'm seriously thinking about it." Nightwing responded.
"Go ahead. I'll just come back." Ra's said smugly.
"The Lazarus Pit can't grow limbs, much less heads. If I take your head when leave here, you'll never come back." Nightwing smiled sweetly.
Without further comment, Nightwing plunged the sword into Ra's Al Ghul's abdomen so hard it sank all the way to the hilt. Some of the blade penetrated the jet's metal, pinning Ra's Al Ghul there. Nightwing felt the shocked stares of the Justice League heating his back. I would've thought Jay would be proud. Nightwing moved onto Deathstroke and the Talon. The pilot had wisely shut up and quickly backed out of the doorway and into the jet.
"Then there were three." Nightwing smiled.
"Never would've thought you would stab someone and pin them to a jet. That surprised me, really." Deathstroke commented.
"I don't think anyone thought I would actually do it, but that is just a means to an end." Nightwing dismissed.
Nightwing knew what Deathstroke was doing. Deathstroke was distracting him so the Talon could get behind Nightwing and attack from the front and the back. Not going to work
"Just a means to an end' he says. That's an interesting excuse. It applies to what the Light's doing as well. Giving everyone Cadmus programming so peace can be ruler." Deathstroke said.
"Peace? More like the Light members." Nightwing scoffed.
"You were a Light member." Deathstroke reminded.
"Not anymore." Nightwing growled.
"You were always more fit for the Court." A voice sounded right at his ear.
Nightwing ducked, a blade sliced the air above him, and placed his hands on the ground. He quickly swung his legs up and kicked the Talon away and landed into a back bend before swinging back over to land on his feet.
"Acrobatics is always nice to know." Nightwing said.
Nightwing lunged forwards, toward Deathstroke, and punched for the man's face. Deathstroke caught his fist. The Talon moved in behind Nightwing and stabbed at Nightwing's chest. Before the blade made contact, Nightwing used his other hand to catch the blade, efficiently slicing a line in his palm. Nightwing brought his leg up to Deathstroke's armored chest and launched himself over the Talon, his fist coming free of Deathstroke's iron grip. Nightwing never let go of the Talons blade as he flipped over the assassin. His left arm must bend all the way over at landing. He'll let go due to the discomfort. Nightwing felt, heard, and saw the Talons shoulder pop and he landed. The blade was still in the Talons grasp. Shit.
"That didn't go as planned, did it?" The Talons voice revealed his smirk.
The next second, the Talon turned to the left and brought his knee straight into Nightwings abdomen. Gripping Nightwings hair, he yanked the detective's head up and brought his lips close to Nightwings ear.
"And you were doing so well." He said, disappointed.
"I'm not done yet." Nightwing growled.
Nightwing grabbed the forgotten gun from his escrima stick holster, thankful it had stayed there. He quickly squeezed off three shot. One of the bullets tore through the Talons thigh. Another through his upper arm and the third slammed into the Talons ribcage and lung. Nightwing could tell the bullet shattered inside the Talons chest. He'll drown on his own blood. Despite the conflictions, Nightwing squeezed a shot off into the Talons head. He looked up at Deathstroke, refusing to think about the Justice League.
"Then there were two." Nightwing smiled.
"Impressive, but you should know that Talon was new, not experienced. He lost because he underestimated you. Don't worry, little bird, I won't make that mistake." Deathstroke said, his arms crossed and relaxed.
"Didn't expect you to." Nightwing replied.
Nightwing watched as Deathstroke's whole demeanor changed in an instant. The mercenary tensed all muscles and was battle ready in less than a second. He was on Nightwing in a second. During that lung towards Nightwing, Deathstroke unsheathed his sword and slammed it down towards Nightwing. Nightwing barely had time to bring the gun up to block the blade. It was a mistake. The barrel of the gun bent under the force of the mercenary's sword. No weapons. Deathstroke knew what he had done. Nightwing jumped away and looked at the sword holding Ra's to the jet. Really do not want to but have to. Nightwing ran towards the body. Deathstroke sliced at the air in front of Nightwing. Nightwing went down to his knees and slide under the blade, some of his hair getting cut off. Getting up, Nightwing sprinted to Ra's Al Ghul and pulled the blade out of the jet and body. For extra measure, Nightwing stabbed Ra's Al Ghul's chest. He didn't look at the blood that flowed onto the clearing from both bodies now on the field. He brought the sword up just in time to intercept Deathstokes forceful swing. Nightwing grunted at the force.
"I thought you weren't going to block in time. Well done." Deathstroke said as their blades strained under the two men.
"I already told you not to underestimate me, Slade." Nightwing replied.
After their brief exchange, Nightwing jumped back and away from Deathstroke. They circled each other like wolves. Nightwing made the first move. He lunged forwards at swung his blade towards Deathstrokes side. As he expected, Deathstroke blocked with his sword. Lightning fast, Nightwing jumped up and struck out with a leg towards Deathstroke's masked face. Surprisingly, his leg made contact with Deathstroke's mask with a forceful kick. The mercenary's mask flew off and away from the two fighters as Nightwing landed back on the ground. It landed on the ground and cracked. Slade, with a scuffed face, looked at it then at Nightwing.
"That was a new mask." He commented.
"Such a shame, then." Nightwing responded.
Deathstroke stalked forwards, intimidating. Nightwing readied himself for the upcoming assault. Deathstroke sheathed his sword. Nightwing looked at him curiously.
"I don't need anything to defeat you." Deathstroke said cockily.
Nightwing growled at that but said nothing. Deathstroke lunged forwards, arm raised to attack. The two exchanged swift, powerful kicks and punches for several minutes. Nightwing jumping and leaping over Deathstroke and his limbs. He was using his acrobatics and flexibility to the max against Deathstroke. Deathstroke was not holding anything back, using all capable moves against Nightwing. Both of the two skilled fighters landed hits on the other. Deathstroke more so than Nightwing, but Nightwing had more well placed hits. Suddenly, Deathstroke brought a gun out and aimed it towards the crowd of heroes watching their fight. The bullet wasn't aimed at anyone specific, but it hit someone. Nightwing saw Robin fall.
"No-!" Nightwing yelled.
His attention turned to the heroes for a split second. Deathstroke took this small opening as he went behind Nightwing, unsheathing his sword. Nightwing was turning around as he realized where Deathstroke was. I'm not going to be fast enough. Deathstroke plunged the sword through Nightwing's chest. The force behind the blade caused Nightwing to arch his back and get picked up off the ground about a foot. He cried out in pain and could hear the other heroes yell for both him and Robin.
Red Hood watched as Deathstroke's sword ripped through Nightwing and showed at his chest. He could see the surprise and pain on Nightwing's face as he processed. To make it worse, Deathstroke twisted his blade. Nightwing cried out again.
"NO!" Red Hood yelled as he aimed his gun.
His brother was dying right in front of him, yards away. Aiming at Deathstroke, Red Hood fired off shots as he stalking angrily forward. Deathstroke extracted his blade from Nightwing, who fell to the ground and laid weakly on the unforgiving ground. Red Hood didn't stop shooting and reloaded twice as he walked towards Nightwing. He could feel angry tears under his helmet. He ripped it off, leaving Jason in his mask. Deathstroke just laughed as he boarded the jet and began to take off as he fired up the engines.
"Someone stop him! NOW!" Red Hood yelled.
Red Hood then knelt down and checked on Nightwing. The detective had blood running down his chin and tears at his eyes. There was a hole in his chest from the blade. There's so much blood, too much blood. What do I do? What do I do? Red Hood started panicking as he tried to stanch the bleeding. His hands shaking. Batman leaned down as well. Neither of them bothered to look at the jet as it flew off with other heroes hot on its tail. Together, Batman and Red Hood tried to stop the bleeding.
"Stop." Nightwing said weakly, quietly.
Red Hood stared at him, blood ran down Nightwing's chin as he coughed.
"It's too late." He muttered.
"No, no, don't talk like that." Red Hood replied.
"Just...promise me you'll...stop the Li... Light. Okay?" Nightwing said.
Red Hood nodded, unable to speak as his throat closed.
"You know, for...knowing you...guys for...a few… weeks. I...already feel...like family...with you." Nightwing laughed weakly. "How...funny."
"You are family." Batman said from the side.
"You tell... Gordon...he's a good cop...and how I… Okay?" Nightwing requested.
"Okay." Batman nodded.
It was easy to hear the strain on his voice.
More heroes came and surrounded Nightwing as he breathed his last breath and went limp. He had a small smile on his face. Robin trailed behind them. The bullet had torn through his shoulder, a clean shot. He pushed through the crowd, wondering why he didn't hear any medical commands or other shouting. He came into the inner circle and saw Nightwing, Red Hood, and Batman. He couldn't see Nightwing's face, but he could see the gaping hole in his still chest. Red Hood's back was shaking as he cried. Batman's countenance revealed his sadness. His mouth in a tight line.
"Nightwing?" He asked.
Batman looked up at the youngest and shook his head.
"He's gone." Red Hood choked.