.000000000000For Appearance's Sake
By Teala373
Chapter 11
In our last chapter: Bruce dotes on Barbara and they head out to the ball. Nightwing investigates Roland Desmond's apartment complex and discovers it is the secret lair of the Gotham criminals planning a large heist. Nightwing gets tied up fighting Desmond and his men, and when he finally warns Barbara, they learn the target of the criminals is the ball itself.
(o)O(o)O(o)O(o)O(o)O(o)O(o)O(o)O(o)
"Took you long enough," Batgirl whispered as Nightwing silently landed beside her on the roof of a nearby building.
"Hey!" he whispered back harshly. "I made it here in record time!'
She smiled thinly. "I don't remember you being so touchy."
He smiled back. "What's the damage?"
"This is bad… this is really bad." She gestured out over the scene that lay before them. "Two-Face, Riddler, Mad Hater and Firefly are holding most of the guests in the restaurant's main ballroom. Clayface is on the rooftop to the left of the restaurant and Catwoman is on the rooftop to the right. I'm pretty sure Crock is in the bay, somewhere. Bane is at the Galvaston building. Posion Ivy and Harley are with him."
"Have you seen Blockbuster?"
"No. And no Penguin or Scarecrow, either."
"Penguin is staying behind, and Blockbuster might, too. I didn't see Scarecrow. Are you sure he's alive and behind this whole thing?"
Batgirl nodded. "I'm almost positive."
Looking out at the red and blue flashing lights, Nightwing let out a low whistle. "Wow, is that the entire GCPD?"
Batgirl swallowed. "It… it sure looks like it…"
"Where is Batman posted?"
Turning, Batgirl looked at him. "Nightwing… don't you know? I thought you would have tuned into the scanners as you were heading over here."
"What do you mean?"
Sighing, Batgirl pointed to the large wooden crate that was being suspended over the bay by the crane at the abandoned Galvaston building. "That crate is holding the mayor, the city councilman, my father, Bruce, Ted Kord, Veronica Vreeland, and Pierce Montague."
"Where did they get your father? I thought he wasn't going to the ball?"
"He didn't. Harley and Ivy picked him up at his office and dragged him along for the ride."
"So, they have all the major players of Gotham, huh?"
"Yes, and if their ransom isn't met, they will drop the crate into the bay. If the ransom isn't met after that, they shoot the rest of the hostages inside the restaurant."
"And there's just the two of us."
"And nine of them that I've counted so far… ten, if you count Scarecrow, wherever he is."
"Great. Do you have a plan?"
"I have the beginning; the middle and end are a little sketchy."
"Sketchy?"
"Yeah.. most of them end with us melted, torn in half or suffocating under a ton of clay."
Nightwing sat back on his haunches. "Well, let's hear what you've got."
"First, we need to get rid of Croc, so one or both of us has to get him out of the bay. Then, we need to free the people in the crate so we can get Bruce and Ted out."
"Okay, that gives us four, providing that Ted will work with us…"
"Right, and that's around the time I had Firefly or Clayface catching on. So if we can't spring Bruce and Ted, things get…"
"Sketchy?"
"Bingo."
Nightwing pursed his lips together as the wheels in his mind turned. "Okay, well if we get rid of Croc, that's one. Then, we have to get rid of the lookouts on the roof." He suddenly snapped his gloved fingers. "I got it! You can distract Catwoman by taunting her about Isis. That should make it easier to take her down."
"Nice thinking! Clayface is tricky, but if we can figure out a way to electrocute him…"
"Leave that to me. Can you get Montoya on your communicator and have officers ready?"
Batgirl nodded. "Yeah, but how are we going to distract Ivy, Quinn and Bane long enough to get the hostages out of the crate?"
"We're going to have to reconvene after we execute what we've got so far. Hopefully, the loss of team members will cause them to spread out."
As they stood up, Batgirl heaved a great sigh and grasped Nightwing's arm. "My father's in there…"
"I know…"
"He's been in danger before, but…"
"I know," he folded his arms around her. "We're going to get them out. Everything will be alright."
She sighed again. "You're better at taunting. You take Catwoman. I have an old score to settle with Clayface."
She felt his chuckle vibrate in his chest, where her head rested. "Are you still upset about that scar on your lower back?"
"I had him, but he had some random "muscle… clay spasm" and whipped me into a metal cabinet! I was doing so well keeping my scar count low."
"Okay, I'm gonna let you call the shots just this once, but you owe me."
Sighing, Batgirl prepared her jump line. "So many things wrong with that statement."
Nightwing pulled out two breathing devices and handed Batgirl one. "Last one to Croc is a rotten egg."
She rolled her eyes before diving off the ledge.
(o)O(o)O(o)O(o)O(o)
Barbara had lifted a few things off Bruce's belt when she was gathering her costume. One such item was a small sonar device that would allow them to track Croc's movements within the dark water.
Slinking along the shadows. Nightwing and Batgirl were able to slip undetected down to the water's edge. Placing the sonar device in the water, Batgirl did a preliminary scan to determine Croc's position.
"Here's almost directly under the crate," Batgirl whispered, "about 20 feet down."
"I have tranquilizer darts, but it will be hard to shoot them under water."
Batgirl held out her hand. "Give them to me. You engage Croc in a fight and I'll inject him."
"Wait, wait, wait! Why do I have to fight him?"
She threw him a look that could only equate to 'duh'. "Because you're the better fighter and I'm the better shot."
Nightwing snorted. "You're the better shot? I don't… wait… you think I'm the better fighter?"
"Yes," she confirmed as she prepared to make a soundless entry into the bay. "You're the better fighter. I'm the better shot, and I'm smarter."
Before he could retort, she slipped beneath the surface.
"Yeah, you're smarter," Nightwing remarked to no one in particular, "which one of us is dating Bruce?" He eased himself into the water and began following her towards the sonar device's location of Killer Croc.
Once they were in close enough range for Croc's enhanced senses to detect them, Nightwing swam ahead while Batgirl dove further below him. Croc quickly became distracted with Nightwing, grabbing him in a chokehold and spinning them both in an attempt to confuse and disarm him.
Nightwing, however, was prepared for Croc's infamous 'death roll' and avoided his clawed fingers from removing his breathing device. He elicited a series of minor defense moves to keep Croc distracted while he waited for Batgirl to inject him with the tranquilizer.
After cycling through several unsuccessful defensive maneuvers, Nightwing through to himself, 'Well…I could always try…' The completion of his thought brought his foot to its intended mark: squarely between Croc's legs. Finally, Batgirl appeared behind the scaly figure and stabbed him with all three of the darts Nightwing had provided.
They dragged Croc back up to the surface where they quietly tied him to a pier support for the GCPD to pick up.
"It certainly took you long enough!" Nightwing hissed as he secured the last of the restraints.
Batgirl shot him a withering look before climbing out of the water under the cover of the pier. "I located two bombs that I disabled, but next time, I'll just leave them there."
"You couldn't knock him out, then disarm the bombs?"
"I didn't think I'd be able to find them again. At least Croc is easy to locate with the sonar."
"Fine, whatever," he knew she was right, but he wouldn't admit it, "let's just take out the rooftop patrol."
"Keep an eye out for Scarecrow. He has to be around here somewhere, even if he does want us all to think he's still dead."
It took them only minutes to silently make their way to their respective rooftops. Nightwing was able to easily land soundless behind Catwoman without his presence being detected.
"So I hear you're in the market for a new cat." He smiled when she jumped slightly before spinning around.
"What makes you say that?" she drawled with her sultry voice.
"Because we've been taking care of Isis in your absence. We noticed you went on vacation without her and we didn't want our favorite kitty to starve to death."
Anger flashed in Catwoman's green eyes. "You... you took Isis!" she sputtered.
"Actually, it was Batgirl, but we've all taken turns petting your pussy."
Growling, Catwoman quickly took hold of her whip and snapped it in Nightwing's direction. He back flipped out of the way and easily began dodging her attacks.
"You know, she was scratching up some of the furniture, so we had her declawed." They hadn't done anything more than check Isis for homing beacons and feed her, but Nightwing knew Selina's position on this. A cat without claws is an insult to her of the most brutal kind.
"Why… why you…" she sputtered again before launching herself towards him.
Nightwing cartwheeled out of the way and managed to incapacitate her with a smoke bomb. "I'd love to have gone 'mano y mano', but time is of the essence. Don't worry, we'll take care of Isis while you're doing another stint at Blackgate. Ta-Ta wittle kittie!"
Catwoman struggled as she growled curses at her captor, but he had already handcuffed her to a nearby vent and was securing her further. Catwoman was notorious for breaking loose from restraints, even ones secured by Batman, but they had finally found a combination that kept her restrained for a longer period of time.
"Officer Montoya, this is Nightwing. I have Catwoman secured on the roof of the Robinson office building. Please send a team up as discretely as possible, so as not to alert the other perpetrators and jeopardize the hostages."
"Copy that, Nightwing. Batgirl has already alerted us to Killer Croc's location and the need for discretion."
Blowing a sigh of relief, Nightwing was glad that Montoya was in charge when Gordon was unavailable, and not Bullock.
He took up Catwoman's watch until he heard from Batgirl, wanting to make sure they were still undetected by the remaining criminals.
(o)O(o)O(o)O(o)O(o)
"What am I doing?" Batgirl muttered to herself as she perched on a window ledge on her way up to meet Clayface.
She hadn't had much luck battling Clayface on her own, despite her knowledge of his weaknesses. Typing a code into her communicator, she accessed the directory in her cell phone and placed a call. Once finished, she continued to make her way to the rooftop that Clayface was perched on. She paused as Nightwing came over the com-link.
"Yes?" she whispered as silently as she could.
"Can you get the batboat down here? You can access it easier than I can."
"What do you have in mind?"
"With Croc out of the way, I have an idea…"
After listening to his plan, Batgirl patched into the batcave, released the batboat, and instructed the autopilot to silently make its way to the Gotham Bay.
(o)O(o)O(o)O(o)O(o)
"Oh, Brucie! Hold me!" Veronica cried as she latched onto Bruce Wayne's arm.
"I'm sure it will be alright, Ronnie," he sighed as he tried to release himself from her in the small confines. He knew Batgirl and Nightwing would be on the scene, but he worried how they would fair against so many of his adversaries working together.
He wanted to work on a way out of the crate, but he knew that if any of them tried to escape, they would be shot by one of their captors. Fearing for the safety of the other hostages, he knew he couldn't take that chance. He began thinking of other possible ways to get them out. He then heard a thud at the bottom of the crate. It mysteriously sounded like a…
"They didn't get my cell phone!" Pierce cried out excitedly, breaking Bruce's train of thought. "We can…"
"What are we going to do with that?" Veronica hissed. "Everyone knows we're in here!"
His face dropping, Pierce began to put his phone back in his pocket when it suddenly rang.
"He-hello?" he asked hesitantly, noting that the caller ID only displayed a random sequence of characters. After a moment, he held his cell phone out and put it on speaker for all to here.
"This is Nightwing, partner of the Batman," came the voice over the phone. "I need you all to stand against the walls of the crate. Don't move. Don't make any noise."
The connection ended and the hostages quickly took their places. Within moments, a small red laser light silently cut a hole into the bottom of the crate. Popping the cut out back into the crate, the hole was now visible, revealing to the hostages Nightwing, balanced on a jump line that was connected to both the bottom of the crate and the batboat down below in the water. They could barely make him out as a thick fog was also visible.
A corner of Bruce's mouth rose. The fog machine he had installed in the batboat was worth every penny.
The fog began entering the crate and it was then that Bruce saw a small breathing device being tossed his way. He quickly and stealthily secured it as the hostages began going unconscious.
(o)O(o)O(o)O(o)O(o)O(o)
"Get up."
Ted Kord opened his eyes groggily at the intimidating growl issuing a command. "Wha…"
"You need to suit up and get us back to the bay."
His vision coming into focus, Ted saw the great Batman standing before him. It practically made him jump. He then realized they were in his secret lair, which apparently wasn't so secret.
"The other hostages are safe, but we need the Blue Beetle's help. There's no time."
Shaking his head briefly, Ted Kord got to his feet and headed over to where he stored his suit. As he quickly dressed and grabbed a few items, he tried to remember what happened. He remembered Pierce Montague's phone ringing and Nightwing cutting a hole in the crate, but then… it got hazy.
"It was necessary to tranquilize the hostages to secure their escape. We couldn't risk their safety as it was a long way down to the boat. We didn't want to alert Poison Ivy or Harley Quinn," Batman interjected, sensing the other man's thoughts as they headed towards his aircraft: the Bug.
"Anywhere particular in the bay?" The Blue Beetle asked. Now wasn't the time for questioning Batman as there were more hostages from the ball and Gotham's most dangerous criminals on the loose.
From behind his mask, Batman narrowed his eyes. "Top of the Plaza. I want Two Face."
(o)O(o)O(o)O(o)O(o)O(o)
With the crate secretly empty of hostages, Nightwing made his way to the Galvaston building, hoping to ensnare Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn. While Quinn was completely fearless and unpredictable, Ivy was a more straight forward: deadly toxins, man-eating plants and killer jujitsu moves. Fixing a sleek gas mask over his face, he spotted the duo arguing near the crane controls.
"… all I'm saying, Harley, is that the last time I let you operate heavy machinery, I lost half my house. Bane doesn't see anything suspicious from his post and the fog is passing through. We don't need to raise the crate."
"Aw c'mon, Red! I wanna swing the mayor around for screwing up so many of my parole hearings."
"Do you blame him? You killed his prize-winning dog, kidnapped his son, bombed his office and terrorized his city with the Clown Prince of Catastrophy!"
"It's Clown Prince of Crime!"
"Whatever!"
Stifling a laugh, Nightwing began to advance, but a thick tendril wound around his ankle and yanked his body upwards.
Seeing her security at work, Ivy turned towards the dangling vigilante. "Well, well, well! I was wondering when one of the bats would show up!"
He could tell Harley was about to take a flying leap at him. Quickly reaching into his weapons cache, he threw a herbicide bomb at his present attacker, releasing the tendril's hold on himself.
Somersaulting into a perfect landing as Harley's flying kick caused her to whiz over his head, he rushed towards Ivy. Blocking her moves, he made his way around her, making sure not to keep his back open for Harley's attacks.
Keeping his own against the two, he could only hope Bane was not alerted.
(o)O(o)O(o)O(o)O(o)O(o)
Batgirl wasn't doing as well as she had hoped against Clayface. She was now completely on the defensive as she narrowly escaped being plastered several times. She had only one electric batarang, but it was now lodged into a pipe as Clayface had melted into a puddle to avoid being struck.
Her leg muscles ached as she jumped to dodge another pillar of clay being thrown her way. Flipping to a nearby perch, she began to calculate how to get to the batarang. Taking another flying leap, she again avoided wave after wave of attacks.
Landing on the roof's ledge, she reached for the batarang. Just as her fingers grazed it, she was ensnared in flesh-colored goop and hoisted high in the air. Before she could try and react she was slammed to the ground, the clay enclosing around her. 'I called it,' she thought to herself, 'suffocated under a ton of clay…'
Clayface's deep laugh rang in her ears. "Did you really think you could defeat me?"
"N-No," she managed to choke out as the mound began closing over her face. "That's why… I called… him."
Following her gesturing arm as it became covered, Clayface turned. He barely registered the blue and red form hovering just beyond the roof's edge before red light shot from it's eyes.
Screaming, Clayface struggled to get away, but it was too late. The heat of Superman's rays began evaporating the moisture from his body. With each pass of his eyes, Clayface's body dried and cracked, until only a dust heap was left.
As Batgirl regained her breath, Superman floated over to the pile of dried mud and removed his cape. "Allow me," he murmured, before tying the mess up in the red fabric. "Anything else I can help with?"
Still couching up bits of clay, Batgirl held up two fingers, indicating how many more favors she needed of her ally.
The Man of Steel shrugged. "Sure. It's a slow night in Metropolis."
Finally regaining her composure, Batgirls stood and allowed Superman to scoop her up in his arms. "Must be nice."
(o)O(o)O(o)O(o)O(o)
AN: Having the major players of Gotham hanging in a crate over a body of water, as arranged by a group of villains working together, was originally a plot in an old Shadow of the Bat comic.