Chapter Six

Nightwing landed on a dirty roof of an apartment and studied his GPS again. He was in the right spot. He changed into his civilian clothing and walked into the building. He asked the landlord if he had any new tenants arrive during the last week. The answer was 'no'. Confused, he stepped out of the building and double checked his GPS. To his astonishment, the tracker had moved since he had last looked at it. He looked around curiously. Then it hit him. He looked straight down. The sewers. He groaned.

Drake's head shot up, he thought he heard something behind him. He must've imagined it. He returned his attention to the time bomb he was placing on the wall of the sewer. He finished with his bomb and heaved his backpack full of more explosives onto a shoulder. A quiet splish and Drake spun around, immediately on guard. He held his breath and a moment later, the sound came again. He breathed out slowly. Of course there would be splashing sounds. He was in the sewer! He shook his head and continued trudging through the smelly water.

He heard a noise nearby again and whirled around to find himself staring at a man clad in black and blue spandex. His first reaction was to punch the man. The man was taken by surprise but managed to dodge the blow. Then Drake noticed the domino mask and groaned. "Really, what is it with Gotham and domino masks!" he asked, exasperated. "So, what character are you supposed to be?"

The man cocked his head to the side bemusedly. "Nightwing." he replied. "You've seen many masks like this one?" he asked conversationally.

Taken aback by the man's nonchalant behavior, Drake held back a second attack and shrugged his shoulders. "Three of them, to be exact."

Nightwing looked surprised. "You've met Red Hood?" he asked incredulously.

"I was in the neighborhood. Friendly guy, him." Drake told him sarcastically. "Polite enough to buy me a beer, though." he shrugged his shoulders. "A little after he threatened to through me out of Crime Alley in less than one piece."

Nightwing chuckled. "Sounds like him."

"So what is this? Is there some kind of underground 'domino masks only' club?" Drake asked him curiously.

Nightwing shook his head. "We just don't want to announce our occupation to the world, you know?"

Drake shrugged his shoulders. "You don't see me wearing a mask."

"Are you a vigilante?" Nightwing shot back.

"You're right. I'm a villain. Villain's don't wear domino masks here." Drake replied dryly.

"Well if you're a villain, I'll have to stop you."

"From doing what? What will you tell the police I did?"

Nightwing raised his eyebrow and glanced at Drake's bomb. "I think it's quite obvious."

"You won't lift any fingerprints from it so it's your word against mine." Drake turned and looked lamely at his bomb. "Besides, it's just a decoration. The sewers were getting a little dreary."

Nightwing snorted. "Tell that to Killer Croc."

Drake blinked at him, nonplussed. "Excuse me?"

He heard a splash and turned to see a smudge of green shoot out of the shadows and hurl Nightwing into the wall. He jumped back in surprise and whipped out a gun when he found himself faced with a scaly green face and the most fearsome row of teeth he had ever seen. He only managed to get one shot at the Croc which barely grazed his scaly skin before being thrown backward into the wall opposite Nightwing with a sickening crack and the tale-tell pain of his skull being split open. He slumped to the ground, gun slipping out of his grip and passed out.

Nightwing glanced at the unconscious boy in concern before his full attention was stolen by Killer Croc. Sure, the Croc was strong and quick but Nightwing was confident in his ability to beat him. They had fought for no more than ten minutes, chasing each other down to the lower levels of the sewers. But Nightwing gained the upper hand and soon had Killer Croc fleeing into territory that Nightwing was unfamiliar with. He decided not to pursue, Killer Croc wouldn't be back for a while. He stopped the chase to return to Drake.

When he returned to where he had left Drake, the boy was already gone. He scratched his head and nursed his left shoulder that had been injured when Killer Croc had thrown him into the wall and retreated to ground level for first aid. Drake's bomb was completely forgotten.

Drake watched him from the shadows and sighed in relief when Nightwing had gone. He wasn't looking forward to meeting with Killer Croc again and continued down his original route, planting bombs until he was directly under Gotham City Hall where the charity event would take place. He gritted his teeth determinedly and planted the last, biggest bomb before also leaving the sewers.

He came up just outside the tall building and made his way to a building on the other side of the street where he had left the gun he bought from the Penguin. He loaded the gun and positioned it to face the building across. He opened the window a fraction to fit the barrel of the gun in the opening and left.