"I've got to do something, fast!" the man muttered quickly.

"Wait! Don't go rushing in without backup!" a voice urgently whispered in his ear.

"I don't need backup," the man reminded the person on the other end. "There's a reason this is my town, remember?"

"… Just be careful, Dick. You see what he's done to Arsenal. He could do that to you too."

"I'll be careful, Babs."

The man took out binoculars and looked in the building for any more bodies, finding that the only active ones were the new Count Vertigo and Arsenal himself. When he was finished, he returned the binoculars to his belt, took out a grappling line, and launched it at the abandoned building. Once the line had embedded itself in the wall, he swung from his perch and into the room, breaking through the window and surprising the two within the apartment building.

Standing tall after his roll inside, the man taunted, "Hey, mind giving me some of that?"

Count Vertigo snarled. "I've got more important business to deal with than you, blue bird. Take care of him, my loyal vassal, and I'll give you more of what you seek."

Simply nodding, Arsenal quickly stood up and turned around, drawing his bow.

"We'll meet again, boy blunder," Count Vertigo assured the man. Saying thus, he began walking out of the room.

"If you think you're getting away that quickly-" the man began, before he was interrupted by an arrow flying straight at him. The arrow would have lodged itself in his heart, had he not grabbed the arrow right before it made impact.

"Nifty," the man remarked. "But that's a bad move." Before he could quip anything else, however, the man had to dodge another three arrows that Arsenal had launched in quick succession. Blending now to the shadows, the man bided his time, waiting to make his move.

As Arsenal stalked about with his bow drawn, the man thought of how he could snap the mind-controlled Arsenal out of his current state. If worst came to worst, he'd have to put the young hero down. How easy that'd be- well, that was an issue he'd get to if he had to get to it.

"Listen, Arsenal, you've got to fight him!" the man urged from the shadows. "I know you must be experiencing something really sweet, but you've got to get a hold of yourself! He's using you! Snap out of it!"

Unfortunately, all this had done was reveal his location. Acting out of instinct, Arsenal shot an explosive arrow at a far wall, right next to the man. When he had realized that he hadn't missed, the man quickly jumped out of the way before the arrow exploded. As his ears rang, the man snarled.

"Guess I've got no choice then," the man muttered. Reaching into his belt, he quickly pulled something out and disappeared back into the shadows. Once more Arsenal searched for him, however this time the man didn't speak. Had Arsenal any control over his nerves, he might begin to feel unnerved- however, as it was, he simply continued searching, his mind under the influence of pure ecstasy as his body moved with a mind of its own.

Using this and the shadows to his advantage, the man launched his weapon- a metallic bird similar to the one that had disarmed the drug dealer when they had first met. It flew through the air and cut right through the string of Arsenal's bow, before cutting through Arsenal's cheek. With his bow rendered useless, Arsenal dropped the bow and pulled out two sticks from his suit.

"Wanna play my game, huh?" the man seriously questioned, emerging from the shadows with two sticks of his own. "Guess I'll have to teach you a lesson." Moving in quickly, the man leapt at the mind-controlled hero, engaging him. The battle should have been longer- indeed, if Arsenal had control over his mind, he might have made the battle last longer. But he was still vastly inexperienced in comparison to Oliver, and while Oliver was good with Eskrima, this was the man's forte. And a master of Eskrima over a body acting more out of instinct led to a quick battle, with the man easily knocking out Arsenal.

"I'm sorry about this. I'd go after Vertigo, but I've got to analyze your blood and synthesize an antidote first," the man muttered. "Besides, we've got to get you patched up." Picking up the unconscious Arsenal and slinging him over his back, the man said to his earpiece, "Hey Babs, I might need some help."

A/N: Hey everyone! Two questions: 1) Who'd win in an Eskrima match, Arrowverse Oliver or Nightwing? 2) How do you feel about the length of these snippets? Could you handle a longer one? Would you prefer a longer one? Are they just short enough? (Yes, there's a reason for this second one ;) )