Getting out of hand
February 22th , 2014.
Gotham City
oOo
"DICK!"
Dick bolted out of his seat in front of the computer at the sound of Barbara's voice. Two seconds later she was right beside him, still in her Batgirl getup. Looking positively livid.
"Babs, what's wrong? Are you hurt?" he asked, standing up, worry in his eyes as he looked her over.
She shook her hand, leaning against the wall.
"No." she answered, gasping for air, her voice hoarse. "No, no I'm fine." she looked up, tears in her eyes.
"Dick, they've captured my father!"
It was like a punch in his stomach. No no no no.. Not Gordon. Not his friends father.
"Oh god, Barbara.. I'm sorry." he helped her sit down.
She deactivated her mask and threw it on the table. Dick sat down in front of her.
"Barbara, tell me what happened?"
She pressed her lips together, not able to look him in the eyes.
"My father.. he and his men were tracking the truck, when they fell into an ambush. The mercenaries arrested them, on 'behalf of the people of Gotham'." she whispered, her voice hoarse and low. "Can you believe that? Those creeps, they act like they are like some goddamn guardian angels!" her words were burning with venom as the tears started to fall from her eyes.
"My father.. Dick, I have to save him!"
"He's alive? You're sure?" as much as he hated it, the practical part of his mind had kicked in, surveying the situation. If Gordon is alive, good. Then we'll maybe be able to save him and his men. If he isn't alive.. well, then Barbara wouldn't be here. Then Bane would be dead by now. Or she would.
"I'm sure." she nodded, wiping away her tears. "They took him and his men to City Hall, to do 'justice' as they say."
"Exile or death." Dick nodded, feeling sick in his stomach.
Barbara then looked him in the eyes. They were burning with fear.
"Dick, my father won't choose exile." she whispered. "He will die, if I don't help him!"
"If we don't help him. Give me thirty seconds, then we'll get going." he gave her hand a squeeze and left the room.
OOo
Nightwing and Batgirl arrived at City hall five minutes later. A few minutes later a large crowd emerged from the doors, yelling and pushing each other down the steps .
"I see him! In the middle with the others." Batgirl whispered, almost jumping of the roof when she spotted her father.
"Wait! They'll kill you if you dive in now!" Nightwing forced her back, and when he was sure she wouldn't go, he turned his attention back to the street.
"What are they yelling?" he asked, leaning a bit closer to get the full view.
Batgirl tilted her head as she tired to make sense of the words. Nightwing mirrored her movement, and they sat in silence for a few seconds.
"Sounds like.. they are yelling death, by exile?" Batgirl answered, looking at Nightwing. "They'll force them on the ice!"
Nightwing stood up abruptly, backing away from the edge. Batgirl followed suit, shaking with anger.
"They've been forcing people over the ice for months now and so far only about 20 have made it safely to the other side! And the last time was several weeks ago. Spring is coming, the ice is too fragile by now. It won't hold them!" she hissed.
"I think that's the point. Don't forget, it's Scarecrow who deals out judgement." Nightwing stood silent for a moment. Batgirl kept shifting her eyes to the street and then back to him.
"Well, what do we do?"
"We make haste for the docks and the exile area." Nightwing looked at her "Babs, I'm not sure we can save him. But I promise you, we'll try."
She merely nodded and they ran.
They reached the docks a few minutes later.
"Take down the guards!" Nightwing whispered, and they jumped into motion. A few seconds later the guards patrolling the area were all unconscious. Batgirl looked as Nightwing dropped the last man in the secure locker normally used for those unfortunate souls who had to await their judgement. He stripped one of the men from his jacket and threw the weapons in the ocean.
"I can hear them approach. Here!" Nightwing showed something into her hand and she looked down. It was a small, black.. thing. She raised an eyebrow at him.
"You can use it to fire sedatives, long range. We don't know how many people who are coming, and I don't want you to get hurt. And further, I don't want you to loose your head.. no, hear me out" Nightwing said, when she opened her mouth to retort." He is your father, but he can't know this! Not now! It won't do him any good. It might even make matters worse. So.." he pointed at the construction crane.
"You go up there, and cover my back. Shoot as many as you can, as quickly as you can. I'll cover the prisoners and make sure they can escape."
"We don't we just save my father now!?"
"Because Batgirl, we are out of time! By taking control of the exile area we are also taking control of one of the exits from the tunnels. We'll be able to get the police out! I'm sorry, but there's more at stake here than the life of your father. It's Gotham, Batgirl. We need to save Gotham!"
Batgirl clenched the weapon in her hand, gave him a sour look and did as she was told.
'Gotta learn to put up with orders Babs. You'll never earn a batlogo if you don't.' Nightwing thought with a smile as she disappeared in the night. He snuck back the same way they'd come. The place he stopped gave him a great view of the entire area, and a chance to see how many enemies that were approaching.
It was quite. The city seemed to hold it's breath. He could here himself breath, and strangely enough he relaxed for a few moments. He looked around, towards the ocean. A faint red could be seen in the horizon. 'Bat's don't like sunlight' he thought to himself, smirking a little. If Bruce knew about how many times he'd been out in broad daylight these past months. Very un-bat behaviour.
'I guess I am a bird after all.' he could feel his smile grow bigger as the colours in the sky deepened.
'A little morning bird.'
His ears picked up noise and he turned his attention back to the narrow path down to where Batgirl was hiding. People were coming. Many people. But far from enough to overpower him.
He crept back without making a sound. They'd soon notice the lack of guards, and he had to buy Batgirl a little time to get them closer. He picked up the borrowed jacket from one of the mercenaries, took the gun and placed himself on the path, with his back to the newcomers. Waiting.
A few seconds later he could here voices.
'It is now or never'.
The mercenaries accompanying Jim Gordon and his men walked down towards the ocean. The leader, a tall dark man, narrowed his eyes. He could only see one guard. Normally there would be at least three.
"Hey!" he yelled as the crowd all walked into view of the crane and down towards the ocean. "Where are your comrades?"
No answer.
"Answer me soldier! Where are the others." the mercenary could feel the anger boiling inside of him. These fucking newbies! If he didn't know any better he would say the man in front of him was sleeping! He picked up his pace, intending to capture the runt before he had a chance to wake up and then take him to Bane. He reached the guard, and grabbed him by the shoulder, forcing him around. "Are you even listening to me?! Soldier, tell me your name so I.."
Even before the man in front of him had turned around the mercenary knew something wasn't right. Maybe it was the faint down of people hitting the ground behind him which he hadn't noticed before because of his focus on the guard. Maybe it was because the shoulder he grabbed felt so hard. Much harder than muscle or the protective armour they normally wore. But it wasn't until he caught a glance of the black mask on the man's face and the smirk that promised retribution and pain.
He then felt his legs disappear under him and he hit the ground. He suddenly found himself face to face with a escrima stick, with electricity coming out of it's end.
"I heard you. Name's Nightwing and let me sing you a little song: It's called 'Don't Fuck With Gotham, asshole!'"
The mercenary's eyes widened in surprise before everything went black.
Nightwing took of the jacket and threw it on the man. 'Thank heavens that Bane's not very keen on the intellectual in the people he hire to do his dirty work.' he thought as he turned his attention to the now freed policemen who were all staring at him. "Jim Gordon. It's a pleasure to see you alive and kicking."
Nightwing stood perfectly still as Gordon approached him.
"Who are you son?" the police commish asked, his eyes narrow and suspicious.
"Like I just told that gentleman over there.." Nightwing threw his thumb over his shoulder at the unconscious mercenary behind him "..I'm Nightwing."
"Never heard of you."
Nightwing laughed, his eerie crackle which caused the policemen to jump as recognition filled their eyes. "We've met many times, commish." Nightwing said with a smirk, turning his attention to their surroundings. He could see the stones blocking the escape of the rest of the policeforce.
"..Robin?" Gordon asked, surprise in his voice. Nightwing turned his attention back to the man, smirking. Gordon gave out a laugh.
"My god, it is you kid! I thought you were dead along with Batman."
Nightwing's eyes narrowed, and Gordon looked down.
"Sorry about that son. But tell me, what are you doing here?"
"Rescuing you and your men of course. It's time to fight back before time run out."
"How much time do we have?"
"Little under a week. It's now or never. We free the men trapped underground and fight back."
Gordon rubbed his neck, glancing at the unconscious mercenaries. "You working alone?"
"No."
"Not another little kid, I hope?"
Nightwing offered a faint smile. "Don't worry, she's actually a little older than me."
Gordon stared. "She?" he inquired, sounding very sceptical.
"Nightwing!" a female voice interrupted before Gordon could question this new piece of information.
While the policemen tried to locate the owner of the voice Nightwing looked up. The sky was starting to get bright. "Batgirl, you see anything?"
"Come down to the water, quickly! You need to see this!"
Nightwing followed orders and ran down towards the water with Gordon and his men hot on his heels. They halted when they had a clear view of the water, skyline and bridge. And stared.
On the bridge pillar, mixed with the red colours from the sunrise, was a burning batsymbol.
Nightwing stared, and barely acknowledged Batgirl as she dropped down beside him.
"Did you do that?" she asked. When he shook his head she turned her attention back to the pillar.
"Then, who did?" asked one of the policemen.
Nightwing felt weird. His head going into overdrive and offering him a thousands possible solutions for the flaming batsymbol. But he only acknowledged one of the many possibilities.
"It's him." he spoke the words he had hoped he would be able to speak for months. The relief of saying them.. it felt like a huge burden had been lifted off his shoulders.
"It's Batman."
oOo
"Help!"
Selina, in her Catwoman disguise, jumped of the rooftop and landed without a sound She took a quick look around, spotting her enemy. Two men, attacking a young boy. Something about stealing.
A second later she was in motion, taking down the two attackers with ease.
"You shouldn't come in my neighbourhood without asking boys." she hissed, starring at them. They gulped, and ran away. She scoffed.
Pansies.
She turned to the kid, who was starring at her. She offered him a small smile and handed back his prize. An apple.
"Never steal something from someone you can't outrun kid." her face turned serious. "Now, get home. You shouldn't be out after dark."
The kid nodded soundlessly and ran away. Catwoman shook her head, turning around to go back to her post. Only to find somebody standing right behind her.
Her mind reacted before her body. The hell? Who sneak up on me? MOVE BACK GIRL!
She jumped back, landing in a fighting stance.
"Who are you?" she hissed, showing her claws.
"You are pretty generous for a thief."
It was all she could do not drop her jaw in the middle of the street. Her eyes widened and (though later she would deny it) her heart skipped several beats. She stared. Her mind went from overdrive to nothing, as her body eased away from the tense fighting stance.
"Bruce?"
oOo
The Watchtower
"I don't understand why we are all still here! We know Batman is alive and on his way back to Gotham. We need to help him!" Wally had a very hard time trying not to yell at the older Leaguers in front of him. The team had reported their findings in Bialya to the League as soon as they got back to Mount Justice.
"There's still the bomb." Superman reminded the speedster.
"But only one trigger" said Conner, looking at Hawkwoman. "You said so yourself, that if there was only one trigger then you would be able to be something."
"And Robin informed us, that there only is one trigger. We have to do something."
The League looked at the closed to be angered Team in front of them.
"We are going.." Superman began, but was interrupted when Flash, who had monitor duty, suddenly stood in front of him. "Yes?"
"I need all off you, right now, in the monitor room." Flash said, worry in his voice.
"Something big is going on."
"What is going on?" asked M'gann as they all stared at the screen. The Team and Flash were the only ones left in the monitor room. They all stared at the map of the Earth in front of them. All over the world giant red spots were blinking, sounding an alarm.
"It's governments calling for the help from the Justice League. Right now, simultaneously, all over the world, disasters are happening. All Leaguers have been deployed to help.
"What's that?" asked Zatanna, pointing at the spot blinking on Gotham. "It haven't blinked before, has it?"
Flash narrowed his eyes. "No. The Leagues systems scans the Earth for every sign of something that is out of the ordinary. Such as if a dam are about to break our system recognizes the increase in water outflow from the dam and alerts us.
"Then, what is happening in Gotham since your scanner is picking it up?" asked Artemis, crossing her arms.
"Let's have a look." after a quick search a image popped up on the screen. Of a bridge, with a burning batsymbol on it.
The Team and Flash stared.
"That.. that is Batman's symbol." said Garfield, stating the obvious.
"Is it Robin's doing?" said Raquel, confusing in her voice. "He did do that with the buildings.."
"Not this.." said Flash. "He wouldn't use Batman's symbol like that."
"Then.. Batman is back? Batman is back in Gotham?" Wally was bouncing with excitement.
"Then we'll be able to go and help and..!" Wally stopped his rambling when he caught his uncles face.
"Wally, there are no more Leaguers left, they are all scattered across the globe, dealing with all this sudden disasters.. Actually, I should send the Team to central Europe right now, there are several super villains going haywire. The citizens need you."
"But, Gotham..!"
"You need to ask Superman when he comes back. I can't make that decision. The Leagues job is to protect the Earth. And we need to do that. Now. And if Batman is back in Gotham, then we need to focus on all the others who need our help."
I really can't find any time what so ever to write. This week is my birthday week (yeah, I have a week, not just a day! A day is not enough!) so busy busy busy with baking and running around having fun.
My trip to Iceland was pretty awesome. I've been a lot of places, but Iceland is a clear no. 1. Best country ever. I sae northern lights, ate fermented shark (national dish), saw volcanoes and glaciers, a lot of waterfalls and bought the best jumper in the whole world. And got a new best friend, an icelandic horse I met one day.
I'm not in the mood for a detailed explanation for this chapter. If any questions, please PM eller write a review :)
On a side note, I've changed the order of the events for the story fra DKR, since I'm not a big fan of 'saving in the last seconds'. So they get a little more time to run on. But, the question – is time all you need?