Eos, Qui Insontes: The Wyvern Arrives Part XXVI
As always all characters are fictional. Wyvern, Deus, and Reaver are my characters. All other characters/locations are copyright of DC Comics and their respective creators.
Bruce expected to see his son exactly as he arrived in the cave.
"Please tell me you're going to look like that when we take these guys down." Tim was joking with CJ, hoping some levity would elicit a smile.
"I give you fair warning that those responsible for this injustice will require assistance in everyday tasks for the foreseeable future." CJ's tone left no room for a humorous interpretation.
"Nice, nothing says 'get out of Gotham' like making these guys look like Bane." Nightwing glibly remarked as he approached the newest addition to the Bat clan.
"Greetings Richard, it is good to see you again." a slight softening in the harshness of his tone was the only thing that lent credence to his words.
"So you're the new kid, nice armor." Nightwing was circling the young hero, testing how he would react. Though Wyvern was perfectly still as Nightwing circled around him, Dick knew that his newest sibling was aware of everything that was occurring in the Cave.
"Ah Young Master Christian, may I offer you some refreshments?" Alfred has entered the cave, happy to see Bruce and Diana's son working with his extended family.
"Thank you Alfred, but no. I would sooner return the kidnapped children safely back to their homes." he turned to his father and spoke with an almost hungry undertone. "Where are these kidnappers and what are their numbers?" As Batman briefed Nightwing, Robin, and Wyvern, a vicious grin formed on Wyvern's mouth- fangs and all.
"Where is my daughter?" Queen Hippolyta was hoping to be spending some more time with Diana, but, she'd almost sealed herself in the Temple of Artemis, praying for her son all morning.
"She is still in the temple my queen." Hippolyta sighed as she made her way to the doors of the aforementioned temple, her own sense of unease making her want to offer a few prayers up for the protection of her grandson.
"Be at peace Diana of Themyscira, your son will not come to harm from this mission. If all goes as we hope, the old hurts of his heart, mind, and spirit will be healed." As Artemis spoke Diana felt another familiar and calming presence.
"Mother, what brings you here?" Diana hoped that her worries had not affected her mother's mood.
"I came to join you in offering prayers for Christian's protection. I despise even the thought of my child or my grandchild being hurt in any form." Despite the words of care and comfort Diana could still sense a darkness dogging her son's steps. She continued to pray that nothing would harm her treasured child.
"So, you and Kara, didn't see that one coming." Nightwing glanced over at the person in the passenger seat of the Batmobile he was driving.
"Do we have a more precise breakdown of enemy placement by floors? Will there be any roving patrols? Can we expect anything beyond commercial grade security equipment?" The three question asked in such a flat tone told him in no uncertain terms that Wyvern was not discussing his personal life.
"Damn, this is worse than trying to start a conversation with dad." Nightwing grumbled as he drove the rest of the way in silence, Wyvern studying the building's layout and blueprints.
"Nightwing, you and Wyvern will be the advance entry team. I need the building scouted, Wyvern, no crippling in there." Dick cast a wry glance at his new little brother, seeing the twitch at the corner of his mouth.
"Bane will recover… eventually." Batman's glare was met by a measured look from Wyvern.
"I give you my word that I will not do anything that cannot be undone by physical medicine." Batman was already planning to have a talk with his son once this was over. Diana was right, there was a darkness to the Wyvern and he needed to make sure it didn't consume his son… for Diana's sake and for his own piece of mind.
"This sucks." Kara had been trying to get to sleep for the last four hours, but, the message from Deus had her mind racing. CJ did love her, she knew that, she also knew their argument was something that would happen eventually (Clark could be a real douche at times.) He was going to be there to apologize, but then Batman needed his help on an assignment. She'd found out from Deus where they would be and had been determined to not leave her apartment, but now her mind was agreeing with her heart: she needed to be there for some reason she didn't yet know. The only question would be if she should be seen or not. As she made her way towards the site in question she was already making plans for when she would see CJ again. She hoped that this takedown would be done quickly with minimal damage. She remembered CJ telling her that his temper was nonexistent with people like these flesh traffickers.
Nightwing had to actually question the wisdom of letting Wyvern in the building first. They had run across a member of the gang of traffickers who'd decided to 'sample their merchandise'. He'd actually cringed when Wyvern's armored boot came up between the thugs legs, lifting him a good two feet off the ground.
"Little harsh weren't you bro? Poor bastard's in the corner throwing his boys up now." Actually he'd passed out, but, it was still unpleasant to see.
"I could easily have ripped the offending member off, then had him consume it." His response made Nightwing certain about his next question.
"You've dealt with these kind of thugs before haven't you." It was a statement.
"Yes, I have a severe distain for those that prey upon and do harm to innocents… especially children." The next thug was in worse shape, he was a wife beater. Before Nightwing could get into the room Wyvern had broken his nose, separated a shoulder and dislocated the elbow on his dominant arm.
"Can I get Robin in here for backup?" Nightwing had found another group of children.
"Has he crippled anyone?" he rolled his eyes.
"No, but, he's been… shall we say 'less than charitable' in fighting them." this had to stop, someone was going to get seriously hurt, or worse. Despite his confidence in breaking up the trafficking ring, Batman was concerned for Wyvern. The borderline sadistic 'subduing' of the criminals would make sure it was a long time before anyone else tried something like this.
'But at what cost to my son?' he was actually concerned, CJ had taken a great step back in the past few days. If anything, he was actually more detached when it came to fighting criminals.
"We've located the main holding area and are evacuating their 'merchandise'. We should be done on our end within a few minutes. What is your ETA?"
Nightwing was glad for the news, they hadn't seen if the ringleader was here or not, but, given Wyvern's behavior, this was a good way to round this out. As he was preparing to leave Wyvern froze in a tight crouch.
'What is it?' They were using hand signals (which Wyvern already knew)
'Five more above, two additional hostages.' Nightwing wasted no time in updating Batman.
'What's their 20?' he was hoping he could convince Wyvern to just grab the kids and get out.
'ROOFTOP!' as soon as he responded Wyvern was already moving towards the stairs.
"Blackbird, need backup on the roof, NOW!" Wyvern was the first in the room and the guard couldn't see him in the dark, so, he just squeezed off a round in the direction of the door crashing. Wyvern's arm crossed over his body and the gun toting thug lost his gun to a well aimed Fang. As he reached for his radio an obsidian gauntlet clamped over his face as he was lifted from the ground and used as an oversized door knocker (needless to say, the door lost…) As soon as he was visible, Wyvern froze. Nightwing was able to observe out of sight, thanks to the focus being on the seven foot armored dragon.
"You will be waiting there if you please?" Wyvern noted the accent, Parisian.
"Release the children, or I will ensure your stay in the hospital is a lengthy, painful period in your life." Wyvern felt an impact Batarang in his hand, Nightwing was also using the reflection in it to see where the remaining criminals were. As his hand closed around the offered projectile, Wyvern's fingers made the ASL sign F: the Batarang would take out the farthest guard.
"I'm thinking that you should be the one giving up. These little ones will face a very long fall if you do not." Wyvern knew that if they got away, those children were as good as dead.
"You heard tha man, get gone." the bodyguard held a machine pistol, but, still had the safety on. When Wyvern stood his ground the ringleader sighed.
"You heroes are so predictable. Adieu petits." even as he started to turn toward the children, Wyvern's arm had shot out, placing the impact Batarang into the mouth of the farthest thug, shearing off a dozen teeth at the gum line. The bodyguard brought his machine pistol up to aim at the advancing hero and squeezed the trigger, only to hear the click of the safety. As soon as he glanced down to remove the safety, Wyvern's hand closed over the gun barrel and his fist squeezed. The sound of steel grinding together was exceptionally loud as the gun was rendered useless. A pair of panicked screams caused Wyvern to bypass the bodyguard, leaving him to be taken down by Nightwing.
As Wyvern passed the head of the group, he fired off a hammer fist, the blow breaking the jaw of the ringleader. Nightwing's punch spun the bodyguard around and snapped the cuffs on, then he turned to see how his brother was faring. His stomach dropped even as his heart rate sped up. The ringleader had thrown the children over the edge of the roof before having his jaw broken. What caused Nightwing's adrenaline to kick in was what Wyvern did, without so much as a second thought he leapt over the side of the roof after the children…