A/N: And today, I have broken a record! Brand new story and already three chapters deep! Well, two chapters and the prologue. All within a 24-hour time frame! Can I go for four? I don't know. But I still have some time. Let's see what happens. Anyway, enjoy!

Chapter 2: The Wheels of Revenge

Having the rest of Cory Blackwell's crew rounded up on their freight ship for the time being, King and Shriek sat Cory Blackwell down on a crate, King having his sword right underneath the man's chin. They needed to have a chat to elaborate on their plan.

"Wh… what do you want?" Blackwell asked.

King stepped forward. "Your services. As I said."

"With that?"

Shriek entered the conversation. "You're known for stealing and moving some very large, very heavy equipment, quickly. With everything from entire shipments of automobiles to a couple of government airships. You use this common looking freight ship to cover up your exploits and transport you wears."

Cory nodded, "Yes."

"Not bad, actually. So, you're going to help us steal some very large equipment from your government then you're going to help us get it to Gotham then… you're going to help us set it up so Batman won't notice it."

Blackwell's eyes went wide at the outrageous plan. "Th-that kind of thing will be nearly impossible to pull off! I mean… without Batman finding out?! That guy is everywhere! It's impossible!"

"Oh, it'll be possible."

"Or…" King pressed blade harder. "…we will have no use for you."

Blackwell swallowed… but agreed. "And… what exactly am I stealing?"

"You wouldn't understand it if I told you," Shriek explained. "You just need to know that it's very heavy. Like… as heavy as a couple of semis. But shouldn't be a problem, right?"

Blackwell nodded. He thought about it. "Will it fit on my boat?"

Shriek looked at the ship. "Yeah, it'll fit, easy."

The thief shrugged, "Then, getting it to Gotham shouldn't be hard. Even with it being as heavy as you say, moving shouldn't be hard either. B-but how am I avoiding Batman?"

"You leave that to us."

Two weeks had gone by since Terry had heard that King and Shriek had escaped and he expected war to erupt at any time. In the meantime, business in Gotham went on as usual. But, as Terry was walking out of Hill High, Bruce called him.

"Yeah?" the teen answered.

"You're going to get mad," Bruce said, not wasting time.

"You're calling. That's a given."

"Shriek was spotted in London."

That was perplexing. "Doing what?"

"He and King contacted a man about working with them. And by contact, I mean threatened within an inch of his life."

"Sounds like their style."

"I got the man's name... and you're not going to like where this leads."

"What do you mean?"

"The man is known for smuggling: people, weapons, what have you. His specialty is stealing high end machinery, particularly of a heavy weight. It's what he became known for since he could figure out how to steal that kind of thing quickly." Bruce paused. "His name is Cory Blackwell."

Terry stopped. Blackwell. The Black Tiger Killings. Tai Ji. "Slag…"

"My thoughts exactly."

"Wait a minute. I thought Tai Ji got all the ones who did illegal stuff."

"He did but never caught this Blackwell. Reports said he hunted Cory for months before losing his trail somewhere in Rome. Cory Blackwell is good at evading getting caught. Tai Ji abandoned that hunt and went after the rest of the family. Probably figuring he'd get Cory eventually."

"Until he found way to corner the old board members."

"Priorities. Cory was a black sheep even among his family."

Considering what Terry knew about the Blackwells, that was saying something. "Wow. This guy must terrible."

"To say the least."

Terry groaned. "So, what now?"

"We have to be ready for when they come back to Gotham. And you know they are heading here."

"Oh, yeah. And it won't be pretty."

"No." Bruce sat back. "It'll be a nightmare."

Tai Ji sat in his cell, as always, caring not whether he lived or died. He learned that his enemies had been taken into custody and were receiving their justice as well. He didn't need to preoccupy his time with how he arrived at this place in his life. He knew exactly how he got there and had already long since accepted it. Despite his surroundings, he is at peace.

Suddenly, the most expected event occurred: the lock to his cell opened.

Tai Ji looked up, curiously. No one ever visited him. Not even his guards came in. He was deemed far too dangerous to risk personal contact with anyone.

The door opened up and a man stepped in. He was wearing a black suit with a light purple shirt underneath.

"Tenzin Hunter," the man said.

"Who are you?" Tai Ji asked.

"My name is Agent James Bennett with the NSA. And I have a job for you."

Terry sat in the Batcave, playing with Ace, while Bruce looked for any information on the two convicts. Bruce sat back with a groan. Never a good sign.

"Anything?" Terry asked as he approached.

"Not a thing. After finding Blackwell, they disappeared again."

"Any thefts?"

"A couple that match Blackwell's specialty but nothing that would seem to hold their interest."

"So, we have no way to track them?"

The elder hero paused for a few seconds. "Track them? But we may have one way to know what they are up to."

Terry looked at him, suspiciously. "And that is…"

"Shriek has no connections. No family. But King does." Bruce gave him a knowing look.

And Terry realized what he meant. Melanie Walker, the former Ten of the Royal Flush Gang. Of course, her former status of Terry's girlfriend, albeit briefly, was cause for immediate worry and panic. "Oh, no! No way! I'm not talking her!"

"You have to."

"She doesn't even know anything."

"You don't know that."

"She didn't the last time!"

"Something may have changed. King is staying under the radar. And we can't get you to talk to Queen, just yet. So… that leaves us with only one option left."

Unfortunately and as usual, Bruce was right. Terry knew it but he just really, really didn't want to. He looked at the old man and just figured out that the sly elder hero may be having some at his expense.

Terry narrowed his eyes at Bruce. "You know this will start a fight with Max, right?"

Bruce smiled. "Will it, now?"

Terry couldn't believe it. Bruce was enjoying this! He groaned. "You can be a real pain, sometimes."

"Said the pot to the kettle."

"The what to the what?"

Bruce chuckled. "Kids…"

Terry ran his hands through his hair. "Oh, this is not good…"

"Just choose your words carefully and…"

"I'm sorry to interrupt you, Bruce. But, as you have mentioned so many times before, I am not going to take any advice from you on how to talk to a girlfriend… especially about an ex-girlfriend."

Bruce stared at him, then shrugged. "Good point. Good luck."

"Yeah… I'm gonna need it."

An hour later, a very uncomfortable Terry sat on Max's couch, having just told her that he had to go see Melanie to ask about her father. Knowing the full history between those two, Max was, needless to say, less than pleased.

The computer genius was pacing, with her arms folded. "So… you're going to go see her."

"I'll be in and out," Terry replied.

She looked at him and raised an eyebrow.

He caught why she was looking at him like that. He did what he could to not blush but he probably was, anyway, for all he knew. "NOT EVEN WHAT I MEANT!"

"Fine. So, you're going to see her now?"

He shrugged.

She sighed and rolled her eyes. "Go on, then."

"Oh, wait!" He jumped out of his seat, letting out a mock laugh, "Ha-ha! Oh, no! Not falling for that one! I know that girl code! 'Go on, then.' If I would've rushed outta here, I'd come back to my stuff on fire!"

She smirked. "You are learning." She took a resigned breath. "Alright, so, you have to know about what daddy dearest is up to."

"That is all, I swear."

"And what does the old man have to say about this?"

"I bet he's just waiting for me to report back this fight."

"It's not a fight because I'm not mad."

"You're not happy, either."

"Well, duh." She turned serious. "I just… I dunno. I guess I'm just a little worried that you're gonna around an ex-girlfriend you felt that strongly for."

He could see why she would feel that way. And he understood. "Nothing's gonna happen, Max. I promise."

Terry never broke a promise to her. That was another quality he had that always made him worth it. She sat down on the couch and he sat back down, next to her. "Alright… alright, alright." She looked at him. "You promise this is all business?"

"Cross my heart."

"If you're lying… or if something does happen, I will kill you."

"Don't worry. I believe you."

She smiled. "It's good to know that I can make Batman sweat."

Terry groaned. "Good for you, maybe."

"Who else matters?" She giggled. "Go. Go see her and see what you can find out."

"Okay," Terry breathed a sigh of relief. Max actually wasn't going to hit him. "God! This is the weirdest conversation we've ever had."

She smirked and thought about it. "Top ten, maybe. But I'll bet we'll have one that will top it."

He rolled his eyes, "Oh, gee… something to look forward to."

"It is for me." She threw a devious smile his way.

Terry threw his hands up in defeat. 'I have no say with anyone in my life!'

Batman arrived at the apartment of Melanie and Jack Walker; small place but for the two of them that was all they needed. He looked through the window and saw them both sitting on their couch, watching television. He tapped on the window, surprising them both. Jack was less than pleased.

Melanie opened the window, "How do you…"

"I already know where you work," Batman interrupted.

"Did you follow…"

"Didn't need to." He entered the apartment.

"Ever heard of respecting the privacy of citizens?" Jack asked.

"Sure. I just need to ask some questions and I'm gone."

"Like what?" the former Ten asked.

"Have you heard from your father?"

They both looked really uncomfortable at that subject.

"I'll take that as a yes."

"It wasn't recently," Melanie explained. "We got in contact with him some time after you caught him the last time."

"So, what happened?"

Melanie looked terribly downtrodden at that. "He was himself. That's what happened."

Jack scratched the back of his head, "Look, we tried the whole… 'let's put the hatred aside and be a family' thing but he wouldn't go for it."

"He said that when he got out… we'd regret it." Melanie sighed and rubbed her arm, "We've been terrified since we heard about the breakout."

Batman could tell by her body language: she was telling the truth.

"I know you don't have any reason to believe us, Bats," Jack spoke up, "but we don't want anything to do with him anymore. We just… wanna be left alone. I'm, personally, tired of always being in jail."

They were sincere, the Dark Knight could see that. They were just trying to live now. They wanted to just be. He nodded. "I can understand that. I'll do what I can to make sure that you are." He hopped on to the window. He looked back at them, "Sorry I bothered you. Take care."

"Batman?" Melanie asked.

"Yeah?"

"Do you… ever see Terry McGinnis?"

"A lot of people in Gotham, Melanie. Don't really have a lot of time to check up on a high school kid for no reason." He amazed himself at how quickly he came up with the response. It also amazed him how he now could keep his feelings as Terry and Batman completely separate. Then again, he didn't feel as strong for Melanie as he once did, anymore.

"I understand."

He turned and looked at the children of the villain. "Just watch yourselves, you two. Gotham may be a little bit more dangerous for a while. Try to take different routes home and try to not to go out too much. If you hear anything about him, you might wanna get out of town for a while. Just to be safe."

Jack nodded. "Thanks for the heads up."

Batman nodded then took off into the night.

King and Shriek looked on as Blackwell and his crew finished loading up the last of the equipment on to a freight ship. The thief member of the corrupt family approached the Gotham villains. "Alright," Cory said. "We're ready to go."

"Very good," King said.

"Then, it's time to go home," Shriek said. He smiled. "One last time…"

A/N: Bennett? Tai Ji? Oh, yeah, now, we're getting in deep! Oh, and for those who don't know, Tai Ji is my OC from "Walk Your Path." He has a violent history with the Blackwell family. That's the quick sum up of that. But now, the villains are headed back to Gotham.

Who's ready for some combat?

Next Chapter: Old Dogs, Old Grudges

King and Shriek are back in Gotham! And it's time for them to get reacquainted with the Dark Knight.

Don't miss it!