A/N: 4 CHAPTERS IN UNDER 24 HOURS! (Well... One Prologue and Three Chapters but whatever.) RECORD BROKEN! WOOHOO! Enjoy Chapter 3!

Chapter 3: Old Dogs, Old Grudges

Another three weeks went by and the Gotham knights stood ever watchful for the reemergence from Shriek and King but there had been no sign of them since they were in England.

Until tonight.

Batman was on patrol, nearing the Green Machinery complex when a silent alarm from inside one of their older buildings went off. He steered the Batmobile toward the disturbance. He hovered the car above the building, exited, and went inside. He stalked around for a minute, making almost no sound at all. He walked into a large machine room, where derelict machines were gathering dust. He took a few more steps…

A wave of sound concussion hit him like a semi-truck, sending the hero flying into a wall. He landed with a grunt when he hit the floor. He pushed himself up to his knees.

"You're quiet, Batman," Shriek said. "But nowhere near quiet enough."

Batman looked up to see his two enemies staring at him. "Shriek and King…" He got to his feet. "You guys actually are working together."

"Is that a surprise?" Shriek asked.

"A little. You both took your time."

"Revenge is best planned, carefully," King declared. "It's all about waiting for the right moment to strike, Batman."

"Revenge? What have I ever done to you two?" he asked, sarcastically. "Oh, that's right!" He pointed at each villain, respectively, "You lost your hearing and you lost your family." He paused. "How is that my fault again?"

Shriek scoffed. "Let me show you…" He unleashed another sound wave.

Batman dodged the concussive blast and threw a batarang at the King, who deflected the projectile with his sword. He hopped on his playing card hover board and flew toward the Dark Knight. Batman took off for the ceiling and just barely dodged King swinging for his wings. The sudden change in direction caused him to land on generator. He rubbed his head and moved out of the way of King's sword as it was coming for his neck. He kicked the Royal Flush gang patriarch and got into a battle stance. The two locked horns just liked old times. The difference was Batman was slightly more experienced than the last time and he was starting to get the upper hand. He was about to land a solid punch on King's jaw when Shriek intervened, blasting the Dark Knight with another sound wave. The blast sent Batman falling off the top of the generator; he used a cable hook to keep himself from hitting the floor too hard and breaking something severely. He landed on the ground and looked up to see Shriek on a catwalk, aiming for him again. Batman threw two Batarangs, both caught Shriek off guard and forcing him to duck. The distraction was enough for Batman to take cover and come up with a battle plan.

"This is so much easier where's only one of them," Batman said.

"Welcome to my hard knocks of the Batman life," Bruce replied.

"I wasn't talking to you!" He jumped and made it to the catwalk. He charged at Shriek and kicked him in the helmet. "Do you ever not wanna kill me?"

Shriek laughed. "I would say when I'm asleep… but then I just dream about you dying."

Batman smirked. "Do your dreams have audio?"

Shriek stared at him in hatred. "You little…!" He fired a sonic wave at him.

Batman latched on to the side of another piece of machinery with magnets. "Yep. Still a touchy subject."

He dodged another blast and landed on top of the machine. Unfortunately, he missed cut loose a large piece of machinery from several cables, where it had been hanging. It flew toward the Dark Knight, knocking him against a far wall before sending him crashing to the ground.

"Ow…" Terry groaned.

King hovered over to Shriek, "You think that's enough?"

"More than." Shriek opened a panel on his suit gauntlet. He turned a dial and the building started to shake. "I think it's time we got outta here."

"I couldn't agree more."

Batman started to get up, grabbing hold of his head. He felt the rumbling and looked around as he could see various cracks appearing in the structure.

"Wish we could stay, Batman," King shouted, getting the Dark Knight's attention. "But, we can see that you are otherwise preoccupied with trying to escape a collapsing building. Good evening to you." They escaped through the roof on King's playing card.

Batman looked around just as debris threatened to crush him. He barely dodged a few steel girders in time. He threw himself underneath some fallen but yet secure debris and hid there while the rest of the building he collapsed around him.

The villains watched as the building collapsed on to itself. A very good result, indeed.

King chuckled. "It seems your experiment is a success."

"Very much so." Shriek smiled. "Time to get ready for the next phase."

"The whole city?"

"Eventually but that wasn't what I was talking about."

"Oh? Then what?"

"I'm not that selfish, King. We handled our collective business. Time for us to deal with yours."

King smiled. "Very good."

After waiting for the building to finish collapsing, Batman started working on freeing himself from the rubble. Using a collection of carefully placed charges and his own strength, he emerged from the wreckage, grabbing his head. He slowly stepped away, found a distant wall to fall against, and exhaled. "Every time…" He punched the air in frustration, "every SINGLE time I fight Shriek, a building falls on my head!"

"Anything broken?" Bruce asked over the comlink.

"Haven't you asked me that before?"

"Surprised you remember."

"More surprised that you do."

"Well?"

Terry let out a grunt. "I'm fine. In pain… but I'm fine."

"Good."

"Well, at least, we know they're working together."

"True but we can also confirm something else."

"And that is?"

"You do realize that was a test, right?"

"What do you mean?"

"They didn't take anything. They set off an alarm in an abandoned, cordoned off building, went through all the trouble of breaking in but didn't take anything."

Terry groaned. "Why can't anything be simple?"

"Because you're Batman. It's not supposed to be."

"You would be the expert on that." He sighed. "Why were they testing me?"

"If you hadn't improved at all? Easier to kill you. No improvement means they would know what to expect. You would've been dead in minutes."

Terry slumped his shoulders. "You're just a ray of sunshine, aren't you?" He heard sirens approaching and he started to make his exit.

Bruce groaned.

Batman flew off for the Batmobile. "Alright, so, what are they after? Revenge?"

"More than likely. They jumped you then threw a building at you."

The teen made it his mode of transportation and sat down inside, activating his video monitor. "Shriek always does that. I'm starting to think it's just his M.O." McGinnis rubbed the back of his neck, "Speaking of which, how did he do that? His sound generators aren't that strong and I didn't see him aim anything at the building."

"He could've replicated that experiment he pulled off before."

"He doesn't have a tuning fork tower."

"Might not need one this time. He does have Cory Blackwell."

"Then we need to find him… or them. Fast."

"Agreed."

Terry sighed and sat back. "Sure wish I had some backup on this."

Bruce gave him a hard stare. "You're not asking Max."

Terry went eyed and looked at his mentor, "Oh, will you give me a break?! Like I don't know that!"

"I'm not so sure. She's your girlfriend now. She might have certain… methods of persuasion."

"I have those on her," the teen smirked. "I'm just saying I might need some help here. I got two supervillains after my head."

"I'm sure you can take them on your own."

"Says the guy who once had a team." He hit the ignition and started guiding it through the city, looking for any sign of his enemies or any other trouble. "Tell me, how many times did Dick Grayson have to come save you?"

"As Robin or Nightwing?"

"My point exactly."

Bruce scoffed. "It's not as though I am completely against assistance…"

"I'm going to let that slide so you can finish your point."

"But we can't always run for allies to join you in a fight when it gets tough."

"Maybe. But this is different. King and Shriek aren't exactly two people who like me. In fact… they hate me. I mean… they really hate me."

"Point. But, if worse comes to worse, I'll see what I can do about getting some backup."

Terry smirked. "I'm sure Grayson would answer if you just called… after he recovered from passing out at your number showing up on his phone."

Bruce growled.

"Alright, alright," Terry said, defensively. "But thanks for even considering it."

Bruce gave him a nod. "With that in mind, you should know that our least favorite NSA lackey was in to see Commissioner Gordon earlier."

"Bennett?"

"Mmhmm."

"Why?"

"She said you had to hear it to believe it."

"Where is he?"

"Making himself as obvious as possible so we can find him. He's at the Gotham Park Towers."

Terry had to hold back the laughter. "Alright, then." He steered the Batmobile toward the hotel. "Let's find out what he wants."

Batman arrived at the hotel and didn't even bother to sneak up on Bennett. He knew there was no point. He landed before him, "Bennett."

"Batman," the NSA agent greeted.

"Not off chasing Zeta?"

Bennett's twitched slightly, "That assignment has been… temporarily suspended."

Batman quickly smiled. "You got kicked off the case, didn't you?"

"We have far more important matters at hand, Batman."

The hero held his grin. "That's a yes."

Bennett groaned.

"So, what do you want?"

Bennett started to pace. "I need to speak with you about Cory Blackwell. We've been trying to hunt him down for years but his crew is good."

"And Shriek and King beat you to him?"

"They're criminals. They didn't have to wait for warrants or higher ups to give a go-ahead."

"Alright, then. So, what?"

"We believe that Blackwell assisted your little pals in stealing something vital."

"Oh, wait, don't tell me: I know this part. You can't tell me what it is."

"No. We just need to find him and bring him in. We'll take it from there."

"Because you've done such an amazing job so far?"

Bennett just stared at him.

"The hatred stare doesn't work. Exactly, why am I here?"

"Because you know this city and how to catch criminals in it. And because I brought someone who knows more about the Blackwells than anyone. And, also, because you're one of the few people he trusts." He motioned by him, and, much to the Dark Knight's surprise, Tai Ji approached, surrounded by other agents and chained at his ankles and wrists but he showed no signs of discomfort.

Batman's eyes went wide. "Tai Ji…"

"Hello, Batman," the Black Tiger killer greeted. "It's good to see you."

Batman stepped back, starting to ready himself.

"Be calm." He held up his shackled wrists. "Clearly… I am of no threat to you."

"I've seen you do a lot, Tai Ji. Those handcuffs don't really comfort me."

"But who I am should."

Batman stared at him for a while. He remembered their last meeting and how much respect Tai Ji showed for him. He did have more honor than most Batman had met. "Okay, I'll give it you." The Dark Knight folded his arms. "So… what's going on?"

Tai Ji stared to pace, his guards on high alert. "Why do you think they sought out one of my enemies? Because he can give them something they want."

"And that is?"

"The ability to move heavy machinery. Clearly, they have a plan and they needed Blackwell to help them complete it."

"Alright, so what's the target?"

Tai Ji motioned toward Bennett, "He won't tell me but I'm guessing it's already gone. He asked me their methods and I explained what I could but without knowing the item or its dimensions… I can only be so useful."

"So, why are you here, then?"

"We believe Mr. Hunter here can help with the search and capture of Blackwell," Bennett explained. "Even finding your two little pals."

Batman appreciate that help but he still needed to know, "But… what did they steal?"

"That's not for you to know, Batman. I just need you and this one," He pointed at Tai Ji, "to find Blackwell and your adversaries. I need them all alive."

Batman stared at the agent like he was insane. "So… you want, and forgive me, Tai Ji, one psychopath to hunt down two? In addition, look for a well-known to get back something that you won't tell me what it is?" He paused. "Wow. Some plan there."

"You have a better idea?"

"Yes. It's called 'finding them without someone else I also put in jail.'" Batman looked at the captured criminal. "Again, no offense…" his voice became cold, "…but I have some trust issues with people say I should trust them after I've gotten them arrested." He thought about his former best Charlie Bigelow, "Got some experience there."

Tai Ji bowed in respect.

Batman looked at Bennett, "Thanks for the offer but I know how to do things on my own."

Bennett didn't like that answer but he wasn't all that surprised, either. "We're gonna find them… with or without you," he assured.

The hero smiled. "Didn't you say the same thing about Zeta?" He took off before Bennett could reply.

Tai Ji looked at his handler. "Who is Zeta?"

He looked at the criminal and walked away, visibly angry. Tai Ji just smiled and looked up at the night's sky.

A little while later, Terry walked back in the cave and looked at his mentor. "Think they're right?"

Bruce was still typing on the computer. "Maybe. If we can't find them, soon, we won't have a choice."

"What about whatever they stole Bennett mentioned?"

"I have no idea. There aren't reports of any thefts that match anything of Blackwell's area of expertise. Must be something the NSA doesn't want anyone to know about, which means it's something that the public shouldn't know about. But, if this is all connected, we'll find out in time."

Terry sighed, "Yeah, probably, but…" He stopped when a thought came to his mind.

"What is it?"

"If these two are getting back at me… what's to stop them at getting back at other people?"

The first Batman looked at his protégé. "You mean the rest of Royal Flush gang?"

"Queen's in jail…"

"Ten and Jack aren't."

"And I already know where they are…" Terry ran for the Batmobile.

Melanie and Jack were walking home from work at the restaurant, their shift just finishing a little while ago. They had heard the news report that King and Shriek were spotted in town and had plans to try and get out of town before their homicidal father tracked them down.

A wave of sound blew apart the ground just before them. Another wave cut off any chance they had to retreat. They both cowered on the ground and looked up when they heard something above them… hovering.

They looked up to see their father, just overhead.

"Well, it isn't my wayward children." King aimed his sword at them.

They looked to see further down the alley to see Shriek with his gauntlets pointed toward them.

"Why don't you come give your father a hug?"

A/N: Uh-oh.

Next Chapter: The Enemy of My Enemy

King has kidnapped his children! And he's got Queen, as well! Batman has to find them and save them... and Tai Ji is his only help.

Don't miss this!