Robin nearly jumped in the air in surprise, but didn't. After all, he was a bat and bats do not admit surprise or weakness. He had been so engrossed in his work, he had not noticed Batgirl and the teams' senior members follow him into the room and have increased concern, as they listened to the computer tell them the location of Nightwing's comm. Right after, Blue Beetle, Impulse Beast Boy, Bumble Bee, Guardian, and Wondergirl had all come into the room, the latter asking her question. Robin ignored the question and instead turned to Batgirl.
Pleading look. What should I do?
Piercing glare. What have you done already?
Shrug. Checked his comm's location.
Raised eyebrow. What about hacking Arkham's security cameras?
"I'm an idiot!" Robin said aloud, face palming.
"Well that answers my question." commented Batgirl wryly.
"What question?" asked Beast Boy completely lost.
"Gar, Batman and his protégés current or former, have their own non-verbal form of communication." M'gann patiently answered.
"Oh."
Meanwhile, Robin was cracking all the passwords required, breaking down all of the firewalls, and generally wreaking havoc in Arkham City's 'impenetrable' database. Once he had broken in, he and Batgirl began searching for promising video feeds. They eventually, (over the course of a minute) had narrowed it down to one possibility.
"Shut Arkham City down, it's out of control." growled out Grayson.
"Shut it down? By the end of tonight I will be a hero. Just like you. Nightwing." leered Hugo Strange.
"I feel I should thank you. Capturing Richard Grayson is much easier than capturing Nightwing. But now that we have you, Protocol 10 is ready to begin it will be my legacy. A monument to you and your teams' failures. And if you try to stop me, I guarantee everyone will know your secrets." Strange continued smugly.
Strange exited the room, and suddenly everyone was talking. Robin and Batgirl turned to face the torrent of questions, but were nearly blown over by the force of them.
"Nightwing's who?"
"Who's the bald guy?"
"I thought Strange was running Belle Rev!"
"What's happening now!" Caught everyone's attention, as they saw Nightwing, now unmasked to them as Richard Grayson, tip over his chair and be promptly shoved from the room by one of Arkham City's many Tyger Guards yelling at him about how he thought that they wouldn't hear him. The team then watched in awe as Grayson took out one of the guards with his hands and ankles cuffed, before being swarmed, and shepherded out of the room, into a holding cell full of other inmates. Richard was seemingly unaffected by the inmates jeers and taunts.
"What did you do to get in here Grayson?"
"Kill your father's butler?"
"You're gonna be my bitch Grayson!"
All of these comments directed at their leader filled the Team with righteous fury for him, but the last comment nearly sent them over the edge, as well as a guard they were a little bit pleased to see shoot the last inmate in the leg for disobedience. Nightwing wad then shoved into a line waiting to enter the Asylum. More taunts were aimed his way.
"Hey Grayson! I heard Penguin's put a price on your head!"
"I'm gonna get me some cash!"
"No, you'll just get in my way!"
They were interrupted by a guard. "Hey! Grayson get your ass up here!"
He started to walk forwards, before he was stopped by an inmate. "Dick Grayson, you're on my list. Bang." He laughed before being interrupted by a guard, who roughly grabbed Richard and shoved him to the ground holding him at gunpoint. "Lower your weapons, Mr. Grayson will not be any trouble, will you Mr. Grayson?" Intervened Hugo Strange, warden of Arkham City. "The cuffs can stay on, we don't want to make things to easy, do we?" he said as Dick was roughly shoved into another holding cell with two news reporters.
"Dick Grayson? Here I was reporting at your crummy press conference, and look where we are now! Guess that'll teach you not to get involved with politics, won't it." he added bitterly.
"Listen to me carefully." replied Nightwing sternly, "When they open the door, Do. Not. Panic. Stay close to me."
"Do you think I'm taking advice from someone whose never even been in a fight?" answered the reporter angrily glaring at Nightwing. Most of the occupant's in the Watchtower's monitor room (with the exception of Robin, Batgirl, and Tigress who fully understood the severity of the situation as well as, Aqualad albeit barely) couldn't help, but smirk, laugh, or smile. If only he knew.
"Stay calm." Richard patiently repeated. "They're trying to scare us."
"Sorry man, it's every man for themselves!" replied the terrified reporter, sprinting through the walkway while covering his head to protect himself from the inmates jumping over the top of the high chain link fence. This time, even Kaldur couldn't keep a small smile off his face as he watched Nightwing beat up all the convicts with his hands cuffed. He walked over to the reporter laying on the ground yelling, "On your feet, Ryder! I said, get up!"
"Woah. I think Nightwing just channeled Batman." observed Bart in a no-nonsense manner. Tigress just smiled sadly thinking that's exactly like something Wally would say to lighten the mood. Now that he was gone, life just seemed so hard. Like an impossible task she was forced to complete. She looked back at the screen in time to see Oswald Cobblepot, more commonly known as the Penguin walk towards Dick.
"Well look who it is, welcome to hell Dickie boy." The team winced as an inmate snuck up behind Nightwing who didn't notice him with the unresponsive Rider over his shoulders and was hit my a metal pipe in the back of his knees and then his head. Next, they watched in horror, as Robin switched cameras, and they saw the Penguin knock him out by kicking him in the face.
The Penguin and his crew then walked a long distance, while dragging Richard the whole time. "Wakey, wakey, Grayson. Aw, what's up? Do you need me to call your butler?" he mocked Nightwing as he struggled to stand.
"Oswald Cobblepot, how could I forget."
"Aw, you remember me. I'm touched. You're adopted father's family destroyed mine, Grayson." The team had to resist the urge to laugh at one of Penguin's thugs mocking his employer from behind. "This, well let's just call this good old fashioned revenge." he said smugly as he put on a pair of brass knuckles. He went in for a swing and was promptly awarded several broken bones for his trouble.
The man emitted a bird like screech and yelled, "Ahhhh! Get him, hurt him! He's broken my bloody hand!" As Nightwing was surrounded by thugs the Team had no doubts that he could take them all down. And he did. Within the space of three minutes. Robin and Batgirl were then faced with the nearly impossible task of using various security cameras to watch Nightwing's progress to higher ground. The team was then impressed, as they saw Nightwing make a makeshift communicator tuned to the Bats' special channel from scratch.
"Alfie-" "*Sigh* Agent A Nightwing, how many times must I tell you to call him that incase someone hacks the link. Don't say I'm over paranoid, the Batjet's scanners are picking up someone else on the channel." Batman cut him off.
"That would be us." Batgirl cut him off. "Us?" asked Batman. "Well, we were watching Nightwing's speech on the news with the rest of the Team and saw his incarceration at Arkham. Then, we hacked Arkham's security cameras and saw his one on one time with Hugo strange."
"Can I say you're over paranoid now?"
"Focus Nightwing."
"It's not good. Strange knows my secret identity."
"Then he could know ours by extension. This is not good."
"I don't mean to interrupt you masters and mistress," cut in a proper English accent, "but do you intend to brood all night?"
"Right, right, I need an immediate drop on the Ace chemicals building I'm there now. Also, send a spare communicator."
"You do realize you have to stay and find out what's going on?" "Of course, this could lead us to the Light." "Also, don't think you haven't escaped the don't forget your comm link at home lecture. For the twenty-third time." warned Batman. "You're still keeping track?" asked a sheepish Nightwing.
"Sending the drop right now. Has it arrived sir?" Intervened the same english man.
"Right on time. Thanks, Alf- Agent A" Nightwing scanned his hand on a scanner and the bullet shaped metal object it was located on, popped open revealing his costume. To respect Nightwing's privacy Robin looked through the other cameras and hacked Tyger communication lines.
"All units, this Air Tyger 4 we have conformation that prisoner 4011 is in the courthouse. I repeat Catwoman is in the courthouse."
"Is she in danger?" Hugo Strange's voice cut across the communications line.
"Affirmative. Target is being held by Dent. We believe he intends to kill her. How should we proceed?"
"Hahaha, stand down, let Two-Face have his fun." Strange said before closing the communication line.
"Chill Bats, I'll go get her first. If anyone knows what's going on in Arkham, it's Catwoman." said Nightwing predicting Batman's demand that he go help Catwoman first.
"Good. Batman out."
"Oh, and Nightwing," "Yeah Robin?" "The Team has been listening in the whole time."
"Everyone?"
"Everyone, but Lagoon Boy."
"Do they know my ID?"
"What do you think?" Batgirl dead panned.
"Is not too much to ask?"
"They know 'Wing."
"*Sigh* Well you might as well turn on the video and audio feed from my mask and I can explain to them how to use strategy when they fight villians. We need it."
"Okay, turning on video and auditory now."
"Is it working?"
"Perfectly. Also, your spare pair of escrima sticks are at your apartment in Bludhaven. I sent Huntress to get them, but it could take a while, she's on her bike."
"I'll just have to make do without them, let's go." Nightwing fired off his grappling hook and made his way over to the courthouse. Once he got to the front he made quick work of the thugs standing guard outside and made his way inside. He looked over and the feed from his mask showed Two-Face on a stage, in front of a statue of Lady Justice with one half of her scales lit on fire the other not, and a circular red curtain over a bubbling green pool of acid. Over fifty inmates were in a crowd below the stage, cheering him on. The audio in Nightwing's mask caught all of Two-Face's words.
"The only way to get by in this place is to get our selves some respect." pondered Two-Face's good(ish) half. "Fear! Fear! That's how we get respect show them all how we do things!" his really not-so-good half growled out, turning around. "We should be fair though, this is a place of justice after all." reasoned good cop. "Screw justice! Kill her, and they'll all fear us!" roared bad cop. "Bring out the defendant!" The curtain fell away revealing a bound Catwoman hanging upside down, causing cheers to go up from the crowd of inmates. She turned to look at Two-Face.
"You certainly know how to keep a girl hanging Harv. Heeeeyyyyy, have you had some work done?" She was met with a backhand punch to the face. "That's for stealing from us, no one steals from us." he raged at her. "I'm sorry if I've been a bad kitty, untie me and I'll make it up to you. she said to him in a way that could only be described as flirtatious. "Let's see if the coin thinks you're telling the truth." he leered at her, holding his scarred half dollar up in the light. He flipped it. Heads. "This court is now in session." He announced to the inmates, invoking cheers.
"Taking out the thug with the gun makes taking out the rest of the thugs easy." Nightwing murmured through the audio as he completed the action, Two-Face called for order, and started his speech. Nightwing would have none of that and began to walk across a rope suspended above the crowd of inmates before flipping down on to one of their backs. As the team watched him take on the fifty other thugs, and listened to Two-Face's threats of cutting him in two, they were once again amazed by his fighting prowess. Punch, flip, kick, dive, jab, tuck and roll, backhand, and repeat. He never faltered or showed self-doubt, and soon all the thugs were knocked out.
Only for Nightwing to be shot in the chest. "Objection" Nightwing was blown back by the force of the impact, "overruled." Two-Face walked over to Catwoman. "Heads or Tails kitty cat?" he asked her (while holding her at gun point.)
"Which one gets me out alive?" He flipped his special coin. Tails.
"Not this one." he smiled.
"I vote for a stay of execution." she said breaking her bonds and scratching the good side of his face in the process. "No gun Harv? Shame, this is gonna hurt." she mocked while smiling, as she unsheathed her claws. Two-Face startled her to say the least, by pulling out another gun "Two guns, b*tch!" The smile on Catwoman's face fell and reappeared when she saw Nightwing hoist Two-Face up upside down with a rope, (screaming) and hang him by his feet from where she had previously been.
"And I thought it was cats who had nine lives." she commented, nearly laughing as Two-Face screamed while suspended over the acid she had previously been. She walked up to him and crouched down so she was face to face with him. "How's it hanging, Harv?" she asked. Before kneeing him as hard as she could in the crotch, causing all male members of Young Justice to shiver in sympathy. "Come to Kitty." she quipped taking a smartphone and sticking it in her half zipped up black leather bodysuit before turning to Nightwing. "Did anyone tell you and Bats that your full of surprises?" she asked.
"You looked like you could have used some help and Bats would kill me if I didn't help a lady out."
"You're right, I think I chipped a nail back there."
"Haha."
"So what are you here for. Incase you're lost, this isn't Bludhaven."
"What do you know about Protocol 10?"
"Never heard of it."
"Ah-ha." he said disbelievingly, but didn't pry.
"What about Strange?"
"I don't trust him. He's been missing for years and is suddenly put in charge of Arkham City. Rumor has it he's been working with Joker.-"
Back at the Watchtower, Robin turned to Batgirl "That is not good."
She turned to him. "What gave you that idea, Sherlock?"
Tim was about to respond when the Joker's voice came over the still open communication lines of the Tyger guards. "Twinkle, twinkle, little bat. Watch me kill your favorite cat."
"Nightwing look out!" Batgirl went to warn him, but he was already moving, having noticed the dot from a sniper's scope on Selina's forehead. He grabbed her, and yanked her to the side.
"The ex-district attorney here, has said something about-What the hell!" she yelled at him.
"We really dodged a bullet back there." he said grinning Catwoman and everybody on the watchtower watching them groaned except for Beast Boy and Impulse who didn't realize he was joking. "I don't get it." announced Impulse. "Me neither." agreed Beast Boy.
"See you soon, bird brain." The Joker's voice echoed over the communications line with what would have been a haunting laugh, had it not turned into a coughing fit
Catwoman turned to Nightwing "I thought you got over those stupid puns. You expecting a kiss?" she asked Nightwing referring to their position.
"That was Joker this is not good. No one is safe here, and my puns are not stupid!"
Catwoman chose to ignore his second statement and replied, "Nine lives, remember?" before flipping away.
Nightwing turned on his comm to question, "Are my puns really stupid?"
"Do you want me to tell you the truth or save your dignity?" replied Batgirl
"Touché."