Nightwing grappled up to the nearest roof and ran across it, his breath making puffs in the air. He continued to move towards the coldest area in the make-shift prison, grappling, flipping, and running with his normal precision and grace. As he reached the old Gotham Police Department, he said audibly to the listening Team, "Freeze must be using one of the old forensics labs. I need to get in there." Nightwing jumped from the Department's roof, and landed on a thug. While the thug was still dazed, Nightwing swiftly knocked him out and grappled back up to the roof. When another thug came around the corner, Nightwing dove off again, repeating the process. Once all the thugs were taken care of, he fired pulled an the electrical device he had made out of his belt, aimed it the at the top of the door, and fired.
"What's that called?" wondered Beast Boy out loud.
"It's a remote electrical charge," explained Robin as Batgirl continued to monitor Nightwing, as he ran past a bunch of already knocked out penguin thugs. "Each shot contains about 20 watts and can open doors if fired at the generators from several feet away."
"Cool. Where do you keep it on your-"
Nightwing interrupted Beast Boy by muttering, "If I hack this radio, I can listen into all of Penguin's communications." He completed the action and the Team immediately had the misfortune to hear both the overweight, squawking Londoner's voice and the overconfident thugs and street pimps that he employed, through the walkie talkie.
"The Joker's crew is still outside Mr. Cobblepot." reported an eager to please thug.
"Good," chuckled the Penguin, "make sure it stays that way."
"No problem." replied the thug before yelling at the rest of those employed. "Now listen up! Mr. Cobblepot wants this place held tight. No one in or out! If you see ones of Joker's crew, waste 'em." he lectured, as Nightwing grappled onto a gargoyle placed inside the room.
"What about the Bat?" questioned a concerned thug.
"Kill him to." Was the answer he got.
"Just like that?" asked the thug sounding unsure.
"Just. Like. That." was the annoyed reply that he received from his comrade.
In the watchtower, Barbara and Tim just rolled their eyes under their masks. No thug was a match for Nightwing, even if he was poisoned. Nightwing removed the cover top an air vent and started to crawl through it, emerging about halfway up the wall in the next room. He flipped down and snuck up behind a thug, silently cutting off his airway and knocking him out. He grappled up onto another indoor gargoyle and moved onto another thug. Suddenly, one of the thugs yelled. "It's the Bat!" causing the remaining conscious thugs to begin to panic.
"What are you waiting for? Kill him!" squawked the Penguin through the thug's walkie talkies. Nightwing managed to knock out another two thugs before he was spotted.
"I've lost one of you idiots!" Cobblepot yelled, completely disrespecting his hired help. "Let's keep it at that!"
"It's not the Bat!" yelled a thug, relief coloring his voice, "It's Nightwing!"
"I don't care whether or not it's the Batman, his bird boys, or Batgirl. I want them dead!" screeched Cobblepot. "I've shut down all access to the GCPD. He's not going anywhere."
"Why don't you hack into the access and help out Nightwing?" Wondergirl fretted to Batgirl. Barbara just raised one eyebrow under the cowl.
"Does it look like he needs help?"
"Well, no..."
"I'm not telling you anything. No, please, stop!" The begging immediately drew everyone's attention to the screen. Nightwing had a thug pinned to the ground on his stomach and was slowly twisting his arm behind his back. The display completely shocked some of the younger team members who had not seen this more ruthless side of their leader and didn't understand the force sometimes required to make the criminals in Gotham talk.
"Where. Is. Freeze." Nightwing ground out channeling some of his inner Batman. "I'll tell you! I'll tell you!" screamed the thug in pain. "He's in the museum. Penguin's got him." While the bats and the senior members of the Team were unimpressed with the thug's loyalty, or lack thereof, the rest of the Team were still surprised by Nightwing's actions.
"I'll have to cut that tongue out of your head, boy." growled his boss over the walkie talkie. "I don't enjoy people telling tales about me."
"No, I-I'm sorry, Mr. Cobblepot, h-h-he made me t-tell him." the thug stuttered, in terror of Cobblepot's threats and Nightwing's glare. The thug was swiftly knocked out, but as Nightwing turned, the Penguin began to taunt him over the loudspeaker.
"You can have him, Bird boy, I'm safe and sound up here in my museum. You can try and get me if you like. I have plenty of surprises waiting for the Bat, but you'll have to do. Starting right now."
"How much do you want to bet that Nightwing will make him eat his words in an hour?" Robin asked Batgirl.
"Twenty bucks says that he will do it in two hours."
"You're on."
"Didn't Batman tell you no betting?" asked a puzzled M'Gann.m
"He won't know if we don't bet on the comms." Batgirl smirked and turned back to the monitor, which was emanating a thundering sound.
"That doesn't sound good." Robin and Nightwing stated at the same time, as the lock gates in the only visible entrance and exits to the room Nightwing had just run into came down. The Penguin's laughter was audible from over the loud speaker.
"Agent A." Nightwing called into his comm.
"Hello sir. Have you retrieved the cure from Mr. Freeze?" questioned the elderly butler.
"There were complications. Penguin has got his hands on Freeze and trapped me in the GCPD building."
"You do realize that you will actually die if you do not get this cure soon." the butler sighed.
"Thanks for reminding me." Nightwing smiled at the Brits somewhat cynical nature. "Cobblepot's got me trapped in here. He obviously bribed some official into giving him the lock codes for the municipal structures. I'm downloading the unlock codes right now." he narrated for both Alfred's and the Team's benefit.
Then, he unlatched the entrance to a vent in the floor and crawled over to the next room where a lock was located and got back out. A few seconds and one hacked lock later, Nightwing opened the door and walked outside, just in time to get thrown off his feet by a large explosion, about a mile away. Both Cobblepot's cackling and proclamation that, "Now we've cut off the clowns forces easily!" were audible over the hacked communications line.
"Robin, Batgirl what just happened?" Nightwing questioned them over the line. "It looks like Penguin just blew up the main supply bridge leading into Arkham City, killing or trapping a large group of both his and the Joker's thugs." Robin replied as he squinted at a screen. Most of the Team looked sick at the amount of bodies strewn on the monitor and the state of several shredded corpses.
Meanwhile, on the hacked Tyger Guard line, Hugo Strange's mocking laughter and cold voice was heard. "It appears Mr. Cobblepot has made his move. Leave them to it. It will be interesting to see how things progress as we approach Protocol 10."
"Affirmative. AT3 continue your patrol out."
"Does he think that the loss of human life is a game?!" demanded Batgirl to no one in particular.
"Nightwing will bring him down." Artemis reassured her while glaring at the screen, where Nightwing had just started wiping the floor with some of the Penguin's thugs guarding the museum entrance. "This will be easy, freak!" one shouted, only to get drop kicked. In no time flat Nightwing took them all out. "You were saying?" he muttered to the unconscious men before entering.