Bird waited outside the bathroom, turned away from it so that he didn't catch a peek by accident. Bane was in there, but hadn't closed the door. Not that there was any concern about what was happening in there.
It was the fact that Bane had taken his mask off and the American-born henchman knew about the larger man's opinion about it. Let's just say there was a reason he wore the mask. It wasn't for pure decoration, or a desire to hide his identity. As if Bane cared if people thought he trying to protect that.
Bird knew the reason, but wouldn't share. That mask was Bane's true face. To see what was under,neath despite already knowing, well, it was a sign of respect that the blond-haired man didn't look.
But just because he was standing just outside the small room didn't mean he kept quiet.
"We lost a good chunk of our hardware. We can still launch an attack, but we don't have the same leeway as before. We'll need to be more careful in the future," he reported, hearing the sound of water gushing from the sink faucet. "For the life of me, I don't know how the cops found it."
"What did we lose?" To the point, as always. Bane wanted to know the extent of the damage.
"A lot of guns, a good chunk of our grenades and RPGs, some ammo. None of our heavy artillery, though; that's still safe."
"For how long?"
Bird didn't have an answer for that. That was because he didn't know how the dump was found. And again, they had underestimated the cops, which was confusing the hell out of him. They hadn't been like this when he had left Gotham all those years ago, when Loeb had still been running things. The cops weren't suppose to be like this. They weren't supposed to be good at their jobs.
Back then, they had been pussies, every single one of them terrified by the sight of a mobster. Falcone had seen to that. He guessed the mob had lost its touch and the answer as to why that was was obvious. Whoever Gordon was, he was no Loeb, that was for sure. That asshole had the GCPD acting faster and more efficient than anticipated.
It was a black mark on Bird since he had assured Bane that the cops were going to be a cakewalk.
"Things get worse, though," Bird continued, because there was no way Bane wouldn't find out this next part. "Instead of telling the whole world about the cache, the cops kept quiet and let a few of our men get ambushed there. One managed to slip away and that's how we even know about this."
"How many did we lose?"
"Four, but after that other disaster, we're really starting to feel the pinch," Bird answered frankly. The ninja attacks; they were still trying to recover from those, so this raid and ambush from the cops couldn't have come at a worse time.
The water shut off. There was movement along with the sounds of rustling fabric. Bane stepped out of the bathroom, mask in place, but missing the tubes in the back of his head. "I grow tired of these losses. We need to regain the initiative and place our enemies on the defensive. I have not come this far to be routed now."
Bird knew that tone of voice. Many a time had Bane used it back in Pena Duro. It was a sign of restlessness, or flat out frustration. Should anyone say or do or be in the wrong place, the masked man would show no hesitation in unleashing his fury on them.
Back then, Bird had the protection in the form of his knowledge on Gotham. But now? Now that they were in Gotham and things weren't going according to plan, the possibility that he was expendable grew by the hour. Yes, Bane did reward loyalty, but he did not tolerate failure. It was only a matter of time until enough failure settled on those massive shoulders, then loyalty wasn't going to cut it.
So he must tread lightly here.
"Perhaps we need to start recruiting?" Bird suggested.
Bane turned his head just to look at him from the periphery of his eye. "Explain."
"Since our manpower is taking a hit, and we're not anywhere close to home, maybe we need to start looking for some local talent," the blond man explained, doing as told. "There has got to be some people here willing to come onto our team, whether because they want a piece of our pie, or they're too scared to stand up to us. They're a resource we could use to bolster our ranks."
"And would they remain loyal to me?" Bane asked sharply. "I chose Zombie, Trogg, and yourself for my inner circle, and you have in turn given me your loyalty. The men from Santa Prisca know me; they know what I am capable of, how I liberated them. These Gothamites have no history with me, and based on the information you have provided to me, they are selfish and will place themselves over me. How can I expect them to die for me if they have no loyalty for me?"
"Then we give them something to be loyal about." Bird shrugged his shoulders almost helplessly. "I know you mentioned me, the guys, and everyone else, but you always did something to earn our loyalty. It's the same concept here, just not in Santa Prisca. If you know how these people tick, they'll be in the palm of your hand."
When Bane didn't immediately shoot the idea down, Bird knew he was on to something. Nonetheless, he remained silent, allowing the mountain of a man to think. Who knew what thoughts passed behind the blank, red eyes of that mask?
Finally, after a long period of silence, Bane spoke, "Have you any candidates in mind? To whom shall I extend my hand?"
Bird couldn't hold back his smirk. "Ever since I came back here, I've been hearing about a new element in this city. They aren't the traditional type. In fact, they didn't start showing up until after the Batman appeared. It's like some kind of response to him. The old guard didn't stand a chance against them, the cops couldn't handle them; they're a force of their own reckoning. I think that plant lady is considered one of them."
"Wild cards," Bane mused. "Their abilities make them difficult to combat. However, the same could be said about controlling them. If these wild cards cannot be controlled, they can pose a threat to myself and my conquest."
"Unless given a motivation to be controlled," Bird pointed out.
"I do not like the thought of trusting those...new elements. However, I refuse to allow my enemies to continue bleeding me dry," Bane remarked. "Go. Seek them out and bring them to me. Find the ones that can be bent to my will, but make sure what they offer is worth my time."
"Only the best," Bird promised.
They were going to have to be. He was going out on a limb here, one that if broken would take him with it. Bane did not need to make any threats to make that much clear; past experience was more than enough. Those who failed too often, no matter how loyal, would pay the price.
Bird would make sure that was one price he would never pay.
Harbor House was a sprawling mansion on the outskirts of Gotham. It had been constructed at the eve of the city's founding, funded by a Frederick Powers.
His descendant Joseph Powers was currently incarcerated as a leader of the Court of Owls.
Though he was aware of the paltry criticism—as minute as it was—Ra's was very well aware that Harbor House was still in possession of the Court of Owls. In fact, that was why he suggested it. If there was one place the Court in its entirety would gather, it would be here.
His suggestion that it was a neutral site was just a way for these people to underestimate him.
Because the Court was comprised of members from an older generation, they had steadfastly refused to allow Harbor House to fall into squaller. It was regularly maintained, a support staff constantly ensuring all was polished and presentable. The main room was lavishly decorated with tapestries and artwork, some of which Ra's could date three centuries. In fact, one of the tapestries he recognized as a copy of one he kept in a French villa. At worst, he could not fault them in their taste in decor.
As expected, Ra's al Ghul was escorted into the main room, Talons standing guard on either side of the entrance. A couple more were positioned at the back corners of the room, the only ones the Court were allowing to be seen. No doubt there were others in hiding and they would remain that way unless provoked. Behind Ra's, Ubu and Talia flanked him, the boy having been confined to Wonder Tower. His presence would only be a weakness to these people and the Demon's Head never revealed such openings.
Before him, seated in ornamented, high-back chairs, were the remaining leadership of the Court of Owls. Four men in suits and a women in an evening gown watched him approach from behind their porcelain white masks. For a moment, Ra's felt disappointed. Even in a place of their power, they only sent out a few to welcome him.
"Welcome, Honored Guest," one of the men spoke, standing up as he raised an arm up above his head. "The Court of Owls welcomes the Demon's Fang to Harbor House."
"Your welcome is received," Ra's replied as he came to stand before them. "It would seem our surroundings were wisely chosen."
A couple of the court members glanced to each other knowingly, something that did not go unnoticed by the ancient man's eye. "Yes, your choice was excellent," the same court member agreed with him as he took a couple steps so that he stood before the Demon's Head. "Before we go any further, however, I must apologize for the lack of a welcome committee. All has not been good fortune for the Court as of late."
"Is that so?"
"Yes. Before you stands the last remaining members of the Court of Owls. Though our numbers have dwindled, we have only consolidated our power."
It seemed Ra's owed the Detective an apology. He had been more thorough in his hunting of the Court, squeezing them until their numbers had come to these paltry few. That made his job all that much easier.
"I understand you wished to enter a parlay," Ra's intoned, diverting the subject from the initial presentation to the heart of the matter. "It would please me to begin the proceedings."
"As you wish, Ra's al Ghul," another of the men replied. The Demon's Head did not respond to the use of his name. He was unaware that they knew of him and that was concerning. That would require further investigation.
However, he did have an idea as to their method of acquiring of his identity.
"Since the founding of Gotham, the Court of Owls has ruled over it like an owl over its nest," the first court member began. "And as a meadow is an owl's territory, this city is ours. Your incursion into our territory is most troubling to us."
"We would like to know what your intentions are to Gotham," another spoke. "And we would like to assist on this endeavor."
"You wish to seek an alliance?" Ra's questioned.
"Only under the terms that it speeds up your removal of your organization from this city," the same court member replied. "If you have mechanizations for this city, we will be at odds. If you are only here for a small matter, we would like to assist in its success."
The way these people spoke, it was as if they believed themselves to be equals to the Demon's Head. What arrogance. The gall. All of this, Ra's suppressed as he coolly gazed over them. "I suppose you will unleash your Talons against me if I refuse?"
"Only if you are a threat," the first court member assured him. "And as you know yourself, your mere presence is a threat to all."
So that was a yes. "How would the Court benefit the Demon's Fang? Our organizations are...similar. What could you promise that my own men cannot accomplish?"
"As we've said, Gotham is ours. No one knows it quite like we do, from the tallest of skyscrapers to the bricks in its foundation. The Court of Owls is Gotham."
Ra's shook his head. "No, you are no longer."
Those words froze the Court. "I beg your pardon?" the court member asked.
Suddenly, Talia and Ubu acted. With her arms shooting up, Talia had two handguns in her grasp. With a squeeze of their triggers, she fired her weapons simultaneously, her aim ringing true as the heads of the Talons at the back of the room jerked backwards, splashes of blood coating the walls behind them.
In the meantime, Ubu had spun around to face the two Talon guards at the door. Raising one arm up, his hand a fist, a dagger fired out from the gauntlet on Ubu's wrist, the knife impaling one of the Talon's through his throat. Without hesitation, the manservant darted to the dying assassin as they gagged around the steel in their airway. Reaching out with his other hand, he grabbed the hilt of the Talon's sword and drew it, bringing it up just in time for the other Talon guard to strike at him. The clashing of their blades rang throughout the room.
Just as suddenly as they collided, both men pulled back their swords, only to slash at each other again. However, the moment each blade collided with the other, Ubu immediately parried his foe's sword, then promptly cut his sword from one side of his body to the other before him. This allowed him to slice the Talon's sword arm clearly from his body, causing blood to spray out of his newly-formed stump, a wild scream tearing out of his mouth.
With one large step, Ubu made to end the assassin's pain, running his sword through the Talon. The screaming ended just as abruptly.
That, of course, was not the end. Panels in the ceiling suddenly burst apart, five assassins of the Demon's Fang dropping to the floor. They landed silently behind each chair belonging to the court members, their legs bent to brace against their landings. Each one held out swords, stained with fresh flood that dripped from their sharp edges. Undoubtedly, that was the blood of recently deceased Talons.
Suddenly, parts of the walls to the sides and at the back exploded, sending pieces of sheetrock and wood in all directions. More assassins poured into the room, each one coming to stand in an offensive stance, their weapon of choice—be it knife, sword, or gun—held at the ready.
That was when each court member found a sword pressed up against their throats. "What is the meaning of this?!" one of them demanded.
"I thought that would have been obvious," Ra's al Ghul intoned blandly. "I have refused your offer."
The men and woman were quiet, each trembling with terror. "Now, it is time for you to listen," the Eternal Man spoke. "It has been far too long since your Court was powerful. Your hubris and opulence led you to where you are now, at the mercy of myself."
"But why?" one of them asked, their voice shaking with fear. "Why are you doing this?"
Ra's tilted his head back, haughtily looking down on them. "It is not for my glory that you have been reduced to this state. It is for a man I once respected that my will be done this night. Long ago, there was a man who I personally trained. He was the most capable student I had the pleasure of teaching and his aptitude was a marvel in and of itself.
"But then he left. I was...disappointed in his decision, and all those I sent after him were returned in pieces. He is perhaps the only man to leave the Demon's Fang successfully.
"A man such as this is one you never leave unwatched. So I watched and observed as he found his way to your doorstep, becoming one of your greatest weapons...and then to see you casually discard him in favor of advancing technology, all the while his loyalty never wavered until his demise."
Ra's then leaned towards the court member standing before him, his blue eyes ablaze with fury. "You ask me why I now hold you at sword point? Now I respond: it is for my respect of David Cain."
In an instant, the court member stilled. Had it not been for their bleach-white masks, the ancient one would have witnessed the paling of their faces. Perhaps their masks would suffice instead.
"Now, there is one thing you can assist me with. When Cain left the Demon's Fang, he took with him a child. I would very much like them returned to me."
And then the shaking recommenced. "We…" one of them sputtered. "We don't know what Cain did with...this child. Are you sure he took one?"
So Cain kept the child a secret. Pity. It was wise of him to do so, but still, pity.
Straightening out his posture, Ra's looked down at the Court from his nose. "Look around you. Your last stronghold has been breached. Your last remaining Talons have been dispatched. You are the last of your people. How you believed yourselves to be my equal is sheer delusion. I lured your here with the assumption that this stronghold of yours was neutral territory. As you lulled yourself into complacency, my men found yours and slain them. I was firmly in control of this house before I ever stepped foot into it."
His eyes hardened. "I have been around for hundreds of years, longer than the years you have lived combined. I have clashed with some of the most brilliant military minds the world has ever known. I have withstood all forms of assault and treachery from people with power beyond your imagination. No, your standing this night is that of a mouse to a lion and you will be torn to pieces by my fangs."
Quivering, the woman asked, "What are you?"
"I am the Head of the Demon and you are nothing."
Simultaneously, his assassins slashed with their blades, blood erupting from the court members' throats. With a flourish of his cloak, Ra's turned his back on the dying fools, marching towards the room's exit, Talia and Ubu following his lead.
And thus was the ignoble end of the Court of Owl.
The Network was in action. Following the Monster Man incident, it was decided they couldn't hold off not gathering more intel on their situation. While Bane was the major player in town, one that they needed to figure out how to take down, it was clear there were other players at work as well.
Namely, the person that unleashed the Monster Man. It was no accident that brute had been set out into the city. Now, whether that was an omen of things to come, or just an accidental experiment gone wrong, was unknown. They needed to get to the bottom of this quickly.
So it was decided that the Network would divide into two groups. One would be looking into Bane's activities while the other delved into the Monster Man mystery. After much discussion, Huntress was chosen to look into the Monster Man.
That wasn't her first preference for the record.
She much rather preferred sticking it to Bane. However, the reason for her inclusion on the Monster Man case was due to the fact the GCPD had it in their custody. It was then theorized that since she had spent so much time with Batman, she could get into the place easily and get the info they needed.
Never would she thought her time with Batman would bite her in the ass like this.
So she begrudgingly accepted the assignment. Even as she navigated the ventilation system, she internally grumbled. At the very least, she wasn't alone.
Behind her, she could hear the sounds of the rest of her team following her through the shaft. Manhunter had elected to come with her—why, she didn't know since they were cordial to each other at best and blew each other off at worst—along with two of the rookies. Bluebird and Spoiler were taking up the rear, making the most noise out of the four of them.
A big reason why those two were with her was their vulnerability going up against Bane. If something went down on the Bane operation, they weren't exactly in the best position to protect themselves. Huntress had raised that same concern with the even greener Red Hood, but Nightwing said he would be keeping an eye on the kid. At the very least, they agreed that of the three, two of them had to be on the "safer" op.
So Huntress had a plan in mind for them. Bluebird had the big taser gun on her, so she would keep an eye on the door to the Monster Man's cell. Spoiler could act as an advanced scout to alert them to approaching cops. In the purple-clad woman's mind, that seemed like the best use of their skills at the moment. Plus, if need be, it kept the two of them far away should the Monster Man try to go on another rampage.
Up ahead, Huntress caught sight of a grate. Keeping at her pace, she reached it after a minute or so, peering through the openings into the room beyond it. Due to the GCPD bursting at the seams with criminals, they had to get creative with how and where to store the Monster Man.
Their solution turned out to be the basement.
The Monster Man was covered in chairs and large ones too. You could've tied an elephant with them from how big they were. Its back was pressed up against the wall, the chains pinning it to the brick surface. It's arms were spread to either side while the legs were tied together. A light from a hanging light fixture was the only source of lighting on. Hopefully there were other lights since Huntress was willing to bet someone would be sued for these conditions.
Searching the rest of the room, she found no signs of the cops. That didn't set well with her considering how much effort they had taken to take this bad boy down. Then again, they didn't want to let the cops know they were even here.
They would just have to be on their guard.
Working on the grate, it took awhile before Huntress managed to remove it from the vent, letting it drop to the floor below. She winced at the sound of it clattering below. "You couldn't have made that louder?" Manhunter grumbled from behind her.
Hey, this isn't as easy as Batman made it look, alright? Huntress groused in her head. Slowly, she slid forward and poked her head out into the room, looking around for the police and finding none. Waiting several more moments, she listened intently for the sound of approaching footsteps, hearing none.
Okay, this lack of security was really getting absurd…
That's when she froze. As she looked to her left, she caught sight of something out of the corner of her eye. Twisting her head so that she looked up at the ceiling, she caught sight of a security camera, one that was trained on the Monster Man. No wonder the cops seemed so lax with security.
"Okay, we've got one camera watching the Monster Man," she spoke softly as she turned her head to look back into the ventilation shaft. "I can see...only the one."
"That's not something we can just turn off," Manhunter responded. "We tamper with that thing and we'll cause the entire building to come running down here."
That was Huntress' thought exactly. Suddenly she wished she was paranoid about how weird there weren't any police down here.
"I think I can do something about that," Bluebird suddenly said. "If you give me a few minutes, I might be able to loop the video feed and no one will be the wiser about it."
Hmmm, it seemed it was a good idea to bring Bluebird with her. "What do you need to do?" she asked immediately.
"I just need access to the camera itself."
"Okay. Manhunter and I will position ourselves on the floor, out of sight of the camera. Bluebird, work your magic; do whatever you have to do. Spoiler, stay in the shaft until we have the all-clear. If things change, I want you to bolt and let the others know what happened here."
Without waiting for confirmation, Huntress maneuvered herself out of the vent, dropping to the floor where she landed silently. Immediately, she moved to stand right beneath the security camera, looking up at it to make sure it didn't suddenly tilt downward. While unlikely, one didn't take unnecessary chances.
Manhunter soon landed on the floor, the sound of her feet echoing throughout the room. The Monster Man growled, twitching for a moment before going still. The brunette stared at it for a moment before she slid into the corner.
That's when Bluebird poke out of the vent. However, instead of dropping to the floor, she pointed her grapple up to the ceiling and fired it. The bang got everyone's attention, along with the grapple claw hitting the ceiling and digging into it. Looking up, Huntress glared at the girl before glancing back to the Monster Man. It was now staring right at them, giving them a look that sent a shiver down the dark-haired woman's spine.
But then it hung its head much like it had been doing previously. That caused the vigilante to frown. She was certain the monster would try ripping itself from the wall to attack them at first sight. This passive behavior was strange.
Looking back up, Huntress then saw Bluebird hanging from the ceiling, a hand stretched towards the camera. Actually, make that two; somehow she had connected her grapple to her belt and it was suspending her from the roof, allowing her to use both of her hands.
Several minutes went by, Bluebird only pausing long enough to pull something from her belt and hook it to the camera. After awhile, she gave the all-clear. "Alright, we're the invisible women," she announced, keeping her tone down, but loud enough for the rest of them to hear.
"How did you do it?" Spoiler asked as she looked out of the vent shaft.
"I just rerouted the feed and made a short video of it, maybe three minutes worth of tape and put it on loop," the other girl answered. "It's not all that hard for me since I've worked as a technician before."
How handy. Huntress then snapped her fingers at the two, causing them to look down at her. She made a gesture for them to shut their traps and then another for them to take their posts. Returning her attention to the Monster Man, she then began to make her way towards it, a hand on the handle of her crossbow. Manhunter was right at her side, one hand behind her back and gripping one of Huntress' spare bow staffs, in its retracted state naturally. No need to alert this creature as to what they were packing.
Eventually, they came to a stop in front of the brute and Huntress couldn't help but notice how much slack there was in the chains. She figured those chains would be tight.
However, as she began to study the Monster Man, there was a part of her that felt it seemed smaller. She was pretty damn certain it was a towering colossus when they first ran into it. Now though, there seemed to be a loss of muscle mass and it was taking on more human-ish features.
"Tell me if this is strange or not, but doesn't this thing look like someone to you?" Manhunter suddenly asked her, her voice a low whisper.
Glancing to its face, Huntress paused. Now that the brunette mentioned it, this did look like someone. It wasn't someone she knew personally, but she was acquainted at best. The dark hair, the Italian features—and she knew those features pretty well—she was certain this was an Italian mobster. Or at least once had been.
"Maybe he's one of the Italians?" Huntress suggested.
"I think so too," Manhunter agreed. "I think I've seen this guy before. He's...bigger...than the photo I've seen…"
Huntress zoned out at that point. An Italian that Manhunter saw a photo of? There weren't too many candidates that could be. The only people she could think of that would've shown the brunette photos of Italian mobsters would've been the Birds and it would've only been those of high rank—the Mob Boss and his lieutenants.
So Huntress began running through all of the top Italians should could think of, the ones that had lingered in Gotham. A few she immediately discarded due to the fact they were fat slobs and didn't have the physique to look this buff. Eyeing the Monster Man's face, she started to see a resemblance to one and the longer she stared, the more she thought she had her man.
Holy crap, this was Mario Falcone.
Again, she was acquainted with Little Mario thanks to her father's connection to the Maroni and Falcone crime families. They had met a couple times and her best impression of the guy was that of a stuck-up punk. Had he been born into any other family, he would've had his ass kicked on a daily basis. With Falcone's name attached, it ensured no one messed with him.
Well, at least until now.
Swallowing deeply, the purple-clad woman said, "I...I think this is Mario Falcone," which got Manhunter's attention immediately.
"Are you sure?" she demanded.
"Pretty damn sure. What happened to him?"
When Manhunter didn't immediately respond, Huntress figured that was a pretty damn good question. How had skinny, wimpy Mario Falcone become this massive hulk? And why did he seemingly lose his mind? It was like he took a massive steroid and went on a roid-rage rampage.
"Maybe we should ask him?" Manhunter suggested after awhile.
Huntress gave her counterpart a look. Oh yeah, like asking would get Mario to spill his guts. He was still twice their size and in restraints. Not to mention he looked completely zoned out now that she was closer and looking him in the eye. "Just for that, you can ask him," she shot back.
That earned her a glare from Manhunter, but the brunette took a step forward. "Mario Falcone?" she began.
A groggy grunt came from Mario's lips as his head leaned towards the woman. Well, at least it seemed they were on the right track with the Monster Man's identity. "Mario, I need you to tell us what happened to you. How did you become...like this?"
Mario gave her an empty stare, as if no one was home. But then he began to speak, or at least attempt to. Something garbled came out of his mouth and Huntress had no idea what it was. She thought she caught a word here and there, but nothing made sense. Looking to Manhunter, who returned the look, the brunette vigilante then attempted another question, "Who did this to you?"
Again with the garbled answer, but Huntress did catch something. "Gaaaahhhh bastaaaaaarhhh bald, cccchhhhheeeerrrr uhhhhh man, wiiiffffffff beard."
Bald, man, beard. That had to be a description and a limited one at that. So they were looking for a man who was bald, but had a beard. Add in the fact he was using Mario as a lab rat, which meant he had to be some sort of scientist or something.
Man, bald, beard, scientist. Huntress felt her eyes narrowing. She knew of a scientist that was bald and wore a beard. In fact, he was a pain in the ass for Gotham, giving it immeasurable amounts of grief.
The man in question was unaccounted for considering the breakout at Arkham. He also had a history of experimenting on people and this had to be his latest creation. Suddenly, Huntress understood the deep loathing Batman seem to have at the thought of the guy.
Strange.
With half their forces doing follow-up on the Monster Man from last night, the other, male-dominated half of the Network had the honor of keeping track of Bane's movements. While they had no idea where the big man was, settling for his underlings would have to do.
Like with Bane himself, you had to find these guys first. In a city as big as Gotham, that wasn't going to be easy. You would think it would be easy picking a bunch of Santa Prisca mercenaries out of a group of mainly white people, some minorities mixed in for flavor. Except this was America, melting pot of the world. You had all sorts of types, socioeconomic standings be damned.
So yeah, racial profiling wasn't working. Time to bring in some big guns.
So working in tandem with Oracle and her facial recognition software, the group of vigilantes' combed over one section of the city at a time. It was lucky that Oracle had gotten the mugshots from the mercenaries that had been captured before. It made things easier on her part. Not theirs, because they had to be in the city, looking down on people and everything.
Of course, they couldn't be too far apart; they couldn't waste precious time scrambling over buildings to get to a sighting. Who knew if something would happen in that window?
So they were spread out with Katana and Green Arrow soloing it while Nightwing kept Red Hood attached to the hip. Neither of them were happy with it, but when it came to investigations, Hood was not a good choice for it. At least Bluebird and Spoiler could keep quiet enough to let the others do what they needed to do. Huntress and Manhunter had to know what they were doing, right?
"Christ, this is boring," Red Hood grumbled.
"Did you think this was going to be a non-stop action flick?" Nightwing retorted.
"I can barely see anything up here!" the younger vigilante complained. "And I'm only getting the top of people's heads!"
"If you have a better way, I'm all ears," he quipped back. "We don't have to like it, but it needs to be done."
"Freakin' ridiculous," Red Hood muttered, but fell silent anyway. There was a part of Nightwing that agreed with him, but again no one had come up with a better way other than to get Oracle helping out. That was on top of her doing everything else she was doing so it wasn't high priority for her.
"Anything?" he asked into his earpiece.
"Not yet," Green Arrow reported. "Still keeping my eyes peeled."
"Nothing," followed up Katana. She didn't add anything else so she must be done speaking. Then again, he rarely recalled her being the talkative type. Last he saw her, before she took up her own perch, she had her hand fused to her sword. Guess last night really shook her up.
It didn't need to be said to "keep looking," and since they were all—most of them—professionals, he didn't. Of course, the minutes kept ticking by with no luck, but that seemed par for the course.
Then, without warning, Katana spoke up. "I have two possibles. They are on a straight path on Beverly, about to reach the intersection with Moss."
There was a moment of silence; Oracle would already be on the case for an ID. As much as Nightwing wanted to keep his attention on the street below, he was distracted by the promise of a lead that would allow him to do more than what he was already doing.
"Oh yeah, right on the money. You guys know what you need to do."
"Beverly and Moss," Nightwing said to his younger teammate, already firing a zipline to the other end of the street. While trusting Katana to keep an eye on their targets and to not let them slip away, it was best to catch up as fast as they could.
"Great, more running," Red Hood sighed, but he had already pulled out the appropriate grip from his belt and was attaching it to the line. Across the street the masked teen went, Nightwing following a second later. Reaching the other side, a couple of button presses later had the zipline disabled and the cable being gobbled up by the device.
Of course, every second's delay had him all that more antsy. What if something happened? What if, against all logic, Katana lost them? More eyes, they needed more eyes, to make sure that this latest lead was not lost to them.
To his annoyance, Red Hood had waited for him instead of being on the move, but he pushed that aside, instead taking the lead with a dash. Beverly was this way, right? If he held any doubts, they were dashed when he spotted another figure heading in the same direction. The outline of a bow gave it away. Green Arrow was with them, good, good.
What felt like too long, but was probably less than a minute, the group of three became four when they met up with Katana, sword still sheathed, but watching the street like a hawk. Without even looking up, the Asian woman said, "The pair at the crosswalk. One has a hood over his head. The other is in a coat."
It took a second, but he spotted the pair. If you didn't look too hard, the two men would blend in with the crowd easily. However, when they began moving, it was obvious that they weren't locals. They walked fast, with purpose, a classic military swagger. Sure, there were others like that, but this was more pronounced. Like they were on a mission right now.
"So how are we going to do this?" Red Hood asked, his voice hushed, almost breathless. "When are we going to take them?"
"We're not going to do anything to them. Not yet," Nightwing said, getting a "hmm" of agreement from Green Arrow.
"What? Why not!" Red Hood exclaimed, voice louder.
"Keep it down and in our pants," Green Arrow chided.
"What he said," Nightwing agreed.
"But they're right there! We can take them!" Red Hood pressed, gesturing to the moving pair with an arm.
Katana was already on the move, keeping them in sight. Green Arrow was following after her while Nightwing went slower, mainly because he needed to talk the younger male down.
"Why are they out here? Could it be they're going somewhere?" Nightwing asked rhetorically. Before Red Hood could give him an answer, "These guys aren't going to be out in public for no reason. They're going somewhere. Why not find out where?"
"Why not drag them off the street and make them tell us?" Red Hood retorted.
"And maybe get the wrong information? Nah, it's best to catch them with their pants down." The earlier reference to pants was not on his mind when he said that. "Plus, we'll have a better idea of what they're up to. Bane has them out for a reason and we need to find out what."
"And we could do that if we grab them now!" the masked teen continued to argue.
"Are you Batman?" he asked unexpectedly.
"What? Why the fuck are you asking me that?" Red Hood demanded.
"I've seen Batman work," the older vigilante continued. "When he does his thing, people are scared of him. They'll tell him whatever he wants to know. But none of us are him and Bane's guys aren't afraid of us. Let's say we grab them, the most we'll probably get is a 'go to hell,' or a 'we're loyal to Bane,' or 'do your worst.' They're going to spit at us, mock us, and we're going to get nothing for it. So we're going to do what we need to do so that we can end this. It's gonna be long, it's going to be boring until we're fighting for our lives, and you may not like how we do this, but damn it, it's the only thing we have going for us.
"If we could have beaten this whole thing with our fists, we would have and it would be all over. But we did try that, you were there for it, and guess what, Bane can take a punch. So we gotta hurt him in another way. This is about being smart, not who's the toughest guy on the block. We're all in the big leagues, now that Batman's gone, and somebody has to fill his shoes if we're to do this. Since Gotham only has us, we'll have to do."
"Crock of shit," Red Hood muttered, and for a second, Nightwing felt really, really angry. Did this guy hear nothing he said? However, before he could say anything, the younger male spat out, "We'll do it your way—for freaking now."
And now wasn't about to end any time soon.
"Might want to keep your opinions to yourself right now," Nightwing instead advised. "I don't think the others are going to stand for that shit for long."
Setting out at a jog, he caught up with the other vigilantes, keeping watch on their quarry. If Red Hood thought this was all boring, well, it wasn't. Because if those two down there turned a corner anywhere, that would mean some serious running to make sure they didn't stay out of sight. Good thing one of them was always going ahead to make sure that someone always had a sight on them.
Eventually, Bane's men took a left, which had the vigilantes rushing to keep up. Where were those guys going? If they were going to keep this up, they were going to head right to the port.
Lo and behold, that's where they were going. Passing through a gate, the two men were heading to a warehouse. Close to it was a very large, very lifeless ship. On the side were the fading words ESPINA DE ROSA. Really needed a paint job. It was to the storehouse that the men entered and the vigilantes were there to slip in behind them.
"Doesn't look like there's any other way in," Green Arrow remarked.
"Hopefully the door doesn't squeak too loud," Nightwing said back. Lucky for them, Bane's men hadn't closed the door behind them, but the gap was way too small to squeeze through. They were going to need to be careful.
"Hold on a sec," Green Arrow said as he pressed himself against the building, peeking his head into the storehouse. Quickly notching an arrow, he held still for a moment before suddenly standing right in front of the gap and firing into the building. A second later, there were cries of surprise.
"Should keep them busy for a bit, let's get in there," the green-clad vigilante said. Figuring that it was a trick arrow that was fired, Nightwing was already grabbing the door and pulling, arms straining. Arrow was already helping to push and soon enough that had room to enter. Katana darted in, practically a blur of red and yellow.
Pulling out his escrima, Nightwing followed after, taking cover immediately so as not to make himself a target. Already, he had glimpsed a mass of rope—a net, he figured—so that's where these guys were. As for cover, well, that wasn't as easy, because there were stacks upon stacks of weapon crates. If you wanted to hide, you needed to stand on them. Well, he guessed taking cover was a bit of a bust.
One of the men had a knife on him, and by now had cut through the netting. With a heave, the other man tore himself from the damaged trap, a gun in hand and pointing in the direction of the three male vigilantes.
And Katana was slicing it in half an instant later, barely stopping as she spun and kicked the guy's feet out from under him. The man with the knife looked surprised, which left him open for Nightwing to club him from behind, a little electricity adding an extra motivator to fall unconscious. Meanwhile, Katana finished off the disarmed man by slamming the butt of her sword pommel into his face.
All in all, it too less than fifteen seconds to do.
"It's over already!" Red Hood cried out, voice full of disbelief.
"What did you expect? Big showdown with the help?" Green Arrow snarked.
"But don't we need them to talk?" the younger vigilante demanded, his gaze redirecting multiple times to give each of them an accusing look.
"Take a look around. These aren't some basic wooden crates. These are specially made to hold guns and all sorts of other goodies. This is a weapons dump," Green Arrow answered, gesturing around to all the faded green boxes. "Looks like Bane came prepared for war. Who knows how much is here."
"Which is why it's going to hurt him," Nightwing stated, trying to keep his awe at the amount of firepower that was in here. "Who knows if there are other places with more of this stuff in the city."
"And it'll be one less once a tip goes to the cops," Green Arrow added, lips curling into a smirk behind his curly goatee.
Yeah, it would, wouldn't it?
"Oracle, you hear all that?" he asked loudly, not bothering to put his hand up to his ear.
"Already calling it in." Fast worker, that girl.
"We need to stay until it is secure," Katana stared, eyes boring into the downed goons. "Others may show up."
"Then they'll join their friends here," Green Arrow stated. Looking over to Red Hood, he added, "Now's the part where we stand guard. If you thought things were boring before…"
Nightwing barely stopped himself from raising an eyebrow at Red Hood's scowl.
To Guest: I thought it was a nice scene too