They had rushed to the scene once they got word of what was going on. Bane, at City Hall, with hostages, and cops with itchy trigger fingers.

Not a good situation to put it mildly.

The Network was currently keeping out of sight of the spotlights the police were using, which put them on a building behind the perimeter they had made. The more experienced vigilantes were crouched by the ledge of the building while the younger ones were further back.

Mere moments ago, they had watched the SWAT team breach the building, disappearing inside. No doubt there was going to be a firefight between the cops and Bane's mercenaries. And since these mercs only had an allegiance to Bane, they would have no issue with putting their hostages in the line of fire.

So yeah, this was a powder keg ready to explode.

"I've got shots fired," Oracle reported then. She was keeping track of SWAT's progress over the police frequency; that was the first of the transmissions. "Sounds like...yeah, Bane's men have opened fired."

"With SWAT firing back too," Manhunter murmured.

There was several moments of silence before, "Oh geez, Bane's men were waiting for them. They had an ambush set up and SWAT ran right into it."

"So we get to go in and save their butts," Red Hood summed up, the kid entwining his fingers together before he stretched his arms out as far as he could, causing his knuckles to pop.

"For lack of better words, yeah," Huntress agreed as she shifted her weight on her feet. "But we have to be smart about this. This isn't us going to help these guys; we're probably going to have to fight both sides since Bane will want us dead and the GCPD has made it perfectly clear they'll arrest us on sight."

"We form teams," Black Canary joined in. "From where I'm looking, we'll want one team going through the roof, another through the back, and the other probably from the side. Oracle, which SWAT team is under pressure?"

"As of right now, the west side team is getting slaughtered," the hacker informed them. "They managed to radio their status right before the east side team was attacked, so they're holding their own right now. Regardless, both teams need reinforcements."

"Which means they'll be getting some pretty damn soon," Green Arrow added. "Whoever we send to help those guys needs to be able to get in and get out fast."

"Or maybe the police will be happy for our help?" Spoiler suggested. This caused all of them to look at her, which in turned caused the pink-clad girl to shrink in on herself a bit. "It's just a thought."

"We might have to stay out of sight," Nightwing said then, drawing the attention away from his hopeful student. "If that's the case, we'll need people that can get in and out fast, or attack from a distance and out of sight."

"And if we're going to send a team to the roof, we need people that can scale it quickly," Huntress added in.

"I'll be in the roof group," Red Robin volunteered. "I've got some gear that can get me and someone else up there quick."

"So teams of two?" Manhunter suggested.

"No, three at a minimum," Black Canary responded. "I'll be on the roof team too. I can at least scale the building quickly if Red Robin carries our third."

That was when Nightwing noticed Spoiler shooting her hand up, as if volunteering herself for that team. It hadn't gone unnoticed by him that Spoiler seemed to have a small crush on Tim and that was not something they needed on this mission. "Bluebird can be the third," he suggested, which caused Spoiler's hand to drop to her side moodily.

"Agreed," Black Canary replied.

"Then I'll be on the back team," Manhunter said. "No doubt there will be a lot of fighting back there, so we'll need some firepower there."

"If that's your rationale, then I'll be with you," Huntress responded. "I think between the two of us, we can kick some major ass."

"Oh, I'm totally there," Red Hood jumped in. "We send out best back there to put 'em down."

Immediately, Nightwing was ready to shoot that down. No way was he going to send Jason, their most inexperienced member to the place with heavy gunfire. In fact, he was planning on keeping the kid at his side as best he could. It was no secret he rubbed many of the Network's members wrong.

"That's a good plan," Oracle said then, stopping him from voicing his objection. "There's no SWAT team going through the back, so we could surprise both sides with our team going through there."

That gave him pause. The idea of sending a couple of the heavy hitters in to smash the fighting going on was a promising move. That Red Hood would be protected by both Huntress and Manhunter, along with a minimum amount of bullets coming their way during their breech was their best choice for him.

"That leaves Katana, Spoiler, Green Arrow, and myself in the last time," he then summarized.

That caused Green Arrow to shake his head. "I think we're forgetting something here, guys. What about Bane?"

Immediately, the dark-haired young man was shaking his head. "No way, we're not taking him on head on, especially with the GCPD gunning for us. That's just too much."

"That's not what I'm saying. Bane has joined every fight he's launched. A confrontation with him is inevitable if we let him dictate it. What we need is someone to keep a pair of eyes on him and alert the others to his movement, especially if he's heading to one of our teams. That way we have backup moments away rather than minutes."

"That's not a bad idea," Huntress admitted. "I can—"

"No, you stay with Manhunter and Red Hood," the archer immediately interjected. "If there's anyone of us that can keep themselves protected, it's me."

"Don't go all macho male on us," Manhunter shot back, a scowl on her face. "You're the out-of-towner here. The rest of us live and breathe Gotham."

"But all of you are used to being on teams," he returned, not the least bit affronted by the objection. "I've got more experienced working alone. I have my own city I watch over after all. And if Bane happens to catch wind of me, I can protect myself better than most. I'll watch him."

"I say we do as he says," Red Robin said. "We're running out of time now and there's no telling what's going on in City Hall. Now is the time for us to move in."

Red Robin was right. So Nightwing took charge. "That's fine. Arrow, find Bane and keep us updated on his movements. Canary, Red Robin, and Bluebird, get to the roof and work your way down. Huntress, Manhunter, and Red Hood, do what you do best from the back. Katana, Spoiler, and I will move in to help the west side cops."

"Go team," Red Hood said snarkily.

Huntress kept a hand on Red Hood's shoulder the moment they reached the back entrance.

There was no sign of activity here, a red flag in her mind. If there was ever a strike point, the back door was usually optimal, if not the most desired. Who wouldn't want to strike the enemy from behind?

Still, there had to be a reason the GCPD hadn't even bothered. There was a slight police presence back here, but it was more for setting the perimeter than anything. Perhaps if Bane's men tried to retreat, they would catch them here.

Manhunter was currently scouting out the area, which left her with the hot head vigilante buzzing with energy. A part of Huntress wondered what possessed Nightwing to let the kid put on a mask in the first place. He was too eager for action, didn't think things through, and had a temper. That was a trifecta of an accident waiting to happen.

Manhunter suddenly appeared next to them, breaking the purple-clad woman out of her thoughts. "The place is booby-trapped out the wazoo," the brunette reported, which caused Huntress to realize why the cops were ignoring this entry point. They wanted in the easiest way they could find and avoiding a deadly trap made sense. However, she could also see Bane wanting this as it reduced the number of fronts he had to watch, not to mention directing the police right where he wanted them to go.

This could work in their favor.

"Which points are covered?" she asked.

"The back door for one. The entire first and second floor windows too. There's a third story window that isn't rigged to blow, but I didn't want to chance it."

Seeing as they were on a rooftop, the dark-haired woman could see the entire third floor from her vantage point. All of the windows were intact and they were tinted so there was no way to determine what was behind them. "Which ones do you suspect are trap-free?"

"The three windows to the right. Those were the only ones I confirmed."

Immediately, Huntress had a H-shaped shuriken in hand. With a flick of her wrist, she sent it whirling through the air. It hit the third window from the right, breaking the glass as it vanished into the room.

For a couple minutes, they wanted, watching the room for any activity. When it became certain no one was checking the room, she then pulled out a two-way grapple. With careful aiming, she fired a line for the window, the grapple claw hitting towards the top of the glass and also disappearing into the room. The other end of the grapple fired a line then, digging into the brick of a nearby roof access.

Sure she had a secure line, she pulled out her cable clip and attached it to the line. From the corner of her eye, she saw Manhunter with hers in hand and Red Hood digging out his own. Without further waiting, she leaped off the roof, zip-lining towards the window. The wind battered at her body as her cape billowed out behind her. At the last moment, she swung her legs in front of her, her feet crashing and shattering the remains of the window. Glass flew all around her as she landed in the empty room, immediately darting towards the door where she positioned herself next to it, back against the wall.

Red Hood came in then, he too getting out of the way as Manhunter followed him a couple moments later. The room itself was an office, though thankfully the cluttered desk hadn't been positioned by the window, instead being by the wall Huntress was currently pressing herself against. There were chairs in front of it, but those were avoided by immediately releasing their cable clip upon entering the room.

"Oracle, we're in," Huntress reported. "We're on the third floor in an empty office. Where's the nearest patrol?"

The computer hacker was quick to respond. "No bogies close to your location, H. There's a stairwell close by. If you can take that to the second floor, you'll find a group of Bane's men."

"Roger." Huntress then glanced to the rest of her team before opening the door, poking her head out to make sure they were indeed in the clear, and found they were. Swiftly, she entered the hallway and located a door to a stairwell, which was perhaps a couple door down from the office they had broken into. All the while, she had a shuriken in hand, ready to use it.

Entering the stairwell, she made sure there weren't any of Bane's men here too and found it empty as well. Quickly, she descended to the second floor, Red Hood and Manhunter hot on her heels. Finding the landing for the second floor, again she opened the door and checked the corridor.

"We're on the second floor landing on the stairwell. Where are the targets?" she asked.

It took Oracle another moment to respond. "Go down the hallway to your right. That'll open into another hall and you should find them."

Huntress didn't bother responding, instead pulling out her bo staff and flicking the switch to extended it from its retracted state. Manhunter did the same with her borrowed staff while Red Hood held his fists at the ready.

Shoving the door open further, she entered the corridor and took a right, heading down the hall until she found the intersecting one she had been told of. Positioning herself at the corner, she peeked around it and found several of Bane's mercenaries gathered there, their backs to them.

Perfect.

Adjusting her grip on her shuriken, Huntress prepared to rush around the corner and throw it when it occurred to her these guys had machine guns. The distance between her and them was too great to close it quickly and take them down. She needed a distraction, something to confuse them long enough to reach them before they made Swiss cheese out of her.

Glancing back to her team, she eyed Red Hood's empty hands. "Hood," she whispered lowly, "get a smoke pellet ready. When I go in, I want you to throw it right in the middle of these guys."

"They too far away or something?" Red Hood retorted, though his voice was thankfully soft and low too.

"Yeah and they have machine guns. We swallow them up with smoke and they'll be too busy trying to get out of it and leave themselves wide open for us to pummel them."

Immediately, the youth had a smoke pellet in hand. "I got your back."

Huntress just nodded before she checked around the corner again. The men were still in place as if waiting for something, like a signal, or a sign the SWAT team incursion had gotten further than planned she suspected. Carefully she stepped into the hallway before she began picking up her pace. She launched her shuriken for the back of the nearest merc even as a flash of movement from the corner of her eye told her Red Hood had thrown his pellet.

The shuriken struck her target right where she wanted it too against the back of his skull, the merc crying out as he pitched head first forward. Before any of his friends could whip around, a cloud of smoke exploded from within the group, causing them all to shout with alarm.

Red Hood had some good aim, Huntress had to admit, even as she picked up her pace and raced for the growing smoke cloud. She could pick out two of Bane's men stumbling out of the cloud, coughing their lungs up.

A smirk appeared on her face as she leaped into the air, swinging her bo staff up and arching it down for a headstrike. Now came the fun part.

Green Arrow fired an arrow high into the air, a cord trailing behind it. It disappeared over the edge of the roof, leaving only the cable hanging down the side of the building.

Black Canary grabbed ahold of it and immediately began scaling up the wall. Hand over hand, foot after foot, she climbed up until she reached the top of the building. Shortly after, Green Arrow was on the roof after her.

A couple moments later, Red Robin shot up into the air, Bluebird holding tightly onto him. That incredible cape he wore was spread out much like a bird's feathers. She had to admit it was a nice look for him. She wondered where he got his hands on such a toy, not to mention the rocket boots to propel him up the side of City Hall. Allowing gravity to take hold, the two teens dropped down to the roof, landing on it with a thud.

"Have a nice ride, you two?" Green Arrow greeted them, raising a hand up to tip his hat to them.

"That was incredible!" Bluebird exclaimed as she pulled away from Red Robin, though she didn't go too far. If it weren't for her mask, Black Canary would've said the punk rock girl's eyes were shining. "The propulsion system allowing for maximum liftoff without putting strain on the user's legs coupled with the design of the cape and the electrical system! I could go on about how the electricity aligns the—"

"Whoa there," Arrow interrupted, holding a hand up to stop her. "I can appreciate your zeal there, but that's a conversation for later. You two could turn it into a date."

A scowl appeared on Bluebird's face. "Hey, this is purely professional."

"Yeah, professional," Red Robin murmured in agreement.

"And speaking of which, time to put our game faces on," Canary spoke, drawing all of their attention to her. "You," she pointed at the Emerald Archer, "go find Bane and keep him out of our hair." She then pointed towards Red Robin and Bluebird. "You two, follow me."

Green Arrow gave a salute. "Yes, ma'am." He then turned and jogged off to a different part of the roof, leaving the rest of their group behind.

Glancing about the roof, she spotted a roof access, looking back to her two younger teammates and nodding her head towards it. Without another second of hesitation, she began jogging towards it, the other two following behind her if the sound of their footsteps were any indication. Reaching the access, she took hold of the doorknob and twisted it, opening the door a moment later.

The landing beyond the doorway was empty as well as the set of stairs there after. Entering the small structure, she reached the railing and grabbed onto it, looking down the spiraling downward. No mercenaries or cops that she could see.

"Oracle, what's the status of the upper floors?" she asked as she began descending the staircase, Red Robin and Bluebird right behind her.

She got an answer when she reached the next landing. "Top floor, there's a few mercs. Looks like they're in position as snipers."

Then they knew exactly what they had to do. Going down another set of stairs and reaching the doorway to the top floor, Canary was careful to open it, checking the small hallway for threats and spotting a couple of mercs further down the corridor. They had rifles in hand, one keeping it at his side while the other was taking aim out of a window.

Leaning back into the stairwell, Canary made a gesture with her hand, extending her fingers out and pointing each one to her eyes. She then held them up, indicating that she saw two targets. She then folded the fingers together and pointed to the right, IDing their direction.

Red Robin placed a hand on Bluebird's shoulder while raising his other with one of his birdarangs. The blonde woman gave a sharp nod before she slowly pushed the door open, entering the hallway, holding the door open. Bluebird had her taser gun raised, the butt of the weapon pressed against her shoulder as she took aim. Red Robin inched into the corridor right after her, holding his birdarang up.

Quick as a whip, Red Robin threw his projectile, sending it sailing through the air. It flew down the hallway, arching inward slowly, where it collided with the back of the head of the merc aiming his rifle. His body lunged forward, damn near going out the open window. He would have if his friend hadn't shot his hands out to grab ahold of him.

That's when Bluebird fired her taser, the electric blast hitting the standing merc in the back. Immediately, his body went stiff, along with his comrade. The moment Bluebird released her trigger, both men dropped to the floor, smoke wafting from their bodies.

"That's two down," Black Canary said after awhile. "Only a hundred left to go."

The corridor was empty, dimly lit by the lights overhead. With an arrow notched to his bow, the arrowhead pointed to the floor, Green Arrow quietly stalked down the hallway, all of his senses on high alert.

He had had a few close calls already, though it was no fault of his own. He had come across a couple of Bane's men on just as many instances, thankfully alone each time. Putting them in choke holds until they fell unconscious had been easy.

The top floor had given him nothing. Bane was clearly not on it considering he checked every hallway, every room, and every corner. So he was on the floor below, staking it out.

The green-clad man came to a sudden stop. Around the upcoming corner, he could hear voices. They were staying about the same, so that meant whomever was speaking was staying in the same place. Edging towards the corner, Green Arrow soon pressed his back up against the wall next to it, slowly inching his head to peek around it.

He found a much shorter hallway, which opened up into another one that ran parallel to the one the archer was in. There were more lights in the other corridor, but no sign of the source of the voices.

Then he heard footsteps and he leaned back slightly. The voices grew louder until he could pick out what was being said.

"The SWAT teams are losing ground, if not already lost it," one voice reported. "We have one pinned down and soon to be exterminated. The other team is holding their ground, but we're starting to overtake them."

"What of the outside?" a clearly Hispanic-accented voice responded. Green Arrow narrowed his eyes as he recognized that voice belonging to Bane.

"The usual activity, but I have managed to hack into their radio frequencies. It appears they are about to launch a second offensive."

"Will we be able to fend them off?"

"If we can fully eliminate the first wave, then yes, we should be able to hold off the second. However, if the second wave reinforces the current numbers, it may prove more difficult."

"Then it is time for the next phase. Order the rockets."

The footsteps grew louder, meaning they were coming closer. "And where are we going?"

"To reinforce our own ranks. Bring the mayor. He may prove valuable to our cause."

That's when Bane appeared in Green Arrow's sight. The hulk was just as ominous as usual, appearing from beyond one corner and just as quickly vanishing past the other. Right behind him on either side were his two lackey's, Zombie and Bird, the former being the one speaking to Bane the entire time. A few more of Bane's men followed them, surrounding a restrained Mayor Hady, who looked as if he had seen better days, what with his hair a rumpled mess and his clothes clinging to him at odd angles.

Already, Green Arrow was worried. It was clear Bane had been anticipating everything the GCPD was throwing at him. Now he was moving onto his next phase, whatever that entailed. He held his position, even though he knew he needed to keep up with Bane's group.

But he also needed to alert the others as to what Bane was planning. Being this close might get him overheard. It was clear Bane had a destination in mind, so it wouldn't be too hard for him to catch up again.

Or so he hoped.

"Oracle," he pretty much hissed into his comm link. "I got some intel on Bane. He's calling in the use of rockets to use on the GCPD. I can't stop them and keep track of Bane at the same time."

There was a moment's silence before Oracle responded to him. "You stay with Bane," she told him. "I'll get ahold of one of the other teams and get them to find the rocket launchers. Keep feeding me intel on what Bane's planning."

"You got it. Just so you know, he's hanging onto Hady. It sounds like he has some plan for the guy. I'll keep you posted."

Cutting off the link, Green Arrow then hurried down the short hallway, doing his best to keep as quiet as he could. Reaching the end of it and positioning himself right next to the corner, he peeked around it and caught the backside of Bane's entourage towards the end of the hallway. Good they hadn't gone too far.

Now it was time to see how long it took them to realize they were being hunted.

With a running leap, Nightwing's foot pressed down against the wall, his leg bending before he sprung off of it. With a fist drawn back, the vigilante threw it, slamming his fist into a mercenary's face. The man cried out as he stumbled backwards.

A moment later and a birdarang whirled by Nightwing's head and collided with the same mercenary's forehead. His head snapped back, throwing him off balance as he fell to land on his back on the floor. Fortunately he didn't even so much as twitch.

That was when a blur of red and yellow raced by the male vigilante. There was a flash of steel and Katana's sword sliced right through the barrels of the next two mercs. The separated barrels flew through the air, the two men backing a step away more out of instinct than actual fear.

Unfortunately, the severed barrels weren't damaging enough to render the guns inoperable. Darting forward, Nightwing took to the air again, using their moment of hesitation against them. Flinging his feet up above his head as he went into a flip, the moment he was over the two men, he shot his hands down and grabbed each man by the sides of their heads. Quickly, he cracked their skulls together, knocking them out cold. Nightwing completed his flip, his feet touching down on the floor at the same time as the two mercs did.

While the dark-haired man had been expecting to face some resistance, if not the entirety of Bane's army, he hadn't expected it to be so soon. The SWAT team that had been sent here was all by decimated, leaving perhaps a couple men being pounded by a larger, heavily armed force.

That's where they entered.

Their strategy was simple. Katana and he would take the mercs on in close quarters while Spoiler stayed out of sight and used long-distance weapons. Obviously it was working.

"Is that all of them?" Nightwing asked as he looked around.

Katana was straightening out her posture, holding her sword at her side as she surveyed the hallway. "I believe so," she responded after awhile.

That's when Spoiler appeared, hurrying over to the two of them. Stepping over and around the dead officers and unconscious mercs, she only paused a couple times to pick up a birdarang lying discarded on the floor. "Where do we go now?" she asked as she came to stand next to Katana.

"We press forward," Nightwing responded as he began to turn away from the two women. That was his plan at least, right up until he heard a door open. Looking back and in between Katana and Spoiler, he could make out shadows dancing against the wall at the end of the corridor.

A moment later and more SWAT officers appeared, the beams from their laser-guided sights darting all over the place. "I've got three bogies," the first man said as he held his rifle up at his shoulder. "Safeties off."

Alarms were blaring in Nightwing's head. In an instant, he lunged towards Spoiler, wrapping his arms around her before he dove through an open doorway. Katana went in the other direction, taking cover in the room across the hall from theirs just before the sound of machine gun fire erupted.

Landing on the floor with his shoulder, Nightwing rolled onto his back, stopping even as Spoiler laid on top of him. He was quick to push her off of him and thankfully the pink-clad girl was able to get ont0 her feet, though she was looking right at the doorway, pieces of the door frame chipping off as bullets collided with it. "What's going on?" she cried out as she backed away towards the far wall.

Nightwing wanted to know the same thing even as he scrambled onto his feet. Sure, he was expecting the cops to arrest them, but he hadn't expected them to open fire. That was a drastic change in tactics and a dangerous one at that.

"You okay, Katana?" he asked over his comm link.

It took a moment before he received a response. "I am."

That was something at least. "Oracle, we have a situation," he then reported.

"What? What is it now?" Oracle snapped, which caused Nightwing to raise an eyebrow. Where was this short temper coming from?

"It looks like the cops are gunning for us. We're—"

Nighting stopped abruptly. He could hear them, footsteps. SWAT was right outside the doorway, doing God knows what. "Can't talk now," he whispered into the comm link as he dropped his hand from his ear.

He was just in time too as a small canister came bouncing in. It clattered across the floor, spewing out a thick smoke. Nightwing's eyes widened. SWAT was either trying to smoke them out, or blind them so that they could make Swiss cheese out of him and Spoiler.

Instantly, he kicked the can, sending it sailing back out of the room. Thankfully it didn't go into the room Katana had ducked into, instead ricocheting off the corner of the door frame and bouncing into the hallway. There were several cries of surprise as smoke began wafting in greater amounts beyond the doorway.

"Oracle, I need a way out of this room now!" Nightwing hollered into his comm link.

"Working on it," the hacker responded immediately. That wasn't the response he had been hoping for; he had been wanting to hear that she had one and was giving directions right then and there.

Thankfully, she didn't take but a couple seconds. "Above your head, there should be a ventilation grate. Pry it off and get in. You should be able to crawl over their heads while they're getting ready."

Nightwing didn't bother correcting Oracle about the SWAT team's current status of choking on their own smoke cloud. Instead, he located the vent she was talking about, finding it dead center in the ceiling. Spotting a desk, he hurried over to it and grabbed it, dragging it along the floor until it was right beneath the grate. Climbing on top of it, he was able to reach the grating and grabbed ahold of it.

Now, there came a problem. Right now, all he wanted to do was rip the cover off and get the hell out of that room. However, that would tell the SWAT team exactly where he and Spoiler were and all they would do was find where the ventilation duct went and fire into it. So to give them a head start, he needed to not damage the grate too bad, but that would cost them time they may not have.

Pulling on the grate slowly, but with increasing strength with every passing second, he managed to pull the grate right off its frame. Lowering it down, he then gestured for Spoiler to join him, which she quickly did, climbing onto the desk. Cupping his hands he held them low enough for the girl to put her foot in, then hoisted her up into the ventilation shaft. The pink-clad vigilante slipped into the shaft as fast as she could.

Kneeling, Nightwing then grabbed onto the vent cover and then leaped up into the vent. Finding that the shaft went in two different directions, the vigilante was able to maneuver himself inside, slipping his head and one arm on one side, then awkwardly pulling his legs in, then extending them down in the opposite direction. This allowed his other arm to dangle below him while holding onto the grate.

Once he was inside, he pulled the covering up and put it back in place. It wasn't perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but it was clinging to the vent. Looking up, he saw Spoiler further down the shaft, shuffling down it on all fours. Immediately, he began crawling after her.

"Oracle, Spoiler and I are in the ventilation system," he whispered. "Katana was in another room. Can you help us regroup?"

"Already on it," came the response, much to his relief. "You two keep following your shaft for the time being. Tell me when you're in a safe location. If anything changes, I'll tell you."

Nightwing nodded even though the computer hacker couldn't see him. "Be sure to tell the others the cops will be targeting them too. They're shooting to kill."

There was a long silence before he heard a sigh. "Consider it done." Then she added under her breath, "What are those guys thinking?"

He still heard her question thanks to her mike catching her words. Nightwing had the same question actually, but he was going to worry about that later. For now, he needed to catch up with Spoiler, rendezvous with Katana, then make a new plan. Fighting Bane and his men alone was not an option anymore.