Well, looks like we've hit a couple milestones. With this chapter, Clash of a Hundred Demons becomes the longest story of my and AV's series, while also becoming the most reviewed of the Batman stories. There's still some story left, though we are on the home stretch, so we'll see just how many more words we can get on this one. On a related note, this has also becomes my longest posted story as well.
Hope everyone continues to enjoy this story
"Canary, we've got trouble."
"What's going on?" Black Canary immediately asked, coming to a halt in the hall, a hand pressed against the comm link in her ear.
"Bane's sending a bunch of his men to the roof. They're carrying your choice in explosive weapons: rocket launchers, grenade launchers, etc. They're going to blow up as much of the GCPD as they can."
"We'll stop them," the blonde vigilante promised as she turned to face her younger comrades. "Change in plans, we need to head back to the roof. Bane's moving some serious hardware up there and a lot of people are going to die if we don't stop them."
"No pressure," Bluebird muttered as she adjusted her grip on her taser rifle.
Black Canary didn't bother to respond to that as she began making her way back to the stairwell before a thought occurred to her. Chances were Bane's men would be using the elevators to move their weapons. If there was a way to slow them down, it was to take out the elevators. And lo and behold, she had a genius electrician with her.
"Bluebird, we need to shut down the elevators. That way we can slow them down by forcing them to climb the stairs. That's where we'll take them down."
"On it," the blue-haired girl replied as she surged forward, passing the other two vigilantes as she went in search of the elevators. Reaching an intersecting hallway, she stopped by it, peeked around the corner, then disappeared into it.
"I'll go watch the stairs," Red Robin volunteered then. "Bluebird will need someone watching her back while she works on the elevators."
"Good idea." That's when Red Robin took off the down the hallway as well, but unlike Bluebird he kept going straight. Black Canary quickly went to the corridor Bluebird had taken and entered it herself. She picked up her pace, checking each hallway she came to and going down the ones she spotted Bluebird in. Eventually, she caught up with the girl just as she reached the elevators.
Immediately, Bluebird was on one knee, prying open the panel door that the up and down buttons were on. The moment she succeeded, a circuit board with wires all over the place came into view. Not the least bit deterred, Bluebird was rifling through the wires until she found the ones she wanted. Pulling out a pair of wire strippers from her belt, she singled out a blue wire and a yellow wire, placing them within the stripper and cut the colored insulation. The moment the copper wiring was exposed, she then cut the wires then twisted the frayed ends, the blue ones with a yellow ones. She then released those wires and went after a red and black pair, doing the same thing to them.
"That should stop the elevators," Bluebird said out loud as she continued to work, locating a white wire and a green wire. As she stripped the wires and then cut them, she continued to narrate, "And this should put them under lockdown." She then paused as she looked at the circuit board. Reaching into the panel, she began to fiddle with one of the circuits, prying it off the board. "Communications are down, so if there's anyone on board, they won't be able to use the phone nor can anyone outside speak through the speaker."
"What about the other elevators?" Black Canary asked as she glanced around them, making sure there weren't any of Bane's men stalking around a corner. "Surely there are more elevator shafts in this building."
"You're right." Bluebird stared into the panel, her eyes searching for something specific rather than dumbly. She then reached to her belt and pulled out a handheld device, one Canary wasn't sure what its purpose was for. Pulling out a cord from the device, she then inserted it into what looked like a phone jack port. Turning on her device, Bluebird began turning a knob on its side, staring at a screen on the device's face.
"There we are," the blue-haired girl said after awhile. There were a few buttons below the screen, looking very much like a dial pad for a phone. The blue-clad vigilante's fingers danced over the keys, inputting something. "I'm sending out an emergency signal through the operation program for the other elevators. This should lock them down as well, though it can be reversed a little faster than what I did to this one."
"That'll have to do," Black Canary said as she patted the younger vigilante's shoulder. "We need to regroup with Red Robin." She then pressed a button on her comm link. "Oracle, Bluebird just shut down the elevators. Let the others know."
After that, the two women made their way through the maze of hallways until they reached Red Robin, who was standing guard by the door to the stairwell. He had the door cracked open, his ear hovering by the door frame as he listened intently for something.
"I don't know what you two did, but it worked," he told them as the two reached him. "I just started hearing Bane's men on the stairwell and they don't sound happy."
"Just the way we want them." Black Canary edged towards the doorway. "Bluebird, I want you up on the next landing. Snipe as many guys as you can. I'll work my way downward to make sure they don't get to you. Red, do whatever you can to take out as many as you can. Watch each other's backs and don't get hurt."
There were sharp nods in response, the only one Black Canary was looking for. Without hesitating, she pushed the cracked door open further and slipped into the stairwell, Bluebird immediately following and climbing the stairs next to them. Red Robin was right behind her then, slowly closing the door behind them before joining her at the railing.
The sound of footsteps clomping down on the steps filled the stairwell, voices speaking in Spanish mingling to make a cacophony of noise. It was growing louder due to Bane's men closing the distance between them, or possibly more men entering the stairwell. Canary knew which option she preferred.
"I'm ready when you are," Red Robin whispered to the blonde, who only gave a sharp nod in response. Patiently they waited until the men were down on the next level.
That was when Black Canary began descending down the stairs, keeping close to the wall. She needed as much surprise on her foes as possible. She heard the sound of Red Robin firing his grapple gun up to the ceiling, though it was a softer noise then the louder bang she was used to. Because it was softer, it was lost in the shuffling of Bane's men.
The moment Canary reached the landing, she spied the tops of Bane's men's heads as they reached the next one, moving to begin mounting the next set of steps. With a long stride, the blonde vigilante leaped from her landing, soaring through the air as she leaned backwards and extended a leg out in front of her, the other bent at the knee. Her foot rammed right into the face of the first man, covering up his surprised look with her boot.
The force of the flying kick sent the man flying backwards, dropping the end of the wooden crate he was carrying. His back crashed into his friend, dropping both of them to the floor and sending their cargo crashing on top of the steps and sliding down them to the landing.
Black Canary was sure to land with her feet on either side of the two fallen mercenaries. Landing on top of them was a sure recipe for twisting an ankle, something she didn't need at the moment. A quick glance down told her both men were out for the count, so she stepped over them and turned to face the next couple.
As luck would have it, only one man had reached the landing while the other was still on the stairs, the crate held between them tilted downward. Startled by her appearance, the man on the landing grabbed onto the railing to keep himself from falling backwards, a moment of hesitation she wouldn't hesitate to take advantage of.
At least that's what she intended. Before she could act, a blast of electricity hit the railing by the merc's hand, sending bolts of electricity raising into his hand and up his arm. Instantly, the man went stiff from the shock, his eyes bulging, and teeth clenching.
Moving towards them, Black Canary went in low, swinging a low kick that knocked the feet out from beneath the man, causing him to fall awkwardly and let go of the handle to the crate he was holding. His head collided with the railing knocking him out cold and finally causing his hand to release the railing as he dropped to the floor. That is, his upper body ended up on the landing as his legs sprawled down the stairs behind him.
This entire exchange put the full weight of the wooden crate on the merc still on the stairs. With one end of the crate landing on one of the steps, the man tried to adjust his balance even as arms dropped down with the crate. To adjust his balance, he leaned backwards, which wasn't a good idea while standing on stairs. Eyes widening, the man fell backwards, screaming as he landed on the stairs and stumbled the rest of the way down to the next landing.
That was when Red Robin went zooming down the space created by the winding staircase. He had a pair of birdarangs in his other hand, but that was all Black Canary saw as she began climbing down the next set of stairs. She heard a couple more cries, which were followed by another wooden crate crashing down on the stairs, the blonde vigilante certain that Red Robin had struck his targets.
Continuing her descent, Black Canary activated her comm link. "How many more do you see, Red Robin?"
"Looks like...three more teams with boxes. I'm—whoa! Hold on!"
Black Canary slowed down her descent, her eyes darting to the grapple cable. She could see it shaking, a dry rustling sound being made before Red Robin shot up into her sight. The sound of gunfire rang out, explaining why he had cut himself short. As he rose higher into the air, he let go of the grapple even as he swung his legs forward, creating enough momentum to fling himself onto the set of stairs the blonde vigilante was standing on. Immediately, she shot her hands out to catch and help steady him as he landed.
"As I was saying," Red Robin said, acting as if what he had done wasn't a big deal. "Six men total making three pairs with boxes. They're armed obviously."
"Obviously," Black Canary responded with sarcasm in her voice.
That's when the blonde vigilante heard footsteps and jerked her head to look up the stairs. Bluebird had caught up with them, leaned over the railing while aiming her taser gun and fired. There was another scream and the girl leaned back out of sight from the machine gunfire that suddenly began pelting the area she had been standing in. "Make that five," she said right before there was the loud banging sound of someone or something—possibly both—hitting the floor. "Possibly four."
Almost there. Once she was sure Red Robin had his footing, Black Canary stepped back away from him. "We better go check," she said as she moved around the red-clad vigilante. Hopefully, they only had four more men to take care of, though if the resistance they had met so far was any indication, the rest of the mercs wouldn't be much trouble.
Red Hood had made sure he was on a team of badasses. Huntress was up ahead, a hand on either side of two of Bane's mercenaries and was cracking their skulls against each other. Ahead and to the left was Manhunter, who was facing towards him, a hand on a merc's wrist and the other at his belt. The merc was above her, practically lying on her back as she forced him over her shoulder and into a faceplant on the floor.
Yeah, these ladies were kickass.
So why was it he was stuck in the back?
Red Hood could feel himself getting irritated. Every since they busted in through the backdoor, Huntress and Manhunter had been leading the charge, all but blocking him off from the action. Yeah, he got his shot at a couple of mercs, but they were mostly guys the other two had left in their wake and he had made sure they stayed down.
Seeing an opening between the two women, Red Hood darted between them, squeezing his arms as close to his body so that he passed them without hitting them. Having to make sure his feet stomped on the floor rather than awkwardly on an unconscious body was tough, but he did it. Passing right by Huntress as she was dropping the two concussed mercs from her hands, Red Hood made a beeline for the next one, who was raising his machine gun towards him.
There was a flash of metal and one of those weird throwing stars Huntress used came flying by the charging teen, colliding with the merc's gun and knocked it cleanly out of his hands. The man cried out as he shot his hands to clutch at them, leaving him wide open for while Red Hood jumped the remaining distance between them. With a fist drawn back, he threw it, slamming it into the guy's face, causing it to snap to a side.
Feet landing on the floor, Red Hood immediately raised his fists up to assume a boxing pose. Immediately, he began throwing jabs, alternating with each fist as he popped the guy over and over in the face and chest. It was like he was a machine, just pounding the guy.
And then the merc shot an arm up and blocked one of his jabs. Immediately, he swung a punch at Red Hood, who also blocked it in turn. Instantly, he clinched the hand of his blocking arm, fingers curling like talons as he exposed his palm. Tilting his arm down, he then shot his hand forward, slamming his palm into the man's face and pushing him backwards a step.
Moving forward himself, Red Hood then swung a leg forward, kicking out the forward foot of the merc, causing him to stumble back further. Bringing both of his hands up above his head, he clasped them together tightly. Lunging forward he then swung them down, landing a jackhammer blow to the merc's face and finally knocked the man off his feet, where he landed on the floor hard.
Red Hood sucked in a deep breath as he stared at the guy until he was sure he wouldn't be getting back up. By then, Manhunter had shot by him, heading for another merc up ahead. As he followed the brunette with his eyes, he noticed there weren't that many mercs left in his hallway. They were almost done here.
He took another deep breath. Alright, it was time to suck it up and show these women just what he was made of. As he began to move forward something else caught his eye. Looking down, he found one of the machine guns the mercenaries were using.
Now there was something he hadn't given much thought to, but he was starting to wonder now of all times. For some reason, these vigilantes, or Network—whatever they wanted to call themselves—didn't use guns. They went to all of this effort to beat people down, refusing to kill them. All of that work seemed pointless when there were guns ready and willing to be used.
So why weren't they using guns?
Every thug, or punk, or gangster, or mercenary they put down was only temporary. Guns would make sure these guys never threatened anyone ever again. Hell, they wouldn't have to worry about them waking up while the fight was still going on. With everything that was going on, they couldn't afford scruples.
That's when he heard a lot of noise, causing his head to snap up. At the end of the hallway, more mercs were appearing, reinforcing the group that had been taken out. Jesus! There were a ton of them! Immediately dropping his eyes back to the gun, then up, then down again, he made a choice.
Dropping down to his knees, he snatched the gun up, pulling out the magazine to check if there were bullets in it, finding there were. Shoving the clip back in and grabbing onto the knob to reset the bullet chamber, he then took aim with the gun and opened fire.
Immediately, the mercs dove back into the intersecting hallway at the end of the hall, though a couple weren't as lucky as they took bullets to their legs and knees. The two men fell to the floor as they cried out, clutching at their bullet-ridden legs. Manhunter had managed to avoid the shots as she threw herself against the wall, pressing her back up against it as hard as she could.
Suddenly, the gun was ripped out of Red Hood's hands, stopping his firing. "What the hell do you think you're doing?!" Huntress roared as she hovered over him with fury. Red Hood wasn't able to answer her, not that he would. How dare she stop him from taking out those bad guys!
However, his indignation wasn't the reason he didn't respond. Instead it was the mercs at the end of the hallway darting back in and open fired with their own guns. Their return fire didn't last very long as Manhunter had pulled out what looked like a hockey puck from her belt and threw it at the mercenaries, the puck landing right by their feet.
Suddenly, a bright flash and a deafening BANG! rang out. Red Hood squeezed his eyes out of reflex, though the protective lens of his mask actually protected his eyes pretty damn well. His ears weren't so lucky as the bang left a ringing in them, causing him to feel as if he had no balance at all. If it weren't for him kneeling on the floor, he was sure he would've fell over.
He felt a hand grab onto his shoulder and squeeze it tightly. Looking up, he saw the hand belonged to Huntress as she used him to balance herself. Bitch, after what she did, what gave her the right to use him like a wall? He would have shrugged her hand away, but her fingers were damn near digging into his shoulder joint.
In the meantime, Manhunter was taking advantage of the time her flashbang grenade had bought her, the brunette flying down the rest of the distance between her and the mercenaries. She vanished around one corner, was there for perhaps several seconds before she darted back to the other side. This time, he saw a mercenary go flying through the intersecting corridor, appearing out from one corner, sailing through the air, and disappearing around the other corner.
That was when the ringing in Red Hood's ears seemed to grow louder and with greater intensity, causing the teen to wince. But then, the ringing began to break up and his hearing started to return to normal. Shaking his head, he began to get up, only to feel himself be forced back down to his knees.
Jerking his head up, he caught sight of the murderous look on Huntress' face and he realized that the purple vigilante wasn't using him to balancing herself—she was purposefully holding him down to the floor.
What the fuck?!
"What the hell are you doing?!" he demanded heatedly as he shot up onto his feet, rolling his shoulder to remove her hand from it as the muscles in his legs proved to be far stronger than her one arm.
"That's my question, Hood," Huntress shot back as she continued to loom over him. Damn it, she was tall. "Why did you use a goddamn gun?"
"Because they are!" He threw a hand out to the unconscious mercenaries on the floor. "Because they're not afraid to stop people with them!"
"They aren't trying to stop anyone. They're trying to kill people, plain and simple. That's the only thing these weapons are good for."
"You can use guns and not kill people," he retorted. He then gesture to the two men he had shot, who were still writhing around on the floor. Manhunter was walking by them at that point and purposefully kicked them both in the head, one at a time, to knock them out. "As you can see."
"And what about me?" Manhunter spoke up then as she moved towards them. "You could have hit me when you fired."
"Then maybe you shouldn't be in front of me, Manhunter."
"She had her back to you," Huntress seethed as she got up into the teen's personal space, which forced him to back a step away from her. "She had no idea you even had a gun, not to mention you didn't bother warning her, you reckless little shit!"
"But she's perfectly fine!" Red Hood shouted back. "You think I don't know how to fire a gun? Everyone in my neighborhood has one! You practically have to be an expert with one if you're going to survive! As you can see, I'm a damn good shot!"
"That isn't the point," Manhunter said before she reached a hand up to her comm link. "Oracle, this is Manhunter. We're pulling back."
Oracle didn't waste a moment to answer her if Manhunter's next words were any indication. "We had an incident and it's best that we get out. We'll explain later." She then looked to Huntress. "Let's get the gun expert out of here before he kill someone."
"You have to be fucking kidding me!" Red Hood exploded. "This is a war we're in! There's going to be fucking casualties. There already are. You can't pull us out when Bane is somewhere around here, not when we have a chance to stop him!"
"And we're not going to place anyone in harm's way to do it," Huntress responded. "Our safety is just as important if not more so than taking Bane down. Now let's get out of here. We're going to have a long talk with Nightwing about this."
Red Hood clenched his hands tightly into fists, even as the two bitches forced him to march back the way they came. Who the fuck did they think they were? No wonder they were losing this war. If they were purposefully handicapping themselves even after all the evidence that showed it wasn't working, then he really needed to reconsider this Network thing.
And he would be expressing those thoughts at this upcoming meeting.
With heavy footsteps, Bane led the way down the hallway, his men keeping Gotham mayor behind him.
Like moths to the flame, the GCPD had come roaring in, only for their initial charge to be shredded into bloody pieces. Soon, unholy fire would be raining down on them in the form of explosives. A decisive blow would be delivered, leaving the police weakened and primed for a final stroke. An added bonus was the capture of the Mayor, originally only useful as bait, but the possibilities for his use multiplied the longer he had the man in his custody.
Coming up to an intersecting hallway, Bane noticed a large, round mirror positioned high up the wall, directly across from the mouth of the approaching hall. Eyeing it, the large man immediately stopped, holding up a hand to sign to his men to halt as well. A distorted image of men in black were creeping down the hallway, approaching the same intersection as the masked man was.
"Stay close," he whispered as he slowly crept to the corner of the intersecting hallway. Bird and Zombie were right behind him as well as his men keeping Hady quiet and pushed up against the wall. Peeking around the corner, Bane immediately identified the GCPD's SWAT team.
So, some had managed to get this far.
He then held up his hand again, holding three fingers up. He then made a fist with the same hand before he beat it against his chest, indicating all three men were his. His eyes darted from new corridor to the mirror and back over and over to make sure he knew where the approaching men were and if they had used the same mirror to locate him.
The moment the first officer reached the hallway's mouth, Bane whipped out in front of him. With a raised fist, he slammed it right into the side of the man's head, the force of the blow sending him headfirst into the wall, his helmeted skull breaking right through the sheetrock and left him hanging limply from the hole he had created.
Keeping his arm crossed over his body, Bane bent it at the elbow, making it more prominent as he lunged forward. Due to the second SWAT officer jerking the barrel of his gun up to better target the masked man's head, Bane was able to get his elbow beneath the barrel and forced it up higher, the first shots firing up into the roof rather than his face. With his other fist, he drove it right into the man's stomach, knocking the air right out of his lungs as he gasped.
Drawing his fist back, he again rammed it into his foe's abdomen, but this time he pushed upward, lifting the man up off the ground. Moving his other arm from holding up the gun barrel, his hand grabbed onto the strap of the SWAT officer's body armor and he held the man up like a human shield, surging forward as he rushed to the last police officer.
He head gunshots, but none hit him due to bad aim, or the fact the bullets hit the SWAT officer he held. Either way, Bane rammed his human shield into the last standing officer, knocking him off his feet. Letting go of his shield, Bane pulled back his charge and watched both men drop to the floor. Moving once more, he reached the two men and knelt down, wrapping his hands around each man's neck. Standing back up, he raised both men up into the air, holding them there as their legs dangled beneath them. Squeezing his hands as tightly as possible, he choked both men, their wet, gargling gasps pouring out of their mouths until there were twin snapping sounds. Both men went limp before Bane dropped them to the floor as dead corpses.
"Move out!" he shouted, which caused his entourage to emerge from their cover, Bird and Zombie leading the group with guns and knives in their respective hands. Leading them once more, Bane headed down the hallway until suddenly more SWAT officers appeared out of seemingly random doors along the hallway, freezing at the sight of him.
Unlike the first three men, there were quite a few more this time, which created more opportunity for him to be shot. This would simply not do. Hitting the Venom button on his left forearm, he could feel the effects of the serum the moment he began picking up his pace, Bane growing larger and larger as he began flat out running at the men, arms pumping at his sides until he practically filled the entire corridor with his frame. "Stay on me!" he ordered over his shoulder, as he quickly closed the distance between him and the black-clad officers.
Just before he reached the first SWAT man, Bane extended both of his arms out as far as they could reach, his fists punching into the sheetrock of the walls. Not bringing them back, he tore long, gaping holes in the walls. Though this slowed his pace down a step, it allowed him to cause the police officers to hesitate a second longer than they could afford.
His large body rammed into the first man, trampling him as he ran him over, the officer crying out beneath Bane's feet. He continued like a freight train, running over and clotheslining the policemen. None stood a chance as his feet trampled them, crushing limb, ribs, and organs with every footstep.
Reaching the end of the hallway and entering an intersecting hall, Bane found more SWAT officers to his left and right, two armed men standing on either side of him. Bane crossed his dust and debris-covered arms over his chest before he swung them both out, delivering backhand blows to either man's head and/or face. The force of his twin blows sent both men flying down their respective corridor, colliding with more SWAT officers and knocking them down to the floor.
That's when Bird appeared at his left and Zombie at his right. Immediately, Bird was firing his pistols at the fallen SWAT officers while Zombie was throwing his knives with uncanny accuracy, killing the officers where they laid.
Bringing his arms back up and crossing them in front of his face, Bane charged once more, slamming himself into the wall in front of him and bursting right through it. Increasing his pace, his ignored the room he was in and run into the next wall, crashing through it and leaving another hole in his wake.
He did not stop; he would not stop; he wouldn't stop until he had reached a safe location, for him and his hostage. The increasing number of the SWAT team had caught his attention and he needed a moment to reconsider his current plan.
Crashing into another room, Bane slowed to a stop, and slowly turned to look behind him. Ignoring the countless holes he had left in his wake, he saw his mercenaries entering the room with Gotham's mayor in toll. They slowed to a stop, then forced Hady to move to a side and out of view of anyone that deemed it a good idea to look down the series of destruction.
Zombie and Bird came jogging in a moment later. "Nice work, Bane," Bird complimented him. "Now what?"
"Now we move down floors," Bane responded. "These upper levels are becoming filled with the enemy. We must regroup with our forces on the lower floors."
"Great idea. How are we supposed to get there without any stairs or elevators?" the Gothamite asked. "I don't see any here and I'm not sure where they keep them here."
"We ask our informant," Zombie replied for Bane, his dead eyes looking right at Hady, who was shrinking in on himself. "Tell us, Mayor Hady, where are the nearest stairs and elevators?"
"I-I-I…" the Mayor sputtered before swallowing deeply. "The other side of the building. There's a set of stairs in the southwest corner, but I think we're in the southeast one. I think."
"Then let's burrow our way there," Bird said.
"I have a better idea," Bane responded.
Raising a foot up, Bane then slammed it down on the floor with as much force as his Venom-infused limp could muster. This had the result of the floor caving beneath his foot, the large man backing up just before the ground beneath his other foot gave in. Soon, there was a large hole in the floor, the remains of tile and cement crashing down on the level below.
"Or we could do that," Bird said dumbly, eyes blinking owlishly. "Who goes first?"
"You do." With a hand, Bane reached out and pressed it against Bird's back. With ease, he shoved the blond-haired man forward and into the hole, causing him to cry out as he fell to the floor below.
It was a bit awkward, but coming out of the ventilation without making too much noise had been quite the effort and took perhaps way too much time than it should have. After letting Spoiler slip out, Nighting did his best to put the grating back on so as not to tip off anyone that that was what they had used.
Okay, now to find Katana and finish this regrouping. They needed to plan out their next move and quickly. They were stuck between Bane's rock and SWAT's hard place and they needed not only a way out of it, but a means to, you know, save the day. That was what they were here to do.
As it turned out, the two of them didn't need to go far because Katana found them first, slipping in through a door and closing it so quietly that neither of the two Batclan members had heard her. However, Nightwing wasn't about to complain; it saved them the hassle of trying to find out.
"Cops giving you trouble?" he asked.
Katana gave a sharp nod, not needing to say anything else.
"Everyone should know by now, so we need to—" the only male vigilante in the room began to speak when he was interrupted by the sound of the ceiling caving in.
Or to be more accurate, a portion of the ceiling caved in towards the door where Katana had first entered. The Asian vigilante was darting out of the way of the falling debris, and Nightwing was on full alert, muscles tense as he waited for anything to happen.
What happened was a man fell through the hole, landing on his feet, but then collapsed to the floor on his side. The sight of him reminded the former acrobat of a lion tamer. That's what the blond-haired man looked like to him, anyway, what with the black pants and the red vest over a white shirt.
As he pushed himself up, the blond-haired man shot a look up the hole over him, his body language screaming irritation. However, when he shouted, it was less as a way to curse someone out and more to report, "I'm alive! Safe to say it's clear!"
The following voice, though, made the three vigilantes freeze up. "Be sure. Do a quick search."
Oh shit, that was Bane. Suddenly the ceiling caving in made a lot of sense, and that wasn't the only thing running through the young man's head. Flashbacks of his last encounter with that monster ran through his mind and he knew that he could not let that bastard think it was safe down here. Not unless he wanted to risk all their lives in the process.
It was a good thing that Bane's scout here had been too lazy to, you know, actually take a look around before saying it was safe. Pulling out more than a few classic birdarangs—they were the ones with the explosive charges in them—Nightwing threw them at the hole and watched as they detonated. The small explosions hopefully would convince Bane that it was not safe right here.
"What the?!" the blond-haired man exclaimed, snapping his head around until he spotted the three vigilantes.
Katana had her sword drawn, her attention focused on a spot between Bird and the hole above him. Spoiler had her fists up, ready for a brawl. Lastly, Nightwing had drawn one of his escirmas, but held another birdarang in hand, just in case he needed it.
"Who is that?" Bane's voice demanded from above.
Crap, he wasn't scared off. Nightwing's hopes were dashed.
The blond-haired man spat before answering, "It's some of the Bat's ankle-biters crashing the party where they're not wanted."
A heartbeat passed, Nightwing wondering what would be happening next. The last thing they needed was for Bane to come down here and repeat what he did back in North Gotham.
"Deal with it, Bird" Bane ordered. "We will rendezvous on the ground level."
"What?!" Bird shouted, snapping his head up. He sounded like he couldn't believe what he had just heard. Neither could Nightwing, but he wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth. This was too good to be true.
"They are beneath my notice. Handle it." You could see how the ceiling tremored as the large mass of muscle left the site of the hole.
They had just used so much luck, they probably had none for the rest of their natural lives. Still, if from what he heard from Oracle was correct, Bane had the Mayor with him. Green Arrow hadn't acted yet, so until further notice he could only assume that the Mayor was still captured.
"You two go. I'll handle this one," Nightwing told his two partners. "See if you can't help Arrow out."
"Huh?" Spoiler was looking at him, confused. "But it's three against one! We can take him!"
"This looks like that lawyer guy Oracle told us about. Three's overkill here," he retorted.
"Are you sure?" Katana asked, one eye still on the hole in the ceiling in case Bane changed his mind.
"We've got to save everyone we can, not just beat up the bad guys," the male vigilante answered. "I'll be fine, this shouldn't take too long."
Katana took a second to look him dead in the eye before nodding and snagging Spoiler by the shoulder.
"But!" the young girl tried to protest.
"We need to trust in Nightwing. We have other important matters to deal with," the sword-wielding vigilante told the younger vigilante as she directed her towards another door, one not compromise by Bane's ceiling entrance.
And that left the two remaining men to face off with one another.
"What's this about? Scared I might beat you up in front of a couple of girls?" Bird taunted, now facing him.
"No, just figured you weren't worth their time," he quipped.
"You got a mouth on you, huh?" the blond-haired man commented. "Probably think you're hot shit 'cause you're dressed like a Batman-wannabe. This isn't a picnic, and you know what? Bane's right. You aren't worth his time."
"But I'm worth yours?" he retorted, slipping the birdarang back into his belt and pulling out his other escrima. This guy was starting to piss him off.
"You wish," Bird replied. "You should be so lucky; could've been one of the other guys, the mercs. Now that would be insulting, don't'cha think?
Damn this asshole, he was right. It would be more insulting if Bane had tossed one of his hired goons instead of a lieutenant. Then again, this was the lawyer guy; how tough could he be?
"All I'm hearing is a lot of yapping and not enough punching. You look like a wiseguy, but I bet like them, when faced with someone who can kick their asses, you're really a little bitch," Nightwing taunted. "Big, bad Bane's not here to back you up. Bet you're close to pissing your pants right about now."
Any good humor Bird had was now gone, replaced with a very unfriendly scowl. "Says the dead punk walking."
"Says the guy who hasn't thrown a punch yet."
That did it. With a snarl, Bird came running at him, one arm cocked back and ready to be punched forward. Nightwing could read him like a book and settled on a defensive stance, ready for the blond-haired man.
It soon became obvious that the man's style was that of a street brawler, kinda like Red Hood. A powerful right hook was swung at his head, which was deftly ducked. Bird's forward momentum kept him moving, making Nightwing backpedal so as to avoid the other man running into him. A punch was coming from the left, the vigilante dodging backwards as he continued to get a feel for his opponent.
Unlike most street brawlers, Bird stopped with the punches and switched it up with a kick. Nightwing used a combination of his arm and the escrima stick he held with it to block, then quickly raised his other to block the follow-up punch.
And then he was slipping in, swinging an escrima and landing it into Bird's side, getting a cry out of the blond man. He continued, letting himself snake around the vest-wearing enemy, kicking his foot into the man's back. Bird was pushed forward, but he managed to remain standing even though his legs were doing a weird stumbling dance to do it.
Still, this looked like it was going to be a quick win. Nightwing launched himself forward, already swinging an eckrima. Without warning, Bird seemed to move to a side, his body turning. The escrima ended up swinging short and thanks to committing to his attack, the vigilante was unable to dodge the backhand that swung at him.
Bam! Right in his cheek! Blinking his eyes to get his bearings quickly, he was barely able to block the kick—excuse him, flying kick—that was aimed at his face. Bird pushed off him, while Nightwing backed away, regarding this man in a different light.
The guy had a couple moves on him. The only reason he had managed to land anything was because Nightwing had underestimated him.
Bird, meanwhile, had pulled out a small, thin whistle and was blowing into it. Seeing this caused the masked man to wonder what he was doing. "Calling for a dog? Didn't think you were one since your name is Bird," he quipped.
"Dogs are for bitches," Bird retorted. "You're about to learn why you shouldn't be dressing up like Halloween."
"Yeah? Well, we'll—"
TSSSSEEEERRR!
Ah! Something sharp had slashed into his right cheek. Feathers were everywhere and a beak was biting at him. Nightwing tried to bat the animal—what the hell was this giant bird doing—oof!
Bird had used the, ahem, big bird to distract him long enough to close in and gut check him. The vigilante could feel the blow and his ribs gave a protest. They were still a bit sore, but had mostly healed by now. This punch, though, threatened to undo all that.
The bird gave a shriek as it attacked again, sharp talons attempting to rip him to shreds. It ended up pulling away, easily avoided the swings Nightwing made with his escrima at it, but unfortunately that distracted him again from Bird and managed to land a kick on him, and right in his side too.
He tried to get away, but then that falcon, or hawk, or eagle, or whatever it was tagged in and tried to peck at his eyes. The two were working off one another and Christ was it effective.
Alright, time for something different.
Going into another backpedal, he slipped his hand to his belt and pulled out the birdarang from earlier. As the bird came in for another swoop, he threw the projectile at it, fully expecting the animal to dodge it. He was not disappointed, but that was part of the plan. The small explosion that happened next shocked the bird enough that it broke off its attack with a shriek, the loud noise overriding its trained mind in favor of its primal reflexes.
Bird had been circling around and was already committed to a punch he was throwing, Nightwing waited until the last second before ducking and grasping onto the sleeved arm as it sailed over his shoulder. Pulling down on the limb, he flipped Bird over him to land on the floor with an "oomph!" coming from the man's mouth.
Already guessing what was happening next, Nightwing activated the escrima's electric current and thrust it in the direction he heard flapping. Wings may have slapped against his arm, but the butt end of the escrima managed to strike the bird right in its...eh, chest?...its chest area place. Add the crackle of electricity along with the inhuman shriek and he knew that his guess had been true.
"Talon!" Bird screamed in horror. Quickly, the blond-haired man rolled onto his front and pushed himself back onto his feet, attempting to charge the vigilante. Deciding to take a page out of his enemy's book, Nightwing answered the charge with a high kick of his own, landing it right in Bird's face and causing his upper body to snap back. As a result, the blond-haired man went flipping over himself and past the masked man, coming to a stopped where his pet bird twitched on the floor.
Yeah, yeah, that ought to take care of him. Them. The two of them. Okay, he was going to stop thinking too hard about all this.
With a groan, Bird lifted his head up and held his jaw, as if checking to see if it was broken. He spat out a tooth, along with a glob of blood. Blue eyes glared at the vigilante, promising pain for this.
"I guess it's going to take a bit more than that," Nightwing sighed as he readied himself for a last clash.
"Take this," Bird snarled through a mouth full of blood as he pulled out a grenade and unpinned it.
Oh crap.
Nightwing could only watch as the weapon was thrown at him. Then his survival instincts kicked in and he was running as fast as he could and—
The shock of the following explosion threw him forward and he landed on the floor in a heap, his escrimas falling out of his hands to clatter about on the ground. Feeling a little dazed, it took a second too long for him to remember that this not the time for this shit, and quickly, he searched for Bird.
And he was gone. That piece of shit. Yeah, it was smart to run when you were losing, but goddamn, it sucked when you were the one who was winning. Hell, he even took that bird with him.
There was a temptation to chase after him, and Nightwing was about to call up Oracle,, but then he heard the sounds of rapidly approaching footsteps. That had to be SWAT and this was not the time to get arrested. They had already been through that with Spoiler and Red Hood.
So when he made his call, it was to regroup with the others.
Green Arrow had been around some destructive people before. There was the Star City Mob that had no problem with drive-bys or throwing Molotov cocktails at people's homes. There was the occasional bombing and arsons. There was even corrupt city officials looking to tear down people's homes so they could build high-rise condos and wouldn't let anyone get in their way, even if they had to run them over themselves with a bulldozer.
True story, that last one.
But none of those people possessed the raw power this Bane fellow showed. Trenches had been left in the walls on either side of the archer, the broken, stampeded bodies of SWAT lying in its wake. There was a large hole in the wall up ahead and it looked like there was a series of them further inward.
With an arrow notched, Green Arrow slowly crept through the numerous holes, passing three, maybe four of them before he ducked off to a side. He had caught a brief glimpse of a massive hulk—undoubtedly Bane—marching through the last hole. Peeking around the corner, he caught the last of Bane's foot disappearing from sight as he deliberately turned into a room a couple holes down. A few men with guns were trailing behind the brute, along with Mayor Hady in tow.
My, my, was that opportunity knocking? Why, yes it was.
Quickly, Green Arrow gave chase, moving to the hole just before the room Bane had entered. Again peeking around the jagged edge of the broken wall, he saw the last of the men passing through a doorway. A moment later, there was the sound of gunfire.
Again, he dashed to the doorway and pushed it open with a shoulder. Entering the hallway, he saw Bane way, waaaaay up ahead, charging like an enraged bull at what the archer presumed were more SWAT guys. His mercenaries were hanging back, letting the boss man do his thing.
Perfect.
Taking aim, Green Arrow fired an arrow right into the shoulder of the closest merc, causing him to cry out as his body twisted to a side. His arm moving like a blur, Green Arrow was drawing out arrows and firing them in record time, each arrow hitting its target. A couple of the mercenaries were in mid-turn when an arrow struck them in the side of their arms—the deltoids as they were called. The last one took an arrow to their right chest, though the Emerald Archer was counting on the man's body armor to prevent any lasting wounds. He just needed them all focused on something other than him.
By then, Hady was crouched down on the floor, his arms covering over his head as he cried out. Rushing towards the men, his bow strung over his shoulder and tucked behind his back, Green arrow leaped towards the men, but at an angle. This allowed him to stretch out a foot that collided with the wall. Leg bending, he then sprung off the wall, a fist drawn back and subsequently thrown at the merc with an arrow in his back.
Green Arrow's fist collided with the man's face, knocking him backwards until the back of his head rammed into the wall, knocking him out while silencing him. As the man crumpled to the floor, the green-clad man also touched down with his feet and then lunged to the next mercenary, swinging his fist back and landing a backhand blow to the man's face.
With the merc dazed as his head snapped to a side, Green Arrow shot both of his arms out and grabbed onto the man's shoulders, his combat fatigues bunching up within the archer's grasp. Swinging his back leg up, Green Arrow rammed his knee into the man's gut, knocking the wind out of him as he gasped. Stepping to a side, he then pulled as hard as he could on the man and sent him stumbling forward, his torso bent over so that he ran headfirst into the wall. His head jerked back awkward before he dropped into a heap on the floor.
Green Arrow then darted to the other arm-injured mercenary, leading with a solid punch to the abdomen, also knocking the wind out of the guy. Hand's moving up to grab onto the sides of the mercenary's head, he forced it downward while simultaneously jerking his knee up, ramming the man's face into his knee. The man jerked backwards from the blow and fell onto his back on the floor, or he would have had the wall not ended up propping him up in a rather uncomfortable looking position. Slumped would have to be the word for that.
That left one last mercenary; one last bodyguard of Bane's for Hady, who was still crouched on the floor in a perfect impression of a schoolkid during a tornado drill. Leaping over the Mayor, the Emerald Archer, closed the distance between him and the last merc, swinging a haymaker that slammed into the side of the guy's face, snapping his head to one side. With his other fist, Green Arrow swung it too, smashing it into the merc's face and causing it to jerk back to face the other way. Bringing both of his hands up above his head, where he clasped them together, he then swung them down, delivering a jackhammer blow that dropped the man to the floor.
And that—ladies and gentlemen—was how you took out four mercenaries.
Looking further down the hallway, Green Arrow noticed Bane was out of sight, though the vibrations he felt through the floor told him the giant was still doing naughty, destructive things. There was a distinct lack of his lieutenants too, though the archer didn't recall seeing Bird anywhere and Zombie—
No wait, he saw Zombie up ahead, carefully inspecting the fallen SWAT team members as they lay in crumpled heaps on the floor. While Arrow wanted nothing better than to go take the bald son of a bitch down, now wasn't the time, not when he had the Mayor in his custody and desperately needing to be saved.
Another time, Zombie.
Spinning around and kneeling next to Hady, Green Arrow put a hand on the man's shoulder and gave him a solid shake. "Hey, Mayor, it's time for you to get out of this hellhole."
Hady tilted his head to a side so that he could peek at the archer, his head jerking up when he noticed the distinct lack of black combat fatigues and the lovely green of his costume. "Who the—"
Immediately, Green Arrow slapped his hand down on the Mayor's mouth, silencing him. Making a shushing gesture with the finger of his other hand, he then quickly said, "Now isn't the time for questions, not if you want to get out from underneath Bane's size fifteen boot. Now let's go before they realize you've flown the coop."
In an instant, Hady shot up onto his feet, Green Arrow right with him as he stood up to his full height. Moving his hand so that he grabbed the Mayor by his bicep, he began leading him back the way they had come, going through the carnage Bane had unleashed on this place. The more distance they put between Bane and Zombie, the better.
Literally tossing aside the last of the SWAT that he had crushed, Bane took a moment to scan his surroundings, listening for any signs of any approaching hostiles. When sound did not reach his ears, he trust his eyes to spy for any hints of someone hiding, or waiting for him to make a move.
Nothing. It was safe then, or as safe as it could be. The only thing missing happened to be the mayor of this city, his captive and hostage, and soon to be bargaining chip. His men should be appearing anytime now to catch up, all of them smart enough to not put themselves in his way so as to not be unintentionally injured.
"We have a problem, Bane,"
Right on cue, Zombie had appeared, but his words left much to be desired.
"Explain," he demanded. Now was not the time for "problems."
"It happened too quickly for me to stop. The Mayor was just taken from us by one of those vigilantes running around the city," came the explanation. "The vigilante in question escaped instead of pressing on. He took the Mayor with him—"
"—And in effect snatches my victory away from me," Bane finished, a growl in his voice. He had thought he had already dealt with those insects, but like the cockroaches he had practiced on in his cell, there were always more in hiding, coming out when they felt it was safe.
"Compared to the ones you faced before, this one was very quick and efficient with his takedowns. He may pose a threat to us if we allow him to live," Zombie continued. "If—"
"There is no point. Without the hostage, our continued presence here has no meaning. The primary objective of striking down the GCPD has been effective. Their assault team has been dealt a major blow and for now that will have to do," Bane interrupted. "Send in the order to retreat. We're done here."
There was no hesitation when Zombie said, "Of course." His order would be carried out without question.
That still left the issue of the resurgence of the vigilantes. No sooner had he engaged one foe that another would make itself known, pulling his attention in another direction that he could ill afford to direct it to. He still needed to solidify his grip over Gotham and deal with his enemies, those still part of the old criminal element that had yet to surrender, law enforcement, Ra's al Ghul and his minions, and now the pests of the city.
It was more than time to regroup and take stock of his resources and plan out his next move. This war of attrition could not continue.
It would not, and those who carried on this fight would find themselves broken at his feet.
By the time Gordon reached City Hall, most if not all of the action had passed. Traffic had delayed him as he had rushed through the city, heading here from Cobblepot's Iceberg Lounge. The trip back to his car on foot had taken way too much time and as soon as he had opened the driver's side door, the radio had been screaming about what was going down.
It frustrated the Commissioner to know that he was so close, yet so far from where he needed to be, and it didn't help that the suddenness of the attack had resulted in congested streets that further delayed him.
The first thing he spotted was the Mayor by one of the ambulances, being treated by an EMT. He felt relief at that sight; looks like they weren't losing another mayor so soon. Maybe he was thinking this too soon as Hady could very well not want the office after tonight. No one would blame him.
He would find out who was in charge of organizing the men later and give them a freaking medal while he was at it; first thing was first and that was to speak with the elected official.
"Hady! Thank God you're alright," he called out as he approached the ambulance.
"Gordon?" Hady looked like he was in a daze; he was probably still in shock.
"Are you unharmed? Who was responsible for all this?" the Commissioner pressed, hoping to get some answers.
"Only some minor abrasions, a few scratches," the paramedic answered the first question for the elected official. "He's still coming off an adrenaline high from the looks of it."
That was a bit of a relief. Hady wasn't too seriously injured and still in one piece. That was better than most could hope for.
"What happened in there, Hady? I need you to talk to me," Gordon continued, training his eyes on the highest ranking person in the area.
Hady blinked his eyes, though he still appeared like he himself was trying to come to grasps with everything. "He saved me. He didn't have to, but he did."
"Who saved you?" It seemed like every other thing he said was a question right now.
"The...the man in green. He saved me from him. Saved me from...Bane," Hady managed to get out.
His worst fear was confirmed right there. Cobblepot had been right that that madman had been planning something against them. Christ, City Hall must have been some kind of trap if that bastard was correct, in which it had been them who were the real targets. Hady and everyone else were incidental.
Still, it was too early to say that. They were going to need statements, and also search for evidence to figure out what this had all been about. Hady was going to need assigned protection, in case he was truly the real target and this attack on law enforcement was a pretense. There was still so much unknown about this.
Looking at the paramedic, he said, "Get him to the nearest hospital and have him checked out. Make sure no one goes near him; I'll have some officers come by."
"Got it," the EMT answered, turning his attention back to the shaken man.
That left Gordon to find who was in charge here. While he did that, he thought about Hady's words. Specifically, the description of a man in green. As far as he knew, Gotham didn't have any vigilantes who wore that color. He also felt a cold weight in his stomach at the thought of them having another one. Didn't these people know how dangerous this was?
After what happened...this was not a place that was friendly to that type anymore. With the fall of...Batman, this was a new age in Gotham, and vigilantes could not be tolerated anymore. As thankful as he was that one had managed to save the Mayor, it didn't change anything.
It took some time, but eventually he spotted a face that he knew would give him what he wanted. Correction, there were two of them. From where he stood, he could see the tension between them, which was a dead giveaway that something had gone down. Definitely some kind of disagreement, and Gordon prepared himself as best as he could as he made his way over to them.
"Lieutenant! Petit! Would either of you fill me in on the details?" he called out as he approached, doing his best to hide his caution.
"Joining us after the fireworks have ended? Where the hell were you?" Petit demanded. The mustache-wearing commander of SWAT did not look happy, not at all.
"As stupid as it sounds, traffic. It would have taken just as long if I came on foot. Give me the scoop, what happened." He gave Petit a look, one that gave a demand of his own.
Sarah, though, was the one who answered him. "Bane made a move on City Hall. He came in on all sides of the building, and attempted to take the Mayor hostage. SWAT was sent in to neutralize the threat and rescue Hady, but was met with resistance from Bane's men. There's still some fighting happening, some of the perps holing themselves up, but they'll only last so long. Unfortunately, Bane got away."
"I'm not hearing anything about the vigilantes that crashed the party and made a mess of things," Petit spoke up, shooting Sarah a look.
So there was more than the one in green. It figured.
"Were any of them apprehended?" Gordon cut in before any argument could take place.
"They too got away. Seems like they learned from Mercy," the Lieutenant answered.
"What about casualties? Did we lose any?" the Commissioner continued, businesslike. Hopefully these rapid fire questions would keep these two focused on what they needed to be focused on.
"Too many injured," Petit admitted grudgingly, looking away. "Especially the ones that ran into Bane. They couldn't stop him."
That wasn't good news. It also gave more proof to Cobblepot's claim that they were the ones targeted here.
"Get a head count—who's injured, who isn't. We need to know what we have to work with. Let's see about grabbing any of the stragglers we have pinned down," he instructed. "Let's get this place cordoned off while we're at it. Question everyone we can and see if we can't figure out what this was suppose to accomplish."
"With what? We're starting to become a skeleton crew with how spread out we are," Petit retorted.
"Not for long, because if there were any last reservations about it, they're gone. The National Guard is coming in force and we're going to have more than enough manpower to do our goddamn jobs," Gordon replied. "In the meantime, we follow police procedure until reinforcements arrive."
By the time he had finished, Petit had both of his eyebrows raised. "About time," the SWAT commander muttered, but he turned to see to the Commissioner's orders.
Sarah meanwhile, was giving him a look, one that promised that they were going to have a talk soon. What about, who knew, but he had an idea or two. He would deal with it when it occurred, but in the meantime there was work to be done.
The kind of work that could distract from an ugly bastard's taunting words.