Batman transported himself down to the Batcave before he'd started downloading the software security patches on the Transporter. He didn't want to have to take a Javelin down, and the patches would take the better part of the evening to finish where the Transporter would be operable again. In order to make the changes, it had to be shut down so that no one would mistakenly attempt to use it. The patch downloads could potentially cause harmful damage to anyone that attempted to travel using it until the downloads were completed. When he arrived, he remotely began the process of shutting the Transporter down so that the patches could begin downloading. He telepathically reached out to J'onn and informed him of the status before leaving as well so that word could be spread about the upgrade.
As he made his way from the Teleporter pad towards the Cray super computers; removing his cowl along the way, Bruce stopped in his tracks. He noticed that something was amiss. As Bruce glanced around the seemingly desolate cave, he realized that the Robin suit was not in its glass case any longer. His first thought went directly to the young man that had an interest in it. Tim had to be around the cave somewhere. Bruce didn't believe he was foolish enough to do otherwise, lest he blow his chance to eventually become Robin at all. Bruce closed his eyes for a moment and took a long and slow breath in order to better focus on his surroundings. After a few seconds in the complete silence he finally heard it. The sound of a batarang striking the cave wall in one of the lower levels could be heard now. Tim was training with batarangs in the section of the cave large enough for such things as well as far enough away from the expensive equipment. Bruce made his way to that area of the cave quietly, and watched when he was close enough to see what it was that Tim was up to.
Tim had been throwing batarangs at makeshift targets. After he'd thrown about ten, he then pulled out a grapple gun and fired it off. He was using the grappling to practice swinging throughout the cave while at the same time retrieving the batarangs he'd thrown earlier. Bruce was again impressed with the young man's initiative even though he still wasn't pleased about Tim taking the Robin suit out of its case and putting it on. The boy seemed to know what he wanted though, and Bruce couldn't help but to respect that. When Tim landed from retrieving all of the batarangs he'd thrown, Bruce made his presence known by clearing his throat. That had startled Tim, making him jump off his feet for a moment before trying to catch his breath and regain his composure. "Oh uh…..hi Bruce." Tim struggled to get out. "Guess you found out I tried on the Robin suit, huh."
Bruce crossed his arms in front of his chest as his only response. "Umm…..right…I'll just go…..put it away then." Tim squeaked out as he began walking passed Bruce back to the main level. He was stopped in his tracks by a hand landing on one of his shoulders. Tim looked back up towards Bruce, curious as to what he was thinking. Bruce looked Tim directly in the young man's eyes. "I know you're anxious to be the next Robin, Tim but you aren't ready…..yet." Bruce said. "Don't let that discourage you though because you are heading down the right path to what you are looking for. It won't be too much longer if you keep progressing at the same rate you have been."
Tim cheered up a little upon hearing that from Bruce. He followed Bruce back up to the main section of the cave and up to the computers. Tim watched as Bruce mapped out the patrol he planned for that night as he pinpointed certain areas on the map. Bruce went through what each pin meant as he set the path out for Tim to see. It didn't take long before Tim worked out the why's when he linked the stops for tonight to the information he'd put in last night's logs. When Bruce was done going over the initial plan for that night's patrol, Tim started walking over to the locker room area to change out of the Robin suit and into the same tactical gear that Bruce had provided the night before. "Wait Tim." Bruce said stopping the young man in his tracks. "Give me your word that you will follow last night's instructions and not deviate from them one bit."
"Yeah Bruce." Tim answered. "I won't leave the car unless you tell me otherwise."
"Good." Bruce said while pulling the cowl back over his face. "Let's go then." Batman walked over to the Batmobile and jumped in while Tim stood still, seemingly unable to move. "Are you coming?"
That snapped Tim out of his frozen state, and he ran to the car jumping into the passenger seat smiling from ear to ear. "So I'm Robin now?" He asked hopefully.
"Not yet." Batman answered. "But the suit fits you well enough and it offers more protection than a bullet proof vest does. You have things to learn that can't be done from the passenger seat of the Batmobile, but you'll only come out for secure crime scenes to learn more about forensics and evidence collection."
Tim couldn't help but to keep smiling. He couldn't believe that he was actually getting to ride in the Batmobile next to Batman while in the actual Robin suit. It was like a dream come true for the young man, and he was going to savor all aspects of this night.
Batman motored through the streets of Gotham on his search for the League of Shadows among other criminals. He would occasionally stop to hop out for a random mugging attempt, but quickly returned back to the car and continued on. For the first couple of hours it seemed like it was going to be an uneventful night for Gotham. The weather certainly wasn't a deterrent for the lowlife of the city as it was a warm and clear summer night. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, and almost no wind at all. When Batman came up to one of his normal stops, he parked the Batmobile in the dark alley, opened the hatch and jumped out. After performing a sweep of the area and confirming that it was secure, he turned back to Tim. "Get out." He barked.
Tim stood up from his seat, giving Batman a questioning look. This wasn't a crime scene after all. When the Dark Knight reached for his grapple gun, raised his arm, and fired it at a nearby rooftop Tim knew that he was serious and climbed out. He still had his grapple gun from training earlier in the night, and followed suit firing it off to catch up to his mentor. As he retracted the line and flew in the air, he could hear the security system engaging on the Batmobile behind him, and then it set in that he was actually going to patrol some on foot with Batman. His excitement couldn't get any higher than that moment. It was his excitement that caused his first mistake of the evening as he didn't react in time to remove the grapple from the wall so that he could use his forward momentum to make it onto the rooftop. Instead he was stuck at the bottom of the ledge dangling from his own line. Batman had to offer Tim his hand and pull him the rest of the way up. He was not happy about such an easy mistake, and thought about having Tim return to the Batmobile. However he could see that the boy was cursing at himself for the error, and decided against it for the time being. He instead fired his grapple at another rooftop and made a running jump off the building and swinging passed it before once again disengaging the grapple and finishing his approach by landing gracefully up the next building over.
Tim was aggravated by the rookie mistake he'd made, and realized that Batman's departure without admonishing him back to the car was a sign that this was another test. If he failed this time, he would have no choice but to sit in the car and wait until he'd had more training. Only God and Bruce would know when Batman would willingly take him back out on the streets again. Failure was simply not an option this time around. He carefully took aim and fired his grapple at the same building as Batman had, took a deep breath, and ran to the building's edge before leaping off. It was like slow motion for Tim at that particular moment, just before gravity took its grip on him and began pulling him toward the ground. Tim retracted the line in order to remove the slack from his jump, and started the swing towards Batman. As he passed the building and began to swing upwards, he released the trigger on the grapple, allowing more line to come out which helped to bring him closer to the building that Batman was waiting on. When he was sure, he clicked another trigger to release the grip of the grapple completely and began retracting the line as his momentum carried him the last couple feet upwards. When the momentum ceased, Tim stuck his foot out and was able to reach the ledge safely.
Batman was standing at the ready to leap after Tim if he didn't time the jump right or had another miscue. He let go of a breath that he didn't realize he was holding when Tim touched down on the rooftop just before him. The landing was sloppy and he let the line back out too quickly which almost took away too much momentum to complete the necessary altitude, but the grapple release point and retraction were done at the exact time that they needed to be. By the time Tim's feet had touched down, the claw end of the grapple was just snapping back into the grapple gun. It was at least a good starting point for the young man to polish up some rough edges that would come with more experience.
Batman had Tim follow around on rooftops during the rest of patrol. It was much easier to slip around the city unnoticed without the rumble of the Batmobile. During this time Batman had come across a group of gang members that had pulled an innocent couple into a dark alley. They had knocked the man unconscious using the butt of a handgun and were holding the woman up against a wall at knifepoint. The man with the knife was right up against the woman with one hand covering her mouth, muffling any attempts at screaming while the other three men were going through the male victim's pockets; pulling out his wallet and any other valuables. Tim started to jump into action on instinct, but Batman placed a hand on the young man's chest stopping him cold in his tracks. "Rule one." Batman said quietly. "Always mind your surroundings, especially before jumping into battle." Tim looked up at Batman in anger for a moment before he saw Batman point to a dark portion of the alley. Tim couldn't see anything there, but Batman flipped on his night-vision, and seeing this, Tim followed suit.
Using night-vision, they could both now clearly see everything in the alley. There were no other perpetrators to be found and with that, Batman switched off his night-vision and leapt off the rooftop, but not before ordering Tim to stay put.
"Well well well, seems we've got ourselves a real looker here." One of the thugs said while looking at the pinned female victim after he'd picked the male victim's pockets. "What should we do with you?"
The man with the knife at the woman's throat licked his lips in anticipation as he had what he believed to be an excellent plan for what to do to her. He slowly dragged the backside of the knife blade from her throat on a course down the front of the woman; sliding it between her breasts and down her abdomen before reaching the bottom of her shirt. Once there, he turned the blade and began to cut upward through the fabric in a slow and terrifying motion for the woman. She knew what was on this man's mind and she was powerless to stop him unless she wanted him to kill her. She didn't get the chance to weigh her options of certain death over rape with a mere possibility of living because of the man that landed from out of the sky behind the thug. Batman immediately grabbed the man's hand that was holding the knife, and through sheer brute strength, he yanked it away from the innocent woman's body, which also caused the thug to spin around.
The thug was in shock to see the Batman before him almost snarling. He tried to throw a punch with his free hand, but Batman merely blocked it before spinning around and yanking the arm with the knife in hand down over Batman's own shoulders. A loud snap could be heard followed by a combination of the man screaming and the clanking of the knife hitting the ground. A batarang came out from Batman's kneeling position, which struck the hand of the other thug that had the gun. His fingers were smashed from the metal batarang connecting against them, and he couldn't keep hold of the gun any longer. Batman quickly launched a bola at the other two men, tying them up tightly together. He then went over to the man that had been holding the gun and latched onto him by the throat before slamming him up against the wall of a building. That man lost control out of fear and proceeded to make a wet mess of the front of his pants before passing out. Batman let go and watched as the man crumpled to the ground before him. He then heard the sound of the final thug with the broken up stepping towards him. But before Batman could react, he heard the whirling sound of a batarang before it struck its target, and the next sound was that man behind him crumpling to the ground as well. Batman looked up to see Tim saluting him as a Boy Scout would have.
Batman would have scowled at Tim for his involvement had the woman not come running up to him and hugging him in appreciation for saving her. She was still crying and shaking in fear as she held onto Batman thanking him between sobs over and over again. Eventually she calmed enough and released her savior to go and check on her date who was still unconscious in the middle of the alley. Batman saw to the thugs as he restrained them all and ordered the woman to call the police before he used his grapple to fly away back to Gotham's rooftops. Upon landing, Tim had a smile on his face, but that only lasted until he noticed the glare that Batman was giving him. "I thought I told you not to do anything unless I instructed you otherwise." Batman seethed at the young man.
"But the guy was coming up behind you with a knife." Tim argued with a half pleading tone to his voice.
"I know, and I had him right where I wanted him." Batman fired back. "You are NOT to get involved under ANY circumstances unless I instruct you otherwise. Is that understood?"
"Yes sir." Tim said as his eyes were looking down at his boots.
"Get back to the car." Batman instructed. "I'm taking you back to the cave."
~~ Bludhaven ~~
Nightwing and Batgirl were having an extremely eventful evening. They had been very successful bringing the criminal element to justice in all forms, shapes, and sizes from random muggings to break-in's, and even had gotten some tips on some mob activity. They had to split up at certain points of the night in order to get as much accomplished as they could. He was not about to let Bludhaven slip away from the good and innocent people that still lived there. They had selected a small clock tower for a meeting point as they'd agreed to do two hour sweeps and return with any information or details to share. If he were to admit it to himself, it was also so that he could be sure that Batgirl was still alright. He cared for her deeply even though they'd agreed to see other people over a year ago. They were still great friends though no matter what happened between the two of them. The first members of the Batclan would always share a special connection with one another.
On the third two hour window ending, Nightwing was the first to show up at the clock tower. The other two times Batgirl had been waiting for him. "Batgirl." He called out as he looked for her in the shadows.
"She's a little tied up at the moment." Came the voice of a man Dick didn't recognize.
"What have you done with her?" Dick demanded as he clenched his fists. This man would pay if he hurt Barbara at all.
"Why don't you ask her yourself?" The man offered. "She's right over there."
A light came on which revealed an unconscious Batgirl tied up and dangling against a wall of the clock tower in shackles. Nightwing immediately went to help her, but just as he was close enough to reach for her, he was met with a backhanded fist to his face. The blast was enough to break his nose instantly, and blood quickly began to gush out. He wiped the blood away from under his nose as he got back up to his feet. The man who had struck him stepped out from the shadows and revealed himself. He was large; standing well above six feet in height, and judging from the mass of his body, Nightwing figured his opponent to be well over 250 lbs as well. "All right big fella lets dance." He said as he charged at the man standing before him.
~~ Watchtower, Monitor Womb ~~
Diana was in the Monitor Womb talking to J'onn while he kept an eye on the monitors. She was intrigued by his Martian principles and had a desire to learn about her friend. There were some little intricacies that Diana was still struggling to come to grips with such as why J'onn was so infatuated with two black cookies smashed together and held by a cream filling. J'onn was attempting to explain it to her when an alert sounded off. "The Mt. Rainier volcano is erupting." He stated. "But something isn't right."
"What is it J'onn?" Diana asked.
"Normally the scientists there can predict volcanic activity, and according to reports, this has taken them completely by surprise." He explained before delving deeper into the information that they were picking up on the area. "Look at this when I play back the last 24 hours of activity."
They both watched the satellite images of the volcano as it was completely dormant for the majority of the time window until the last hour. It was there that J'onn noticed an anomaly. "There, the tectonic plate showed a massive amount of movement. That is not a natural movement of the planet's shifting. We need to begin evacuating immediately, but the Teleporter will not be up for another hour."
"Put in a call to the others, and we'll take a Javelin down." Diana instructed. "I'll contact Batman." She reached up to her communicator and opened a channel paging him.
~~ Batmobile ~~
"Batman here. What is it Diana?" He asked as he was driving back to the cave.
"J'onn picked up some abnormal activity of the Earth's tectonic plates, and believes it has caused a volcanic reaction. We need to meet together and help with evacuations, and investigate whether this was a natural act of God or if someone has found a way to tamper with the Earth's plates."
"Hold on." Batman stated as he engaged the autopilot and began looking through reports on the Batmobile's computer. He flipped through seven pages of documentation before he found what J'onn was referring to. "He's right. This was a result of some manmade device. There's no way that tectonic plate would have shifted so far or so quickly. Not naturally at least."
"So you'll meet us there?" She asked. "We have to take a Javelin down since the Teleporters are still down."
"I'm almost back to the cave." Batman stated. "Once there I'll get the Batwing prepped and meet you at the volcano. Batman out."
He stepped on the gas, knowing that time was of the essence in order to save as many people as possible. Perhaps they could find a way to utilize Superman's and Diana's strength in order to divert any flow of lava. In the meantime he was processing the information as to why the plate had shifted so violently. All records indicated that nothing of this sort had ever happened before. There wasn't a shift even close to the magnitude and speed of this one. It had to have been something caused by technology, and if that was the case, who was behind it? As he continued researching, Mt. St. Helens began to erupt as well. It was less violent, but still in the same vicinity of Washington state. "Batman to Watchtower." He called into his communicator again.
"Yes Batman." J'onn answered.
"I assume you've seen a second volcano is beginning to erupt in the same area." It was more a statement than a question. "Have Superman onsite looking for some type of manmade device to have caused this. I'm not certain, but with a plate shift of this size, I'd be hard pressed to believe whatever is the cause wouldn't be extremely large in size. This just can't be natural. It's unprecedented."
"Agreed. We are all ready to travel down in the Javelin." J'onn responded. "We'll meet you there."
Batman went as fast as he could back to the Batcave. Even though he was a mortal, he still could offer some help in perhaps locating whatever the cause was and discovering how to shut it down. As he sped home he reached speeds of over 150 mph on more than one occasion through some straight stretches of road, but he wished he could get there faster.
~~ Bludhaven ~~
Nightwing was crawling towards the still restrained Batgirl. He'd received quite the beating at the hands of this large masked man. He'd hit the villain with some of his best shots, but it had only seemed to make the man smile and return back with even more power than before. Nightwing began to believe this man was a Meta with super strength and healing. He'd been getting beaten to every punch and kick now for some time. It was surprising that the world hadn't gone dark yet from all the punishment he had absorbed. The large man approached again when it became obvious that Nightwing wasn't climbing back to his feet. The man reached down and picked Nightwing up by his neck and held him in the air with one hand. Definitely had to be a Meta.
Batgirl had come to by this point and saw Nightwing defeated and barely conscious. "Why are you doing this?" She asked as she began to strain against her bonds trying to break free.
"Because I am finishing what Deadshot should have." The man answered.
Someone had paid for Dick to be murdered. Barbara gasped from hearing this coming from the large masked man. "So going to kill Nightwing for what? Money?" She prodded for more information and to distract the attacker as long as she could. She was trying valiantly to free herself at this point knowing that time would be short.
"His death is necessary for my plans to take place without interruption." The masked man responded again as he walked towards Batgirl. Suddenly he lunged his other hand at her throat and ripped her away from her restraints. "As is yours." He said in a quiet and confident voice when he brought her face up in front of his own. She started to wonder why would he need Nightwing and Batgirl killed to keep from interfering. What was in this man's plans that they could even interfere with? She tried to get herself free, but struggle as she might, she was helpless. While the man had yanked her away from what restrained her to the wall, her arms were still tied to her sides. She began to feel dizzy as the man was choking the life out of her. She didn't notice the slight movement from her side, but did hear two distinct beeps before an explosion occurred.
Nightwing had put everything into one final move, sticking an explosive on the large man's chest. The man was able to look down by the time the second beep sounded, but that was too late. The explosion was enough to get the man to release his grip; however, he had been holding them both over the edge of the rooftop. When the man released his grip, both Batgirl and Nightwing fell from the building top. Batgirl was restrained and couldn't do anything to help either of them. Nightwing was able to secure a grapple to the wall and grab hold of Batgirl, but when the line became taut, he was in too much pain to keep hold of the grapple gun. His actions were just enough to slow their fall slightly, but they still hit a dumpster below hard upon landing. Luckily both avoided the metal sides, but inside the dumpster, there wasn't enough cushion, and they both were knocked out cold from the impact. The lids to the dumpster fell shut from the rattle of two bodies landing in it from so high up.
The large man stood back up and dusted himself off from the explosion. It had been painful, but tolerable for him to take. He'd dealt with worse pain in his life than that. He walked over to the ledge and looked down, where he saw nothing. Perhaps the heroes had escaped. At that point he pulled out his burn phone and checked the time. It was time to move on in his plan. Nightwing was incapacitated for certain, and Batgirl would have to contend with her injured teammate. It would be quite a while before either of them could do anything to stop him from his plans at this point, and he decided to proceed forward with stopping the Batman. He used that burn phone to dial a number and hit send before sliding the phone back into a pants pocket and walking away. He'd finish off the two Batclan members another time. Perhaps when they tried to avenge their soon to be fallen mentor.
~~ Batcave ~~
Batman had just pulled into the Batcave and hopped out of the Batmobile. He wasted little time in beginning a pre flight diagnostic while also going over to the computer and checking on the status of the volcanoes. A third one had become active as well by this point. He had too little information to know for certain if this one was going to erupt or not, but he had little time to worry about that. They needed to find the cause of this volcanic action and put a stop to it. Batman quickly went and restocked his belt as he sent Tim to get some rest. He definitely wasn't going to be attending a Justice League matter with Batman anyways.
Batman climbed into the Batwing and was strapping himself in when Tim came running back down into the cave. "Bruce!" He yelled, stopping Batman from continuing his actions towards launching the jet.
"What is it Tim?" He asked seeing the concern etched on the young man's face.
"Arkham." Tim responded. "There was an explosion at Arkham. Everyone's escaped."
This was just the news that he didn't need to hear. Batman reached up to his communicator and opened up a designated channel. "Nightwing, come in." He would see if Dick and Barbara could handle the Asylum for now, but there was nothing but silence on the other end. "Nightwing, respond." He barked. Still no response, so he switched to Batgirl. "Batgirl, sit-rep. Where is Nightwing?"
Batman continued trying to reach Dick and Barbara, fear creeping up his spine from worry about two of the people he considered family. He leapt out of the Batwing and sprinted over to the computer, where he pulled up the vitals readouts for Nightwing and Batgirl's suits. There was some interference that made it difficult to pinpoint their location, but they were both together, and that eased Batman's mind a tad for the moment. He was also able to display their vitals and found that both were still alive. "Tim, get Alfred and both of you go and check on Dick and Barbara." He said while handing Tim the tracking device and a communicator. "Wear this and contact me as soon as you find them. I need to know that they're alright."
"What about you?" Tim asked.
"I'm going to handle the escaped inmates of Arkham." Batman responded before sending Tim back up to the Manor.
He went back to the Batwing, and strapped back in. He was in flight and headed for Arkham Asylum when he again used his communicator, opening a general channel. "Batman to Justice League." He called.
"This is Diana." Wonder Woman responded. "What's your ETA Batman? We could use more help locating the cause of this."
"I'm not going to make it." Batman responded.
"How can you not come when we need you?" Diana asked in a more berating tone than questioning.
"Explosion at Arkham has let loose all the inmates. Nightwing and Batgirl aren't responding to take that on, so I have to stay here." Batman explained.
Diana's response was what he'd expected of her. "I'll come and hel…"
"No." Batman interrupted. "You said it yourself. The League needs all the help it can get. I can handle this. Get to the bottom of the cause for the volcanic activity there. That's more important. Batman out."
He closed the channel before Diana had the chance to respond. She could only think one thing for her teammate, and that was to be careful. She offered a quick prayer to her gods, and returned her focus on altering the direction of the lava flow so that it would head out to sea, and have as little impact on the civilian populous as possible while Superman was searching for what was causing this to happen.
Batman arrived onsite at the Asylum and exited the jet where he could land on top of Arkham. There were some inmates that remained there that he could help the police take care of. He also hoped the police could keep the rest of the inmates pinned down from getting too far away from the outside walls of the Asylum, and he would take them down from the inside. He hoped to meet Jim Gordon somewhere in the middle and restore order before any further chaos ensued.