Nightweaver and Catwoman both dropped side by side into the center of Crime Alley. The infamous location of the murder of Thomas and Martha Wayne had never come back from the citywide tragedy, and it was still widely considered a slum.
"We're waiting?" she asked him, stretching out.
"We're waiting."
"Feeling any better than before?"
"I'd rather we didn't bring that up."
"Look, you're a good guy. You care enough to try and hunt down somebody not even Br- err, Batman could take down. I couldn't take him down."
"Neither could I the first time. I'm not even sure I can now. I'm sorry, just talking about that deal pissed me off."
"It's alright, I-" They were interrupted by the materialization of a figure in all white, wearing large, baggy clothes. He couldn't tell a thing about the person under the costume, not even gender. It appeared as if out of thin air, and spoke quickly.
"Active camouflage. Don't be alarmed." The garbled voice immediately told Nightweaver that this person was very interested in keeping their identity secret.
"We're here. Talk to us," he said, impatiently.
"I go by White Death. You are to know me by no other name. One million to find Roman Sionis and take him out. I fail, I pay you back double what you gave me. I take payment before I start the job."
"I'm not giving you a million without you at least starting the job, not without some form of guarantee you'll do it."
"I figured you'd say that." It yanked two pistols out of it's holsters, and Catwoman immediately grabbed one, with Nightweaver taking the others.
"They were my first guns in the business. They mean a lot to me. I'll take them back when the job is done."
"We've already got Deathstroke," Weaver noted. "We may not need you."
"He's an amateur."
"How so?"
"No tact. You may be wondering why you've never heard of me. That would be because I go to great lengths to keep myself hidden."
"I've noticed," Selina quipped.
"One of the requirements of the contract is that you don't speak of me ever again after it's been completed. All of my clients are bound by this. Under no other circumstance will I turn on you, but if you mention my name to anybody that doesn't know it already, I will find you, and I will kill you."
"Somebody's a little feisty."
"Catwoman, please. Look, we'll have to think about it," Weaver explained.
"Tomorrow, midnight, same place, final chance." It vanished, leaving the two alone. Nightweaver walked away, Catwoman following close behind. She wrapped one of her arms through his, clinging to him. He shrugged her off and kept walking.
"You should relax. You're too stressed out."
"It's not just that. I don't know where I stand with Raven. I know Kitrina's probably never going to understand, so that's over, but I don't see it helping anything in the end, at least not right now." She looked disappointed for a moment, but her expression quickly changed to a more kind one quickly.
"You're right. I don't want to cause unnecessary drama."
"And now you know why I'm starting to hate teenage girls."
"Of course." He turned to her and looked her in the eyes, pausing for a moment.
"Look, thank you for caring. This isn't anything about you. From what I know about you, you're a good person. I just don't want to have to deal with other people's shit right now." She smirked and brushed past him, preparing to a nearby fire escape.
"Thanks. Tell me when you need me." She started to jump up, but he yelled after her.
"Wait! You don't have to leave." She turned and eyed him carefully, not sure what to make of the situation. "I'm not going to pretend that I want to be alone right now. I just need you to not take it the wrong way." Catwoman stepped down from the ladder and stopped in front of him.
"Well, let's go then."
"Nothing serious. Not trying to do anything stupid." She smiled, amused at his nervousness.
"Don't worry about it. Seriously." She grabbed his arm, clung onto his waist, and looked at him, waiting for him to use his grappling hook. "Not my first time." He remembered all of a sudden that Batman had a grappling hook and fired his up, dragging himself and Catwoman onto the building they had just been next to. She stepped away from him, and he looked at her oddly.
"I've got to take care of something back at my apartment. I'll meet you at the hotel."
"You don't want me to come with you?"
"You could if you want. Didn't think you'd be interested in helping me feed my cats."
"Gladly. Just a little paranoid." She turned and jumped off towards her apartment, and Weaver followed.
"Of what?" she asked between jumps.
"People I ally myself with tend to go missing the moment I look away," he responded the next time they were side by side.
"I get that. I've been the one that's gone missing before. That's why Bruce never wants me around anymore. Thinks I'm a burden."
"I feel bad for him, I really do."
"I do too, it's just difficult to deal with at times."
"Just try and remember he's been through a lot, and at a young age."
"So were a lot of people."
"Just don't be hard on him."
"I try not to be." They arrived at the side of her apartment building, a small building on the slummy side of town.
"This is where you live?"
"Yeah. I don't steal much anymore."
"You've screwed Bruce Wayne on multiple occasions and the rich bastard won't even buy you a decent apartment?"
"Never asked him to. Felt like he had more important things to do."
"Well, you definitely need an upgrade. I'd be glad to help. I'm not doing all that much with my money anyways."
"What do you have in mind?" she asked, smiling at him sweetly.
"Well, how does Kyle Manor sound to you? Also, no, I don't count this as gold digging." She turned and dragged a claw along his jawline.
"Call it what you like, you're still buying me things. I think it sounds perfect."
Almost an hour later, the two finally arrived back in Weaver's suite. He immediately set out a large piece of paper and taped it flat on the table.
"What's that for?" she asked, pulling her mask off. Her short hair fluffed out of it, and she flattened it down as she walked over beside him.
"We're going to plan out a bit of your mansion."
"Well, what's our price limit?"
"I've had some stockbrokers playing with my finances for a few months now, and since I had five million to throw around, you can probably assume I've got some pretty good cash going on."
"Nice. I don't want anything too big. Not like Wayne Manor. Something big enough so I'd never have to worry about not having enough space, but not so massive that you'd need a map."
"Robin still occasionally talks about that, you know."
"He was always a good kid."
"Alright. I'm thinking only two wings, and a false sewer hideout."
"False sewer?"
"We have them build a false sewer tunnel from here to here," he said, drawing lines under the ground line. "Then, we take out a chunk of the wall and replace it with a deep, underground fortress. Lead lined, of course. It'll be hard to secure enough lead once we hit a certain size, though."
"Do you know how Bruce got his? I know the Batcave is."
"The cave was naturally done like that. The rocks that make it up are made of dense granite and lead."
"One of the few things that might be hard to buy and the bastard ends up with it for free."
"I'll have my architect draw up some plans and see how you like it."
"Thanks for this, Simon. It's really nice of you. Bruce has been giving me enough money to survive on, but not much else."
"Like you said, he's got a lot on his mind." Almost on cue, there was a knock at the door. Weaver opened it up and was surprised to find Batman himself. Selina was behind Simon, the same look of shock on her face.
"He can use doors!"
"I can. Let me in, please." They stepped aside and let him through, his presence almost controlling the room.
"What's up, Bats?" Weaver asked.
"I was just checking on you. Making sure that you're not as out of it as you were the other day."
"Slowly recovering."
"Seems like a pretty fast recovery to me."
"I went and saw a psychiatrist yesterday. Helped a bit. Selina's talked me through some of it."
"Good to know. I'd like to remind you that you've got plenty of help around here. Legal. Help." He enunciated the last two words heavily.
"I take it you know about the people I contacted."
"Definitely. I'm fine with you working with Red Hood, and I'm glad you've limited the gang violence to attacking other gangs, but it could have disastrous results. The main gangs of Gotham united could cause more problems than you think. Be careful."
"I will. I'm not going to act like I trust those guys. I just need them to get Roman's attention."
"Good."
"Gonna warn him about me, too?" Selina asked, almost sarcastically. "Let the kid do his work. He isn't an idiot. He figured out who you are, and who I am, and I'm sure a bunch of other people, too."
"Good detective work doesn't mean good logic. I'm not stopping him, I'm just telling him to be careful. Have a nice evening." He half stormed, half calmly walked out of the room.
"He really doesn't look right just walking through a door," Weaver noted. Selina looked at him with an expression that just read right?, and the two returned to the table. "Next, what are we going to do about Sionis? I've got the gangs causing trouble, but we don't have a full attack plan."
"He controls damn near every abandoned warehouse. Half of them are where he assembles his guns, the other half are drug running fronts."
"So we hit the guns."
"No. Better defenses there. We shouldn't attack it head on."
"What are you suggesting, then?"
"They bring in massive crates of ammunition from black market sources. One of those crates has something explode inside of it, the heat could ignite the gunpowder in the bullets and start a nice chain reaction."
"The whole warehouse would explode if it got enough power behind it."
"And?" she asked, smirking deviously. "We can just blame it on some psycho like Joker."
"We'd be no better than Roman. I'm not objecting to killing, but I don't think planning the destruction of several buildings is something I want to do. Sorry."
"I know, I was just playing. In all seriousness, I think we should do the bomb in the ammo, just make it small enough to not start something larger than we can control. Large distraction. While they're all taking cover, we cut the power. Leave them in the dark for a few minutes, let their eyes get used to the dark. Flashbangs through all the windows, once their eyes have gotten used to the dark. They'll be so disoriented that it would almost be too easy to take them all out."
"You're smarter than you let on."
"They say that about Joker's bitch Harley too, but I've never seen anything good come out of that quack."
"Okay, but she's a psychopathic Joker fan. You're just psychopathic." She playfully smacked him and they continued on.
"Next, I say we thin his herd. Take out as many of them as possible. Then, we'd be able to take out his drug operations, and-" Selina was interrupted as a massive explosion shocked the western half of Gotham.
"What the fuck was that?!" Weaver shouted. He ran into the other room and snapped his armor on. Catwoman was already in her suit. They ran out of the door, slid the nearest window open, and jumped out, traveling as quickly as they good to the epicenter of the explosion. They both stopped on a building and watched in awe.
Red Hood was single-handedly taking on an entire platoon of Black Mask's men. The False Facers tried and tried to shoot him down, but he was moving so quickly, aiming so precisely with his pistols, that they couldn't hope to hit him. He whittled the men down until only one was left standing, and he dispatched him with a midair roundhouse kick. He dropped like a rock, leaving Red Hood the last man standing. Nightweaver dropped down beside him, putting his hand on his back.
"You alright?"
"Fine."
"What the hell was that?"
"Got sick of waiting on your slow ass. Just took out one of his gun storage warehouses."
"Wait, let me guess!" Catwoman interjected, and Nightweaver couldn't resist laughing.
"Bomb in an ammo crate." She looked at Nightweaver, who was just trying to keep himself contained.
"Look, we got contacted by a professional assassin," Weaver said after recovering. "Says that he...she... it... Screw it, I don't know. Says they're better than Deathstroke. We might be able to cut the head right off of the snake."
"Sounds good to me. You know where to find me." He walked away, obviously irritated.
"He really is not growing on me," Selina complained.
"Let's head back and just count this as first strike."
"I am impressed with his fighting though, that was pretty good."
They returned to the suite, and Catwoman immediately disappeared into one of the back rooms. She came back wearing a plaid shirt and jeans; he still hadn't seen her in just civilian clothes.
"I'm not going out again tonight. Screw that."
"I take it you're spending the night here?"
"Beds are a little more comfortable than in my apartment. And no, I'm not sleeping with you."
"Wasn't even gonna ask. So, are we gonna hire this "White Death" person, or no?"
"I'd say yes. Worse comes to worse, we kick his ass."
"You sure it's a 'he'?"
"Nope. Just too lazy to keep up with 'it'."
"Well, it's about one now, so I say we get up at about ten and get to work."
"Alright. I'll see you in the morning, then. Shouldn't have bothered getting dressed..." she muttered as she walked off into her room. Weaver's Titans communicator buzzed; he'd reactivated it since he hadn't been in his armor as much. He checked the message, and saw it was from Robin.
In town. Looking to help. Where are you?
Not tonight. Tomorrow. About to sleep. He got a message back almost immediately.
We were looking to stay with you tonight. Could stay with Batman instead.
We? A picture came in, showing that all of them, including Kitrina, had come to Gotham.
I guess we could fit you in. I'm staying in the Hilton, top floor suite.
We?
Shit. I'll explain when you get here. Twenty minutes later, Robin showed up on his doorstep, the Titans right behind him.
"You guys just wait out here for a minu-"
"No, no, you can come in. It's big enough. Just stick to the main area for now." They piled in, and he took Robin back into his room to talk.
"Who's this 'we'?"
"I've already contacted a number of people here, and I've been planning a lot of stuff. I've been with Selina almost all day, and she's crashing here for the night. I don't want Kitrina or Raven to walk in and think that we- well, you know."
"I understand. Look, I'll keep them distracted for a little while, you go in and tell her what's going on, lock the door and we can take care of it all in the morning." He nodded and waited for Robin to get the team's attention, then quietly half-snuck into Catwoman's room. She'd nearly fallen asleep, but was still awake enough to jump when he entered.
"What happened to nothing happening?" she asked, still trying to lead him on.
"Look, the Titans just showed up. Kitrina's here too. I'm gonna lock your door so that she doesn't get the wrong idea."
"Great. Kids. Thanks. I'll see you in the morning."
"Night." He turned the lock on the door and left, double checking the knob as he walked away. He approached the rest of the group, still looking on as Robin occupied time. He stood there awkwardly for a moment, waiting for him to finish. Cyborg turned around and noticed him first, and he looked happy to see him.
"Sup, man! How you been?"
"Better, you?"
"Great. Beat Scarecrow's ass and he's sitting in prison right about now."
"Good." Starfire turned to him and awkwardly greeted him.
"Hello, friend! It is good of you to lend us your lodgings for the night!" He smiled a little bit, her awkwardness easing his own. The others had realized he was there by now, and had turned to say hello.
"No problem, Star. Raven, Kitrina, Beast Boy, nice to see you all too." Beast Boy seemed to have lightened up since they'd last met; Raven was, as always, difficult to read and a little moody. Catgirl both looked like she had no interest in being there and had nothing but him in mind at the same time. "Look, I'd like to talk strategy tonight, but I'm wiped right now. One of the back rooms is off limits for now, we'll take care of that tomorrow, but there are two free ones. They've both got queen sized beds, so if you don't mind sharing with somebody you'll be fine, but otherwise the only place I've got is the couch."
"I don't really need to sleep," Cyborg noted. "So we only need to fit five people in."
"I can sleep on one of the couches," Robin said, volunteering himself.
"I'm either sleeping alone or not at all," Raven said in an almost passive-aggressive way.
"I'm good on the other couch," BB said, plopping down on the nearest one and laying back. He clearly was just as tired as Weaver was.
"I will gladly share a bed with Catgirl so that Raven may be alone as she requested."
"I'm fine with that."
"Alright, glad we got that sorted out. Thanks for coming, guys. We'll talk more tomorrow, promise." He retreated back into his room, but stopped when he realized somebody was following him. Kitrina was standing behind him, looking confused.
"Nightweaver," she said, breathing out the name like it was some forbidden phrase. "I... wh-..."
"You want to know why I did what I did." She nodded. He told her why, making sure to go into detail about what his logic had exactly been. "Look, I was drugged, my mind was foggy, I couldn't really think straight. I'm sorry, Kitrina. I really am. Are you okay?" She sat down on the end of his bed, still obviously confused.
"I think so. Are... are you?"
"I'm getting better. Look, go ahead and go to sleep. We can talk more tomorrow. I'm sure this will go better if we're not both tired as hell." He hugged her, then patted her back, politely telling her to leave the room. He laid down, closed his eyes, and rested.