Seventy two hours had passed since the discovery of Black Mask's fallback plan, and Simon hadn't calmed down a bit. They'd contacted the White Death, but the threat of nuclear destruction had put them all on edge; the Titans had opted to have their own rooms, leaving Nightweaver and Catwoman alone again. He was laying down on the couch, trying to come up with solutions to the problem. Selina had been pacing back and forth for almost an hour. They were both anxious.

"You got anything?" he asked, hoping she'd been able to come up with something.

"Nothing. Sorry." He sighed, the situation weighing heavily on him.

"Well, while we're alone, nothing's changed between us?"

"I don't think this is the best time."

"Well neither of us have been able to come up with anything, and the best ideas always come to me when I'm distracted."

"Fine. Well, for the record, I think that we should just go ahead and try not to let them notice. As long as you're sure you want to go through with this." He stood up and wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her close.

"Not at all. That's part of the thrill." He tried to kiss her, but she pulled away.

"Look, I like you and all, but I need some guarantee that you're not just gonna ditch me. Promise. I'm not asking for a promise that we're never going to break up. I know things don't work out sometimes, but I don't want to open up just to get hurt. So promise me that."

"As long as you do the same."

"Fine. I promise."

"I do too." A smile played across his face for a minute, then quickly vanished.

"What's wrong?"

"I think we're hitting Black Mask all wrong."

"Why?"

"Because what's the easiest way to get to somebody in power?"

"Walk into his office?"

"Exactly. And who gets to just walk into Black Mask's office?"

"A few people. Anybody that has to report to him. His secretary, his partners."

"Exactly."

"We can't put you in. He'll recognize you. Same for me, or Bruce, or Kitrina. Most of the Titans, too."

"Not Deadshot either. We were all in prison together briefly. Deathstroke's too famous. He'll recognize the voice alone."

"We need to figure out somebody we can trust that he won't be able to notice. Either way, good idea." She pecked him on the cheek, and he stopped for a moment.

"You know, you've got really pretty eyes." She smirked at him and laughed a little. "What?"

"You sound so awkward complimenting people. Stick to what you do." He'd meant it; her green eyes sparkled almost like emeralds when she was enjoying herself. He'd already decided that Selina Kyle was one of the most physically attractive women he'd ever met, and he wasn't surprised at all that she'd made her way into Batman's heart.

Shit, how's Bruce gonna take this? I mean, he might already know, because he saw us the other night. Were they really together, though?

"So, what exactly was between you and Bruce? I just want to know how we should approach this."

"Occasionally we'd end up getting together, but it was nothing much. I tried to get serious with him once and we didn't talk for a month, and we only started talking again because I told him we could just keep it casual like we had been."

"Sounds like he was scared."

"Bruce? Scared? Of what, exactly?"

"Losing you."

"Are you trying to make me feel bad? Cause it might be working."

"Sorry. That's just why I was worried about him being hurt by it."

"It's Bruce. I've seen the man win a fight against twenty guys with a knife jabbed into his ribs and shards of glass in his knuckles. He gets hurt, he buries it and never talks about it again."

"I take it you've had some experience."

"I tried talking to him about his parents once. I pushed a little more than I should have."

"Why do you say that?"

"Let's just say that that's the only time I've ever seen him punch somebody and apologize for it."

"He hit you?"

"Yeah, but I'm not mad about it. Wasn't really then, either. If it affected him enough to drive him to beat the shit out of criminals for the rest of his life, I knew that if I pushed too far it might drive him over the edge. He started saying sorry literally the second he'd realized what he did. The man cried, Simon. I knew he'd just lost it for a second."

"Hard to remember sometimes that he's human."

"Snores like an elephant."

"Hey, let's get suited up and go scouting down where Kitrina and Cy were. I want to see exactly what's down there."

"Agreed." They were both ready in minutes and left, departing for southern Gotham.

"So, tell me, why did you get into what you did?" Weaver asked on the way there.

"Necessity. No money. Had to eat."

"Same."

"You were a thief?"

"Oh, nobody told you?" They both stopped on a rooftop for a moment, getting their bearings.

"No. Just said you'd been recruited."

"My parents died when I was younger and I had to start stealing to survive, or I'd get thrown into an orphanage. I didn't want to get caught."

"Same. At least, I think they died. I never knew my parents." He looked at her apologetically, understanding her pain as best he could.

"Sorry."

"Not like you had anything to do with it."

"I just mean that I feel bad for you." She backflipped off of the roof and he chased after her, the couple swinging through the city as the bright lights began fading and were replaced with flickering neon signs.

"Don't. I made it work, and yeah, some bad stuff happened, but I don't regret it. I stole. I killed. I did what I needed to do to live. You get that, right?"

"I do." They arrived at the hatch Catgirl and Cyborg had described days before.

"I've got better armor. Let me go in first," Nightweaver said, volunteering himself.

"I'm more quiet. If there's anybody in there, they won't notice me." She opened the hatch and climbed the ladder down before he could argue back. He watched as she flicked her goggles over her eyes and disappeared into the darkness. He stood around for several long, silent minutes before her head came back into view.

"Come on. Coast is clear." He dropped down the hatch, landing with a small splash. There were five men all ziptied together at the wrists and knocked out.

"Nice."

"Told you I was quiet." She nimbly walked along the center of a pipe, Weaver following behind. He did thermal scans on the walls, seeing various figures through them.

"Looks like we've got three in the next room. One's asleep, the other two are playing some card game. I'll get them."

"Show your stuff, kid." He walked forward as silently as he could, but the guards noticed him almost immediately. He shot the first to turn with his taser, then fired a grappling hook at the other. It hit him in the solar plexus, pushing him forward, before Nightweaver jerked him back viciously. His head snapped forward and he let him go, bouncing several times before rolling to a stop.

"Stay down if you don't want me to break every bone in your body." The three men stayed down on the ground, including the one who had been sleeping, having been awoken by his friend's impact on the ground.

"Nice one, Weaver." They continued down the tunnel, moving slowly and quietly, but keeping a relaxed pace.

"I didn't think our first date would be in an underground tunnel hunting for nukes, you?"

"I was more picturing sewers, to be honest, but this is good, too." They smiled at each other, but continued walking down the path. His communicator buzzed, and he blinked the feed onto his HUD. Robin showed up on his screen.

"Catwoman, watch for enemies. What do you need?"

"Where are you two?"

"Gathering intel on Roman's WMDs."

"Get finished ASAP. We-"

"We'll take as long as we need. There's an entire city at stake. Nightweaver out." He blinked Robin's feed away and tapped Catwoman on the small of her back, letting her know they were moving on.

"Somebody's a little feisty."

"Never liked him having control of me. Not a fan of being at somebody's beck and call."

"You'll hate me then!" She curled her whip around his neck and pulled him in, pressing the button that undid his facemask. She pressed her lips to his for a moment, but he stopped her before they could get into it.

"We need to do this first, Selina. I promise, we can have as much fun as you want once we're done." He kissed her quickly, then drew away from her and slid his facemask back into place. She looked disappointed, but her expression softened.

"You're right. Sorry."

"Don't get me wrong, love the enthusiasm. I'd love to break down and make out with you right now. There's just more at stake. Come on." They quickly arrived at a split in the tunnel. "Stick together, or split up?" She mulled it over in her head for a moment before pointing him down one tunnel and walking down the other. "Be careful. I don't want you to get hurt." Selina ignored him, vanishing into the darkness of the tunnels.

Great. Passive aggressive bullshit. He walked off, choosing to ignore the situation for now. His footsteps seemed infinitely louder in the enclosed space, echoing off of each and every wall. He felt horribly clumsy compared to the slyness of Catwoman.

I should try and get Cyborg to help me make myself more quiet. I hate being this painfully obvious. He reached a bend in the tunnel and pressed up against the corner, leaning his head out to scout the area. He saw a few armed men standing around a door, talking to somebody. He looked a little closer and-

No. Not now. No! Black Mask was standing there, cool as snow, talking to his henchmen and giving them a piece of his mind. He activated the long range hearing devices in his ears and listened in.

"You guys are morons. This shouldn't be that hard. How many times do I have to explain that you are here for show?! This door is wired to vaporize anything living that walks through it without the passcode. I don't need any more dead guys right now. Trouble shows up, you tell it that you're it's bitch! You do as it says! And you watch as the dumbass turns into a pile of ash!"

Hold it, hold it, hold it, don't flip out, find your center, calm yourself... Nightweaver was having to force himself to hold back from running out and attacking Sionis right there and then.

Don't. He's got a nuke. Something like a nuke. He could blow up everything in Gotham with a push of a button, or something even worse. I can't ju-

FUCK IT. He charged headfirst out towards them, tackling the first he ran into to the ground and spinning back to one knee. He punched the second guard in the stomach, grabbed his gun, and flipped him, still holding onto the assault rifle. Nightweaver hesitated for a moment, gun in hand, then shot the two guards, watching as blood pooled from their bodies. He removed the clip from the guard's gun, popped the bullet in the chamber out, then threw it to the ground.

"Simon Weaver. Well shit, I didn't expect you this early." They began circling each other; Black Mask took his white suit jacket off and tossed it into the cleanest corner he could find, then started to roll up his sleeves.

"Simon Weaver is dead, Roman." Nightweaver cracked his neck, then his knuckles.

"So's Roman Sionis. Guess we've got something in common, kid."

"Fuck you, we've got nothing in common."

"Dead parents."

"You killed yours!"

"Still dead. You remind me a lot of a younger me. Just as unst-"

"FUCK YOU!" He threw a wild punch at him, but Black Mask easily dodged, ducking under it and elbowing him hard in the ribs. Weaver was too angry to focus on anything; even his willpower-based telekinesis was unusable. Black Mask took advantage of this, and had already planned the fight out. Nightweaver tried to spin and elbow his opponent in the head, but he was already on the other side of him, hitting him with a quick one-two punch to the jaw. He was dazed; no amount of armor on his head could stop the shaking that his brain just took. He stumbled and fell, and Black Mask stomped onto his forearm, hitting the button that removed his faceplate.

"How did y-" He was stopped as Sionis stomped on his face, shattering a few of his teeth. He could feel the blood beginning to gather in his mouth, barely able to get his hands up to defend himself, only able to reduce the pain and unable to stop it. He finally recovered and grabbed Roman's foot on a subsequent stomp, tossing it to the side and throwing it off balance. As he got up, he noticed he had picked up the empty assault rifle, and came at him with the stock. Black Mask smashed it into his face, another spurt of blood flying out of his mouth.

"You've pissed me off enough, kid. This is it." Nightweaver woke up at the thought of losing to his nemesis and surges of adrenaline shot through him. As Black Mask went to rifle butt him again, he pushed the gun to the side, grabbed Roman's arm, yanked him closer, and brought his elbow into his face at the same time. He dropped the gun and grabbed at his face, unable to properly clutch at his wound through the mask. Weaver clicked his facemask back into place and socked Roman in the solar plexus, knocking the wind out of him and dropping him to the ground.

"You're right," he taunted, spitting out blood to the side. "This is it." Black Mask jumped to his feet and tackled Nightweaver, but was met with a taser to the ribs. It remarkably didn't phase him, and Sionis smashed Weaver's head into the wall, sparking millions of tiny stars in front of his eyes.

"Not today! You'll get what you deserve, punk!" He grabbed his suit jacket and ran off before Nightweaver could fully regain motor functions. He was barely able to get out his communicator and put out a distress signal before he passed out.