Simon woke up feeling a lot better than he had the night before. He'd wrapped his arms around Selina at some time during the night, embracing her in sleep. He let go of her and sat up; she followed suit seconds later, surprising him.
"Been awake for a few minutes. Didn't want to disturb you," she explained.
"Sure." He got up and stretched, then got up and started making coffee. She left and went to his bedroom, leaving him alone.
Did Kitrina spend the night here? She said she was just taking a nap. Should check on her. Need to talk to Cy about making a better suit. Might buy into the whole spandex deal. He laughed to himself, then poured three different cups of coffee just in case and started drinking from his. Selina came back and started drinking hers, leaning against the counter next to him.
"Kitrina still here?" she asked casually.
"No idea. I'll check." He walked to the spare room and opened it. Catgirl was still passed out in the bed. He shook her shoulder and her eyes shot open. "Calm down. Just waking you up, it's about time." She shook her head almost violently, seemingly dazed. "Coffee in the main room." Selina poked her head in the door, a look of alarm on her face.
"You communicator's got a distress signal from Robin on it."
"Shit, he did say he was going to come here. Never made it. Let's go."
Minutes later, all three of them were suited up. Catwoman reunited with her sidekick temporarily and went to get help and search his last known location. Weaver had a hunch he knew where he was and returned to the tunnel he'd gotten beaten in. He stepped in as quietly as possible, cursing his heavy footsteps again as he did so. To his surprise, there was nobody in the tunnel; the massive blast door that had previously been closed was now open, however.
He stepped cautiously into the room, flooded a deep red by the emergency lights. It opened into a long staircase, leading him down. He could hear yelling downstairs, and almost jumped down the stairs to get towards it. He made no attempt at stealth walking into the room at the bottom. Robin was handcuffed and turned away from him, stuck on his knees in front of Black Mask. There was what looked like a massive tube of green, bubbly acid covering the rear wall.
"You can't do this!" Robin yelled.
"Obviously I can. And there's nothing you or Nightweaver here can do." Robin turned his head and saw Weaver.
"RUN! It's Chemo!" The tube shrunk and shrunk until he realized it was a humanoid being made of the liquid; eventually, it reached a slightly more manageable size of about eight feet. There were caps at the end of each limb, and a small focal point serving as the head.
"Have fun, kids." Black Mask walked right past Weaver, who could only watch as he went past.
"Robin, have you fought this thing before?"
"No, but I've fought something like it. You go after Black Mask, I'll take it out. Just get me uncuffed!" Weaver grabbed the chain on the cuffs and twisted, breaking it in two. "Go!" Weaver ran up the stairs, accessing his communicator on screen at the same time.
"Catwoman, Catgirl, Black Mask is here. Robin's fighting Chemo, I'm going after him. I'm just leaving the tunnel right now. Meet up with me as fast as you can, I don't want another repeat." He climbed out of the tunnel and was met with a manhole cover to the face. His back cracked against the edge of the hole that served as the entrance and he fell back down the ladder.
"You NEVER learn! Ha!" Black Mask walked away, and Nightweaver was able enough to shoot a grappling hook up at the exit and pull himself up and out. He was just able to watch a green cheetah tackle his rival to the ground and smiled.
So THIS is why you work with a team! Black Mask kicked and punched at Beast Boy, and just as he got himself free, a green bolt shot through his stomach. It resealed itself immediately, and Nightweaver stopped for a moment.
"Shit. That's not Black Mask, that's Clayface! He's already gone!" Raven appeared in front of him, grabbed him, and next thing he knew, they were on top of a building.
"Where are Catgirl and Catwoman?" she demanded.
"Last I knew they were scouting where Robin had been, why?"
"We can't get a hold of either of them. We got here and didn't see them and got worried." She grabbed him again and as the black energy dissipated, his jaw dropped. Black Mask's warehouse was in shambles, a large crater in the center, the walls barely standing. There were three figures fighting on the roof.
"Take me there. You need to help the other Titans against Clayface."
"No. We do this together." They were on the roof in seconds, and Nightweaver greeted the true Black Mask with a knee to the jaw. He fell back and the fight stopped for a moment as he surveyed the newcomers.
"Please. I've killed three of the four of you already." He kicked Catgirl in the head, knocking her down and starting the fight again. Raven tried to pick him up, but he pulled a gun on her and shot her in the thigh. She didn't have time to react and block the bullet, but Nightweaver was able to grab the gun and wrestle it from his hand before he could do a follow up shot. The two collapsed to the ground, trying to gain control of the gun.
I get this pistol, I'm shooting this fucker. Black Mask kicked him in the gut, sending him flying off and onto his back, but Catwoman entered the fight and kicked the gun away from both of them. Black Mask grabbed her leg as she did so and dragged her chest first onto the ground and put her in a chokehold. Catgirl had recovered by now and pried his arm from around her mentor's throat, but only succeeded in getting backhanded. Weaver took a moment away from the fight to check on Raven; she was bleeding badly.
"You alright?"
"Just a bullet wound, nothing major," she quipped viciously.
"Get out of here. I'll talk to you later, okay?" She nodded and crawled away behind cover, letting him focus on the fight. Black Mask had gotten on top of Catgirl and was choking her, Catwoman having been tied up with her own whip. He grabbed him by the back and forced him to stand, grabbed onto his shoulders, then jumped and tucked his knees in, dropping the crime lord's spine directly onto his kneecaps. He shouted out in pain and rolled off of him, and Nightweaver let him writhe and began walking towards the gun he'd dropped before. He picked it up and walked back to Black Mask, who had finally gotten back to his feet and was rubbing his back. Nightweaver pistol whipped him in the neck, knocking him on his ass.
"You're done." He leveled the gun to his head, but just before he could pull the trigger, it fell apart. He looked to his left and saw Raven holding a shaking hand out. "What the fuck, Rae?"
"You'd be no better than him!"
"I don't care!" He grabbed Sionis by the throat and started smashing his head onto the roof, then dragged him to the edge of the crater. He shot one grappling hook at him, letting it stay loose, and dropped him into the building, then ripped him back up to the roof, carrying him in a full arc in the air above him. He slammed into the roof hard enough to crash through to the next floor. He pulled Black Mask back to his level and dropped his nearly unconscious body.
"Wake up." He shot two tasers into each side of his body, and he writhed with electricity. Black Mask rolled over onto his stomach and tried to crawl away, but Nightweaver dropped onto his back and grabbed Roman's head.
"This is it, Roman. Any last words?"
"Fuck you." He went to snap his neck, but a figure yanked his hands away and threw him to the ground. The White Death stood there with a sword in its hand.
"You paid me to kill him. I will kill him."
"God damn it!" He tried to punch the assassin in the face, but it dodged and hit him with the hilt of it's sword.
"Don't try to fight me. We're on the same team."
"You just stopped me from killing him!"
"Because you were in the way of my directive." Black Mask had gotten up, but was immediately attacked by Catwoman. She kicked him in the jaw, sending him back down to the ground, but he rolled off of the edge of the building before she could hit him again, leaving Nightweaver and the White Death face to face alone.
"Look, I don't care who kills him, just as long as he ends up dead. If you wouldn't mind, we need to kill him. Now."
"You stay here. I will kill him." The assassin front flipped off of the building, and Nightweaver decided to check on his allies. Catgirl was coughing, but seemed alright. He searched around the building, but couldn't find Raven.
The White Death sliced at Black Mask's arm, cutting a large swath along his forearm. He was stumbling away, trying to regain his footing while simultaneously trying to dodge the katana that the assassin was using.
"I wouldn't want this to be too easy." It sheathed the blade and pulled a knife out, stabbing it deep into his left bicep. Black Mask shouted again and tore away, the knife staying in his arm. He yanked it out, holding the Bowie in his own defense.
"Leave me the fuck alone, you psychopath!"
"I have a contract on you, sir. I'm sorr-" White Death was stopped mid-sentence as Batman swooped in and kicked it, knocking it over.
"Get out of here, Roman. I'm letting you off easy. Go!" The assassin roundhouse kicked him while he was paying attention to Black Mask, knocking the Dark Knight down. It threw a smoke bomb down and vanished before he could recover.
"Damn it."
Nightweaver had found Raven, bleeding heavily from her wound.
"Rae, we need to get you to a hospital. You can't heal yourself."
"I can't teleport right now... I need you to carry me there."
"We're only a block away. Can you stand at all?"
"I think." She wrapped her arms around his waist and he started to swing towards the hospital, taking care not to land too roughly. He landed there in a few minutes and walked her inside, giving her to a nurse. He turned around to a right hook from Batman that dropped him to the linoleum.
"An assassin? I told you to be careful. You should have listened."
"I get the 'no killing' part, but what the hell was that for?"
"The White Death. Nobody's ever heard of it. You know why?"
"No?"
"The White Death kills it's employer once it's done. You signed a contract for two targets. Roman Sionis and Simon Weaver." The reality of the situation hit him. "You've got one chance."
"That is?"
"I'm not saving you on this one. I warned you. I'm not letting Robin or the other Titans help either. They could die. I can't control Catwoman, she does what she wants. That means you've got two true allies, because I'm sure the other villains could care less."
"And that is?"
"The other guy in the contract."
"No. I'd rather die."
"No, you wouldn't. The only way I see you surviving this is by teaming up with him. Deathstroke, Catwoman, Red Hood, Black Mask, maybe Deadshot. That's all you've reliably got. And I can't guarantee Red Hood either. You need his help."
He's right. I don't have a choice here. He got up and dropped his head, not wanting to do what he knew he had to do.
"You're right. Can you get me into contact with him?" He snatched Nightweaver's communicator from his belt, pressed some buttons, then handed it back to him. It was already calling an unknown contact. He stepped outside, sighing.
"Who the hell is this? I'M NOT IN THE MOOD RIGHT NOW!"
"It's Nightweaver. We need to talk."
"Oh Jesus, what?"
"That assassin is apparently after both of us."
"I don't believe you. Have a nice day."
"Wait! There's no other way for us to survive. We need to take it out before it kills us. I'd let it kill you, but it's gonna come after me, too. I don't want to die, you don't want to die, we have to help each other. Trust me, I hate it just as much as you do. It makes me sick to think about standing next to you and not trying to kill you. But if I'm going to live to finish you off, we have to help each other. There's no other way." There was a moment of silence, then a sigh from the other end.
"We meet in Crime Alley. I'm going to bring ten of my guys. You bring five of yours. We talk about it then. Tonight, midnight. You double cross me, I'll have your head hanging above my desk."
"Alright. I'll see you then." He ended the call, then rushed to where he had left Raven. A nurse directed him into a room where a doctor was pulling the bullet out of her leg. She looked up at him just as the doctor jerked the piece of lead out of her thigh, causing her to wince in pain. He grabbed her hand and she squeezed hard until it subsided.
"You can't be in here right now, sir. You can wait outside," the doctor said, looking at him almost angrily.
"Just give me a minute. Rae, you need to leave the city. It's about to turn into a full scale war, and I don't want you to get hurt more." She shook her head, and his heart dropped.
"If you're staying, then I am. I'm not leaving you to do this alone."
"Bats won't let you stay."
"He has no power over me. I'll do what I want."
"I won't let you stay."
"Ditto. I'm staying, Weaver. You can explain the situation to me later, but for now, I need you to leave so he can finish fixing me up."
"Yes, please, leave," the doctor impatiently added.
"Fine. I'll talk to you then. But you aren't staying." He left, trying to figure out how exactly things were going to work out.