Hello faithful readers :) I feel I must apologize for the tardiness of my recent chapters, but school and life have made getting chapters out difficult. Thanks for understanding, and welcome back into the world of Kylrm :) Also, this was written on my tablet in a car, so please excuse any typos/weird errors. The keyboard, while physical, is tiny. I also didn't have wi-fi, so if the femur is actually in the leg, woops :P

"Hey, we're training, not trying to kill each other!" Bruce swiped his night stick over my head, narrowly missing me.

"The enemy won't show mercy, so neither will I!" he huffed. I spotted a small opening by his right arnpit and feigned left, waiting for his blow to ping against my arm before I whipped around to strike. I came within centimerers of him, a resounding CRACK rang through the training sim as our night sticks connected. He relaxed slightly, and we bowed before backing up. Setting his weapon on a dais, Bruce checked his laceration from an encounter with the Red Hood the night before. We still had no idea who this guy was, but at least we had ruled out one of the Joker's gang. Although... that could be viewed either way. At least with the Joker we knew who we were dealing with. A new guy in town, though, meant a new profile, new goals, and a new chase. "You're ready."

I stopped mid-wipe and turned to him, cleaning cloth still in hand. "What?"

"You heard me. You're ready to go into the field with me." Eyebrows raised, I stared at him for a second before slowly nodding and finishing with the weapon. No questions, just an answer. At least now I didn't have to worry about him hurting anyone out there. Bruce was getting much better now that he actually had someone to train, but he was still pretty shaken up about Jason's death. It was odd, though; I had formed enough of a connection with Bruce that I could feel the people he was with the most - Clark, Barbara, and Alfred. I could even feel Nightwing, although his mental signature was fainter. I didn't feel his parents or the other Robins. Yet, for some reason, I could feel the mind of Jason the strongest. Perhaps-

"Well? ready to finally use your suit?" Bruce almost looked happy that we were going out together.

I frowned, "Who are you and what have you done with Bruce?" He laughed heartily as I rolled my eyes and did a quick transformation into my new suit. "So, what's up for tonight? Mob or Red Hood?"

"Both," he motioned for me to get into the batmobile, and we set off. "The Red Hood was just seen at an abandoned warehouse, the central meeting place for mob bosses. We're going to intercept that bastard before he can take over Gotham."

"So..." a long paused marked only by the beating of my hearts. "We got a plan or are we just going to try another grab 'n run?"

Bruce paused a moment, "Our main objective is RH. It might be a chase, but it could also turn into a stand-off."

"Well that's helpful," I grumbled, rolling my eyes. Bruce lightly punched my arm - well, lightly for him. It felt like a freight train slamming straight into my femur. I punched him back, making his handling waver a bit. Bruce glared at me before turning his attention back to the road.

A few minutes later Bruce spun us through the garage door, angling the batmobile so we could slip out without people realizing what had happened...

"Uh, anyone here?" no one stood in front of us pointing guns, much less shooting. I relaxed my pose slightly, moving off to our right so we could cover more ground. We kept easily within ear- and eye-shot, as Bruce was, understandably, paranoid about losing another trainee. I used a cloudy mirror to look into a room before flipping around the corner, slowly approaching a black dufflebag on what looked like a round conference table. Above was a bridge of sorts with a small strip of cloth hanging from a screw. "Bruce! I've got some-" eyes wide in shock, I jumped away from the dufflebag. Bruce was at my side in a second, no, a moment. "I-it's heads. The dufflebag is full of heads."

Bruce recoiled sharply and shakily strode to the table. Nothing, nothing had shaken him that badly, aside from Jason's death and his parents' murder. Bruce nodded before zipping the bag closed again. "Can't be more than a day old. He was here."

"Correction!" a slightly raspy, yet vibrant, tenor voice called out. "I am here." I saw him first, hidden on a rafter by the shadows of the roof. Bruce saw him a moment later, and we grappled up to the bridge as the Red Hood jumped a mere few feet south of us. We rushed him, Bruce's cape flying behind him, almost hitting me in the face several times. He grappled to a nearby building, not a small feat when it was 10 yards away. We used the same technique, I have to admit. We chased him across the ledge of a few more businesses, climbing ever higher above the chaotic streets filled with near-deafening honks and screams. We were almost on him when he executed a loop around the side of a glass building, smashing a hammer-like contraption through the glass and steel. We lept as one to the nearest building, extending our grappling hooks just in time.

Bruce was about to continue the pursuit when I grabbed his arm and growled, "It's him or the civilians. We can't take both." He glared at me for a minute, the killer instinct gleaming just beneath the surface, before he relaxed and nodded.

An hour later the floors above the breach in structure were evacuated, and the building stabalized. Every so often, Bruce looked distant, making sure he knew every detail so we could reconstruct what happened from both our perspectives once we got back to the batcave. The people we just saved kept their distance, fully aware of his reputation, although they clearly knew nothing about Bruce's new companion.

A young reporter came up to me as we finished welding the support columns together, "Um, hi, sir - or Ma'am! May I ask you a few questions?"

I looked at Bruce, who just shrugged and started heading back to the batcave, "Sure, what is this about?"

He visibly relaxed a bit, "I'm Jimmy Johnson with the Daily Planet. In Metropolis?"

I nodded, "What brings you here?"

"I- uh, we - had heard there was a new player in Gotham. The Red Hood?"

"..."

"Okay... Was he responsible for this?" He gestured to the building, and I hesitantly nodded. "Okay, great! No, not so great. But, well, you know what I mean. It's not great that he did this, but it's, um, great to... get that information?"

I had to chuckle at his lack of grace, "We don't discuss much with reporters, but you're a friend of Lois. So I'm making an exception."

"Oh, of course! And I really appreciate you talking with me, even if it's just becaue of Lois. Not that Lo-" I lifted my right hand.

"Just get to the point, Jimmy."

He gulped, pulling at his collar a bit, "Do you know who the Red Hood is?" I just raised an eyebrow. "Right, of course you don't. Because then you would have caught him already. Any suspects? ... Any leads? ... Don't you know anything?!" Jimmy yelped as my distant gaze narrowed and became more of a glare.

I was turning around to leave when, "Wait!" I hesitated, perhaps a tiny bit impressed at his stubborness. "If you can't discuss the case, can you at least tell me something about you?"

"I'm the Phoenix," with that, I fired up my suit and lept out of the building, using false wings to glide to the streets.