Cirque du Freak

Red and blue lights colored the area. Police cars and paddy wagons were parked all over, cordoning the area off, along with ensuring members of the League of Smiles were being loaded up for transport.

The lights were also coming from a multitude of ambulances.

Strapped to a gurney was Byron Merideth. The straps were to secure him to the gurney, nothing more. They looked like a multitude of seatbelts, a metal male end shoved into the female clip. The handcuffs, on the other hand, made damn certain he wouldn't be able to get away.

Not that it was necessary. One side of Merideth's face was swollen and bruised to the point his eye was swollen shut. His costume was ripped and torn at various parts, revealing more bruising and cuts, small amounts of dried blood on the torn pieces of cloth.

He was loaded up into the back of an ambulance, the gurney locked into place before one of the EMTs began to try for an IV. It was protocol to get one placed in case the patient had issues. No doubt they were going to give the man some Morphine for the pain he was undoubtedly feeling.

Batman watched until the doors of the ambulance were shut. Then he turned his attention to another gurney, incidentally placed behind the ambulance next to Merideth's. This one had the attention of Huntress, who stood next to him.

The reason for this was because of the boy, Colin. He too was strapped down, his teddy bear at his side. He was asleep, courtesy of a sedative the vigilante had given him to help relax him. Venom withdrawals were coming, and the boy wasn't going to have it easy. Whatever small comfort he could give, he would do it.

It was also one of the few times Batman had interacted with any of the first responders, usually opting to get out of their way. This time, he told the two EMTs, along with the responding police officers what had been done to Colin. This was important because the EMTs needed to know what to treat, and the officers needed to know what had been done to the boy so that Merideth could be charged. Every sickening detail had been relayed in blunt, objective fashion.

Because that was the only way justice could be served.

A recording of the fight with Colin would be handed over, courtesy of the footage made from the lenses in his cowl. It was filled with Merideth's taunting, so it firmly placed him at the scene, aside from his physical presence of course. It also demonstrated his involvement in Colin's abuse.

"It doesn't feel enough," Huntress said after awhile, still watching as Colin was loaded into the ambulance. Just like with Merideth, his gurney was locked in and an IV was started. Her hands clenched tightly into fists, the leather of her gloves creaking from the pressure. "I hate this."

"So do I," Batman agreed. "I'll be giving the doctors everything I have on Venom and its withdrawal effects. Whatever it takes to ease his symptoms."

The dark-haired woman nodded her acknowledgement. "And what about the clowns?"

"None of them are going to get away with this; I'll make certain of that."

"Yes, we will," Damian agreed.

Batman just glanced at his stubborn child. He had already inspected the young boy for injuries, and aside from some bumps and bruises, he would be alright. Now, he needed to figure out how to remove Damian from the streets. Not once, but twice, he had disobeyed him. A firm example was going to be needed to get it across that the boy couldn't defy him.

"It's going to be difficult," Huntress pointed out. "How many of these clowns have an actual psych diagnosis? Any lawyer could point out they have some mental deficit that could get them off scot-free."

"There are worse places to be than a prison," Batman pointed out. "If they were used for their psychiatrist problems, then getting involuntarily committed will certainly keep them out of trouble."

"Those animals don't deserve such treatment," Damian sneered.

"Some of them do," the Dark Knight rebutted. "Some of them are legitimately suffering from an ailment that has gone untreated for one reason or another. They need that help, whether they want it or not. At least, we need to try to get them that help."

Huntress snorted. "That's suspiciously sounding like compassion. You'll have to excuse me if I don't feel that way at all."

"I never said you had to. As much as they need help, it doesn't erase the fact that they hurt someone you care for. You have every right to feel the way you do."

"Thank you for your permission."

Damian glared at the purple-clad woman. Clearly, he didn't like her sarcasm. "Now what do we do, Father?" he asked.

Now? Now he had to see to his wayward son. However, before he could respond, a nearby police cruiser began broadcasting from the radio inside of it. The car door was open, allowing anyone close by to hear the transmission. Listening for a moment, Batman picked up on the alarm in the message.

Immediately, he struck a button on his gauntlet, and his cowl was filled with the police ban from speakers close to his ears. The dispatcher was calling for all units, something about monsters and needing backup…

His eyes widened. It was happening again.

Light glanced off the edge of the blade. In quick fashion, the sword struck over and over, slicing through unnatural flesh. In a matter of moments, the last leg was completely severed, the creature falling onto its stomach, legless.

Effectively, it was harmless now if you discounted the head. Katana had been effective with her sword. She had sliced off both hands and now she had cut the legs off of the lizard-like monster. Its body was wiggling around now, just like the tail when it was torn off of a real life lizard.

From where she stood, Black Canary watched Katana hop onto the thrashing lizard's back, carefully work her way up its body, and then plunge her sword right into the base of its head, right where the spine entered the skull. There was a pained shriek from the monster, even more thrashing, but then it slowly went still. Eventually, its body began to disintegrate.

That was one monster down.

An explosion suddenly erupted further down the street. Head whipping around, the blonde vigilante spotted the rising cloud of smoke and flames, Manhunter standing in front of it with her staff pointed in the cloud's direction. No doubt she had used the energy cannon built into it. More importantly, she couldn't see the bull monster the brunette had been fighting.

Which left at least one more monster, that being the Cronenberg. As useful as the Canary Cry was, as she had managed to do was push it back with the force of her voice. Its body was just too damn soft and vicious as it absorbed the shockwaves. Canary had to retreat so as not to get trampled by the damn thing.

"Yo, Katana!" she called out, earning herself the Asian woman's attention. "I think I need a little help over here."

The red-and-yellow-clad vigilante nodded as she walked up to her comrade, holding her sword at her side. Currently, the Cronenberg was grabbing a parked car with one of its oddly-placed tentacles. It raised the car up into the air, where a hole suddenly formed in its body. There was a loud moan before the monster dropped the car into what had to be its mouth. Just as suddenly as it appeared, the hole shrank until it vanished entirely.

"So here's the plan," Canary said, "I'll distract the damn thing and you chop it into pieces."

"Sounds like a Huntress plan," her friend observed.

"No, that's the beat-everyone-up plan," she quipped back.

"I fail to see how this differs."

"Well, you're the only one that will be beating anything up whereas I will just be the bait, the distraction."

"Still sounds like a Huntress plan."

Canary rolled her eyes. "Just be ready." She then took off towards the Cronenberg before she angled herself towards a parked car. She leapt onto it, climbing up over the truck until she reached the roof. Sucking in air, she pursed her lips before she fired off a blunted Canary Cry. She watched the very air distort as the thin column of sound rings rushed towards the monster and struck its side.

Just like all the other times she had done this, the monster's side rippled from the hit. It also caused the thing to shift, as if turning its attention towards her, just like the blonde woman wanted. "That's right, I'm right here," she muttered before she sucked in more air. Then she fired a blunted Canary Cry after blunted Canary Cry, managing to get four of them off in rapid succession.

Each one impacted the monster, seemingly shoving it back. That changed when one of its tentacles shot out and grabbed onto a nearby street light. It began to pull on it, dragging its body across the ground.

That was until Katana swooped in, her sword slicing cleanly through the tentacle, severing it completely. The Cronenberg shrieked as it yanked back its stump of a tentacle, its gelatinous body recoiling back too. Then it roared in defiance and swung its other tentacle at the Asian woman.

Katana just went into a roll, the tentacle passing over her. Black Canary fired off another blunted Canary Cry, aiming for higher up its body. It struck towards the top, causing a ripple that ran down to the very bottom of its body.

Though she wasn't expecting much, she got what she wanted as the Cronenberg returned its attention to her. Drawing back its tentacle, it then thrust it right towards her. In response, the blonde woman went into a backflip, dodging the appendage as it crashed down on the car she had been standing on.

Landing on the sidewalk, Canary quickly found her back suddenly pushing up against a wall. Ugh, there wasn't a lot of room to work with here. It was time to change position.

Before she could though, bright flashes of light caught her attention, which were followed by energy beams that struck the side of the Cronenberg. The monster flinched from each blast, letting out abbreviated roars, abbreviated because each subsequent blast cut it off.

"That's right!" Manhunter shouted as she marched down the street, her bo staff held at her hip, its end pointed right at the Cronenberg. "D.E.O. tech at its finest!" She fired another blast that knocked the monster back.

Well, Canary hadn't been expecting that, but hey, who was she to knock what was working?

Going on the move, Black Canary headed for Manhunter, joining up with Katana on the way. They managed to reach their friend just as she pushed the Cronenberg into an intersecting street.

"So, how much juice do you need to finish it off?" Canary asked.

"Probably some more. I can always go full blast to make certain," Manhunter responded.

"Then let's take this thing out. Katana and I will—"

She never got the chance to finish. That was because a giant, two-toed foot crashed down on the Cronenberg, splattering it across the road. A long head emerged, one with its mouth gaping open, its jaw seemingly detaching so that it hung wider. It crossed through the intersection, seemingly unperturbed by the traffic light it crushed as it walked by.

Then came a blur of red fire and a streak of gold.

The blur and streak rammed right into the monster's back, trying to force it down onto the street. Its body flinched from the twin blows, but the creature just kept walking, revealing its grasshopper back legs and swinging tail as it completely passed through the intersection.

Then came an energy blast, one that struck at one of the back legs. By now, Black Canary was getting an idea of just what was happening.

Which was confirmed when Red Robin soared through the air above them, following after the monster.

"Is that…?" Manhunter trailed off.

"Yeah, I think it is," Black Canary sighed. "I guess we gotta help these guys out."

Chasing this damn thing was frustrating, but hey, at least he had kept up. The massive, city block long creature feature was bulldozing its way through pretty much everything. Hell, it had even squashed another construct under its foot.

There didn't seem to be any love lost between fellow constructs, Cyborg mused.

Wait, hold on, were those…? Aw yeah, those were some of the other vigilantes on Batman's turf. Briefly met them, got to team up with them once, and yeah, all names were recorded in his hard drive. Looks like they were about to work together again.

But damn, there were more of the constructs, he realized. The team had been fighting this big guy for so long, it had slipped the human part of his mind that there had to be others. Every night, it was getting worse, and the numbers were increasing, oy.

Pulling back, and figuring that the Gotham City Sirens over there were going to help out, Cyborg went to work with his left arm, shifting a panel out of the way and pressing several buttons there. From a screen, he could see the map of the city itself. Now, apply the detection program he had been developing to try and track these constructs down and…ah, shit.

Gotham was infested. No ifs, ands, or buts. Batman was going to be sooo pissed at them. So much for trying to show off. Well, okay, so showing off hadn't been a top priority, but if this wasn't a sign that the Titans didn't have this under control, you'd have to be as blind as an actual bat.

Time to do some quick calibrations. Seeing what was left of that one crushed construct and how it was starting to dissolve, the cybernetic teen did his best to see if he couldn't try to track the energies that had made it in the first place. This wasn't the first time he had tried such a thing, but if the detection program meant anything, then there might be a lot of opportunities to try and follow the disintegrating constructs' energies back to Raven.

They had to go back to her. That's what he had been told had happened the last time. They had come from her, as if leaving her, so when the energies couldn't hold on to the physical form anymore, it had to go back to Raven. A working theory, and so far his tech hadn't been quite up to the test.

Well, tonight looked like it was going to be the best chance at getting those tweaks and calibrations right. With how bad things were starting to get, it was only a matter of time until things got nuclear. No idea what Raven looked like if she went that way, and Cyborg didn't want to find out.

Gunshots easily shattered the normal city noises. The target was the massive, big-lipped monster that was making its way right for the precinct. Many officers were coming out of the building like a swarm of hornets to defend their nest. The first couple dozen had standard issue firearms, and they were making the most of them.

Gordon was trying to help out. He added his own fire into the mix. However, it seemed that this monster could take a bullet. Several hundred by this point. It wasn't slowing down, and the men and women of the GCPD were running out of space until it was in their midst.

The former commissioner had the idea to aim for the eyes…if he could find them. Sure, he wore glasses, but you would think there would be eyes. His own eyesight wasn't that poor.

It was getting closer, one of those freakishly long arms raising up a hand that had a lot of width to it, and then bringing it down. Any officers that were too close for comfort scrambled out of the way, a parked car not being lucky enough and being crushed in the process. Claws were tearing into concrete, and the monster dragged itself ever closer.

From the main entrance of the precinct, more officers poured out, but they came with heavier artillery. They must be tapping into the armory, Gordon mused. Every precinct in town had an armory, one with heavy-duty fire power in case of emergency. Typically, a citywide crisis or a standoff downtown had that weaponry being pulled.

Well, this might as well count as a citywide crisis, didn't it?

Shotgun fired powerful scatter shots. Automatics didn't need any down time between bullets. The monster shook its head, teeth clenched together and very prominent. It made for a tempting target, which turned out to not be a good thing. Bullets ricocheted off the teeth, and officers were ducking for cover for a new reason. The friendly fire was the last thing anyone was expecting.

The retired commissioner was ducked behind a parked car himself, not his. Patting his pockets, he swore. He had only brought enough ammo in case of clowns, not monsters. He was nearly down to his last few bullets. It was far too late to conserve them.

Yes, he had been hearing about these monster attacks, but for one reason or another had not given them the appropriate amount of respect. It seemed like the rest of the department had agreed with him, and like him were now caught with their pants around their ankles. It was no excuse.

Another crash had him wincing. What had been hit this time? As he was about to peer around his only defense, someone else slid across the hood of the car and plopped down next to him. Gordon found himself blinking, recognizing Bullock, and yet, was having difficulty that his former right hand man had done such a maneuver.

Looking at him, Bullock did a double take. "The hell you doin' here, Com'mish?"

"Oh, you know, picking up the kid. Fighting otherworldly creatures to have a nice story to tell. The usual," Gordon quipped back.

Bullock snorted. "Tell me about it. Where the hell these things come from? Outer space?"

If they were only that lucky. At least they knew how to fight some of those extraterrestrials. Bullets could do a lot more damage than you'd think.

"You've seen my daughter?" Gordon asked instead. Priorities had to be straight first. He needed to know about Barbara's whereabouts and the sooner he learned what he needed to know, the better.

"She'd better be holed up in there." Bullock gestured with a jerk of his head to the precinct.

She better be. With that out of the way, "You have any extra shells? I didn't exactly plan for otherworldly monsters this night."

Bullock looked around the front of the car, said nothing, then pulled back. Without looking, he dug out another pistol and tossed it to the former commissioner. "Best I can do, for what it's worth."

At least it was something.

Explosives detonated, which interrupted the continued blasts of gunfire. Pulling himself up, Gordon looked through the car windows and saw that SWAT had entered the fray. Good timing, the creature had already pulled itself onto the sidewalk, much of its body still in the street. An arm went up, the swiped, knocking anything that was in its way.

As it turned out, the car in front of theirs was in the way of that arm. "Jeez!" Bullock swore, jerking closer to Gordon.

"Can't stay here," Gordon growled, getting back onto his feet. Quickly, he took off, firing a couple shots from his nearly empty gun. Bullock followed after him, doing the same. He was hoping to do something, maybe distract it. He failed on that account, but SWAT seemed to be succeeding there.

Their firepower actually had the big-lipped son of a gun turning in their direction. The heavily armed officers were retreating back, throwing what looked like grenades while constantly firing countless bullets. The monster was looking irritated, so when it started shuffling its body, it was veering towards the SWAT officers.

That seemed to be part of their plan. Further down the street, a large vehicle with the SWAT logo on it roared as the driver gunned the engine. Tires tore into the street as the van barreled its way to the monster. The commotion drew the creature's attention, the teeth parting slightly.

Any cars, including the one that Gordon and Bullock had previously hidden behind, were rammed through, the van protected by its prominent grill guard. The large vehicle continued to pick up speed, unhindered by any and all obstacles until it finally collided with the monster. Teeth that had once endured who knew how many bullets were now challenged by the SWAT van and its grill guard accessory.

It was a challenge that it lost. Right into the mouth, tire ripping into the thick lips, the driver drove right down the monster's throat, barely slowing down. The remains of the lips tried to close, as if sealing the driver's fate, except it didn't quite happen that way. Further down to the long neglected rear of the beast, its body began to expand around a large lump, one that continued moving further and further down until it tore right out of it.

Tire screeched against asphalt, the driver trying to slow down quickly, but not quite succeeding. The street light did more to help with that, the van's grill guard absorbing much of the impact with the pole.

The monster with the now torn up lips heaved, weaving from side to side until it collapsed to its right, a soft boom resounding throughout the area. There were twitches from the body, as if it was trying to keep up with its assault, but the damage done to it was too great. Soon enough, it fell still, and the gunfire died soon after.

From his new cover, Gordon stared at the thing, taking in the sight of it now that the danger had passed. What was it? Where had it come from? Was there a chance it had once been a person? So many questions, so many unanswered…

He began to frown, a detail catching his attention. His eyes darted up and down the street, particularly seeking out the SWAT transport where the driver was getting out of the vehicle. Nothing, he saw nothing.

That was the problem. After all of that, where was the blood? In fact, he couldn't see any leaking out of the monster's wounds.

"That's one way to do it," Bullock remarked, still holding a firearm in one hand. The lieutenant sent him a look and continued, "Not bad for old times, am I right?"

Gordon wanted nothing more than to get a closer look, but he knew better. Protocol meant this whole area needed to be cordoned off and preserved. Forensics needed to get in here, and speaking of which, Barbara should be okay, right? She was bound to have heard all the fighting, and knowing her she would have been antsy, wanting to do her part in it. For once, he was grateful for that wheelchair for keeping her out of it.

"This was the easy part. Now we got to figure out where it came from," Gordon answered, one of his hands still gripping his firearm. Glancing to Bullock, "This is the one aspect of retirement I don't mind. I don't have to be the one to find out."

"Maybe I need to get me some of that," Bullock chuckled. Frowning, he added, "You'd think there'd be more of a mess."

The lack of blood, yes. Also, there weren't any noticeable internal organs spilling out. The medical examiner was going to have a field day. It wasn't his problem anymore, which meant he could…could…

He was hearing screeches. Judging by the look on Bullock's face, his former lieutenant was hearing them too. Slowly turning, Gordon found himself looking down the very street this now dead monster had once dragged itself along. The screeches were getting loud, a combination of both human voices and tires against the pavement.

Soon, enough, it lumbered into sight. This one was large, hulking, and had a very dark gray color to it. The head appeared small, what looked like a beak jutting out, and a very, very thick neck that helped with the hunch in its back. The legs were like the hindlegs of a dog, or perhaps a wolf more like, and massive hands with sharp claws carelessly sliced through a car.

Movement behind it gave away that there were others, many others.

"This is why we don't celebrate too early," Gordon groaned.

Tentacles whipped around. They struck nearby lamp posts, knocking them over, which tore up pavement as chunks were literally pulled along with the base of each pole. The sides of buildings were hit too, leaving long trenches of cracked cement where each tentacle had struck.

Bluebird had moved locations, firing her taser rifle at full power again, and…wasn't getting much results. The monster didn't like getting hit by pure electricity, but it wasn't killing it either. Spoiler was somewhere else, no doubt having exhausted her explosive batarangs by this point. Maybe she was conserving what she had left.

As for Batgirl, she only had a few left and that made her just as useless as those streetlights getting knocked over. She couldn't risk attacking this thing with her fists; the wildly-whipping tentacles made that far too dangerous. She didn't have much else in her utility belt to use either, or at least nothing she felt would actually hurt this damn thing!

It was infuriating. They were just…just…annoying this creature. That was it. Nothing they could do would stop it; yet, they couldn't just let it smash everything around, like it was doing.

A tentacle reached out for a nearby parked car, wrapping around it. Then it whipped it up into the air, throwing it in the direction of Bluebird. Promptly, the blast of electricity stopped, Bluebird no doubt scrambling to get away from the incoming car. From her position, Batgirl watched the car hit the edge of the building's roof, seemingly crumbling against it, before it exploded.

"Bluebird!" Spoiler suddenly shouted over the comm link. "Are you alright?!"

There was silence at first, one that grew longer and longer, which in turn rose Batgirl's anxiety. But then, "Yeah…yeah, I'm alright," Bluebird finally answered, her voice shaken. "That came a little too close for comfort, ya know?"

Batgirl let out a sigh of relief. That had been way too concerning for her. Her relief soon returned back to anger as she glared down at the mass of tentacles. What the hell did it take to bring it down?!

It…it was like that first time when she discovered she couldn't read an opponent. In that case, it was a Man-Bat, which acted on pure instinct. There was no thought aside from self-preservation and aggression. It was how she was overwhelmed by them because she read one thing in their body language, but they did something else.

Yet, they were eventually defeated. That was obvious as the city wasn't currently infested by them. So how was it done? How were they defeated?

Too bad her father wasn't here to tell her. She was pretty certain he had something to do with it.

"So now what do we do?" Spoiler asked. "We're running out of ideas on how to fight this thing."

"Maybe we could turn on the Bat Signal?" Bluebird suggested. "I'm perfectly willing to call Batman in on this one, no offense, Batgirl."

"I'm strongly considering that," she admitted to her team. There were times where being a leader meant having unwavering confidence; you never wanted your team to know of your doubt and uncertainty. That could cause alarm, and that led to bad things happening. In this instance, the young woman felt that she had nothing to lose with being honest.

What would her father do in this case?

According to the videos online, he would pull a sword out and start killing the thing. Unfortunately, none of them had a sword that could do that, so that option was out. Again, she thought back to how they fought the Man-Bat. What had her father done then?

Unfortunately, because that was back when she couldn't understand language, most of the words she had heard Batman and Huntress shouting at each other were useless. She had basically ignored it because none of it made sense outside of a few keywords—mainly ones that told her to attack things.

But they had brought down the Man-Bat. She distinctly remembered that part. But how? How had they stopped it? She vaguely remembered the Man-Bat trying to escape, trying to fly…

…right as the Batmobile launched itself through the air and ram right into it.

Oh, so her father had just hit it with something big and hard. That seemed…underwhelming now that she thought about it. Too bad they didn't have the car with them, not that her father would ever let them use it. He was quite protective of it for some reason.

Still, there was a concept they could use. Eyeing the monster as it began pulling itself down the street, no longer worried about being attacked by the girls, she saw it heading near a building, a skyscraper actually, one with an antenna that rose up into the air like a large spike…

Hmmm, now that had some possibilities.

"Spoiler, I have an idea," she announced.

"Oh, thank God, I thought you were going to have me think of one," the lavender-clad girl replied.

"That monster is heading near a skyscraper, one with an antenna on it. Do you see it?"

There was a pause. Then, "Yeah, I think I see the one you're talking about."

"Meet me on top of it. Bluebird?"

"I'm listening."

"Take position on the building across the street from it. When it gets right next to the skyscraper, hit it with your taser rifle. That should at least pin it down for a couple minutes."

"Aye, aye, Captain."

As Batgirl pulled out her grapple and fired it, beginning to make her way to the skyscraper, she couldn't help but reflect on how well her team took her orders. There hadn't been any second guessing at all. Maybe the other girls were willing to try anything at the moment; or maybe they had learned to follow her orders in the field. Regardless, it was something she couldn't help but take pleasure in.

Soon enough, she reached the roof of the skyscraper, pausing long enough to look over the edge. The tentacle monster was drawing closer, coming along the southside of the building. Looking to the antenna, she saw it had a base bolted onto the roof. Her head jerked back and forth until she felt she had a good idea on what she needed to do.

By then, Spoiler arrived. "So what's the plan?" she immediately asked.

Batgirl went right up to the antenna's base, pulling out handfuls of C4 from her belt. "We need to plant all of the explosives we have on the base of the antenna. Kneeling down, she began to press the C4 onto the base, spreading it out some, especially around the bolt that was keeping the antenna in place. Spoiler was at her side a couple moments later, adding her own C4. Reaching into her own belt, Batgirl then pulled out the detonators, sticking them into the puddy-like explosive.

"Okay, I'm guessing you're trying to do something with the antenna," Spoiler said after a moment. "I'm just trying to figure out what exactly."

"We're going to blow up the base and drop it right on top of that monster," the dark-clad girl told her.

There was a moment of silence. "Uhhh, how can we be sure this will work?" the blonde girl questioned. And there went the pride she felt with her team taking her orders unquestioningly. "I mean, I'm for trying anything at this point, but can we really drop it where we want?"

"We can and will. It's like chopping a tree down—just a tall, metal one."

"Guys, I've started blasting this thing!" Bluebird suddenly. "It's right next to the building, so whatever you're doing, do it now!"

Batgirl immediately headed for the roof's ledge, peering over it. She saw the monster at ground level, its tentacles waving around as it was being struck by the taser rifle's electrical blast. It wasn't perfect, unfortunately, but they didn't have much choice. They needed to take their shot now.

"Have you even chopped down a tree?" Spoiler was asking as she moved next to her. "What if we're doing this wrong? What if—"

Batgirl just held up the remote for the C4 detonator and pressed the trigger, cutting off her teammate.

An explosion erupted, a metallic whining sound filling the air. Turning around, both girls looked at the antenna as it seemed to lean back and forth. It was several seconds before it began to lean towards them, just the direction Batgirl wanted it to go.

"Uhh, Batgirl? It's starting to come right for us," Spoiler pointed out.

Rolling her eyes, she reached a hand up and grabbed her doubtful friend and pulled her out of the way. There was a groaning sound before the antenna toppled over. Its long frame landed down on the roof with a loud clanging sound. Thankfully, more of its body hung out over the ledge, allowing it to tilt over before falling off of the building.

Both Batgirl and Spoiler hurried back to the ledge and looked over it. They watched the antenna falling straight down through the air, picking up speed. Though Batgirl was concerned that perhaps their aim was off, that worry proved moot when the antenna landed right on top of the monster, spearing right through it, as a loud BANG! echoed throughout the area. The monster shrieked, whipping its tentacles around, but it was unable to move any further, what with it being impaled and pinned to the street.

"Holy crap!" Bluebird cried out over the comm link. "Was that your plan? Because damn!"

Batgirl then looked to Spoiler. "You were saying?"

The other girl just rolled her eyes. "You were right, I was wrong. Happy?"

"Yes, I am very happy."