"DO IT NOW!" ordered Nightwing as he used all the strength he had to keep Cobb in place.
Red Arrow had known Dick Grayson for over a decade. He knew the man. He knew what a self-sacrificing idiot, the man could be. He wasn't going to let this be the day that his friend bit the dust. Not if he could help it.
"Do it," agreed Red Arrow, as he attached a line to the handrail of the catwalk and launched himself off and down towards the hero.
He slammed into the younger man, just as the jet stream of liquid nitrogen hit the Talon. The sudden decrease in temperature could be felt even as they flew away from the target.
Getting a better grip on the younger man, Red Arrow retracted his line and the two of them were pulled back up to the catwalk. Making sure Nightwing had his own grip on the handrail before he let go, Will jumped over the railing first before he began to help Nightwing to safety, where the younger vigilante promptly collapsed. His breaths coming out harshly as he just starred up at the ceiling.
"Did… it… work…?" gasped Nightwing.
Red Arrow looked over the catwalk to the scene below, where a very frozen Talon now stood, the sword Nightwing had used to pin the guy like a shish-kabab still sticking out of the guy's stomach.
"It worked," confirmed Red Arrow as he started to look over his friend's body, noticing the number of slices in the suit and the volume of blood pooling in the gaps. Reaching into his own belt Will started to pull out first aid supplies, to try and stop the bleeding.
"We need… to… move…"
"Yeah, you need a doctor," huffed Red Arrow. He was starting to think that he'd be using the anticoagulant powder on some of these wounds.
"Dis…placement."
"What?"
Tigress dropped onto the catwalk, taking a re-breather out of her mouth. "Liquid nitrogen heats up when it comes into contact with air, turning into nitrogen gas which then displaces the oxygen."
"When did you become an expert in chemistry?" asked Red Arrow in awe. That had been more Wally's thing.
Tigress laughed, "I didn't. I got a crash course when our friend here called for help three days ago. Which means we need out of this room, before there's not enough oxygen for us all to keep breathing."
"And our only exit is that skylight," groaned Red Arrow.
"I can… make it," coughed Nightwing as he started to sit himself up. Red Arrow immediately giving him a hand, then supporting him to get to his feet. Nobody commented on how Red Arrow seemed to be holding a lot of Nightwing's bodyweight.
"I'll go first, then I'll help pull you out," suggested Tigress. Not waiting for a reply, she shot her grapple across to the open skylight, pulling herself up and out on to the roof in one smooth movement.
"We go together, on three," instructed Red Arrow as he kept a hold of Nightwing's waist and waited for the younger man to aim his own grapple. "One, two, three."
The two lines fired, caught and were bringing the friends up to the roof.
Tigress was waiting to assist Nightwing up onto the roof, when she felt someone land behind her. Turning quickly, she had her crossbow aimed at the new arrival before they had stood up to their full height.
Sighing in relief that it was one of the good guys, she turned her back on them as she looked back to Nightwing, who was struggling to pull himself up and out of the window. That more than anything told her how injured the man was.
She grabbed one of his arms and reached to grip under his shoulder, helping to counterbalance his weight. Batman was next to her in seconds, reaching down for Nightwing to grab his hand.
There was a slight moment when there was nothing but Tigress' and Red Arrow prevented Nightwing from falling as he let go of his grapple to catch Batman's hand.
Batman and Tigress stood up together and pulled Nightwing with them, up out of the window and onto the roof. Sensing that Batman had a firm grip of Nightwing, she let go and knelt down to help Red Arrow out of the window.
They were both standing back up to their full height when Robin and Spoiler arrived on the roof. The young teenagers looked down into the warehouse to see a frozen Cobb.
"Liquid Nitrogen?" asked Robin, as he pulled his own re-breather out from his belt "You know, we had a plan. One that did not involve dangerous gasses." Then he jumped into the warehouse.
"What the-?" muttered Red Arrow.
"Batman has Mr Freeze tech," shrugged Spoiler. "He just needed the time to modify it." Then she too jumped into the warehouse, her mask already having a built-in re-breather.
"Did anyone bother to tell Nightwing that?" growled Red Arrow, though he already knew the answer. If they had, his friend wouldn't have called Artemis for assistance.
"No, because the plan was to keep him out of Cobb's way," huffed Batman as he applied another bandage to Nightwing's body.
"Bats and their secrets," muttered Tigress as she walked closer to the pair, leaning over Nightwing so she knew he'd be able to see her disapproval. "You know this might have been avoided if you two learn to communicate."
"We're…working on it," grinned Nightwing.
"Thank you for assisting Nightwing, but your presence is no longer required in Gotham," stated Batman, very matter of fact.
"My mother lives here," said Tigress.
"Your mother moved to Palo Alto six months ago," replied Batman, not looking at her.
"Don't I know it," muttered Red Arrow as he moved to take a hold of Tigress' arm, to encourage her to get moving. "Time to go."
As much as he'd like to stick around and make sure Nightwing was okay, he knew the Bats had everything under control. They'd get an update from the former boy wonder himself the next day.
Tigress smiled down at Nightwing, before letting Will steer her away from the Bats. "Call me tomorrow," she called back.
Batman watched the two vigilante's jump off the roof, he might not show it, but he was glad that Dick had friends he could call and rely on. He wasn't pleased that Dick had somehow planned all of this under his own nose.
"You could have been killed," said Batman. "You could have got them killed."
"I had… a plan," muttered Nightwing right before he passed out.
"I'm taking Nightwing back to the cave. Make sure Cobb remains secure and wait for the police. Do not let him unfreeze."
"We've got this," answered Spoiler over the comm. Line.
-/-
Dick woke up slowly. He could feel that he was warm and he knew he was safe. He basked in that feeling for a moment before he started to remember what had happened before this moment. The memories of the evening were slightly disjointed. He remembered being in the cave and Bruce and Alfred hovering, he remembered being in pain while at this point. He remembered seeing Red Arrow and Tigress as they looked down at him, one scowling the other smiling. Then he remembered the fight.
Snapping his eyes open he sat bolt upright as he tried sifting through his memories of how it had ended. Then promptly collapsed backwards back into his pillows from the pain in his chest and the feeling of stitches pulling.
Getting his breathing under control he looked up to the ceiling of his own bedroom in the manor. He'd won. He'd defeated Cobb.
The feeling of relief washed over him. It was over. He felt his body relax and his eyes close again as he drifted back into sleep and the feeling of being safe once again consumed him.
-/-