p class="MsoNormal"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: #2a2a2a; background: white;"AN: I cannot believe it has been 18 months since I last updated - Oops!/span/strongstrong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: #2a2a2a;"br /span style="background: white;"It's been an interesting time, I started a new job, and been here a whole year, loving the 27 minute commute. My boss though is a nightmare, I'm honestly considering if they are even human! So I threw myself into my running, (is that my sub-conscious thinking I'm running away from my problems - maybe) I trained for and completed a marathon, which left little time or energy for writing, sorry./spanbr /span style="background: white;"Last week I started re-watching Young Justice on Netflix and remembered I'm currently leaving our good friend Nightwing bleeding and facing off against a talon, alone!/spanbr /span style="background: white;"So I pulled out the next chapter and finished it off - hopefully after such a long wait, it does not disappoint./span/span/strong/p
p class="MsoNormal"./p
p class="MsoNormal"-/-/p
p class="MsoNormal"./p
p class="MsoNormal"Nightwing pushed himself up to his feet, gritting his teeth when he felt one of the stitches in his side pop. Pressing his hand over the wound, but keeping his eyes on Cobb he was slightly relieved that he couldn't feel blood seeping through, which made him think that the other stitches were holding for now./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"Cobb walked slowly towards him, his steps silent on the stone floor. The creep factor seemed to have increased as the rest of the Talon's body was completely still. His arms hanging stiffly by his sides, the amber eyes fixed on Nightwing and not blinking./p
p class="MsoNormal"Glancing around quickly, to get a better understanding of the factory layout, Nightwing couldn't see a door that would take him to where he should be, but then even if he did that wouldn't help with the plan as Cobb would still be in the wrong position. He needed to get back up to the roof, this was one part of the plan where there could be no deviation. It had been a risk, a small one Nightwing had thought, and one he could avoid./p
p class="MsoNormal"Now he just needed to get back on track./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"Before his brain could really comprehend why, he was obeying his instincts that were telling him to move!/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"Lunging to the side he rolled back up to his feet, and pulled out his escrima sticks in one fluid move. Raising the left stick higher he blocked the downward sweep of Cobb's sword, at the same time that he moved the right stick across to swipe at Cobb's side./p
p class="MsoNormal"Cobb stepped out of reach, before quickly moving in again, to slice across Nightwing's left side. The blade slicing smoothly through the Kevlar weave of the suit and cutting across Nightwing's ribs. Nightwing gritted his teeth as the sharp sting of metal cut into him. Twisting his grip on his escrimas, he turned his back on Cobb and with one hand jabbed both escrima backwards, directly into Cobb's solar plexus, before twisting out of reach again./p
p class="MsoNormal"Cobb merely stood there, the blow not having phased him. Nightwing dropped his head as he breathed hard. Remembering that the Talon didn't need air, for he was dead! The whole breathing movements he'd seen in previous encounters must have been an imitation, to appear more human. Which meant Nightwing couldn't draw this out. There was no point, the Talon wouldn't get tired. He needed to crack on and get back on track with the original plan and get to the point in the building he'd been originally heading./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"Making a snap decision, Nightwing ran directly at Cobb, a quick step to the right, before dropping down and sliding along the ground and underneath Cobb's swing of his blade. Coming up to his knees behind Cobb, he re-holstered the escrima sticks while pulling out his spare grapple gun and firing it up into the air and towards the broken window he'd crashed through earlier./p
p class="MsoNormal"He kicked out at Cobb on his ascent, knocking the Talon forwards to give himself more time. Ignoring the broken shards of glass on the windowsill as they bit into his gloves, he pulled himself up and out of the gap./p
p class="MsoNormal"Firing his grapple again, he moved quickly up and onto the roof. He could sense rather than see Cobb close on his heels. Setting off into a run, he could now see the skylight he needed, the window left open as planned./p
p class="MsoNormal"He was almost there, about to make the final leap into the open section of the window and smoothly descend into the large food processing plant below. Something snapped around his ankles, pulling his legs together and toppling him over./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"Falling./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"It's an odd feeling. It's like time itself slowed down and yet, Nightwing could feel he didn't have enough time to do anything about it. His back hit something solid and he was bouncing so he was falling again, but this time facing the ground. There was nothing to grab a hold of, nothing between him and the ground. Then nothing at all./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;""…wing?... Nightwi… Damn it! Get up!"/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;" /em/p
p class="MsoNormal"Nightwing could hear a familiar voice in his ear, shouting at him to get up. Then there was a tapping that turned into shaking of his shoulder. He groaned as he opened his eyes. His head was tilted to the side, and he could see someone's knee. Blinking slowly, he tried to move his head so he could see who was in front of him. Only moving enough to see a fuzzy black and orange figure./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Slade?"/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Are you kidding me?" a face appeared in front of him, the familiar black and orange mask of Tigress. Nightwing squinted as he tried to focus on the woman in front of him./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""A little help here," growled someone else, close to them./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""I'm trying, but boy wonder is sleeping on the job," snapped Tigress as she aimed her crossbow across Nightwing's body and shot at the guy that had been chasing him. He already had two of Will's arrows pinning him to the liquid nitrogen tank. A third one was discarded on the floor where the guy had ripped it out of his own body. Tigress's crossbolt had pinned the guy's hand to his own shoulder. Which he was now showing no mind too and pulling his hand through./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Damn it, Nightwing! Get up!" ordered Tigress, slapping him not too kindly./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Fuck!" groaned Nightwing as he started to push himself up to his knees. Blinking rapidly at his wavering vision, before focussing on Tigress. "You slapped me?"/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Get 'traught," she smirked as she stood up and re-loaded her crossbow, aiming and firing in one swift move./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"Nightwing pushed himself to a standing position, wincing as the aches in his body made themselves known, the warmth of blood running from his hip and his ribs was not missed./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Okay buddy, time to go kick the dead-guy's ass!" said Red Arrow as he stepped closer to Tigress, who fired one more bolt./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"Nightwing frowned, "What are you doing here?"/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Keeping a promise to Wally and looking after her," huffed Will./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"Tigress let out a harsh bark of a laugh, "No, you just miss the life."/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""The dead-guy!" snapped Red Arrow as he pointed his own grapple up to the catwalk above and pulled himself up to higher ground./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"Nightwing looked over to where Cobb was pulling the last arrow from his body and dropping to the ground. He sighed, he was really hoping that enough of the liquid nitrogen seeping from the pierced tank would have been enough to slow the Talon down, but apparently not./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Looks like we're going with plan B," shrugged Nightwing./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""With some modifications," smirked Tigress as she kicked a cloth wrapped bundle across the floor to him. Nightwing frowned in confusion as he knelt backdown to see what was inside. Gasping in surprise when he saw the content./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""How?" he asked as he hesitated to pick up the twin blades./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Wally always did like his souvenirs," smiled Tigress sadly, remembering her departed boyfriend. "He went back for them emthat /emnight. He said one day, you might need them. He was right."/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"Nightwing gripped the handles firmly as he stood up. The two-matching short-swords that Deathstroke had gifted him when he had become Renegade. The ones he hadn't seen in years, not since the night he'd almost died. The familiar weight in his hands brought back so many memories, and not all of them were good./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Don't over think it," ordered Tigress. "Don't be afraid to use those skills. Like Jay said, we've all got darkness in us. This is the time to use it. You called me for a reason, I'll pull you back to the light if you can't find your own way back."/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"Nightwing smiled slightly as he turned to face Cobb, who was just waiting there, staring. Not moving a muscle as he watched them. Pulling in a long breath of air, Nightwing let is out slowly as he moved himself into a defensive stance. He wouldn't make the first move this time./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"He felt Tigress move silently away from him. Using the shadows to move around the outside of the room and put plan B into effect. They hadn't had time to sync their comms up before hand, but he knew that Red Arrow would be remaining up high as overwatch and coordinate where needed./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""I do not know these friends you have called in for assistance, but they will not help you. Your destiny awaits and it is time to accept it," said Cobb, coldly./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"Nightwing smirked. That was the point. Tigress was an unknown, she kept with the Team and coordinated the stealth missions, rarely seen. Red Arrow being an added bonus only served to make it more so, especially since he'd retired from the life and looked after his daughter./p
p class="MsoNormal"And now Nightwing had swords of his own. Cobb hadn't seen what he could do when pushed to his limits, when he let other aspects of his training seep in./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"Cobb withdrew his own blade, turned it once in his hand before he leapt into action. One leap, that was all it took to bridge the great distance that had separated them. Nightwing brought his blades up into a cross-guard and blocked the Talon's blade. The force behind the move had Nightwing dropping down to one knee. Gritting his teeth, Nightwing braced himself, it felt like Cobb wasn't holding back anymore either./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"Cobb released the pressure and changed his grip, thrusting his blade forward towards Nightwing's chest. Nightwing rolled out of the way, slicing backwards at the same time, to swipe across the Talon's achilleas tendon. Cobb fell down to his knee as he lost control of his lower leg. Nightwing stood up and was about to bring his blade down into Cobb's vertebrae when Cobb threw something at him. Changing direction, Nightwing dodged out of the way as two small shuriken flew past him and imbedded into the wall behind. When he looked back to Cobb the man was getting back to his feet, the damaged tendon having been healed./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"Nightwing growled in frustration as the familiar words of emmove faster /emwent through his head. He waited again to see what Cobb would do. He came at him this time with a side swipe./p
p class="MsoNormal"Nightwing dodged out of the way, before weaving further out of another strike from Cobb. And that's what he did, for a while. No attack of his own, he needed to wait. Wait for just the right opening. So, he ducked under blades, jumped over kicks. Used his own blade to swat away Cobb's and mainly tried to keep out of reach. He knew Cobb's blade had made contact a few times but he wouldn't, no, couldn't focus on that./p
p class="MsoNormal"Then he saw it./p
p class="MsoNormal"The way Cobb left his left side vulnerable when he swiped from left to right with his blade. Waiting for the familiar pattern that Cobb was following with his attacks. Nightwing struck with his own blade. The sharp edge slicing through Cobb's uniform and penetrating his body in a downward strike that went diagonally down through the Talon's spleen and intestines. It would have been a killing blow for a mortal./p
p class="MsoNormal"Cobb's amber eyes went wide in surprise as he stared at Nightwing, not quite believing what had happened. Nightwing knew he needed to move fast, as Cobb would just heal from this, and yet he found himself transfixed, looking at the man that was apparently family. Unable to move to strike another blow./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Nightwing, move!" shouted Red Arrow from above as he shot an arrow down, embedding in the hand that the Talon held his sword with. The one that he'd slowly been moving to position up to stab at Nightwing./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"With a surge of power, Cobb used the flat of his palm to push Nightwing away. The force knocking Nightwing back several steps, as he gasped for breath, pulling the blade from Cobb's body as he went./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Eyes!" shouted Red Arrow, as another arrow came flying towards the ground between Nightwing and Cobb, right before a loud bang and bright flash exploded from the arrow. Nightwing knew it was coming from the familiar warning, that Red Arrow had always used when they were kids but it still took him a moment to get his bearings again, and the realisation that he'd dropped both blades in that time./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Time!" shouted Tigress from somewhere in the shadows of the room./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""You have a plan," stated Cobb as he straightened up. The effects of the flashbang seemingly being brushed off./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Always," smirked Nightwing as he pulled out the two talon-shaped blades from the base of his back./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""You could not harm me with swords, what do expect to achieve with those?" asked Cobb./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""I guess we're going to find out," said Nightwing as he rushed forward, jumping to the side to pounce on to a processing conveyor belt, before flipping over Cobb's head. As he came down to the ground he stabbed both blades upwards into the shoulder joints before retreating and moving to the side, where he ducked low and sliced the back of Cobb's knee. When Cobb collapsed to the ground, Nightwing moved again and sliced across the femoral artery of the other leg that was now exposed before taking a quick step out of reach before darting in again and slicing across the wrist tendon of one arm before the next./p
p class="MsoNormal"One move after the next, dart in, slice, move back out. Again, and again and again./p
p class="MsoNormal"Nightwing could see the healing ability was slowing before his very eyes, the more areas he sliced the longer it took for Cobb's wounds to close. Until the man had collapsed, knelt on the ground, trying to hold the black ichor what was blood from spilling out of him anymore./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"Breathing hard, Nightwing re-sheathed his small blades and bent down to pick up the nearest sword. Cobb's sword./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""It looks like I underestimated you," said Cobb, black blood dripping from his lips./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""People always do."/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""If I can not have you, then no one will." Cobb tossed another slim blade at Nightwing who used the sword to deflect it. Giving chance for Cobb to regain his feet, Nightwing placed the sword in front of him like a spear, and ran the Talon through. Keeping his momentum going, he kept moving the Talon until his back hit the nearest tank./p
p class="MsoNormal"Two arrows embedded into Cobb's shoulders keeping his arms from reaching forward and pushing Nightwing away./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""This was not enough before. It will not keep me."/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""That's why we have plan B," smirked Nightwing. "NOW!"/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""You're too close!" shouted Tigress./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""DO IT NOW!" ordered Nightwing as he used all the strength he had to keep Cobb in place./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Do it," agreed Red Arrow./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"Tigress sighed as she pulled the long pipe she'd been busy connecting closer to the Talon and opened the valve that shot a high pressure stream of liquid nitrogen directly at the Talon, and inevitably her friend./p
p class="MsoNormal"./p
p class="MsoNormal"-/-/p
p class="MsoNormal"./p
p class="MsoNormal"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"AN:span style="color: #2a2a2a; background: white;" FYI if needed;/spanspan style="color: #2a2a2a;"br /span style="background: white;"Tigress is from Young Justice aka Artemis Crock. Will is clone Roy Harper from Young Justice and Red Arrow. Will married Artemis' sister, Jade aka Cheshire and they have a daughter Lian. Wally West aka Kid Flash, died saving the world in Young Justice which is about a year ago in this timeline./span/span/span/strong/p
p class="MsoNormal"./p
p class="MsoNormal"-/-/p
p class="MsoNormal"./p
p class="MsoNormal"Nightwing pushed himself up to his feet, gritting his teeth when he felt one of the stitches in his side pop. Pressing his hand over the wound, but keeping his eyes on Cobb he was slightly relieved that he couldn't feel blood seeping through, which made him think that the other stitches were holding for now./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"Cobb walked slowly towards him, his steps silent on the stone floor. The creep factor seemed to have increased as the rest of the Talon's body was completely still. His arms hanging stiffly by his sides, the amber eyes fixed on Nightwing and not blinking./p
p class="MsoNormal"Glancing around quickly, to get a better understanding of the factory layout, Nightwing couldn't see a door that would take him to where he should be, but then even if he did that wouldn't help with the plan as Cobb would still be in the wrong position. He needed to get back up to the roof, this was one part of the plan where there could be no deviation. It had been a risk, a small one Nightwing had thought, and one he could avoid./p
p class="MsoNormal"Now he just needed to get back on track./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"Before his brain could really comprehend why, he was obeying his instincts that were telling him to move!/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"Lunging to the side he rolled back up to his feet, and pulled out his escrima sticks in one fluid move. Raising the left stick higher he blocked the downward sweep of Cobb's sword, at the same time that he moved the right stick across to swipe at Cobb's side./p
p class="MsoNormal"Cobb stepped out of reach, before quickly moving in again, to slice across Nightwing's left side. The blade slicing smoothly through the Kevlar weave of the suit and cutting across Nightwing's ribs. Nightwing gritted his teeth as the sharp sting of metal cut into him. Twisting his grip on his escrimas, he turned his back on Cobb and with one hand jabbed both escrima backwards, directly into Cobb's solar plexus, before twisting out of reach again./p
p class="MsoNormal"Cobb merely stood there, the blow not having phased him. Nightwing dropped his head as he breathed hard. Remembering that the Talon didn't need air, for he was dead! The whole breathing movements he'd seen in previous encounters must have been an imitation, to appear more human. Which meant Nightwing couldn't draw this out. There was no point, the Talon wouldn't get tired. He needed to crack on and get back on track with the original plan and get to the point in the building he'd been originally heading./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"Making a snap decision, Nightwing ran directly at Cobb, a quick step to the right, before dropping down and sliding along the ground and underneath Cobb's swing of his blade. Coming up to his knees behind Cobb, he re-holstered the escrima sticks while pulling out his spare grapple gun and firing it up into the air and towards the broken window he'd crashed through earlier./p
p class="MsoNormal"He kicked out at Cobb on his ascent, knocking the Talon forwards to give himself more time. Ignoring the broken shards of glass on the windowsill as they bit into his gloves, he pulled himself up and out of the gap./p
p class="MsoNormal"Firing his grapple again, he moved quickly up and onto the roof. He could sense rather than see Cobb close on his heels. Setting off into a run, he could now see the skylight he needed, the window left open as planned./p
p class="MsoNormal"He was almost there, about to make the final leap into the open section of the window and smoothly descend into the large food processing plant below. Something snapped around his ankles, pulling his legs together and toppling him over./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"Falling./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"It's an odd feeling. It's like time itself slowed down and yet, Nightwing could feel he didn't have enough time to do anything about it. His back hit something solid and he was bouncing so he was falling again, but this time facing the ground. There was nothing to grab a hold of, nothing between him and the ground. Then nothing at all./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;""…wing?... Nightwi… Damn it! Get up!"/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;" /em/p
p class="MsoNormal"Nightwing could hear a familiar voice in his ear, shouting at him to get up. Then there was a tapping that turned into shaking of his shoulder. He groaned as he opened his eyes. His head was tilted to the side, and he could see someone's knee. Blinking slowly, he tried to move his head so he could see who was in front of him. Only moving enough to see a fuzzy black and orange figure./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Slade?"/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Are you kidding me?" a face appeared in front of him, the familiar black and orange mask of Tigress. Nightwing squinted as he tried to focus on the woman in front of him./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""A little help here," growled someone else, close to them./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""I'm trying, but boy wonder is sleeping on the job," snapped Tigress as she aimed her crossbow across Nightwing's body and shot at the guy that had been chasing him. He already had two of Will's arrows pinning him to the liquid nitrogen tank. A third one was discarded on the floor where the guy had ripped it out of his own body. Tigress's crossbolt had pinned the guy's hand to his own shoulder. Which he was now showing no mind too and pulling his hand through./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Damn it, Nightwing! Get up!" ordered Tigress, slapping him not too kindly./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Fuck!" groaned Nightwing as he started to push himself up to his knees. Blinking rapidly at his wavering vision, before focussing on Tigress. "You slapped me?"/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Get 'traught," she smirked as she stood up and re-loaded her crossbow, aiming and firing in one swift move./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"Nightwing pushed himself to a standing position, wincing as the aches in his body made themselves known, the warmth of blood running from his hip and his ribs was not missed./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Okay buddy, time to go kick the dead-guy's ass!" said Red Arrow as he stepped closer to Tigress, who fired one more bolt./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"Nightwing frowned, "What are you doing here?"/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Keeping a promise to Wally and looking after her," huffed Will./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"Tigress let out a harsh bark of a laugh, "No, you just miss the life."/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""The dead-guy!" snapped Red Arrow as he pointed his own grapple up to the catwalk above and pulled himself up to higher ground./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"Nightwing looked over to where Cobb was pulling the last arrow from his body and dropping to the ground. He sighed, he was really hoping that enough of the liquid nitrogen seeping from the pierced tank would have been enough to slow the Talon down, but apparently not./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Looks like we're going with plan B," shrugged Nightwing./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""With some modifications," smirked Tigress as she kicked a cloth wrapped bundle across the floor to him. Nightwing frowned in confusion as he knelt backdown to see what was inside. Gasping in surprise when he saw the content./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""How?" he asked as he hesitated to pick up the twin blades./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Wally always did like his souvenirs," smiled Tigress sadly, remembering her departed boyfriend. "He went back for them emthat /emnight. He said one day, you might need them. He was right."/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"Nightwing gripped the handles firmly as he stood up. The two-matching short-swords that Deathstroke had gifted him when he had become Renegade. The ones he hadn't seen in years, not since the night he'd almost died. The familiar weight in his hands brought back so many memories, and not all of them were good./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Don't over think it," ordered Tigress. "Don't be afraid to use those skills. Like Jay said, we've all got darkness in us. This is the time to use it. You called me for a reason, I'll pull you back to the light if you can't find your own way back."/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"Nightwing smiled slightly as he turned to face Cobb, who was just waiting there, staring. Not moving a muscle as he watched them. Pulling in a long breath of air, Nightwing let is out slowly as he moved himself into a defensive stance. He wouldn't make the first move this time./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"He felt Tigress move silently away from him. Using the shadows to move around the outside of the room and put plan B into effect. They hadn't had time to sync their comms up before hand, but he knew that Red Arrow would be remaining up high as overwatch and coordinate where needed./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""I do not know these friends you have called in for assistance, but they will not help you. Your destiny awaits and it is time to accept it," said Cobb, coldly./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"Nightwing smirked. That was the point. Tigress was an unknown, she kept with the Team and coordinated the stealth missions, rarely seen. Red Arrow being an added bonus only served to make it more so, especially since he'd retired from the life and looked after his daughter./p
p class="MsoNormal"And now Nightwing had swords of his own. Cobb hadn't seen what he could do when pushed to his limits, when he let other aspects of his training seep in./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"Cobb withdrew his own blade, turned it once in his hand before he leapt into action. One leap, that was all it took to bridge the great distance that had separated them. Nightwing brought his blades up into a cross-guard and blocked the Talon's blade. The force behind the move had Nightwing dropping down to one knee. Gritting his teeth, Nightwing braced himself, it felt like Cobb wasn't holding back anymore either./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"Cobb released the pressure and changed his grip, thrusting his blade forward towards Nightwing's chest. Nightwing rolled out of the way, slicing backwards at the same time, to swipe across the Talon's achilleas tendon. Cobb fell down to his knee as he lost control of his lower leg. Nightwing stood up and was about to bring his blade down into Cobb's vertebrae when Cobb threw something at him. Changing direction, Nightwing dodged out of the way as two small shuriken flew past him and imbedded into the wall behind. When he looked back to Cobb the man was getting back to his feet, the damaged tendon having been healed./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"Nightwing growled in frustration as the familiar words of emmove faster /emwent through his head. He waited again to see what Cobb would do. He came at him this time with a side swipe./p
p class="MsoNormal"Nightwing dodged out of the way, before weaving further out of another strike from Cobb. And that's what he did, for a while. No attack of his own, he needed to wait. Wait for just the right opening. So, he ducked under blades, jumped over kicks. Used his own blade to swat away Cobb's and mainly tried to keep out of reach. He knew Cobb's blade had made contact a few times but he wouldn't, no, couldn't focus on that./p
p class="MsoNormal"Then he saw it./p
p class="MsoNormal"The way Cobb left his left side vulnerable when he swiped from left to right with his blade. Waiting for the familiar pattern that Cobb was following with his attacks. Nightwing struck with his own blade. The sharp edge slicing through Cobb's uniform and penetrating his body in a downward strike that went diagonally down through the Talon's spleen and intestines. It would have been a killing blow for a mortal./p
p class="MsoNormal"Cobb's amber eyes went wide in surprise as he stared at Nightwing, not quite believing what had happened. Nightwing knew he needed to move fast, as Cobb would just heal from this, and yet he found himself transfixed, looking at the man that was apparently family. Unable to move to strike another blow./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Nightwing, move!" shouted Red Arrow from above as he shot an arrow down, embedding in the hand that the Talon held his sword with. The one that he'd slowly been moving to position up to stab at Nightwing./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"With a surge of power, Cobb used the flat of his palm to push Nightwing away. The force knocking Nightwing back several steps, as he gasped for breath, pulling the blade from Cobb's body as he went./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Eyes!" shouted Red Arrow, as another arrow came flying towards the ground between Nightwing and Cobb, right before a loud bang and bright flash exploded from the arrow. Nightwing knew it was coming from the familiar warning, that Red Arrow had always used when they were kids but it still took him a moment to get his bearings again, and the realisation that he'd dropped both blades in that time./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Time!" shouted Tigress from somewhere in the shadows of the room./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""You have a plan," stated Cobb as he straightened up. The effects of the flashbang seemingly being brushed off./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Always," smirked Nightwing as he pulled out the two talon-shaped blades from the base of his back./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""You could not harm me with swords, what do expect to achieve with those?" asked Cobb./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""I guess we're going to find out," said Nightwing as he rushed forward, jumping to the side to pounce on to a processing conveyor belt, before flipping over Cobb's head. As he came down to the ground he stabbed both blades upwards into the shoulder joints before retreating and moving to the side, where he ducked low and sliced the back of Cobb's knee. When Cobb collapsed to the ground, Nightwing moved again and sliced across the femoral artery of the other leg that was now exposed before taking a quick step out of reach before darting in again and slicing across the wrist tendon of one arm before the next./p
p class="MsoNormal"One move after the next, dart in, slice, move back out. Again, and again and again./p
p class="MsoNormal"Nightwing could see the healing ability was slowing before his very eyes, the more areas he sliced the longer it took for Cobb's wounds to close. Until the man had collapsed, knelt on the ground, trying to hold the black ichor what was blood from spilling out of him anymore./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"Breathing hard, Nightwing re-sheathed his small blades and bent down to pick up the nearest sword. Cobb's sword./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""It looks like I underestimated you," said Cobb, black blood dripping from his lips./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""People always do."/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""If I can not have you, then no one will." Cobb tossed another slim blade at Nightwing who used the sword to deflect it. Giving chance for Cobb to regain his feet, Nightwing placed the sword in front of him like a spear, and ran the Talon through. Keeping his momentum going, he kept moving the Talon until his back hit the nearest tank./p
p class="MsoNormal"Two arrows embedded into Cobb's shoulders keeping his arms from reaching forward and pushing Nightwing away./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""This was not enough before. It will not keep me."/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""That's why we have plan B," smirked Nightwing. "NOW!"/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""You're too close!" shouted Tigress./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""DO IT NOW!" ordered Nightwing as he used all the strength he had to keep Cobb in place./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Do it," agreed Red Arrow./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"Tigress sighed as she pulled the long pipe she'd been busy connecting closer to the Talon and opened the valve that shot a high pressure stream of liquid nitrogen directly at the Talon, and inevitably her friend./p
p class="MsoNormal"./p
p class="MsoNormal"-/-/p
p class="MsoNormal"./p
p class="MsoNormal"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"AN:span style="color: #2a2a2a; background: white;" FYI if needed;/spanspan style="color: #2a2a2a;"br /span style="background: white;"Tigress is from Young Justice aka Artemis Crock. Will is clone Roy Harper from Young Justice and Red Arrow. Will married Artemis' sister, Jade aka Cheshire and they have a daughter Lian. Wally West aka Kid Flash, died saving the world in Young Justice which is about a year ago in this timeline./span/span/span/strong/p