The atmosphere of the Batcave was far from its usual silence. The cavernous space echoed with sounds of gunfire and grunts of exertion. Jason Todd, the Red Hood, was in the Augmented Reality training area, deep in the flow of combat practice. Sharp kicks, knees, and elbow strikes cracked into his holographic foes, his barking in rhythmic bursts as they hammered out rubber bullets.

Nearby, Tim Drake, the Red Robin, was hunched over the Batcomputer, his fingers taping across the keyboard as he sifted through a sea of data. Standing over his shoulder, Dick Grayson—Nightwing—watched the screens with an easy smile. Tim scowled, glancing over at Jason's training. "Does he have to make all that noise right now? It's like trying to work in the middle of a warzone."

"Think of it as practice, Tim," said Dick, his tone light and teasing. "Gotta focus through distraction. Besides, you know Jason. Subtlety was never his strong suit."

Before Tim could respond, the rear door of the Batcave opened with a soft hiss. The two young men turned to see a familiar face descending the steps. Danny Rand held his yellow mask in one hand. His Iron Fist attire was battered and torn with several considerable splotches of red; evidence of a recent and fierce battle.

"Danny," Dick and Tim greeted in unison.

Danny offered a weary but warm smile as he reached the bottom. "My fellow orphans."

With the last of his holographic opponents defeated, Jason holstered his guns and strode back towards the walkway. He took off his helmet, arching an eyebrow as he gave the New Yorker a perfunctory glance. "Hey, fancy fist. Just stepping out of a dumpster or something?"

"Or something," Danny replied with a tight smile.

Tim made his way over, leaving Nightwing back by the computer. "You alright, Danny?" the Detective asked. "You look like you got hit by a truck."

"A truck might have hit a little softer," Danny said dryly, "but it looks worse than it is." He cast a glance around the cave. "Hey, where's Barb? I wanted to let her know I made it back in one piece."

Dick leaned against the console, crossing his arms. "You just missed her. Helena stopped by and they're out catching up."

Tim, ever the inquisitive one, pressed on. "You're sure you're okay, Danny?" he asked, concern edging into his voice.

"I'm fine, Tim, don't worry," Danny consoled the third Robin. "Though, I am grateful for the better chi healing I've got these days."

"Haven't seen you looking this raggedy in a while," Dick pointed out. "Where have you been?"

"The Hindu Kush mountain range," Danny answered, finding himself a seat. "I had the pleasure of meeting someone new, and the honor of their attention for some one-on-one."

"Who has you looking like that?" Tim remarked with surprise, looking over his friend's disheveled appearance with new eyes. Single opponents who could leave the Iron Fist in such a state weren't common.

Jason smirked. "Oh, yeah? And who was this mystery opponent?"

"Lady Shiva."

The Batcave fell into stunned silence. Jason broke it with a sudden laugh. "Oh, that was a good one, kung fu man! You fooled me for a second there."

Danny's brow creased. "Fooled?"

The Warrior's laughter stopped, his smile melting away.

"You're joking, right?" Tim piped up. He turned to his brothers. "He's joking, right?" He looked back at Danny for three seconds, and then his eyes stretched wide. "Oh, my God, he's not joking."

"You… picked a fight with Lady Shiva?" Nightwing was flabbergasted. "Danny, do you have a death wish or something?"

"How the hell are you even here right now?!" Jason asked sharply, voicing the question on all three Robins' minds.

A smile pulled at Danny's lips. "I impressed her enough to earn a pass."

"Say what?!" Tim's voice was almost a shout.

"Okay, now we need the whole story." Jason's grin spread as he stepped away to grab some extra chairs. When he returned, the trio settled in around Iron Fist, eagerly waiting to hear the tale.

"Tell us everything," Dick urged.

Danny leaned back, gathering his thoughts. "So it all started when I found out about Lady Shiva." He nodded in the third Robin's direction. "Thanks to Tim, by the way."

A groan dragged from Tim, his hand going to his forehead. "Great. I unwittingly set this whole thing in motion."

The others laughed, the atmosphere becoming more light-hearted as Danny continued. "I was curious, you know? The more I ask around, the more I hear how legendary a fighter she is. Can you imagine my surprise when Bruce tells me she's got even more lethal hands than Ra's al Ghul himself?"

"Having fought her once myself, trust me when I say no lies were told," Dick confirmed. "That woman is lethality personified. She can kill you a thousand different ways before you even blink. She only backed off against me when she noticed I was sporting some hurt ribs."

The Acrobat's account got a humored scoff from the dragon. "Some 'I only fight my opponents at their best' energy. I can respect it."

"And knowing all that, you went looking for her anyway, Danny?" Tim chastised.

Danny held up his palms. "Hey, I had a plan. Bruce helped me out in return for that Freeze thing in Rhode Island. Got me something to bring her."

Jason let out another laugh. "You brought the deadliest woman on Earth a housewarming present?"

"So where did it all go down?" asked Dick. "Her house? A hotel?"

Danny averted his eyes, his head slowly bobbing sideways before he answered, "The League of Shadows' HQ."

Bruce Wayne's sons stared with open mouths. "Their HQ?" Tim echoed. "How did you even get in?!"

"Through the front door."

Jason threw his head back, louder laughs ringing out across the cave. "The front door," Tim echoed in disbelief.

"Danny, you've got some serious cojones," Dick said incredulously. "You're telling us you just walked in like you were visiting a neighbor or something?"

"Had to go through a few of the Shadows," Danny clarified, "but I made it inside. Got one of them to go and tell Shiva I came to see her."

"Who am I talking to?" Tim said to no one in particular.

Jason finally recovered from his most recent bout of laughter. "Danny, I wanna be like you when I grow up."

"I don't think I could ever be that nuts," Dick said, the ghost of a smile tickling his lips. "Walking right into her base and sending one of the ninja to go tell her, 'Hey, Iron Fist is here to see you'? I can imagine the look on her face. How the hell did you get her to not just kill on sight?"

"Good manners and sheer fucking audacity," Danny smirked. "And a little extra help. That present Bruce got me was some tea from where she grew up in China. Her favorite."

"Okay, okay," Jason said with a few slow nods. "Learning up on your enemy. I can see it."

"While I hate to give you credit for this insanity," Tim commented, "Shiva has some respect for Bruce. Knowing you got his help picking out something she'd like might score a brownie point or two."

"It was enough to keep my vital organs intact, anyway," Danny joked. "Even got her to sit down and chat over some prepared cups."

"And she actually went for it." Jason breathed, staring at the ceiling. "Just having a cute little tea party in the middle of the League of Shadows' base with the deadliest woman in the world. And you guys call me unhinged."

"Danny, how many times have you been hit in the head?" the Detective asked.

"I'm not prepared to answer that at the moment," the Living Weapon replied.

"This sounds like the start of a Kurosawa movie," Dick chuckled. "But hey, it's some tempting bait for someone like Shiva. Getting to kill the champion of K'un Lun would have been a nice feather in her cap."

"I was counting on that too," said Danny. "It took some wearing down, but she ended up saying yes." He loosed a breath, slowly shaking his head. "Let me tell you, that woman does not play. It couldn't have been more than thirty seconds before she went for my throat."

Nightwing ran a hand through his hair, the harrowing memory of his own scuffle with the Mistress of Martial Arts rising. "That tracks. I'd bet money the word 'restraint' is nowhere in Lady Shiva's vocabulary."

"You're lucky to still be breathing, Danny," Tim remarked, his posture slumping.

"Hey, I stayed hit-free for a couple of minutes," Danny retorted. "Even got in the first blow. A nice tornado kick to the face." Air puffed from his nose. "But it only seemed to make her happy."

All three Robins' brows lifted at that, a new spark alight in their eyes. "Damn, we oughtta give you more props," said Jason. "Dick, did you even get a single shot in when she fought you?"

"Hey, I hit her once," the Acrobat smirked. "Exactly once."

"I know for a fact Shiva wouldn't let something like that go," Tim said warily. "How did she respond?"

"With the mother of all liver shots," Danny answered stiffly.

The sons of the Bat all collectively groaned and cringed. "Took one of those from Artemis the day we met," said Jason. "Ever been in so much pain that you almost feel relaxed? It was like that."

Dick was fully locked into the story now, his heels bouncing up and down. "Well, go on! What happened after that?"

"She decides she's in a playful mood," Danny snorted. "She graciously lets me choose a weapon. My staff against her broadsword."

"And out come the toys," Jason chortled.

A faint shiver went through Danny's body. "Let me tell you, even with the extra reach, I felt no safer. I haven't come that close to losing some fingers in quite some time."

"You're telling me," Tim chimed in. "I've seen reports with her M.O. She's bad enough without any blades. With… I'd be happy never having to deal with that for the rest of my life."

"I still remember all the stitches I needed meeting Damian for the first time," said Dick. "But Shiva? How bad was it?"

"I managed to hang in there without getting cut, but it wasn't long till she cut through the staff and disarmed me. Tried to cut me straight in two." The K'un Lun champion allowed himself a smile. "But I can proudly say I caught her by surprise when I caught her sword."

"No way," Jason marveled. "Man, you are a living kung fu movie! You've gotta teach me that sometime."

"What happened next?! What happened next?!" Dick pressed.

"I broke it and knocked her off her feet with a palm strike," Danny said, "but she catches herself while barely breaking a sweat." He squeezed one hand on the opposite fist, a dull spike of fear pricking at his throat. "And things really got scary after she noticed I cut her chin open."

"You actually cut her?!" Tim exclaimed.

Coming to his friend's side, Nightwing slapped a hand down on the kung fu hero's shoulder. "Danny, you're officially in the Certified Badass club. That woman almost never sees her own blood. Most of us Bats together couldn't pull that off. I know, I've tried."

"You honor me," Danny chuckled. "But Dragon knows I'll be seeing that smile in my nightmares for a week."

"Don't stop there!" Jason urged. "What happened next?"

Taking a breath, Danny composed himself. "After that, she turned into a storm. It was all I could do to keep her hands and feet away." The dragon gave the Acrobat a look. "You wanna tell me how this woman moves as fast as some of the best super soldiers I've tangled with?"

Dick snickered. "It's not just the speed with her. Shiva's got a special talent for reading body language, using it to predict how her opponents will move and attack."

"What was going through your mind then?" asked Tim.

"'I've gotta get out'?" Danny said shamelessly. "'I've gotta go home'?" He didn't even defend himself when they all laughed at him.

"Oh, I don't blame you," Jason said through his guffaws. "I would've been shitting bricks."

"You know it's bad when letting her knock me off the second floor to get some space was the least scary thing to happen to me that day," Danny paused to take another breath. "But then I got my second wind and things went better. Though, I honestly don't remember a whole lot of that part in detail. I must have been really deep in the flow of things." A smile slowly curved his lip. "It was… exhilarating."

Red Robin had difficulty responding. "Is 'crazy warrior with a death wish' on your list of personality traits, Danny?" was all he managed.

"I wish we could've been there to see it," Dick said with awe. "How messed up were you in the end?"

Danny gave a soft huff. "Pretty bad. Three ribs broken, loose tooth, more blood and bruises than I care to remember, and I can still feel that liver kick. But I got in more than a few good shots. I'll take some pride in almost breaking her knee, and the backfist across the face that I'm pretty sure gave her a concussion."

The Acrobat and Detective gawked, their middle brother whistling with admiration. "This guy beat Lady Shiva bloody and walked away. That's one hell of an exclusive list." Jason suddenly froze, realizing something. "Wait, so how exactly did you make it out of there?"

"Honestly, by that point, I'd pretty much had enough," Danny answered. "So I just banked on my effort up till then. Asked if I'd impressed her enough for her to just let me go."

While Jason gave the hardest laugh he had all night, Tim almost looked appalled. "I'm sorry… you just asked her to leave?!"

Dick let out an incredulous noise. "The balls on this man. I'd say I can't believe it worked, but considering you hurt her more than anyone I can remember, you must have really made an impression."

"Okay, now I'm calling bullshit," Jason spoke up. "She just lets you off the hook? No strings attached?"

"Well, there is one condition," said Danny. The trio leaned in closer. "To stay off the Shadows' hit list, I had to promise her a rematch down the line."

That got exasperated chuckles out of all three of them. "That's actually hilarious," the Warrior breathed. "I've watched summer action flicks less entertaining than this."

"She would demand something like that," Dick added, his eyebrows drawing together. "But you're not worried about that, Danny? Being on any list of Lady Shiva's sounds like a problem to me."

"A warrior welcomes difficulty," Danny replied, his smile slowly spreading. "Problems and obstacles become challenges that are his privilege to surmount."

The adage made the Acrobat laugh once more. "You're a madman. An absolute madman."

"I give up," Red Robin sighed. "Just be careful, Danny. Shiva doesn't get many challengers anymore. Going blow-for-blow with her in front of an audience of Shadows is the kind of news that'll spread through the underground like lightning."

Danny gave a loose shrug. "That's the price of living, isn't it?" He stood from his chair, stretching out his muscles. "I'll say this, Lady Shiva more than lives up to her reputation. I don't think anyone's messed me up that bad one-on-one since Elektra."

"Oh, yeah, there might be no one else like her," Jason chimed in. "She trained me for six weeks back in the day. It was hell—and that's coming from a guy who's died before—but I came out better and stronger than ever."

The words made Danny raise an eyebrow. "First Tim, then you. I'm sensing a trend here."

"She has this thing for keeping an eye out for talented fighters," Tim explained. "She'll occasionally train them on a whim, trying to draw out what she sees as their true potential. Usually in a more lethal direction. We crossed paths early on in my Robin days when I went to Paris to train and with another master. I ended up going after the same crime lord she was targeting."

"She even helped Bruce get back into fighting shape after Bane broke his back," Dick put in.

Danny's head tilted slightly. "Oddly generous for an assassin."

"I wouldn't bother trying to understand how she operates," the oldest Robin shrugged. "At the end of the day, Sandra Wu-San is a woman who will do precisely whatever she wants."

The dragon scoffed to himself, letting his arms hang as he reflected on the words and his adventure. The complexity and unpredictability of the woman who had touched all their lives in different ways was something to behold. Sandra Wu-San… For a ruthless killer, there was something oddly fascinating about her.

Rolling his shoulders, Danny glanced over to the Batcomputer. The images of two warriors with oddly-styled, goggle-eyed masks caught his attention. Stepping closer, the name Batgirl had mentioned before he journeyed off to find Shiva rose back in his memory. "Any luck with those Court of Owls creeps?"

The trio followed, Nightwing being the first to speak. "Bruce got abducted by them. They offered him a spot in their ranks. They claim to be the descendants of Gotham's wealthiest. In the past, they controlled the city through the shadows and their Talon assassins.

"I remember my mom muttering about them from time to time at night," Red Hood said in a low voice, his hand clenching and unclenching. "Their cabal used to just be a legend you scared kids with."

"There's always a bit of truth in legends," Iron Fist intoned.

"And now they're back to try again," Red Robin stated. He sat at the Batcomputer and tapped a few keys to bring up more data. "We're still working on voice recognition for the handful that spoke to him. Their plans will likely target key structures and financial institutions in Gotham, but we're not sure how they'll execute it right now."

"We'll need to focus on getting as much information as we can," Nightwing said for all of them, "then come up with a plan to take them down."

The Living Weapon nodded, absorbing the information. "If you need it, the Heroes for Hire are ready to help."

The Warrior stepped up to the left as the Detective leaned back, pulling up a few more windows for updates and reports across a handful of cities. "The rest of the team's pretty far out from Gotham right now. Batwing's following up a lead in Ohio. Huntress is tracking a syndicate out of Chicago." A breaking piece of news footage gave Red Hood sudden pause. "And here's just in: some kind of missile strike at a facility there."

The other three heroes turned their attention to the live update. Amid the reporting newscaster and burning building in the feed, the familiar logo of a G stood out amidst the flames.

"Not just any facility," Nightwing noted, displeasure clear on his face. "A G Corporation research lab. I'll give you one guess who's behind it."

"The Mishima Zaibatsu," Red Robin said gravely. "Looks like Heihachi and Kazuya are taking shots at each other again."

Jason's jaw tightened. "That whole family tree is just one headache after another."

The heroes ruminated on the constant turmoil in the world, each of them aware of the never-ending challenges they faced as heroes.

"Chaos is inherent in all compounded things," Iron Fist said into the silence. "Strive on with diligence."

The words resonated with the sons of Batman, a reminder of their shared mission to bring order to the chaos. To protect and serve in whatever way they could.

Danny was just starting to turn away, when he suddenly caught something in the corner of the Chicago footage. "Wait, go back!"

The Robins reacted with surprise. Tim recovered first, pressing a few keys to pause and rewind the footage. Four seconds later, Danny's index finger shot up to point. "There! Right there, on the left." Heeding his word, Tim paused the clip, enlarging and enhancing the image as his brothers all leaned closer. In the left corner of the screen, one figure stood out on the mostly empty street. A man in a white gi with his gaze cast towards the distant fire, the tails of his red headband flowing in the air.

"Is that who I think it is?" Dick queried.

Danny smiled widely, excitement shining behind his eyes. "Ryu."

The Robins chuckled at their friend's enthusiasm. "You seem pumped to see him," Dick observed.

"It's been almost two years," said Danny. "We haven't run into each other since that whole thing with Galactus."

"Sounds like it'll be one hell of a reunion," Jason said wryly. "And when you're done, we're running it back too. Don't think 'cause you squared up to Lady Shiva that I still won't kick your ass."

Danny matched Jason's smirk with his own. "Any time, red-hooded stepchild." As the others laughed, he turned to go. "Anyway, let me get out of here. With any luck, I'll make it there before he goes wandering off the face of the Earth again. I'll see you guys around."

The Bat sons shared smiles as they waved. "Don't get yourself killed out there!" Dick called.

They knew he'd be back. Danny, as much as they were, was a hero who would be there whenever he was needed. But for now, the Iron Fist would continue his path alone.

At long last, Danny meets back up with his New Jersey friends. I meant to get this out awhile back, but Journey to the East has pulled in a lot of my recent attention. There's more to come for both as I flesh out this amalgamated universe of heroes and warriors. Hope you enjoy, and I'll see you next time.