It was another typical day in Gotham City. The sky was gloomy, the streets were dirty and...

(CRASH)

A crime was happening, right on schedule. Strangely, this was one of the more unique crimes, happening at a Dagget Industries Facility, where someone was looking through the loads of chemicals, in search of something in particular to help him with his 'condition'. Knocking over beakers and test tubes of chemicals that spilled onto the floor and caused the fumes to come out, the saboteur seemed unaffected by whatever toxins he just unleashed. But after finally getting what he wanted, he decided to rush out of there, unaware that all that crashing things around triggered the silent alarm as he had gotten out of the lab. Making a break for it on foot, the thief was unaware that someone was following them from the roofs. Huffing it as fast as he could, the criminal was kicked from behind and falls to the ground, the chemical he grabbed from the flying out of his jacket and spilling onto the ground.

?:"No! NO!"

Turning around, he saw that it was one of the newest heroes showing up in the city; there were a lot of them these days. Lori Loud, aka Nightwing, dressed in her black and blue, sleeveless, skintight suit, bird-like insignia across her chest, long black and blue gloves that reached her forearms, a pair of escrima sticks hanging off her back, black bird-shaped mask and black hair tied in a ponytail.

(She does it black so it doesn't clash with the suit and is not instantly recognized)

Looking down at the criminal, the young vigilante had a smirk on her face as she figured that this would be easy.

Nightwing:"Let's not make this harder than it needs to be. And you'll be spared a beating."

But the criminal was not easily swayed, obviously angered by the lost of what he came here before as he got back up on his feet and started throwing enraged punched at Nightwing, who dodged easily before throwing kicks in the crook's face and stomach. She's had a lot of practice in perfecting her own fighting style with her hands, feet and sticks. Speaking of which, she could see the criminal recovering from the barrage of hits she landed on him and had decided to go and pick up a trash can in an attempt to throw it at her. Nightwing quickly threw one of her escrima sticks in the face of her foe, staggering him and making him drop the bin as she recovered her weapon and got out the other one as she decided to beat the crook into submission.

Nightwing:"Okay, last chance. Surrender now or I'll send 15,000 bolts through you."

The criminal seemed unphased by her threat, as he cracked his neck and charged at her.

Nightwing:"You asked for it."

Powering up her escrima sticks, she stuck the tips together and sent out a stream of electricity towards the criminal. It pushed him back and Nightwing took the opportunity to go in and send sharp cracks from her weapons at the head of her enemy until he is bashed to the ground. Seeing the criminal unconscious was enough for Nightwing to put away her weapons and inspect the fallen crook.

Nightwing:"Not gonna lie, you made me put more effort than need be."

However, much to her surprise, the body of the criminal began...melting. She stepped back as she the crook become nothing more than a giant puddle of...

Nightwing:"Clay?"

She carefully took a sample of the stuff before the rest of it began to dissolve and fall through a drain.

While the old batcave had collapsed months ago after their brother's ultimate battle, as it turns out, the Loud Sisters had discovered Lincoln's contingency plans in case the manor and cave, which are currently being rebuilt at the moment, were ever destroyed. For now, they reside in a new batcave, located in the Gotham Underground, an old abandoned subway system built by Grandfather of Thomas Wayne, Lincoln's Adopted Father. Sure, it was old, dusty, only barely rock solid and smelled of rust and oil, but at least they had a base of operations to work with, as Lori had returned from her patrol and had given the sample of clay to Lisa while explaining the story to others.

Luna:"We know that you and Lincoln fought Clyde when you said he turned into a mass of clay, but didn't you also say that he fell into the sewers?"

Lori:"Sewers may be filled with water, but also filled with a lot of gunk that probably helped to keep Clyde together."

Lisa:"Not necessarily. Clay itself is rather durable, even when exposed liquids, contaminated or otherwise. Mr. McBride must've given the both of you the slip and had recovered himself elsewhere. As for the clay sample you've given me, I cannot yet determine if it belongs to him or not, given that this is the first time I've worked with such corrupted DNA, and not to mention it might not belong to Clyde at all."

Lori:"What do you mean, Lisa?"

Lisa:"I've done some research, and it turns out that Mr. McBride isn't the only Clayface in Gotham. Over the years, there has been a number of cases regarding criminasl with the same alias. The first and second both being actors, the third being a scientist, and the forth a strike force member. Batman took up each of their cases before, up to the point they banded together in attempt to stop the Dark Knight."

Luna:"What happened then?"

Lisa:"Well, it says on these files that each of the 'Mud Pack', as they were called, are labeled "Deceased", all except for one. Basil Karlo."

Suddenly Lynn, who was busy working out with a punching bag, decided to butt in on their conversation.

Lynn:"I think Pop-pop showed me one of his movies before. The whole "Clayface" thing is just a character from an old film."

Lisa:"And Mr. Karlo assumed the role of the antagonizing character himself when a studio attempted to remake the film he stared in without his supervision. It drove him mad."

Lori:"Really? All that, just because he didn't a get chance to play the main role again?"

Luna:"You'd be surprised the kind of nut-jobs who pride themselves on playing the leading role."

Lynn:"Heh. Bet you can relate, huh, Lori?"

Lori:"Hey!"

Lisa:"Moving on, it is said that Mr. Karlo is currently incarcerated at Arkham Asylum, the number one place in Gotham for the criminally insane. But due to his condition, he has the capabilities of "cloning" himself through clay."

Luna:"So he has the same powers as Clyde?"

Lisa:"At a more concentrated scale, I'm afraid. Meaning he is the 'Ultimate' Clayface."

Lori:"Meanwhile, Clyde had told me and Lincoln that he was falling apart at the seams and may have only some time left before he's turned to dust."

Lisa:"Lincoln has paid no expense in an attempt to find him. In fact, he has found numerous clay samples at a smaller scale than the one you found, and while I wished for him to let me attempt to study it, he utterly refused."

Lynn:"That's because he didn't want you to try and experiment with it on any of us!"

Lisa:"That's...fair. But either way, here is where we are now!"

Lori:"(sighs) Can we please literally just focus on who this clay belongs to, and if it's Clyde, how do we find him?"

Lisa:"Analyzation should be done momentarily."

And that's when the compute made a "DING!" and Lisa looked to read the results.

Lisa:"Here we go...Hmm, this is interesting."

Lori:"What is it?"

Lisa:"Analysis shows that this a mixture of clay from both Mr. McBride and Mr. Karlo."

Lynn:"Great. So we might actually have two Clayfaces to deal with."

Lisa:"Worse than that, I'm afraid. I looked over what exactly was it that killed off the rest of Mud Pack...turns out it was Mr. Karlo who killed them all in order to collect their DNA and turn himself into Clayface."

Lori:"So Karlo must be hunting down Clyde, just to absorb him too. If we don't find Clyde before Clayface down."

Luna:"Our Big Bro's Ol' Buddy is Toast."

Lisa:"We need not panic. Lori saw the remaining clay go down a sewage drain when she defeated the homunculi. The sewers narrow the down the search parameter."

Lynn:"Not exactly, given that the sewers going all over the city."

Lisa:"Yes, but we are tracking down a living mass of mud, alumina and water. He would've left a trailed. (starts typing on the computer) And based on the city's safety record, there have been buildups of pressure and clogs within the sewer drains, but have some places have it worse."

She shows them all a schematic of the city's sewers system. On screen, there were trails of clay that are bigger than others, leading to be corporate buildings and Laboratories, like Dagget Industries.

Lisa:"These trails run across Gotham, but they all head back in forth to the epicenter. Right. Here."

Pointing to where a huge mass of Clay is found directly underneath the city, the girls now see that they now have a heading.

Lori:"Alright. I'll head out now. I find Clyde, detain him and then we all find a way to help him."

Luna:"Good luck, sis. I doubt McBride will make it easier for you. He's not in the right of mind, after all."

Lori nodded and was about to leave, but it was then that an alert popped up on the computer. Not only that, but they could feel rumbling, as if the entire city was shaking.

Lisa:"Pressure is building up immensly in the sewer pipers. The clay is more active than ever. You need to hurry, Lori."

Lori:"I'm on it! (walks out and talks to herself) I feel like this'll literally be one heck of a muddy mess to clean up."

A little while later, Lori as Nightwing finds a entrance to the sewers closest to where Lisa said Clyde's layer out to be. Running through the sewers was a river filled with a mixture of sewage and clay. Too bad that didn't make the place any less smelly.

Nightwing:"Ugh! It literally stinks down here!"

Oracle:"(via com link) Just look for Mr. McBride and get out of there. Don't spend anymore time than necessary."

Nightwing:"You don't have to tell me."

Lynn:"(via com link) What was Clyde even doing when you were chasing him?"

Oracle:"According to his clay trail patter, he was attacking specific places that had components for regenerative capabilities. I believe he may have been working on a way to cure himself."

Nightwing:"And I interrupted him while he was getting what he needed. Dang, he must hate me now."

Lynn:"Don't blame yourself, Lori. None of us knew what he was doing."

Nightwing:"Yeah, but..."

Lynn:"Just find him and save him, Lori. You got this.

Nightwing:"Right...thanks."

But as she continued on, the rumbling continued to occur, and she was pretty sure she could hear the sound of fighting going on nearby.

Nightwing:"At least I know it's not too far."

Oracle:"Yes, but scismic activity is spiking all across Gotham. You'll need to hurry."

And with that, Nightwing continued through the sewers, picking up a trail of more concentrated clay residue, meaning it was fresh as she followed it down to where the sewer was running off to. The sounds of a battle going on could be heard echoing throughout the sewers and getting louder, as it showed that Nightwing was getting closer and closer. Soon enough, did she reach an opening of some sort, a pipe covered entirely in clay and where the sounds echoed out the most through.

Nightwing:"This should be it. And I can handle going down a sewage pipe, right? At least it's just...covered in clay."

The rookie Heroine held back the urge to gag and she grabbed hold of the top before stepping into the pipe, one foot after another. She then let gravity do the rest, sliding down the pipe and finding herself over a large area. Pipes covered some of the walls, and there was a grated floor underneath her...and fight on top of that was Clayface...two of them. One of them was Clyde, she recognized him by his Grey colored clay, but the other one was not only a brownish color, but bigger, for more monstrous; that had to have been Basil Karlo. Clyde was looking to be fighting desperately against the more Clay-monster as he swung a sickle of clay at him, only to be intercepted as Karlo blasted him with not two, but four streams of his own clay as he was shown to grow more arms. Lori was shocked by the sight as Karlo kept blasting Clyde, making him unable to do anything as the second Clayface got closer.

Clyde:"Uuuuggghhh!"

Karlo:"Stop struggling. You should be thanking me, you know. You told me how you were falling apart and that it was my clay that's keeping you in one piece. Join me, with the rest of Mud Pack. Become one with the true Clayface."

Nightwing:"Oh no! Gotta save him!"

Jumping from the ledge she was standing on, Nightwing managed to land on top of Karlo, who was distracted by that happening and stopped blasting Clyde, who took the chance to recover. Meanwhile, Lori pulled out a new gadget, a freeze grenade that Lincoln and Lisa helped to invent and jammed it into Karlo's clay mass he calls a body. Jumping off of him, she waits to see what happens as Karlo turns to face her.

Karlo:"What do we have here? A little girl trying to play he-UGH!"

That is when he felt it, the icy implosion of the grenade going off inside of him, freezing him from the inside out, as if he was being impaled by ice. Pretty soon, Karlo was nothing but a statue of frozen clay with his arms raised above his head dramatically, and this gave Clyde to opportunity to push him out of the way, as a huge clay hammer slammed into Karlo and blasted him through a barred tunnel. That is when Clyde turned to Nightwing, who nervously took a stance against her brother's old friend.

Clyde:"Do you know how beautiful you are? How...mature you look right now?"

The clay left over by Karlo, Clyde managed to reabsorb and it gave him more power, just enough to make him revert to his old self. Lori felt hesitant at first, but then saw Clyde's arms shift into sickles.

Clyde:"In some other reality...I could've loved you, Lori."

Nightwing:"Okay. Ew, Clyde. Just...ew."

Looking angry, Clyde then turned back into Clayface and leaped into the air, spinning like a corkscrew until he sent his blade down on Nightwing, who quickly evaded, rolling out of the way. She knew she was at a disadvantage here, given how her electric based attacks were ineffective against Clyde's clay mass. But she had to try something as she couldn't keep running from her, backflipping to avoid another blade aimed below her waist. And then it hit her...literally, Clyde managed to hit her with a clay punch and nailed her at the upper ledge. But that is when saw the solution to her problem, as the pipes from the sewers were building up in pressure, and a lot of water must be behind the closed ones; blasting Clayface with a seaload of water might just be enough to weaken him.

Clyde:"You and your brother left me in the dark! Now, I return the favor!"

Seeing a blade coming her, Nightwing quickly dodged and Clyde accidentally hit the pipe, cut it deep enough for water to seep out. Collapsing under the pressure, the pipe burst and blasted Clyde off the ledge. Hitting the ground, Clyde struggled to get back on his feet, as the blast of water softened him up enough to make his form unstable as he looked like he was melting. Now was Nightwing's chance as she jumped down towards Clyde.

Nightwing:"This is for your own good, Clyde!"

She began smacking him with her escrima sticks and delivering swinging kicks at his face. Little did Nightwing know that the effects of the ice grenade wore off, as Karlo had finally begun to recover and rise back up. He looked to see that Nightwing was giving Clyde a beating and evilly chuckled as he walked through the bars, back into the chamber.

The young heroine delivered another kick to Clyde's head, but she was then knocked away from him and Clyde was grabbed by Karlo in one big hand, who was able to absorb Clyde's mutagen easily. The former actor had a wicked smile on his face as he saw Clyde's pained expression, his life force weakening...

Karlo:"It's amazing how you are able to feel all of this. I damn near envy you."

Nightwing:"No!"

Pulling out a bat claw, she shot at another closed piper, hoping for another wave of water on the other side as she pulled at it with all her strength. The hatch soon opened up and water spewed out and dropped on top of Karlo, who was pushed down by its impact, but it didn't look like he was softening up as he turned to Lori, looking angry.

Karlo:"Did you really think it would be that easy?"

Casting Clyde aside, Karlo roared angrily and charged at Nightwing, slamming her through a wall, which lead to a running river of sewage. Nightwing was first to slide down, trying to get away from Clayface, who was not only able to himself together far better than Clyde, but was practically morphing into the river that he and the Heroine were surfing down. Soon enough, they both came out of a piper and Nightwing found herself a large platform directly over another river of sewage, flowing directly into a maceration chamber.

Nightwing:"Okay...let's not fall through this floor."

Clayface landed across from her, molding his hands into a mace and a hammer, ready for the next round.

Karlo:"I'm done playing. Tonight is mine, and you won't stop me!"

Quickly dodging the hammer coming down towards her, Nightwing quickly took notice that the platform was becoming unstable with every heavy impact it takes. It will only take a few more hits before the entire thing comes down.

Nightwing:"Not good. Bazil! You have to listen to reason! You're gonna bring this whole thing down!"

Karlo:"Stop moving!"

It was no good, not with his melted mind. Nightwing saw that she had no choice but to continue fighting back, and with him at the edge of the platform, all she had to do was give him a little push to finish this fighting. Clayface sent both his main arms at her like a pair of pistons, unsuccessful at hitting her as she continues to throw more of those freeze grenades, getting his arms and forcing him to break them off so he could grew new ones.

Karlo:"Knock it off! You annoying bug!"

Nightwing:"I'm ending this right now!"

Throwing two freeze grenades at both his face and right leg, the heroine went in and started to punch Karlo in his froze head the moment found himself on a clay stump of a leg. Next thing he knew, he was falling as the edge below him gave in and snapped right off. But it also caused a reaction that made the whole platform come apart as Nightwing made a run for it and jumped from the opposite side as the whole thing collapsed. She tried to make it to an open pipe, barely grasping the edge as she looked back to see Clayface taking away from the sewer's current and heading straight for the macerator.

Karlo:"NNNNNOOOOOOOOO!!!!"

Were it not for the fact that he was made out of clay, it would have been a pretty gory seen for Lori to see him get turn apart by the blades of the macerator. But that didn't matter right now as she tried to pull herself up, yet was unable to get a foothold. Just as she was gonna lose her grip, someone grasped her arm and she looked to see that it was Clyde, who was straining to pull her up. But he gave her enough time to climb back up and see the old family friend turned clay-monster collapse in front of her.

Nightwing:"Oh, Clyde...I'm sorry."

Later on, Clyde was placed in a state-of-the-art stasis chamber, applied by Wayne Industries as he was loaded up into a Police Transport. Before she could go, Nightwing was confronted by two police officers, Detectives Ethan Bennett and Ellen Yin.

Ethan:"Surprised to see another vigilante in Gotham."

Yin:"(muttering) As of one was already too many."

Ethan:"Yin. (To Nightwing) We've been looking into these Clayface cases. With your help, we finally got him."

Nightwing:"Not the one you're actually looking for though. Just...make sure he gets proper care."

She looks as police load Clyde up into the transport, feeling bad for him.

Nightwing:"He's more a victim than you know."

She was about to grapple out of there, but was stopped by Yin grabbing her by the shoulder.

Yin:"Wait! You tell Batman that the next time we meet, that mask will come off."

Nightwing:"(scowls) I'll be sure to let him know."

Shrugging Yin's hand off her shoulder, Nightwing finally got out of there, leaving the two Detectives.

Ethan:"You really gotta loosen up a bit."

Yin:"Shut up. And what was that about saying that this Clayface isn't the one wanted?"

Ethan:"I don't know. But it's just another thing we'll have to look into."

And with that, both Detectives leave the scene as Nightwing heads off above the city, doing her job as one of Gotham's newest vigilantes...