The Flying Grayson as Nightwing patrols with Cassandra as the Black Bat. This isn't a common occurrence nowadays for her, both of them are experienced and capable above the abilities of their peers and she's usually either solo or watching over their less experienced fellows. Tonight they have a purpose, however. They are tracking the armored terror Samael.
Nightwing considered asking Black Bat what dinner with the big man Bane was like, but he really didn't want the distraction of dwelling on the level of awkwardness her mom had visited on everyone with that stunt. He didn't know how it did't devolve into a free for all, but he knew from her demeanor as they swung through the city that she was endeavoring not to dwell on it either.
The pace they set scouring the city is formidable. Already they've hit up the lowlifes down in Nightwing's preferred town of Bludhaven for word about a weird man in full body armor with a mask like a demon. Batman's words not to interfere directly with any fight between the two armored combatants, Azrael and Samael, rang hollow to both of them. Nightwing remembered what Michael Lane used to be like, his amazing skill with the sword coupled with a ruthless willingness to employ it with maximum efficiency.
The night carries them across the bridge to Burnlen Island. Winging with all due haste, they make their way into the East End. This is where some Gothamites claim prosperity goes to die as it's the very worst place in the city by any measure. Cops never venture there without very good reason, and only ever in groups for protection.
The East End consists largely of condemned tenements that noone has been brazen enough to demolish. The place is reminiscent of war torn Somalia by night, complete with random gunfire at times. Tonight, Nightwing has a particular building in mind.
"I thought about hitting up Two Face to get an idea what Deathstroke is after, but he's likely scrambling now as much as we are with his cannon ready to go off at any time," mutters Nightwing to Black Bat.
She replies in an ironically candid tone,"He's a man not a cannon."
Nightwing palms his cheek as he crouches on the edge of the building he means to enter,"You know what I mean..."
Black Bat shrugs her bare shoulders in reply. She's about business, not conversation tonight. She fixes her grappler to the edge, as does Nightwing. Following this, they both dive off and the inertia does the rest as they enter neighboring smashed out windows feet first.
"Shit, its the bats! Torch the chems!"
Chemistry by blacklight is what they intruded upon, and the dim light is suddenly illuminated in stuttering fashion by automatic weapons fire. The duo immediately charge low, with Nightwing slinging batblades and Black Bat twirling a bolo to counter the hail of bullets.
One gunman collapses, losing his balance as he suddenly finds himself wrapped in high tensile wire, another loses his gun and grips his bleeding hand. The Black Bat closes on that one like a wraith in the darkness, a firm heel crashing into his abdomen to send him into one of the ethereally illuminated chemistry set behind him.
Now that they've had a moment to take stock of their surroundings, they note its resemblance to a make shift studio. A wall has been haphazardly demolished to join several rooms into one with the walls lined with assortments of chemistry set ups.
Nightwing comments as four more men pour into the room with weapons ready,"Scarecrow's been hiring, I see. Eyes."
Black Bat knows the word well. Tapping lightly on the base of her jaw, her helmet protects her from the flashbang Nightwing tosses. While he takes cover from it, she's able to close without fear.
Roundhousing the first she comes to, she follows through in a sweep sending him to the floor. Darting to the second, she checks him across the jaw before seizing him and driving him into his partner where they both collapse in a heap back down the stairs. That leaves the last.
Nightwing runs over to join her with the comment,"I'm gonna get a helmet like that too one day, you know."
Black Bat doesn't reply except to drag the last standing man over to the window as she disassembles his weapon with one hand along the way, pointedly disregarding the others littering the floor. Once at the window, she hooks her grappler to her belt and says,"Up."
Nightwing nods at her, doing similar so they can head back topside before more goons show up. Once atop the building they get to the business of bringing their captive around. He's not a particularly stout young man, having the wiry build of the stereotypical meth addict given to long bouts of benging on uppers and thrill seeking more than anything else.
Black Bat restrains the man from behind, his wrists fastened where she can keep a firm grip on them with one hand. More for intimidation than anything else, she has an arm snaked around his neck as Nightwing handles him from the front with a stern face scant inches from his.
The young addict squirms to no avail against his restraints as Nightwing begins,"Do we have your attention? Where's Crane?"
The man grunts and protests loundly, revealing a mouth mostly void of teeth,"Who the hell is Crane?!"
Nightwing slaps him in the cheek mockingly before wrapping him between the eyes with a knuckle as if knocking on a door,"Wake up, we're not the ones with brains rotted from drain cleaner and rat poison. Scarecrow! Simple question!"
The captive makes to lunge at Nightwing in irritation from the high school bully tactic he used to get under his skin, but Black Bat has him held fast,"I ain't answering a punk kid like you, your girlfriend has more muscle than you!"
Nightwing grins and takes a handful of his hair in hand firmly,"You too, while we're being honest. She's here to help make sure you answer honestly, and she's a human lie detector like noone else. Now, let's try this again. How do we find Scarecrow?"
Black Bat yanks down on his wrists while pulling back on his neck, straining the man and threatening to choke him all at once to ratchet down on his intimidation. He gags for several moments, refusing to answer still so she takes it to the next level. She relinquishes his neck and pulls up on his restraints this time as she kicks him in the rear, the man leaning forward as his shoulders are hyperextended. She marches him to the edge of the building to give him a view where Nightwing advises,"Better answer, her patience is running out."
Nightwing has never been thrilled with this aspect of vigilante investigation. He's just about ready to knock him out and leave him for the cops when the man breaks,"He's got a lab of his own beneath the building, some old utility room down in the sewer he fixed up!"
With that, Black Bat lets him back up. She pats him with mock reassurance on the cheek as Nightwing says,"See? That wasn't so hard. Now say nighty night."
The man blinks dimly a couple times before he's cuffed hard in the jaw. He slumps to the ground out cold and Black Bat nods to her partner for the evening. They had their information, so Nightwing radios Oracle with their findings so the GCPD can be filled in while they move post-haste down to the utility room of the basement where an entrance below can be accessed.
Log in to comment