Nightwing: Heartache

Part 2: Meta-Ring Bust

May 15, 12:03am
Moscow

Nightwing burst through the window, shattering the glass and taking the thugs down below by surprise.

He rolled as soon as he hit the warehouse ground, popping up on his feet and knocking out one man in a suit with an escrima stick, throwing the other at the gun pointed towards him. The stick knocked the gun off balance, giving Nightwing an opportunity to leap over the crate and kick the guy in the temple. He quickly took the two remaining men out then paused to survey the rest of the dark warehouse to make sure all threats were neutralized.

"Right on the money, Oracle," Nightwing said, his hand pressed to his ear.

"Of course," came Barabara Gordon's smooth reply.

Nightwing grabbed a nearby crow bar and pressed it against one of the walls of a crate. The wood splintered and cracked but the wall came down, revealing four teenagers huddled inside, shivering. Nightwing did the same to all the remaining crates, helping the kids out and alerting the authorities and child services virtually.

When the kids were all safely outside, Nightwing took a closer look around. "It's definitely another meta-human trafficking lab."

"But is it Bedlam?"

"I see pods of black goo." Nightwing spied two tubes with black goop on the ground surrounding them. He bagged a sample.

"Sounds like a match. Bedlam uses a substance called tar as a catalyst for turning abducted meta-gene kids into full on meta-humans, assuming the kids survive the process," Oracle explained.

"Then let's shut 'em down." Nightwing took two exploding bat-a-rangs out of his belt, throwing them on the tubes and making a break out the hole he left in the windows as the building exploded.

"Did you get the sample?" Barbara asked once Nightwing was safely on a nearby rooftop, watching the kids being loaded into ambulances below. He didn't have a bad relationship with the authorities, per se, but he wasn't officially Nightwing either. He had traded the iconic bird emblem for a more subtle costume. All black with navy trim and a mask covering his nose and mouth rather than just his eyes. It felt wrong to stop helping people, but it didn't feel right to wear his old suit.

"Of cou-" Nightwing stopped abruptly. He trailed his eyes around the rooftop. He might not have been trained by the League of Assassins, but he was trained by Batman, and he knew when he was being watched.

"Nightwing?"

"I'm here," he replied in his com. There was no one in sight. The goosebumps on the back of his neck were gone but he was sure there was someone here. They must be fast, Nightwing thought, to avoid being caught. But not quite fast enough to go completely undetected. "I've got the sample. Sending it now."

A/N In case anyone wants to watch the scene I took inspiration from: