The Phantom Robin

18: Phantom Sights

Nightwing blocked a punch from some goon, dipping to the left to throw an uppercut. The guy staggered back before dropping like a rock. That was the final goon from the current warehouse he was in.

Apparently, the oh-so-important problem that was needing him for the night, was the fact some goons of several rogues- Joker, Scarecrow, Penguin, even Bane- were teaming up. So far, he wasn't sure why just yet, but seeing as they weren't dead, they could be questioned later.

Huffing, he moved around the warehouse, searching for whatever clues there could possibly be. There wasn't much that he could find, though he did see a half-finished formula for something. It looked a bit like Joker serum with some Scarecrow gas, but it was again only half a formula.

Bagging it, he continued around some more, finding some ingredients that didn't belong with either Joker serum or Scarecrow's gas. It looked like the ingredients to make Venom.

Nightwing took note of it and how much was there. Other than those things, there wasn't anything else. Then the coms cackled to life.

"Robbery in place. Nightwing, you're closer, so I'm sending you the coordinates." Oracle's voice sounded in his ear.

The blue and black clad vigilante hummed, pulling up his holo-computer. He really was close. It was a corner store near the warehouses. The others were further away, and Red Hood didn't like adventuring outside of the immediate Crime Alley area.

"Alright, have some goons ready for transport." He told before leaving through an open skylight. He never understood why Gotham warehouses had skylights, he hadn't really seen any other places with naturally built in skylights.

Balancing on the slanted room for a second, he took off running, his footfalls being eerily silent. With an expert jump, he shot out his grapplehook, letting himself fall before it hooked and began to pull him along.

Usually swinging through Gotham's streets, feeling the polluted winds against his face, whipping his hair around- it always felt so comforting. Bringing him back to Haliey's Circus, to playing with his brother, being trained by their parents to fly through the sky. It was something that always reminded him why he became Robin and eventually Nightwing. Why he fought against the darkness and corruption of the world.

This night, though, it felt cold. It nipped at his nose more than normal, the polluted scent becoming Irritating instead of feeling like a second home. A rushed feeling entered his veins, his gut dropping like a bowling ball.

He needed to get to that store. Now.

Without the usual fanfare of his swings, he took sharp turns, disengaging the grapple in shorter and shorter bursts.

Then he swung down onto a roof, observing a strange sight before him. The would-be robbers were bound in a creepily glowing rope. Well, all but one were tied.

"You-You monster!" The untied robber sobbed, clinging to the cement wall.

Their hands and knees were covered in scrapes and cuts, blood staining their pants. The cuts looked to have been from the shattered glass that was around the front of the shop.

The weird thing was there was no one there. Well, there shouldn't have been anyone there. One of the unshattered windows frosted into a near mirror. A mirror that revealed a toxic green, whited haired creature. Their skin was a soft icy blue with sharp, flexing ears. He wore a black jacket with a silly cartoon ghost stitched on the sleeve, but other than those things, Nightwing couldn't describe any more.

"Monster? I don't quite like that name." The voice that echoed was hollow and crackling, like the cracking ice or falling glaciers.

"S-Stay away!" The robber looked to be panicking.

"Would you have stayed away?" The creature knelt before the robber, tilting their head at an unnatural angle. Their hair floated and spiked, shimmers of snow forming around his head that Nightwing could openly witness fall to the floor.

"Mister?" A young voice called, a child no older than six peaked out from behind the shattered window.

There was a glow before the creature appeared, a playful smile on his lips.

"Sorry, ghostling." He hummed, the unnatural voice gone. He reached out, plucking the kid from the ground and held him close. "I think I should get you back home! The police should be on their way."

"Mr. Gorgan?" The child sounded excited, kicking their little feet.

The strange meta laughed happily, pressing a friendly kiss to the child's head.

"The good Gorgan that I've been hearing about."

Nightwing jumped to the ground, purposefully making noise. The new meta, maybe a future hero, instantly whipped to his direction. He had placed the kid on the hip furthest from the threat that was the unknown, a nasty snarl on his lips. It would've been effective had the first Robin not notice how young the meta was.

The meta was wearing a black-silver hazmat suit that had white stylized letters DP, which was mostly covered by a black jacket that was threaded with a toxic neon green thread. Then there was his white domino mask with those Lazaras Pit green eyes. His white hair had flecks of baby blue, and his hair wasn't spikey, it was curly and possibly windswept, or shocked. But they were young. They couldn't have been no older than thirteen or fourteen!

"Nighwing!" The child cried, making a happy wave to the Gotham hero.

The black-blue clad vigilante grinned, giving a friendly wave back. He really loved showing off to the little ones, they were always the ones needing the most help when a Rogue attacks. The ones that have to deal with the loss the longest.

White then turned to green, who's defensive look had relaxed to setting the kid on their feet.

"He-"

A biting winter wind surrounded the humans, announcing the departure of the strange... Phantom? Yeah, Phantom sounded like the right name to call the meta.

"Aw... He leff." The child whined, looking to the other in hopes of them doing something.

Nightwing only knelt before the child, running a hand through their hair.

"I'm sure he'll be back soon." Fair too certain of that.