From Gotham to Las Vegas

Maneuver Twenty-Two

"He's in the old casino on Avenue Fifteen.  I beg you, please don't kill me," the thug sobbed.

"Deal," Red Hood said stonily, hitting the thug with the blunt side of his knife, knocking him out.

Red Hood left the room knife in one hand and a bat-cuffed thug on the other.

"Dick, I nominate you to take this piece of Las Vegas trash to the police station," Red Hood said, throwing the thug in Dick's direction.

Unwilling to argue with his brother while he was in this state, Dick obliged.

"So, Damian, what is this incredible news Barbara gave you?" Jason asked mockingly.

"She said she found out Zsasz's locatio-"

"But we already know his location," Jason cut in.

"Zsasz's location and his contract."

"Contract?  I thought Zsasz did this kind of stuff for kicks, being a former Arkham Asylum patient," Jason put in sarcastically.

"He does do this stuff for 'kicks', but there's a connection between the murders.  Beside the connection they were playing each other at poker," Damian added.

"Oh, really?  How do you figure?"

Damian inhaled deeply then blew it out, trying to hold onto his temper.  "Well, for one thing, there was a contract between Zsasz and his employer."

"Already said that."

"If there is a contract, doesn't it stand to reason that Zsasz is hunting people with more in common than just a casino?"

"So what are we thinking?  What are the chances that his targets all played each other at poker and won or lost to each other?"

"Barbara is still looking into that," Damian sighed.

Nightwing entered the hotel room through the window, taking off his mask and throwing it onto the coffee table.

"What took you so long, Grayson?" Damian inquired.

"Sorry, what did I miss?"

"There's another connection we overlooked," Jason stated.

"Besides the fact that they all played poker at the same casino?"

"Yeah.  Apparently there was a contract between a mysterious somebody and Zsasz.  Maybe all the targets had a thing for poker.  But all the targets are linked by something more than the casino; they all had to do something to piss of someone else enough to hire Zsasz."

"Well, the connection won't be too hard to find.  We're going to Zsasz's place.  We go there take out the guys, ask Zsasz a couple of questions and we'll know what the connection is, which might shed some light to who hired him," Dick stated.

"If it's that easy, than let's go Go Go Gadget," Jason said, standing up.

"Do we all have the casino surrounded?" Nightwing asked.

"Yes," Robin confirmed.

"Yup."

"Let's move in, then," Nightwing ordered.

"Could you make that line any more cliche?" Red Hood asked.

"Whatever."

"What stunning wit you possess."

Red Hood took out electric batarangs and grappled to the top of the casino with Robin.