<on hiatus> 𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐨 𝐤𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬 - 𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭

𝟐𝟕

[meanwhile]

[inside the Fortrex]

"Ha..." Nicholas heard Aaron sigh. "I can't believe this is happening again..."

"Yeah," Lance sighed along. "But it's expected."

"I guess Merlok's magic isn't strong enough to contain Jestro," Axl said, eating a chicken thigh. "All that aside," he said. "Guys... do you think Nicholas is happy?"

"Judging from how he seemed during the audience with King Halbert," Lance began, "erm... I don't think so."

"Yeah," Aaron sighed. "He doesn't love Macy."

"We all know he loves Princess Cadence," Lance said. "It's not a surprise, honestly. I mean, they have been friends ever since they were young children."

"That's right," Axl agreed. "But I'm surprised she doesn't feel the same about him."

"Oh, no, she does," Aaron assures Axl, giving him a pat on the back.

"That's a relief," Lance sighed and smiled in relief.

"How'd you know for sure?" Axl looked at Aaron.

"Well..." Aaron said with a sheepish smile, "let's say I have a feeling that she does."

"But everything Nicholas is doing right now is to fulfil his mission," Lance pointed out. "Imagine what'll happen to Knighton when they hear of Princess Macy's baby. Imagine what'll happen to my favourite spa... and the throne, of course, but my spa..." he sighed rather sadly.

"Yeah, and she says that the baby belongs to Nicholas," Axl said.

"But it's the Joker's kid," Lance added. "She even said that Nicholas drugged and had sex with her."

"But he's not that kind of person!" Axl exclaimed. "I know Nick. We all do. He's a good guy!"

"Exactly!" Aaron and Lance agreed.

"Other than her and House Wayne's reputation plummeting... those sneaky aristocrats will find a way to take over the throne as well," Aaron said, angry at the thought of that. "If all else fails and Knighton falls...—"

"Won't Knighton be taken over by Auden?" Axl thought out loud.

"Oh?" Aaron and Lance perked up.

'Damn, he's smart,' Nicholas thought as he managed to sneak into the downtime area of the Fortrex.

"Oh yeah!" Aaron clapped his hands together and brightened up. "Since Auden is right next to Knighton and is a larger kingdom at whole... they'd be able to take Knighton as their own territory and turn into an empire!"

"And we'll be knights of the Auden Empire," Lance said and they all fist bumped.

"We'll be working closely with Duke Wayne in that case," Axl added.

"... man, you guys are highly ambitious."

"Who said that?!" Aaron said, grabbing his bow, alert. Axl held his axe close to him, while Lance held his lance to defend himself.

"Stay down," Nicholas ordered as he stepped in front of the knights and into the downtime area. "It's me."

"Tim Drake?" Axl said.

"No," Nicholas scoffed.

"Ah, Nick," Aaron snapped his fingers and the knights all sighed in relief and put their weapons down. Nicholas took his domino mask off, revealing his icy blue eyes. He ran a hand through his caramel brown hair and looked at the knights.

"Oh, it really is Nick!" Axl said and immediately bowed. The two other knights followed suit.

"Forgive us, your grace," Lance said, "we have showed you such insolent behaviour."

"Really, you guys, it's fine to be informal around me," Nicholas assured them.

"Aw, but you're the future duke of the empire—err... Auden... Kingdom of Auden... yeah," Aaron said as he straightened his posture. Nicholas chuckled. He missed his friends.

"But..." Axl began, "why are you wearing Tim's Red Robin suit? Unless..."

"Yes," said Nicholas, "I'm the new Red Robin." The knights knew the call, and so, they knew that they had to keep his identity a secret.

"What happened to Tim?" Lance asked out of curiosity.

"He's on a mission as an agent of the Force," Nicholas explained.

"What are you doing here, Nick?" Aaron asked.

"Yeah," Lance said, raising an eyebrow in suspicion. "What are you doing here?"

Nicholas headed towards the main computer in the room, sat down on the swivel chair and began typing away on the keyboard. His fingers were typing so fast that Aaron, Lance and Axl felt dizzy just by looking at him typing.

"Woah," Aaron said in surprise. "Nick, how are you doing all of this?"

"Oh," Nicholas began, not adverting his eyes from the screen, still typing fast, "it's a gift."

After a while of coding and some algorithms appearing on the screen, a file appeared and some information and pictures of Jestro and the Book of Monsters and Intergang appeared on the screen.

"What's all this?" Lance asked, looking at the screen.

"Monstrux is back in a book and Jestro is back to working as his partner," he said. "But this time, they're both working for a globally recognised crime organisation who dubbed themselves Intergang.

"Oh, I've heard of them," Axl said. "Didn't your father and Superman help take them down?"

"Yes," Nicholas nodded, "but only a fraction of them they did take down. What you should know is that Intergang is armed with incredibly advanced alien technology supplied by beings who call themselves the New Gods from a planet in space called Apokolips. They are highly dangerous people and can cause the destruction of our planet and our kingdoms entirely."

"That's even worse than what we've been fighting against," Axl whimpered.

"Intergang hired Monstrux and Jestro months ago in secret, according to new information from my father, and now, they're looking for someone to sacrifice to their crime god," Nicholas continued explaining. "I could use your help taking them down. I've already informed my father, and he agrees that you should come along."

"We're knights of Knighton," Aaron said. "Of course we should go."

"We'll protect the people and the kingdom at all costs," Lance said, "even at the cost of my spa..."

"Let's do this," Axl said with determination.

"Alright," Nicholas said as he put his domino mask back on. "It's time we leave."