Nightwing

The thunderstorm arrived in Bludhaven a full hour ahead of when channel 6’s meteorologist predicted. Roland Desmond sipped his wine and stared at the window of his library. The pane of glass was new and perfect in every way, made to replace the last one that was destroyed by Vertigo’s entrance. The desk in the corner was made of redwood and perfectly fit Desmond’s unique dimensions. It wasn’t easy finding furniture for a man nearly ten feet in height. Roland missed his old desk, he missed the left drawer that stuck every time he attempted to open it, despite the fact he had the strength to wrench a man’s head 360 degrees. But his old desk was gone, destroyed in a firefight that took place in his own home. HIS OWN HOME! How dare they!

Vertigo wanted to replace Desmond as the criminal king in Bludhaven, to take away everything he had built, and he tried to do it in Desmond’s HOME! Desmond could feel his blood pressure rise, he sipped his wine and rubbed his forehead. He picked up the phone and dialed a single number, he needed something to get his mind off of Vertigo. “It is Roland, ….send me two ladies…one blonde and a redhead…no, that will be all that I require this evening.” He hung up the phone and walked to the window, “My dear Count Vertigo, sleep well in your jail cell, for tonight will be the last night you take a breath in my city.” He stared outside the new window as a crack of thunder shook the city.

Officer Tim Fencik finished dressing in to his uniform, it felt good to be back, he had been on leave until a formal inquiry into the death’s of Morretti and Jansen had concluded, but now Tim was back on the job. As he walked out of the locker room he felt eyes on his back, Roland Desmond who was also known as Blockbuster had many of Bludhaven’s police officers on his payroll, many of them as spies. Tim knew he had made an enemy out of Blockbuster, he could live with that, but he couldn’t live with what he would have become if he sided with Blockbuster.

Officer Dick Grayson passed Fencik and gave him a handshake, Dick had always been a real nice guy, and Tim had the feeling he could trust Grayson and his partner Amy Rohrbach more than a lot of the others. After talking to Grayson you always had a smile on your face, he was that cool. Grayson worked the early shift, too bad, Tim would enjoy seeing him work late shift, as it stood now, about the only one he thought he could count on for backup was the vigilante Nightwing.

The duty roster had Tim patrolling the Zee Moors, a housing complex gone to Hell, and he would be patrolling alone. Big surprise, someone was probably hoping Tim would get shot by a coked up gangbanger. Tim sighed and started work, hoping he would have some backup tonight because he had a feeling he would need it.

Dick Grayson awoke from his power nap at about 9pm and started to get dressed for his “night job”. As Bludhaven’s resident vigilante Nightwing he felt like he was accomplishing as much at night as he was during the day as Officer Dick Grayson of the Bludhaven Police Department. Why just a week or so ago he was able to stop the murderous Deadshot, and was able to incarcerate both Count Vertigo and his right hand killer Merlyn. Unfortunately, he saved Roland Desmond, and kept him atop the criminal heap in Bludhaven. Blockbuster was smart enough to cover his trail legally in all his dealings, Nightwing could probably deliver Blockbuster wrapped in a bow string to the police headquarters and they would press his suit and arrange a ride home for him rather than prosecute.

Nightwing used his de-cel cable to drop to a neighboring rooftop. The rain was coming down in buckets, the meteorologist on Channel 6 said it would last all night. He scanned the city and wondered what Oracle was doing right now. He decided he would check on her in a few hours, he knew if he looked hard enough he could find a car jacking or attempted assault to stop. He jumped from the rooftop to a small balcony overlooking Goirdano Street, he watched the traffic below him and timed his leap on to the top of a city bus perfectly, he was on his way to the Zee Moors.

“Merlyn my friend,” whispered Count Vertigo. “Can you please hurry this along a little more, these power dampening restraints I am wearing and your screaming are giving me a Hell of a migraine.”

Merlyn did not answer Vertigo, instead he threw himself against the steel bars of his cell in Lockhaven, the prison located in Bludhaven. Merlyn started screaming for help, “MAKE IT STOP!” he yelled. “I NEED HELP, HE’S A MADMAN! HE’S KILLING ME!”

Ron Alvord had been a prison guard for eight years, he had seen all the little ploys these guys had played a million times over, he casually strode out of his watch booth. He called to his partner, Ken Beavers, to open the door to Merlyn’s cell. Merlyn lay in a heap in the middle of the small cell, a small puddle of drool was coming together in his lap. In the next cell was Lockhaven’s only “superpowered” inmate, Count Vertigo. Vertigo should have been sent to the Slab, a prison that specializes in super powered criminals, but his transfer was weeks away, and he and Merlyn had been arguing ever since they arrived. Alvord didn’t understand why they were not separated, but this was how the warden wanted it, and now as Alvord looked at Merlyn on the floor his face turned white, if Vertigo had somehow overcome the restraints and had use of his power they were all in trouble. He pulled his nightstick out, no guns were allowed on the prison floor, and silently peeked into Vertigo’s cell. The Count was sitting on his bunk, all restraints still in place and according to the lights flashing across his neck restraint, all were operating to efficiency.

He turned back to look in on Merlyn, only to catch a pencil to the eye. Merlyn was on top of him, shoving the pencil in deeper and deeper, the guard’s screams of pain filled the prison and had the prisoners cheering. The guard dropped and Merlyn heard the buzz that signified lockdown, his door would be closed in seconds. Grabbing the fallen guard’s security pass card and his bloody pencil, Merlyn leapt outside his cell as the door slammed shut automatically. The riot squad was on the way and would be here in moments he knew. “Vertigo, come to the door,” he said. As Vertigo approached, Merlyn pulled the pass card out and used his teeth to tear at the hard plastic, ripping jagged points off of it. With his mouth a bloody mess, he used the ripped edge of the plastic as a makeshift key lock. Within seconds the neck restraint was off and Vertigo felt his power ready to be unleashed.

The riot squad rushed in to the cellblock, but as they entered they were met by the power of Count Vertigo. Nausea swept over them, and none could keep their balance as Vertigo’s power laid them low. He floated above the guards, feeling more powerful than he ever had before, powerful and confident.

As the guards fell, Merlyn took the shoelace and radio of one of the guards. He tore the antenna off the radio and started tying the shoelace to both ends. He raced to the watch booth and using the miniature homemade slingshot, he shot his bloody pencil at the throat of Beaver’s. The wooden pencil tore into the guard’s throat, and Merlyn finished the job by hand. He quickly looked over the watch booth’s control board and unlocked all the doors on the floor. Prisoners rushed out of their cells attacking the fallen riot squad.

Madness reigned. And as the riot went full scale, Count Vertigo along with Merlyn made his way out of prison and into the pouring rain, a crack of thunder shook the city. Merlyn let the rain wash the blood from his hands and face. Vertigo couldn’t have envisioned a more beautiful night, a night to seek the deaths of Nightwing and Blockbuster and his place as criminal ruler of Bludhaven.

“Just great,” that was all Tim Fencik could say to himself. He was on foot chasing a coke dealer through the twists and turns that encompassed the Zee Moors through the rain that seemed to never stop. The dealer was a kid of about 14 or 15, and the punk was fast. Tim had requested back up twice via his radio, both times the dispatch lady had told him they would see what they could do. He wasn’t gonna hold his breath, this is what he was hoping would not happen, the corrupted officers were influential enough to make sure he received absolutely no help in dangerous situations, till he was dead. Still, if he could catch this kid and make it back to the squad car before he ran into… Tim stopped dead in his tracks. The punk had friends, about eight of them in fact. Fencik thought to draw his revolver, but after taking in the scene in front of him, he knew he was outgunned. “Whatchoo think this is pig?” The leader of the pack was about 20 years old, not even old enough to drink. “You playin’ tag wit our boy? I gonna tag yo ass!”

Nightwing leapt at the leader and nailed him with a jumping side kick that may have dislocated his jaw. The other gangbangers were more than willing to leap to their friend’s aid. As Nightwing landed a roundhouse kick to the side of one’s head, he used his Nightarangs to disarm two others. He pulled his escrima sticks and disarmed one of the guys who was wielding a bat with a large nail in it. He grabbed the guy by the shoulders and pulled himself over the gang member’s head. He kicked down with his feet, shoving them into the crook’s back and used him as a launching pad to dive onto another member. Nightwing’s launching pad crashed to the ground unconscious.

Tim Fencik tackled one of the kids trying to escape to the wet cement and latched his handcuffs around his wrists. The kid he had been chasing was trying to take off again, and Tim threw his nightstick at the kid’s legs. The throw was right on and the kid fell face first into a puddle of water. As Tim cuffed the second kid he looked up and saw the other seven on the ground. Nightwing was picking up his throwing darts. “Nice to see that you’re hanging in there officer,” he said.

Tim shook his hand, “Glad to see a friendly face, not getting a lot of help lately. I appreciate it.” Tim was picking up his radio to call for help in taking in the already apprehended gang, suddenly the radio went berserk with news of a prison riot and the escape of Merlyn and Count Vertigo. “Damn, maybe you should..” Tim didn’t even finish his sentence, as Nightwing was already gone, and a crack of thunder shook the city.

To Be Continued...

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