Nightwing

Nightwing arrived at Lockhaven to find the riot nearly quelled by the Bludhaven police. He dropped into the shadows of the prison and crept near the temporary police command post. The officer in charge was Capt. Duncan, a fifteen-year veteran of the force who was known to do things by the book. With the prison back under control, he was sending teams to search the more remote parts of the prison, like the laundry room, kitchen, etc. Many of the guards inside were either injured or killed by the inmates. According to the conversations, nearly eight prisoners had escaped, including Merlyn and Count Vertigo. That was all Nightwing needed to hear, he was off through the thunderstorm to the one place Vertigo would head for, the house of Roland Desmond.

"It's good to see that the authorities never found your little hideaway Merlyn," said Count Vertigo. "I would hate to have to become ruler of Bludhaven in rain soaked prison greys." He slipped the mask of his costume on and smoothed back his hair. "It's good to be back."

Merlyn hooked his quiver onto his back, with his arsenal in place he felt ready to kill anything that moved. "When do you want to eliminate Blockbuster?"

"Why what better time than now?" a long grin crossed Vertigo's face, he looked behind Merlyn at the other six wet prisoners that had followed them. "You men, join us and you will help rule this city." The men looked intimidated but not swayed to join his side yet.

"We do alright by ourselves, we don't need you, we just used you to get away from them cops" one con yelled. "Ain't no way I'm joining your band of whackos!"

Vertigo floated above them, "Let me persuade you then, join me or lose your insides all over this floor!" His power swept over them, the men fell to the ground one by one, unable to keep their footing or even sit up right. The room spun around them, two of them became violently ill. Finally they pledged their allegiance to Vertigo. "Merlyn, arm our newfound friends, they will aid us tonight in the elimination of Blockbuster."

Nightwing crept inside of Blockbuster's security net, and he eluded the roaming guards easily. You need to get better bang for your buck Blocky, these guys are worthless. The light to Blockbuster's library was off, but the lightning every now and then illuminated shadows through the window next to it, two females and one giant male, wholesome entertainment at the Desmond household.

Nightwing shot a grappling hook to the roof and pulled himself to the top. He retracted his line in and put it away inside the special compartment on his boot. He scanned the surrounding area for any sign of Vertigo, to one side of Blockbuster's house was a sheer cliff. Vertigo could fly up it, but no way was anyone else coming that way. He turned his attention towards the surrounding woods, and then heard a noise behind him.

"Don't see a damn thing do ya?" Stallion asked. He was leaning against the chimney chewing on a toothpick, with the rain dripping off his old Cowboy hat.

Nightwing pulled out three of his Nightarangs, but Stallion threw his hands in the air, "Whoa hoss! No need for violence here, I'm just doing my job tonight, and that job is to keep Mr. Desmond safe, and I think you're doin' the same thing. Or are you just here for tea?"

Nightwing put the throwing darts away, "So you've been told about Vertigo's escape? Who else does Desmond have guarding the house? And don't say the blind rent-a-cops out there, they couldn't stop a child from finding his way into Desmond's kitchen."

Stallion smiled and withdrew the toothpick, "Well, there's me, and Brutale is in the library. With Lady Vic taking time off after her last run in with Merlyn and Vertigo we're a bit short handed, but the boss thought you might stop by to check on the safety of a law abiding citizen such as him. What say you come inside and talk a spell, it's better than waiting out here in the rain." Stallion led the way down, and for the first time, Nightwing walked in the front door to the home of Roland Desmond.

"The ladies were just leaving," Desmond said. The girls were walking down the stairs and both of them eyed Nightwing lustily on the way out. "I am pleased that you have come to see me safely through the night vigilante, in times like these I believe our valiant police force will be hard pressed to provide the protection I deserve."

"You don't deserve anything from the police except an arrest and a fair trial," Nightwing lashed out at him. "But you and I both know you own half the officials in this city, and a fair trial isn't going to happen soon. You deserve to have a lot of things happen to you for what you've done Desmond, but even you deserve the chance to live, if only to face trial for your crimes after I've brought you down."

"So, you still cling to your beliefs, even though your eyes show you the truth. Like the Knights of The Round Table who were sent to find the Holy Grail for King Arthur, you fight to make this city your own to impress the Batman, both quests are unattainable." Desmond sat in an oversized armchair; a butler brought him a glass of brandy. "I am untouchable, my empire grows each day, when I go to bed every night I awake the next morning a richer man."

"Desmond, I swear I will bring you down, and when I do, you will be put away forever." Nightwing was so angered that part of him felt like allowing Count Vertigo to try and kill Blockbuster. Just then, Brutale came racing down the stairs.

"Blockbuster, we are being attacked!" he cried

"Is it Vertigo?" Blockbuster demanded.

"No, men with weapons are making their way through cover of the storm, I can see the muzzle flashes after they fire their weapons. They are attacking your guards as we speak."

"If Vertigo is not with them, then it is only a distraction," said Blockbuster. "Stallion, Brutale, please take care of this minor inconvenience, and then.."

"No," said Nightwing. "I'm not going to stand by while anyone gets killed, and if you send Stallion and Brutale in the forest, those other men won't live to see the morning. I'll go myself, and end their assault with out killing anyone." And with that Nightwing took off through the storm and into the forest..

The fool, Blockbuster thought. Desmond walked outside to the front porch with his two mercenaries. If he thinks this evening will end without the death of Vertigo and Merlyn, then he is sadly mistaken.

Nightwing made his way into the darkness, the storm raged on, as if the Heavens themselves were telling the people of Bludhaven to stay inside where it was safe tonight. Dick turned on the Starlight lens in his mask, making him able to see through the dark. He spotted two men ahead of him about ten feet , they were using automatic weapons, probably M-16 by the looks of them. He stayed low and worked his way around the gunmen. Coming up behind them, Nightwing ran and leaped high into the air, grabbing a tree limb, he used it to propel his feet forward as fast and hard as he could. The two men were knocked to the ground by the kick. As the first man recovered and tried to stand, Nightwing dropped down on his shoulders and then did a front forward roll, flipping the man over and landing him flat on his back. The second man stood and fired his weapon at Nightwing. Dick dodged the hail of bullets and threw a Nightarang at the gunmen, the throwing dart struck his weapon, knocking it from his hands. Nightwing rushed the man and nailed him with a left handed body punch that doubled the man over, then he finished him with a right uppercut. Quickly, he tied the thugs up and started in to the forest to find the others.

Blockbuster waited for the attack he knew was coming, better to face it head on than be surprised. As the sonic arrow landed at his feet, surprise was all that Blockbuster knew. The sonic arrow filled the entire area, bringing Stallion and Brutale to their knees instantly, Blockbuster was not as easily taken down. He fought the pain from the sonics, reached for the arrow, and crushed it in his massive hand. As he fought to clear his head, he saw Merlyn approaching.

"Greeting once again Blockbuster," said Merlyn. "Count Vertigo sends his regards." Merlyn pulled an arrow from his quiver, drew back the bowstring and fired. The arrow exploded on impact with Blockbuster's chest, knocking the mammoth mastermind to the wet ground. Blockbuster felt like he had been hit with a cannonball.

"You…will have to…do better than that," Blockbuster rose to his feet unsteadily, and lunged for the Black Archer. Merlyn looked incredulously at the titanic man, never before had he seen someone shake off an explosive arrowhead like that. He reached for his cryo arrow, that had worked well last time, but Brutale had also recovered, and he sent a throwing blade at Merlyn's face, causing him to forget about the arrow and instead dodge the knife. Blockbuster seized the moment the distraction caused, and grabbed hold of Merlyn around the wrists. A sickening cracking noise was made, and Merlyn screamed in agony. "Scream wretch, scream!" Blockbuster looked down on his foe with bloodlust in his eyes.

Suddenly the mud beneath Blockbuster seemed to rise and shoot this way and that, he grabbed his head as it started to spin, and he could barely maintain his balance. "You oaf," said Count Vertigo. He was about twenty feet in the air, well out of Blockbuster's grasp. "Did you think I wouldn't be here to see you fall? I want the pleasure of hearing you beg for your life. Get down in the mud on your hands and knees right now and plead for mercy, and you shall have it." Vertigo increased his power, putting Blockbuster down to one knee. "I will allow you live, as my servant. You can clean the ground upon which I walk with your tongue, you are a dog, so down, down where you belong dog!"

Merlyn held his broken wrists up to his face, that bastard, it would be some time before he fired an arrow again. He saw Brutale through the rain trying to hit Vertigo with his knives. Merlyn rushed forward and threw his shoulder into the assassin, knocking them both to the ground. Merlyn then lunged face first at Brutale and started biting him on the hands. Brutale screamed and thrashed about, but Merlyn maintained his hold. Only interference by Stallion caused him to let go. Stallion grabbed on to Merlyn's shattered wrists, and threw him into the steps of the porch, knocking him unconscious. Stallion and Brutale then started to go to help Blockbuster, when Vertigo turned his power on them as well, bringing them to their knees. The thunder boomed around him like the storm was feeding off of Vertigo's triumph.

"Your men already bow to their new leader," yelled Vertigo. "Why die in vain? Beg for mercy and call me master!"

"Never!" yelled Blockbuster. "I am your superior! And I will never serve anyone again!"

"Then die!" said Vertigo. He increased his power to its limit, and while Blockbuster did not go down, he stumbled to the cliff's edge.

As Vertigo smiled in anticipation, an escrima stick struck him solidly in the head. Nightwing took aim and threw his second stick and connected with Vertigo's stomach. With his concentration low, Vertigo drifted closer to the ground. Nightwing jumped for Vertigo and snagged his cape, he pulled hard on it and slammed Vertigo into the rain soaked ground. "You should have stayed in Lockhaven," Nightwing said. "Now when you go back, you'll be held responsible for the deaths of those guards as well." He kicked Vertigo in the jaw as he stood, the Count was disoriented and barely able to stand. Nightwing set himself for another kick, but Vertigo called upon his power to save him once again. The feeling of vertigo and nausea swept over Nightwing, but he did not go down, "You know, I've been an acrobat since I was four, I beat Vertigo a long time ago." Nightwing nailed him with a roundhouse kick that knocked Vertigo out cold.

"Well done vigilante," a very wet Blockbuster said as he made his way towards Vertigo. The rain was running off of Blockbuster's forehead, he looked ready to fall over. "Now leave so that I may end this." He reached down for the Count, and Nightwing jumped in front of him.

"I told you I wasn't going to let anyone be killed Desmond," Nightwing said, "and I meant it. I saved your life again tonight, because with you I know what to expect, with Vertigo in charge of Bludhaven's underworld, I can only imagine the rate the bodies would stack up. Your time is running out Desmond, make no mistake about it, now back off!"

Blockbuster looked at the hero with amusement at first, but as the vigilante's face hardened in the rain, Blockbuster realized it was better to walk away. His body was in no condition to fight another battle tonight, but the day was coming when they would end this dance, and it was coming soon. Sirens in the distance were coming closer. "Very well vigilante, have it your way tonight."

Nightwing watched from the trees as Tim Fencik and the other Bludhaven policemen arrested Merlyn and Vertigo. The fugitives in the woods were also being picked up where Nightwing had left them. The police had a few questions for Desmond, but Dick knew that as of right now they wouldn't bring him in if he was holding a smoking gun standing over a body. He started for home, his shift at the precinct started in three hours, still time for a nap, he thought. And finally the storm started to let clear.

Epilogue

Manny Brown had worked for the Bludhaven Public Works department for four years, his partner, a young kid named Alex Ardnod had been here four days. They were cleaning the walls of sewer line at the corner of Dixon and Carlin Street, just near the bay. Their day was nearly finished, and they both could not wait to get home. They never came out of that sewer.

To Be Continued...

Previous Issue | Next Issue