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Bludhaven: Atop The Littleneck Narrows Bridge
1:47 P.M.

It would happen any time now, he would just have to wait. Nightwing adjusted the slits beneath his mask. The starlight technology that enabled him to see in infra-red showed him nothing but empty streets and deserted piers. Anyone with any sense stayed off the streets after 10:00 P.M. in Bludhaven. The really smart ones stayed off the streets altogether, sticking to taxis or the bus. It was here that Nightwing expected a shipment of narcotics to come chugging up the river from the Ocean, carrying tons of heroin bound for the mean streets of Bludhaven. Nightwing had heard of the incoming shipment during his day job at Hogan's Alley, a cop bar where he worked in his civilian identity as Dick Grayson. The truly sad thing was that the cops knew about it and discussed it openly in their favourite bar, but did nothing. There was not a soul in sight. He had no doubt that at least half of the cops on the force were selling the stuff anyway, the other half was probably buying it.

Any way you sliced it, Dick Grayson had a lot on his plate, it was only a few short months ago that he had arrived in Gotham city's ugly sister city, and life had been a non-stop whirlwind since then. Run-ins with the Black Mask gang, Lady Vic or any of your average psychotic was a nightly occurrence in this town, which was nothing like Gotham and all at once strikingly similar to the town where he grew up wearing Yellow and Green tights and a stylized "R" on his chest, leaping from rooftop to rooftop fighting The Joker, Two-face, and Poison Ivy and laughing in the face of danger. Or at least, that's the way it seemed through the nostalgic glow of time gone by. For a moment, a mile-wide grin spread across Dick's face as he remembered "the good Old days" and suddenly felt like an idiot for recalling escaping death traps on a regular basis at age 13 with good feelings. "Who cares?" Dick thought to himself, "So what if I look back on those days with a smile? Let my shrink pick up the pieces later." The thought warmed him. A good thing too, his thermos of hot vegetable soup had run out an hour ago. Where was Alfred when he was needed anyway? He would have seen to it that hot food was in plentiful supply as they waited for their prey, and he would have acted as surrogate father to them both when they needed it. But 'they' didn't mean Dick and Bruce anymore, now it was Bruce and Tim. Tim Drake had taken up the mantle of Robin and fought at Batman's side. Dick was a grown up now, and he was on his own in a vicious new town. So much for the "good old days".

An Hour and a half had passed with hardly a soul in sight. All in all, a quiet night in Bludhaven. Nightwing secretly thanked the city for being so quiet tonight, the last few months had been intense. Nightwing couldn't begin to guess how much more intense it was to become. It was precisely 1:53 when he heard the sound of a diesel engine in the distance, and waves lapping against a hull. With a sixth sense borne from years of living to expect danger, Nightwing immediately began to do a series of stretches and mental preparations that helped him slow his pulse and limber up his muscles, whatever this ship was carrying, this had to be what he was waiting for. The throbbing of the engine came closer, the mist over the channel began to part. Tonight the fog was so thick he could barely see the form of the boat until it was practically docked at pier 13, almost directly underneath Nightwing's vantage point atop the highest spire on the bridge.

Listening intently for sounds as well as soaking up every visual detail he could make out through the thick fog with his infra-red lenses, he was on full mental alert now. First, some scuffling around and then the sound of someone bumping into something and falling over, followed by a string of Russian curses he hadn't heard since Yuri the Lion-Tamer was given second billing to the Flying Graysons at the C.C. Haly And Norton Bros. Circus years ago. There was definitely something strange about this scene and you didn't have to be trained by The Batman to see it. Not a light was on in this mysterious ship. No running lights, nothing on even in the cabin. Definitely odd, but nothing incriminating yet. Whoever the klutz was down there (Nightwing had dubbed him "thumbs"), he finally found the anchor he was tripping over and tossed it over the side. The sound it made as it broke the surface was deafening compared to the late Bludhaven night, these people were hard to see, but not hard to hear. This was followed by more sound, ropes being secured to the holds on the pier, the pungent aroma of Turkish cigarettes. Then there was something else. "Hurry up you idiots. We have to unload this stuff and get going. I want to be out of this hell hole before the hour is up, then we can poison this town and get our money. Maybe live it up in a real city, like Metropolis or New York! Cabal has their money and we have ours."

Tension began to build within the young man, he had all the proof he needed, now it was time to make the world just a little bit better by sending these scum off to Bludhaven city jail for a couple hundred years, he had to wonder what Cabal was though. If it was a new drug tri-ad he had never heard of he wanted to know about it. It was at this point that things began to happen quickly, as if it was on film being shown at double speed, he had experienced that kind of thing before, but this time it was disconcerting, he knew that somehow things were not all as they seemed tonight. Something was wrong with the night, he could smell it in the air. A perfectly executed quadruple somersault brought Nightwing from his perch atop the bridge to the roof of the ships cabin beneath him. He landed deliberately with the loud crunch of his boots against the surface, a trick of intimidation taught to him by the Batman. "Criminals are a superstitious, cowardly lot, " he could still hear Bruce saying, "I've found that half the time a good scare tactic is all you need, why use force when you can get a surrender with a look or a loud noise?" It was with this lesson in mind Nightwing landed hard on the roof, exuding the contemptible attitude he felt towards anyone who would trade in drugs from every pour in his body. Needless to say, it got some attention.

"Throw down your weapons now and surrender!! Don't make me force you ‘cause I promise you won't like Bludhaven hospital food!!"

Now that he was closer, he could see the occupants of the ship. He counted 11 in all with more possibly (and probably) in the cabin and below decks, mercenaries for the most part, Heckler and Koch semi-automatic weapons strapped over their shoulders. Some were hammering the sides of huge crates, sealing in their "cargo". They were dressed in thick wool sweaters to keep out the cold and insulated rubber boots, on their heads they wore the traditional sailor's hats.

"Who are you? You're not the law in this country." One voice asked in perfect Russian.

"I'm the law in Bludhaven."

"Kill him." Came a guttural voice from beneath Nightwing in the main cabin. The voice sounded familiar but he had no time to resurrect the memory from his psyche, the mercenaries below him were taking the safety's off their guns, and he knew from experience that a trained mercenary could disengage the safety from his (or her) weapon and fill the air with deadly lead in less than three seconds. In 2.5 seconds Nightwing would no longer be where they were aiming. Coiling his leg muscles and leaping high into the air, Bludhaven's avenging angel flipped backwards in midair and grabbed the dockside pillar with both hands, using the pillar as his own version of a gymnasts parallel bars, he spun around it twice and launched himself at his attackers feet first.

For four of his attackers, Nightwing's feet was all they would be seeing for a while. He landed hard against two of them, his bootheels forcing the air from their bodies and driving them backward into two of their comrades, forcing them overboard into the icy water.

"You men picked the wrong port of call!!" He shouted at them as he regained his footing and vaulted at a fifth gunslinger. "Bludhaven is under my protection now and you are not welcome!!"

With a dodge to one side in order to avoid a hail of bullets he took out #5 with an old fashioned closed fist to the jaw. There were only six left but now they had a bead on him, he would have to keep moving to stay alive. He could also use a few tricks of his trade....from a hidden compartment in his glove he produced four bat shaped icons and launched them like throwing stars at #'s 6 and 7. One missed but the rest found their mark, namely, their hands. Both men fell to the floor clutching their ripped open hands and shrieking in pain, they were no danger now. Nightwing brought himself to his feet, #'s 8 through 11 were standing on the deck, they had obviously never met this kind of "lawman" before. Through the slits in his mask he stared them down, probably some of the toughest, meanest mercenaries in this and four other time zones and he simply stared at them.

"Bring it on." He challenged them in Russian.

Wisely choosing survival over a paycheck, all four turned ghastly white and began to run for the dockside. They didn't get very far, with one quick movement Nightwing lassoed all four around the feet with his jumpline, sending them all to the ground with a crunch, he could swear he saw teeth fly from at least two mouths. He whirled around, expecting more opposition to arrive from below decks. It didn't come. He scanned the deck in infra-red, nothing was moving. "Where is the Russian with the voice like gravel?" he thought to himself.

"You can't fool me. I know every move you make." He told the darkness, "So you might as well come out and take your lumps."

Nothing.........All was quiet, not even the sound of the ever vigilant Bludhaven Police Force on their way. What was going on here? That much firepower always gets attention, even in this city.

"So, the son of the Batman is now in Bludhaven." Nightwing whirled around, he recognized that voice now from the Batcave's computer files,"What a pleasure I have in killing you." The KGBeast moved out of the darkness and into the light. He was huge, much bigger than his picture led you to think. Every inch of his considerable bulk was rippling muscle and his right arm was in reality a cybernetic attachment, some kind of gun. The workmanship of the cyber weapon would have made his old friend and ally Cyborg from the Titans proud. His eye also had a cyber attachment much like Cyborg had, The Beast coiled his muscles, ready to attack at the slightest provocation.

"Do you really expect to beat me little man? You are no Batman."

One time not to long ago taunts like that would have had an effect on Nightwing. Shaking his confidence and allowing chinks in his armour to be revealed. Perhaps even leading to his eventual defeat, but Nightwing was not the same man he was just a few short years ago. He had been through a lot and he had finally realized he was good enough, he was his own man and nobody, not even this huge monster could take it away from him. Nightwing had come too far and lived through too much to let anyone take away his faith in himself.

"Beast, whether you like it or not there is only one way for you to get off this ship to safety and that's through me. I guarantee you this, when I'm done with you you'll wish you were dealing with Batman and not me. This is my town and you are not welcome."

The Beast sneered at him, "Then I must be killing you now."

With lightening like quickness the Beast activated his cybernetic arm and let fly with multiple rounds of ammo, he guessed that The Beasts advanced ammunition could no doubt shred kevlar like tissue. Nightwing rolled twice on the deck and vaulted into the air, appearing to dive over the side into the water. The KGBeast was weary of the ploy, Nightwing had talked himself up to much to run away, no doubt he was waiting on the side of the ship waiting for the Beast to lean over and check for him, then attack. The Beast wouldn't give him the satisfaction. Picking up a heavy crate filled with Heroin like it was a stuffed toy The Beast stalked Nightwing. The plan was simple, throw the crate over the side and crush the unsuspecting hero and then drown him. He considered riddling him with bullets afterwards for good measure. Never underestimate a prodigy of The Batman. With one quick movement The Beast raised the crate above his head and let fly with all his considerable might over the side of the ship where Nightwing had disappeared.

What was that he said about underestimating people? Expecting to hear bones breaking and a large splash The Beast only heard the crate fly through empty air and crash on the surface of Bludhaven harbour. Where was he?

"Looking for me?" Came the voice he was learning to hate......from behind him. The Beast whirled around to see Nightwing flying through the air at him, legs outstretched, escrima sticks in hand. There was no time to react. The Beast took the full force of Nightwing's powerful kick to the chest. The air exploded from him and his chest felt as though it was on fire, he felt at least two ribs break. Nightwing used the force of his own kick to push himself off of his opponent and somersault backwards, launching his escrima sticks at the same region of his chest that he had just attacked. The Beast saw them coming but could do little about it. His couldn't breathe and his chest was heaving for air. And then the escrima sticks hit one after the other, milliseconds apart. Knocking him over the side of the boat. Only by reflex did his hand grab the side of the deck. Nightwing approached cautiously, if there was one thing he learned from the Batman's reports on the Beast it was that he was most dangerous when he was wounded.

"Give me your hand and I'll help you up Beast" He knew it was a dangerous thing to do, but Nightwing knew he was no killer. If he died giving aid, even to the Beast, he knew it was the right thing to do. It was then that the Beast's massive hand reached out and grasped his throat, squeezing hard.

"Give me a chance and I will kill you." Snarled the Beast as he fought to draw air into his lungs. At that moment the Bludhaven police force decided to make an appearance. Spotlights snapped on and a voice blared over a loudspeaker.

"This is Chief Redhorn of the B.C.P.D., put up your hands and surrender! We have this boat surrounded and we will shoot to kill." This was just what Nightwing needed. Redhorn and most of the force were as much a danger to him as the Beast was. They would probably shoot Nightwing and place a medal on the Beast. There were no Commissioner Gordon's in this city. Both the Beast and Nightwing wanted out but neither was willing to let his guard down and risk an attack from the other. At the same time the police raced onto the docks at full speed, desperate for a chance to get Nightwing.

"Another time son of the Bat. Cabal will make an example of you." And with that, the Beast let go of Nightwing's throat and fell into the icy water to disappear from sight. Leaving Nightwing alone for the Bludhaven Police Force.

"Stay where you are pajama boy, I want you in jail!" Bellowed Redhorn over his loudspeaker. Nightwing had no intention of staying still. The dock was covered with cops by now so the only way out was the same route the Beast took. Diving into the cold deep waters of Bludhaven harbour with a deep breath, he knew he would have a long swim ahead of him and a busy tomorrow. The Beast was in town and out for blood. And who was "Cabal"?

Dick Grayson's Bludhaven Apartment
8:30 A.M.

"Whoooz Zere.......I'm sleepin!" mumbled Dick Grayson as he let fly with a pillow at the door to his apartment, before the pillow even hit the door he had pulled a second pillow over his head to drown out the noise of the incessant knocking. Dick's schedule was rough enough without visitors at this early hour, after a tussle with the KGBeast and his Heroin trading partners giving him nightmares all night. Dick was sore and tired and he wanted to catch a few winks before he had to go to his second job as a bartender at Hogan's Alley, a local cop bar where Dick could pick up information on the Bludhaven crime scene and not have to put on his Nightwing uniform. Who could be at his door anyway? He still didn't know many people in this town outside of............Clancy?!?

Just the thought of Clancy sent Dick bounding out of bed to grab his robe and vaulting for the door, he had been trying to get to know his building superintendent, it took him weeks to even get a look at her face and now, to have her come to him, this was not an opportunity to pass up. He opened the door as quick as he could and flashed her his best smile through a mask of sleep and stubble, trying to look handsome.

"Good mornin' Mr. Grayson, sorry to be botherin' you at this hour but I have a wee problem I was wonderin' you might be able to assist me with." Clancy's Irish lilt brought a very real smile to Dick's face, he liked this lady a lot, and he couldn't help but remembering his surprise at seeing Clancy for the first time and his genuine surprise at seeing this beautiful lady of Asian descent with an accent that comes from kissing the Blarney Stone. She appeared before him dressed in overalls, a yellow sweater and a white painters hat, the overalls were covered in grease and dirt (no doubt from constant maintenance to the building) and her small hands were almost black. Dick leaned up against the door frame and crossed his arms, trying to appear non-chalant, a very boyish grin crossing his face.

"Don't worry about it Clancy, I had to get up for work soon anyway. What can I do for you?"

"Well, The furnace just conked out and it is a might cold out, I have to fix it but I can't get at it with all the junk that's been placed in the basement over the last two days. A new tenant is moving in and her rich daddy had the butler put all her extra belongings in the basement."

"What would a rich guy put his daughter in this town? In this building? Why not a swanky hotel in New York or Metropolis?"

"From what I overheard, Miss Eliza Whelan is on a rebellious streak, needs to get away from daddy and into the REAL WORLD so to speak. She has the apartment just downstairs from you. I wouldn't tick her off or her daddy is likely to buy this building just to kick you out."

"Wait a minute," Dick was interested now, "you mean Whelan? The guy who owns the factories and the government research grants? David Whelan? His daughter moved here?"

Clancy smiled and put her finger to the tip of her nose, signalling to Dick that he had the right person in mind. "And daddy is none to happy about it I can tell ye that much."

"Well, it's hard to argue with a kid who's desperate to find his or her own path. I can tell you from experience. My guardian Bruce and I had quite a few run ins when I was younger and desperate to find myself." Clancy smiled that smile and snickered at him playfully.

"Really now Dick? I would have thought ye the perfect son and all. Hard to see you makin trouble for the folks at home."

"Well, I did outgrow it and she probably will too. But not before daddy gets a few grey hairs and an ulcer from the experience." As Robin, Dick certainly knew the meaning of the words "growing pains". While most kids were worrying about fitting in and getting a date for the prom he was nearly killed by a bullet from the Jokers gun. That one moment in time was forever to haunt both Robin and Batman. In fear for his adopted son's life Batman made him surrender his Robin costume and dissolved their partnership. In hindsight Dick now realized that Bruce had only acted as he did out of love for his ward but the act resulted in a rift between them that wouldn't be resolved fully until after the Jean Paul Valley/Batman/Bane affair.

"How about you Clancy? You get along with the folks at home?" Dick asked as he followed her down the steps to the basement.

"Luckily yes, I love them but I don't get to see em nearly often enough. I suppose it makes the time we get together that much more precious. Here we are..." They had arrived at the basement which doubled for a storage area. To say it was packed to the roof was putting it mildly. This new tenant was taking everything she could with her. As a circus kid Dick always packed lightly but this was a little much for anyone. It was the equivalent of Dick moving to Bludhaven and taking the contents of Wayne Manor with him when he left. All he could think was, "grow up girlfriend".

Dick immediately set to work moving the crates and suitcases around, rearranging them in a corner of the musty basement and freeing up the space around the furnace for Clancy to do her work. After about an hour and a half the work was done and Clancy was knee deep in grime from fixing the ancient furnace. It was then that the new kid on the block made her presence felt.

"Just what do you think you are doing with my luggage?!?"

Dick whipped around to see the stunning face that housed such a terrible temper. Eliza Whelan stood at the foot of the stairs dressed in tight black leather pants, a designer silk shirt and some fantastic jewelry around her neck and fingers that Dick was sure would blind the average man in open sunlight. The lady herself was quite a jaw dropper too. Ms. Whelan was about 5 foot 6 with long bright red tresses and a peaches and cream complexion. The neck down was just as good, featuring an hourglass body that Dick felt he was looking a little too long at. Not since his ex lover Kory had Dick laid eyes on such a voluptuous body, unfortunately her voice was enough to deafen a man. It was the voice of someone who was used to believing the world and everything in it revolved around her and this was the proper order of things.

"I'm sorry Ms. Whelan but I need to get to the furnace in order to repair it. You don't think the building is always this cold do ye?"

"That's what I'm here to complain about Clancy. I expect proper living conditions when I am here, I don't know what type of riff raff you used to have living here but I expect my daddy's money's worth while I'm here."

"Riff Raff, you mean like me?" Dick interjected. It seemed as though up to that point Whelan had not even realized Dick's existence, perhaps it was true. When her eyes came to rest on him though, Dick felt he had a piece of meat hanging around his neck and Whelan was a hungry lioness. She stepped off the stairs and walked over to Dick, her eyes taking him in, Clancy watched in interest. She extended her hand and introduced herself to Dick.

"Mr. Grayson is your upstairs neighbour Ms Whelan, he was kind enough to help me move your things to a better spot. Sorry for any inconvenience." Whelan never took her eyes off Dick. She was obviously sizing him up.

"Grayson? Dick Grayson? Are you the same Dick Grayson adopted by Bruce Wayne of Waynetech? What in God's name are you doing here?"

"Just trying to find time to take a shower at the moment Ms. Whelan. My job is done for now so I think I need a shower, hope to see you around." Dick said as he backed out of the room, away from the jealous stare of Clancy and the predatory eyes of Eliza Whelan.

"My my Mr. Grayson, I had no idea you were so buff," Eliza muttered as Dick disappeared from sight, "I must make a point of visiting upstairs real soon." Clancy just grunted in disapproval, getting the attention of her new tenant, who looked at her with curious eyes.

"You must agree Clancy that Mr. Grayson would be quite a catch. Rich, and cute. And in great shape obviously."

"Dick has a lot more to offer besides that Ms. Whelan, but everything you say is true."

Back in his apartment, Dick slumped down in his computer desk chair and nodded off again. He still had 2 and a half hours before he had to be at Hogan's and he could still get some sleep. 45 minutes later he woke up to a loud beep. Immediately he knew what it was. He rolled his chair across the floor to his IBM Pentium pro 330 Mhz with 116 Megabytes of Ram. It booted up and he accessed his state of the art 54.4 modem and double clicked the icon for his visual connection. The window opened on the screen to reveal one of his oldest and most trusted friends. A smile crossed his face and refused to go away when he saw her.

"Oracle! Glad to hear from you" She was known as Oracle to the chosen few she assisted in crime fighting such as Batman and Nightwing, but to the world at large she was known as Barbara Gordon, daughter of Gotham City Police commissioner James Gordon. Also formerly known as Batgirl. Barbara's career as Batgirl was cut short by a bullet from the Joker's gun, which confined her to a wheel chair. Despite her disability Barbara continued fighting for good as the informational faunt known as Oracle. Nightwing respected her more now than ever and if they weren't such great friends he would be seriously attracted to her. As it was, he was glad to see her. Any old friends and reminders of home and "the good old days" brought a smile to his face in this cold lonely city and Barbara's face was one of his favourites.

Her smile helped wake him up, "Morning boy wonder, you sent me an e-mail last night to contact you this morning. How are things upriver?"

"Yeah Babs, thanks for getting back to me. I have a few questions and I think you might be able to find the answers for me."

"So no chitchat today Dick? I'm hurt." She chided him, her smile widening.

"You know me Babs, always to the point. Neither of us has a load of free time. I ran into the KGBeast last night here in Bludhaven. He got away but not before he mentioned the name Cabal. I was wondering if you could see if there is any kind of connection between The Beast and the word Cabal."

Oracle knitted her brow and put her chin in her hand.

"I can check into that Dick but it will take some time. Even with my resources. I'll have to check Russian databases and places with tricky security. It'll take a while. Give me a day or two?"

"You bet Babs. Maybe I can corral the big boy before I need this info but the name Cabal is new to me and it may mean something."

"Or it may be just something he mentioned to throw you off, a red herring maybe?" she replied as she sipped her morning coffee.

"I've considered that but it is still something that I have to pursue. Just in case."

"I guess you were taught by the best and the best don't overlook anything. Speaking of the big guy don't you think that the dynamic duo should be brought up to speed on this? Just in case?"

"Yeah I suppose I'll send them an e-mail and keep them informed but I want to handle this myself if at all possible."

"I see your point, I'll do what I can. Talk to you soon Dick."

And with a smile and his thanks Dick closed off the call and logged off. He had just enough time to shower and shave. He quickened his pace and completed the tasks in under 20 minutes. He dressed in a pair of Levi's, a red flannel shirt and some wool socks. Sneakers were on in a flash and he downed some leftover pizza (Tim Drake had kidded Dick that he ate so much cold pizza it should be made a 5th food group) and was out the door. He locked it and sprinted down the stairs, almost tackling Eliza Whelan in the process.

"My my Mr. Grayson, you sure are in a hurry. Where are you off to this morning. I'm useless myself before noon."

"I'm off to work Eliza, and please, I was born Richard but everyone calls me Dick, my dad was Mr. Grayson."

"Work?!?" She sounded astonished, "I didn't know you had to work? Where do you work?"

"I'm a bartender at Hogan's Alley. Uhhh...it's not your kind of place."

"Well, hopefully I'll see you around again Mr. Grayson. I fear you may be the only cultured company in this place."

"Well Eliza I am sure I'll see you around and if I was you I wouldn't have moved here at all. Not in a Bludhaven minute." And with that he was out the door. Leaving behind Eliza Whelan looking very perplexed, but interested.

10 blocks later Dick arrived at Hogan's Alley and immediately started slinging shots and beer for off duty (and, he noted, sometimes on duty) members of the Bludhaven Police Force. Beat cops and undercover cops alike wandered in and out all day. Some of them mentioned an altercation last night below the Littleneck Narrows bridge that involved the new vigilante in town and an unknown combatant. No one was captured alive. Nightwing was beginning to develop a reputation in Bludhaven and it was becoming every cops dream to take down the "Batman Wannabe" as some people dubbed him. Nightwing hoped he would keep them all disappointed. Seven hours into his eight hour shift Dick found himself mentally prepping for this evening's outing as Nightwing. After eight hours he had heard nothing of the mysterious "Cabal" The Beast had mentioned the night before or any mention of the Beast himself. Dick was determined to bring down the Beast himself without the help of his partners upriver on Gotham City. No doubt about it, the Beast was big league all right, and Dick had to admit it all boiled down to territorial pride. The Beast was his problem now, and he would deal with it. It was then that a detective strolled up to the bar and sat down. To Dick's surprise he called for a cup of coffee. It took Dick a few seconds to stop himself from drawing a beer for the newcomer.

"You're new to Hogan's aren't you?" Dick asked.

"Actually I was a regular here a year or two ago but I developed a bit of a drinking problem ya know? Had to clean myself up if I was gonna do this stinkin' city any good ya know?" Was his response and it piqued Dick's curiosity. A cop actually interested in doing some good in this city? What a rare find. Dick decided to press the man for more information and introduced himself.

"My name is Mully Flaherty. I come from a long line of cops. I'm a cop, my dad's a cop, his dad was a cop and so on. I see so much crap out there these days. I just try and do what I can to make the city a better place. So many cops are on the take you know? It's a war that never ends. It actually drove me to drink last year." He explained as he took a long drink of coffee.

"You remind me of Jim Gordon from Gotham. You both have the same attitude, just doing your best." Dick replied.

"I wish I could be like Jim Gordon. Now he's a cops cop you know? I'm just an inspector, I could never make chief or commissioner in this town. Even with Dudley Soames out of commission Chief Redhorn only promotes the guys in his back pocket." Obviously, Inspector Flaherty was tiring from years of war on crime. He leaned over the bar and talked matter of factly to Dick but even as he spilled coffee on his trench coat it was obvious he was near giving up on the war. Perhaps this was just the ally Nightwing needed here in Bludhaven, perhaps they could help each other. It was then that Hogan interrupted them with a hardy handshake for Flaherty.

"Mully! Great to see you! Glad to see you licked your problem pal. The B.C.P.D. needs more guys like you." Flaherty returned the handshake as the two discussed old times and Dick's mind worked overtime. If Hogan knew him and liked him that was good enough for Dick. Tonight was going to be an interesting evening for both Nightwing and Inspector Flaherty.

"If I was you Mully I would have taken an early retirement or something and get the hell out of this city." It was obvious that Mully was enjoying his conversation with Hogan and his spirits were lifting, that was good if Dick's plan's for the night were going to go ahead.

"Not in a Bludhaven minute Hogan. When I'm out there at least I feel like I'm doing something good. Being useful you know? I don't have any family or a lot of dreams about being rich so I have to have something to do. Anyway, I'll see you guys later, I have a feeling tonight's gonna be interesting."

"So do I." Thought Dick to himself. Flaherty left Hogan's to go on his shift and Dick bid Hogan farewell and caught the 220 Eastbound bus home to his apartment. Within minutes he was up the stairs and changing into the costume that felt like his second skin. As Dick Grayson his job at Hogan's Alley finally paid off. Now as Nightwing, he was ready to begin building his network in Bludhaven. Escrima sticks secured to his back, Nightwing secured his jumpline to a distant building and melted into the shadows.

Downtown Bludhaven
10:06 P.M.

It was an amazing sight to watch but he had to admit he enjoyed it. By monitoring the police frequency, Nightwing learned where Inspector Mully Flaherty was at any given minute. At the moment Inspector Flaherty was leading a sting on one of Bludhaven's many crack houses. Nightwing wasn't aware of this particular one on the corner of Canal street and St. Daniel's Avenue but for once the Bludhaven police force was actually doing its job. He had no doubt that Flaherty had something to do with this unit actually making a difference. Nightwing had a good feeling about Flaherty from the start and the scenes to follow helped convince him further.

Watching from atop a building across the street he watched as Flaherty, dressed in his wrinkled trenchcoat and police issue short sleeve white shirt and black pants, a hefty 6 round revolver in his hand led his team towards the front door. Obviously the front door had been heavily reinforced from the inside, as was the case with all crack houses, giving the dealers inside time to flush their product down the toilet and/or escape the building. Flaherty waved in two men holding a battering ram and at his signal they battered the door down to splinters. Shouts and commotion followed, this looked like it was going to be a by the book bust when from the back of the house at least 30 hoods with automatic weapons busted outside and charged the police blockade. They were obviously high or really gutsy, trying to protect what was inside the house but what was inside besides easily replaceable drugs? Something was strange here, Nightwing was about to leap into action when Flaherty and his squad burst forth from the front of the house through the doors and windows, firing hot lead at the mob as they charged around from the rear in an all out assault, some splintered off in an escape attempt. Flaherty and his men certainly knew how to handle themselves from what Nightwing could see. After a few more seconds it looked like it would be all over, what perps hadn't been disarmed had been wounded and in same cases, killed. These mooks were suicidal to be doing this and obviously high on something. They were practically throwing themselves into the cops line of fire. What was going on in Bludhaven these days? Drugs can make a person do incredibly stupid things, he reasoned. It was then that Nightwing noticed two more perps from his perch, these two actually had a brain and were hiding in some nearby shrubbery, very near Inspector Flaherty. No one saw them there in the confusion except Nightwing, and he saw them readying their weapons for a charge against the police. Flaherty would be the first to fall. He couldn't allow that to happen.

Snapping out a jumpline, Nightwing leaped into the air and dove hard at the mooks. He came down a little too hard on the two would be assassins and knocked them hard to the ground in a cloud of dust. Flaherty looked like he had seen a ghost, or as if someone had stepped on his grave. He whipped around with his gun at the ready but much to Nightwing's surprise he lowered it when he saw what had happened and that it was Bludhaven's own vigilante standing before him. The rest of the squad was too busy rounding up and handcuffing the gang to notice what had just transpired. He wouldn't have been surprised to learn that a warrant had been issued for his arrest by now. Most cops would shoot Nightwing on sight. Perhaps Flaherty had a more tolerant attitude towards masked vigilantes.

"It looks like you saved my life masked man." Flaherty shouted to him as he holstered his weapon and rushed to handcuff the two fallen mooks.

"If you really want to pay me back. Meet me back here at midnight." Nightwing called to him. Flaherty looked as though Nightwing was joking with him.

"Why should I? Why shouldn't I take you in right now?" He asked.

"Simple Inspector. I just saved your life. You owe me one." It was then that three other officers noticed Nightwing standing over the two fallen hoods, talking to Flaherty. They shouted at Nightwing to freeze in his tracks but it was two late, Nightwing had thrown out another jumpline and disappeared into the night. Would Flaherty dare to meet the mysterious masked man? Was he trusting enough? Or stupid enough? Nightwing didn't have long to wait until he found out.

The Corner of Canal Street and St. Daniel Avenue
12:14 P.M.

"I didn't think you were going to show Inspector." Came Nightwing's disembodied voice from the shadows. Inspector Flaherty whipped around with his revolver pointed in the direction of the voice in the shadows.

"I'm up here Inspector." Called the voice. Flaherty looked up to see Nightwing perched on a flagpole two stories above him. With one fluid movement, the masked man swung down from his perch to the ground with barely a noise. Flaherty looked him up and down as though he had been confronted with a two headed Elvis baby or an alien from the pages of The National Whisper.

"Just what the hell are you and what are you doing here?" Flaherty was also very direct. Nightwing liked that.

"Let's just say I'm a concerned citizen of Bludhaven who is looking for a decent cop on a force full of deadbeats."

"You're the one the other cops on the force have been talking about? Nightwing? Do you know how many cops would give their big toe to bag you?"

"Guilty as charged. And you're right, most cops would arrest me given the chance? But you haven't......yet."

"I thought you were just a myth to sell papers. Make no mistake pal, the only reason you're not in cuffs right now is because you saved my life. Bludhaven isn't like Gotham or Metropolis or Star City, I always figured we would be free of Vigilantism."

"You don't approve of me then?"

"A year ago I wouldn't have. But these days this city is in such desperate shape, I think we need all the help we can get. Thanks for saving my life tonight, by the way."

"Like I said, you seem to be the only decent cop in this city. I couldn't very well let you get killed."

"Well, we're not here to pat each other on the back now are we? What do you say we get to the point of this little meeting you know?"

"I need some information and Bludhaven likes to keep its secrets. I have very few contacts here and I can't do much good when I'm out of the loop. I thought you might help me."

"I might. What's in it for me?"

"You can have full credit when the arrests are made and we will be cleaning up the streets, making a difference. I can be a kind of silent partner. I just need some help being pointed in the right direction."

"That is a tempting offer lad. One hard to pass up in this day and age. From what I read you use non lethal methods of catching perps is that true?"

"If at all possible I bring them in alive Inspector. I leave judgement up to the courts."

Flaherty paused to light a cigarette. Here, in the darkness he truly reminded Nightwing of Jim Gordon in his younger days. Was this how it was for Batman when he was first starting out? Nightwing couldn't help but develop a slight sense of Deja Vu.

"What is it exactly you need to know lad?" Bingo. Everybody's a winner. "Last night I had a run in with a group of heroin smugglers at the docks, with them was a former Russian super killer code named the KGBeast. He also mentioned the word Cabal as we fought. I need any info that may come your way on his whereabouts or the name Cabal."

"That's a tall order. And I get full credit when a collar goes down?"

"I guarantee it. I'm not in this for the press."

Flaherty stroked his stubble and considered the options presented to him by this masked man in the shadows. He considered the fact that this man had saved his life just two short hours ago. He lit up a cigarette and took a long puff. He decided to test the waters a little bit.

"Let's see what you think of this little tidbit pal. I happen to know that since last night a whole bunch of high priced lawyers showed up within two hours and bailed most of those perps out. We ran their prints and most of them turned out to be Euro-trash mercenaries and slimeballs for hire, they were good enough to keep relatively clean records, that's why the judge allowed bail to begin with. None of them would say much accept that, and I quote, 'Cabal is the way of the next Millennium', unquote. However, we kept some of them for 24 hours to see if they would talk, we can do that legally and still press no charges. All they would say is, you guessed it 'Cabal is the way of the next millennium'. They should be released some time soon. Does that help you?"

"Well it does help confirm that something called Cabal does exist. I don't suppose you had a tail put on any of them."

"Now that would be illegal.......for me to do." He said as he touched the tip of his finger to the tip of his nose.

Nightwing's lips formed a thin smile. "I see what your getting at Inspector. I better get to work then before they are all released." Nightwing was about to disappear into the night when he felt the inspectors hand on his shoulder.

"Wait just a minute friend, I need you to know something, you cross me, for even just a second, if it even looks like your going against your word with me. So help me I will make you pay." Nightwing couldn't help but smile inwardly, but on the outside he did his best stony visage impression, this was definitely a partnership Bludhaven style.

"Don't worry Inspector, I am here to make a difference. And I intend to do just that." Flaherty tossed his cigarette to the ground and stubbed it out with his shoe, reaching into his trench coat to pull out another, he lit up again as he spoke.

"You just see that you do that pal, I don't want to tell you what happened to the people who crossed me in the past...." then he looked up to find he was alone.

"Gone already eh? I hate when people do that."

After approximately 14 minutes Nightwing had made his way to the precinct where the remaining thugs had been held for questioning. He snapped open his communicator in his gauntlet and opened up the special frequency that allowed him to contact Oracle. "I'm here Nightwing, what can I do for you?"

"Oracle, in just a short while I plan on having a licence plate number and possibly a location for you to check out. I need you to be ready because I may need this info real fast, can you be ready?" on the tiny little screen she smiled at him, of course, they both knew she would be ready. She was the best. "My fingers hover over the keyboard my dear." Nightwing waited on his perch above the front entrance to the police station doing the one thing truly never enjoyed waiting. Fortunately, he did not have to wait long. Within minutes he spotted several of his quarry leave the building together, he counted 6 all in all. He recognized some of them from their dance together just 24 hours ago and others he recognized from the bandages around their hands where his throwing stars had ripped flesh. He watched as all 6 of the men suddenly and surprisingly melded into the street crowd and dispersed expertly into the seamy nightlife of Bludhaven. Nightwing decided to pick one and follow. He followed the man for four blocks before his quarry turned into an alley. He wasn't surprised to find that the man had rendezvoused with the others in an alley and climbed into a van.

Flipping open his gauntlet communicator again, Nightwing was again in contact with Oracle. "All right Babs, you ready?" He talked as he landed behind the van and climbed up on the back bumper, hitching a ride. "Ready and waiting," came Oracle's reply, "Let me have it."

"All right, God knows this van might be stolen but I am optimistic today." he rhymed off the sequence as he hung on for dear life driving through the back streets of Bludhaven. The drive was short and the van stopped in front of a huge warehouse while Nightwing rolled under the van as it stopped to conceal himself from the thugs that had just stepped out, he signalled to Oracle to remain quiet. The six men walked into the building and disappeared from view. Nightwing rolled out from under the van and concealed himself in the shadows.

"Ok, here we go." said Oracle, "Your boys are driving around in a van owned by one of Bludhaven's movers and shakers, or at least, one of his company owned vans. It is owned by Norstrum Manufacturing, one of the few economic powers to come out of Bludhaven and remain powerful to this day without criminal ties. They make everything from textiles to cars."

Nightwing ran this through in his mind, then gave the address of the warehouse to Oracle to check out. "I'm betting it also belongs to Norstrum." It took less than a minute for Oracle to confirm it. "So why are all these hardened thugs on Norstrum's payroll? I don't know how free they are of criminal ties Oracle, but I intend to find out." Nightwing thanked her for her help and signed off. He scaled the side of the building and entered through a air duct on the roof, deciding to reconnoitre the area before making his move. Silently he made his way through the air ducts, engaging his night vision for a better look, whoever was in here, they liked it dark.

Satisfied that no one knew he was there Nightwing entered what appeared to be an abandoned office and silently opened the door, there was a distant sound but he didn't know what it was. As he stepped out into the hallway he noticed that the second floor was converted into office space but was now abandoned, the sound was coming from below, from the first floor. He continued to creep slowly toward the sound and it got louder as he did, there seemed to be no guards anywhere on this floor. "Sloppy." he thought to himself.

Finally, Nightwing came to a door at the end of the hallway and opened it as silently as possible, he stepped out onto a walkway that opened out onto the cavernous first floor storage area. There was some light here but not a lot. In the distance he could see the men gathered around a large elevated stage, there were some men on the stage with fire pots on each side, and there was one huge figure he recognized instantly, The Beast, standing to the side of the stage. Edging out on the walkway Nightwing tried to discern what was going on, there was a man in a hood speaking loudly as he passed a chalice to each man standing at edge of the stage "Or altar maybe?" he thought to himself? He decided to listen in on what the figure was saying, what he heard was both enlightening and confusing.

"My brethren!! I am glad you have all returned safely!! Without you I am helpless to carry out the plans of Cabal. We are the brain yes, but without the body to carry out the wishes of the brain we are as powerless as the culture we have created!!! Police are ineffectual against crime, you should know that as I recruited you all from various criminal organizations worldwide. Governments are inept, corrupt, and useless. It is up to Cabal now to take back our streets and make them safe again. It is up to Cabal to make sure the next millennium is a better one than this. Someone needs to have the strength of will to take back the world and make difficult decisions to see the world through a difficult time."

"This guy would get along well with Ra's Al Ghul." Nightwing thought as the hooded figure on the stage continued his rant. He had to admit though that the gloom and mystery surrounding this hooded figure was captivating, he had effectively turned this empty warehouse into a macabre theatre, just like a good cultist should.

"We are the Power!!! We are the glory!!! Forever and ever!!! When the new millennium arrives and we are the one true recognized power, those of you that remain loyal to us will be amply rewarded!! If you think the money you made working as terrorists and criminals was impressive, with us you will receive power. And that is the key to controlling your own destinies."

With one small gesture to The Beast from the hooded figure, The Beast walked off the stage and returned carrying two bodies over each shoulder. He sat them down in metal folding chairs and put leather restraints on them. One was a man, the other a woman each had a hood over their head, they were both naked had wire clips attached to various parts of their bodies. The Beast began hooking the wires to a generator and splashing water over them. Nightwing was beginning to wonder if he was seeing what he thought he was seeing.

The hooded figure continued, "These two people are members of the elite society of Bludhaven and Gotham city and relatives of very important people we are hoping to influence to do our bidding. My associate here," he indicated The Beast, "has been working them over a bit and softening them up, if they survive this last test we will videotape them begging their relatives to support Cabal and only when we have that support will we return them to their loved ones."

The Beast ripped off the hoods. What Nightwing saw made the bile rise in his throat, a man and a woman, both had swelled up from several beatings, the woman looked into the crowd of onlookers and barely whispered, "Please help us." Nightwing had learned all he could and now it was time to take matters into his own hands. He knew he was outnumbered and he didn't care, whoever this Cabal was, they were scum, the very scum both he and Batman vowed years ago to fight, now was the time.

Throwing stars whistled through the air over the heads of the crowd and sliced through the leather restraints, freeing the prisoners although Nightwing doubted that they would be strong enough to get away on their own.

All heads in the crowd turned toward the back of the warehouse in surprise, The Beast also stared up towards the source of the weapons, knowing already who he would find. Nightwing glared at them with hatred, pointing a gauntleted finger at The Beast "Give it up Beast." Called Nightwing from the darkness, "I found you here and I'll follow you to the ends of the Earth."

Before any of the men could recover Nightwing threw down three capsules, one in front of him and two into the crowd, all of which broke instantly on impact and billowed smoke clouds into the air. He dropped from the rafters and secured a jumpline, swinging over the heads of the stunned thugs letting all his weight fall heavily on the chest of the Russian super agent, remembering the injuries he had received in that area at the hands of Nightwing only the night before. The Beast fell backwards with a roar of pain, across the stage and onto the floor. By this time the stunned onlookers were drawing their weapons, Nightwing once again let fly with a handful of throwing stars and just as the night before many of them fell to the ground clutching their wounds, ripped open again. It was then that he overheard the hooded figure telling them to run and to let The Beast handle "The costumed fool".

By this time the Beast had regained his breath and stood between Nightwing and the two torture victims.

"I owe you PAIN!!!"

Nightwing swallowed the bile he was feeling swell up in him and looked The Beast square in the eye.

"Be my guest," then he continued in Russian, "You will know FEAR when I am through with you."

The Beast howled, it could have been in ecstasy or frustration at not being able to rile Nightwing, then he leaped with lightning like speed and they both rolled out of the freezer into the outer area.

"May the best man win." Nightwing thought to himself, this may just be a fight to the death.

A Darkened Room Somewhere in South America
3:05 A.M.

It was hot. Hot and humid and raining. Raining torrential rains. The tall figure arose from his huge plush bed and slipped into his silk robe and slippers. He took a long drink of spring water from a plastic bottle covered in condensation and walked out of the bedroom and into the adjoining office. The office was also quite dark, in colour scheme and lighting. The furniture was almost all dark, heavy wood. The desk, the bookcases, the drink trolley, the chairs (with leather backs that were incredibly sticky here in this unbearable climate), and the doors were all heavy aged wood. The only light in the room emanated from some recessed lights above the bookcases set to minimum glare. On top of the huge wooden desk sat a lone laptop calling out to him,

"You have new mail." It called out to him and he sat down in front of it and clicked the appropriate icons to bring up his caller. The masked face popped up on the screen to speak with him.

"Yes?"

"It looks like you were right sir, Nightwing has just descended upon the Beast like a bat out of Hell. Also, The Beast seems to have encountered problems handling him, he didn't finish him last night on the Bludhaven docks and once again he is allowing Nightwing to rile him, I fear The Beast may lose this battle and put us all in jeopardy."

"It is good I enlisted your services my friend, dispose of all evidence as quickly and quietly as you can. The Beast has served our cause well but we may have reached the end of our rope with him. Nightwing may prove too much for The Beast...our information shows that he is associated with Batman and may well have been trained by him, that is trouble we don't need." The figure on the other end of the call stiffened at the mention of Bludhaven's avenging angel and even more so at the mention of Batman. It did not go unnoticed, "I believe you have had encounters with both men before."

"Yes I have. Nightwing and I have encountered one another twice before. He can be troublesome to say the least. As for Batman......"

"Listen very carefully my friend, under no circumstances do I want you to engage Nightwing. I want you to end the Bludhaven operations for now. Dispose of the evidence and return to me. If The Beast is brought to justice he will not speak of us and he knows nothing of your presence in Bludhaven. He is loyal to our cause. We don't have the money from our heroin shipment there thanks to Nightwing but The Beast will have accomplished his mission by now with his two prisoners whether he is snared or not. So I repeat, get out of there and come to me. Understood? Under no circumstances are you to engage Nightwing, he is too dangerous."

"I can defeat him sir."

The figure seated at his laptop winced a little at the suggestion but he knew that a man such as the one he spoke to now had his honour to satisfy.

"I certainly don't doubt that my friend, not considering your history with him and his mentor, but this isn't professional wrestling. You must realize that there are times and places for such showdowns and your machismo does not figure into Cabal's equations. If the time comes for you and Nightwing to come to blows, Cabal will give you every advantage possible. Now, make yourself disappear and return to me now."

"I understand."

They closed the connection. Far away from Bludhaven the man in the dark South American office steepled his fingers and accessed his situation. Things were not proceeding smoothly, at least, not as smoothly as he would like. He knew that Norstrum was there at that little gathering in Bludhaven, Norstrum was always a little too involved in the minutiae of Cabal ceremonies, he should have stayed clear, but he may yet prove useful. It was then that there was a brief knock at the door, without waiting for an answer, the door opened slightly and a young man put his head through.

"Sir, they are assembled and waiting for you." The youth proffered a long midnight blue coloured hooded ceremonial robe for his master to wear. With a sigh, the elder man stood and put on the long robe and fastened it, pulling the hood over his head to conceal his face.

"Very well Jose, let them know I am coming."

The hooded figure walked out the door and down the long darkened hallway until he reached a set of silver coloured elevator doors, he pushed a button to the side of the doors and they slid open with barely a noise. He entered and the doors shut behind him, the elevator instantly began to move as soon as the doors shut. Within seconds they opened again on a large brightly lit room with a domed roof and a large circular table occupying the centre of the room, their were no windows at all in the room and no other doors or access points. Around the table sat six figures in identical hooded uniforms, their faces hidden from view. The seventh figure sat down and cleared his throat, he opened his arms to the rooms occupants as he spoke.

"Welcome my friends, I fear I come bearing bad news. We seven have been the brain behind the organization known as Cabal, but even we have not made the most prudent choices, it now seems. In accordance with our philosophy of majority rules we decided that we would continue to finance our operations by using the heroin trade. It was also suggested by myself that we stay clear of cities that have been known to house vigilantes such as Metropolis, Gotham City, Star City, and so on. Our influence is wide and powerful but not absolute, normal police activity we can handle, but super humans such as Superman could well destroy our plans.

We seven are very respectable businessmen, rich in the extreme, and powerful, I warned against using the drug trade to finance our operations, but I was outvoted, now we have encountered....difficulties."

For the first time the other members of Cabal spoke up, demanding to know what "difficulties" meant.

"We decided upon the rather lawless town of Bludhaven as our city for heroin trade. Bludhaven was chosen because of its corrupt police force and the extremely high drug use of its populace. The Police force was easy to bribe, but it now appears that Bludhaven has its own personal vigilante who goes by the name of Nightwing. Our files tell us that he may be a student of the Gotham vigilante called Batman, I consider him as dangerous as Batman himself. At this moment he is also disrupting a ceremony at Norstrums warehouse."

"Norstrum is one of our most loyal and powerful converts, was he there?!?" shouted out one of the other hooded figures.

"Yes.......he was."

"Could this put our plans in jeopardy?" asked another.

"I doubt it greatly. We have stockpiled quite a few weapons caches, and our converts continue to come to us whether through greed or actual belief in our philosophies. We have enough money to continue to hire the best, toughest mercenaries money can buy to enforce our will. We have come too far to turn back. We seven decided that the world was going to Hell, the degradation of society continues. Crime runs rampant with the atrocity of crimes growing more disgusting by the day, drugs only grow in popularity, this whole generation is numb, toxins pour into the ecosystem, killing us ever so slowly and the world is overflowing with too many mouths to feed. Using our money and power jointly we have consolidated our power and influenced world events in our favour. We continue to inspire millennium fear worldwide. The operation will come to a head on January 1, 2000 when our armies take control of The White House and several other powerful countries including Japan, China, and The former Soviet Union. We continue to bribe elected officials worldwide, especially in The United States and they will not oppose us. When we seize power on that day the elected officials who do not back us will not have the power or the backbone to oppose us. Our control will be absolute, the numb populace will not oppose us and the segments of the population who wish a return to family values will actually support us. Not even the super powered vigilantes could oppose us."

"This Nightwing, what should we do about him? We can't discredit him and make people distrust him like we did to President Clinton with his affairs, or Yeltsin and his constantly revolving cabinets."

"We have access to a few meta human operatives such as The Beast, who had kidnapped and tortured two of Bludhaven's powerful elite in an effort to influence some of their families to either join us or not oppose us. I have also taken the liberty of recruiting a back up for him, I am not sure whether he is loyal to our philosophy or our money but either way he is more than suitable to take care of Nightwing and return us to our timetable. I suspect he is disposing of evidence and escorting Norstrum out of the situation as we speak"

It was amazing how things could change in 30 seconds. 30 seconds ago Nightwing believed he would defeat The KGBeast and wrap up another Heroin smuggling group in Bludhaven. 22 seconds ago he was shocked at the torture victims that he saw there on the makeshift stage. 5 seconds ago he launched his attack at The Beast and he now found himself standing between The Beast and a fleeing first citizen of Bludhaven and his two helpless torture victims. His first priority was to take out the Beast without him using his cyber weapons. He knew that The Beast had no compunctions about killing bystanders and he could very easily spray Nightwing and these two poor people with bullets just as easily as most people cross the street.

Nightwing leaped with all his might at the huge super agent and locked his arms around The Beasts. The Beast brought down his other arm repeatedly across the back of Nightwing's head. Lights began to appear at the edge Nightwing's vision as the blows rained down on him. However, Nightwing was successful in his attack, he held one of his small bat shaped throwing stars in his hand and proceeded to do serious damage with it to The Beasts cyber weapon. He cut cooling fluid conduits and then jammed it deep into the gun itself. When The Beast realized what Nightwing's true attack was he threw Nightwing with all his might to the other side of the stage. Nightwing tried with all his control to right himself and land on his feet but the beating The Beast gave him threw off his equilibrium and he stumbled and fell to his knees in a slump.

The Beast activated his cyber arm and took aim not at Nightwing but at his two torture victims, both of whom were struggling to their feet in a desperate attempt to escape, the female prisoner trying to support the male with an arm over her shoulder. She froze as she noticed her predicament and her eyes grew wide with terror, assuming that these were their last moments on Earth.

The result was not the one the Beast had intended....a billow of smoke and fire exploded from the weapon, no bullets spewed forth from the muzzle. The Beast let loose with a string of Russian curses as he waved the gun around in a panic trying to put out the fire, little realizing his panicked actions were actually providing more oxygen for the fire to burn.

"I will crush you both like insect!!" The Beast roared.

"You'll get your shot at them Beast.....when you finish me." Nightwing replied from behind him, "So until you finish me........JUST SHUT UP!!!!" Nightwing brought down both fists on the Beasts shoulders in a double axe handle move and set the Beast flying over head over heels and skidding into the fleeing crowd, knocking over a firepot and sending it flying across the room.

"What's your game Beast? You used to be an agent of one of the most powerful countries in the world, and now you're just a hired merc? Have you really sunk that far?"

The Beast leaped to his feet and charged Nightwing, "I was once a powerful respected member of the espionage community..." He swung his flaming arm at his nemesis, but Nightwing was too fast, "Now I am on my way back to the top, Cabal will be the most powerful organization in the world one day soon...." He swung again....and missed, "and I will be there looking down at the scum like you." His third swing connected but Nightwing rolled with the blow and flipped backwards, putting some distance between them.

"One day soon? Like the new millennium maybe? It doesn't take a genius Beast. You don't think your plans will succeed do you? You don't have the brains.....as a great strategist you make an great cold blooded killer." Nightwing produced his escrima sticks and was using them to block each blow The Beast threw. Unfortunately, none of Nightwings blows were connecting either.

The entire scene was quite macabre to Nightwing. The two combatants, one with a flaming arm, were exchanging blows in the darkened warehouse flanked by torture victims, fleeing terrorists, and hooded cultists.

"On January 1st 2000 you will be regretting your actions against me now!" The Beast responded.

It was then that Nightwing noticed the flames. The outer walls were becoming engulfed in flames, at first he thought the overturned firepot was the cause but he then noticed the flames were huge and spreading too quickly to not be helped along by some flammable agent, but he saw no gas cans or anything like that around, he knew The Beasts torture victims would not get out in time. Distracted by the flames, Nightwing allowed The Beasts mighty hand through his guard and it struck a nerve cluster. Nightwing fell to his knees, unable to stand. He then felt his mighty hand close around Nightwings neck, raising him off the ground and cutting off his air supply.

Nightwing felt his sight start to go blurry as his air supply became exhausted. Finally The Beast spoke and his voice was filled with pleasure,

"Finally.....you were never Batman.....and I am to be killing you now." The Beast reared back with his flaming arm and prepared to bring it down on Nightwing's head with all the force he could muster. Imagine his surprise when just before he brought down his arm on Nightwings skull Nightwing reared back with his Escrima stick and struck with all his might in the throat.

Instantly The Beast dropped Nightwing to the ground and fell back, unable to breathe. Nightwing fell all the way to a crouch position and extended his legs in a leg sweep. He knew he had to finish this and finish it quick, he could still see the Beasts two victims struggling to get out and not making very good time. The Beast fell on his back as his legs were swept from under him and Nightwing quickly climbed on top of him, his fingers curled around his escrima stick as if it was a set of brass knuckles. He picked The Beasts head up off the ground and his own face was only inches away, gasping for breath.

"Take a nap, screw up." Nightwing said in a voice only The Beast could hear and brought down his fist holding the escrima stick with bone crunching force. With a loud grunt The Beast's head fell back to the floor....unconscious.

Without even pausing for breath Nightwing jumped to his feet and ran for The Beasts two victims, who had fallen to the floor in exhaustion. He reached down and scooped up the man in a fireman's carry and let the woman put her arm around his shoulder. He walked as fast as he could towards the nearest exit on the other side of the warehouse floor. The seconds ticked by as he heard the crackle of flames and the creaks and groans of the supports for the warehouse. Sweat was pouring off of him when he reached the exit and kicked it open. He dragged the two victims with him and continued on for about 60 or 70 feet before putting them down. He then turned and headed back for the building.

"Where are you going?" asked the woman.

"I have to go back for The Beast....whatever he has done, he doesn't deserve to die like that." He said as he pointed towards the flaming building. He erupted into a sprint and ran with all possible speed to the doorway he had just come through. The walls were engulfed with flame now, as was the ceiling. The Beast was laying where Nightwing had left him, oblivious. Nightwing ran to him and picked him up in a fireman's carry and began running for the exit again. Just as he reached the exit he turned back to make sure there was no one left in the fire.

It was then that he saw the figure on the other side of the warehouse floor. It was a man...pouring gasoline on the flames. Nightwing could barely make him out through the flames but he could tell he was huge, bigger than The Beast even....and it looked like he was wearing a mask. At that very second the ceiling gave way and Nightwing leaped with The Beast for safety.

Sirens grew louder, but they were still at least almost 10 minutes from arriving. The warehouse and everything in it would be lost....."and everyone" thought Nightwing to himself as he remembered the huge figure in the distance, cut off by the flames.

A car screeched around the corner and Nightwing prepared for battle again, he breathed a sigh of relief and surprise when he saw it was Flaherty, who screeched to a stop and jumped out almost before the car came to a complete halt. When he saw the two torture victims he ran back to the car, popped the trunk open and pulled out a few blankets to cover them up and keep them warm.

"Somehow when I heard about this fire on the radio I knew you would be nearby. You got more guts than brains kid!!" he said as he ran towards Nightwing and his two rescued victims. Draping the blankets over them, Flaherty and Nightwing helped them over to the backseat of his car.

"Try and hang in there," Nightwing urged them both, "the EMS teams are on their way."

He felt Flaherty at his shoulder, speaking only so Nightwing could hear, "Kid, what the hell happened in there? And who the hell is this?" He asked as he indicated The Beast, "These two in the car are Jessica Simms and Franklin K. Fox, both relatives of powerful Bludhaven families and both gone missing late last night."

"This is the guy who kidnapped them inspector, I think you will find he is an internationally trained espionage expert formerly of the U.S.S.R. codenamed The KGBeast, he tortured them too."

Flaherty sucked in his breath in shock and fumbled for the cigarette in his jacket to calm him. "You can't be serious....can you?"

"Yes I am afraid so, and he isn't working alone, see what you can get out of him Inspector, but he may be an impossible nut to crack. It looks like Bludhaven may be under siege by some kind of cult. I'll tell you more when I find out. I'd put two sets of cuffs on this guy Inspector, just to be sure."

"Yeah.....uh....sure thing." Flaherty stumbled as he double manacled the fallen villain.

"You can probably round up most of those mercs released earlier, they were here and those two in the car are witnesses. They should be in the area right now, running for their lives and bleeding. Even The B.C.P.D. should be able to take care of it, with you leading them anyway."

"Thanks for the compliment, I'll get right on it. Do you need a lift?"

Nightwing reached down and pressed a button in his gauntlet compartment. From around the corner came another car looking rather like a dark muscle car that also screeched to a halt at Nightwing's side. Flaherty noticed that there was no driver.

"Thanks.....but I have a car. Talk to you soon Inspector" With a roar of his aluminum McLaren 640 Horsepower engine Nightwing sped off into the night.

"Wayyyy more guts than brains...." Flaherty mumbled as he scratched his head.

Gotham City
The Next Morning

"Wayne Residence.....Alfred speaking." The familiar voice on the other end of the phone brought an instant smile to Dick's face. There was no person on this Earth he trusted more than Alfred Pennyworth, confidante and surrogate father to Batman, Robin, and Nightwing.

"Hi Alfred it's me."

"Why Master Dick, what a pleasant surprise. Why may I ask, are you not using the direct line to the cave?"

"Well I need to ask you a few things first. How fast could you whip up a real high society party type of thing."

"Master Dick, I have never known you to partake in that sort of function."

"It's for work believe me, I need to make sure a certain Mr. Norstrum of Bludhaven is invited and doesn't refuse. And I could use Tim there too if he can make it."

"Ah I see. Well, luckily I have great experience in arranging these functions for Master Bruce, especially on short notice. I believe we can set something up for tomorrow night. We can make it a charity affair for those affected by Gotham's recent earthquake. I will make the necessary preparations and inform the master of your arrival."

"Good...and thanks Alfred. I'll be there by nightfall."

"Of course Master Dick, any excuse to have you come home again, even if it is work related."

They closed the line with heartfelt goodbyes. Dick then began to pack a few things to take with him and call Hogan to tell him he needed a day or two off when there was a knock on the door. He opened it to be greeted by Eliza Whelan.

"Why Dick, you look tired. That silly job of yours tiring you out? Or have you been partying too hard?"

"Actually Eliza, I have been experiencing a few late nights. Speaking of parties, how would you like to be my guest at a party tomorrow night in Gotham City?"

"Did I hear someone mention a party?" came Clancy's Irish lilt from the hallway behind Eliza. Dick felt his stomach turn over.....he hadn't meant for Clancy to know. Suddenly he felt like a snake.

"Why yes Miss Clancy Richard here...."

"Call me Dick....please..."

".....Dick here was just inviting me to a soiree....I am sure it is nothing that would interest you my dear. You have far too much work to do taking care of this poor dilapidated, dirty building."

Clancy tried hard to mask a scowl while Dick swallowed hard and his face turned as red as a beet. These two women were crossing paths over him and he wasn't about to step in the way. Tackling Trigon he would do.....but get between these two? It would take Superman AND Doomsday to drag him into that. The total truth of the situation was, he knew he needed an escort for the party and Eliza was the natural choice. She was well versed in High Society ways and people and had great.....contacts. She would also be easy to pass off to another socialite leaving Dick alone to find as much out as he could about Norstrum.

"Listen Clancy," Dick had to at least attempt to dig himself out of this whole, "Don't be offended Eliza and I just had similar friends at this party and I..... uhhhh."

"No need to explain Dick, I hope you two have a wonderful time" He could tell she was upset, "Maybe I'll come up and fix your hot water later....if I get around to it....but maybe I won't get around to it. This poor dirty dilapidated building don't you know." And with that she stormed off down the stairs and back to her duties.

"Shades of Jack, Chrissie, and Janet," thought Dick to himself, "All I need now is Mr. Roper."

"Well that was unpleasant. I would be glad to attend your party Richa.....sorry...Dick. I have just enough time between now and then to get ready for it."

"That's great Eliza, the party is going to be at Wayne Manor and I'll send a car for you ok?"

"A limo of course..."

"Uhhhhh...of course." She moved in the doorway and as close to Dick as she could get, draping her long arms over his shoulders and looking him in the eyes as if she was trying to communicate more that she was saying, Dick didn't have to be one of the greatest detectives of all time to know what she was communicating.

"I am looking forward to getting to know you a whole lot better Dick. I think you and I could become the best of friends." And she reached up and pressed her lips to his, their mouths opening slightly.

"Is she slipping me the tongue?" Dick thought to himself, "SHE IS SLIPPING ME THE TONGUE!!!" Dick refrained from encouraging her more and gently pulled away from the vivacious redhead, he admitted to himself that pulling away from a kiss like that was harder for him to do than he thought it would be.

"I'm flattered Eliza I really am, but let's get to know one another a bit first ok?"

She said nothing and instead uttered a playful laugh and slid out the door, smiling at Dick.

"Until tomorrow Dick." She called from the hallway.

Dick threw a few more things into his beat up duffle bag covered with stickers from different countries that he had visited with the circus as a boy, he then closed it and vaulted out the door, locking it behind him. He vaulted down the steps and hoped he could catch up to Clancy and explain things to her as best he could. He saw her down at the bottom of the next set of stairs and he slid down the bannister to catch her. It was then that he ran into something and was knocked flat on his behind.

"I don't remember that wall being there before..." he groaned as he climbed to his feet, an iron hand reached out to take his and pulled him to his feet as though he was made of feathers. Dick found himself eye to throat with Amygdala.

"Hi there big guy...you get the number of that truck?" Dick joked, Amygdala was standing next to Clancy who was still scowling at Dick from his behaviour earlier.

"Amygdala was kind enough to take your place and escort me to the planetarium tonight Dick, wasn't that kind?"

"Clancy told me you had better things to do," Amygdala said as he pointed a finger as thick as a rolling pin at Dick, "That wasn't very nice.....but she is nice to me so I will take her."

"That's great big guy, glad you could stand in for me, she is in good hands. Clancy can I talk to you for a quick second....alone?"

"No, I don't think Dick, maybe when you get back from your big party."

"Fine." Dick slinked off and out of the building. He caught a bus over to the abandoned car plant that he bought to house his new car. He threw his bag on the passenger side and turned over the engine. It roared to life and he enjoyed the sensation. This he understood, this he could handle. He put the pedal to the floor and left long rubber marks as he took off for the freeway on ramp. The trip to Gotham took about an hour....he figured he could make it in at least 30 minutes.

30 Minutes Later

"Do you hear Something?" asked Alfred of Timothy Drake. Both were down in the depths of The Batcave, Alfred doing his usual upkeep of Batman's crime library and Tim doing his usual Saturday morning workout on the vast range of athletic equipment the cave had to offer.

"Yeah I do hear something.....sounds like a low flying jet engine...."

The roar got louder and louder.

"Ah....I do believe Master Dick is about to arrive."

Within seconds of uttering those words Nightwing's muscle car roared in through the cave entrance and came to a screeching halt. He killed the engine and sat there for a minute, soaking up the familiar surroundings. He loved this place and the damage that had been done to it by the recent quake broke his heart just a little. It did his heart good to see the place up and running again. His eyes surveyed the cave from inside the car. There were the computers. The huge oversized coin and Joker playing card, the special glass case that enclosed the original Robin costume as a memorial to Jason Todd. There was a time not too long ago that he felt he would never feel at home in this place ever again or maybe not even return. Thankfully, fate had a different course plotted for Dick and he ended up feeling that although Bludhaven was now his personal crusade and in many ways his hometown this was where he became a man.

This is where he did the most good. Only here, in Titans Tower, and the big top of Haly's circus did he feel he could go under any circumstances to recuperate or just be himself. "I have been very lucky," He thought to himself, "Normal? No. Lucky? Yes." For the first time in a long time, Dick accepted that this place, above all others, was his home. The smiling faces that greeted him outside his car window were proof of that."

Dick opened the door and got out to greet his closest friends.

"Hey Al, great to see ya old bean." Alfred smiled wide and extended his hand, the two shook hands and then exchanged a quick but meaningful hug.

"Master Dick, always a pleasure to have you home sir. I have prepared a special treat for you, a special batch of my chocolate chunk cookies you love so much. I prepared a batch for you while you are here and another to take back to Bludhaven with you when you go, which I hope won't be for a while at least."

"Yeah Dick, at least share some of those cookies with me, I could smell them, but Alfred hid them on me." Tim Drake said as he and Dick shared a high five and a quick hug.

"Yeah Alfred has a few great hiding places for stuff like that. I'll show you where they are before I go." Alfred tried to look displeased.

"Begging your pardon Master Dick but you could never find my hiding places when you were a boy, not even Master Bruce knows this house as well as I do."

"Did I hear someone mention my name?" Came a much deeper voice from the stairwell leading to Wayne Manor. The trio turned to face the master of the house, Bruce Wayne stood at the base of the steps dressed in a blue, perfectly tailored Armani suit.

"Hi Bruce, where are you off to?" Bruce extended his hand to Dick and shook it firmly, placing his other hand on Dicks shoulder and giving it a squeeze. Dick did the same to Bruce.

"Actually I'm returning. Back from the city. Alfred told me what you had planned and I was just drumming up some publicity for you, making sure the right people attend. I also personally invited Mr. Norstrum and wouldn't take no for an answer." Bruce talked as he shed his suit and stepped into a silk robe provided by Alfred. Come on upstairs, Alfred has prepared your room and we need to set up a game plan, and I need something to eat.

The four comrades ascended the stairs and entered the Manor, walking towards the kitchen nook. Alfred prepared some french toast and orange juice for them all while they talked. Dick outlined the way things began with a simple heroin shipment bust, the mention of Cabal, and the appearance of The Beast. He continued on about the fire, Norstrum's connection to the fire, and the appearance of someone even bigger than The Beast was on the scene.

"The Beast? You should have told me...." Bruce started to continue on with his recriminations, but then stopped himself, perhaps remembering his last trip to Bludhaven and Nightwing's reaction to Batman's suggestions.

"Scratch that chum. Old habits die hard. It's your turf and you obviously handled The Beast well. Has he given up any information?"

"I talked to Flaherty just before I left, he said The Beast is shut up like a clam. We both know that he can take any form of interrogation and not spill a thing so I figure that Norstrum is my only lead back to this Cabal group. I did get The Beast to admit in the heat of battle that they were preparing to make their move on January 1st, 2000."

"Well, that gives you time to shut them down Dick." Tim spoke up through a mouthful of food.

"Not as much time as one would think Master Tim," Alfred interjected, "there is only 1 year, 3 Months, and 13 Days left before the Millennium." The three turned to look at Alfred as he continued his breakfast serving duties, suddenly becoming aware of their eyes on him.

"How did you know that?" Bruce asked.

"Wayne Enterprises is holding a turn of the century ball here sir. I have discussed it with you on several occasions." They all nodded their heads in agreement, apparently Alfred could still pull a surprise or two on them all.

"I don't pay much attention to those things." Bruce countered.

"Quite. Fortunately I do sir." Alfred retorted and returned to his duties. They turned back to their discussion, "Alfred has a point, "Bruce continued, "I have worked on some cases that took months to solve, some have taken years before being solved. Dick has to move on this now."

"Well I was hoping you could introduce us Bruce, I can get as much from him as I can and Tim can help Alfred serve drinks and things like that, keeping an eye and ear out for anything we might miss."

"Excellent plan Master Dick, I could use Tim's help, he can view society from the other side." Alfred called from the other end of the kitchen.

"Great....just great....the glamour job." Tim retorted as he playfully brought his elbow against Dick's ribs.

"I also have to check with Oracle, she is checking on some stuff for me, mind if I go down and use the computers?" Bruce nodded his assent and Dick excused himself from the table. Bruce and Tim would join him when they finished eating breakfast. He opened the grandfather clock and slipped down into the cool passages leading to the cave. He descended the stairs and took a seat at the computers. With a few commands he had Oracle's face on the huge centre screen.

"Hi handsome, I was expecting a call from you today. Wasn't expecting it to be from the cave though. Taking a vacation?"

"Hi yourself Babs, I am actually here on a work related project. Related to our discussion earlier in fact. Have you found anything else?"

"Sure have, I checked as many Russian databases as I could and found no connection between the Beast and the word Cabal, however I did a lot of net searching and found a site that may interest you. It is www.millennium.com and it may be connected with what you are looking for. Enjoy."

"Thanks Babs, stay beautiful." They closed the connection and Dick brought up the site. It was impressive looking but what was truly alarming was the text. Dick read it and alarm grew in him as he read further and further. What he read was a running commentary about how the world deteriorating. An iron hand was needed to return the world to a time when family values meant something. There was also a form one could fill out to subscribe to their newsletter (which was no doubt more propaganda), the E-mail address was cabal@millennium.com. Of course, anyone who was a principled family values type of person had nothing to fear. The scary thing was, it all sounded perfectly plausible on the surface, studies have shown that most Americans today felt that things were going downhill and a return to simpler ways was needed, other countries showed the same results. But who was to decide what the term "simpler ways" meant? A select few with a narrow vision? Where would that leave everyone who didn't fit the mould set by those above us? It was very attractive on the surface, but it meant giving up freedoms we have fought for and cherish.

Dick heard footfalls coming down the steps from the manor. He swivelled the chair around to face Bruce. "Alfred is giving Tim serving lessons, find out anything new?" Bruce asked. Dick brought him up to speed about the internet connection to Cabal. Bruce, knowing his former partner and ward better than almost anyone, detected something in his voice. "Dick, are you all right? I'm hearing something in your voice I have never heard before."

"As usual you're right on the money, I....I have been thinking that I could do more good for Bludhaven in some other fashion. I told you a few weeks ago I was thinking of becoming a cop, maybe putting Nightwing on the back burner for now. I do like this and for the first time I realize I am good at it...but The Haven needs so much more."

"Are you having problems continuing with this case?"

"No no it's not that, but there are so many pervs and killers and psychos, Bludhaven needs more good cops, more guys like Mully Flaherty, he was on the scene of that fire last night before anyone else, he'd really do some good if the force would let him. You'd like him I think."

"He sounds like Jim to me."

Dick smiled, "That's what I told him when I met him as Dick Grayson."

"Well, whatever you choose to do, I know you will choose what's right for you. You're not a kid anymore and I can't live your life for you. I can see why you might be burning out. You have been doing this since you were a child. I was only just starting to hit my stride as Batman when I was your age, sure I was training for it most of my life but you have been fighting crime since I took you in all those years ago."

"I think, after this case is over.......I may hang it up, not forever, I don't think I could ever leave this behind, but maybe for a while. See if Dick Grayson can do some good. I think I have avenged my parents, righted a lot of wrongs."

"I know your parents would be...are extremely proud of you."

Dick got up and put his hand on Bruce's shoulder. "Thank you, thank you for everything you have done for me. I know my parents would thank you too if they could." Bruce was silent, he merely nodded.

"I am going up to get some sleep, if you guys need some assistance on patrol tonight I would be glad to help out."

When Bruce finally spoke Dick thought that it was slightly choked, "We would be glad to have you...partner."

Dick went up to his old room and slept sounder than he had in ages.

6:15 P.M. The Next Evening

"You have no idea how much I hate this." Dick told Alfred as the older man stood before him and picked off a few dust bits from the shoulders on his tuxedo jacket. Dick was dressed in a black tuxedo with a collarless white shirt and black dress shoes. He also had a small tracking device that utilized the global positioning system he could place on his quarry that also served as a listening device with a range of over 300 Kilometres.

"Oh I think I have some idea sir. Master Bruce is not very fond of it either."

"Maybe Al but he grew up with this type of affair and these type of people, I'm a circus kid, this was, is, and always will be alien to me. Bruce knocked on the door and poked his head in, "Cars are coming up the drive, Tim and I are ready to go, you two ready?" Alfred gave them both a final once over, "I believe we are Master Bruce."

The next three hours were completely mind numbing for Dick, he was making simple conversation with very simple ego driven people. Materialists with empty souls, souls filled by fleets of Ferrari's and winter homes in Niece. Bruce pretended to show off Dick as the prodigal son returning home from travels abroad, living the life of the privileged. Dick noticed Eliza Whelan in the crowd and she latched on to his arm for a while, giving Dick the appearance of being just another normal socialite with a beautiful girlfriend. After being seen with her for a while Dick slipped away into the crowd, doing a fair job of hiding from her as he waited for Norstrum, if he ever showed up. She was wrapped up in hobnobbing with the elite anyway, yet Dick felt her eyes constantly scanning the room for him.

Dick was nudged from behind by Alfred, pointing him towards the door, through which Norstrum was now entering.

"Finally." Bruce grabbed Dick by the forearm and pretended to drag him towards Nortrum.

"Jason Norstrum!!! I haven't seen you since....well forever!!" Bruce called out. Bruce introduced his ward and the two shook hands warmly. Dick listened to Norstrum's voice......yes, it certainly could have been the voice that Dick heard in the warehouse in Bludhaven...hidden by a cloak. The build was correct too. Jason Norstrum was a man of about 45 years. He had thinning black hair and blue eyes, a styled goatee framed his face. Dick made mental notes on the man as they exchanged small talk with Bruce leading the conversation.

"You know Jason, Dick has spent some time in Bludhaven, he has a few business interests there, properties and the like, we heard of your fire at your warehouse, the details in the paper were a bit sketchy, what happened?"

For just a moment Norstrum appeared a bit flustered, most men wouldn't have caught it, but Bruce and Dick did. Norstrum regained his composure within a split second however. He waved at the air as he spoke, almost as if he was waving the problem away as if it were flies beneath his notice.

"Yes Bruce we had a problem, apparently some local gang or something were using the warehouse as some kind of gathering place and things got out of control or something. I hardly ever use that spot anymore so they must have realized that and moved in. Nothing more to the situation than that really. The world is going to hell these days don't you think?"

Dick knew quite well that there was no local gang involved but he tsked tsked the situation and agreed with Norstrums' appraisal of it all, Bruce had done his duty and quietly excused himself from the trio claiming that he had to see the butler about some wine. Dick knew that in reality Bruce and Tim were going to quietly slip away from the proceedings and down to the cave. Gotham needed its Dynamic Duo and tonight was no exception. Dick was on his own from now on.

"Yes yes Mr. Norstrum I quite agree, I have travelled extensively and I feel the world is just being faxed to Hell. Nothing is sacred these days, animals are running our lives for us...it's a sin really." Dick baited the hook and dangled it in front of Norstrum.

For a brief second Dick saw a glimmer in Norstrum's eyes, but he was still being very cautious.

"Please call me Jason and if I might I will call you Dick yes?" Dick nodded and smiled in agreement as he sipped his apple juice, pretending it was champagne.

"Dick, what would you do about this situation the world has found itself in? If you had the power?"

"I hadn't really given it much thought. What can we do? Stricter laws? More gun control? What do you think?"

Norstrum took a sip of champagne and continued, his voice in a deeper tone and hushed below the volume of the crowd, "Gun control? Useless. The real problem is that we don't have strong enough leadership. Idiots in government, weak kneed political time servers with no long term goals except re-election and a fat government pension when they retire. For instance, Gotham's own Batman, he's like a band aid for a cancer patient. Cleaning up street crime is useless. When the top level is weak and corrupt, how can the bottom feeders make a difference?"

Dick pretended to consider what Norstrum said, "What you say has merit, Jason. What can people like you and I do about that, though? Run for office? Overthrow the government and go back to anarchy?"

Norstrum shared a chuckle with Dick about his last comment, "No, that wouldn't do much good, not in the long run. I suggest that what this country needs...maybe even the entire world needs, is a group of people with iron wills, people with the power to make a difference to make the laws and enforce them, again I say with iron will."

"Aren't you talking about government?"

"No, government is full of corruption, no vision whatsoever. I am speaking of a group numbering no more than 15 at the most."

"So what you are describing is, more or less, a dictatorship." Dick countered.

"Yes, in a way, but tempered with values and decency."

"But whose values? Whose decency?"

"At this point, the people of this planet may be willing to give up a few freedoms to be secure in their beds again. They may be willing to except someone else's ideas of what is right if it meant ridding the streets of crime and violence."

"Yes Jason, I agree that the world may be ready for that kind of thinking sooner than later," as he talked, Dick placed a hand on Norstrum's shoulder placing the tiny transmitter on his quarries' shoulder blade, "What you say has a lot of merit indeed, I may even consider supporting that idea.......someday. I've seen enough disturbing behaviour in Gotham and in Bludhaven."

"I agree Dick it is a valid solution to today's problems, as the heir to Wayne Enterprises you may even have the power to make these changes yourself some day." Both men shared another laugh while Dick considered what was being said, he had definitely made inroads with this man and he knew that he was Dick's link to Cabal. It was then that Norstrum's cell phone rang. Norstrum excused himself from the conversation and retreated to a corner of the room where he spoke under his breath. Dick quickly and as inconspicuously as he could retreated to a private room off limits to the partygoers. He took the small listening/tracking device from his pocket and turned it on, it's LCD display lit up and he put the device to his ear. He found he could hear Norstrum's end of the conversation perfectly.

"Why are you calling me now? This isn't a good time." Norstrum said.

"It's not my fault they didn't get their heroin....Nightwing took care of that. They're angry about it? Who cares if they paid for it? Are we dumb enough to get involved with them again? I don't believe you're taking their threats seriously. How can they hurt us? Ok, Ok. I can arrange it. Tomorrow night at the arranged dock in Bludhaven at 2:00 A.M. is that good enough? All right then. From now on we communicate in the arranged way all right?"

Norstrum closed the line and Dick returned to the party moments later. It was then that he found Norstrum talking with Eliza Whelan. This was no good, he had to get in there before he got his hooks into Eliza. Norstrum mentioned that Dick was heir to Wayne Enterprises and Eliza's father was also very rich and influential, no doubt he would try and pull the same routine on her. He walked briskly across the floor filled with partygoers and came across the pair discussing something he couldn't hear. They stopped speaking as Dick approached and Eliza wrapped her arms around his shoulders. Despite himself, Dick couldn't help but notice her ample body pressing against him and her exquisite smell. She reached up and kissed him, across the room Dick could feel Alfred's disapproving eye on them. He was just glad that Tim and Bruce weren't here to see it. Finally, she released him and took him by the arm.

"Mr. Norstrum have you met Richar....sorry..Dick Grayson. He is my escort this evening."

"We have indeed met Ms. Whelan, Dick is a lucky man to have such a beauty on his arm."

"I have barely seen him all night however, he knows so many important people you see." This too seemed to pique Norstrum's interest.

"Well I must be going, that call was a business emergency I am afraid. Enjoy the evening." and with that Norstrum quickly stepped through the crowd and disappeared. Dick would have liked to follow but he found it extremely difficult to get away from Eliza for the rest of the evening. Dick spent the rest of the evening dancing and talking to Eliza. She was rather naive, but Dick found her to essentially be a good person. But in the back of his mind, he was planning for tomorrow night. He knew the time and the general area for Norstrum's little rendezvous. The Bludhaven docks were huge however, he would need some help covering the entire area. For a split second he considered enlisting Batman and Robin, but then realized they were currently busy with the human waste dump that was post quake Gotham City. He would have to enlist Mully Flaherty to help and hope that the two of them would be enough.

"Dick are you listening to me?" Eliza asked, breaking Dick out of his thoughts. It was midnight already, they had spent hours together and he had spent most of his time thinking about tomorrow night.

"Sorry Eliza, too much champagne I guess. I think I may be getting a bit ill. I can get Alfred to bring the limo around to take you home."

She pressed up against him again, her voice dropping to a husky whisper and her eyes getting a hungry look in them again, "I was hoping maybe I could stay Dick, this is a big mansion after all, or maybe you could come home with me. We can relax back at the apartment, I give killer full body massages you know."

"I just bet." Dick thought to himself. "No Eliza, not tonight I'm afraid. Don't think I'm not flattered because I am and in another time and another place, I would be sorely tempted." She was indeed a beautiful and tempting woman, Dick felt the slightest pang of regret in his soul, but the shadow cast by the bat was far reaching indeed.

Eliza looked disappointed but not angry. She reluctantly agreed and Alfred showed her to her limo. When he returned Dick thanked Alfred for all the work he went through on such short notice.

"And now that you have what you need I suppose you will be returning to Bludhaven as soon as possible, Master Dick."

"I hate to leave you alone to deal with this. It seems incredibly unfair to leave you to wrap all this up."

Alfred smiled that smile that lit up a room and made everything all right, "Quite all right Master Dick I have quite a bit of experience dealing with these situations. The party will take care of itself from here on in. You needn't worry about anything here, I have it all well in hand. By tomorrow morning the manor will be back to status quo."

"What would any of us do without you?"

"Whither up and die no doubt." He responded with that wry voice of his and a wink. Dick gave him a quick hug and retreated to the cave. The Batmobile was gone and the cave was empty. Dick's car was off to the side in a parking bay. He climbed out of his tuxedo and into his regular clothes again. The only thing that could have felt better was his Nightwing outfit. He left a short note for all of them on the main computer console thanking them for their help and informing them of his plans, within minutes he was speeding back to Bludhaven. He had had his fill of "The Beautiful People" of Gotham for one night.

"Well? Here I am. Care to tell me why I'm sitting on a carousel at my age waiting for you?"

"I need some help, Inspector. And only you can help me." Nightwing whispered from the roof of the carousel. He was glad to have spent some time in Gotham but he was equally glad to be back in The Haven, he was feeling more at home there every day.

"It's never a social call with you is it? I was getting to like you too kid." Mully said as he sucked on a cigarette. Nightwing suppressed a smile. He liked Flaherty as well and was glad to see that the feeling was mutual.

"You do some good for this town pal, The KGBeast is behind bars thanks to you, I studied his records after you caught him, the guy is a walking death machine. He almost exploded a nuke in Gotham city!! He tried to assassinate President Reagan!! You did this town a favour kid."

"Thanks, but the job isn't done yet. The Beast had partners and they may be hitting the docks tonight with another shipment of heroin at 2:00 A.M.. The problem is I'm not sure exactly where."

"So where do we start?" Flaherty flicked his spent cigarette to the ground and stubbed it out with his toe, lighting another before Nightwing answered.

"I have 6 piers as a possibility, here they are here on this map," Nightwing handed him the map as he spoke, "They are more than likely landing at one of them, three are at one end of the docks and three are at the other end, you take three and I take three."

"Hmmmm, Jason Norstrum really is involved in all this huh?"

Nightwing was surprised, "How did you know?"

"All these docks are owned by his companies, I imagine it wasn't some cult using his warehouse after all?" Nightwing was growing in admiration for the Inspector.

"Oh it's a cult all right, and he is right in the middle of it. It's up to you and I to shut him down."

"All right then partner, let's do it." They shook hands firmly, Nightwing was reminded of the first handshake he shared with Batman when they first became partners. "Quite a grip you have there." Flaherty muttered as he rubbed his hand.

Nightwing handed Flaherty a radio tuned to Nightwing's select frequency with special instructions to call him and wait for him if anything should happen. "Under no circumstances do you take on these guys alone. They will slice and dice you, wait for me." He instructed his partner. Flaherty understood and Nightwing felt that Mully understood the seriousness of the situation. All that was left to do was wait. Nightwing found a perch on a rooftop overlooking his area of the docks. He found himself mulling over the events of the past days and the acquisition of Flaherty as an ally. Flaherty was a good man and Nightwing trusted him, finally there was someone here in this Godforsaken city he could dare to trust. With Mully working with him, he was beginning to think that he could become a cop and leave the crime fighting to regular folks for a while at least. It was food for thought anyway.

2:03 A.M.

"You there kid?" Came Mully's voice over the radio speaker in his gauntlet.

"Right here Mully...go ahead."

"I think I have our perps right here bud, better haul ass over here. Dock 32A."

Nightwing was already on the run, "On my way Mully, stay put 'till I get there."

It was a short run for Nightwing. Over a few rooftops and a few jumplines and he was there without breaking a sweat. Flaherty was behind a wall of crates watching the action happen, his pistol in his hand. Nightwing dropped down silently next to his partner.

"Well?" prompted Mully.

"That's them all right. I even recognize some of those faces from criminal database files. Get ready to rock Inspector. BUT....wait for my signal."

The vessel docked and several very large men in bulky overcoats and sweaters began unloading their shipment. Nightwing noticed large bulges on their backs as though they were all humpbacked. He was beginning to form an idea about who the large man was fanning the fires at Norstrum's warehouse, and he didn't like the picture one bit.

"All right Mully, these guys are extremely dangerous, give me a chance to kick their tails and then we clean up the rest together. OK?"

Mully agreed with a nod of his head. He and Nightwing shook hands once more. With that done, Nightwing scaled the crates in front of him and silently made his way over to the group, sticking to the shadows. These men were strong whoever they were, they were lifting these boxes and carrying them 2 and 3 at a time very quickly across the dock. From a perch atop some crates he stepped into the moonlight.

"I believe we've danced this tune before people! Give it up now and I won't send you to the hospital!"

"Him again!!!" Came a voice from the darkness, "Kill Him!"

The men stepped from the darkness, seven in all. They shed their sweaters and their overcoats. Nightwing could see that they had hoses attached to the back of their skulls, they came around and attached to wrist controls. He had no doubt what their purpose was. Venom. Venom enhanced warriors serving Cabal, who no doubt sent them to ensure the safe arrival of this heroin. It was then that their master stepped into the moonlight on the boat. His huge muscles flexing. Nightwing's eyes fell upon the man, the mask, the nightmare.

He was working for Cabal. And why not? He had made similar plans with Ra's Al Ghul to remake the world.

"Don't think the youngster is alone big guy," came the voice of Flaherty, "He has his own backup."

"Mully, not now!! They're killers!! You're out of your league here!"

"I can take care of myself. I recognize the monster on the boat kid, he's the guy that took down Batman and ran Gotham into the ground! He's not welcome here!"

"Kill them both!!" Bane commanded. And with that command, the battle was joined.

Bane.

Few people on this Earth sent shivers down Nightwing's spine. Two-Face used to make him wake up in cold sweats but he had since faced that fear and defeated it while he wore the mantle of Batman. This was Bane. He was the only man ever to truly defeat Batman. Nightwing had faced him on a supertanker in Gotham Harbour when the ship Bane commandeered was carrying radioactive material and Bane threatened to sink it and destroy Gotham in the explosion. Nightwing got in one solid kick......and then was thrown about like a doll, he always wondered what would have happened had Batman not taken over the fight. Batman had defeated Bane. Jean Paul Valley had defeated Bane with an enhanced costume and weaponry after Bane initially broke Bruce Wayne's back. Late at night, in his darkest moments Nightwing had always asked himself, "Am I good enough to take him down?"

He didn't need a shrink to tell him that he was suffering from an inferiority complex. That Bruce Wayne choose Jean Paul Valley to take down Bane and not Dick struck a blow at Nightwing's soul that affected him to this day. It made him wonder in his darkest moments. Was Nightwing doomed to be a second rate crime fighter in a tank town? He had defeated Two-face, that had given him the confidence he needed to continue. Now when he was considering Nightwing's future once again, Bane. All this ran through his mind within three seconds. Nightwing stood upon the crates looking as imposing as possible with Mully standing beneath him brandishing his gun. Nightwing looked past the venom enhanced men straight at Bane, and knew that Bane felt no fear. What was it The KGBeast had said? "You are no Batman." It was obvious that Bane shared that view. He knew he made The Beast see Nightwing in a new light. He would have to make Bane see it that way too. He had to wait years to get the monkey of Two-face off of his back, he wasn't going to run from his fears any longer, if he had to face Bane, he would die rather than run from fear any longer.

"Think about it Bane, we start a tango here on the docks and this place is swarming with cops."

Bane let out a short menacing laugh, "You think I fear the police? Half of them in this town work for us!! Kill them both!!!"

Nightwing coiled his leg muscles and jumped with all his might, vaulting through the air and somersaulting, his feet planted firmly in the chests of two men, sending them skidding. He heard Mully fire off two shots from his revolver but he knew even a gunshot wound probably wouldn't slow these monsters down for long. He had to protect Mully and still defeat these beasts.

"Mully! Run for cover man!!! This is no time for you to play hero!!" Nightwing yelled as he dodged two more attacks. Through the corner of his eye he saw Mully with his back against the crates they had hidden behind, he had wounded one of the venom warriors who was on one knee but slowly getting up again. Luckily only the one had gone after Mully while the rest identified Nightwing as the primary target.

"You're a fine one to talk about playing hero!!!" Mully yelled back. His attacker was bleeding from the upper arm, obviously Mully was intentionally trying to wound not kill. Still, Mully's concern for his foe would only get him killed in this situation. Nightwing reached back and, without looking, threw his escrima stick at the ground in Mully's direction. It bounced across the ground and came up behind the knees of the wounded thug. It lifted him off his feet and he landed in a heap, bleeding. Mully leaped on top of him and double cuffed him.

Only all the martial arts knowledge Nightwing possessed kept him ahead of the mountain of muscle attacking him. "These guys could shatter steel like glass, but they don't fight all that well. That's what will keep me alive." he thought to himself as he kept just out of striking distance and continued his own hit and run tactics on the mooks. In the distance he could see Bane standing on the boat, watching Nightwing and his opponents grapple. Bane did nothing, "Does he think I'm beneath his efforts?" Nightwing asked himself. "He must know these thugs won't last me forever."

"Nightwing." Bane thought to himself, "This moment seemed destined to happen." Bane stepped back into the shadows of the boat, he flexed his muscles, he didn't have venom any more, he didn't need it, especially not for Nightwing. To Bane Nightwing represented the least worry the Shadow of the Bat presented to him. Yet he knew that the skirmish outside was only a precursor to the battle between them. Bane knew he would be ready for it. Ready to defeat Nightwing throughly. He slipped on a pair of brass knuckles over his right hand, it would serve as his only weapon.

"Just what do you think you're doing?" Came a voice from behind him.

Bane slipped the brass knuckles off and silently placed them in his pocket, he wouldn't be needing them just yet. He turned slowly, his massive bulk filling the small cabin. Bane slowly raised his hands in the air as if to surrender.

"That's right pal you keep those big mitts where I can see em, I'll call for some backup and we'll have you in Bludhaven penitentiary by morning."

"What is your name?" Bane asked.

"Shut up!!" Mully responded, pulling the hammer back on his weapon, outside they could both hear the sounds of Nightwing battling the venom enhanced thugs that escorted Bane and his heroin shipment.

"Listen to me officer," Bane continued in a calm voice, "I represent a very powerful group of people that can make you very rich. We could use a man like you, someone with guts enough to take on someone like me. Why toil for some small pension, that is, if you survive to collect a pension, when you could be wealthy beyond all imaginings now and still be helping to restore order to the streets." Bane continued to hold his hands up, apparently totally relaxed. Mully actually seemed to think it over for a minute in his mind.

"Sorry stud, I'm not buying your rap. I've seen guys like you come and go, all it boils down to is you represent some wacko cult and you put innocent lives at risk to accomplish your goals. Consider your offer rejected and consider your ass under arrest."

"I'm sorry you feel that way."

Faster than the human eye could see Bane's huge hand shot forward and grabbed Mully's gun arm, pointing the gun straight up at the ceiling and squeezing hard. Mully was too shocked with pain to yell or scream, his eyes just widened and his mouth fell open.

"It is, of course, your choice to make." Mully felt the muscles in his forearm strain, much more of this and Bane would break his arm.

"Let go............." Mully whimpered, pleading.

Bane did indeed let go as his other arm grabbed Mully by the collar and pulled him close, Mully felt an explosion inside of his as Bane brought his other fist into Mully's stomach. He collapsed as a puppet with its strings cut and expelled all the air he had in him. The pain!!! Mully had been hit before, but never like this. Drool came out of his mouth as he lost control of his body.

With minimal effort Bane threw Mully across the room, he landed in a heap in the corner with great impact. Mully saw stars dance before his eyes. He couldn't breath properly, he couldn't feel parts of his body either. Bane turned towards him as if he were merely an annoyance, an insect to be swatted. With one step Bane crossed the room and looked down at his latest victim.

Taking life meant nothing to Bane. He was born to a life sentence in the jail known as Pena Duro in Santa Prisca for a crime his father was to have committed. Growing up there he learned that life is cheap, and the strong kill the weak to survive. Since escaping Pena Duro, Bane had travelled in ever widening circles of madmen and killers. He had travelled to Gotham and broke Batman's back, and more importantly, his spirit. He took over Gotham's underworld only to be defeated by the replacement Batman. He escaped Gotham's jails to be recruited by the villainous Ra's Al Ghul in his scheme to remake the world with a doomsday virus. This time it was the original Batman and his aides, Robin, Nightwing and the Huntress that defeated them all. In a retaliatory strike Bane escaped and commandeered a supertanker that housed a nuclear power plant designed to supply power to the third world. He planned on sinking the vessel in Gotham harbour and reducing Gotham to irradiated dust. Again Batman, Robin, and Nightwing defeated his plans, and he escaped. Looking down at this little man, Bane thought nothing of hurting him or killing him.

"Please........don't." Mully begged, blood pouring from his mouth and nose.

Mully saw Bane's huge boot come up to his face with enough force to knock his head back through the wall. Mully's head snapped back and he sank into darkness.

Bane knew he hadn't killed this man. He knew the value of a hostage, and he could use this man to defeat Nightwing. He dragged Mully out into the centre of the floor and slipped his brass knuckles on. It would soon be time.

Outside, Nightwing had seen Mully race for the boat and follow Bane into the shadows through the corner of his eye. He had tried several times to get past his current adversaries but they were too fast and too strong. His only choice was to take care of this bunch before he made his way to the boat. He had taken care of all but two of them and the rest lay on the ground at Nightwing's feet. The two men facing him touched the pad on their forearms and a slight gurgling noise followed. They had received their hit of venom. They both lunged at Nightwing, who easily dodged by leaping over them. One of his attackers ran face first into one of the crates of heroin. Nightwing grabbed him and slammed his face right through the wooden crate. The mook suddenly had a face full of raw heroin and collapsed in some kind of overdose seizure. That left only one.

With a low growl the final mook jumped on Nightwing and pinned him to the ground. He managed to score five solid punches to Nightwing's body and face before he kicked the mook off and sent him flying over the dock to land in a heap. Nightwing leaped to his feet and released a handful of his throwing stars at his opponent. They all found their target and ripped flesh, however they didn't slow down the venom enhanced thug.

"I've had it!!" Nightwing grumbled as the bleeding man charged him. He stood his ground and waited as the mass of muscle charged him full speed, grunting incoherently. As his foe reached striking distance, Nightwing lashed out with a side kick that summoned all the force he could muster behind it. The mook impaled himself on Nightwing's boot and collapsed, unconscious to the ground. Nightwing reached down and massaged his upper leg, "Damn! It's like kicking an oncoming bus!" He wondered what kicking Bane would feel like.

Nightwing summoned his strength and gathered his escrima sticks, he also ripped free the parts of his costume ravaged by the mooks he had fought. He began running full speed for the boat. Mully was there with Bane, hopefully Bane hadn't killed him yet. Mully was way out of his league here, "Hell, I hope I'm not out of my league here." Nightwing thought to himself. He climbed aboard the boat and positioned his escrima sticks in a defensive position. He began to search the boat as silently and as efficiently as he could for Mully. At first he could hear nothing except the lapping of the water at the hull and the distant sounds of the city.

Then he heard the whimpering, the laboured breathing. He switched to infra-red lenses as he entered the boat's main cabin. He saw a heap on the floor and moved to it. "Mully?" he called out, almost a whisper. There was only an intelligible whimper in response.

"MULLY!" He called out. Mully was lying in the middle of the floor, parts of his body bent in ways they shouldn't have. Blood was beginning to pool around him. Nightwing ran to him and crouched beside him, careful not to move him, he put his face down by Mully's mouth.

"C........Care....." Mully struggled to speak.

"Take it easy pal, I'll get you out of here." Nightwing reassured.

"Care......careful kid, he..........he's still here.............. No matter.........wa....wha..what, you never give up, this city needs.......y...yo.....you....take him *COUGH COUGH* d......down"

It was at exactly that moment that Bane struck again. Bane turned on the lights and temporarily blinded Nightwing who still wore his infra-red lenses. With impossible speed and savage strength Bane was standing over them and brought both fists down at once on Nightwing's shoulders. The worst thing about it for Nightwing was that he landed with such force on Mully who was only clinging to life. His spine felt as if it were driven down through his backside. In a move that impressed even himself Nightwing propped himself up on his two hands over Mully and lashed out with a kick to Bane's mid section, driving him backwards. However Bane grabbed on to Nightwing's leg as he fell backwards and pulled him into the air. With ease, Bane tossed Nightwing through the wall of the cabin, he watched as the young squire of Batman skidded across the deck. A slight drizzle had begun to fall.

Nightwing's body was on fire, he had never been attacked like this before, the severity of it was worse than anything he had ever experienced. He climbed slowly to his feet to find his escrima sticks gone. Bane stood before him. "You monster!! I'm gonna kick your teeth down your throat!"

"As you may have guessed Nightwing, I don't fear you. You are not in the same class as your peers." With fury Nightwing lashed out with a brutal kick to the face that sent Bane stumbling backwards. He had meant what he said about kicking Bane's teeth in.

"Bite me." was Nightwing's only response. Bane wiped the blood from his mouth and with a feral growl pounced on Nightwing, knocking him backwards. Nightwing felt punch after rock hard punch rain down upon him. Combined with the beating he had taken earlier, he was really beginning to feel the pain spread through his body and cripple him. He blocked what he could, but pain spread through his body like a cancer. He made a fist and struck at Bane's nose, highly tempted to use the lethal form of this attack and drive Bane's nose back into his brain, but he couldn't find it in himself to kill for survival, even Bane deserved to live. The punch had the desired effect however, Bane was sent skidding across the wet deck.

"Don't make me kill you Nightwing, take the easy way out. Run away if you like, I won't hunt you down, I swear. Or you could join us and become part of the new order."

"Bane, you know who I really am, why haven't you told Cabal?" Nightwing asked, playing for time.

"Your identity is of no concern to me Nightwing. That kind of information is valuable and I don't give that kind of secret away for free. When the time is right, and the price is right, I will tell Cabal your secret and you and Bruce Wayne will die under the new order of Cabal, with me as its leader."

"What kind of a coward are you? You can only take Batman after you make him fight every lunatic in Arkham Asylum? You can only take me after I fight a small army of your venom thugs?"

"I am not a coward. I am a warrior. A warrior knows how to win."

From the corner of his vision Nightwing saw Mully pull himself into the open and he had his weapon in his hand. When was he going to realize he was in danger here? "Mully no!" Bane sensed the danger and leaped out of the line of fire as Mully fired his gun once and collapsed into unconsciousness. Nightwing leaped to Mully's side and picked him up in his arms, he had to get Mully to a hospital. It was not to be. Bane struck with all his fury at Nightwing's knees with both feet. All of his weight came down as hard as possible on him and both Nightwing and Mully fell to the ground. Nightwing opened his gauntlet compartment and instinctively pressed a button that would send an emergency signal to the Batcave. Alfred would immediately trace his location and call for emergency services to that location.

The edges of Nightwing's vision began to go dark as Bane rained down blow after blow on Nightwing. In the distance he could hear sirens but it was too late. Bane had won...... for now.

"Remember this beating well Nightwing. I won't be so easy on you next time." Nightwing blacked out. He awoke with a start, his body racked with pain. He could barely move his right arm. His left leg wasn't much better off, his face was incredibly swollen. He pulled himself to his feet slowly as the ambulance and police screeched to a halt on the docks.

"Good," he thought, "they'll get Mully to a hospital." He knew that Bane was long gone and he could see that the crates of heroin were too. He staggered backwards and fell against the wall of the cabin. He fell into the shadows and crawled to the other side of the boat. He placed his re-breather into his mouth and fell limp over the side into the water and didn't come back up.

"My word....." Alfred exclaimed in a voice that was not his usual unshakable demeanor. He had received Nightwing's emergency call and summoned emergency services to the docks in Bludhaven and since then had waited with bated breath for news from Bludhaven on Dick Grayson's condition. Batman and Robin were currently away from the cave dealing with multiple threats to post-quake Gotham including The Joker. The onus was on Alfred to deal with the situation as he thought best. The police and ambulance reports indicated that one officer was severely injured with broken ribs, a punctured lung and other injuries. There was no mention of Nightwing alive or dead. There were also police reports of men fleeing the scene, all but one seemed to have tubes coming from the back of their heads. One of them wore a mask, the officer on the scene described the mask and Alfred was filled with dread. He searched the cray database for matches to the description already knowing what he would find. A minute later the image filled the huge centre screen, an image of Bane.

Alfred attempted to raise Nightwing on his gauntlet communicator. Nothing. He attempted to contact him on his computer in his Bludhaven apartment. Nothing. He called Dick's cell phone number. Nothing. He attempted to locate Nightwing on the Global Positioning System, the unit in Nightwing's gauntlet was malfunctioning.

"Oh my...."

1 hour later

He staggered, cold and wet, he had almost drowned twice swimming to the nearest dock and pulling himself up. He pressed a button on his gauntlet and his muscle car came screeching around the corner and stopped beside him. He fell into the passenger side and turned on the onboard computer, "garage" was all he had to say as the car took off for the lair Nightwing used to house his car. The car came to a stop and turned itself off as it reached its destination, Nightwing had apparently blacked out most of the ride. He stumbled out of the car and shed his mask and his entire uniform, leaving them in a corner.

"Never again......." he mumbled as he sank onto the cot he used when he spent nights there working on the car and began applying first aid to his arm and leg.

"Never again....."

He examined himself and realized that his right arm was not broken but there was a lot of muscle damage. His left leg may have had a hairline fracture and his knee joints were severely injured, he was amazed he still had all his teeth.

"Never again....."

"Never again....."

He knew that he had to do this alone, with no one to rely on. No Batman, no Robin, no Titans, no cops. Only if he did this alone could he continue to be Nightwing, standing on his own two feet as a man. Someone had to stop Bane and Cabal and it was going to have to be him. This was his city and his responsibility. Batman and Robin were busy enough dealing with Gotham city and its lunatics.

Unbidden, Dick Grayson replayed the entire Jean Paul Valley affair in his mind's eye,

"Not good enough to be Batman......"

He replayed his failures with the Titans.

"Not good enough to be leader...."

He replayed Mully's last words to him,

"Never give up, this city needs you.....take him down."

He replayed all those events in his life...........and then he shut them away from his mind forever, failures of the past could no longer haunt him. From this point on failure was not an option. Quitting was not an option. For his parents, and now for Mully. Most importantly, for himself. The next time he put on that costume he would be a new man, stronger, faster, more dangerous than ever before.

"Never again will I put on that costume, until I am 110% sure that the next time we meet I can destroy Bane forever." He glanced over to the Nightwing costume discarded in the corner, his rapidly swelling eyes impeding his view somewhat. When he spoke he heard his own voice and recognized the iron tone that he had sometimes use Batman use when he spoke of The Joker.

"The next time I wear that costume Bane....you will wish you were up against Jean Paul Valley or Bruce Wayne. The next time I wear that costume.........you will know fear."

The Batcave
3 Hours Later

"Bane." A weary Bruce Wayne rested his head in his hands as Tim Drake sat across from him, half in his Robin costume and half in his civilian clothes. They had returned from a hard night of crime fighting and a frustrating evening of chasing The Joker, Bruce needed some sleep or at the very least some deep meditation. Alfred awaited them with a particularly dour look on his face. Usually he was so relieved to see The Dynamic Duo return safely every evening his demeanor was very light and his dry wit flowed freely almost in celebration of yet another evening survived, not tonight. The moment Batman and Robin had removed their masks Alfred told them exactly what he knew. No more no less. He didn't give them his opinion of what had happened or colour the events with his personal concern for Dick but he did tell them it appeared Bane had surfaced in Bludhaven and now Nightwing could not be found.

"What do we do?" Tim asked plainly as he removed the remainder of his costume and changed into jeans and sneakers.

"As I said sir, there is no direct evidence that it is Bane but the description given over police radio matched Bane and Master Dick had indeed called for emergency services. He has not been heard from since."

Bruce willed his heart rate to slow and lifted his weary head. He could easily read the fears and worry on the faces of Alfred and Tim. Nightwing often seemed invulnerable to Tim, Dick Grayson had been defying death since he could walk and had survived tragedies that would break most men, to Tim he was a swashbuckling hero and most importantly, the ultimate big brother. Alfred had looked after Dick Grayson since he was a child. He had been surrogate father, confidante, teacher, and mentor to him as he grew up. To Bruce Wayne, Dick had meant many things, he was a son, a brother, a friend, and most importantly an ally, someone Bruce knew he could trust and call upon in any circumstances, he still seemed to be the perfect partner, even after all these years. Although the words were often difficult for him to say, Bruce and Dick had in recent years reached a degree of understanding that allowed them to return to a semblance of the relationship they had years ago.

He had a tough decision to make though, and he knew Dick would understand, even if Alfred and Tim wouldn't.

"I can't go." Bruce said. It was easy to read the surprise on their faces.

"Sir.....?"

"Bruce, what are you saying?"

"I can't go to Bludhaven. Not now."

"Sir, if I may, this is Bane we are discussing here. He successfully broke your back and nearly ran Gotham into the ground. If not for Doctor Kinsolving you would still be wheelchair bound today. Master Dick is nowhere to be found, God only knows what Bane has done to him. We must assist."

"I agree with Alfred." Tim interjected, even though he knew this was not an equal partnership, Bruce had made it clear many times that he was senior partner and his decisions were final. Even so, Tim felt he had to voice his opinion on this occasion.

"I can't go." Bruce continued in an even voice, " The Joker is loose in Gotham, 14 people are already dead and he is just getting started. This city is Hell on Earth and Batman is needed here. Dick would agree with me."

"So we just leave Dick on his own to face Bane?" Tim asked, pushing the limits of his authority.

Bruce held up his hands to silence them. "I said I can't go. That doesn't mean you can't go. I want you to find him Alfred. He needs you more than I do right now." Alfred seemed to tense up a little at Batman's suggestion.

"Sir? You want me to suspend my duties here? Are you absolutely sure? With The Joker loose?"

Tim leaped to his feet beside Alfred, "I want to go too. Alfred will need someone to watch his back."

"Indeed Master Tim, I thank you for your concern, but I have been in far worse places than Bludhaven. I assure you I can tend to Master Richard on my own."

"Actually Tim you read my mind," Bruce continued as he removed his uniform and put on a robe, "I want you with Alfred to watch his back. You both leave first thing tomorrow."

"As you wish sir, I shall prepare some meals for you in my absence and put them in the freezer and attempt to clear Bruce Wayne's affairs for at least the next two weeks."

"We'll have to come up with a fantastic excuse for your dad again Tim. I know if anyone can help Dick, you two can."

"Yeah," Tim muttered under his breath, "all we have to do is find him first."

Bane easily snapped the necks of the guards he had silently approached from behind. He had arranged with a rather large bribe for the tower guard to be busy when he and 4 of his venom soldiers approached the wall and easily scaled it. Attacking the few guards that were actually awake and killing them in utter silence was simplicity in itself. Bane had seen many a prison before but this had to have been the worst ever in terms of security and lazy guards. It was an easy matter to get into the cell block that housed The KGBeast.

The Beast looked up from his bunk at the sound of approaching footsteps, the prison was in "lights out" and only the occasional guard passing was the norm. The Beast thought he could hear at least 4 sets of footfalls heading towards his cell. From the darkness, the huge form of Bane emerged and filled the door of the cell. Bane opened the door and threw replicas of The Beasts cyber-weapon and his costume supplied to him by Cabal to The Beasts feet from a backpack he wore.

"You once helped me escape Blackgate prison in Gotham City Beast, I told you I wouldn't forget it, now I pay my debt to you. Get dressed quickly, Cabal still has need of your services." Bane whispered.

"What about Nightwing?" The Beast asked as he dressed.

"He was never a worry, I have broken him. Bludhaven will remain our point of entry on the East Coast."

"He defeated me. I owe him."

"Too late Beast, I have beaten him easily. If he survived my attack he is broken mentally."

"Good." The Beast pulled on his last boot and attached his cyber weapon. He was ready to go.

"Follow me, we only have 93 seconds before another tower guard notices us."

Within 50 seconds they had vanished back into the Bludhaven night.

The grey sedan pulled out into freeway traffic smoothly and within an hour and ten minutes they had arrived in Bludhaven and Tim and Alfred emerged in civilian clothes, Tim wearing his usual attire and Alfred in a blue suit. They entered Dick Grayson's apartment building posing as visitors from home. The super wasn't in and they continued up the stairs to Dick's apartment. Dick had provided them with a key in case of emergency so entry posed no problem. He also knew the codes for Dicks security system. Tim and Alfred found the apartment empty and reasonably neat. Tim began examining the room. His phone had messages from Mr. Hogan at the bar, Eliza Whelan, Clancy, Oracle, and Alfred. Tim booted up the computer and used his password to check Dick's mail.

"He hasn't checked his e-mail in two days." Tim informed Alfred.

"There are no dirty dishes either." Alfred added. Alfred walked to one of the closets in Dicks's room and removed the padlock with the keys provided by Tim. Inside were several reserve costumes for Nightwing and his original Robin costume. The contents were undisturbed and Alfred shut the door and returned the padlock to its place.

"I don't like this." Tim mumbled.

"Nor do I." Alfred agreed, taking a seat on the couch, "Perhaps the ever resourceful Oracle may have an idea of where he might be."

Before Alfred finished the sentence Tim was double clicking the icon that would put him in contact with Oracle. When her face appeared on the monitor she looked relieved and then curious when she saw Tim, who had put on his Robin mask to conceal his identity.

"Robin? Is that you? Where is Nightwing? Why are you calling from his place?"

"Sorry Oracle I was about to ask you if you knew where Nightwing was. He seems to have had a run in with Bane here in Bludhaven and is missing."

"I heard the police reports, I was getting worried, now I'm even more worried."

"Sorry to be the bearer of bad news Oracle. He hasn't been to work, he hasn't contacted us or you."

"And he hasn't been listed in the hospital.....or the morgue."

"I'll try Police Headquarters when we are done here just to cover all our bases........." Robin sank back in his chair for a moment and exhaled, "he's not dead, I won't let him be dead Oracle."

"Please Master Robin control yourself," Alfred called from the couch, "You forget that Nightwing was trained by Batman and has in recent years become his equal in most ways, in fact he has surpassed Batman in a few areas of expertise. He would not die at Bane's hands any more than Batman would."

"Chauncy is right boy wonder take it easy." Oracle assured him.

"Well then, where else could he be, where does he keep that car of his?" Robin asked.

"That's it!! His garage! He put his car together there, and I think it's close to the docks."

"You think Madame Oracle? May I presume you do not know its exact location?" Alfred interjected.

"Uhhhhh, no I'm sorry I don't. Dick is pretty darn secretive about its location and I never actually asked him where it was , I can't even trace the emails he sends me from there because he routes it through multiple servers and he won't say the exact location on an open line. I do know that it is in the vicinity of the docks however."

"That will be a most difficult search Madame Oracle, Bludhaven has almost as many empty buildings as Gotham does, especially in that type of district." Alfred added.

"Then let's get started. We're going to have to narrow down the possibilities and search building by building. It could take days."

"I'll see if I can get anything out of Dick's holdings as well although I am pretty sure the address doesn't exist in any database anywhere."

"Do your best Oracle. We'll keep in touch. Robin out." B.C.P.D. Headquarters 1 Hour Later

"This can't be happening, not in my town." Chief Redhorn was never happy but at this moment he was beyond angry, he was a volcano ready to erupt. The young lieutenant who had informed him of the nights activities since he came on duty was not one of Redhorn's inner circle of good old boys and was practically shaking in his boots as he informed Redhorn of the breakout of The KGBeast and the possible presence of Bane in Bludhaven combined with Nightwing's disappearance from the scene where Inspector Mully Flaherty was found beaten nearly to death.

"Flaherty is such a moron. He threw his hat in with Nightwing and now he paid the price. Is he still alive?" The young man nodded, "Barely sir, he is in critical condition at Rabe Memorial."

"Nightwing is missing?"

"Yes sir, he was on the scene according to some bums on the docks that saw the whole thing and eventually called it in. Apparently Bane, or whoever it was, kicked the crap out of him, he seemingly disappeared."

"Well.....hopefully he's dead or crippled, I've been waiting for someone to take the pyjama boy down and out of my hair." Redhorn took a drink of his coffee and grimaced at the taste. "I don't want that pyjama boy causing shootups in my town any more. Issue a warrant for his arrest, if he appears again......take him down. Shoot to kill if you have to."

"What about The Beast and this guy everyone thinks is Bane?" The younger man went through the reports he held in his hands, "They haven't been seen since last night."

"Good. With a little luck they'll head back up to Gotham now that Nightwing is kaput and give the high and mighty Commissioner Gordon and his winged freak headaches. I have better things to do with my time."

Outside Redhorn's window Robin listened to the conversation through an earpiece as he balanced himself on a flagpole. It was against Batman's rules for Batman or Robin to appear in the daytime so Robin was dressed in a jet black outfit with a black face mask on that resembled a ski mask. He had heard enough and climbed up to the roof of the police building and ran across several adjoining rooftops to an alley two blocks away. In the alley the grey sedan awaited and Robin entered through the front passenger door. Inside Alfred awaited dressed in his usual gentleman's gentleman attire sipping a cup of tea from a thermos.

"What do you have to report Master Tim?"

Tim removed his mask and poured himself some freshly squeezed orange juice from his own thermos. "The authorities have no clue where Dick is Alfred, what's worse is they couldn't care less. I think they would be thrilled if he was found face down in the harbour. That cop he was working with is in critical condition."

"I believe you refer to Inspector Flaherty."

"That's the guy, the cops don't seem to care very much about Bane and The Beast being in town either. Dick told us about how corrupt and lazy the cops were here but this takes the cake."

"Evidently Master Dick was not exaggerating."

"He sure wasn't."

"I agree Master Tim. Shall we begin our search of the Bludhaven docks?"

"I think we better, we have a lot of searching to do and I for one am really worried about Dick." Tim said not bothering to disguise the concern in his voice as he opened his laptop.

"Chin up young sir. We shall begin our task immediately." Replied Alfred in his usual even tone which expertly masked the dread he felt deep in the pit of his soul.

"We have a message coming in on the secure line..........it's from your special operative." The young servant called to the cloaked gentleman sitting in the main conference room. The other cloaked members of Cabal filed into the room and sat at their places around the table. When they were all seated the screen came to life and Bane appeared on it with The KGBeast and Norstrum in the background. They appeared to be in a large dark room that was no doubt one of Norstrum's buildings.

"Bane, good to hear from you, what news do you have my friend?" The man at the head of the table said.

"I have released The Beast from prison, it was a simple matter. Norstrum and I have been working together on a new plan and we may have a new recruit for you."

"Explain."

"Norstrum has been in contact with a woman named Eliza Whelan, she is the daughter of David Whelan, a powerful weapons manufacturer. She was very interested in what Norstrum had to say, she should prove easy to convert. I also have a plan to propose to you, one that will put this country in a state of disarray and allow you to put the candidate of your choice in the position of President Of The United States, we can implement it in 7 weeks time and it will dispose of The President, the vice president and one of his biggest financial supporters .....Bruce Wayne."

"Really, my friend?" The figure sat forward on his seat in anticipation. "Tell me more."

Bane outlined the plan to the heads of Cabal. It could work in the time allotted, using weaponry from David Whelan's R&D division it could work.

"But why do you think we should do this now Bane? Our original plans for the turn of the century will still work."

"Because it will work even better than your plans, we can blame the assassination on a fictional domestic terrorist group fuelling the fears you have spent years creating among the populace. Your hand chosen candidate will run on a platform that will promise this will never happen again if he is elected. People can sleep safely in their beds, and when he is elected Cabal will control the leader of the free world....before the turn of the century. The goods supplied by the Whelan Corporation will make certain all three are killed and the method of assassination will be ingenious and foolproof."

The entire group began whispering amongst themselves excitedly, the lead figure suspected Bane was holding back information.

"How can you guarantee this will work Bane?"

"Because the assassination will take place in Gotham..... and I know the secret identities of Batman, Robin, and Nightwing. Nightwing is defeated, Robin is beneath my notice, and Batman........ I will finally have my revenge on Batman."

The figures at the table were stunned into silence.

"I don't suppose you will share their identities with us."

"I don't share."

"And what do you want in return for the implementation of your plan and the use of your specialized services? Not to mention your special knowledge."

"Quite simply, a position on the lead table of Cabal."

He had discovered that his leg was not broken and decided to count his blessings and get some rest. Nightmares stalked him every time he closed his eyes. Nightmares of Bane snapping him in two like so much kindling and laughing over his broken body. Jean Paul Valley looking down his nose at him, Bruce and Tim fighting crime together as he tried to help but couldn't. The Titans with their backs turned to him. His parents falling from the trapeze in slow motion. Bane standing over their bodies and laughing at them too. He woke up in a cold sweat and fell off his cot, his muscles screaming in pain. He had slept only a few hours that night. He gave up on the idea of sleep, dawn would be here soon and there would be no better time to begin what had to be done. He would remake himself and the coming dawn symbolized his rebirth perfectly.

He struggled to his feet and winced with the pain. Of course, he refused to use painkillers, the pain would serve as a reminder of what Bane had done to him and spur him on. He went to his workbench along the wall and picked up a large handful of nails and a bandanna he usually tied around his forehead when he was working on the car. He began the climb up the ladder along the wall to the loft area which was basically a few sheets of plywood placed over the support beams. Years ago it was used as a storage area for old files. Now it would serve as a training area for Dick Grayson's rebirth. The sheets of wood were only 10 feet by 10 feet and there were 4 of them. After that there was only open air, one false move and Dick could fall to the floor a story and a half below.

The climb itself was agony for Dick, in the back of his mind he wondered if his body would hold up to what he planned on doing but he knew he had to try. When he finally reached the top he paused as the pain caught him by surprise, "My God, I was able to run across the edges of 20 story buildings just last night now I can't climb a ladder without pain." He thought to himself.

After he had caught his breath he stood up and tied the bandanna around his eyes, he could see nothing now. He haphazardly tossed out the nails and heard them fall on the boards placed on the support beams. He heard some of them fall over the side and down to the floor. He calmed himself, breathing deeply. He then attempted to walk on his hands. He managed to get himself balanced and began to walk, on his hands, through the field of nails, completely blind.

He moved ahead twice, he then went to lift his hand and brought it down when he felt the tip of a nail. He brought his hand back. Sweat was pouring off of him now, he was panting heavily, his arms began to shake. He moved ahead twice more before he collapsed. He felt two nails cut his left ankle and his back. He swore as he struggled to his feet.

"I have so much to do." He thought.

He went over his regimen in his mind as he got back on his hands and began "walking" through the minefield of nails on his hands. He would run 10 miles every morning (he would add another 10 miles when his knees strengthened), he would continue his hand walking exercise until he could make it from one end to the other and back again. One thousand sit ups and one thousand push ups every morning, double that in the evening. He would set up a trapeze and begin his aerial training all over again. Three and a half hours of martial arts practice every afternoon, he would review all the disciplines Bruce had taught him and the others he had mastered on his own. He would rediscover Tai Chi Chuan, Shaolin Gung Fu, The August Silence fighting style and a half dozen others. His knees, arms and leg would have to repair themselves by using them as he normally would.

Bane was out there, in his city, laughing at him. The joke was on him though for he had unleashed the warrior in Nightwing that would destroy Bane. He knew the others would be worried about him. He knew it was cruel to leave them hanging like this, but he knew this was something he had to do on his own. He would send them an email when he got a minute to tell them he was ok, if they didn't find him first. He had a lot of work to do. Three days later

"This has to be it." Tim said as he pointed to a large lonely factory in a fenced in area by the docks. Tim had proven himself an excellent prodigy for Batman and had the makings of a superlative detective but he was too close to the people concerned in this case to follow his training properly. Alfred noticed that over the past two days Robin was growing more and more agitated as they searched for Nightwing's lair and failed to find him. The docks of Bludhaven proved to be a vast area of buildings, most of them empty as industry abandoned the city for less industrialized countries where unions, labour and pollution regulations were unheard of.

They had operated out of Dick's apartment and met Clancy on several occasions explaining that they were apartment sitting for Dick while he visited a sick aunt. Robin was doing his best to maintain his distance but his composure failed him as he grew more desperate to find one of his best friends. Alfred was feeling the stress as well although he was hiding it expertly.

"I hope for all our sakes it is Master Tim."

Robin picked the lock and let Alfred in. They approached the building and noticed there were dim lights on in one section of the building that should have been long deserted. It could have been squatters, but they both noted the lock was brand new.

They heard noises from inside, a series of irregularly timed thumps. They entered quietly, Robin leading the way with his quarterstaff in hand. In the centre of the huge complex was Nightwing's muscle car, above it hung several of the alternative bodies he used when camouflage was needed. Off in one corner was the cot, the locker, the workbench, and several bottles of water. Dick could not be seen.

Suddenly Dick came skidding across the boards arranged over the support beams in a shower of nails and curses. Even blindfolded he managed to grab on to a beam with his bad arm and hung precariously for a moment before falling to the floor below and landed in a heap trying to spare more strain on his legs.

"Master Richard!!!"

"Dick!!!"

They ran to him and helped him over to the cot. "What in God's name do you think you're doing Master Dick!! You're injured!!!" Alfred was showing more emotion that Dick had ever seen him, even more than when he found out that Bruce Wayne had decided to take Dick in as his crime fighting partner.

"Actually I'm getting used to falling from that height."

"May I ask sir, have you lost your mind? What would Master Bruce say?"

"Bruce would say do what you have to do to protect your city. I have to do this Al..... Bane is mine he just doesn't know it yet. I'm gonna make him regret ever setting foot in my city. Gonna pay that bastard back for everything he ever did......... to all of us."

"Dick look at you, you're a mess. Take it easy."

"You can't understand Tim, this is something I gotta do, for all of us."

"You do realize don't you that you are just as bad as Master Bruce? That the two of you are more alike than either of you will admit? Bane has driven you both to the point of lunacy with your determination to defeat him. Don't play his game Master Dick........Richard....please."

Dick looked them in the eyes for the first time since they had arrived,

"Is that supposed to be reverse psychology Alfred? Think of the lives Bruce has saved, maybe a bit more determination and a stronger killer instinct is what I need."

"At what cost Dick? Your health? Your sanity?" Tim offered.

"Listen both of you! I appreciate the concern and I know you have my best interests at heart but I AM doing this. Please don't stand in my way. If I can't do this I will get killed the next time I put on that uniform. And I know now that I can't stop being Nightwing. It's part of me, I couldn't live a normal life.... I've been doing this since I was a schoolboy. I am Nightwing just as surely as I am Dick Grayson. I can't deny what I am and at least part of me will always be Nightwing."

Alfred fell silent and rose from the cot to stand over Dick. Tim almost thought Alfred was going to spank him like an errant child. "Very well then." he said. No one was more surprised than Dick, "What did you say Al?"

"I said very well, if you insist on this lunacy, I cannot stop you any more than I could Master Bruce. Please...... Richard, I beg you, take care of yourself. I have no desire to push you around in a wheelchair as I did Master Bruce. If you need anything at all....don't hesitate to contact us."

"Actually I do need a favour, I want Mully to get the best care he can possibly get. Get him transferred to Leslie Thompkins in Gotham, get him a private room, the works ok?"

Alfred straightened up and adjusted his jacket, "I will see to that of course. And see that you do return to us in one piece Master Richard, or you will find Bane's wrath preferable to mine."

Dick stood to face Alfred, there seemed to be nothing left to say. Alfred examined Dick's face and felt like he was seeing him for the first time, there was a look of steel determination there that Alfred had never noticed before. Robin and Alfred left for Gotham, riding in silence, still uncertain as to Dick's future. The dread Alfred felt in the pit of his soul showed no signs of abating.

"So he's O.K.? I heard the buzz that Nightwing was totally destroyed by Bane." The female voice came from the shadows.

"Yeah I guess he's Ok." Robin said in reply, "A little obsessed with destroying Bane, reminds me too much of.......ahhh never mind, he'll survive."

The wind whipped around them, Robin could hear the worry in her voice, "You probably won't see him for a while but he'll be up and around sooner than later. He has a big score to settle with Bane. Is that why you contacted me? You're worried about him?"

"Thanks for the info kid. You don't need to tell anyone I was asking, especially not him. Keep it between us."

"That was a poor evasion of the question. I thought you two were over."

"We are."

"So I can chalk this up to you just keeping up with news on the street?"

"Call it whatever you want, I just want to see him on his feet again."

"You'll get no argument from me."

And with a brief rush of movement Helena Bertinelli, otherwise known to the Gotham underworld as The Huntress disappeared into the Gotham night.

The Hyper-Mart Parking Lot off Woodlawn Drive
1:07 A.M. 5 Weeks and 3 Days Later

"Tell me who you are before I kill you." Asked Lady Shiva Woosan. The silhouetted figure walked out of the moonlight to face Shiva, his boots crunching loudly on the asphalt and gravel.

"You can call me Nightwing, Lady Shiva, you don't know it yet, but you're going to be my final exam."

Her cold eyes flared at the arrogance he displayed. Nightwing could tell she was picturing the many ways she could kill him, deciding which would be most fitting.

"I believe we have met before." She asked, deciding to get a little more information on the man she was about to kill.

"Once or twice Shiva. You re-trained my mentor and we met then, you disarmed me with ease. We met again when you took the guise of the Paper Monkey and tried to kill Green Arrow."

"Yes I remember you. You are affiliated with Batman?"

"I know the secret handshake." Nightwing replied.

"You were never worthy of me. You have insulted me by calling me here."

"Maybe you're right Shiva. Maybe I wasn't worthy of you then. I lured you here with a fake Email for a reason. I am worthy of you now. Try me."

"Why should I?"

"Because you won't leave here alive if you don't." Nightwing knew the threat was empty, but Shiva did not. Despite herself, she noticed the difference in this young man from the moment he walked into the light. He was still lithe and agile looking, but he was far more muscular than she had ever noticed before. In fact, Nightwing seemed to be nothing but rippling muscles. Much more so than ever before. Shiva still had no doubt she could beat him, but she also had no doubt that it would be an excellent fight. One worthy of the trickery that brought her to the wretched city of Bludhaven. She assumed a fighting stance from a discipline Nightwing did not recognize. He didn't care, he would defeat her because he had to. Because the future of Bludhaven and Nightwing depended on it. If he could not defeat her, he would never stand up to the pounding Bane could give him. It was all or nothing. Crunch time.

Nightwing recalled his last days in his lair. He had successfully blocked out the world and everyone in it. He continued his regimen every day without exception. He rebuilt his body as it healed and more importantly, rethought his approach to crime fighting. He thought about the Bruce Wayne persona and the Batman persona. How Batman could be so brutal at times. It hit him then, to survive, he needed to develop his body and his killer instinct to match his detective skills and his gymnastic abilities.

His detective skills were honed, his gymnastic skills at their peak, his fighting skills were adequate, and his instinct was lacking. He knew he didn't have the bulk of Batman to throw muscle around so he decided to use what he had. Nightwing developed a style of fighting all his own that utilized the most gymnastic moves from all the schools he knew of. The theory being you can't beat what you can't hit. Nightwing couldn't go toe to toe with Bane, he needed to make Bane come after him. Shiva, one of the world's most talented fighters and ruthless killers, would be the test.

As if she was able to fly Shiva effortlessly jumped into the air and extended her leg, Nightwing had no doubt if she connected with the kick it would break a bone or two. He grabbed her by the ankle as she came at him and used her own momentum to throw her across the parking lot where she came skidding to a halt.

"So much for the multiple choice part of the exam. Let's move on to the essay section." He said with a smirk, trying to feel like his old self. Shiva rose to her feet as though she were made of air, whatever thoughts she had entertained about testing Nightwing were gone, she would kill him at the first opportunity that prevented itself. She walked towards him, the air about her seemed to turn to ice.

"I suggest you defend yourself." She warned.

"Don't you worry, I will, I like my teeth where they are, thank you."

Shiva's only reply was a flurry of punches, her fists were a blur as she launched her attack. To her surprise, none of them got through Nightwing's defences. Nightwing himself had to admit a little surprise and pleasure at his new skill level. Shiva stepped back and once again looked at Nightwing almost approvingly.

"Indeed you are not the same man Nightwing. You may even be worthy of me and my abilities. It will be your honour to die at my hands."

"So it will."

The following few minutes were an amazing display of agility, speed, and strength. Nightwing and Shiva circled one another, Shiva was clearly the aggressor and that was just how Nightwing wanted it. Bane was the essence of pure aggression and strength and Shiva was cut from the same cloth only she was more elegant in the way she killed. Nightwing could actually appreciate her skill on some level while Bane just turned his stomach. A flurry of kicks and punches rained down upon Nightwing and all of them were aimed at joints and critical muscle areas. Several times Shiva tried running attacks and kicks and Nightwing was so fast he simply was not where her kicks were aimed. Suddenly Shiva stopped and stepped away. They both realized that she was actually breathing heavily. Not one of her punches or kicks had gotten through Nightwing's defence.

"You move like the wind." She said as she caught her breath.

For a split second Nightwing relaxed, that was when the pain exploded within him. "But let us see how your offense fairs." Shiva screamed as she went on the attack, seizing Nightwing's split second relaxation as an opening and lashing out like a coiled cobra. Once again, Nightwing felt pain lance through his body, Shiva's blows didn't have a lot power behind them, her expertise in punishing muscle groups and knowing just where to hit a person for maximum damage was more than enough. For a split second he saw an opening as she changed schools of fighting (to a more deadly one, no doubt) and his hands flew out like lightning with a quick one two snap sending Shiva's head spinning. She stepped away for a moment and wiped a trickle of blood from her lip, smiling seductively.

"You have earned my respect Nightwing." She began walking towards him again, ready to renew the fight, "Now you will feel my wrath."

Nightwing had no doubt that if she had attacked him with this savagery just a few months ago he would probably fall like a house of cards. He was determined to not let that happen now. Shiva unleashed a flurry of spinning kicks at him. Rolling with the blows Nightwing back flipped continuously as Shiva continued to kick and punch him. Finally Shiva connected solidly and it was Nightwing's turn to skid across the pavement. Unlike when Shiva was down however, Nightwing knew he had only seconds before she was on top of him, delivering the killing blow.

He rolled over quickly and looked up to where he thought Shiva was. She was not there. He looked directly above him to see her form fall towards him through the air. If she connected her kick would cause his ribs to pierce his own heart. With only a split second before she struck Nightwing rolled to one side as Shiva landed where Nightwing was only an instant ago with the grace of the greatest ballet dancer that ever lived. Nightwing whirled around on his back and did a leg sweep, bringing Shiva to the ground beside him. Shiva landed with a grunt and exhaled as the wind was knocked out of her body, Nightwing rolled on top of her as she began clawing at his face with her nails, no doubt they were coated with some form of poison. She seemed as if she had the strength of a bear and the speed of a cheetah.

"Die!!" She screamed at him.

"Not today, warrior princess." He countered, and with lightening quickness his open fist between her flailing arms and landed hard on a nerve cluster that temporarily paralysed her right arm. Shiva was stunned and Nightwing produced a pair of handcuffs and fastened one around her wrist and another around the shopping cart corral they were lying beside. Shiva was mortified.

"How dare you?!?! Do you know what I will do to you for making me suffer this indignity?!? I will rip out your heart!!!"

"Maybe one day you will, Lady Shiva. You are a very worthy opponent. I am going to have to leave you for now. I imagine you will free yourself within the hour but by then I'll be long gone."

"You have not heard the last from me Nightwing. When next we meet it will be a battle to the death I assure you."

"Lady Shiva, I owe you that much. But for right now I must say thank you."

"You are thanking me? You should kill me now while you have the chance!! You won't get another I assure you." Shiva was incredulous.

"Thanks to you I now have what I need to defeat a great evil, an evil that threatens the entire world. I have my confidence back, something I haven't had in a very long time. And I have the instinct to match my abilities. Next time you're in Bludhaven, I will grant you that rematch. But right now I have to go and avenge a friend of mine." With those parting words, Nightwing disappeared into the night and left Shiva Woosan plotting her revenge against Nightwing. He knew he would have to deal with her some time in the future but for now he needed to concentrate his energies on Cabal.

Nightwing stood atop the Norstrum Manufacturing Enterprises Building at the core of the business sector in Bludhaven's Ashby District. For a few moments he felt the cold wind whip around him and embrace him as he stood at the edge of the 30 floor building. He was finally back, this was where he belonged. He inhaled deeply and felt his heartbeat slow. He realized why he was trying so hard to feel like his old self when he was fighting Shiva earlier and still failing. It was because he was no longer his old self. He had been beaten down by Bane and faced a critical time in his life, he decided to go it alone without any help and he came back better than before, he had remade himself. Now it was time to put those detective skills to work.

"God, it's great to be back." He smiled as he looked at the city before him.

Norstum was his only connection to Cabal and their plans. He seemed to be intricate to their plans here in Bludhaven. Nightwing walked over to the rooftop entrance and tested the door. It was locked of course. There were no signs of an alarm system around the door. Within 40 seconds he had picked it and slipped inside. He descended to the bottom of a stairwell and entered the top floor office complex. After a little searching he found the C.E.O.'s office doors. He had no doubt that there were alarms guarding this door. He walked down the hall a bit further and found a grill that lead to the air conditioning ducts which he climbed into. It was a tight fit but he managed to squeeze in. After a few wrong turns and dead ends he found himself looking through a grill at Jason Norstrum's office. It was very modern looking with a huge desk in the centre that was bare except for a lamp, a phone, and a pen holder. In the right hand corner was a plush sofa and armchair facing a state of the art entertainment system and a bar. The walls were decorated with very expensive paintings by artists both modern and ancient.

He examined the grill for more alarms but could find none so he removed it and within seconds was inside. He sat in the leather chair behind the desk and looked at the room. He decided to begin with the phone. He picked it up and started to hit the numbers stored in memory. Not surprisingly, the first two numbers were to stock brokers. The third was a lawyer. The fourth was his home number, the fifth his mistress. The sixth number in recall piqued his interest. A voice answered the phone in an accent Nightwing did not recognize.

"Yes Jason, what is it?" came the greeting.

Nightwing decided to gamble, putting his hand over his mouth slightly and speaking in a raspy voice, "Nightwing is back in Bludhaven, my men have seen him." He said.

"What? I thought Bane had defeated him. Should I pull him away from his current duties with the Gotham City plan?"

"No I can handle him."

"What makes you so sure? Is The Beast still staying at your warehouse? I suggest you re-activate him immediately my friend. This Nightwing needs to be dealt with permanently. We need him dead before we get there to initiate Eliza Whelan and her father."

"Yes I'll do that right away."

"Nortrum? Are you all right? What's wrong with your voice?"

"I have a cold that's all."

"Who is this?" The voice on the other end suddenly sounded alarmed.

Nightwing closed the line.

The hooded man put down the phone and sat up straight, thinking about what had just occurred. He opened his laptop and sent a message to all members on the compound. The message was short: "Emergency meeting in 4 hours. All must attend, no excuses will be accepted. Anubis will be there." He then sent a message to Nortrum Security, warning of an intruder in the C.E.O. office.

"Now that was enlightening." Nightwing knew his time in the office was limited, security would be there soon. He made a mental note to check the cell phone records for Norstrum the night he was at Wayne Manor to see who Norstrum was talking to. He scanned the room quickly, it was spartan. There was no safe behind any of the paintings. He examined the walls. Nothing he could see. In the distance he could hear sirens coming closer. Had the security people called the police in? He examined the entertainment unit. It rested on a large piece of marble and consisted of a stereo, a huge television, VCR, and other toys. He picked up the remote which was lying on top of the TV. He examined it. It seemed to be a standard remote control but was much heavier than others he had used. Could it be it had some other use? He looked at the buttons on the panel, he noticed one in the far left hand corner that had no name. No "power", "input", nothing, no name at all. He pressed it. The entire entertainment unit began to move upwards while emitting a small hum. Rising out of the marble slab was a safe.

"Ohhhh, spank me." He muttered to himself as he smiled.

Nightwing kneeled down and began trying to pick the lock. It was obviously a state of the art piece of work, he wondered if he would have time to get it open. After 2 minutes and thirty seconds he was no closer to getting it open and sirens wailed several stories below him as Bludhaven Police cars screeched to a halt at the entrance to the building, which was closed for the night. Nightwing ran over to the window to see two swat teams bust in through the street level entrance.

"Aww the hell with this." He said as he removed a small detonator and plastique from one of his boot compartments and attached it to the safe door. Within ten seconds he hit the detonator and blew the door open. Alarms sounded throughout the building. He looked inside to see what would be of interest to him. There was money, stock portfolios, deeds, a small bag of pills, and a thick red folder with a picture on it embossed in gold. It had a picture of a man sitting on a throne with two different looking pillars on either side of him. Nightwing grabbed it and the stock portfolios. The sound of heavy footfalls and yelling was almost deafening now.

"Freeze!! B.C.P.D!!" It was Redhorn himself leading the team. The small red dots of laser sights filled the room as they busted open the door. A loud crash deafened them all and a brief patch of darkness flew past them as Nightwing dove out through the window into the open. Redhorn and a few others ran to the window to see Nightwing falling like a dead weight towards the pavement below. The cops on the street below gasped in horror. At the last second Nightwing threw out a jumpline and snared a street light. His incredible momentum allowed him to arc upwards again and let go of the jumpline before it tore off his hand, when it reached its maximum height he somersaulted to a nearby ledge only two stories above the crowd below.

"Jeeze!! This guy is nuts!" Redhorn muttered as he watched Nightwing run across the ledge and around the corner of the building. The entire team stood there unsure of what to do.

In just under a minute Nightwing was 6 blocks away and getting into his muscle car. He slipped the purloined documents into a fireproof safe he built into the dashboard and locked it. He would look at them later tonight after he took care of one more important piece of unfinished business.

"Beast." Came the voice from the darkness.

The KGBeast sat up and whirled around to face the shadows of his small room in Nortrum's secondary warehouse on the Bludhaven docks where he was to wait until Bane and Norstrum needed him again.

"Who is there?"

"I told you once I would follow you to the ends of the Earth to bring you down. And you still stayed in my city. That was a mistake."

All at once he realized who was waiting for him in the shadows. Nightwing. He activated his cyber weapon and sprayed the room with bullets, firing at everything and nothing all at the same time.

"Is that the best you can do?" Came Nightwing's voice again from the shadows.

"Show yourself so I can finish what I started!! I should have known Bane would not finish you!!" The Beast roared.

Nightwing stepped from the shadows (a place The Beast was sure he had fired at only moments before). Something was different about Nightwing but Bane was too angry to actually care. He roared and charged at Nightwing with his head slightly downward. Nightwing just stood there daring The Beast to take him down. With lightening like quickness Nightwing side stepped The Beast and snapped out a punch that sent The Beast flying into the corner unconscious.

"Well, it's about damn time." He said to himself as The Beast slumped into the corner. He put three sets of handcuffs on The Beast and dragged him out to the car. He found a pay phone that worked but instead of calling the local police he called the F.B.I. and let them know where The Beast could be found. It was obvious the Bludhaven penal system could not hold a criminal as dangerous as him. Besides, he was an international criminal with outstanding crimes to answer for, this was the best possible solution as far as he was concerned.

Nightwing's car took off into the night and before long he parked it in his lair and for the first time in weeks returned to his apartment. He slipped into the building quietly as he didn't feel like being confronted by Clancy or anyone else at the moment. He made it up to his room unseen and went inside. The first thing he noticed was the small stand up freezer in the corner by the fridge.

"Now that's new." He said to himself.

He walked over to it and opened it up. The freezer was filled with an array of homemade dishes including meat sauces for pasta, two lasagnas, some shepherd's pie and chocolate chip cookies. For the first time in a long time Dick felt cared for. He realized he had missed it greatly. An envelope rested on the kitchen counter. It read:

"Master Dick,

I have taken the liberty of emptying out that poor excuse of a daily menu you had in your refrigerator and leaving you something nutritious to eat when you return to us. I have also taken the liberty of taking a trip to Bludhaven once a week and cleaning your apartment. I trust you will find everything in order. I look forward to your return as soon as possible. Please inform us when you do.

Alfred,"

"Thanks Alfred." He smiled as he pulled the lasagna from the freezer and popped it in the microwave. He opened the fridge and found it stocked with Coca-Cola and Orange Juice. He cracked open a Coke and sat down on the bed with the papers he had stolen from Nortrum's safe. He knew he couldn't go to sleep until he read what was in there. He opened the red folder and began to read. He didn't stop reading until well after daybreak. What he read shocked him beyond anything he could have imagined.

Dick woke up at 12:09 P.M. the next morning with a start. He had only fallen asleep at 5:35 or so that morning after reading the document he had stolen from Norstum's office earlier in the evening. It had been a long time since Dick had been in the comfort of home and he slept soundly. When he awoke he felt completely refreshed and awake. He showered and shaved and by 1:35 was dressed in a denim shirt, a pair of dockers and was ready to face the day.

The burning question was "what to do next?" What Dick learned had made him aware of the enemy he was now facing. He couldn't quite believe the scenario that the document revealed to him. As he understood it, the group now known as Cabal dated back, in one form or another, for several centuries. The group had been involved in influencing crucial world events for hundreds of years and were apparently a fourth player in the ongoing war for a new world order of sorts between The Papacy, The Order Of St. Dumas, and "The Immortal One" otherwise known as Ra's Al Ghul.

It really began with the crucifiction. Not the crucifiction of Jesus Christ however, it began after the crucifiction of one Jacques De Molay, an ill fated leader of The Knights Templar. In the year 1292 A.D. a minor noble named Jacques De Molay was elected Grand Master of The Knights Templar. At this time The Holy Order Of The Knights Templar answered to no one on Earth save the Pope himself. It is strongly rumoured that The Knights Templar had excavated under Herod's temple when they possessed The Holy Land and were in possession of an untold amount of riches. Indeed, the document Dick Grayson now read confirmed this entirely.

No King could tell The Order Of The Knights Templar what to do, they were as powerful and deadly as warriors as they were indescribably wealthy. In fact, most countries owed The Templars money and they became the world's first bankers. However, The Order came to an end when an ambitious French King named Phillip "The Fair" kidnapped two different Popes, both of whom mysteriously died. The next Pope was Pope Clement The 5th, who was a virtual prisoner (and therefore puppet) of King Phillip. King Phillip wanted the untold riches The Templars were supposed to possess in order to continue waging his wars abroad. He also knew that he couldn't make any move against The Templars without Papal concession. Phillip and Pope Clement then accused The Templars of a litany of heretical practices including spitting on the cross and homosexual acts. The dark ages were about to begin.

With Pope Clement The 5th under his control The armies of Phillip The Fair stormed the bastions of The Order on Friday April 13th 1307, thus giving birth to the legend of that unlucky day. Jacques De Molay and many other Templars were tortured by crucifiction, the rack and other manners of unspeakable torture. Phillip confiscated all their lands and goods, but the often rumoured treasure of The Templar Knights was never found. It is rumoured that the night before Phillip's armies descended on The Order several of them sailed under cover of darkness for safer territories. This much was known to historians and Dick was somewhat familiar with the story. What followed was the story of what happened actually happened to the treasure and The Order Of The Knights Templar.

According to the book Dick had stolen fewer Knights had escaped than popular legend would indicate. Only two ships fully laden with treasure fled France that night and both landed in Scotland. Pope Clement The 5th issued a Papal Bull that disbanded The Order and banned their existence forever, however the Papal order was not passed in Scotland. The surviving Templars were bitter, angry, frightened, exhausted, and devoid of hope. They had served God and his representative on Earth, The Pope, only to be betrayed. The Templars had gone from the most powerful group on Earth to a group of hunted fugitives with no allies literally overnight. The Templars were good men but they had become haughty and arrogant and flaunted the fact that they were a closed order with very secret rituals. This allowed others to betray them and reduce them to a shadow of what they once were.

The two surviving boatloads of Templars vowed that this would never happen again. They were disillusioned with The Papacy which they saw as corrupt puppets of powerful Kings and without the moral leadership of men like Jacques De Molay (who was now seen as some form of second Messiah) they were ready to do anything to achieve their goals. They slowly came to realize that money was the one true path to power, and that they had in great amounts. They believed that the key to the downfall of the most powerful group on Earth was due to their over exposure and an alliance with others they could not trust. The Knights Templar went underground, disavowing their names and their former ways, they formed a new organization, code named "Cabal". Stealth and guile would now be their primary weapons. They closed their ranks as well, only the surviving Templar Knights were part of the Cabal,hey took no new members for several centuries, instead only the descendants of the original outcasts were initiated into the group. The Order Of The Knights Templar now belonged to history and some people even tried to resurrect the order in recent years calling themselves Knights Templar. They had no connection to the original order, however, and were basically a harmless men's group. Traces of practices of The Order Of The Knights Templar survived into modern day in the practices of Free Masons but even these were heavily edited and barely resembled their origins.

According to the document the new Order was out not only for revenge but for that which they believe they were denied. World leaders and a corrupt Church had betrayed them and gone on to reshape the world. The surviving Knights decided that they were as fit to rule the world as Phillip The Fair or Pope Clement The 5th. Why not them? They created an outer group that rarely came into contact with the leaders of Cabal. These people were often "brainwashed" when needed and told that they were doing Holy work that would restore good morals, decency, and an accountable world government to the people, others simply did the bidding of Cabal for money. These people served basically as deluded foot soldiers to Cabal. No more would they risk their own to achieve their goals. Four years ago they decided to use Millennium fear as the key to getting their power back. There would be no better way to gain the control they wanted, and no more appropriate date. This was the brainchild of Cabal's mysterious leader, only referred to in the book as "ANUBIS", the Egyptian God of death.

"It's never the loud psychos you have to worry about, it's the quiet ones." Dick said to himself as he closed the document and sat back on the couch. It was obvious that trying to take these men to conventional forms of justice for punishment was impossible. They were so wealthy they made Bill Gates look like a pauper and they had centuries of experience at remaining behind the scenes and getting others to do their dirty work. Dick's best bet was to stop their plans himself and set them back as far as he could. After all, they worked outside the realm of the law, who better to stop them than Nightwing, also someone who worked outside the law?

The next thing he had to do was email his findings to The Batcave and to Oracle. If Nightwing failed in taking them down or was captured others needed to be aware of this most secret and powerful society. Batman was busy with Gotham City's problems and incommunicado most of the time, so he felt better knowing Oracle was also in the loop. He also knew that these people planned on initiating Eliza Whelan into their group. This was his one of the only cards he held in his hand, Cabal couldn't know that Dick Grayson was watching Eliza as Nightwing and following her back to them. He was also aware of some plans they had for Gotham City but exactly what he didn't quite know.....yet.

Dick then remembered that Jason Norstrum was using a cell phone when he received his phone call from Cabal at the party held at Wayne Manor. Using stolen passwords supplied to him by Robin and Oracle Dick hacked his way into Nortrum's account and traced the phone call received that evening. The call was routed through many different numbers but after two hours of searching found the origin to be a South American number owned by a "Genesis Industries". After a little more searching in restricted areas he found the actual phone was used by the C.E.O. of the company, the man's name was Geoff De Payen. Dick recalled that "De Payen" was the surname of one of the original Templar Knights. He again emailed these findings to both Batman and Oracle as well and added on the message to Oracle that any information she could find on Genesis Industries and Geoff De Payen would be most helpful.

Seconds later an icon started flashing on his desktop, Oracle wanted to talk to him. Dick double clicked the icon and a new window opened up. Barbara Gordon's face assembled from the pixels on the screen. She didn't look happy.

"Dick Grayson!! Where in the HELL have you been?"

"Hi Babs I was just..."

"Hi Babs?!? Hi Babs?!? That's all you have to say? I was worried to death about you!! So was everyone else! Who do you think you are anyway that you can just disappear from our lives without so much as a see you later? And all because Bane beat you around? Sometimes I just don't understand you, Grayson!! If I was there I'd pop you in the mouth so hard you wouldn't wake up until next Friday!! I was just about ready to send The Titans out looking for you!! You have friends you know! We care about you and we deserve better than the treatment you gave us!!"

Despite himself, Dick smiled at Barbara, "It's good to see you Babs."

Despite herself, Barbara smiled too, "It is fantastic to see you too, Boy Wonder."

"I know I should have handled this better. I admit that freely. And don't take any offense at this but you don't know what Bane did to me. How he completely dominates you, makes you feel like a weak kitten, not just in your body but in your soul too. He got to me Barbara, he owned me. I haven't felt fear like that since I was a kid with two-face. I only recently got that monkey off my back, I lived in fear of that spilt personality psychotic so long I grew used to it. It wasn't until I was forced to face him again when I was subbing for Batman that I dealt with it and beat it. If I hadn't of done what I did then and there, seclude myself and get back my nerve, I would have died. If not then and there with a dead soul, than the next time I tried to stop a two bit mugger. Anyone could have killed me easily after that. And what if Robin was with me when I was taken down? What if he was hurt because of my mental and physical problems? By God, I wasn't going to let it happen again. And just for the record, I am very sorry I did this to you. I feel like a heel and for a very good reason. You deserve so much better."

Both of them were silent for a few minutes. They both felt bad about how each treated the other. Dick saw a small tear escape Barbara's eye. Neither of them knew exactly what to say next.

"Barbara ....I ...."

"Shhhhhh Dick. I forgive you for everything. Do you forgive me?"

He smiled, "Nothing to forgive, believe me."

"I'll check on this stuff for you and get back to you as soon as I can." and with the warmest smile Dick had ever seen she closed the connection. Dick leaned back in his chair and sighed with relief. He didn't feel that great about how he had blocked everyone out of his life but if Barbara was any indication he had great friends and they would no doubt be as wonderful as she was.

Now that he had dealt with that he knew it was time to get back to work. He had to keep an eye on Eliza Whelan and she would lead him to Cabal. He got up and went to Eliza's apartment door, knocking twice. She answered the door after 5 minutes had passed. She was dressed only in a towel and was soaking wet. Her man of long red hair was also up in a towel. When she saw it was Dick at the door she threw her arms around him and pressed herself against him. Dick had to admit she seemed to genuinely like him. He also knew she liked his status and money as well.

"Richard!! I've missed you!! Where on Earth have you been keeping yourself? Do you know how hard it is to find civilized company in this town?"

"Sorry Eliza, I've been touring some foreign holdings for Wayne Industries for the past few weeks. It was a last minute type of thing."

It was then that Clancy came around the corner, dressed in her usual overalls and cap. A toolbox in one hand and a huge wrench in the other. She appeared to be walking with purpose, no doubt off to solve another tenant's problems. She didn't notice Dick and Eliza until she practically bumped into them. At the sight of Eliza, wet and dressed only in a towel, her arms entwined around Dick, her face wore a look of disgust which within seconds was masked by false civility.

"Why Dick, I had no idea you were back in town."

Dick tried to unwrap Eliza's arms from around his neck as he spoke, looking sheepish, "Uh, Hi Clancy. I just got back last night. I was going to come and see you later."

"After you came to see Ms. Whelan Dick?"

"Well who can resist a woman in a towel Ms. Clancy?"

Dick grimaced with every word Eliza spoke, could she come on any stronger? "My God every time I see this woman my life becomes a sitcom." He thought to himself. Before he could respond Clancy stormed off down the hall and around the corner, no doubt off to do whatever chores needed her attention. He was staring down the hall where Clancy had been for several minutes before he realized that Eliza was looking at him with that hungry look in her eye.

"Why don't you come in Dick? I have missed you."

"Sorry Eliza I really can't I was just in the neighbourhood and wanted to say hi. I actually have a prior appointment."

"Richard Grayson I swear you are a very secretive man. Well it just so happens that tonight I have an appointment myself. You remember that man we met at your party? Jason Norstrum? Well I am going to see a few of his friends tonight, they are supposed to be a very moral upright group and they want to return values and decency to society. My father is going to be there tonight as well I haven't seen him since forever I am sooooo excited!" Eliza was almost giddy.

"Well have a nice time Eliza, and be careful." Dick knew that as soon as night fell he would be closer to Eliza Whelan than her own shadow.

Geoff De Payen donned the ceremonial headgear that he loved so much just as his father had done and his father before him for hundreds of years. The headgear was made to resemble the image of Anubis, the Egyptian God of death. The irony was not lost on De Payen. There were certain links between the Knights Templar and ancient Egyptian rituals of life and death and if there was one thing De Payen cherished, it was time honoured rituals. The middle aged man looked like any other respectable businessman with a well manicured dark beard with specks of grey and crystal blue eyes. The only sign of strain anyone could detect was around his eyes. He was nervous about this flight to America away from their safe base of operations in South America. Bludhaven had been a constant thorn in Cabal's side since they decided to base their American operations there and Nightwing was a serious threat to their plans. That was partly why he had approved stepping up operations and going ahead with Bane's plan to assassinate The President Of The United States and wealthy industrialist Bruce Wayne. When costumed vigilante's started interfering, it was time to turn up the heat and act. No more would the lone survivors of The Knights Templar be caught flat footed and without defences. He mentally prepared himself and walked out of his cabin into the circle of hooded men that awaited him. When he entered they bowed respectfully to him, their hoods covering their faces. When he spoke it was in a very deep voice.

"My brothers, soon we will land in America and our plans will be set in motion. Within the week we will have initiated one of the worlds most powerful weapons manufacturers and his daughter into our ranks, killed The President and thusly paving the way for our own candidate to take control, and with the help of our operative Bane we will assassinate Bruce Wayne, whose companies have been an unknowing thorn in our side and then he will tell us the secret identity of Batman. For this secret we have promised him a powerful position within Cabal. I have no intention of letting a monster such as Bane rule with us, he is a foot soldier, nothing more. When we have what we need from Bane we will dispose of him. Either by violence or subterfuge, we will dispose of him as Batman and our old enemy Ra's Al Ghul could not. Within the week, Cabal will finally have the revenge we have sought and the treachery of those like Phillip The Fair will be undone as we step up to world power. Do you stand with me?"

Every head in the circle nodded affirmative. Beneath his mask Geoff De Payen smiled. They were entering endgame and they would win the day. Nightwing, Bane, Batman, Superman, none of them had the combined intelligence, guile, and experience to defeat Cabal. Victory was almost at hand.

Bludhaven
Several Hours Later

The sun had barely disappeared over the horizon when Nightwing emerged from his apartment window. His earlier visit to Eliza Whelan's apartment allowed him to plant a tiny bat shaped receiver in her room which allowed him to listen in on her during the day. Now that night had fallen he sat crouched on the rooftop of the building opposite his own with a pair of high powered binoculars keeping a keen eye on Eliza Whelan. After an hour of waiting her phone rang and she answered it, but never uttered a single word. Nightwing knew from experience that this was what he was waiting for.

Within minutes Eliza was leaving her room and emerged on the street below. Seconds later a limousine pulled up and she disappeared inside. Nightwing easily followed the stretch limo via jumpline and when the car stopped at Bludhaven Plaza Hotel, she got out and entered the lobby alone. Nightwing felt bad using her to lead him to Cabal but he could see no other way to find them. He made a mental note to make sure nothing happened to harm the beautiful temptress. The powerful lenses followed Eliza into the lobby and into an elevator. Having some experience at reading lips, he could barely make out the words "penthouse level" as she turned to the elevator operator.

The Bludhaven Plaza Hotel was one of the few swanky hotels in the city and the tallest building on The Bludhaven skyline. The penthouse level was a series of six luxurious apartments with everything the rich traveller could imagine. Huge windows in every apartment offered a fantastic view of the skyline and made it that much easier for Nightwing to search the rooms for his quarry. The building was sheer wall with very little in the way of foot or handholds but Nightwing managed to get a good look in every window thanks to his aerial ability. The fourth set of windows revealed his quarry to him. In the middle of a spacious room Eliza Whelan and her father were encircled by several men in robes and one man who wore a uniform which Nightwing realized resembled that of the Egyptian God Of Death, Anubis. When he spoke, it reminded Nightwing of the speech he heard Jason Norstrum give several weeks ago in one of his warehouses to the assembled mercenaries and killers. This time however Nightwing was prepared, he attached a special microphone to the glass and activated a recorder in his gauntlet.

"My brethren. Without you I am helpless to carry out the plans of Cabal. It falls to us to make sure the next millennium is a better one than this. Someone needs to have the strength of will to take back the world and make difficult decisions to see the world through a difficult time. We are the Power! We are the glory! Forever and ever! Within a week The President Of The United States will be dead and one of our operatives will be in control. Cabal will be the invisible power that rules the world. Do you Eliza Whelan and you David Whelan pledge your lives, your wealth, and your power to this goal?"

Before the two initiates could answer the question Nightwing kicked in the window and flipped into the room as the hooded members of Cabal stepped back in shock.

"Conspiracy to kill the President Of The United States De Payen? I'm afraid I'll have to put a stop to this right now," Nightwing held up the recorder, "I have it all here on tape. Care to confess to anything else? I don't think any of you have the stones to take me on so why don't we just call 911 and wait for the FBI to arrive?"

De Payen turned towards Nightwing and removed his headgear. Underneath he looked like any Wall Street tycoon. "No my young friend, I don't think so. I have prepared for your interference."

Suddenly Nightwing felt hands of iron clamp down on both his shoulders, completely immobilizing him. Without warning, he was thrown like a rag doll out the window. The street below only seconds away. With skill borne of a lifetime of aerialist training and his more recent training in his lair he twisted around in midair and shot out a jumpline. It caught and he used the momentum to land on a large rooftop across the street. He landed roughly, toppling and flailing, but he managed to land without breaking any bones. It was then that he heard the voice of the man standing above him.

"I thought I had broken you Nightwing. Yet here you are. Very impressive indeed, it is difficult to twist in midair and save yourself when you are flailing like a chicken. I will have to be more thorough this time. Like I was when I killed your policeman friend." Bane stood over him, flexing his incredible muscles. Nightwing slowly climbed to his feet, facing the looming giant. Slowly he reached up and pulled off his mask, revealing his true face to Bane.

"All right Bane. It's just you and me now. No one to see us. If we are going to finish this let's do it like men. No masks. No alter egos. Dick Grayson and Bane. To the bitter end."

Slowly Bane pulled off his own mask, revealing his mean face. He too threw his mask to the ground.

"To the bitter end."

The wind whipped past them as Bane and Dick Grayson faced one another on the rooftop next to The Bludhaven Plaza Hotel.

"I will make this very painful for you."

"You've already made it painful Bane. You busted me up. Yet here I am. Just like you did to Batman. Remember him? You couldn't finish the job with him either."

"You are no Batman." Bane snorted with contempt.

"You're right..... I'm Nightwing .....I'm also Dick Grayson ...... and I am gonna kick your ugly ass straight back to whatever circle of hell you crawled out of."

Bane had never heard this kind of talk from Batman or any other man he had fought. He had faced killers and vermin in and out of jail that had talked tough before a fight, but Dick Grayson's voice was not hysterical. It was not cocksure or desperate. It was an even tone that was as serious as the grave. Nightwing meant to do exactly what he said, he had no doubts. He was not the same man that Bane had faced on The Bludhaven docks only a few short weeks ago, he was dangerous now. Bane knew that despite this, he would destroy Nightwing for good, it would just be a little harder than before. That was fine with him, he needed a good workout anyway. Bane lunged, the battle was joined.

Hands of iron reached for Nightwing at an amazing speed that defied the logic of Bane's massive bulk. Blockbuster couldn't move that fast, The KGBeast couldn't move that fast, no one that big should have been able to move that fast. Fortunately for Dick, he wasn't there when the hands lunged for him. Ducking down under Bane's reach and supporting himself on his hands, Dick lashed out with a kick straight to Bane's jaw. Bane ran straight into it at full speed and toppled like a leaf in the wind, rolling over Nightwing and skidding on the asphalt rooftop for several feet. He rose to his feet and rubbed his jaw, a second later he spit out some teeth.

"That....... hurt." He said through a mouthful of blood.

"You haven't seen the half of it yet." Dick responded, his face deadly serious. This time Bane approached his quarry slowly, his arms in a defensive position. Dick also dropped into a defence position from the August Silence School of combat, awaiting Bane's attack. Bane was not especially skilled in deadly arts. His massive size, blinding speed, and horrible brutality were his main weapons. Bane could crush a normal man without so much as a bead of sweat appearing on his forehead. Dick's only course of action was to use what tools he had at his disposal. Dick wasn't as tall as Batman and he wasn't quite as strong either. What he was however was fast, much faster than Batman and more agile and acrobatic by far. Back in his lair he had learned to incorporate his strengths into his fighting style and came up with one that was his own. Shiva was the first test, he had survived, KGBeast had also fallen to him, so would Blockbuster in time. For now there was Bane, and he was the final exam. It was pass / fail time, there would be no make up test. To fail meant death, but even worse than that, to fail meant failure, and he was gut sick of failure. Here and now he was taking back his identity, once and for all.

Like lightning Bane reached out and grabbed Nightwing's forearm, with feral strength he pulled Nightwing's arm so hard it almost came out of the socket. Wrenched off his feet, Nightwing soon felt his defences smashed as Bane rained down punch after punch on his opponent. Dick tried to shield himself from the punches but it was inevitable that at least some of them would make contact. Fire ripped through his body once again as pain enveloped him. Worse than the physical pain was the mental pain, the memory of what Bane had done to him only weeks before. The memory of what Bane had done to them all. Mully Flaherty lying on the deck of the ship, broken and bleeding. Bruce Wayne in a wheelchair after Bane's attack on him, also broken, a shadow of the great man that only few knew as the crime fighter Batman. Of Alfred, also injured in Bane's attack on Wayne mansion. Of all the innocents of Gotham who suffered because of Bane's reign as crime lord of Gotham and Bruce's handpicked successor as Batman, The Avenging Knight known as Azreal, a choice everyone would regret. He felt fear and hopelessness grip his spine. Could Bane be stopped? Especially by Nightwing? The one Batman himself deemed unworthy as his replacement? Nightwing thought to himself as pain wrenched his body. All at once, the answer came to him, and he felt the anger swell within him, giving him strength. He whispered the answer to himself as the realization hit him.

"Yes."

An elbow snapped out and hit Bane in the nose, Nightwing could instantly tell that it had broken. Bane's head snapped back and his knees wobbled. Pressing his advantage, Nightwing whirled himself about and threw all his weight behind a roundhouse kick. Once again the impact snapped Bane's head back but he refused to fall.

"That was for Bruce Wayne!" Nightwing yelled.

Again he whipped around and landed a roundhouse kick to Bane's jaw. Again the monster refused to fall.

"That was for Alfred!!"

And again he tried for a roundhouse kick, this time Bane blocked it, however Nightwing used his momentum and swung around, delivering a knife edge chop to Bane's neck.

"That was for Robin!!"

Bane was staggering, his footing unsure. Nightwing knew that his attacks were having an effect. Changing his tactics, Nightwing dropped to the ground and extended his leg in a sweeping motion. Bane fell to the ground in a heap.

"That was for Mully!" He roared.

Nightwing somersaulted forward and landed on Bane's chest, pinning his legs to the ground. Putting his own face very close to Bane's, he whispered almost softly, "And this one Bane, is for me... pucker up you bastard..."

There was no way that Nightwing could have heard the gunshot from the penthouse that he had only minutes ago fallen from. Nonetheless, Geoff De Payen had managed to fire off a shot from Bane's sniper rifle that he had left in the penthouse. The bullets were of a special teflon coated variety that pierced body armour such as the type Nightwing wore. Fortunately for Nightwing, De Payen was not a good shot, he was aiming for Nightwing's head, however the bullet hit him in the shoulder as he brought down his fist. The impact sent Nightwing rolling forward into a heap on the rooftop only inches from a dazed Bane. Pain shot through Nightwing's shoulder and down through his arm. He wasn't even fully aware of what had happened until he saw the blood rushing down his arm. Then he was aware of one more thing. Bane was standing over him again.

This time Bane was totally efficient in his fighting style, he attacked the areas on Nightwing that he had injured only weeks before. Forming his fingers into a knife edge Bane thrust hard and pain seared through Nightwing's ribs. Then it seared through his legs, Bane remembered quite well that areas in which he had injured his foe. Bane was a master of his art, and his art form was pain. He continued his attack on Nightwing until Dick was curled up in the fetal position, coughing up blood.

"Now you see, Nightwing? There is no way you could have beaten me. I am not afraid to use any means at my disposal to win. Unlike you and your stupid hero's code. It disgusts me and you disgust me. You are still a little boy, Dick Grayson, you were never worthy of me." Bane spit on Nightwing as he lay there in pain. "You are so weak you would never even consider cheating to win."

Nightwing looked up at Bane, a quizzical look on his face.

"Cheating Bane....? You mean using everything at your disposal right? You mean cheating..... like this?" In one fluid motion that took every bit of energy Nightwing had he threw a handful of his throwing stars directly in Bane's face. Bane felt the flesh on his face rip and spurt blood. Bane's hands covered his face and he stumbled backward screaming. A split second later Nightwing launched both his escrima fighting sticks at Bane's knees as hard as he could. Both fighting sticks found their mark and Bane fell to the ground, now clutching his knees.

Summoning his fading strength, Nightwing once again threw himself on Bane and wrapped his own legs around Bane's in order to apply a pressure manoeuver that street fighters sometimes used. He began to squeeze as hard as he possibly could. Bane writhed in agony.

"Like I said Bane...... pucker up........."

Bane howled as bones in his legs cracked like dry kindling. Finally, Nightwing released the pressure and slowly pulled himself to his feet. He had won, he had finally defeated Bane. He looked up to the penthouse window he had shattered. There was no one there. It was most likely De Payen and Cabal had fled, he had to pursue. He was about to toss out a jumpline when Bane's voice came from behind him.

"You're not done yet Nightwing...." He said.

"You're finished Bane." Nightwing said as if it was a command.

"Not me fool. As we speak both The President and Bruce Wayne are walking into their deaths. Did you think I was going to actually do it? We wanted both Cabal and myself far away when the deed was done. One of my most trusted men will kill them with a device of my design and built by Whelan's weapons manufacturers. You may have defeated me, but Cabal will still win the day." Bane tried to move and was stopped as the sounds of cracking bones in his leg caused him to recoil in pain.

Nightwing gently rested his boot on Bane's knee, "Tell me Bane. Tell me before I get angry."

Bane laughed, "Never, Nightwing, I will still win the day I think. What will you do? Stay here and make sure myself and Cabal are brought to justice? Or go and save your mentor? The one who wouldn't give you the chance to face me. Does Bruce Wayne mean that much to you?"

It only took Nightwing a second to decide because there was really no decision to make.

"Damn you!" He said as he began to run across the rooftop, away from Bane. He stopped only to bend down and pick up his mask, donning it once again he ran for the edge and jumped off, all the while leaving Bane behind, laughing maniacally. Bane knew that he would somehow manage to be long gone by the time Nightwing summoned emergency services and the police to his position, he swore that some day he would once again face Nightwing, and kill him. Batman would follow, then Robin, then Azrael, and anyone else who stood in his way. He would kill them all one day. One day very soon......

Nightwing was still in pain and yet he felt invigorated. He had done it. At long last he had defeated Bane soundly. So he was good enough after all. Despite the pain, a smile blossomed on his face. He was a new man. Nightwing raced across the rooftops and within minutes was in his lair. Quickly patching up the bullet wound he had received. Seconds later he had Oracle on the computer. She saw Dick's condition and was about to speak but he cut her off, "Babs I don't have time to talk right now, before you ask it's not as bad as it looks. Bane is defeated but he said Bruce and The President are walking into their deaths. Do you know what that means?"

Oracle's mouth dropped open, she obviously knew something. "Dick, Bruce is taking a motorcade with the President through downtown Gotham. Their touring the ravaged earthquake sights. And it happens today. It was all over the papers but you were in seclusion in your... garage!"

"Oh my God..." Dick muttered, Bane wasn't bluffing.

He thanked Oracle and quickly cut the connection. He contacted the Batcave. Robin answered. Dick quickly told Robin what was happening and watched as the young boy's face turned pale, Alfred joined Robin at the console, his face growing more worried by the minute.

"Dick, Bruce already left, he didn't want to do it but Lucius Fox promised The White House Gotham's first citizen would be there. What do we do?"

"Tim get out there and shadow Bruce and the Presidential party, turn on your homing beacon so I can find you when I get there. I'll be there in 20 minutes."

At this Alfred spoke up, "May I remind you Master Dick that Bludhaven is at least 40 minutes drive away?"

"I'm about to set a new record, and who said I was going to drive? See you in 20 folks."

Robin couldn't believe what he was seeing. Nineteen minutes after being contacted by Nightwing he looked over the horizon and saw Nightwing flying towards him. They had used gliders before in their war on crime but Nightwing had made special modifications on his. Highs speeds were always a hobby of Dick's, he was notorious for being a fast driver on both his motorcycle and in his car. It seemed that flying was no different for him. Flying faster than he had ever seen the gliders go, Robin watched as Nightwing unstrapped himself from the glider and somersaulted down to the ground as the glider arced high overhead and finally crashed several hundred feet beyond them.

They were in a field on the outskirts of town and Robin was waiting in his car "The Redbird" for Nightwing. The Presidential Procession was due to pass by only 4 miles down the road. Robin frowned as he saw Nightwing's bandaged arm, "Are you all right? What happened to you?"

"Bane happened to me kiddo. I settled his hash, but not before he taunted me about this assasination attempt. He may have been lying so he could get away but what choice to I have but to believe him? The safety of the free world may be at stake here." Nightwing told him as they got into The Redbird. Together they drove into town and took to the rooftops as soon as they could. Robin informed him that the procession was due to drive through at any moment. The streets were crowded with well wishers and onlookers as well as secret service men. Due to the recent earthquake in Gotham the rooftops were too unstable to set up Service men there, so Nightwing and Robin had that area to themselves.

Nightwing scanned the crowd as he remembered Bane's words, "Did you think I was going to actually do it? We wanted both Cabal and myself far away when the deed was done. One of my most trusted men will kill them with a device of my design and built by Whelan's weapons manufacturers." That would have to be the key, to save Bruce and The President, Nightwing would have to find Bane's henchman. The one who would actually kill them. As he scanned the crowd he could see The Procession in the distance, coming this way.

"Robin keep your eyes peeled, we need to find someone who looks like Bane's lackey, and the sooner the better." He informed Tim. Robin broke out his mini binoculars and began to scan the crowd as well. Time was their biggest enemy. Anyone could be the one they were looking for. Anyone in the crowd could have their finger on the button. They didn't have time to be wrong. The procession was only seconds away. Instinctively, Dick began to think like Bruce taught him to all those years ago. He thought of Bane and Bane's psyche profile. What defined Bane? Bane was a criminal since he was a child. He has only known prisons for most of his life. Bane actually carried a teddy bear during part of his stay in Blackgate after Batman put him away. Bane had a fixation on childhood. He scanned the crowd again, there was a special section for the press which he immediately discounted as a possibility. He scanned the section of the crowd that was open to the general public. Then he saw it. A bicycle tied to a post, on the handlebars was zipped up handlebag and a teddy bear. Two feet away was a man wearing a long trench coat and a long beard holding something black in his hand.

"Robin, focus there!! What's that man holding?" Nightwing ordered.

Robin scanned the area and found the man, his eyes grew very wide.

"He's holding a remote detonator!!" Robin yelled.

Without even thinking Nightwing had his hand full of throwing stars and hurled them with all his might at his quarry. All of them hit their mark. The man dropped his detonator and clutched his bleeding hands, screaming. This caught the attention of several Secret Service men nearby, they immediately jumped on him and took him away

The Batcave
Three Hours Later

The truth had come out quickly and was smeared all over CNN the other news channels. The bicycle handlebag was packed with a special explosive made by a Whelan explosives division. Packed to the far right side of the bag was a simple steel plate. The man in the crowd was there simply to activate an infra red sensing device that emanated from a sensor on the handlebars. When the presidential car was about to pass by the bike the man (who happened to be a well known mercenary) would activate the infra red sensor that was rigged to the detonator. When the presidential car crossed the beam the explosives would detonate and send the metal plate hurling across the street. The result would be that the metal plate hit the presidential car with more force than five direct hits from mortar fire, killing all inside no matter how thick the armour plating was. The plan was foolproof. Bruce had no idea what had happened until Robin breathlessly told him what had happened an hour ago. Bruce Wayne was usually a very stoic man but even Nightwing could tell that Bruce was impressed.

"You saved my life Dick," he said as he shook Dick's hand, "you saved my life, and you saved the President. The whole country owes you a debt, and so do I."

Dick was shocked speechless, Bruce was actually praising him openly, in front of a very proud Tim drake and Alfred. Tim also patted Dick on the back, hero worship obvious in his eyes. Alfred also beamed with delight.

"Well done Master Dick. We are all proud of you." he said.

"Thanks Al." Dick replied.

Just then the phone rang and Alfred picked it up, he announced that the caller had reached Wayne Manor and then listened intently, his brow furrowing. Finally he hung up the phone.

"Ahem, Master Dick, that was Doctor Leslie Thompkins, she was calling to relay some rather bad news I'm afraid. It's about your friend Inspector Flaherty. I'm afraid he passed away just about an hour ago due to complications from surgery. I am very sorry sir, I know he was a good man."

The cave was silent but for fluttering of bats wings. Dick Grayson felt rage well up inside him. Bruce rested a reassuring hand on Dick's shoulder. When Dick spoke his voice was very low and shaky.

"He was a great man Alfred. Where's Bane?" He asked to no one in particular. Bruce answered him, "By the time the police got to the rooftop Bane was gone. Even though you broke his legs he somehow got away. If it makes you feel any better I know how you feel, Bane has a lot to answer for and he keeps getting away."

Tim finally spoke as well, wiping away tears, "Dick, are you going to be all right?"

Dick turned to face Tim, the expression on his face softened somewhat and he half smiled, "Yeah Tim, I'll be okay..." then his voice became like iron, "but Bane's days are numbered, that I can tell you."

Hogan's Alley
Three days later

When a member of The Bludhaven Police Force was killed in action, Hogan's Alley was always used as a place to mourn the dead. Today, a picture of Mully Flaherty hung over the bar and toasts were made in Mully's honour. Dick swelled with pride to see his friend remembered so fondly by his peers. They all knew that it could happen to them at any time. Mully was remembered as a great cop who died taking down Bane. Dick swelled with pride when he thought of the two of them fighting side by side. Mully Flaherty made a difference in life and death.

"Gimme a beer in honour of Mully..." a voice called to Dick. He snapped out of his reverie to see a tall man sit down at the bar. Dick did as he was told by the newcomer and passed the beer over to him. The man held up the glass in a toast, "To my brother Mully...." he said. He was about to drink it when Dick's hand grabbed his arm.

"Did you say Mully was your brother?" he asked.

"Yeah he was, did you know him?" The stranger replied.

"Only a little, he said he had no family."

"Yeah well, when Mully had his drinking problem we had a falling out. He felt he was a disgrace but I still loved him. He was ashamed that he had fallen so far. We never spoke again. I'm his only blood relative, I picked up his body yesterday, he'll be buried in two days."

"What's your name?" Dick asked.

"Joey. Joey Flaherty. What's yours?"

"My name is Dick, this beer's on me Joey. Make yourself comfortable. I want to tell you about your brother Mully."

Room 32, The Executive Suite of The Carlyle Hotel, Paris, France
11:32 P.M.

"Good evening, Mr. De Payen." Came the voice from the darkness. Geoff De Payen whirled around, his eyes wide. De Payen had just returned from a party with some fellow bankers and had been drinking too much. For a second he wondered if he had imagined the voice coming from the darkness. The voice was indeed real.

"Who...? Who's there?" he called out. When the shadows began to move, and the dark figure emerged from them as if he was a swimmer stepping from the water, De Payen knew in the back of his mind that it had to be him.

"Nightwing." He said softly, no trace of despair or surprise in his voice.

"Somehow I knew this moment would come since I fled Bludhaven. I am almost glad that the waiting is over."

Nightwing permitted himself a wry smile at that. De Payen and his men had fled the country quickly in a private jet and kept moving around for some time before finally settling in Paris for a while. Dick and Oracle had followed the nebulous trail left by De Payen. When the time came to take De Payen to justice he knew he wanted to take the leader of Cabal down himself.

"I suppose you are here to take me into custody? You know without my henchmen I am unable to defeat you Nightwing, but what about my money? I am still among the richest individuals in the world. I see now that anyone who is capable of defeating Bane and The KGBeast while still finding time to spoil my plans is a man I want working for me, not against me." Nightwing stepped closer to De Payen, not truly registering what the man was offering.

"De Payen, I made sure Nortrum went to jail for his part in your little scheme. Bane has crawled back into whatever hole you found him in, and The Beast is in custody," Nightwing failed to mention that Eliza Whelan had also been taken into custody as well. It had pained him to see her taken into custody, she was basically seduced by a cult but she did have prior knowledge of an assassination attempt on The President and did nothing to alert the authorities. Nightwing saw to it that she was held over for psychiatric evaluation rather than put in jail directly, Batman would certainly not have approved. Nonetheless, now this man who had orchestrated the events that almost led to a new world order was offering him money for allegiance, "What makes you think that I would be swayed now by offers of money?"

"Quite simple really, money is what made me a powerful man, money is no doubt what will keep me from seeing any serious jail time. Money will sway men with even the strongest of convictions."

Nightwing's hand reached out and encircled De Payen's neck quicker than he could blink. De Payen was shocked and felt it harder and harder to breathe.

"What do you think now De Payen? How is all that money going to help you? Because of you a brave man is dead, a good man that didn't care about money, he only cared about making a difference in this world."

"Th.... that.... wa.. was B....B... Bane... not me......" De Payen coughed out the words in a raspy voice.

"Bane was working for you and your group scumbag. What are you going to do now that you have no one to defend you? No one to get dirty and fight your fights for you? You're just a worthless suit De Payen. If your ancestors could see you now, they would be as sickened by you as I am."

The mention of De Payen's ancestors obviously angered him and he tried to kick Nightwing. Nightwing easily stepped aside and tossed De Payen by the neck across the room, he landed in a heap, gasping for air.

"You're crazy," he coughed, "you can't kill me!"

Nightwing walked over to him and lowered himself so that he was sitting on his heels, face to face with De Payen again on the hardwood floor.

"Why can't I?" he asked, a wolfish grin on his face.

"Because....... because......" He stammered as he searched for a convincing argument.

"Because you're rich? Why does that make you more special than Mully Flaherty? Why do you deserve life and he deserves death? Because his bankbook isn't as big as yours? You make me sick." Nightwing reached out and picked De Payen up by the collar, lifting the smaller man completely off his feet. De Payen was wide eyed with fear. Again sporting the wolfish smile, Nightwing heaved De Payen up in the air and across his desk, landing hard with a loud thump on the wooden floor.

"Please don't kill me!" De Payen begged.

Again Nightwing crossed the room towards him, flexing his fists all the way. De Payen knew this man meant to kill him now, and that he would no doubt suffer greatly before he was allowed to die. In the distance, one could hear sirens filling the night air. Nightwing once again lowered himself down so that he was face to face with the leader of Cabal, grabbing him once again by the lapel and speaking softly.

"I'm in a good mood today so I'll tell you what I'll do. Do you hear those sirens coming this way?" De Payen shook his head slightly indicating that he did indeed hear them.

"Good, they're coming for you De Payen. You'll remember I taped part of your little speech back in Bludhaven, the one that has you mentioning your plan to kill The President of The United States?"

De Payen swallowed hard and nodded affirmative again.

"Well they know you're here thanks to me. I want you to go with them and confess everything. You will go to jail for a good long time rich man, because if you don't...... I'll be waiting for you when you get out."

De Payen looked as if his head was about to explode as the sirens got louder and louder. What kind of choice was this? A lifetime in prison or suffer at the hands of this masked maniac? He was fabulously wealthy, he was brilliant, he deserved a better end than this.

"And if you think what I did to Bane was rough, just wait until I get my hands on you again."

That did it, De Payen had made up his mind. He had seen most of the fight between Bane and Nightwing on the rooftop in Bludhaven, he had seen how Nightwing had defeated the monstrous henchman known as Bane, he had even heard that Bane was now crippled in some South American hospital because of Nightwing, learning to walk all over again. Despite having been beaten by Bane before Nightwing came back stronger and more formidable than before. Perhaps he really wasn't human, people whispered such things about Batman. Perhaps like his mentor, Nightwing was just as inhuman.

"I...... I'll..... go with them peacefully." De Payen said as he lowered his head in defeat.

"Good boy." Nightwing answered as he released his grip on De Payen and began to climb out the window, then he stopped and turned his head back in De Payen's direction, "You better pray you never see me again. I'll never forget what you did to Mully Flaherty. Maybe I'll do the same to you, or maybe I'll get even rougher." and with that Nightwing melted into the shadows, leaving the leader of Cabal whimpering on the floor of his hotel room, seconds later, heavily armed police forces stormed through the door. From across the street, Nightwing smiled as he saw De Payen throw up his arms and say, "I give up."

Nightwing's attention then turned to his gauntlet communicator as he felt it vibrate slightly, meaning there was a message for him, he knew who it would be before he opened the line. Oracle's smiling face was looking at him from across the ocean.

"Greetings from The City Of Lights." He said with a warm smile.

"Is it over Dick? Is that madman in police custody? Are you safe?" she asked.

"Thankfully yes, I threw the fear of God into him before the police arrived, I suspect he will confess and volunteer for a lengthy prison sentence. It felt good to get a little payback for Mully."

"I know it did hon." She said in a soothing voice, "Now why don't you swing by Gotham on your way back and take me out to dinner?"

Suddenly, Dick's face again spread into that wolfish grin, although this time it was genuine. "I have a better idea Babs, why don't I send a car to meet you, it can take you to the airport, I can have a Wayne Enterprises Jet fly you here in a couple of hours, then you and I can paint this town red."

Barbara laughed like a little schoolgirl at the suggestion. "Are you insane? I can't just leave here, what about my dad?"

"I can tell you from experience Jim Gordon can take care of himself, tell him you are taking some kind of seminar or something."

"I can't believe I'm considering this....." she said as she smiled wickedly.

"That's it you're in I can tell, I'll send a car Babs, see you in a few hours." He said and he closed the connection before she had a chance to say no. He suspected she was ready to give in anyway as she was laughing hysterically when he closed the connection. For the first time in months, he had better things to do than fight crime..................

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