Nightwing
leaped from the awning of a nearby deli, and landed on top of a squad
car. The two officers started to get out, but he had already
fired his jump line, and proceeded to swing away. The police
chopper was closing in, and he could hear the voices in his head
telling him to give in. But, one thing he would never do is
surrender. Despite the police presence, which focused on
capturing him. He maintained a good lead, but he knew his
luck wouldn't last forever. He needed a place to
crash.
After dropping down on an abandoned building, he secluded himself
inside, and made contact with Oracle.
Oracle
online.
"Oracle," said Nightwing.
Nightwing,
what's wrong? You sound out of breath.
"I need you to tap into the dispatch computers," he said, "I
need to know how many officers they have after me."
I
can do that, but I have to know; are you hurt.
"Just my pride."
Very
funny, man wonder. This is serious.
"You don't have to tell me twice..."
Nightwing leaned against a wall while he waited for Oracle's
response. He saw a rat scurry by, and drew a wingding from
his glove. He was all out of nightarangs, and given his
current relationship with Batman, he wasn't going to bother asking for
any more.
Nightwing,
are you there?
"Yes," he said, "Go ahead."
They
have half the police force after you, and that's not even the bad
news. I was looking around the local networks over there, and
I found a bounty on your head. Someone wants you dead.
Nightwing wiped back his sweat-ridden bangs, and looked around.
"I certainly earned my stay in hell, eh?"
There
must be something I can do. Let me call some
friends. Perhaps Dinah, Roy, and a few others.
"No!" he said, "I don't want to bring them in here when I can
handle it myself."
At
least let me contact Batman, and appraise him of your situation.
"Are you starting to lose confidence in me, Oracle?" he
asked. "You know I can handle this."
....
No, I just worry about you. It seems like Bludhaven is only
getting superficially better.
"I expected that from Soames," he said. "I have to go
Oracle. Too much time on this line, and they could trace my
position."
Let
me know if you need anything, Nightwing.
"I will."
He walked towards the end of the hallway where a wino lie on the floor
smelling of alcohol, urine, and feces. Nightwing held his
nose, as he walked by, and found himself a spot to completely
recuperate.
Bridget fidgeted about Dick's apartment because she saw him at the
window last night, but he fled to protect her from housing a wanted
fugitive. She bit her lip, wondering what she should do, when
the computer behind her came online.
She walked over to it, and saw the computer upload several city blocks
worth of diagrams, and then an address appeared followed by a print out
of instructions. She grabbed the print out, and stared into
the camera.
"Who ever you are," she said, "thanks."
Tod and Tad laid Soames on a couch while Agent Blane planted a small
vial in his desk. When the twins were done, they and Blane
left allowing Soames to sleep off his high.
Kasumi stood naked in the only changing room in the compound.
Like the other girls, she was forced to share the limited space with
the men. One of the men around Kasumi's age walked in, his
eyes wandering over her lithe body.
"Does my presence please you," she said.
"Uh-hunh," he said. "It does."
"I bet you would like to touch my breasts, or my fine curves."
"I-I would."
His lips trembled, as she grabbed his hands, and placed them on her
exposed body. Allowing them to roam over like serpent that
caught its prey. But, when he started to get excited, she bit
his cheek and tore a big chunk of skin from his face. He
pushed her off, and tended to his face. Anger swelled up
within him.
"Bitch!"
She licked the blood off her lips, and turned back to the mirror.
"Too rough for you," she said.
Kasumi could hear the man's foot falls becoming louder, and she shot a
foot into his midsection. She then grasped onto the sink for
leverage, and kicked him in the face.
He fell onto his back, and the sound of their scuffle drew the
attention of several students. Kasumi simply walked by them
with only her panties on.
Captain Rohrbach could hear the constant chatter over the CB about the
fugitive Nightwing; so she switched her CB over to channel two.
"This is Charlie seven to Michael David."
This
is Michael David. Go ahead Charlie seven.
"We have a go on item four," she said, "I repeat a go on item four."
Understood
Charlie seven. Michael David out.
Nightwing raised his head upon hearing a noise from the
right. He drew the wingding that he had placed back in his
glove, and peeked to see what caused the noise. A bright
light flashed down the hallway, and he quickly ducked his head back
before being spotted. Two officers came down the hall with
their hands resting on their firearms. He exchanged the
wingding for a small, silver marble from his glove, and tossed it into
the hallway. Allowing a moment for the smoke to thicken, he
charged down the hall, and knocked over the two officers. By
the time they could draw a bead on him, he had leaped out the window at
the far end, and landed on a nearby roof.
He continued his brisk run until he came to the end of the roof where
he slid down the fire escape to the street. A car pulled up,
and the passenger side door swung open. He looked inside, and
saw Bridget.
"Going somewhere?"
"You shouldn't be out here, Bridget."
"Say's you, Rickie," she said, "Now, get in and we'll
vamoose."
He got in and crouched low in the seat as she peeled out.
"You okay?" she asked.
"I'll be fine."
"I've been thinking about us, and the costume, and that other woman..."
"There is no other woman, Bridget," he said. "I tried to tell
you that."
"Then who was the broad in purple?"
"An ex...no make that a mistake."
"Some
mistake."
Nightwing looked at the smile on Bridget's face, and he placed his hand
over hers.
"So, where does this leave us?"
"I-I don't know, honestly."
"Well, we will have time to figure that out later," he said,
"for now we need to get back to my apartment."
"Won't that be dangerous?"
"I can't let the gear I have in there fall into the wrong hands," he
said. "I don't really have much choice."
"Fine,
but we'll do it my way."
Soames stirred in the couch that he had been laid in, and looked over
his office. He felt diminished in some capacity, and he
couldn't figure out how. He searched the drawers of his desk
for his shot glass, and the whiskey he kept inside. Though,
he rarely drank, this moment seemed like a good occasion to do
so. He paced the room, but when he saw his reflection in the
mirror above the fireplace, he dropped his shot glass.
His complexion was pale, and his eyes were sunk in. He pulled
the mirror off the wall in a fit of rage, and threw it at the wall.
"What's
BEEN DONE
TO ME!"
Soames assistant Deloris came in after she heard the commotion, and saw
her boss standing over broken glass. His face was twisted up
with rage, and he eyed her with murderous intent.
"Mr. M-mayor?"
He didn't say a thing as he walked toward her. But, when he
grabbed her wrist she could sense that he wasn't in his right mind.
"What happened
to me?"
"I-I don't know," she said, "I thought you went home."
"HOW could I go home looking like this?"
The fear was evident in Deloris' eyes, and Soames let her go, and
shoved her out of his office.
"I don't want to be disturbed!" he said, slamming the door behind him.
She stood there for a moment, wondering what the hell came over him;
but, given his mood, she didn't want to bother asking.
Kasumi put her costume on, its form fitting design hugging every
curve. One of the students handed her a katana that bore the
calligraphic symbol of death. Sensei watched from above, and
called her attention to him.
"Honorable death."
Kasumi acknowledged his comment with a smile before she put on her mask.
Bridget parked the car in a back alley behind the apartment complex,
and waited as Nightwing went upstairs to take care of his
belongings. He packed everything he needed, and disposed of
anything incriminating. Once all of that was done, he took
one last look at his apartment before bidding it a silent good bye.
Captain
Rohrbach and the S.C.U. gathered at the last known location of
Nightwing, and split into teams of two to fan the alleys.
While she believed it unlikely that he was still in the vicinity, she
wasn't about to overlook anything.
A half an hour passed, and Sergeant Eric Dardan called out to
her. She turned and saw he had one of the vigilante's
grapnels in his hand.
"Let me have a look at that," she said.
She looked it over, quickly noticing no distinguishable marks, or even
a serial number, which to trace it with. She handed the
grapnel back to him.
"Come on, I don't think he's here."
"Do you think he's still in the city?" he asked.
"If he's smart," she said, "no."
Soames sat at his desk running his hands through his hair. He
opened the drawer where he had his whiskey, and he saw a vial lying
beside it. He picked it up, and a glimmer of memory made him
toss the vial into the fireplace where it ignited the nearly
extinguished timbers.
He leaned back in his chair to let his mind wander with the hope that
he could remember what happened last night; but he could picture
nothing from his shaky recollection.
"Damn it!" he said. "Whoever did this will pay."
Nightwing had Bridget stop the Nightbird at the Gibson Bridge, and he
came around to the driver's side.
"From
here on in, I go alone."
"You're
goin' to leave me here, Rickie?"
"You're
safer here, Bridget."
"What
makes you so sure," she said.
"Simple,"
he said, "they don't know who I am, and they aren't aware of any allies
I have in the city."
"So,
that's it eh?"
"Sorry,
but if I stayed in Bludhaven. I would place you and the other
tenants in danger."
"And
you think running like coward is going t' protect us?"
"Who
says I'm running?"
"I-Isn't
that what you are doing, Rickie?"
"No,
I'm going to check something out."
"When
will you be back?"
"I'll
contact you," he said.
He
closed the door, and drove off leaving her to walk back to the city
limits.
To
be Continued... Next Issue:HARDBOILED NEVERMORE:
