RECAP:
After the fall of
Blockbuster, Mayor Soames placed a new
official legislation into law called the Anti-Vigilante Displacement
act. Making metas and non-powered vigilantes fugitives of
justice
within the city limits of Blüdhaven. With the help
of
Special Agent Cisco Blaine, and the full power of the FBI; a new task
force was integrated into the Blüdhaven Police Department
known as
the Crime Prevention Squad. Meanwhile, Nightwing found
himself
betrayed by his information broker Oracle who agreed with Special Agent
Blaine's plans to save Blüdhaven. He also discovered
Blaine
had a sample of his DNA, which would allow him to uncover his identity,
so he fled in an effort to protect his identity and find a way to
protect Blüdhaven from the new menace that threatens it.
The bottom of Nightwing's sole connected with a Latino gang member's
chin. The spittle flew from his mouth, as he fell backwards onto the
pavement. He brought his hand back, and struck a Black gang
member knocking him down to his knees; with a swift kick across the
face, the Black gang member was down.
Behind him,
Flamebird connected with a one-two punch that put down an older gang
member, and swung her leg out. The inner side of her leg came crashing
down on the next man's shoulder and taking him out of the fight.
She did a brief survey of her surroundings and saw that the gangs were
regrouping; but a bigger problem arose. The people of
Blüdhaven were starting to join in on the riot. The muscles
in Nightwing's jaw tightened, and he charged forward at the incoming
mob with Flamebird behind him.
Katana rode her
motorcycle back to Blüdhaven when she noticed a jolt of
electricity surging through the power lines. She smiled,
recognizing the brief energy emission that took the shape of Black
Lightning's face, and then turned up the throttle making the
cycle go faster.
Captain Amy
Rohrbach shouted orders to her men; assigning them in pairs with riot
gear to protect them, as they prepared to quell the rioters. She
grabbed her baton, and slung it into its holster, as she sprinted to
join them. A car was waiting for her with an officer in driver's
seat. She hopped inside, and motioned forward. Her squad car led
the others into the streets to enforce the law.
"This is
perfect," said Desmond. He wiped the traces of wine from his
lips, and motioned for the servant boy to pour him another glass.
On the television was a broadcast from WGBS-TV news, which showed the
rioting in Blüdhaven.
Several of the
Chinese gangsters stacked crates containing smuggled weaponry from
overseas. Desmond stood up from his seat and walked across the
pavement barefoot, his height was a constant reminder of why he should
be feared, as was the sickly image imprinted on their minds of their
murdered bosses. He opened one of the crates, and grabbed a W-75
rocket launcher built by LexCorp's military division, and piggy backed
through the Elysia Foundation networks to arms smugglers across the
world. Desmond wondered how the Elysia Foundation got their hands
on the weaponry, but then brushed the thought aside; he was glad to
have it since it would make his cash flow problems easier. He
knew criminals in other local cities looking for high tech
weaponry. He could easily fill their need.
Blüdhaven
was a concern however, as it was in a vulnerable state, and if he
struck now he could easily re-take the city. He looked to his
men, and a thought crossed his mind. He motioned to Tsung.
"Send out the
shipments, all but four of them."
"But..."
"Did I stutter?"
"No," said Tsung
as he lowered his eyes away from Desmond's dark glare.
Bridget looked
out the window when she saw people attacking one another; madness in
the streets. She ran over, and locked her doors. She could
hear Jon Law, her neighbor screaming at them from his window.
"Ya' bunch of
backstreet garbage!" he shouted at the top of his lungs. "This is
exactly the kind 'O problems mystery men brought upon us; Armageddon is
here!"
"Shut up you old
fool!" said one of the rioters before throwing a bottle.
The bottle
struck Jon across the face, and he fell backwards onto the floor with a
loud thud. Bridget climbed into her bed with the phone in her
hand, but she knew calling the Blüdhaven Police Department was
useless. They were probably already on the scene, or abusing
citizens for more bribe money. Their only hope was Rickie, and
she had no idea where he was.
The sounds of
the rioter's bones snapping was nowhere near as deafening as the man's
scream. Nightwing elbowed him in the stomach, and tossed him on
the pavement where his arm laid off to the side at a bent angle.
Pulling three
tear gas marbles from his boots he lobbed them at the oncoming mob, and
in moments some began choking and gagging, though others managed to run
straight through by holding their breath.
Flamebird tossed
a throwing blade, then two more disarming two rioters with guns.
She then ran forward, and jumped in the air bringing her feet into
their chests and flipping off onto her feet.
Things began to
get intense, as Flamebird realized she and Nightwing were clearly
outnumbered a hundred to one. She pulled a Bird Bola from her
boot, spun it over her head, and tossed it, snatching a rioter and
shocking him into unconsciousness.
"Flamebird! Fall
back!"
She looked to
Nightwing who slammed his palm into the jaw of a large Indian sporting
prison tattoos, and then brought his foot back to strike a
weasel-looking guy that was trying to grab him in the gut. The
front of his foot connected with the weasel-looking guy's face knocking
him out cold, then Nightwing turned to Flamebird.
"You heard me;
fall back!"
She hesitated
for a moment and knocked out two more rioters with some swift foot work
before following Nightwing's instructions. Nightwing pressed a
hidden, pressure activated button contained in his gloves and the
Nightbird roared to life and then pulled in front of Nightwing and
Flamebird.
They got inside,
and shut the doors, locking them. The mob made a beeline straight
for the Nightbird, but Nightwing stepped on the gas and barreled right
through the middle before they could close the gap.
"Are we running
away?" she asked.
"No, we need to
attack the source of the problem to quell this riot."
Flamebird turned
her head to look back, and saw the rioters had started assaulting each
other since they had no one to focus on but themselves. She then
sat straight in the seat, as Nightwing was stopped at City Hall by a
Blüdhaven city council member who was bleeding from the forehead.
"Sounds like the
source of our troubles is right in here," he said then got out of the
car.
Flamebird got
out, as well and saw another city council member run out screaming as
he tore at his face. She sprinted towards the large weathered
building. She could hear Nightwing call out to her, but she went
inside anyways. Nightwing turned to Councilmen Dixon and tried to
calm him down.
"Easy Councilman
Dixon. Climb inside of my car, and you'll be fine."
He opened the
door, and set Councilmen Dixon inside, then locked the door. A
sudden scream took his attention, and he ran toward City Hall, and
through the front entrance. He pulled his escrima sticks from his
boot holsters, as a blonde kid with a leather jacket that said
Nite-Wing stood over one of the council members in the middle of the
hall. It was Councilman Winick, his face beaten like raw
hamburger.
"Let him go,"
said Nightwing.
"Let--him go?"
said Nite-Wing. He tossed Councilman Winick aside, and turned to
Nightwing. "Justice, deal out some justice!"
“Who are
you supposed to be?” asked Nightwing, his escrima sticks held in
front of him. “A cheap knock off?”
“No, I'm
Nite-Wing!”
“Yeah,
sure, and I'm The Batman...”
Nite-Wing
charged at Nightwing; his nightstick raised to deal a crushing blow to
Nightwing's head, but Nightwing brought up an escrima stick and blocked
the blow, then kicked Nite-wing in the stomach. As, Nite-Wing
stumbled back, Nightwing spun on his heel and delivered a heel kick,
followed by a spinning round house, and a hard side kick.
Nite-Wing crashed to the floor, dropping his nightstick.
Nightwing
proceeded cautiously to check on his unconscious opponent. As he
kneeled down to pull off Nite-wing's mask, he was struck in the side of
the head, as Nite-wing had grabbed his nightstick to clobber Nightwing
with. It took a few moments to gather his wits, but when he
did he saw that Nite-wing was gone. He went to check on
Councilman Winick and found him barely conscious.
“Are you
all right?” he asked.
Councilman
Winick moaned, but said nothing. So, Nightwing picked him up, and took
him to one of the empty offices away from the havoc going on.
While upstairs, Flamebird was checking room by room for the source of
the attacks. She found bodies on the floor; all of them horribly
mutilated. She continued to the end of the hall when she heard a
whistling sound, and her instincts told her to duck as a Frisbee
bearing razorblades sailed by her head clipping a few hairs.
“Oh, how
could I miss?”
Flamebird turned
upon hearing the voice that sounded so immature, and detached.
She found herself staring face to face with the original Trickster.
“I've
heard of you; James Jesse, the Trickster.”
“That's
me,” he said with a bow.
“But, you
have no history of committing murder...”
“I-I
didn't do this. He made me do it...”
Flamebird stared
at him in disbelief. “You just tried to kill me, so how can
you say that?”
“I'm not
lying. He made me do it!”
“Who?”
she said, a skeptical look on her face.
“The
devil,” he said with a serious and sincere expression on his face.
“Right. I'm just going to,
like, beat you up now.”
“Wait!
If you do, your friend will never learn about what the devil has
planned!”
“I'm
willing to take that risk,” she said, as she charged toward him.
He pulled a
yo-yo out, and flung it at her. She barely avoided the jagged
blades, which could have ripped through her shoulder. She drove
her knee into his gut, an elbow into his temple, then a knee into his
face, followed by a big right hand. Once Trickster crumpled to
the floor she rubbed her fist when Nightwing arrived.
“What
happened here?” he asked then looked down at Trickster and back
at her. “You all right?”
“Yeah,”
she said then walked around him. “I'm fine.”
The
Blüdhaven Police Department was in full force trying to contain
the riot, but the problem continued to fly out of their hands.
Law was giving out to chaos, with no mayor to take control, and members
of the city council injured, or dead. The future looked bleak for
the city. Nightwing ran out of the City Hall building as medics
ran in. His eyes narrowed as he saw the fires that consumed some
of the older buildings. And he began to wonder if Blüdhaven
could be saved.
To
be Continued... Next Issue: Road To Recovery Part 1: What does
Nightwing have to do to get Blüdhaven under control and how will
Blockbuster fit into the picture? Find out in 30! NEVERMORE:
The hardest path to take is the one that is not so much righteous, but
is best for the sanctity of preserving good relations.
