SquidgeWorld Archive

Dick brushed past Donna as he entered the hospital room without a word. "How long has he been out?" He asked as he sat down beside the bed.

"A few hours at least" she said biting her lip. "They found him like this." He put his head in his hands and rubbed at his temples. "Oh lord" he breathed quietly "Lian?"

"Safe. Apparently he expected an attack." she paced the room rubbing her arms.

"From what I understand from the DEA is that Roy had broke up a drug ring and was mopping up the last of them. He knew they were after him so he..."

"Just waited for them to come to him." Dick finished up for her. He watched the IV drip for a few seconds before standing up. He leaned over Roy's still form and whispered in his ear. "I'll be right back buddy, I just have a few things to do first." He paused a few seconds longer than he needed to breath him in. If Donna noticed anything out of the ordinary she said nothing as she looked out the window.

When he stood up and turned toward her his face was a perfect cold mask. Donna shivered in spite of herself, (He looks exactly like Batman right now). His voice echoed his as he gravelled out "Names"

She nodded as she handed him the folder she had laid on the table an hour earlier. "They are all there." she said as he turned from her and left without a word.

She sat beside Roy and held his hand in hers. "Roy. Dick is definitely turning out to be like his mentor." she sighed, "Scary"

There was really only two names in the folder that were of interest to him and they didn't exactly hide their trail well. As he settled his mask down in place he allowed himself a grim smile. He had tailed them half the night and they never suspected that they had been found. He waited until one of them was leaving before he jumped down from the roof. He tossed a trace onto the back of the one leaving and waited for the one staying to relax.

He made his way into the darkened room quietly, slowly. He silently went through the facts in his head as he watched the man in front of him.

Timothy W. Lee age 24 arrested twice on possession with intent to deliver. Escaped jail time due to a loophole.

The man in front of him drank his beer as he watched TV. Nightwing stood behind his chair and waited. As the TV blackened for a second in between commercial his reflection played on the TV. The man froze with the beer half way to his lips then he turned quickly around to see who was behind him. With one hand Nightwing knocked the beer from his hand and with the other he grabbed the man's wrist. He pulled him up and over the easy chair and threw him against the wall knocking the breath out of him. As the man struggled up and raised his fists Nightwing never hurried his step. As the man threw a weak punch Nightwing knocked it aside and slammed him against the wall once more. "Talk, I may let you live." He rumbled lowly like the thunder before the storm.

The young man called Timmy by his friends let out a shaky laugh, "But you're one of the good guys right? You can't kill me."

Nightwing tilted his head to the side regarding the man in front of him then tilted his head to the other side, "That was before you and your friend tried to kill a friend of mine." He smiled in what he hoped was an evil smile. "I think it might be fun to try the other side of the fence for once. After all I've had the best teachers imaginable. Just think all this time chasing people like the Joker,...Imagine what I could have learned." He stroked the man's hair in an almost loving manner even as his stomach turned at the thought.

The man in front of him started to hyperventilate, "J-j-j-oker? Naw man you're kidding right? Just trying to scare me right?" his blue eyes held doubt.

Nightwing tilted his head again to the side and said, "No I don't think I am this time. It's been a really long time since someone has pissed me off this much." He tilted his head back the other way. "And that time Batman held me back and appealed to my good side."

He straightened his head and smiled big, "Guess what Timmy? Batman's not here tonight!" He laughed as he pulled out a survival knife he had hid on him tonight. "Well I always wondered how Joker filleted that one guy so precisely. I guess practice will make perfect." He moved the knife to the man's throat.

"Let's try shall we." He nicked his throat just enough for a few drops of blood to escape.

The man sobbed, "No man no don't do it please, I-I-I'll tell you what ever you want! Just don't kill me please!"

Nightwing frowned, "Aww but if you give me the information I want I won't get to kill you and I so wanted to find out what it was like." He removed the knife a few inches from his throat. "Tell you what You tell me what I want to know but If you lie to me, I'll come back and kill you still. Deal?" He smiled as he re-applied the knife.

"Man you are nuts!!!" He said then he said, "Okay! DEAL deal" as Nightwing applied pressure to the knife with a smile.

"Okay first off, Who's idea was it to attack Thomas tonight?" Thomas was Roy's undercover name. He asked the question in a sing-song voice.

The man in front of him whimpered just before he whispered, "Mine"

"tsk tsk Not a good idea was it?" he said in a voiceful of pity. "Now was it your idea to shoot my friend full of Heroin?" He asked intense.

"Naw man that was Richie's idea! He called it...he called it poetic justice." he said excitedly.

"So you had no hand in it?"

The man closed his eyes briefly.

"I'll find out the truth regardless. And if you don't tell me I just may kill you now. I already know where your friend is I don't need you for that."

"I held him down."

"That wasn't exactly the best move you've ever done in your life now was it?" he asked as he ran the knife lightly down his chest.

"At this point I would say that it was about the most stupid thing I've ever done." He sobbed sure he was to die at the hands of the maniac in front of him.

Sirens could be heard coming up the street. "I won't kill you right now but if you ever cross me or any of mine I will kill you in a heartbeat."

"How will we know if people belong to you." he whispered as he collapsed in a heap.

As the squad car pulled up Nightwing smiled, "You don't so I suggest you go straight."

He was gone as the police broke open the door. Timothy W. Lee was never so glad to go to jail.

Nightwing was stunned at the scene before him when he entered the quiet room.

Richie was sound asleep laying on top of the body of a naked woman. Nightwing crept quietly up to the bed and felt the bound wrist of the woman. No pulse. Dead by hours apparently. He lifted the syringe that was beside the bed on the nightstand. He closed his eyes a second, (It seems he likes shooting his victims up.) The woman's eyes were staring out at him empty of life. Her mouth forever bound by death as her mouth had been bound by the cloth covering it in life. He reached out and closed her eyes before anything else. He took a deep breath and looked directly at Richie.

Richard S. Waldrop age 27 arrested aggravated assault and battery, arrested possession with intent to deliver, arrested possession of a gun arrested,...why bother he's scum and I know it Nightwing grabbed the man by the hair as he had nothing else to grab since he was naked. He pulled him off the bed and tossed him.

The man in front of him growled, "So you think you can take me on boy!"

"Now is that any attitude to have with someone that can kick your ass from here to jail?" Nightwing asked in a tired voice. The man called Richie rushed him with a scream. (He's either nuts or he's still high) Nightwing thought as he landed a punch. The man stood up and took another swing at him. "You already pissed me off don't make it worse" Nightwing grumbled as he clotheslined him.

"You're going to have to kill me because I ain't going back to jail" Richie said as he wiped blood from his mouth.

Nightwing paused then shrugged, "How ever you want it. I'm all for killing you at this point." He said lightly advancing on the naked man in even steps.

"You, you aren't going to kill me! Good guys like you aren't murderers." He said as he backed up slightly before charging again.

Nightwing snapped his head backwards with a punch, "Hmm that's what your partner said too." he said it in a sad tone, "Pity he had to learn like that. You don't have to die I guess but It would make things easier. I mean think of all the money the government will save with you dead!" He brought out the same knife that he had used on Timmy.

"Oh dear I should have cleaned this...It still has dear Timmy's blood on it." He held it up to the light to show him.

"You killed Timmy?" He asked backing up again, "I don't believe you!" he growled.

"I don't care if you believe me or not." Nightwing said, "You made a very bad mistake earlier tonight and I'm just here to see you pay for it. You see you hurt a friend of mine a good friend that I care about very much. And well I don't take kindly to my friends getting hurt. Especially by lowlife scum like you." He said it sweetly. He felt a funny vibration in his chest as he talked and started breathing faster. A weird feeling in his stomach caught him by surprise as he suddenly felt energetic. His stomach felt like he was on a roller coaster ride as he felt the feeling again. He felt like he had to move as he grabbed the man by the arm and threw him against the wall.

"You really fucked up by shooting him up. That was kinda like adding insult to injury. Adding salt to the wound you know." He pressed his face up close to Richie's and was nose to nose with him. "He fought so hard to overcome his addiction to Heroin." He whispered. "He didn't want to die from it and what do you do? You try to kill him with the very thing. You make me sick." He placed the knife at his throat.

"You don't have the guts to do it." the man in front of him said with confidence.

"You really believe that don't you?" Nightwing said quietly feeling the strange feeling in his stomach again. "I have news for you anyone is capable of murder...even me." He brought the knife down and sliced his chest open in a flick of his wrist. Not a dangerous wound, just a flesh wound. "Shall we discover together all the ways I could kill you right now?" he asked innocently. He stopped himself from slicing the man's throat. He closed his eyes a second before purposely re sheathing it. He let go of the man and he tried to make a break for it.

"Oops wrong move buddy." Nightwing grabbed him and threw him across the bed on top of the body already there. "Oh yeah I guess I owe you for that too. Your Friend said you called it poetic justice shooting up MY friend." He picked up the syringe and vial on the desk filling it up. "Perhaps I should give you a double dose of poetic justice." Richie started scrambling off the bed and ran for the door past Nightwing. Nightwing knocked him down and straddled him. "Now don't move you may feel something like a bee sting." He smiled talking in his best bed side manner. The man had grabbed his arm and was wrestling with him trying to knock the syringe out of his hand.

A siren interrupted the struggle and Nightwing glared down at him, "Damn," He made one last effort to inject him but heard the door splinter in the living room. "You better hope I never see you again or that my friend don't die." He disappeared into the shadows as the police bust into the bedroom.

On the roof Nightwing held his head as the police led Richie away. He didn't jump as the Shadow behind him asked. "Would you really have done it?"

"I don't know Batman I really don't know." He said as he stood up. "You're the one that called the cops?"

"Yes,...Just in case." Batman said quietly.

"How long have you been following me?" Nightwing asked seething.

"Since you left for the hospital, I knew you would be upset..I just didn't realize how upset." His face was unreadable as always.

"I have to go back to the hospital" He disappeared.

Batman sighed, "I wonder if he really would have done it?"