#2

"Dick Grayson, the Crocodile Hunter"

By Tony Thornley

Nightwing jumped off a building with a grace that Olympic gymnasts and divers would have killed for. He counted to ten before he threw a grappling line. He basked in the feeling of the freefall. There was nothing better than the weightlessness he felt in those ten seconds. The grappling line went taut and Dick Grayson swung over the Bludhaven street in a wide arc. He landed on top of a light post and grinned.

First victims of the evening. A trio of shotgun-armed thugs pointed their guns at an Asian shopkeeper. Dick could barely hear the cries of the thugs, but he knew they were there. A shotgun blast shattered the front window of the store. Time to act.

As Dick lept, he pulled a small cylinder from his belt. He hit the ground in front of the store and kicked the door open.

"'Scuze me gents," he said in a mock British accent. "But don't you think that's a little unfair. Only one of him, unarmed, and three of you, armed. You seem to have an advantage. Let's even the field."

One of the trio aimed his shotgun at Dick. "Screw you hero!" he screamed.

"You asked for it." Dick dropped the cylinder. The phosphourus flare exploded, filling the store with blinding white light. The thugs instantly tried to clear their vision, rubbing their eyes intensely. Nightwing grinned. The polarization of his mask lenses prevented the flare from blinding him.

Nightwing kicked the first thug in the side of the head, laying him out on the ground. He flipped over the heads over the remaining two and took one out with a hard punch to the nose. By the time he reached the third, his vision had begun to clear. He saw the dark shape standing in front of him and swung at him. Dick easily dodged and punched him in the gut. He collapsed to the ground with a gasp. Nightwing steped over to the store owner and helped him up.

"You okay?" he asked.

"I'm seeing spots," the store owner muttered.

"Sorry about that. Wish I could have warned you."

"S'okay. Thanks."

"Anytime," Nightwing said, running out of the store and throwing a grappling line. He pulled himself off the ground and swung away.

Jared Morillo sat alone in his new office, in his new chair. He snickered to himself. What a promotion. Keystone City Detective to the Bludhaven Chief of Police. This town was desperate. Morillo leaned back and sat his feet on his desk. The salary they'd given him wasn't bad either.

"Chief?" a deep voice said from his open doorway. Morillo looked up to see the burly man that had occupied the office when Redhorn was dismissed.

"How can I help you?"

"I just wished to congradulate you," the man said, stepping fully into the room.

"Thanks." Morillo turned back to his work. After a few seconds he looked back up at the burly man. "There something else?"

"I wish to introduce myself. Roland Desmond. I'm Bludhaven's resident entrepeneur."

"Good for you," Morillo said. "Anything else?"

"Well yes actually," Desmond pulled up a chair and sat down. "Myself and Chief- excuse me, former chief- Redhorn had a little arrangement. For a small cash sum, completely under the table of course, he's overlook certain... incidents that involved those in my employ."

"Do you mean to bribe me Mr. Desmond?"

"Well, not exactl-"

"Yes exactly," Morillo growled, standing up. "I'll tell you what to do with your bribe. You can stick it up your a-"

So much going on. Babs and I have been trying to date, but with our busy lifestyles, it's next to impossible. I can feel something between us, something big, but with the constant tumult in my life and hers, it just-

Waitaminit. That was just Redhorn's office I swung by, but that wasn't Redhorn behind the desk, but it was Blockbuster in front of it. Just backtrack a little...

There was a tap at the window and Morillo spun towards it. Crouched on the ledge stood Nightwing, a large frown on his face. Morillo opened the window and motioned Nightwing in.

"I believe we haven't met," Nightwing said. "I'm Nightwing. And you are?"

"Chief Jared Morillo. First week on the job."

"Good to meet you Chief. Is old Rolly here bothering you?" Blockbuster's brow furrowed.

"Nope," Morillo said, and turned back to his other visitor. "In fact, Mr. Desmond was just leaving, weren't you?"

"I'm a dangerous enemy to make Morillo. Just ask Nightwing."

"So am I."

"Quite." Blockbuster ducked out of the office and leaned against the wall of the hallway. The tightness in his chest was getting worse. He'd want to see a doctor about it soon. Desmond strolled out of the building and into a limo waiting for him on the street. A young lady opened the door for him then got in the passenger side.

"Take me home Giz. I need to make a phone call."

Barbara Gordon typed a simple key sequence and found herself gazing down at Gotham from a satellite. It was a simple hack she'd learned months ago, an escape from it all on the less busy nights. She watched the flashing lights of a fire truck on the city's north end. A black shape followed the truck over the city, Bruce no doubt. She looked ahead of the truck's path and watched the flickering blaze. The building was just mere blocks away.

Suddenly the view of the satellite feed was gone, replaced by a warning. Zone 12. Someone was on the roof. Oracle started to type a command but was interrupted by an explosion. Barb was thrown back and out of her wheelchair. She started to pulled herself back towards it, but an armored foot kicked it out of reach.

"After all this time, the legendary Oracle of all the superfreaks is a girl in a wheelchair," her assailant said. She looked up and gasped. Two men stood in front of her. One she'd faced in her time as Batgirl. The other she'd read about in JLA files. Firefly and IQ.

"Hello little Oracle. Ready to set up a trap for the Bat?"

Morillo turned back to Nightwing.

"So, you're like Batman in this town, aren't you?"

"You could say that," Nightwing said with a nod.

"So they have like, a Wing-Signal or something to get your attention?" Morillo sat back down at his desk.

"Nope," Nightwing laughed. "Redhorn and I had fundimental diff-"

An officer burst into the room. "Chief, we have a problem! Killer Croc is tearing everything up down by the Gotham River!"

Morillo stood and rushed to his coat rack. "I'm on my way! You coming Night-" Morillo turned, but Nightwing was already out the window.

"-wing?"

Great. Killer Freaking Croc. He's an idiot, but his strength makes up for about half of it. If I remember right, he's given Bruce just as much trouble as the Joker or Mr. Freeze on more than one occaision. I remember Babs mentioning him heading this way. I wonder if she gave me any more details than that.

"Oracle," Dick said, pressing his earpiece, "this is Nightwing."

Rather than the voice that ran chills up his spine in a good way, a different voice answered his call. "Hey, it's Batman-Lite! How you doing kid?"

Dick was so surprised that he nearly let go of his swing line. "Who is this?! Where's Oracle?!"

"Oh, she's safe all right," the voice said. "But Firefly and I are fixing to change that!"

"Who is this?!" Nightwing practicly screamed.

"They call me IQ, for obvious reasons."

"I swear, if you hurt her..."

"Idle threats will get you nowhere Nightwing. Come and get her yourself." The line went dead.

I don't have time for this. If Killer Croc wasn't such a big threat I'd head straight for Gotham right now. I'm going to have to make this quick.

A second car flew over the heads of the BPD. The creature further down the bridge was angry, and that meant he was feral. Morillo was just glad that the people who owned the cars he'd thrown had abandoned them.

"Can't anything take this guy down?!" Morillo screamed.

"We've tried everything!" the officer nearest him cried. "Nothing short of a rocket launcher could take him down!"

"Then get me a rocket launcher!" Morillo cried. He paused as Killer Croc threw another car. "No, I'll get it myself!"

"Sir, wait!" An officer pointed towards a dark shape swinging over the bridge. Nightwing came into view quickly, feet pointed to deliver a stunning blow to Croc's back.

"Took you long enough."

"Gaaah!"

The reptile-man bounced off the pavement and Nightwing let go of his swing line. Croc stood and looked at Nightwing.

"One of the Bat-kids hunh? Didn't hear you were here. Woulda headed the other way."

"Give up Croc," Nightwing said, pulling a monofillament lasso from his gauntlets. "I could take you down just as easily as Batman could."

"Batman can't take me down very easily." Croc lowered his head and charged at Nightwing. Dick waited and flipped over the angry creature. Before he hit the ground he slammed his fist into Croc's kidney. Croc cried out and turned back to Nightwing.

"That hurt!" he cried.

"That's the point," Nightwing said with a grin. Croc charged again, this time arms up and mouth open, ready to bite a chunk out of Nightwing. Nightwing lept again, this time slipping the lasso over Croc's arms and around his chest.

"Bad move," Croc growled, grabbing the fillament, ready to pull Nightwing to him.

"Not really." Nightwing pressed a button on his gauntlet, triggering the taser charge in his suit. The current rushed down the steel monofillament and shocked Killer Croc with high-voltage electricity. Croc's eyes rolled up into the back of his head, and he collapsed to the pavement.

"That probably hurt too, didn't it?"

Nightwing slipped the lasso off Killer Croc's body and threw a swing line at one of the bridge's supports. He jumped off the edge and swung towards where he stored his sole vehicle in the 'Haven.

Nightwing pulled some gear out of a storage locker next to his bike. IQ was a genius and Firefly certainly wasn't stupid. They'd probably booby-trapped the clocktower by now, and knowing Firefly the traps were all fire based. That meant one thing to Dick.

Nomex, and lots of it.

He changed into his more fire-retardant costume, then slipped on a full face mask, covering the only part of his body that was normally vulnerable. he then put on his crash helmet and got on his bike. With a twist of the ignition key, it roared to life, and Nightwing drove out of the small garage and towards Gotham.

Don't worry Babs. I'm coming.

In Nightwing #3: Can Dick make it through a booby-trapped clocktower to save Oracle, or is she doomed to burn at the hands of Firefly and IQ? And what was the phone call Blockbuster needed to make? Find out in Nightwing #3!