The Receiving End of it All [Nightwing]

[Deleted]

This man was killing her.

Barbara remembered when the name Blockbuster belonged to a man with too much steroids and a case of the stupid juice; he was nothing but a physical threat that Babs had the joy of taking down easy. It was a past time that she often missed; like jumping off a sky scraper while Main Street rushed to meet her. Now his brother took the same Blockbuster steroid to survive, he had heart problems, but unlike his brother; Roland Desmond was a master mind. He was just as smart as he was vicious; too bad he wasn’t as vicious as Oracle.

For the last several years, Babs had been stealing from his stockpiles of funds from offshore bank accounts in order to fund her research and development, as well as her team, known as the Birds of Prey. For now, it was just Dinah and herself, yet the money always came in handy, and she used every penny. The Bludhaven crime lord had gotten tired of her attacks and sent multiple strike units after her, yet she always foiled him before they could even hit their mark.

His constant heart problems forced Blockbuster to make several shady deals with Grodd in order to get a heart transplant, a normal human heart wouldn’t be big enough to fit his enormous size; and he was getting desperate. Oracle and Nightwing had gotten leverage on the mobster in the past, even stopping him in his tracks several times, but now it was different. Now it was personal. He got her trapped, and for the first time, she felt uncomfortably useless against him.

He knows everything. Her identity, her codes, her information. Roland knows who Nightwing is, he knows all of his weaknesses; Oracle was playing with fire, and now it was starting to burn.

Dialing Nightwing’s number, she waited for him to pick up, and even waiting a bit to collect herself. “Dick…” She said through a shaking voice, nearly on the brink of crying, “Richard. I-… I fucked up.”

[Dick Grayson - Nightwing]

Nightwing had been out on the street dealing with a petty crime of robbing a jewelry store. Really....how original could these guys be....Other than that it had taken Nightwing all but a few seconds to pick up on the silent alarm, faster than the police would have been able to get there.

Speeding through the streets, Nightwing jumped off his motorcycle at the back entrance to the place where the numbskulls had been able to get in. It didn't look all that messed up, the lock at least. Must been a case of a disgruntled employee.

The perfect entrance and exit. Though a silent alarm had tripped in one of the protected cases stored in the back. This lead Nightwing to the scene and knew they were still there.

In all but one effort, Nightwing slid in and snuck up behind the two croonies. And with that he tapped on the one's back to get his attention, his fist connected with the man's jaw. This would be over in 30 seconds. These two were not trained in any way. Like he though disgruntled.

At that hit the man went down in seconds. The other man's voice rang out from another room.

"Hans, you ready to go?
*no answer*
"Hans?"

The voice was now heading towards Nightwing.

"Wrong. Try Nightwing." The vigilante said as the man came into the room a look of shock on the medium built man before him.

And with that he look off words the back exit. Nightwing knew that would be the first exit, so had set up trip wire. It had worked like a charm. The guy went sailing, landing flat on his face. He crawled and got to his feet quickly. Though not quick enough before Nightwing was upon him. He had come running in and did a spin kick at the guy. This sent him knocking into a wall.

It was done. Nightwing looked got the clock within the screen of his eye lens. "Huh, twenty-five seconds. Too easy," Nightwing said to himself as he started to clean up the mess.

Leaving the two guys tied up within the store as he heard the police now on their way. Too late. Nightwing made a run for it and got to his bike and sped away.

That was when his cell started going off and it was connected within the similar lines of the comm link, though only he would be able to hear it. It was a private line from the main one the teams used.

He heard Barbara's voice break out over it. She seemed unsettled. This wasn't good.

"What's up Babs?" Nightwing said before she said his real name.

Definitely not good.

He was still driving towards the outskirts of town. "Calm down, Barbara. What's going on? Take a breathe and tell me what happened? Are you alright?" Concern could be heard in his voice.

Even though all these years, Dick still strongly cared about Barbara. How couldn't he? After all that time and history between them. He'd always be there to help her out. And he kept those he cared for close. Barbara being on of them.

[Deleted]

Deep breaths, take deep breaths. This was going to be one hard confession; she had never endangered her family before, and she was already ensuring that she never would again. Still the matter at hand made her chest feel like it was caving in; Oracle rubbed her eyes together and took a deep sigh.

“Roland. Blockbuster. Roland Desmond, he-… he, he, he… he hacked into The Prophet. He hacked into my cloud. He w-was only after one thing, and I was too s-s-slow to close him out. He’s got information… on you.” Barbara’s balled up white knuckles hit her temples as if it were her own punishment, as if it would do any good. She couldn’t keep it together, and she was stuttering and physically shaking from the trauma she caused herself.

“He knows your name, where you live, he knows about Haly and circus, and th-the Outsiders, everything. You, me, names, addresses, people… and… and… he- he… he’s waiting for you.”

Oracle starred at her monitor, right before she was able to cut off Blockbuster’s line, he had sent her a message: I’m coming to Gotham. Stop me if you can. Taunting, teasing, he was now more of a threat to her any anyone ever has been.

“Dick… it’s a trap. He’s planning to spread his crime to Gotham, so if you decide to intercept him, I’m going to send you some help.”

The hacker paused, and cupped her head between her hands, unsure of how she could have allowed this to happen. “We underestimated him Dick, I’m-… I’m sorry.

[Dick Grayson - Nightwing]

Nightwing could hear her breathing deep over the line. She was definitely beside herself. He hadn't heard her this upset for a long time. And it took quite a bit to rattle Barbara. She was beyond unsettled. This wasn't going to be good.

Listen to Barbara stutter through her words, Nightwing knew exactly who she was talking about. Blockbuster was a major threat in the ring of crime in Bludhaven. A master mind in ways, more so than his brother. This Blockbuster had brains and bronzes. Hearing what he was hearing from Barbara, he could see way she was in shock over the breech.

Dick was silent on his end of the line. Pulling off the side of the road, Nightwing brought his bike to a stop. He was in a stage of shock of his own. This was possibly one of the worst things that could happen. Someone had breeched Oracle's system and now had information on who he was. Just how much information did he get out of Oracle.

The line was still silent. Dick was trying to keep himself together. Someone needed to stay calm. No matter how bad the situation was.

"People? Address of them as well?," Dick finally brought himself to speak once again. His hands gripped the handle bars with a grip of death.

This was exactly the kind of thing he feared. He may be in danger, but now those he cared about where in danger because of the line of work he partook in. If there was a bigger fear it wasn't coming to mind at that time. Did this mean, Blockbuster had information on Bruce as well?!

He sat at the side of the road, trying to pull himself together. In somewhat of a breakdown, Nightwing would not allow himself to fall defeated just because of this. The threat would not go unanswered.

Dick would have no other choice that to face off with Blockbuster if he stood a chance to protect those he cared for. Those closest to him. His family.

"I'm coming to Gotham. Now," Dick replied. His tone serious as to what awaited him. His voice shown strength, yet there was worry in it all at once.

Nightwing revved up the motorcycle and speed off in the direction of Gotham. It's wouldn't take him all that long to get there. He'd keep Barbara on the line.

"This is no time to blame yourself. I need you to pull yourself together Babs. I need you in this," Dick tried to bring Barbara back to focusing on the matter at hand, rather than going into panic mode.

"What is your location? I don't want to risk sending out a signal that might get intercepted," Dick spoke calmly. He needed to keep his head in the game.

Though inside his mind was racing. All his fears were coming true. His family and friends were in danger with the information what was now out and walking the streets. Dick was doing everything possible to keep him mind focused. He hadn't gone through years of training with Bruce for nothing.

[Deleted]

"E-Everything Dick, everything, he looked at your file, he probably downloaded it. I know you more than almost anyone out there, so he has what I have on you. I don't want to know what he's going to do with it... but... listen." Barbara cried, now steady streams rolling down her cheeks. She had to collect herself, because the worst news was coming. He had already said he was heading to Gotham, it was a bad idea. The redhead took another deep breath, wiped her eyes and straightened her back. "This is the scariest thing... I've been tracking his movements. Getting a visual on him, confirming and reconfirming. He's in his penthouse right now, where he keeps his Mother. I don't know what he means when he says he's 'coming to Gotham,' Dick. It makes no sense. We need to find out what he plans to do before we jump the gun and make any irrational moves."

There it was, Barbara was getting herself back together, slowly but surely. "I don't know if you know her personally, but I'm sending you some coordinates to meet with one Catalina Flores. She's one of the other local heroes of Bludhaven, they call her Tarantula. Sh-... she's Ex-FBI, so she's competent in fighting... but you have to be careful around her nevertheless. She doesn't mind killing, so... " Barbara leaned back in her seat to listen to Dick calm her down, it was assuring to her that he didn't scream at her for the blunder that could cost everyone that Dick loved their lives; whether it be physical harm or destoy someone through any sort of cyber means.

"I'll be fine, Dick... don't worry about me. I developed a new matrix to loop around in an unpredictable algorithm so it always looks like a hacker may be getting close... I should be fullproof right now." She explained, it was just one mistake. One mistake to send her whole world over the edge.

[Dick Grayson - Nightwing]

"Alright, I'll hold off one swinging by. As long as you're alright," Dick spoke as a response to not wanting him to jump the gun.

Rushing back to Gotham would do no good for either of them. Though besides conferring that they both were slightly fearful of what could be happening. The worst was possibly yet to come.

Dick listened once again, letting Barbara set up the mission field. He could tell by her tone that getting her mind back on business was what was best for the both of them. They both needed to stay calm and think logically. This was going to be a lot harder than it seemed. Dick's worries were for those around him. He'd much rather Blockbuster just come after him rather than those he cared for.

"Yeah, I've heard of her. Haven't had the pleasure of running into her though," Dick make comment over the other vigilante.

He kept his comments to himself over how this other vigilante handled problems. Barbara knew exactly how he felt about such things. Though, how would they stop Blockbuster from spreading this information?

"Me worry about you? You're more than able to fend for yourself." Which in all honest was true without him saying full out that he knew she was still one of the strongest women out there he knew.

She may have a disability, though she didn't seemed to let that stop her form her work. And it seemed she managed to get a hold of some escrima sticks to help defend herself.

"So where would one find a Tarantula in a large town at this time of night," asked Dick.

[Deleted]

The coffee pot rung a notification on Barbara’s computer, it was strange; she had forgotten that she even started to brew it. Just how long had this actually took place? A warm drink would be nothing but a comfort for her, so she decided to step away (figuratively) from the computer for a moment.

“Y-yeah… I’ll be alright.” she confirmed and drew the mug from under the coffee maker. “What’s important is finding out what Blockbuster is going to do. I’ve already tried to hack back into his mainframe, but it seems like he’s doing everything on paper.” This, Barbara was actually proud of. If she can make anyone paranoid enough to revert to strictly physical copies and typewriters, she felt like she was doing her job.

“Trust me, it won’t be that much of a pleasure.” The hacker confessed, rolling her way back to her holographic monitor display. “The only reason I’m pairing you up with her is because she’s good. She’s a bit full of herself, so I think you’ll like her.” Barbara said with actual sarcasm, despite knowing it’s not the best time for that.

The vote of confidence from Dick felt like a huge weight being lifted from her chest, it was always good to know where you had support. Even if you mess up, and fall down, there were always people in her life to pick her back up again. She felt that Bruce would have been angrier with the fact that one of his own has been compromised. She wasn’t going to tell him.

“Well, ever since the Flash Rogues destroyed the Clocktower, I’ve rebuilt it from the ground up with more security… I’d like to think after that ordeal I can manage.”

Barbara quickly hacked into a satellite and zoomed down on Bludhaven. “She’ll be waiting for you at the top of the office building on Hamilton and Swan. It’s a Stagg Enterprises building.” She located Nightwing, isolated him on her map and found Tarantula, she was on her way as well, closer to it than Nightwing was. She was only glad that she owed her one. “Dick, thanks. For being so calm. Just take care of yourself, alright? Take care of yourself. Give me a call when you meet up with Catalina. I have some more work I need to do.”

She hung up, and looked down for a moment. The coffee was still hot, and there was no sugar in it. Barbara needed the bitterness of the dark beverage anyway. Just to feel something.

[Dick Grayson - Nightwing]

"Great, sounds like another Huntress," Dick remarked.

Oh the times with Helena. The times before the long term relationships. He had a few fond memories of a few swings with her. Working with her, it was amusing the jabs between them. Though at this time, Dick rather not dwell on such a subject.

Though working with her could be more of a challenge to deal with...Tarantula sounded similar on her ways as well as how she carried herself. Head strong.

"I'm assuming head strong and stubborn? Sounds like my kind of teammate," Dick reckoned.

Dick turned his bike in another direction. She had called him off, and he'd abide her wishes and confirmation that she was alright.

"Interesting meeting location," Dick spoke.

Dick listened to Barbara as she thanked him for remaining calm. Someone had to keep their head in such situation. Was he happy with the current situation he was now in? No. Was he going to complain about it? No. He was going to do something about it. No one throated his loved ones, let along threat him.

"No problem, Babs," Dick reassured her. "Later then."

At that the line went quiet. He was on his own to get to this Tarantula woman. Well this outta be interesting. A spider lady in his town. If she was anything like Huntress, she was going to want to take charge of this mission. There was going to be quite a bit of tension if that was the case.

No long after speaking with Barbara, Nightwing had found the location. Leaving his bike not too far off, Nightwing headed for the rooftops. Finally getting to the location, Nightwing noticed a figure at the other end of the build.

[Deleted]

"Like Huntress if she was more than selfish. She's doing this out of self interest, for all she knows you're helping her out for nothing in return." Oracle explained about just the kind of person Catalina was. "I'll send you a profile on her right now. She use to work with Blockbuster, she has a personal vendetta against him. But I mean... I guess so do you, now." Oracle hated herself on the inside for saying that, seeing as she was the root of the problem. There was nothing to do now but to wait. As he said her goodbyes, she double checked just to make sure Bruce hadn't accessed any of the files recently. It was blackhanded of her to do so, but she felt this was the right thing to do.

---

Standing on the roof, one knee on the ledge of the Stagg Building, the woman turned her head to look at Nightwing. She eyed him, up and down, merely shaking her head "This is the famous Nightwing I've been hearing about?" She asked unimpressed stepping down and approaching him, she was only about three inches shorter than her, yet she felt the innate need to be cocky. Folding her arms and cocking her head, she mentioned with an almost pompous attitude: "Dios mío. I expected you to be taller. This is the help I get? Some pretty boy in spandex?"

Her heavy hispanic accent prolonged and yet shortened some of the words she was saying; giving her voice an airy sound as if it was going up and down, just as her eyes did a we moments ago. <"This guy has got to be a joke."> (Translated from Spanish since Dick is multilingual.) Tarantula scoffed, she just wasn't sure that the "agent" that Oracle sent her was any good. 

[Dick Grayson - Nightwing]

Before getting to the rooftop, Nightwing had viewed over the profile that Barbara had sent him. Her profile even read a that she was a little too full of herself. The notes that Barbara had even reflected these facts.

Nightwing watched as Tarantula was eyeing him. She seemed more to be sizing him up by the way he was reading her body language.

"The one and only," Nightwing replied to Tarantula.

Yep, her tone reflected exactly what Barbara had written up about her. She was short, she was cocky, and she all that grateful for any help being sent her way. She'd probably even have something against Batman. Then again Bruce wouldn't be partnered with a potential murdered that ran about taking justice into her own hands.

"And here I thought I was getting paired with 'your friendly neighborhood' Tarantula," Dick replied smugly. Crossing his arms as well with a smirk on his face.

If she thought she was going to cut him down to size, she was mistaken. He's probably worked with worse.

<"You cut me deep, not giving me a chance,"> (in Spanish) Nightwing responded as he clutched a hand to his chest where his heart was. <"And I can understand every word you so."> Nightwing smirked at Tarantula, showing her he was more than able to understand her clearly.

This was going to be interesting.

"Now I understand you know of Blockbuster from what Oracle has told me," Nightwing started.

[Deleted]

Tarantula sneered at Nightwing's quip on her friendly neighborhood Marvel Comic."Watch it, chico, this isn't some comic book, this is the real world. You can't live in Blüdhaven as a vigilante without getting some blood on your hands." The Hispanic heroine jabbed an accusing finger at Nightwing, like he was taking the ordeal lightly.

She reeled back, half in shock; not a lot of people in Blüdhaven speak Spanish; most were whalers, and not wealthy enough to afford schooling in multiple languages. She was born here, but raised in one of the only Spanish homes in the city. "Okay, so you know Spanish... just show me what you got, then by helping me take down Blockbuster."

Tarantula nodded at the other Blüdhaven hero, crossing her arms again. She might have been slightly impressed, learning to be more careful about her judgments; or at least with Nightwing at the moment. "I use to work for him, but he killed a close friend of mine. Burned an entire building down. Maybe you heard of him: The original Tarantula. Oracle mentioned that you'll be helping me out, but... why? What's your stake in this? Why are you helping me take him out?"

As it were, she was still checking him out, casing her eyes up and down the bird boy; she didn't seem to care if he knew it or not. Tarantula didn't believe anyone would help her out of the goodness of their own heart, this city was too harsh of a place to are about others. Bats. Bats never use to bother her in the past, she wondered why they were now.

[Dick Grayson - Nightwing]

"Hate to burst your bubble, but I have," Nightwing interjected as he showed his clean gloved hands to her. Maybe to provoke her a bit over the figurative expression of having blood on one's hands. Hey, she was the one pointing fingers, literally.

This was rather amusing for him. This was a woman who was trying to tell him how to do his job. Come to think of it, he'd probably been at this job a lot longer than most vigilantes on the street. Considering he was what like twelve when he first started crime fighting.

Nightwing stood there smirking over the matter. Shows what she knew about the other vigilantes hanging around in this town. That or the talk wasn't spreading enough of just how much of a threat Nightwing was.

Nightwing was given a brief background informative on Tarantula and some more on her possibly mentor. He knew in fact of the killing that Blockbuster did. And her mentor was one of them. Oracle had her ways of finding informations so it was unlikely that those in the bat-family went into a mission field uninformed on the matter at hand. They all logged their own information at one point or another. It helped others in the field.

At her question of his motives, Nightwing wasn't about to spill his guts over the matter at hand. There was no need to set Oracle up for any amount of laughter over someone hacking her system, let alone letting people know just what kind of information Blockbuster now had on some of the Bat-family.

"Blockbuster carries some vital information that in the wrong hands could cause some mayhem if he knows how to play his cards right. And from the looks of it, he knows how to use these cards wisely in his work. While we're at it, let me make myself clear. I'm not here to put a permanent end to Blockbuster. Your terms of 'taking him down' may venture away from the way I take people down. I'm not out to get blood on my hands. I'm here to stop a threat to this city, just like I am out on the streets every night," Nightwing addressed the possibility of their fighting and justice term differences that they might face ahead working together.

It was best to get it out in the open up front. And Nightwing was a rather forward person. Complications and no communication were the very hairline fractures that could put a mission in jeopardy. This was something Nightwing was not going to tolerate in the matter.

[Deleted]

Tarantula rolled her eyes when Nightwing was showing off his clean hands. This was the moment she realized what kind of person he was. She began to circle him as a vulture would it's dying prey, inspecting him as if he wasn't good enough, or perhaps another reason hidden beneath the subtext. "If Blockbuster has vital information," she said still eyeing him, "it's already in the wrong hands."

Catalina knew of Nightwing's work; she was aware that he came from Gotham, and that Batman had a strict no killing policy, something that had carried over in his time in Bludhaven. It didn't make "No killing?" She asked as if it was a stupid question, Where's the fun in that?" She was here to stop a threat too, Tarantula wasn't liking where he was going with this. It was a simple and rhetorical question, one she was hoping that Nightwing would now understand what kind of person she was.

"You know he can't be stopped even if he's jailed, right? I'm sure you know of his reach, he's got the city under his foot; he can work entirely from a cell if he needs to. I've been planning this for months, it's only now that I actually got help from you that I think I can pull this off."

It burned saying that, but she knew he was good; how could one be a vigilante in a city worse off than Gotham and not hear about the Angel of Bludhaven? He was known because he was experienced, if not goofy.

[Dick Grayson - Nightwing]

[color=Blue["I'm aware of this. My point is, before he gets to carry out anything while knowing this knowledge,"[/color] Nightwing replied.

His eyes only slightly followed her circling him. He felt no need to watch her closely. If she tried anything, he'd be quickens to react than she probably was able to act.

"There are other ways to bring justice that I am aware of," Nightwing retorted.

He's words would fall on deaf ears. He knew this. It seemed the same story as he had faced time and time again working with this kind of vigilante.

"I have my ways. Now, I can either go this on my own. Or are we going to work together," Nightwing put the offer on the table.

Being at odds with the people you work with was something Nightwing was all too used to. Unfortunately. He'd had to find away to work this out. Maybe it was best to try and just agree to work together and carry out the mission. Valuable time was being wasted as they stood there talking.

For all he knew, Blockbuster could possibly be plotting to attack a member of his family or someone close to him here in Bludhaven. Maybe it would be best to deal wit this later. Probably not.

[Deleted]

"Alright then chico," Tarantula said finally stopping in front of him, and pulling out something from her back pouch.,"let's get to work." The ex-FBI agent held out a handheld touch screen device that was beeping. It was a tracker, a model that Nightwing was probably familiar with ever since he began going more and more into the age of tech, and he was having a harder time finding places to keep his toys.

Their com-links activated and Oracle's voice came through. "Looks like you're together now." she chimed in; patching through to their technology to locate them. "I you both tracking on Blockbuster's movements around the town. You have to follow him. This is a reconnaissance mission. Don't get spotted, you only want to find out what he's doing. He's got some sensitive data, you don't want him to pull the trigger if he feels like he's in danger. There was a slight pause before Oracle came back on the microphone, "Looks like he's on McCarthy and Trevor Ave, heading East."

Tarantula nodded her head, hesitant with the word reconnaissance; but still ready to do this."You heard the lady. Let's do this... partner." Her words were almost seductive in the way she said them. She wasn't being subtle at all, yet then again, Catalina never was good at subtly.