Chapter 31: Cop Conspiracy?

"Blanchard and I beat him black and blue then took his TV to be petty." Amy heard from Officer Woodrow barely from hearing range while they tramped around the station, "The supply vanished after he and his boys got jumped by that vigilante, he woke up and it was gone!" Amy rohrbach heard from another fellow officer who was having a conversation nearby.

Amy rohrbach sat at her desk as she filed reports but got distracted while she weighed up how many terrible cops were working for the chief, until she gave a glance to her right, had to do a double take at Detective Svoboda standing by herself instead of roaming about like previously. Suspicions and fear grew, fear from the suspicion that the chief hired the best Detective at the station to search for a mole. She's not very confident in her acting skills, not confident she was a good enough one to fool her if she pressed her.

Amy rohrbach decided the best way to stay off her radar was to get back to work, however, Svoboda surveys and analyzes everyone and goes off her gut, seeing that made her gut ache.

Elise Svoboda walked slowly with her hands behind her back, Amy rohrbach continued doing paperwork while trying not to make herself a suspect any further.

"Amy, isn't it?" Elise asked rhetorically, she knew her name, "Rohrbach, yes, can I help you with something?" Rohrbach asked with an attempt to hide her fear.

Elise took a moment of silence and eyeballs her co-worker, her fellow cop, studying her meticulously and Amy Rohrbach quickly realized this and returned it.

"The chief put me on the vigilante case and he told me I could hand pick a partner on this one, so, I was thinking you and I could make some quick work?" Elise replied with a sudden ecstatic tone and hope.

Amy Rohrbach as swiftly as a fan girl when she was done explaining and making that offer to her, she answered with an astounding "sure!", quicker than Elise expected.

"He's smarter than I thought, putting her on this case, a great opportunity to see what she has on him and stop them." Rohrbach thought to herself as Elise turned around to go get ready to begin the case, "Yeah, don't question why I asked you specifically, one hell of an officer but a lousy Detective. If you work for him, lead me right to him, Ms.Clueless." Elise thought to herself as Amy followed her for some briefing.

The team got him home safely to Parkthorne and in the hidden medical facility our heroes has built in, the Aerial avenger rested and healed, the small hidden facility has everything Harold needed but only two people could occupy the small room at a time.

In the main room, a meeting between Brendan and all of Nightwing's new allies was held.

"Thank you guys for sticking with us, without you guys, we could've lost him and I couldn't have lived with that so you saved two lives." Said Brendan out of his usual, bright and cheery character.

"He's the kind of guy to stick by us, It's only right we stick by him." Juan replied while holding genuine concern for his recovery, "Like Juan said, wudn't nothin' we coulda done xcept' repay wat he's done for us, man." Stallion finished for his reply.

Brendan nodded his head and cheered up, He's seen Grayson recover from worse when he was a sidekick, He's the most confident that he'll recover and the third most hopeful.

"An' ta think we all started off as outlaws he tussled with comin' together to save him." Stallion jokingly pointed out to lighten the mood, "We were, weren't we, huh? Two hackers working for the biggest thief in Gotham, a hired thug seeking thrills with no care for anyone else, a misguided art vandal working with a lady in a pigeon costums and an evolved Gorilla arms dealer from a hidden city. Thankfully the Justice league, Injustice league and Robin and the Teen Titans exist or we'd be freaks." Brendan recapped to himself as the others, especially Shawn Tsang, sat in their silence waiting for Harold to confirm he'll be okay.

Juan was thinkin' to himself in his usual silence until an idea popped into his head, "Let's agree to a back-up team for him, we'll still be in retirement but anytime you guys'll need us for anything, we'll be a call away."

Brendan's mood was lifted and brightly lit up by the idea, a new official team to help him and his buddy liberate the city but deep down here was hoping it'd never come to them being needed, "We'll need a name to make it official though." Said Brendan with a beaming smile, "No." Juan replied with his natural grumpy look.

"Lemme see, let me see..." Brendan said in his head to begin his brain storm, "Juan rides bikes, Nightwing runs across rooftops, I shut my miss Sweigeld off." Brendan continued as he was thinking long and hard while rubbing his chin with his middle finger like he's always have done to think better. "Dude, it's not that deep." Stallion commented as he stood real silent and thinking on it.

Shawn looked up after seeing western boots and saw Stallion hulking over her before he sat down next to her.

"Tell us somethin', Shawn?" Said Stallion with a tender tone, "Sorry, I'm just- It's just I'm worrying my ass off here." Shawn confessed as the others could hear the stress in her voice, "Those wounds, how much blood he's lost, I've been wanting to pull him away from this ever since we found each other again but I'm being selfish and he's so reckless." Shawn confessed her heart out while being overwhelmed that was familiar to Stallion.

"It was a long and nerve-racking night 'cause of the knives but thankfully this kid has all the same pluck and ability of making his suffering last longer as the heroes had in my day." Harold said right after he opened the door and walked into the room to deliver the news, everyone rejoiced.

Elise and Amy carpooled with Amy's police cruiser to Elise' home, her daughter was at school, still Amy saw pictures of her co-worker's family on her walls.

"I noticed you've got tons of pictures of you and your daughter on your walls but none with your husband? Unless you mind me asking--" Amy asked to clear the tense air, "He... removed them all before he disappeared." Elise Svoboda replied as she interrupted her question, "I need you to clear up some rumors I heard around. I heard you formally spoke with the mask we in blue pajamas, it's not true, is it?" Elise finished with in a drastically different tone than the one she had before.

"He was in charge of choosing where we met away from spying eyes, damn it." Any rohrbach responded with in her thoughts as she thought carefully of about explanation, "Rumors are notorious for being incredibly wrong more often than incredibly helpful, so no, I was caught arresting him but like the chief says, He's a slippery one." Amy answered after she found her footing, protecting the city motivated her.

"Uh huh, there's photo evidence of you and him, face to face, without your sidearm in hand or cuffs at the ready, care to explain this photo for me then?" Svoboda clapped back with as she pulled out the photo in question.

"My faith in this hero is fading away." Said Amy in her thoughts as she scanned the photo, it was undeniably her and Nightwing caught together, she could only think of something basic and hoped to god Elise believes it.

"He told me that he had an associate with a sniper rifle aimed at my head and if I reached for my gun, he'd signal them to take the shot but if I listened to what he had to say then he'd keep them at bay, so like anyone who wanted to live, I didn't take the risk and I stood down." Amy made up on the spot, hoping to use up any luck she's got that she believes.

"Interesting." Elise replied with an alarmingly calm voice that made Amy feel uneasy, "You could've interrogated me back at the station, there was no point in bringing me here to do it." Amy retorts with an attitude, "I'm a Detective, I was brought documentary evidence by one of my husband's informants but still it was only a photograph that could've been out of context. I didn't want to believe it but you understand the... job, right?" Elise explained with that same level of calmness and confidence in her tone that made Amy feel uncomfortable. Amy stayed silent and gave a nod and had nothing else to say.

"Husband's informants." Amy rohrbach noted in her head. Amy followed Elise to hear dining room where she has erase boards of clues but the problem was Amy was as in the dark about any information of Nightwing's whereabouts or identity as Svoboda. She couldn't tell which clues to lead her away from or which to draw her nearer to throw her off.

"This is a quirky set up ya got here." Amy rohrbach stated as she took a look around.

"He's been out for about a day, we've heard nothing from him but his last known "bust" was at a warehouse that's owned by a Dion dell, clearly a fake identity but he really doesn't exist, he's nowhere to be found. no information whatsoever. So, which clues should we follow?" Elise informed Amy then asked, whatever Amy rohrbach chooses is going to sit with Elise.

Amy rohrbach looked at Elise then back at the boards, Amy thinking about how Elise definitely have the idea and suspicion if her being the mole despite being smooth with denying it. Amy's eyebrows told Elise that there was something worrying her and that she was in her thoughts, adding onto more suspicion.

"Let's ask the informants near Riverdomain, see if they've seen anything that we can use." Amy rohrbach answered, hoping and praying she chose the farthest from where the mysterious and charming vigilante is based up.

Svoboda and Rohrbach stared at each other for the longest, Amy wondering what Elise was thinking about the entire time as she struggled, "Alright, these guys love to gossip too, the crazy conversations they have is crazy!" Elise replied when the glaring contest was done and they went on their way.

Dick Grayson woke up a few hours after Harold delivered the good news that he was fine, it was a time of great jubilation for everyone there, Brendan, Stallion, Juan, Shawn, even Pamela who was there through a video connection with Brendan's drone, when he entered the room, though still in no shape to fight.

"You had like, thirty knives in your back, man!" brendan yelled out with fear in his tone, "I thought the armor was stab proof?" Brendan asked but now confused.

"He stabbed me with sharper and stranger knives than they might look, he's FAST at drawing them and throwing, his aim is top quality. He was likely studying me while he had me distracted with two girls as quick as I am, he targeted specific weak points in the armor he had a small shot of hitting but could slow me down and bleed me out. I'll update his profile later but the girls got away, tell me you got anything on them?" Richard Grayson informed Brendan after the two hugged and Grayson groaned.

"Yeah, I got to work as soon as the fight started and their names are Margot and Aliki Marceau, former french aerialists from a traveling french circus called "Cirque sensationelle". They must not be with Blockbuster like the others 'cus they were too easy to find. We can take them down when you're ready." Brendan answered and informed the Dark Heir, "Great work, Bren." Grayson responded faintly, he hated the process of healing, it slowed down him down.

"You go back to the infirmary, get undressed and I'll repair your suit, go! GO!" Harold told the Aerial avenger but in his mind, he didn't want to, he felt like he needed to track down the sisters but he still did what Harold insisted without any refusal.

Svoboda and Rohrbach met up with Elise's best informant and a man who was like a mentor to him when he was around, a man named "Philip Aswal" aka the former chief of police before Redhorn took over and he retired.