E20: Know it all!

Mateo nodded his head then gave a proud smile "She knows I'm a criminal, that I'm one of the biggest criminals in Blüdhaven, that I work for one of the biggest in the world but I'm sure if you know her personally, which thanks for that possible clue to who you are by the way, then she's told you about the day everything changed for us? When our parents left us, we swore our loyalty to one another without words, through our heartbreak that shows through our actions. Besides being a beautiful woman that adamantly refuses to give any guy that's not a boss of hers who happens to be male the light of day because she isolates herself with work when things get tough and it has helped her stay sane since, she's a fiercely loyal and brilliant woman who insists on scoring nothing but 100% when she's given a test. This is nothing but a test of loyalty, she knows things won't change here, she's given up this place so she can help the world. She could shoot my wife and I'd still hop in front of a bullet for her, she'd do just the same for me if it was reversed, this example needs to be said in case "Fiercely" wasn't a strong enough word to get it through your thick skull. You can't use her, you can't rely on her, vigilante, if she was the first step in your plan of getting rid of all these violent and money hungry cops then you'd be as good as dead anyway. She can't be trusted." Mateo said with unbreakable confidence and belief in his words that showed through his tone. 

Nightwing gave his words a bit of pondering as he stared down thinking to himself.

"I guess you're right but I just have one more question, please, just answer one final question please?!" Nightwing replied then asked with intense desperation in his voice. 

Everybody chuckled, Mateo nodded his head "yes" while Kate Riordan prepped her gun to execute Nightwing whenever Mateo gave her the go ahead, "You guys have never caught an actual superhero have you?" Nightwing asked as he swiftly stood up and bursted out of the ropes with his incredible upper body strength. 

Mateo and Sylph ran towards the open window, utilizing an escape plan they never needed or used until now, Sylph let Mateo down like Rapunzel did with Mother Gothel, except with her red and incredibly strong but thin cloth. She lowered him where he would be escorted with some of his remaining Limousine assassins.

Bernie and Eddie Hwang charged in with the speed you'd expect from bloodthirsty killers turned bodyguards, attacking Nightwing as ferociously as he expected, he was only just fast enough to avoid their blows, their strong and one-hit kill attacks and he knew if he was one second off his of timing and evasion, he'd be more toasted than before… Kate Riordan couldn't get a clean shot as Nightwing and her associates were locked in their 2 on 1 tussle. Nightwing had no other choice, he knew his limitations, these guys were too good for him to challenge while partnered and now this battle was about survival for him. 

"Too small of a room, he was right about their skills, I can't take them all on at once, I'm barely handling two, I need to get somewhere bigger to think!" Nightwing said in his head after he was tossed into a wall by Eddie Hwang. 

Nightwing grabbed out one of his smoke bombs, he doesn't keep count on how many times he's used it but for as fast as he did without looking, he had to have done it a thousand times. 

The room quickly filled with smoke and gas that blinded and temporarily disoriented all of the bodyguards in the room with him, except one. 

Without another thought, Nightwing flipped out of the nearest window immediately then shot his grapnel gun up towards the edge of another nearby building. 

Mary Tanner smiled as big as she could before she transformed into her metahuman form that was dubbed Leather. Her skin reached superhuman levels of durability and she became as fast as Nightwing, almost as acrobatic too, shown as she chased after him from rooftop to rooftop while the others were still recovering. 

"See, I said it, I said to let me tie him down, he wouldn't have broken free from my threads if you didn't insist on doing it, incompetent Eddie." Sylph yelled with a frustrated tone after she finally recovered. 

"Whatever. Let's just catch up with the beast and the coward, stop yappin'." Eddie replied with as much irritation in his voice as her. 

Nightwing was two rooftops away from the place he escaped from, heading towards his beloved mechanical glider he's had since he built and programmed it at 14, then had assistance absolutely perfecting it's A.I from a friend he made at 16 who loves it as much as him, until he was realized he was being pursued by the girl that give him dirty looks earlier that night in a new form. 

Leather was catching up fast, she was right on his tail, so he ordered his glider to leave with his command gauntlet, it wasn't made out of special metahuman proof material and everyone in that town seemed to have varying levels of super strength. 

When he got to the edge of the current building they were on, she had already caught up to him and they went into a physical struggle. She was strong, crazy strong and swift. 

"She's crazy strong for a lady who's bicep looks like a branch that's painted grey!" Nightwing said in his head as the two had a scuffle, ending when he overpowered her and placed enough distance for him to deliver a spinning back kick but it didn't put her down. 

She came at him with everything she had, she made bloodthirsty noises while she performed a chain of wild, difficult for him to predict attacks with her razor sharp claws that were longer than even her fingers. 

The entire time, he was reminded of his teen years, training and sparring with a buddy of his who fought like this. He could turn into any animal in the world, he enjoyed the challenge of facing an opponent that's almost impossible to read because there's no thought, training or discipline behind their attacks. No pattern he could read like with Eddie Hwang, Bernie, Kate Riordan, Boone, any of the martial artists he's faced. He acknowledged without that sparring and training with one of his best friends, this fight might've been the end of him. 

Nightwing kept his distance from Leather, blocking her intensely sharp claws with his gauntlets as he came up with a plan of attack but didn't realize he was buying time for the others to arrive. 

Out the side of his eye, he saw Metal Eddie, Bernie and Sylph making their way to the fight, which distracted him long enough, just for a split second for Leather to hop on him like an animal. 

He had her arms but she was snapping at his neck like she was a vampire. He could only hold her back as the struggle was on the floor so far, her teeth were so close. He could smell her breath and it wasn't pleasant. 

Nightwing's glider came flying in to help like it was one hungry eagle and Leather was the prey on its menu tonight, swooping down on her and carrying her away so he could get back on his feet to fight, now three against one again. 

Nightwing stood a much better chance, no animals and no guns, or so he thought as he got comfortable into a Krav maga stance as the others approached him, surrounding him in a circle with their own stances.

The hero didn't let them see him crack, two master martial artists that gave him a real challenge earlier and a mysterious woman he's got no clue of what she's capable of, versus him, versus one man. 

Eddie threw the first jab, Nightwing dodged it and tried to give him a leg sweep but missed, Bernie pulled out his pistol he had holstered and aimed to shoot the hero while he was on the ground but he rolled out of the way following up with disarming him by throwing his wing-ding at his hand but missed thanks to Bernie's quick reflexes.

Eddie Hwang snuck up behind Nightwing while distracted with the gunman and tossed him near the edge of the roof again, Sylph wrapped her cloth around the hero's arms and upper body as he recovered, he didn't see it coming, didn't evade it and he actually struggled to get out of it. The more he struggled and moved attempting to break free, the tighter it got around him, he figured this out and quit struggling.

He quickly realized he still had 4 grinning, bloodthirsty assassins turned bodyguards as he sees Leather has returned, looking to finish his career and he's down sentimental school project and the use of his arms. 

Sylph tried to bind his legs but this time he saw her coming and side flipped out of her way, covering great distance, the others were relentless and didn't give him breathing space, as soon as he landed Leather went on the offensive, savagely clawing and trying to grab him. He kept dipping, weaving and back flipping over her, Bernie and Eddie were impressed by his acrobatics. 

Eddie ordered Leather to back off and leave it to him and Bernie with a promise she could finish him, she reluctantly agreed then went to try and calm herself. This gave Nightwing an idea. 

As the two martial artists were laughing at him and taunting him, he got himself into a predictable stance, hoping they'd have an idea of what he was charging up for… 

They knew, to break his spirits further, they played along and both charged at him, he tried to deliver a split kick but they both moved their heads over and slammed his back into the ground having taken one leg each.

Nightwing acted way more hurt than he actually was to fool Eddie enough, Eddie made Bernie back off from shooting him and kept his word to their animalistic co-worker, Leather approached the injured hero on the ground seductively.

Leather got on Nightwing like she asked Mateo earlier, she sat on his chest and moved his dark locks before she got her claws unleashed to pierce his skin but the hero wrapped his legs around her and flipped who was on top of who, she cut him free. The relief he felt was unlike any he ever felt before and now freed after that gigantic gamble the acrobat began cartwheeling around the roof. 

He was cartwheeling and flipping agilely, too gracefully like he was granted a speed boost for the others to keep up with him but it was his frustration and a boost of adrenaline that gave him a boost. 

He targeted Leather first as soon as she got back on her feet, they got locked into a struggle of strength, he held a tight grip on Leather's wrists so she couldn't use her claws. He made sure to be facing Sylph and baited her into trying to rope him up with her cloth with his words. Hurtful words that agitated her more than hurt any feelings. 

She fell right into his bait, Nightwing was nervous, he kept thinking about getting the timing just right, he switched places with Leather perfectly and delivered a spinning back kick as hard as he could, as hard as he could to get her to grab her stomach. 

Leather saw her arms were tied up and reacted as Nightwing had hoped based on an educated guess, Leather was savage, she was feral-like enough to panic and get angry like one when you cage them, she couldn't cut herself out before she passed out.

Before Sylph could fully realize that she was tricked by him and undo it, Nightwing ricocheted one of his Escrima sticks and took her out of the fight. He broke her lead arm. 

The final two were looking toward him, Eddie stretched before he got into his stance while Bernie didn't like dilly-dallying, he charged at the Aerial Avenger, swinging with murderous intent. Nightwing back flipped away, he could see Bernie knew what he was doing, he fainting aggression, if he tried a counterattack, Bernie would capitalize and his mind he assumed it would be with his signature death touch. A technique he knows very well. During the middle of this, a sniper from afar was taking her shots. The combatants kept fighting despite having a. unseen sniper butting in.

The hero dipped from and weaved away from the bright suited assassin, he kept his distance before an opening peeked its head for him to knock Goode Ole Bernie out with a dazzling, searing, 720 spinning hook kick that floored the lethal assassin and incompetent bodyguard that he chained into acrobatic flips in an effort to keep moving, to keep being hard to hit from the sniper that was targeting him during the fight he just finished. 

"Hella won't be in the way anymore, I guess she's sexy and hella electrifying now, Blue cheese!" Nightwing heard over his comms as Brendan informed him. Nightwing nodded at another of his puns and that codename he kept asking him to stop calling him.

Nightwing was left with only a single assassin that stood in his way of questioning and arresting Mateo Flores for his cooperation with the criminal lord Blockbuster: Metal Eddie, a man he's had a complicated but simple feud and history with since he was sixteen when he first went out on his own. He was going to hold nothing back when it comes to his level of brutality against this guy. Nightwing and Metal Eddie squared up, Metal Eddie had a ton of respect for this hero he's never seen until tonight from his performance against the others. 

The battle was bloody but Nightwing ended it quickly, Eddie had one weakness he struggled with and the combative genius remembered from their first battle and he exploited it well. 

"Are you alright, I'm hearing noises I don't like bro!" Asked Brendan over comms as Nightwing was recovering the damage he received from Metal Eddie and him having to choke Metal Eddie on the ground to take him down. 

"Yeah, He's gotten stronger and more skilled since his time as a fraud and the last time we fought but so have I. I'm guessing when he failed to get into Wayne industries, he came here and Blockbuster must've helped him perfect his knockoff of H.I.V.E's knockoff of Slade Wilson's super soldier serum. I'm going after Mateo now." Nightwing replied as he walked off the pain and endured his injured ribs. 

"Who is Slade Wilson?" Brendan asked with genuine curiosity, Nightwing held his gut and stretched his shoulders before taking off sprinting, "One of the last killers I'm hoping would become a Blüdhaven tourist any time soon." He answered Brendan as he soared and parkoured on his way to track down Mateo Flores.

Mateo was reading a book over the railing of a cheap haven hotel, a room he booked while trying to stay hidden until he got confirmation from one of Blockbuster's assassins that the job was finished, hoping the killers he's seen in action, that completed contracts with almost impossible odds, who accomplished stuff his league of limousine assassins that failed to complete the contract efficiently prior could only dream of doing but no confirmation came and it's been hours into the night, hours since they started. He was nervous, for the first time since he began working for Blockbuster and climbed up the ranks, he wasn't feeling confidence. He was afraid, afraid of everything and in deep thought. He couldn't even read his book, he just held it up to his face. 

"I was sniped at, almost eaten, had my skills tested, tied up with a crazy scarf made from material I use with my own grappling line that was covered in static electricity which forced it to get tighter the more I tried to remove it and got reminded of some very bad memories from when I was a teenager. So, my night was fun, how about yours?" Said Nightwing while appearing out of the blue, silent steps and entry, resulting in giving Metro flores the biggest jumpscare he's felt in a long time. The corrupted DA's heart was pounding. 

Once Mateo calmed down and got more relaxed, he went back to leaning over the railing, looking down without replying back. 

"That's alright, when Catalina arrives you can have a great heart to heart with her. I called it in anonymously, gave one helpful tip." Said Nightwing as he rested over the railing beside Mateo. 

"It's hopeless, like me. He loves to rule over the people of his home and have others do some things for him, but he can still get things done himself. You really haven't seen him. You're not stripping him of his army by defeating the fodder. He's a one man army that demolishes everything that gets in his way and you signed yourself up to be his first victim in a very long time. " Mateo told the hero with a disheartened tone, feeling demoralized, "He's the unstoppable force and immovable object, his brawn and intelligence, supernatural." Mateo finished with a grim tone as he was deadly serious.

"You're not hopeless, you can tell them what you know about Blockbuster as a start, a name or appearance. Also, no man is unbeatable if tonight hasn't shown you enough proof of that. What decides the winner between two opponents is always which is more determined to win and I won't lose." The hero replied before the silence crept back in. 

"We're so very… doomed." Said Mateo breaking up the moment of silence while a few tears started running down his cheek.