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18.48% Injustice: The Path To Hell (DC Comics) / Chapter 16: Teaming Up

Chương 16: Teaming Up

Wednesday 8th April 2009, 12:10.

New Jersey,

Gotham City

Gotham Heights.

It took Esau longer than he would have liked to admit to realise that fighting against the flow of the crowd was not the most efficient way to get to his destination. Then, it took him just as long to push his way through the crowd and into an alleyway before he could finally start climbing up onto the roof, moving across them with greater speed.

Gotham Heights was perfect for this kind of travelling.

The attached buildings were perfectly positioned with small gaps separating some of the buildings with large stretches of unimpeded running that only had some obstacles in his way like gates and fences separating the roofs of one building from the other. As a result of this, Esau managed to make it to the source of the gunfire relatively quickly, something which would have been impossible.

Coming to a stop on the rooftop overlooking the junction, Esau crouched down to look over the edge and was shocked at the sight that greeted him.

Police cars had formed barricades on the north and east roads, no doubt done in an attempt to contain the incident before it unfolded further, but that had failed spectacularly. For in the centre of the four-way junction, police and civilians were engaged in a huge brawl, hitting not just one another, but even their own allies.

Esau had heard nothing of rioting, but there were always protests happening and what had probably started as an engagement between police and protesters, had turned into a mass brawl.

Again gunshots were heard as those carrying guns unloaded them without a care in the world at both police and civilians.

A brawl of this size and magnitude should have attracted the attention of Batman or at the very least his sidekicks, he was reluctant to admit it, but Esau knew that they were determined to save this city. They wouldn't just stand by and do nothing about this situation, they would be quick to act to put a stop to this all which meant only one thing, they were busy with something else.

Still, it seemed like Esau would have no choice but to get involved again.

This time though, it would be as Esau as he could blend quite easily into the crowd of people and act like he was a part of whatever was going on while targeting those with guns.

Rising to his feet, he went to start climbing down the side of the building only for a hand to grip his shoulder and drag him back behind the wall. Turning around sharply, ready to fight, he paused when he saw Batgirl crouching beside him and he glared at her.

"What are you doing?" He snapped making Batgirl blink at his tone before shaking her head.

"I should be asking you the same question." She replied and Esau scoffed like she had any right to tell him what he could and couldn't do. "You shouldn't be here, it's not safe."

"Not safe for me, but it is for you, right?" Batgirl didn't say anything, just staring straight at him, her eyes narrowed slightly.

Esau knew what she was trying to do.

She was trying to make him back down using intimidation and if he was anyone else, it would have probably worked. The thing was, that whoever was behind that mask, she didn't scare him in the slightest and he just matched her gaze, not backing down in the slightest.

"Whatever." He scoffed and once more went to start climbing down the building, only to be stopped once more.

"You're not going down there, you could get hurt." She continued as her grip on his shoulder tightened.

Esau looked at her hand and then at her. "Look, I don't take orders from you, I can do what I want and right now, I think we've both got more pressing concerns, don't you?" He jerked his head in the direction of the free for all and Batgirl looked over.

Using her temporary distraction, Esau ripped his shoulder out of her grasp and started climbing down the side of the building before she could stop him. "Wait! Uh, fine keep being stubborn." She groaned and he didn't know why, but that made him both smile and feel a sense of nostalgia.

Landing on the ground, Esau started to jog towards the chaos just as batgirl glided down beside him. "Be careful." She said and Esau ignored her as the two joined the fray.

-X-

Wednesday 8th, April, 17:00.

New Jersey,

Gotham City

East End.

Groaning tiredly, Esau stepped out of the shower having finally been released from the Gotham City Police Department and driven home by Gordon. It hadn't been a quiet ride, Esau being on the receiving end of a long tirade about how reckless he had been, especially as Gordon had quite easily figured out that Esau had not been under the influence of whatever drug had infected the rest of the people.

No charges had been pressed which Esau had expected as much.

Though he hated to take advantage of Jim's love for him and guilt for not being able to help him properly, Esau had known that he would escape without jail time. Jim had always covered for him when he skipped school and other things, only forced to take action earlier on in his life when Esau had done inexcusable things.

Esau hated it, but he still took advantage of that guilt on a number of occasions.

"Why did you do it?" That was Jim's only question, the only one that had not been rhetorical.

To be completely honest, Esau didn't know how to describe the reasoning behind why he got involved.

When he had become Black Hood, it had been to make sure that Black Mask could never threaten him, Barbara or Jim ever again. Getting involved in that brawl had nothing to do with them, but while he and Barbara were nearby they were far enough away for them to be safe.

There was also the worry that Jim could have been a part of the group, there have been numerous more across the city at the same time, but Esau knew better than anyone that while Jim was no Batman, he could look after himself. Especially when it was against a ragtag group of civilians that were just aimlessly using whatever they could get their hands on as a weapon with next to no skill.

So he had no need to get involved, but he did and he didn't know why.

"Why?" He questioned himself, pulling a shirt over his head, not even attempting to fix his messy and wild hair, having learnt his lesson a long time ago that it could never be tamed.

But as he was pulling his shirt down past his chest, he noticed a shadow in the corner of the room.

A shadow that dark, unnaturally dark.

Making sure to act like nothing was happening, he oped his sock draw and picked up a pair of socks, revealing a handgun resting there. He dropped the socks, pretending to reach down for another pair, before quickly spinning around and firing at the shadow.

The figure hidden within the shadow dived to one side, rolling along the floor to avoid each bullet.

Yet Esau never let up, constantly firing at the cloaked figure as they darted around the room.

Esau himself didn't standing still, walking backwards to keep distance between them.

But once his magazine was empty, Esau found himself coming face to face with the Darkn Knight himself, Batman.

"I wonder how the people of Gotham would react if they knew the Batman liked to watch boys shower." He snarked, gripping the knife he had out on his kitchen counter, having moved from his bedroom to the kitchen.

"That's not why I'm here and you know that," Batman replied, never breaking his calm posture.

Not caring for the reason, Esau charged forwards, swinging his knife that was held in an icepick grip down on Batman, aiming to piece him through his eye. However, his wrist was caught in one of Batman's iron-like grips having moved quicker than Esau had thought possible, the knife mere inches from his eyes.Despite his eyes locked gazes with Esau's, Batman managed to lazily catch Esau's free hand which had attempted to punch the caped crusader in the gut.

Leaning forward, Esau tried to push Batman backwards, only to find himself unable to move an inch. "I'm through with being Black Hood." Esau snarled, glaring out at him before spitting in Batman's face.

He then followed up with a punch to Batman's face, watching it connect with great satisfaction.

The caped crusader on the other hand had been temporarily caught flat-footed by the unorthodox move and so had been unprepared for the foll-up strike. Despite this, after stumbling back a step, Batman quickly recovered and parried the blonde's second punch before retalitiating with one of his own.

Moving back, Esau rubbed his jaw and glared out at his opponent before charging forwards once more, ignoring his aching jaw.

His two punches were parried and when Esau went to land a roundhouse kick, Batman just ducked down underneath it, coming up as Esau's leg fully extended. Hooking one arm around under the kicking leg, Batman burst to his feet, flipping Esau through the air, before landing on the ground, breath rushing out from his lungs.

Yet, despite being exposed, Batman did not capitalise on this.

Shaking his head, Esau lashed out with his feet in an attempt to sweep Batman's legs out from underneath him, only for the hero to step back, casually avoiding it. Using the opportunity, Esau got to his feet and charged at Batman once more, a renewed vigor behind his strikes as he realised that he was the only one taking this fight seriously, Batman toying with him.

Though what followed could not be called a fight, Esau always going on the offensive and Batman nonchalantly parrying and avoiding the strikes while landing devastating blows of his own. But despite the openings he would create, Batman would never capitalise upon them, just stepping back and watching as Esau regained his balance before allowing Esau to repeat the process all over again.

Growling in frustrating, Esau went for a roundhouse to Batman's midsetion.

It was intercepted by Batman's knee, the same leg he used to block then kicking the inside of Esau's other leg, strong enough to buckle his knees and drop him to the ground. This was then followed up with a spinning hook kick to the temple that sent Esau flying across the room, rolling along the floor.

Despite being dealt a blow that would have knocked out many, Esau quickly rolled to his feet and charged forwards once more.

A few punches to Batman's guard that masterfully held under the continuous assault and then on the seventh punch, Batman opened up grabbing the wrist and slamming the back of his knuckles on Esau's jaw.

Once again the opening he had created was not used which only angered Esau further.

More punches came and this time, Esau went for a kick to finish the combination.

Though angered by Batman's inactivity, Esau was still in control and remembered what happened the last time he had attempted this.

So, as Batman went to block the kick with his forearm, Esau instead shifted his footing and raised the trajectory of his kick to Batman's temple instead of his stomach. However, this sudden change in trajectory didn't catch Batman off guard who simply caught the kick with his other hand, while his original blocking arm gripped Esau's balancing leg. With a tug and what looked like an effortless display of strength, Batman used Esau's unsteady positioning to throw the blonde across the room where he collided against the wall.

Groaning, Esau rose to his feet and shook his head, still a little dazed from some of his earlier strikes. "You're holding back," Esau muttered raising his fists up in a standard boxing stance.

Batman said nothing knowing it was correct.

His strikes had never been at full power if they were, Esau would never have been able to last this long. Some of those strikes to the joints should have broken arms and legs, but he held back and only unbalanced him. Not to mention, he never went on the offensive, but beating Esau or Black Hood as he knew him to be really, was not why he came here.

"Give up, I didn't come here for a fight," Batman growled out in his usual voice to make sure that no one could link him to Bruce Wayne.

Smirking, Esau tensed up in preparation to charge forwards once more. "Well too bad, 'cause I can do this all day." Batman highly doubted that, but he would admire Esau for his determination to keep fighting. Still, this fight needed to end and he doubted Esau would stop.

As Esau charged forwards once more he allowed the blonde to throw the first punch and this time, instead of parrying, stepped inside Esau's guard and landed an uppercut into his solar plexus.

Spittle came out of Esau's mouth as his eyes widened in shock, the wind being entirely knocked out of him by that simple blow.

This time though, unlike he had in the past, Batman didn't give Esau time to recover and used the opening to further his counter-offensive.

A left elbow strike to Esau's left knee sent the blonde down onto one knee.

Then going with the momentum, spun round and slammed a right elbow upwards into Esau's face sending the blonde to the ground, his nose bleeding and his mind in a daze.

It was short and it was brutal, but it was effective.

In the space of a few short seconds, Batman had ended the fight and for good measure, placed one foot on Esau's chest to keep him pinned down. Though Esau was skilled and had a natural talent for fighting, he couldn't match Batman's combat experience and superior skills. Plus, Esau was used to fighting only common thugs and had gotten his ass handed to him by Deadshot. Batman fought guys like Deadshot on a monthly basis, hell sometimes weekly. He'd taken on guys like Killer Croc and other superpowered individuals despite being human and came out the victor.

Esau had a long way to go if he wanted to get onto Batman's level, that's why the very same hero wanted to teach him. Just like Dick, Esau had the potential and raw talent to actually surpass him and he didn't want talent like that to go to waste or end up in the wrong hands. But he also knew that Esau would never accept his training outright, Barbara had described his distaste and anger for superheroes quite vividly and so would spurn their offer for help.

It's why he came here tonight, to try and guide Esau without the blonde realising it.

"You done?" Batman asked.

In response, Esau tried to push Batman's foot off his chest but to no avail.

The heroes foot remained firmly planted there keeping Esau on the ground. "Yeah, I'm done."

Rising to his feet, Batman presented Esau with a hand who looked at it and then back at him.

With another sigh that made it seem like this decision physically pained him, Esau accepted the hand and allowed Batman to help him to his feet.

"Anyone tell you that you have no right to be that good?" Batman said nothing only allowing his lips to twitch upwards giving Esau all the answers he needed. "Right, of course they have." Rubbing his jaw and wiping the blood that was dribbling down from his nose, Esau walked towards the kitchen counter and started running the tap. "So, why are you here?"

Batman watched as Esau started to use the water to get some of the drying blood from his face before answering. "I need your help." The incredulous look Esau gave him once again reminded him that this kid was actually quite expressive with his emotions, a good thing for sure, but as a hero or vigilante, he would need to learn to control that.

For normal humans like them who weren't invulnerable to bullets, they needed to learn to act invincible.

To act like pain didn't affect them worked very well in making thugs extremely wary and paranoid.

This, in turn, would result in them making mistakes that could be capitalised upon.

"No seriously, why are you here?" Esau asked and Batman said nothing, once again giving him all the answer he needed. Turning off the tap, Esau rested against the counter, both arms crossed over his chest and looked Batman dead in the eye. "So, you're serious? Mind telling me what exactly is so troubling that you came to me for help?"

"You got involved in the large riot that took place in Gotham Heights with Batgirl." Batman began. "What neither of you knew at the time that it was planned," Esau said nothing, having already come to that conclusion due to it seeming too coincidental for it to be just that, a coincidence. "Or by who?"

"Let me guess, one of Gotham's many supervillains?"

Batman nodded his head. "Scarecrow or Jonathan Crane as he was known formerly."

"I thought Crane's whole thing was inspiring fear, they didn't look very scared at all, in fact, they looked pretty fearless." Esau recounted.

"That's true, Crane has always created Fear Toxins to make people see their worst fears. It is how he controls people, but it seems he's worked on a toxin that eliminates a person's fear entirely. For example, making random civilians want to commit their darkest and most evil desires. Stealing, murder, rape." Esau grimly nodded his head.

"And in a large area, making people erupt into all-out brawl in the middle of Gotham Heights."

"Exactly." Batman continued, pleased to see that Esau had a good head on his shoulders, he'd need that if he wanted to survive this world of superpowered individuals when he was only a human. "You were there when it happened, you know what this drug is capable of. I want you to help me stop Scarecrow before he can create enough of this stuff to turn Gotham into a war zone."

After a few moments of silence, Esau nodded his head and pushed off the counter. "Yeah, alright." He walked up to Batman so that they would stand near face to face, Esau having grown a couple more inches to stand at a respectable height of six feet. "But let me make one thing clear, this doesn't make me part of your little Bat Family and I'm not doing this because you asked me, I'm doing this for Barbara and Jim. No one else."

Nodding his head, Batman moved past Esau and towards the window that miraculously stayed intact despite the rest of Esau's apartment being wrecked. Luckily for the blonde, no one would really care or complain about the noise partly because people made just as much noise in their own apartments.

"Meet me in the alley across from the building when you're done." With those instructions, Batman jumped out of the window and used his cape to glide across the sky and onto the roof of the adjacent building.

Esau watched him go and then released a sigh of defeat. "What the hell are you doing, Esau?" He questioned himself before walking into his room and lifting up one of the panels of his bedroom floor and pulling out the duffle bag that was there.

Brushing off some of the dust that had gathered on it, Esau opened the bag to reveal his Black Hood attire.

"Seriously, what the fuck are you doing?"


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So, another chapter is done and with it, things are starting to get even more chaotic with a mass chaotic brawl taking place in Gotham Heights as a result of the Fearless Toxin Scarecrow created. However, why did Scarecrow create a Toxin that removes a person's fear? That's the question I'm asking all of you. But we also see what a fight between Batman and Esau would look like and as you can expect, it was a slaughter. Esau didn't stand any chance at all against the superior fighter and got his ass handed to him. Anyway, hope you all enjoyed and if you have any questions or suggestions, please let me know.

next chapter

Chương 17: Closing In

Wednesday 8th April 2009, 19:00.

New Jersey,

Gotham City,

Dockyard.

"Really? A dockyard?" Esau questioned as he crouched beside Batman on a shipping container overlooking the people down below. "How cliché can they get? I mean seriously, when I was hunting down Black Mask this is the first place I came to look for information."

The dockyards were a hotbed of criminal activity.

So much so that most of the workers were actually members of a gang or crime family, or at the very least on their payroll with the docks themselves split under the control of the crime lords. From what Esau had come to learn from his time as Black Hood, was that once Batman had come along the old agreements hadn't been enough and so there had been a huge negotiation between the various organisations that dictated who would own which parts of the docks.

It had been the largest gathering in years and since then, there had been no such gathering ever again.

Batman said nothing in response to Esau's words, continuing to study the thugs down below as they moved barrels of an unknown substance into a single container.

"Speaking of which, how come you've never stopped those deals going on here?" Esau asked the silent Batman. "Because I found a lot of shady shit going on when I was here and not all of it was to do with Black Mask."

Once again there was silence for a few minutes. "Because it's better to have an enemy operating in a place you know they will than in a place you don't," Batman explained.

What was the point in busting the few small-time deals that took place in the dockyards daily when he could allow them to continue to operate here so that when a big deal came along, he could catch them? That way, when a big-time deal took place, instead of the meeting taking place in some unknown location throughout the city, it would be right here in the docks where he knew it to be. If he did raid the docks all the time, then eventually, the crime lords would be forced to find more secure and undisclosed locations.

The docks were open with plenty of high vantage points and ways to sneak into it.

A perfect place for him to take down the bigger dealings that took place and it was certainly worth the risk of letting a number of smaller deals take place.

Besides, the vast majority of deals that went on here were usually stopped by the Gotham Police Department. When considering all that, it was actually more beneficial to allow said deals to go on even if a few went on unhindered. Especially if it allowed him to stop the bigger deals that could and would cause serious problems and consequences if allowed to happen.

Fighting crime in Gotham wasn't easy and sometimes it required letting certain things to go unpunished in order to make a major difference.

"Still don't get it," Esau replied.

"Be quiet." Batman hushed, watching as an SUV pulled up in front of the proceedings.

Esau narrowed his eyes in anger at being ordered around, but instead of saying something decided to turn his gaze back to the thugs and watched as Scarecrow stepped out of the SUV. His mask was in place as a few of the more important members of his gang listened to the orders he was giving, his arms waving around in exaggerated and angry movements.

Something was definitely angering him, that much anyone could tell.

"We definitely found what we're looking for," Esau muttered and Batman nodded his head. "I'm gonna go get a closer look."

In most cases, Batman would have attempted to stop Esau knowing that he could get caught and alert the guards who would raise the alarm. This in turn would cause the barrels to be moved to a different location and force them to scour the city for their location all over again. However, as he watched the shipping containers holding what he assumed was the Fearless Toxin Scarecrow had produced were being locked up. Batman knew they wouldn't be able to unlock the container and move the Fearless toxin before he arrived in time, so he allowed Esau to get closer.

It also allowed him to study Esau's movements as well.

As he had expected, he was raw and untrained.

He stayed out of sight well enough, but that was easy when someone was higher up and was dressed in all black at night, especially in a city as dark as Gotham. Still, Esau knew it was best to stick to the shadows and was very quiet for someone who moved like stealth was a new concept to them.

Still, he could see plenty of things to improve upon, both in Esau's fighting style from earlier and also in his movements right now.

However, they could be improved on with time and proper guidance from the right person.

But like he knew when offering this team up, Esau would be difficult to work with.

He didn't like Batman and his lack of killing, that alone would make working with him difficult for Esau to accept. Add in the fact that Esau was also very stubborn and it seemed Batman would have his work cut out for him, more so than with Barbara and Richard.

Still, he would make this work as best as he could.

The whole point of this team-up was so that Batman could teach or at least guide Esau in how to improve both his fighting and his view on life.

The act of killing was not an option for people like them, they needed to prove to the government that they weren't the time bombs that they thought they were. It's hard enough trying to keep the villains from discovering their secret identities, let alone with the various government agencies and police forces doing the same. In a matter of weeks if not days, nearly every hero would have their secret identity discovered giving the government all the leverage it needed to control not only the heroes but the Justice League and all its resources.

Esau needed to realise that or he would end up as a tool to do someone else's bidding.

But for the time being, Batman had the information he needed.

Esau was going to be difficult to convince to accept his help, Scarecrow was holding Fearless toxin at the docks and he could end this incident right now before it started to get worse.

Moving quickly, he moved to Esau's location and noticed that the boy hadn't even sensed his approach.

Suddenly revealing his presence would no doubt startle him and alert the guards and send Scarecrow scurrying off to whatever hole he had been hiding in.

So instead, Batman leapt off the container and allowed his cape to open up.

He glided across the night sky and as he neared Scarecrow's location, before dropping to the ground, kicking the man to the ground with a kick to the face. The various thugs scattered around the dockyard froze taking a few moments to stare before snapping back to reality and firing in his general direction.

Regretfully, some of the thugs went down due to friendly fire as Batman avoided the hail of bullets and charged into the largest group of criminals. His fists and feet lashed out with devastating accuracy and power, sending criminals collapsing to the ground in bruised, unconscious heaps of flesh.

Meanwhile, Esau looked on in shock having not expected Batman to spring into action so suddenly.

But he quickly got a hold of himself when Batman came under fire and pulled out his fully loaded pistols and took aim.

Not every shot was a kill shot, most were head shots and that's where he was aiming, but some were slightly off course and hit some thugs in the chests, shoulders, arms, and legs and if they were lucky, missed them entirely. Still, Esau had a number of magazines to go through from his time robbing Black Masks armoury and every time his gun ran out of bullets, he'd just replace the empty clip with a new one.

So while he was no Deadshot, – though he had worked hard on improving his skills – he was definitely a good shot unlike some of those thugs firing at Batman right now.

"Get me out of here!" Scarecrow shouted, violently grabbing one of the thugs before pushing him to the driver's side of the SUV he arrived in while Scarecrow got into the passenger.

Not wanting him to escape, Esau took aim and fired.

Luckily for Scarecrow, the bulletproof glass stopped the bullet from piercing through the head of his driver, stopping his escape. Esau cursed his luck, having not only been aiming for the Scarecrow and his aim was off, the bulletproof glass standing his way.

"Shit!" He cursed, watching as Scarecrow took off. "You're not getting away that easily."

Leaving Batman to deal with what remained of Scarecrow's crew, Esau took off back the way he came, leaping, vaulting and climbing his way across the piled containers until he arrived at where his bike was parked. He knew very well from his time studying the dockyard's layout that the nearest exit for Scarecrow was just down the road from where he had stored the Fearless Toxin and so, he quickly revved the engine of his bike and took off.

The bike roared as he swerved it through the dockyard, skidding across the ground as he turned right after exiting it and then took off faster than before. Already he had broken the speed limit pushing a hundred and fifty miles per hour as he drove down the road, his form a blur as he tried to catch up to Scarecrow.

That's when he saw the SUV driving up the road.

He was going too fast to stop in time and so, watched the as the SUV drove straight past him, the world seemed to slow down as Esau saw Scarecrow staring out at him from behind the window. Growling, he slowed his bike right down, while simultaneously spinning it around only to see Batman jump and land on the ground in front of him, one hand raised in the universal sign of stop, in his direction.

Ripping his helmet off after he came to a sudden stop, Esau looked at Batman incredulously. "Why the hell did you stop me?" Esau shouted and Batman just stared at him silently. "I could have caught up to him easily."

"Have you forgotten the barrels filled with the Fearless toxin that he will eventually use against Gotham?" Batman questioned.

"Have you forgotten," Esau stressed this part as to mock Batman. "That Scarecrow is the one who created this toxin and even if we have his barrels, he can just create more, have you forgotten that?"

"No."

"Then what? You just stopped me from chasing down Scarecrow." Esau continued. "If you don't know, this wouldn't be my first time chasing an SUV...I should have just run you over," Esau muttered the last part angrily.

Batman stared firmly at Esau realising that he may have more work cut out for him than he realised. "If I remember correctly, that chase resulted in it being a trap that you walked straight into." That last part made Esau freeze before his face twisted up in a snarl at the reminder of his own hubris.

"Whatever," Esau grunted. "So, what do we do about Scarecrow who's escaped?"

Batman turned around and started moving back towards the dockyard. "I placed a tracker on him." He said before firing a grappling hook that wrapped around a nearby support beam and pulled him up towards the top of the containers.

As he watched Batman disappear back to where they had originally been, Esau couldn't help feeling a little bit of respect for Batman despite how much it pained him. He hadn't even thought of tracking devices, nor had he realised that Batman had placed a tracker on Scarecrow.

'Stopping me makes more sense now.' He thought before putting his helmet on and riding his back to where Scarecrow's Fearless toxin was being stored. 'Should have led with that in the first place.'

Bringing his bike to a stop beside Batman, he looked to where the barrels had been stored to find that not only was the container open, but it was also empty. "We were gone only a few minutes, how did they manage to empty it all without us realising?" Esau asked and Batman didn't answer because they already knew the answer.

It shouldn't be possible.

There's no way twenty-three barrels of Fearless toxin should have been able to be moved in the space of fewer than ten minutes.

Not without them knowing about it.

-X-

Wednesday 8th April 2009, 19:00.

New Jersey,

Gotham City,

East End.

Sighing, Robin sat back on the ground, his back leaning against the wall as he waited quietly.

It had been like this for the last fifteen minutes since Batman placed a tracker on Scarecrow allowing them to know where his hideout was. It took them only five minutes for him and Batgirl to get here in the Batwing and they had been waiting patiently for ten minutes for Batman to arrive.

Now normally, he was a pretty patient guy.

There were plenty of times in which he and Batman would spend hours on a stakeout just waiting for the perfect moment to strike to present itself, yet here he was ten minutes into the waiting game and he was already frustrated.

"Calm down, Robin," Batgirl muttered quietly, her irritation at his impatience slipping into her tone.

He looked over to see that she was doing what he had previously been doing, studying the warehouse in which Scarecrow was situated and like always, she was doing a better job.

Despite having been Robin far longer than she had been Batgirl, she had quickly proven that her age did give her some advantages. She was every bit as flexible, as fast and even slightly stronger than him, combining that with her fighting style, intelligence and longer reach and that made Batgirl currently better than him. It still hurt his pride a little to know that someone who hadn't done this for as long as he had, had surpassed him, even if she did keep saying that eventually, he would surpass her.

It had nothing to do with Batgirl being a member of the opposite gender, it was just how quickly she had grown into being Batgirl. She had been unusually motivated, more so than he had when he first started out and he knew it had something to do with her childhood friend, Esau.

"I know, you're right. I'm sorry." Robin apologised turning around to look over the side of the building once more. He could usually last much longer than this, but that was usually due to having no choice.

Scarecrows' security was spread thin so they could sneak in easily.

Why Batman had told them to wait when he would have usually let them go in was anyone's guess.

That's when both of Batman's sidekicks heard the sound of footsteps.

A single pair and whoever it was, was trying to sneak up on them.

It was probably one of Scarecrows goons who had somehow spotted them and thought to take them out by surprise. Unluckily for him, he tried to sneak up on the wrong people and he was about to pay for that fatal mistake.

Spinning around, Robin went to leap forwards, while Batgirl went to leap to the side.

It was a tried and true method of attack the two had come up with in the countless times they had worked together. Robin would jump forwards and engage their enemy in close quarters, keeping him or her distracted and off guard. While this was going on, Batgirl would move around and if needed, throw Batarangs at them that would cause their attacker to avoid them as well Robin, which was easier said than done. If they needed to stick to stealth – like right now – and couldn't afford to make too much noise, she would instead come in from the flanks or from behind.

There were very few people who had the necessary skill to fend off either Batgirl or a Robin, let alone both at the same time. Those that could would still find themselves hard-pressed for a while, long enough for Batman to arrive or create an opening for them to escape.

All that came to a halt when they noticed that it was not a single person standing behind them, but two.

One was their mentor, Batman which explained why they could only hear one pair of footsteps as, despite their best efforts, their mentor was still too skilled for them to close the gap.

The other was a surprise guest, Black Hood and an unwelcome surprise as well, for most parties involved.

"What's he doing here?" Robin asked arms crossed over his chest due to still being a little miffed at being tricked by the vigilante. The ass-kicking he dealt to the older boy definitely worked well in soothing his wounded pride, but it didn't change the fact that he had been tricked by a dud of all things.

Now that seriously wounded his pride.

Especially with all the teasing from Barbara, Alfred and even Bruce at times.

"He's here to help," Batman informed them shortly, gauging the reactions of the three young individuals before him.

Batgirl and Robin appeared indifferent and would appear unbothered by Black Hood's arrival to most people. But to him, he could tell they disliked this as much as the person they were so uneasy working with. Black Hood's entire posture radiated irritation and even anger at being forced to work with the three people who he blamed for having a role in enabling Gotham's crime, despite being the ones trying to stop it.

Still, he needed to be sure there wouldn't be any problems. "This won't be a problem, will it?" It was phrased as a question, but everyone knew it was more of an order. A force of habit that his protégé had grown used to, Black Hood not so much and it showed in the way his anger grew a bit more at being ordered around. Even so, Black Hood begrudgingly nodded his head stiffly. "Good."

Batman on the other hand couldn't care less about Black Hood's wounded pride.

They had a job to do and he wouldn't walk around on eggshells around Gotham's newest vigilante just because he didn't like being ordered around. His stubbornness could be a good thing, but it seems that Black Hood didn't understand when to let such things go in the face of overcoming odds that required help.

That would have to change as well.

"What have you learned?" Batman asked, crouching down beside Batgirl, while Black Hood and Robin remained standing, their eyes narrowed in each other's direction. Neither said anything, even Black Hood knew better than to piss off Batman, especially after being beaten with relative ease earlier today.

"Thirty armed guards and I'm not just seeing Scarecrows guys down there, I'm seeing a few guys that have worked with Killer Croc as well," Batgirl informed her mentor who said nothing, just kneeling there thinking over the information. "I'm thinking the two might be teaming up or something like that. Either way, the only viable way is to get on the roof and then move down through the windows on the side. Most are missing so we should be able to avoid making any noise."

Nodding his head, Batman took note of the number of men on the roof.

There were five, all armed with semi-automatics and patrolling randomly around, making sure to look like they knew what they were doing when in fact they didn't. Still, with five of them, it would be difficult to take them all out before they could raise the alarm, partly because they had a new member that was unused to working with them.

Batman more for the sake of Black Hood, pronounced their next move. "Go for the roof, take out the guards and move into the warehouse through the missing windows." While he, Robin and Batgirl had grown so used to working together, their roles had become defined.

The unique synergy that had formed meant they didn't need to communicate to know what the other was doing, they could tell just from their minuscule movements what they were planning to do. Right now, Black Hood didn't have that and so for the sake of things, Batman would have to use verbal communication more often.

Without a word, Batgirl and Robin took off covering the west and east sides of the building, each getting into a position where they could take out the guards quickly and quietly.

Batman, however, stayed and turned to Black Hood. "You cover the guard on this side, once I'm in position take him out, quickly and quietly." Reluctantly, the younger man nodded his head and Batman went to leave, but just before he did he remembered something. "No killing."

With that warning, Batman took off not even caring if Black Hood had attempted to rebuke this order and instead move to get into position.


SUY NGHĨ CỦA NGƯỜI SÁNG TẠO
Carrots123 Carrots123

So, another chapter is done and with it, Esau reluctantly teams up with Batman. This is not because he believes in Batman's ideals, but because despite the "bad" things he does, Esau is still a hero. He will put aside his pride and distaste for someone if it means saving those he cares about. In this occasion, Batman knows more than he does and is giving him a chance to stop things from getting more chaotic very quickly and that's what he's going to do. However, things are not easy for Esau or the Bat Family, Batman the only one really willing to let Esau join the team, something Esau isn't happy about. Anyway, hope you all enjoyed and if you have any questions or suggestions, please let me know.

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