Blood Red Blades

Chapter Three

Silent Tension,

Third Person (or is it?)

       Batman? More like Madman. He was positively livid at the fact that someone had the balls to call the commissioner and threaten his daughter just for a call. When he decided to call the number back (for Gordon's sake – little did he know his golden child, Barbara, was the heroine Batgirl) all motives were to track mystery caller down. Tim had been set up for distraction duty, like always, as Babs took on the persona of tech guru – or goddess – Oracle. They learned caller was mooching off a Wayne Enterprises satellite, which did nothing but sour Bruce's mood further. To make matters worse, the caller had duped them all with a false signal (not the person!) that literally got them nowhere. Despite the overall schist-y situation, the Bat did learn one thing.

The Black Mask was back in town.

It was not really all that surprising. It was only waiting to happen. With a name that powerful it was only a matter of time before someone got their grubby, no-good hands on that title. By the sound of it, the new person was a male with resources and a back door to Wayne Enterprises. He was more into fieldwork, by the rumors, and not afraid to get his hands dirty - presuming that they already weren't. This new player, albeit the old name, was a scarily becoming a large block of Gotham's crime stream.

Wonder how Sionis is taking the news.

Batman landed onto the roof of the GCPD, where the Commissioner patiently waited with his hands stuffed in his pockets. "Batman," the older man greeted.

"Gordon," The Dark Knight greeted back, walking over to his close friend with an air of defeat and annoyance.

"Did you find out who it was?" Was the first question that escaped the Commissioner, his fatherly anxiety overwhelming him. He has talked with Barbara, who convinced her father that she was safe, even going to lengths of claiming that Batgirl was with her. It wasn't a lie, of course. It made the undeniable guilt of lying to her father a little less hard.

Before the large, albeit younger, man could answer, someone else jumped to speak up. "It was a decoy signal, we received nothing."

"Robin," the commissioner sighed, mulling over the fact he had somehow forgotten the young br- child.

Batman glanced at his hundredth protégé with his 'what-the-hell-are-you-talking-about' side glance. "Not exactly," Batman corrected, "We did learn three things."

"What?" James inquired.

"For one," a new(er) voice said, "Our caller has friends in high places or really, really deep pockets."

Red Robin emerged from the shadows; his masked face illuminated by the ghastly white glow of his hologlove which had data running through it at a rate that only speedsters – or caffeine addicts – could keep up with. He did risk a glance up with an acknowledgement ("Commissioner.") before concentrating on... whatever he was doing. Gordon wasn't going to ask. He knew better than that. He didn't want a repeat of... last time.

"He has a backdoor to the Wayne satellites, an inside source," Robin revealed as if he had been rehearsing, "We'll ask Wayne to run sweeps on his employees and reestablish control over his property, this time without 'freeloaders.'"

Gordon clearly missed the air quotes in Robin's voice and the subtle glance the two Robins sent the Bat, who looked rather sheepish under the cowl. "Cut Bruce some slack," James frowned, "His family doesn't get second chances at life."

The air clearly dried and the vigilantes could feel their heart skip beats. Under the white lenses of his domino mask, tears sprung to Red Robin's eyes as his chest felt burdened with heavy weights. His hologlove flickered off as he looked away, unable to make eye contact with the men (and child) on the roof, as if one look at them would kill him. The youngest paled by a bit, glancing towards his father as if he were expecting the Bat to rip Gordon's head off or react harshly. Instead, the man had clenched his fists and pushed the knots of tension deeper into the solitude of his mind. "I am aware," Batman muttered.