No Land for Men

The Road to Oz {EP-4}

"Zsasz, I think you misunderstood me, when I asked for food I meant actual food" He spoke with a calm and egotistically tone, running his fingers through his slicked back blonde hair.
"Sorry sir, her meat's just so tender" He replied, his voice was much different, hunched back and a slither wetness to his words, a knife pressed the ginger's spine.
"I don't think we've had the pleasure of meeting yet." She said sarcastically.
"I know enough about you to know that your family is bad news for ours Ms. Gordon."
"Yeah, our father's have had their fair share of run-ins."
"The next time will be the last." He assured her, pulling a gun from his blazer. "And no matter the result, I will come out on top." The blonde reassured her, his cockney British accent certainly didn't hide who he was, even if the Venetian plague mask didn't give it away.
"What are you gonna do to me?" She asked and looked around at where they were, a strip club, half destroyed, somehow they had gained enough electricity to keep the lights on The Strip working. Licking his lips he leaned in close to her, the beak of his mask nudging her cheek slightly and taking in her scent, despite what seemed the end of the world for Gotham, Babs smelt amazing to him. She looked him dead in the eye as he snorted her scent, she slapped him roughly, Zsasz pushed the knife into her lower back. "No, it's fine, I like it when they fight back."
He picked his mask up, looking at her and smirking, slipping it on, rubbing his cheek since she had left a sting on it. He launched his fist at her, knocking her down and laughing, she couldn't fight back and risk everyone finding out she could handle herself exactly like Batgirl. She wiped her mouth and spat back at him, fortunately for him it landed on the mask. "Get this little slag outta here, dump her out back with the rest of the feces." He told Zsasz and she was hauled up to her feet and marched out the back door, Zsasz kicked her into a pile of naked and bloody corpses that were piled up, her eyes wide and she swallowed hard, the smell was horrific.
"You better run little girl, I'll hunt you down later." Zsasz snarled at her and headed back inside.

Nightwing arrived at the clock tower apartment, not too far from his place which was moderately wrecked, it's position wasn't great, since the area was owned by a gang now.
"Where the fuck is Babs?" Jason asked and looked at Grayson.
"I've no idea, some kid showed up, she went dark."
"I'm here" She said from behind them, limping a little from the way she had landed after the kick, her legs and hands covered in blood.
"Are you alright?!" Gray rushed over, clearly concerned.
"Yeah, fine, had a run in with the new kid in class, Oz"
"I'm sorry, something came up."
"Grayson, go inside." She said and nudged him through the entrance to the building. The three had a climb, heading up multiple flights of stairs since the elevators were destroyed, Dick explained on the way about his encounter, Jason hadn't spoken since he met up with them, thinking about the explosion and the fire, helping those people, leaving ones behind that he knew were criminals, he didn't feel guilty about it, this whole situation seemed like a perfect opportunity to him for them to eradicate crime in Gotham for good.

"So, you think he was telling the truth?" Babs sat down on the sofa, searching through her files on Penguin and the rest of the Cobblepots.
"Hard to tell, I managed to get his cowl off, but it was raining, I was buzzing from adrenaline, I didn't really look for a resemblance between him and Bruce."
Jase grabbed a beer, cracking it open against the counter and sitting with them on the sofa, glancing at the large clock face that covered an entire side of the apartment, it was gorgeous to look at till you noticed the smoke and destruction in the background. Nightwing should be out there, but even vigilantes need a rest, and the GCPD had promised they were gaining some control, which wasn't a lie.
"We need to know the movements of the Rogues who aren't on the list" Babs said, taking her journal out to show the boys the ones they had kept track of so far. "There's gotta be someone who does dealings with the remaining guys, we know Zsasz is with Oz" Grayson's finger was moving down the paper as he read the names and spoke. "If we pay him a proper visit, maybe we could get some well-needed info?" He suggested and of course Jason nodded, he knew he'd be staying at home, there was no way he was going back out into that rain.
"They'll gun you down easily as Nightwing, you'll need to go as Dick."
"How will Dick get more information than Nightwing?"
"People don't know Dick Grayson, you can be anyone in there. If you go in as 'Wing then it'll be world war 4 in there." She sighed as she grabbed his hand. "Is Dick Grayson scared of big 'ole Oz Cobblepot?" She asked with a sly smirk.

Of course not, but he felt more comfortable being Nightwing than Grayson, even if they were similar people, he had more confidence as Nightwing, he could showcase his skill a lot easier, he had gadgets and armor, whereas all Dick Grayson had were some torn skinny jeans, half a tub of hair gel and a slightly torn band shirt. "Why don't you just manually find the rest of the Rogues as Nightwing, rather than going to Oz?" Jason asked and raised an eyebrow at NW.
"I don't know if I can risk the time, we could be here weeks looking for people." A sigh left his lips and he rested back on the counter in the apartment.
"Well, my gear is almost sorted, if you wanna go as Grayson with some Batgirl backup, we can?" Babs suggested, knowing that she could wear her more lightweight armor under some baggy clothes and tail Dick through the compound that the Cobblepots had set up.
"Sure, Jason you too." Wing said and looked at the blonde who was rolling his eyes, grabbing his bullet proof vest.