Chapter 10: Better than Expected
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Nightengale flew to the top of the Grayson Inc. offices and landed on the roof, using the spire at the top as a brace. She pushed a button on her wrist and the miniscule bluetooth in her ear came to life.

"Talk to me, Matt." She said through the microphone in her mask.

"I only see a few floors you can go through safely. The 100th floor on the east side doesn't have any cameras, but there are a lot everywhere else. The 8th floor is closer to the basement but the security is really tight. You'd probably have to fight your way through."

"Anything else?"

"Uhh...the only other floor is the 32nd floor. Those are just offices and cubicles so there's not much security. Floors 1, 20, 54, 99, and the top four floors have the most security. And the basement." He explained. "It's your call."

The eyes of the mask glowed as she used the newly installed scanners to look for the floors Matthew had given her as viable options for entry.

She saw what he was talking about. There were a lot of security measures on the west side of the 100th floor. It was too far from the basement anyway.

The 32nd floor had too much security under it. It would make it that more difficult to get to the basement.

She decided on the 8th floor. As tight as the security provisions were, it wouldn't be impossible for her to get past it and take out the guards. Plus she's been there several times that day. Besides, the less security, the better chance she has of not being seen.

"Remind me again why you can't just go straight to the basement if you can just morph through walls, Nightengale?"

"Because I don't know where the basement is in relation to the rest of the building. If I go through the ground at the wrong spot I could get stuck."

"Right...I knew that."

"Did you seriously forget, Matt?"

"What? Nooo...!" Nightengale rolled her eyes under the mask.

"I'm going in on the 8th floor."

"Gotcha. Oh, and Nightengale?"

"Yeah?"

"Robin is in the building." She froze for a second, but she kept moving.

"Alright." Matthew looked a the security cameras on the 8th floor down to the lobby. He had hacked them earlier, but only a few per floor. The rest were still functioning properly.

She slid down the corner of the building that was not glass until she reached the 8th floor, her hand clinging to the building effortlessly with the new enhancements Matthew installed in her suit a few days ago.

He did it as a suprise for her. Probably so he wouldn't piss her off as much. After getting over the fact that he went into the place where she keeps it hidden, she thanked him and tried most of them out on him as a test dummy in return.

She jumped and morphed through the window and ended up in a break room which was completely empty. She scanned the floor and there were a total of 12 visible cameras, 10 hidden cameras, 6 hidden security lasers for intruders, and two or three guards at each important door, mainly the stairs and the elevator. The stairs were obviously her best option. There were also a few guards patrolling the halls.

A little more security than she thought, but she'll manage.

"Matt, how many cameras do you have here?" She whispered.

"Three visible, and four hidden ones. There should be 5 cameras that might see you on your way to the stairs."

"Any of them yours?"

"Uh, yeah, 2. One hidden and one visible."

"Ok..." she slinked out of the break room as a literal shadow. Pinned up against the wall with the freedon of a bird, she moved slowly. She had the first patrolling guard in her sights, and there was a rotating camera right above her. "Azerath Metrion Zinthos." She whispered.

She held both the camera and the guard in place. The camera facing the exact opposite direction of the guard and the guard frantically looking around with his eyes in fear, unable to speak, encased in an inky black aura. She quickly twisted the hand outstretched to the guard and snapped his neck.

Unfortunately, another guard rounded the corner as this took place. She instantly released the guard and the camera and morphed into the ground.

"Si-Simmons?"The female gaurd said, terrified. "Who's there??"

Nightengale appeared in the flesh behind her and put her in a chokehold.

"Guess who." She whispered into the guard's ear. She silently took a knife and slit her throat. Leaving the woman with a terrified, mask-like face.

Around the corner were two other guards. They were guarding the stairwell. Nightengale saw the sign. '10-1' that stairwell led to the lobby. Perfect.

"Ally? Ally who's there?" They obviously didn't get a reply.

"Should we go see if she's ok?" One of the guards asked.

"You go. One us has to stay by the door."

"Uh...I-" The other stuttered.

"What are you scared? It's probably just some Agent someone forgot to power down."

"Fine fine."

"Heh. He's gonna wish he fought harder." Matthew said into Nightengale's ear. She took the blade in hand, and jumped out of the shadows. After flipping over the guard's head, she stabbed him in the back of the neck upwards towards the base of his skull.

Before the other guard could even register what happened, she teleported up to him. He jumped back in fear of the entity that had just killed his friend and fired his gun accidentally.

Nightengale didn't even flinch. Instead she dodged the bullet at point blank, grabbed the gun from his hands, and disapeared.

Matt hardly had time to register what he just saw through the camera.

All of a sudden four gunshots rang out. Taking out all three visible cameras in the hallway, and the guard himself, hitting him square in the forehead.

"Wow." Matthew was a surprised. He'd never seen her work. He's only heard of it. She could have just snuck by him. But instead she boldly decided to reveal herself with gunshots and killing him and taking out all the cameras. He was impressed.

"I know." She replied. She dropped the weapon and dashed down the stairs. She got to the 4th floor within seconds and the alarm blared. The whole stairwell lit up in bright red flashing lights.

"I think they know you're here." Matthew stated.

"No shit, Sherlock." Raven replied obstinately.

Matthew quickly got to work checking the cameras in the lobby. He only had hold of two. But that was enough to see at least twelve guards and Robin were standing watch, clearly ready to shoot the next thing that moves.

"They're all down there..."

"How many?"

"At least a dozen and Robin."

"...I've faced worse."

"You don't sound too confident."

"Shut up."

This...this is definitely the hardest job I've had.

Nobody in or around the city has ever had this much security. If it got anywhere close to this it was usually an ambush.

She slowly made her way down the rest of the stairs and leaned on the wall next to the door so being seen wouldn't be an issue.

After scanning, she saw all of them. With the alarm still blaring in the background, the guards had two guns each. They looked to be one semi-automatic or a fully automatic, and a handgun. She saw Robin too. He had a handgun.

"Be ready for anything that comes through a door!" Robin shouted. "You saw the cameras! Nightengale is here! Don't let her escape!" He barked orders at them as if they were soldiers and he was the general. She knew she would have been seen at some point. There were just too many cameras to avoid. But that wasn't the problem.

She created a gun in her hand and cocked it. She had to think for a second, but she came up with a plan.

"Azerath Metrion Zinthos!" She shouted this and alerted everyone. She threw her voice however, which put them off balance. And the whole room turning black would have given her away anyways.

The door flew open from a guard that had haphazardly tried to get into the stairwell startling her a little. Nightengale wasn't too phased as she wrapped her legs around his neck, flipped him head first into the linoleum and knocked him out. She made all the others dance by shooting at their feet.

"What are you doing? Stop her!" Robin started shooting at her. He hit her in the same shoulder that got hit last time she was in a gun fight.

She grunted as she went through the floor. She cursed herself under her breath.

"What??" Robin exclaimed as she phased though the floor. Every surface in the room was a portal for her. She could appear anywhere at any time and disapear in that same second. She took out the guards one by one like a game of whack-a-mole. She popped out of the hole, took one down then hid again. Soon they were all down except for Robin, who was standing in the lobby by himself, waiting for Nightengale to suprise him.

"Are you waiting for me, Richard?" She laughed and her voice echoed through the large lobby. He stood still, knees bent, all of his weight pushed into the ground ready to spring to action at any moment. "You want to kill me before I kill you, don't you? Haha. How cute." Her voice came from in front of him. "But here's the little problem with your plan," it came from his left. "The closest you can get to me," he listened for the direction of her voice to change. "Is with a bullet." To his right. "The closest I can get to you," it faded out again. "Is with my hands." Behind.

As soon as she appeared behind him she attempted to put him in a chokehold and incapacite him. Instead he grabbed her arm and twisted it around. It didn't hurt, but she struggled to free herself. A grin quickly replaced his frown.

"I have you now. All your talk is bull, Nightengale." He held his gun up to her head.

"If it is then why are you on the floor Richard?" She said in a strained tone.

"What?" She sweep kicked his shins and he fell on the floor on his back, shooting the gun in the process. As luck would have it, the stray bullet found its way into her left hand. The one he was holding back.

"Aagh!" She accidentally let out a grunt, which made Robin smile. She grabbed her left wrist with her right hand and balled her injured hand into a fist.

Nightengale glared at the grinning man beneath her. He got up and dashed over to the phone, completely abandoning his weapon. "Coward!" She latched onto the office phone with her magic and her good hand. She looked him dead in the eyes. "Can't you do anything without help from your stupid lackeys?"

"You are the last person I'd be taking advice on help from 'lackeys'." He lunged for the phone in her hand. She dodged him easily. "You don't know the first thing about getting help, Nightengale. To you, having even one partner is unnecessary."

"Don't say things you have no business talking about, Dick." She said crushing the phone into a ball of plastic and crumpled wires. "Don't always act like you know what you're talking about. No one likes you. You treat your employees like objects to be used to gain power and money."

"Sure, alright. And you're the nicest person on the planet." He retorted sarcastically.

"Even with your closest friends. The way you treat them, your wife is closer with Garfield than with you. Is that really something to be proud of?" She took a few steps closer to him and a different alarm rang. Confused she looked around.

"Police are coming now, Nightengale. Your times up."

"Not until I get what I came here for." She quickly looked around and spied a door. It was behind the secretary's desk and unmarked. "Would that happen to be the basement, Dick?"

"No..."

She smiled under the mask, and Robin could tell. She darted towards the unmarked door as soon as the police came knocking on the door. Robin let them in and they followed her. She disapeared in the darkness of the basement and the lights didn't help much either.

"Nightengale is down here somewhere. Spread out and find her! Shoot to incapacitate, not to kill!" Ordered the police commander. Robin stood by the door as a guard as the rest of them spread out.

Nightengale though, was already at the safe. She winced as she pulled out a vial of water with the mint pick-lock. She poured it into her hand and stuck it on the lock of the safe. After hearing it unlock she hastily threw the safe open.

"What?" She asked confused.

"What's wrong, Raven?" Matthew asked in a worried tone.

"There's nothing in here!"

"Wait, what? Seriously?! Not even money?!"

"No, not even money!" She was livid.

"Raven, look out!" His warning wasn't fast enough. A police baton swung down over her head, sending her to the floor in a haze.

"Raven?" Matthew didn't get an answer. She couldn't even get a grasp of who was in front of her. They were colorful fuzzy blobs to her. Even their voices were muffled gibberish. "Raven?!"

She sat there, slowly slipping into unconsciousness, and struggling to concentrate. One of them grabbed her by the arm and yanked her off the ground. She pushed whoever it was off of her and she slammed back down on the floor, which only worsened her sight. Someone said something to her, but she couldn't understand. She couldn't even tell if it was Matthew. She kept trying to concentrate. Even as someone picked her up again.

Then all of a sudden she disapeared from the person's grasp, leaving them baffled and ultimately frustrated. But Robin? He was grinning ear to ear.

"Mr. Grayson? Why do you look so happy?" One of the officers asked.

"Because that went much better than I expected."