-Athena's POV-

I swung around in the sky quickly, following the GPS on my watch. It had been awhile since I had a specific target, but tonight, I was going after some powerful drug leaders. Gotham had always been a drug smuggling town, but with appearance of Red Hood, the drug business was sky rocketing.

I silently landed in the rafters of a warehouse. Two groups of men stood, talking. They were obviously trading and discussing with each other.

"It feels...light," One of the two leaders said, holding a green duffel bag in his hand. He looked angry and ready to pounce. I smiled. Maybe tonight was going to be interesting...

"It's not light. And quit moaning, man. This ain't a buy. Just take it to the Man," the other guy ordered. He looked to be of some Asian decent. He had a long, slick black pony tail and a goatee. I was fascinated with his tattoos. 

"He doesn't want product. He wants his cut," Duffle bag guy growled, tossing the bag to the ground.

"Well, I can't move this weight. I don't want to move this weight."

I leaned closer, trying to figure out what they were arguing about. 

"The man says you should move up in the world," one of Duffle Bag's body guards whispered in his ear, "Expand your horizons and all that."

Was the Man Red Hood? Or was it Black Mask? This turf war was getting very confusing. Both seemed to be at equal levels of power in Gotham. I had to hand it to Red Hood. He had only been around for three months and was already at the top of the ranks. Black Mask had been in Gotham for over a year.

"Look," the tattoo guy put his hands up in mock surrender, "This is all way too much action for me. Truth...dude scares me. I'm out."

Duffel bag guy pushed him. "Man, you don't get to make that call. This isn't some Little Leaguer game. You're out only when the Man says you're out."

I had thought the two had been rivals. But, tattoo guy and duffel bag were working together. Duffel Bag was higher in the ranks than Tattoo Guy, and it showed. Duffel Bag was definitely more dominate, indicating his power. Tattoo Guy was just the delivery boy and he had failed. Now, he was scared and trying to get out before anything else went wrong. Coward.

I couldn't help but think it. As soon as I did, I felt bad. Is that the kind of thing a hero does? Would a hero criticize a person for trying to get away from danger? I guess I was programmed to think like a criminal more than I thought. Was I even a hero at all?

"I've got a better idea," I called out from the shadows, leaning out over the railings, "You idiots hand over the drugs, and I'll just kick your asses a little bit." I smirked.

The guys looked up at me, their guns at the ready. "Who's that?" One of the bodyguards asked.

"Who cares? Take her out!" Another shouted, firing at me. 

I leaped from my hiding spot. I clenched my hand in a fist. "No harm in trying," I sighed, landing in the middle of the men and cracking a guy across the face, "I haven't seen you guys around here before! New to the neighborhood?" I grabbed one of their heads, using it for balance as I elbowed a guy in the stomach and kicked Tattoo guy in the face. 

"Yeah. Maybe you could show us all the hot spots," A bodyguard held a gun against my head. I was surprised he got that close to me. I'd make him regret it.

"Maybe another time," I said, disarming him and throwing my palm straight up into his jaw. His neck snapped back with a crack and he tumbled to the ground.

"At the moment," I crouched down beside his body and wretched his arm behind his back, "I just want to know who you're working for."

I twisted and he screamed. "AHHH! You're breaking my fucking arm you lousy bi--"

With another pull, he screeched louder and started to cry. I missed this element of crime fighting. I liked making bad guys pay. Maybe my ways weren't very hero like, but I couldn't care less.

"C'mon, do you want me to dislocate your shoulder? Just tell me. Are you local? Or are you working for Black Mask?" I demanded, pressing my knee into his back and twisting just a bit more.

His face was pressed against the concrete as he coated the floor in blood, sweat, and tears. "C-can't tell. Please! He'll kill me! I-I don't want--"

I gripped his finger in my hand and pressed down, breaking it with a snap. 

"AAAAIIIIIEEEEEE!!! Okay, okay! It's the Hood! Its Red Hood!" He shouted. I grinned. I knew it! I dropped his arm and stood up. Just as I did, I punched him across the face and knocked him out cold. 

I was learning more and more about Red Hood. Apparently, he was threatening his workers with death if they told anyone who they worked for. Since when was Red Hood trying to be covert?

I left an anonymous police tip to my location and zip lined away to another target I had marked down. It was another group of drug dealers inside Gotham. I shimmied inside of yet another warehouse and army crawled onto a loft that hung above the main room. Pressed against the ground, I decided to contact Batman with my discovery.

"What is it, Nightingale?" He wasn't in a good mood.

"I'm onto something. Red Hood has been threatening his workers."

"Yes. He has been telling them he'll kill them if they give him up," Batman replied matter-of-factly, "Have you seen Red Hood?"

"Oh, um," I was surprised by his knowledge, "no. A few small-time guys on 18th Avenue gave him up."

"I know those men. I was keeping them there. One was an informant." He sounded so annoyed. I was starting to feel frustrated just talking to him. Something had pissed Batman off.

"Oh."

"Have you seen the Red Hood? Do you have any direct leads?"

I sighed and said under my breath, "No."

"I gave you this emergency frequency for just that. Emergencies. If you have a location of the Red Hood contact me. But, otherwise, I'm busy," He lectured. I gripped the phone.

"Since when did you decide my information is useless?" I thought back to a week ago when he forced me to show him all the Lazarus Pits.

"Since this whole situation started to heat up. I need information that is reliable."

I grit my teeth. "And I'm not reliable?"

"I didn't say that."

"I guess if I'm so untrustworthy and unreliable, my help is useless anyway. Whatever." I hung up and turned my attention to the criminals. I was pissed off. It was taking every fiber of my being not to go down and beat them all down.

"I'm fed up with this garbage. We threw in with Black Mask--"

"You say that like we had a choice."

"Either way, we answer to Black Mask, right? We kick up a cut of everything we bring in and in return--"

"The Red Hood psycho keeps icing our guys!"

"This is what I'm talking about."

"Nathan, so what do you want to do? Make a deal with the Red Hood?"

I looked between the man that spoke and the guy I assumed was Nathan. "There weren't big shot gangsters. These were morons who ran nickel and dime drugs. Dumb but decent earners."

I wasn't sure what got Nathan's panties in a twist. Red Hood had killed lots of drug dealers. I wished I knew which one he was talking about.

"They were found decapitated months ago, remember?" Nathan said with a sneer. So, that's who it was! I was there when Red Hood tossed down the heads like they were nothing. Nathan must've been a higher up.

"No. I don't want to make a deal with this manic. If the mask won't take him out...we should," Nathan leaned back in his chair and pulled out a tiny pistol to add to his point.

"Those morons, runners, earners of his... they were selling drugs to twelve year olds," I snapped my head back to see who spoke. Red Hood was suddenly standing beside me. "Hi. I thought I felt my ears burning."

I immediately went on the defensive. I shot to my feet and raised my fists. "The Red Hood," I whisper-yelled.

"Very astute. What was your first clue?" He whispered back, tilting that big red helmet of his. "Nightingale, right? You work for the Big Guy, don't you?"

I glared at him. "Don't move. Stay right where you are."

"Why?" He asked, crouching down to see the show going on beneath us, "you gonna take my picture?"

I was already angry. Now, Red Hood's cockiness was only encouraging my violent side. "So, what have I missed...?" 

I stood behind him, still ready to attack. He turned his back away from me. It was a very bad move. He was leaving himself open for attack. If he was so trained, why would he leave himself so wide open?

"...Beside the fact that these boys would love to have my head on a pike," He chuckled. I didn't laugh, but his observation was pretty funny.

I hesitated for a moment before dropping to my feet to crouch beside him. "Mostly. They want to know why the Black Mask hasn't taken you out himself."

"Well, I guess that tells us I'm either lucky or very good. Either way," he turned to look at me for a second, "I seem to have made myself an enemy of all the bad guys."

"And an enemy of all the good guys," I added. I distinctly cut myself out of that label. Why was that?

Red Hood paused. "You aren't a good guy? See, I would say working for Batman makes you pretty clean."

I tensed at the idea of Batman and how easily he dismissed me. "I don't work for Batman."

The confession seemed to shock him and me. We went silent for a moment before turning our attention back to the table of criminals. Red Hood pointed to Nathan. "He's running what's left of the east side traffic. Next to him, that's Jay Kirano. He's mostly a distribution guy. He prefers being street muscle, but I don't think the Black Mask likes him as a solider. He's got too much of a temper."

I followed along with Red Hood's oral presentation. The guy did more homework than I did.

"And that last piece of trash is Teddy Reese. He started out as a pimp, then moved on to a kiddie porn ring before he fell in love with narcotics."

I looked back at him. "You seem pretty well dialed in for a newcomer."

"I'd say it was because I keep my ear to the ground, but these goons make more noise than a rhino at the ballet," He joked, "all you have to do is pay attention." We both stood up to get a better look.

"So..you wanna take these guys down?" He turned towards me and pointed over his shoulder. It was like he read my mind. It through me off guard.

"What!?"

"I'm going to hop down there and kick nine kinds of hell out of these dirt bags," he tossed down a smoke grenade, "you can watch or join me, Not-Good-Guy," He dove down off the loft, "it's up to you."

I watched as he landed in the middle of the smoke. He took down two guys in a matter of seconds. I smirked and bit my lip. I was impressed. 

"Why the hell not!" I shouted a battlecry and dove down after him. We took out the six guys we had been observing. Unfortunately, we hadn't anticipated that they had backup. We stood back to back as about of a dozen guys with guns surrounded us.

Well, I guess I had been right about this night be interesting...

"I thought you said you took out the guys by the door!" I accused, glancing over my shoulder to Red Hood.

"I did," he argued, "I must have missed a few around the back."

"You think!?"

I stared down the multiple gun barrels. They all shot at once. Before we could either breathe, we both jumped into the air and dodged the bullets.

"Stay airborne! They'll never get a good shot off!" Red Hood ordered.

"Like I didn't already know that!" I sassed, taking down two guys before their bullets left their barrels.

"Good! Keep moving!" He ignored my sarcasm and punched a guy in the face as his boot met the jaw of another.

"You seem to be enjoying yourself!" I called as I spun around and kicked three more guys.

"Sure! When I'm righting wrongs I'm all smiles!" He barely dodged a bullet before kneeling a guy in the stomach, "Make for the door!"

Four guys opened fired on me. I did a back hand spring and kicked open the steel door, flipping outside. "I'm gone!"

"Right behind you!" Red Hood came dashing behind me, with bullets flying all around us.

"I've got our exit!" I said before kicking the door down, "Not exactly a heroic move to turn and run, but what's that saying about living to fight another day?"

Red Hood ran past me as I turned to see the rest of the goons pouring out of the doorway. I grabbed my katanas, ready to fight.

"Oh, I think we'll do just fine," Red Hood said. I could hear the smirk in his voice. I turned around just in time to see him holding a machine gun. He fired thousands of bullets, killing every single goon left.

"No! Stop! What the hell are you doing!?" I shouted in protest. Some part of me agreed with his actions. The other knew it was bad.

"What do you think I'm doing?" He pressed the barrel of the giant gun into my throat, backing me up against some cargo crates, "What do you think this was all about? We were going to rough these guys up and teach them a lesson?"

He leaned in close to me. He was so close, my nose almost touched his helmet. My mouth hung open in shock. "Welcome to planet Earth, baby! These dead sacks of meat on the floor made their living by beating, raping, and devouring! Fear isn't the answer!" He straightened up a little, "But, you would already know that, since you apparently don't work with Batman anymore, right?"

I could hear the smugness in his voice. I might've agreed with his philosophy, but his attitude made him the enemy. "I'm not letting you out of here," I threatened. 

"That's not really up to you."

"Then you're in for a surprise!" I yelled.

"I'm not the only one," I could hear the smirk he was making under the stupid Red helmet, "I don't know if it's my speed or the sharpness of the blade, but most don't even feel it go in."

I stared straight into the white eyes on his helmet before glancing down in curiosity. My shoulder oozed blood as a knife pinned me to the crates behind me. 

"You wanna guess who's not getting out of here?" He threatened, raising his gun in a taunt. Adrenaline coursed through me. I grabbed the blade and tore it from my shoulder before running forward. 

He tried to hit me in the face with his gun, but I ducked underneath it and kicked him in the ribs. He went tumbling against the concrete, catching himself a few feet away from me. "So, you wanna dance? Let's dance." He got up and we both ran towards each other.

Just like the last time we fought, neither of us landed any hard hits. I slashed at him with my katanas, but he blocked them and they went skidding across the floor. He tugged out a wicked-looking knife and went towards me. Before he could cut me, I tanked out Thalia's dagger and the two blades met. 

With my other hand, I punched him in the gut and gained some space between us. I took the opportunity to sweep out his legs as he recoiled. Before he fell, he caught himself and landed a punch across my jaw. I spit out blood and grabbed his arm, twisting it around. He turned with my twist, giving him the momentum he needed to grab my mask. He ripped it to shreds. It fell away from my eyes and onto the floor in a tattered mess.

He tilted his head ever so slightly. My identity was now laid out in the open. As soon as he tore my mask off, I felt my disadvantage. 

I didn't stop. I tried to regain the distance but he threw another knife, wedging itself into my other shoulder. I was pinned again. 

He stood about five feet away with his arms crossed as he stared at me. I glared, basically baring my teeth. The knife had managed to cut right through the stitches I had received a few days ago. I didn't have many nerves left, but I had to admit, it hurt.

Finally, he swaggered over. He put his arm above my head and leaned over me like a creepy boyfriend would. "That looks like it's gotta hurt," he taunted, "well, I say that like I'm speculating or something. I know it hurts."

I didn't respond to his taunts. I just kept sneering. "I'm not surprised now why you got up so quickly, Athena. Ra's trained you good, didn't he?"

With a surge of energy, I blindly reached behind his helmet and pressed the only button I could find. His helmet separated and fell to his feet. I waited excitedly to see his face in revenge. But, he had a red domino mask. You got to be kidding me!

"Nice try, Nightingale, really," he smiled with perfect white teeth. "You know, it wasn't an accident that I was waiting to hit this shoulder. I saw you favoring one side." He flicked the handle of the knife, making it shift inside my shoulder. I cringed.

"You had a shoulder injury not too long ago...maybe you came back too soon?" I growled and gripped the handle with my other arm. My other shoulder now had a hole in it too, making it hard to pull on. "Stop struggling. That knife isn't coming out of that wall. Not at the angle you're at."

"You son of a bitch." 

He smirked and walked away from me. "Hey...it's going to be hard to learn a great many things about me, but here's one I'll give you for free," he looked over his shoulder, "I'm no one's son."

In other situation, I would've analyzed that nugget of information to try to find out his identity. But currently, I was too enraged to care about anything the asshole said.

He strolled back and leaned on his elbow to the side of me. "Choice time. I can pull that knife out and you run away as fast as you can..." He got a bit closer, "Or I can pull that blade down all the way from your shoulder to your hip.

"It'll hurt like hell for about fifteen seconds then even you'll be dead from blood loss. Or..." He leaned on his palm in front of me again, the edge of his helmet touching my forehead ever so slightly, "you can join me in my fight."

I stayed silent and kept staring straight at him in hatred. 

"I'm kidding," he laughed and backed up, "don't you hate it when guys say shit like that? It always seemed like such a wuss move, y'know? If you want a partner, go find one. Put him on the god damn payroll! Anyway," he twisted the blade causing it to bleed more. Out of his pocket, he pulled out a wad of gauze and placed it in my other hand.

"That should hold you. That's a fairly high-end field dressing for the modern soldier. It adheres as well as closes the wound with an antibacterial adhesive agent..stops the bleeding cold," he snickered, "do you wanna get up and pull out that blade again? If so, I can beat the hell out of you again."

I didn't so much as move. I knew I was beaten. And I was officially pissed. I never lost. Never. But, now, I was pressed up against a wall with a knife in my shoulder and a dumb ass talking my ear off. My other shoulder was bleeding so much, there was no way it was strong enough to pull a knife lodged in wood and muscle.

"Guess not," he shrugged, "It's getting late. I should be going. It's been fun." He sauntered over to the motorcycle he had waiting for him. He got on and looked over his shoulder at me.

"It's okay, Batman will be here as soon as you call for him. You good guys are all in it together. He'll kiss your boo-boo for you," Red Hood teased, laughing as he drove off.

I watched his bike drive off in the distance. My face burned red with anger. I could feel my legs about to buckle from the blood loss. As tempting as it was, Red Hood had been wrong about me calling Batman. I didn't work for him. I didn't need his help. I didn't need anyone's help.

I took a deep breath and wiggled around gently. My left arm hung uselessly at my side. With a quick movement, I jerked to my left. The knife cut all the way through my trapezius. I crumpled to the ground with a shriek. I tossed the gauze Red Hood gave me aside. It was probably poisoned. I pulled out my own and wrapped it carefully. I tucked his knife into my utility belt.

Calling my bike, I rode to my safehouse. I wobbled in, barely conscious. I had my computer run an analysis before I quickly got to work. I stitched my left shoulder up. It didn't take that long. I put gauze on tightly to stop the gushing. Then, I attacked the right. The knife had torn straight through my neck muscle. I started at the top and went down. I stitched all the way down from the nape of my neck to my shoulder. My hand shook as I worked, making the stitches messy and uneven. But, they still worked. I covered my entire shoulder in gauze, making me look like I had amputated my arm. 

Blood pooled around my computer chair and all over my Nightingale costume. I downed an entire pitcher of water and struggled to eat an apple. I struggled over to my hammock before passing out.

~~~~~~I loved writing this chapter! (Obvi by the 3711 words XD) The Onyx and Red Hood scene from the comic is my favorite scene in the Under the Red Hood comic book so I had to put or include it in my own way. I hope you guys loved this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it! Sorry it's so long lol~~~~