-Dick's POV-

"It's kryptonite."

I walked around the warehouse, looking around. I didn't see anything. "Where?"

"Here." Batman crouched down, holding out some sensor. Around him, there were broken boards off of crates, but nothing really important.

"You sure? There usually isn't a lot of that lying around."

"It's a radiation trail." he handed me the sensor. Sure enough, there was a large red line, with an even larger red circle where we were standing. "It's strong. Too strong for the amount of time that's passed since it occupied this space."

"So...I guess that means there was a good amount of it sitting here."

Batman tucked his sensor back into his belt. "No...it means that there was over a hundred pounds."

I gasped. Over a hundred pounds of Kryptonite? In a vault in the Batcave, Bruce had quite the collection, but I even doubt that he had over a hundred pounds. That much of it would be worth more than diamond, more than gold. Superman was one of the most powerful beings in the Universe. To even have a small amount of the weapon would provide a normal person with enough protection. But, the more you have, the less you have to worry about Supes, meaning you could safely operate inside Metropolis.

Almost every large city in the world had a hero to guard it. Some cities had more protection than others, but the effort was still there. However, in America, there are a few main cities that are the hardest to work in for a criminal. Those cities are: Coast City, Central City, Star City, Bludhaven, Washington D.C., Boston, Metropolis, and Gotham. Those cities had the most protection from the most powerful superheroes.

But, the more dangerous it becomes to work in a city, the more valuable their property becomes. Gotham criminal businesses were worth a ton of money because Batman doesn't have a weakness, not really. But, Metropolis was also a Boom town. Gotham housed more of the sneaky and "normal" criminals while Metropolis dealt with more of the meta-humans. To succeed in either of those cities would make someone rich for the rest of their lives. And to have a weapon against the main protectors would allow someone to succeed without any fear.

Which is why it was so important that we find out who had the Kryptonite.

"This is pretty slow going," I said as Batman zipped through Gotham in the Batmobile.

"I know. Despite the strength of the signal, it fades in and out." We had been following the radioactive trail, but, as Batman pointed out, it wasn't very dependable.

"We could probably get better coverage if we track from several points. Let's get..." I cut myself off and looked out the window. No, that wouldn't work. It was a stupid thought.

"Yes..?" Batman looked over at me.

I sighed and shook my head. "Never mind. Forget it."

"You were going to say "Nightingale." That we should hail Nightingale, who could help us trace the trail from another location and potentially trace it from another computer."

"Yeah..." It really sucked to work with the World's Best Detective sometimes. "But, we don't have that option. We came to rely on her far too much."

"Well, I guess we won't have to worry about that anymore." An image of her in the hospital, silently sleeping in a coma, came to mind.

"No, we don't."

Batman cleared his throat as the sensor started to beep. "There. There's the radiation trail again."

"Woohoo! Finally!" I shouted, slapping me knee.

The trail lead us through Gotham. We stopped outside a building, hearing gunshots from inside. From the sound of it, there were about two machine guns firing off rounds as well as a couple other guns. We hopped out of the car and silently snuck in.

Inside, was a very unusual sight. Mr. Freeze was battling it out with the Red-helmet guy. Ice was all over the place as well as bullet casings. The Red guy put an explosion on Freeze's protective helmet, but it didn't break. Looks like Freeze got some upgrades...

"Congratulations. You actually succeeded in making me angry," Freeze pointed his gun at Red, but Batman snagged his wrist with a Bat line.

"You're not the only one," Batman said, holding Freeze.

Sensing the distraction, I jumped in after Red. "Nice to see you again. We'll be taking the Kryptonite off your hands," I said, landing beside Red. There were many cases around the room, making me wonder which one had the weapon. And why did Red guy take it?

"You can have it," Red lunged at me, jumping in the air to try to kick me, "I got what I came for." His kick was weak, making it easy to block.

"And what's that?" I asked, landing softly, a few feet away from my foe.

He pulled out a small trigger as four more guns popped out of the mystery cases. "The lay of the land." He pushed the button, sending hundreds of bullets after me. I leaped out of the way, taking cover. The bullets hit Freeze instead, but they didn't seem to puncture his suit at all.

Batman tossed out another line to Freeze, but Freeze caught it in his hand and tossed it away. "Good seeing you all again," Freeze smirked, shooting his gun up and through the ceiling. The ice tower he created took him up and away.

"Slick." I looked up at the sparkling ice tower.

"Freeze has more power than before," Batman pointed out, running his hand along the ice. He punched it, breaking off a little, but it still held. Usually, Bruce could break Freeze's ice. But, it was stronger.

"The Red guy split as well. He's very good."

"The Red Hood. Yes. He's very good." Batman walked around to the back of the room. He opened up all the crates as he passed. Most of them were filled with the empty guns Red Hood had fired off. He came upon the last one.

The crate was stuffed to the brim with all kinds of Kryptonite. I reached in and pulled out a green piece, analyzing it. "Yep, it's Kyrptonite," I determined, gently resting it back into place, "What do you want to do with it?"

Batman paused, thinking. "We should take half and turn the rest over to Superman."

I laughed. "You think we need even more protection if Supes, quote," I made finger quotes, "'Goes Rogue?'"

"I only have about twenty pounds worth, which was considered a lot by Superman's standards," He bent over and attached a secure line on the bottom of the crate, "to add more than fifty pounds would be enough to forge multiple Kryptonite weapons, if need be."

As we waited for the Batplane to arrive to pick up the cargo, I addressed the elephant in the room. "So...who do you think the Red Hood is?"

Batman tampered with his wrist computer, doing some research and probably contacting Clark. "I don't know. I'm inspecting the room for any samples he left behind."

"Earlier tonight when we were chasing him...he seemed so practiced and trained. Do you think he could be an assassin?" I thought back to Nightingale. When she first showed up, it was a race to find out who she was. How could someone be that trained and not be evil?

"Maybe...although do you know of any knives that can cut my lines?"

"Other than the ones we make, there's not many," I also scanned the room, but there was nothing, "Not even a hair."

Batman picked up a bullet and inspected it between his fingers. "These are expensive bullets. They are strong and could pierce walls."

"But they apparently can't pierce Freeze's new kicks," I jested. I squatted beside the two dead men on the ground. They had been shot, presumably by the Red Hood.

"There's a case of money beside them." Batman suddenly appeared beside me. It didn't startle me as much as it used to. Living and fighting with Batman for so long, I had gotten used to him coming up behind me. While the rest of the world was scared of the alleged Batman, I was just amazed by him. Batman had been my role model and friend for most of my life.

"The top layer is money and the rest is newspaper," I smirked, "looks like whoever was getting paid got swindled."

"Since Red Hood had the Kryptonite, I figure these men were going to pay him for it. But, they were caught in the crossfire between him and Freeze."

I examined the wounds of the dead men. "You don't think Red Hood killed them because they didn't give him his cash?"

"No. If all Red Hood cared about was the cash, he wouldn't of left the Kryptonite behind." Batman ran a facial recognition on the two men.

The two men were criminals. Of course they were. However, their wanted level was very low. They probably worked delivery for some high up mob boss. Judging by the fact that there was two million dollars in the case for real, it was someone really powerful.

"They work for Black Mask." We both came to the same conclusion. Over the past year, Black Mask had risen to the top of the Gotham Drug Trade. From what I heard from other convicts, Black Mask was slowly recruiting or killing high up members of other clans. Black Mask hadn't committed any serious crimes and Batman hadn't bothered to chase him. Black Mask stayed in Gotham, so I didn't feel the need to go after him either.

"So, did Black Mask order the Kryptonite then? Why would Red Hood kill them if he was doing business?"

"No, they weren't doing business," Batman scolded as if it was obvious, "Red Hood stole the Kryptonite from Black Mask, prompting Mask to be forced to make a deal for it back. The deal was a large sum of money, but Mask didn't pay. Mask also sent Freeze to secure his shipment or kill Red Hood for good. It doesn't really matter if Red Hood knew the money was real or fake, considering he killed the delivery men anyway--"

"And he would've killed Freeze too if we hadn't interrupted."

"Most likely. Red Hood is not in the game for the money but rather--"

"To get the lay of the land," I finished, "yes, that is what he said. So, he wants territory?"

"Doesn't everyone in Gotham?" Batman didn't look up from the bodies as he ran some more tests. I stood up and stretched my limbs.

"If Red Hood is as trained as he seems, than Black Mask is going to get a run for his money," I touched the ice tower. It was melting and covered my glove in water.

"There seems to be a turf war brewing," he finally stood up, "we should get out of here before the GCPD shows up. I sent Gordon the address."

I nodded and dashed to the Batmobile. "Would you like me to take you home?" Batman asked.

I shook my head and jumped out the window just as my motorcycle rolled up next to the car.

~~~~~~~~Do you guys feel like this book is moving too fast? It will most likely be shorter than Love Birds, if that's okay...~~~~~~