CCC #154 - Voting Thread - Nightwing vs. The New Terrible Trio!

Nightwing and the Battle of Star Labs

It was a cold winter’s night in Bludhaven. I was on street patrol, scanning streets for muggers, when I got a call on my encrypted communications line. Only two people had access to this line; Batman, and Amanda Waller. And it's never good news when it's Batman.

“Nightwing, do you copy?” Director Waller asked.

“Copy.” I said, relieved it wasn't Batman telling me he needed me all the way in Gotham.

“There’s a robbery in progress at Star Labs Bludhaven Campus. We believe it’s a metahuman threat.” She explained.

“I’ll be right there.” I said as I hopped on my motorcycle and sped over there.

_________

I dashed over there, and burst in through a window. I then saw one woman and two men, all in animal masks (a snake, a walrus, and a shark), stealing what looked like organic samples from a freezer.

“I’m sorry, is this the way to Biology 101?” I teased. “I can never keep these hallways straight at night.”

“Gentlemen, looks like we have a hero to keep us company tonight.” The woman, in some kind of snake mask, asked. “Nightwing, glad to meet you, we’re The New Terrible Trio. Walrus, Bull Shark, would you mind dealing with our unexpected guest while I finish up.”

“Sure thing, Coastal Taipan.” Walrus said.

Both these guys were huge; Bull Shark was 6’2 and and Walrus was 6’5 (Batman long taught me how to correctly guess a person’s height just by looking at them), and both were muscular.

I threw a smoke bomb on the ground. While I had the cover, I snuck up behind Bull Shark and put him in a chokehold. Once I had him knocked out, I threw a flying roundhouse kick at Walrus, but he blocked it just in time.

He then grabbed me, and slammed me into a wall. The impact almost knocked me out. He then tried to grab me again, but this time, I hit him with the end of my shock sticks. Once I had him convulsing with electricity, I knocked him out with a swift punch to the throat.

With two unconscious, I only had one to go. But then, i felt a needle in my neck.

“Like a real coastal taipan, what I lack in size, I make up for in venom.” Coastal Taipan said. “You’ll be dead in a few minutes, I’d advise using your time to…”

First, I injected myself with a venom suppressant. It wouldn’t keep me alive permanently, but would last until I could have Waller’s men save me. In the meantime, I had a serpent woman to deal with.

I tried to shock her with my sticks, but she evaded everytime. I then had to go low, and kick her leg out. Once I had her, I stopped her with a hip throw.

“Waller, get me a medical team, now.” I said.

______

An ARGUS team was sent in, both to save me, and to arrest the criminals.

“Excellent job, Nightwing.” She said. “They were stealing very valuable DNA samples that would’ve sold for millions on the black market. Your swift actions prevented both a devastating loss for STAR Labs’s research and a wealth of opportunity for less ethical actors who’d have used those DNA samples for nefarious purposes.”

“All in a day’s work.” I said.

G.N.T.C

"Kyle, it’s starting!” yelled Officer Jack Naleeba as he adjusted the tv antenna. He checked the control panel to make sure all of Blackgate’s inmates were inside their boxes. Officer Kyle Talport ran in with an armful of sodas, keys jingling like an excited wing chime.

The small portable tv slowly picked up the low frequency transmission. A synth-heavy noir remix followed by silhouettes of Gotham’s famous villains in stylish poses against a backdrop of explosions and spotlights. Stepping into frame, dressed like a billion dollars, was Tara Bands as a glittery explosion filled the screen.

“This is GOTHAM'S NEXT TOP CRIMINAL! As you know, the Terrible Trio consisting of the Fox, the Shark and the Vulture is so 1958, so this season we’ve given them a total makeover with new exciting animals. But in this our finale, we have five, and only space for three. Let’s see who we’ve lost along the way.”

Meet the Crim-testants flashed up across the screen.

“Chimpanzee was first to go, too much monkeying around.” narrated Tara as a highlight real played. “Then in a surprise double elimination: Giant Panda and Sloth Bear, caught mid heist by the Bat wannabe Huntress.”

“She once put a crossbow through Carmine Falcone’s,” Kyle pointed to his groin.

“Horse$#!t!” laughed Jack as he wiped soda off his lips. “That’s an urban legend, now shut up.”

“...ined Stickleback ended up in Arkham and the Green Woodpecker went into the sewers and never came out; guest judge Killer Croc denies he knows what happened, but it doesn’t look good from the Pro-Go footage...but we’re not a court of law. So, let’s meet our final five! Walrus!”

“Bet you ten he’s out, the fat f...”

“Sssh Kyle! You’re like a child.”

“...en Jackal! Red Panda! Swordfish! Bull shark!”

Five figures dressed in Armani suits with exquisitely made headgear just like the animal they were modelled on took centre stage.

“And now our expert panel. Our resident shrink, Dr Hugo Strange! Next to him, the fairest judge; Two-Face! Last but not least, the man from Mount Olympus...Maxie Zeus!”

Awwoogah! Awwoogah!

Jack and Kyle looked at each other as the alarms sounded. Sector 6-J was flashing. Jack jumped on the phone as Kyle went to the weapons locker and suited up into riot gear.

“Right when it was getting good!” Kyle yelled over the alarm as he turned it off.

--

Tara looked at Walrus, Red Panda, and Swordfish as they stood there covered in blood. Hugo Strange applauded, Maxie Zeus gave a thumbs up, and Two-Face's coin landed on heads. “You three are the new Terrible Trio! Do you want to see who you’re going against?”

Red Panda nodded, the tilted the mask up and vomited behind herself as the brutal act of bludgeoning Golden Jackal into paste caught up with her. A giant chocolate wheel was rolled on stage. Tara grabbed a hold and spun it. Around and around it went, clicking past Batman, Green Arrow, Flash, and Superman.

“Thirty-six possible heroes,” Tara said as the wheel slowed. “Will it be Arsenal...or is he Red Arrow now? Oh, it's on Supergirl...would you look at that Nightwing! At the last moment its ticked over. Congratulations, you’ve won an all expenses paid killing spree to Bludhaven to take on Nightwing. Join us next episode as we see our new Terrible Trio in action against Batman-lite! I’m Tara Bands, and this was GOTHAM'S NEXT TOP CRIMINAL!”

Nightwing: The Cartel Contract

It's been about three months since the Chinchilla went away, and I've been cleaning out his hiding spots since then. Guns and pot, mostly, but there are clear signs that he was preparing to expand into human trafficking for his boss out of Chile, Cartel. Cages, but no signs that anyone has been in them yet. It's been just cleaning up thugs until today. Today, I caught a blade across the back, thanks to the boot knife of a woman calling herself Cassowary...

"...The World's Most Dangerous Bird!" she says in an Australian accent. She's dressed in a black spandex bodysuit with thigh-high black leather boots. Under the torso of the bodysuit, she wears a bright blue spandex shirt that covers her neck and shows from a plunging 'V' in the neckline, and makes the red bolo tie around her neck stand out. Her black hair is styled into a mohawk, and stands a foot straight up from her head.

Flexing my shoulders, making sure I haven't lost any motion from the cut, I say, "Y'know, if you have to tell people that yourself, it's probably not true."

She growls as she lunges my direction, kicking and swinging with every movement. I'm able to counter now that I see her coming, and I pay her back for the knife in the back by delivering a couple of blows to her shins from my escrima sticks. She snatches the bolo tie from her neck, and shows me that it's not just ornamental by whipping it at my face, landing a cut across my cheek. It's a red chain with sharp, weighted ends.

"Hey! If that scars, I'll have to go to a full facemask!" I say in jest. Thing is though, it's true. I couldn't put Bruce and the others at risk with something that could connect Dick Grayson and Nightwing.

She lashes out again, and it slices across my forehead, making me reel backwards for a second.

"Dammit, that's it!" I grouse, going on the offensive. I send a few of my wing-dings sailing at her.

She actually manages to kick one out of the air. One slices her left shoulder. The other she catches with her right hand, and sends it back at me, followed by the chain spinning my way.

I knock my blade out of the air with one of my shock sticks, and catch the bolo tie around the other. I flick my stick to one side, and the chain goes sailing to the ground. She is dangerous, I tell myself. I need to end this.

"You know, I'm pretty sure Magpie is more dangerous than you," I taunt her.

She takes the bait, sending a handful of throwing knives hurtling my way.

"Lady Shiva is for sure. Have you ever met her? You don't want to," I assure her as I bat a couple of knives out of the air. A couple just miss me completely, one sticks in my chest armor, and one I catch and throw it into the ground. As she runs at me, I dislodge the one in the chest armor, and send it spinning back towards her so the hilt smacks her in the forehead.

She wasn't expecting that. It stuns her just enough to make her stumble, and that's all I need. I jab both escrima sticks into her stomach, and before I can hit the switches, she manages to jab me in the shoulder with another knife. I give an angry groan as I thumb the switches, and the shock sticks put her down.

I pull the knife out of my shoulder, and rotate it. It's stiff. That could be a problem, I think to myself. "Nightwing to Oracle."

"I'm here, Nightwing," comes the voice of Barbara Gordon.

"I've got Cassowary all tied up and ready for the Bludhaven P.D. She's another of Cartel's mercenaries. I've also got a handful of wounds, including two on the face that I need to make sure heal up."

"Aw, you're too pretty anyway, Boy Wonder," she teases, but then adds, "I've got someone on the way."

I start, "You d--"

"--Hello, Richard," I hear as a black plume heralds the arrival of...

"Raven!" I say, in surprise.

"I can help," she says, reaching out. Her fingers and thumb touch both the cut on my cheek, and the one on my forehead. She closes her eyes, and her birdlike soul self rises from her body a little. In less than a minute, it's all done. Her soul self recedes back into her body, she pulls her hand back, and opens her eyes.

I rotate my shoulder- no stiffness. "Wow. I don't think I'll ever get used to that. Thanks, Raven." I turn, trying to look at my back in a window, then reach back to touch where the wound had been. "Thank goodness she's not Cheshire with poison on her blades, because that would have been it."

"You are welcome, Richard. My touch does work on poisons as well," she reminds me, "but it would have taken a little longer. They do not extend to your costume, however."

"Heh. Yeah, she did a number on it," I say with a grin. "That, I can take care of though. I appreciate you coming."

"Farewell," she says as another black cloud envelops her. When it clears two seconds later, Raven is gone.

"You good, Nightwing?" I hear in my ear.

"Right as rain," I reply. "Good call, Oracle. Just one other thing: Cassowary's coming around. Listen in, and check what she tells me."

"You got it," is her only reply.

"Welcome back," I tell Cassowary. "Time for the lightning round before the cops get here."

A little groggy, but a lot angry, she sneers. "I ain't tellin' you nothin'."

"Oh, come on. Don't be that way. You do me a favor, and I'll do you one," I tell her amiably.

She balks. "Wha' d'you think you can do for me?"

I wince, and say, "Well, y'know, Bludhaven's so close to Gotham that they've adopted some of their practices. One of which is to send costumes to Arkham instead of regular prison. The level of crazies in Arkham?" I give a short whistle. "I can make sure you go to prison instead of the loony bin."

"That ain't much," she says.

Sirens sound in the distance.

"That's what I've got. Time's tickin'," I tell her.

She bucks against her restraints in frustration, but then says, "What then? Get on with it!"

"I've been clearing Chinchilla's spots for months. What's so special about this warehouse that it's guarded by 'The World's Most Dangerous Bird?'" I ask with a bit of sarcasm on her title.

She laughs haughtilly, "What are you? High? I'm not here for this hole. I'm here for you!"

"For me?" I say with real surprise.

"Yeah, you! Cartel's tired of you interfering in his business. He put a price on your head, and it's big," she says with a smirk.

Oh, crud, I think.

"Oh, crud," echoes Barbara over the comm. "This could be trouble, Dick."

"How big?" I ask, trying to ignore Oracle in my ear.

"Big enough for a team to share," Cassowary answers, "and you got one coming after you- the Terrible Trio."

I don't mean to, but I actually laugh at that. "The Terrible Trio? I'm going to worry about guys who were at their peak decades ago?"

"Don't be an arse," she sneers. "The originals retired, obviously, but they put the name up for auction."

"And someone wanted it?" I quip.

"Show some respect," she snaps. "We can't all be the Joker. They gave Batman some trouble, didn't they? The name carries cred."

"If you say so," I mock, sounding bored.

"Keep it up," she says, "but the Terrible Trio is no joke. You should hope they get you, because if they don't, I'll be coming back for my revenge."

I pat her on the shoulder. "I'm worried about that."

"You should be," she growls. "You've earned the wrath of Cassowary: The World's Most Dangerous Bird!"

"I really think you should drop that title," I tell her.

She glares.

I shrug. "Just sayin': I'd have never gotten Lady Shiva into this position. She'd have at least escaped."

Just then there's a rush of air and a pop behind me, and a sword at my neck, attached to a feminine arm in pink spandex. The other arm reaches around my waist, and a body presses against my back. I feel warm breath on my ear as this new player assures me, "Oh, she's going to escape."

"I guess you're after the price on my head too?" I ask the mystery woman.

"I've heard about that," she says, "but you're much too pretty to kill."

"Told you," Barbara says over the comm.

"Then what do you want?" I ask her.

"Kind of pushy for a guy with a sword to his throat," she says, lightly scraping the blade against my neck.

"Just direct," I assure her.

She turns me slightly, still holding me close, and leans towards Cassowary. "My name is Shocking Pink Dragon. Miss Yen would like to see you."

Cassowary laughs. "Ha! You're on, bird. Let's go."

"Ta, love," says Shocking Pink Dragon, and a painful shock is the last thing I feel before falling unconscious.

***

I wake up in Barbara's clock tower, Raven just pulling her hand from my chest.

"He's awake, Oracle," says Raven.

"I've told you that you can call me Barbara," she answers as she rolls over to the bed I'm laying on. She's always prepared. "Welcome back to the land of the living," she tells me.

"You sent Raven back to get me?" I ask her.

"I did," she says, brushing a finger along my cheek.

"The damage from Shocking Pink Dragon's sword took longer to heal than Cassowary's cuts," says Raven. "I'm glad I was able to reach you in time, Richard."

"Me too, Raven. Thank you again." Then, looking to Barbara, I ask, "Did you get anything on what Cassowary had to say?"

"She made it easy," she answers, handing me a tablet. "The Terrible Trio auction was brokered by the Calculator. It went to Cartel, who gave ownership of it to three of his mercenaries in exchange for them working off the auction price. They'll be working for him for years." She purses his lips for a moment, and cocks her head to one side, then adds, "Unless they fulfill the contract on your head. Then they'll be free-and-clear, and then some."

"How much is that contract?!" I ask, kind of worried.

Barbara looks at me with serious intent. "Three-hundred million."

I nod, letting that sink in. "So, this new Terrible Trio... they represent air, land, and sea, just like the originals. Only they've got powers?"

"Two of them do. Blue Shark is like a smaller, leaner version of King Shark. Black Eagle has winged flight, sharp talons on his fingertips, and boot knives like Cassowary's. Golden Jackal's an acrobatic brawler- like a combo of you and Wildcat. Might have super strength like Stallion. Either that, or he's in peak condition."

I nod again as I look at the tablet. "I'm going to need help."

"You're going to need help," agrees Babs.

I look up at Raven. "Can I get you to do one more thing?"

"Of course, Richard," she says with a slight smile.

***

A few days later, I'm in a fresh costume, and jumping rooftops out near the Bludhaven docks when Golden Jackal tackles me out of the air. We go crashing down an alley wall, and somehow I manage to make him catch a couple of fire escape railings before I break free and am able to leap and swing the rest of the way to the ground. He leaps to the ground, grabs a dumpster, and swings it in my direction as casually as he would a feather pillow in a pillowfight.

I dodge, and mumble into my comm, "So, super strength confirmed."

"The alley you're in leads to the waterfront," says Babs. "Head that way."

I do as I'm told, and as I exit the alleyway, Black Eagle stabs his talons into my side and shoulder, picking me up, flying, and throwing me towards a pier. It's a rough landing, the splintered pier boards and sand raking across my wounds.

As I roll to a stop, Blue Shark climbs up one of the pier ladders from the water, emerging just near me. "You're in trouble now," he says, a wide grin revealing his shark teeth. "Any last words?" he asks as Black Eagle and Golden Jackal close in.

"Yeah. It's good to have friends," I say with more of a grimace than a grin.

"Dude. You're giving us 'Eagles' a bad name!" calls out Golden Eagle just before he hammers Black Eagle with a mace that he must have gotten from Hawkman. "Home run!" he cheers, resting the mace on his shoulder.

Blue Shark's grin leaves his face as he sees Black Eagle fall. "Wha--?" is all he gets to say before a column of water raises out of the ocean, turns at a right angle, and plows into him, knocking him off of the pier before raising him out of the water again, encased in ice.

"What do you think, Nightwing? I'm considering calling that a 'Tempest toss.'"

I laugh, and immediately regret it as pain shoots through my side. I still manage to give Tempest a thumbs up, but I don't try to stand.

There's a crackle and puff as Raven appears behind Golden Jackal. As her soul self rises, its ethereal voice says, "You'd have done well to surrender," and then envelops him completely. Jackal screams, and is then dumped unceremoniously from Raven's soul self, landing in a heap on the pier.

As I watch the black, birdlike form settle back over Raven, and disappear, I grin, and slump flat on my back. "Thanks, guys," I say, feeling weak and tired. "Once a... Titan... alw--" and then I pass out.

***

I wake up in the clock tower again. Babs is in her wheelchair, sitting near the head of the bed. Raven is lowering herself weakly into a wing chair near the foot of the bed, on the other side. "Hi," I say to Barbara. With a grin to Raven, I say, "You're going to have to start charging me." Then I look around the room, and ask, "Where are Garth and Charlie?"

"They're keeping an eye on Bludhaven, cleaning out the rest of the Cartel spots on your list," says Babs. "The new Terrible Trio are now the newest three inmates of Bludhaven Penetentiary. And you, sir, are taking a break."

"Break? Raven got me all healed up, didn't she?"

"You still need to rest, Richard," Raven says warily. "You've been going strong for months. Take the break prescribed by Barbara."

"Did you pay her to say that?" I ask Barbara.

She smiles. "I should."

"If I am no longer needed, I shall take my leave," says Raven.

"I have other rooms, if you want to rest for a while," says Babs.

"No, my friend. I have to come to learn what it means to be a 'third wheel.' If you need me again, you need only call," and with that, a black cloud signals her departure.

Barbara looks at me and with wide eyes says, "I thought she'd never leave." Then she winks at me, and pulls herself out of the chair and onto the bed, brushing my forehead with her fingers again, then running her hand through my hair. "Well, you are going to rest, but what can I do to make sure you stay here?"

I pull her close. She lays next to me, and puts her head on my chest. "I'm in no hurry," I tell her.

"Good," she whispers.

I'm really not sure which of us fell asleep first.

***

Notes:

Story and original characters owned by Chris Bishop, copyright 2025.