Nightwing: The Cartel Contract #1: Cassowary: The World's Most Dangerous Bird!

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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 haughtily, "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."

Story, original characters and content are owned by Chris Bishop. Copyright Chris Bishop 2025

Nightwing: The Cartel Contract #1: Cassowary: The World's Most Dangerous Bird!

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Nightwing: The Cartel Contract #1: Cassowary: The World's Most Dangerous Bird!

The Origins Behind the Origins (or how some of these characters got their names):

Inspired by .Oddity Ark #47 (227) Southern Cassowary, my description of her costume was trying to match the bird's colors. The red bolo tie chain-blade thing was the stand-in for the bird's red wattles hanging down from its neck.

That's all for now! Thanks for reading. :^D