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“Well that was a new one,” Tim stated as the gargoyle in front of him froze, clawed hand still reaching outwards. He relaxed, using his bo to tap on the solid statue in front of him, but it didn’t move.
Moments earlier the entire warehouse had been filled with the creatures, flying and diving through the air, hard bodies slamming into him with bone bruising force. Now they all were still - looking like sculptures ready to perch on a building.
Cass stood over the body of the villain of the night, a balding, portly gentleman who’d been using his control over the gargoyles to create a string of petty theft all over the city. She held the amulet up, examining it for a moment, before tossing over to Tim and finishing tying up their target.
The amulet looked like a cheap costume prop with a gaudy thick gold chain holding a crest with a fake looking ruby in the center. There were no inscriptions on the piece and Tim felt endlessly curious to test it out. So he slipped it on.
Cass sent him a reproachful glare as he slipped it over his head.
“What?” Tim grinned. “You telling me you wouldn’t want to try?”
She sent him a flat look. “Cursed.”
“It’ll be fine– WHOA!”
The night had been quiet so far, with most of Arkham full at the moment and the cops on an upward swing away from corruption, but that didn’t mean that Batman was going to take a night off. There was something menacing in the air, an edge that felt like a brewing storm on the horizon even though the sky was free of clouds.
He pressed back against the building, blending himself into the shadows to hopefully gain his bearings. Something was off.
He hesitated to do it, it was asking for trouble, but the need to know called him. He tapped his comm– “O- status update.”
“Such a worry-wart, just go home B,” Steph answered across Oracle’s channel. “Me and BB have already called it a night and we are doing a movie.”
Bruce huffed. It was a partial status update but that still left the location of the boys unknown. Damian had stayed home tonight, Dick was in Bludhaven, but Jason and Tim would be around Gotham. “Status on Red?”
There was a loud POP across the comm line like Stephanie had just blown a bubble of gum. “Which one?”
Tim had been working with Cass earlier so if she was already in, then he should be too, but still Bruce had to know– “Both.”
“Hood’s showing in his normal territory, stationary – RR at….” she trailed off. “Wait what…”
A stroke of fear raced down Batman’s spine, he knew it’d been too quiet. “Batgirl– Status. Now.”
A gust of air crossed the line as she huffed, “O, can you come look at this before Mr. Grouchy-pants has a brain aneurysm."
“What’s the issue?” Babara’s voice came across the line.
“O- Status report on Red,” Batman ordered.
“He’s fine, B,” she replied. He could hear the eye roll across the comm line. “Just ask him yourself.”
The line dropped, but the ominous feeling didn’t leave. “Red Robin - Status report.”
Static filled the line.
“Red Robin - Status report. Location share now.” The batmobile had a tracking system in it, but Bruce was easily ten minutes away from where he’d hidden it. He could feel eyes on him, hear the rumble of the city that was just a bit off.
He stepped away from the shadowed corner, ready to move back to the car, when something else shifted just to his right. Bruce reacted instantly, throwing a flash bomb to illuminate the darkness and blind whatever was stalking him.
The light flashed, bathing the rooftop in a facsimile of sunlight but Bruce saw nothing out of the ordinary. There was a HVAC unit, a small antenna, a stone gargoyle, a– Bruce paused as a cold chill ran down his spine. This wasn’t a building with gargoyles– it was a new apartment building.
He tensed, readying a batarang– the rumble of the city grew louder and he realized it wasn’t the city – it was the sound of moving, grating, stone… He pivoted away ready to leap from the rooftop– and was yanked back into the darkness.
“Hey Babs,” Steph stared at the map of Gotham, filled with little indicators showing activity. “Tim didn’t move, but Bruce’s comm flashed red for a second there, like he’d hit his emergency beacon.”
“What’s it doing now?”
“It’s gone.”
Babs wheeled over, staring at the large screen. “Did he return home?”
“I don’t think so,” Steph sounded slightly unsure. “Tim’s moving again, should we have him go look?”
“Yeah, he’s the closest.” Babs hit the comm line to Red Robin. “Red, need you to check something. You copy?”
Static filled the line.
“That’s odd,” Babs mumbled, typing in a few commands on the keyboard. “Red Robin, do you copy?” There was still no answer.
Steph shifted nervously, “should I grab a suit and go look?”
“Hood is not far,” Babs clicked over to Hood’s line. “Let’s see if he can get eyes on the situation. Go see if Cass knows anything.”
Jason had been having a nice quiet evening so far – a miracle in his line of work – when the call from Babs came that Bruce’s tracker had gone dark.
He’d tried voicing that everyone wanted to go dark every now and then, didn’t she have any care for privacy? Maybe Batman needed a pee break or a pie break or something.
However, she’d just replied “Go” and that was that. Jason went.
The rooftop that Bruce had last been seen on wasn’t anything special, just a random apartment building with some decent shadows on top that Bruce liked to hide in. It was empty though, and as Jason took in the scenery, there didn’t appear to be any clues.
“Nothing here O,” Jason relayed into the comm. “Anything you want me to— WHOA!” He cut off with a cry as the winged shape swooped down at him and knocked him off his feet.
He landed on his butt, disbelief filling him. Was that a gargoyle?
“O– Change of plans– something weird is—” He ducked as the creature swooped down again, only to have something grip his calf. He jerked his leg but it was held immobile by a little gargoyle creature wrapping its full body around his leg to keep it in place. Like a child would do to their parents, except this was a ridiculously heavy stone building decoration clinging to him.
“O! Oracle!” He shouted, ready to request backup. Except the line was silent.
He tapped the button on the side of his helmet again, trying to get a connection, as a slow grinding sound grew around him. He could hear the stone creatures moving in the dark– coming closer– and a fear began to grow in his chest.
He slammed on the emergency beacon just as they all jumped him, surrounding him in a pile of heavy stone.
“You are so right! Better than movie night!” Steph grinned as she watched Jason get buried underneath the pile of baby sized gargoyles. The man’s arms failed as he tried to right himself and a strangled yell came across the comms.
Cass nodded enthusiastically.
Barbara also shared an amused smile. “Shall we flip back to see how the Dark Knight is faring?”
Bruce dashed around another corner, barely dodging the whizzing stone creature. The gargoyles had destroyed his comms - somehow knowing exactly where he stored his two back ups – and had been chasing him across the rooftops for several minutes.
He pressed back into the shadows again – not exactly winded but unsure of their motive. They hadn’t tried to hurt him beyond stealing all his weapons and comms – but they weren’t leaving either.
Across the rooftops a familiar gleam of a red helmet caught his eye and he heard the ricochet of bullets off stone– Jason.
Bruce dashed out of the shadows, heading towards Red Hood. Maybe together they could make a team up and discover the motive. Across the way, Hood was surrounded by small stone creatures - much smaller gargoyles than had been hunting Bruce.
His grapple shot out, locking in place, and Bruce launched himself forward, swinging over towards Hood. He noticed the incoming gargoyle a second too late. He startled, and in a rare moment of failure– his hand slipped. He entered a freefall just as the gargoyle reached him with outstretched talons.
Strong stone hands gripped his wrists, stopping his fall, and keeping him secure as they glided over to the roof by Jason. It released him and Bruce hit his knees– heart pounding.
“B!” Hood’s voice was distorted from the helmet, but he gripped Bruce’s shoulder tightly. “Batman!”
Bruce looked up and saw all the little gremlins that had moments ago been dogpiling on Hood, were still on the roof, but they’d gone quiet and still… looking like actual statues. The bigger one that had caught him was also standing off to the side, still and unmoving.
“What just happened?”
“That gargoyle saved you?? I think? Where did these things come from?” Hood sounded as baffled and shocked as Bruce felt.
The baby gargoyles came to life suddenly, crawling towards the edge of the roof, just to the left of where Bruce and Jason sat. They looked up and incoming were two more large ones, similar sized to the ones that had been stalking Bruce so far. Held in between them, each of them holding an arm while they glided closer, was Tim.
Hood was up and pointing a gun at the incomers immediately, but Tim’s hands began waving, even though his arms were immobile. “WAIT!” he shouted as the creatures glided in and his feet touched the rooftop.
Hood kept his gun trained on the larger gargoyles even as the little ones rushed past and began to clamber at Tim’s legs.
“Yes, yes,” Tim laughed, “you all did such a good job! I have no idea what you eat yet, but I’m going to buy a ton of it and reward you!”
Hood’s gun finally lowered. “What the heck?”
“T–” Bruce shook his head, stopping the almost out of character break. “Red Robin, report.”
“This is George,” Tim said pointing to the large gargoyle on his right, “and this is Paul.” He pointed to the left. “Following you tonight were John and—”
“Let me guess…” Hood interrupted, sounding exasperated. “Ringo?”
“Bingo!” Tim laughed, scooping up one of the small gargoyles. He grunted under the weight of the stone, but determinedly shifted until it was balanced on his hip. “These little guys don’t all have names yet. I’ve just been calling them the Brat Pack.”
“Red Robin– explain!” Bruce grit his teeth, hating the confusion.
Tim patted a small gargoyle’s head before lifting a chained amulet up for observation. “Snagged this off some low life that was using these guys for petty theft. They are surprisingly good at that, but they mostly just wanted someone to play with.”
“So they were playing?” Hood sounded disbelieving and Bruce felt the same. They’d taken all his gear!
“Yeah,” Tim nodded solemnly but the sparkle in his eye was pure mischief. “B, you’ve gotten too predictable on where you hold your equipment. Might want to work on that. And Hood - I think you need to work on some more unique weapons. Bullets don’t work on everything.”
“I wasn’t planning on fighting tiny stone gremlins!” Jason defended, though he was already tolerating the one that had reclaimed his leg.
“Gotta be prepared for anything,” Tim smirked.