Chapter Eight-

"Revenge to Watchdog, over."

"Watchdog reading, loud and clear."

"Hack city systems now."

"Roger, I'll see Reaper coming before he gets close."

"Let's hope so."

"What about Draxx and the police?"

"They're in place."

"And the target?"

"Took a sudden trip to Gotham this afternoon."

Revenge squatted on the rooftop. For the fourth night in a row, rain poured down in New York City. New Years was approaching fast and better weather would be nice to start off the new year.

The wind was cold and bitter, but Revenge didn't pay much attention to it. Just his rage and his target. Revenge wasn't Batman. He hadn't disappeared for seven years and taken training from the most experienced people in the world. He was simply a schoolboy with a mission.

A mission that was all too vivid in his mind.

His cape flowing in the wind, some might have mistaken him for the Batman. But the Black Hero and the Dark Knight were two totally different people. They both held different morals and ideals.

Ideals the other found radical.

Making sure his mask was zipped up, Revenge contacted Draxx.

"How're we doing, Chief?" he asked.

"Good, good. Waiting for the sucker." Draxx replied.

"Camera 1 down." Sarah said.

"Thanks, Watchdog. Prepping." Revenge said.

"Lock and load." Draxx said.

Revenge loaded a few daggers into his gun and cocked it. The rest of the police officers did the same.

"Cameras two through six down. Seven just went down too." Sarah reported.

Revenge picked up his binoculars and looked into the street. Sure enough, a hooded figure was riding a motorcycle at tuktok speed, taking out security cameras as he went.

New York taxpayers were not going to be happy.

Revenge decided enough was enough and jumped. His grapple gun fired at a flag pole and slowed his decent enough so he didn't splatter on impact.

"In position?" Revenge asked.

"Roger." Draxx replied. "All teams in position."

Reaper's motorcycle was closing fast. Revenge tossed a few daggers in front of him. Reaper continued to speed up as he spotted the teen hero.

"What in heaven's name are you doing, Revenge?" Draxx yelled over his comm.

"Just a friendly little game of chicken." Revenge replied calmly.

"Friendly?" Draxx asked. "If you become road splatter, I'm not paying for it."

Revenge grinned.

Reaper's motorcycle was within one stoplight of Revenge and speeding up every second.

"Revenge..." Sarah said.

Revenge held position.

"Revenge...!"

Reaper gunned the motorbike and closed the several yards between them quickly.

"REVENGE!"

The ground beneath Reaper exploded, tossing him and his motorcycle forward, right into a garbage truck.

"Happy Hunting." Revenge waved as the truck passed by.

Revenge had just turned around when he heard the thud. He turned around to see a gun pointed at his face point-blank.

"Now?" Sarah asked.

"Now." Revenge agreed.

"All teams, this is Watchdog. Green light! Go! Go!"

Windows crashed on the third and fourth stories. Several SWAT officers zip lined down, surrounding Reaper while a few squads aimed their rifles at the hooded figure.

"You are desperately outgunned." Revenge said, calm as could be. "I wouldn't."

"Oh, but I might." Reaper said, cocking the gun against Revenge's head.

Everything was tense for a moment. Suddenly, Revenge grabbed the gun and swung Reaper's arm behind his body. The teen vigilante pinned the hooded figure to the ground and ripped off his hood.

Except it wasn't Reaper.

The bald guy grinned a toothless grin at them.

"It's a trap!" Revenge yelled. "Watchdog! Where's my bike?"

"Alley to your left."

Revenge headed down an alley.

"No! Your other left!"

Revenge grabbed his bike and sped off, causing SWAT teams to leap to avoid him.

"Draxx, get to where you stashed our target. Alert the squads." Revenge said.

"Tried! I can't reach them!" The police chief replied.

"Damn!" Revenge said.

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Courage swung to the susunod building, wincing as pain erupted in her ankle. She had searched for hours to find Artemis, but couldn't. She headed back towards the hotel.

When she got there, a message was waiting for her on her laptop.

Thinking it was from Sam, she opened it. Instead it read a dreaded message.

'Surrender or the archer dies.'