Probably the weirdest thing about blackmarket auctions was how little they differed from normal auctions. At least when it came to the mundane things on display like art and rare materials.

The biggest difference was the thin anonymity for the bidders that started off as simply assigning a person a number, not unlike a normal auction, all the way to hired proxies who never met the person they were representing and only talked to through text.

It was an idle line of thought that Ghost Spider found herself circling back to as time went on. She was stuck in that lovely cycle of ‘hurry up and wait’ that meant that she didn’t have a whole lot to do while the auction started to get into swing below her.

“I can’t believe people actually spend that much money on that kind of art.” Ghost Spider muttered as she watched a painting sell for several thousand dollars. “I could probably do better than that.” Seriously, the painting was just a series of multicolored shapes. It wouldn’t be hard to do the same thing.

“For these people it’s more showing they have the money to actually buy something like that and not worry about the cost.” Supergirl’s voice crackled over her headset. ”it’s a status thing. Plus most of these relate to color theory and how certain shades complement the other. I doubt you could do better.”

“Probably not, I don’t know the first thing about color theory. I’d do better than you though… I can color inside the lines.”

”Not much of an artist if you think coloring books are something to be proud of.” Supergirl shot back.

“And throwing paint on a canvas and calling it a ‘Jackson Pollock’ piece isn’t any better.”

”Hey, I’m getting good at those!”

“...seriously?”

”Pay attention you two, we think Falcone is going to start once the final auction starts but he could kick things off early.” Batgirl’s voice interrupted the conversation. There wasn’t any hint of censure though, she was probably just as bored as the other two. She just wanted to remind them to stay focused. ”Plus from what I’ve heard both of you have the art skills of an elementary schooler.” that time Ghost Spider could hear a smirk in her voice.

“Hey!”

”Hey!”

The three of them continued lightly ribbing each other, a little more aggressively between Ghost Spider and Supergirl, but not enough to distract them from the events going on in the auction. They had reached the middle part of the overall event, where the items were now definitely stolen or illegal but not particularly special. And they still had quite some time to kill, although the chatter did eventually draw comments from the others listening in.

”They’ve been insulting each other for over an hour. How can you even pretend to like being around girls?” Robin moaned, showing his youth despite the situations he was often involved in.

”Give it a couple years and you’ll know why.” Nightwing commented to the younger boy before addressing the entire group. ”Heads up. Mario Falcone is swapping out with a double. Looks like the main event is starting soon...”

That news cut down the joking mood as the various heroes prepared for their roles. The three members of the Batfamily were on the lookout for any high ranking members of the Falcone family and would tail them until the shooting started, then they would try and catch as many as possible, a sort of reverse decapitating strike that the mafia family was attempting. Meanwhile, Supergirl and Ghost Spider would do their best to take out as many of the foot soldiers as possible. Between Ghost Spider’s webs and Supergirl’s speed, they should be able to pin down most of any combatants within a few seconds of the first move.

“I’m not seeing anything different on the main floor.” Ghost Spider reported what she could see.

”Nothing on my end either.” Supergirl confirmed.

”I have a group moving towards the exit, I’m tailing them.” Batgirl said.

”Same here, group of lieutenants are heading out.” Robin chipped in.

Ghost Spider started searching the scene below her for the tiniest hint of the Falcone’s attack even as she listened to the others over the comms. Once they made their move, she would need to act fast or risk a lot of people getting killed since none of the auction attendees were allowed weapons of any kind.

The guests started to filter in and out as higher ranking members of the underworld swapped out with the underlings and proxies. The main event was starting and apparently displaying their wealth and power in the auction was more important than anonymity.

A tanned man with bright blond hair walked out onto the stage and gave a microphone a few experimental taps to ensure it was on.

“Good evening, Gentlemen.” the man began, “I hope you all have been enjoying the event so far. We have, afterall, gone to great lengths to ensure you have the chance at acquiring only the best money has to buy, even if the items were...alternatively sourced...shall we say?” Some of the crowd chuckled. “But enough about that, all of you wouldn’t be here for just any trinkets. No, you are here for the real game changers, the things rare and unique enough that only the most powerful members of our little community would have the chance to even look at them! So without further ado, let us begin the final auction of the night!” There was some polite clapping at the announcement as the man stepped back.

One of the assistants rolled out a large wooden chest from off stage and placed it so a spotlight could light it up, ensuring everyone in the crowd could get a clear view of the object.

The man walked up to it and laid one hand on top of the chest. “Our first item is rather special. Over the past few years the landscape of power in the city has changed due to a certain vigilante…” the announcer trailed off and several members of the crowd began grumbling. Obviously Batman had hurt all of their operations. “...but the item inside this chest has the potential to place the owner back on top of the whole pile.” he patted the chest again and threw his arms wide, “Now, many of you might be thinking; ‘if this is so great, why is it the first item?’. The answer to that is simple.” with a hiss of air the chest burst open and the sides fell away. The large rotary barrel of a minigun glinted a bit under the spotlights as it pointed out into the crowd.

The announcer grabbed one of the handles and began to rev the weapon up. “It’s the first item because all of you will soon be dead. The Falcone Family wishes you a good night as they take back their spot in this city.”

-o-

Batgirl silently stalked over the rooftops, making sure to keep the group of mobsters in view the whole time. Early on she had recognised Giraldo Trevisani, one of the Falcone’s underbosses, and had kept an eye one him all night. So when he grabbed a group of henchmen and left the auction, Batgirl had a pretty good idea the Falcone’s plan was about to go into action and Trevisani was going to play his part.

She had to quickly jump an alley when the group made a sudden turn but caught up quickly.

“...for the signal from the auction. I’ll make the call and then we head for Warehouse 14 to meet up with the others. Grab half the grunts and circle the Iceberg Lounge. None of them get out.”

“We got it, boss. Just leave it to us.”

Trevisani pulled out a phone and checked the time.

“Just a few minutes left.” He commented.

If that was the case then Batgirl needed to take them out now before they gave the order to head to the Lounge. Ghost Spider and Supergirl would already have their hands full trying to keep everyone alive with just the people already inside, letting these four send even more people was a guarantee that some people would die.

She pulled a batarang out of her belt and carefully lined up the throw. With smooth, well practiced motions Batgirl sent the sharpened shuriken directly into Trevisani’s phone. The mobster cried out in pain and gripped his hand before turning to where Batgirl landed in the alleyway.

“Dammit, one of the Bat-freaks. Kill her!” Trevisani shouted at his men before breaking into a run.

The henchmen pulled handguns from their holsters and began firing them at the heroine but after dodging the initial shots and throwing down a smoke bomb, Batgirl was able to avoid the rest by hiding behind a nearby dumpster. When the first gun clicked empty she dashed out of cover and charged the group. One of them had been more economical in his shooting, so he was able to put a bullet close enough that Batgirl felt it tug through her hair.

That was when she got close enough to smack his gun hand skyward and plant a fist in his stomach. A followup knee to the face had the henchman unconscious and Batgirl using him as a springboard to leap at the other two goons.

Batgirl had the privilege of seeing their eyes widen before she managed to get her hands on both of them and slam their heads together. Just like that they were down for the count.

Unfortunately the few seconds she needed to deal with the three henchmen had given Trevisani plenty of time to get a headstart on her. Batgirl was confident in taking down a dozen henchmen like the last three at the same time. She was less certain about a nightclub full of them all armed to the teeth. Good thing she wasn’t limited to chasing the underboss on foot.

Through liberal use of a grapple gun, Batgirl managed to not only catch up to the mobster but get in front of him. Before he even made it to the nightclub! Maybe her luck was turning around, it certainly seemed like she’d had a run of bad luck ever since Ghost Spider stepped onto the scene. So catching her target before he managed to complete his part in the plan was a definite stroke of good fortune.

Trevisani growled as Batgirl landed in front of him. He apparently wasn’t much of a talker when a fight was imminent. He didn’t say anything as he pulled out a silver handgun and leveled it at the heroine. Not that she was going to sit there and just let him take shots at her.

A batarang quickly knocked the gun out of Trevisani’s hand, but the gangster was good enough to duck under the followup shock one. It said something about Trevisani’s confidence that he didn’t bother going for the gun but pulled a pair of knuckle dusters from his suit jacket.

“You already lost Bat, the Boss’s got people all over the city just waiting for the word. Stopping me does fuck all. And once we’re done this city is going to remember who owns it!”

Maybe Trevisani was more of a talker than she thought, that or he was blustering to try and keep her distracted.

Either way, Batgirl kept her mouth shut as she ducked under a few wild haymakers. Banter was a good tool to use against Costumes, since they usually had an almost compulsive need to engage in it themselves, but silence was almost always more effective against minions. They got spooked, sloppy, and made way more mistakes when they were up against a Bat and Trevisani was proving it. A wild punch had the larger man overextending enough that Batgirl was able to grab his wrist and throw him face first into a wall. Something crunched under the impact unpleasantly, Trevisani was still tough enough to fight through it though because an unexpected backhand managed to catch Batgirl in the face and knock her to the ground.

“Damn Bitch!” Trevisani spat through the blood pouring out his nose and some broken teeth, one hand clawed protectively over his face. “I’m going to break you in half and throw you in the river!”

“Let me know how that goes when you stop twitching.” Batgirl spoke up for the first time.

That's when the shock batarang she had slipped onto Trevisani’s suit beeped and discharged its entire battery into the man. Sparks of electricity had him spazzing in place for a couple seconds before he fell over, twitching. Trevisani might’ve been harder to hit unconscious than most people, the same didn’t extend to electric shocks.

Batgirl groaned and stretched a bit as she picked herself up off the ground, brushed off a bit of debris, and went to handcuff the unconscious gangster. With Trevisani out for the count, Batgirl was sure that she had stopped at least one of Falcone’s plans. Now she needed to hand Trevisani and his three friends over to the police her dad had stationed nearby and figure out what the others were doing.

“My group is down and all wrapped up, what’s the word at the auction?” Batgirl reported through her communicator, mentally debating if she should drag Trevisani back to the others or just leave him here.

”Well, we managed to stop the massacre…” Ghost Spider’s slightly panicked voice crackled from the communicator. ”...but then Supergirl was put through a few walls. I tied him up for now but...” there were some sounds in the background that sounded like wood and stone splintering and possibly cloth tearing. ”...oh, fuck me.” Ghost Spider’s disbelieving comment was suddenly buried in static as something started jamming the communicator.

“Ghost Spider? Hello?” When there was no answer Batgirl tried to contact Supergirl the only thing that came out of the communicator was static. Batgirl started to move quicker to secure the gangsters. If both of them were in trouble then Falcone might still have a way to finish the main part of his plan and might need her help. She could only wonder what the mafia boss had managed to pull to give a kryptonian and a meta that could stand up to one trouble.