Meanwhile, Dick is getting re-acclimated to the city he calls home - New York City. Beginning life anew once again, Dick starts dating a young woman named Deborah and starts a job as the curator of the Cloisters museum. Thanks to a little help from Bruce and the rest of the super hero community, Dick is able to renovate the inside of the Cloisters and turn it into his own private base along with several other satellite stations throughout NYC. Dick also begins a new hobby of skydiving, taking his love of thrills to a new height, both literally and figuratively.

Things take an ominous turn however when word gets out that Ra's al Ghul has escaped from Arkham Asylum. Incarcerated at the facility under the false name of Terry Gene Kase (Detective Comics #840), Ra's is able to finally make his move and gain his freedom. This obviously unnerves Talia who then urges Dr. Kendall to procure a new way of creating her army.

In order to do that, Kendall and Talia kidnap the Mother of Champions, a woman who gives birth to meta warriors who live short accelerated lifetimes. Kendall tricks the Mother's systems into an almost ceaseless cycle of births while he works on genetically modifying the newborns to not only live longer lifetimes but also to be born with wings (a fascination of Kendall's' for whatever reason). But when she visits Kendall's new underwater facility, she's aghast at how many failed winged corpses there are. When she protests, Kendall has her locked up.

Luckily Nightwing isn't too far behind. He arrives and stops Kendall once again just as he discovers that Kendall finally succeeded in birthing a winged-warrior destined to live a full life. Creighton makes off with the child and Nightwing gives chase. When the two reach the roof Kendall reveals that he has given himself a new genetically modified younger winged-body and takes off into the air with the child. He is stopped in mid-flight when a bolt of lightning strikes him and he plummets to the watery grave below with the corpses of so many of his aborted experiments floating in the Hudson River. Nightwing rescues the healthy child and gives it back to the Mother of Champions who in turn frees the surviving warriors and bids them happy and fulfilling existences for the remainder of their short lives.

Back in Metropolis, Nightwing and Superman discuss the recent meta corpse abductions and decide it's best to re-entomb their fallen brethren in a special crypt below the Hall of Justice.