Dick nodded eagerly. "Right. Right. Yes. Exactly," he interjected when Maria made her run down.
"Ahhh, so that's where he was," Dick said, amused. "So they got smashed by Hood, then had to sit and fidget, wondering if anyone knew about them because of Eddie."
Dick hopped off the bar, pacing back and forth. "Yeah... That's why the high profile assassination. They wanted him out of town. But more importantly, I think they wanted to cause more inconvenience than that." He looked at the ceiling, making mental notes as he pointed at it. "But the Captain somehow knew. They slipped somewhere. Maybe he knew from the Winter Soldier. Maybe they got careless by someone knowing something they shouldn't. That's why he tested them. If you're looking for what someone is doing, you go to one of their trusted confidents. They probably thought Connor Hawke would be an easy target too to find out what Rogers was up to, but the jig was already up at that point. They just didn't... still don't know it yet." Dick didn't have the piece that was the Black Widow either and how well she played the spy game. She had turned the game for the Captain.
Dick hopped back on the bar, legs folding again. "So you released the hacker. But they weren't dumb enough to move on him right away. Probably because nothing had happened while he'd been locked up. So they actually played pretty clever there. They gave him some time, then went for something unfortunately common in Gotham--a person being at the wrong place, wrong time. That's why the shooting. To stir havoc in their current stomping grounds and nab him in the chaos, cause a murder at home would raise a flag." Dick smirked. "Too bad we already know all the players in Gotham. Their group gave us quite the eyebrow raise, not too mention how Rogers dealt with them. I don't know too much about him, but last I knew, Captain America doesn't take out civilians." Dick took a sip of his coffee, then raised his hand, doing his best to look indignant. "Not that I approve of that at all, by the way. I'm actually rather teed he's playing warpath in Gotham streets. It's still civilian area, and our area to boot." But really, Jason was involved. There were going to be deaths.
"Also, I think it's safe to say that the Hydra agents aren't just fed information--they were posers, and some pretty deep in your information web. That's why your network shut down. They needed to get the right people to Gotham to pull their hacker heisting. Covers their tracks and they can scramble things as they please, hide what they want, the works. Just like you said. Free rein in SHEILD."
Dick's eyes glittered as he smiled, and now there was definitely a sly edge to it. "Me? Oh, I would go have a heart to heart with those at the scene of the crime and the witness who is currently in a cushy hospital room. Cobblepot and I go way back. I've punched him so many times." Dick gave a wistful sigh, as though reminiscing. "But... he was a little irritated. I wasn't the first person to contact him. Someone else had, asking him to help cover for Edward, spread the word he died at the club. It won't last, but it will buy Eddie some time. Plus, you know, he was kind enough to let me see his security feed? I didn't even have to ask. And I kinda waltzed into the evidence yard and saw the vehicle that got blown up plus the ditched one in an alley. Not too many people can pop a door off like that, and there were clearly four people in the other vehicle that drove off. One bleeding badly. Per the body count on film and burned up, though, that means they got at least one of your Hydra agents." Dick looked thoughtful. "I'm thinking that was the bloody one at least. Mostly sure of that. So they will have to do something with him. My guess is that someone trusty is going to get a visit or a letter soon."
"In the meantime, if I were SHIELD, I would start searching for Nigma, and," he set his coffee down and made exaggerated quotes with his fingers, "find him. Let is slip. See who goes for the bait."