AN: Welcome back! I have to say, I'm having a blast writing this, and I'm glad to see that some are enjoying this so far! A few notes:
1. If there is any confusion, Nightwing's thoughts are bold, italicized, and have only one apostrophe around them.
2. I switched between Dick and Nightwing, just because it gets monotonous, seeing Nightwing in every sentence. I tried to spice it up a bit.
That's it for now! Any concerns, questions, ideas, feel free to PM me! Leave a review of you want more! NOW, ON WITH THE CHAPTER!
Disclaimer: I do not own DC or any of its characters (but I wish I did).
'Come on, come on! Faster!' Nightwing's body was buzzing with adrenaline, itching to enter a fight. One of the many large window in City Hall appeared before him. He drew his knees close to his chest, and tightened his legs. Just as he hit the glass, he relaxed, allowing his momentum, along with his weight, to shatter the glass. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught glimpses of blood and gore staining the floors. 'Dammit, I'm too late.'
He felt the Talon's body hit his feet, and the man went flying across the room. In the quick seconds that passed, Dick could see that Councilman Davis, along with three security guards had already been killed. He was pulled back to the matter at hand when the Talon's raspy voice echoed in the room. "Well, well, well...What do we have here?"
The Talon, having regained his composure, raced towards Nightwing, his left fist swinging in an arc towards his opponent's face. "The Bat's little birdie come out to play with the owls? How fun for me."
Dick internally rolled his eyes. "Sorry-not quite," he said, dodging the punch. As he ducked down, he kicked his feet out, hearing the sharp 'kraaak' as he kick-snapped the tendons in the Talon's knees.
The Talon began to laugh, "You must play harder than that, Little Birdie."
'What?! Regeneration takes time-he shouldn't be able to-' the hero thought as the Talon popped his knees back into place.
"I play much harder," the Talon taunted, rising once again.
'Shit.'
Nightwing backed away from the immortal enemy, and turned his focus to Mayor Harding.
"What-what is that thing?! Mayor Hardy shrieked, as Nightwing began to usher them out of the room.
"They call it a Talon-he's an assassin for the Court of Owls, here to kill you!" Dick answered, trying to move the men out of harm's way.
"The court?! But that's a fairy tale! They're not real!" the Mayor shouted, trying to wrap his mind around the situation. Dick sighed in annoyance, peering over his shoulder to see the assassin approaching.
"Really? You want to argue about that now?" Dick questioned as he ran up the wall to avoid the Talon's sword. "Just keep moving!"
"Yes, run, run away, Little Birdie! Run, run-" The Talon's jeers were cut short as Nightwing delivered a vicious face kick, knocking the man back.
'I need to get the Mayor out. By distracting the Talon, I can buy enough time, hopefully making sure that no one else will die here today.' Dick picked up one of the Talon's discarded swords and took a defensive stance. 'No matter what it takes.'
Nightwing bared his teeth in an angry grimace. "So...where were we?"
"Oh, you want to challenge me to a sword fight? Is that it?" The Talon asked, his voice holding a mocking tone. "I've been trained by the best fighters on the planet." At that, the assassin swung his sword towards Nightwing's head.
Dick smiled as he blocked the blow, holding the swords in place. "Good. So have I," he breathed, breaking free from the locked swords. In a split second, he slashed the Talon's left bicep, breaking the armor and leaving a deep wound. Unfortunately, the Talon thrust his sword forward, giving Nightwing a similar wound on his left arm.
Dick yelped in pain, and kicked his leg up, catching the Talon square in the jaw. As the Talon was momentarily distracted, Dick lowered his sword, and charged the assassin. The Talon tried to bring his sword down, but was too late. Dick drove the sword straight into the Talon's center of mass, lifting him off the ground.
"*Hrk.* You're good," the Talon gasped. As Dick buried his sword deeper into his opponent's chest, the Talon raised his sword once again. "But not nearly good enough!" he shrieked, slicing his blade across the right side of Dick's face.
"Gah!" Dick yelled, losing his hold on his sword.
"Very disappointing, Little Birdie," the Talon taunted, looming over Nightwing. Dick peered at the man above him, his sword still embedded in the assassin's chest. His face throbbed, blood staining his vision red. "Very disappointing indeed." The Talon raised his sword above his head, poised for the killing blow.
"Well, what can I say," Dick replied, reaching towards the floor. "I guess I'm no owl." In one singular motion, he picked up one of his discarded escrima sticks and jabbed it into the Talon's right eye. The Talon screamed, and fell back onto the floor. He did not rise again.
Dick groaned as he rose to his feet, holding his arm, blood running onto the floor. "Yeah...let's see you regenerate around that," he breathed, feeling a brief sense of relief fill his chest. It was quickly squashed when he realized that the night was still young, and there were more Talons out there. Rolling his eyes, he bent over, and picked the assassin off of the floor. He slung him over his shoulder, and walked back over to Mayor Hardy and Deputy Mayor Kavanaugh were waiting.
Both of the men's eyes widened in amazement. "You killed him?" Kavanaugh asked, a twinge of fear entering his voice.
"He was already dead. The stick's just preventing his healing factor from kicking in," Nightwing replied. He strode over to the door, and kicked it open. "Still, we should hurry up and-" Unfortunately, Nightwing was cut off as something struck him in the shoulder, causing him to drop the Talon. As he sank to the floor, three more knives embedded themselves in his chest, allowing small rivers of blood to flow. "No..." Nightwing whispered, dread filling his chest.
He glanced up, and confirmed his fears. Standing before him, holding throwing knives in his hand, was his great-grandfather, William Cobb, Talon for the Court of Owls.
AN: Thank you so much for reading and reviewing! Until next time!