Summary: While searching for the Court of Owls, Dick encounters his formerly dead little brother and exactly what he's searching for. Direct sequel to The Beast Below.

Despite all the time he spent away from it, Dick never forgot Gotham's layout. It was as if she had imprinted herself beneath his skin, become part of the blood and bone and sinew that formed him. Below him, the armored bulk of Slade Wilson was pacing through the shadows like a jungle cat, glancing up from time to time to check Dick's location. The pair of them were searching Gotham's slums tonight, searching for any sign of the Court, while Batman, Robin, and the second Batgirl, Cassandra Cain, were searching the more prosperous areas of the city.

Dick knew where the Court had been when he and Slade and first arrived in Gotham, but that had been a night ago and there was a good chance that the members had packed up and moved. The plan was to group together and check at the end of the night in case there were talons lurking behind or the Court actually hadn't moved. "Found anything yet?" Bruce's gruff voice demanded over the comm links that connected all five of them.

"Nothing," Dick replied, his voice cold as ice. The longer the Court was awake, the more he felt the invisible ties binding him too it tugging in the center of his chest, trying to draw him back to his so called masters. The fiercer the tugs got, the further he slipped into the mindset of a talon, emotionless and brutal.

"There's nothing on our end either," Tim chimed in. "Well, there's a gala of some sort but I don't think it has anything to do with the Court of Owls." Cass let out a soft snort and a slim grin slipped through Dick's coldness, anchoring him to the family he had chosen when he had rebelled against the Court.

"It doesn't really sound like their scene," he agreed. "Right now they're a little more focused on the destruction of anyone who has ever opposed them."

"We'll keep looking," Bruce growled, ending the conversation abruptly. Dick sighed at that and dropped silently to a fire escape before flipping down to join Slade on the ground.

"The Bat is in quite a mood tonight," the mercenary commented. Dick gave him a one shoulder shrug in response and matched the man's pace, senses alert for any sign of danger. "What is he going to do if they are attacked?" Slade continued. "We both know he doesn't kill."

"The talons are an exception. They are already dead," Dick replied, voice void of emotion. "You cannot kill something that is no longer living."

"What about you?"

"I'm already dead," Dick replied dully, attempting to pick up the pace only to be jerked to a stop by a firm grip on his shoulder.

"Dead things don't breath kid," Slade told him. "Their heart's don't beat and they bleed. They also don't feel."

"Sometimes not feeling is better," Dick said with a hollow smile.

"Not feeling anything is dangerous kid," was Slade's only reply before they started moving again. Dick didn't have a response for that.

Slade was right, of course. Not feeling anything had resulted in Dick personally torturing dozens of people to death during the Court's reign of terror, seriously injuring Batwoman who had been forced to retire due to the injuries he'd given her, and almost destroying any chance of safety and security the people of Gotham City had. Without emotions, Dick was little better than a mindless thrall to the Court's whims, an empty tool of destruction.

"You're thinking so loudly I can hear it from here," Slade commented and Dick could just picture the man's smirk underneath his mask.

"Very funny," the young man replied dryly, pushing thoughts of the past away. "I'm sure someone somewhere thinks you're hilarious."

"I'm funnier than you," was Slade's swift retorted which had Dick rolling his eyes behind the lenses of his mask. The former talon was just opening his mouth to reply when he senses picked up movement. He froze, the only part of his body moving was his head snapping up towards the rooftop. He was in time to catch a glimpse of red and in motion before he had fully registered what he had seen. He landed on the rooftop and followed the bulky figure to the next rooftop, admiring the fluid way Jason moved and the way his little brother had grown into his form.

"I didn't think you'd be coming back," Jason's voice sneered from beneath the helmet, tone bitter. "Not after you ran off when you found out I wasn't dead." Dick simply stared silently at Jason, not dignifying that with a response. He didn't deal well with change, his little brother knew that, and he'd been overwhelmed with guilt, which the old Jason might have known but the new one probably didn't. "Why are you back?" Jason demanded, gloved hands clenching into fists.

"The Court has woken," Dick intoned solemnly.

"So? You said 'Screw Gotham' and ran off to Bloody Haven when I was Robin. Why not leave the city to rot?"

"Because my family is here," Dick said, voice suddenly full of vehemence. "And I will not allow any of them to be harmed by something that is my fault."

Jason flinched a bit at Dick's sharp tone and then scrabbled at the helmet a moment before yanking it off and throwing it at Dick. The object smacked into his shoulder hard but Dick barely felt the pain as it clattered to the ground at his feet. He was being washed away by other feelings. "Are you stupid or something? The Court is not your fault!"

"Like you dying wasn't my fault?" Dick challenged.

"Dick-"

"Don't lie to me," Dick snapped bitterly. "I know what you think because I think about it every day. If I would have just ditched Bruce's rules and killed the Clown the first time I met him, you would never have been killed, Babs wouldn't be in a wheelchair, and you wouldn't have to be so angry at all of us."

Dick turned away from his little brother as the rooftop fell completely silent, giving a tense Slade the all clear signal. The mercenary was standing on the rooftop he had chased Jason across to get to this one, ready for a fight if necessary. The merc nodded and turned his attention to the opposite direction of Dick, watching his back as always.

"Babs hasn't talked you out of this yet?" Jason asked, sounding a little gobsmacked and a lot like the old Jason he had known before his little brother had been brutally murdered by the Joker.

"Barbara hasn't spoken to me since the Blockbuster incident," Dick replied, voice cool again.

"You mean the guy that went psycho and tried to kill you?" Jason asked and Dick glanced over his shoulder, mouth pulled into a confused frown. "Talia mentioned something about it because Lady Vic was involved. What happened that the red headed wonder is so mad at you?"

"I killed him," Dick said flatly. "And Catalina Flores."

"Oh," was Jason's reply. "Well, it could have been worse."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah," Jason pulled out a self-depreciating smirk. "You could have turned crazy and tried to kill your family." There was a moment of the silence and then the younger boy added, "Seriously Dick, me dying was my own stupid fault. It's not on you." Dick shrugged and Jason sighed. "Maybe I should go throw my helmet at Babs. She was always better at this kind of stuff. Dick snorted at that and Jason responded by childishly sticking out his tongue.

"Renegade," Slade's voice suddenly snarled and Dick snapped around at a low chuckle, eyes scanning the darkness. For a moment he caught sight of William Cobb's form before the man vanished.

"One fine day in the middle of the night, two dead boys came out to fight," Cobb mocked, tone a child's sing-song. "Back to back they faced once another, pulled out their swords and shot each other. A deaf policeman heard the noise and came and killed the two dead boys."

"Very funny," Jason snarled as Dick crouched, grabbing his little brother's helmet and blindly tossing it in Jason's direction. Because he was still scanning the shadows, he managed to catch a glimpse of the older talon and launched himself into thin air. The two toppled through empty space, crashing to the ground with Cobb cushioning Dick's fall.

"Where are the rest?" Dick snarled and Cobb let out a bloody laugh.

"Who said they are hiding little bird," Cobb taunted and Dick let out a low, rumbling growl even as the man tossed him backwards into a wall.

Body aching, Dick lifted a hand to his comm and activated, spitting out, "Slade, take Jay and the others and head to where we were last-" He was cut off when Cobb's hand wrapped tight around his throat, cutting off his entire air supply.

"Uh-uh my student," Cobb crooned. "That wouldn't be fair." Dick lashed out a foot, going for a cheap shot and missing but managing to hit the man's stomach on the second kick. One hand slipped into his belt, removing a knife and stabbing it into the arm currently cutting off his air, causing Cobb to let out a snarl and release him.

Dick gasped for air while in his ear Slade said, "I hear you kid. I don't like it but I hear you."

"Just finish it," Dick choked out, ducked a blow and then finding himself pinned again. This time Cobb removed his comm and crushed it under a boot, yellow-gold eyes gleaming.

"Just you and I, student and master," Cobb said with a smirk.

"This time the student is going to best the master," Dick snarled back, lashing out with all his strength. He'd learned a lot from Slade and Bruce since he'd left the Court. Hopefully that would give him an edge that would allow him to defeat Cobb.

"It does not matter," the ancient man replied with a shrug. "Even if you best me, you cannot kill me and eventually, my student, you will come back eventually."

"You say that as if I am the same person I was when my parents fell to their deaths all those years ago," Dick snapped, squirming free of the pin and landing a hard blow on Cobb's back. "I'm not." The man just laughed in response.

Dick wasn't sure how long they fought, twisting and performing a deadly dance around one another. All he knew was the cuts that quickly stopped bleeding, the bruises that blossomed and then vanished, the bones that snapped and then began to mend together. At least he saw his opening and took it, claws lashing deep across Cobb's throat, sending the man toppling to the ground. "Goodbye," Renegade said, tone ice, as he removed a special vial from a single pocket of his belt and spilling the contents across Cobb's bloody mess of a throat. The poison bubbled and hissed and Cobb's eyes widened and his dying body thrashed before going still. William Cobb was dead. Again.

"You okay kid?" Slade's voice startled Dick, the exhausted boy spinning around. Muscles were already tensing for battle when Dick released who he was facing. The former talon slowly relaxed, letting out a shaky breath, and nodded.

"Yeah. Is everyone else alive?"

"They are. A little bruised and banged up but all still breathing. We got some extra help from Catwoman and a blonde girl calling herself Spoiler. The seven of us were enough to put the Court out of commission for a long time."

"Good," Dick breathed, swaying with exhaustion and not bothering to protest when Slade stepped forward to support him. After what had just happened, he needed to sleep for a long time.