The "Arkham" Cave, so nicknamed due to its positioning underneath the now abandoned Arkham Asylum for the Crminally Insane, was built by Bruce Wayne during his time as Batman, in case of emergency. While not originally quite as large or advanced as the cave underneath Wayne Manor, in the five years since Jason and Dick had found it during the invasion of Gotham, Dick, with the technical and engineering knowledge of Tim and Edward, had turned it into one of the most secure locations in Gotham, if not on the East Coast. The layers of security needed to gain access to the Arkham cave were phenominal, rivalling that of most nuclear missile silos.
Firstly, the initial doors at any of the three entrances into the cave were heavily disguised on the outside, and each held a thumb-print reader and retinal scanner on the reinforced titanium doors. Head down a corridor rigged with motion detectors, and you reached the elevator, which required a seven digit passcode changed every three hours as well as a second retinal scan. Within the elevator, vocal recognition from both the entering party and a secondary party within the cave or elsewhere in the city was required. Furthermore, the elevator shaft was rigged with motion detectors meaning that any attempt to manually force the elevator to move would result in the elevator shutting down, trapping the intruder inside. After that though, it was easy: just three heavily reinforced doors lined with titanium, steel, iron, lead, and kryptonite and an automated sentry turret system that could stop a raging rhino if need be.
There were also cameras and intruder alarms, just to top it all off.
So the mere fact that anyone was able to access the cave and get past all that made Dick very worried. So when he, Jason, and Harper burst through the doors into the cave and found a heavily armoured but bleeding man in an owl mask, he didn't really know how to react. But he recognised the uniform instantly: a Talon of the Court of Owls, an secret society that had almost destroyed Gotham several years ago and had killed dozens in a power play for the entire city. Bruce had barely been able to defeat them, even with all his allies working with him.
Jason drew his pistols, and Harper readied her own weapons, but the Talon simply sat there in the cave's medical bay, blood from his chest wounds spilling onto the floor and leaving a red puddle.
"I... surrender..." he managed to say, his voiced strained and weak. "I had to.. warn you... about the board members..." was all he had left to say before collapsing onto the floor.
"Well, he was easy," remarked Jason, putting down his gun. "Let's leave him to bleed out and go back to the- Dick, what are you doing?"
Dick had rushed over to the Talon, pulling away at the leather and bronze armor and pulling off his mask, revealing a pale man with an unruly head of hair and a youhtful face.
"Give me a hand here," Dick said, pulling off his suit jacket and rolling up his sleeves.
"Why? He's a bad guy," remarked Jason.
"He broke through the most advanced security system in the city to get in here," Dick replied sternly, concentrating on cleaning the open stab wounds in the chest. "Not to mention he said something about the board members, which might mean the WQI board. I want him alive so that I can find out why. Are you going to help me or not?"
Harper, pulling off her dress without caring that she was in her underwear, pulled on a medical apron and gloves and went to help. Great, she thought. I've switched from playing socialite to stripper nurse for an owl-themed knight in one hour. I can't believe I went to Gotham University for this.
An hour and a half of surgery later (during which Jason and Harper tried their best to remember their medical training and help Dick, who'd studied up recently), the others arrived, still in their suits and gowns. Harper had switched to a hoodie and jeans, Dick into his uniform, and Jason had stayed the same throughout, down to the stolen bow tie.
"What the hell happened, and why is their a Talon in here?" asked Tim, rightfully concerned.
"We don't know yet," explained Dick. "We found him here with three stab wounds to the chest, we patched him up, and now we wait. He also mentioned the WQI board members."
"Maybe they're targets?" theorised Kate.
"I don't know, but his little escapade interrupted what I had to tell Dick at the party," said Jason lighting a cigarette which Harleen snatched from his mouth and threw to the floor. "Lex Luthor is planning something big, and it's to do with the League of Assassins."
Everyone looked shocked, rightfully so.
"How do you know this?" asked Tim.
"I got a tip-off about something not being on the up-and-up with Luthor, so I went digging. Found some interesting stuff on his computer, loaded it onto this," he said, throwing the thumbdrive to Tim, who plugged it into the computer and started digging.
"A tip-off? From who, Jason?" asked Dick, stepping closer and looking into Jason's eyes.
"From-"
"It was from me, Dick," revealed Edward. "I'd been keeping an eye on what he was up to, and I was suspicious"
"So why not tell me?"
"Because it was a hunch, and we thought we could handle it on our own," said Jason. "We didn't want you getting all... 'Batman-ish' on a loose end."
"It's my job to chase up loose ends, to deal with every and any threat to Gotham. That's what we do here, as a team."
"Yeah I get it, Dick," said Jason, staring back angrily.
"No, you would get it if you took the time to be part of this team instead of spending yours days occupying yourself with vodka and self-pity," exclaimed Harleen.
"Who the hell are you to talk about self-pity, Harley? You spent years being Joker's punching bag because you couldn't find anyone else, and then after Killer Moth blew himself up to save the world and be a hero, you spent another six months indecisive about whether or not to booze yourself to death-"
The sound of Kate slapping Jason upside his face echoed through the entire cave, and left a raw and fiery red handprint on his left cheek.
"If you ever speak to her like that again, I will break the no-killing rule, Jason," warned Kate. The cold look in her eyes let Jason know that she was far from bluffing.
"How can I trust you now, Jason?" said Dick, not particulalrly sad or angry, simply... confused. "You had every chance to come to me for help, and yet you... You and Edward chose to keep me out of the loop on the off chance that it was nothing to worry about?"
"Dick..." said Edward, his voice quiet and sombre, "We were just doing what we thought was best - for you and Gotham."
"It's wasn't your call to make," said Dick, pulling the thumbdrive from the computer and handing it to Edward. "If you two want to work alone, fine. Get out of my cave."
