Where Loyalty Lies
By AJ
Part 9
Dick Grayson fought the nightmarish images that assaulted his senses and mind. He heard the words of Nara Strige. Even though Nara had said she was the half sister of his grandfather William Grayson, Dick had one more secret, one that he was grateful that he kept hidden from the likes of this woman and her sadistic family, but it looked like it wasn't going to matter. He knew they would discover his little signal, he hoped it would have been later instead of sooner, but that was a moot point now, and now his life was in danger.
"Welcome Gray Son of Gotham, to the labyrinth."
"Is this what you put Batman through?" Dick raged, his mind slowly clearing. "You forgot one thing. Your hallucinogenic drug won't work on me for long. I was chosen to be a Talon. Remember? It's in my blood. What did you tell William Cobb? That it was in his blood, too? If my parents had lived, how were you going to get me away from them?" Dick spitted out the questions. "Well, just so you know, I may have been born to John and Mary Grayson, but I wasn't conceived by John. You should have checked my DNA a lot closer. Oh, wait a minute. You don't go in for such things. You prefer more ancient methods. Well here's a scoop. I'm the son of Bruce Wayne!"*
"Then you shall be the last," Nara stated. "The Talon has killed him by now and he shall return to kill you."
"I don't think so. My hearing is as sharp as a bats. You have no Talon here to kill me. And the only Talon you might have had is right here. Ahhh!"
Dick felt an electric shock run through him, his heart beating faster. He fell to his knees shaken.
"We can still turn you," Nara stated. "What was given to you can also be taken away."
"You mean that little present you left in one of my teeth?' Dick questioned breathless. "That's gone. You didn't bother to look. Now it's my turn." Dick rose to his feel and took off running within the maze and into the darkness.
"You cannot hide from us."
Another light flashed on, revealing Dick's location. Dick looked around, trying to find another route. He had to stay in the shadows. He dashed off in another direction, reaching the darkness once more, only to be thwarted with another blinding light. This time an obstacle of knives were thrown into his path. He did his best to dodge them, using his acrobatic skills to twist and turn his body to avoid their sharp edges. A few came close, brushing him ever so slightly, drawing a bead of blood. Once clear of the knives he once again ran into the darkened pathway. There was no way he was going find his way out of here if they kept turning on lights, blinding him so his eyes didn't have a chance of adjusting to the dark. How many obstacles was he going to have to face before he couldn't face them any more? He kept running along pathways trying to find a way out.
"You can run, but there is no escape."
They were right. There may not even be a way out. He was just fooling himself. Eventually, they would wear him down. He had to think. There had to be another way. Dick looked up toward the cavernous ceiling, so much like the batcave. Batcave? Bats! That's it! Remembering he had another gadget hidden in the waistband of his pants, he pulled it out. It was flat and Bruce insisted that he always carry one, whether he needed it or not. He kept one in the boot of his Nightwing uniform. This one, Bruce must have slipped into his waistband the last time he had been kidnapped. That was going on two years. He pulled out the gadget and pressed the button. It would be his ticket to finding the way out. Bats always found ways into a place of shelter.
When Bruce asked him what he remembered, Dick replied 'Everything,' and he meant it. Every memory had been returned to him, including memories that he thought he forgot. The little gadget that he pressed, he remembered exactly what it did. It would lead the bats straight to him, giving him cover, and preventing the owls from seeing him. Their numbers were small, that's why they relied on the drugs to trick the person's mind into thinking that their numbers were much larger.
"You have come to the end. Surrender, Gray Son of Gotham, and maybe we shall let you live."
"Surrender? I don't think so. You couldn't take care of me the last time because there were only two of you. You didn't think I would figure it out? You worked up that scheme to get me away from Bruce. What did you do with the computer components? Hire a few thieves to steal for you then dump the components in the ocean hoping someone would investigate? Did you tell one guy to lead me into a trap? What were you going to do with me, retrain my mind after you finished torturing me? You didn't expect me to escape. Well I'm not escaping this time. You have no intention of letting me live. I'm calling for reinforcements."
Within five minutes a cloud of bats, at least a thousand strong came flying out of the darkness and were surrounding Dick Grayson.
"An owl may hunt down a single bat, but when they number in the thousands . . ." Dick didn't say anything more, letting the bats take the lead. He held onto the device that called them. Now it was their turn to be afraid.
"Where did they come from?" Otus Strige cried out.
"They will lead the Batman here," Athene said. "You should have checked him for weapons."
"We must abandon this nest if we are to survive."
CRASH!
"I wouldn't if I were you."
The fighting was short. The Striges knew nothing of real fighting. They allowed their gladiators to do that for them, and when their victim had reached the point of no return, they would be the ones to stab their victim multiple times with long narrow knives, simulating the talons of a bird of prey. Dick knew that Bruce had also figured it out, had known that the Court of Owls were nothing but murders that their business was murder. They would choose their victims well, those that no one would miss, not really. And to make sure no one suspected them, they also chose from all areas of society. They cooked up the fairy tale a long time ago, maybe before the Waynes ever came to Gotham, but it was the Waynes who were their opposition in every aspect. The Waynes represented a different kind of elite, one that showed compassion toward their fellow man. The Striges and the Crownes, they were old world, representing old world ideas. The poor and the down trodden were to be taken advantage and ruled over. And neither was willing to give that up. The Crownes died out while the Striges went underground. No one knew what happened. They never showed themselves out in society or public. The Striges became like their name, only coming out at night.
The owls tried to flee, but the bats confused their minds and prevented them from finding the way out.
"No! Too many, too many!"
Arms flailed, beating the air. The two younger women coward on the floor while the men tried to beat away the bats. They continued to swirl in a cloud around Dick Grayson and the Batman. Robin and the Red Robin appeared ready to prevent the Strige family from getting away in the confusion. No one was aware of the tragic end that would befall Nara Strige.
"GET THEM AWAY! AWAY!" Nara shrieked, her wheel chair rocking back and forth, ever closer to the edge.
Nara Strige flailed her arms trying to shoo the creatures away as they flew around her. The wheelchair rolled back and she fell off the platform before any one could reach her in time.
"MOTHER!"
There was nothing to stop her fall and she landed with a sickening thud, her body broken. The others looked on in horror. They were quickly subdued. Batman found Dick Grayson in the center of the swirling mass of bats.
"You can turn that thing off now," Batman said.
"What took you so long?" Dick asked as he depressed the button and the bats dispersed. His knees felt weak, but he still managed to keep up right.
"Had to wait for your signal."
"Let's go home," Dick said. "Their cooking is terrible."
Continues with the Epilogue
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A/N: *Reference to my story My Father is WHO?
