Gordon knew there was something wrong when instead of meeting the scowling faces of the McKillen twins, he instead had the scowling face of the warden.

Zorbatos and a group of prison guards who looked to be in the process of locking the place down.

"Problem?" the Commissioner asked, remaining calm.

"Keep quiet, Gordon. That'll make it easier to put up with this," the warden snapped at him.

"Maybe I can help. Tell me what's going on. Is it a riot?" he demanded. He wasn't going to be putting up with any of this woman's antics. For all he knew, this was just a ploy to annoy him, as unlikely as that was from her.

For a moment, Zorbatos looked like she was debating with herself. It was an odd look from her, one Gordon had never seen on her face. Coming to a decision, she explained blandly, "There's been a report about an attempt on your life, Gordon. I checked into it; your men in Gotham are going crazy and there's been calls about masked men killing people."

Though he didn't show it, this was all news to him. Because he was the commissioner, he was no stranger to death threats and even an occasional attempt on his life from some lone gunman, or a badly packaged bomb. No, he was more surprised that Agatha Zorbatos, a woman he knew hated his guts was taking what appeared to be precautions to defend his life.

"I know what you're thinking Gordon," Zorbatos spoke up as if she had been reading his mind. "I hate you, but it would cause more problems for me if I got your blood all over my prison. Consider yourself lucky."

Yes, he could see why it would cause her problems. If he was indeed killed here, there would be questions about Zorbatos' ability to run Blackgate. She could even lose her precious prison. That alone meant more to her than any satisfaction she could get from his murder.

It was going to be what he had to depend on if indeed his life was in danger.

Though, who would be crazy enough to try and break into Blackgate of all places to kill him? You had to be crazy, or exceptionally talented to try something like that. He was probably the safest person in the city, if there was a coordinated attack on the city.

Still…

"Can I have a gun?" he asked, though he sounded more like he was making a demand. "I'm afraid I had to check mine in earlier."

Zorbatos gave him a measured look, contemplating if he deserved a weapon or not. If there was one thing Gordon was proud of, it was his marksmanship. Besides, if he were in the warden's position, he'd want every gun available to be ready.

"Estavez, give him your pistol," the warden made up her mind and gave the command. A nearby guard quickly obeyed and handed the Commissioner his firearm, still holding a shotgun in his hands.

Okay, Gordon felt a lot better now. Hmm, the handgun was a bit heavier than he was used to; it was definitely going to have a stronger recoil, but he could make do with it. All it took was a single shot to take a person down. Hopefully it wouldn't come to that, but with how things have been going since he had become commissioner, he wouldn't hold his breath.

In the distance, he could hear the sounds of gunfire—a lot of gunfire. By the second, the sounds were coming closer, Zorbatos swore under her breath before she yelled into a walkie-talkie, demanding to know what was going on out there. So it wasn't his imagination then. He could hear someone screaming a reply through the communication device, though it was hard to make anything out from the shots ringing and the violence on the other end.

Gordon readied himself, taking the safety off the gun as he aimed it towards the locked door.

"Commissioner James Gordon," a low-pitched voice hissed. "The Court of Owls has sentenced you to die."

For a second, he froze, but that second ended soon and Gordon was spinning around to face a man dressed all in black and decked out with a large assortment of weaponry that all looked very, very sharp. Behind him was an A/C vent, hinting that this man had gotten in here via the ventilation system. That was a feat in and of itself as from what Gordon could see, the assassin looked much bigger than the vent.

"Son of a bitch," Zorbatos swore. "Waste him!"

Everything seemed to move in slow motion, at least to the Commissioner. Anyone and everyone with a gun were barely moving as they aimed their weapons at the intruder. The assassin moved in normal time, throwing out a handful of sharp objects with both hands that either knocked the barrels of the shotguns and pistols off, or struck the bodies of their holders.

Gordon hadn't been hit, though he did see one of the prison guards drop to the floor, a throwing knife lodged in his left eye. There were swears from those who were hit, some in the arms, one of the torso, and one in the throat. That guard was dropping to the floor while grasping at the weapon. However, there were still others who hadn't been hit, though their aims had been compromised. That didn't stop them from firing.

The greatest danger was not from the assassin anymore, but from guns that were misdirected, sometimes at another person. A shotgun sent a guard crashing into a wall, another tore one's leg off, and Zorbatos was barely grazed by a bullet, though her eye patch strap was severed.

Gordon was suddenly aware that the masked assassin was just about on him, leaping at him and currently overhead, angling his long dagger downwards. Though the world was still moving in slow motion, he found that he could move in normal time and he stepped aside just as the long blade sliced passed him and pierced the tiled floor.

The world sped back up and as the Commissioner turned his pistol on his attacker, he soon found himself weaponless as the assassin sliced the gun in half with a very quick maneuver with his knife. Then it was all about falling back and trying to put some distance between them. Slash after slash came at him, the older man—he assumed he was the older of the two—barely evaded each one. His necktie was not as lucky as it was cut apart piece by piece with every slash, a sign that Gordon was almost out of luck.

Then his back met up with the wall.

The masked assassin gave no last second quip, choosing to go in for the kill. Gordon's glasses reflected the incoming blade as it drew nearer, and nearer, and nearer…

...until a well-timed shot knocked it off it's course, the tip of the blade stabbing into the wall beside him.

"Move!" Zorbatos roared as she fired another shot. The assassin pulled away and gave him some breathing room, allowing Gordon to scramble away towards the nearest exit. "Get out of here!" came Zorbatos' following order, and Gordon didn't find it in him to disobey. The closest door led deeper into the prison, more specifically to the cells where some of Gotham's finest criminals made their home.

As he scrambled through the door, gunfire blasting behind him, he wondered if he was jumping out of the pan and into the fire.

With Betty Parks out of danger, safely stowed away in a bunker Batman had hidden in the city—one of many in fact—the vigilante was racing through the Gotham streets, heading for the next closest city official that no doubt would be targeted. At this point, it was best to include everyone that worked for the local government, which unfortunately exploded his list of potential targets.

As he approached the heart of the city, something caught the Dark Knight's eye. It had only been a coincidence, if he was honest, that he just happened to be facing Wayne Tower. The fact that he had been heading in the direction of his company provided him with the sight of a figure repelling up the building. He was too far away to positively identify who it was, be it ally or foe; however, with what was going on tonight, there was no way he could take the chance it was a friendly.

Pushing his foot down harder on the gas pedal, his car surged faster down the road until he was forced to make a left turn. Making a sharp turn, the back of his car began to fishtail, something he was wholly expecting and used to his advantage. Turning the wheel in the opposite direction at the same time he accelerated the car faster, Batman felt his vehicle power slide until he was heading straight down this new street, one that he left an instant later at the first right turn.

This put Wayne Tower right in front of him, directly at the end of the road. A matter of moments passed before he came to a screeching stop, killing the car engine a second later. With the canopy sliding forward, Batman stood up in his seat and lept out of the car, ignoring his transportation as he stared up at the building. Pulling out his grapple gun, he aimed it towards the top and fired, the grapple claw flying high into the air. Batman lost sight of the claw as it seemed to blend in with the dark sky.

The moment his line went taut, the dark-clad man knew he had a good anchor point. Hitting the retraction button, he flew up the side of the building, the panes of glass and sections of concrete blurring in front of him as he zoomed by. Occassionaly he passed by a set of windows lit up by light, which allowed him a view into the room, but even at the speed he was traveling he was able to rule out that room

It was around the 30th floor that he came to an abrupt stop. Seeing as he was reaching the top of Wayne Tower soon, Batman had slowed his descent. That was the only reason why he saw the doors to Lucius Fox's office swing open and the older man rush out. The dark figure that lurked behind him was all the vigilante needed to see in order to act.

Still, there was a nagging thought in the back of the Dark Knight's head. Why was Lucius being targeted? He wasn't a government official, or anyone with direct sway over Gotham. There was something he was missing.

Releasing the retraction button, Batman reached to his belt with one hand, opening one of the pockets and pulling out a small device. One side of it had a suction cup attached, which is what he pushed up against the window glass. Flicking a switch, a small green light flashed on and the vigilante was able to feel a vibration through his fingers.

Regrabbing his grapple, Batman planted both of his feet against the window, feeling the vibration through them as well before he pushed off of them, swinging out into open air until his line stopped. He then began heading to the window, legs extended out in front of him.

The moment his feet hit the glass, it shattered, sending jagged pieces all over the floor as he landed inside the building. A quick press of a button, allowed him to reel in his cable until the claw returned to the barrel of the grapple gun. All of this happened in mere seconds, allowing the vigilante to sprint in the direction he saw Lucius and his stalker go.

Entering a hallway, Batman was quick to note how messy it was. Trash cans and potted plants were lying on their sides, a couple of which were still rolling back and forth. Lucius must have flung them behind him in order to slow his assailant. Ignoring the mess, Batman raced through the hall until he found a set of double doors partially open. Just the sight of them caused the dark-clad man to pull out one of his shuriken, grasping it tightly as he ran. A pain scream rang out through the gap, forcing the dark-clad man to skid to a stop by the doors and fling them open.

Lucius had made a wrong turn it seemed. The older man was sitting on the floor, cradling one of his arms with the other, blood pouring onto the floor from a wound on his shoulder. Lucius was looking up at his attacker, a Talon without a doubt, his face twisted with fear. In turn, the Talon held a bloody knife above his head, ready to plunge it down on his helpless victim.

In the blink of an eye, Batman sent his bat-shaped shuriken flying, the projectile arcing through the air as the assassin dropped his arm down. A second later the shuriken collided with the back of the Talon's hand in mid-stab, a pained cry ringing out as the man dropped the dagger and grabbed his injured hand. Lucius scrambled to a side, avoiding the knife as it hit the floor right where he had been sitting.

In the meantime, Batman had taken off into a run. As he drew closer to the assassin, he leapt into the air, leaning back as he extended one foot out, his other leg pulled back and bent at the knee. Flying, his foot collided with the back of the Talon's head, forcing it forward, and slamming into the wall in front of him. Instantly, the man dropped to the floor in a heap, Batman rebounding off as he landed a short distance away.

Staring at the fallen Talon, it took Batman several moments to realized he had successfully dealt with him. That was...strange. All of the Talons he had fought previously had been more of a challenge. None had been defeated with one blow, not like this. At the very least, the others would have had the presence of mind to dodge the flying kick instead of remaining oblivious to it until it was too late.

"Batman!" Lucius suddenly exclaimed, causing the vigilante to jerk his head to the man. There was a surprised, yet relieved look on his face, something the dark-clad man took to mean there wasn't another threat lurking by. Still, he wasn't one to drop his guard, even as an ache in his chest was growing. It seemed the vigilante wasn't fully recovered from Owlman's attack in the sewers.

"Is there anyone else in the building?" the Dark Knight demanded of the Wayne employee, to which the man shook his head in the negative.

"That...that was one of the Talons you were talking about," Lucius said then. "On the radios, right?"

"He was." At this Batman returned his attention to the assassin, seeing no change in the man's condition.

"But I wasn't on that list you announced," Lucius continued. "Yet one of those guys showed up to kill me."

Which was a point still nagging at the vigilante. Why would the Court of Owls want Lucius dead? Did they have more than mayors and councilmen to kill? If that was the case, then targeting a man of Lucius status made a little more sense. He held an enviable position at one of the largest corporations in the world and with that brought influence over politicians and other businesses. But if that was the case, wouldn't the Court have sent Talons after him? Bruce Wayne was the face of Wayne Enterprises, not—

No, Bruce Wayne was seen as an idiot with a great supporting cast of executives making all of the big decisions. While his high-profile lifestyle would still make Wayne a target—with a Talon probably stalking Wayne Manor at this point—he would be seen as a lesser target to Lucius. And if Lucius was targeted, that meant others outside of the local government were as well.

Damn it, his list had suddenly exploded into the hundreds.

There was no way to protect that many people, not when they were scattered about the city, even with the reinforcements he called out for. So if taking out the pawns were useless, that meant the vigilante had to go after the king, wherever it was. There were no clues, nothing to indicate where the Court was headquartered. It was a needle in a city-wide haystack with no time to do a thorough search, not when these people had centuries to bury their tracks.

Well, except for the Talons that is.

Immediately, Batman was next to the assassin, patting his hands all over the man as he searched for something, anything that could clue him in to where the Court of Owls was hiding. The weapons he found were custom-made, what with the craftsmanship of the owl head on the bottom of the hilt. It would take time to track down that maker though, and that was something he was in short supply of.

The clothes themselves were also unique. Unfortunately there were no labels on them to identify a designer—another dead end. That was to be expected though, it wasn't like these people were buying their assassins costumes from a store.

However, when he pulled off the Talon's mask, he was stunned to find an emaciated face beneath it. In fact, if the dark-clad man wasn't mistaken, this man was an addict. His skin was faintly yellow from jaundice, indicating liver damage. Alcohol and drugs had not been kind to this man.

Suddenly, Batman had an idea as to why it had been so easy to take this Talon down. There had been no prior training for this man to sense his opponent's presence, which was why Batman landed his kick with such ease. It appeared there were some things that couldn't be imparted through a computer chip. Couple that with the lack of nutrition making the man's constitution weaker, so there was less endurance and stamina to withstand blows, never mind the fact the vigilante had rammed his head into a wall.

Then, as if to prove his suspicions, a 10/6 card fell out of the limp Talon mask, slapping down on the floor.

"What in the world is going on?" Lucius spoke softly as he looked on.

A scowl appeared on the Dark Knight's face. "The Court of Owls have appropriated some of Jervis Tetch's mind control technology and have taken Gotham's homeless to make them assassins." While he had known the Court had been up to this, he hadn't expected them to be operational by now, not with Senator Simmons unable to drop off the stolen tech at the subway station.

But then, it was entirely possible that hadn't been the only exchange between Simmons and the Court of Owls. Damn it, he had been too focused on the here and now and not how long this exchange had been going on. Just another mistake in a long line of them he had been making lately.

Unfortunately, now things were more complicated. There was no telling which Talons were trained assassins or mind-controlled homeless, not until they exchanged in blows. Innocents would be caught in the crossfire against their will, helpless to stop what they were doing. In a fit of rage, Batman threw the mask down hard on the ground, seething as he bared his teeth like an animal.

The Mad Hatter landed on the floor hard, his top hat popping off his head as it scattered across the floor until it began rolling around in a circle on its brim. Life seem to spring forth from Alice Simmons' eyes, her face twisting with confusing. "Wha? Where am I…" she spoke softly before her eyes widened.

Batman froze at the moment of recollection. When Tetch's hat fell off his head, Alice Simmons had regained her senses. In fact, she had removed that hair band on her head before Tetch could retrieve his hat. That was the only reason why she hadn't fallen back under the Mad Hatter's control while the others had. There was some sort of frequency being broadcast from Tetch to his mind control cards, only being active when Tetch was in contact with the tech.

And there was the trail the vigilante had been looking for.

Unfortunately, his suit or any of the gadgets in his belt didn't have the capability to do a city-wide search. He was going to need help. "Fox," he snapped, causing the man to jump where he sat. Holding out the 10/6 card, the dark-clad man said, "This card is receiving a signal from a transmitter somewhere in the city. Is there anyway you can trace it back to its source?"

Lucius blinked his eyes owlishly before Batman's words registered with him. "I believe so. The R&D department should have something to identify the signal as long as we have a tracing program to guide it."

This could work. "Can you stand?"

"I can, yeah."

"Show me to R&D." It was a little strange he had to say that considering he already knew where R&D was, but he couldn't leave Lucius alone should another Talon be lying in wait. Until the Wayne Executive was somewhere safe, Batman wouldn't leave him alone.

With a sharp turn, Batgirl entered the alleyway and raced towards the other end. The wind whipped at her red hair and cape, pulling them back as she pressed her body down on her stolen motorcycle.

She didn't make it the entire way, hitting the brakes and causing a loud squealing sound as the rubber on the tires burnt from the friction. The motorcycle slid to a stop underneath a fire escape, Batgirl pushing down the kickstop with her foot and swinging herself off the bike. While the ladder to the fire escape wasn't lowered, that didn't stop the redhead from using the nearby dumpster as a boast. Climbing on top of it, Batgirl jumped towards the opening at one end of the metal fire escape, grabbing onto one of the bars and dangling from it for a second.

"C'mon, Babs, you can do this," she muttered to herself as she began to swing her legs back and forth, creating enough momentum to pull herself up through the opening. Once she had her legs beneath her, the young woman began scrambling up the ladder steps, rushing her way to the top.

Once she reached the top level, she hauled herself onto the roof and stared out at the familiar sight of the GCPD roof. Half-relieved, half-concerned, Batgirl didn't see Jim Gordon anywhere. It was obvious he wasn't taking a break up here; most likely he was doing something about Batman's announcement.

Of course her dad had to be doing something about this crisis. She should have known he'd be in the thick of everything rather than barricading himself at the precinct. The last twenty minutes hadn't been used for thinking, so caught up in her worry that she hadn't thought her father would be anywhere else.

Okay, girl, calm down. You need to think now and not go off half-cocked. Yeah, thinking would have been much better at the Birdcage rather than on the GCPD building. Batgirl cringed at the thought of appearing in front of the other vigilante group, sheepishly returning their motorcycle. She hadn't stolen anything in her life and here she was blatantly taking from three women who had generously taken them into their confidence. It was going to take more than just an apology to rectify this.

Hopefully they would understand. This was her father after all! Surely Black Canary and Huntress and Katana could understand that.

Unfortunately, the redhead didn't have a communication device on her to get back in touch with the others, so she was effectively on her own. If she was lucky, she'd run into one of them while they were saving one of the other people on the Court of Owls' hit list. Then again, with her luck she'd end up running into Batman and that would present a whole other set of problems.

"Hoot, hoot."

Batgirl froze, her eyes going wide. Slowly she turned to her left, setting her sights on a Talon crouching on the edge of the roof. In both hands he held escrima sticks, the assassin casually twirling them around.

Instantly Batgirl dropped into a stance, one hand extended out towards the Talon, the other held high with a one of Huntress' H-shaped shuriken in her grasp. The redhead hoped that she looked threatening enough to make this guy hesitant even for a second.

The Talon merely tilted his head to a side at her stance. "You're a frightened little rodent, aren't you?" his deep voice taunted her. He then stood up to his full height and dropped down onto the roof, the gravel crunching beneath his boots. "And why shouldn't you be? Owls eat bats after all. Eat them whole."

"Stay back," the young woman demanded. Unfortunately her words might as well have been mere fluff the way they bounced right off of the assassin.

"Batgirl, you have been judged unworthy," the Talon continued, casually strolling towards her. With a jerk of his arms, he beat the ends of his escrima sticks together, the tips flashing brightly with a blue light, a low hum being made. "For that, the Court of Owls has sentenced you to die."

For a brief moment, fear welled up inside Batgirl. An instant later she sent the shuriken flying, watching it spin towards its target. She felt her stomach drop when the Talon batted the projectile to a side using one of his escrima sticks, clearly unbothered by the attack.

Then he went on the offensive, lunging at the redhead as he held his right escrima stick high above his head and swung it down at her. Immediately, Batgirl jumped to her right, dodging the blow.

Unfortunately, that left her wide open for the assassin's other stick, which he swung at her, landing it against her side. An electrified jolt seared into her flank, causing Batgirl to cry out as she felt her body convulse, then stiffen from the blow. The hit threw her off balance, causing her to stumble away until she dropped onto the ground. Grabbing onto her side, she tried to massage the pain out of it, only to have her eyes widen as she saw the Talon practically on top of her, swinging down an escrima stick at her head.

Rolling, she once more dodge the blow, somehow managing to scramble onto her hands in knees. This gave her the sight of the Talon lunging at her yet again, this time the bottom of his foot was closing in on her face. Forcing her body up until she was only on her knees, she brought up both of her arms and held them up in front of her head. A moment later she felt the kick collide with her forearms, the force of the hit sending her flying backwards until her back hit the door to the roof access.

Even more surprising was how easily the door gave in, Batgirl finding herself busting through it and landing on the staircase beyond it. Gravity set in them, causing the vigilante to tumble down the steps until she landed on the landing. Air was forced from her lungs from the fall, causing her to gasp loudly as she sucked in as much air as she could.

Good God, what had she gotten herself into? She was completely ill-equipped to handle a fighter like this one-on-one. Maybe Nightwing could've handle himself, but she wasn't in his class. Fighting street thugs was one thing, a trained assassin was another. This is what she got for rushing out without a second thought. If only she had some backup.

Shaking her head, Batgirl rid herself of her inner reprimand. This wasn't the time to beat herself up; right now, she had to make it out of this situation alive and then she could lecture herself about running off on her own. Forcing herself into a crouched stance, the redhead looked up at the top of the stairs.

Only to see the Talon in midair, holding both of his escrima sticks upside down, their electrified tips pointing right at her. Instantly, Batgirl dashed to the downward set of stairs, her feet beginning to pound on the steps. A moment later she heard the sticks hit the ground, which was followed by something slamming right between her shoulder blades. Already she could imagine the Talon was using his escrima sticks to balance himself as he aimed a kick at her, obviously landing it.

And that blow sent her flying head first down the stairs. Flashes of her gymnastic meets appeared before her eyes and Batgirl immediately took their advice. Swinging her legs above her head, she went into a flip and regained control of her body as she fell. With a downward swing, she completed the flip, landing on her feet on the second landing, no worse for wear.

However, she wasn't about to congratulate herself on this small accomplishment. Reaching to her belt, Batgirl pulled out a small pellet and whipped herself around. She threw the pellet before she even registered the Talon standing at the top step in front of her, only seeing the pellet exploding into a cloud of dark smoke the moment it hit the assassin in the chest.

Pushing with her legs, Batgirl shot down the next set of stairs and then the next, putting distance between her and her assailant. Seeing a door on the new landing she found herself on, she grabbed the doorknob and twisted it, nearly pulling the door off its hinges as she ran through the doorway and into a hall.

For a moment Batgirl was puzzled. She knew these halls like the back of her hand, yet they were all empty of people. It was eerie to see. Still, she needed to regroup before she took on the Talon again. Running, she headed down the hall, reaching a turn and taking it. However, as she turned, she caught sight of the stairwell door beginning to open, a dark shape beginning to emerge through the threshold.

Okay, so this guy thought he could stalk her. He had another coming to him if that was the case. Let him follow her all he wanted, he'd have second thoughts if he knew just where she was going to lead him. Pumping her arms at her sides, she ran until she reached an intersection, taking a right. This turned out to be a short corridor that opened up into the bullpen for the Major Crimes Unit.

A very empty Major Crimes Unit.

Batgirl slowed her pace until she stopped. Where was everyone? This place should have been filled with foul-mouth cops with guns. Instead there wasn't a soul to be seen anywhere.

A second later and the redhead nearly slapped herself silly. There was a city-wide crisis going on, of course the cops would be out in the streets trying to quell it. Damn it, she had screwed up majorly.

"Nowhere left to run, little bat."

Batgirl only had time to whip around when she felt a bulky body ram right into her. Letting out a surprised cry, she was tackled to the floor, landing roughly on her back. She didn't let this get the best of her though as she shot both of her arms out, grabbing onto the Talon's forearms. It was a good thing too as the assassin hovered over her, slowly pushing down against her strength as he brought the electrified ends of his sticks down to her face. Teeth bared, Batgirl pushed back with all of her might, but found she was losing the battle with every inch those blue-glowing tips drew near.

"Goodnight, little bat," the Talon taunted.

A frustrated cry ripped out of Batgirl's mouth.

The sound of a gunshot rang out, an explosion of blood erupting from the Talon's shoulder. The escrima stick ends jerked and Batgirl leaned her head to a side, her arms giving out. The sticks collided with the floor, the Talon collapsing next to them a moment later. Scrambling across the tile, Batgirl tried to put some distance between them when she froze.

Standing at the entrance to the bullpen was none other than her stepmom, Sarah keeping her legs spread apart as she held her handgun with both hands. There wasn't so much as a tremor in her grip as she kept the weapon aimed at the Talon. "That's enough out of you two," she warned them.

For a moment, the Talon's body went still, only to begin shaking from a low chuckle. "Anyone that has seen a Talon must never live to tell the tale," he said in a mocking voice, twisting his body around to face the police lieutenant, pushing himself onto his knees as he did so.

Those word didn't even faze Sarah. "You're under arrest, Sir. Put your hands behind your head and—"

The Talon didn't even let her finish as he swung his arm out, sending his escrima stick flying like a bullet at the lieutenant. Unfazed, Sarah stepped to a side, turning her body until her profile was facing the assassin, the stick flying by her harmlessly. The moment the weapon was out of the way, Sarah resumed her previous stance even as the Talon began to charge at her.

Another gunshot rang out, resulting in the Talon jerking back as another burst of blood flew out of his back. Unfortunately he stayed on his feet, looking as if two separate bullet wounds wouldn't stop him.

There was no way Batgirl was going to find out if that was the case. Back on her feet, the vigilante grabbed a nearby chair and heaved it up. Spinning, she swung the chair through the air and slammed it against the back of the Talon's head. The assassin dropped like a bag of beans, landing hard on his face and chest. Raising the chair above her head, Batgirl brought it down on top of the man's skull, making sure he was out even as the piece of furniture broke apart.

When everything went still, Batgirl found herself beginning to pant. The surge of adrenaline she had been feeling was beginning to fade even as she heard footsteps approach her. "You okay?" Sarah called out to her, keeping her gun trained on the fallen Talon.

"Somehow," Batgirl answered her. "Thanks for your help. I don't think I would have come out alive without you."

However, before Sarah could respond, someone else did. "It's too early to be saying that, rodent."

Eyes widening, both women turned to see yet another Talon crouching on top of a nearby desk. In fact, there were two others also perked on various desks, making three in total. How the Hell had they gotten in here?

"Just how many of them are there?" Sarah demanded as she pointed her gun at the nearest assassin.

Then as one, each Talon pulled out sharp knives. "Lt. Sarah Gordon," one of them said. "The Court of Owls has sentenced you to die."

Harvey didn't know if his ears were playing tricks on him, but he could have sworn he heard someone say, "What the?!"

He could be forgiven for that since he had a Talon practically on top of him and trying to gut him like a fish. To save himself, the District Attorney twisted his body to a side, the Talon's long-bladed knife striking and getting stuck into the carpeted floor. That left his back facing his would-be killer, but it allowed Harvey the leverage to push back onto his feet and make a dash for it.

He knew he should have seen it coming, but he had put himself into the vulnerable position of being tackled from behind, his killer perfectly willing to abandon his weapons if it prevented his target from escaping. Harvey let out an "oomph!" as he slammed against the floor, the Talon's added weight forcing the air out of his lungs.

Gasping as a sense of panic hit him, Harvey threw an elbow back in desperation, and thankfully hit the Talon in the head. That also sent a shock through his funny bone, but he'd take what he could get if it got him away from the bastard trying to kill him.

A hand grabbed at his dress shirt, and before he could try to make a run for it, the black-haired lawyer was pulled back into the unfriendly grapple of the Talon. He wasn't going to let him get away, was he? Guess it was time to go back to his first plan and try to beat this guy to a pulp.

Harvey turned himself around in the Talon's hold, and with a free arm threw a punch at the masked face. He hid a wince as it felt like he had just hit a brick wall. That didn't stop him from landing a second punch, though. The Talon, deciding he had enough of being hit in the face for the day, caught his third punch, his gloved hand cupping around the lawyer's fist and holding firm.

That gave Harvey enough room to put a leg between them and push away, freeing his fist while he was at it. Already panting from his exertions, he scrambled back to his feet while watching the Talon like a hawk, waiting for the next bout of action. There was just one problem: the assassin didn't look like he was paying attention to him, instead looking at something over his left shoulder.

"No witnesses," the Talon then uttered.

Witnesses? What? Harvey couldn't help himself; he looked over his shoulder as briefly as he could and spotted what looked like a scruffy-looking man who looked like he had come off the streets. Recently too, he might add.

Some sort of attachment on the Talon's wrist shot out a knife, the man behind Harvey crying out, "I'm not getting paid for this shit!" as he pulled out a gun that in no way fit the image he was trying to give himself. That told the District Attorney that this was no ordinary bystander who had got caught up in this.

"Get out of here!" he yelled at the man. Though he had a feeling that this guy probably wasn't here because he really liked being in a government building, that didn't mean that he should be collateral damage in whatever beef this masked assassin had against him.

But he didn't leave, instead pulling the trigger as the Talon leapt out at him to attack.

And Harvey wasn't going to leave whoever this was to face him alone.

Lucius Fox was right, there was something in the R&D department that proved itself useful. For all intents and purposes, it was a frequency jammer, but that's not what it would be used for this night.

Hooking up the jammer to his palm pilot, Batman began running a trace on the frequency the Tetch card was using. The frequency jammer by nature sought out radio waves and zeroed in on specific frequencies. From there it could interrupt the frequency wave and stop the signal. For now, simply searching for the broadcast signal was all the jammer was needed for.

The vigilante had considered using it to interrupt the signal the Court of Owls was using, but there was always the possibility the Court would just change frequencies. It also would alert them that someone was challenging their plan and cause them to send their assassins to deal with the problem. If it weren't for Lucius, Batman would have welcomed such an attack as that reduced the number of people being targeted.

It was a risk just letting the signal run, but it was one he was forced to take.

"Is it working?" Lucius asked. The man was currently using his suit jacket as a sling for his injured arm, not to mention strips of it were wrapped around his wound.

Batman narrowed his eyes at the screen as he continued to scan. "Not yet, but—" The palm pilot flashed for a moment. The vigilante stopped what he was doing. He had been onto something there. Shorten the wavelength, decrease the peaks and valleys…

There! The Dark Knight tapped a couple buttons on the palm pilot, locking in onto the frequency. "Got it," he announced.

"That's great!" Lucius praised.

"Now, let's see where its source is," the vigilante murmured as he began a city wide scan for the signal. With a map of Gotham appearing on the screen, he zoomed out of it, the strength of the frequency appearing in the corner. If he wasn't mistaken, the signal seemed to be coming from somewhere downtown.

Zooming in, Batman made adjustments to his search, using the signal strength as a guide. It took a couple minutes of guesswork, but soon he zeroed in on the source. Staring at a grid square where a dot was blinking, the dark-clad man scowled.

"Did you find it?" Lucius asked cautiously, seeming to notice the dark mood that had overcome the vigilante.

Batman gave a sharp nod. "Powers Hotel."