Disclaimer – Still own nothing.
To Mihasel – Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed it and I hope you enjoy this one as well!
To R0B1Nbanks – Thanks for your review! I don't know if it distracting you from studying is a good thing though haha. I hope you like this chapter!
To lindz4567 – Thanks for your review! Here's the next chapter, I hope you like it!
AN – So this chapter is a little rushed, sorry but I was a bit distracted when writing this one and just wanted to get it done. On the plus side, it's the longest chapter so far, so I hope that makes up for it. Hope you all like it!
Enjoy!
The man with the Owl mask walked in front of Dick and the Talon who had a death grip on the young man, leading them through a maze of tunnels and up several flights of stairs. He wondered if they were doing this just to confuse him so he wouldn't be able to figure out the way to escape the place or if the room or cell they were taking him to really was this way. It probably was because if they really wanted to make sure that he didn't know anything about his surroundings, then they would've blindfolded him. Honestly, that was a dumb move in Dick's opinion. You should never, ever let your hostage know where the exit was. That makes it easier for the hostage to escape. So either the Court was very stupid, overly confident, or there was something else going on that he wasn't aware of.
After several twists and turns, they finally entered a room that looked like an office. The wall to his left was filled with bookcases while the wall to his right had nothing but a large fireplace that was currently empty and near the wall directly across from him was a desk. The Owl walked towards it as he said, "Take his restraints off. He's one of us, not a prisoner."
Dick bit down the urge to argue that. As much as he wanted to deny being one of them and point out that he was here against his will, arguing wouldn't help his situation. Plus, his wrists and shoulders were extremely sore. Having the handcuffs off would be nice.
The Talon, reluctantly and roughly, took the handcuffs off, making it clear he didn't agree with what his boss wanted. He then pulled out a dagger, letting Dick know that if he did anything they didn't like, he wouldn't hesitate to use it. Besides a glance, Dick didn't give the assassin any attention. Instead, he looked back at the Owl, rubbing his now free wrists as he did so. By then, the Owl had gotten to his desk, sat down took off his mask, revealing his identity. Lincoln March.
"Surprised to see me?" Lincoln asked when he saw the stunned expression on the young man's face.
"Well, we were hoping you were dead but we knew there was a chance you could've survived." Dick responded, quickly regaining his composure.
"'We' meaning you and my brother I assume?" Lincoln said and Dick stiffened up instinctively. Bruce had told him what Lincoln had told him, but he couldn't believe it. He still couldn't believe his own connection to the Court, having Bruce also be connected to them was too crazy. He really hoped Lincoln was wrong about being the billionaire's sibling.
"Why am I here?" Dick changed the subject.
"Because this is where you truly belong Richard. The Court of Owls is your home. You are the Gray Son of Gotham, keeping the white and the black separate and balanced. That's your destiny. It's time for you to take your place." Lincoln answered with smile.
"That's never going to happen." Dick insisted.
Lincoln only smirked and said, "Yes it will. One way or another you will join us."
Before Dick could respond to that, he heard the door behind him open. Looking over his shoulder, he saw that another Talon had entered the room. Unlike the one still watching him, this one wasn't wearing his helmet, allowing the 19-year-old to his face, a face he recognized. William Cobb, his great-grandfather.
"Cobb, why don't you take Richard to where he'll be staying? He'll need his rest for training later." Lincoln ordered. William nodded, reached out, grabbed Dick's upper arm and started leading him out of the room and down the hall, the other Talon following behind him.
For the first few minutes, they walked in silence while Dick did his best to subtly memorize every turn they took, trying to make a map in his head for when he gets the chance to escape. His attention was pulled to the Talon beside him though when his grip on his arm tightened and he said, "If you were smart, you'd listen to March and take your place among us."
"If you were smart, you'd know that this is all a big waste of time." Dick retorted with a scoff, causing his distant relative to tighten his grip even more. Dick couldn't stop the wince when he felt the claws on the Talon's gloves cut through his suit and into his skin.
"We will get what we want, one way or another. It'll be easier on you the sooner you just accept that." His great-grandfather told him.
"And maybe you will leave the Court and become a hero like me." Dick said as sarcastically as possible.
They were silent again for another minute as they turned into a dark hallway that was filled with steel doors. He was led to one in the middle of the hall and as the other Talon unlocked the door, Cobb whispered in his ear, "The Court will always be victorious, one way or another. I would think long and had about what side you want to be on."
With that, his great-grandfather pushed him into the cell and slammed the door shut. By the time Dick regained his balance that he lost from the sudden shove and turned back to face Cobb, they were already locking the door. Guess the Talon was done talking to him. So, he turned to examine his 'room'.
The walls looked like they were made of flat steel plates which was probably the reason the room was cold. The floor was the same way. Along the wall on the opposite side of the wall with the door was a metal slab that stuck out of it about two feet from the ground that Dick assumed was his 'bed'. There was no pillow, or blanket, or any kind of mattress on it, but that didn't really surprise him. Besides that, there was nothing else in the room. He tried looking for some way out or for something to help him escape, but there was nothing. There were even bars surrounding the light-bulb so he couldn't touch it. He had to give this to the Court, they knew how to make sure their prisoners stayed in their cells.
With nothing left to do, Dick sat down on the metal slab. He knew he probably should get some sleep as he had no idea what was going to happen, but he didn't think he'd be able to. There was too much on his mind. So he sat there and waited.
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Dick didn't fully know how much time had passed while he sat in his cell. He tried to keep track of the time at the beginning but soon lost track about five minutes after he was thrown in here when the door opened again. It was a Talon, holding a plastic water bottle. He tossed it to him, then quickly shut and locked the door as though he thought Dick was going to try to escape. He had thought about it, very briefly, but he knew that he wouldn't get far so he didn't move. Better to let them think he was going to be obedient to their wishes and catch them off guard later.
He looked very carefully at the bottle he was given, remembering that Bruce told him the only water he had access to when held prisoner by the Court was drugged. Moving it around in his hand, he didn't see any leaks, so they didn't put any drugs in it with a syringe or anything. He then tried the lid and found it hadn't been opened at all. With no other way to test it, Dick took a small sip. It wasn't until then that he realized how thirsty he was. He had no idea how much time had passed since Slade kidnapped him, it could've been days for all he knew, though he doubted it was that long. After another five minutes, Dick didn't feel any effects of being drugged, so he risked a few more sips of the water before putting it off to the side for later.
Dick didn't bother keeping track of the time after that. It wouldn't really do any good and didn't really matter. The only thing it would do was tell him how long it was taking someone to rescue him and fill him with doubt and despair the longer he was there. Of course, that's assuming anyone was actually looking for him and honestly, Dick doubted anyone was. His friends, those he considered his family, wanted nothing to do with him. The only reason they came to him was because of Slade attacking them. Slade however, was only attacking the Team was to draw him out. Now that he did that, he would leave them alone. They no longer needed him and made it clear they didn't want him.
If he had to guess, it was about four hours after he was thrown in here when the door opened again. This time, it was Cobb and March instead of just a random Talon. Dick didn't do anything until March said, "Come with us."
"Where are we going?" Dick asked, not moving.
"You'll see." March replied, gesturing with his hand to come towards them. When he still didn't move, Cobb apparently got impatient or annoyed and strode into the room, grabbed Dick's arm and proceeded to start dragging him out. Once Dick got to his feet though, he walked alongside his relative, not wanting to be dragged.
Once they were out of the room, they led him down the maze of hallways again. This time, they didn't go as far. They only took him down two halls, the last of which ended with another steel door. They brought him inside and Dick found that he was in a large, open, circular room with a cage-like dome over it made by what appeared some kind of metal. He couldn't tell for sure from this distance. From where he was though, he could see windows on the top of the walls, revealing the floor above the one he was on and through those windows, he saw several people, in suits and dresses, wearing Owl masks over their faces. Standing on the other side of the room, or more accurately, the arena, was another Talon holding a sword.
"What's going on?" Dick asked, having a really bad feeling about this whole thing.
"Think of it as an assessment. Show us how skilled you are." March told him as Cobb released his arm. Giving no other answer than that, they walked out of the room, making sure to lock the door behind them. It was then that Dick noticed a sword leaning against the wall. Suddenly realizing what was going on, Dick turned back to face the Talon, just in time to see him rushing right towards him.
Dick flipped out of the way of the sword the Talon swung at him and muttered, "Whoa."
Seeing his 'opponent' about to charge him again, Dick grabbed the sword and used it to block the Talon's weapon. Not really finding a way out of this, he pushed the assassin away, got into a defensive position and said, "Okay then."
As the fight commenced, Dick stayed on the defensive. March may have wanted to see what he was capable of but he had no intention of giving the man anything he wanted. If the Talon wasn't outright attacking him, he wouldn't have even touched the sword, but since he was being attacked, he was going to defend himself. Plus, being on the defensive had some advantages too.
One, it didn't take as much energy as being the attacker did and with the Talon's enhancements, Dick was going to need all the energy he could get. He was actually beginning to wonder if he should've gotten some sleep when he could. Two, it was actually a quick way to learn about your opponent's fighting style. How they moved, which attack was their favourite and ones they were most likely to use. If he was going to escape, he would need to know everything he could about them. Three, if you go on the offensive, if you are the one attacking, you are more likely to make a mistake which was exactly what Dick was waiting for.
They had been sparring like this for at least half an hour when Dick noticed a change in the Talon's movements. It almost like, he was getting agitated mad, or annoyed, or mad or something like that. It was almost like he didn't expect the fight to last this long or something. That brought a smirk to Dick's face which seemed to enrage the Talon even more. He lashed out with his sword, leaving his right side open. The hero ducked under the weapon and brought his own sword down on the exposed side, creating a deep slash right above the Talon's hip and across his stomach. The Talon hissed in pain and took a step back. Dick's smiled widened at his small success, but he knew that he would have watch it. He may have been injured but he'd heal quick, and Dick had a feeling the Talon would want revenge.
He couldn't tell for sure due to the mask, but he was sure that the Talon was glaring at him and was angrier than ever. The Talon immediately attacking with more strength than he had been before. Dick had to be fast in order to dodge them or block them. It took a minute for him to realize that the person he was fighting was trying to drive him towards the wall, was trying to pin him against it to make him an easier target. Dick risked a glance over his shoulder and noticed something behind him and an idea came to his mind.
Dick started walking backward, letting the Talon think that he was being successful in pushing him back while doing his best to block the blows so he wouldn't actually get hit. Unfortunately, he missed and the sword slashed his left leg from his knee to his ankle. Since he saw it coming, he was able to brace himself for it, but he couldn't stop from wincing. As much as it hurt and the fact that it would slow him down, it did get him to back up to the door, more specifically, the keypad next to the door that he really didn't pay attention to until now.
He had seen doors like that before. The keypads controlled the locks and since the door was steel, it was almost impossible to open it without either the combination or some kind of tool. Unless of course, the keypad was destroyed. Dick moved slightly to the side so he was directly in front of the keypad and stayed in place. The Talon, falling for the bait, went to stab Dick's shoulder but Dick ducked and stabbed his own sword in the assassin's leg with enough force that he fell backwards onto the floor. Looking behind him, Dick saw that the Talon's sword had gone through the keypad and when he tried the doorknob, it open easily.
"Thanks for breaking the door." Dick said to the Talon who was still struggling to get back up, but he didn't wait for him to actually get to his feet. He just pulled the door open and ran.
Dick didn't make it very far. His injured leg slowed him down a little, but not by much. He had done more with worse after all. However, at the first turn he would've taken, another Talon appeared, armed and ready to stop him. Lincoln March must not have underestimated him as much as he thought. Dick didn't stop though. After what he just did, he knew that if he didn't escape now, he probably never will. The Court would definitely take more precautions to make sure that this never happens again if the succeeded in stopping him, so he couldn't let them stop him.
The Talon didn't wait for him to get there. As soon as he saw Dick, he rushed towards him with his sword drawn. Once he got close enough, he swung at him. Nightwing blocked, but the Talon had put so much force into the blow and with his injured limb, he buckled under the weight and was forced to duck and take a few steps back.
Before he could make a move, an arm encircled his neck from behind him and pulled him back. At the same time, another arm wrapped around Dick's right arm, yanking it behind him back and forced him to drop his sword. He gasped as the limb around his throat made it difficult to breathe and he turned his head to the side to who had grabbed him. When he saw the mask of a Talon, he realized that it was probably the Talon he had been fighting only minutes earlier. His injuries must've healed already, or enough that he could come after him. Turning back to look ahead, he saw Lincoln March walking towards him, noticeably relaxing when he saw that his prisoner didn't get far.
"Nice try Richard." March told him. Dick opened his mouth to respond but then saw the Talon across from him raise his sword before he slammed the hilt against Dick's temple, knocking him out.
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It had been almost 18 hours since the fight against Deathstroke, since Dick was taken and Batman hadn't been able to find any sign of where they went, even with his extremely advanced computer in the Batcave. It was beyond frustrating and brought up unwanted memories of the last time his son was kidnapped by the mercenary. It had taken over a month to find Dick and rescue him, and it took another two months for him to recover from his injuries and even longer than that for the nightmares to stop. He did not want a repeat of that. After he got Dick back, he had promised himself that he wouldn't let anything like that happen again, and he was going to keep that promise.
However, it wasn't just Slade Wilson who was a part of this whole thing. It was the Court of Owls, the ones who tried to kill him, who had killed so many people throughout Gotham's history. He had hoped that they were successful in taking down the Court, hoped that it was over, hoped that Dick was safe from them, but he knew that there was a chance that he was wrong and yet, he didn't prepare for the possibility of them coming back, of them going after his son. How could he have not seen this coming? Contingency plans were what he was he known for in the League, had gotten a lot of people mad at him, and yet he didn't make one for this.
As Bruce sat back in his chair, taking a minute to rest his eyes from the glare of the computer screen in front of him, he tried to remember the last time he actually talked to Dick. If his memory was correct, then the last time he talked to him was only a day or so after he came back to earth after standing trial on Rimbor, when he had gotten mad and yelled at the young man over his actions while he was away. Why did he do that? He didn't even have the whole story when he did that. When he did, he regretted how he acted, everything he said, but at that point, Dick had left the Manor. True, Bludhaven was only about two hours away, but apologizing was never something he was good at and the distance, the lack of his son's presence, as much as it hurt, put less pressure on him to fix things.
Would the Court of Owls still have gone after Dick if he was in Gotham? The Court's based in Gotham but if Dick was here, he'd be in the Manor, he'd be with Batman. He would've been protected. But he was all alone in Gotham and apparently, didn't talk to or get help from anyone. Why didn't he ask for help? If any members of the Team or the League knew what was going on, they would've helped.
A sudden flashing red light pulled Bruce out of his thoughts and towards the screen. When he saw what it was, he sat up straight and stared in confusion.
"What is this?" Bruce mumbled to himself, trying to figure out what was going on.
"Batman?" Bruce heard Tim's voice. Glancing out of the corner of his eye, he saw the teenager approaching him. Once he reached him, he asked, "What is it?"
"I checked to see if Nightwing's trackers were working, there a lot and I wanted to see if there was a chance that either Deathstroke or the Court missed one, but they were all disconnected. Now though, one just suddenly started working again." Batman explained.
"You think Nightwing managed to turn one on or something?" Tim wondered, a confused look coming upon his face.
"I wouldn't put it past him." Bruce responded. Dick did have a habit of doing things that Bruce wouldn't expect and at times, think was possible, but he couldn't say for sure. There was only one way to get the facts and that was to go there in person. So, he turned to Tim and said, "Get the Team, we're going to check it out."
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It didn't take long for Bruce and Tim to round up the Team, as they were all in the Watchtower, ready to go. Barbara was the only one not there, but as soon as she got the call from her mentor, she suited up and headed straight to the Watchtower. By the time Batman got there, all of the younger heroes were waiting for him with the exception of La'gaan due to his injuries, and were eager to help. Unfortunately, Batman doubted the place where Dick's tracker was broadcasting from was where he or the Court was. He had checked the satellite images of the place along with the most recent maps and only saw one building that he believed was an abandoned factory of some kind. The tracker was most likely being used to lure him into a trap and he wasn't going to bring all of these teenagers and young adults into it. So he chose Kaldur, Wally, Artemis, Roy, M'gann, Conner, Barbara and Tim to accompany him and ordered the others to stay put.
Within three hours of the tracker coming back online, Batman, with the others he brought, were surrounding the wide, one-story, abandoned factory. They remained hidden in the bushes, not wanting to be seen if there were any sentries guarding the place. Using the thermal imaging he had in his mask though, Batman didn't see anyone. To be on the safe side, just in case his mask was faulty or something like that, he sent Superboy to take a closer look. With his x-ray vision and his hearing, he'd better be able to find out if there was anyone inside.
Superboy quickly returned and as he crouched down near Batman behind the bushes and reported, "I don't see anyone here. The place is abandoned."
"The tracker is still on." He said quietly as he looked down at his wrist computer with a frown. After thinking it through for a few seconds, he ordered, "Spread out, and approach with caution."
The Team slowly surrounded the building, entered it from different doors and windows, then spread out and searched the place. It wasn't very big like factories in the city, so it wouldn't take long to find anything. Already just by looking around and from what Superboy told him, Batman doubted that Dick wasn't here. This whole thing screamed 'trap' to him. Nothing else about this sense.
"Batman, over here." The Dark Knight looked over his shoulder to see Batgirl looking into an old, cardboard box by a table against one of the walls. He walked over and knelt down beside her.
"Nightwing's weapons, and belt." She told him, moving out of the way so he could look inside.
Batman reached inside and dug around to see everything that was in there before adding, "And his mask and gloves, and the trackers."
"If they were turned off before, and there's no one here, how did one turn on?" Batgirl questioned, not understanding how any of this could have happened.
"I'm not seeing any signs of a trap." Robin spoke up. Batman looked at the other young heroes who had finished searching the small building and saw from the looks of their faces that they didn't find anything either. Turning back to the box, planning to take it back to the Batcave, he found Barbara pulling out a white feather.
"This was at the bottom." She said, handing the feather to him.
"It's the same kind of feather that had Nightwing's name on it." Batman quickly realized. Feeling something engraved in it, just like the other one, he pulled out a magnifying glass that he had in his utility belt to take a closer look.
"What does it say?" Kid Flash asked, walking over to his best friend's father, wanting to know what they found.
Looking over at the speedster, Batman said, "Gotham, it says Gotham."
AN – So Bruce has no idea what was going on between Dick and the rest of the Team. He doesn't know that besides Artemis and Kaldur, they had been so angry and upset with Dick for how he handled the invasion that they had been ignoring all of his texts and calls. He will discover it later. Also, again, sorry for the sloppy fighting scene. I did my best. Hope you all liked this chapter though! See you all next week!
Lincoln March – For those that haven't read the comics and want to know who Lincoln March is, he was running for mayor of Gotham when Batman learned that the Court of Owls is real and they try hunting him down. At first, Bruce thinks that the Owls are trying to kill Lincoln but then realizes he's actually apart of the Court and took the drugs to give himself the abilities of the Talons before he 'dies'. It's later revealed in a different comic that he did indeed survive but that doesn't happen in this story. He also thinks that he is Bruce Wayne's younger brother because Martha Wayne was pregnant but was attacked by a Talon and went into labour prematurely and believed that she gave him (the baby) to this home for kids with special needs that Martha greatly supported which is where Lincoln grew up though according to Bruce, his baby brother (Thomas Jr.) actually died not long after being born. As far as I'm aware of, we still don't know if Lincoln was telling the truth, or if it was just one of the Court's many lies.