Disclaimer – Own nothing.
To Asilla – Thanks for your review! Yeah, poor Dick, because the Court isn't done with him yet. You will find out in this chapter. If I can figure out which comics are part of that storyline lol. I have a hard time of keeping track which comics are a part of which storyline and timeline.
To Sunshine-Midnight123 – Thanks for your review! I'm so glad you liked it and I hope you like this chapter as well!
To missmartian369 – Thanks for your review! Yeah, lots of guilty Wally and others coming up. Hope you like this chapter!
To Anonymous – Thanks for your review! I'm glad you are enjoying this story and I hope you like this chapter!
To Mihasel – Thanks for your review! Glad you liked the last couple of chapters and I hope you like this one as well!
AN – Hey everyone! I just wanted to say that I hope you all had wonderful holidays and I hope you all have a Happy New Year!
Enjoy!
The next time Dick woke up, he found himself lying flat on his back on something hard and a little cold. Moving his head carefully to see where he was, he found himself back in his cell. The movement, little as it was, made him aware of something else. His entire body aching, as though it was one giant bruise. It took a minute or two, but he then remembered Cobb stabbing him with a bunch of daggers and had a dim recollection of people dressed like doctors standing over him, but that was it.
Dick slowly sat up and looked around. The place was empty except for him. The only thing that was different was there were two bottles of water instead of just one on the floor beside him. Since his throat was extremely sore and dry, he reached to grab one, but then stopped when he noticed something. He was no longer wearing his Nightwing suit. The only thing he was wearing was a pair of black sweats. It was then that he saw his injuries. The blood was cleaned off and the wounds looked like they had been cleaned as well, but they weren't bandaged or stitched but they were no longer bleeding. In fact, they looked as if they were closing on the own or something. In fact, they looked like they were several weeks old. Was that possible? Had he been unconscious that long?
Deciding that it didn't matter that much right now, he grabbed one of the bottles and took several gulps. By the time he was done, the bottle was nearly empty. He went to put it back down when his attention was drawn to the door. He could hear someone messing with the locks. Not sure what was happening, he sat still and awaited. Only seconds later, the door opened to reveal a Talon. He was starting to wonder if it was one of the same ones that had been around the entire time he had been here. He probably was.
The Talon stood there for a total 25 seconds before he apparently got impatient. In Dick's defense though, he didn't speak at all so he had no idea what the assassin wanted. After 25 seconds passed, the Talon strode into the cell, grabbed his arm and pulled up off the metal slab. Not in the mood to be dragged around, which he was sure would happen if he didn't go willingly, he walked alongside the Talon and let him led him out of the cell and down the hallways.
The Talon brought him back to that arena-like room. On the other side of the room, there were two other Talons instead of just one like last time. From the way they were holding their swords, he knew that they were ready for a fight. And like last time, the Talon that brought him to the room left, locking the door behind him, exposing the sword that was left for him. Dick stared at it for a minute, then glanced back at the Talons and made a decision. He wasn't going to fight, he wasn't going to do anything. He didn't care what they did to him.
"Fight Gray Son." Dick heard March's voice though he wasn't in the room. Examining the room more closely, he saw a speaker several feet above the door.
Looking up at the windows, he saw March standing by one, watching him. Dick stared at him and said, "No."
March didn't say anything, but he looked over at the Talons and nodded his head. Wondering what was going to happen now, he looked back over at the two people he was supposed to fight. In silence, they dropped their own swords, confusing Dick. They slowly walked towards him, circling him like he was their prey or something. He didn't move though. He wasn't going to do anything that the Court wanted him to, no matter what they were going to do to him.
In silence, Lincoln watched as the Talons attacked the young man. He had made it clear to them that they weren't to do anything that could actually endanger their Gray Son's life which was why they had dropped their swords. They could easily go too far and kill him. However, Lincoln didn't think that Richard would actually refuse to fight, as he did not seem like the type to just let someone beat him up. He thought that he would at least defend himself, but he was surprising wrong. The Talons already had him beaten to the ground and he hadn't done anything to get free from them or to push them away. It was strange to see someone so willing to be abused like this. Normally people fight against it or beg for it to stop, willing to do anything to get it to stop. It was confusing and yet, almost made Lincoln respect Richard a little more.
When it appeared that Richard was unconscious, he put his finger on the button of the intercom and said, "That's enough. Take him back to his cell."
The Talons quickly did what they were ordered and as they took Richard away, March said to himself, "I suppose we will have to try something different."
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Dick never fully lost consciousness, though he didn't open his eyes. He wanted to go back to sleep. Sleep sounded good. Sleep wasn't painful.
Before he could fall asleep, the person carrying suddenly stopped and lowered him to the ground. He wasn't that gentle about it but he didn't just drop him either. Dick supposed he should be grateful for that. His body was bruised enough as it was, he didn't need more. Plus, he was pretty sure his ribs were cracked at the very least. A fall would most definitely break them.
Opening his eyes a crack, he saw that he was back in his cell and that the Talon who brought him here was heading to the door. He didn't leave though. Instead, he stood by the open door as though he was guarding it. Like he was waiting for something, or someone. Dick pushed himself into a sitting position and leaned his back against the door, doing his best not to outwardly groan as he did so. Then he waited for what was about to happen next.
Only seconds after he got himself up, Lincoln March walked into the room. Looking at him, he said, "I had hoped it wouldn't come to this Richard, but it does speak to your strength."
"Oh March, I've been tortured far worse than this and didn't break. You're going to have to try a lot harder if you want to turn me against Batman." Dick informed him with a smirk.
"Which is why we are doing this." March told him. He then out his hand into his pocket and pulled out a syringe. Looking down at it, he continued, "I had really hoped that I wouldn't have to resort to the use of drugs to get you to realize where you belong, but I will if I have to."
Dick looked at the syringe for a minute, then turned his gaze to meet March's eyes. He said nothing at all, he just stared at him, silently challenging him to do it. March sighed and said, "Alright then."
March then looked back at the Talon and tilted his head in Dick's direction. The Talon came towards the injured man, crouched down beside him and grabbed his hair, forcing him to keep his head still. Once he did that, March came over to them. He bent down and injected the liquid in the syringe into Dick's neck. The 'hero' tried to pull away, but couldn't with the Talon holding his hair. His captive slumped over to the side, falling to the ground as his head was released only seconds after the drug was injected. Once it was, March and the Talon headed out of the cell where Cobb was waiting.
"He's stubborn." Lincoln informed Cobb, coming to stand beside him while the other Talon shut and locked the door, then left.
"I'm well aware of that." Cobb replied, remembering how he had tried to convince his heir to take his rightful place in the Court a few years ago, back when they first fought against Batman and his protégés. He refused their offer then too.
"We will have to do two more doses in order to weaken his body and brain enough for the other drugs. After that, it should be smooth sailing." March told him, putting the needle back in his pocket.
"We wouldn't have had to do that if you didn't activate the electrum." Cobb said, looking at the door of the cell where Richard was.
He had made it clear that he didn't like the idea of activating the electrum before his great-grandson had accepted his role and proved his loyalty to the Court. It was too risky. One of the reasons the Talons were great assassins was because of their advanced strength, stamina, speed, and healing. That all came from the activated chemicals they were given. As much as William Cobb wanted his descendant to take his place, he knew that it would be a challenge to undue Bruce Wayne's brainwashing. And the last thing they needed was Richard to attack them with the same abilities as him and the other Talons.
"Only his healing was activated, and it was only activated because you went too far too fast." March responded with a harsh tone. He did not appreciate his decisions being questioned by the assassin.
"He was never in danger of dying. And you were the one who wanted him to be made into a Talon as soon as possible." Cobb reminded him, insulted that March seemed to think that he was inexperienced enough to kill his heir. March glared at him, but ultimately dropped the issue and changed the subject.
"Any word of Batman, or any of those other so called 'heroes'?" He questioned, needing to know if they were still safe.
With a shake of his head, Cobb answered, "None."
"Good." March said. When he saw the expression on Cobb's voice, he let out an annoyed sigh and asked, "What?"
"Batman has shown himself to be extremely territorial. I wouldn't be surprised if he was looking for his former apprentice right now." Cobb informed him.
Scoffing, March said, "Batman has hardly been seen over the last year. Nightwing has had nothing to do with them for months, even when you sent those six Talons to Bludhaven and when you bombed the circus. He either didn't ask for help, or he did and they didn't come. They've shown they don't care."
"I wouldn't be too sure about that." Cobb muttered under his breath though March still managed to hear it.
"I've met Bruce Wayne. He's charismatic, but unemotional." March told him.
"And I was held prisoner by him." Cobb reminded his boss, "Harsh and unemotional he may be, but that doesn't mean he doesn't care."
"Well, it's practically impossible to find this place. He won't find us, not in time anyways." March said confidently. Without waiting for a response, he turned and walked away.
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Under Wayne Manor, in the Batcave, Bruce sat in front of the computer while Barbara sat at a different table with her laptop. Tim had been with them but when Alfred realized that he hadn't been sleeping, he put a strong dose of sedatives in his decaf coffee. The teenager was so tired that he didn't even notice that the butler had switched his regular coffee with decaf or put sedatives in it until he was seconds away from falling asleep. When he had, Bruce carried him upstairs to his room before coming back to continue his search.
They still hadn't found anything and it was driving Barbara nuts. After getting back from the Watchtower, she and Tim sort of ganged up on Bruce, wanting to know everything he did, but it turned out that he didn't know much either. He had been going through his files that he had of the Court for any clues about where they might have another base but found nothing. He even went back to where he had been held captive by them to look for any clues, yet still found nothing. The little he did find led to nothing but dead ends. So when Tim and Barbara offered, again, to help he was a bit more willing to let them.
Right now, Barbara was basically looking at almost all the buildings in the entire city. According to her mentor, the Court had been in Gotham pretty much ever since the city was first developed, so the odds were that their bases, their meeting places would be in buildings that were made back then. Their history was very important to them which shortened her search list a bit to just the places that were built back then, but unfortunately, a lot of those buildings were still around. Sure, some had been remodeled, but the foundations were still the same and most were still owned or run by the same families.
After almost three hours of doing that, Barbara came upon a black and white picture of a mansion that looked vaguely familiar. She quickly checked the date it was built and who owned it and found that construction on it started at the time Bruce told it would be and the owners were a rich and powerful couple from England. She then checked to see if the descendants were still around and found that the family line ended in World War 1 when the only child, a son, died with no children as he was only 16 at the time. Now, it was owned by the city, persevered as an historical sight and was completely empty.
"Bruce?" Barbara called out. He didn't say anything but did give a small grunt, letting her know that he heard her.
"You said to find an old building or place in Gotham for the rich and powerful right?" Barbara questioned, still staring at her computer screen.
"Yes." Bruce answered, now turning his head to look at her.
"What about this place?" Barbara asked, moving the screen to the side so he could see. Bruce stared at it for about two seconds, then stood up and walked over to her.
"I mean, it's one of the first mansions ever built in Gotham. It's nearby the other buildings where you found the Court's meeting places, it's hardly ever used now so it would be easy to hide in there." Barbara told him.
"Or under it." Bruce then mumbled. Barbara frowned and looked at the picture for any sign that there was something under the building.
Hearing the sound of typing on a keyboard, Barbara turned to see that Bruce had walked back to the Bat-computer. As she stood up and walked over to him, she asked, "What are you doing?"
"Finding out if there's anything suspicious about that place." Bruce replied, keeping his focus on what he was doing.
Barbara watched closely, trying to figure out what he was doing. She saw a small window screen open that was black, then suddenly showed what looked like a warehouse, one that she recognized. It was the special floor under the Wayne Enterprises building where Lucius Fox made the gadgets and vehicles for Batman to use. Then the screen seemed to start flying and made its way out of the floor and up the air vents until it came out from the top and the building and started flying over the city. It was then Barbara realized she was looking at a feed coming from a drone.
"What's it doing?" Barbara inquired as it reached the mansion in question, the screen turning a different colour.
"Using its thermal scanner to scan for any heat signatures. It's strong enough to scan as deep as 200 feet underground." Bruce told her, still keeping his eyes on the screen. He directed the drone using his keyboard to focus on the ground under the large house to see if there was something there when the building showed nothing. It was then that he found heat signatures of over 20 people as deep as 50 feet under the place.
"That's it." Barbara whispered excitedly. When Bruce didn't response, she said, "That's it, isn't it?"
"Call Tim and the Team. We have another building to search." Was the only answer Bruce gave, but it was enough for Barbara to let a hopeful smile spread on her face. If their intel was correct, then they had just found where Dick was.