The Emperor's Talon
Chapter 23: If the Force Had a Face
Power sizzled thought the air as Dick caught Darth Vader's blade with his own; red on white, the devil crossed swords with an angel. The combatants broke apart, and to the immense pleasure of Palpatine, charged each other again with redoubled strength.
"What are you doing child?" Darth Vader demanded, "there is no escape from here?"
Dick braced himself against the Dark Lord's heavy blow. "I'd rather die than serve Palpatine," he spat.
"But we both know that isn't an option for you," Vader Reminded him.
Dick was forced back several paced as Vader swung his blade low and fast. The cyborg Sith was faster than he had any right to be and Dick was reminded painfully why he was still the Emperor's right-hand enforcer. Palpatine had tried time and time again to have Vader assassinated and replaced with a more powerful apprentice, and time and time again those attempts failed. Darth Vader was tenacious, powerful, and almost as indestructible as he was himself. He should know. As the Talon he had trained under the man for years.
"You know," said Dick as Vader bore his red blade down on him, "I should thank you." He forced Vader back a step giving himself time to get out of range. "You taught me the most important lesson anyone ever could."
Vader raised his blade to a Shein ready, elbows high and bent, lightsaber pointed upwards. "And what lesson was that?"
"Never give up."
His eyes blazed Talon gold. He charged. Vader caught his attack with ease, defecting low before attacking high. Dick sidestepped. Vader lunged. They danced between whirling blades of red and white death, appearing to be but shadows amidst a cyclone of pulsating light.
But despite all his training and skill, Dick was still only a child. He was the apprentice and not the master. Darth Vader gradually gained the upper hand, and with a complicated backhanded maneuver that Dick had not yet learned to counter, the Sith disarmed him. The white saber clattered to the floor, struck on it's control side, and shut off.
Before Dick could reach for it through the Force, Vader was upon him; not with the lightsaber but with the Force. Not for the first time in his short life, Dick Grayson found himself on the receiving end of one of Darth Vader's patented Force choke holds. Invisible fingers closed around his throat cutting off his air supply.
He knew better than to struggle. Dick allowed his eyes to close and sank himself deeper into the Force. Vader was too smart to kill him. He knew that. So he waited in the tide of the Force.
Wake up Batman, Dick pleaded through the Force. Wake up, please. I don't think I can protect you. I can't do this on my own, I need your help.
Emperor Palpatine clapped slowly. "Good. Good. You see Talon, it is pointless to resist. You cannot run and you cannot die."
"Oh so you're Emperor of the Obvious now?" Dick gritted out before Vader could silence him.
And almost visible cloud befell Palpatine's face. "Pledge your allegiance to me Talon or suffer the consequences."
"I can't," Dick gasped, "he's choking me." He pointed an accusing finger at Darth Vader.
"Throw him to the floor, Lord Vader. Let the traitor speak his final words."
Darth Vader cast him harshly to the floor and Dick made a show of coughing and gaging on his knees to stall for time. He needed a plan. At this point any old plan was better than just hitting Darth Vader with a lightsaber in the vague hope of doing some amount of damage. Within the tide of the Force he frantically scanned the room for anything that might help him.
There really wasn't anything in the throne-room besides them. Batman's belt had been thoroughly pillaged by the bounty hunters and the throne itself was bolted to the floor. The lightsabers weren't out of reach per-say, but they were controlled by the Sith for the time being.
Dick reached out with his senses again; this time into the very walls of the Imperial Palace. He desperately felt for anything of use. He could sense the Storm Troopers and Palpatine's elite guards behind the door. He could see water pipes and electrical circuitry in the very walls and the low but noteworthy threat posed most likely by droids.
And then he felt something else. It was a shadowy presence—a demon in the Force—but also an ally. Deathstroke. There was no way to guess what the man was up to, but the Force had highlighted him as a resource. Dick wasn't sure if he could trust his senses. His powers had indeed grown since his death on the Jericho, and it was always hard to adjust. Normally, he wouldn't be able to sense things so far so clearly and if frightened him. But his strength had always been his gut feelings; his faith in the Force.
"Pledge your loyalty Talon," said the Emperor impatiently, "I weary of wasting my breath on you."
Dick opened his eyes and looked up past the Emperor to Batman. He was awake, and Dick had a plan. It was more like a wild scheme, a last-ditch attempt at doing damage points to the Sith before certain doom, but anything was worth a shot.
He gave Palpatine a crooked smirk. "You know what I think, your Royal Hind-ass? I think all your power went to your head. Literally. It looks like you electrocuted yourself in the face with your own Force lightning. And you Vader, seriously, what's the deal with all the metal? Wait, can you still…you know…is little Johnny still in working shape, or did you give that up for the Dark Side?"
"Swear your allegiance, Talon. Now!" thundered Vader.
Dick looked the Sith directly in the eyes. "No."
"You have chosen very poorly," said Palpatine.
The Emperor raised his delicate white hands and blue lightning shot from his fingertips. But not at Dick.
Dick watched in horror as Palpatine turned around halfway and aimed his attack on Batman's prone form. Goading the Sith had worked brilliantly up until Palpatine ruined his plan. There was no way for Dick to get between his mentor and the Force lightning in time.
But he needn't have worried. Batman caught the Sith's attack with Dick's fallen lightsaber. The plan could still work it just needed a little tweaking.
While both Sith were still somewhat shocked that Batman was not only awake but awake and armed, Dick Force pulled the lightsaber from Vader's belt and leapt towards the ceiling. Before even Batman knew what he was doing, Dick cut through the plaster and opened an overhead pipeline directly above the Emperor.
"Emperor Palpatine, I baptize you the name of the toilet," Dick declared as the plumbing cascaded from the ceiling in an unsanitary waterfall.
The Force lightning reacted with the water just as ordinary electricity would and went out of the Sith's control. It spread across the puddle at their feet to Vader whose biometric suit was not built to withstand an EMP like Force lightning. His prosthesis short circuited and the cyborg Sith went down for the count. As for Palpatine himself, the Dark Lord was forced to stop generating an attack and to reroute his efforts into defending himself against his own power.
"Irony," Dick laughed, "I love science."
Batman merely grunted. "Take this," he shoved the white lightsaber back at Dick and reached into his suit for a thermal detonator.
"What?!" cried Dick, "you snuck a grenade in here? How did we all miss that?"
"I'm Batman. Get clear."
Before Palpatine and Darth Vader recovered, Batman lobbed the grenade into the exposed pipe in the ceiling. The ceiling exploded upwards and plaster rained down on everyone in the room. Dick coughed as he followed Batman through the opening above. Alarms blared throughout the Imperial Palace and both ends of the hallway into which they had come began to fill with storm troopers and assassin droids.
Batman and Dick were forced back away from each other on opposite sides of the hole, in what was now the floor, as Darth Vader and the Emperor leaped through. Palpatine faced Batman, both warriors standing with as much dignity as the situation could afford them, while Dick and Darth Vader glared at each other.
Vader gestured to the hallway full of troopers. "This was your brilliant plan?"
"Just wait till you get this month's water bill."
Imperial Palace landing deck:
Deathstroke was one of the best bounty hunters in the galaxy. And there was a reason for that, being that he was possessed of a deductive mind and keen perception. He may have wanted the Talon for himself, but that didn't mean he was stupid enough to break into the Imperial palace and get him. That would be far too much work. Why break in, when it was so much easier to break the Talon out?
It was this logical line of reasoning that kept Deathstroke in the shadows—his natural hunting ground—and out of surveillance. And it was his deductive mind that recognized the blaring sirens and running troopers as the result of an escape attempt from within.
If Slade had learned anything from his time spying on Batman and Robin, it was that they were tenacious and clever. They would not go quietly. And while Batman might be content to observe and wait for the opportune moment, Robin was impulsive. No doubt the sirens originated with a half-formed escape play the boy was hoping to improvise into effectiveness. All of which meant that the security alarms inside the palace were his signal to move.
Slade moved through the shadows, past the few distracted troopers still standing their post, towards the building. He placed serval time charges along the perimeter before slinking back behind a frigate docked for repair.
"I can't believe I'm doing this," Slade muttered under his breath as he pushed the detonator.
The charges blew. The whole perimeter of the landing deck and half the west wall of the palace went up in flames. Slade waited as troopers, a fire suppression crew, and maintenance workers began pouring out of the building to deal with the wreckage. Energy was redirected from escaping prisoners to damage control.
"One down, one to go. You'd better make this worth all the trouble Talon."
Slade grabbed his gear and leapt over the side of the landing deck away from the storm troopers looking for the source of the explosion. He crept along the outermost wall towards the maintenance hatch leading to the building's power breakers. There were six storm troopers stationed in the vicinity. Not a problem. Deathstroke pulled the sniper riffle from the holster on his back and took aim.
Imperial Palace, Hallway above the throne room:
Explosions from outside rocked the place and another klaxon joined the symphony of sirens and alarms already blaring in the hall. Most of the storm troopers raced off to join their comrades outside in dealing with the new threat. Only an odd handful were left. Batman looked past the emperor at Dick. The kid was grinning mischievously to himself and it was then that Batman realized he had been counting on the distraction from outside. Well played.
He himself—though not so in tune with the Force as his protégé—had one guess as to the identity of their unseen help. He knew Deathstroke would not jump ship and allow Boba Fett to be the sole recipient of their bounty unless he had other plans in mind. And Batman had a pretty good idea of what the bounty hunter was ultimately after. But why the man had captured them and then decided to help them escape was a mystery best solved later.
At the moment, that particular riddle was irrelevant. Or at least of very little consequence. There was a more pressing matter at hand; that being the three assassin droids at his back and the Sith Lord at his front.
Palpatine smirked and spread his hands in a show of absolute elf confidence. "Well Batman, do you think you—a mere novice in the force—and a child can really win this battle? I have laid waste to an entire order of Jedi, ruled the galaxy single handed, and built an empire in a day. You and whatever it is you think you stand for are an insignificant speedbump in a century's old plan."
"Then why bother with us at all?" Batman growled.
"Because you are loose ends that must be tidied up," Palpatine responded.
Batman turned as the Emperor signaled the droids to attack. They were old IG-88 assassin droids, a variation of the IG Lancer 67 models he had once fought during the Clone Wars on Bespin. Not inept like the now obsolete battle droids, but unbeatable either. While Palpatine might have some ill-founded faith in the droid's capabilities to beat him, Batman was unconcerned.
What most powerful Force wielders often failed to remember is that the Force isn't everything. Sometimes bounty hunters had the right idea: never underestimate a smart man and his toys. Fett might have pillaged his utility belt, but Robin wasn't the only one who knew how to improvise.
The droids charged as Palpatine hung back to watch. Batman took them out one by one and pick-pocketed their utility cases along the way. The emperor let him. The Sith watched in evident amusement as Batman restocked his belt with gadgets pillaged from the wrecked droids.
"Your desperation is quite amusing Batman," said Palpatine, "your toys will do you no good of course. Resistance is futile."
"You are confident too soon," Batman said.
Palpatine looked over his shoulder to where, having recovered his lightsaber, Darth Vader was pressing Dick back down the hall away from them. The boy was holding his own better than he had any right to considering his age, but even the Talon could not keep it up forever. Vader could.
"No Batman, it is you who are too confident."
The Emperor attacked. Batman drew from his training and his connection with the Force. Never underestimate a man with toys and the Force.
Meanwhile Dick was practically on the run from Darth Vader. The Sith kept pushing forward like an unstoppable machine. His natural athleticism and deep-rooted connection to the Force were the only thing keeping Dick's head attached to his shoulders and he knew it. The more Vader pressed on, the stronger he got. Machines don't get tired. But people do.
Dick's elbows buckled under one particularly strong downward blow and he was forced to evade his own blade or else loose an arm at the shoulder. The only good thing that had come of their battle so far was that Darth Vader had become temporarily distracted by his irritation with the well-intentioned, but ultimately useless Storm Troopers, and dispatched them all before they became a problem for Dick. The hapless minions met their demise at the hand of the Sith, saving Dick the moral dilemma of whether or not he should kill them himself.
"Give it up Talon." Darth Vader thrust at his gut. "You can't escape, but if you come back now, I may be able to forgive you."
Dick blocked another attack. "Funny. Did you develop a sense of humor while I was gone?"
Darth Vader pushed him back into a wall with the Force. "You were meant to be great." Another angry push. "You were meant to help me."
"I was meant to be a slave," Dick shot back. He blocked the next force push with comparable strength and kept his footing. "I was meant to be a slave of the emperor and the darkness just like you."
Vader grew angry. Angrier than Dick had ever seen him. "I am nobody's slave."
Darth Vader shoved Dick backwards down a flight of stairs at the end of the hallway to fast for the former Talon to get his bearings. Dick heard a snap as his lower back cracked against the railing at the bottom of the landing, an open walled platform where the staircase made a ninety-degree angle before continuing to the floor below. Dick did not take the stairs the rest of the way down. Instead he was flipped over the railing against his will and landed flat on his back on the black tiled floor.
White stars danced in his darkening vision as he lay prone on the floor trying to figure out his next move. Pain like a burning dagger shot up his spine and he realized that he had broken his back. And worse, his legs were not responding. The Talon serum would fix that problem. Eventually. Unfortunately, Darth Vader was already leaping of the railing, lightsaber in hand, and there was really nothing he could do about it.
Vader loomed over Dick as he lay there on the floor. He tried to push himself upright, but Vader planted a heavy boot on his chest.
"I am not a slave. I have power. You were meant to share that power," Darth Vader said.
Dick glared up at him. "You run around doing whatever Palpatine tells you to do. And when you don't do it the way he wants, he punishes you. He tortures you. How is that having power?"
"I could kill you right now. With my bare hand. With my mind and the Dark Side. How is that not power?" Vader countered.
"But what then?" asked Dick. "Go back to Palpatine, take another stupid assignment, and get zapped with Force sparkles? Yeah, I really want to join you now."
Vader increased the pressure on his chest. "You're mocking me."
"Wow, you really are smarter than you look. Too bad you didn't see this coming." Dick reached into the Force—the whole Force, both light and dark—and white lightning danced from his fingertips as he reached for Vader's ankle. The electric shock spread up Vader's leg and shorted out the exposed biometric control panel on his chest plate. The Sith screamed as he fell backwards and landed on the floor opposite Dick.
"You fool," gasped Vader as his breath regulator glitched, "you were meant to help me defeat Palpatine. We could have worked together."
Now free of the weight on his chest Dick sat up. He ignored the pain in his back as the Talon serum tried to heal him and crawled over to Vader. "We both want Palpatine gone, and we'd both do crazy things to get what we want," he agreed, "but you and I are nothing alike."
"We are exactly alike."
"No. You see power in the ability to take control of life, to bend the world to your will. I see power in choice and freedom. You don't become free because you're powerful. You become powerful when you are free." Dick reached out to Vader's sparking smoking chest panel and began working with the wires. "I don't hate you like I hate Palpatine," he continued, "I could hate you, you've caused me so much pain, but I pity you. You're so convinced there's no way you can come back from the Darkness that you've given up hope. The only thing you've ever given up on is yourself, and that is the greatest tragedy of all."
Dick sat back, his work on the wires complete, and Vader breathed more easily. "Those are big words for a child, but don't pretend you know me. You don't know me at all."
"Maybe not. But I know hopelessness when I see it. I can look into a person's eyes and know the exact moment they've given up," Dick laughed darkly. "You get good at that when you're an assassin with supervision."
"And doesn't that feel like power?" asked Vader, "don't you want to see that in Palpatine's eyes?"
Dick actually thought about it for a moment before answering. "No. I don't." And it was the truth. "Palpatine will go down, but killing him? That isn't my destiny. I don't know what it is, but it isn't that."
"You don't know anything about destiny," Vader scoffed. "You're still just a child."
"Wow, that one got me right where it hurts."
"I will kill you Talon."
Dick looked down at Vader laying beside him, suit more or less fried. "I'm quaking in my boots."
Vader looked over at him. "I already broke your back. Your boots won't be quaking for a while yet."
"Yeah, funny how Talon serum works," Dick pushed himself clumsily to his feet and picked up his lightsaber, "unless you want to duke it out on your ass, I'm leaving."
Imperial Palace landing deck:
Boba Fett couldn't care less what was going on at the Imperial Palace. The Bat and the Talon were off his hands, he had his money, and he was about to head off world with a cup of Jawa juice after a job well done. Explosions on the perimeter? Not his problem. The Talon was escaping? Also not his problem. Hell, if the kid actually did get away, he could just get hired back. He could make a career out of Talon chasing. Point was, Boba Fett was like any self-respecting bounty hunter, entirely disinterested in anything for which he was not getting paid.
That said, he was very interested in protecting his assets. So when he got an anonymous tip on his pager that Deathstroke was still in the picture, he figured it was at least worth checking out. And as it turned out, the tip was good.
While the Storm Troopers were busy not catching up with their elusive bomber, Boba watched Slade with his infrared scanner. Seriously, taxpayer money was being ill-used when it came to funding the Storm Troopers. Boba would lead a revolt against that bureaucratic decision, you know, if he actually paid his taxes, which he didn't. But as usual, he was getting off topic.
Whoever had given him the tip was either A) watching him closely and was probably testing him for a potential job, or B) wanted Slade Wilson off their back. Considering the circumstanced, he figured on option B. In this case, he suspected it was probably option B. Batman, or Robin for that matter, was trying to pit them against each other as some kind of a distraction while they made their escape. It was actually kind of brilliant that they had figured out not only Slade's plan, but also Boba's location, while fighting a building full of troopers and Sith. Boba would have been impressed if he wasn't also so pissed.
Well, he didn't care. He had no reason to tangle with either Batman or Slade. He picked up his binoculars and his juice and made ready to exit stage right when Slade looked up and spotted him. Well fudge. Batman had probably alerted Slade too. Boba was forced to dodge a "warning shot" from Slade's sniper riffle. He could have done the smart thing and let it go, but that just wasn't in his nature.
"Oh it's on old man," Boba declared.
Unfortunately, he said it too loudly and about half a dozen Storm Troopers heard. They started swarming the alternative landing deck between the docking bay and the power breakers.
"Oh great, now they decide they have ears," Boba muttered.
He charged Slade. Slade charged him. The Storm Troopers got in the way and a battle erupted on the landing deck.
"Screw you Batman!" screamed Boba.
Imperial Palace, Upper Ballroom:
They say you should never underestimate your opponent. They also say the best swordsman in the world has nothing to fear from the second best swordsman; he has only to fear the novice who lacks all technique and has only his wit and his strength. As an adage, this turned out to mostly correct as Batman and Palpatine quickly discovered.
As the duel between the Dark Lord and the Dark Knight began, it was evident that the Emperor had the upper hand. Palpatine pushed Batman back through the hall with a series of Force pushes and strikes of Force lightning. At the end of the hall, the Sith threw Batman through the brass double doors leading to the Palace's upper ballroom. The Dark Knight rolled across the gleaming black floor helplessly limp as he fought to get his bearings.
The ballroom was massive, clean, and devoid of decoration. The ceiling of the room was almost three stories high, with second and third floor balconies overlooking the dance floor. At the far end was a dais, and on either side of the dais were the orchestra pits. Spartan chandeliers hung low from the ceiling. Batman tried to recall the temple layout as he scanned the room. Slowly it dawned on him that the balconies were actually observation decks and the dance floor was actually the old Jedi dojo used for the Padawan trials and the occasional crashball tournament. Now he knew where he was. Even as the Emperor followed him through the ballroom doors the tables had turned.
As a Padawan, Bruce Wayne had never had the opportunity to go through the Jedi trials and ascend to the rank of Jedi Knight. Now he was in the old dojo ready to face his trial before the ghosts of his masters. Batman reached into his boot where the pieces of his lightsaber remained concealed. With the Force, he rebuilt his old weapon and waited patiently for Palpatine to attack.
"Ah, I see you recognize this place," said Palpatine, "you are, as I suspected, a Jedi. How delightful. Do you like what I've done with the dojo? The blood of your precious younglings was so hard to get out of the mats, I simply had to do something else with it."
"Are we going to stand around talking all day, or are we going to fight?" asked Batman. He raised his lightsaber higher as Palpatine drew his own weapon.
"I will have your head on a platter as a warning to all heroes and Jedi who would follow your pathetic example."
"Don't count your ciax before they hatch," Batman warned.
Palpatine threw himself forward, spinning like a top, thrusting his blood red blade at the bat. Batman reached into the Force. He could almost feel the Jedi with him as he parried the attack. The two combatants entered into a duel such as the old dojo had never seen. Their blades danced more perfectly than any ballroom could hope to witness; two men evenly matched. One with the Darkside and unparalleled swordsmanship, the other with raw human power, meticulous calculation, and a little help from the Force.
They locked Blades. "You have the whole Galaxy convinced you're invincible," growled Batman, "Untouchable. You've made them fear your very name, but you forgot one thing: fear is not the strongest thing there is. Courage trumps fear every time."
Palpatine sent him crashing into the dais with the Force. "But once you're dead, there will be less courage to go around. Who will follow a fallen knight?"
"As long as there is evil, good will always rise to stop it," said Batman catching Palpatine's blade with his own, "you underestimate how badly people want their lives to be their own."
Palpatine cackled. "The laws of darkness are like those of gravity—all it needs is a little push and all the world descends."
Batman leapt away from the Sith's next attack of Force lighting up to the balcony above. Palpatine followed suit and the dance of sabers began again.
"Robin came back from the Darkness. Do you really think he'll be the only one?" demanded Batman.
Palpatine smiled as he launched his next attack. "Ah yes, the Talon. I wonder if Vader has subdued him yet." His eyes glinted in the yellow light of Batman's saber. "Perhaps they are already on their way back to Mustafar. I can assure you his reprogramming will be quite effective and very painful. Perhaps I can't kill him. But I can kill you."
Imperial Palace landing deck:
Dick left Darth Vader alone on the causeway in the palace's massive open atrium and took the laundry shoot in the servant's wing down to the lower levels. From there, it was a simple matter of sticking to the shadows and avoiding security cameras and Storm Troopers.
He worked his way outside and ducked behind an auxiliary power generator. Wincing at the fiery pain in his spine as the Talon serum worked its magic, he peered over the generator and watched the proceeded battle on the landing deck carefully. Boba Fett and Deathstroke were more than preoccupied with each other—just as he had hoped they would be when he signaled them—and the storm troopers were caught in the middle of their dogfight. Most, if not all were, down for the count either severely injured or dead. Bounty hunters, unlike vigilantes, had no moral qualms about killing.
In short, there was sufficient chaos on the landing deck for Dick to sneak into the docking bay and hotwire a ship. Which was good. His current physical condition would prevent him from fighting anything tougher than a Storm Trooper cadet; which would be embarrassing at best and disastrous at worse if he ran into Deathstroke or Boba Fett.
So I just shouldn't run into them, he thought.
He could work with that. Dick slipped around the perimeter of the landing deck, running with the Force in a low crouch from point to point as the two bounty hunters tried to blow each other to kingdom come.
Dick pounced through a little window about two stories above his head and slid into the docking bay unseen. The closest ship was an imperial cargo ship with a dented hull and chipped paint. It looked easy enough to steal and extremely non-descript. The perfect getaway vehicle. Except Dick was still a 12 year-old kid. And despite all his training and all his wisdom, he had a weakness for cool ships.
Across the docking bay was a sleek gold Alderanian Sunderhead Covet class starship. It was the perfect vehicle for two to travel in style. In a word, it was flashy. Very flashy.
Perfect, thought Dick, I'm gonna steal the Sunderhead.
Imperial Palace, Upper Ballroom:
Batman and Palpatine had all but laid waste to the ballroom and each other.
"You're stronger than you have any right to be," said Palpatine taking a step back and sheathing his weapon. He patted his robes in a futile effort to straighten them. "You're as worthy an opponent as I have faced in years. Too bad it won't save you this time."
Batman steeled himself for another attack of lightning. But he could not have prepared for the attack sent his way. The Emperor reached into the depth of his reserve strength in the Force and grabbed Batman around the throat with invisible fingers. He commanded the Force to combust his victim from the inside out, a technique used only by the most powerful Sith and only on rare occasions. Even Palpatine had to acknowledge the savagery of the move. For this, Batman's limited training under his Jedi instructors had no counter. He screamed and writhed in the Sith's grasp. His lightsaber clattered to the floor.
"This is true power," said Palpatine stepping closer to where Batman was suspended in the air, "this is why the galaxy fears me."
He continued his attack until Batman went limp; completely unable to even lift a finger. Then the Emperor dropped him in a graceless heap on the floor.
Palpatine leaned over the Dark Knight and slid his fingers under the cowl. "I should very much like to know the face of the man who fought me so furiously. An example like you will detour even the most powerful beings in the galaxy from challenging me. I should thank you for that. You've served your purpose well."
Batman could do nothing but try to breath as the pain of Palpatine's Force combustion consumed him. He watched as if from outside himself as Palpatine pulled the cowl away from his face.
Palpatine's moment of triumph was cut short prematurely, however, when cannon fire exploded through the wall in front of him. The Sith was blown back several feet. He watched enraged through the new hole in his ballroom wall as his personal Sunderhead starship rose into view outside. The cockpit emergence exit opened to reveal none other than his missing Talon.
"Common Batman, bus is leaving," called Dick.
The boy deftly used the Force to lift Batman towards the ship, turning the man's face away from him. Palpatine screamed in fury and reached for Batman through the Force. The tug of war began.
"Let go," grunted Dick, "go find your own Batman."
"Give up this futile game Talon," said the Emperor, "this is a battle you cannot win. I will tear him in half, and you will…" he was cut off mid speech as Dick punched the auto-targeting computer on the Sunderhead's cockpit cannon. He was forced to divert his attention from the tug of war into defending himself.
Meanwhile, Dick kept focus on his objective and hauled his mentor to safety. Once Batman was safely onboard, he pulled the ship away from the palace wall. "Suck it Palpatine!" Dick called back over his shoulder. He closed the emergency hatch and took the ship into the upper atmosphere.
Batman grunted as he recovered enough to pull himself up off the ship's floor and into the co-pilot's chair.
"You stole a ship," Batman observed dryly.
"I stole a ship," Dick confirmed.
"Are you aware there are seven tie-fighters on your tail?"
"No, really?" said Dick as he yanked the control yoke to starboard and out of range of the tie-fighter's cannons.
Batman grunted. "This is too flashy. What about the meaning of covert escapes your comprehension?"
Dick gritted his teeth as the ship shook along his improvised gravitational escape vector. "Says the man who owns the Batmobile, the Bat-wing, the Bat-sloop…"
"Focus. They just hit our shield generator," said Batman by way of deflection.
"You could shoot back you know," Dick pointed out.
"Did you disable the tracking beacons and Imperial sensors?" Batman demanded instead.
Dick yanked them hard to port into a controlled barrel-role out of range again. "What do you think I am? Five? Yes, I disabled everything."
"Then prepare to jump into hyperspace."
Batman punched in coordinates and pulled back on the hyperspace generator. The stars outside the cockpit viewport elongated and the ship made the jump. They were home free.
Dick looked across the seat to his mentor. "So umm…I'm sorry about…" but he never got the chance to finish the thought. Batman closed the distance between them and pulled Dick into a hug. After the initial surprise wore off, they both relaxed into the embrace. All the weariness and pain settled into their bones as the adrenaline wore off, but oddly enough, it wasn't a bad feeling. For a few moments, they reveled in the safety of open space.
"So," said Dick pulling away, "where are we going?"
Batman looked down at the navigation computer. "Home."
"Is that…is that even possible after all that?"
A wry smile broke over Batman's face. "We just escaped two murderous Sith Lords and you're asking if it's possible to go home?"
"Um yes," said Dick confused, "don't they know who we are now? They'll just come back for us."
"They will try," Batman agreed, "but this episode should have taught you something important, Robin. They fear us. They are afraid of who we are and what we stand for. We are a beacon of hope to the galaxy; Batman and Robin are proof of what the people of this universe are capable of. Where we go others will follow. And that is where we must place our faith."
…..
Did he hate the Emperor then? Indeed, I believe he did. But the resistance of Jedi can grow to be nine-tenths hatred and still call itself resistance. The truth is simply this; it is impossible to live without darkness but as long as there exists a single ray of light, the battle will continue.
…..
Author's Note: Thank you for reading The Emperor's Talon.
I hope you all enjoyed the story. I will hopefully posting an epilogue shortly. Thanks for all your great support and have a Happy New Year.