Bruised

Chapter Ten

The Murder of Martha and Thomas Wayne

Beware the Court of Owls

That watches all the time.

Ruling Gotham

From a shadow perch,

Behind granite and lime.

They watch you at your hearth,

They watch you in your bed,

Speak not a whispered word of them

Or they'll send The Talon for your head.

Bats were flying around them as they followed the shadow down the hidden corridor. Nightwing and Red Robin took up the back knowing that Phantom was the one that should be leading.

"Do you guys know anything about these tunnels?" Sam asked looking back at the heroes. She was conflicted about them tagging along, but was slightly happy that they did since apparently, they were now in the Zone's Gotham.

"Specifically, no. Gotham is full of underground tunnels that lead everywhere," Red Robin informed as he brought up his GPS map. "We have most of them mapped out on our computers, but…"

It wasn't working though.

"Although, we're flying a bit more blind than usual," Nightwing said before their screens went dark. When they came back on, there was a dot showing where they were. "Uh."

"You guys do know that as her protectors, she can mess with your stuff," Phantom said as he turned to look at them. "How many close calls have you guys had?"

"More than I care to admit," Nightwing said. Phantom grinned at him.

"Gotham probably shifted enough stuff to ensure that you guys came out on top," Phantom said they came up to an opening. "She protected you while you saved the city. That's what most sentient cities do. There's probably a lot she meddled in that you're unaware of. Her job would be to protect you while you protect those who inhabit the city itself."

Nightwing just stared at Phantom as he went over some of the near misses and close calls.

How Jason's death happened overseas and all their close calls in Gotham seemed to be straight up luck.

"So, we kind of have a ghost looking out for us?" Red Robin asked looking at the bright green eyes of Phantom who smiled at him.

"Yeah, there's not many sentient cities out in the real world," Phantom said as they looked around. There was a huge owl statue in the center of the room as they walked around. Caskets lined along the back wall. The shadow they followed slipped inside one. "But they each hold special properties that people can feel. Energies that surround areas, some can feel them better than others."

"We're under the Gotham theater," Nightwing said looking at his computer. Phantom nodded as they continued looking though the room.

"This is really weird. I didn't know this was under here," Red Robin said a little upset over it. Phantom looked around with a raised eyebrow.

"There's a lot of owl stuff here," Phantom muttered a little creeped out. Red Robin looked at Phantom before looking around and noting that.

"Yeah, that's a little weird," he agreed as they continued looking. Tucker noted a computer on the wall and hooked his PDA to it.

"Ever heard of the Court of Owls?" Tucker asked as he looked though the information he had. Red turned to him with wide eyes when he noticed that he had hacked the system.

"How'd you know you could do that?" he asked.

"My PDA has already been heavily exposed to ectoplasm stuff, so hacking into ghost computers isn't that hard since I don't have to get though the ghost speak protection," Tucker explained making Red Robin blink realizing that was the language that he wasn't sure was a language earlier.

"So how do I get a hold of that?" Red asked wondering if it would help him prevent from getting hacked. Tucker just grinned at him.

"It says here that they tried to recruit the Wayne's into their organization," Tucker said as he brought up some more of the information. "They declined to every time, and it looks like…"

"They killed them for it," Sam whispered as she looked down. Batman was her favorite only because of the goth thing. She disliked the whole Justice League thing since none of them took Amity Park seriously when they originally asked for help. "So, we solved it?"

"Not quite," Phantom said as he looked around. He slowly walked up to the casket and opened it. There was a body in it. "I think…I think these are undead soldiers that the Court uses."

"Uh," Nightwing was unsure what to do with information. "Where do we go from here then?"

"Well, we know about the Court of Owls and that they are real, but we need actual information regarding them," Red Robin said looking over Tucker's shoulder. "If…is there a way we can get my system to work alongside, we can do this faster." Tucker looked at Red's computer before looking at the hero's face.

"Here, connect to my system for a moment and I'll get you the translator download," Tucker sighed as he disconnected from the computer in the wall. Tucker transfers the files and Red immediately got to work on hacking into the computer on the wall with Tucker.

"It looks like its every name of some of the most elites in Gotham, at least from the time period," Red said realizing that this was an old system. "Like its…"

"From the same time. Cause it is," Phantom said looking at the two heroes. "The Ghost Zone holds on to the past, so yeah that makes sense. This was here when they were killed."

"So how do we find them in the current time?" Red asked. Phantom just looked at him.

"We need to figure it out here first," Phantom said as he started opening random caskets finding more and more bodies in them. They all looked very similar. "What are these things?" Tucker looked down at his PDA.

"According to this, they're talons," Tucker said. "Genetically engineered super assassins. One was sent to kill them? It looks like they were kidnapped and recruited from…circuses and other types of traveling entertainment."

"Does it give who ordered the hit exactly?" Nightwing asked a little upset on that news.

"No, it says that the Head of the Court ordered something against them since they wouldn't join," Red said as he looked over some of the information. "Although there aren't any names or what exactly was ordered."

"Well, then to find our killer, we need to figure out who is the Head of the Court," Tucker said as he took his stuff from the wall computer and followed Phantom who was still opening caskets.

"Uh, are you sure opening those are a good idea?" Nightwing asked as Phantom opened another. Phantom looked at him.

"Our goal is to search for clues. This is basically a station in time. We'll be fine," Phantom said. Nightwing shook his head not liking any of this. Phantom was way too confident that nothing bad would happen poking around this.

Then he had to remind himself that they weren't actually in Gotham City.

"So, you're just what? Going to open every one of these until something happens?" Nightwing asked knowing that's one way to get stuff done.

"Unless you guys find something else," Phantom said looking at them. "Gotham said you guys can help." Nightwing nodded before exploring the rest of the room.

Phantom had a point about trying to figure it out, and the best way to do that was to investigate.

"It looks like this is just the end of some kind of maze," Tucker said as he continued to look though some of the information that he had taken from the computer. "I don't know enough about the time period though."

"Gotham was being ran mainly by mobs when they were killed. Falcone and Bertinelli's were the big ones at the time. They went to war, but I think that was after their murders," Nightwing said as he remembered going though those files. "The Bertinelli's were killed six years later by Mandragora."

"At first the police believed that the Wayne's were caught in the middle of the crime war," Red continued trying to remember a lot about what he studied as Robin. "The guy who did it confessed, but there was always some weird ass theory surrounding their death. I think a lot of that is what helped to create the Batman."

Sam looked down as she studied the floor. Gotham was just as dark and dangerous as the rumors said it was. She knew there was a lot that happened in the city, but the darkness she could now see was horrifying.

"What does this murder have to do with Batman?" Tucker asked before the two realized what exactly they just revealed. Phantom laughed having already known who Batman was.

"Everything," Phantom answered making his best friends turn to him. "It has everything to do with Batman." The two heroes glared at the ghost.

"You swore to never tell anyone," Nightwing said making Phantom turn to him.

"They're trustworthy. They've been the only reason I've been able to keep my secret for as long as I have. They won't tell," Phantom promised as he looked towards his friends. "Afterall secrets are about the only thing we can continually be good at."

"Wait, are you telling me that we're solving the murders of Batman's parents?" Sam asked just taking a stab in the dark. Phantom smiled and nodded as Tucker just stared before turning to the other two heroes.

"That makes you guys…" Tucker trailed off seeing their glares. Sam laughed before looking at Phantom.

"Alright, so now that's out of the way, we still have to figure out who exactly is head of this Court of Owls," Phantom said before a loud cawing in the tunnel distracted them. A large owl flew out of the giant doorway and came straight for them. Phantom stood in front and his hands lit up in ecto-energy.

The owl stopped and stared at them before its red eyes glowed and it cawed at them sending sound waves towards them.

Phantom quickly put up a shield and braced for impact.

It hit hard but only made Phantom slide a few inches across the ground. Phantom growled out as his eyes glowed brighter.

The room got colder.

Phantom launched into the air and headed for the head of the giant bird. He aimed an ecto-coated fist towards it face and hit. The owl stumbled back before cawing again and head-butting Phantom. Phantom righted himself before ducking down and heading low.

Sam and Tucker pulled out blasters and started firing to help keep the owl distracted. Phantom flew low and grabbed one of the owl's wings before twisting and throwing the bird into the far wall. Red Robin and Nightwing had their weapons out but were unsure where to help.

Phantom was right to pull his friends in. They worked well together as his friends took long ranged attacks and Phantom got up close and personal with the Owl.

"Danny, did you bring a thermos?" Sam called out before Tucker answered by throwing it at her.

"I got it, you're a better aim," he said as he continued to fire. Sam held the thermos and waited for an opening.

Phantom iced one of the wings to the floor as the owl howled again. Sound waves headed straight for the two heroes who flipped out of the way as the waves hit the computer in the wall.

"Birdbrain, over here," Phantom taunted as he danced out of the line of fire. The bird screeched again before suddenly being sucked into the thermos. "Do you think that counts as cheating?"

"No," Sam smiled as Phantom laughed. Red and Nightwing shook their heads confused.

They worked well as a team.

"So, what do we do now?" Red asked unsure. "There's no record of which of the richest actually leads the Court of Owls. And not all of these people are dead, so we can't just interrogate people to get answer."

"Wanna bet?" Phantom grinned before leading them out of the secret tunnels.

The roads were busy with people walking to and from places all dressed in different clothes.

Some had on suits and hats. Some were in T-shirts and jeans. Other worn fancy dresses and some looked like they were in full body suits like from what the future would have.

It was definitely an odd sight to see.

"The Ghost Zone travels though time," Phantom said as he led them into the group. The ghosts just nodded at him as they passed not blinking an eye.

A little girl stopped in front of the vigilantes with a grin.

"You're Red Robin and Nightwing," she giggled as she played with the ends of her dress. Both of them looked uncomfortable.

A dead little girl.

At least that's what they thought.

She turned to Phantom and smiled even wider. "And you're Prince Phantom! This is the best day ever! My parents will be so excited!"

"Where are your parents?" Phantom asked as he kneeled down to her level. She hugged him and he hugged her back.

"They're busy, but I think my dad would like to meet you guys. His name is Thomas Wayne Jr.," she grinned. Phantom blinked a little confused.

"Thomas Wayne Jr.?" he asked confused. A man came up behind him.

"Yes, he was named after his father," a man said behind him.

Red Robin and Nightwing both looked at him confused. He looked so much like Alfred. Phantom stood up and looked him over.

"I'm Jarvis Pennyworth," the man introduced making both of the batboys blink as they realized that this was Alfred's father.

Here's the next chapter!

I GOT A SNOW DAY AT WORK!

So here's this chapter as the weather decides to fuck us. (our horse tough burnt down this week in a weird turn of events...it was 300 gallons and half full at the time. What even is 2022?)

Love yall for the reviews! They give me life