The Emperor's Talon

Chapter 6: The Art of Starting Over

I have the courage to change. The strength to see it through. And the faith that I can do it.

"Get up," ordered Batman.

For the seventh time, Richard pushed himself back to his feet. He stood as tall, ready, and wary as he had when they had begun the sparring match thirty minutes ago. He would not show weakness. He would not show exhaustion. He could not. The only person who could ever make him stay down was himself. So he braced himself for Batman's next attack.

Batman rushed him. The man's fist thrust towards his head in a punch that would have, if Richard had been any slower, knocked him unconscious. Like his other trainers, Batman barely held himself back. But that hardly phased the former Talon. Richard leapt into the air and executed a double flip over Batman's head with the aid of the Force. The move was unnecessarily flashy, but Richard liked to show off when he could. He feigned a roundhouse kick aimed at Batman's side before dropping low and sweeping the Dark Knight off his feet.

A thud accompanied Batman's connection with the mats. "Not too bad Tal…Dick," The Dark Knight commented gruffly, "but, don't get used to dropping me like that."

"Of course not," said Richard. There wasn't a hint of either smugness or a satisfied smile on his face, but Batman still felt like the boy was mocking him somehow.

"Good." Batman rose and towered over the boy once more. He spun around on the mats and made his way towards the Batcomputer. He motioned for Richard to follow him. Taking a stack of books, he handed them to the boy. "Read these," he instructed.

"Yes sir," said Richard (or in a way, the Talon answered for him). He made a face. Reading. Great.

Batman ignored the slightly disgusted loon Richard's face. "I noticed you have the ability to access the Force and have been trained in the ways of the Dark Side. I expect you to read these books and adjust your meditation and practical application of the Force accordingly. You will not leave this cave until your training is complete."

"Understood, sir." Once again, his Talon training kicked in and answered for him. Richard's eyes lost their spark of liveliness as he stared up at Batman. More training. More rules. More captivity. He was beginning to fear that Batman was just like The Court and the Emperor and Darth Vader.

For his part, Batman saw the light extinguish from the boy's eyes. He had said something wrong somehow. Normally, he would attribute the look to one similar to those other children wore when told they had to do their homework. However, the Force and his instincts as a detective told him this was far from the case. Richard, after all, was not an ordinary child. He could hear Alfred's voice in his head telling him to trust his instincts and attempt to connect with Richard like he would a Padawan. He growled internally at the thought. The old butler and former Jedi master was almost always right. Damn Alfred!

Decidedly uncomfortable and internally cursing Alfred, the Force, and himself, Batman sat down in the comfortable computer chair. He continued to look at the boy before him wondering what he could say to begin to make a connection with Richard. Because the Alfred in his head was telling him to.

"Who trained you in the Dark Side?" he asked. Batman mentally kicked himself. That was an interrogational question; not a conversational question. Never the less, he waited for an answer.

Richard cocked his head. Batman felt as if those blue eyes were penetrating his soul and searching for his intention behind the question. Those eyes were too calculating and intelligent to belong to a child. Batman was tempted to stand up and walk away when Richard finally answered the question. "Darth Vader trained me."

Despite his best efforts, Batman shivered slightly with disgust upon hearing the name. Hate and fury for the tormentors of the galaxy boiled inside his chest. He couldn't look at Richard for a moment as his previous feelings of hatred for the Talon were rekindled.

As if reading his mind, Richard interjected quietly, "it wasn't my choice. No one asked me what I wanted to be."

Batman calmed himself. Somehow the boy's sincere voice grounded him in a manner similar to Alfred's. "I know," he said. And then he was attacked by a wave of guilt. Because he would have killed this boy once. Because he had hated this boy once. And because he hadn't saved his from the Court of Owls when he had the chance. "You ran away," he stated, more to ground himself in reality again.

"Yes."

"That took courage."

"Not really," said Richard, "most beings in the galaxy would risk everything to change their future if they were headed down a bad enough path."

"Not enough would, I'm afraid."

"Then they would rick everything not to be tortured by every waking moment."

"Some would just give up and die," Batman pointed out; reliably pessimistic as always.

Richard gave him that look again. "Darth Vader used to tell me that we are given the lives we have because we are strong enough to live them. It may be the only thing he was ever right about," said Richard looking down at his hands. He looked so small and childish right then.

"The Sith aren't really known for their wisdom," Batman agreed, his voice laced with venom.

"No. No they aren't," said Richard looking up again. Determination glittered in his eyes. "But being the Talon taught me this at least; hope is the only thing stronger than fear. It's not always about what you can do, it's about doing the things you think you can't."

"What did you think you couldn't do?"

"I thought I couldn't hold on to the good things inside me. I thought I couldn't run. I thought I couldn't be free. Then I did. Now I am." He paused. Batman didn't say anything, so he asked, "what do you think you can't do?"

Batman was taken aback. He was used to asking questions, not answering them. Especially questions of this nature. "I'm Batman," he decided, "I can do anything."

Richard cocked his head. He looked bemused in a way that the Dark Knight couldn't comprehend. "Then you're one of the arrogant ones who will end up in a body cast."

Flabbergasted by the boy's honest and not entirely incorrect sentiment, Batman cast his eyes around the cave for any signs of Alfred. The old butler would have loved that particular observation of Richard's immensely. He found himself suddenly afraid that Alfred and Richard would get along splendidly. The two of them ganging up on his brooding and bravado practices might prove too much to handle.

"Now that you're free, what do you want to be?" Batman asked.

"A good person."

Batman found himself rather impressed. "You may turn out alright, Dick," he decided aloud.

Batman stared hard at the boy standing in front of him. "I'm going to train you harder than anyone before me. I'm not just going to train you to fight. I'm going to train you to be a hero. Being a hero is harder than being a king or an emperor or being anything else you can think of; because being a hero is about sacrificing yourself for a greater good. It's about having the courage to stand up and tell evil to go back to hell, knowing there's a chance you'll go with it."

"Quite the inspirational speech for a child, sir," commented Alfred dryly as he rejoined them. He handed Batman and Dick each a towel. "May I suggest you cleanse yourselves of the fine odor that tends to accompany a hard workout? There will be plenty of time for speeches later."

"Of course, Alfred," said Batman striding away towards the showers. Then he paused mid step and turned back to Richard, "welcome to the Batcave, Dick Grayson."

"Thank you, sir," said Richard with a slight bow.

Alfred smiled. If he was right, and he almost always was, Dick and Bruce were going to get along just fine. Although Bruce was planning for Richard to stay confined to the cave only until he was fully de-programed as an assassin, Alfred was certain that the boy would worm his way into even Batman's heart of stone. Richard wouldn't leave the cave to wander the galaxy alone when his training was done. He and Bruce would become a team. An unstoppable team. The Dynamic Duo.

Later that night, Richard set aside the book on Force meditations centered in the light and gazed around the Batcave. Alfred, Force bless him, had set up a comfortable bed for him and set up a virtual bedroom in one of the cave's many alcoves. It was homey unlike the sterile and emotionless living quarters the Court and the Empire provided. He yawned and climbed into bed.

Batman had told him he would live in the cave until his training was done. He sighed. It was clear that Batman didn't trust him. But then, no one did, so he didn't feel the right to be surprised. Alfred might one day trust him. Maybe the man already did. Once his training was done, he was free to roam the galaxy as his heart desired. He realized that he would miss the old man. There wasn't anything for him out in the galaxy anyways. His home and everything he knew had been destroyed during the Clone Wars. The empire had banned traveling performers so even Haley's Circus had been shut down. For the first time, he was afraid of his freedom because soon he would have no where to go.