A Talon
.
.
.
The One who shall achieve the greatest honor
.
.
.
The best assassin world will ever see…
.
.
.
The Gray Son of Gotham.
"Something doesn't feel right…" Robin thought deeply as he stared out of the T- car window.
"The Clues left behind…all of them seemed to be directed towards me. The specificity of the victims…mainly traveling, entertainment based professional life…and all of them having children of around my age…all of them having been visited Gotham even once in their life…all these can't be a huge coincidence. Could a villian have learnt of my identity…? Could they be trying to send a message? Could it be a new villian or could it be the Court of Ow- no. Thats not possible. I might…no…there is no need to talk to him after all this time. That is just a Gotham nursery rhyme to scare small kids-"
"Robin-" Cyborg tried to say before a large rock was tossed at the direction of the car and he had drag the car away from it immediately, startling the passagers of the car.
This snapped the leader of the group out of its deep thoughts as his attention was now completely focused on the scene before him.
A Cinderblock, twice or thrice times larger than a normal one is wrecking chaos around the city by destroying buildings, actively trying to harm people.
"Titans Go!" Robin orders and within the fraction of a second, every titan is out to engage with this monstrosity.
"Beast Boy, Gather the civilians as fast you can and take them to a safe place" Robin orders as all of them rush towards it.
"On it!- wait….Aw man! why do I always get the clean up duty?!" Beast Boy whines as he morphs into a Pterodactyl and flies away to fulfil the given duty anyway.
However just as he takes off, the Cinderblock's full attention turns toward to the group of heroes and its rage visibly increased.
"Cyborg, I need you to-"
It rushes to their direction, throwing a punch at them with its large stony fist.
Cyborg and Robin quickly leap out as Starfire and Raven fly high to the sky, ultimately dodging the attack.
After balancing themselves out, Robin sees the huge crater on the ground left behind by the punch.
It is not holding back at all huh
Immediately, he throws 2 explosive smoke bombs at the direction of the cinderblock, successfully lessening its vision.
"Now!" Shouts Robin.
Taking this as the queue, Starfire attacks the cinderblock with a barrage of her star bolts not leaving it even a little space to attack back, to her best ability.
"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" Raven chants as she lifts up a huge rock after another and hurls it at the target, successfully incapacitating it temporarily as it fails to attempt many of the attacks and nearly falls back entirely.
Cyborg also joins in immediately as he shoots his sonic canon at it and forcing it to take a few steps back. Stealthily, Robin took the opportunity and attacked with his bo staff, pushing the cinderblock further away and eventually landing a roundhouse kick, making it fall to the ground.
The cinderblock loudly roars as it starts to get off the ground.
"It never roared before" Cyborg said keeping his guard high, ready to strike at any moment. Robin opened his mouth to say something but before he could-
"An..ni..hi..l..a..te…ta..r..get" the Cinderblock said in a growling voice as the holes for its eyes, start glowing red, surprising and shocking the titans.
"Thats new…" Raven monotoned.
The Cinderblock then went absolutely berserk. Breaking nearby buildings and throwing big rocks and chunks at the titans at rapid speed and then going to physically attack them itself.
Unfortunately, one of the many big rocks hit the T-Car, crushing it completely.
"MY CAR!!! MY BABY!!!!" Cyborg yelled hysterically. Immediately making his way to the car, only managing to recover one Car door which too broke in his own hands.
"Oh…NOW you did it….." he hissed dangerously as he charged up his Canon to full power,
"TITANS GO!" He shouted as he went on to attack ferociously, the other titans following him up soon.
The titans, barely managing to survive through it, attack back with full force to no avail, it seemed like the Cinderblock was invulnerable to all their attacks.
"Whatever we do this thing is not even takin' any damage! What do we do?!" Shooting his sonic canon one more time at the said Cinderblock who was seemingly unaffected by it.
"We need to make it leave this place. Now." Robin replied as he threw a few freeze disks and smoke bombs at it, giving themselves time to talk for a moment.
"Say wha-" Cyborg tried to say but got interrupted.
" Someone or something is controlling it and has a definite influence on it. Leading it somewhere else would take it out of its range should it be influenced by something, fighting in an open area like the forest would give us more ground to figh-"
"DUDESSSS!" Beast Boy yelled as he changed back from his Pterodactyl form to his human self and ran closer to the team.
"I heard this loud BANG noise from up there! Are you guys okay? None of you guys got hurt right?" BB said, his worry and fear in the voice evident. "Woah…" he said as his eyes widen at the completely ruined part of the city where the previously tall and proud buildings, are now reduced to dust.
"Not for now, but we need to lead it outside the city. We cannot afford to put people's lives at risk more than it already is" Robin said in a determined voice, he continued, "Separate and when any of you sees it, lure it towards the direction of the forest. Don't forget to keep in touch"
Earning quick nods from everyone, he throws many of the smoke bombs and a few of his explosives at the walking stone being who had gotten up and was ready to kill them.
With smoke surrounding everywhere, it had difficulty at seeing however it still madly threw punches at places with light silhouettes only to find itself punching thin air.
A firm hit from a bo staff hits the cinderblock near its head, only for it to punch air yet again and move towards the direction of the attack only to be hit again but this time with a star bolt.
Next came a tug towards its front, a silhouette of a cloaked person seen, before it could hit them however, that disappeared.
Then a huge slam from a dinosaur tail came from the back, pushing it forward.
Then came a barrage of attacks from all sorts of direction, making the being very confused as it started running to the opposite direction of the given attack.
Soon, it found itself out of the fog of smoke and at the cities edge, seeing all the five heroes together.
"Yo Rock head!" Cyborg taunted.
"If you wanna make us paste, you gotta get us first!" BB said showing it his tongue and stretching his eyes.
With that, the enraged Cinderblock followed the group into the forest till they reached a high cliff.
"Titans Go!" Robin said as he along with others sprung to action immediately.
As the battle ensued, little did the titans knew, a white owl along with a person in the shadows keenly watched them. Specifically Robin.
"Just as Robin said, the ferocity of its attack has decreased!" Starfire said as she finally started doing considerable damage to the stone being's body and it finally starting to slow down. Raven, taking advantage, switches from throwing energy disks to constricting it tightly.
"Cyborg! Aim for its legs! NOW!" Robin said as he tossed explosives at it and landing a few lethal kicks, cracking its chest to a great extend and earning him a thunderous roar.
"Beast Boy! Fly up and drop down on my signal!!" He completed immediately.
Wordlessly the changeling took to the air as followed Cyborg up with his sonic canon on the Cinderblock's legs as a result, the stone being fell on its knees. Robin followed immediately with hit from his bow staff on its back, making it tilt enough to fall. "NOW!" he yelled and jumped away as far as he could.
The changeling, getting his cue, turned into a whale and dropped down on the Cinderblock, who saw his end approaching closer and closer with pitiful eyes, with a huge thud.
The titans approached the Cinderblock as Beast Boy turned back into a human and moved away from the unmoving, now block of stone. Observing it for a minute or two incase it attacks again. The climate was gloomy as well since it was very cloudy and the sun nowhere to be seen.
"Are we are done here?" Beast Boy asked softly.
"Not quite. We need to take a closer look." Robin said as he goes near it, others following him closely.
"Cyborg, think you can drill through its head over here-" Robin says as he points his finger on a certain part of Cinderblock's back of the head, "and here" as he gets up and points at the middle of its back. "These are the most probable places on where some sort of machinery could be hidden. Considering the density of the rock is always mediocre. Perfect for repairs while also providing safety to the chip circuits."
"On it" said Cyborg as he turns his arm into a driller and starts drilling into the given parts.
"Do we really need to? Something about this making me feel sick" BB said with a visible shudder.
"I am not exactly doing it for enjoyment either, Beast Boy. This Cinderblock spoke something along the lines of Annihilate Target. It could potentially have a lot of info on who sent this attack"
"Besides this thing is a heap of stone now who cares for this piece of junk which BROKE MY BABY to pieces?!" Cyborg replied angrily as his face turned red and the drilling visibly getting rough.
"On our planet, we have a species known as the Rupgatrklorg'na. They are a plant organism who look very similar to this planet's "hare".. they can move on their move own accord and are..farmed like the people of this planet farm chicken, pigs and other animals" Starfire started, looking expectantly at others who only raised an eyebrow at it and gave her questioning/surprised but curious looks.
"I have been to a few of these 'farms' myself as a child and the only edible part are the inside of their heads…" Starfire continued without noticing that BB looked like he was about to cry, Robin gave a look of 'I know where this is going', Cyborg stopped the drilling and kept glancing at Beast Boy, trying not to laugh after looking at his reaction and Raven raised an eyebrow once again.
"However just like their body, their head has a very thick layer of almost stone like hardness so they are usually crushed in order to acquire the meat inside. It is quite juicy and delicious! Perhaps you can relate to that and not feel bad, Beast Boy?" Starfire beamed, failing Beast Boy's shocked face as his eyes are as big as saucers, mouth open wide (and vertical purple lines hanging on the side)
"I think….I imagined everything too well" he managed to blurt out.
"If only you used that brain of yours in other places" Raven commented neutrally, snapping BB out of his trance.
"He-Hey! I do use my brain!-" Beast Boy retorted, struggling to answer with a proper comeback.
"Anyway Cyborg, did you get to something?" Robin indicated towards the part where he drilled.
"Oh wait yea, right-" Cyborg responded as he set back to his job but then suddenly a pretty loud sound of metal drilling was heard and a few sparks flew out as Cyborg's driller broke. This gathered everyone's attention back to the Cinderblock.
"Huh?" Cyborg examined as he scanned through the dug up contents.
"Yo Rob, think this is it." He said as his screen showed percentages of metal present in the drilled hole.
Robin nodded and wasted no time to take out his tools to scrap off the remaining of the rock surface, giving himself a bit of space to work with.
"I was right.. Look. Here's a metal locked chamber. Most probably having the CPU chip" Robin said as he carefully broke the lock and then took out the chip using a pair of his tweezers and carefully placing it into his palm to inspect it closely.
His eyes widened slightly as realization hit him.
Cyborg noticing the change immediately asked, "What is it?"
"This is…a tech piece from Gotham…"
Robin then immediately out his magnifying lense to analyze it further. He added, "A very infamous brand for these at that" as puts back the lense into his belt.
Surprise and worry fills the air as everyone's eyes widen and mouth falls ajar.
"Are you sure du-"
"Very. Cyborg, quickly dig up the second part. See if there's any chip and then run a full metal scan to see its internal structure and components-" but before he could complete his sentence, the chip started crackling in small bursts of electricity.
Robin recognizing the signs, immediately tosses the chip up onto the air which immediately blasts, turning into smithereens.
"Look out!" Robin shouted as he grabbed cyborg and the others moved away from the Cinderblock as smoke escaped and parts of its body started to break, blast and catch fire on their own and eventually turning into nothing but rubbles. Turns out, the thing wasn't a Cinderblock. But a robot with a very hardy layered rock on it and made to look like a Cinderblock.
"Well the chip extraction plan went well" Raven said sarcastically as she stood up.
However, no one answered to that as their maybe only other clue to the mystery murder went up in flames. Robin clenched his fists and kicked a nearby pebble in frustration.
Starfire puts one of her hands on his shoulder, trying to give some sort of support which kind of worked since Robin gave her a sad look and eventually unclenched his fists.
The white owl flew off silently and the darkened figure observing everything, slipped into further darkness and disappeared within the forest completely.
The already dark-cloudy sky darkened further indicating the arrival of evening.
"Was the examination a success?"
A man wearing an ominous mask shaped like the face of a white owl spoke in a heavy voice, his back facing the others.
"Yes, Master" said the person bowing, on one knee, wearing an all black suit and a black mask which creepily looked alike to an owl's face, outlined by a thin layer of yellow metal, forming the beak like shape.
The scene now shows innumerable number of people, bowing in a similar fashion and wearing the exact same black outfit.
"I believe it is him." said the latter. He continued, "We found him. Just like prophecy foretold…"
"Very well. His awakening should start to happen in after three sunsets" said the man wearing the white mask and eventually turning to his front.
"I believe we must send a messenger to make him enlightened of his destiny on the best opportunity which begins from tonight." Turning to face his audience this time.
"In the name of the Court! For Gotham!" came a collective response this time.
Shivers ran Robin's spine as he hugged himself instinctly. His eyes flick to the laptop screen once again as he scanned the owl feather for the billionth time.
He had long since given up trying to recover whatever Intel the destroyed chip might have had.
The one of the glass window of his room has opened due to the lock not properly set and the snowy, strong winds occassionally blowing outside, it let in cold and chilly air.
However, the room owner made no effort to fix the issue for his mind was busy figuring out tougher things than just an uncomfortably cold room.
The clock at Robin's laptop showed the time "02:38 AM" at the bottom.
Sighing to himself, he looked at one of the locked up drawer sections of his work table.
Do I…should I call him? After all this time…
Nearly opening it as the key was at his finger tips, literally.
However, quickly removing his hand from the spot and shaking his head softly to himself.
What if he doesn't pick the call at all…? What if he ignores it and blocks the intercom?
"Robin?" Said a soft voice behind him.
"Hey Star" responded the person referred to, previously.
"All this time" the leader of the titans thought to himself mentally, "I kept the room door unlocked, didn't even realize one of my friends getting in until they called…Great. I bet he will be damn proud….oh wow I am already scared of getting judged by hi-"
"You look the most exhausted" Starfire started as she stepped forward, holding her wrists tightly to her chest."And your room isn't in a position for your own sanctuary-" She continued as she glanced at the open glass window which let in cold winds and a flew flakes of snow into the room, cooling it down to a point where it was hard for even her to stay in it for one minute. She wordlessly went to the spot to close it properly and turn on the heater of the room, only to return to the room owner who did nothing but stare at her as he had no good excuse this time.
If only I can tell you…
"You haven't come out of room since Cinderblock's defeat…not even to take the necessary food distributed during lunch and dinner-" She looked at Robin who despite looking at her, didn't respond as if lost in his own world.
Starfire brushed her with her hands as she spoke "Robin…We are- I am worried about you…your behavior is seeming just as obsessive when Slade showed up…Are you truly sure you are the alright?"
"..."
"..."
"I am not leaving till I receive an answer" She crossed her arms.
Robin sighed but eventually resigned. He can't keep lying to his girlfriend forever.
"I won't answer" Robin said firmly.
Starfire's face visibly showing shock and hurt at the response as she bowed her head in defeat, ready to leave as she flew towards the door but her wrist got caught by Robin.
"-till we lock the door and have some privacy from the others eavesdropping" he finished with a small smile. Looking at the direction of the frame of the door where Cyborg and Beast Boy kept the ear closest to the door; wide, big and open.
On hearing their presence has been known, BB jumped on Cyborg's back as the former made a run for it.
Starfire quickly understanding makes her to the door, poking her head outside a bit out of curiosity, seeing how desperately Cyborg (with BB clutching his back) tried to run away from the place (stumbling, falling, getting up again and running down the hall).
She also heard a quick but loud enough reply from her goth friend who retorted them for invading others privacy.
Starfire giggled slightly at the scene before she locked the door and joyously made her way to her 'friend who is a boy' who sat at the edge of his bed, looking outside, absent mindedly, as the snowy winds seemed to have slowed down a lot. He threw a glance at her before returning to his thoughts.
The Alien Princess didn't need someone to make her realize that she needs to tackle this as delicately as possible.
She sat next to him to which the latter made no response.
She eventually started the conversation as a booster.
"So…what is it that troubles you, Robin?"
"This whole murder mystery thing and now the gotham chip incident from today is giving me immense pressure…and me not being able to figure it out is frustrating and tormenting me to no end" Robin started as he watched the snow fall gently now.
"Robin…you are never alone. You always have us- myself-"
At this Robin chuckled a bit, "Star, I know. But I don't want to put the burden of a case I am more invested in primarily because of my own personal feelings…Thats…not fair of me" He said a second too late from stopping himself.
Starfire, confused and concerned about her friend, asked "Robin, you asking for my help- I mean our help is never a thing of burden for us! Everyone would be more than happy to assist you in this search!-" She said as she flew in front of Robin, holding his shoulders with her hands.
But as she told him, she let the full weight of his words sink in.
"Primary because of my own personal feelings-"
Her eyes widen in realization as she takes a few steps back and her eyes slightly widened.
"...There is much more to this…is there not?" Starfire asked, receiving no response.
Eventually resigning in, Robin sighed and replied "Yes….there is."
He might not tell the full truth but he can get away with a half one.
Starfire looked at him expectantly.
"The background and the nuclear family structure of the families murdered are creepily close to the type I came from…" Robin said, not being able to meet Starfire's eyes with his own in shame.
Starfire saddened by her friend's pain, opened her mouth to say something.
"Look…I am still not okay to reveal everything. Not yet. But sparing the details, during the most darkest time of my life and when I had nobody, I was saved by someone"
"Someone who molded me into what I am today" Robin stared at the small snowflakes fluttering down at their own pace.
"..I-"
"And when I left Gotham. We didn't exactly leave on friendly terms- I didn't throw away our only means of communication which I was left with when I left. Over all these years, I tried to contact him through it, asking for an apology or mending what was broken but I never could. I really tried…but something just stopped me-" Robin said, his face turning into a sad expression as he continued watching the snow fall.
"I always delayed it with some reason or the other. Telling myself I will never need his help…But heh…after this long time, for the first time, I do."
Starfire listened, letting him vent his pent up emotions.
"I guess I was so scared of being rejected that I never tried. Eventually locking it in, out or my sight …Will he pick my call? Will he even answer it? Or did he just…block the intercom completely.." he trailed off.
"Guess I will never know" he finished with a sad smile on his face, facing his friend.
At this, Starfire wordlessly returned to her spot next to him and said, "Back when I was on Tamaran, I and Galafore got in many arguments over many things. Sometimes it were extreme and we maintained distance and didn't talk for tamaranean weeks at times." She looked at Robin with a soft smile, who looked back at her, urging her to go on.
"But despite our differences and brawls, when one admitted their mistake or try to reach out and apologize when one of us calmed down, we always got back together. That is how a relationship with your knorf'ka works on Earth as well, does it not?" She gave a warm, comforting smile to her boyfriend.
"...T-Thanks Star" Robin said as slight blush appeared, returning her a genuine smile.
"Ofcourse, Robin. I shall always be here for you even till the end of this universe." She said as she turned her back to him, slowly making her way out and then she turned back to him,
"And…You should not feel shame from where you came from. I donot care where you use to belong from, all I care is who you are as a person in the present"
"Starfire…I.."
The person mentioned immediately flew towards him and tugged him in a tight hug, not enough to break his bones but tight enough to restrict his breathing to quite a degree.
"Thank you for opening up to me… Trusting me." Robin, despite her straining his breathing ability, heard these words and with years of practice, didn't take much time to realize how genuine they are. He returned the hug as well and eventually broke apart from it.
However, Starfire giving him a quick peck on his right cheek.
"Promise to keep them secret…for now" he said, cheeks tinged slightly red with the affectionate moment they shared at that very moment.
"You have my word" Starfire said, blushing slightly.
"Um…is it just me or is it getting hot in here?" Robin said as he tugged his cape collar.
"Indeed…Oh yes! We must hurry and participate in the taking of dinner! I have saved the pizza which is of your part safely from the hands of Beast boy and Cyborg" Starfire said joyously, her serious attitude slowly fading away.
"Haha, how did you manage to that?"
"Oh I used one of my intimidating technique I learnt during my training in Okaara to scare them to a corner as they reached out for your part of the food! Raven was laughing whole heartedly as she was suggesting it was the time of her life as Cyborg and Beast Boy cowered to the absolute furthest corner of the room!" Starfire said as a thought bubble popped up, showing whole event scene by scene.
"Woah….Raven laughing? I missed alot, didn't I? And you scaring them to that point? Definitely missed out on the impressive pictures I could have picked for perfect blackmail materi-"
But before he could say anything further, the tower alarm blared, signaling a new villian downtown.
A/N: And that's a wrap for this chapter!
Welp this took a while to write and plan out lol
I hope the story is enjoyable!
Please leave a heart if you liked the story and please send your review!! I read all of them and they encourage me to write more
I am kinda going slow and letting things to pace naturally, doing a few development here and there not jump to the main core at once.
I am sorry if there are any typos, grammatical mistakes or spelling errors out there (incase it went unnoticed)
And I AM REALLY SORRY for another thing…
You see, I write the script of the chapter, re-read it twice carefully and then post it but for some reason, there are always one or two typos or autocorrected misplacement of a word.
I kinda feel insecure of my writing errors so I re-read even after publishing and correct them incase I find any flaws till the script is perfection (from my pov)
Initially, I use to just post on Wattpad and you could just correct/edit things in the published chapters without anyone getting any ping or notification but (which I learnt recently) sends an update notification to the people following..
I didn't know about this so for any inconveniences caused by me, I apologize deeply.
I will try my best to never let this happen again.
Alright, That's all for today! See y'all next time on the next chapter!
I shall update soon!~