Her inability to work the crime scene as she'd like frustrated Raya to no end. It was the price for her stepping in for Malcolm, though. New York wasn't like Gotham, after all. They didn't allow their consulting profilers to gather their own private samples or process evidence. They had medical examiners and specially trained forensic personnel for such things. Her hands were further tied by her promise to not take to the rooftops as Fenix. New Yorkers were not accustomed to costumed heroes traipsing around their city and solving crimes as the people of Gotham. It was the job of the police to solve crimes and arrest those responsible for committing them. They existed solely for that purpose in many New Yorkers mind.
Much as she wanted to shed her slacks and blouse for the black bodysuit she wore underneath, she couldn't. Fenix wasn't needed here, Agent Kean was. Meaning she'd have to investigate Hartley's disappearance… discreetly. Utilize other things in her arsenal to figure out where Hartley had gone. And who the deadman in his office is.
The Batdrone proved a huge help in exploring the roof, street, and buildings around Hartley's office. As did her contacts in creating a virtual map of Hartley's office she could purview later without interruption.
Neither, though, replaced good ole fashioned detective work. The kind she learned from her uncle, adopted parent and mentor, and the man talking with Detectives Tarmel and Powell. Now's a good time to go and do some investigating of my own, she decided, edging her way to the door.
Talons, like their overlords, preferred cool shadows and burning silence to carry out their orders.
As does the Bat who hunts them.
The facts of the case, on the surface, anyway were pretty straightforward. A man had been killed at some point in the evening by a Talon. Brought to Hartley's office. Placed in the chair behind his desk.
Those facts were supported by evidence.
Indisputable.
What could be contested was how the man got into Hartley's office and how the one responsible for bringing him there, exited.
The office door had been bolted from the inside.
The window had been opened despite the chilliness of the night.
Each a ruse.
Specifically designed to throw them off the scent.
Keep them from giving pursuit.
And prevent us from figuring out what actually happened in Hartley's office.
She wasn't so easily deterred.
Raya moved out into the hallway. Nobody paid her any mind. She was the acting profiler on the case. Searching for clues was how she'd create her profile.
Not that she needed one.
Talons were diabolical, methodical, and deadlier than Lady Shiva and David Cain.
Given the only way to stop a Talon was either to freeze them in ice or immolate them.
Neither an option should she find herself engaging one of the assassins. A voice inside her head — which sounded suspiciously like Alfred's — urged her to flash Batman and let him know what was going on. There was no time to waste, though.
Not if her suspicions about what actually happened in Hartley's office were correct.
Raya entered the office on the right of Hartley's. The lack of a name on the door was her first clue about this not being an actual office. Her next one was how everything was in perfect order. Books neatly lined the gleaming shelves. Papers were piled on the desk in an orderly fashion. A place for everything and everything in its place, she mused as she moved to the wall connecting the offices.
She ran her fingers along the smooth paneling, searching for what'd confirm her theory about how the Talon obtained entry into Hartley's office. She found what she was looking for a second later. To a casual observer, the small owl would appear as nothing more than some design etched into the wood. To a trained detective like her, however, it was the Holy Grail.
She gently pushed on the owls chest. In response, a door-sized segment of the bookcase swung outward, exposing the body slumped over Hartley's desk. Detectives Powell and Tarmel swung around to look at her with identical looks of surprise while Gil fisted his hands on his hips and frowned.
"Didn't I tell you to stay in here?"
"Did you?"
"I did."
"Well, I must not have heard you when you said it."
"Oh, you heard it." Gil crossed over to her in two long strides. "You just chose to ignore it."
"I'd never ignore a direct order."
"Like hell you wouldn't." He stared into the dark office. "Whose office is this?"
"Nobody's."
"Nobody's?" One brow winged up at her nod. "Why is there furniture in it then?"
"To make it look occupied."
"This how you figure Talon entered Hartley's office with the body?"
"And exited, too."
Tendrils of guilt slithered through Raya. She should tell them what she suspected: that the Talon who entered Hartley's office and Jonathan Hartley were one and the same. She wasn't ready to reveal what she believed. All she had was her gut feeling. She lacked sufficient evidence to support her claim. I'll get it, though.
"Explains how they got in with Hartley's door locked." Detective Tarmel ambled over to where Raya and Gil stood. "Bypassed it entirely."
"That's how the Court likes to operate." Raya moved back into the dark office. "Bypass the laws, circumvent the rules, and get rid of whoever stands in their way."
"Are hidden doors like this common in businesses in Gotham?" Detective Powell frowned as she examined the books on the shelves. "Because they're not common here."
"You're not dealing with the normal criminal class here, Detective Powell." She walked the perimeter of the room, mapping it as she had Hartley's office for examining later. "The Court supersedes the mafia, the Cartel, the Taliban even in terms of threat level."
"Yeah, all we needed was some crazy ass cabal getting involved with this Endicott mess."
Raya hummed a noncommittal reply as she continued her scan. The UV filters built into her contacts detected droplets of blood starting at the chair in front of the desk. She followed them to the window, opened like in Hartley's office. This time, however, it wasn't a ruse. Whoever used that window to gain entrance into this office. And exited from it, too.
Raya moved to it. A scan of the floor under the window revealed additional droplets of blood. Ignoring Gil's less than discreet clearing of the throat, she climbed out onto the ledge and scanned the stone exterior of the building. Additional splotches of blood — belonging to the man slumped over Hartley's desk, of that there was no doubt — started at the top of the window and continued up to the roof. Fresh gouges could also be seen in the thick stone.
As if somebody clawed their way up the side of the building.
Someone with blood on their hands.
Or talons, in this case.
"What is it?" Gil poked his head out the window. "You find something?"
"Blood." She indicated a smudged handprint. "And this."
"I'll have forensics process the room." His brow furrowed as Raya drew out a length of unbreakable monofilament wire from her pocket. "Kid, whatever you're thinking about doing, the answer is no."
"I need to follow the evidence, Gil." Raya tossed the line at a stone fixture. "It's the only way to figure out what happened to the man dead in Hartley's office."
"You could use the stairs leading up to the roof access then."
"This way is faster." Her lips split into a wide, mischievous grin. "And more fun."
She scaled the building, heedless of the lecture she'd get from Gil when she returned or the headlines there'd be if she went splat. She spied a Talon, identifiable by their black body armor, cowl, and the dual swords fixed to their back in ornately designed sheaths, crossed the rooftop in long, confident strides.
Notably absent was Jonathan Hartley.
Furthering Raya's theory about him being the malignant assassin.
Her arrival didn't escape the Talon's notice. They peered over their shoulder at her, those round owl-like goggles gleaming with a feral intensity that left her cold to the marrow of her being. She imagined this was how Bruce felt while he was down in the Courts labyrinth and facing off against these rabid mongrels.
Not that he spoke of his ordeal.
Any of them.
He had no need to really.
She earned her degree in trauma long before she ever cracked open a textbook on the subject.
We all rose from the ashes. Became what the predators fear.
Most anyway.
A familiar scent — coppery and sweet — teased at Raya's nostrils as she pulled herself up onto the roof. A tremor snaked through her hands, up her arms, across her shoulders as a vase of roses — always red — tumbled across her visual field.
Not now! she silently raged as Talon shimmered before her. Not when I am facing such a diabolical fiend as this!
The world faded away despite her efforts to remain grounded in the present.
The crack of gunfire split the silence in two.
A scream she distantly recognized as her own filled her ears.
Her mother was falling, collapsing on the small table in the middle of the entryway, and upsetting a vase of roses.
They rained down upon her as she fell, pooled around her broken body, perfumed the air with their sickly sweet scent.
Bile foamed up into her mouth, almost burst from between her clenched teeth. Sweat popped out on her forehead, dotted her upper lip.
Bands formed around her head, her chest.
Tightening, tightening until she thought she might pass out.
Panic was an icy poker in her burning belly.
A shadow loomed.
A predator of a different sort.
One she feared far more than she did the Court's deadly killers.
They whispered one word: "Rise."
It snapped Raya back to the present. She shoved the memories and panic back — not away because that was beyond her — with a strength Bruce would've been proud of. She made herself focus as she confronted the hooded assassin.
She had never confronted a Talon before.
Not alone, anyway.
There was no choice, however. Even if she sent out a distress call, none of the others could reach her in time. I can't let Hartley escape. He's key to unlocking what the Court has planned and putting a stop to it.
"Hartley!" She raised her voice just enough so the assassin could hear her. "I know it's you under that cowl."
"I'm afraid you're wrong, Doctor Kean." Talon turned and resumed striding across the rooftop. "I am not Jonathan Hartley."
What the…? Raya's eyebrows shot up to her hairline as that rich, velvety baritone washed over her. He's not Hartley.
No, his voice was eerily familiar…
It can't be…
Other things leapt out at Raya as the seconds ticked by. This Talon's mask bore a distinctly familiar pattern around the eyes. They were also broad-shouldered, thickly muscled, and taller than most Talons.
They also moved with catlike grace.
Much like Bruce.
He also hasn't attacked me as other Talons would have, she realized, senses tingling with familiarity and uncertainty.
Was this a new Talon or one the Court brought out of hibernation with some other purpose than to kill all the firstborn children of their members?
Her money was on him being a new Talon.
One who shared many of the same physical characteristics as the Wayne patriarch.
"Who are you?" She called to the assassin's retreating back. "And why are you here?"
"The answers you seek, Doctor Kean?" The assassin paused on the edge of the roof but did not turn. "They await you in Jonathan Hartley's office."
And then he was gone.
A/N: Hello, all! Hope this finds you well!
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