I know I was supposed to update this yesterday but I wanted to wait. I will probably update this story on Saturday or Sunday, as for my other story, I could update that now but I'm gonna be cruel and make people wait for the next chapter. This chapter might be a little shorter than the others but bear with me. Now, without further ado, the story.

Previously:

Bruce heard him say one last thing.

"De ce could't doar lasă -mă în pace*?"

What on earth does that mean? Bruce thought to himself as he jumped into the batmobile and sped home. He had a lot of work to do.

****Linebreak Thingy!****

Shadow couldn't sleep. He had arrived back at his "home" and did a quick check around his gang before heading to the rundown apartment building he called a house. His room consisted of a old springy bed in one corner, a beat up couch positioned in front of a back wall with a TV mounted on it. He had a small kitchen area located to the left of his front door. To the right, was another room filled with all kinds of tech. Monitors and security feeds lined all the wall and a large black swivel chair sat in the center of it all. A computer keyboard was positioned on the chair so that it could be folded up or down to allow access to the chair. Shadow liked this part of his house the most. Sighing as he once again rolled over on his bed, Dick stood up and walked into his tech room. As he turned his attention to one of the screens showing footage of his own gang, he let his mind wander. It was a talon. Dick didn't know how the assassin didn't recognize him but he was very thankful for it. As for the warning? Why wouldn't the talon have just pinned them against the wall and straight up asked (demanded) if they knew where Dick Grayson was? Shadow shook his head in frustration. It didn't make sense. Nothing made sense! He knew that the court would be looking for him ever since he ran away but he also knew that they would never willingly show themselves to the bat. It was basically owl law never to let anyone see you. They didn't talk to anyone when they went on mission and they certainly never made such sloppy kills as he had seen last night! Either that assassin from last night was new and the court wasn't as strict anymore, or they were desperate. Dick sighed again, something he had been doing an awful lot of lately and refocused on the screens in front of him. On one screen, he could see one of his older and more trusted members talking to the new guy Steve. With a click of a button, he began to listen in (no not eavesdrop, that would be rude) on their conversation.

"You just have to know your place and be loyal. Don't break the rules and you won't have any reason for anyone to get mad at you." Phillis was talking

"Right, right...um what exactly are the rules?" Steve looked absolutely lost

"Rule number one, if Shadow ain't here, you follow the commands of me, the second in command. Number two, don't go picking fights with anyone because Shadow is sure to end them. Three no killing. At all. Four, if you steal anything, you give a fourth of it to Shadow and five, if you hear anyone talking about making a move against Shadow, you report it to me or the big man himself. Understood?" Steve nodded in response "You look like you have some questions of your own."

"Just one really, or maybe two, but anyway, how old is Shadow? I mean I always thought he was some big guy at least in his thirties but…" Phillis let out a loud laugh and Dick couldn't help but smirk at the screen

"No one really knows how old he is but my guess is eleven, thirteen at the most. His age aren't common knowledge cause when he's beating the crap out of you, your brain doesn't really process nothing except for the fact that there is a black blur flitting about and taking down your friends. Plus, since he has some voice modifying tech or something, I'm assuming he doesn't sound his age when he confronts people outside his own gang." Shadow was so proud, he had such observant gang members

"I noticed that! When he first appeared in the alley and told me to follow him, his voice was lower than when he told me the directions to this place!"

"I've never really heard him use it before," Phillis rubbed his chin thoughtfully, "I guess he doesn't feel like he need it in his own gang cause everyone here knows that he can kick their buts no matter how old." Standing up, Shadow muted his feeds and turned to the door. He flopped down on the couch and snapped on the TV before promptly turning it off again after seeing that all the news stations were focusing on the murder he had seen last night.

"Man I wish they would all just disappear." Dick groaned as the image of the talon came back to him. If it was Dick performing that kill, he would never have been so sloppy. They would have been clean and quick to avoid unnecessary attention. Unless he wanted attention? Dick froze. Could it be possible that the court wanted Batman's attention?

"Crap." Shadow quickly grabbed his suit and threw it on before reaching for his motorcycle helmet. As he roared out of his garage, Dick's thoughts began to fly faster. It all made sense now. Well most of it anyway. The court knows that Batman will try to solve this case. Who are the talons? What court? Dick could just imagine Bruce's fingers flying across his massive keyboard before he screeched to a stop on his motorcycle. His mind froze. He had given Bruce his name. He. Had. Given. Batman. His. Name. Revving his bike once more, he sped onward towards Wayne manor. He needed to get to Batman before the court somehow figured out what he was researching because he was undoubtedly searching for information on a Dick Grayson as well as trying to find anything that had to do with a court or talons. If the Court of Owls found out that Batman was researching Dick Grayson, they would come to the conclusion that he knew where he was. That would be bad. Dick sped up and began to take sharper turns as he got closer to the manor. Just then, he heard a piercing screech and turned to see a car heading straight for him. There was no time to dodge so Shadow did the only thing that came to mind. He threw the bike and jumped. The bike and car collided and Dick skidded to a stop in front of an old pizza restaurant.

"Oww." Dick groaned and painfully got to his feet. Testing his limbs one by one he winced as he tried to stretch his left arm. Definitely broken. He also had a number of scrapes all over his body. One very sizeable cut on his knee was bleeding heavily and Dick staggered. The smaller cuts were beginning to heal and for once, Shadow was glad that the court had taken him. Once he regained his bearings, he began to limp in the direction of Wayne manor. It was only a couple of blocks away and Dick was certain he could get there before dawn. As he painfully made his way along the darkened Gotham streets, he continued to ponder what he thought the Court was trying to do.

"Hello there." Shadow whipped his head around and came face to face with a young redhead girl dressed up in a bat suit.

Dun, dun dun! Yeah so my younger sister told me I should try and leave this story with a cliffhanger so hopefully this will appease her. Please, please, please, tell me what you think about this chapter. Sorry if there wasn't much action in it but it was mostly a thinking chapter and a set up so that Dick meet Babs.