Hello everyone and welcome to chapter 3 of Reconciliation. I can't thank all of you enough for all the feedback I'm getting on this work so far. It's really been motivating me to push through and complete more chapters. This chapter is just setting up all the chaos that's about to happen in the next handful of chapters, so bear with me through it. Sadly, I still don't own any fraction of the DC universe. I hope you'll favorite, follow, review and enjoy as always.

Chapter 3

Revise

rəˈvīz/

verb

1.

reconsider and alter (something) in the light of further evidence.

It was Talon's third day with the Junior Justice League. Needless to say, it was boring. Half the time he was groggy from the doses of pain medication, and the other half he could do nothing but sit around as the team watched him. M'gann and Superboy watched him once he woke up, then Kauldar helping Superboy once M'gann left for school, Wally afterwards, Artemis and then Superboy and M'gann once more. Everyday was the same, he wasn't even allowed to train, much less do his school work.

Hopefully, Bruce had been able to come up with a good excuse for him to be away from school for so long.

Hanging out with the team was nothing compared to hanging around the Gotham villains. Whereas they were fairly unpredictable, the team followed a strict schedule. And should he be in a better condition, it would have been easy to slip away. But he didn't want them to come to Gotham to go after him, nor did he want to have another encounter with the Man of Steel. It'd become apparent after their last encounter that he'd overstepped his bounds and it frightened him to think of what would happen next time they met.

During his first day, Black Canary had given him some civilian clothes, and while he'd gladly changed, he hadn't taken the mask off yet. Wally'd been great, constantly including him as if they'd been friends forever. Superboy was warming up to him but remained wary. Artemis would occasionally realize how familiar she was acting with Talon before cutting herself off again. M'gann treated him like a child, constantly over enthusiastic but he didn't particularly mind the treatment.

"Whatca thinking about?" Wally questioned from where he was doing his homework. He wore his uniform, just as the others had been ordered to do at all times in the cave when Talon was there.

"When I can talk to my lawyer about being held against my will," Dick replied, nonchalantly as always, flipping through a magazine about Gotham's favorite playboy. It was an old joke by now, but judging by Wally's laugh, he still appreciated the humor.

"Can't help it, the League is still debating on what to do with you," Wally shrugged. His hand darted towards the bowl of chips Dick had been snacking from, only to be slapped away. The villain had long since grown use to his super speed.

"The least they could do was let me train a bit. I'm getting stiff," Dick replied, scanning over the page some journalist had written about Richard Grayson and stifling a laugh. They either viewed him as a pitiful orphan or someone after the Wayne fortune. If only they knew the truth about Owlman and Talon.

The duo were silent for a moment as they both returned to their individual reading, Wally occasionally trying to steal a handful of chips. Silently, Talon wondered what the Gotham villains were up to. He'd only recently convinced Harley to move out of Joker's place and in with Ivy, hoping to quell her abuse. Mr. Freeze had recently talked about a new possible cure to his wife's illness he'd wanted Dick to look at. And he'd recently gotten the Mad Hatter to start seeing a psychiatrist. Even Scarecrow had started looking into starting his own practice in Gotham. The last thing Dick wanted was to have all his hard work undone by his absence.

Or perhaps the villains would be fine on their own. Unlikely.

Maybe Bruce would go and check up on all of them. Equally unlikely.

Despite Owlman's constant communication with the Gotham villains, Bruce was still bad when it came to interacting with them on personal terms—well with all the villains but Catwoman. It made most the villains reluctant to go to him for advice or to report of new criminals. The stony facade wasn't all bad. It was Owlman's likeness to Batman that kept the Joker from resenting his fellow villain for killing Batman.

While they still followed all of Owlman's rules, they still enjoyed playing the occasional prank on the villain, usually with Dick's help. After all, everyone enjoyed seeing Owlman in a pink version of his suit every once in a while. If Bruce was still Batman, Dick doubted he'd have such a fighting chance when it came to helping the villians of Gotham.

"Hey, dude, can I ask you a question?" Wally abputly questioned, openly staring at Dick.

Dick closed the magazine, turning his attention to Wally with a sly grin. "Haven't you already?"

Wally rolled his eyes, "Seriously. Are you, are you like really a villain?"

Dick blinked, that hadn't exactly been a question he'd expected. But it was something he'd asked himself quite a bit. After all, what truely made someone a villain?

Was it their end goal? Well, Dick's goal was to make Gotham safe so no one would ever go through the same pain he had, and that seemed to be a similar goal to the Justice League who were heroes in any context.

Perhaps the way one achieved their goals? The worst crime Dick had ever committed was probably black mail. Even Bruce had never killed, unless you counted indirectly. But all he did was scare those who opposed Owlman. Rather, according to the Justice League he was Batman's killer, so in that respect, Owlman was a villain.

But Talon? Dick wasn't really sure what qualified him as a villain. Working with Owlman? Hanging out with the Gotham rouges? Gallivanting at night with a mask and a cape?

"Talon?" Wally asked, looking at Dick.

Right, he needed to give Wally an answer. "I don't know," Dick admitted with a shrug.

And to be honest, he really didn't.

But maybe he didn't need to know.

Superman, ever since he had woken up, was angry. To be fair, he had been acting rather recklessly, but Talon worked with the villain who was responsible for Batman's death. It wasn't like Clark could just let that go. The whole world had mourned over the loss of Batman. And yet, Clark hadn't known anything about the Caped Crusader besides what he chose to show.

Talon was right, Batman hadn't trusted the Justice League. Perhaps, if he had trusted the rest of the League they would have been able to help him before Owlman killed him. They could have saved Gotham.

But now it was too late.

So while Clark was angry, it wasn't as if Talon was to be the victim of his rage. Clark was mad at himself for not trying harder to get Batman to open up. He was mad at Batman for not asking for the League's help. He was mad that without Batman there to guide him, Clark would be completly lost to the rage which boiled inside him.

Even if he was a hero in name, Clark doubted he did anyone any good. For what truely made someone a hero? Their goals? Their motivation? Or how others thought of them? Clark didn't know what made him a hero anymore.

While he was the beacon of hope to many, Clark needed a beacon to find his way out of the dark.

"Uh, Superman, there's someone at the Hall of Justice who wants to meet with you," Barry's voice crinkled through the comm link.

Clark sighed tiredly, pressing his fingers to the comm to open up the line. "Who is it, Flash?"

"It's Bruce Wayne. He says Owlman kidnapped his son."

It took half an hour for the heavy hitters of the Justice League to gather in the cramped conference room. Bruce sat at the end of the table, playing the worried parent. It wasn't like he had to worry about the League finding out he was acting, no one suspected such a thing out of a billionaire playboy anyway. But being surrounded by his colleagues was beginning to ware on his psyche.

At last Superman arrived, banging the doors to the room open and startling Flash. The Man of Steel looked just as high strung as when he fought Owlman. Although perhaps to Clark, this was another battle itself. Bruce couldn't imagine what he would do if he knew how close he was to his adversary.

"Superman, thank god you're here," Bruce breathed out. He reached into his suit pocket, pulling out the letter he had formulated with Ra's help some hours ago. His hands quivering, he handed it over to Clark. "I don't know why Owlman's doing this, I payed the protection fee, he's never done this before. Please, he wanted me to give that to you. I can't loose Richard. Please help me."

Clark examined the letter, breaking the seal as he read it out loud for the rest of the League to hear.

"Superman,

If you're reading this, it seems Mr. Wayne did his job. So for now his son his safe."

Bruce let out a choked sob. taking his handkerchief out of his pocket to wipe his eyes.

"But he will only remain so as long as you meet my demands. Should you fail to respond appropriately, I'm afraid young Richard's life will be cut short. As you know, Mr. Wayne funds your little play dates so I'm sure it'd be a shame if you lost your major investor with his son's blood on your hands.

As for my demands, you must release Talon at the Warehouse district of Gotham Harbor three days from now. If you put a tracker on him, Richard will die. If you attempt to follow him, Richard will die. And if you notify the police? He'll die. After Talon returns to my side, I will release Richard in front of Wayne Manor.

If you fail to comply with any of my demands and Richard faces an untimely death, then one of your sidekicks will be next. I hope you'll make the right decision.

Owlman."

"What should we do, Superman?" Aquaman questioned.

Bruce bristled, standing up and sending his chair tumbling backwards. "What do you mean? You should save my son! It's your fault Owlman took him in the first place. You aren't just going to let him get killed, are you?" Bruce shouted.

Diana took a step forward, putting her hand on Bruce's shoulder. "Mr. Wayne it's not that easy. Talon is a dangerous villian, we can't just release him. Surely we'll be able to rescue your son without meeting Owlman's demands."

"You heard him! If you try and look for him Owlman will kill him," Bruce snapped, pushing Diana's hand away from him. He turned to look at Superman who had been silent so far as he scanned the letter. "Please Superman, I can't lose Dick he's all that I have left. Don't have any children? You couldn't just let them die like that."

Clark looked stricken at his words. Exactly as Bruce had expected when he chose his wording. He knew of the rocky relationship Clark had with Superboy, and knew the Man of Steel didn't particularly realize what it meant ot be a father. If no one else would listen to him, he had to try and get Clark on his side.

"We'll make the trade," Clark decided after a moment later.

"But Superman-!" Oliver began to protest, cut short by Clark's glare.

"Before anything else, we need to make sure the civilians we protect and safe. As heroes it's our responsibility to protect those who need it. Don't worry Mr. Wayne. We will make sure your son is safely returned to you," Clark explained to the rest of the League.

"Thank you, Superman. Thank you."

"Hey Supes, mind if I stay in here and watch you?"

Superboy looked up from his training at Talon's question. Already, Superboy was used to seeing the boy around the mountain and come to expect it. "You can stay, just don't interrupt me," Superboy replied.

"Thanks." Talon took a seat on a pile of cushioned mats by the gym's wall. He began doing some basic stretches, demonstrating his flexibility, an attribute Connor was yet unable to master even with Black Canary's aid.

"I don't think I ever really thanked you. You know for saving me from that bomb that night. It would have been rather bad if you hadn't come back for me. So yeah, thanks."

"It was nothing, you saved us first. You stopped Luthor from killing us and you didn't turn us other to Owlman. So I mean, thanks for doing that."

Superboy couldn't say he particularly minded the company of the young villain. At least he wasn't as half aggravating as Wally could be sometimes with his consistent flirting with M'gann. But he couldn't help but feel like he was being studied as he furiously punched the large punching bag, releasing his pent up energy from days without a mission or word from the League.

"Do you have a name?"

Superboy jumped at the sudden question, barely moving out of the way when the punching bag swung back, almost hitting him in the face. "What are you talking about? It's Superboy," he responded gruffly, looking at Talon.

And even though Superboy couldn't see the young villain's eyes, he could have sworn he was rolling his eyes. "I meant a real name. Y'know like Clark or John or Ben. Superboy isn't a real name."

Superboy frowned, this was the first time anyone had brought up such a topic with him. It wasn't like having a name was useful when fighting crime. Superboy was Superboy that was it. "I don't have one," Superboy responded, turning back to his punching bag.

"Can I give you one then?" Talon asked, laying back on the mats as he obviously lost interest in watching Superboy.

"You can do whatever you want," he replied. Superboy couldn't care less what Talon wanted to call him. Training and managing his anger was on the top of his list of priorities.

"Okay."

The gym was silent for a few minutes besides the sound of the punching bag whisking through the air. It was peaceful, and soon enough Superboy lost himself in thought again.

"What about Heracles?"

"What for?" Superboy asked.

"For your name," Talon sighed, exasperated, "So what about it?"

Superboy shook his head. He thought Talon had given up on the name thing. But apparently not. At the very least he wasn't going to let the boy name him Heracles.

"Okay then. Alex?"

Another shake of the head.

"Dan?"

"No."

"David?"

"No."

"Hm, then maybe Thomas?"

Superboy shook his head, exasperated. He'd already had enough of Talon's game now. What was even the point of this? He had half a mind to tell the boy to scram and go find Kaldur instead of bugging him. At least the leader of their team would be a bit more patient with the boy.

"Connor?"

Superboy began to shake his head only to pause a moment later. Connor. It wasn't so bad.

"I see, if that one's no good then-"

"No, I like Connor. It's fine," Superboy interrupted.

"Really? That's great. Then, it's nice to meet you Connor," Talon perked up with a grin. He looked happy, perhaps even triumphant at finding a name Super- Connor liked.

"Thank you Talon."

Superboy wondered if he could talk Talon into giving up his life of crime to join the team. He'd be a worthy addition to their ranks and Superboy could already see them becoming good friends in the short amount of time they had spent together. Connor hoped Owlman would never come after Talon.

Klarion was ready. He'd talked Savage into revealing the location of the sidekick's base, after he'd learned the Justice League was hiding Talon there. Then, he had rallied up a few of his villainous colleagues to cause a bit of trouble for the League while he rescued Talon. There wasn't any point in committing himself to a rescue mission if the whole League showed up when he made it to Mount Justice.

Owlman had been silent for the past few days. For that, Klarion couldn't help but feel spiteful that he had yet to try and rescue his apprentice. At least that made matters easier on Klarion's part. He wouldn't have to worry about Owlman reclaiming Talon before Klarion had a chance to bring his fellow peer to the Light.

In just three days, Klarion will have rescued Talon and convinced his friend to join the Light. Together they would topple Kalrion's fellow comrades and cause as much chaos for the rest of the world as they saw fit. And no one could stop them. Not even the Justice League.