The Court of Owls - Family of the Cowl - Silent Night

by Inkblot24

Following the years of the Grayson clan; right before the birth of a Chosen Child, the family of the cowl gathers at Wayne's Manor to bond during the holidays, yet find more than they'd originally bargained for. When a familiar, secret organization leaps at the chance to take over Gotham City, will the proud bat - family remain standing? Find out! Silent Night in Gotham; starts.

8. Chapter 8

The Court or Owls – Family of the Cowl; Silent Night

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Chapter 8: And the Ball Drops in…...

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Kori sat by the phone and waited, and waited.

Longer than their original mission, she'd only spoke to the Wayne family butler that entire week about fifteen times. Dick wasn't coming home, Ava was whipping out the tears as the two sat in their flat and readied to watch the ball drop into this next, larger than life, new year.

Until the worst fell upon them. On the screen of the Grayson's flat screen television was a warning to all the world orders. Rather, far worse as Gotham was where a criminal this large had been broadcasting from.

Riddler.

Kori gasped and scooped up her baby girl with all of her given strength. Even the people of her world who were about to give birth did not fall to something so trivial as a terrorist like the Riddler. She left the room, not watching as he kept the people globally, glued to their broadcasted network; Times Square lit up so magnificently, and a green imp was there to ruin it for everyone.

Starfire flew off to one place she knew was the safest. Titans Tower, where she'd not have to deal with being brainwashed by a psychopath in the least, not while Ava still needed her and Dick was counting on them both to hold down the fort.

She was a caregiver, not a nanny. Starfire flew higher up to look and find that the city was a ghost town, people still glued to the ball dropping which made very little sense to the alien warrior princess.

"I do not think we will be staying in our home tonight, little bumgorf." Starfire hushed her dear Ava with a tight hug as they landed by the bay, where Gar was waving up top to let he join them in a series of debates.

"Dick still isn't back from his mission?" Gar held out a hand as Ava high fived him. "Hewo Uncle Gar!" She smiled sweetly and jumped into his arms as her fears fell away. "Are you with Auntie Rachel right now?" She asked, big lavender orbs fixed on his green ones. "She's inside, cutie. Are you what, five already –

"No, I'm three!" She held up her tiny pale fingers like snow to show the hero. "Next year I will be…. four! Right, mama?"

"We will have a big party to honor such a day, my knorfkinna!" Smiled the mother back to her kid. Ava yawned and leaned her head onto Gar's shoulder, feeling a bit of stubble tickle her face. "You...are tired too?" Her power of deduction had to come from her father's side.

"We have a lot of work, sorry for the beard." He chuckled.

She dozed off in his arms as Kori came along to speak of the mess her citizens had come across tonight.

"New Years is canceled, again." Roy sighed and ran a hand over his face, while Cy had to bring Bee to join the party - what had remained of it, however...

"First Joker, Mad Mod, and then…."

"Riddler is still alive? These psychos have to be a hundred by now!" Groaned the red headed hero as he took in a deep breath.

"I think they trick us a lot too soon with appear –

"Ey! Speak a ringin' in the new year. Starfire! Gar? Is that kid…" She recognized the child from a time with spirits and whatnots.

"She is called Ava Marie, and yes." Starfire nodded. "She is a part of Isa's prophecy as we have all predicted is to occur."

/

"So, Isis just up an' dumped her on you? That's terrible!" Bee did not understand with Roy why this was important. As Kori was coxed to sit while still a few months from giving birth to twins, she barely showed it through her nine stomachs that she'd been in any pain upon her landing. Starfire's people were stubborn like that.

"Ava was, normal to us at first. She was two and does not recall her day of conception or anything about…it was as if her memory of a mother is not real, Isa was very strict however and said that she must not be told until her power –

"Power? Where did she come from?"

"She, was born to help us rid the dragon from my " hrrnir." She stated. "From my love's mind, for good."

"Roku, that's why Isa didn't say much. She's doin' her own thing again…" Cy shook his head. "But we can't just wait for back up to come by, we have to stop the broadcast –

"Batman is not –

"He's…" Raven had entered the room with a sigh. "Starfire, I'll keep Ava company. For now, Cyborg needs to tell you something."

" You? With kids –

"I'm not useless, I know she'll be fine." Raven frowned at Gar. "Trust me, please?"

"I will, for we know you are a fast learner, Rachel" Starfire smiled and scooped up her child for Raven to see just how easy being a caregiver could be. A light flutter of her cloak, and Raven swept off to have little Ava at peace while the grown ups spoke of grown up things.

/

Deathstroke hated it. Slade was practically getting paid one - hundred grand a day by the billionaire to keep a watch out for his kid. His still missing first, and Slade didn't like to wait this long for a job to be completed.

The Bat's kids had been wiser and had just so happened to keep searching no matter their busy schedules. Real watch dogs, especially –

He scanned a spot with his binoculars. Shit. Right time as any to –

"Thought you'd be half way across the country, ya lousy deserter."

"Hello, Red Hood…" Slade heavily drew in a breath and pinched his temples. Red stood with his arms crossed, blocking the man's exit with muscle and enough angst for the both of them.

"I took my ass down to easy street – not too easy, and a few fellas told me you had been there."

"I was gathering intel like I was asked to by your papa." Slade answered.

"And they told me you met with an owl."

Slade turned to the bat's most defiant and tried to hold back a chuckle. "Are you really this dense, reject? I'm doing a –

"You sold him out, to them."

"I'm trying to –

"You…." Jay stomped over as Slade played the victim, earning Tim and Cass's ear from high atop a tall rooftop ledge.

"Red Hood! Stop it!" Tim dove in on a grappler while Cass came to kick the dope from her end, tackling him as they stood squarely eying Slade from the side. "Can we just agree that my info is more valid that his already?? He sold Dick to Cobb's cult! I know he's a big –

"We don't have proof, but I'll be sure to do a sweep of any sources you've come across. In the mean time, Cass? Keep Deathstroke preo –

"If Wayne didn't ask for your siblings to baby sit, why am I being boxed into his melodrama?" Slade snorted as Cass maneuvered to stay on the merc's side where his eye was to a slight disadvantage.

"He did, but he won't tell his client. Not with your kill list, sir." Jay huffed defensively, being that Bruce would have given him the ok, had any of this made sense.

"Getting to the owls was the only way to get a lead, a real one. No matter how risky." Slade narrowed his eye as Cass stood by, waiting to strike. "Why on your own, old man? Why not with us? Are we that scary ta' you?" Jay snarkily snipped with an attitude to boot. "Tim, change of plans. I'll stick to cave duty and YOU can keep DS from his overrated BS with Cass here."

"Who is watching whom, now?" Slade's voice went up an octave below the metal mask. "I'm here to make bank. To make peace. You kids won't keep up, I can't put –

"What I say goes." Jay was second eldest and the hard head of the group. Slade dropped his shoulders and relented with a heaved sigh. "Fine, outlaw." He replied. "I give, but if they don't make it out of the Owl's headquarter –

~ Red Robin, come in! ~

Tim's ears perked up. He put a hand to his ear's mini communicator. "Babs? Not a good time –

~ No, listen. Bruce just alerted me of a wide scale broadcast. Riddler is trying to ruin the new year. We don't have time to stop and have me explain. Go to Gotham Central Broadcasting Center and shut down his transmission. I'm out in Blud attempting to jam the signal until someone shows to handle the heavy lifting. ~

"Even if Dick i…"

~ I know, but Blud's been through worse. Zombies is not even the tip of our tiny ice berg. Have DS finish his run later. Bruce said he'll pay you extra for "putting the Riddler in a bad spot." ~ She put up quotation marks with her fingers as she said it.

"Sounds more like his butler." Slade snorted. "What was the time the Riddler started his broadcast? How long do we have until the countdown?"

~ Twenty-five minutes since, the total to complete the mission? Thirty-five, maybe six. I imagine once the head boss is shot down – not literally, DS…the rest should be done before we're singing "Auld Lang Syne. ~

"Gesundheit." Jason smirked with a joking, wry tone.

"Not now, Jay." Tim was the smartest of the bunch. Possibly the second bet Robin only to Dick…Slade didn't want this. He wanted to get back to his real job. Liberating his captured prince from his glassy prison deep underground.

/

Slade knew where the kid "Golden boy" was. Jay had told Bruce exactly what the madman didn't want to hear. That he'd been compromised, by a kid.

Slade's ego had nothing to do with Red Hood's dislike of anyone who'd hurt his brothers. He was a loyal hound, begging to just have a slice of the pie before changing his tune. Slade thought, in a word. Indecisive, as Red X had been when his quips had gotten too old to keep up with that farce.

He'd returned to harass the man and they'd fought back in Blud. Baring fangs before that perfect specimen had decided to break the two love birds up. Slade tasted a raw kind of tang on his tongue, guilt… no. It was disgust. That Dick's attitude as serious as it had been had been whittled away…by whatever fate had in store, just because of some myth or a prophecy. If the owls were smart, they'd let Dickie go before the dragon woke up. Slade would be pleased either way; the hero was no hero in his eyes, he couldn't be with a demon keeping him bound and gagged to not tell a soul. Roku was aggressive, and so was Slade when it came time to having what he'd come to expect. Now, how to ditch mini – bat – and – a – half, over here?

/

Tim's senses were jittery as they found the door blocked by suit wearing drones. Ties pressed, only not out to ring in the new year. Gotham was under siege by more lookers tonight than loons, but whatever could keep down a ten-ton bag of flesh and muscle? Deathstroke decided to find out if he still had the knack to hack up some trouble.

"Peek – a – boo!" Whispered Black Bat as she let herself be masked, right before Tim and Slade took to bringing down the three stooges with only their brute strength to guide them.

"Good job, but we still have –

"Allow me." Slade pulled out a disk from is belt and stuck the shifty device to the steel door. That opened the secured lock with a few beeps, not letting the three waste their time outside in Gotham's coldest month. Chicago might as well differ from the Big Apple, but never Gotham city and its earlier winters.

/

"You carry those things around often?" Tim whispered to the merc who let up a hand, cautioning the teens to stay alert. "Kane? You're up."

Cass nodded and made sure to not be seen as the cameras were swiftly blanked out, left barren of their attempts as an open door for good measure had Slade exhale. Good. She was still Shiva's kid. Nothing could change that fact.

/

The room was dim but there stood an unmistakable face as Slade slunk closer than thee kids, trying to play the pro while Batman and Steph took to fighting the goons – had he set them up to come here?

Slade cursed under his breath. Something smelled fishy. He turned to Tim and Cass who'd already gone into the fray. Slade just looked to see if their nemesis had a plan b, which he did…but then…

A shadow moved. Slade noticed the height, adult. An assassin, maybe?

He crept over as the kook was cloaked in his tech, his ability to remain unseen. Slade's mask however had a built-in part that even the Titans had forgotten about. His eye was given a single lens that could detect this sort of scoundrel. Hiding under his radar, it would have to flee just in time –

"Deathstroke!" Bruce was keeping Riddler's collar to eye level, his face riddled in itself with displeasure. The man was going after some off time if he just stood gawking, so Slade addressed the bat, ignoring the lurking shadow. "Didn't know you'd meant this station, Batman."

"Death is here to ring the bell too?? What are the odds –

"Zero to none." Slade shot at the green clad flop. "Nice element of surprise. Does it come in the color red, or would you rather go out with a…bang!"

"Don't hurt me!" The goofy villain hated Slade's eye more than Bat's at that moment. Tim and Steph made sure the police were on their way, while the broadcast was officially canceled. The new year ball could continue.

~ Great work, team! I'm happy to be a part of… ~

Babs was on about how thankful she was, while Slade and Bruce discussed the shadow.

"An assassin? Or a spy." Bruce rubbed his chin. "This felt too staged, like a distraction." Slade looked at the kids who were just celebrating the god old days their way. Bruce was, out of place amid the peer pressure. He and Slade took this case rather seriously. Cass watched from over her shoulder as the men spoke, muttering that there was something else to check on when the fanfare had died.

"Can you stay?"

"Will your kids beat me up if I say yes?" Slade cocked a brow, watching Cass squint at the mad man from her line of sight.

"I'll speak to them, but for now you seem to have the biggest risk; infiltrating the hall that the owls are keeping so sacred. I've been there and it was not a pleasant experience."

"Dully noted, but your ward is under their care. I am hoping to stop whatever they have planned before he shows his face. Though, I did promise to stay clear –

"This time, I'll permit it IF it's only to save my son."

Slade smirked below the mask. "As you wish, Batman. I'll require some incentive for the trouble."

"Done."

"Pleasure doing business with you."

Bruce nodded.

"And to many more."

"Auld lang?" Slade chuckled. "You do have a fun side, then."

"Only for my family. But this changes nothing, Slade." Bruce's eyes still remained hardest on him. "Jason has you pinned as a double agent dealing in chaos."

"I'm many things, but a job is a job."

"You worry about him; I want to know why."

/

Slade blinked, his one eye masking his true feelings. "Worry? We have a history; I respect your kid but I'd assure you and his family, that this is all more so my burden to bear. Not his –

"Jason told me about your run ins in Blud, about how things with your code, changed. Like in Jump city."

"Ah, those memories wouldn't stand the test of time. Did X back then not fuss over the hero?"

"You still are clinging to your history, so after he's back with his family, you'll crawl back to whatever trench you came from. Unless, needing you was a m-

"Understood." Slade huffed. "You drive a hard bargain. He's respected, like a sun to this weed growing on an icy patch, we are only connected by that dual energy of your dragon's making." Slade said. "Roku haunts me every waking hour. It's inevitable, unless the dragon pushes his switch."

"Is that now, with Cobb?" Bruce crossed his arms, waiting. Deliberating. Wilson was in league with the dragon, Dick could be its target. While the Owls…. might have only been pushed to do this BY the dragon, as he'd previously unraveled. "It's a start. I have an alias and, the fight with Todd you saw was staged."

"You kept them up on their toes?"

"Maybe. Can't say, he did look pretty miffed by my being on the case."

Bruce let his cape sweep round as he turned to face his family. "Jason knows Robin's role first because of Grayson's sacrifice."

"What about the fabled, spat." Slade cocked an eye over to Tim, who'd looked over the footage to erase and keep what evidence was needed for the police to decide the Riddler's fate.

"It doesn't last, not like it had with you and Dick I imagine…"

Frowning, Bruce did not know the half of the man's relationship, nor did Slade his. This merc had nearly driven his ideals into that poster boy's skull. Whether poor Wayne wanted to deny it, Dick respected Wilson as much as loathed him. Like father, like son.

"I'll be taking my leave for tonight." Slade waved off the group, not wanting to break character.

"Drive home safe!" Cheekily, Spoiler grinned as she called back over to their monkey in the middle. Their last man to be brought up to bat. He nodded, then vanished down the hall. When outside, he was met face to face with two of his new favorite partners.

"Hood, and Night..." Slade looked directly at the men, expecting a set of fire crackers and a bottle of champagne in Todd's hands to show. He only held onto his resolve rather tightly, impressing Slade.

Well, well…

"Ready to go, DS?" Midnighter brought up the question first, eager to leave the upper world behind.

Red Hood crossed his arms, swearing this was the last time he'd give Slade any cookies from the jar for being a good bloodhound like the rest of them.

"Ready, and Batman doesn't suspect much tonight."

"Then Dick can get his glass and toast with the rest of us. Perfect start to the new year in my book." Todd grinned, trying to picture a drunken Dick, but failing at it badly. Family man, like that? Pass the tetsubin around instead for that lightweight!

"Let's go. We've waited long enough." The men nodded in unison and left to find the next entrance to Cobb's little hide away, where the owls were busy with a new years resolution of their own.

/