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.

12. Chapter 12

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

/

Chapter 12: All Locked Up!

/

Elvis joke; all shook up, locked up, fu*ed up? Never gets old!

/

Jason was getting out; he just had to time his escape –

Well, his time would have come, had Babs not screwed the mission up like –

"Hah! Jay! Hey! Tell these goons to –

" Tim ??" He rushed up to the bars and saw the masked Red Robin bite his tongue.

"They caught you, too?? I just found out that DS was BS'in us all along. Dickie is their freakin' God or –

"Be silent, prisoner!" The younger talon guard that Jay had failed to persuade to let him go was a wild card. He'd only gotten a bop on the nose for being so trusting with his time.

"So…. I know, that. Now…" Tim sighed, being swept over to a cell right beside Jay's exclusive suite. Not too sweet.

"That, DS –

"Slade formulated the whole thing as a way to get the dragon that the others told us about, to get his way, and Slade…to get Dick's loyalty. While the Court babysits until –

"Be Silent! Both of you… cretins!" The little talon was a brat, so Jay instinctively lowered his voice and with a nibble of his busted lip, he tried to let Tim know…with a brief nod, that he would pay Deathstroke and Cobb back ten – fold, before ever giving up on their goody – two - shoes big brother.

Tim just leaned against a far wall to count some still living, sheep.

/

Dick's eyes saw what Cobb wanted him to see, but he saw something else as the adult woke up with a start.

"Ah, you've risen." Cobb was there, yet so too was Slade and the Grand Leader of the Owls.

"You've been out of sorts since the ambush." Slade shrugged, playing along as Dorothy wasn't in Kansas at this very moment.

"I…had a strange dream –

"It won't have to be." The Grand leader spoke. "The Court has issued that you are to marry my daughter by the end of the day, and that your union will usher in a great allegiance for the Court to decide upon its new, future. Cobb?" The Grand Owl's Leader looked on expectedly at the masked; Deathstroke and Talon head elite.

"You are expected to have him ready for our ceremony by midnight, tonight."

It was now the new day at five am up above, but below it was not close to the time that the Owls might have wished. Slade nodded, letting Roku know that he had everything under control. He'd just have one loose end to tie up, and Grayson could leave his extended…family, to ruin.

He'd have no one else to turn to, and the dragon would leave Slade's head for another.

Easy - peasy.

Cobb, however…Had a thought. Just like a Grayson.

Always the bright-eyed detective.

Slade let his eye sway over towards the boy and his grandfather. Cobb looked happy, or relieved below the hood, but…that was to be debated once those noisy wedding bells began to chime.

~ If he weds a mortal, I can take hold of the court, making them my own personal drones to do my bidding. If, this does not offend? ~

~I'm on a rather tight schedule by tomorrow. ~ Slade told the being, telepathically through the speak. ~He'll be brainwashed before long so the bat and company won't be a problem if this works…~

~ We always have the incentive, ready to go at my command. ~ The dragon hissed in the man's ear.

~Goody. ~ Slade deadpanned, internally. ~I'll make sure my guns are fully loaded. ~

~ Be wary not of only Cobb, but the leader of this cult of bird – watchers. ~ The dragon's words died out as the man was brought back.

"Slade? You'll be in charge of keeping Gotham's "protectors" off of the road to our home." Cobb turned to the man as Slade agreed with a light nod. "Anything to protect your "Gray Son." He reassured, and Cobb was still not sure that he believed a killer's oath over his family's own.

/

Tim looked at every angle, even the walls for something to take apart and reassemble.

Jason just paced and whistled, bringing the kid talon to stomp over, unamused by the free elevator music.

"Are you deaf as –

"I can be tone – tolerant. Am I that off key?" He asked the kid, innocently.

Tim groaned in the next cell, head hitting the wall behind him, anxiously. "Not ok…. not ok…"

~Damn, dad! Where are you guys?? ~

He was stuck in an underground dungeon with Gotham's sec – um, third, biggest clown.

Harley counted as a second as seeing…. Joker would ruin his life for using the numbering system like that so easily.

"Should I start dancing a jig? Yodel?? How are you kids even able to crack a –

"OH! Oh, I see! You have a knife…or ten…"

"Should I pin you to the wall, insect?" The talon child growled back, impatiently. "Or would you rather attend your other sibling's funeral –

"I'm not a part of this –

"Shut up! I'm tired of being looked down on by clowns and idiots! I made it here, at Cobb's side and everything will go as planned!" The talon raised its blades up with a grin.

"Plan, as in…" Tim leaned in, feeling interested.

"I'm not telling a soul; we have strict orders."

"About, Dick?" Jay cocked a brow.

The kid's face switched, turning red, then twisting with malice at the one word it readied to strike Todd's lip open.

"Are you implying –

"I meant, our brother. The one, that Cobb is obsessed with." Tim rolled his eyes while Jason held back a snicker. "Were you getting all antsy under the mask, brat?" He laughed at the owlet.

"He's a very important person. The "Gray – Son?" The kid quizzed, eyes skeptically gazing back at the two men. "The bringer of order to New Gotham? Are …you have no clue what he was before the change…??"

"Change? As in his family life or his tighty whites?" Jay had to add that in for good measure.

"SHUT.UP." Tim seethed at the clown's words. His face starting to peel off in shame. Insane! Did the pit fry Jay's sense of decorum!?

"You…you are being cruel!" The kid pulled down its hood as the men both gaped.

"AHA!" Tim jumped as Jay's big monkey brain had found out...well.

"You're a girl! That's why talking like a sailor is making you all bothered by –

"I am still capable of keeping you from stopping the wedding! HUH!" She gasped, turning away before Tim could jump in to instigate.

"I…. you are going to pay…you cannot stop the Court. The Gray – Son –

"Isn't the only one you need to mind, kiddo."

/

Deathstroke's meeting had come to a close as he'd sneaked back to check up on the rather annoying Todd and his other, little bird – headed brother.

"Twittering out an escape plan, Timothy?" Slade snorted. The young talon scurried off.

Slade would just take care of shutting them up the old-fashioned way.

Through fear.

His specialty.

"You…are trying to end Gotham, and raise a demon –

"I just want a piece of the pie. My time as Dick's arm to cry on was stolen from me, but to twist that fact back in all of your faces made this trip, worthwhile. To say the least, but…" He turned to a tied up, snarling Jason Todd. "Tim already knew about the dragon. You just instigated matters by forcing my former protégé to crack. I saw how you just loved to push and push…until there was nothing holding him back."

"Dick…didn't mention magic! I would have rung up C–

" Stop." Slade held a hand up, palm to their metal - barred cells. "Not another word of that sorcerer or his tricks. I'm here on a project of my own that's since, long overdue. The Dragon is my way to finding what makes the owl's world turn. That slice, I'd dive right into to have my portion. As promised."

"The Court…the dragon can't be greedier than –

"Greed to a dragon is its fuel, Red Robin." Slade corrected. "You are playing on the wrong side of the spectrum if you think Grayson will care to continue raising a few brats; brats that are supposed to end up as sacrifices. That's all they are, power - source, Chosen." He weighed out the options in his hands, posing them like a scale, unbalanced as this job was. "That is all anything ever is to a dragon. FODDER –

" YOU…." How Jay had not wanted to hear any of Slade's threats, anymore. How he'd pushed away his only chance by…

"We…care about him, and you did once too. He was able to admit that there was some good in you." Tim stood his ground, not trying to tie the past to his senses. Trying to press ahead without substituting what had been for what should be done to stop all of this.

"I wanted him to follow in my footsteps, but maybe down the road his own child might know how to wreck a few shopping malls with her powers. Psychic, but it's not as if I've not been in the game that long. Much longer than the Bat." He said with a smug expression on. "Or, the kid who's going to stop the dragon one day? If he never exists, I could certainly lend a hand –

"Kori's already pregnant, and no." Tim reminded them. "As if she'd let you kill her love life; for her family with your words alone, I think you're just as sore a loser as the dragon is."

"Alright, Tim! Way to goad yer' captor!" Jay hooted from the second cell over.

"If you even think of having Dick subject himself to some mindless torture by an interdimensional force of evil, we will stop him, and you. And we'll make sure you can never utter another curse for as long as you're on our earth."

"Ah…a bit weird for you, geek…but, whatever!"

Jay busted his cuffs and pulled out a last result from his tooth.

"Shit!" Slade yelled got back as the cells broke forth, explosively.

/

Rubble had been blasted away as the cell walls were left a heap of clay and metal.

Red Robin's cape had protected him, but he still felt the shock.

Or what? Dick's…life? Fam -

"Tim?" The big boy Todd brought out an arm, as the other winded hero suddenly could feel the ground, leaving it behind.

Tim groaned, hand to his masked temples. "We can put the past behind us, for now…B –

"I…."

"Jason...Jay?" Tim saw the struggle as his bro was speared, in the back... Shot after that, then fell to the floor with a heavy thud. He'd heal off a few hours, but Slade was there, walking over as Tim shook his head.

"You …. you shot him…I won't let you hurt any more of my family –

"Mr. Wilson?"

Tim turned to see another costume that made his eyes water. A suit of black and silver and bronze…and a mask of a white barn owl with a streak of red…. An assassin of the lower ranks, and….

Dick…

With eyes too changed to yellow to see what his late enemy had done to his real family, the owl cocked its head.

"Who? Are you?"

/

Tim sat on his knees and shook.

"No…you…you're not…how…"

"Slade?" The ebony haired talon was away from Cobb. No…. with eyes…like…

Jay sputtered as his Lazarus effect (making him a real dang undead here!) had him open his eyes with a start and cough up blood. " Ang….DS…. I'm...so…"

"Did they escape?" Dick walked over, yet Slade blocked the man with an arm. "Not exactly. This one has yet to fully recover. I did notice that he'd been trying to harass one of your grandfather's younger members."

"I see." Dick looked emotionlessly at the two, Red Robin and Red Hood. "Have their security doubled and see to them being present at my, ceremony." The smile was creepy, and Jay didn't have to see it to know that someone was way off about his big bro.

"Has Cobb given you permission to be here, Mr. Wilson."

"I had a hunch that someone needed me to step in. And to allow these two the honor of…. Ruining your big day," Slade purposely buttered up his future partner in crime, "Would be absolutely, uncalled for."

"Very." Dick said in a bored tone, acting the role Slade had expected, while the dragon was there to reverse the effects with a flick of its pinkie. This was its tale, its ending. The Owls were just pawns on the chessboard it had arranged.

"I'll leave their punishment to you then, if you feel so assured…" Slade suddenly changed the subject. Tim gawked as Jay snarled with his body slowly getting better. Dick blinked; a bit taken by those words.

A machine on repeat?

"I want to see you punish them, for the good of the court." The older male smirked. "It would be your first act as, the Gray – Son. And cobb wouldn't mind. If…you showed them their places, properly."

Tim gasped, head shaking, powerlessly. "You…. Slade…. Dick can't –

"I am capable, but would that not be a waste of efficient time and energy?" The owl blinked back. "I was born today, so would it only make me winded, while you are able to take advantage of my current state? Cobb warned me that your words are easy to twist."

Dick snorted and turned for the door. "Your job, is this. Mine is to rule a chunk of Gotham, and then I can worry about getting my hands dirty…So... Carry on." He waved on the merc, who just got even more hot blooded from that little performance. He turned to Tim and Jason, both readying to fight to the death if need be.

Even if Slade was an impenetrable fortress of solitude.

"So, boys…. why don't I make the first move?" Slade cracked his knuckles and neck, knowing Todd hated to lose as much as he did at times. Tim…would be a joy to watch cower below his boot.

All because the Gray – Son had said he could, and the man couldn't have been any prouder in hearing those words.