**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the locations or songs within this story, Young Justice and its characters such as Dick Grayson and Zatanna Zatara are strictly property of Warner Bros. and DC Comics. Songs that are being sung are not owned by me either, but are written and performed by Jesse McCartney, voice actor of Dick Grayson on Young Justice.
At the top of the Wayne Enterprises tower, Bruce knew something was amiss, there was a presence among him, and it wasn't Alfred, Dick, or any of the others. This was different; it was an imposing, sinister presence and seemed to only have ill intent. Bruce, still in the Batsuit, a few shuriken came out to most likely get his attention; Bruce blocked these easily with the spikes from his glove. This time a knife came out and pierced through Bruces armor and wounded him in the leg.
Bruce grabbed his leg, pulling the knife out as a shadowy figure came out, wearing a sleek black leather suit, wielding two katana on his back, and a mask that resembled an owl. Bruce knew instantly this was a Talon, Bruce was about to speak, but the Talon beat him to it, "Bruce Wayne. The Court of Owls has sentenced you to die. How I love killing Waynes." Bruce was angered by this, but he kept his cool, knowing the theory around this? "Owl got your tongue, Wayne? Fine then, let's fight." Bruce prepared himself for the fight as the Talon charged in, ready to fight him in hand to hand combat. "I am William Cobb. Bruce Wayne, do you want to know why the Court wants you dead?" Bruce did not speak to him, but The Talon "It's because you took my ancestor, Dick Grayson away from the life he should have had, the life of the greatest Talon that ever lived!"
The Talon continued to fight; they still seemed evenly matched, blocking and matching Bruce blow for blow, they fought heavily for a long time. Dick arrived at the top of the Tower with Zatanna and Tim, seeing the Talon was not getting tired, Dick quickly jumped into the fight seeing as the Talon was not getting tired. Dick performed a flying kick, hitting the Talon in his face.
The Talon flinched, but only a tiny bit, but Dick took over in the fight. The Talon was surprised, "Ah Dick, my great-grandson, I see that the rumors would have been true, you would have been the greatest Talon." Dick looking confused replied, "I don't know who you are, but you're not my great-grandfather." "Oh but I am, I'm your Great-Grandfather on your mother's side. I am William Cobb; you would have been the next Talon. The greatest Talon in fact, I have watched you since you were a boy." "Yet you don't know me, I would never join an organization that kills human beings to keep it's influence."
"Yet you know so many ways to kill a man. You defeated Deathstroke the Terminator in single combat! He has been a bother to our Organization for years. You do know that Ra's Al Ghul is not truly in Arkham as we speak, truly he is working against us, but Bane has been his front-man, waging war against us silently in the city under Gotham, as have the League of Shadows." Dick took this information in, while Tim and Zatanna rushed to him but Dick stopped them, "Stay back you two, this is my fight."
He was standing in front of a tired and wounded Bruce, protectively. "Get Bruce to safety, I can handle this guy." Dick received a transmission from Batgirl, Dick listened in while dodging and punching the Talon. "Dick, Selina and I just defeated one of the Talon's, they're not human at all, they're undead, and we need to warn the others, they have regenerative abilities, even if killed they come back." "Alright, you'll have to do that, I'm a bit tied up right now." Dick's urge to kill this man was high, and getting higher, seeing he wasn't truly human, the fact that Dick and Bruce's suspicions were confirmed about them, only made his anger greater. "You serve an unjust cause, anyone can kill another person, I don't know what pleasure you take in it, it's easy, and the hard thing is not killing them." "I lost my humanity years ago when I joined the court."
The Talon replied, and then he threw four knives into Dick at once, hitting Dick in the left arm, right leg, and two in his chest, just hitting the thick spots on Dick's body armor. The pain was definitely bad, Dick was losing blood fast, but he managed to disappear into the shadows, although leaving a trail for his ancestor to follow. He walked through being chased into the subways. He made his last stand in the subway, this was it, life or death decision here, he put up the Escrima sticks that Zatanna had given him for Valentine's Day and then pulled out his old pair, "This is it Grayson... Stay focused, he's not alive, and it's going to be alright." Dick pulled out the knives from his body, as the Talon approached him in the subway. "Well Dick, you disappoint me, and the court thought you would be the best Talon that had ever lived, I don't believe it." Dick said nothing in response, "Fine, if you want to play that way."
They fought, Dick fought slightly impaired, and the sharp pain in his arm, and chest were getting to him. After a few exchanged blows, the Talon brought out his katana to fight him, Dick was ready, and they continued fighting again. Dick gave the Talon a beating, a very hefty beating, and eventually as a train was coming down, Dick was a bit wounded. "You're good Dick, but not good enough, only because of your unwillingness to kill me." The Talon brought his sword down as if to trying to strike a killing blow on him, Dick responded swiftly by shoving with two hands one of his Escrima sticks through the eye lens of the Talons, and driving it deep down, where they brain should be. Dick said to the falling body was into the train, "Try to regenerate around that." Cobb's body fell backwards into the wall, being hit by the zooming train passing by. Dick only saw lights, he knew that if he didn't get help fast, he was going to die. Dick passed out as the train went by.
Zatanna and Tim had gotten Bruce back to the Batcave. Zatanna worriedly said, "Tim, stay here and watch over Bruce, I have to find Dick." Tim replied also with a worried look, "Alright, be safe Zatanna, I'll be here." Zatanna rushed out of the Batcave, she began a search, first contacting Azrael, saying she couldn't get a hold of him. She was very worried about him. Dick woke up to the face of Ra's Al Ghul standing over him. Dick woke up… "Where… Where am I?" Dick asked wearily, Ra's said solemnly, "You're safe in the sewers, I and some of my shadows found you lying down there bleeding out. I wouldn't my enemy to die by the hands of another of my enemies." Why… Why did you help me?" Dick said, recovering a bit more.
"I need you alive, Grayson; the Court of Owls has been making moves against the League of Shadows for some time now. They've been killing some of my minor and major shadows throughout Gotham." "The Court wants to take over the city once again; they have been fighting with some of my allies." "Yes, I'm well aware; in fact some of my shadows had been fighting alongside your friends, such as Azrael and Batwing." "How long have I been out?" "Only a few hours, listen Grayson, we must ally if we are going to defeat them anytime soon, the Court must be destroyed, and I know you plan to destroy them, either way alone, or as a team, you will be helping The Light, indirectly or directly."
Dick looked down at the wounds he had received, they were patched up, and all that was left was a small sliver of a scar where the entry wounds had been, he was astonished, "How did you repair my wounds like that?" "It's simple, the same way I've stayed alive for hundreds of years, the Lazarus Pits." "I'm grateful to you Ra's." "You'll be even more so when we defeat the Court of Owls, I think you should be going; I'm sure that your little girlfriend is worried about you." It hit him just then, "Zatanna…" He thought to himself, "I bet she's worried sick." Dick left the sewers, being led by Ra's, "Thank you, Ra's." "Just be sure to relay this information to your teammates, and Batman, we can't stand around and do nothing." Dick roamed off using his grappling hook to get on top of one of the buildings. He was spotted by Azrael who was using his armors long distance sight function, "Nightwing, come in."
Azrael reported in, "Azrael, I'm alright, we need to get to the Batcave, is Zatanna alright?" "Yes, Zatanna is fine; she's been very worried about you however." Batgirl had also heard the transmission and thought to herself, "What does Zatanna have that I don't have?" She lost that thought though when Tim came up behind her, "Bruce is going to be fine." Dick and the rest of the team returned to the Batcave where Dick gave them a speech, describing what had happened during his fight with William Cobb, and how he had left his old Escrima stick in the eye of the Talon. Tim out of curiosity asked Dick, "How did you survive the knives and bleeding out?" "The Talons are dangerous, and ruthless. My life was saved by Ra's Al Ghul, they found me, and used the healing properties of the Lazarus Pit to heal my wounds." The rips and holes in his costume were evident, with a scar under each of them.
"We have to team up, however much we don't like it; we have to work with them to be able to defeat the court." Bruce cut in, "Dick, I can't say I trust the Light enough to be able to team up with Ra's Al Ghul." "Bruce, we know it's the only way if we're going to be able to defeat The Court of Owls in one piece." "You know that we can't trust them, Dick." "Bruce, just give it a chance, if they betray us, it's my fault, and I'll handle the Shadows." "Fine, but I'm holding you responsible if anything goes wrong." "I understand, Bruce, we'll be ready for whatever."
"Alright team, get prepped and ready, we've got a long night ahead of us." Dick took Zatanna's hand; he led her back up into the mansion. "Dick, are you alright? You look distraught." "I'm traught, Zee." She gave him a look, the where he could tell she knew he was lying. "Okay, you got me. I'm distraught, heavy on the –dis." "Everything will be okay, babe. We'll get through this together, all of us." She said reassuringly, and then gave him a kiss on the cheek as they walked over to Dick's room. "I'm just scared The Light might turn on us at the last minute." "It's a risk we take in our line of work." "You're right, we should probably get changed, and I have some holes in this costume." "I know." Zatanna said seductively, she rubbed his chest, looking him over as she always does.
She bit her lip as he spoke, "This isn't the best time for this." "Why not, you're getting out of that tight outfit anyway." Dick had forgotten how fast Zatanna could make him lose control. They leaned in for a kiss, meeting half way, kissing softly, but passionately on the initial contact, a slow and long kiss. They pulled away at the same time, but continued in a passionate and quicker pace. Dick pulled away for a second, "Are you sure you want to do this, Zee?" He asked her sweetly. "Of course I do, Dick." She replied playfully. "I wouldn't have started this if I didn't want it." "Good point." He smiled at her, and began to trail kisses along her neck as he took off her jacket. She slowly brought his costume down off of his shoulders, his right hand was free, and she began to take more of it off. She moaned loudly as he was sucking her neck, his hands were on her waist keeping her in place.
He looked up a bit from where he was and gave her a quick kiss, the top of his suit was coming off, as she examined his new scars. He pulled off her heeled boots, and then took of his own quickly. Zatanna quickly muttered, "Sehtolc ffo." The rest of their clothes came off in a short burst of magic and dropped to the floor next to Dick's bed. "Ah, the perks of having the Mistress of Magic as a girlfriend never disappoint." Dick said teasingly. Zatanna rubbed her fingers slowly through his hair, massaging his head. He enjoyed it, and he looked her over, admiring her lavish body, the sun was going down slowly, and as the dull glimmer of the moon came and showed itself. Zatanna positioned herself well to where the feeling was just right, and found her body doing a roll on top of his.
Dick let out a loud moan of satisfaction quickly, but then silenced his voice to where there was only heavy breathing, and Zatanna's subtle moaning. The sweat began to form on their bodies, and after a long hour they had finished. Dick cuddled with her, both still breathing heavily, worry returning slowly to his voice, "We're going to defeat them, whatever the cost." Zatanna sat up and she looked down at Dick who was still lying on the bed next to her. "Dick, don't say it like that please." "Zee, I have to do what I can to get the mission accomplished." She sighed, "It's always about the mission, isn't it, Dick?" "The Court of Owls threatens all the work I've ever done in Gotham." He replied defensively. Zatanna took her jacket to cover her bare chest and she said, "Sehtolc no." Her costume returned over to her body, "Do you think the mission is more important than me?" she asked, a serious look upon her face. "You know I love you more than anything, your well-being is my greatest concern." "So you don't trust me now?" "Where did you get that idea from?"
A disappointed look now crossed her face, "I'm going down to the Batcave." With that she walked out of the room. Dick thought, "I'm such an idiot." He hid his face in the pillow when he received a call on his transmitter from Bruce, "Alright everyone, mission briefing in 5, get geared up and ready." Dick got out of the bed, and he got dressed and geared up, applying the spirit gum to his mask which held it in place. Dick headed to the Batcave, and once there everyone was there, all of his team, and Zatanna who was standing with Barbara. Dick looked over to Zatanna, who was now upset with him. Bruce looked over, "Ah, Dick, Kid Flash and Artemis will be joining us very soon.
I've also taken the liberty of bringing the Javelin here for the purpose of this mission." The Javelin was the League's own personal transport aircraft. Bruce continued, "We've received a transmission from the Court of Owls, they've set up plastic explosives all over Gotham, and we're going to have to disarm them." Dick replied, "Someone has to go after them, if we're going to be able to catch them." Wally and Artemis walked into the Batcave before anyone could say something else, "What'd we miss?" Wally said with a smile on his face. Dick looked over, giving them a smile, "Just the fact that there's a bunch of explosives apparently placed all over the city, we have to scour the city to find them, and we have two hours before they go off." "Then we should get going." Bruce said, "Alright everyone on board the Javelin, now."
The entire team rushed to the Javelin, but Zatanna turned back to look at Dick, her eyes weary. He gave her a nod, she gave him a faint smile and turned around to get on the ship. Bruce and Dick stopped for a second, "Bruce, someone has to go separately to take catch the Court, I think that someone should be me." Dick said confidently, "Okay, just, be careful, alright Dick? The transmission came from the center of town, where the carnival was." Bruce replied, a nervous tone in his voice. That wasn't good, Bruce never gets nervous. "It's my job to take them down." "Well, as soon as we get the bombs, we'll be there to help you; the League of Shadows will probably be out there fighting the remaining Talons as we speak."
Dick got on the Wing Cycle that he kept in the Batcave for times like these and revved the motor; he smiled at this and drove off. Zatanna watched him nervously, she mumbled to herself, "I hope he's alright." A hand was on her shoulder, it was Artemis. "He's going to be fine; he is Nightwing, after all." "I hope so." Wally looked at them and said reassuringly, "He's my best pal, he'll do great." He looked away and a nervous look came over his face. Tim appeared to be nervous too he looked at Barbara and said, "Why is Dick going alone?" "I don't know, I feel like he feels he has something to prove." Barbara replied unsure. Bruce boarded the Javelin, taking the pilot's seat, "Alright team, let's get moving, Gotham is counting on us, even though they might not know it." With that they were off as well. Dick drove through the road, making a call to Commissioner Jim Gordon, "Commissioner, Hey, it's Nightwing, you have to clear out the area around the carnival grounds, there's also bombs scoured throughout the city, my team is getting that now." "Alright Nightwing, we'll get it done, thank you." "No problem, Nightwing out." He hung up there, and he continued on the way to the carnival ground. He arrived near the vacant area around the Carnival Grounds.
Two shadowy figures came out, dressed in the familiar suit of the Talons. One of them spoke to him, "Well, if it isn't Nightwing. The Court wants you dead." Dick replied defiantly, "Well, then they'll just have to come here and get the jobs done themselves." The other Talon said, "Oh please, Bird Boy, as if you can really do anything here." "Well, you seem to have me at a disadvantage. Two against one, that's hardly fair." Dick replied, the sarcasm evident in his voice. The two Talons were angered by the confidence he exhibited, "We'll just have to see if your skill and your confidence match up, won't we." Dick smiled at this and pulled out his Eskrima sticks, then beckoning them to come towards him. The two Talons pulled out their respective weapons; one had a great sword, while the other had twin daggers. They ran towards him, slashing him. Dick was unimpressed, he looked at them and in a taunting voice said, "You two are no William Cobb are you?" "William Cobb was only a second rate Talon." The Talon with the knives replied. "Oh so what are you then, third rate?"
They continued to fight, Dick quickly deflecting their blows as soon as they were thrown at him. The Talon with the great sword rushed at him, swinging downward, Dick sidestepped this, and brought his sticks on the back of the Talons neck and his spine, a couple of sick cracks came as soon as they made contact. With his spine shattered in two places the Talon was now a dead undead. Dick laughed at the thought, a paradox. He turned his attention to the other Talon, who he knew was shaking in his boots. "Oh come now, you'll have to do better than that." The Talon rushed at him, slashing at him in the arm, Dick blocked it, but it glanced off and he now had a small gash in his leg where the dagger had bounced to. Dick shrugged it off and looked at him, "Well, cherish that blow Talon, because that's the last blow you're going to get in this fight." Dick swept his foot to the side knocking the left dagger out of the Talon's hand.
The Talon had a surprised look under his mask. He swung his right hand with the other dagger in it across his left side, an attempt to get the jump on Dick. But Dick already had his stance ready; he blocked the blow with the center of his stick, grabbing the assassin's wrist, pulling it out, extending the elbow further. Letting go of the hand as he moved, Dick brought his right hand and stick around the inside of the assassins arm, using his forearm for leverage bringing his arm up, the dagger still under his arm, he brought his arm up, the daggers flat blade now was under his arm, he closed his arm upon the blades flat side, and then moved his arm right, curving the wrist in an unnatural way, he moved his left hand and bringing it upon the assassins elbow, and swinging his body a little to the left, hyper extending the assassins elbow, also making him drop his dagger. The move, called Pangilong rendered the assassins right arm unbendable. The assassin cried out in pain, Dick let go and got into stance once again.
The Talon got up, and rushed at him a surprising speed. Dick prepared himself, adrenaline flowing through his veins, he stood up a little more straight, and once the assassin reached him, Dick grabbed the assassin quickly, holding his right wrist, leveraging putting his right leg on the assassin's leg, falling backwards, and using his right leg as a catapult, the assassin flew at least fifteen feet. The assassin still angry, struggling to get up, but his advanced healing was taking effect, as he regained control of his right arm. The assassin was completely disarmed, and he threw a series of attacks at him, all inward chops, but Dick blocked these using his arms, both lower and quickly, the attacks were fast, any spectator would be amazed at the speed they were performed and blocked, over and over again.
Dick put up his sticks on his back real quickly, and the Talon brought his arms around his neck, attempting to choke him out. Dick grabbed the two forearms of the assassin, and then pulled outward, the assassin couldn't keep hold as Dicks arms flexed and pulled outward. Dick brought his foot up and into the assassin's crotch with great force.
The blow knocked the wind out of him quickly; the assassin fell to his knees. Dick brought his both of his sticks down, first jabbing the left stick into his ribs, using the electrified end, and shocking him. The assassin cried out in pain as his lung was collapsed, and Dick side stepped as the Talon fell forward, and Dick brought his other stick down upon the neck of the assassin, as he fell, breaking his neck and smashing his face into the ground.
Meanwhile the rest of the team had been scouring throughout Gotham in search of the bombs, disarming multiple explosives all over.A transmission came onto the Javelin's main screen, the Court of Owls image upon the screen, the leader spoke, "Ah, well done Batman, you've disarmed every bomb, every bomb but one. It's good to know that you think you're so close but so far away." The transmission cut off, and everyone looked immediately at one another, they knew where the last bomb was, "We have to get to the Carnival grounds, they said." Dick walked into the old abandoned Haly's Circus tent, and he searched the area, he saw a flier in the center of the tent, face down.
Dick walked up to it and picked it up, and he saw the Flying Grayson's there, he put down the Escrima sticks that Zatanna had gave him. Tears welled up in his eyes looking around, he realized what was going on here, and he looked at the timer that had been set up off of his wrist computer, thirty seconds. He put his mouth up to his transmitter, sending a message to his friends in the Javelin, "It's been an honor serving with all of you. But, I think this is good-bye. Bruce, Tim, Wally, Artemis… Take care of Zatanna. And Zatanna, I-I'm sorry, I love you."Dick looked at his watch; 10 seconds, he smiled as he closed his eyes, his life flashing before his eyes.
"Zatanna, this is the Team. Team, Zatanna." Zatara said as he introduced his daughter. M'gann replied, "Hi I'm…" "Robin!" Dick's voice cracked, he coughed, "I mean, I'm Robin, this is Megan, Conner, Kaldur, Artemis and Wally." Dick looked at Zatanna, "Look, I'm trying to be all nonchalant here. Zatanna looked at him with a smile, "Why? Be as chalant as you like." Red Volcano said, "Tornado's memory files, and my superior processing speed allow me to read your every move." "Emoks emoceb a dlofdnilb" Zatanna spoke as a blindfold went around Red Volcano's face. "Tornado never knew my moves." Dick jumped next to her, "And I bet you've got some good ones." Zatanna looked at him. He continued, "Sorry, that might've come off a little too Wally." "Hah, I don't mind." All of his good memories with Zatanna, Bruce, Tim, and the Team came into his head. He looked seeing Zatanna's face.
A white faced spirit with a green cloak around him came in front of him, grabbing hold of him. Carrying him off into a better place as the explosion took place. The Javelin was in the distance of the carnival grounds. The explosion evident rang out throughout Gotham, a loud boom was heard by all the citizens of Gotham. Tears welled up in the eyes of the entire team as they realized what just happened.
Bruce yelled, "NO! Dick! No, no, no… not like this." Zatanna looked helplessly as the fire engulfed the grounds of carnival and then were no people around, "Dick must have known there was a bomb in the area, the area's all cleared out." She thought to herself. The Javelin landed and Bruce opened the door, he rushed out, "No… I was too late, I failed you son." He spoke with great anguish in his voice, dropping to his knees. Wally rushed out himself, "Dick! No! Those monsters… I told him. I told him this life would be the death of him. I just didn't think I was right." Artemis hugged him. Tim and Barbara rushed out with the rest of the team; they rushed to Bruce's side, hugging him.
Bruce's memories flashbacked into his head with Dick, "I remember all the times, when I first met him, the day his parents died at the circus, I beat the assassin heavily who attempted the murder on him, and the ones who killed his family. The day I took him in to become Robin, all the training, the day we took them to the Hall of Justice, and how he smiled. 'Today is the day' I said to him. He was so excited, all of our protégé's were. The day that they formed the Team, and how proud I was of him, the day Jason Todd died. I couldn't save him, just like I couldn't save Dick. When Dick became the leader of the Team after Kaldur stepped down just a month ago. Dick's gone now.
Bruce scoured through the ashes desperately looking for Dick's body, the huge crater in the ground proved, all you could see was his Escrima sticks, unscathed sitting in the center of the building. Zatanna walked up to the sticks, seeing they were the ones she gave to him just a few days ago. "No… I was upset with him, I was upset with him and I let him go alone. If I were just there… maybe he wouldn't be gone." A hand was on her shoulder, it was Artemis, and she came to comfort her friend. Artemis grabbed her and hugged her, Zatanna sobbed on her shoulder. "It's my fault, Artemis."
A/N: What did you think? I appreciate all the opinions, RxR there more updates on the way.