"I gotta hand it to the Bat…he trained you well"
Dick was hanging upside down and was getting dip into water and staying there until he almost drowns and then back down again.
"But not as good as the Court. He still denies your full potential…and why? To keep you in his shadow? He doesn't want you to outgrow him…he wants you as the backup"
Dick gets once again into the water and back up.
"He denies your greatness. You were his right hand and as soon as you decided to step up your game, he got a new assistant. He always saw you as something that could be replace"
This time, the Owls let Dick fall to the ground. The Talons pick him up and hold him.
"This test will only make you strong, stronger that you have ever been…"
Another man arrives with what looks like an oxygen tank and a mask. He proceeds to put Dick the mask on.
"It has been almost a week since you decided to join your real family but you still have so much to learn…"
The Talon opens the tank and lets the green substance runs into Dick's mask.
"You must be familiar with this…we got this from one of Gotham's filth, it's fear gas"
"No! NO! NOOO!"
Dick starts screaming as the gas starts acting up. The Owls let him go and watch how the man crawls with the little strength he has left.
"Please! Don't!"
From Dick's perspective, he was crawling to the edge of a very high platform. He watches how Zatanna, his parents, Bruce, Wally, Donna, Alfred, Damian, Jason and Tim, were barely holding themselves with a small rope each one. He starts hearing circus' music and he was in his flying Grayson costume.
"Hold on tight! This can't be happening again"
Dick watches, helpless, how Wally and Donna's ropes breaks and fall to their death.
"NOOOOO!"
Then it was Damian, Bruce and Alfred's turn to fall into their deaths. Dick tries to reach them but his body was giving up, there wasn't much energy left, he was feeling the terror but still tries to push forward.
"Mom! Dad! Not again"
Dick was once again a 9 year old boy watching his parents fall to their deaths.
"I can't do this without you…please don't let me! Hold tight! I need you!"
Unlike the others, Dick manages to grab Zee's hand as her rope gives up. He tries to pull her up just for her to slip out of her grasp and that was it. He failed everyone he loved and cared about.
"DICK!"
Zatanna wakes up screaming and crying.
"Zatanna! Are you okay?"
Damian and Artemis rush into the magician's room. Damian was holding his sword and Artemis rushed to hug her. The members of the Team has been taking turns to keep an eye on her and Damian hasn't left her side since Grayson was taken a few days ago.
"Yeah. It was just another nightmare…"
Damian feeling out of his element, steps out of the bedroom and leaves the archer to take care of her friend.
"How long we need to keep this?!"
Zatanna was screaming at Batman.
"For as long as you or him wants…"
Bruce takes his cowl off and the woman looks confused at him.
"What do you mean?"
"He's in a cover mission but we can extract him whenever you or he wants. Before going there, he told me that if you were not longer okay with this and you want him out, I will not make any objections and help you out"
"But what about the mission?"
Bruce takes a deep breath.
"It's important but Dick isn't risking your or his psyche for this…at this point you know him way better than me. You know how much he can stand and how much a mission is worth but before you make a decision remember where are we standing. If you pull him out, whatever he's going through would be in vain"
Zatanna didn't hesitate. She knew that they were torturing him but whatever they did to him in the last 24 hours was so intense that her bond was screaming at her and feeling his pain, his fear.
"I want him out. NOW!"
Batman puts on the mask before typing on his computer and the computer showed a location.
"There's Nightwing signal. It's in the middle of the water?"
"There's must be underwater tunnels…"
"Then let's go"
Zatanna claps her hands and chants a spell to take them where the signal is.
"Where are we? Where's Dick?"
The duo was in fighting position but confused. They were indeed where the tracker was but there was nothing in there but blood on the floor.
"They were here but they took him away"
Batman was using his radar and found the discarded tracker.
"All this blood…is Dick's"
Zee was on the verge of breaking down and Bruce wasn't much better.
"Zatanna, can you use your bond to find him? Or your magic? They clean their trace but left the blood on this room to make sure that we know what they are doing to Dick"
Batman was scanning the room and finds the fear gas tank.
"No. I can still feel his emotion but I can pin point a location"
"This is bad, this is why you panicked. You two are so connected that when Dick received these dosis of fear gas it reached you to some level"
Bruce analyze the tank and realize that it was Scarecrow's toxin.
"What do we do now?"
"The Court is please to see that you still have your fighting spirit and see that you are ready for phase 2"
A man well dressed in a white Owl's mask announce to his fellow members and the assassins.
"Take him to the Pit. He's going to need his energy if we want him to survive the ritual and turn into our greatest weapon, into our greatest assassin…into the Court of Owls' enforcer!"
"I knew that you wouldn't let me down. You are indeed my blood"
Cobb tells a barely conscious Dick Grayson, as he was carrying him on his shoulder to the Court's secret room.
"Soon enough you will fulfill your destiny…"
Finally, they reach their room, which was heavily guarded and enter. Inside the room there was a Lazarus pit.
"Time to get some energy. You don't have much time before your next test"
The Talon throws Grayson's body to the pit.
"It's been a week since Baby bats is out of the picture. It's time for good ol' John to pay his respects and help the widower get through this tough times"
Constantine was outside Zatanna's building and he lights up one more cigarette before feeling a gun on the back of his head.
"I don't know what do I own you mate or what do you want but I kind of rush right now"
"That's right. You are busy leaving right now. You are not getting close to her"
John turns around slowly to see who was at the other side of the gun.
"Well, well, well…if it isn't zombie bats. What are you doing here? And what makes you think that I'll listen you?"
"The fact that unlike the others, I will pull the trigger…"
"C'mon, little bird. You and all the bats are the same. Hitting way over your heads….even if you do pull the trigger that doesn't guarantee you killing me and let's be honest I'm not afraid of either the big bad bat and your missing brother and they are far more skilled than you. Even if you pull the trigger I can still hex you and go on my way"
Suddenly, Constantine feels a sword next to his neck.
"That's why he's not alone. If you touch him, you are as good as death"
A tall redhead woman threats the blonde.
"I won't hurt Blonde"
That's when another person shows up and wasn't any other than Bizarro himself.
"Alright. Alright. I get the idea but let me tell you that if those sexy legs looks for some comfort in good ol' Johnny…there's nothing you can do, mate"
Artemis scoffs.
"As if…have your smell yourself? Or hear yourself? Or see yourself?"
"You can have a go if you want…maybe you are going to ditch them. I always wanted to have a go with an Amazon…"
Artemis glares at him.
"Your loss"
With that the British disappear like smoke.
"Jay. I know it's hard but do we really believe that your brother is still alive?"
Artemis and Bizarro were worry about their leader and friend. Red Hood takes off his mask.
"This fucker was right about one thing and that's Circus's boy being more skilled than me. If anyone can survive whatever they are doing to him…is Nightwing"
The Outlaws can see the trust in Jason's eyes.
"That's very nice of you to say and I'm sure Dick would love to hear that…and thanks for dealing with John. He is worse than he looks and I don't feel like dealing with him right now."
The team of misfits turns to the new voice.