Talon waited, hidden in the darkness of the living room, for its target to re-enter his apartment. It did not have to wait long: within fifteen minutes it heard footsteps rumbling outside the door thanks to its enhanced hearing.
It heard the key turn in the lock, and within seconds the door opened and was closed again.
Talon took a step forward emerging from the shadows that concealed it. It remained impassive to its target's cry of terror and pulled out one of the many knives its uniform contained.
The man's eyes went wide, probably recognizing the uniform Talon was wearing, and he began stammering incoherent phrases that did not interest Talon.
"Matthew Harrison. The Court of Owls has sentenced you to death." Talon declared in an icy, detached voice.
Its target started to run away but Talon was faster than him. In seconds Gray Son reset the distance between the two of them and with one smooth move worthy of an expert assassin, slashed his carotid artery. Blood spurted violently and Harrison's eyes went wide in shock before he fell lifelessly to the ground. Talon stowed the knife back in its armor, numb to the splattering of blood on it, and sneaked out the same window it had entered, heading for the base of the Court of Owls.
Talon was happy because, once again, it had succeeded in its mission.
"Good job, Gray Son." nodded Cobb contentedly as the younger Talon reported the outcome of the mission.
Gray Son knelt and tilted its head downward, showing respect to its Master.
Talon waited for the Master to order it that it was dismissed and that it could return to the coffin dedicated to it until it waited a few hours at dawn before resuming the usual routine consisting of brutal training, torture and mission but this still did not happen, which is why it still remained kneeling.
"I note with pleasure that Gray Son was successful again this time." commented one of the other Owls almost surprised.
"Of course. It is The Gray Son, the best Talon the Court will ever have." Cobb smirked.
"Right now you wouldn't think so." said the same Owl from before, staring curiously from behind the owl mask at the little acrobat.
"Don't let its small stature fool you: although Gray Son is only ten years old, it has the highest number of kills and the best success rate within the entire Court of Owls, excluding myself. Gray Son has never failed a target." it sounded as if Cobb was... bragging about it. "Gray Son has mastered many martial arts in just three years and has become highly proficient in stealth, mastery of knives and other throwing weapons and it knows perfectly all the areas of the human body to target for either a quick death or a slow and painful death. Its body and mind instinctively and automatically learned to strike every single organ of a human being, from the most vital to the least vital, and now Gray Son knows exactly where to hit to kill or not to kill a person and knows exactly how long it will take for the person to die based on the area of the body hit. "
"The Gray Son has a bright future ahead of it." nodded another Owl, clearly pleased with Cobb's description of Gray Son. "With a perfect weapon like it, our domination of Gotham will be inevitable!"
"What about if Gray Son starts to rebel?"
At the question from one of the Owls the room fell silent.
Although Talon was still kneeling, it was sure that everyone was staring at the Owl who had just spoken.
"Don't be silly." scoffed Cobb. "No Talon has been able to escape our brainwashing, and Gray Son certainly will not be the first. Moreover, it has never shown attitudes of rebellion and has never disobeyed us and never will."
"If memory serves me correctly, there have been a couple of times when it has disobeyed your orders, such as the time you ordered it to rip another Talon's arm off with its bare hands."
"You're right but, as I'm sure you'll remember, I gave Talon some... justifiable motivation to carry out my order."
Gray Son could not stop a chill from running through its back and was glad that none of the Owls or its Master were staring at it, otherwise it would have received another punishment for showing such weakness.
Talon knew very well what its Master was referring to by motivations. These motivation punishments that no one should ever have to experience prompted it immediately to carry out its Master's order and take the arm off the other Talon.
Its arm would grow back anyway, so it was no big deal but the most important thing was that it had obeyed its Master and made him satisfied.
"I think it's time for that task."
This time the silence that fell in the room was even heavier and tenser than the previous one. Although Talon wished to look up to see what was going on, it forced himself to keep its gaze to the floor as the good Talon it was.
"No."
"But-"
"I said no!" thundered Cobb angrily, and Gray Son almost jumped at its Master's sudden fierce anger.
Almost.
Talon had never felt its Master so angry and although internally there was some part of it that was frightened, it forced himself to keep its golden eyes neutral and impassive.
"You're not the only one to decide, Cobb." another Owl coldly replied. "We will discuss this later."
Talon heard its Master growl and remained impassive to its cold voice. "Gray Son, you may go."
"As you wish, Master." Talon bowed one last time before standing up in one fluid movement and silently walking away.
Talon entered the large room and knelt respectfully before its Master and the Owls, its golden eyes meeting the floor in submission.
"You have permission to look up, Gray Son."
Slowly Talon lifted its head but still remained kneeling. The first thing it saw was that its Master looked very pissed off in a way it had seen few times.
"Gray Son, listen carefully to my words." Talon shifted its gaze to an Owl, its expression unchanged and unreadable as the older man spoke. "The mission we are giving you today is a little different from the usual ones but it is of colossal importance.
"Your target to eliminate is one of the most dangerous enemies of the Court of Owls and he is one of the reasons why our influence over Gotham is not as strong as it once was. If he is eliminated, the Court will have a clear path to conquer the city.
"Your target is The Batman. Unfortunately, we do not yet know his civilian identity. You should not underestimate him: he is a formidable opponent despite the fact that he is a normal human being. Eliminate him and you will confirm your status as the best Talon in the Court. If you fail, you will receive the same fate that Talons who fail receive: you will be hibernated in your grave for an indeterminate amount of time."
Talon remained expressionless and impassive and it simply bowed its head.
"Take your time to prepare yourself. You'll have to be at your best if you want to take down The Batman once and for all." another nod of the little acrobat's head. "Now go, Gray Son. And don't let us down."
Talon followed its target for more than an hour, silent and hidden by the shadows of the city. It studied The Batman and quickly discovered that the vigilante would be the greatest threat it would face up to that point.
Talon followed The Batman for another ten minutes until the masked hero stopped above a rooftop. Gray Son took advantage of this moment to shorten the distance and landed silently on the same rooftop, just a few feet from the hero. He decided to step forward, voluntarily making noise.
Talon watched Batman's muscles stiffen and the next second its hand shot forward, catching the bat-shaped weapon thrown at it on the fly.
Talon watched The Batman's eyes widen slightly, probably startled by its youthful appearance. It threw away the bat-shaped weapon and began walking slowly toward its target.
"A child?" muttered the vigilante confusedly, observing the small figure in front of him that exuded both danger and menace.
"The Batman. The Court of Owls has sentenced you to death."
"The Court of Owls? It cannot be." he growled. "It is only a myth."
Talon did not respond and instead pulled a knife from its uniform, causing the Dark Knight to narrow his gaze. Talon stopped five feet from its target, and the two studied each other. A few seconds later Talon ran forward and with its knife deflected the directions of the bat-shaped weapons something whispered to its mind batarangs that ended up harmlessly on the roof.
Talon leaped toward The Batman, hitting him with a kick to the chest and sending him crashing hard into the chimney. The vigilante grunted surprised by its decidedly nonhuman strength and speed and he rolled away, avoiding being stabbed.
Talon leaped toward him again but he managed to block its arm holding the weapon. Batman hit its arm with a hard knee to a nerve, forcing it to lose its grip on the weapon, and was surprised when the boy did not even utter a hiss of pain.
Talon used the hero's surprise in its favor and quickly reversed positions, slipping under Batman's knees and positioning itself behind him. Talon did not even give him time to turn around and grabbed his left arm, stretching it painfully behind his back and, with one smooth move snapped it, making rattling sounds of broken bones.
Batman grunted in pain and gritted his teeth, feeling his arm burn with pain.
How the hell is it possible that a child who doesn't even reach halfway up my torso just broke my arm?
Instinctively Batman threw a back kick, successfully striking the child's right knee. Feeling the grip loosen in the slightest, he managed to take advantage of it anyway and spun around and, ignoring his own guilt, struck it full in the face with a violent roundhouse kick, flinging it far away. Bruce noticed with surprise and horror the child almost immediately get up and stand up quietly on its right leg, as if Batman had not just broken its knee. He swore he saw its eyes glint briefly from behind its owl glasses.
Talon drew two more knives and leapt again toward its target. The Caped Crusader, however, dodged each of its lunges and, changing tactics, Gray Son tried to hit him with a kick to the face but Batman blocked its leg and flipped it hard to the ground, causing it to lose its grip on both weapons.
Talon soared into the air in a double somersault in the air, landed with its full weight on Batman's shoulders and knocked him to the ground as Talon landed on the ground after performing a forward somersault. Talon turned, seeing Batman get back up, and engaged him in hand-to-hand combat.
Talon was having some difficulty breaking through The Batman's defenses: he seemed to be an excellent hand-to-hand fighter and better than Talon itself, despite its meta-human abilities.
The fight lasted about ten minutes and by the end Talon was kneeling on one knee with many broken bones and ribs and two bat-shaped weapons sticking out of its chest. Talon could easily guess that The Batman was shocked and horrified, probably both because of all the black blood covering Talon and because Talon was still easily standing despite all the deadly wounds Talon had taken.
Batman stepped forward, staring at it intently. "Come with me and I can help you. I can get you out of the influence of the Court. I can fix you."
Talon looked up at the vigilante.
It had many possibilities before him.
Its brain suggested that it wait a while to let all its wounds heal completely and then continue to fight Batman, take him down once and for all by killing him.
However, for the first time ever it followed its instincts.
It ran away.
It did not take long before Talon was able to escape from The Batman. Talon was currently standing over an ordinary building and in the meantime its wounds had healed perfectly thanks to its healing factor.
Talon knew that it lost the battle against The Batman. He had disarmed it of almost all its weapons and was simply a better fighter than it was.
Talon knew that for the first time in more than three years it had just failed the mission.
Talon knew that it deserved whatever punishment its Masters would inflict on it.
Because it was a weapon, a tool and was owned exclusively by the Court.
However, the mere thought of suffering whatever punishment the Court would give it nervously stirred something deep inside Talon.
There was a part of Talon that did not want to suffer the punishments due it, no matter how much it deserved them.
There was a part of Talon, buried very deep inside, that was screaming at it to run away.
Talon was strongly indecisive with itself.
What was it supposed to do?
Return to the Court of the Owls, to its Master and receive the just punishment for its failure like a good Talon?
Or run away like a coward and try not to get caught by the Court?
A part of itself whispered to it that it had to go back to the Court. It was their tool, their weapon, it was their property, it depended solely on them, it had to obey them alone, it had no right to decide for itself because Gray Son was born for the purpose of serving the Court of Owls to lead them to the conquest of Gotham. It was its damned destiny and it could not escape it.
Instead, the other part of itself whispered to it to run away, that it was the perfect time to slip away and free itself from the control of the Court of Owls.
Talon did not know what devil part of itself was whispering these suggestions of rebellion to it.
Perhaps it was the him before it was Talon.
But Talon did not know who the hell it was before the Court: it did not know anything about its previous identity. The only thing it knew was that it was born to serve the Court and obey every single order of its Master.
However, despite the fact that most of its mind was ordering it to return to the base of the Court, report its failure to its Masters and Owls, and receive the proper punishment, there was a small part of itself that was whispering to it to do exactly the opposite.
And Talon, for the second time in a few minutes, listened to its instincts and ran in the opposite direction to the base of the Court.