PART 1 - Chapter 27 - Night of The Owls - Predators and Preys
'Words, which can make our terrors bravely clear,
Can also thus domesticate a fear,
And send a small child back to sleep at night
Not listening for the sound of stealthy flight
Or dreaming of some small thing in a claw
Borne up to some dark branch and eaten raw.'
'A Barred Owl', by Richard Wilbur
WORD OF WARNING: This author has STILL NOT played the new PS5 Spider-Man 2 game nor watched any "let's play", trying to keep the surprises still surprising, and probably that could be the same for many other readers, so, be considerate and avoid spoilers in the reviews, please!
Gotham City
07:43 pm
"... you know, if I had a nickel for every time I had to save a citizen tossed from a window from an assassin dressed up as an owl, I'd have two nickels", Spider-Man quipped, trying to appear relaxed as he slowly put himself between assailant and victim.
The assassin pulled his left hand, that had been hidden by his dark cloak, exhibiting a second knife, just like the one he had used to slice the hero moments before, another long, feather shaped, silver blade.
"Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice. Right?" The assassin, still silent, spun the left blade into an inverted hold, blade pointing down. "So… we are going for the silent and deadly vibes, right?", the vigilante crossed his arms, hiding the subtle wince over the still healing wound on his left side. "Cool, co-" Mid sentence, Spider-Man turned to the left, his hand reaching out and tapping the other man's hand upwards.
('Did he take advantage when I felt the pain?')
To the woman on the floor, the Talon had crossed the short distance between them in an instant, but, to Peter, who had dealt with much, much faster foes and, though not expecting some underhanded attack, the hero had already reacted, his right fist cocked back and swung forwards, to uppercut the assassin - only for the Talon to bend his body back, allowing the red and blue fist to pass by, harmlessly. Spider-Man barely took the dodge in surprise, before also having to twist to the right, as Talon's other blade passed dangerously close to his left side. 'He's still aiming for my wound', Spider-Man thought, as he blocked the first blade, coming from above and grabbing at the other man's wrist and, to the Talon's surprise, allowed himself to drop to the floor, snapping a kick towards the assassin's heel.
Spider-Man had to give it to the assassin, as Talon barely gave a muffled grunt in response, despite how his foot was visibly turning into another direction, and tried slashing at the grounded vigilante twice, with his unblocked hand. The hero, taking advantage of the close distance, pulled both legs back, and the assassin by the arm, and mule-kicked Talon's chest with enough force to rocket the killer into the air.
"And he's going, and going, and- Oh, come on!", Spider-Man yelled, as the Talon hovered up above, his cloak opened up and turned into a stylized glider. "Why does everybody else get cool with a cape?"
'At least one mystery solved, as how it all happened, the Talon pushed the woman out the window, then jumped after her to finish the job when I saved her, then glided after us when I carried her away, managing to reach us up this building so quickly', he reasoned, as the cape furled back and the assassin fell straight down, blades pointing towards his target - the woman, who had been trying to crawl away.
A webstring stuck to Talon's chest, and he was pulled back. "Nah-Ah, tough guy!", Spider-Man warned angrily, as he pulled back the assassin, cocking back a fist and, as the Talon passed over, the hero took the chance to score a punch on the 'flying' criminal's face. The dark-clad killer, still in motion from the launch, landed on the other side of the rooftop, hitting the elevated concrete counter with a loud noise and his body dropping limply. "Time penalty, unsportsmanlike fowl."
Spider-Man turned towards the surprised woman, who could barely understand what had just happened, then he gestured to the downed killer. "You know, because he was after you? And fowl? As in bird, sounds like…? Yeah, nevermind it", the vigilante webbed down the criminal, just to be sure.
"Are… are you okay?", the woman, Valerie, asked, in worry.
"What?", Spider-Man asked, and she pointed at the wet splotch on his usually blue portion of the torso. " 'Tis just a scratch, I've had worse. Once, there was this crazy killer canuck-"
"Spider-Man!"
"'ARGH!" The loud voice in his earcomm made him recoil. 'Shouldn't my spider-sense help me avoid tinnitus?' "I'm here, Oracle, glad to hear back from you, though now the hearing part is kinda iffy."
"This is not the time for joking, Spider-Man-" "Clearly, you don't know me very well." "-we're having an emergency!"
"I'm going on a limb and guess it's something about those Owl-luminati guys?"
"Are you okay, did they target you?"
"Not me, a civilian, her name's Valerie."
"Valerie Venderman, City's Commissioner of Cultural Affairs", Oracle reported, to his surprise. "That's good news, she was one of the targets on their hit-list."
"Well, consider her hit-delisted", Spider-Man declared. "Also, I managed to capture their new guy."
"You… captured a Talon?"
"Yeah, just knocked him out and webbed him up into a cocoon."
"Spider-Man, listen to me", Oracle's tone was even more serious than before. "Take Mrs. Venderman with you and try to find any member of the Bat-Family as reinforcement."
"Oracle, the guy may be enhanced, but I punched his lights out good, trust-"
"Spider-Man, Talons are not just enhanced, they're blindly loyal, highly trained undead assassins-" as Oracle spoke, Spider-Man was also hearing another thing, "- with advanced healing, able to completely regenerate from injuries at an accelerated rate-", the familiar and unpleasant sound of his web being stretched and ripped apart. "- which makes them nearly immortal."
Spider-Man stared at Talon, the man who moments before he had hit with enough force to stop a moving car, now stretching his arms and ripping his restraints apart, along with his own cape, his mask's mirrored lenses focused on his opponent. "Hey, Oracle, call me in a few minutes? Thanks!" "Spider-", and Peter turned off the call. "Up for a second round, tough guy?", and as before, the Talon remained quiet. The vigilante gave a deep sigh. "Well, I'm not, to be honest, but it's not like I have much choice." The Talon took a lower stance, knives now held properly, pointing down. "Heard you guys are some kind of fanatic servants for the Course of Owls."
"The Court of Owls."
"Yeah, sure, those guys, whatever, I'm not a local", he could see the hands holding the blades go tighter, the hint of an idea brewing in his mind. "I mean, I myself hate zealots. It's a new thing, there was an incident at Gotham Park a few days ago, but anyway, I hate fanatics. Tell me you had no choice, that you were being forced, and I'll hold back.", then he seemed to reconsider. "Heck, I'll probably hold myself in check even if you didn't."
"Hold back. Don't. It doesn't matter. Those who stand in the Court's way will die." Talon's front foot made a small slide motion, the vigilante took another step to the side in response, careful of not keeping too much distance from Valerie. "As will all those who follow the Batman."
"Sorry, me and the Bat? Totally different kinds of circles, you know, me having a much more active social life, while Bats is probably the kind of guy who lurks in his parents' basement. At best, we have mutual contacts in our work environment." 'Time to strike', Spider-Man finally found the opening he needed. "I thought the so-called real power of Gotham would know something so obvious, but, come on, what else could I expect from a bunch of arrogant, self-entitled old birds?"
There was a moment of silence, neither men moving, until they blurred forward.
—-
The left silvery blade came close to cutting his neck, as Spider-Man avoided the right knee to his gut. The right blade didn't reach that close, as the hero curved his whole body back, though the sharp pain in his right thigh proved the killer's skill.
'A feint!', Peter realized, as a faint slice appeared on his leg, and he was already moving to confuse the Talon with a side spin, his first kick missing the mask's beak, the second nailing the middle of the chest, even denting a couple of still sheaved knives.
('And yet, the guy still took it like a freaking rock, just like the Talon at Old Wayne Tower.')
Talon tried to use his right arm, but a stealthy webshot kept both hand and blade tethered to the ground, and Spider-Man capitalized on that, with a punch of his own to the assassin's face, which barely moved aside. "Is that all you got? Embarrassing."
"You wear a feather cloak and I'm 'embarrassing'?!" A twist of wrist, webstring cut and Talon's right blade came barreling downwards, the vigilante evading it easily, "Unless you're Elton John under that mask-", but the assassin kept the momentum and, with his other arm, elbowed Spider-Man on the chin, cutting him off. "Sorry, I meant Sir Elton-", the assassin's body made a full turn, the closest blade barely scratching the white spider logo, the tip of the other blade aiming to the other man's forehead. Though dizzy, Spider-Man pulled to the side ("Okay, comedy hour is over, here's the punchline!") and quickly followed with a jab, this time straight to the assassin's back, at his right kidney.
There was a gasp and a muffled shout of pain from the Talon, which Peter promptly ignored, grabbing the man's back with his other hand. The assassin made to evade, then suddenly realized he could not escape Spider-Man's grip, no matter how hard he tried to pull away ("Oops, sticky fingers!").
With the proximity, there was an attempt of stabbing, however Spider-Man was no longer standing by his side, instead flipping over him (the assassin unable to escape the adhesive touch of the hero) and then, as Spider-Man landed, it was the Talon who was lifted into the air, the cursed grip not loosing for an instant.
Talon had not much time to comprehend what was going on, as Spider-Man, with his inhuman strength, one handedly thwacked the man's entire body against the concrete. The surface under the assassin had cracked, and so had several of his bones.
Then Spider-Man raised the man into the air and swatted him down once more, with much more force, and the vigilante could feel his foe unmoving. "Puny Talon", Spider-Man quipped, in half-grunting voice.
He didn't know how much time had passed, before Valerie's voice came to him. "... you killed him." It was an accusation, or maybe just a statement.
"I don't kill…", Spider-Man huffed, releasing the assassin, "... doesn't mean I can't play rough. The bastard has some crazy healing abilities… not the best one I've met before… but better than my own." And he sprayed an abundant amount of web over the unmoving assassin. "I can actually hear his bones mending at this very moment."
"... gross."
"Oh, you have no idea how much it is." Spider-Man cracked his back, feeling the ache on his ribs and the open wound starting to improve. "So, Ms. Venderman, any reason why Gotham's boogeyman wants you?"
"I don't know! I don't even… they are supposed to be a myth! A conspiracy theory!"
"Lady, normally I also would not give much attention to rumors and stuff, but this is Gotham City!", he gestured to the buildings around them. "There is actually a man-eating human crocodile roaming the sewers and you were just saved from a zombie dressed as a steampunk owl by a guy in pajamas who can stick to stuff."
That gave her a moment of perspective but then she sighed, "I still have no clue, I am the most boring person in the whole City Hall!"
Spider-Man scratched his own forehead, until a suspicion arose, a connection to another murder attempt. "Hey… aren't you some sort of Commissioner…?"
"Of Cultural Affairs, but it's just small things, not really-"
"Would the small things involve, say, Bruce Wayne's Gotham Initiative? Like, the huge project involving the new and absurdly high tower still in construction in Middletown and aiming to radically change the whole Gotham society in the next ten years or so?", Spider-Man asked, rhetorically. "I think I'm starting to see the whole picture-" 'Spider-sense!'
The vigilante stood back into attention, as two new figures stealthily landed on the same rooftop, similarly to the defeated assassin.
The male was definitely a Talon, as tall as the previous one, but much more built like a circus' strongman or a gladiator from the old days, and instead of knives, long silver curvy blades were connected to his forearms through leather and brass vambraces.
The female, who was even taller than her companion, was also a Talon, her uniform a leather and brass version of a Civil War Union soldier. She had already drawn her long and thin fencing sword, hand guard in the shape of an owl's head -'Of course, keeping with the brand'-, blade glinting in the night lights and appearing wickedly sharp and recently used.
'Oh, now I get it', Peter mentally chastised himself, Oracle's words to flee rang in the back of his head.
"-did they target you?" "-captured a Talon?" "Spider-Man, Talons are-"
'This is not a hit, it's a raid.'
Spider-Man straightened up and started cracking his own knuckles, "Well, holy birdemic", the vigilante spoke up, "Don't know hoo invite you guys, but I'm talon you, it wasn't me." Both assassins were quiet. "You're both feeling lucky the full mask helps to hide how much you want to laugh, I just know."
"Spider-Man…", she-Talon started.
"Oh, boy", Spider-Man felt like facepalming.
"Valerie Venderman…", he-Talon continued.
"We're really committing to the bit here, aren't we?"
"The Court of Owl has sentenced you... to die!", three voices spoke, instead of just the two assassins, as Spider-Man joined in a mockery of the Talons' own tone. "The way you guys repeat yourselves, you sure you're not supposed to be themed as other birds? I won't suggest Mockingbird, because I already know one and she rocks", he snapped his fingers. "How about… The Court of Parrots, instead?" The man changed to a lower stance, while the tall lady kept the blade in position, but he heard the telltale sound of leather being squeezed by a firmer grip.
'What are you doing Parker?', Peter mentally chastised himself. 'You're injured and these guys are no joke! Also, you've got a victim to protect! Time to change tactics!'
"Fine then, if it's a fight you two want, you're welcome to try your chances against me. Just ask him", the vigilante waved at their still webbed up associate, which the assassins promptly ignored. "Sheesh, sorry buddy, it's the silent tweet-ment. What happened to birds of a feather flock together?"
"You fail to take into account, Spider-Man.", the she-Talon spoke up.
"Two against one.", he-Talon added.
"We like these odds." she-Talon completed.
Spider-Man gave a short laugh. "Heh, that shows how you guys are all a bunch of bird brains in the end. It's two on two."
That gave the assassins a moment of pause, the subtle stare towards their intended target.
"Her? Nah, she is the VIP, no, no, no, I'm counting you two, against me and… the special guest appearance of the Dark Knight himself, huh, Batman?"
Both Talons looked back, weapons at ready and aimed at their blind spot.
Where there was absolutely nothing.
"..."
"..."
Both assassins turned back around, just managing to see Spider-Man jumping out of the roof, carrying Valerie Venderman away.
Author's Notes:
Thanks to all of you readers, new and returning, for the attention and the kudos, thank you all so much!
As a reminder, I recommend you all to check the fics that inspired me to write this one, if you haven't read them, please, give them a go!
Also, no updates next weekend, sorry!