Mask of Glass

Ch 23

Grandmaster carried Dick towards the area where the heros were battling his owls and talons. If he knew the League as well as he hoped he did, then they wouldn't risk the death of their precious 'Nightwing'. 'This battle is as good as won.' Grandmaster thought smugly to himself as he walked down a long hallway. Dick was still unconscious in his arms... at least that was what he thought.

Suddenly, Dick flipped out of Grandmaster's grip, landing gracefully on the floor in front of him.

"Talon." Grandmaster growled.

"It's actually Nightwing." Dick replied, sending a roundhouse kick at Grandmaster's head and knocking him to the ground where he lay unconscious. Luckily, Grandmaster wasn't a talon, so Dick didn't have to worry about him recovering quickly and attacking him.

Dick still hadn't recovered as much as he would've liked, and he could feel his back burning with pain from the half healed burns that covered it. He stumbled down the hall towards the sound of fighting. His limbs felt much too heavy, and his head spun just a bit from the lack of food and water he had experienced during his captivity.

As Dick continued shambling down the hall, his sensitive ears heard the sound of someone running up behind him. He quickly jumped into his fighting stance, prepared for the person to be an owl or a talon he would have to fight. Instead, he saw Batman and Superman coming down the hall towards him.

Batman saw his son standing further down the hall and he quickly ran to his side and caught the younger as he swayed on his feet before toppling to the side. Tears overflowed in Batman's eyes as he held his son close to his chest.

"You came." Dick muttered, voice cracking from how dry his throat was.

"I would never leave you here." Batman replied, rubbing his thumb across Dick's cheek to wipe away some of his son's tears. Batman took a moment to look Dick over, trying to see if he was alright. Dick was only wearing a pair of loose sweatpants, and his ribs jutted out from his torso. The court had had him for about 5 days, and he hadn't received anything to eat or drink in any of them. There were small burns covering Dick's chest, arms, and back that were slowly healing themselves.

Batman propped Dick up against the wall and reached into his utility belt for the small stash of provisions he always kept there. "This is all I have, but I'm sure Alfred will get you more food once we get back to the manor." Batman said, handing the small water bottle and the two energy bars that he had retrieved from his utility belt to Dick.

Dick immediately opened the water bottle and began to guzzle it down.

"Woah, not too fast bud." Bruce said, putting a hand on Dick's shoulder. "You wouldn't want to make yourself sick."

Dick continued eating and drinking, but this time at a much slower pace. When he was done, Batman helped him up and they continued down the hallway.

The hallway eventually opened up into a large area that was filled with talons, owls, and heroes. It was clear that the heroes were winning this fight. Unconscious owls littered the ground, and talons were lying bound on the floor, some of them wrapped in bolas, and some had their own swords or even bow staffs bent around them, most likely superboy's doing. Superman quickly flew off to help where he could, but before Dick and Batman could join the fight Dick fell to his knees. He barely heard Grandmaster's evil laugh behind him. His head felt like it was a top and waves of nausea washed over him, causing him to empty his stomach of the energy bars and water he had just consumed.

Batman turned when he heard Dick vomiting, and saw Grandmaster holding his son under the arms with some sort of a gun pointed at his neck. The white lenses of Batman's cowl narrowed and his teeth clenched in fury.

In the hand that Grandmaster had wrapped across Dick's chest he held a small remote. He managed to twist the dial it had with one hand and Dick's body relaxed as his nausea calmed and his head stopped spinning.

Dick took deep shuddering breaths, not having the strength to get out from Grandmaster's grasp.

Suddenly, a loud shrill whistle sounded from Grandmaster's lips. He whistled a trio of dissonant notes which seemed to echo around the entire building making everyone stop what they were doing.

Dick's head snapped up when he heard the notes, and his eyes widened in fear.

Batman turned and watched as every single talon simultaneously shuddered and collapsed.

"No!" Dick cried. He knew, as every talon knew, those notes signaled death. Every talon had just been injected with a poison that was contained within each of their suits. They were all dead.

Grandmaster laughed evilly.

"What did you just do?" Batman asked, taking a step towards the man holding his son.

"You don't know?" Grandmaster paused and smiled, taking delight in such an evil thing. "Your precious little talon here knows. Those notes signal a mechanism within the suits that injects a special poison into their bloodstream, ultimately leading to death." Grandmaster tightened his grip on Dick as the young man whimpered and started squirming in his grasp. "They're all dead now... all except for one."

Before Batman could even react, Grandmaster pulled the trigger on the small gun he had pressed against Dick's neck. The madman laughed as he dropped Dick's body to the ground before stepping back, shoving a cyanide pill into his mouth and biting down on it. His laughter still echoed as he too fell to the ground.