The Last Talon

Chapter Two

Mount Justice was in chaos. In the hours since Bruce had called the League to Gotham to help remove the hibernation chamber, the rumour had been passed around like a game of Chinese whispers. They had found Robin, the original Robin!

The League locked down half of the cave to try and keep the situation contained. The only people allowed through other than themselves were the Bats who had descended upon the cave.

'Is it true?' Jason asked when he saw Bruce. The older man looked shaken.

'Father, is it Grayson?' Damian pressed, his hand resting on Bruce's arm, steadying the man.

Everyone held their breath, waiting for an answer.

Bruce nodded.

'Jesus.' Said Tim, rubbing his hands down his face. After twenty years they'd finally found his brothers body. 'How do you know?'

Bruce swallowed. 'Batman found him on ice.'

'The ice preserved his body?' Asked Jason. Bruce looked like he was going to throw up.

'No.' Said Damian sadly, understanding. It was the Court who had kidnapped him. There was only one reason they would put a body on ice. 'They put him in hibernation. Didn't they?'

Jason flinched violently.

'Hibernation? You mean he's alive!'

'We don't know anything yet.' Bruce said carefully, he flinched slightly when the doors opened and Superman and Wonder Woman helped carry the chamber into the room, laying it down near the medical table. The Bats drew closer, all of their eyes widening in shock and horror when the looked down through the glass.

There was their eldest brother, lying there in what looked like sleep. He wasn't breathing and Superman confirmed that he couldn't hear a heartbeat. He was as still as death and barely looked a day older than he had the day he went missing.

'We need to get him out of there.' Said Jason, touching the glass lightly with his fingers, as though checking to make sure this was real.

'Hold on.' Said Diana. 'We need to think about this.'

'Think about what?' Tim cried, 'That's Dick! He's alive!'

'He might be alive.' She corrected him. Then she turned to Bruce. 'We have three logical options here. The first being that the Court didn't change him and put him in hibernation temporarily, but then died out before they could take him out. In which case, Dick will be dead and taking him out of the chamber will start the decaying process.'

Jason took a deep shuddering breath.

'Two,' Diana continued. 'The court turned him into a Talon, we take him out of hibernation and he's alive, lost in a time that isn't his and no longer completely human. I don't know which would be the best scenario in this situation.' She admitted.

'What's the third option?' Terry said, coming to stand beside Bruce. 'You said there were three options.'

'The third option is that we take him out of hibernation, he's alive, changed by the court into a Talon, but is already infected with the virus that made them otherwise extinct.'

The room was silent as Bruce walked over to the chamber and lay his hand on the glass above Dick's face. After all this time, he couldn't believe his son was so close and yet he felt no closer to getting him back. There was no way for them to win this situation. No matter what option they took, no matter what the outcome was it would mean torture for Dick Grayson. There was a flicker of a moment when Bruce thought, perhaps it would be better if the boy were dead inside the ice. But the thought passed quickly, instead, he focused on the here and now.