The Last Talon

Chapter Nine

Dick lay staring at the ceiling for a long time that night. The house sounded as though it were alive and the constant noise was keeping him awake. Sure, there had been white noise in the base, but everything there was high tech and with so many heroes sleeping there with super hearing, it was designed to be relatively quiet. This was an old house and it practically whispered with all its history and secrets.

It was after three and as far as he was aware everyone else had already headed to bed. Bruce had popped his head around the door hours ago, but Dick had pretended to be asleep. He really didn't feel like sharing his thoughts. The feeling of impatience was growing in his body, desperate to train. He could practically feel the electrum building in his veins, preparing for a battle that wasn't going to come. William had warned him about this. If a Talon were to stay inactive to for too long, it would slowly drive them crazy. The only way around it was to go into hibernation. It was the Court's way of ensuring their assassins didn't grow a conscience and attempt to escape.

He rolled off the bed, slowly padding his way silently to the door. Maybe, if he spent an hour alone in the gym the feeling would start to dissipate. He carefully turned the doorknob and creaked it open.

Or maybe not.

Sat outside his bedroom door was Ace. The dog raised its head as the door opened and he let out a low growl once he smelt it was Dick. He appeared to be keeping a visual on the newcomer. Dick didn't blame him, he knew dogs were intelligent and they could sense danger. Ace had picked up on how dangerous Dick was the moment he had entered the house. Despite everything, Dick decided he liked the dog. Bruce wasn't getting any younger and he liked the thought that Ace would be able to protect him should he need it and the others weren't around. This being said, it did mean his plan of secretly going to the gym to relieve some tension was pretty much down the drain.

Deciding he didn't want to lie in bed and wait for the sunrise, he started looking around his room for something to distract himself. He ran this fingers along the spines of his books as he circled the room. His fingertips brushed over the glass of the picture frame on one of the shelves. It was a picture of him and his brothers. He was 14, Jason was 13 and Tim was 10. It was a time before Damian had joined them. They had been wrestling on the living room rug when Bruce had taken the snapshot. Jason was swearing, his face contorted in fury, Tim was grinning a toothy grin, one of his front teeth had fallen out the day before. And Dick had his head thrown back in laughter. It was a rare moment of pure joy, a moment where all three of them forgot their pasts, forgot the horrors of the night and just revelled in what they had then and there; each other.

Dick turned away from the picture and for the first time in a while caught a glimpse of his reflection in the full-length mirror. He didn't look all that different in the darkness, his skin stood out a little more than it used too. Thanks to the electrum, he hadn't changed all that much in the year he had spent with the Court. He was a 37-year-old with a 17-year-old mind in a 16-year-olds body. Jesus, why was his life so messed up!

A cloud moved away from the moon and the moonlight filled the room, causing his yellow eyes to reflect into the mirror. They seemed to glow in the eery light.

He gripped his hands into fists tightly, so tight that blood began to squeeze between his fingers. He watched the red ooze for a moment before opening his hands and letting the burning sensation heal the wounds. To his horror and relief, the tension in his muscles relaxed ever so slightly.

Electrum has three uses. It heals the body, heightens the senses and it also increases the potential of the muscles, making the host faster and stronger than the average person. By injuring his hand, Dick realised he had shifted some of the building electrum from his muscles into the wound.