robin; a different fate [Discontinued]

Chapter 03: Stalking

[THIRD PERSON]
[Location: The Mountain]
[9:44 PM]

The team gathered on the mountain along with Blackwing and Red Hood. They were geared up for the mission and exited the mountain with little time to spare. They had to catch the Talon in the night, that's the only time the small bird seemed to roam the city.

And they had a lot of work to do. In order to even find him they'd have to follow the tracker that has been moving nonstop for days and has stopped for little time at any one location.

Yeah. They had a long night ahead of them.

>>Red Hood to team, I think I found him.<< Red Hood says through the mind link as he crouched above a warehouse of downtown Gotham. He peered through the shattered windows of the warehouse as he waited for the rest of the team.

Red Hood shivered. Yeah that was definitely the brat. He'd met the kid before on the field, you know before he regained his sanity after the pit. Before he became an actual antihero of sorts.

And boy was it terrifying.

The team arrived shortly, but not before Kid Idiot crashed into a wall and hit his head. Great, now they had to deal with a speedster with a headache. At least he would be quiet.

They watched the Talon as he strode across the daft floor of the warehouse. It had obviously not been cleaned in a long time aside from the obvious use of the contraption hanging from the ceiling. It looked like some sort of gymnast set and the team was almost certain that they had seen it somewhere before.

The Talon hoisted himself up onto the platform, the ceiling decked out in what they would shortly realize was a trapeze set. The team watched from their hidden spot as he seemed to bow in performance. They didn't think that he knew that they were there so what or who was he bowing to?

'What is he doing' Artemis hissed through the mind link as they watched him take position. They didn't have much time to respond before the Talon swiftly dove from the platform and nimbly latched onto the ring below before swinging his entire body up into the air with the momentum.

Then he released his grip.

Megan almost let out a cry of fear for the boy, even if he was their enemy, falling to his death. The team watched in slight horror as the boy landed on the next bar with one foot and one hand loosely gripping the trapeze. They then watched in amazement as he performed a series of flips and swung loosely from bar to bar with such ease and grace that even the usually noisy mind link was stunned into silence.

"Hello Grandfather." The Talon spoke, shocking the team out of their stupor. They watched with interest as a figure came from the shadows. How long he had been there not one of them knew, even Superboy who could hear heartbeats.

"Richard."

"Grandfather you know I don't go by that name anymore. That name died when my parents died." 

"Dick."

"And what's up with the court and all their stupid rules anyways? I know you want to stay under the radar but think about how much better it would be to be on the surface. Imagine the chaos!"

"Dick!" William Cobb yelled, his frustration melding into his voice.

"Yes dear Grandfather? What is it that you feel the need to yell at me about this time? Whatever it was I swear it wasn't me." the Talon cackled blinking innocently down at his Grandfather with those beautiful cold blue eyes.

"I see you still have that rebellious streak in you. I suppose we'll just have to put you on ice for a good long time until you curb it." Cobb growls as Dick visibly pales, his already pale skin going white as a sheet. But other than that he showed no outward signs of his nervousness.

"Well this is definitely not the aster, heavy on the dis." the Talon grumbled as he swung onto a higher bar with ease, an idea coming to him with a giggle. "But you'll have to catch me first."

"That's what I thought you'd say." With a flick of his hand suddenly dozens of Talons come from the shadows, surrounding the Trapeze set and warehouse rooftop. There seemed to be no escape for the rebellious Talon.

A spike of worry encased the team, from the mind link and themselves. But it was only a recon mission and disobeying was not in their favor at the moment. Plus now was a good chance to learn the Court's capabilities for themselves.

"Oh no, whatever shall they do? Take away my Trapeze for a couple of months? The horror." The Talon smirked, masking his fear with witty sarcasm. Not that many people could tell if they weren't empaths or were able to read him like an open book.

Most of the team didn't notice anyways.

Dick wasn't sure anyone could read him like an open book. He hadn't ever gotten that close to one person before to be able to try it.

Smirking openly Dick's blue eyes shined with determination. He would not be put back on ice if it were the last thing he did. Back on the cold operating table with nothing but memories to accompany him.

His dark very frightening memories. Memories of the Flying Grayson's that had flown so beautifully long ago. Memories of the fall.

"Ah yes, your trapeze. I suppose I can't stop you from swinging around like a deranged monkey but I can play that video for you. Always seems to do the trick doesn't it? The fall of the great Grayson's and co. I wonder, how ever did you survive the fall Richard?"

Dick was silent for a minute as he fended off the attacking Talon casually, clearly used to fighting off their mass numbers with his small nimble body still on the trapeze and swinging from bar to bar as they attempted to lure him from aerial combat.

"Oh you know, I jumped, no big deal." Dick replied, not giving anything away nor confirming anything. That was the way the acrobat always was, dodging questions with a narrow margin. One of his many talents.

One of the few that came in handy at this moment. He couldn't hack his way out of this situation now could he.

Dick swung himself up as he avoided another Talon as they started to double team him, rushing upon him with speeds the younger Talon could not fend off this time. Forced to flip to the ground with the intensity of the attack the young acrobat winced as his ankle rolled out from undernieth him and he was quickly pinned to the dirty ground of the warehouse firmly by three Talons who had been waiting for him on the ground.

This had been their plan all along, he realized with a jolt. Even after living with the assassins for many years they could still manage to take him by surprise. His blue eyes widen as his true fear and desperation show through them. No, no, no! He didn't want to go back to the chambers! He'd do anything to avoid it.

That was his last coherent thought as they stabbed a sedative into the back of his neck and quickly pressed the release, pushing the liquid into his bloodstream.

"Have sweet dreams, Richard." Cobb snarls as he commands a tall Talon to carry the boy to where he would be put on ice.

Finally, Dick Grayson was down for the count and the team could only watch in horror as he was dragged away with the Talons and his supposed grandfather.

"Damn it, why didn't we do something?" Conner screams as they arrive back at the cave, punching a wall in his anger. The clone realized how trapped the acrobat had really been. It was similar to his situation with Cadmus, he would mentally always have a part of himself there trapped under the mind control.

"Wow what did that wall do to you?" Wally jokes, attempting to lighten the mood. It only served to worsen the mood.

They wouldn't be over this for a while.

A long while.

[1392 Words]