[BEWARE OF BETRAYAL] - DAMIAN WAYNE - DC COMICS

on avenue x.

Sneaking out became a nightly ritual to piss him off even more. It went like this for a month till I realized he had been playing the 'this doesn't bother me card', which meant it was time for me to find a new way to get under his skin. Through all this nonsensical fighting, I turned back to Talon. At first I went for advice. I honestly never had intentions of joining the court. I mean, I'm a fan of masks, but I fucking hate owls. I simply just needed an idea from someone who truly understood me, and that, that was Talon.

"Well if you're really looking to make him angry, why don't you just join us." He had asked me, as he sharpened one of his many knives.

"I'd rather join you than the court... You know I'm not into group affairs. I can only handle one person at a time, and still just barely." He chuckles at my shitty remark.

"Seems you don't know much about the court kid." He adds, giving me a sigh.

"They take you under their wing, place you in the nest you belong. We're all misfits, in fact it's uncommon for us not to be. I think I should put you in contact with the headmaster... He'll tell you what it's like. I'm not nearly as persuasive as he is." He admitted, sitting up in his chair.

"What if I don't want to be persuaded?" I wondered, folding my arms nonchalantly.

"If you're looking to fit in, and be understood as you are with me, you won't have to be." He stood up, walking towards the window.

"It may seem like some underground army that requires you to be a part of some regimented bull shit... I mean of course there are rules, we have an oath and all that crap... But the court isn't here to create carbon copies... We all only have one common goal." His eyes tip toe across Gotham's landscape, an expression painted across his face that I couldn't quite describe.

"And that is..." I started, expecting him to finish.

"Head over to Avenue X and he'll tell you himself." He whispered, turning back to face me. I walked towards the door, repeating the address to myself.

"Welcome aboard kid." He says in an even smaller tone.

"No one said I was aboard..." I complained. He just laughed. I opened the door to exit, and he said one last thing.

"Yeah, good luck with that."

I later found myself on Avenue X. And on Avenue X, I soon found him. A feather floated down from the sky, a sway that could lullaby one's eyes to a restless state. I glanced upwards, wondering where the hell it came from. And in my line of vision I could see a pale sphere, off in the distance. Not the moon, but what I might have even considered to be the devil. It's darkened eyes rest upon me, and the face of earth, illuminating in its entirety beyond this figure, made me realize he had been the face of hell. Earth? Hell? One in the same I suppose. But this man was no moon, despite the distinct similarities; coming out in the darkened hours, a face painted glowing white, the way they crept in distance, lurking in the shadows, watching over, stalking, revolving around the innocent world and it's many inhabitants. They most certainly were one in the same... The way his head was masked by a brightness to be contrasted with a body cloaked in pure black. The same way the blackened night sky, engulfed the shiny sphere of radiance... Yet he was not inanimate. He was real. Very real.