Damian's Sister

The Court of Owls

~ The Court Of Owls ~

"I thought this would relax you." Samantha tisked at Talon's attentiveness to his father's old pocket watch.

"What can I say? I'm a born worrier."

"Then I guess I'll have to relax you all over again." She attempted to start another round, but Talon refused. He pulled away, walked to the window. Samantha followed him. "Now, now. You know better than to disobey the Grandmaster," she teased.

"We're not wearing masks now, Samantha."

"People like us are always wearing masks."

"What if the Court doesn't go along with our plan?"

"It's a brilliant idea. We have the perfect weapon to destroy the Batman."

"And me?"

"You'll have your wish. You'll sit beside me on the Court. My partner. My love."

"But I'm not one of you. I'm just a nobody from the streets."

"My father recruited you, trained you. I've known you since we were children, and I know there's greatness in you."

"Maybe you do, but the rest of them..." Talon trailed as he was guided back to the bed.

"Vanavers have controlled the Court for generations. Our word is law."

"Since when do you believe in the law?"

"Only one law, my love. My law." She kissed him, ending the conversation.

oOoOoOoOoOoOo

"The sewers again, sir?" Alfred asked over the coms.

Guided by a small flashlight, the disguised billionaire walk straight through the liquid filth. "Seems I'm always up to my neck in sewage one way or another. But this particular section has been shut down since the 1800s. Took some work to get in here, believe me."

"But what about Master Damian?"

"He's a pawn in the Court's game. This is only gonna end when I take them down. Hang on. I've got something." The visor in his cowl locked onto the wall. "Signal is strongest right behind here."

"Sir?

He felt around, found a switch. The wall moved, revealing more behind it.

"I've located a long corridor that leads closer to the signal's source." He walked forward, but Alfred wasn't getting a clear read.

"Your transmission is breaking up."

"There's a faint aroma in the air. Moldy, sweet. Wait. I found-" but Alfred could no longer hear him.

Though unheard, the faithful butler wished, "Best of luck, sir."

He entered a luxurious room. A familiar room. Bruce Wayne had been here before, but not Batman. The transmitter worked perfectly.

Again, he looked up to find rows of white, blank owl masks staring at him.

"Welcome, Batman, to the Court of Owls." The creep calling himself Grandmaster stepped forward. "We've been expecting you."

"You were watching me in the tunnels," he concluded.

"In the tunnels, on the streets. We have eyes across Gotham, observing and recording your every move."

"As I suspected."

"And did you also suspect-" Wait. Something wasn't right, "-that those ancient sewers have been flooded with an odorless psychotropic gas-" Everything was getting blurry- "that enters through the pores of the skin-" The voice talking to him echoed- "gnaws at the roots of the mind-" The masked people became monsters- "turning the psyche back in on itself, twisting and winding until it resembles nothing so much as a labyrinth?"