Monday 20th April 2009, 22:05.
New Jersey,
Gotham City,
Wayne Manor.
"Greetings, I am the Judge of Owls." He spoke, his voice charismatic as he theatrically waved his arms outwards. "I belong to an illustrious and ancient order known as the Court of Owls. Some of you may have heard stories of us, believing us to be nothing more than a myth, an old folks' tale." The Judge of Owls chuckled as if he had told a funny joke. "I can assure you; we are very real."
There was a pause, the Judge of Owls allowing the meaning of his words to sink into the people of Gotham that were listening. Meanwhile, the four heroes spared a glance knowing exactly what this meant, the Court had abandoned anonymity and had stepped into the open.
"We have waited in the shadows long enough, watching as our beloved city was plunged into chaos. We waited, bided our time for just the right moment to save this city, and that moment is now." Raising his right arm, the Judge of Owls presented a detonator to the people of Gotham. "A few weeks ago, the villains known as Scarecrow created a new toxin known as the Fearless Toxin. The riots that happened were a cause of such a toxin."
The Judge of Owls pressed the button and Esau jerked in his seat as if attempting to stop the man even though it was an impossibility.
Even then, they all saw the sight of a small box appears in the corner of the screen showing video footage of green gas flooding a street and spreading out through a few more. The people that were caught on camera froze, coughing heavily and wafting their hands in an attempt to get rid of the gas before everything went still.
Then there was chaos.
People started attacking those around them, firing guns and stabbing anyone they chose without any fear at all.
It was pure anarchy.
"As you can see, it is highly effective and that is not the only one. I have another twenty-two caches of the Fearless Toxin placed all over the city. In one hour, we will detonate them all." That's when the feed cut off and Alfred turned off the TV, the group silent as they digested the information.
"Why give us an hour?" Esau asked eventually, breaking the silence that had befallen them. "He gave us no list of demands to follow so giving us a time limit makes no sense." Barbara and Dick nodded their heads in agreement.
"Because they don't plan to make demands, it's a trap." Bruce deduced quickly. "He gives us an hour to go looking for the Fearless Toxin."
"And we'll have no choice but to spread out, even with the help of the GCPD." Dick continued as he too realised what Bruce had figured out. "We'll be split up throughout the city allowing the Talon and his undead to pick us off one by one."
"Then what do we do?" Barbara asked, still unsure as to what to do.
If they went out to find the Fearless Toxin, they would be doing exactly what the Court wanted, but if they didn't, then they would be leaving the entire city vulnerable.
If heroes like Superman and Batman require help, then what hope do you have to make a difference in this world alone?
"We should call in help," Esau said, remembering Talon's words.
"What'd you mean, who's going to help us?" Dick asked, but by the looks on Bruce's and Barbara's faces, they knew what he meant and while Barbara seemed willing to go along with the plan, Bruce did not.
"No," Bruce replied firmly.
"No?" Esau asked incredulously. "I'm sorry, but you're being stupid. Talon's counting on you being territorial and not requesting help. He wants you to do exactly that cos' it'll make things easier for him. I don't like the idea of teaming up with you guys, but I will because I've realised that Talon was right, I can only go so far on my own. You realised the same when you teamed up with the Justice League."
"He's got a point, Bruce." Barbara agreed and even Dick nodded his head, though he seemed to look like he had swallowed a particularly sour lemon in doing so, the act of agreeing with Esau did not seem right with him. "We haven't got much in the way of choices here, the Court's got us cornered. We go on our own then they'll pick us off one by one, or we go as a group and don't find all the caches in time. Either way, we fail."
That's when an alarm sounded.
"What's that?!" Esau demanded, wincing as all four of them rose to their feet.
"Proximity sensors have been triggered," Bruce informed, pulling up his mask over his face.
"But how, how did they know we were here?" Robin questioned also putting his mask back on as did Barbara and Esau.
Batman turned to look at Esau. "It seems, that Talon placed a tracker in you." Esau looked at him in shock.
"That doesn't make any sense, we checked him," Barbara argued.
"Yes, we checked to see if there was something placed on him. But we didn't check to see if there was something placed in him." He directed a pointed look at Esau's injured leg and his train of thought was quickly picked up on by the others.
"Shit!" Esau cursed as Batman told Alfred to put the mansion in lockdown.
Barbara moved over to Esau as he limped towards her and Robin. "Are you gonna be okay?" She asked in concern and Esau waved her off.
"I'll be fine once the adrenaline kicks in." He informed her and while still unsure, Barbara nodded her head.
That was when Batman came towards him and placed a briefcase down in front of Esau.
"We haven't got much time, put that on." Knowing what it was, Esau hesitantly nodded his head knowing this really wasn't the time to let his pride get in the way. The fact that the Talon had so easily torn through his suit had already told him he needed a better one and while it certainly annoyed him, Batman was the one who had the suit that he needed. "And there's an Epinephrine injection in there as well."
With a deep breath, Esau took the briefcase.
-X-
Monday 20th April 2009, 22:10.
New Jersey,
Gotham City,
Gotham Heights.
Releasing a sigh, the Judge of Owls let his shoulders relax as he finished his speech to the people of Gotham City, his plans finally set in motion. As he moved towards the stand, the Judge of Owls poured himself a glass of whiskey as the cameraman packed up the equipment and took his leave from the room.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" The Judge of Owls asked as he swirled the glass in his hands as he looked out over the city, Talon appearing from the shadows. "So much corruption and yet, so much potential."
"Yes, it is," Talon said coming to a stop beside the Judge of Owls.
"Tell me, Talon." The Judge of Owls spoke. "That boy you took an interest in, Black Hood? Did things go as planned? I hope they did, considering you left me trapped under rubble for a great deal of time."
The Talon was silent for a few moments. "No, they did not." The reminder of the boy's betrayal was enough to make Talon's anger rise, especially as he was reminded of said betrayal due to the wound on his chest. It had been fixed, for the most part, the Court having used the same Electrum technology that they used to reanimate the Undead Talons, but even then, there were moments of stabbing pain.
"A shame." The Judge of Owls replied. "I had hoped that the boy would have proved amicable to our ways, he would prove to be a good successor though it seems you overestimated yourself. It's why we have always taken young children, they're far more malleable, like you yourself were. Excellent soldiers to help me realise the Court's ambition to retake Gotham."
"Yes, they are." The Talon replied, tempering the anger he felt. "A shame that you won't live to see it come to fruition."
"Wha- "
Before the Judge of Owls could finish, Talon snapped the man's neck and let him drop unceremoniously to the ground. As he stood over the Judge of Owl's body, Talon pulled out a device from his pocket and smiled happily.
"Wayne Manor?" He questioned in amusement. "How fascinating."
Spinning on his heel, the Talon turned and left the room intent on hunting down and finishing Esau and the Bat Family once and for all.
-X-
Monday 20th April 2009, 22:20.
New Jersey,
Gotham City,
Wayne Manor.
The calm before the storm.
It was a common saying that referred to the tense moment of tenuous peace that was a prelude to the war that would soon follow. A moment of nerve-wracking territory that drove people to the brink of madness and sometimes falling straight into the abyss itself.
Esau could confidently say that he had never felt more nervous in his life than at this very moment.
To make matters worse, his three temporary compatriots had been nothing but silent.
No one had made a sound as they waited patiently in the main sitting room of the Wayne Manor and Esau was growing increasingly frustrated.
His heart was pounding, and his foot tapped impatiently on the ground as he looked around the room, standing in the new armour gifted to him by Batman. He marvelled at the sleek, compact design of the suit as well as the feel and strength the armour seemed to possess, it was far better than his old equipment.
Occasionally his eyes skimmed over Batman, Robin and Batgirl who, unlike him were the perfect picture of calmness. Just stood there, postures relaxed as if this was an everyday thing for them. 'Which in retrospective, it probably is.' Esau thought, honestly wondering what world he had stepped into where a thirteen-year-old boy and a sixteen-year-old girl could be perfectly calm despite facing down a trained assassin and an entire army of undead assassins.
A sudden movement from Batman caught his attention as he looked up at the ceiling.
Esau couldn't see anything; metal shutters having covered every inch of glass in Wayne Manor and while that certainly worked in their favour as it kept their position unknown. It also left them, with the problem that they couldn't see their enemies either. Unless of course, you were tapped into the security cameras which Batman was.
A loud bang a few minutes later followed by a crash alerted Esau to the fact that their defences hadn't held up well against the undead at all.
Flexing his hand, Esau put more weight onto his uninjured leg as he positioned himself beside Batman as the sound of rushing footsteps grew closer and closer. Tensing, Esau took a deep breath in preparation, it was just then that the door burst open and in swarmed twenty Undead Talons. All of them rushed around the room till they had the four of them pinned against the wall with the undead forming a semi-circle around them.
Then they parted allowing the figure of Talon to walk forwards. "Bruce Wayne." He said amusedly. "I must say, that was a shock when I learned who Batman really was."
Batman said nothing, instead giving Talon no time to say anything else.
The Batarang cut through the air, Talon slapping it to one side with contemptuous ease, it struck the ground and exploded, sending five Undead Talons flying through the air. This was the signal for the heroes to rush forwards, Esau and Robin breaking off to the left while Batgirl and Batman rushed to the right.