Quickly leaning backwards, Batman avoided a swipe from Talon's hand, his claws coming dangerously close to his eyes, but he did not panic and instead came forwards with two more punches followed by a front kick to the chest. Talon avoided them as Batman expected, both coming in for another strike, simultaneously avoiding them as the two fighters passed each other by.
Yet, Batman was already in motion for a counter, he had already pulled out the remainder of his Batarangs and went to throw them at Talon's exposed back.
Or, that was the plan anyway.
Moving quickly, Talon twisted his footing and spun round, gripping ahold of Batman's wrists and jumping into the air, his knees tucked into his chest directed right towards Batman. Eyes widening, the caped crusader managed to just barely free his hands in time to form a crossguard before the double-footed stomp struck. Even then, it was not quick enough, his guard breaking open and the stomp striking him in the chest sending him rolling across the ground.
However, as Batman rolled at his feet prepared for Talon's follow-up attack, it never came.
Looking at his opponent more closely he saw his Batarangs held in Talon's fingers. "I must say, while simple these are a marvellous piece of technology." He raised his right hand and looked at them more closely. "Such a shame that your morals stop you from using them properly."
Then with a flicker of his wrists, the Batarangs were launched across the room, most embedded into the mech suit near Batgirl, Robin and Black Hood, though a few were placed in pillars and other key structural points of the Batcave. Despite the small number, the compact explosives stored inside them packed enough punch in them to easily destroy stone pillars.
It was why Batman only ever aimed them at the surrounding area of criminals, close enough to knock them unconscious but far enough away not to kill them. Superpowered individuals were a different story as their powers allowed them to survive the force of the explosion. and so he was much more targeted and liberal in his use of them.
Either way, as they beeped Batman realised just how precarious the situation had become.
But before Batman could do anything, Talon had burst forwards and was upon him and he could nothing except fight back. As he did, forced further and further back with each exchange of blows, Batman could hear the beeping of the Batarangs. He had long since memorised how long it took before they exploded, the number of beeps that sounded, each on a timer to give criminals enough time to recognise what it meant and run away. Nothing more than five seconds, ten beeps in total.
Five.
Batman conceded another metre as he was just a little too slow in blocking Talon's kick to his chest.
Four.
A blow to the head sent Batman stumbling back further.
Three.
Gripping hold of Talon's fist, Batman lashed out with a punch of his own that was also caught by Talon.
Two.
The two pushed against one another in a contest of strength that he began to win, pushing Talon back a step.
One.
Talon jumped up slamming a knee into Batman's chin jerking the caped crusader's head back as his head pounded violently. Yet while in mid-air, Talon spun and slammed a kick into Batman's chest sending him back just as the Batcave exploded. The whole cave shook violently as those pillars with Batarangs embedded in them erupted outwards in a shower of smoke, flames and debris. Surviving pillars holding the various platforms groaned as cracks spread across, the weight now placed upon them far too great.
On the other side, the Talon could see the mech suit had exploded, collapsing to the ground, its large metal frame blocking the doorway to where the Undead Talons were being held. It would make getting the undead Talons free difficult, but not impossible. However, they would be unable to assist him for the rest of this fight.
Even so, it was not enough to make Talon stop now as he rushed forwards, slamming several punches into Batman's sternum who grunted in pain. When he recovered, Batman went to strike but Talon blocked the slow punch and responded with a low kick to his knees causing it to buckle and Batman to drop to his knees.
Gripping his suit by the cape, Talon brutally and violently punched the hero repeatedly in the face, each blow sending blood splattering through the air as Batman's nose broke. Yet he continued to throw punch after punch into the hero's face and each time Batman's head jerked backwards, his knees growing weaker and his vision blurry.
Hearing the pillars cracking even further, Talon dragged Batman by his cape and dropped him unceremoniously to the ground. Reaching down, he then ripped the man's mask off and stared into the face of Bruce Wayne as he gripped hold of his hair.
"You're good, Bruce Wayne." Talon conceded. "Better than anyone I've ever faced and maybe if circumstances were different, you could have won." The pillars burst open and the platform above dropped, all its contents coming crashing down on top of Batman as Talon jumped back to a safe distance.
Smirking, Talon looked at the mask of Batman. "But in the end, we can never dictate these things. You were just unlucky today." Whether Batman could hear him or not didn't matter to Talon as he stood there with the mask of Batman in his hand, Talon could feel only pure euphoria as his victory was all but assured.
Nothing could stop him now.
-X-
Groaning heavily, Esau blearily opened his eyes, head pounding and a constant ringing in his ears as he winced and squinted to look around. The light from the fires burning brightly around him proved too much and Esau quickly shut his eyes, slowly opening them once more.
Looking around, he could see Robin lying nearby, clutching his leg in pain. 'Barbara.' He thought, his eyes looking around once more till they landed on her figure and he released a sigh of relief.
Only for his breath to freeze in his throat when he saw the blood pooling out of her head.
Quickly, Esau attempted to crawl towards her only for his left arm to give out and dropped to the ground with a cry of pain. "Shit!" He cursed, looking to see that his left arm was dislocated. "Barbara." He didn't let that stop him however as he crawled towards her, taking her into his arms as he gingerly shook the unconscious girl awake.
Even with the throbbing in his arm making things difficult to concentrate, a panicked surge of energy filled him.
"Barbara, can you hear me?" He asked urgently and released a sigh of relief when she released a groan.
"Esau." Barbara winced, one hand moving up to clutch her head where Esau's good hand cradled it. "What happened?"
As Esau checked her head, he noticed that it was nothing more than a graze which was good, but he would reckon she had a concussion. "The mech suit we were stood by exploded and we were caught in the explosion."
"And by the looks of things, most of the Batcave was also caught in similar explosions." Robin finished, coming to rest beside them as they took cover behind a pile of debris. "You guys okay?"
"Dislocated my arm, but other than that I'm fine." Esau then looked down at Barbara as did Robin. "I think, I think she might have a concussion, so she'll be fine. The blood is from a graze."
Robin released a sigh of relief having been worried by the blood at first, just as Esau had.
"Batman?" Barbara asked, still not quite conscious enough to form full sentences.
Even so, Robin and Esau knew what she meant. "Batman..." Robin began, hesitant to answer, Esau himself also looked to Robin for the answer. "From what I saw, Batman is defeated for now."
"Shit!" Esau cursed once more; a sentiment shared by the other two.
"We're the only ones that stand between Talon and his victory right now," Robin explained. "Luckily, the Undead Talons are still locked away, the ruins of the mech suit are keeping them contained." That was some good news at least, but it still left them with the biggest threat to save Gotham, something they knew.
"Anyone got any ideas on what we can do?" Esau asked as it meant that they were all that stood between Talon and his takeover of Gotham city. "No?" He questioned when he saw that Robin had nothing and Barbara was still recovering. "Alright, guess that means we've got to come up with something on the spot."
Robin snorted in amusement at the understatement of facts. "I've broken my leg so I'm not gonna be much help in a fight, I could provide support from a distance." He answered, pulling out a few Batarangs, something Esau wasn't all too keen about considering they were responsible for their current predicament. "Don't worry, I'll make sure they're non-explosive unless absolutely necessary. The last thing we need to do is further destabilise the structural integrity of the Batcave. Or what's left of it anyway.
Esau nodded his head and then looked down at Barbara to help her sit up fully. "Guess that leaves me with actually fighting Talon." Barbara went to protest but winced at the killer headache that struck her. "No, Barbara," Esau said firmly. "You've got a concussion; you'll be seeing double and unable to concentrate."
"And you've got a dislocated shoulder," Barbara replied, regaining some of her sarcasm.
"I can help with that. Though this is going to hurt. A lot." Robin warned and Esau nodded his head. "Here, bite down on this." Taking the piece of leather, Esau put it in his mouth and bit down on it in preparation, also taking Barbara's hand. "Ready, on three. One, two..."
Robin quickly pushed Esau's arm back into its socket and Esau groaned loudly in pain, his cry of pain muffled by the leather in his mouth.
Spitting out the leather, Esau panted as his shoulder throbbed in pain. "You enjoyed that." Esau snarked and Robin said nothing in reply, giving only a smirk in response. "Well, I'm leaving the support to you. I'll try and get him to reveal where the detonator is and keep him distracted long enough for you to get it, can you do that?" He asked and Barbara nodded her head after a few seconds.
Looking over the debris, Esau saw Talon standing and looking into the ripped mask of Batman.
"I think now would be a good time to hit him with an explosive." Robin also looked and nodded his head.
"Get into a position, I'll throw them at his feet and destabilise the ground, should put him off balance enough for you to gain at least a few hits." Nodding his head, Esau squeezed Barbara's hand once more and moved to get into a better position to attack Talon.