The Gray Son of Gotham

 Dick was flabbergasted, his jaw dropped. "He's my... My what?"

"I took a tissue sample, Dick. I ran it against the one I have on file for you... It came out a positive match."

 "So what? Wait, you weren't going to tell me, were you? That's why you wanted privacy."

 "At first, I thought of keeping it from you, but I realized it was only best for me if you didn't know. But I have to get my head around the fact that you are not a child needing protection anymore. While running some tests I went over your entries into the computer you made recently. It was foolish to get romantically involved with Raya, especially so quickly."

 "I didn't put that in the computer." Dick dropped his head, knowing that Matt was right.

"Sometimes it's the missing information that makes the picture clear Dick. Lesson learned, don't make the same mistake again. I know these last few weeks have been rough on you, you just need to learn from it and move on."

 Maybe it was the way Matt dismissed what Dick went through, or maybe it was the last bit of childishness left in Dick. Most likely it was the suppressed emotions that Dick had been keeping down finally exploding. "You have NO IDEA the things I have gone through these last few weeks! Just because you heard it thumped out to you by the computer, you want to tell me to move on. Well, here is what the computer didn't tell you, Matt. My childhood friends used my parent's dyeing to try to manipulate me and attempt to kill me. So, if you think learning my ancestor, some guy I never knew, was a criminal... If you think that's going to faze me, then frankly, you don't know me at..."

 Dick's rant was interrupted by the back of Matt's fist. The swing was so fast it was nearly unseen, the impact was perfectly placed so the index knuckle landed on the left upper molar knocking it from the chiseled jaw of his protégé. Dick was caught completely unprepared, so lost in what he felt was his righteous display of his pent-up frustration. The blow put Dick on his back, looking up at the cold cave roof. Matt walked past him where Dicks tooth had landed after the strike he inflicted. "You were supposed to be one too Dick." Matt showed an engraving of an Owl on the tooth. 

 Dick spit the blood pooling in his mouth out onto the cave floor. "I... I was supposed to be a Talon?"

 Running his finger over the engraving on the tooth. "Every decade, Haly's Circus presented a crop of child athletes to the Court, and the members chose one in secret to be trained as that era's Talon. YOU were meant to be the most recent one. But when your parents died..." "And you took me in." Dick interrupted. "You asked when you came in, what the Court did to me. What they did was try to convince me of their truth. That the Gotham City I think I know, MY city... Doesn't exist."

 "Trapping me in a labyrinth for weeks with my only source of water mixed with hallucinogenic drugs and only source of food was rodents that drink the water. Battling this Talon, the best one they ever made, for their entertainment. As they tried convincing me that their way was the only way, convince me that I was better off working with them for the future of the city. But I escaped and beat their best in my worst condition, now they are on my radar and Owls fear the light even more than Bats do."

 Adding everything together, Dick says. "This Court of Owls must have been the ones that took and trained Raymond then. Looks like they are stepping up to be the next big project to knock down." Logan walked up to the body of William Cobb and looked intently into what appeared to be lifeless eyes. {He is watching us right now; his mind is recording everything that passes in front of his eyes. His ears taking in every sound. His thoughts, running a nursery rhyme constantly. 'Beware The Court of Owls, that watches all the time, ruling Gotham from a shadow perch, behind granite and lime. They watch you at your hearth, they watch you in your bed, speak not a whispered word of them or they'll send The Talon for your head."}

 {Secrecy is how they have survived so long. Their main members are aristocrats and valued members of the community by day, and a death-worshiping cult by night. Some Deity known as Barbatos, that should give you a good place to start your investigation.} Stepping away from the body, Logan chuckles and looks at Dick. {You have discovered your Great Grandfather here Dick, would you like me to tell you of your Great Grandmother? Amillia Crown was her name. Your Grandfather was conceived out of wedlock and later kidnapped to be raised at Haly's Circus. Your Great Grandfather here decided on the name Grayson because he was from the black (Poor) part of Gotham and your Great Grandmother was from the White (Rich) side. Your bloodline was between the two, in the Grey. Thus, your name Gray Son of Gotham City. You are a legitimate heir to the Crown family, if you ever need the identity.} 

 {Thanks Logan, that could come in very handy one day.} {Get out of my HEAD Logan!!} 

 "Well gentleman, it has been a long day, and I would like to get some sleep before I look over the information about the Wayne Botanical Center." "That place is my mother's gift to the city, what is going on there?" Logan looked over at Matt, "A friend of mine works there and her mentor was poisoned. The cops wrote it off as an accident, but my friend thinks there was more to it, and I trust her judgment." "You young men and your lack of control over your libido." Matt says shaking his head. Logan chuckles as he heads toward the stairs. "You better let your cat know you are back, or when she does cross your path, it will be your bad luck." Dick burst out laughing and quickly turned it into a cough, but no one was fooled. 

*(Scene Shift)*

 Gotham Canal Point, a direct line to Gotham Bay and the Ocean, is the city's dirty secret. It hid many of Gotham's industrial sins for decades. Runoff from conglomerates like Wayne Enterprises while politicians were paid to look the other way. An urban eyesore and more importantly, an AFFRONT to The Green. Now I'm cleaning it up.

 A gorgeous redhead, sat at a computer looking over an obituary of her friend Luiza Cruz thinking to herself. (Someone in the lab is a killer and a thief, and for once it's not me. Does someone know my identity and think they can use me as a patsy? If Luisa knew I was Poison Ivy, she never showed it. What did Luisa's killer want with our Genetic Research? So many questions.) She stands up from her computer and a nearby plant pulls her chair back for her. Wearing an outfit of live plants as her comfy home clothes Pam walked toward two plants that had what appeared to be roses if you overlooked the fact that they were 4-foot round and 3 foot long. Occasionally you could see faint movement like something was inside them and moving around. 

 Caressing the two plants. (Selective Gene Technology means it is now possible to combine plant and animal DNA. Magnificent. For decades humans have used Hybridization to cross bread plants. Luis and I managed a breakthrough that has given me a new purpose, a new beginning.) Pam went around the building placing motion detectors and cameras focused on the two plants. (You look like you're due any day now, Precious.) 

 She stepped back into the vines and branches of her house plants that formed into a relaxing lounge chair for her to observe the pregnant plants and think. (This is happening at the same time I met Logan. Me, a being of the Green and him a being of the Red. And if what he says is true, then he is of a higher flow than I am. I conversed with Swamp Thing, and he confirmed that he had no access to any plant life when he was off-planet. Would the idea of these children scare him away? I must get his help in retrieving my research before taking a chance to tell him about this. I really wish I knew him better.)

 As she was thinking about this, she heard her phone sound off with an incoming text message. [Both Beautiful and smart. You hit the nail on the head with a megalomaniac starting trouble at the show tonight. Someone had a grudge against the son of the tribute couple, Nightwing stepped in and saved him, but Gotham lost a Stadium. Just wanted to let you know I was ok and still racking my brain for the next date. On a side note, you should give me a good time tomorrow to get together and go over these records and schematics I got my hands on. Later, cops want my attention.]