Making A Choice

Monday 20th April 2009, 21:00.

New Jersey,

Gotham City,

East End.

The sewers were still; the only thing moving through the faeces-infested brown water was the rats that called this place home. Its smell alone made it almost impossible for most people to even stomach coming down here, let alone the number of diseases one could contract just getting any water on one's skin at all.

Even if one overlooked all that, one would still avoid coming down here.

After all, Killer Croc while having made a name for himself as a gang leader recently, was the one that was most well-known to call the sewers home.

Rushing forwards, keeping her body close to the side of the cylindrical passageways of the sewers, avoiding the murky water so as to avoid making any sounds. It had taken a lot of time and effort, but as of yesterday, Batman had finally found a lead on the possible whereabouts of where the Court of Owls could be based.

They had initially been focusing their search upon the numerous fairy tales of the Court of Owls for any clue of where they could possibly be based, hoping something would pop up that could be linked to a place in Gotham. Nothing had popped up, no connections or links to anything, so they had turned their attention to the rich and famous Gotham had to offer.

If the Court of Owls was as powerful as the Judge of Owls had told Bruce they were, then that meant they had resources and a steady supply of cash.

This alone would have been a huge task to complete which meant the Court had a source of income.

Nothing had come up in that way, no company not connected to large crime organisations were funnelling money into strange locations. This meant one thing, donations and they had to be sizeable, something that only the one percent would be able to provide. Eventually, thanks to the wide array of technology at their disposal, they narrowed down the search to a total of fifty of the richest and wealthiest people in Gotham.

Then it was just a matter of searching the homes as discretely as possible.

After around forty-five houses were searched and they had nothing to show for it, both she and Robin had been a little disheartened, but Batman had perceived. Like always, she and Robin followed and it was after searching another three homes that they finally found a clue, the first and only clue they needed to find what they were looking for.

The owl mask that was worn by all members of the Court.

Batman quickly placed a tracking beacon on it and then returned back to the Batcave and waited.

A meeting should be called soon, a group that big and full of so many powerful people would require constant meetings to keep all members up to date on the schedule and they couldn't really rely on something that could be hacked easily.

Nothing more than a few hours later and their wish had been granted, the owner of the mask, one James Alloy finally made a move.

James was a relatively young man of twenty-four having inherited his father's businesses, the fact he kept them from falling into bankruptcy was a miracle. He wasn't the smartest of people and she doubted the Court had recruited him for his brains because he provided little of that to his own companies. No, he either joined because he was too stupid to think that the Court would actually succeed or he had inherited the position from his father, much like everything else in his life.

If she was a gambler, she'd put all her money on option C, both of them.

But maybe she was being biased a little she didn't really like James Alloy, mostly because he had some choice words about the 'scum' that lived in East End. Especially considering he had never set foot in that part of Gotham and didn't know that there were people like Esau who were forced to live there.

Her already prominent frown due to the smell deepened at the reminder of her childhood friend.

They hadn't spoken at all in the past two days and she missed him.

The last time they hadn't spoken it had been one of the most miserable and boring times of her life, without Esau life seemed to be just that little bit bleaker and darker.

But as much as she wanted to reach out to Esau, she wouldn't.

Was she sorry about how things had gone so horribly the last time she and Esau spoke? Yes, absolutely.

But would she apologise? No.

She was sorry about how the secret of her being Batgirl came out and how much it hurt him that she kept it from him, yet Barbara would do it again. Barbara became Batgirl to help Esau and to reveal who she was, it would only serve to drag Esau further into the shitty world they lived in.

She didn't want that.

So, while it had taken a great deal of will to not reach out to Esau, she didn't.

Esau knew her and she knew Esau, neither would apologise when they thought they were in the right and in most cases, would be too stubborn to admit they were wrong.

Perhaps that was the problem but either way, Barbara wouldn't apologise.

Seeing light up ahead, the three came to stop, leaning against the wall and keeping to the darkness of the tunnels, Batman peeking around slightly. Moving back, he shook his head and took another look around, leaving Robin and Batgirl wondering where the Court of Owls were.

'This doesn't make sense?' Barbara thought sparing a glance to Robin who shrugged, though the frown on his face told her he was also worried as well. 'Is it a trap or is something else going on here?'

That's when they heard movement from behind them, it was quiet and almost unnoticeable but down in the sewer and for those like her trained in stealth, it was loud enough. Spinning around, Barbara took a moment to notice that there were a number of individuals dressed just like the Talon with a few noticeable differences.

They were skinnier for one and slightly smaller as well, but their outfits were also different.

Their masks were the same but their body armour lacked the gold trimmings that the Talon she and Esau faced had.

Still, she barely hesitated as she flung the smoke pellets she had in her hand on the ground.

With synchronised movements earned through working together for a long time, the group of three moved backwards and stuck to the wall allowing the Talons to burst through the smoke on the other hand and straight into the atrium, the three heroes nowhere to be seen.

"We know you're there Batman, you might as well come on out." The voice sounded from the atrium, smug and filled with arrogance, as if the owner of the voice thought they had already won despite the fight not having even begun. Annoying for sure, especially seeing as though they had overcome greater odds, but it worked in their favour.

Through the smoke, she could see the signs from Batman and with a nod, she and Robin, moved away while Batman stepped out into view.

-X-

Monday 20th April 2009, 21:20.

New Jersey,

Gotham City,

East End.

Esau had been unsure as he had followed Talon through the tunnels of Gotham, arriving at the atrium beneath the city. Even now as he stood in the atrium, he was still unsure, but while reluctant, he had followed purely out of curiosity.

Even then, there was no one here for a long while, Esau and the Talon remaining in the atrium alone for a couple of minutes before out stepped a well-dressed man in a white suit and an owl mask covering his face. He moved with arrogance down the steps coming to a stop at the podium and then spoke to Batman who was apparently here, something that Esau did not know or expect.

But as he watched Batman step out into view, the undead Talons circling the caped crusader's position, Esau had to question if this was part of Talon's plan as well. While he was privy to most of the information behind the Talon's plan, Esau always suspected that some of the more important pieces of his plan were kept secret. It's not like Esau didn't expect this considering he hadn't accepted Talon's offer to join him, the information he had been told while quite large, was not the most important aspect of the plan and quite easy to figure out if one looked carefully enough.

"Ah, Batman." The man in the white suit greeted. "We meet at last."

Esau turned to Talon. "Who's that?"

"That is the Judge of Owls," Talon replied shortly not saying anymore and while Esau was tempted to push for more information, he didn't. Still, it certainly left questions as to why Talon seemed to dislike if not despise the Judge of Owls, even if it did partly answer the question as to why Talon was going to betray the Court.

Turning back, Esau realised he had missed some of the conversation that had been going on between Batman and the Judge of Owls. "Surely, you can see that it would be best to work together to save this city."

Esau scoffed in a mixture of bewilderment and amusement. "Does he really think he can convince Batman?" Esau questioned dubiously and Talon shrugged.

"Who knows but either way it doesn't change the Courts plans," Talon answered. "They've been planning their takeover for years, the only reason they hadn't taken over sooner was because of the arrival of heroes and villains. Then it was just a matter of planning around them."

'I doubt it's that easy as to simply 'plan' around them. If it was, I reckon Gotham would have been taken over much sooner than that.' He thought. "Either way, Batman's not going to join the Court. He'll fight and I doubt you'll be able to stop him."

"Perhaps." Talon amusedly replied. "But that's not why he's here."

At Talon's mysterious words Esau thought hard as to what the reasoning for leading Batman here could be.

A trap?

Obviously, but a trap for what?

To take Batman out?

Possible, but too obvious and Talon was anything but obvious.

So what?

"Haven't figured it out yet?" Talon asked and Esau remained silent making him chuckle quietly. "It's simple really, what does everyone ask themselves about Batman?"

"Who he is?" Esau muttered quietly as realisation dawned upon him. "You lured him here to learn of his identity, but how?"

"Well, seen as though you refused to tell me who he is, I had to go with my original plan," Talon said walking forwards slightly with his arms crossed. "And find out with a little bit of hard work and trickery."

"You're going to find out Batman's identity through...trickery?" Esau questioned with one brow raised in bemusement. "You do realise how ridiculous that sounds, don't you?"

"Perhaps it is ridiculous, but at the end of the day, Batman has to choose a side. Everyone does." The last part was said pointedly and Esau shook his head.

"The answer is still no and while I agree that the best way to get rid of the criminals is to let them fight, we both know that the innocents would be the ones to suffer." Talon shrugged causing Esau to frown at the callousness shown by his part-time instructor.

That's when an explosion sounded as Batman threw a few Batarangs at the Judge of Owls, well not directly at him as they struck the podium before exploding. Even so, the force knocked the Judge of Owls back and left him stuck under a pile of debris in pain, trying and failing to push them off of his body.

"Help!" The Judge of Owls cried out as he tried desperately to move the debris on top of him, but he was unable to do so. "Talon, help me!"

At the same time, Batman was fighting off the undead Talons, soon joined by Robin and Batgirl. The three covered each other's backs as they fought against their foes who despite their superior numbers, were not used to working together like they were.

This was where the Talons, both dead and alive fell short.

They didn't know how to work together, they were trained to be the best, agents that could do anything single-handedly. In the old world before the time of superheroes and villains, they would have been capable of just that. But times had changed and while the Court of Owls never trained more than one Talon to be their agent, it left them with one fatal flaw.

They couldn't work as a team and that was something Esau noticed.

The undead Talons had retained most of their old skills and while their manoeuvrability was not as great due to their bodies having eroded slightly, they were still dangerous combatants. Even then, despite their superior numbers, they would occasionally get in each other's way unknowingly and it caused openings that the three heroes used to their advantage.

"Talon!" Esau heard the Judge of Owls cry out once more and turned to look at Talon who had turned his full attention on him, ignoring his master's cries for help.

"You have a choice, Esau," Talon told him bluntly. "Join me and help me save Gotham city, save Barbara and Jim Gordon." Esau twitched slightly at the use of Barbara's name. "Or don't, and we'll see if they can survive the coming storm."

Glaring, Esau clenched his fists tightly. "Is that a threat?!" He demanded and Talon chuckled lowly.

"Threats? Oh no, they are useless things. They're nothing more than half measures. Promises, however, now those, those are the real deal." Talon chuckled lowly and dangerously, Esau grinding his teeth in anger.

"I thought you were going to let me choose a side?"

Talon shook his head. "I was, but then I simply ran out of time and patience. I need your answer." He explained, his tone reasonable as if he wasn't giving an ultimatum. "And for your sake, I hope it is the right one because I promise, you will not like the consequences."