When Night Comes

Chapter Ten

The cave was empty. Well, it probably wasn't, but it sounded it. Everyone inside its walls had either been toured within an inch of their life or was sleeping within the blood. However, outside was a different story. Panic had broken out in the streets of Gotham as Joker teased and taunted waiting for a certain Bat to respond. But he would not be coming tonight. And he may not ever come again. Talon, on the other hand, was revelling in what he had done, having finished off Sheyrea (finally) he had Zatara in the oven for a hot meal later. He looked up at the stars, thinking about the state he had left his prey in. Of course, they were all clean. He'd spent time sterilising them, showering them (okay, maybe water boarding isn't the same as showering but who cares) and making sure they were bandaged up where they needed to be. Apart from Artemis, she got a full blown cast. Couldn't have his food in bad shape, that would make it inedible. He listened to the city below, the sirens racing through it, the maniacal laughter playing out of every T.V. Oh how he loved the chaos, the fact that the bags of flesh below him got panicked over such minuscule things. Everyone died at some point, there's no point in trying to outrun death. How much they cared about the material. The material wasn't important in Talon's eyes, what he valued were emotions, reactions and suffering. Little things that he could find joy in every single time. The day had almost been the best day of his life, what would have made it better was finding Jason but right now he didn't care if he found Jason. He'd started off doing it because they knew who he was, but as he became stronger he realised it wasn't him that cared about that, it was the pesky other side of him. The do-gooder. So let Jason tell who he wants, let the world know who to fear. An explosion sounded in the distance, reflecting in Talons eyes as he listened to the screams and the fire. As Joker's laughter had a slight hitch because Batman was meant to stop that from happening. Gotham will never be the same after tonight.
Inside the cave the scene was still silent. Some lay in sleep within the pool of blood, and not a sleep they would ever awake from. Others sat in silence, utterly defeated from the half day they had spent in that room with Talon and the utter fear he had made them feel when he hunted them all down. A hunter and its prey. They had been put closer together now as well, Talon had deemed that they could talk but they were still separated enough that none was within reaching distance of the other. But they didn't want to talk. Some of them wished it would end already, like M'gann. Some were struggling to keep up their sass, like Artemis. And some were trying to stay in control, not to let their emotions get the better of them because that's the boy they raised doing these god-forsaken things to them. But the control would not last. Everyone knew that at some point the Batman was going to break. And he was going to break the hardest. So they sat there, chained and restrained in their chairs, wearily watching him as silent tears fell to the floor and mixed in with the red of their fallen friends.
Jason had been walking for nearly twenty-four hours and his hopes for finding anyone in the cave alive were dwindling with each second. But he had gone and done the noble thing, he had gotten help. Maybe the three of them could stand a chance at beating Talon, maybe they wouldn't. But they had to try, it was the right thing to do. So the trio headed to the cave, not stopping to rest for the night because they could feel the danger in the air, they could tell that this strange boy that had turned up on their doorstep was telling the truth. A truth that could destroy America for good.

I didn't know what to do. I didn't know whether to cry or to scream. I didn't know whether to reach out to Wally or stay silent. I could barely keep a hold on myself and it had only been a day. The worst day of my life.
"We need a plan." I whispered with my hoarse voice and felt all eye turn to me, "We won't survive another day like this."
"What do you think we should do then?" Conner snapped, "Because from where I'm standing, there isn't much we can do."
"Wally, what address did you give to Jason?" I asked and looked over at his beaten form.
"Roy's." He replied, "But what use is he going to be now?"
"He's all we need." Diana spoke up now, "If he arrives it would throw Talon off guard, take him by surprise. That might just be enough to overpower him."
"Or it could end with those two in here." Conner bit, "Why won't you all just face the truth. We're going to die at his hands."
"Conner-" Clark began but M'gann cut him off.
"He's right." Her usually cheery voice was flat, "I've seen inside his mind, we're not going to get out of here."
"Really, ten bucks says otherwise."
All our heads spun to the door almost as fast as the Flash at the sound of the voice.
"Jade!" I yelled as she came inside the room.
"Shh, you'll wake Lian." She said as she came over.
"Lian?" But instantly was cut off as she leant forward to show a baby in the sling around her front.
"Dick's down. I restrained him in the medical wing earlier. We spent so long looking for you-" Her eye had caught on something in the floor, "Did he do that?"
"Yes." Bruce was the one to answer he this time, "He's already disposed of Shayera, Katar and Zatara."
"And by disposed of do you mean..." She couldn't finish the sentence.
"Yes." I answered for everyone, "We mean that."
"Oh god." She breathed but then set to work on realising us.
Once we were all released we as one to the medical bay, Wally, Bruce and Dinah had been the only ones tortured today and were being carried by Clark, Diana and Conner whilst I was being assisted by my sister.
"So how did you take down Talon?" John asked.
"Okay, buckle your belts cause this is one hell of a story...

"So they should all be inside the cave." Jason said as we approached the hangar doors, "Including Talon."
"Are you sure you're up for this Roy?" I asked as Jason went over to the doors to back in for us.
"It's not Dick in there." He told me, "Its just some other villain, and like every villain we've ever faced, we have to bring him down."
"And what's going on out here then?" We all looked up at the owner of the voice who was sat nonchalantly on top of the doors, Jason dangling from the throats in his grasp, "Trying to crash my party? Not cool."
A small ones cry split the air and I instantly shoved my hand over Lian's mouth but Dick had heard it, and his golden eyes had just lit up in an unsettling manner.
"You've brought me a snack." He grinned, "Guess I won't be needing this one anymore then."
And he dropped Jason the 10 feet to the floor. There was a resounding crack as his body landed and a scream pierced the air but was quickly cut off as he ran out of breath, winded. I went to move towards him but a knife embedded itself less a centimetre in front of me and I pulled up short, looking back up at his pale face.
"Roy, Honey." I said, not taking my eyes off the maniacal grin, "Would you mind helping a girl out?"
"Gladly." He said and an arrow went flying straight over my head, only to miss as its target dodged easily.
I quickly palmed my own crossbow and started firing as well, but we didn't land a single hit.
"This is pointless. We're going to run out of arrows before we hit him." Roy said as he moved forward to me, "We both need to release a net at him, follow his movements, predict his next move sweetheart."
"I'm trying. But it's pretty hard to focus when Lian's balling his eyes out." I growled back but renewed my focus anyway.
I watched him, not firing for a moment until I had him figured out, and as Roy released his final arrow I shot mine, a grin almost as large as the one my mask wore splitting my face.
But it missed. He leapt down, using the trees as branches to land safely until he was right in front of us, "My turn."
Instantly an array of throwing knives came at us and it was all we could do to dodge and move back into the tree line.
"Jade, I have a plan." Roy said as the firing stopped and it went eerily silent, "But it's going to involve you getting the hell out of here."
"No, I'm not leaving you with him." I growled back, looking across to where he stood behind a tree.
"I have a smoke pellet, laced with knockout gas. But if I put on a mask he's going to know something's up. I need you to get Liam out of here, it's going to be a nice high dose, I don't want to hurt him."
"And what about you? It'll knock you out as well." I argued.
"You'll be back for me. And it should help Jason lose consciousness as well if he hasn't already." Roy said, "Please Jade."
I let out a long sigh, "Fine. But if it goes south, I swear you cannot stop me from disembowelling him right here."
"Thanks babe." And then he was back into the clearing where Talon had waited.
"What, you lost your wife already?" He taunted, "Not good at relationships are you?" I heard the hiss of the pellet as he threw it down, "Playing in the smoke are we? You should know I can work just as well without my sight."
Come on, a couple more seconds. I heard the first one drop.
"Crap." Talon was still up, "Smart play little archer. Smart play." And then his body hit the floor to.
"It's all right Lian." I cooed to my still crying child, "Daddy's just fine. Come on, we have some heroes to save."

... so I quickly got the three of them up here and in the medical bay before I found you guys." She finished.
And just as we arrived at the bay as well, perfect timing. Jade helped me onto a chair whilst Bruce, Wally and Dinah were laid into beds, Wally closest to me of course. I could see Jason and Roy in the other beds and then there was Talon. Chained down and restrained with the quarantine protocol, he shouldn't be getting out of there anytime soon.
"We need to get Dick back." Diana said.
"Hang on, one question first." I cut in, "When was Lian born?"
"About a month ago now, still a babe." Jade cooed down to her child who was sleeping in the makeshift cradle.
"I think I might know how we can get Dick back early." M'gann cut in and we all turned to look at her, "I can bring some of us inside his mind, see if we can find him in there somewhere and bring him back out. We might even be able to get rid of Talon for good. But with his defences, it'll only work whilst he's unconscious."
"I can keep him out for you." Jade offered, "There's a stick of general anaesthesia in here. I'll keep it circulating in his little cell when I need to and keep an eye on these guys."
"I shall assist you with your task." Kaldur quickly cut in
"Thank you Jade, Kaldur." M'gann gave them a small smile, "If Artemis, Wally, Bruce and Roy can all be brought in beds over here I'll take them in with me."
The others made quick work of wheeling the beds around Dick's area and then Jade helped me onto mine and got me comfortable.
"What do we need to look for if we need to pull you out?" Diana asked.
"I shall monitor them and pull them out should they need me to." John replied for them, "So M'ggan, when you are ready, bring Dick home."