Got Your Back, Always

V.I

Hordes of undead creatures lay in their incubation pods. Each one was wearing dark clothing, green glowing eyes attached to their helmets, and freshly sharpened claws, some claws were even filled with poison. Lethal assassins to do the bidding of their master, born and created to kill anyone without remorse, capable of nothing else.

A few snarl and snap against their cages, and others bang against the glass, while most stay resting. 

A person stands over them on a platform, nodding as someone shows them the recent batch success rate from a tablet. They wore a golden helmet, a perfect replica of an owl's head.

The attendant wears a simple white mask of an owl's face, symbolizing their rank and membership. "Does this please The Voice?"

"It does," the person, The Voice, waves the attendant away.

They bow their head slightly and leave.

Another person walks onto the metal platform and stands next to The Voice. "He is becoming an issue." They wear a simpler owl mask, however, this one has gold details on it. The mask of a general.

"I am aware," The Voice taps their finger on the railing. "We have sufficient numbers to... take care of our problem."

The general says, "The others are getting impatient. Some are concerned that there is another group residing in Gotham."

The Voice waves their hand at their army, "And we will be rid of them soon enough. We have enough dionesium to make more Talons if they bring an army."

"A few members of The Court have suggested we find out his identity, reasoning would be easier to track down a man over a vigilante," the general looks to The Voice.

The Voice nods, "Finding out who The Bat is would be beneficial. He cannot be allowed to finish the work of Jim Gordon, he got much too close."

"I have an idea, I have yet to propose it to the others though. A potential solution- to several of our problems- could be solved with it," the general looks out to the army.

The Voice looks at the general, "Go on."

"I know it is typically against the code to invite new members however after much thought I do believe inviting this individual would be for the good of The Court," the general turned to The Voice. "They would be able to take over our lack of technological expertise, which will be necessary if we are to complete our next phase for Gotham, and I do believe they'd be able to get access to information that we have yet to gain. Information such as the identity of Batman."

The Voice's head titled, "Who?"

"Cassandra Astor."

Cassie pauses typing for a moment to yawn. She runs her fingers over her eyes and readjusts her blue light glasses, going back to typing.

Dick rolls over and groans groggily, "What?" He leans up, "Cass it's 4 in the morning why are you on your laptop?"

She cringes, "Sorry. I thought I turned my brightness down enough. Go back to sleep." She leaned over and placed a kiss on his cheek. 

"No, no, new rule: no laptops in bed," Dick tried to bat it away but Cassie just chuckled as she moved it out of his reach.

"Sorry love, Diana pinged me, and well... she's finally taking Sands out on missions so I want to do what I can to make sure her first ones go smoothly," Cassie went back to typing. "Just a few more minutes."

"You need sleep. We just took down Bork, you should be sleeping," Dick wrapped his arms around her waist. "I'm going to call Sandsmark in the morning and tell her she's my third favorite Cassie now."

Cassie laughed, "I think she can live with that. Give me like ten minutes and I'll put it away."

He sighed and just closed his eyes, still holding onto her.

She grinned and kissed his cheek again. She finished sending the information that the Wonders needed for their mission. She also sent a message to the others making sure they were all doing okay, figuring they all would be up already with the time differences.

Cassie was double-checking her messages and her list of everything to get done, adding a few things to her grocery list to order when she got a ping from an unusual person.

New encrypted message from Demon's Daughter.

"Talia?" She whispered. Cassie flicked her eyes down to Dick and grinned at his sleeping face. "Cute." She turned her attention back to the message.

Demon's Daughter: Do you recognize this? <file attached>

Cassie clicked on the image and saw a battered piece of paper, it was crumbled and a lot of the words were muddled and hard to read. She pulled up her notepad and typed what she could read. "Beware the... watches all the time... granite and lime. The... whispered word... the Talon..." She whispered to herself, "The talon. The talon, that sounds familiar." A light bulb went off for her and she pulled up the chat.

Vigil: Actually yes, it's pieces of an old nursery rhyme from Gotham.

Vigil: "Beware the Court of Owls, that watches all the time, ruling Gotham from a shadowy 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."

Vigil: As far as anyone is concerned The Court of Owls is a myth. Nothing is known about them other than the rhyme, but I can try and see if I can dig anything up for you? Are you in Gotham? Maybe B could help you?

Demon's Daughter: I am in contact with him. Any information would be helpful.

Vigil: Will get to you as soon as I have something, take care in Gotham!

Cassie saw Talia's light disappear. She sighed and looked at the time, it was closing in on 5 in the morning. "Let me just run my program." She pulled it up and started typing away, pulling everything she could find on The Court of Owls.