Talons, Birds And Bats

2

It couldn't be the boy.

Batman was certain of that, wasn't he? Was he hallucinating still? The Owl before him had the boys face, only with the pale tone that he'd seen the Owl's have. It had to be a hallucination, his unconscious mind had tried of dragging up hallucinations of his parents or one of the many vilians he'd encountered. It was now dragging up images of the ones he'd failed.

It was simply another hallucination. Putting the boys face on one of the Owls. He'd learnt rather quickly that the hallucinogenic water could only conger images of people when a living person was there, simply replacing the living person with one created by the hallucination. Batman figured that it was a way for the Owls to get there victims to stop fighting, allowing the Owls to do what they wished to the victim of the waters. To bad for them as Batman fought against anything he sore, hesitating when ones he cared for were being hallucinatied.

He couldn't hesitate now. It was just another Owl, it wasn't Richard.

Keeping that firmly in his mind Batman swings a punch when the Owl was close enough missing by a mile as the little Owl drops down into a crouch and springs away with another bird like noise. This Owl was smaller than the others..

Focus.

It's a Hallucination.

Why wasn't the Owl fighting back then? It was just standing a little ways away watching with Richards face making little noises.

He was hallucinating right?

It couldn't be..

It had been nearly five days since he'd last drunk the water, being almost a week and a half since he'd been captured by the Owls. He'd lasted as long as he could before taking a drink as his thirst became too overwhelming. Batman had realized it was hallucinogenic after only a few minutes so he hadn't touched the water since. It had to be out of his system by now. The itchy dryness in his troat begging for water was a obvious sign of that. And he had been seeing actual Owls the last few times one has come down to torment him.

If it was...

That really was Richard Grayson.

"Richard..." Batman says watching as the Owl, no...Richard lets out a coo at the name head tilted to the side. "Is that you Richard?"

Richard lets out a pained sounding noise, shaking his head. "Talon" Richard says in a soft voice, hoarse from disuse.

"Talon? No your name is Richard Grayson.." Batman says with a frown. He still wasn't entirely convinced that he wasn't hallucinating still. The Owl, Richard shakes his head more and takes a few steps backwards. "No Richard...Talon" the small boy says pointing a finger at his chest.

Batman frowns uncertainty. What had the Court of Owls done to the boy to make him forget who he was?

"Talon show Batman out" Richard continues motioning as he backs up waiting by the entrance to one of the halls. Batman hesitates before following along after the boy, even if he was hallucinating it wouldn't cause any harm following along after Richard. He was about eighty percent certain that he wasn't hallucinating anymore but he was still cautious anyway ready to go on the defensive if the boy attacked.

Richard continues to walk a few steps in front of Batman only motioning whenever he took a turn. "Why are you helping me?" Batman asks after a while, Richard tilting his head a confused look on his pale features. "Batman....good, Talon liked...Batman..before being Talon.." Richard answers in his broken English sentences. He sounded confused, making a small noise before falling quiet apparently thinking.

Batman thinks himself of the broken English that Richard spoke. From the records he read Richards was Romanian, being only nine when he went missing, he would be around thirteen or twelve now and Batman assumed that the Court of Owls didn't teach him proper English. From what he had observed it sounded like they communicated through a variety of noises, animal based primarily being bird like sounds. That would explain the broken English that Richard spoke.