"Normal Speech."
'Normal Thought.'
"Demon Speech."
'Demon Thought.'
"Other Speech variants."
Location/Time.
-X- Line Break -X-
Saturday 18th, April, 13:00.
New Jersey,
Gotham City,
East End.
After having fallen asleep once the Talon had disappeared, Naruto had woken up about five hours later with a painful crick in his neck. He spent the next two hours thinking over everything that had happened the previous day as well as his conversation with the Talon earlier this morning.
And that was one hell of an emotional rollercoaster.
Naruto had felt a mixture of emotions: sadness, hurt, betrayal and above all else; anger.
Anger at the Talon.
Anger at Batman and Robin.
Anger at Barbara.
And above all else, anger at himself.
He didn't really know what to do or how to deal with this and so had gone out. Getting dressed in his Black Hood uniform and made his way out onto the streets of Gotham. He stopped a few small time drugs dealers and nothing else and so had returned home after an hour of venting his anger, it lessened but it was still there. However, his anger was still shimmering beneath the surface.
That's when he saw the gloves still there on his coffee table. Having ignored their existence all morning, it brought back memories of what the Talon had said and what he planned to do.
In a way, Naruto could understand the Talons point of view and even agreed with parts of it. But at the same time, he didn't like the idea of innocent people getting killed. Sure, the Talon had been correct that saving Gotham was only a by-product of his quest to save Jim and Barbara, the latter apparently not having needed his protection at all. Even so, he didn't want innocent people to die and children to be made orphans like he had.
And that's what left Naruto torn.
If the Talon was right and he could save Gotham, would there be a way to do it without killing people.
The chances of that were slim and Naruto knew it, still Naruto had tried to think of ways to save the innocents while letting the criminals and the corrupted kill each other in the chaos caused by the Courts plans.
Then that beggared the question as to what would happen next?
Even if the Courts plans worked and the Talon betrayed them, how would he be able to take control. The Court had the undead Talons under their control, so unless the Talon had a way to take control of them then they would have to find a way to kill what was already dead. Then there was the problem of all the Courts agents, it was no stretch of the imagination to think that the Court had many agents scattered throughout the city just waiting for the right moment.
What happened if the Talon couldn't ensure their loyalty? Would they rebel and cause more chaos? Or would they go into hiding biding their time to strike at just the right moment to ruin it all?
And this all depended on if the Talon was being truthful about his plans.
Who's to say that the Talon wasn't just trying to manipulate Naruto and use him for his own agenda and plans?
All these question and what ifs had driven Naruto slowly crazy as he sat in his apartment to the point he went out once more. Not to fight crime this time, but to instead give out his new gloves some practise. He couldn't exactly use them in a fight if he didn't know how they worked.
Again, Naruto had questioned if the Talon was telling the truth about his history as an orphan. But either way, unlike with Batman there was no matter of differing ideals that stopped Naruto from using these gifts as his own. He and the Talon – if he was being truthful – had similar ideals and Naruto was going to use these to help him carrying out his own plans.
Whether the Talon could be trusted or not was unknown, but Naruto would do his best to ensure that no innocent person would die when the Court made their move. And to do that, he needed to get some practise in.
It was pretty easy to be honest, they simply allowed him to use open palmed strikes in order to cut opponents. Not to mention there were interwoven plates on the back that would be perfect in adding that little extra power behind each punch. As well as blocking knife strikes, certainly better than his current gear.
The biggest use he had found in them was something he discovered purely by accident and it was how Naruto found himself in his current position suspended in the air with the fingers on both hands digging into the wall. The metal claws in the gloves having carved deep groves into the wall that slowed his descent till it came to a halt altogether.
It had been purely accidental; Naruto had just been practising.
A mix of training his stamina as well as his parkour skills in order to allow him to last longer in a chase while simultaneously improving his ability to jump from one roof to the next. And he needed it, if his fight against Robin a few weeks ago had taught him anything, it was that he lacked the ability to keep up with Barbara, Robin and Batman in terms of speed as well as skill and in Batman's case, strength as well.
He had been doing alright as well, only messing up a few landings, but nothing a quick roll couldn't solve.
Then he had just misjudged how big the gap was.
It wasn't an impossible jump; Naruto had covered bigger distances before. The only difference this time being that he hadn't put as much force as necessary into clearing the distance and so, as he flew through the air and gravity took hold, slowly bringing him back to the ground, Naruto realised he wasn't going to make it.
As a result, he reached out to see if he could grip hold of the edge.
He hadn't, his hands instead missing by mere inches and so, began to plummet to the ground below.
However, the claws in his glove had dug into the wall, tearing up small groves as his descent slowed down to a halt. Remaining there in mid-air, Naruto released a breath before laughing.
'Let's not do that again.' He thought, but despite the fear that had clutched him, Naruto couldn't wipe the big smile still on his face. The fall while terrifying had been exhilarating.
Moving a little, Naruto braced his feet against the wall and wiggled his left hand around, eventually pulling it free before stabbing it into the wall a bit further above him. And as he slowly started to climb his way up the side of the building, Naruto couldn't help but marvel at just how sharp these claws were.
-X- Line Break -X-
Monday 20th April, 21:00.
New Jersey,
Gotham City,
East End.
Landing in a crouch, Naruto rose to his full height and looked around the rooftop warily. With his arms down by his side, but his body loose, he was ready to move at even the slightest sign that something was wrong.
Yet he had barely been on the ground for a second, his eyes not even having took in the area in front of him fully before a number of throwing stars were thrown at him from his right. Reacting quickly, Naruto simultaneously spun round, his head leaning to one side as the shuriken passed through the area his head had once being. At the same time, his back foot had shifted, rising up onto the ball of his feet and pushed off.
In a matter seconds he had closed the gap between him and the figure in the shadow and swung round with his metal claws on his glove flashing dangerously.
Just as it came within inches of cutting down the shadowed figure, Naruto halted allowing the claws to rest within a hairs breadth of slicing the man's throat. And the two remained their silently and still, Naruto staring into the shadows that shrouded the man from sight, while the same man remained entirely still.
Eventually, the shadowed figure moved, giving Naruto a short clap of congratulation. "Well done." Naruto pulled back his right arm and the figure, revealed to be the Talon stepped out of the shadow and into view. "Well done indeed, you've certainly improved greatly over the past two days."
"Whatever." Naruto shrugged his shoulder. "I only agreed to you giving me some pointers cos' I was sick of getting my ass kicked by the Bat Family." He then narrowed his eyes at Talon. "This doesn't mean I'm helping you with your plan."
"Of course." Talon agreed easily, having come to Naruto with the offer of some training soon after Naruto had started practising with his new gloves. Naruto had been reluctant at first, but he had accepted as a means to at least improve himself in order to at least wipe the smug smirk that was always on Robin's face.
Part of him also wondered if he should take up Batman on that offer of help, the new suit would certainly do him a lot better than his current one. However, Naruto had a feeling that Batman would take this as an opportunity to interfere with him more. That would also mean dealing with Batman trying to change his ways as well as being around both Robin and Barbara, the latter Naruto had avoided for the past two days. Not that she had reached out to him either.
Both friends had being silent and neither one was willing to break that silence just yet. Nor did it look like that would change any time soon.
"Batman's being taking an increased interest in you recently." Talon pointed out, breaking Naruto from his train of thought and he looked up at his pseudo instructor in confusion. "You're lack of activity in searching for the Fearless Toxin has made him a little worried I imagine."
"Is he here?"
"Oh no." Talon replied smugly, crossing both his arms across his chest. "He's too busy following the trail of breadcrumbs I left for him. It should lead him directly to the Court of Owls headquarters."
"You want him to go there?" Naruto asked dubiously. He may not know Batman all that well, and certainly not Bruce Wayne either. But he did know some of what Batman was capable of and if he followed the trail Talon left for him to the Court of Owls, he would put a stop to them.
Talon nodded his head. "Oh yes, it should work in making the Court of Owls push up their plans a little and that means mistakes, mistakes that would make it easier for my plan to work." The last part was a hint and Naruto shook his head in response to the unasked question and while Naruto couldn't see it, Talon grit his teeth.
"It's a trap?" Naruto asked quickly before he nodded his head in understanding. "Of course, it is."
Chuckling, Talon moved forwards to the edge of the building. "Come on, I want to show you something." He said and jumped off the side of the building, Naruto moved forwards and followed after him, his right arm moving with practised ease to dig his claws into the wall and slow his descent.
Landing with a roll, Naruto came to a stop beside the Talon who was crouched down beside a grate. "We're not training in a sewer, are we?" Naruto questioned not liking the sound of that plan all that much.
While training with the Talon was hard enough, the guy was ridiculously skilled and had no qualms about beating Naruto into the ground just enough that Naruto certainly wouldn't forget any time soon, but at the same time ensured he could continue training. Even then, despite never having being put through the ringer as much in his life, Naruto certainly wasn't one to shy away from pain.
So, while training with the Talon was helping improve massively, Naruto certainly didn't enjoy the idea of going into a sewer at all, let alone sparring in it. Though, the blonde did know that eventually he might not get a choice in the matter. 'Might as well tough it out if that's the case.'
"Oh no." The Talon chuckled and Naruto released sigh of relief. "We're not training tonight; I'm instead going to show you something I think will interest you greatly." Lifting the grate off the floor, the Talon indicated for Naruto to go first and while the boy hesitated, he eventually did so. 'And it will allow me to evaluate just how loyal you are and if you can be trusted.'
Smirking beneath his mask as he heard the boy complaining about the smell, the Talon closed the grate over his head before jumping down. Ignoring the glare sent at his direction by Naruto who had sewer water coating his clothes due to the splash the Talons landing caused, he moved forwards.
The tell-tale sound of footsteps following behind let him know that Naruto was following. 'Good, it's almost time now.' The Talon thought as they moved through the winding path of the sewer. 'And you'll have to pick a side eventually. For your sake Naruto, I hope you pick the right one.' He certainly liked Naruto, he had potential, a great deal of it and a drive that kept him getting up when he really shouldn't be able to.
While he would hate to kill the boy, if he got in his way of realising his ambition then Talon would do just this. He had been betrayed before, by some of his own masters no less and the Talon would not allow himself to suffer the same fate as his predecessors.
The Court of Owls would be his to rule, just as he was once promised by those that betrayed h