Talon chapter 15

Chapter 15 - Batman and Robin's first fight

"So," Robin said, standing on the beach next to Batman. Thankfully, there weren't many people in the area, and the day had faded into night, so the chances of people seeing an American vigilante and his new sidekick standing on a random beach in Scotland were minimal. "We have some backup approaching?"

"He'll be here soon," Batman confirmed with a small nod of his head. "Only one person, though. The vast majority of the League is currently off in space, attending a treaty between two warring planets." He said with all the casualness of a man who was describing the weather.

"Hmm," Robin hummed thoughtfully. His knowledge of the Justice League wasn't as extensive as he would have liked. He had primarily spent most of his life training, but he had also been tasked with keeping up with major world events. The Justice League was a group of superheroes, comprised of Earth's strongest and greatest defenders. It said a lot about his own Father's skills that he was able to not only join but also be a founding member. Jason had told him that Batman had more detailed files on the league in the Batcomputer, and Robin was determined to research more into them when he got the chance. But from what he knew so far, he could tell that they were not a group to be taken lightly. Men and women who could move faster than the speed of light and destroy entire buildings with minimal effort, Robin just felt lucky that they were on the 'good' side. "So, who is coming?" Robin asked.

"That would be him," Batman pointed upwards. Robin's gaze followed, and he saw a green blur of light shooting towards them. As it got closer, Robin realised that it wasn't a light, but instead it was a man.

"Someone called for help?" He asked casually as he flew to a stop and hovered above them. He was a dark skinned man with a buzz-cut. He wore a black costume with green shoes and green forearm bracers. His neck and shoulders were also a green colour, leading down into the symbol on his chest, a green-coloured lantern in a white circle. The ring on his right hand with the same symbol confirmed what Robin had already guessed: this was one of the 'Green Lanterns'. They were 'Space-cops' as Jason had once told him, with rings that apparently made nearly anything that the user imagined, powered by willpower. "Whoa," He said as he looked at Robin. He stared hard and then looked at Batman. "You got a new one?" He asked in a confused tone.

"It's complicated," Batman said, a hair's breadth sighing. It got harder to resist the urge when Robin decided to reply.

"It's not, I came out of your ballsack."

"Wow, not much of a filter," Green Lantern blinked.

"Robin, this is 'Green Lantern,'" Batman introduced.

"Call me, Jon," Latern replied. "It's nice to meet you."

"Likewise," Robin nodded up at him. "Though, truth be told, I had been hoping for Wonder Woman."

"Huh?" Jon frowned and landed softly in front of Harry. "What has she got that I don't?" He asked. He wasn't sure what answer he was expecting, but it certainly wasn't what came out of Robin's mouth, especially with it being said in the most honest and flat tone that Jon had ever heard.

"Voluptuous titties."

(.)

"So, this probably isn't where you expected to be right now," Deathstroke said casually as he stood in front of the Lazarus Pit. The pit was in a deep, dark cave, far underground. It had everything you'd expect from a dark cave. Rocks, sharp stalactites, cold air, bats, insects and the shit that they all left behind. The only thing out of place was the green, glowing pit and the light it produced that made it possible to see anything here.

He took in a deep breath as he stared at the pit in front of him. It was an amazing thing, something that looked like glowing water, yet it could bring men and women back from the brink of death, not to mention the vast amount of money he could get from just selling a few gallons of the stuff. Deathstroke wasn't like his old mentor; the idea of living forever didn't appeal to him at all. Life was shitty enough without extending it so much. With that being said, he still planned to keep a bit for himself. What was the point of having so much money yet not being around long enough to enjoy it all?

Deathstroke turned around and looked at his two captives. Talia and Nyssa Al Ghul, the daughters of the demon, the two fierce daughters had tried attacking this place on their own, it hadn't gone well for them. Which was why they were both currently tied to chairs and sitting quietly in front of him while he had two of his own men pointing guns at each of their heads.

"Talia, Nyssa, such a shame," Deathstroke said as he walked up to them. He imagined that he looked quite intimidating; he always had been, being of a relatively tall height and covered in muscle, but now, he had upgrades. After his last battle with Talia's brat, he had changed up his suit. He still had the split mask, but this time it wasn't mere fabric; he had an armoured version that covered his entire head and with only a single eye-hole on the orange side.

His armour was tactical and functional: dark grey and black with orange accents, heavily plated over the chest, shoulders, and forearms. He had a variety of weapons, including a sheathed sword across his back and various gadgets on his utility belt, all emphasising his mercenary efficiency and deadly skills.

"This isn't how I wanted this to go," He continued, looking down at them. Both are still as pretty as before, but not quite in the same state. Nyssa had a cut on her cheek and a bruise over her forehead, blood slowly dripped out of Talia's bottom lip, and she had developed a black eye on the right side.

"We know what you wanted," Talia spat, glaring up at him. "But you'll never have it. I will never be yours, nor will the league."

"I would have been so much better for you," Deathstroke said softly, disappointed more than anything else. "I would have loved you, I would have cherished you. We could have ruled the league together; instead, you decided to throw it all away and for what? Huh? A lunatic in a bat costume who thinks that if he bashes in enough skulls that he can make a difference in this shit-show of a world? It took years for him to make even the slightest change to the festering sewage, which he calls a city. Your son could have been so much greater under my guidance. All that skill...all that power..." He trailed off, looking at her. "Tell me, Talia, did you know?" His voice was quiet, barely above a whisper, yet it echoed through the cave like a shotgun blast.

"Know what?" She asked, eyes blazing with rage as she looked up at him. He snorted amusedly before stepping forward, his hand shot out like a whip, backhanding her face.

"Coward!" Nyssa yelled angrily, but he ignored her and grabbed Talia by the hair, yanking her head up so that she was looking at him.

"That is no ordinary boy, training and skill aside," Deathstroke said, calm and collected. "He creates fire and force fields with his bare hands. Your son is a metahuman. How? Did your father dump your kid in the pit at some point? Do his abilities come from the pit? Magic? Some experiment that I didn't know about?"

"If I knew anything, then I'd die before telling you!" She spat in his one eye. He growled deeply as he let go and wiped the spit off. He opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off by the sound of one of his men's radios.

"Quick!" A voice called as the man answered the radio. "We're under attack! It's...arrgh!" The voice cried before the radio cut off.

"Looks like we have guests," Slade said thoughtfully. "If I had to guess, I'd say it would be the sperm donor." He hummed before looking down at Talia. "When I kill him, I'm going to bring his lifeless body down here and toss him right in that pit in front of you, bring him back to life and give you the pleasure of seeing him die in person. Maybe he was even stupid enough to bring your kid with him; if he has, then I'm going to bring him down as well. And we're going to explain the facts of life to him, from now on, I'm his daddy."

(.)

The night sky above the Scottish Sea was a churning mass of clouds and wind. Waves slammed into the steel pillars of the oil rig, sending spray arcing upward like shattered glass. Floodlights swept across the decks, illuminating dozens of armed mercenaries preparing for the arrival of unwanted guests.

They were already too late.

A streak of bright emerald light cut through the dark clouds like a knife. Jon Stewart shot across the air, straight toward the rig at high speed. Behind him shimmered a solid‑light green jet, sleek and futuristic. Inside, there was a cockpit with two seats where Batman and Robin were currently positioned.

"I don't think my mother anticipated this happening when I would meet you," Robin said as he subconsciously leaned forward in excitement. Right now, he felt stuck between looking at the giant oil rig that they were about to attack and looking at the plane that he now found himself in. "I hope we get to do more stuff like this." He admitted.

"Focus," Batman said flatly, his eyes didn't leave the rig, but his lips did curl up somewhat. The defences on the rig were far more advancedd and dangerous than he would have anticipated, but in the end, they wouldn't matter much against a Green Lantern. A turret on the rig swivelled toward Jon and opened fire, spitting a hailstorm of heavy rounds. Jon slipped sideways through the air, gliding past the bullets with practised precision. More shots were fired, and he defended against them easily enough by creating a large green barrier that protected all of them.

"Shots fired. Guess the warm welcome's off the table." Jon commented.

"Get us inside," Batman ordered with all the calm of an experienced warrior. "You take out the heavy weaponry."

"Right," Jon replied. "I'd advise getting ready." It didn't take long for them to get in close. With a small gesture, his ring created a giant, green arm that grabbed the jet mid‑flight and swung it downward toward an upper deck window. He released the jet. Just before it hit the wall, Jon altered its shape, the construct reshaped into a green battering ram, smashing through reinforced glass and disappearing in a burst of fading energy.

Batman and Robin landed inside, both falling into a combat roll as soon as their feet touched the floor, and they found themselves in the middle of a drug processing room.

Dozens of men froze.

Powder. Chemicals. Tables. And a lot of drugs.

A heartbeat of silence.

Then chaos erupted.

Batman took out several batarangs and threw them at once while Robin launched forward with a feral grin, his extendable staff snapping outward with a metallic 'shnnkk' sound. He vaulted off a table, using one thug's shoulder as a springboard and flipping over him. Mid‑air, Robin brought the staff down on the man's head, knocking him out cold. He landed with his staff, smashing into the toes of another man, who cried out in pain before Batman rushed forward and hit him with a vicious knee to the face. The dark knight didn't even bother looking back as he moved with the speed of a man on too much caffeine and grabbed one thug before throwing him straight at another two.

Robin hadn't been idle during that time and took out a thug on his own before two more rushed him. Robin ran right back at them, slamming his staff into the ground like a vaulting pole and pushing himself so it looked like he would try to dropkick them in the face. At the last second, he changed directions and flew between the two men. His cape snapped out and the bottom part of it grabbed one of their legs. At the same time, he placed his hand between the other man's legs as he landed. He summoned the staff at the same time as the cape pulled, the first man fell on his face, while the second had his legs hit by the staff and stumbled back, letting Robin trip him so he landed on his butt. Robin followed up with a vicious spinning back kick to his head before hitting the other downed man with his staff.

Batman moved like a shadow made of violence, easily knocking out one thug before engaging the next as he sidestepped a knife, grabbed the attacker's wrist and used the man's own momentum to hurl him into another, taking them both out. A third pulled charged with a metal pipe, Batman dodged and shattered a knee with a well-timed kick, then cracked the man's jaw with a palm‑heel strike.

Two more rushed at him, Batman leapt, planting both boots into the first thug's chest, springboarding off him and twisting mid‑air to land behind the second while also tossing a batarang that hit the first one hard in the head. Batman grabbed the remaining thug by his hair and shoved him against the nearest support beam before he held him against it by his neck.

"Where is Deathstroke?" He glared at the thug, his grip just tight enough to be uncomfortable.

"I...I'm not telling you anything...scew you!" The thug said, trying to sound brave, but that was hard to do when a man made of muscle in a bat costume just took out all of your men with nothing but a little demon-child as backup.

Before either man could do anything else, a scream was heard; Batman's gaze snapped to his right, with the thug's gaze following just in time to see another thug land hard on his upper-back, he slid a foot or two back before the rest of his body ended up rolling so that his butt was up and his feet ended up dangling just above his head. Near-instantly, Robin came into view as he landed and swung his staff down viciously, hitting the thug full force between his legs with a strike that ended an entire bloodline.

Robin looked down at the thug that he had just taken care of, listening as the man made a series of quite pathetic noises that Robin had admittedly never heard before in either lifetime. Robin's head snapped up like a tiger that had suddenly found some very juicy prey. His gaze then snapped to his own father and the man that he was holding against a support beam. Robin pointed at the thug that Batman was holding.

"Mine?" He asked, tilting his head in a rather adorable fashion. Batman stared at him for a moment before looking back at the now pale thug. The man quickly looked at Batman like he was his saviour.

"I'll tell you everything!"

(.)

A.N: Hi guys, hope you enjoyed the chapter. I had originally intended to make it all one big chapter, but instead thought I'd have the final battle (not the actual final battle, there's still lots of chapters left) have its own chapter. Also, for Deathstroke's new look, it's basically his Arkham Origins look.

Anyway, thanks for reading the chapter, I hope you all enjoyed it