Talon chapter 3

Chapter 3 -

"Son," Talia said as she walked into her son's room, pausing as she saw the sight in front of her.

Her son, now nearly eight years old, was in his room, wearing a black and grey training gi, and was currently practising with a flexible rope that had a small, metal ball attached to the end, a weapon known as the 'meteor hammer'. His left hand gripped the free end of the rope while his other hand held it around the middle as he swung the weight at the end in a figure of eight before spinning it around in circles. He twisted his wrist and sent the metal ball shooting forward, where it smashed against the head of a training dummy that he got last week. It didn't leave any lasting damage, but she knew full well that it would have been very painful if it had hit someone in the face.

"I thought you were practising archery today," She commented as she stood in the doorway. Her son, Hadrian or 'Harry' as his aunt called him when their father wasn't around, didn't drop his weapon. He pulled the weighted end back before spinning it again.

"Sensi allowed me to leave early," Harry said, wrapping the rope around his body before spinning and sending the 'hammer' of the weapon smashing into the dummy once more.

"Hmm, I prefer the 'Rope Dart' personally," She commented. The weapon was basically the same as what Harry wielded, one just simply replaced the metal ball with a small blade.

"Did that last week, Mother. " Harry shrugged before he span the hammer in a figure of eight around his body. A hooting noise pulled Talia's attention up as she saw Hedwig descend down and land on her favourite perch.

"Your owl has blood on her beak," Talia couldn't help but point out.

"That happens occasionally when you eat live animals," Harry pointed out, smashing the hammer once more on the training dummy.

"Clean up your owl, Hadrian," Talia told him. "Then come with me, your grandfather has summoned us both."

"Grandfather?" Harry asked as he pulled the rope in and started folding it up. "Did he say why?" He asked curiously. In a lot of ways, his grandfather reminded him of Dumbledore. Old, knowledgeable, dangerous and not to be underestimated, not to mention they both nearly always knew more than they wanted to reveal. His grandfather wasn't the sort to spend time with Hadrian for no reason. Hadrian met with him perhaps once a week for progress reports on his training, perhaps more on the occasions he wanted to get involved in his training, plus the occasional dinner that they had together as a family.

"He did not," Talia admitted with a small frown, likely thinking on the same wavelength as him. "Still, he will not tolerate tardiness. So clean your owl and follow me."

"She's already clean," Harry shrugged as he tossed the meteor hammer onto his bed. Talia resisted the urge to roll her eyes when she saw that the bird no longer had blood on her beak.

"Somehow, that bird still surprises me," She said under her breath.

"Why?" Harry asked, having heard her. "She's a perfectly innocent angel." He said, sounding like he genuinely believed that. Talia looked at her son and then at the matching innocent expression on the owl.

"If any of you are innocent, then I'm the next Queen of England."

(.)

"Grandfather," Harry said respectfully as he descended down the stairs with his mother behind him.

It wasn't often that he came into this room; the room was fairly plain, all things considered. Harry couldn't say for sure what colour everything was exactly, as there was never a light or even a torch present in this room. There was not a single decoration, not one thing that didn't need to be put there. It quite simply had four pillars in each corner of the room and nothing else. The only other thing in this room was what looked to be an ornate swimming pool, one that took up the majority of the space in this room. Except there wasn't water inside it.

A green liquid of some sort had filled the pool. On the surface, it simply looked like green water, but as Harry got closer, he knew it wasn't. He could feel the energy radiating from it; it wasn't a pleasant feeling. It felt like worms washing over his body. The green liquid glowed brightly, illuminating the room in a vivid green light. Harry's grandfather stood in the room. He wore a green suit along with a green cape that descended down to the floor. Standing next to him was Slade Wilson; Slade's gaze shifted to Harry and his mother, primarily to his mother, who had chosen to wear her favourite black full-body suit.

'Great, another universe and another guy in love with my mum.' Harry thought as they made their way closer to his grandfather.

"Grandfather," Harry greeted him.

"Father," Talia did the same. "You summoned us."

"Yes, I did," He replied, looking quite pleased with himself. "Today is an important day for us all. A momentous day." He clicked his fingers; a moment later, a group of men came in through a side entrance, carrying a large, ornate coffin on their shoulders.

"Grandfather," Harry spoke up at once, with a bad feeling in his stomach. "Who is that?" He couldn't help but ask.

"That, my dear grandchild, is none other than your father's latest protege." Ra's informed him. "Killed quite recently against an enemy of your father, known as 'The Joker'. I've brought his body here."

"For what purpose?" Talia asked with a frown.

"We will revive the child," Ra's explained. "We'll train him in our way and present him to the detective. New and improved, a wonderful gift to receive. A new son," He gestured to Harry before gesturing to the coffin. "And a dead one brought back to life."

"I have a feeling he won't like this," Talia couldn't help but say. "Hadrian's father is -"

"Enough," Ra's waved his hand, and she became silent, as if a silencing charm was put on her.

"Grandfather, I must protest," Harry spoke up. "He did not consent to this; he didn't ask for this. He -"

"I have spoken," Ra's said firmly before nodding to the men holding the coffin. They placed it down on the ground and opened it. A moment later, they took the body out of it, a fifteen-year-old boy, judging by his size. In a well-dressed blue suit, Harry was barely able to take in his black hair before he was tossed into the pit.

"Oh, this isn't going to go well," Harry said under his breath as the body sank deep into the pit.

"Probably not," Slade agreed, having heard him.

For a few moments, silence reigned supreme; nothing happened. Just when Harry was beginning to consider dropping his guard, the boy emerged from the pit. Screaming wildly as he tore off his blazer and shirt as if the very fabric was trying to kill him, he quickly rushed out of the pit. The men from earlier tried to help him, but that proved to be a mistake as he started throwing punches and kicks as soon as he got near. He broke one man's jaw before quickly slamming the next man's head into the face of the guy behind him. Harry could tell straight away that the boy had no idea what he was doing, yet his every move worked off pure instinct and drilled teachings.

The boy made quick work of the men, thankfully not killing any of them, before he rushed out of the room. Harry saw Slade crack his knuckles and roll his neck in preparation and quickly acted.

"Allow me, Grandfather," Harry spoke quickly. "I'll capture him." He said firmly. Slade stared at Harry for a moment before giving a questioning look to Ra's.

"Do not fail," Ra's said coldly. Harry didn't wait for anything more to be said and quickly rushed after him. The boy might have had a head start, but he didn't know the area half as well as Harry did; even still, Harry ran as fast as he could.

Half a minute later, Harry managed to cut off the boy in one of the hallways. The hallway was fairly simple. Wooden flooring, along with wall-mounted torches that were thankfully not on since the last thing he needed was for fire to come into play. A few pictures of Harry's grandfather were on the walls, and there was a weapons rack on each side of the hallway with various weapons. Harry looked at the boy opposite him. He was shirtless, covered in scars and bruises. Some looked like they had come from blades of some kind, others from fire or physical impact. The boy was quite muscular for his age and tall, with Harry just about reaching up to the boy's chest. His hair was short and black, almost as messy as Harry's. His eyes were a similar green to his own, just a few shades lighter and currently looking quite mad.

"I don't want to hurt you, I don't even want to fight you," Harry said slowly, raising his hands in a peaceful gesture. "But you are in danger here. I can get you out of here, if you please just -" The boy roared and charged at Harry with frightning speed, evidently done listening to him. "Crap baskets." Harry groaned before taking a step back, ducking a wild right hook, stepping back to avoid a left and then stepping to the outside of the next right.

He grabbed the boy's wrist and hit him in the side with a punch, which appeared to infuriate his opponent more than anything, as the next second, Harry was tackled into the wall behind him. Two hands wrapped around his neck and lifted him up off his feet. Harry instinctively kneed him in the stomach before his training kicked in and he attacked the boy's arms. Hitting him in the bend of both of his elbows, bringing him close enough that Harry could grab his head and slam him into the wall behind him.

His opponent stumbled backwards, but hadn't let go of Harry, meaning that the younger boy was pulled with him. Before Harry could do anything else, he was thrown halfway across the hallway. He barely got to his feet when the boy roared loudly and charged again, just as Harry heard footsteps coming from the opposite direction.

"Crud," Harry sighed before raising his hand. Behind the boy, on one of the weapon racks, was a pair of nunchucks. Nunchucks, which Harry summoned right into his hand, landed in his grip just before his opponent could reach him. Harry took a step to the side and wrapped them around the neck of the older boy when he lunged at Harry, and then he pulled, directing the boy head-first into a wall. He stumbled back, and Harry quickly followed up by jumping forwards, twisting in mid-air and hitting the older boy with a back kick to the chest, which caused him to slam back against the opposite wall.

A quick judo throw followed, and the boy was on his back, just as Slade and Harry's mother appeared in the hallway, followed by several league members.

"Sorry about this," Harry whispered under his breath before swinging the nunchuck into the boy's head as he tried to get up, knocking him to the ground. "He's not unconscious, so you're going to want to tie him up quickly," Harry said matter-of-factly as he walked away from the downed boy, who was shaking his head and trying to get up. He almost did when several league members jumped on him and started tying him up. For Harry, this was a total failure as he wanted to get the boy out safely and quietly, but that didn't seem possible just yet. Whatever the pit had done to him had left him a crazed mess, meaning if Harry wanted to get him out, he'd have to do it later when the boy was sane enough not to fight him the whole way.

"Impressive, my son," Talia smiled deeply as he approached. "Do you know who you just beat?"

"I don't think it matters much, Mother," Harry said in a respectful voice. "His mind is not all there; it was like fighting an angry brute."

"Even still, you beat Jason Todd, your father's sidekick, known to the criminal world as 'Robin'." She told him, unable to hide the pride in her voice.

'Robin?' Harry mentally repeated. 'That guy seems more like a falcon.' He winced as he rubbed his neck lightly. If the boy had his wits about him, then this fight could have been much more difficult. He frowned as he looked back at the boy who was now being restrained by his grandfather's men. 'So, my father trained him? Interesting.'

(.)

A.N: Hi guys, hope you enjoyed the chapter. I didn't have much time to write up a new chapter for my other stories so I'm uploading another chapter for this story since I had it ready. I hope you all liked it.