DCU: Split

Chapter 235 235: night of the talons (1)

Rebecca March sat near the fireplace with one leg crossed over the other, a crystal glass of untouched wine resting in her hand while flames danced across the marble hearth behind her. The room around her radiated old Gotham wealth. Dark wood paneling. Antique paintings. Shelves lined with first editions and artifacts older than most of the city itself.

Normally the elegance comforted her. Tonight it only reminded her Lincoln was gone.

Maria Powers sat across from her in a high-backed chair, posture relaxed but eyes attentive. The two women had known each other for years through the Court, though neither would have ever called the other a friend before recent events.

Now circumstances were changing quickly.

Outside the tall windows rainless clouds drifted across Gotham's skyline while silence settled between them briefly after the servants exited the room.

Rebecca broke it first, "Kane is losing control."

Maria smirked faintly over the rim of her drink, "I couldn't agree more."

Rebecca's expression hardened slightly.

"Everything has deteriorated since he started his obsession with this supposed traitor." She set the glass down carefully beside her chair. "The gangs are attacking us openly, Batman is dismantling operations faster than we can rebuild them, and now senior members are dying."

Her voice cooled further at the last sentence.

"My husband included." Maria watched her carefully.

"You believe Kane arranged Lincoln's death?"

Rebecca did not answer immediately. Instead she stood and slowly walked toward the fireplace, staring into the flames while gathering her thoughts.

"I believe Kane is ambitious," she finally said. "I believe he introduced paranoia into the Court deliberately so he could consolidate power beneath the excuse of rooting out traitors. I believe several of our rivals have conveniently disappeared or suffered setbacks since he took greater control."

She turned slightly then, "And I believe Kane has become dangerous to the stability of the Court itself."

Maria's lips curled into another faint smile.

"That," she admitted, "sounds much more believable."

Rebecca studied her for a moment before continuing.

"The Court survived for centuries because leadership was balanced. No single member was ever supposed to accumulate enough influence to dominate the others entirely." Her eyes narrowed. "Kane forgot that."

Maria swirled the liquor in her glass thoughtfully, "Or perhaps he believes he's indispensable now."

Rebecca almost laughed at that, "No one is indispensable."

The room fell quiet again for several seconds.

Rebecca hid her satisfaction well behind a composed expression, though internally she could already feel the tide shifting. Before Lincoln's death gathering support against Kane would have been delicate. Slow. Dangerous.

Now?

Now people practically wanted someone to oppose him.

Fear made people easy to move.

And grief—Grief made them eager for leadership.

Rebecca understood that very well.

Maria especially had become far easier to pull toward her side after the hospital attack. Kane's little stunt with the Talons had been clever initially, but he underestimated one thing.

Maria was too intelligent not to question convenient timing.

Now suspicion bloomed everywhere. Exactly where Rebecca wanted it.

"We need a change in central leadership," Rebecca said plainly at last.

Maria leaned back slightly, studying her.

"That's a dangerous sentence."

"Yes," Rebecca agreed calmly. "But necessary."

Maria's eyes drifted briefly toward the fireplace before returning to Rebecca again.

"And if Kane refuses?"

Rebecca's expression did not change.

"Then the Court will remove him."

Maria raised an eyebrow at that.

"Kane still controls most Talon deployments."

Rebecca waved the concern away almost dismissively.

"Control of the Talons is more complicated than Kane likes to pretend."

That finally drew visible curiosity from Maria.

Rebecca noticed immediately.

For years the Talons existed as myth even within portions of the Court itself. Members understood they existed, understood they obeyed the organization, but very few knew the actual mechanisms behind their command structure.

Lincoln had known pieces of it.

And through Lincoln— so did Rebecca, but that was not all she knew.

"We can use the Talons against him," Rebecca said casually.

Maria frowned slightly.

"I can't activate Talons on my own."

Rebecca smirked faintly for the first time that evening, "Let me handle that."

Now Kane just needs to sit still and wait for her to replace him. She has sat idle far too long, hiding in the shadows while Kane thought he controlled her creations.

****

Batman crouched near the edge of the balcony, cape draped around him while the glow of Gotham painted faint reflections across the black armor covering his frame. Below them the street looked quiet. Empty. The sort of street civilians hurried through without ever really looking around.

That was probably intentional.

The house itself sat wedged tightly between two nearly identical structures. Narrow. Forgettable. Peeling paint lined portions of the exterior while old shutters hung unevenly beside dusty windows. At first glance it looked like the home of a struggling middle-class family barely holding onto property in a declining neighborhood.

Exactly the kind of place nobody investigated twice.

"So this is the place?" Vey asked quietly from beside him. "How'd you even find it, Batman?"

"By looking," Batman replied flatly.

He pressed a button on his gauntlet and a holographic blueprint flickered to life between them. The layout showed three separate townhouses connected side by side, but Batman immediately highlighted several portions in red.

"These walls are false," he explained. "It's not three buildings. It's one structure divided internally to appear separate."

Vey leaned slightly closer to inspect the projection.

"Smart," he admitted. "Most people would only search the registered address."

Batman nodded once.

"There wasn't much on the blueprints themselves. The city records were altered years ago. Utilities told the real story."

Vey tilted his head slightly.

"Utilities?"

"One heating system. One water line. One hidden electrical grid feeding all three properties."

Vey let out a soft laugh beneath the crying theater mask.

"You really are terrifyingly thorough."

Batman ignored the comment and zoomed further inward toward the building's center.

"Expect security. Panic rooms most likely. Hidden exits too. If she realizes we're here early enough she'll disappear before we reach her."

Vey rested both gloved hands against the balcony railing as he looked back toward the house.

"Olivia Otus," he mused aloud. "Headmistress of Arkham Academy. Respectable. Educated. Publicly charitable." His grin widened faintly beneath the mask. "And apparently one of the Court's rising stars."

He looked back toward Batman.

"From our interrogations we believe she's aligned closely with Maria Powers. We just couldn't locate her until now. Conveniently 'home sick' for several weeks."

Batman's expression remained unreadable beneath the cowl, "Her sickness magically got worse after Lincoln March died."

"Which tells us she's scared," Vey replied immediately. "Scared people make mistakes."

Batman deactivated the holographic blueprint and rose slowly to his feet.

"Remember your promises, Vey."

The tone in Batman's voice made it less reminder and more warning.

Vey grinned behind the mask, fingers tightening slightly against the metal railing.

"Of course," he said lightly. "I wouldn't dream of breaking them."

Batman stared at him for a long moment.

Neither of them fully trusted the other anymore.

That much sat openly between them now.

Still, Vey eventually tilted his head curiously.

"But I must ask," he continued, "why only the two of us? I could've brought some of my people."

Batman shook his head immediately.

"Too many people increases the chance she detects us early. If Olivia reaches a safe room or hidden tunnel before we lock the building down, she's gone."

Vey conceded the point with a small shrug.

"Very well."

For several seconds both men simply watched the darkened house in silence while distant sirens echoed somewhere deeper in Gotham.

Then Batman finally spoke again, "We move fast. You follow my lead."

Vey chuckled softly, "You know, Bruce, you say things like that as if I have a history of causing problems."

Batman turned toward the edge of the balcony.

"You do."

And with that he fired the grappling gun.

The line shot silently across the alley before locking onto the rooftop opposite them. Batman moved instantly afterward, cape snapping behind him as he crossed the gap in near total silence.

Vey stared after him for half a second. Then laughed quietly to himself.

"Still dramatic," he muttered before following close behind.

Batman slipped through the second-story window first, landing inside the darkened building without a sound. Vey followed a moment later, boots touching hardwood floors softly enough the old house barely creaked beneath his weight.

The inside of the structure immediately revealed the truth Batman discovered earlier.

The "separate" homes were a lie.

Behind the decorative walls stretched a single connected interior. Narrow hallways branched between the false houses while hidden security doors and reinforced frames sat concealed beneath wallpaper and wooden panels. Expensive renovations hid beneath the intentionally shabby exterior.

Olivia Otus had turned three houses into a fortress disguised as mediocrity.

Vey moved silently beside Batman through the dim corridor, gloved fingers brushing lightly against the wall as his eyes tracked every doorway and blind corner automatically. The crying theater mask concealed his expression, but internally Nolan's mind remained active and alert.

Too quiet.

The first guard appeared at the end of the hallway carrying a suppressed SMG loosely against his chest. He never even saw Vey move.

One second the guard was scanning the corridor.

The next Vey crossed the distance in near silence, one hand clamping over the man's mouth while the other drove two fingers sharply beneath the jawline. The strike disrupted balance instantly. Before the guard could recover, Vey twisted and slammed the man headfirst into the wall hard enough to crumple him unconscious.

Not dead. Batman would notice.

Vey stepped over the falling body without breaking stride.

Another guard rounded the corner ahead just in time to catch a glimpse of the pale theater mask emerging from the darkness. The man opened his mouth—

Vey's cane snapped upward instantly.

The reinforced metal shaft cracked against the guard's wrist with a wet pop before the hooked end whipped around his neck. Vey pivoted smoothly, dragging the man sideways into a doorway where his skull bounced sharply off the frame.

The body collapsed twitching softly.

Again—Alive.

Vey idly noted how easy all of this felt.

Too easy.

These were trained guards. Armed. Positioned well. Yet the defenses felt thin for someone supposedly terrified enough to vanish from public life for weeks.

Batman seemed to notice it too.

The two reunited near the central staircase connecting the merged buildings together. Batman emerged from another hallway dragging an unconscious guard behind him before securing the man quickly with restraints.

"No alarms," Batman muttered quietly.

Vey tilted his head slightly.

"Exactly my thoughts."

Together they ascended the stairs toward the upper floors. Their movements synchronized strangely well despite everything between them. Batman covered angles automatically while Vey flowed through openings and blind spots with eerie precision.

The upper level looked entirely different from below.

Gone was the illusion of modest living.

Dark oak walls lined the corridors alongside expensive paintings and antique furniture. Security cameras sat hidden inside decorative fixtures while reinforced steel doors blended seamlessly into the architecture.

A safehouse.

Not a home.

Batman stopped near the final room at the end of the hall and glanced once toward Vey.

Ready.

Vey nodded once beneath the mask.

Batman breached first.

The door burst inward violently as Batman crossed the threshold low and fast. Vey entered a heartbeat later, cane raised while his eyes swept the room instantly.

Olivia Otus sat at a large desk near the far wall, laptop open before her. Shock exploded across her face as she scrambled halfway to her feet.

"You—"

Then the room moved.

Batman ducked instantly.

A sword sliced through the air where his head had been less than a second earlier.

At the same moment Vey's instincts screamed.

He twisted sideways just as a dagger flashed past his mask close enough he felt the displaced air brush his skin.

Talons.

They appeared almost impossibly fast from hidden panels within the walls and ceiling. Gray skin. Blackened armor. Empty glowing eyes.

But something immediately felt wrong.

The Talon attacking Olivia did not hesitate.

A curved blade punched directly through her chest before she could even scream. Blood sprayed across the desk and laptop as Olivia collapsed backward in stunned disbelief.

Batman's head snapped toward the dying woman.

"They're cleaning house," Vey realized instantly.

The Talons were not protecting her.

More movement erupted throughout the building below them. Heavy impacts. Choked screams. Gunshots cut short almost immediately.

The Talons were killing everyone. Including the downed guards.

One lunged toward Vey again with inhuman speed, curved dagger slashing upward toward his throat. Vey sidestepped smoothly, almost lazily, before driving his palm directly into the Talon's masked face.

Electricity exploded outward.

Sparks crawled violently across the creature's armor as the glove discharged with a deafening crack. The Talon convulsed mid-motion, body locking rigid before crashing sideways into the wall hard enough to splinter wood.

Batman disabled another with a savage elbow strike followed by an explosive gel charge that launched the undead assassin backward through a hidden panel.

But more were coming.

Vey's grin widened beneath the theater mask as another Talon crawled unnaturally from the ceiling above.

"Well," he mused almost cheerfully while raising the crackling glove again, "this escalated quickly."

***

Just outside the houses a group waited. They heard the commotion from inside immediately as it started.

"That was the signal right?"

"That has to have been it!" A quick voice replied

"Cmon let's go I've been meaning for a round two!"

"Link us let's go."