Chapter Text
The world is full of colors as it layed down within the cold. No real thoughts passed through Talons mind. Just memories and flashes of colors. The world was foggy and unfocused.
Sometimes voices can be heard from outside the tomb, but Talon doesn't listen. It wasn't told to. So Talon rests instead of listening. Sometimes, Talon is half awake, half resting. Those moments Talon treasures closely. It can think freely those days.
The world outside is warmer than the coffin of ice. The world might be warm, but it doesn't offer the small safty that the coffin gives. Talon finds the world good but also bad. Resting is safe and good. So Talon never fights when it is to rest. (It doesn't fight against any of the Courts decisions.) Talon was told only good talons rest many times by the Court. Talon surprisingly was even told why. Good Talons don't need to spend more time in the world that is bad than bad talons do. Bad world leads to bad Talons. The Court will make the world good and make more good Talons from it. The Court is good. It can't be bad. They give other talons chance to prove worth. Talons are less than human, after all.
Talon is sometimes mistaken as a human. This is not good. It is bad. Talon is not human. Talon is beneath humans. Yet, some humans don't know this about talons. The Court has Talon kill them while making sure other humans don't know about talons. Talon does so with its claws or with its knife. Talon is good.
Talon sometimes sees the world outside of the Court. The outside world is bad and attacked Talon during the before. Sometimes, Talon remembers smiles from memories of the world. Talon doesn't deserve them. It was bad back then. Yet, Talon protects them all the same. The Court will bring many smiles, and Talon will be tasked to protect them all. It was told so after all, and that makes it true. It has to be.
Sometimes, Talon is allowed to dream in its coffin. The coffin is good. Its coffin is sealed away by the Court in the depths of the labyrinth. The coffin was not quite a coffin. It was filled with cold from ice and cold liquid. It was always an angle. Not straight up yet, not horizontal. Like a display case Talon finds in the targets homes. But the Court made their display much nicer than the targets do. Flowers. bees, grassy stones, water, and dirt all surround the coffins. They make Talons know it's now home. Talon is not allowed to go to its old home. Talon is the reason home is gone after all.
Talon remembers little of before it was Talon. Danny was its name. Danny was bad. Danny let everyone die and let everyone down. Danny was lucky the Court was willing to give such a bad discusting low level thing a chance. To repent. To prove it can be better. The Court made Danny a Talon. The Court made Danny what it was meant to be. Danny was less than human, after all. He couldn't even save them, and before humans didn't like him. Talon would prove Danny could still be useful while being a lower lifeform than the Court. Then the world. Like a good Talon!
Like all Talons, Talon is not supposed to remember the before. Yet, Talon cannot find it in itself to tell the Court. They will make Talon forget Danny. Danny was Talon's secret. The only thing that would remember Danny would be Talon. Danny's humans deserved to know that Talon would remember Danny for them. Talon would protect what was left of Danny for them. They deserved that, at least for Danny being the reason for their deaths. Their last wish was for Danny to live, Danny would, but only in Talon's mind. It can't hurt anyone then.
Talon cannot remember their names. The humans that cared for Danny from before. It barely remembered Danny. Yet, Talon knew what they looked like, a little. Talon remembers purple, red, and green, but not where they go on a person. It remembers lots of green, so much green, and a circle full of green. It does not do a Talon well to dwell on the past. So Talon looks forward to whatever the Court will order it to do.
Talon is resting. It knows it is its mind is partially awake, slowly waking. It has a mission soon. If Talon is good, maybe the Court will let not mind it staying out late today. The stars can barely be seen from Gotham, but Talon still wants to try to see.
All Little Talon can do now is try. No matter how much it burns, Talon will still try. Talon will be good. It has to be.
Talon waited. The gas that filled its coffin was slowly draining. The ice that surrounded its body slowly was warming up. Talon didn't have long left to dream or think.
Talon remembers Danny didn't sleep much. Resting was good, and Danny's lack of it just showed how bad he was. Talon remembers Danny was bad. No one liked Danny. Everyone had hurt, Danny. Talon wouldn't let Talon be bad like Danny was. The Court couldn't be properly protected if Danny was in Talon's place after all.
The coffin opened. Talon climbed out and kneeled. Talon would be good.
Talon had no choice but to be good.
Watch. Don't think.
Talon watched the world. The world watches back. The court stood in front of two talons. They were called Talon and Talon. All Talons were called Talon. However, sometimes, being a Talon had drawbacks like when every Talon was called Talon.
This led to confusion in the court. By no fault of the court. It was all the fault of the Talons. Talons were either going on the wrong missions or two Talons were going on the same mission. It was a very confusing time in the court. It was bad.
However, the Court came up with a solution. Send out one Talon at a time, which was too slow for the court when many talons were needed. Or the easier alternative give each Talon a description before the name Talon.
This didn't exactly solve the problem sense all Talon's looked exactly the same, but it was a solution. This led to Talons getting a second name to use when around other Talons.
Talon's second name was Little Talon!
"Little Talon. The Court requires this book to be returned to the court. It is being held by Richard Grayson in the Gotham library. Return it to the court. Blood may be spilled. You will have another mission once you return, " said master. Little Talon nodded in its head but did not speak. The Court held up a picture of a red book with emeral green engravings. No title. No words were needed for retrieval missions. Nor was movement.
"Other Talon. You are to watch Jason Todd when he is not Red Hood. Record each finding in this book. Come back when he becomes Red Hood or the sun does down. He is currently at a Gala in Wayne manor. If an accident were to befall him, the Court would not be angry." said Master to Other Talon. Other Talon was bigger than Little Talon and older. But it wasn't as sneaky as Little Talon.
Other Talon was also more violent than Little Talon.
Other Talon was built for strength while Little Talon was made for speed and quiet.
Opposites.
Sometimes, Other Talon tried to bite Little Talon if it didn't leave Other Talon alone on joint missions. Little Talon bit Other Talon back hard on those days. Little Talon didn't give Other Talon time to strike it first after the time Other Talon bit a chunk of Little Talon's ear off. (Little Talon can't remember if it healed closed or not. Other Talon had used its knife to make sure it wouldn't.) Other Talon still had the scar on its neck from Little Talons retribution.
Little Talon did not agree with Other Talon being Talon and not a corpse.
Other Talon would make a good corpse.
The Court backed away from Little Talon and Other Talon. The Court was silent. The Court didn't want to dirty itself by touching a Talon. A dismissal. Other Talon stood first, then Little Talon followed. Other Talon was older, so it left first.
It was only respectful.
Even if Other Talon didn't deserve that respect.
Little Talon must respect the Court.
Walking through the fields of flowers that surrounded the glass coffins lined with gold, Little Talon felt the stones under its shoes. It could hear the small river of water that gave the flowers the nutrients they needed. If it listened carefully, it could hear the bees exiting their hives and buzzing around the flowers. Little Talon wasn't allowed to touch the flowers. It didn't need need to hurt the flowers by touching them. Little Talon followed Other Talon out of the resting place.
Walking through white hallways and stepping on soft velvet carpets, both Talons made their way out of the layer of the Court. Opening the large dark wooden doors, the cold air hit their flesh. The cold felt like home for Little Talon. Not cold enough to rest, yet. The smog that coated Gotham's sky blocked out the moonlight and the stars.
Other Talon went left. Little Talon went right.
Under the cover of the evenings growing shadows, Little Talon moved. Jumping of roof tops, hiding in alleys, and walking in shadows, little Talon moved towards its destination. It moved just how the Court and the before taught it.
The library was not far for little Talon to run to from the court. Its prestigious walls loomed over Little Talon as it stared from across the street. A few lights were on inside. Its doors were closed. Talon moved closer.
Hiding in the alley next to the library, Talon began to search for an unlocked window. If it didn't find one, it could go through the vents, but those left it covered in dust, and the court didn't like it when Talon got dirty. The other option was to break open the door, but Gotham security was always high, and Talon didn't need to look for a book while hiding from bats.
Bats would make Talon bad.
Talon couldn't become bad.
Talon spotted a window partly opened. Talon stuck its claws into the wall and began to climb towards the partly opened window. Slowly peaking inside Talon saw no one but a small lamp was turned on. It must have been left on by humans.
Talon stuck its claws through the opened window and began to pull it open. Tiny scratch marks were made in the paint. The glass was left intact. Talon wouldn't be caught by breaking glass.
Once the window was almost halfway open, Talon climbed inside without making a sound other than the soft thumb of its feet hitting the ground. Talon began to search. The room Talon was in had many books, but none were red, and none had emerald on them that it could see.
The room was large with five evenly spaced shelves that held hundreds of books. Each self was pushed against the wall. Talon needed to hurry. Talon cleared the first shelf but did not find the book. Then the second. Then, the third. On Talons half finished search of the fourth shelf, the overhead lights turned on. Talon blinked. Talon stopped moving. Bright. Human Court magic made the lights come on?!
"Babs? Is that you? Did you forget something? I thought you were organizing the kids' section?" said a high-pitched voice. Talon froze. No blood needed to be spilled if it was sneaky. It had to hide. Like a good Talon. "Babs?"
The women started walking into the room. Talon backed against the shelf. There was a chance she wouldn't see. She passed the first shelf. Then the second. Talon stopped breathing. She passed the third.
Talon's back was pressed against the shelfs wall as it crouched on the floor. She walked past it. She didn't see Talon or the books thrown around the floor next to it. Talon breathed. Quickly, it slipped behind her and out the door.
"What on earth?" Said the women, but Talon was already outside of the room in the hall. Talon needed to find the book for the court.
Walking through the hall, Talon came to an even bigger room with many shelves. Looking would take a long time. The book belonged to the court, though, so it is valuable. It may be hidden in a smaller room than the bigger ones, so it is easier to find. With a nod, Talon walked through the now lit up library. Magic. The worker must have turned on more of the lights while Talon searched.
The lights limited where Talon could hide. The light made the mission more difficult, but Talon could see the books better now. Walking along the wall, Talon found a smaller room. The sound of a printer from the room told Talon where the second worker was hiding. Talon peaked through the crack in the doorway. A red haired women in a wheelchair was waiting on something to print. She was playing on a tablet. There are no books inside the room. Talon moved on.
Talon followed the wall. Being silent just as it was taught.
Another bigger room. Many books were inside it. The room had windows that showed the outside. Sometimes, Little Talon would watch outside of those windows if it had time after missions. The windows had bars on them. Talon frowned. Escape was made harder.
Talon walked into the room. Little foam cubes that were different colors sat in a coner. The room was quiet and dark. No lights were on. Talon watched this room from the outside. Tiny chairs made for children were spread out throughout the room. Talon walked into the room more. Many shelfs that went a little above Talon's waste filled the room. It looked good.
Books that were proped up by stands filled it. Talon walked up to a shelf. A book sat on the metal wire. 'How stars form for little astronauts' sat on it. Talon snatched it. Something inside Talon felt light. It's chest?
Walking away from the shelf and towards the small front desk that sat beneath the window. On the desk were many things. There was paper, an open computer, a cup full of pens, and in the middle of the red book with emerald green. Talon grabbed the book and held both books close. Talon was not ready to leave. Talon sat down under the desk. Pressing its body into the small space. Talon sat in the dark under the desk with its knees holding up the books. The light from the computer gave it just enough light to see. Talon opened the book on the stars. It's chest chirped. Talon paid it no mind. It was good.
Opening the book, Talon saw something that made it pause. 'Write your name.' Talon was Talon's name, but Talon was a name confused with many Talons. Talon could write Little Talon, but Little Talon could be used for many different talons.
Talon got an idea. A good idea. A really good idea that the Court would be pleased by. Grabbing a pen from the table above and only knocking over the cup of pens with its blind reach for a pen. Talon wrote. Talons mouth twitched up at the book and then settled in to read.