The library was no longer a room; it was a vortex of green magic and black shadow.
The warlock with the owl mask widened his eyes behind the porcelain. He had expected a struggle. He had not expected the abyss to stare back.
"Impossible," he stammered, the crystal on his staff cracking under the pressure of my aura. " The binding runes... they are absolute!"
"Nothing is absolute," I snarled, my voice sounding like grinding tombstones. "Except me."
I didn't step forward. I surged. The shadows that whipped around me formed solid spikes, lashing out like tentacles.
CRACK.
The warlock's staff shattered. The green light vanished.
Free from the suppression, my speed returned instantly. I didn't waste time on a witty quip. I drove my gloved hand through the warlock's chest.
He gasped, blood spraying onto my white shirt. I tossed his body aside like a wet rag.
"Bruce!" I shouted, turning.
Bruce was on the floor, trying to crawl toward the grandfather clock. He was leaving a trail of blood. Three Talons stood over him, swords raised for the killing blow.
I moved.
I caught the descending blade of the first Talon. I didn't snap it this time. I ripped the Talon's arm off at the shoulder and used the severed limb to bludgeon the second Talon into the drywall.
The third Talon swung at me. I ducked, swept his legs, and stomped on his skull with enough force to crater the floorboards.
"Sebastian," Bruce gasped, clutching his bleeding shoulder. "Dick... get Dick..."
I spun around to the other side of the room.
My heart—if I had one—stopped.
Dick was fighting. He was fighting magnificently. He had climbed onto the high bookshelf, kicking books into the faces of the climbing assassins. He was screaming, defiant.
"Get away from me!" Dick yelled, throwing a heavy encyclopedia.
But there were simply too many.
Six Talons swarmed the bookshelf. They didn't strike to kill. They struck to capture.
One Talon grabbed Dick's ankle. Another grabbed his wrist.
"No!" Dick screamed, kicking wildly.
He looked across the room. He met my eyes.
"Sebastian!"
I launched myself forward. I leaped over the desk, claws extended, ready to tear them apart.
THWIP.
A net—woven from razor-sharp steel wire—shot from the shadows of the balcony. It didn't hit me. It hit Dick.
The net wrapped around the boy, pinning his arms to his sides. The barbs dug into his red tunic. He cried out in pain.
"Package secured," a Talon rasped.
"Let him go!" I roared, landing on the bookshelf. I shredded the Talon nearest to me, tearing him in half.
But the others were already moving. They didn't fight me. They smashed through the remaining stained-glass windows, carrying the struggling bundle that was Robin into the stormy night.
I sprinted to the window.
I could catch them. I was faster. I could run them down before they reached the tree line.
"Sebastian..."
A weak, gurgling sound came from behind me.
I froze.
I looked back.
Bruce was convulsing on the floor. The knife wound in his shoulder had severed an artery. Blood was pooling rapidly around his head. He was going into shock.
If I chased the boy, Bruce Wayne would bleed out in sixty seconds.
The contract.
"I will serve you until your soul is ripe."
I could not let the Master die. It was the one rule I could not break.
I looked out the window. I saw the Talons vanishing into the rain, carrying the boy who laughed at gravity.
Then I looked at the man dying on the floor.
I screamed—a sound of pure, impotent rage that shattered every remaining pane of glass in the manor.
I turned away from the window.
I knelt beside Bruce.
"I am here, Master," I whispered, my voice trembling with fury. "I am here."
I pressed my hands over the wound. I used a butler's precision to find the severed artery and pinch it shut with my fingers.
"Dick..." Bruce murmured, his eyes rolling back. "Did you... get him?"
I looked at the empty window. The rain blew in, soaking the curtains.
"Stay with me, sir," I lied. "Focus on your breathing."
The Batcave - One Hour Later
Bruce lay on the medical table. He was pale, hooked up to a blood transfusion machine. I had stitched the artery and cauterized the wound. He would live.
He was awake. He was staring at the ceiling.
"They took him," Bruce said. His voice was dead.
I stood in the shadows, cleaning the blood off my hands. I hadn't put my gloves back on.
"Yes," I replied.
"Why didn't you go after him?" Bruce turned his head. His eyes were accusing. "You could have saved him."
"If I had left, you would be dead, sir."
"I DON'T CARE!" Bruce shouted, trying to sit up. The monitors beeped wildly. "I told you to save him! That was an order!"
"And my contract is to protect you," I snapped back, slamming my hand on the metal tray. "Do not lecture me on duty, Bruce Wayne. I made a choice. I chose the Knight over the Pawn."
The room went silent.
Bruce slumped back. Tears leaked from his eyes, mixing with the sweat on his face.
"He's just a kid, Sebastian. He's just a kid."
"I know," I whispered. The anger drained out of me, replaced by a cold, icy resolve. "And they will regret touching a hair on his head."
I walked over to the computer.
"Where would they take him?" Bruce asked.
"The warlock spoke of a 'Labyrinth,'" I said, typing furiously. "The Court of Owls has a maze beneath the city. A place where they break people. Where they turn humans into Talons."
I pulled up a geological map of Gotham.
"There is an old subterranean structure beneath the Cryos-Freeze Power Plant. It matches the architectural style of the 1800s."
Bruce ripped the IV out of his arm.
"Sir," I warned. "You have lost two pints of blood."
"I don't care," Bruce stood up. He swayed, grabbing the table for support. "Get the suit. The heavy one."
"The Mark I is destroyed."
"Then we build a new one. Tonight."
Bruce limped toward the armory. He looked like a man possessed. He looked like a father who was going to burn the world down to find his son.
"We are going into that maze, Sebastian," Bruce growled. "And we are not coming out until we find him."
I looked at his back.
I picked up the black gloves of his Batsuit.
"No, sir," I said, my eyes glowing in the reflection of the Batcomputer. "We are going into that maze. And we are going to leave nothing but corpses behind."
I walked to the elevator.
"I shall prepare the car. And the flamethrower. I find that owls dislike heat."
_________________________________________________________________________
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