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"Holy shit, Talon, get back here!" Jason cringed as soon as the words left his mouth. After seeing Talon's obedience towards his every order- except one- last night, he had sworn he wouldn't order the poor guy around, ever. He could tamp down on his controlling tendencies if it meant it'd make the guy more comfortable. But alas, here he was, forgetting about the promise in his drowsy, half-sleepy state.
Sadly, Talon chose the worst possible timing to not hear him, or maybe to just disregard him, because he kept lunging at Bruce, who was continuously dodging his attacks. In Talon's defense, Jason had said the words in a lower tone than strictly necessary, so it was entirely possible that Talon had just not heard him. Sue him, Jason just wanted to see his brand new soulmate in action, and it didn't hurt that Talon looked hot as hell doing all those moves. Bruce just happened to be an unfortunate collateral in the grand scheme of things.
"Jason! Why are you just standing over there? And what is the Talon we were looking for, doing in your living room?!" Bruce shouted as he leapt over his couch to dodge one of Talon's claws. Damn, those things looked sharp.
"Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you. Meet my new soulmate, Talon. Talon, meet Bruce." Bruce's eyes widened and the split second shock was enough to let Talon gain an upper hand, who had his eyes and hands trained on Bruce with a single-minded focus. This time, it was Talon who had Bruce in a headlock. Ofcourse, it was because Bruce had stopped struggling now, and was instead observing Talon carefully, as much as he could from his vantage point. Even when Bruce was out of the suit, Talon would've never been able to best Batman himself in a fight.
Talon turned his head towards Jason, looking for guidance, as if to ask permission to dispose off the guy in his grip. That was oddly touching. That imploring look, combined with his wide-eyed look would have made Jason say yes to anything. It was probably a good thing he didn't ask to outright kill Bruce.
Meanwhile, in his arms, Bruce had an annoyed look on his face, the disappointed look he gave Jason whenever he found actual lead bullets in Jason's gun instead of the rubber ones. It was Bruce's fault in the first place that he was looking through Jason's artillery, honestly. But he digressed, the issue at hand was just how sweet Talon's protective streak for Jason had been.
"Jaylad, will you please tell him to let me go, now? It's clear he looks towards you for orders."
"Mm, I don't know, don't you think we should test out his capabilities more? I think you should continue your match." Jason barely resisted the urge to grin at the look Bruce gave him. He was still somewhat salty about the fact that Bruce hadn't killed joker for him, even though he had largely forgiven Bruce by now. Now that Jason thought about it, Talon would kill Joker in an instant if Jason asked him to. That was a fun thing they could test out later, maybe even make it their first date.
"I won't really be able to help you out with him if he mauls me with his claws, Jason." Jason could easily hear the amusement in Bruce's voice as he said that. This wasn't really fun anymore for Jason because Bruce found it funny.
"Talon, let him go, he's not a threat." Jason saw Talon's eyes widen and look from Bruce to Jason, and back to Bruce again. He immediately let Bruce go, and walked back to Jason's side, head bowed. Jason couldn't really see any expression on Talon's face but he was willing to bet all his crime lord money that Talon was feeling guilty as fuck right now, he still had the Court's bullshit ideas swimming around in that wide eyed skull of his. His fears were confirmed when Talon opened his mouth to speak.
"Master....Talon is.... sorry." He spoke, in that hoarse voice of his. The deep and raspy voice of his would've been more comforting if Jason didn't suspect that his voice had been beaten into disuse by the Court. He felt his soulmark throb on his forearm, right when he had the murderous thoughts about Talon's previous 'Masters'. Huh, seems like his soulmark seemed to agree with him on this.
Unfortunately, Talon misconstrued the rage that had dripped from his face for the split second that Jason had lost control over his emotions- and in front of Bruce, too, he would be disappointed- because Jason saw him hunch over and bow his head even more when Talon had chanced a glance at Jason's face. Shit.
"Hey, hey, look at me, Talon." Talon's shoulders hunched even more but he obeyed, because ofcourse he did, and looked at Jason.
"I'm not mad at you, okay? I'm mad at Bruce cause he just barged into my home, but not you." Jason heard Bruce huff from where he had already righted himself and was straightening up his clothes. "Well, I'm so sorry for for being worried." The sarcasm was prominent in it.
"Did I, or did I not leave you a message, Bruce?"
"You left Oracle a message that said 'The situation has been dealt with'."
"Yeah, and it has?"
"You failed to even mention the fact that you had apparently found your soulmate!"
"And that is relevant to mention in a debriefing?"
"When the soulmate is a newly retired assassin from the Court of Owls, yes."
"Well? You've seen that I'm okay, now you can fuck off."
Bruce stared intently at Talon's face for a few seconds, likely taking his features in. Jason could just about imagine Bruce's mind running analytics on his face alone, trying to place if he had seen him somewhere. He knew Bruce would begin a background check as soon as he got back to the batcave, because he had done the same when Timmy had gotten his soulmark, very paranoidly.
"Have you figured out his name, yet?"
Jason grumbled, loathe to admit that he hadn't.
"No, he claims that the other name doesn't belong to him, just keeps on calling himself Talon."
"Jason, I can't just leave you alone with one of their most dangerous Talons, atleast, not without proper tests to confirm if he won't accidentally kill you while you're vulnerable around him."
Jason barely resisted the urge to just ask Talon to attack Bruce again. Barely.
"Besides, everyone would want to meet your new soulmate too, Jaylad, especially Alfred." Bruce spoke up. That made Jason's anger fizzle out a little. He knew Bruce was just trying to get him and Talon to the Manor and then subsequently, the cave, but damnit he was falling for the manipulative act. Jason sighed internally, he was gonna have to get to the Manor now, wouldn't he?
"Fine. We'll be there, but don't expect me to stay any longer than strictly necessary. And don't think I'm coming because you asked." Jason could swear that there was a small smile on Bruce's face when he turned around and opened the door knob. "Ofcourse, Jason," he spoke before he left and closed the door behind him.
Right before he left, Jason saw some slashes on his expensive three piece suit, courtesy of Talon's claws, which made him feel better about the fact that he had just been manipulated into listening to one of Bruce's orders.
Jason turned to Talon, whose head was still bowed a little too much for Jason's liking, his eyes longingly trained on Jason's arm with the soulmark. Jason sighed and wordlessly offered his hand to Talon again, who immediately grabbed it and brought it close to his chest again.
It was becoming increasingly hard for Jason to pretend that he was annoyed by the clinginess of Talon, especially when his arm had started to feel a little cold without the grip on it.
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Jason tapped his foot impatiently as Bruce continued to run whatever tests he wanted on Talon, who was still sitting with Jason's arm in his hand, staring impassively at the wide arsenal of tools that Bruce was currently using on him. It was a little jarring, to be honest, but atleast it was better than him being scared to the extent of mindless obedience, of them. Jason was especially worried about the implications of Talon being used to sharp objects near him to this degree.
They had ultimately, had had to arrive at the Manor, at Bruce's continued insistence (read: manipulation). That had been a week ago, and since then, everyday, Jason had been subjected to the motley crew that both legally and unfortunately, was still his family. Especially their first arrival at the manor, which had not required for the entire family to be standing in the foyer like they were all so eager to welcome Jason home. It had just made Talon more anxious, Jason guessed.
When they had first arrived here a week ago, Tim had been the first to approach Talon, after Alfred, ofcourse, who had been the one to open the door for them. Despite himself, Jason had missed Alfred's kind and non judgemental smile. The effect had been immediately ruined when he had seen Damian's face full of judgement after they had taken a step inside.
Tim had started to hold out a hesitant hand towards Talon, and Jason had felt Talon's grip tighten around his arm, which had led to Jason immediately, and very aggressively, taking Tim's offered hand and shaking it.
Tim looked up at Jason, an annoyed expression on his face, undoubtedly ready to spit out some snarky remark about how 'Why would I want to shake hands with you, Jason?', but thankfully, Tim got that shaking Talon's hand when he was a brainwashed stranger until yesterday wasn't the best idea, through only a look at Jason's expression. Only through years of understanding Bruce's thoughts from his face alone had helped Jason convey and Tim get it, maybe Jason should thank Bruce for the shorthand, atleast, if nothing else.
Tim had instead, just said, "Nice to meet you, I'm Tim Drake." and Talon had nodded in response.
After Tim, Damian had offered both of them a curt nod and had left to do whatever it is that teenagers did, Jason didn't really care. But he supposed Damian was still a little angry over the fact that Jason had gotten the villain that was in his area for the night. They had all divided up Gotham into areas because none of them wanted to accidentally fight over getting to arrest a criminal, but Jason wasn't apologizing this time. He got a soulmate out of it.
The only reason Talon wasn't freaking out while meeting his family was because the whole car drive here, Jason had been showing Talon the little family photos that he thankfully, had in his phone. It had been a little difficult to drive while he had a clingy Talon clutching his arm but Jason had managed somehow. He'd just make Bruce pay the driving tickets he had racked up, after all, it had been Bruce's fault that they had been in the car in the first place.
There was a silver lining, though. It had been beyond cute to witness Talon swiping through the photos and look up at him wide eyed whenever he encountered someone that Jason hadn't already told him about. It was cute, because Talon was cute, period. Oh no. Jason had to mentally beat himself up for even thinking that the traumatized and conditioned poor guy was cute. What was wrong with him?!
Every morning though, it was even worse. Jason had forgone a shower the first day at the Manor because Talon refused to let go of him. Talon was now okay with letting go of his arm for short periods of time, under ten minutes, but any more than that and Talon tried to pick his arm up again. Talons didn't need showers (Tim had informed him) but Jasons did need one, and he couldn't very well keep it up for however long it took Talon for solving his separation anxiety issues. So he had taken a deep breath, and asked Talon.
"Hey, please let go of my arm, for like thirty minutes?" That was the most polite Jason had been in this Manor posthumously. Talon had looked at him with a betrayed look. Jason had implored him again.
"Please? It's just cause I gotta shower, I promise you can hold it again after I get out!"
Talon had looked at him again, and Jason was sure Talon would have glared if it hadn't been for the conditioning that prevented him from showing emotions. But he had agreed and let Jason's arm go. Jason had showered and changed his clothes in record time, and he had been very satisfied with himself after he had stepped out of the bathroom, for only taking twenty five minutes in total. It had been shattered, though, when he saw Talon.
Talon had been sitting against the wall, right beside the bathroom door, arms around his knees, head bent over them. Jason had felt something in him break when he saw his soulmate look so... desolate. Jason couldn't see Talon's face from where it was hidden in his arms and knees, and he was thankful for it. Jason didn't know what he would've done if he had had to witness tears.
Jason had been forced to look at the same kicked puppy image that his soulmate had presented every morning. And even though he immediately offered his arm again, it still hurt. He had to do something about it, but he hadn't yet been able to think about any alternatives for a soulmate's arm.
Initially, Jason had planned to get done with the tests that Bruce wanted to run on Talon the very same day on which they had arrived here, but Bruce insisted that getting Talon familiarised to his surroundings should take priority. So Jason had agreed for them to stay the night. That night had turned into two, into three, and finally, into a week. Sometimes, Jason underestimated the amount of bullshit yet still believable reasons that Bruce could spew to make his kids stay home.
Thankfully, though, Bruce was finally doing the tests today. A blood sample, a plasma sample, fingerprints, an iris scan, x-ray and an MRI scan were all done. Bruce had also done a variety of tests on Talon's soulmate mark, to test if it was a real soulmark, or not.
Jason had had to be restrained by both Tim and Alfred when Bruce had started doing...something with a fever gun looking device to Talon's arm with the soulmark.
"Hey, what the fuck are you doing to his arm?"
Jason had shouted, because he took great offence to Bruce doubting the validity of his soulmate. His own soulmark, which throbbed somewhat had also taken offence. It had taken Bruce apologising after the postive test results to somewhat pacify him. Jason still felt his eye twitching when he saw the faint redness on Talon's soulmarked skin from the test.
It was a few hours later, when Bruce called him to the cave. Naturally, Jason came with a Talon in tow.
"Jason, we have a match." Hadn't it been a few hours? Bruce was very competent, it seemed.
"So soon? Damn, alright, lay it on me. I don't wanna call him Talon any longer than I have to." Bruce looked stricken, for some reason. Talon noticed this and immediately tightened his grip.
Jason saw Bruce type something and a newspaper clipping flashed onto the batcomputer. Jason looked at Bruce confused, not comprehending the headline and what it had to do with Talon. He looked at the Batcomputer again, a little harder, read the headline again, and froze. Because it was-
"Talon is Richard Grayson, of the Flying Graysons."
Jason was sure that he now must have had the same stricken expression on his face that Bruce had worn before. Two circus acrobats lying dead on the floor, their son sitting between them. A scene that Jason remembered seeing before, because he remembered them. Jason remembered him.