Work Text:
—V—
Talon stared at the couple in the window a few stories down where it was perched. Due to black body suit stitched with golden threads and the golden goggles on its head (it used to wear the full mask, but its Owlet always shrieked in terror when he saw it after waking up. The mask got stuffy anyways.) it blended into Gotham’s shadows effortlessly. The muscles in its thighs and arms strained as it crouched perfectly still on the roof, but it would not move. It had a mission to complete.
…okay, it wasn’t like the missions The Court would give it (it took forever to clean the suit after them), it hadn’t had one of those since The Bat broke in and Talon escaped. This was a self-imposed mission. The Court would be in the process of freezing it if they knew, which meant that its Owlet would be giving a thumbs up and a “Yeah, Fuck the Owls”. But Owlet couldn’t know it was doing this, not until it was completed, anyway.
Talon had noticed over the past few weeks that people and places were changing their behavior and looks. People were buying more chocolates and roses and cards with hearts than usual (very unrealistic hearts, mind you). Stores and other buildings had little baby-men in tunics with wings and arrows sat out front as cardboard cutouts, heart window clings stuck to doors and windows, and an abundance of red, white, and pink on their walls. Although it was more noticeable in the richer parts of Gotham, Crime Alley still showed this…odd behavior, albeit to a much lesser degree. It was more so, as its Owlet would have put it, “a change in the vibes”.
After a few minutes of charades on Talon’s part, its Owlet finally explained to it what was going on. “Everyone’s getting ready for ‘nother stupid holiday,” Jason, as he begged Talon to call him the few times it accompanied him during the day, explained. “Valentine’s Day. Basically just an excuse for the rich to spend more money than usual and to blast as many corny love songs in public places as possible. All in the name of ‘showing their love for their spouse’ when very likely they’re cheating on each other behind backs. Just plain fucking stupid.”
Talon knew that Jason and it were definitely not ‘spouses’ (whatever that word meant), but having a special day to show your appreciation to someone? Talon really liked that idea.
Which brings it to right now: watching a man and a woman be very close to each other in their penthouse from the roof of the building next to it.
The man, very tall with short black hair in an expensive tailored suit, had arrived at the woman’s penthouse about an hour ago. They had talked in her living space for approximately ten minutes before the man gave her a fancy pink bag and proceeded to spend the next thirty-five minutes opening the bag and talking extensively about each item. The main reason Talon actually stayed put there was because three of the gifted items in that bag were some cardboard hearts that had chocolates in them. There were so many other things in the bag, they shouldn’t notice if the smallest of the three vanished mysteriously.
It’s now been fifteen minutes, and they’ve been violating each other’s personal bubbles.
Talon wanted so badly to go somewhere else just so it wouldn’t have to watch the woman be pressed against the counter by the man and see them touch each other. They looked like their faces were trying to clip through each other.
Thankfully, they kept taking glances toward the woman’s bedroom area, which implied they were thinking about moving there. Talon hoped they would soon, it just needed to get into the living room, grab the heart, and get out.
The man picked up the woman and Talon immediately sprang forward to the other building so it could start on the window lock. It really didn’t want to stay there any longer than it had to.
“Come on, Ms. Kyle,” Talon could hear the man tell the woman through the glass, “I believe you told me a while ago that my present was in your bedroom?” The woman laughed while tracing the man’s collar bone with her finger, “My, my, I guess I did. But it seems I’ve lost function in my legs. Could you be a dear and take me there, Mr. Wayne?”
“Well, I suppose I can. My schedule is miraculously clear tonight, so I guess I can have the time to assist you,” the man teased before the woman grabbed his face and tried to clip each other’s faces again as the man made his way to the bedroom. Talon couldn’t tell whose hand it was the opened the door, it was just glad the coast was finally clear.
The long claws on its gloves made quick work of the lock, and carefully pushed the window up enough to slip inside. There were odd sounds coming from the bedroom now, but at least it would cover up any sounds Talon made. Not that it would make any sounds, it had been trained out of that a long time ago, but if the heart was still in the bag it could make a rustling noise that could be alerted.
It slinked its way from the kitchen to the living space, its boots silent. The frilly pink bag sat unassuming on the glass table in front of the ginormous couch. Talon peeked into it, hoping that the heart boxes were in grabbing distance.
They were not. It had to pull out a holographic black ball gown, a stuffed cat holding a read heart saying “You’re Purrfect”, two matching sets of women’s underwear in lacy black and garnet respectively, a card with The Bat pointing up to the word bubble saying “Get the signal? Be my Valentine!”, and two plane tickets to…somewhere, before it finally got to the heart boxes.
It checked the ingredients list of the smallest box to ensure that it didn’t contain anything Jason couldn’t have. Satisfied, it swiftly but silently made its way to escape as the sounds coming from the woman’s bedroom were getting louder and making Talon more uncomfortable. Just as it was about to swing a leg over the ledge, it was stopped by security.
Security as in at least ten cats.
The supposed leader, a black shorthair with a pearl necklace as a collar, stared as Talon froze at the window. Talons and pets never got along, but cats were the second worst one to deal with. You could never know how they would react to an intruder, much less one that doesn’t breathe or have a beating heart. This one gazed at it with its huge, shining eyes, sizing it up. Its paw raised up, a few centimeters away from the cabinet as it taunted Talon. It quickly chittered at the cat, trying to persuade it to not scratch at it, but it did nothing as the black cat started loudly pawing at the slightly opened cabinet, the door hit the edge repeatedly with a bang-bang-bang.
The sounds from the bedroom were immediately halted, a groan came from the woman with a “hang on a sec, one of my spoiled kittens is hungry” as some floor boards creaked and the door opened, revealing her unbuttoned top and disheveled hair. Her now heel-less feet padded against the floor as she faced the black cat and its entourage in the kitchen.
“Isis, what the heck, you already ate din-din,” she deadpanned before turning to look into the living room, “And WHAT DID YOU ALL DO IN HERE?!?” She looked out to see all the contents of the bag now unceremoniously on the floor. “Slinky, was this you?!? I know you like pretty things, but you can’t ransack my gifts!” She glared at the grey cat in the pink bow.
Talon, who had hidden itself underneath the window sill outside, didn’t want to bare witness to anything else any longer, and jumped away to the next building, the last thing it saw being the man rushing out of the bedroom with no shirt and lipstick stains covering his exposed skin.
Talon was now going to try and erase everything it saw and heard in that penthouse like it had with the faces of the people it had killed.
—v—
Talon climbed its way up the building where its Nest is. It was at the very tippy top of the clock tower, meaning that the only people who could get to it would be Talon itself and The Bat, but Talon could take care of The Bat if it ever came there. Probably.
The heart box was nestled in a pocket on its chest. If it were a normal, alive person, it would be scared of the chocolate melting, but Talon didn’t produce enough body heat for chocolate to even get soft and February in Gotham was still pretty cold.
Talon never knew what it would do if it didn’t have the Court. It was made to follow their orders, do whatever they said, be their weapons. There was no protocol or rules for the situation of the Court no longer existing.
So it was rather terrifying when The Bat of rumor exploded in one fall-turning-into-winter day. It was ruthless and scary, scarier than anything Talon had been used to. Talon wasn’t even sure The Bat was human, all Talon knew was that it was lucky to have managed to lose The Bat at all. It would hunt for Talon during the night for weeks after that day. Talon didn’t know what to do, there was nothing to exist for.
Until it stumbled into Jason Todd shivering in an alleyway while being taunted by older guys. Sure, he might have been absolutely terrified of Talon for the first few nights, but now they were inseparable. Talon might have had a hard time communicating with human words (it wasn’t used to talking unless it was “Yes/No, Headmaster, Yes/No Head Talon, [F/N, L/N], The Court of Owls Has Sentenced You To Die”), but Jason had picked up what it normally meant.
And oh its Owlet is so smart. Talon lets him down from the tower during the day to get green stuff, food, water, and other things, and sometimes he would barrow a book from Gotham Library to read the stories on the pages. He knew when the best restaurants threw away their scraps, which stores might have jobs for a ten year old to take on, and which dumpsters were a lost cause.
Jason gave it so many reasons to continue instead of curling up in the snow from the winter and stop functioning, gave it new rules and morals to follow, and made Talon oh so very happy. Talon hadn’t been allowed to feel happy before!
That’s why Talon went through all this effort for a box of chocolates. Its Owlet might think the holiday is stupid, but he deserves something nice for all he had done for Talon these last few months. If Valentine’s Day is about showing those around you that you care about them, Talon was definitely going to get behind it.
After using its claws to crowbar the latch open, it slipped inside and shut it behind it. Talon looked at its Owlet all curled up in the Nest, blankets and bits of cardboard boxes mashed together for insulation, with only his messy black hair showing. It quietly padded its way over, ungloved its hand, and brought it to the Nest to feel. Someone had decided to throw away a dozen or so perfectly find microwaveable hand warmers and there was an apartment right next to the tower with a working microwave that Talon could sneak into, so they had put them in the Nest for warmth. It would have to make a trip to that apartment soon, they were too cold.
It moved its hand to Jason’s head, ruffling his head before giving a trill to try and wake him up. Talons typically communicated with bird calls, potentially because it made victims not nervous. But by now its Owlet knew most of the meanings in Talon’s sounds.
Drowsily and reluctantly, his head moved and sleepy eyes greeted Talon. “Gn, Tal? What time is it?” He blinked, looking around the room slowly, “It’s ass-oh-clock in the morning, what’s wrong?”
Talon cooed as it fluffed up his messy hair again, it would need to find someplace where he could get it washed soon. “Okay, so there isn’t an intruder, you’re just messing up my sleep schedule because you feel like being a prick, bird brain?” Talon just shook its head before stealing his hand from the warmth and placing it on its chest. “Oh, there’s something in your pocket you want me to look at? This better not be like that time you brought me a mouse and expected me to eat it.”
His fingers hesitantly dug into the breast pocket, unsure of what he would find before touching the edge of the cardboard, “What the…” he didn’t finish his thought as he pulled the small red heart box out and looked at it dumbly. He traced the edge gently with his pointer, examining it, before turning it over to look at the back and flavor list.
His eyes snapped up to look at Talon, “If you stole this from some small business, I am dragging you out in the sun tomorrow and making you put it back on the shelf where you found it.”
Talon teasingly chittered, entering the Nest to press its cheek to his head. “Rich,” it managed to say, “won’t miss box. All Owlets.”
Curled against Talon, he looked back down at the box and sighed, taking the plastic wrap off and popping off the top. There were only nine pieces of chocolate, but with both the cold and Jason’s lack of substance it should last awhile. He would probably only manage to eat a half of one of the rich chocolates without upchucking.
He picked one of them out and took a small bite, his head falling back against Talon as a “mmmmm” sound hummed in his throat. Talon hugged its Owlet from behind, cuddling and providing comfort. “God damn,” he murmured after swallowing a few times, “The woman who was originally gonna eat this better hope her man isn’t covering up an affair. Anyway, don’t think I can eat any more of these right now.” The rest of the chocolate was placed back in the box.
Talon curled up around Jason, able to protect him even if it couldn’t provide more body warmth, scratching at his scalp. Its Owlet sighed happily and snuggled up against it, ready to go back to sleep and leave the horrors of Gotham for a few more hours until he would be woken up to scavenge again. It pressed its face against Jason’s oily, dirty hair, and gave it a peck.
“Happy Valentine’s Day, My Owlet,” it whispered. Jason’s eyes opened up again in response, “Happy Valentine’s Day I guess…Bird Brain.”
—V—