Birds of a Feather (Oswald Cobblepot)

Night of the Owls

    Oswald's voice booms from the mask as he stands on a podium built into the middle of the pews, "We've been expecting you. Although, we had our doubts you would follow through."

"Why doubt us?" Batwoman questions, smirking.

Five Talons jump out from the audience of Court members, landing in front of us, weapons drawn.

Batwoman leaps into action first, tackling the nearest Talon. Renee whips out her gun, but a Talon comes out and kicks it out of her hand, and another one comes out and slashes the gun in half. Two of the Talons overpower her, and grab her by both arms.

"A little help here!" she calls out.

The Trickstress, who's fighting another Talon, quickly jabs him several times in the shoulders with her knives, before bounding over to Renee. She whips around and stabs one of them right in the stomach, before kicking him back. She hands Renee one of her daggers, and they stand back-to-back, fighting off the Talons.

Three more Talons appear from out of the folds of the audience. They join the battle with their own variety of weapons, attacking Batwoman, Renee, and the Trickstress. With so many Talons, the three women are overpowered, the Talons punching, beating, and slashing them. With three Talons for every one woman, they grab ahold of the vigilantes and pull up to the middle of the room, where all of the Court members can see them.

Renee and the Trickstress are hauled off to the side as Batwoman is put front and center. Her mask, gloves, and shirt front chipped and torn in several places, does not waver her determined snarl.

"Barbara, we had such high hopes for you. Even after we discovered your identity as a masked vigilante, we still offered you a place in our Court," Don Falcone summarizes, stepping up onto a small podium with Oswald, folding his hands together.

She looks up at him, the harsh lights casting dark shadows over her face, "Ha, why?"

"Because we're family, dear," a female voice coos.

A woman wearing a slimming floor-length gown steps up next to Don Falcone, pearls and diamond accessories adorning her. Batwoman's eyes widen, but she keeps her composure otherwise.

With the podium becoming somewhat crowded, Oswald steps down, before disappearing into the crowd.

"Mother," she grumbles.

"Come now Barbara, is that how you address your own mother?" she replies, her soft voice almost hypnotizing.

She starts walking down the stairs to the center, "As your Uncle Carmine said, we had such high hopes for you. You were going to be one of us. One of the family."

Batwoman scoffs, "Me? I could never be a member of the Court, you knew that-"

"You had to earn your place, just like me and your father before you. So why Barbara? Why betray your family now?"

"...my family?" Batwoman whispers, "I-I never meant to betray you personally mom...this is about the Court, not about-"

"The Court is family!" she shouts, stamping down her foot.

She takes the last few steps to the bottom, until she's standing in front of Batwoman, "But...I guess, you could never really understand that, could you Barbara?"

From the slit in her evening gown, Barbara's mother takes out a handgun, and points it at her daughter, "Your father and I...we're so disappointed in you...Barbara..."

Batwoman squeezes her eyes shut as her mother pulls the trigger.

"No!"

Renee, who'd wrestled her way out of the Talon's grasp at the last second, falls to the ground, a bullet in her shoulder.

The Trickstress uses this diversion to knock aside the Talon holding her hostage with her back, before punching him in the jaw. She runs toward Renee and Barbara amidst the chaos. The men and women of the Court remain seated and silent as the Talons scurry to secure their prisoners. As Batwoman holds Renee, the Trickstress hurries to meet them.

She points upward, "There! There's an open cave tunnel!"

Batwoman and Renee look up at the opening the Trickstress's referring to, and they both nod. With Batwoman carrying Renee in her arms, Batwoman and the Trickstress take out their grappling guns, fire them, and fly up just as the Talons move in to attack.

They look down at the crowd below them, and Batwoman can't help but chuckle, "Ha!"

The Talons move to the walls, before attaching their clawed gloves to the wall and scaling up.

Batwoman, the Trickstress, and Renee start running down the tunnel, not daring to look back to see if the Talons have caught up.

The tunnel's darker than the others, more organic, less smooth. Their footprints pound and echo against the tunnel's hollow walls. Just when it seems like the cave will go on forever, there's a light blue light at the end of tunnel. The three woman pick up the pace to reach the light. They've found a way out!

But just as they reach the opening, they all stop. The blue light they'd seen comes from a countless number of cryogenic chambers, all illuminating in blue liquid. Some of the chambers are empty, but some encase Talons, their arms folded in their chests, seemingly asleep. The chambers themselves appear to be built into the ground, tubes running through the ground and into the chamber.

"What...is this place?" the Trickstress asks, glancing around.

"Well, this explains how the Court can have so many Talons at once," Batwoman figures.

Renee chuckles, "Dear God."

As they speedily march through the rows and rows of cryochambers, the Trickstress stops to glide her hand over one of the glass cases, "How long do you think they've been stored in here?"

"Years, possibly," Batwoman shakes her head, "even while I was a member, the Court never mentioned this to me."

Just then, one of the Talons appears at the end of the tunnel, and sneaks over to the nearby controls. He pushes a large button on the control, and a loud alarm sounds off, followed by a spiraling red light. A thick mist blasts from out of the cryochambers, cutting off visibility. Batwoman hides herself and Renee behind her cape, and the Trickstress backs up closer to them. They slowly make their way through the blinding fog, shuffling as fast as they can without hitting anything. The Trickstress swallows when she passes by an open and empty cryochamber.

The most begins to clear, and the trio stop dead in their tracks. They're surrounded on all sides by Talons, all of the chamber's unlocked and open. Some Talons have even climbed up onto the walls and ceilings, their clawed hands securing them to the stone walls.

The Talons all attack at once, some lunging forward from the ceiling directly above. Batwoman shrouds Renee and the Tricksress in her cape, and the three brace themselves.

A bright flash, followed by several wild screeches ensue. Batwoman blinks open one eye to find that the Talons all shrieking and shielding their eyes from the bright light coming from the previous entrance.

"What the hell is going on?!" Renee shouts from under the cape.

"Who cares!" Batwoman replies, "Now's our chance!"

Shielding themselves with Batwoman's cape, the three women escape through the other side. The blinding light soon short-circuits, before shutting off. Most of the Talons continue heading off to find Batwoman and crew, but a few go over to investigate the mysterious light. It's one of the lights that lit up the Court's stage, only the brightness has been turned to its maximum level, causing it to short-circuit in such a short time.

After searching the area, the Talons give up and disappear to join the others. Hidden in a small crack in one of the cave walls, Oswald shimmies his slim body out from in between, his mask still on. He straightens out his suit, before limping back toward the Court.