For as long as she had known, there had been only one reason for her existence; to destroy the Court of Owls.

Destroying the people who had snatched everything dear to her; who had mercilessly killed her parents and every other person who had tried to help her out. And they would have killed her too if they had known she existed.

Lavina felt that the only reason she had survived so far was to take vengeance on all those ruthless monsters. But in doing so, it wasn't long before she realized that she had to become a monster herself; someone much stronger and more vicious than the Court so that she could vanquish it.

Even if she did not want to go down that route initially, she was left with no other option.

All by herself and with no other support, she couldn't do anything to harm the Court. But if she played her cards right and gathered weapons that could help her, then the impossible could be achieved.

Richard Grayson had been one of those weapons and though he had been the most valuable one so far, it wasn't like he was the only weapon she had against the Court. The other three had been Calvin Rose, Christopher Hendricks and Jeremy Hendricks.

Just like pieces on a chessboard, she had used those weapons so that in the end, the Court would get defeated. With each lethal move, she had set out a trap that would damage the Court of Owls beyond recovery.

But just like some chess pieces have to be forfeited in order to win the game, she had had to make sacrifices as well. And so far her lethal game of chess had resulted in the death of Jeremy Hendricks, Timothy Drake and Richard's loyalty to her.

And the last of them was what had cost her heavily. 

Richard was a powerful ally and a formidable foe but after the suicide of Timothy Drake, he had turned completely against her. She had still tried to use him against the Court but without the undying respect and support from him, it was proving rather difficult to maneuver him otherwise.

Unlike her, Richard felt that his reason for survival was becoming a savior Gotham could count on. And he took that very seriously as he became Batman and endured a lot to keep his city safe.

As Batman, the Court automatically became his enemy and despite being against Lavina, he was still following a similar pattern that would bring destruction to the Talons. The game was very near to its end and she knew that even though a lot had been put at stake by then, the ending would be worth it.

That game of chess could only come to a close when the Court of Owls was checkmated and vanquished. She would not rest until then.

However, there was only one way for the Court to be destroyed. 

If each and every one of its Talons was killed and there was no one left to make it rise again, only then could it be vanquished completely.

But over the years, the Court had dug its claws far and wide so it was impossible to get rid of every single one of them. There were some Talons locked up in Arkham, some buried in their graves but a remarkable number were still out and about in Gotham, living under the guise of the city's high elites.

For all the Talons to be killed, they all had to be summoned in one place. And the only two people who could do that were the Grandmaster and the Head of the Court. 

Lavina herself was the Grandmaster and all she had to do was summon each and every Talon who was alive and free to the Court's headquarters then use her weapons to eliminate them.

Including herself.

There were some things that could not be avoided. Some people were never meant to be saved.

She sighed wearily, knowing it would all come to an end very soon as she stood in the headquarters by herself.

But there were still some Talons that she did not want to get eliminated; namely Christopher, Calvin and Samantha.

She had already ordered Christopher to take Luke away from the mansion just in case things went downhill. But there was nothing she could do to stop Samantha and Calvin from being targeted in the crossfire.

Time was running out and what had been put into action couldn't be stopped. The chess pieces on her chessboard were already moving and shortly after it would all come to an end.

Whether the black king would be checkmated or not was yet to be seen.

***

"Do you have any idea where he has gone?" Helena asked Jason, evidently stressed at having to deal with Richard acting on impulse again.

"No. He just left. Maybe he went to the Vikander Mansion... He was so angry, it was terrifying."

Whenever Richard let his anger govern his actions, it ended up terribly for them all and Helena was tired of having to fix up the messes he created. But he was her best friend and the two had supported each other in their worst times, she couldn't possibly leave him to deal with it on his own.

"He's angry and stupid at the same time," she sighed wearily, "but don't you worry. I'll do something."

"Can I come along?"

"No," she replied flatly but he didn't budge so she had to give in, "okay fine, come along. But suit up and don't you dare do anything other than what I order you to. Keep in mind that I am not Richard and I will not tolerate you disobeying."

"Understood, give me a few minutes and then we can leave."

"Just hurry!"

It was the onset of night and the vigilantes had to be out on patrol either way. She had a fair idea that Richard must have suited up as well and was chasing whatever threat had surfaced for him as Batman.

So with herself as the Huntress and Jason as Robin, they embarked on Batman's pursuit. The Vikander Mansion was desolate when they reached, a flock of owls attacking them and forcing them to retreat.

Not finding any clue there, they seemed to be at a loss of where could Richard possibly be.

"Damn it, if he's not here then I have no idea where he could be," she huffed, barely escaping the owls as the two of them took refuge away from the Mansion, "and these darned owls are frustrating."

"Yeah, seems like they have intentionally been set up around the Mansion," Jay mumbled.

"That woman is none other than the Court herself. Of course, she would have owls..." She hissed, mind racing to find out another way, "there has to be someplace the Court gathers and I have a feeling Richard knew about it. He was taken by the Court once before, wasn't he?"

Jay's features paled, recalling how terribly injured he had been when he had returned from his captivity. "Do you know where is that place?"

"No. But maybe she knows."

"She?" Jason halted in surprise, not knowing who Helena was referring to.

On the other hand, Helena was thinking that perhaps the time had come for her to ask for Andrea's help. She was aware that the Phantasm had almost been part of the Court of Owls years ago.

If there was anyone who could point them in the right direction right then, it was Andrea Beaumont.

***