Helena had managed to contact Andrea and together, the Huntress, Robin and the Phantasm had turned up in the ruins of Old Gotham, searching for the Court's headquarters. However, it did not take them long to find out the place as a tumultuous battle was going on in the abandoned city hall.

"That's the Headquarter," Andrea pointed out with her scythe and though her suit and mask hid her features, the color from her face had faded upon sensing the intensity of the battle going on within, "looks like the Court is tearing itself apart. If we go in now, we might not be able to return."

"But Richard is in there," Helena spoke up, "if you don't want to help further, that's fine with us. We'll take it from here."

"No, I'm coming with you," she shook her head, "but we will have to be very careful. Especially you, Robin. Don't stray from us."

"I heard that," he nodded, "we must go help Dickie out."

As they entered the city hall, they were prepared to face opposition and were met with a deadly battle going on between the Talons and Batman. In the chaos, they did not notice a car speeding away as they got in on the fight, trying to find Richard.

The Phantasm effectively stood her ground against the opposition and so did Helena and Jason but the darkness made it hard to see and they wanted to put a stop to the raging madness as soon as possible.

"Watch out," Andrea shielded Jason and pushed him back as a swift shadow crossed through with a lethal blade slicing each thing coming in its way.

"Are you okay?" Jason asked, seeing her clutch her arm tightly.

"Where's the Huntress?" She asked, eyes darting around the place to make out Helena's figure but shortly after a thick smoke engulfed them all.

Coughing and sputtering, the smoke overpowered them and was rather suffocating. It did not clear up and eventually began to drive them to the point of unconsciousness.

However, they did not pass out but felt rather exhausted from its aftereffects. After what seemed like a terribly long time, the heavy smoke began to lift and disperse, making it a bit easier to see.

"The light..." Helena had found them in the dark and Jason searched for the torch in his utility belt, lighting it up.

And as the light shone through the dark, the sight that met their eyes was horrifying.

The entire hall was wrecked inside out and Talons were lying around lifeless. The stillness of the surroundings made it seem as if those three were the only ones alive.

Limbs aching and the smoke's effect still lingering, they shakily stood up, searching for Richard. But when they found him at last, the horror of the night deepened, shock engraved onto their features.

A huge pit was dug out in the center of the hall where the table should have been. The chairs around it were toppled and broken but in the pit, Richard was crouched down, his cape spreading out behind him.

"Richard!" Helena would have immediately approached him but halted, eyes widening in alarm.

In the pit, Richard had laid down the body of a woman who upon closer look turned out to be none other than Lavina Vikander. Her hand was held in his, blood staining her white dress. There was a deep wound in her chest and she had bled out, the whiteness of her skin showing that there was no chance for her to be saved.

"Oh no," Jason almost swore under his breath as he came up to the pit, standing beside Helena.

"Lavina..." Andrea did not hesitate to go down the pit, shocked to see her friend so lifeless, "this can't be..."

Richard ignored their presence. He seemed to be caught in a shocking web as he had seen the game of chess unfold before his very eyes. Every single thing Lavina had said to him, everything she had directly or indirectly made him do was rushing back to him.

And even though he had thought it to be absurd initially, right then his hands shook as he realized the intensity of every single word, every single deed.

Especially the last deed she had made him do; to forcefully kill her and then take out the entire Court.

Andrea caught sight of the Talon dagger that had fallen from Richard's hands and her scythe rested against his throat, eyes blazing furiously, "you killed her..."

Helena had to come in between at that abrupt reaction, "Andrea, what the hell are you doing? Why would he..."

"I did," he mumbled, his voice seeming unfamiliar to his own self even, "she made me..."

"What?" Helena had spun around to face him in shock, "you killed her?"

"And every single Talon in here... I killed them."

The three of them were shocked at that confession and did not know what to say. Richard had not yet let go of that lifeless hand and picked up the dagger from the other, looking at it as if it was something ominous.

And indeed, it was more than just ominous. It was the Grandmaster's Talon dagger, the only dagger designed to be so lethal that it would severely hurt Talons and cut through their armor as well. 

It was Lavina's dagger, one that had been handed down in her family ever since the Court had been formed.

Yet she had given him the dagger and made him plunge it in her own chest, taking her life immediately. There was no armor to protect her and even if there was, that dagger would have cut through it.

But with no other obstruction in the way, Lavina had suffered the intensity of the blow to its full extent and had made her heart bleed painfully. In that way, the counts of her breath had finally come to a halt and all that was left of her was a lifeless corpse.

A corpse that Richard had laid down in that pit.

"I killed them all... I destroyed the Court of Owls..." He seemed to be in a shocked state as well, clutching that hand tightly as if his life depended on it, "just like she wanted me to."

"We're going to jail," Jason mumbled, the paranoia digging deep into him. He had never thought Richard would take a life yet right then he had killed so many that all they could see in that wretched place were corpses. "We'll definitely get jailed for this."

"He did not kill them," a voice broke the silence and they turned to see a figure at the gate, haloed by the eerie night light.

They could not make out his features as he was far but the voice rang a bell to Richard and he straightened, letting go of Lavina's hand at last.

Slowly, the man came forward, throwing away his Talon mask. He had no weapon on him and his coughing got worse as if there was something in the place that had triggered it.

"They brought this upon themselves," the man remarked, ignoring the fact that staying there was making him weak as well. "The smoke and that dagger... Of course, they had to die; there was no other way."

"What do you mean?" Andrea asked, lowering her scythe but still being cautious.

"I'll explain everything in time," he spoke up, wiping off the sliver of blood from his mouth, "but first we have to clean up this mess."

***