The stench of death and destruction lingered though the smoke and dark had lifted, sunlight filtering in through the crevices in the stone walls and the broken windows. The entire building was wrecked far worse than its initial state and it seemed as if hell had been leashed within in just one night.

The years of damage and decay it had suffered were nothing compared to the destruction it had seen in last night's wake.

The pit in the center where the table was placed for the meetings of the Court of Owls was full to the brim with the dead bodies of Talons, each meeting their end due to the smoke and the lethal dagger that had been the only weapons able to take them out when combined. 

All the Talons were injected with a serum that made them much more resilient as compared to an average human. It was the first procedure performed after a Talon completed his training. 

Though it may seem an advantage bestowed upon them by the Court, it was also their fatal weakness. The serum altered their body's mechanism in a way that it would be easier to take them all out when exposed to a specific smoke that would have a fatal effect on them but would not kill other humans.

That fact was a secret known only to the Vikander family and it was sort of an emergency measure, lest the need arose for the Court to be eliminated, the Vikanders would have an upper hand in doing so. 

Taking that knowledge to her advantage Lavina had arranged for that smoke to be released. While Richard had fought off the Talons with the Grandmaster's dagger, thus ending the lethal game of chess that had started the day the woman had returned to Gotham.

And after so many decades of corruption and conspiracies, the Court of Owls had finally come to its end. 

The Talons who had survived would not be able to bring it back either as they had no intentions to reawake the most horrifying chapter of their lives. Besides, there were only three Talons who had survived.

Christopher Hendricks, Calvin Rose and Samantha Vanaver.

Samantha was in the state hospital and had not yet gained consciousness as the blow to her head had been rather hard. Calvin was staying with her after he had been assured by Christopher that the Gray Son was safe and would not come to any harm.

Christopher himself had shown up at the headquarters in the end and had piled all those bodies inside the pit. He knew the Court's existence would be exposed to the city after such a massacre and the chaos it would bring would be massive.

But Lavina had foreseen that and planned accordingly.

The next day, the Court of Owls would be exposed to the general public through the press and news would spread of the members killing each other in the riot. A detailed account of all the Court's wrongdoings, the list of the members and enough information to convict them all for their crimes had been sent to the city commissioner under Lavina's name.

She had made sure that Richard's name would not be brought up in any investigation later on. He would just be the Batman looking after his city; a protector that had turned up to diffuse the chaos the Court had wrecked.

Right then Christopher had stayed with the vigilantes who were still in shock at what had happened. He was trying to convince Richard that he had just played his part and that he wasn't the killer of so many people.

They had died due to the smoke that still lingered in the ruins and was taking effect over Christopher as well. 

But after all that had happened, Richard was in an unstable state too.

He couldn't erase the memory of Lavina's hands closed upon his and forcing the dagger through her own heart. He could still hear the desperation in her voice, pleading with him to destroy the Court as they would not get another chance to do so.

Each time he had seen people he cared for die in front of him while he couldn't do anything to save them was flashing in front of his eyes.

Firstly his parents, who had fallen from the trapeze. Then Timothy, who had committed suicide by falling off the roof of Drake Corporate. And then Lavina, who had made him kill herself.

He might say a hundred times that he hated her for ruining his life, but he would have done all in his power to stop her from dying like that. Yet his hands had been around that dagger and the red that stained her dress was staining his hands as well.

"Why did she make me do it?" His hands were clenched into fists and he seemed to be detached from everything else around him, unable to hear the voices reaching out to him. "Why... When she knew I couldn't..."

"Richard, if we stay here any longer, we will get into trouble. We should leave," Helena had gently placed her hand on his shoulder, realizing that he hadn't heard a word of what Christopher had explained to all of them.

But he simply didn't care about any of the explanations. All he cared about was gone and his hands were stained with the blood of a person who he had respected so much in his past that he would never even think that he would be the person to put her to an end.

He hadn't wanted to either but she had left him no choice.

Andrea was shocked too by the outcome of that dreadful night, an act that had been planned from the very beginning by the woman she had thought to be her close friend.

She couldn't believe that the Lavina Vikander she knew would also be capable of such chaos. And then her thoughts went towards Bruce. How would he react when he found out all that had transpired in his absence?

Just one night and so many people had been wiped off the face of the Earth, including the last Vikander heir herself.

"Dickie, come on get up," Jason had taken his arm and placed it over his shoulder, trying to lift him off the ground.

He looked up and Jason flinched to see that those icy blue irises were completely devoid. The cowl no longer covered his features and the haunted look on his face was rather worrisome.

"Leave me here. I'll come back when I have to."

Helena and Jason exchanged a worried glance.

"Mister Grayson, you weren't supposed to be here in the first place," Christopher spoke up, "it's better if you all go."

"No."

Andrea had bent down near Lavina's corpse, the only Talon who wasn't placed in the pit although she had been the first one laid down there. Christopher had said that she had made her will already and wanted to be buried in the owl sanctuary at Vikander Mansion.

Her hand gently brushed away the hair from her face, staring at the lifeless features. Staring at the woman who had been a coalesce of secrets such that her death had been wrapped in secrets as well. But Andrea couldn't stay there any longer, she had already risked a lot by helping Helena and Jason.

Sirens were sounding in the distance, indicating that news had spread of the hell that had raged in the ruins of Old Gotham and that the GCPD would show up soon.

Christopher had warned them to leave but they couldn't as Richard had refused to move. If the GCPD showed up and that was inevitable, they could not be exempt from the investigation that would start as a consequence of the massacre.

Only Andrea had left the place and that too as she couldn't afford to let the identity of the Phantasm be unmasked as well. And she also had to handle all the questions Bruce would have upon finding out about the Court from the press.

When the GCPD arrived, the squad that broke into the ruined city hall included Barbara Gordon, much to Helena's alarm as she was aware of how her friend would react.

Green irises swept over the destruction in horror and then locked with the devoid blue eyes of her boyfriend. Those icy blue eyes that had refrained from meeting her gaze, guilt weighing him down.

He felt as if he had lost a lot in just one night. But most of all, he had lost that trust Barbara had in him.

The questions were written clearly across her eyes as she turned to see Helena and Jason there as well. The three vigilantes were present at the crime scene and seemed to have taken part in the battle that had raged, as was evident from their injuries.

But she had not had an inkling about it beforehand as they had not discussed any such plan with her.

They had been directly involved in whatever had happened there last night but had kept it from Barbara. For her, there could be no other explanation than the fact that they had broken their promise of never keeping a secret from each other regarding their vigilante life.

***