But Talon Dick was different. Owlman controlled him through emotional manipulation. He poured affection into Dick, and Dick regarded Owlman as both father and mentor.
However, Batman discovered that these were all lies. Dick was a talent carefully chosen by Owlman, who killed Dick's parents and then appeared before Dick as a savior to adopt him.
He raised him as a father, taught him, and turned him into the warrior he is today. Owlman claimed their cause was righteous, and Talon believed this implicitly.
Talon even did better than Owlman expected. He reshaped Owlman's Court of Owls and trained more Talons, monitoring every move in the entire city on Owlman's behalf.
"I didn't know when this city gained another bat?" Talon sneered.
His hands wore specialized gloves, from which ten sharp alloy Talons extended from his fingertips. Then he crouched slightly.
"But no matter who you are, this city absolutely forbids any metahuman entry!"
"I am not a metahuman." Batman's deep voice made Talon feel a slight familiarity, a... sense of Owlman.
"How. Dare. You," Talon said furiously, then lunged directly at Batman.
Batman raised his arm to block, and Talon's alloy claws scraped against his gauntlet, sending out a shower of sparks.
However, Talon's other hand immediately reached behind him, pulling out a strangely modified gun, and fired at Batman's chest.
"Bang"—!
The powerful recoil from the bullet made Batman take a step back, but it was only one step.
Talon did not stop his assault. He attacked close-range with his claws with one hand, and fired the gun with the other, seemingly suppressing Batman for a time.
But Talon knew his own situation. His offense looked fierce, but it never achieved any critical results; it was just a lot of show.
In contrast, his opponent, with the smallest movements and cost, completely fended off his attacks. If this continued, he would surely lose due to loss of stamina.
But Talon was overthinking; he didn't even need to wait until then.
Batman, seeing Talon seemingly distracted, instinctively said, "Concentrate!"
Immediately, a series of combination punches suddenly erupted from his hands. Talon completely failed to react to the sudden change in his opponent's rhythm and lost the initiative.
Batman disarmed Talon of his modified gun with a joint lock. He had never seen this type of gun before, yet he disassembled the gun into a pile of parts in a matter of seconds.
"Without this, can you not fight?"
"No—!" Talon roared. His opponent's tone infuriated him, so he decided to defeat this guy with his own skills.
After successfully provoking his opponent's anger, Batman instead fought very conservatively, only defending and not attacking under Talon's frantic assault.
Then, when Talon showed signs of fatigue, he suddenly sped up the rhythm again, forcing him to increase his attack speed once more.
After several rounds, Batman remained calm and composed, but Talon was exhausted from being led around and could only gasp for breath opposite him.
Batman retracted his stance, his voice devoid of emotion: "What, is this your full power?"
Talon finally realized that this "Big Bat" in front of him was not an opponent he could handle alone; he had to call for more help!
So he ran into the tower without hesitation, but Batman suddenly threw a Batarang. It flew in an arc, faster than Talon, and directly embedded itself in the control panel, then transformed into a pile of nanites that melted into the machine casing.
His eye-piece UI told him that the system within his battlesuit had completely taken over the local system.
Batman's battlesuit AI was a program he had written himself, and only he could crack it.
Therefore, when Talon tried to operate the control panel but found that the system was unresponsive, he knew that the person behind him must have locked the system.
He turned around and asked grimly, "Who exactly are you? What do you want to do?"
He could tell that the other party didn't seem to want to kill him; there was no killing intent in his fists, and his battlesuit had no lethal weapons, which puzzled him greatly.
"I'm here to correct you, Dick Grayson."
Talon's head shot up. That name, only a very few people in all of Gotham would know.
Batman continued, "You've been wrong all along. You thought Owlman represented justice in this city, but that's not the case.
He's just another gang, another power, another darkness looming over Gotham, and you are his accomplice."
Talon growled, "How dare you say that! You don't know anything!"
As he spoke, Talon, drawing strength from who knows where, charged forward again, his power seemingly even greater than before.
Batman knew how he did it; he had injected himself with adrenaline, gaining a short burst of power.
But this was far from a threat to Batman's battlesuit, so he continued to fight Talon while talking to him.
"Dick, listen to me."
Hearing that name, Talon was momentarily dazed.
"Dick, have you never been curious about how your parents really died?"
Talon's movements stopped for five seconds...
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