Multiverse: Deathstroke

Chapter 35: Ch.34 Court of Owls

Leading the way were two people, while three who were utterly defenseless followed behind. Barbara held her laptop, Vicky clutched a microphone, and Pete, pale as a ghost, carried the camera at the rear.

His steps were unsteady, and his expression vacant, making him look like a zombie in the rainy night.

Su Ming had a bad feeling, as if this foretold that once they opened the underground research facility, a horde of flesh-eating monsters would come pouring out.

He drew his dual blades and slashed twice at the chain-link fence, sparks briefly flaring in the rain before disappearing. He carved an X-shaped mark and then bent the wire to create an opening large enough for a wheelchair to pass through, carefully lifting Barbara through.

Barbara gave him a nervous smile, then turned her attention back to the pitch-black surroundings.

The junked cars were just empty shells, stripped of engines, spark plugs, batteries, and anything of value, discarded like corpses piled up to form small mountains.

In the darkness, the shadows of these black hills loomed over them from every direction, making it seem like they were surrounded by the same view from any angle.

Neither Barbara, Vicky, nor Pete had ever been to such a desolate place in the middle of the night.

Every Gothamite knew what lurked in the dark. Some would actively seek it out, while others avoided it like the plague.

Su Ming sensed someone watching them. He looked up and saw, not far away, a homeless woman peering out from the empty driver's seat of a wrecked car, observing them through a non-existent window.

He would've dismissed it, except for the strange noise the woman started making.

"Coo... Coo..."

Bang!

Su Ming raised his gun and fired immediately, startling Barbara and the others. This sudden, seemingly random act of violence—was this the true nature of a mercenary on a mission?

But the shot they thought would hit for sure was dodged in an unbelievable way. The strange woman bent her neck sharply downwards as if she were boneless, her head sinking into her body, and the bullet grazed past her head.

When she reappeared from the wreckage, her appearance had changed from a homeless person to a masked figure with large round goggles.

With a swift move, she leaped atop the car. She was clad in a black leather uniform with gold embroidery and anachronistic lace trim, looking like something a noble hunter from the Middle Ages would wear.

The round goggles on her head resembled owl eyes, peering down at Su Ming and the others from a high vantage point.

"Protect them," Su Ming said, leaving those words behind as he drew his dual blades and jumped onto a nearby car, facing off against this bizarre opponent.

"I always thought their existence was just a legend," Cindy said as she drew her weapon, positioning herself in front of the group. "It seems, as Su said, Gotham is hiding too many secrets."

Vicky, of course, wouldn't miss this opportunity. She immediately had Pete use a raincoat to shield her from the rain, took out her notepad, and, under the camera's light, prepared to record.

"So, Miss Cindy, it seems you know the masked person opposite us. Can you explain who she is?"

Cindy glanced at her. She knew the people Su Ming had brought along couldn't be ordinary in a parallel universe, but here, Vicky was just a regular person. Her excessive curiosity would certainly get her killed.

"You only need to know that they're assassins from a very ancient organization in Gotham. If you learn too much, you really will end up dead."

"It's okay. As a journalist, I've long been prepared for that. Please, tell me. Tell the citizens the truth!"

Unexpectedly, the threat of death seemed to have triggered something in Vicky, and she immediately blushed with excitement, pressing Cindy for more information, her eyes wide with anticipation.

Cindy shook her head, not sure if she agreed or not, then began reciting a nursery rhyme well-known in Gotham, rumored to be chanted by every child playing in the streets decades ago.

"Beware the Court of Owls, That watches all the time, Ruling Gotham from a shadowed perch, Behind granite and lime. They watch you at your hearth, They watch you in your bed. Speak not a whispered word of them, Or they'll send the Talon for your head."

Vicky was stunned for a moment, but her journalist instincts made her jot down the words. If she had the chance, she planned to research Gotham's history and perhaps uncover something.

Su Ming was the first to react. As a transmigrator, in Gotham—the city of the Bat—hearing the "coo-coo" of an owl during a storm immediately made him realize something was off.

This woman disguised as a homeless person was an assassin of the Court of Owls, a Talon.

Up until Su Ming's transmigration, the DC comics had never fully explained the details of this mysterious organization. All he knew was that it was a coalition of Gotham's oldest families, using various means to influence the city.

No one knew their identities, as all members wore white owl masks and had a unique ring as a token.

The Talons were assassins they trained to eliminate dissenters in the city.

Before the gangs took power, after the Four Families, Gotham had experienced a brief period of rule by the Court of Owls. But due to internal power struggles, they suffered heavy losses.

Falcone and other crime lords seized the opportunity, forcing the Owls back into the shadows.

Maybe the Bat or Falcone knew information at this level, but Su Ming, coming from another world, knew even more.

Their origin was actually much older, dating back to the Stone Age of humanity. The Bird Tribe, the Wolf Tribe, the Bear Tribe, and the Bat Tribe—they were considered the origins of European civilization in the DC universe.

Batman was a descendant of the Bat Tribe, while the Court of Owls came from the Bird Tribe.

Most importantly, all members of the Court of Owls were brainwashed and controlled by their own high priest, known as the Strix. They were all dark minions who had sworn in their dreams to serve the Dark God Barbatos unconditionally.

In a sense, Barbatos was the Bat God of the Dark Multiverse, the Dark Dragon, the One True God. So, in a way, they hadn't placed their faith in the wrong entity.

Unfortunately, this god was solely interested in bringing the Light Universe into play and didn't care much for his followers, treating them as disposable tools.

But this wasn't an excuse for Su Ming to relax. The presence of a Talon here meant that the Court would soon know, and Barbatos would soon know!

At that point, the danger level would escalate at a crazy pace.

He had to keep this Talon here as long as possible to delay the Court of Owls from learning what was happening.