Capítulo 30: The Bat and the Talon
Letting Robin take the lead, Esau followed close behind and watched as the young boy leapt into the air, his leg swinging around in a kick that sent one Talon to the ground. Yet, as soon as he landed, he kept moving even as another Talon came upon him from behind, but this was where Esau came in, shoulder charging the Talon away. Then he spun around, slamming the back of his knuckles into the face of a second, its mask cracking thanks to the metal plates lining his gloves.
Stepping back, Esau quickly found himself under assault from all angles.
As quick and as best as he could, he attempted to parry the clawed strikes aside and that's when an opening presented itself. The Talons were skilled, more so than even himself, but just like Batman had said, whatever means were used to bring them back to life, stripped them of some of their physical ability, making them rigid and stiff in their movements. It created openings when there would have otherwise been known and thanks to the training Talon had given him, Esau was more than capable of taking advantage of this.
Catching one clawed hand in his left, Esau pulled the undead forward and slammed his knee into its gut just like Talon had done to him earlier. It didn't do much considering they were undead, but it still stalled its attack long enough for Esau's follow-up. He gripped hold of the arm with his free hand, Esau tensing and then spun around.
Again, whatever means were used to bring the Talons back to life from the dead, hadn't stopped them from deteriorating. Their bodies were growing thinner as a result of no nourishment and nature taking its natural course. As a result, they were much lighter despite still packing a punch thanks to superior technique and so, Esau easily managed to pick the Talon off the ground, spinning it around as a makeshift club that knocked five other Talons back.
Then, timing it just right, Esau let it go while simultaneously calling out to his unlikely partner. "Robin, duck!" He shouted and without even hesitating, the young vigilante did so, looking up to see the two undead he had been fighting being sent to the ground as a third collided with it.
"Nice one!" Robin exclaimed with a laugh even though he quickly found himself under assault from another five undead, a situation Esau found himself under as well.
Despite that small moment of victory, the undead didn't tire.
They just got up no matter how hard the heroes hit them and kept coming back for me and it all boiled down to a battle of attrition. What was most worrying of all was that at the end of the day, while Esau and Robin may have good stamina, it wasn't infinite. They were bound to tire and when they did, they would be swarmed and killed with no way to defend themselves against it.
Batgirl and Batman were fairing no differently.
With Talon singling out Batman as the biggest threat, the oldest hero found himself under assault from not only the living Talon but five of his undead predecessors as well. Batgirl ran interference herself, but she was limited in what she could do when under assault from five of them as well.
Even so, it didn't stop her from trying her best.
Kicking one undead in the face, Batgirl spun round, sticking low to the ground as she swiped the legs out from another. As soon as she had, she placed her hands on the ground and pushed off avoiding a strike from a third Talon. Yet while in the air, Barbara pulled out a few Batarangs and made a mental apology to Alfred before launching them to the point where her five Talons were currently converged.
Her aim was true as the four Batarangs embedded themselves in the bodies of the Talon exploded, withholding the urge to gag at the smell that assaulted her senses. Even then, Batgirl didn't stop, she had already seen the Talons repair themselves from similar explosions already, it was just the sight of it that put her off temporarily.
Batgirl didn't waste time though as she landed on the ground and quickly rushed forwards to aid Batman and jumped, wrapping both hands around the neck of one Talon as leverage while lashing out with a split kick, sending two others to the ground. Not letting go, Batgirl spun around and used her weight and momentum to bring the Talon she was holding to the ground. With this reprise, Batman flipped the fourth Talon into the fifth before blocking and parrying a few strikes from the living one.
Quickly, the two disengaged and put some distance between each other, Batgirl landing beside Batman in a crouch.
"We're at a disadvantage here." She pointed out and Batman nodded his head. "The Cave?"
"The Cave." He said and with it, the two moved forwards, Batman using brute force to break the guard of a few undead and punch a hole straight through the line. At the same time, Batgirl using the face of one undead as a springboard, jumped into the air, gripping hold of the balcony of the second-floor walkway.
Swinging herself up, Batgirl made a rush to the Batcave, knowing Batman was following behind, the undead no doubt hot on their trail. 'Just hope Esau and Dick saw us getting out of there. Dick should know where we're going, hopefully.'
-X-
"Where the fuck are they going?!" Esau questioned as he punched one undead before throwing it into a second.
At the same time, Robin moved around slamming the butt end of his staff into one Talon before detaching his weapon into two escrima sticks. "The Cave." Robin answered, splitting his staff in two in a seamless motion before using his escrima sticks to hit any Talon that came within range, protecting Esau's back and trusting Esau to do the same for him.
Blocking one strike, Esau swung his hand up creating a deep cut in one Talon before kicking it away. "Are we just going to stay here or what?" Ducking under another strike, he elbowed it in the face before swiping at another sending it to the ground.
"Hang on," Robin said, gripping Esau, he fired his grappling hook and it wrapped around the bannister of the second-floor balcony.
Quickly the two were pulled into the air as the Talons converged on their location, Esau having to kick one in the face as it jumped up to follow them. Jumping up, the two landed on the second-floor balcony to see the Talons rushing towards them, with the living one watching them. Without any hesitation, the two rushed down own the corridor, Esau cursing the fact that he hadn't brought his gun as he had a perfect shot.
He doubted it would have worked, but it wouldn't hurt to try.
Either way, the two rushed down the corridors with the undead hot on their trail.
Knowing where the secret entrance to the Batcave was and being more agile, Robin took the lead while Esau dragged behind a little. The adrenaline pumping through his body had allowed him to forget the cut on his leg, but it didn't stop him from being debilitated and as a result, Esau wasn't running as fast as he normally could.
"Just here!" Robin exclaimed finding the entrance open and rushed inside, Esau doing the same.
The undead that had been just metered behind him unable to change direction in time and went straight past, colliding with those in front as they attempted to turn back only for them to tumble to the ground in a large heap. Robin used this as an opportunity to close the entrance, both knowing that it wouldn't hold forever but would at least slow them down.
Panting, the two stood there to recover their breath while hearing the undead pounding on the other side. "How long do you think it's going to hold?" Esau questioned only for them to see the wall denting slightly in places.
"Not long," Robin replied, quickly turning and rushing down, Esau himself watching more and more dents forming.
"Right." With a nod, Esau followed him down the metal staircase that led to an elevator docked at the bottom. However, instead of waiting, Esau jumped and used his claws to dig into the wall, slowing his fast descent to the ground, Robin used his grappling hook to scale down quickly, but safely.
"So, what's the plan?" Batman turned to see Esau and Robin coming towards him as two large metal doors opened behind him.
"The undead is our main problem," Batman said gaining nods from both. "I'll distract Talon; your job is to lead the undead into there." That's when they heard a number of big thuds and metal groaning and looked to see Batgirl sitting in a large mech suit. "From there Batgirl will use the suit to keep the door closed."
"What is that?" Esau questioned in awe, it was easily the size of a house and while it didn't look well-protected with a large number of wires and pipes exposed, it certainly looked intimidating.
"That's the suit used to build the Batcave," Robin informed.
Esau then turned to Batman. "You think you'll be able to beat the Talon?"
"If not, I can certainly hold him off." Batman shrugged and that's when they heard the sound of the door upstairs breaking, the echo of it breaking clearly heard followed by the sound of rushing feet. "Get ready!"
Moving to the right, Esau and Robin prepared themselves with Batgirl waiting by the door, hidden within the suit that looked deactivated from where it stood stationary. Batman himself moves to the right in order to separate himself from Robin and Esau, ensuring that there was a clear divide between the two groups.
That's when they saw the undead arrive and while they stopped at the ledge looking down, they waited as they did upstairs. Then, as if receiving some unheard command, jump down and used their claws to slow their descent as Esau had done earlier. Landing they rushed forwards moving as if they were going to go for all three of them, only to suddenly change direction and head straight for Robin and Esau.
All except for one, the living Talon continued heading straight for Batman and quickly forced the caped crusader on the defensive with a sudden and brutal onslaught of strikes that would have overwhelmed a less skilled and experienced fighter.
Esau and Robin on the other hand quickly found themselves conceding ground under the sheer number of undead and their attacks. The pair of them made sure to knock some back and gain some breathing room only to find themselves under assault from another angle. It forced the two unlikely allies to once again rely on the other to protect their backs as they performed a fighting retreat directly into the room as they had planned.
Batgirl herself waited patiently for just the right moment to let Robin and Esau get deep enough inside the storage room. While she did so, her eyes shifted to Batman and Talon, but it was just like she had expected it to be, it was relatively equal.
Both Batman and Talon were fighters of equal skill with Batman being of stockier build denoting greater strength but Talon was slimmer meaning greater speed. Their fighting styles also reflected this with Batman primarily on the offensive, forcing his opponent to avoid or parry Batman's strikes instead of blocking them. Occasionally, Talon would use this as an opportunity to slash at Batman using his claws to his advantage, thin lines of red clear to see from her position from where they had cut into his skin.
It wasn't deep however, the protective suit Batman wore made it difficult for the claws to cut too deeply, which she imagined suited Talon's fighting style perfectly. His style revolved around finding the opportunity to land a single killing blow that would end the fight once and for all, which sometimes meant dragging the fight on.
This was precisely what he was doing right now.
Talon rarely went on the offensive, instead allowing Batman to remain on the offensive and waited, but Batman struck with masterful skill, never giving the opening that Talon was searching for. He was an incredibly skilled fighter, Talon using his claws to cut at Batman and while they were small, eventually enough of them would form that it would become debilitating.
It was a battle of attrition which seemed to suit Talon perfectly.
It did not suit Batman.
He could do it of course, but usually, his fights against superpowered individuals were about ending the fight as soon as possible. Using the environment around him, his repertoire of technology, masterful fighting skills and superior tactics to put his opponents in a position that allowed him to beat them quickly and effectively before any harm could befall others.
That's what it boiled down to in the end.
Batman was a fighter who had built his style to fight numerous enemies at once or superpowered individuals and most importantly, to never kill.
Talon was trained to be an assassin and an assassin never tried to get drawn into a fight with more than one person at a time.
This fight was in the Talon's favour and while Batman was on the offensive, he had yet to land a substantial blow.
Nor had Talon, but he didn't need to do so in order to win.
Gritting her teeth, Batgirl fought the urge to aid Batman and instead focused entirely on her current task because she knew that if anyone could overcome the odds, it was Batman.
This was a common occurrence for him, he had done this plenty of times before and now would be no different.
PENSAMENTOS DOS CRIADORES 
Carrots123
Carrots123 So, another chapter is done and with it, the group retreat into the Batcave with a plan in place to remove one of the biggest problems they face, the Undead Talons. All the while Batman and Talon battle against one another, now this is where some people might have some complaints about it. But this comes down to one thing, the difference in their styles. Talon relies on his claws to chip away at a person's defence while playing mind games with his words. He's slowly chipping away at Batman's defence who has already been fighting against the Undead Talons also. All the while Batman is used to fighting superpowered foes or numerous foes at once, whereas Talon is suited towards one-on-one engagements. This doesn't mean Talon would always win, it just means in this situation he has a unique advantage. Anyway, hope you all enjoyed and if you have any questions or suggestions, please let me know.
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