The Talon's physical capabilities far exceeded those of ordinary humans, but Marcus knew well this wasn't their inherent strength.
The Court of Owls' Talons were all resurrected individuals controlled by the Court. Their bodies contained electrum gold and a small amount of the Dionysus Factor.
Even now, the Talon's wounds were continuously healing—the effect of the electrum and Dionysus Factor working in tandem.
Marcus wasn't particularly interested in the electrum. He had no need to embed such material in his teeth to revive himself. What he truly wanted was the Dionysus Factor that empowered the Talons.
The Dionysus Factor was a green liquid metal that granted extremely powerful self-healing abilities and enhanced physical attributes.
Although called a metal, Marcus sensed that the Dionysus Factor contained special energy—energy from which he might be able to extract for Aya Stars.
Now, battling the Talon, his suspicions were growing stronger.
Ding-ling-ling...
The alarm suddenly sounded throughout Blackgate Prison. The noise of their fight wasn't exactly subtle and had attracted the attention of the guards. Chaotic footsteps echoed down the corridor, heading their way.
"Seems we need to leave!"
With these words, Marcus delivered a powerful punch to the Talon. His fist, radiating void energy, connected with the assassin's neck. A faint crack sounded as the Talon collapsed.
Marcus quickly retrieved all his kunai, grabbed the Talon, and entered void mode, completely vanishing before the prison guards arrived.
When the guards reached the scene, all they found was destruction and an open cell door.
Seeing the unlocked cell, the guards' faces paled dramatically. A prison break would devastate Blackgate's reputation.
Drawing their batons, several guards entered the cell, but what they discovered terrified them.
The prisoner they thought had escaped had actually been killed. Blood covered the cell floor in a crimson pool.
"Quick! Inform the warden—our prisoner has been killed!!!"
The guards' voices echoed through the facility. Inmates pressed against the bars of their cells, trying to glimpse the gruesome scene.
For a brief time, strange shouts, cheers, whistles, and various sounds filled the prison. None of the criminals showed fear; they seemed to relish the chaos.
Dong! Dong!
Black rubber batons struck cell doors as guards tried to silence the rowdy inmates.
Marcus used the confusion to his advantage, slipping out of Blackgate with the Talon's body.
Shortly after his departure, the Blackgate warden picked up the phone to inform the Gotham Police Department about the murder. The victim, he reported, was the robber who had killed the Wayne couple.
Gordon, who had just returned to the station, felt deeply conflicted upon hearing the news.
He wondered if this was Bruce's revenge. After all, the boy harbored intense hatred for the criminal. Now Bruce would be the primary suspect.
"Harvey, you heard it too. Do you think the Wayne heir is behind this?"
"You want to get involved again?" Detective Harvey looked at Gordon with shocked disbelief. "That's the heir to Wayne Enterprises. Nobody would dare accuse him of anything. Even if he walked into Blackgate and killed that prisoner himself, no one would say a word."
Harvey thought his partner had lost his mind, eager to involve himself in every case. Falcone had threatened to kill "The Penguin" before, but even that hadn't deterred Gordon.
This was Gotham—the domain of gangsters, not justice.
"But all the evidence points to that child. You know what will happen to Gotham if this gets out..."
The heir to Wayne Enterprises, Gotham's largest financial power, hiring an assassin to kill someone in Blackgate Prison to avenge his parents?
Such news would send shockwaves through Gotham. The city might descend into even greater chaos.
But Harvey dismissed Gordon's concerns. He understood Gotham better than his partner. Bruce wouldn't face consequences for hiring someone to kill the murderer—he wouldn't face consequences even if he slaughtered every criminal in the prison.
This was Gotham, where only money and power mattered. Everything else was worthless.
Nevertheless, he eventually yielded to Gordon's persistent gaze. Reluctantly donning his hat, he left the police station with Gordon and headed toward Wayne Manor.
"One day, I'm going to end up dead in Gotham's sewers because of you!"
...
Atop Wayne Tower, Marcus was attempting to extract the Aya Stars from the Talon.
The assassin's body was enveloped in void energy. As Marcus continued the extraction process, the Talon's form began to gradually distort.
Yet no matter how hard Marcus tried, he couldn't extract even a trace of Aya Stars, which greatly disappointed him.
According to his theory, the Dionysus Factor should contain special energy—how else could it produce such extraordinary effects? However, even as the void energy drained the Talon into a mummified husk, no Aya Stars manifested.
"Is the amount of Dionysus Factor too minimal?"
The Talon's body primarily consisted of electrum, embedded in their teeth and gradually penetrating the blood and cells over years. The Dionysus Factor was present only in small quantities, specifically mixed with the electrum to revitalize the Talons.
With his failure to extract Aya Stars, Marcus saw two possibilities: either the amount of Dionysus Factor was insufficient for extraction, or the substance truly contained no energy—just pure liquid metal.
Between these options, Marcus preferred to believe the former. The quantity of Dionysus Factor needed to revive a Talon was indeed minimal.
"It seems I won't find the Dionysus Factor so easily."
Though he knew a reservoir of the substance existed somewhere beneath Gotham, he had no idea of its exact location.
Looking down at the twisted Talon, Marcus intensified the energy in his hand. The assassin gradually disintegrated into ash within the void energy, leaving behind only a single tooth bearing an engraved mark.
"But why would the Court of Owls do this? To frame Bruce?"
The Court's decision to send a Talon puzzled him. Though he knew the Court and the Wayne family were adversaries, direct assassination would be more effective than framing Bruce.
Framing the boy would cause trouble, certainly, but hardly seemed worth deploying a Talon.
Recalling the beheaded robber, Marcus frowned thoughtfully.
"Perhaps Bruce's parents weren't killed in a simple robbery gone wrong."
A common criminal wouldn't merit the Court of Owls dispatching a Talon to silence him. Perhaps the Wayne couple's deaths were connected to those secretive "birds" after all.
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Marvel x Star Wars: Avengers in the Clone Wars
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