Pursued

Summary: She had escaped from their clutches, but never their sight. She was supposed to be dead, but she wasn't; now they set their sights on her son, and she must protect him, except that she's locked away in a Jump City Mental institution. Her name is Mary Lloyd Grayson, Wife, talented acrobat, Talon, Assassin for The Court of Owls, and Robin's mother.

The Dead Woman

"Tell me your name," the orderly gazed at the woman in the straitjacket. They said she was dangerous, that her delusions were strong enough that she'd try to escape the Jump City Sunny Hills Asylum. It was no Arkham, but it had its share of loonies.

"Hello patient 4815162342, what's your name?" The orderly inquired.

"Mary Lloyd Grayson," the woman replied.

"You are not Mary Grayson, she's dead," he looked at her.

"I was dead, but they forced me to come back," the woman returned his gaze.

"You read news stories about Dick Grayson, you were drawn to him. He became your obsession."

"It's not true! You're the one who's crazy!" she snapped.

"If you weren't crazy, you'd be let out of here," the orderly looked at her. "There's no reasoning with you."

"The birds, the birds have made their nests in my home! They came and stole my corpse, I crossed the River Lethe from where the shades walk and Ithey dragged me, unwilling back into a cold dark place. They broke me, broke me and remade me into their heartless puppet!"

A bird in a cage, that's what she was. How ironic. The bird motif surrounded the Grayson family.

"You're raving, Ma'am, there are no birds in this building."

"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."

"It's merely part of your delusions, you've created a story in which you and Dick Grayson are connected, you claim you're his mother so you can have a connection to the outside world. You keep blocking out some horrible trauma that you experienced. If you would tell me the truth, I could get you the proper help you need."

"I'm not crazy, my mind's just broken, and you in your fancy coats and clipboards know nothing at all."

"There's no reasoning with you now, I'll be going."

She watched him leave, no one would believe her, no one stretched their minds to accommodate the possibility that what she said was true, but it was.

"Their Talons are extending, they're not just content with Gotham anymore, they want my son's legacy, and they're not letting me get away."

The orderly left the mystery woman to her mindless ramblings. Still, it was mysterious. She was white like a corpse and was stronger than an average human, which is why they kept her chained up and in a straitjacket.

He went about his duties and returned to her cell, listening to her ramblings with amusement.

"Their dark cold labyrinth of death, always hunting, maiming, killing. They left me to go mad in that hellish place. The birds! Owls devouring Robin, they'll tear us both to pieces, I'll never escape them. Never get away. They're always watching, watching from their shadowed perches."

She looked up as a figure broke into her cell. Her eyes widened in horror.

"Mary Grayson…The Court of Owls…has sentenced you to die!"

"The bird has come to shred me, sent a Talon for my head!"

"I guess it's time to give her a sedative so she'll be quiet." He entered the room.

"Hey you! What are you doing here?" the orderly demanded. The dark costumed figure ignored him completely.

"You're not allowed in here—!" the orderly protested, only to be silenced by a blade embedding itself in his throat. The body hit the floor with a thud.

"Good, no interruptions," he moved to stab the woman, he thought her helpless, restrained by chains and a straitjacket.

The Talon stabbed at her, he would silence this "insane" traitor, she knew too much and if she got away she would reveal his masters' plans to others, even if the outside world did not believe her.

She moved, he was surprised, even though he knew he shouldn't be. She was like him, enhanced with Electrum, he realized his mistake, she had used the momentum of his throwing knives to cut the chains and the straitjacket, she was loose!

Mary fought him, using every technique she knew. Having been brainwashed and trained by them, she knew how they fought, but she knew her skills weren't nearly enough.

A few quick jabs and punches. Mary scored a lucky hit to the mandibular nerve. A few lucky blows to the stomach and face. She whirled around and kicked him back. He threw half a dozen throwing knives in her direction, due to the confined space; one of them grazed her side.

Mary somersaulted backward; she jumped out the window, using an awning to break her all. She began running; there was nowhere to go but out and away.

She could hear the alarms going off. Everyone would be looking for her, she had to disappear, vanish into the vast masses of Jump City and hope that the owls with their prying eyes wouldn't find her.

Robin sat at the monitor, keeping an eye on his city, suddenly, the video was interrupted.

"Sorry Titans, we've had a patient of Sunny Hills Asylum escape tonight."

"Sir, do you have info on him? A picture and a description?"

"I'll send it to you right away, wait—all our data on her has been erased!"

"Have you seen her?" Robin inquired.

"She's four feet eleven inches tall, blonde hair, green eyes. She's very delusional She claimed to be Dick Grayson's mother."

"That's a wild claim. Mary Grayson died at Haly's Circus."

"Yeah, I was there that night," the man told him. "That was unforgettable."

"I'll have the Titans look out for her," Robin told him. The man thanked him and ended the communication. They were all exhausted from patrol. They didn't have enough energy to search for her.

The next day Robin called his friends to the common room.

"Titans there's a woman who escaped from Sunny Hills Asylum, she's four foot eleven, blond hair, green eyes."

"That could be anyone," Cyborg noted.

"Yeah, there are boatloads of girls with the description," Beast Boy chimed in. "I thought Sunny Hills was safe you know, not like Arkham where it's made of a rotating door."

"Apparently, someone died last night in a fire in one of the cells," Raven pointed out, showing him the newspaper.

"We shall do our best to search for her," Starfire added.

"We'll try our best, on top of everything else going on," Robin looked at them. "if you see anything suspicious or find her, call me."

Raven had been walking back from her favorite bookstore when she saw a woman huddled in an alleyway.

"Do you need something?" Raven asked.

"My mind…my mind is broken. They broke me. I don't understand. What they did to me. I'm not right in the head. The birds! Those birds are always chasing me. They made their nests in my home. They're going to take my son! They'll break him; hurt him like they broke me."

"Easy now, easy, I can help you." Raven knelt beside the woman. "I'll ease your mind."

Raven placed her hand on the woman's forehead. She felt cold, like a corpse. She must be sick.

"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos." Raven chanted, she could feel her powers coursing through the woman's body, she could see brief flashes of memory, but something was keeping her from seeing everything, complete sections of this woman's life were blank; as if she wanted to block out terrible things.

"Easy," Raven soothed, "You're better now."

"I…I can think coherently, what did you do to me?"

I only helped your mind, eased the trauma." Raven had to wonder who this woman was, she matched the description of the escapee from Sunny Hills Asylum.

"Please, my name is Raven. I'm a Teen Titan and I can help you, you escaped from Sunny Hills, they can help you there," Raven began.

"No Raven, they can't help me, you've done enough," Mary told her. Raven's vision was suddenly blocked by smoke. When she looked at the woman she had vanished.

"Where did she go?" Raven asked, she took to the sky and called for the others. She had no idea if helping this woman was a good thing or not.

Elsewhere…

Slade Wilson sat in his hideout, mulling over unfinished plans. He had many ideas, but how to put them in motion and get results; that was a problem, especially with Robin constantly after him.

He looked up hearing a noise. It wasn't loud, but someone was trying to sneak up on him, the Titans didn't bother with stealth.

"Who are you?" he demanded. They were crazy, or had some sort of death wish, trying to come after him on his own turf. Who was it? A would be hero looking to impress the Titans by taking him on? No, nobody could be that stupid. Maybe it was a new client looking to pay him for a job. He would be civil at least, never pass up the opportunity for money.

"I need your help Slade," the woman's voice spoke. He noticed it sounded deep, hollow; like it wasn't human.

"I don't do helping other people, I charge for my services," Slade smirked.

"I don't have money, but I have something you want."

"A smoking hot body?" Slade asked sarcastically.

"Information," she replied.

"If this is about the Titans, I have plenty of information, if you think you can trade on that, you're not getting anything."

"Not the Titans, the Court of Owls."

"The Court of Owls is a Gotham nursery rhyme, a children's story."

"No they're coming for you, all of you. They want to expand into this city. They want to have plenty of nests."

"This coming from a Sunny Hills escapee," Slade laughed.

Suddenly a dozen knives were embedded in his chest; the figure moved and attacked him. Slade beat her off with his fists, throwing in hard, vicious kicks to take the advantage. She snap kicked him in the knees, and he took the blows and elbowed her in the gut.

"You're skilled I'll give you that, but your techniques are old, outdated."

He slammed her onto the ground. "Now miss what could you give me in exchange for my help?"

"Keeping the Titans busy, would that help you wouldn't it?" she gasped.

"It would be helpful, your info on this Court of Owls could benefit me, I can't have competition, the Titans are troublesome enough as it is."

"I want you to train me, train me to kill the Court of Owls," Mary looked at him. She'd heard stories in the asylum about Robin's rivalry with Slade. She knew it wasn't right, going to her son's arch nemesis, but she was crazy, and she wasn't fit to see her son again in her condition, at least that's how she saw it in her own mind. And crazy people can understand crazy people.

"We've made a deal regarding you keeping the Titans out of my way, what does this have to do with the Court of Owls?"

"I will kill the members of the Court here in Jump City, the Titans will chase me instead of you."

"What would you pay me to train you?" Slade asked. It was clear this woman didn't have a cent to her name.

She handed him a ring. It was a simple gold band, not worth much at all, and then he saw the engraving and was surprised.

"You have a deal Grayson; you should consider yourself lucky I didn't kill you."

"Why's that Slade?" Mary asked.

"Had Robin found out I murdered his undead mother, he'd be hell to deal with."

"But why do you believe me?" Mary asked, stepping into the light. Slade gazed at her pale body, covered in tattered clothes that looked like a uniform of some sort. She suddenly ripped the tattered rags off, revealing a black uniform with belts and pouches, she put on a mask and he found himself staring at the face of an owl.

"Because no one would go through such an elaborate scheme to pose as a dead woman. And I'm not doing this to help you, I'm doing this to help me."

"Fair enough."

"Where did you get all those wonderful toys?"

"Stole it off the assassin who tried to kill me."

"Clever girl."

"Well Grayson, welcome to hell," Slade would start her training, this was going to be an interesting situation for Robin, but Slade would only be involved this much.

"Don't worry Slade; I've already been through Hell!"