Later in the day, at lunchtime, Damian had decided to go to the cafeteria. The first thing he spotted upon entering was Tim's wide, enthusiastic smile he threw at the young assassin. Before heading over, he scanned the rest of the room and discovered the Griffin sitting on the ground at the back of the room, her back against the wall as she read. Smiling slightly to himself, he passed Tim's table and headed in her direction. Completely confused by Damian's expression, he turned in his seat to regard the young assassin. He spotted him walking over to a girl seated against the wall, and he grew even more confused. How had Damian managed to speak to a girl? Damian sat down next to Eleanor who, in return, closed her book and put it away.

"Today I realized in Professor Milo's class that if you get him angry enough, his will start to spout at you in Germany. It was quite educational," she told him with a nod.

"Do you even listen in class?" he retorted.

"Nah. Yeah. Sometimes. Depends on my mood. I generally get good grades, but it's more because of self-study than anything else. You've probably already realized, but some of these teachers seriously can't teach," he nodded in agreement.

"Mister Trent," she groaned at the mention of their drama teacher.

"That man practically forces each person to be the next Macbeth. He gives the worst mark allocation I have ever seen," she said with a groan. He only nodded his head, not being in school that long to have discovered that information on his own.

"So do you have any other friends?" he questioned, having himself wonder about that.

"No, not really. As you can probably tell, I enjoy my books more than I like my people," he chuckled at this.

"I, myself, have been working through my father's books. Mostly the classics," he nodded. She smiled at this.

"The classics are the best. So much better than what they're publishing these days. I'll have to raid your library someday," she said with a nod.

"After you finish your Egyptian Gods, you can," she smiled warmly at this.

"Thank you," he only nodded. All throughout, Tim had wide eyes as he stared at his little, socially awkward brother; who had somehow managed to get a girl on his side within the first three days of school. Must be the Wayne charms, he mentally assured himself.

It was odd to think that the two had sat together at lunch only a few hours ago, laughing about the strange effect that had followed after a girl had tripped in shock of the bell. The strange dogpile that formulated looked more like a pretzel of humans than anything else. But now, the boy was out on patrol alongside his father, hoping to catch some evil doers. Whilst doing so, the girl was formulating evil plans with her parents; plotting against the very boy and his family.

She felt bad. She had such interesting conversations with the boy only a few hours ago that she could see the two becoming incredible friends in the near future. But now, it was expected of her to help kill him in the near future. She became very reluctant and realized exactly how thankful she was for the mask that hid her facial expressions. She could scowl all she wanted beneath the owl mask and did so often. Sure, she realized that interesting things would come to pass when they began to work with Slade Wilson, but now... Wilson wasn't exactly the most trustworthy person in the world. The entire Court was composed of the rich and famous, those who speak with money more than words; and thus it was easy the first time, and it would be again. None of them could fight. Wilson could easily come one day and kill them all within the hour. Also, Wilson is most certainly smarter than Talon and wouldn't leave a single survivor.

Also, the talons weren't ready yet.

The immortal army was nearing completion. This time, they would last even longer outside the womb and they could ease their vulnerability to the cold a little bit. The Court was growing smarter. To some sense, Eleanor took relief in this. That means that they would take longer in their planning. But they were growing desperate. They needed another Talon. They needed a fighter.

"Calm down, Owls, for contact has been made. A meeting has been set. In two days' time, on Friday night; my wife, I and our daughter will personally recruit Deathstroke into our ranks!" her father said, throwing his arms up high as if to reclaim the authority in the room. Everyone hushed into whispers of satisfactory, whilst Eleanor, herself, had become frozen to the bone. They are expecting her to be in the personal audience of Slade Wilson, Deathstroke?

Positive statements filled the air before the night grew old. As a tradition, they would recite their poem at the end of each night. It was done as if to remind them that they were the ones in control, that they were the ones who should be feared, and not be afraid.

Beware the Court of Owls

That watches all the time

Ruling Gotham from a shadow 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.

Batman and Robin had successfully intercepted a drug dealing underway and quickly handled the matter. They sprung back into the Batmobile and headed back to the Batcave. On the way, Bruce decided to address a manner.

"Timothy told me you met a girl," he simply said, but Damian groaned intently at this.

"Drake should learn to mind his own business," he responded with a scowl.

"What's her name?" he replied with intent to tease his son. He hesitated.

"Eleanor," he replied grumbly.

"Eleanor, huh? What's she like?" he pressed further.

"She reads a lot of books, especially about Egyptian Gods," Damian simply responded. "And she's a delinquent, but a smart one. I'm surprised she hasn't been expelled yet," Batman was taken back by this.

"What do you mean?"

"She hates the dress code, especially since there are no trousers for women. Because of this, she wears the strangest of socks and she also wears a hoodie under her shirt, since the academy's jackets have no hoods. She even made her hair completely silver. She also gets the teachers rather angry by reading in their class time, but they generally don't do anything to her since she gets good marks. I also learned that her parents think she is a disappointment because of how different she is. She's severely misjudged," he said with a firm nod. Bruce pondered over this for a moment.

"Her parents?"

"The Griffins. They're high in nobility, apparently," he answered. Bruce nodded.

"That they are. The Griffins have been a Wayne Tech rival since the beginning, but we went our separate ways into different specialties so we never really competed again. But I have met the Griffins, and they are, indeed, intense," Damian nodded in affirmation. The conversation dulled and only later did a new topic spike, back when they had returned to the manor.

"Next Saturday we will be housing a showcasing for a recently discovered ancient staff. I think your friend would find it interesting," he stated with a smile, the two heading up towards dinner.

"Why would she find an old stick interesting?" Damian retorted, his face slightly scrunched up.

"Because the title of the artifact is 'Staff of Anubis'," he said with a smirk. Damian frowned at this.

"Anubis?" he questioned.

"An Egyptian God, I believe. He had the head of a jackal," Damian nodded at this.

"I will invite her," he said with a small smile, one Bruce caught easily on his son's face. He smiled himself.

"Come on. Let's get dinner,"

Discovering about the artifact the next morning, Eleanor couldn't help but forget about everything she had been told the previous night and smile brightly.

"The Staff of Anubis? The Staff of Anubis?! It was the only artifact missing from Anubis's tomb when they discovered it! Even his headdress was there! Where'd your dad find it?" Damian was taken back by her excitement and smiled slightly.

"I'm not sure, I will ask for you,"

"Please! I mean, from what I've seen in the hieroglyphs I managed to obtain, the Staff of Anubis is one of the most powerful artifact the Egyptian gods had ever formed! See, Anubis was the god of embalming and the afterlife and one of the gods who rarely used the Ankh. See, the Ankh is the symbol of eternal life, but not on earth. When they held the Ankh to a worthy candidate, that person will be granted the 'Breath of Life'. This breath you would need to survive in the afterlife, thus having an eternal life of positivity. Because Anubis was the ruler of the afterlife, he had a larger Ankh than any other and thus it was built into his staff.

He rarely ever used the thing, but along with the Ankh, the Djed and the Was; the staff carried many other gemstones and peace offerings from other gods. See, even the gods were afraid of Anubis because he could even send the gods to the afterlife. It is truly remarkable that your father could find it after so long," Damian had no idea how to correctly respond, so instead, he chuckled nervously.

"You really know your stuff," he responded, and a pondering look took over her face.

"Oh no... did I just ramble? I'm so sorry," he shook his head with a smile.

"It is quite alright," she began to shortly explain what the Djed and Was were, but whilst she did so two girls passed up the stairs. By habit, he intercepted their conversation.

"Did you hear about last night? Batman and Boy Wonder got that Johnny guy from the public school arrested. Apparently, he was deep into the drug business," the one told the other in a hushed tone.

"Johnny, seriously? He seemed so nice, but I guess it's always the quiet ones,"

"I know right," the two passed them quickly.

"Boy Wonder?" Damian questioned, a frown on his brow.

"It's what they call Robin," she shrugged her shoulders dismissively, but internally, she was quite apprehensive of any mentioning to their double lives whilst in their connected one. Damian felt the same.

"Are you serious? That sounds retarded," he said with a nasty scowl.

"Really? I think it's quite cute," a light blush covered his cheeks but he quickly hid it with a cough.

"So, it begins at four but-," the day continued peacefully, more laughter adorning Damian's voice than he most possibly had done so in his life. It surprised him how different one's life could become with a friend by the side.

"Mother, Father," Eleanor managed to catch the two white robes before they headed down for yet another ritual of the sorts. They turned to regard her with frowns beneath their masks.

"Yes, what is it child?" her father demanded.

"I have been invited to the showcasing of the never-before-seen Staff of Anubis. Might I attend?" her parents turned to one another, somehow having a silent conversation without actually witnessing one's eyes. They turned back.

"Do what you want child," her father said quickly before they rushed downstairs, clearly in a hurry. Details would be asked later, no doubt. But at the time, a yes had been given and she rushed to her room with excitement. She got her headphones and loudly played music into her ears, drowning the incantation from reaching her ears. Whilst listening, she quickly finished up her homework before turning to the last few chapters of her book.

And with that, the deities would survive through the gifts left for humanity.

As the Staff of Anubis, most likely. The excitement was brewing in her like a raging storm. As the song died down and a pause came before the next song began, she grew suspicious. Ripping her headphones off, she quickly realized what was happening outside. A raging storm sound rang, a deafening thunder filling her ears as an almost instantaneous flash of white surrounded the house.

Rushing over to the window, she pulled at her blinds to see how intense the downpour was. But what confused her, was the fact that it was a lot worse above her manor than further away. It was above them. It was being called.

It was being summoned.

"Mother-!" she called out as she headed to the rush out, but was stopped by a sudden immense pain in her back. A scream ripped from her lips as she crashed down to the ground, the lick of power vanishing from her room and back into the sky. She bit down on her lips, her fingers clawing at her carpet. She momentarily wondered why no one had heard her cry, but the universe quickly answered her by deafening her once again.

The pain was like the worst tyranny, licking at her back like a growing vine. She pounded her head into the ground until, eventually, the pain subsided to a bearable level. She spun herself so that her back faced her human sized mirror, and slowly lifted at her hoodie. She hissed in pain, the chilling terror on her spin burning in anguish. She turned her head to look in the mirror and gasped in shock to see what had been resulted on her back.

The majority of her back now had a terrifying black colour to it, as if her skin had been dipped in the darkest, permanent paint known to man. It blurred out to the side, and she momentarily even wondered if it even was skin anymore. She reached her hand back to feel at the skin, and it resulted to be leathery and ice cold to the touch. The darkness on her back seemed to be more centralized than anything else and covered almost her entire spine. It didn't spread enough to reach her sides, her neck or her waist; but it was still quite terrifying.

This is not what happens when lightning attacks you, she thought to herself in desperation. She debated whether or not her skin had been boiled to the point that it turned black, but then there would be no way that it would be as cold as it was. This was something else. Something much worse.

A knock came at her door, causing her head to snap towards it with terror.

"Lady Griffin, are you okay? I heard a scream," one of the servants.

"I'm okay. I was just startled," she answered, and soon the servant left. Sighing in relief, she sat on the ground for a few minutes before rising to her feet. She examined the darkened patch for a few minutes, and having made no hypotheses as of yet; she started to debate on telling her parents.

But then they'd know that they summoning worked of... whatever that thing was. No, this was something she has to figure out on her. Besides, the black seemed to be her own skin, not another creature's. Carefully, she pulled down her hoodie and was turned surprised when she realized that there was no pain anymore. She was very thankful for this.