The meeting opened in silence.
One by one masked faces appeared across the encrypted conference interface as secure connections established throughout Gotham and beyond. Some members sat inside lavish offices lined with dark wood and expensive artwork. Others remained in dimly lit rooms where only the pale white owl masks were visible against shadowed backgrounds.
Normally Court meetings carried an air of superiority.
Tonight that feeling was gone.
Fear had settled into the organization whether anyone wanted to admit it or not, and even through the screens it was obvious. Members spoke less. Movements were tighter. Nobody interrupted one another the way they normally did during power struggles and petty disputes.
Kane sat at the center of the virtual conference from inside his office, fingers folded neatly before him while he waited for the final connections to stabilize. He looked exhausted beneath the mask of calm professionalism he maintained. The past several weeks had worn on everyone inside the Court, but Kane especially looked strained.
Once the final member joined, he began immediately.
"We have suffered substantial losses."
The room stayed quiet. Kane activated several files beside him and continued speaking in a measured tone that somehow made the details worse.
"Gregory Vale was found inside one of his own shipping warehouses three nights ago. He had been suspended from a meat hook while still alive. According to the coroner, his fingers were removed individually prior to death."
Several members shifted uncomfortably.
"Elliot Crane's convoy was intercepted in Burnley. His driver was decapitated at the scene. Crane himself survived approximately eleven minutes after his jaw was removed."
Someone muttered a curse beneath their breath.
"Martin Holloway was dismembered and distributed across three separate alleyways in Bristol. Pieces of him were discovered over the course of two days."
Kane allowed the silence to linger after that one. The point he was making settled naturally over the meeting.
The gangs were not killing cleanly. They were sending messages.
"Darius Webb was found nailed to the side of an abandoned apartment building by the Penitente Cartel. Raul Escabedo reportedly ordered it personally in retaliation for the death of one of his nephews during the recent conflict."
One of the masked members leaned forward sharply.
"We are allowing animals to butcher our people in the streets."
"No," Kane corrected smoothly. "We underestimated how quickly Gotham's criminal ecosystem would react under pressure. There is a difference."
Even now Kane refused to openly admit fault. That irritated several members, though none challenged him directly.
Another file appeared beside him.
"Additionally, Batman has continued targeting our secondary operations. Three gambling fronts were raided over the last forty-eight hours. Two blackmail archives were seized. Twelve individuals connected to our information networks are currently in GCPD custody."
This finally caused louder reactions throughout the call.
"They know too much."
"They'll talk."
"The police cannot be allowed to process them."
Kane raised one hand slightly and the meeting quieted again.
"They will not speak."
His tone carried absolute certainty.
"The judges involved have already been contacted. Several pieces of evidence connected to the arrests are being challenged on procedural grounds. Two arresting officers have prior misconduct complaints that can be leveraged. Additionally, the more sensitive materials recovered by Batman have already disappeared from police evidence lockup."
That caused several visible signs of relief across the screens.
Kane continued.
"Most of those arrested will either walk free or have their charges reduced substantially. The remainder will be dealt with before they become liabilities."
Nobody asked what "dealt with" meant.
Everyone understood.
Then Kane's posture shifted slightly, "Lastly, we need to address the attempt on Maria Powers."
Several screens immediately turned toward Maria's connection. She sat inside what appeared to be a private study, drink resting untouched near one hand while tension visibly sat in her shoulders despite her composed posture.
"The attack occurred at the private hospital where my husband is recovering," Maria said calmly. "A professional hit squad breached the building and eliminated multiple staff members before reaching my floor."
Her voice remained steady, but anger simmered beneath every word.
"My security engaged them unsuccessfully. The attackers were highly trained and heavily armed. Had the Talons not intervened when they did, I would likely be dead."
That statement immediately shifted the mood of the meeting again.
The Talons carried enormous symbolic weight inside the Court. Even among members who had never personally seen one operate, the idea of them represented safety. Permanence. Superiority.
One member spoke up quickly.
"So the Talons eliminated the attackers completely?"
"Yes," Maria replied. "None escaped."
Kane nodded slightly from his screen.
"As I warned previously, pressure against the Court is escalating from every direction. Batman continues his attacks. The gangs have become increasingly emboldened. And now outside actors appear willing to involve themselves directly."
Maria's eyes narrowed slightly at that last part.
Kane noticed, of course he did.
But he continued speaking without hesitation.
"For that reason, Talon deployments around senior members will remain active until stability returns. Additional safehouses have already been prepared, and all in-person meetings remain suspended indefinitely."
A long silence followed.
Then finally one of the older members leaned forward.
"What is our path forward here, Kane? Because from where I sit it feels like Gotham smells blood in the water."
The room grew still again.
Kane folded his hands together carefully.
Then he answered.
"Our path forward," he said calmly, "is reminding Gotham why the Court survived for centuries while everyone else eventually dies."
"I must interrupt."
The female voice cut cleanly through Kane's speech, stopping the meeting cold.
Several screens shifted toward the new speaker automatically. Rebecca March sat upright inside a dark office, her owl mask resting beside her instead of covering her face. Unlike the others she looked openly furious rather than frightened. Her expression was sharp and controlled, but there was something underneath it now. Cold hard anger.
Kane frowned immediately at the interruption.
"Rebecca," he said carefully, "where's Lincoln?"
Her eyes stayed fixed on the camera, "He's dead."
A silence descended into the meeting. Lincoln March dead? It was unbelievable he was a high ranking member after all.
It was not the usual silence of disciplined Court members waiting their turn to speak. This silence was heavier. Shocked. Several members visibly stiffened while others turned away from their cameras to speak hurriedly to people off screen.
Rebecca continued before anyone could interrupt her, "He was poisoned approximately fourteen hours ago by someone posing as his physician. The individual entered the tower using Dr. Warren's credentials, administered something during a private consultation, and left before anyone realized what had happened."
Kane's posture stiffened ever so slightly out of shock, he had his own physicians after all.
That tiny movement did not go unnoticed perhaps misunderstood. Rebecca leaned back in her chair slowly, eyes narrowing as she continued.
"The real Dr. Warren was later found unconscious inside the trunk of his own vehicle." She paused deliberately. "Interesting how the Talons protecting Lincoln somehow failed to notice any of this."
The atmosphere changed instantly after that statement. The fear that had already been present before seemed to spike suspicion joining in with it forming a deadly concoction of paranoia.
An uncomfortable silence filled the conference as members processed the implications. Lincoln March was not some disposable associate or lower-ranking financier. He was one of the Court's pillars. Wealthy. Influential. Protected.
If someone could reach him, then suddenly nobody on the call felt safe anymore.
"Poisoned?" Maria repeated slowly. "That doesn't sound like something one of the gangs would do."
"No," another member agreed immediately. "The gangs butcher people. They mutilate bodies, send messages, start wars in the streets. This…" He hesitated. "This sounds professional."
"A contract killing," someone muttered quietly.
Rebecca nodded once, "Exactly."
Kane finally spoke again, though his voice lacked some of the certainty it carried earlier in the meeting.
"The infiltration was sophisticated," he said evenly. "If the killer had access to proper credentials and surveillance beforehand then even the Talons—"
"Even the Talons what?" Rebecca interrupted sharply. "Missed a man walking directly into Lincoln's private quarters disguised as his personal doctor?"
Kane's jaw tightened faintly beneath the mask.
Maria watched the interaction carefully from her screen before speaking again.
"We now have Batman dismantling operations, gangs executing our lower members in the streets, and someone assassinating senior Court leadership with surgical precision." She paused for a moment. "Those are three very different threats."
"And somehow all of them seem to know where to strike," another member added quietly.
That comment settled over the meeting heavily. Because everyone understood what it implied.
The gangs had somehow acquired names and locations of Court associates.
Batman had been raiding increasingly sensitive operations.
Now Lincoln March had been murdered inside one of the most secure environments the Court could provide.
One incident could be coincidence.
This many could not.
A masked member leaned forward slowly.
"Am I the only one beginning to think we have a much larger problem than simple retaliation?"
Nobody answered immediately. Because everyone was already thinking the same thing.
Maria broke the silence first.
"The assassin knew Lincoln's physician schedule," she said calmly. "That information was not public."
"Neither were the locations Batman hit recently," another member added.
The room grew still again.
Kane could practically feel control slipping through his fingers. That frightened him more than Lincoln's death itself. Fear inside the Court could be managed.
Distrust could not.
"For now," Kane said firmly, reclaiming the floor before the conversation spiraled further, "everyone will increase internal security measures immediately. No unscheduled staff access. No private meetings without verification. Talon deployments around senior members will remain active until we identify the source of these breaches."
Rebecca stared at him for several long seconds. Then she spoke the question nobody wanted asked aloud.
"And what happens," she said carefully, "if the source of these breaches is already inside the Court like you personally have suggested many times before?"
Kane didn't let anything show on his face but his heart beat wildly in his chest
'What was happening? Why was this happening to me!' The suspicion was growing too much he needed to do something
They were trying to take the court from him, Kane will not allow it.