i think I'm due a writer's block soon which is really annoying because i need to do something with my David and Dick villain au (which if you have any suggestions for let me know) so have Talon! Dick

You thought it as over? ha 

shout out to Supergirl406 PNGonzalez and FandomTrash257 for helping me with ideas for this

EDIT: TW GORE

Failure was inevitable. It was a fact of life that everyone fails at some point in their life. The failure can go from small to life-changing but it's failure all the same. Everyone fails. Almost everyone. Talons never fail. They were made to be perfect fighters. They may fail on their way to becoming a Talon but once they were a full Talon, they will never fail again. It was impossible and went against their very nature. A hero did fail though. They failed less than they succeeded but they failed. Dick was a hero and a Talon. In essence, he was made up of the polar opposites and one side will win over the other from time to time. It was accepted that you couldn't order Dick to do something unless it was a last resort because of his Talon side and he accepted that he needed to work on his people skills because of his hero side. However, one major thing was skipped over as he was slowly introduced into the hero life. None of them were prepared or even though to prepare for the inevitable day that failure came.

The mission ended horribly. A building blew up, six people died and the worst part was that it was all in vain. Young Justice never collected the information. They didn't get close. On the ride back, they were all dreading the yelling that would happen. They were all silent. Shell shocked. They'd never messed up that hard before and they didn't really know what to do. People had died. Granted they were the henchmen but who said they agreed with the views and ideas of their employers? They might have families that needed providing for. This might've been their last job before going back to legality. The Bioship was silent. M'gann was only just able to fly the ship through the floods of tears. "I'm sorry about all of this. I will take the brunt of the blame for this. I should've led you better," Kaldur announced.

"It's not your fault. Things just took a turn for the worse," Connor replied. He was right with what he was saying. Luck wasn't on their side tonight. One thing led to another and boom, everything went up in flames. Quite literally. "Even so, I am the leader. It's my responsibility," he responded. Though he appreciated the clone's sentiment, his role was to prevent things like this from happening. He glanced around the ship at the team in shambles. Artemis was biting back tears, Wally was silent which was worrisome enough, Connor was visibly pale and Dick well he couldn't really tell. His face was blank. He just looked like himself. Maybe his Talon training had kicked in so he was already desensitized to things going badly. Kaldur wished rather naively that he could do the same. His eyes were constantly wet with unshed tears that he dare not shed in front of his teammates. He was the eldest of the group which made him like the big brother, their protector in a way. If they saw him upset, that would just say that they failed completely. They didn't. So he didn't cry.

The worst part was coming back. There was a sense of wanting to run away as they finally landed. They wouldn't get very far. The League would find them and drag them back to the reality that they'd messed up big time. There was no way to change that so they had to face the consequences. The ship landed and they were greeted by Batman's glare. He didn't say a word. He waved for them to follow him and they did. What else were they going to do? Disobey him? Don't be stupid. He led them into the main room of the Mountain that housed the Zetatubes to leave. They looked longingly to the escape route, knowing it was beyond their reach. They got into their line up subconsciously and waited. They weren't spared. Batman yelled at them to no end and they had to take it. At the end of the day, they showed themselves up. This would be a PR nightmare. Anti-hero groups could twist and turn this whichever way they wanted and they'd still look awful. "You should've gotten those men out of there!"

"We didn't have time-"

"Wally is fast enough to get them out!"

"Batman I'm not. I tried to get out as many as I could but I just couldn't carry anyone else by the fifth person," the ginger protested, seconds away from crying. He tried his best. That was the sad part. He really did try his best to save everyone but he wasn't fast enough nor did he have the energy to help them. "Then you need to work harder! People's lives depend on you. You don't get the luxury to bunk off when you could be training!" He nodded and set his sights for the floor in shame. "And you," Batman boomed. Dick knew it was directed at him and reluctantly raised his head. His face was blank but that was just training. Inside he was screaming. He was crying. He felt like his breath was being snatched away by an invisible force. He stared at his mentor. " You have the knowledge and the ability to have pulled off this mission. I have no idea how this could turn out so bad when you were there. I'm disappointed in you. You failed me during this mission."

"I failed?" Dick asked so quietly it sounded like a whisper.

"Yes, you did." He swallowed thickly and darted his eyes away from his guardian. He hadn't failed in a while. So long that he forgot what it felt like to fail. The sense of shame and guilt was crushing him. He felt his heart rate pick up and his gloved hands that were fairly okay before suddenly become clammy. "All of you failed tonight. Now Black Canary and Red Tornado must fix what you've done before the media hears of this and links it to you."

As he continued to rant, Dick felt himself silently spiral. He remembered it was after a few months of being in the Court. He and a group of other Talons were lined up. Each was being told whether they had failed or succeeded in their mission. The senior member of the Court went down one by one and each had been a success. The man got to Dick and he stared at him before saying he'd succeeded. Back then he didn't feel anything. He guessed he would've felt relieved. The man continued until he got to one particular Talon. "You failed. Everyone, this is what happens when you fail us," the man announced. Two men pulled the Talon out of the lineup and threw him onto the ground in front of them. One of the men took out a shock collar and snapped it around their neck. They turned it on and they all watched as the unfortunate Talon spasmed at the electricity running through his veins. "Kill him," the senior member stated. His voice was cold. The man nodded and took out a remote. He set it to the highest setting. The Talon continued to spasm, sparks flying from his body. The electricity was so high that it began burning his skin more and more until it was charred. Dick remembered that he could smell the skin burning. He could smell it now. It made his stomach churn in disgust. The man turned off the flow of electricity after injecting the serum that made sure a Talon stayed dead. "Remember Talons, we never fail. Wherever you are in becoming a Talon, know this. If you fail, you will be destroyed without mercy." That message stuck with him his entire time there. He remembered that the death of a failure isn't always done the same. Some were beaten to death, others were stabbed. Some were injected with a concoction of chemicals. There were the unlucky few who were just left to starve. Whatever way they were exterminated, he never wanted to be one of them. Hence why he didn't fail. But today he did fail. He couldn't tell if the treatment of failures within the Court were just an addition of their abusive nature or if that was how every failure was treated anywhere. He didn't want to chance it but he didn't have a choice. Now something awful was going to happen. He didn't know what. He begged that it would be over soon enough.

Eventually, Batman calmed down. His eyes glanced over the team and deemed they'd been sufficiently yelled at. "There will be a step up in your training and you will be barred from missions for the next week. Therapy as always will be available for any of you that feel you've been affected by what happened tonight," he announced. They all nodded except for Dick. He looked like he wasn't even there. He was pale and his chest was rising and falling much faster than it should be. "That's it for tonight. You're dismissed." Again they all nodded except for Dick. As they walked to the appropriate areas, Batman walked over to his ward and went to tap him on the shoulder. Dick jumped upon being touched and backed away in terror. The action caught the interest of his teammates who'd assumed that he was doing alright. He hadn't looked like he was upset by anything that had happened. "Dick?"

"I don't wanna die," he whispered. Batman held up his hand to tell everyone not to ask any questions. He wished this could be more one on one but this needed to be sorted right now. "I know I failed but please I don't wanna die. I-I can feel pain now, it'll hurt so much. Please I promise I'll never do this again," he begged, hating the silence. It was as though the silence was deciding his fate and if he didn't break it then he wouldn't be able to prevent it. Batman stared at him in concern and cautiously put his hands on the younger's shoulders. "I'm not going to kill you over a failed mission," he told Dick sternly. "Humans will fail and if you mess up big time yes I will shout but I will never ever hurt you because of that failure."

"O-okay." His breathing was still pretty ragged and he suddenly looked very tired. Batman wondered if this was how anxiety attacks were for him. He probably didn't show any major signs because he wasn't used to showing anything. Not all anxiety attacks were obvious for regular people either. He'd make a note of that. "Can we go home?"

"Of course."

Later that night Bruce knocked on Dick's door. What happened in the Mountain just didn't sit right the more he let it ruminate. He really went off at the group when they were only young. They were all still teenagers and he'd done some very stupid stuff when he first got into the solo hero gig. He'd do something about the rest of the team later but right now he was focused on the task at hand. As per usual, he didn't get a response which was the go-ahead to come inside. Dick was curled up under the covers with his back towards the door. He had the fairy lights Steph had put up for him on and was watching YouTube on his phone. He'd been interested in art videos recently. He found them calming. Bruce guessed he needing that calming aura right now. He perched himself on the side of the bed after shutting the door behind him. "Can we have a little chat?" he asked. Dick nodded, pausing the video and sitting up so he could look at the other. His social skills mentor - Jason but he liked to have a fun title - said it was good to look people in the eye when they talked to you. Especially if it were a serious matter. "I've been thinking about what was said in the Mountain, from both myself and you. I didn't mean it when I said I was disappointed in you," he began.

"Then why would you say it?" Dick inquired. He never got when people said I didn't mean it because they did mean it. Whether they looked on it later and no longer agreed with their view didn't matter. They meant it in the moment. What they really should say is I no longer agree with what I said or what I said was a spur of the moment. "Because I was angry. Scared even. We don't know if you still have the ability to only die when given the right chemical. The thought of losing you sent me in a tailspin back to when I lost Damian and Jason. I was mad that you were even put in a position that could hurt your progress," Bruce answered.

"You were disappointed in me because I could potentially die?"

"No, I wasn't disappointed at all. I just said that because I couldn't voice how I felt."

"Oh, you used the wrong word. You meant to say that you were upset with me," Dick concluded. The older wasn't quite sure if that was the right conclusion or not but he decided to just allow it. He saw no point in arguing over it. That wasn't why he'd come to his room. "What I'm trying to say is, I'm not disappointed in you. You amaze me every day by just being who you are. I'm so proud of how much you're trying when it would be so easy to give up," he assured the younger.

"Thank you."

"Now, I completely understand if you don't want to talk about it but I have to ask. Why did you think I would kill you for failing?" 

Dick went quiet for a moment, his shoulders hunching a little. He seemed to show more body language around the home as Dick rather than outside as Robin. Bruce guessed it was for the same reason why he didn't smile when he was Batman. Still, it made it slightly odd when he did show something through his body language other than blank. "You don't need to tell me if you don't want to. It would just help me to know where that thinking came from."

"Talons don't make mistakes, they don't fail. The only way to ensure this is to get rid of all those who failed at the turning point. It's normally after they strip you of pretty much everything, Once you fail, you're killed. Not humanely either."

"So you thought that would happen here with me?" Bruce asked. He nodded. "Failure is human Dick. I can get mad or upset all I like but it's inevitable. Half the time it's through no fault of your own. I want you to know that." He tapped him on the back to conclude the talk and began to walk out before Dick caught his hand. 

"You said failure is inevitable. Will you be as angry the next time I fail?" He seemed genuinely fearful which tugged on his mentor's heartstrings.

"I'll try not to be. You have permission to shut me up if I am. How about you get some sleep, alright? You look tired." He nodded and settled back down. Bruce placed a light kiss on his forehead before leaving, hoping that he'd made up for before. Being a dad was hard but being a dad of a severely traumatized ex-Talon now a teenage hero was even harder. 

if anyone has requests let me know since i have a week off and can do stuff like that