Tal took a step back.

Truthfully, he wasn’t afraid of guns.

Though he had lost his memories, his instincts for battle remained intact. In the early days of his amnesia, Tal behaved like a soldier fresh off the frontlines—any sign of danger triggered his PTSD. Recognizing this, Millie had told him: “Become a cop.”

He was strong enough to resemble a human weapon. If that was the case, why not learn to protect others instead?

Tal’s arms hung loosely at his sides, but he didn’t reach for the gun at his waist. Guns weren’t his specialty. Throwing knives were. Hidden within his gloves were sharpened steel blades, polished by the children from the shelter.

The real challenge was escaping his current predicament without exposing his unique, superhuman nature.

Slowly, deliberately, Tal raised his hands. His voice calm, he said, “I can assure you, my credentials are legitimate. Verify them again. And if this is all just a misunderstanding, Chief Robert, will you apologize?”

Millie had also said: “Don’t resort to violence right away.”

Chief Robert sneered, his smile cold. “Oh, I know your credentials are real… but when your corpse gets dumped into the sea cave, their authenticity won’t matter.”

Millie had also said: “Don’t let anyone walk all over you.”

Steel blades slid from Tal’s gloves like silver butterfly wings, held deftly between his fingers. But before he could make a move, a tear gas canister was hurled through the window.

Tal didn’t hesitate. He flung his blades, hitting the hands of officers holding guns. However, as his vision blurred from the gas, South Hinckley’s officers didn’t hesitate to open fire. Tal evaded most shots, but two bullets found their mark—one in his abdomen, the other in his right arm.

The window shattered with a resounding crash as Tal kicked away dropped firearms and vaulted out.

Even as he escaped, a thought crossed his mind: I need to get specialized gloves and bulletproof arm guards made for the East District police. It’s a liability if they face enemies like me.

Just as he landed, something non-human clawed at him. He froze for a moment, not retaliating. A stone talon snagged his jacket. Tal grabbed the “enemy” and used its momentum to vault onto the creature’s back.

Vivi was already waiting there, perched on the gargoyle-like creature’s back.

“Not long after you went in, someone came to smash the car,” Vivi explained. “I summoned the gargoyle to scare off some of them, but a lot of people started shooting at it.”

Thankfully, as long as fear existed, the gargoyles could regenerate any damage. However, to Vivi, “fear” was a resource equivalent to coins—not something she enjoyed wasting.

“I figured you’d run into trouble too when I saw a cluster of red dots on the map in one room,” Vivi continued. “What happened?”

“I explained why we were here to investigate,” Tal said flatly, his face as expressionless as ever. “The police chief decided to kill me.”

Vivi sighed. “Should I just call in the military and have them bomb this place? Like we did with most of the resistance in the East District?”

By now, the sun was setting, shrouding Gotham in its perpetual overcast gloom. With visibility already low, they flew higher into the sky to avoid detection.

As time passed, Tal’s body began to heal. The bullets embedded in his flesh were expelled, clattering onto the gargoyle’s back before falling into the air.

Both of them watched the bullets drop, and then Vivi opened her hand to let another matching police bullet fall from her palm. “What’s the big deal? Self-repair isn’t that unusual.”

They were both named White. Both self-healing. What was there to question?

Tal White, ever composed, allowed himself the faintest exhale of relief.

“About the military,” he countered her earlier suggestion, “it’s better not to.”

“I’m on equal standing with the chief,” Tal continued, his tone measured, “yet he didn’t hesitate to try killing me. We have surveillance footage proving our journey here, so the fact that we escaped right in front of him must have caught him off guard. That leaves only two possibilities—”

Despite his amnesia, Tal’s analysis was meticulous. “First, they’ll do everything they can to trap us in this town, dead. The entire town would serve as witnesses, and even Commissioner Gordon or the mayor wouldn’t be able to seek justice for us.”

“Second,” he added, “we lack evidence, and they’ll spin the narrative. They have the numbers to falsify testimony, edit footage, and make us look like the aggressors. Breaking windows, injuring officers, summoning a ‘gargoyle’… Is this gargoyle even a magic trick?”

His sharp gaze fixed on Vivi, probing her for answers. After a moment of silence, he asked quietly, “Vivi, did you know me before I lost my memory? Just answer ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ No need to explain.”

Vivi recognized that Tal was searching for his past. She nodded. “Yes, I knew you.”

Tal hesitated. “Were we close?”

She shook her head. “Not really. But I don’t dislike you.”

Sure, Tal had killed her before. But back then, he was just a tool of the Court of Owls—a blade with no agency. Besides, both of them were immortal. What did a little killing matter?

Tal exhaled softly, then asked, “Does the mayor know me? Do we… have any sort of connection?”

“She knows you,” Vivi replied after a pause, smiling. “You’re on the same team. She was surprised to find out you’d lost your memory.”

Tal could tell she wasn’t lying. He mulled it over as she added, “But the mayor is a good person.”

“Hmm…” Tal said, “I belonged to some kind of organization, didn’t I?”

Vivi nodded but frowned. “Not everyone in the organization understands the mayor.”

The bullets had long since fallen into obscurity, but they seemed symbolic, a connection between Tal and Vivi. Something clicked within Tal’s mind, leading him to a decision. “I understand now. Thank you, Vivi.”

He knew Vivi was loyal to the mayor. Having been taken in by Millie in his amnesiac state, Tal’s sharp instincts had always told him something was off about Vivi’s gaze.

This conversation confirmed it for him.

They were part of the same organization, bound by shared immortality. But Vivi and the mayor had chosen a different path—alliances with new partners, creating internal division. Yet for Tal, the details didn’t matter.

Because they were the same. They were siblings in essence.

Tal, who had risen from the bottom to become a police chief, pieced together the facts. An organization capable of granting immortality wasn’t simple—it likely involved illegal human experimentation. Yet rather than a faceless, unseen organization, he chose to trust the mayor, who he had seen fighting to change Gotham.

“Thank you, my sister,” he said with newfound resolve. “We need to save our other brothers and sisters. I want to know the name of our organization.”

Vivi regarded him silently, meeting his steadfast brown eyes. Then she answered:

“It’s the Talons.”

“Talons were once tools of others. But now, they can become claws to protect the innocent.”

Weapons themselves aren’t inherently wrong—it’s how they’re used that defines their morality.

Tal smiled faintly. “Of course. Yes, I want to protect others. I believe in the mayor—just as Millie said—she will change this city. Those who don’t understand her yet simply need time. Honestly, I don’t even care to know what I did in the past. It was probably just killing or working as someone’s pawn. My body’s instincts have already told me enough. If we can, it would be great for our brothers and sisters to become protectors like me… I want to get them out. We need to save them.”

Hopefully, when the Talons emerge, they won’t decide to kill me, Vivi thought. Still, she nodded in agreement. “But not all of them might be like you.”

Tal reached out and patted Vivi on the back of her head, his tone calm. “Vivi, damaging this part of the brain—the section between the occipital bone and the cerebrum—can erase our memories. Be careful of that.”

【You have obtained the side quest: Emergence of the Talons】

【Quest Description: Damaging the layer between the occipital bone and the cerebrum can erase the memories of the immortal assassin Talons… You’ve uncovered a critical clue. With the Talons lurking in the shadows of the city, you remain in danger. Address the threat posed by the Talons.】

【Quest Reward: 50 diamonds, 1 million coins】

“!” Vivi’s eyes widened. She wasn’t sure what kind of experiments Tal had endured to uncover this detail. She even suspected Tal might have recovered his memories before deliberately erasing them again. Either way, from now on, this information-leaking Talon killer was officially her big brother!

“I’ll keep that in mind!” Vivi responded with determination. “That said, it’s clear South Hinckley has connections to the drug trade—especially the police, who are likely complicit…”

With no solid leads, Vivi considered slashing her way through people until she found some evidence. A production base supplying so many drugs had to be enormous. A thorough search would surely uncover it.

“This town must have innocent people too,” Tal said, patting Vivi’s head again. “Drop me off. You can ride the gargoyle out of here. I’ll stay behind to gather evidence and locate the production base.”

Clearly resolved, Tal insisted. Vivi landed the gargoyle in the forest and let him disembark. “Watch out for freezing weapons,” she warned. “Cold temperatures are the Talons’ weakness.”

As her newfound “big brother” disappeared into the trees, Vivi summoned her horse and decided to circle through the forest to find Mr. Freeze’s warehouse.

She knew a bit about Mr. Freeze. Although he was a criminal, his targets were always those with personal grudges against him—people responsible for turning him into a monster who could only survive in low temperatures. His actions were a case of an eye for an eye.

Now, he earned money through academic research and focused on curing his wife’s illness. He lived quietly, even earning a “green name” status in Vivi’s system. Negotiation seemed possible.

The sky darkened entirely, but the town came alive with light. Every household had their lamps on, and police patrolled the streets, stopping and questioning every passerby to identify outsiders. Despite this, Vivi trusted Tal’s stealth abilities, especially since he was a Talon with independent thought.

When Vivi realized staying in the forest wasn’t practical, she activated her “Master of Slacking Off” title and entered the town.

This title allowed her to move unnoticed through battlefields, but it didn’t make her invisible—it just made her unremarkable. Even her horse seemed to blend into the surroundings.

When Vivi rode her horse through the warehouse doors, she discovered Mr. Freeze wasn’t alone.

The entire warehouse had been modified. Due to his wife’s terminal illness, Mr. Freeze had frozen her in a life support pod, and both he and his wife required constant low temperatures. This drastically limited his mobility.

Yet, someone else was there.

Mr. Freeze, clutching his signature freeze gun, was locked in a standoff with a hooded man.

Although Freeze seemed to notice the sound of hoofbeats, the effects of Vivi’s title made him subconsciously ignore it. He tilted his head slightly, the metal of his suit gleaming in the cold. His voice dripped with annoyance. “Yes, I know this town has issues, but I’ve never been involved in their schemes. Even if you ask me, I can’t help. I don’t know where their drug labs are!”

“Don’t lie, Victor,” the man facing him replied. He wasn’t a Talon but was clearly investigating South Hinckley’s drug trade. “You wouldn’t have brought your wife here if you hadn’t investigated everything first. Wouldn’t you be worried about her safety?”

Sitting on a table with a gun in each hand, one weapon pointed at Mr. Freeze and the other at the frozen life-support pod, the man didn’t notice Vivi’s presence—or the soft sounds of gargoyles landing silently on the roof.

Vivi opened her map and closed it again, feeling exasperated. Two green names, and they’re about to fight each other right in front of me.

The warehouse’s chill bit into the air. Clearly enraged by the threat to his wife, Freeze hesitated, his freeze gun charging up. But he couldn’t be sure if he could stop the man before he pulled the trigger.

“This is a mining town,” Freeze said coldly. “I’ve told you everything I know. Now, leave.”

The man’s eyes narrowed. “…The mines?”

But in his moment of distraction, Freeze struck. First, he froze the man’s arm, then switched to his high-pressure water cannon, blasting him across the warehouse.

Vivi glanced at Freeze and then at her quest log.

【Side Quest “Drug Production Chain” Updated】

【You received 20 diamonds and 300,000 coins.】

【Quest Hint: Check the mines.】

“Ah… I think I’ve hit 915 diamonds now!” Vivi exclaimed.

Ignoring the skirmishing “Red Hood” and “Mr. Freeze,” she crouched next to the safest spot in the warehouse—the life support pod for Freeze’s wife—and decided to pull a ten-pull from her loot system.