[center][img]https://txt.1001fonts.net/img/txt/dHRmLjcyLmFiMGIwYi5WR0ZzYjI0LC4w/xerkerfw.regular.png[/img] [color=9e0b0f][b]Location: Training Grounds Interactions: Young Justice[/b][/color][/center] [hr] Talon's vision had grown white while the tendrils and vine's that were once Nymph's hair continued to wrap themselves around his slender neck. His focus was blurred, but he remained conscious. He felt his grip on the face of cliffside slacken, no longer able to maintain the necessary strength to keep himself rooted to the spot. As he felt his feet hanging precariously over the gaping maw of the pit, Talon's mind became still - he was completely at the other's mercy. He felt more of Nymph's foliage slither around and across his face, through his dark hair and across his lips, cradling the back of his head as the young girl above him called out to the others. The pressure on his throat was beginning to truly burn, each gasp trying to retch itself through his enclosed windpipe. He intentionally slowed his breathing to avoid damaging both his lungs and his throat, an exercise in still-ness he had learned at the Court of Owls. He was able to stabilize himself long enough to feel the vines wrapped around him begin to slacken, and drop at his feet. He felt great relief at being able to breath less obstructed, and looked up into the eyes of the Atlantean Girl - Mirage. In her hand's she held a hooked knife, a serrated blade like the edge of a saw-tooth shark, or a fishing lure. She had hacked away at what was once Nymph's hair, clearing his breathing passage. She too reached out for Talon's hand, and Talon felt his fingers wrap themselves around hers. He felt her strength imbue his own. She was strong, she was brave. Like some of the others. But was she enough? Hex and Nymph still held him tight, and though he was supported by them, his strength was failing and he wasn't able to assist. Dead weight. Just as Talon felt that the others could hold him no longer, the boy Talon knew as Ja had miraculously arrived at his side, with a metallic ladder in tow. The dark skinned boy with the big hair utilized his impressive strength, displaying his heroic aptitude and making it look effortless - he grabbed Talon by his dangling lower half, and practically leapt up the metallic rungs with all the grace of a panther. Talon was pulled by the helping hands of the others at the same time, and the two young boys were thrown up the gap, landing with a loud thud among the others. Everyone on that end of the chasm were all collapsed in a pile of broken teen titans. Hex and Ja had immediately gotten up and stepped away from the others, and Kass seemingly was looking over the others, catching her breath and making sure everyone was present and accounted for. As they all began to separate and get up from the ground, Talon recognized that there was still one hand gripped around his forearm - Nymph's. She looked stricken, and Talon didn't think she was consciously still holding on to him. He looked at her through furrowed brows, and pulled his arm away from her as Cybergirl grabbed Nymph and pulled her aside. Talon got to his knees, and leaning on all fours, coughed once or twice, a vicious sounding tear at his throat. He reached up and felt the skin at his neck - it felt sore already. He saw the others disbanding away from him, attending to each other or else silently stalking off. He felt his face grow hot again, frustration and anger threatening to bubble back up to the surface. He looked up to see the members of Team Arrow had all abandoned their obstacles in order to help rescue him. Now he was nursing fresh wounds across his neck. He gripped the earth beneath him, pulling dirt through his fingertips, feeling the bits of rock and stone in the grip of his fist. He looked up at the branch that had snapped beneath his weight. How many times had he swung without effort across the nightscapes of Gotham? But here, on his first day, something so stupid. And then to be saved by [i]everyone.[/i] And that [i]girl[/i]. The sensation of being gripped around the throat by the girl he had just beaten in front of the others. It wasn't possible that she- Hex was off not too far from Talon, and Talon avoided his gaze. Standing up, he dusted the dirt from his knees. Pulled out the batrope/grapnel gun he had utlized to check it's utility. How useful that turned out to be. How useful [i]he[/i] turned out to be. Saving his pride, no one had said anything directly to him at this point. He wouldn't have been able to bear it. The Magician Zatara and Brightheart had made their way across now too, immediately checking in on everyone's status. Rain was surveying his teammates with that cold gaze of his...