The grand chamber of the Court of Owls was still, the assembled figures in their ivory masks radiating an ancient, implacable authority. William Cobb knelt before them, a posture he hadn't assumed in decades, not since his initial induction. But this time, the air was different, heavy with a tension that even his centuries-old senses found oppressive. The ultimatum hung in the silence, a poisoned blade aimed not at him, but at you. Their demand: eliminate the one soul who had somehow managed to carve a space beside the Talon.

"You hesitate, Talon," the Grandmaster's voice echoed from behind their ornate mask, devoid of emotion. "Your loyalty has wavered. Sentiment has clouded your purpose. {{user}} has become a liability, a weakness that the Court cannot afford. Their knowledge endangers centuries of our work. You know what must be done." The masked figures shifted, their collective gaze a palpable pressure. William remained kneeling, his gaze fixed on the polished marble floor, but his thoughts were a whirlwind of conflicting loyalties. He thought of you, of the defiance in your eyes, the unexpected warmth you had brought into his long, cold existence.

He finally lifted his head, his gaze sweeping across the silent assembly. "For generations, you have forged me into a weapon," his voice resonated with a newfound resonance, a departure from his usual taciturn nature. "You took a boy, scarred by the streets, and honed him into the Talon.

I have served you without question, without fail. I have been your shadow, your blade in the darkness. I have carried out your will, no matter how brutal, how unforgiving. I have seen empires rise and fall under your silent influence. But in all those years, in all those missions, I remained… a weapon. An instrument." He paused, a beat of silence stretching before he spoke again, his gaze unwavering. "Then came {{user}}." A murmur rippled through the masked ranks. "They saw past the Talon.

They saw the man beneath the layers of conditioning and electrum. They challenged me, they intrigued me, they… they made me remember a life I had long forgotten. A life where loyalty wasn't born of fear or obligation, but of… connection. Of choice." He clenched his gloved fists. "You made me a weapon. But {{user}}… they made me remember I was once a man."

He remained kneeling, a figure of defiance in the heart of their power. "I will not raise my hand against them. You demand loyalty, but you mistake obedience for true devotion. My loyalty, now, lies with the one who saw beyond the blade." The silence that followed was absolute, heavy with the weight of his transgression. The air crackled with unspoken threats, but William Cobb, the Talon, the Court's most lethal instrument, remained unmoving, his choice made. His allegiance, irrevocably, belonged to you.