Grayson #3 (2014)

Spyral has been tasked with collecting the organs of the meta called Paragon. A low-lying criminal called Barton Tare had been recruited because he had access to the Paragon's eyes - but he was recently executed by someone called the Old Gun - an assassin whose real name is Christophe Tanner. Years ago, Tanner was shot in the face by a madman, while his two sons were executed in front of him. Tanner survived, though, but his eyes were damaged and removed. He then used a unique surgery to connect his ocular nerves to the barrels of his pistols - which means he now sees through his guns. He has since been an active assassin, who enjoys shooting people. Presumably Tanner wants to have Paragon's eyes transplanted into his own skull. Because Hypnos will be ineffective in apprehending him, Mister Minos assigns two teams to the mission, with agents 1 and 8 accompanying Agent 37 and Matron. As he practices at the gun range, Dick Grayson finds himself the subject of playful mockery by Agent 8, who considers him a bad shot. She relents, at last, offering helpful tips to steady his hand. Her approach is sensual, and it isn't long before they have slept together. Afterwards, Dick still doesn't feel good about using a gun - especially on a mission like this one. Agent 8 responds that having grown up in a rural Kansas - in a place smaller than Smallville. That place was populated by farmers, but many of them were ex-military. Many were hunters. She grew up around guns. Dick responds that he grew up in the circus, and the only kind of gun he ever encountered was the cannon they shot clowns from. Agent 8 responds that guns aren't magic - they just make things go faster. Then she drags him into another embrace. Upon landing in Malaysia, Dick accosts Tanner in a restroom, and to his target's surprise, wraps a cord around him, and leaps out of a window with him. The cord is attached to the chopper piloted by Matron, above. Unfortunately, Tanner is not helpless, and he pulls his pistols, and shoots through the cord, causing both he and his captor to drop onto a connecting bridge between the towers of a nearby complex. Agent 8, a sniper, takes a non-lethal shot against tanner, hitting his shoulder while Dick recovers. Tanner, though, is a crack shot - even with the pistols - and manages to put a bullet in Agent 8's shoulder and damage the chopper's flight gear. Helena barely escapes its crash alive. Seeing everything going awry from his position, Agent 1 calls the mission a failure and urges everyone to pull back. Agent 8, though, worries for Dick, who is still at Tanner's mercy. Nervously, Dick whips out his own gun, and with shaking hands, points it at Tanner, warning that he doesn't want to pull the trigger. He admits that he knows about the shooting that robbed him of his sight, and about the murder of his sons. He begs Tanner to consider that enough violence with guns has been done. All he needs right now are the eyes. He pleads that Tanner should think about his sons. Angrily, Tanner responds that his guns are his boys. Agent 8, meanwhile, heads to the rendezvous point, but finds that Agent 1 isn't there. Fortunately, he is absent because he has come to Dick's rescue, clubbing Tanner over the back of the head. Grumpily, he tells Dick that he's an idiot, and helps him to his feet as they make their way back to the rendezvous point. Later, Agent 8 becomes angry with Dick for letting Agent 1 go onto the bridge without cover. She was supposed to be that cover. They are partners, after all. She warns that he should have taken the shot when he had the chance, instead of forcing someone to come and rescue him. Dick responds that that isn't how he fights. Annoyed, she responds that super-hero types like him are all just little boys in masks, crying about their dead mothers. He isn't a super-hero anymore. He's a spy, and spies use guns. Afterwards, Dick reports back to Batman with the news that Spyral must have got the information they planted about Batman. In the meantime, he asks Bruce to use the Batcomputer to look up Christophe Tanner. Bruce discovers that there is a Christophe Tanner, Jr. enrolled at the same school where Tanner's sons were apparently murdered. Dick realizes suddenly that Tanner must want the eyes so that he can look at his son without having to point a gun at him. He heads to the school in secret, and finds Tanner on the roof spying on his boy. Dick interrupts, commenting that even if the guns in his hands are "his boys" - the kid in the playground below is too - and if they are ever to be reunited, it would be better if his father wasn't pointing a gun at him. He explains that guns may make things go faster - but maybe it's not worth the rush. Moved, Tanner lowers his weapons, and tosses dick the box containing the eyes, admitting that they won't work on him anyway. Knowing that he will have to be arrested for all of his murders, he requests that Dick at least let him speak to his son first - but before Dick can agree to it, Agent 8 puts a bullet in Tanner's back. Horrified, Dick rushes to Tanner's side, only to see Tanner pull his own gun, and shoot Agent 8 through the head. She collapses and dies as Tanner does the same, his corpse tumbling down into the very playground where his son had been playing. Angrily, Dick ignores Agent 1's desperate requests for confirmation from Agent 8. Elsewhere, Mister Minos reveals to Matron that he intercepted a hidden signal from within Spyral headquarters, but he hasn't yet broken its encryption. He assigns her to find the person responsible for the transmission, and then unmask them.