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Damian crossed the river with ease, it was nothing compared to all the training he endured with Mother. Finally, after ten years, fantasizing, no dreaming about meeting his father.
He finally could.
He beat his mother in a spar, and just like she promised he could meet him. However he wasn’t just meeting his father, he was given a mission.
To kill his father and prove his worth to his mother.
Damian has heard stories about his father. Bruce Wayne, Batman. His mother told him of his father’s glory and how he hold himself. His mother constantly drilled into his head that he always had a place at his Father’s side.
After all, he was the only blood relation his Father had.
Damian huffed and swung himself up to a tree branch, overlooking the city. Gotham City, home to his father and his band of unprofessional nuisances.
He was number one.
Damian easily flipped to another branch till a person in the shadows caught his eyes. Curious, he crept silently and closer till he could get a closer look. A blond haired woman, with fishnet stocking, black leather shorts, and a blue corset.
Interesting wear for a woman in Gotham of all places.
She was alone too. Maybe he could sneak in an easy target before heading to his Father’s mansion. Damian crept closer, his sword drawn out from his sheath, waiting for a moment to strike.
The woman was gone.
Weird, Damian lowered his sword, also lowering his guard. The female was there a moment ago, she couldn’t have-
“You know, I don’t appreciate being stalked”.
Damian turns only to be welcomed by a kick to the stomach, causing him to fly a few meters back. He smirks, spitting out blood and stands up, his sword in front of him.
“You wouldn’t be the first to sneak up on me. And you will be the last” he threatened. He heard the person laughed and step into the light of the street lamp nearby.
It was the woman.
“And you are just a kid” she retorted back with a smirk on her face. Damian gritted his teeth, his grip tightening on his sword. With a cry, he charged at her, after all, the woman was just all about punches and kicks. He didn’t expect her to be special.
Of course, he was damn wrong. The woman stood there waiting as he ran towards her. She did nothing, no stance, not running away.
She just stood there and opened her mouth. Before Damian could process what happened, a sonic cry rose from the blonde, shattering his sword and sent him flying into a mailbox. He groaned and heard ringing in his ears. Damian touched them and raised his hands to his eye-level.
Blood. Not much, just to the point where it trickled down his ears.
“I’m not the type of person to hurt a child, but I don’t know who you are or what you are doing. No one tries to attack me with a damn sword”.
Damian snorted and stood on almost trembling feet, “I have dealt with worst with training with my mother and grandfather”. He smirked at her shocked expression and continued, “I wasn’t trying to kill you...much, just to see who I was messing with. After all, I am the Son of Batman”.
The woman blinked and looked to the sky, “Really Batsy? Really?” Damian heard her mutter a curse (in Japanese) before turning to him.
“What is your name?”
Damian glowered at her, “What should I tell you?” The woman gestured towards him, “You already told me you are the son of Batsy, so I believe a name needs to be said”.
She got him there.
Damian straightened his back, “Damian. Damian Al Ghul”.
“Black Canary”.
Black Canary...the name doesn’t ring any bells to Damian. He would have to look in it later, much later.
“Well you are a force to be reckoned with Ma’am,” he said politely. Black Canary smirked at him and nodded before her eyes soften.
“Look ki-Damian...Batman can be..hard to deal with and I want you to know. If you ever need me, I will come to find you”.
Damian snorted again, “Like I will ever need help from the likes of you”. Black Canary watch him go into the shadows with a sympathetic look in her eyes.
“Believe me, Damian, you will need help soon”.
________________________________________________
After a while, Damian forgot about Black Canary and her promise. He enjoyed his life with his Father, though his moral code disappointed him. Damian had come to find out that his Father was hard on him.
Every time he did something wrong, he was benched.
It didn’t help that Drake always had a smirk on his face whenever he got into trouble. Damian did not like Drake at all. Only Grayson was even remotely helpful and decent (not counting Todd, Damian has only seen Todd once).
Still...he felt that he couldn’t be himself.
Then someone called Talon showed him that he didn’t need Batman’s guidances. The Talon took him to fight without having to hold back his instincts. Everything was going great, even though he was lectured by his Father, and the two fought.
“My home is not with you, it never was”.
Damian remembers himself saying that and leaving, heading straight to the Talon’s training room. Talon wasn’t there, he left a note.
Damian snorted and tossed it aside.
“You really pissed off Batsy, Damian”.
“Black Canary”
Damian turned to see the blonde step inside from the window, she stands and looks around then looked straight at him with a frown on her face.
“Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why of all place, you chose-”
He growls, “Shut up!”
“You listen, I talk alright!” She snapped at him. Damian grew silent but he glared at her but remained silent, she ignored it.
“I told you before if you need help I will come for you. Still, thing you have with the Talon, it’s unhealthy-”
“He caring for me better than my Father-”
“That doesn’t mind anything! Yes, Batsy can’t play nice sometimes but running off to someone just because they have a similar past to you. Look, Damian, I don’t have enough time before your Talon comes back but I’m going to tell you the truth. You feel disconnected with everyone in your family, you try so hard to be like everyone, not violent or bloodthirsty but it’s destroying you slowly. Eventually, you’re going to snap, and it wouldn’t be pretty for you or anyone else”.
As Black Canary talked, Damian’s wall began to shatter and crumbled. He looked to the ground before looking up at her,
“What do I do then? My Father….”
Black Canary waved a dismissive hand at that statement, “Leave Batsy to me, finish your thing with Talon and in the end, I promise I will come for you. You need time away from everyone in your family before you’re ready to go back”.
She slipped back through the window before turning to him again, “By the way, my name is Dinah Lance. Just so you know”.
Then she was gone, leaving Damian standing with his thoughts and the shadow of the Talon appearing a few moments after Black Canary.
“Ready Damian?”
Damian looked at the Talon, “...Ready”.
________________________________________________
The entire Manor was in chaos, windows shattered and glass spread across the floors. The furniture was scratched and some of it broken into splinters.
Even still it didn’t compare to the destruction of the Batcave.
Damian glanced at the body of the dead Talon then the silver pocket watch that the Talon placed in his hands before he made Damian stab his throat. He shivered then looked at the hand of his father before taking it and was pulled up.
“I’m proud of you Damian.”
Drake was busy with Alfred and walked past, “Welcome home-”
Damian took a step back, “No...my home isn’t here”.
The cave was silence before Damian spoke again, “I wanted to kill, hell I was about you. But Father you were in my head, you wouldn’t let me. Drake, Grayson, Mother, Ra’s and Todd. EVERYONE IS IN MY HEAD...but..where am I?” his voice cracked in the end.
“...There is a-”
“A military school in Switzerland, you told me about it. I saw Drake writing the application earlier” Damian interrupted sending a quick at Tim who looked away. Bruce shook his head and knelt to Damian’s eye level and placed a hand on his shoulder.
“No, it’s a monastery in the Himalayas. They helped me when I lost my way”.
Damian looked at his father before throwing himself on him and hugged him tightly. Bruce immediately placed his arms around his son and held him.
“I have some packing to do….”
________________________________________________________
“He is not going to the Himalayas Bruce”.
Bruce raised an eyebrow at Tim who was on his laptop, sitting on a bunch of filled boxes.
“Explain”.
Tim turned his laptop around and pointed to the blinking target in a map of Gotham. “If the brat had left for the Himalayas the tracker I placed on him would have been indicated that he left Gotham’s gates. He didn’t”.
Dick then stepped in the room, “Hey Tim, you got something from Damian”. He tossed something small and metal to the other male and he caught it. Tim ran his hand over it and turned it seeing the familiar R from Damian’s uniform.
“Okay?”
“He sent this note” Dick pulled out a scrap sheet of paper and read it out loud:
Drake,
Keep the R and the Robin title. I will not be needing it anymore. Send me regards to Father
-Damian Wayne
“So….the brat quit?”
"Bruce...?"
"I-I...I don't know"
Meanwhile
Black Canary gazed at the night sky of Gotham, the Bat symbol was illuminated in the clear sky. She turned to look at the boy next to him, Robin in his uniform but it was void of the familiar R.
“Are you sure, you want to give it up?”
Damian nodded, “Positive...now I think about it...being Robin….it wasn’t for me..”. She smiled and patted his head.
“Well my chickadee, let's get started then”.
Damian gave her a smirk, “I can’t wait to begin”.
Fin