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Damian shot up as he heard the warning alarm going off, signaling that someone had entered the Batcave. A dark haired boy ran in and stopped on the Batwing platform. He walked towards the bat-wave and set his backpack down on a nearby bench. Damian tried his best to conceal his excitement as he sped walked over to the boy.
“Hello Jonathan.” He said while leaning on the wall next to the bench.
“Hey Damian.” Jon replied but didn’t look up from his task of shuffling through his bag. A surprised look swept over Damian’s face. He had only met Jon a few weeks ago but there had not been one day where Jonathan didn’t meet him with a smile on his face and admiration in his eyes. He tried a different approach and instead stood directly behind the bench.
“Notice anything different?” He emphasized and rested his hand on his face. Still, Jonathan refused to look up.
“Um. No not really.” Jonathan shrugged and Damian scowled.
“I’m not wearing my mask!” His arms shot up and he shook his hand in front of his eyes. “Father gave me permission to finally show you.”
Jonathan finally looked up but still seemed off. “Oh. That’s cool Dami.” He took a cape out of his bag and attached it to his shoulders and sighed.
“Is everything alright here?” A much deeper voice asked and the two boys diverted their attention to the large figure in front of them. There stood batman in full uniform.
“O-oh yes sir.” Jonathan straightened up as Damian stood next to him unamused. Before batman started to speak the same alarm from earlier went off and superman slowly touched down on the landing platform.
“Dad? What are you doing here?” Jonathan asked as the man in blue cheerfully floated to Batman’s side.
“He’s going to accompany us today as we progress in your training. Today you both will be demonstrating your fusion routine and attacks.” Bruce said as Clark nodded.
“I can’t wait to see how far you both have come in the past couple of weeks.” He smiled at the two boys and then began to walk to the training hall with Bruce. Damian let out a small “tt” and elbowed Jon.
“Impressing your father is easy so let’s show off today.” He joked and looked at Jon only to see that the boy wasn’t smiling. Instead he just nodded and followed his father.
‘Maybe it wasn’t a funny joke?’ Damian thought to himself.
The two boys stood side to side and across the training arena stood an extra-large training robot. Its optics began to glow red and certain parts on its body moved strategically.
“Ready?” Batman asked the two.
“Yes sir.” Damian replied and waited for Jon to say the same but nothing came from the other boy. He quickly nudged Jonathan and his head shot up.
“Y-Yes sir!” He shouted. Batman stepped off of the arena and joined Superman’s side.
“Very well, begin.” He nodded and the boys let out a humph as they stood back to back. Eyes closing, their bodies became blobs of light that merged into each other. Clark stood in awe as the light started to stabilize into a large body. Two red boots formed and slowly a pair of legs in ripped blue jeans with green armor followed. A utility belt loosely hung from their waist. Their torso appeared, covered with a blue sweatshirt that was outlined in yellow. A diamond shaped badge covered their chest and had a large “R” in the middle. Two hands reached out to grasp the air as open fingered gloves materialized onto them. A cape flapped out from the white light. The top being red and the undercoat being a shiny yellow. Straight black hair covered a small portion of their forehead and blue eyes opened to examined the body.
“Now that I’m thinking about it, I never named myself.” His voice echoed through the arena.
“Not like it matters.”
“It kinda does.” The fusion crossed his arms and had seemed to be arguing with himself.
“Concentrate.” Bruce warned and the fusion quickly ceased his talking. With a nod he began to sprint towards the training bot. He grabbed two dual swords off of the floor and pulled back to attack but stopped when he dropped one of the weapons.
“Wait... I don’t know how to use these things.” He looked very confused for a moment before picking it up again and rolling out of the way from the training bot’s attack.
“Yes I do.” He countered, striking one of the robot’s limbs. The bot let out a noise of distress and began to throw out attacks with more ferocity. It swooped at the fusions legs but he dodged it with ease as he jumped into the air. Unfortunately, he underestimated his power and went floating into the air, not coming back down.
“So we can fly?” He grinned and swooped down towards the bot, slicing off another limb.
“I think I finally came up with a name.” He said as he landed on the floor and tumbled out of the way of another strike from the bot.
“How does Damithan sound?” He asked himself as he went in for the kill, thrusting his blade through the robot’s torso. A large smile crossed his face but quickly became distorted as the robot had seemed to change shape in front of his eyes. The world around him turned distant, dark, and yellow. The face of a scared little boy with shaggy hair screamed and Damithan swiftly receded, dropping his weapons.
“I-I’m sorry! I didn’t mean-“ Their body shook and suddenly morphed out of control, dropping Damian and Jonathan onto the training arenas floor. Bruce and Clark rushed over to them. Clark gasped as he spoke too quickly for either of them to understand.
“Jonathan what happened?!” Damian asked, slightly upset as he rose to his feet. Jonathan turned around to face Damian with his eyes watering. He let out a sob and sprinted out of the arena.
“Kent, wait!” Damian called out as he chased after the boy, leaving Clark and Bruce in confusion. They exchanged looks.
“We need to speak to them Bruce, this could get out of hand.” Clark said in distress.
Damian ran out of the training room and conveniently found Jon sitting on the stairs leading out with his head in his hands. He slowly approached Jonathan and sat on the step beside him.
“Are you… okay?” Damian hesitantly asked and Jon lifted his head up.
“I… I did something terrible at school and I don’t know what to do.”
“Well, what happened?” He asked. Jonathan looked away for a moment and sighed.
“I beat someone up…” He mumbled. Damian’s face lit up but now probably wasn’t a time to congratulate him.
“That sounds hard to believe.” Damian joked but Jon didn’t find it funny, so Damian tried again. “But tell me what happened.”
Jon took a deep breath.
“Some boy bumped into me in the halls. I know he didn’t mean anything of it but my instincts kicked in and I shoved him onto the floor hard. The tiles cracked Damian…” As Jon spoke he seemed to get more and more upset. Damian had a hard time seeing how that was such a big problem but he hated to see Jon like this.
“It’s not like you meant to hurt him.” He tried to consolidate the boy but that didn’t seem to be working.
“I know how you feel... You hurt someone without meaning to... It’s best to not think about it.” Damian said. That’s what he would do when he had done something he regretted, so maybe it would help Jon with his conflict.
“Sounds like you two have some talking to do.” An unfamiliar voice spoke from above. Jon and Damian looked up to see a man standing at the top of the stairway. The man floated over them and stood in front of the two. His cowl resembled batman’s, but this one was blue and had an opening where his hair showed. His uniform consisted of blue, red, and black, and on his chest was a small “S” symbol with bat wings on the side.
“Father?” Damian asked in a confused tone.
“Dad? Is that you?” Jon tilted his head with curiosity. The man let out a low chuckle.
“Clark and Bruce are here yes. But I would prefer you call me Super….Bat… ugh.” He had seemed to have an internal struggle with saying his own fusion name.
“Just, follow me.”
The two boys and the fusion sat across from each other on the matted floor. Superbat had decided to take them to the judo room. The trip had been fun considering the fact that Superbat had no idea where he was going.
“For fusion to work, there has to be balance.” Superbat began. “If there is imbalance it could cause you to see things that aren’t there, lose touch with reality, and eventually fall apart. That is to say, if one of you is falling apart, your fusion will as well.”
Jon gave Damian an apologetic look, in which Damian shrugged to. Superbat crossed his arms.
“To find balance, you must understand your feelings. To understand your feelings you must see them clearly.” Jon tilted his head in confusion and Damian scoffed. He didn’t ask for a therapy session.
“Now, for this exercise to work, I’m going to need Damithan here.” The two boys nodded and closed their eyes. Damian leaned on Jonathans shoulder and their two bodies began to merge once more. After a few moments Damian and Jon morph into one and Damithan then sits quietly, waiting for Superbat’s next orders. The older fusion set his hands in his lap with the palms facing up and thumbs touching. Damithan mimicked his movement.
“Close your eyes and take a deep breath.” Superbat ordered and the younger fusion did as told. Slowly, Damithan could odly feel something change around his body and he peaked one eye open. The room had seemed to expand in size and it felt like he was looking through a blue tinted lens.
“Here comes a thought.” Superbat opened his eyes and looked to his right. Damithan followed and tried his best to conceal a gasp as he saw Bruce and Clark walking side by side. They had seemed to be having a conversation until a white bat came swooping down, fluttering in their face. Bruce shooed it away and looked annoyed while clark grew angry and swatted at it. As the bat flew away Clark followed it and argued with it, growing angrier. Bruce instead stayed back and began to notice more and more bats swarmed around him. Even as they multiplied he stayed quiet but eventually pulled his cowl back to reveal fear in his eyes. The swarm of bats spiraled above and around him and he crouched down, covering himself.
Still in the air, Clark had gotten even more upset than before and was now screaming at the bat. He let out one final wail and tears started to stream down his face, but even then he was still angry and fighting with the small animal.
Bruce looked up to see Clark upset, and he reached out for him, but bats quickly enveloped his arm and blocked his sight.
Damithan covered his mouth in disbelief. How could this happen to them? He looked back to Superbat for an explanation.
“As you can see they’re losing sight, they’re losing touch. All these little things seem to matter so much, that they lose themselves.” He said as he motioned his hands to Bruce and Clark. Damithan wish he could help. He wanted to do something, but he could feel guilt holding him back.
“But it’s okay.” Super-Bat’s voice interrupted his thoughts. “You know why?” He asked and Damithan shook his head. In response, the older fusion pointed back to Clark and Bruce. At this point they could barely even see Bruce anymore. The bats had almost completely consumed him. The bat that had been bothering Clark had significantly shrunk in size, yet he continued to yell. Until the swarm of bats caught his eye. He looked back to the smaller bat that had been bothering him before, he took a deep breath and let the bat flutter away as he quickly flew to Bruce’s aid. As clark landed, he battled through the huge swarm of bats and grabbed Bruce’s hand.
“They’ve got each other.”
When Bruce saw Clark’s face he pulled him in for a tight hug and Clark hugged back. The bats slowly disintegrated and disappeared and the two heros continued to walk. Damithan sincerely smiled and looked back to Superbat, only to see something out of the corner of his eye. He froze when he saw two boys walking, those two boys being Damian and Jon. Jonathan was walking a few inches in front of Damian, with his hands on the straps of his backpack and his head bowed down. Damian had a concerned look on his face as he trailed behind. Both of the boys looked up as a small bird fluttered in front of them. The bird flapped right in front of Jonathan’s face and Jon could see that its body was somewhat reflective. He looked back to Damian and guilt clouded his eyes. The younger boy crouched down and shut his eyes, trying to stop previous thoughts from growing. As he cringed from his memories, his backpack began to grow and grow until it bursted open with millions of birds flying out. They circled around and merged together, growing into a bird the size of a whale. Both of the boys receded and the monstrous bird sprawled its wings out.
Reflecting off of the bird showed two boys, one being Jonathan and the other being a random child Damian had never seen before. As they approached each other the unfamiliar boy bumped into Jon’s shoulder. It wasn’t a hostile action but Jon’s face dropped and he grabbed the boy’s arm. With his super strength he flipped the boy over his shoulder and slammed him into the tile below. The boy began to cry and Jonathan looked horrified as he ran away from the boy.
The bird flapped its wings and slowly lowered down to Jon who was covering his head while crouching down. Just before the the bird was able to grab him, Damian jumped in with a katana in his hand. The bird combusted into a flock of smaller size. They flew up into the sky in a spiral motion and let the boys be.
As Jonathan stood he saw Damian and grinned. Damian returned the smile and the two boys hugged. They continued to walk, now side by side, and Damithan glanced at Superbat with a large grin.
The next day Jon came running in so fast that the warning alarm barely even caught him. He greeted Damian with a hug and a huge grin on his face.
“Jon. Release me.” Damian growled and lightly pushed Jon back. “Why are you so cheerful today?” He asked as Jon jumped around.
“Damian! I’m ready to train! I’m so glad we got to talk to Superbat! I finally figured out what I needed to do. I talked to Jeff,” Jonathan held up his phone and showed a photo of himself and a boy in a sling smiling. “That’s his name by the way.”
Damian shrugged and set a hand on Jon’s shoulder.
“Nice work Kent.” He congratulated him, and knowing Damian, that was the best Jon was going to get out of him.
“It’s funny, I spent all that time worrying instead of actually doing something! It’s like, I was trying not to think about it, and that just made it worse! Now that I have a clear head, we’ll do so much better as Damithan.”
Bruce came walking into the batcave with Clark and the greeted the boys.
“Are you two ready for another training session?” Bruce asked and Jonathan nodded while setting down his bag. The older heroes began to walk out of the batcave and Jon followed closely behind. Damian began to follow but stopped in his tracks as he saw a small luminous bird. He stared at it for a moment but shook his head and sprinted after the group.
Bruce had brought the two boys to a private training arena. It belonged to the amazonians but Diana had let them use it. The arena was located on the top of their tallest mountain and extended over a deadly ledge.
Two hologram training bots attacked Damithan with weapons in their hands. The fusion blocked one of the strikes and kicked the bot back into the other one.
“Great technique Damithan. Keep it up.” Batman congratulated him.
“Thanks sir.” Damithan grinned and approached the last training bot. He leaped forward and impaled the training bots torso. As soon as the blade went through the world around them shifted into a dark orange tint and the training bot before them morphed into what looked like a human.
“O-oh…” Damithan looked at the human and stuttered in disbelief right before the person bursted into a mass of small birds.
“Oh no… It’s happening again…”
“Who was that?” The fusion asked himself.
“Grandfather--”
“Damian!”
“Oh no it’s coming from me now…”
Damithan dropped and the arena turned back to normal. He looked up to see Clark and Bruce with a very worried look on their faces.
“Damithan! Breathe!” Clark called out.
“You’ve got this.” Bruce said in a calming voice. The young fusion tried his best to smile.
“Y-Yeah... I’m-- I I’m-” He stuttered and felt himself falling. Everything shifted to an orange tint once more and Bruce and Clark disappeared out of sight. Damithan regained his footing and looked up to see a man with a large hole in the middle of his head.
“Ducard… I didn’t mean-- I wasn’t--” The fusion backed away from the man as he grew in size, not saying a word.
Ducard shifted and grew into a different human, this one closely resembling a clown. He curled over the fusion as blood dripped from his face.
“Joker…I- I had no choice!” He gripped the scabbard of his sword and continued to back away. As he closed his eyes, tears began to form and he grimaced.
“I’m sorry-- I shouldn’t be here--” His voice wavered.
“No! It’s okay!” He spoke to himself. “It’s okay to think about it!”
“I thought I could, but it’s so much--” Damithan crouched down.
“I can’t do it!” He shouted and the large figures around him bursted into millions of colorless robins. They shot up into the sky and began to swarm each other. Damithan stood up and backed away from the massive swarm in fear. His face twisted and a tear slid down his cheek as the birds took a final form. A pale face with long straight hair glared down at him. Talia Al Ghul.
“No…” Damithan stumbled backwards, dropping his katana. He continued to back up, tears now streaming down his face
“No no--” He took one last step back and felt the ground give out under him. The strange world disappeared and he tipped over the edge of the training arena.
“Damithan!” He saw Bruce and Clark come to the edge moments before plummeting to the world below, but they had moved too late.
Clark hovered up, about to fly after the boys, but Bruce gripped his leg, stopping him.
“Let them figure it out Clark.” He said sternly and Clark looked back at him in shock.
Damithan turned over and quickly realized he was falling. With a gasp, the fusion dissipated and and out popped Jon and Damian.
“Damian! We’re falling!” Jon shouted “I can’t fly on my own, let’s fuse, we’ll be okay!” He averted his eyes from the ground below to look at Damian. Though instead of Damian looking back, he had his face covered and was curled up into a ball.
“Damian?!”
“I didn’t know any better!” He yelled out with his face still covered. Jon huffed and managed to move himself over to Damian.
“I’m sorry!” Jonathan could see tears fly from his face as he grabbed Damian's body.
“I didn’t even have a choice!” Damian sobbed. This was the first time Jon had seen him so upset.
“I was made to be a weapon! I’ve hurt so many!” His face twisted in anger. Jon gripped onto Damian’s torso tightly.
“It’s okay Damian!” He called out.
“No it’s not!!” Damian screamed and refused to look at Jon.
“But it’s okay to think about it!”
“It feels so bad….!”
“That’s okay too! The old you doesn’t get to decide who you are now.” Jon tried his best to reassure him. Damian finally looked him in the eyes, his own red and filled with sorrow.
“I don’t want to feel this way…” He sounded defeated. Jon grabbed his hands and positioned his body out so that he was face to face with the other boy.
“You have to. You have to be honest about how bad it feels so you can move on.” Jon let a faint smile creep up on his face, “That’s how it was for me.”
Damian continued to look him straight in the eyes, and in the moment of silence, his tears stopped.
“Okay…” He shut his eyes and rested his head on Jon’s. Their bodies glowed and once again formed into Damithan. As they pass through a cloud the horrid world they were once in returns again. A swarm of million birds coiled below and Damithan let out a shout before realizing where he was.
“Ah… Just breathe….” He sighed. He dropped into the flock and cringed as the birds covered his entire body.
Clark walked back and forth on the edge that Jon and Damian fell off of moments ago. His face showed obvious worry and panic. He finally stopped pacing and turned to Bruce who was sitting on the training arenas ground.
“Bruce! They still aren’t back!” He screamed at the man covered in black,”Something terrible has happened I just know it!” Clark’s feet lifted off of the ground and he began to float. Bruce stood and took off his cowl to look him in the eyes.
“You don’t have enough faith in our sons.” He crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. Clark’s face scrunched up and turned a light shade of red.
“I DON’T NEED FAITH! I KNOW JON CAN’T FLY!” He exploded and Bruce let out a small “tt”.
“Keep in mind Damian can’t either, yet he can figure out a solution without losing his head.” Bruce leaned forward and frowned. The tension between the two began to rise and Clark inhaled deeply, about to reply, but a loud THUMP caught his attention. The two men looked to the noise and saw a boy laying face down on the arena.
“Damithan!” Clark yelled out and shot over to the young fusion. He turned him over onto his back and let out a loud sigh when he saw a smile on Damithan’s face.
“Oh thank goodness!” He exclaimed and threw himself back onto the ground next to the fusion. The boy let out a small laugh and glanced over to see Bruce laying on his other side.
All three of them looked up and watched the clouds pass by with a grin. Damithan let out a sigh of relief and slowly shut his eyes, finally feeling at peace.