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Admittedly things could have gone better.
As it was, one thing led to another and now Damian was lying around on the ground, conscious but immobilized by some stupid wizard and forced to listen to these absolute idiots talking about what to do next.
Apparently they had underestimated their opponent but then again, this was Metropolis for God’s sake. Compared to Gotham, Metropolis was a kindergarten, barely dangerous and only a few annoying villains running around.
Which was also why Damian had absolutely no idea, what the Red Hood was doing here! What could a former crime lord from Gotham with an inclination towards bad puns about his own death as a coping mechanism and a few too loose screws possibly want in Metropolis?
Damian didn’t know and wasn’t sure he wanted to.
The wizard was long gone, having used his window of opportunity after he had immobilized Damian and sent Jon into a frenzy by doing so.
Damian wanted to smack Jon for letting the guy get away but he couldn't even roll his eyes, could only move them slightly and with great effort, doomed to stare up into the dark, starless sky for what felt like way too long already.
He had no idea how long his immobility would last for but as soon as he had fallen to the ground (in an ungraceful heap much to his dismay), Jon had started shouting at him about what was going on. When Damian hadn't answered, Jon had taken to poking the life out of him and Damian was sure that Jon’s frantic poking had left bruises in several places. Not all of these places easy to explain.
Of course, immobilized as he was, Damian hadn’t been able to tell Jon that he was fine and simply couldn’t move or talk. Jon however hadn’t calmed down upon being confronted with an 'injured Robin' as he had mumbled frantically to himself and had been at a loss what to do next.
Both their fathers were on a Justice League mission and Jon didn't have any useful contacts to other vigilantes which was why he’d called over the one guy he saw swinging around roof tops just that moment. Not a happy coincidence in Damian's opinion. Or a smart decision from Damian’s point of view.
Now they were looming above him, casting a glance or two down at him from time to time.
"You’re the Red Hood, aren’t you?" Jon asked, still on edge from Damian lying to his feet like a dead fish out of water.
"What the fuck," was the eloquent answer Todd chose to come up with, looking from Jon to Damian and back.
"What'cha kids doin' here?" he asked, apparently very confused, surprise audible despite the voice modifier altering his voice.
"We were patrolling," Jon replied, a little defiant, "but there was this magic guy and now Robin is… like this. I don’t actually now if he’s injured, I don't think he can answer," Jon said in a voice miserable enough to support the puppy-dog eyes he was undoubtedly pulling out right now.
"Can you please help me? I don’t know what to do and Batman and Superman are off world on a mission."
Damian would've liked to smack Jon into the nearest wall for sounding this helpless and pleading. No wonder people treated them like dumb kids, this was exactly why!
Would Damian have been able to glower and move his facial muscles, he'd have glowered the life out of Jon Kent right now.
Jason Todd looked down at Jon one more time before giving a hoarse and ugly short laugh and turning around.
Jon was fast to catch his arm though and from the way Jason was yanked back by it, Jon had used a little bit of super strength.
"What the-!" Jason spun around again, looking Jon up and down before: "Wait, are you Superman’s kid?"
Damian groaned inwardly, feeling the urge to scream upon knowing that his father had once adopted this terrible excuse of a man.
Jon seemed to be with him on that, staring at Jason unbelievingly.
"It took you this long to figure out? You realize, I’m even wearing my dad's "S" on my shirt, right?" Jon said very slowly, motioning to his upper body.
There was silence for a second. "You can get a shirt like that at every Target store, how was I supposed to know that Superman’s son dresses up like every second kid on carnival?" Jason still sounded too dumbfounded by the whole encounter to get angry at Jon for using super strength on him but Damian could hear him getting there.
Jon chose to pout but otherwise gestured back to the ground where Damian was very committed to convey his desire to murder both of them by using the intensity of his gaze.
"Can you help me now, though? You're Damian’s brother right? You’re obligated to help."
Damian couldn't see Todd from his place on the ground but he did hear him sputter.
"I'm his WHAT, now?"
Jon raised an eyebrow at Todd. "His brother?"
Jason flailed his arms about in a gesture of incredulousness that was excessive enough for Damian to see parts of Todd's gloved hands waving around in his peripheral vision.
"Listen kid," Todd said after a few seconds of silence, "I also fucked his mum but that doesn't make me his dad either, does it?”
“Uhm...” “So whatever weird picture you have of our family: Forget it and don’t ever count me in, got it?"
Todd had reverted back to his usual harsh tone, pointing a finger at Jon and stepping closer again.
An uncomfortable silence made Damian wish he could see Jon’s face right now because Todd just had to tell Jon about Talia, didn’t he?
"Umm," Jon finally said again and Damian saw his foot fidget nervously in his field of vision, "so… does this mean, you’ll help?"
If Damian concentrated really hard, he was able to feel the tip of his left pointer finger twitch a little. It did nothing to quench his frustration however.
„How is there nobody supervising you?“ Jason asked at that moment, looking up as if he expected Batman to hide somewhere in the sky. Or maybe he was just praying for his sanity, Damian found it hard to tell. Superboy and Red Hood had chosen to step closer to him, obscuring his view with their faces from time to time to ‚check on him‘ and both had stepped on him at least once while doing so.
Damian was going to murder them.
„We‘re allowed to patrol Metropolis by ourselves,“ Jon replied way too proudly, staring right at Jason with his chin raised.
„Huh. And then why isn’t there any.. backup in case something like this happens?“
Jon didn‘t answer immediately. „We… usually don’t need it.“
At least Jon didn’t tell him that they weren’t supposed to patrol today, Damian thought.
Damian could HEAR Todd rolling his eyes. „Whatever, kid. Just bring him back to the cave, I’m sure he’ll be fine.“
There was another second of silence. „My dad told me not to fly someone when injured if I’m not sure about where the injury is located. Cause that could make the injury worse, you know? If I’m jostling him or something...”
Todd was in Damian’s face again, his red helmet floating only centimeters away from Damian’s nose.
„Demon brat looks fine to me,“ he concluded briskly but Jon shook his head. „But there is blood there, look!“
Damian wasn’t sure what part of his body Jon was pointing at but he didn’t feel any pain. Not really. A little sore maybe but that was nothing out of the ordinary. Slight panic started to well up in him then because if he was bleeding but couldn’t even feel the pain anymore…
„Kid, he scraped his leg, is all. You’re overreacting quite a bit.“ Todd’s tone was dry but Damian didn’t need to see him without the helmet to know that he was grinning like the idiot he was.
Jon didn’t look embarrassed in the slightest but a little less frantic at least. Damian wanted to give him a scrape of his own.
From where he was lying there were at least 34 ways to kill both of them in under five seconds that Damian knew of.
Damian tried twitching his finger again. Todd ACCIDENTALLY stepped on it.
-.-.-
„But then again, hotdogs could be considered sandwiches.“
„A hotdog is not a sandwich though.“
„I’m not saying it is, I’m saying it should BE CONSIDERED one.“
Jon looked thoughtful for a moment. „That doesn’t seem right.“
„Right or wrong is only a jugdement you make based on personal experience that’s relying on what you’ve learned from your surroundings and the people you interact with. IF you’d suceed in freeing yourself from that, you’d have to admit that a hotdog could be considered a sandwich.“
Damian tried to roll his eyes. Hard.
„Did he just roll his eyes?“ Jon asked, his face hovering above Damian, blocking out the grey sky of Metropolis.
„Told you, it wouldn’t last long,“ Todd shrugged, kicking Damian’s leg.
„He still can’t move or he’d have my head for that just now,“ Todd chuckled. Another kick was averted by Jon pushing Jason back. „Why would you kick him?“
„… to see if he still can’t move?“
Jon looked a little put out at that. „Look at him! Of course he still can’t move!“
Jason shrugged again, kicking Damian’s leg away as if it was a football. „Stop kicking him!“ Jon screeched. Damian couldn’t have agreed more. „But it’s fun.“ Jason sounded like a pouting child that didn’t get to open all its presents on Christmas.
„It’s mean,“ Jon corrected. „I can’t believe you’re his brother.“
„Again: I’m really not.“
It took some time to get the words out and he was slurring due to his mouth feeling all stiff and weird but Damian couldn’t have kept still anymore if his life depended on it.
„I’m going to kill both of you.”