Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It had only been one year since Talia al Ghul allowed Damian to be with his father. After being challenged for so many years by his own mother to win their traditional duel, typically done on his birthdays, and after hearing so many times the words that still rang in his head: “Happy Birthday, Damian. You lose.”, the time finally came for Damian to meet his father after he turned 10 years old.

It had been quite a ride since then. Damian met his father, fought alongside Grayson, who became Batman temporarily after his father went missing, and then met Jason Todd and Timothy Drake (whom he had a hard time accepting as brothers at first). After Father came back, Damian had to readjust to being his Robin and no longer Grayson's. It was indeed saddening to see Grayson returning to Bludhaven and leaving Damian all alone with his father. 

He couldn't even count the times he argued with his father. Each time it felt that they were progressing, they would take another step back with their constant disagreements. Father had an irritating tendency to be quite stubborn and treat him like a child, barking orders and assuming he had to do everything alone. Well, Damian wanted to help. He had already left the League just to be with his father, it was unfair how no one seemed to even bother knowing all the sacrifices he had made. If only they knew what it was like to find out that his whole world was nothing but lies. A cult created by Ra's al Ghul.

It hurt. It hurt to discover his beloved grandfather was no hero, but a manipulator who used him as a living weapon. So much for the future Head of the Demon. But Damian wanted to do good now. As much as he agreed with some of Grandfather's ways, he wanted to protect the people of Gotham and do the right thing. Make his father proud. It was just too bad his father failed to understand how incredibly difficult it was to fight against everything he was taught... Being trained to kill to suddenly be thrown into the world of vigilantism, dedicated to saving lives, not ending them, wasn't exactly easy...

No, it was exhausting, to say the least. At the end of the day, Damian just wanted to prove his worth.

“Damian!” A strong, firm voice shouted from a distance, interrupting Damian’s thoughts. How long was Damian staring at nothing, lost in his thoughts? 

“Um, yes?” Damian said, looking to see where the voice was coming from, until he noticed his father standing next to the Batmobile with his arms crossed, staring at him. He didn’t look very pleased.

Damian was sitting down at the bench located at the cave. He just realized that he was tying his shoes while he was dispersed in thoughts due to his father’s long and boring lecture on contingency plans.

“Are you listening?” Batman asked, ready to go, looking upset. Damian yawned.

“Yeah, yeah. Stay close, stay alert if things don’t go according to plan, don’t go the other way unless told to... It’s the same thing every time. Let’s go.” Damian said, getting up and now heading towards the car.

With a sigh, Batman got in the Batmobile, followed by his son, who just finished putting on his mask and was entering the passenger seat. At this point, Bruce knew when it was time to pick his battles and not push for another argument, but he didn’t hide his frustration for his son not caring for what he had to say -- again.

“This is not a game, Damian.” Batman said, serious, as he started the car. “It is important you follow the plan and do exactly as I say. No surprises.”

“I was taught to be stealthy; I know what I’m doing.” replied Damian, with his impatience equaling his father’s. He did not like that his father didn’t trust him. 

“Drop the attitude, Robin. We’ll be arriving a few, Dr. Larson’s office is not too far.” 

As they arrived at their destination, Damian carefully observed the building that they were about to enter. It was an old, two-story office building with brick walls, and the entrance contained two large glass doors that were locked. It was way past business hours and there was no one around, so Batman and his son entered through the window, which was awfully easy to unlatch, there was no concern about leaving a single sign of the office being broken in. There were no alarms either, the place was more of a private practice facility than a busy commercial building anyway.

They were working on a missing case, a man named Michael Larson was missing. The results from the Batcomputer showed that he was a biotechnical genetic engineer whose most recent projects were solely focused on mutation located in meta-humans. He also worked at Luthorcorp for a few months before he relocated to Gotham and was reported missing for 15 days, which made Father furious for not being notified by GCPD sooner regarding the case. 

Damian initially questioned why his father cared so much about a case for a single individual who was probably dead anyway; it made more sense if it was a highly threatening thing to the city as a whole, but just one random science engineer who was most likely dead? Although part of him wondered for what purpose this man’s captors were using him. Genetic engineering and specialization on meta-humans sounded quite concerning now that he thought about it… Perhaps there was an ongoing secret organization involved in meta-human trafficking? Or maybe someone was using Larson to create a new Doomsday. With the way things worked in this city, nothing surprised him anymore. Either way, Damian would not be shocked by what the poor scientist was being used for; his father’s concern with Larson’s disappearance actually made a lot of sense now, and it was slowly starting to worry Damian as well.

Batman went upstairs, Robin following right behind him.

“Stay close, Robin. We don’t know what could jump at us.” Instructed his father.

Damian listened, and both kept climbing the stairs quietly, wary of any potential sound, but there was nothing. They were completely alone. Dr. Larson’s wife informed GCPD that her husband rented this office so he could spend some time working. He was a workaholic and apparently, hours spent at the lab weren’t enough for him, he also enjoyed having some time alone to focus on his research, away from his family.

The GCPD had already checked the office and confiscated everything, but they were no Batman. After climbing the stairs, the duo walked until they found what they were looking for: a door with a sign that read “Michael Larson”. The door was locked, of course, but Batman came prepared. This was an older building, a few decades old, give or take, which meant the doorknob could be easily opened in the event of it being locked by accident. The interior door handle had a small, round hole in the center, so all Batman needed to do was use the wrench he brought with him to open the door, no fancy tech necessary. 

Batman took the hex wrench, and with a simple turn on the handle, the L-shaped piece of metal unlocked the door. The office was very clean and organized. There was an office desk in the center of the room with a computer, a smaller side desk on the left side of the office room with some untouched chemical tubes on it, and a tall, metal filing cabinet in the corner of the room. Batman went straight to the computer, while Robin decided to confiscate the filing cabinet. 

Robin opened the drawers and saw several files, each classified into different categories. There were some general DNA files and miscellaneous folders, Damian skimmed through them and didn’t find anything worth noting. He opened the next drawer, where the folders were classified by dates. He opened the most recent ones and found a bunch of random graphs, and chemistry formulas, nothing useful. But then he found one folder which contained photographs of whales. There were several black-and-white pictures of different types of whales, which made no sense. 

“Larson had a strange obsession with... whales?” noted Robin.

“Mm.” muttered Batman, acknowledging his son, while staring at the computer.

He found several search results pertaining to genetic instruments owned by Luthorcorp. Batman went to his utility belt and grabbed a small hard drive to use on the computer; he decided to put some of those files into the drive so he could study them later more carefully. He then looked up from the computer to see Damian, who was approaching him now.

“Can I see?” Batman held out his hand, and his son handed him the files with the pictures of the whales. “Sperm whales…” Batman murmured.

“Yeah, there’s several of them in the Indian Ocean, I’ve seen them before with my mother.” continued Robin. “Why the whales though?”

“Not sure.” Batman then looked at the window behind him and saw the Bat-Signal in the sky. “We’re done here. Let’s go.”

Batman turned around and handed the files back to Robin, who put them back in the drawer, closed the filing cabinet, and followed his father.

The duo went to meet with Gordon at the roof of GCPD headquarters, as usual. The visit to Larson's office was surprisingly fast and uneventful, which was disappointing. At the rooftop, Gordon was holding a cell phone, looking around his surroundings so he wouldn’t be surprised, but Batman and Robin still managed to appear out of nowhere, making Gordon jump. 

“Will you ever stop with that?” Gordon asked, upset for getting surprised again.

“What happened?” Batman questioned, going straight to the point.

“Larson’s wife, Holly, called. She received a cryptic text, but at the end of it had the letters GG, she swears it’s from her husband. She told me her nickname from college was Gigi, and only her husband called her that. I tried to trace the number, but it led me nowhere, it probably came from a burner phone. It has SOS in there, so it must definitely be her husband asking for help.”

Without being asked, Gordon handed the cell phone to Batman to inspect, Robin was on his tiptoes to see what was on the text message. There was nothing but a bunch of undecipherable words typed on top of each other as if it was a big scam, but toward the end of the message, as Holly had explained, it truly had noticeable capital letters typed:

"GG, SOS.”

Batman didn’t say anything, but Damian noticed something alarming: the phone number wasn’t any local number; it had an Arabic dialing code. Even though he never needed to own a phone at the League of Assassins, he recognized the code. Whoever the captor was, one thing was certain: Larson was not in Gotham.

“Got any ideas?” asked Gordon, after waiting a long pause from Batman who kept staring at the phone.

“Probably just a scam.”  Batman replied while handing the phone back to the commissioner. Gordon sighed.

“If you want to solve this on your own, go for it. But just keep me in the loop, okay? We gotta do our job too.” Gordon requested, knowing full well that Batman probably figured something out from that text, but didn’t want to share at this time.

“Will do.” Batman said, Gordon then closed his eyes while yawning and when he finished his yawn, he noticed he was alone again. 

“Damn it, he did it again.” Gordon stated to himself.

In the Batmobile, Robin broke the silence:

“Father, that number had the Arabic dialing code.”

“I noticed.”

“You don’t think it was just a scam message, do you?

“No”. Batman answered, with his eyes focused on the road while driving. 

“Why the cryptic message? Larson could’ve texted something better than just SOS towards the end.”

“Not sure."

“And the Sperm Whales…” Damian moved his hand to his chin, thinking “They’re not too far away from the Red Sea. But if Larson is using whales for his experiment, it could be from different oceans also.”

“I have a feeling Larson is in the Middle East.” responded Batman, simply. Even though Damian was leaning towards that same presumption, he was often admired by his father’s quick thinking.

“And he’s probably doing experiments with mutations against his will. Perhaps he’s involved in a meta-human kidnapping?” Damian decided to share his theories with his father.

“There are no cases of meta-humans missing. Yet. Let’s go home and get some rest.”

Damian nodded and straightened up his seat. Who was behind the kidnapping of the science engineer?

Even though he was feeling tired, Damian couldn’t help but wonder. And as expected, his father worried for nothing earlier on the patrol. They didn't get into any fights this time, but this night still surely brought a lot of questions. It was unfortunate they had to go home already instead of investigating further, but it was getting late, and Damian started feeling his body getting tired as well. 

Damian changed his clothes, went to his room, and lay on his bed. He was staring at the ceiling as he was wondering about the case.

What was Larson going through? What did his captors want? Were there any meta-humans at risk? What did Larson's captors use him for during these past 15 days?

The young boy continued to think to himself until his mind was filled with questions and surrendered to sleep.  

Chapter Text

Damian woke up early. Even though he slept a little late, he felt well rested; after all, the night before, while intriguing, was pretty uneventful. He was used to fighting crooks and criminals in the middle of the night and was accustomed to feeling the adrenaline course through his veins. He remembered the earlier days with his father, where he fought and practiced until exhaustion so he would keep his killing instincts in check. It was beyond difficult to control his urges to kill still, especially when he had to deal with disgusting scumbags, but he was getting better.

Father taught him a mantra that helped him “Justice, not vengeance. ” He was getting a little more patient as time went on and no longer felt the necessity to kill to prove he was worthy. His father was not like his grandfather, quite the opposite, actually.

After doing his customary morning workout, Damian went to the kitchen, where he saw Alfred with breakfast ready.

“Good morning, Master Damian.” Greeted Alfred, putting a plate with bacon and eggs on the table.

“Hello, Pennyworth.” Damian said, as he grabbed a strip of bacon. While eating, he noticed his father coming to join them on the table.

“Morning, Alfred.” Greeted Bruce, while sending out an email on his phone.

“Good morning, Master Bruce. Busy day today?” 

“As always.” Bruce responded. He then furrowed his brows as he looked at his phone. 

“What happened, father?” Asked Damian, curious.

“Last minute meeting at work. Gotta go.”

“Ok, I’ll proceed with our analysis on Larson's case." Damian stated.

“Not until you finish your homework.” Bruce said, firmly.

“I don’t need to do homework!” 

“Yes, you do. Besides, Alfred won’t let you go on patrol with me if you don’t give heed to him.” 

“We already went through this, I don’t need to be homeschooled! I already know everything!” Justified Damian, angry.

“Good luck, Alfred.” Bruce Wayne said, with a quick smirk, to which Alfred did not approve of.

“Have a good day, sir.” Alfred said, watching Bruce leave the kitchen, leaving his half eaten food behind. He then turned to Damian “And as for you, Master Damian-- I do not recall you turning in your political science assignment that was due yesterday. Another delay and that will equate to three days of no patrol.”

“UGH, this is a waste of time!” Damian complained, loudly, while raising his arms in the air.

“Should I add one more day of no patrol, then? You know your father is in agreement with the rules stipulated by me.”

“Of course he is.” Muttered Damian, as he left his chair to go grab his notebook. Alfred smiled.

---

On his way to work, Bruce called Clark through the car while he was driving. He heard Clark speak energetically, yet concerned:

“Hey, Bruce! Calling me early on in the morning… Is everything okay?”

“I need you to do me a favor. Check Luthorlabs for me today, see if you can find if there's anything missing or stolen.”

“Oh, wow, sure thing!” Clark said, while making himself a coffee at work, his co-workers were not paying attention to him, but he decided to speak a little quieter “So what happened? Who stole what at Luthor's lab?

“That’s what I’m trying to find out.” Bruce replied, simply, not wanting to provide any additional information. He disliked requesting assistance, specially for his investigations, but he knew Clark could quickly do a research while Bruce was busy with his tedious work meetings he had to attend to. 

“Hm. Ok. Hey, I gained tickets from work to the football game that’s happening next week, do you want to come with--”

“Later, Clark” and Bruce hung out just like that. Clark was a little disappointed at his friend, though not surprised. 

Later, after finishing an important meeting with the stakeholders of Wayne Enterprises, Bruce directed himself to his office and sat down. There was so much work for him to do, he barely knew where he should start. He then started looking up some of the reports from the economics department, until he received a call, which Bruce responded to, but put the phone on speaker while he was reading the reports. 

“Mr. Wayne?” Asked the receptionist on the phone.

“Yes?”

“Um, there’s someone here for you.”

“If someone wants to see me, they need to make an appointment, I’m sorry--” 

“Oh yes, of course, I know this, Mr. Wayne, but this lady is very persistent... She’s a government employee and said she has to see you.”

“Who is it?”

“Her name is Amanda Waller, sir.”

Bruce paused. What did Waller want now? He then responded with a sigh “Bring her in.”

After a few minutes, Amanda Waller opened his door without knocking.

“I’m surprised you went through the receptionist this time.” Bruce Wayne said. His face was serious as he stared at the heavy set woman standing in front of him. She did not look pleased.

“Decided to go with a simpler way this time.” Waller responded.

“What do you want?” Bruce asked, not in the mood for small talk. 

“Rough morning, huh? I know what that’s like, you wake up and suddenly everything falls apart and you’re left to fix everything. And I know you understand, you’re a fixer like me.”

“Cut to the chase, Waller.” 

“A joy to speak to as ever!" Waller joked sarcastically with her obviously fake smile "Oh well, I’ll be quick. I need you to do a little favor for me." Waller walked closer to Bruce and started whispering. "Someone stole something that belongs to A.R.G.U.S. I need it back.”

Bruce frowned.

“I’m not your errand boy, Waller.”

“Yeah, but do you really want everyone to know about your secret life? You know I can easily announce your identity at any given time, right?”

“Don’t you have your Suicide Squad to amend your wishes?”

“They’re too messy. They never do what I say and it always ends up in chaos. I need someone who can get the job done, grab what I need, and be back. Plain and simple.”

“And what is the missing item?”

“Our Mirakuru serum cases are gone. I don’t know who managed to steal an entire case with the serums without setting our alarms, but they’re good. Just not as good as me because I made sure to place a tracker on the cases." Waller then handed Bruce a GPS device. "Here's the coordinates."

Bruce analyzed the GPS and identified three missing Mirakuru cases located in more than one country, but what caught his attention the most was how there was a red dot indicating that one of the cases was located in the Arabian Peninsula. The other two cases were also in the Middle Eastern area.

“Mirakuru is illegal, Waller. Does the government approve of this?” 

“The government approves many things that are none of your business.”

“Another secret you’re keeping from them. What makes you think I won’t destroy the cases when I take possession of them?”

“You love your city too much and it’ll be damn difficult to help the police if they’re hunting you after your identity is revealed. And I’m sure you don’t want to lose your job; No one will respect you if I open my mouth. So one hand washes the other, sounds like a deal?”

“Hn.”

“Goodbye, Bruce. I expect the cases to be back to me by no later than tomorrow.”

--

Back at the Manor, after finishing all the homeschool assignments against his will, Damian went to the cave and decided to use the Bat computer to study more about Larson’s case while he was still waiting for his father. He did several searches but there was nothing new, except for an interrogation video that Gordon sent to his father that he was completely unaware of.

In the video, Gordon was talking to Holly Larson, the geneticist’s wife:

“When was the last time you heard from your husband, Holly?” Gordon asked on the recorded, black and white, interrogation video. 

“I-- I don’t remember.”

“You said he's been missing for 15 days. Did he send you any text messages, anything?”

Holly was still quiet, so Gordon encouraged her to talk by asking more questions. 

“Do you remember the last place you saw him before he went missing?

“No... And I didn’t get any message from him…”

Holly looked apprehensive, Damian noticed how she was nervously gripping her knees.

“Mrs. Larson, I need you to help me here. What happened on the first night he didn’t come back home?”

Damian carefully observed Holly’s facial expressions and body language, she was clearly not wanting to speak the truth, but she answered Gordon’s question:

“... I-- It hasn’t been 15 days.”

“Come again?”

“I haven't heard from him in months…”

“Excuse me?” Gordon was shocked.

“I don’t see Mikey very often.” Holly immediately justified, desperately trying to explain herself “He always travels for work for weeks-on-end, and he never calls me because he’s so damn busy with his job."

"Mrs Larson... I need you to be completely honest with me. How many months has he been missing?"

"I don't even know, okay?!" She was getting louder now, exasperated. "Look, Mikey is always traveling. If he's not traveling for work, he's at his stupid private office he spends a fortune renting, I never see him! We got to a point where we were barely even roommates, and I'm left to fend for myself with our children!"

Holly looked very distraught. "But he does come home. One day he told me he was going away for a while, I thought he was meaning he wanted to separate... So I didn't care. I didn't bother calling him or being called. I even blocked his number actually, I was so mad. But after a whole month went by and he didn't bother messaging me back or even emailing, nothing, I got real mad. I left him hundreds of messages and was ignored each time. This kept going on for so long... When two months went by without hearing a word from him, that's when I got worried." 

"Two months?" Gordon was appalled. How can a spouse take so long to realize there was something wrong from not hearing back from her husband, even if their marriage was at odds?

"I know, I'm terrible. I was so convinced he wanted to live a new life far away from me that I didn't bother calling the police sooner. At first I wanted to return the silent treatment, I'm really good at that, I wanted to ignore him too... But now I realize I took too late to report to the police." Holly paused, her eyes were watery. "I should've done something sooner!" Holly started sobbing.

"And you tried contacting his friends, correct?

"I called my mother in law, Mikey's friends, everybody, not one soul has heard from him. I don't know how many days exactly he disappeared, which days he was on an actual work trip or was kidnapped, I don't know. I'm so sorry." Holly covered her face with her hands and continued to cry.

Gordon just kept staring at her, studying her body language to identify if she was lying the whole time. Noticing Gordon didn't react much to her crying, Holly looked up, and stared back at the Commissioner, looking defeated. 

"I know what you're thinking. You're guessing I'm a suspect or an accomplice or something for his disappearance, but I'm not. I miss Mikey. I want my husband back. Even if he wasn't that present anyways. I want him to at least have the decency to face me before we put an end to our marriage."

Gordon sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Ok, so you only figured something was wrong after two months, no one has heard from him and he completely disappeared. The last thing you remember him telling you is that he was going to be gone on another business trip."

"Y-yes." Holly answered, still crying. Her eyes were red, Damian could tell even with the recorded video being black and white. She was looking down as she muttered to herself, pinching her knees harder now. "I waited too long... too long..."

Gordon tried to comfort her. "You called us in the end. You did the right thing." 

Suddenly, that sent Holly to the edge. She was shouting now.

"Who waits this long to report to the police about her missing husband? What kind of a wife am I? I was proud, that's what I was!"

“Mrs Larson…” Gordon started, afraid of what was going to come next. “You mentioned Michael would go on several work trips, but before I scheduled this meeting with you, I made absolutely sure I investigated all the places he used to go to. His files showed his recent job was at GC Labs--"

"Yes, that's where he works." - Mrs Larson interrupted.

"Yes... I went to GC Labs and interviewed Michael's direct managers, supervisors and HR Director... They all reported that your husband quit that job a year ago… Are you aware of this? Do you know what his most recent job is? This will certainly help us with our investigation.”

The whole video had no color, but somehow Damian could tell Holly went pale. She immediately stopped crying and looked shocked.

“WHAT? HE WASN’T WORKING?”

“Mrs. Larson, I need you to calm down--”

“What do you mean he quit GC Labs?? What about his constant business trips?”

“Mrs. Larson… GC Labs showed me Michael’s attendance history, they never sent him on a business trip, his work was always done in the lab… Here in Gotham. Are you sure you are not keeping something from me?”

Holly looked like she was going to explode. She stood up from her chair and was infuriated.

“Oh, you think that I did something to Michael?" Holly shouted sarcastically, as she pointed her hands to her chest. "I want my lawyer now. How dare he, that bastard lied to me! He wasn't even traveling for work--! You can stop with the investigation for all I care, he probably ran away with some whore he found on the street, business trip my ass--”

“Mrs. Larson, calm down--”

VROOM.

Suddenly, Damian heard a sound coming from behind him, it was the sound of a car engine. His father was coming home.

Batman arrived and as he opened the door of his Batmobile, he encountered a very angry young man, who turned the chair to him with his arms crossed, as if he, Bruce Wayne, was the one in trouble. A quick thought came to him wondering what upset his son this time; Bruce also couldn't help but think that it was slightly adorable how his youngest acted as if he was a parent sometimes. 

“When were you going to show me the video Gordon sent you?” Damian questioned his father. 

Ah. So that's what this drama was all about, Bruce thought.

“It would’ve been nice to know that we’re working on a case of an extremely secretive person, you know?" Damian continued "And his wife is either a liar and knows about Larson’s whereabouts, or is just a plain moron who cannot even tell how long her husband has been gone!”

“You watched the video. Good.” Batman replied “Now, come with me, we’re going to Yemen.”

"Hey, I'm not done! You never told me Larson went missing for two months, probably more even! This was crucial information that you should've shared!"

"Are you coming or not?" Bruce asked, changing the subject.

He did NOT need to give satisfaction to his son about what he discussed with Gordon. Heck, Bruce even talked to Holly and other colleagues of Larson without his son. The only reason he was taking him to patrol was that Damian would not stop pestering. Oftentimes he wondered how Dick had so much patience.

“Tt. You avoiding the conversation is not appreciated, by the way." Damian responded, grabbing his utility belt and heading to the jet, following his father. "Care to tell me why we're going to Yemen? And do you think the wife knows where Larson is? Maybe she killed her husband and that cryptic text was fake."

“I don’t trust Holly Larson but I’m not too concerned about her. I don't think Larson is dead, and his wife would not have been the one behind his disappearance. I’ve already interrogated her and carefully studied her, the way she was moving and talking. She may sound like a perfect suspect, but she was telling the truth. Gordon also showed me the messages and emails from Michael lying to his wife about his business trips. I don’t think she’s behind any of this.”

“You’ve interrogated her already? How many more things do you do without my knowledge?” Asked Damian, perplexed he wasn’t 100% involved in the investigation with his father. His father was wearing a cowl, but Damian could feel him rolling his eyes on him.

Damian sat on the front seat of the jet now, next to his father. His father was still quiet, riding his jet carefully, Damian murmured another “Tt.”

“Why Yemen, father? Does it have anything to do with the Arabic dialing code?”

“Not exactly. Amanda Waller came to me today, someone stole Mirakuru cases from A.R.G.U.S, but each case has a GPS in it and they’re located in different countries. We’re going to the one located in Yemen first.”

“And it’s our problem, how? Why are we helping A.R.G.U.S?”

“I’m curious to see who’s behind the stealing, and being in Yemen will at least help us get a jump start on our search to find Larson.”

“Hm.” Damian murmured.

“There’s one more thing” Batman said, Damian was all ears. “Clark Kent messaged me, a highly advanced genome machine was stolen from Luthorcorp 60 days ago.”

“Same amount of time Larson has been missing.” Damian observed. “Whoever is using Larson has every intention of experimenting with genetic mutation. We need to find the person responsible for this, father.” 

“We will, son. We will.”

7 hours later: Yemen. 

After having taken a quick rest, Batman and Robin arrived in Yemen at last. The GPS that Waller gave to Bruce pointed to an abandoned energy power plant location, so that’s where they were headed. Before leaving the jet, they put on a special metal suit to protect them from potential radiation. 

It was late at night and everything was extremely quiet. Batman was able to connect the GPS to his lenses, so Damian knew he just needed to keep following his father to find the Mirakuru cases. They started walking around the power plant carefully, both of them searching their surroundings. If anything unexpected jumped at them, they’d be ready. 

They kept walking, neither of them saying a single word. There were large power plants spread around that location. It was awfully quiet. Of course, it was, the place was abandoned, and none of the plants were working. But there was something so unnerving in the atmosphere. Damian could feel his heart pumping faster the moment he saw two disfigured, headless individuals, with their bodies naked and completely obliterated, filled with old blood, lying on the floor next to a plant. 

“What... are they?” Damian finally spoke.

“They look like... failed experiments…” Father answered.

The two walked in silence for a little bit, until Damian asked:

“So you think the same person who stole Mirakuru also stole Luthor’s genome machine?”

“Highly possible. Stay alert.” Batman said, as he was going up a small set of stairs leading up to a giant vat. 

The vat wreaked. The smell was making Damian and Bruce nauseous, there was definitely something dead in there. Batman finished climbing the stairs first and whispered:

“My God…”

Damian reached his father and to his surprise, he saw what seemed to be sewage water spread around the vat and in the center there were several gigantic whales, defecated. 

“Sperm Whales…” Damian thought out loud. 

Batman searched the place, walking around the sewage water. Damian continued standing where he was and asked:

“Is the Mirakuru near this vat?” 

“No, I just wanted to search here first. The case containing the Mirakuru is downstairs. I saw a door on my right, it should be inside.” Batman responded, walking around. 

It was disgusting. The dirty sewage water, the smell, the ribs sticking out of the dissected whales, along with the dead liver and kidneys from the whales…  There was something so wrong about that place. As much as Damian wanted to inspect the location with his father, he simply couldn't. He was feeling uneasy in his stomach, and if he stayed there any longer, he’d certainly throw up everything he ate that day. How his father was still walking around without feeling slightly queasy, Damian would never know. Without notifying his father, who was examining the whales up close now, Damian simply went downstairs to grab the Mirakuru. 

Meanwhile, Batman was getting inside the whale now, he was very thankful to be wearing the metal suit. Whoever stole the Mirakuru also kidnapped Larson, everything was matching. Bruce knew he was lucky to have the GPS for the Mirakuru, it made his investigation much easier, but he was worried.

“Robin, I need you to stay close. I’m trying to understand the experiments that were done on the whale-- Robin, are you listening?” Batman asked, looking around.
“Damn it.” Bruce thought to himself as he looked behind him and saw that his son was no longer there. He knew he shouldn’t have assumed that Damian would still be following him, especially after telling him where the Mirakuru was.

“Robin, get back here.” Batman started to leave the whale, and then he heard an agonizing scream coming from the whale’s belly.

“AAHHHH” 

It was a trap. Bruce knew it was, but he had to see what that scream was. He got deeper inside the dead whale and to his surprise, he saw a young boy, who was sitting in a fetal position, crying, while holding his head as if he had the worst migraine. The boy was probably in his early teens, his hair was dark like Bruce's, but not much could be seen in facial features due to the kid's face being buried in his arms, while he was starting to sob. The young boy then peeked to see who was there and the moment he looked at Batman, he started crying uncontrollably, it looked like he was going to have a panic attack.

“PLEASE DON’T HURT ME!” The kid cried. The poor kid looked awful, frail hair, and his face was completely disfigured, with the left side of his cheek being droopy and the right side of entire face looking so disproportionate, it was hard to tell if he was actually a human being. Despite his face looking like he was maybe an alien from a very strange planet, Bruce could tell the kid had emerald collared eyes, but his eyes were also so red, indicating he had been crying for some time.

“Shh, it’s okay.” Batman said, kneeling down so he could face the kid and make eye contact. “I’m not going to hurt you, I promise.” The kid sniffed and continued to cry. "What happened to you?” 

“Make the tests stop. Make them stop!” the kid begged.

“What tests? Who did this to you?”

The kid then made eye contact with Batman, as if he had recognized him, and suddenly, the kid froze. He stopped crying and looked completely alarmed as if his heart stopped beating for a second. He then came close to Batman and said, creepily:

“They’re coming…”

“Who’s coming?”

“They’re coming… You’re too late.” 

And suddenly, the kid's head started to hurt again, as if his head was going to...
explode.

Chapter Text

Having left his father behind with that terrible odor coming from the whale's corpses, Damian climbed downstairs to head towards the room where the Mirakuru case was placed. His father could take care of himself, he was going to be fine. Besides, finding the case meant they could leave that unpleasant power plant, which was still making Damian feel uncomfortable for some reason. 

It was hard to point out what exactly was making him feel so disturbed about that place. It was almost as if whatever happened to those whales was starting to feel... personal? Damian shook his head. He was being delirious, that's all. Luckily, the sick feeling in his stomach was starting to dissipate now, which was good. It would've been embarrassing to throw up on a mission right in front of his father, a sign of weakness that he would never allow anyone to ever witness.

After having walked for a little bit, Damian found the door he was looking for. He looked around and inspected the floor; no signs of traps so far. He opened the door slowly, which caused an unnecessarily loud creek. He tried to see what was inside, but the room was completely dark. Damian grabbed his flashlight from his belt, and lit up the area with his small, yet bright, flashlight. He could see dirty, metal shelves full of junk, cords, and wires everywhere... There were also documents on the floor, along with several miscellaneous lab equipment parts that were left on the floor. Damian carefully looked around him, using his flashlight as a guide, and was walking slowly until he stepped on a small test tube. He was being careful with his steps, so he was able to react fast enough to not smash the tube. Flashlight at hand, he could see the tube was completely empty, save for a small couple of drops of green liquid located in the bottom of the tube.

The Mirakuru case was there. He took a few steps forward, and his flashlight revealed a military green briefcase, made of bulletproof polypropylene compound, with a label that read "A.R.G.U.S".

Bingo.

Damian kneeled down, approached the case, and then unclasped the latches, just to find the briefcase completely empty, to his dismay. Not even empty test tubes were left inside. Investigating further, the boy continued to search around, and he stopped after seeing a small piece of equipment that looked like a micromanipulator. He reached for the equipment to study it further, but--

AAAHHHHHHH

Damian jumped from that agonizing scream that pierced his ears. The sound was coming from above, it sounded like a child was dying, or being tortured, at least. He knew his father was up there, but what if he was in danger too? He had to leave. As much as he wanted to find out what else was hiding in that mysterious room, he needed to go help his father. Grabbing the briefcase tightly, the boy turned around to get ready to walk away as fast as he could, but an unexpected sound made him paralyzed for a brief moment. 

CREEK...

The same annoyingly loud noise came from the door when Damian entered the room cautiously, but this time followed by another sound of a door closing very quietly.

Great.

Someone came in and he wasn’t alone anymore; he got caught. Damian turned around with his flashlight but didn’t see anything.

“Show yourself. I’m not afraid of you.” Demanded Damian, with one hand carrying the briefcase and the other his flashlight. He wasn't holding a Batarang with him, but it wasn't necessary. He didn't need weapons; he was one.

Nothing happened. The boy headed towards the door but saw nothing, so he turned around and kept searching until he could see who was there, using his flashlight to brighten the area in different directions. Walking stealthily while breathing quietly, he took a left turn in the room and the flashlight revealed several thick wires on the floor and... was that smoke? Damian took another step forward, holding his breath without even noticing; his heart was palpitating fast now. He knew he was being watched, but by whom? He turned around one more time, and the hair on the back of his neck stood up while chills ran down his spine.

The mysterious figure was standing right behind him.

The figure who was now standing in front of Damian was tall, large in stature, and was dressed in a similar costume as Batman’s, but instead of white lenses, he had a red visor instead. His mask did not reveal any portion of his face, his covered masked head had a hood, and he wore creepy-looking gloves, where his fingers looked like claws. He was also wearing a belt with small pockets across his chest, he looked like a terrorist, almost. 

"Who are you?" Damian asked, determined.

"You will know me."  The strange figure said, his creepy muffled voice was echoey in that small room. 

Damian looked at the figure closely, and then noticed he was wearing a jetpack and was about to depart. 

“HEY! STAY WHERE YOU ARE” Robin shouted, jumping on the large man's back and wrapping his arms around his neck. He was still holding the briefcase, but the flashlight was long gone. 

"I am called. I must obey." The mysterious person stated, flying away now, completely ignoring the kid. 

“What are you?” At this point, Damian was already up in the air, holding the man's neck tightly so he wouldn't lose his balance. 

“For now you can call me Fatherless. But I told you, you will know me--" Fatherless said in an irritated tone this time, grabbing Damian by the head. "Just not… yet.”

And with that, Fatherless threw Damian as hard as he could toward one of the vats. But thankfully, Damian landed on one of the dead whales, his metal suit taking most of the hit. 

He stood up from the fall and the smell was agonizing- it was absolutely disgusting. If he wasn’t close to throwing up earlier, he surely was now, with his metal suit completely filled with whale's guts and old blood. He reeked. He looked to his side to see the briefcase that he dropped during his fall and he went there to grab it.

As he walked away from the whale, brushing off some of the leftover carcass tissues that were on his shoulders, he jumped the moment he noticed there was someone standing right in front of him: it was his father.

“Where were you?” Batman asked in a firm tone of voice.

“I heard the scream, are you okay? What happened?” Robin replied, worried.

“I gave orders, Robin. This is not a game.”

“And I found the Mirakuru briefcase, alright?" Damian said, while lifting the briefcase to emphasize his point. "There are no serums inside though, they've already been used. The briefcase was exactly where the GPS was signaling to. So, did you find anything?”

“There was a kid inside the whale, he had been experimented on. He kept telling me someone was coming, but wouldn't tell me who. I tried to calm him down to get him to answer me, but he started screaming. I originally thought he was going to explode, he started pulling his hair in agony, and then his body completely disintegrated before my eyes. There was nothing left for me to run a DNA test with." Batman stated, frustrated with himself. "I should have grabbed a strand of his hair while he was still alive.”

“I found someone too. His name is Fatherless, he was dressed like you, but… with a Middle Eastern look, if you will. He ended up leaving with his jetpack, after throwing me into this disgusting whale.”

“That was dangerous, Robin. I told you to follow exactly what I say.”

“Do you want to see the room where I found the briefcase from A.R.G.U.S or not? I didn't have time to investigate further, perhaps we'll find something important." Damian redirected the conversation. Batman didn’t say anything and proceeded to go to the room that Damian was in.

They both went in the room together, but there was no light switch. Like his son, Batman reached for a flashlight from his belt and started looking around.

"You should've installed a night vision in this thing." Damian complained pointing to his helmet, Batman ignored. Those suits were only worn in rare occasions, and at the time, Lucius Fox did not think to manufacture that feature.

Batman inspected the entire room, he also noticed the micromanipulator equipment on the metal shelf. As they walked further, he saw a dusted, old table that had a mid-sized transcriptomics machine, which contained four empty test tubes, along with a computer that was turned off. The room was a clear indication that genomics testing had taken place there and the Mirakuru serums were used, probably to enhance the powers of whatever person they were testing on. Since his son saw someone in the room, he imagined that Fatherless was a result of their testing. Batman came closer to the table, studying every corner, everything he could possibly notice until he looked at the floor and found more wires... He followed the wires until he realized the end of the wire indicated a small-looking chip with a red button on it; it was an explosive that had a countdown with four minutes left. 

"We need to leave. NOW!" Batman warned, Robin was alarmed also after finding the explosive.

The two ran as fast as they could to be as far away from that entire power plant as possible, but at least have enough distance from the room they were in. As they reached a distance of six feet from the facility, the entire compound exploded. Their metal suits protected them from the blow, but they were far enough to be safe anyway. 

With that, Batman and Robin headed out to return to the jet they flew in. 

Somewhere else...

Michael Larson was tied to a chair, crying while Fatherless stood still, right in front of him, guarding a door near him that was closed.
A beautiful, dark-haired woman was also standing there, grabbing him by the hair with such force that gave her easy access to hold her gun against the man's throat.

“The Dark Knight was spotted in Yemen. That facility has been compromised." She was awfully close to him and was whispering in his ear now, with her gun still against his throat. "Any idea why, Larson?”

“N-no, I don’t know, I didn’t do anything, I swear” cried Larson. His brown hair was frail and the lines on his face were longer than usual.

“I also noticed a phone in your lab earlier today…” The lady said, lowering her gun. She reached for her pocket and held the burner phone she had found. Larson didn’t dare to move. Watching Fatherless secure the room while holding his machine gun was also sending a chill in his spine, his face was cold from all the sweat.

“What is this weird looking message? Rubbish, rubbish, rubbish… GG, SOS?! A SOS, Larson, really? Is GG a person, is that what you meant with that?”

Michael looked pale, he knew he was caught on his last resort to cry for help without being noticed. The woman standing in front of him simply laughed.

“Thought you were being clever with your scammy text, huh? Michael, Michael, Michael… We’ve been working together for so long now! Why do you want to betray me like that?”

“You’re turning my life work’s dream into a nightmare, this is getting out of control!”

The mysterious woman furrowed her brows and raised her voice.

"Since when do you disagree with me?" She gave a deep breath and readjusted her composure. "Michael, sweetheart. There's nothing wrong with what we're doing."

"It's too far." Larson shook his head. "It's getting too far. I never agreed to this." The geneticist wasn't quite sure where he was getting that courage from and why he was being so stupid for opening his mouth. 

She looked really angry now and walked to Larson, leaning her gun under his chin again.

“I should kill you right now. Try to play me one more time, and you’re done for. I won’t even use my gun on you, I’ll just slit your throat slowly instead, got that?”

Larson was sweating, he was pale as a ghost. The beautiful woman left and walked towards the door, where the large figure dressed similarly to Batman was standing, holding his machine gun. She turned to him before leaving:

“Now, let’s go, my darling” Fatherless did not respond but obeyed her. Before she left the room, the woman gave one last glance at Larson, who looked pathetic sitting on his chair, shaking. “Last warning, Larson. Try anything like this again, or even dare to complain about my plan, and it’s over for you.”

Bruce was still driving the jet in silence near his son, who was sitting right next to him. Damian couldn't tell where his father was flying to, but probably just to a safer place. While the silence continued to persist, he decided to start talking:

"It's obvious that bio-experiments were being made, and the whales were being used as some sort of... host, maybe? And while we didn't find the genome machine stolen from Luthorcorp, I think it's safe to say it's all connected. Doesn't take a genius to figure that one out--"

"Damian, do you know why I brought you here?” Bruce interrupted, catching Damian off guard.

“Why?”

“Because I want you to know that I trust you." Bruce looked at his son's emerald eyes before looking back to the front view of his jet. "At least I'm trying, anyway. But you keep breaking that trust every time you don’t listen to me. What if something had happened to you? I didn’t tell Talia to have you stay with me so I could take you on dangerous missions with me, this is not the life I want for you--”

“So you don’t think I’m capable of completing missions successfully?”

“Damian, that is not what I’m saying at all--"

“Interesting how you insist on taking my skills for granted. Perhaps you’d like to know the bug I managed to plant when I ‘ disobeyed orders ’ ”. Damian said, doing the quotation marks with his hands in the air. He always took it personal when his father underestimated him.

Bruce looked at his son, without knowing what to say.

--

After a while, Bruce landed his jet in a sketchy-looking warehouse located in Yemen. He and his son were not wearing their expensive suits anymore, since they were no longer in a radiated location, just their normal uniforms. The two entered the warehouse, following the coordinates that came from Damian's tracker.

“Why is it always at a warehouse?” Damian asked, but his father remained quiet.

After inspecting the abandoned warehouse, it was clear they were completely alone. The tracker, however, kept showing a red dot in a specific spot inside the warehouse, so they walked toward that area. There was nothing there.

Damian didn’t say anything, but kept thinking to himself “Where is he?”

And then, a large figure emerged from the shadows and attacked Batman from behind with a headlock. Batman hit the large man's ribs by using his elbow; he could feel the strange-looking figure losing his grip just slightly, but giving Batman enough time to spin around and punch the man in the throat, followed by another punch to his jaw. What would’ve knocked down any normal person did not even do a single damage to that man, he only gave a few steps backward and looked furious. Batman and Robin were able to get a closer look, and the creature looked disgusting, he was definitely mutated. The man had gray skin, he was bald, with a very disproportionate face and muscles, and his entire body looked deteriorated.

“Who are you?” Asked Robin, who was throwing his explosive ‘Robin’ shaped ninja stars against him. The explosives hit right near the man’s eyes, making the creature back off, groaning in anger while holding his head, with his eyes closed.

“Is that who you saw, Robin?” Batman asked, also throwing an explosive batarang against the man.

“No.”

The man looked even angrier now and started advancing on them, ready to attack them both, but Damian was asking a question in Arabic now, which took the creature by surprise, making him stop:

” أين اليتيم?” “Where is Fatherless?”

The large man stared at Damian’s face, his eyes widened, and then pointed at Batman. Damian looked back at his father, confused, but the monster-looking being spoke for the first time:

"يجب أن يموت رجل مصاص دماء"  “Vampire Man... Must die.”

Both Bruce and Damian knew Arabic, so they understood, but were a little confused, though Damian quickly informed his father:

“He thinks you’re Fatherless!”

Before Damian could barely finish his sentence, the creature went for Batman’s neck to choke him, but Damian was faster and threw a Batarang on the creature’s shoulder in enough time for the attack to be stopped for a moment. Batman took the opportunity the creature was distracted for a second and spoke in Arabic also, saying:

“I am not Fatherless. We’re not here to hurt you. Who did this to you?” The creature removed the Batarang from his shoulder and started walking slowly towards Batman, still looking angry.

“Did Fatherless hurt you?” Batman asked while slowly walking backwards to distance himself.

“You… Vampire Man--” The creature started, but Damian interrupted him, standing in front of the strange being with his arms spread out as that was going to protect his father, somehow.

“He’s not who you think he is. We’re here to help. What did Fatherless do to you?”

“Vampire Man… Killed everyone… My companions… YOU MUST DIE TOO!”

He attacked again, and both Batman and his son dodged. The monster then grabbed a dusty, broken forklift that was near him and threw it at Batman, who thankfully got out of the way in time.

“We’re not your enemy!” Batman shouted, while signaling Robin to attack from the left, as he noticed there was a blind spot there.

“All men are enemies of Traktir!” The figure, named Traktir, shouted, but before he grabbed another lift truck, Robin threw another ninja star which hit the man's pelvic area. He didn't seem to be hurt by that, but he started to shout in anger.

Batman then took over and threw an explosive near Traktir’s temple, which made him fall to the ground. Traktir tried to get up but stopped midway, and started to rub his own head instead, yelping in pain.

“Maybe hitting him on the temple was too much? “ Damian asked, looking at his father.

“He’s going to be okay, he can take the hits.” Batman responded. He came closer to Traktir and kneeled down to make eye contact with him while he was still yelping.

“Traktir, we’re after Fatherless as well. We will bring you justice for what he’s done to you. But I need you to tell us what happened to you. Were you genetically mutated?” Batman asked.

Traktir was holding his head even tighter, he kept crying in pain, but nodded as response to Batman's question.

“We’re not on Fatherless' side." Batman repeated. "Tell us what he did to you."

Traktir was very distressed at this point, he almost looked… desperate.

“H-he killed… Everyone…”

“What were they trying to do to you?” Batman asked.

“I am next…” It was all Traktir could muster, he was still furiously rubbing his temples.

“What do you mean, you’re next?” Damian asked him, confused.

“They’ll come after you too…”

“Traktir, were there more victims who were tested? We want to save them." Batman assured him.

Traktir started to not but he started having tears in his eyes, he was screaming now.

“LEAVE! LEAVE!” Traktir yelled.

“Traktir--” Batman started.

“My-- my head!” Traktir was shouting. Damian was alarmed by that and was already looking at the exit, but his father was still asking questions.

“Traktir, I need you to tell me where I can find Fatherless or the organization behind this--”

“They put something in my head--”

“He's going to explode!" Robin shouted, Batman did not move.

“Who else is involved in this?” Batman asked.

“Save Kollectiv…” The creature said, the pain was getting worse now.

“Who's Kollectiv?” Batman asked.

“They took a boat to Djibouti… Tell Nightrunner I sent you there…” Traktir mustered to say, before he went back to screaming again, he closed his eyes tight, as if he was trying to fight the pain. Traktir started having a brain aneurysm.

“Batman, we have to go!” - shouted Damian in a hurry, Batman immediately got up and ran alongside his son.

Within minutes, Traktir’s head exploded, destroying a good portion of the facility, along with himself.

Batman and Robin got back to the jet. Damian sat down and felt defeated.

“Damn. Fatherless found the tracker and took us here as a ruse.” Damian said, looking at the window, upset. He was angry with himself. The one time he was able to finally impress his father with his tactical skills after "not obeying orders”, things had to go wrong. What a waste of time.

“We need to get some rest. Let’s get some sleep while we can. In the morning we’re going to Djibouti.”

“But where in Djibouti? And who’s Nightrunner?” 

“I know him. His name is Bilal Alsselah, he lost his best friend tragically after they were caught in the middle of a protest. His friend was killed by a police officer after he set fire to their station. Upon hearing of his friend’s death, Bilal decided to become a symbol that could make a difference for what’s right and just.”

“Soo he’s basically Batman with police issues, got it. Do you know where he lives? ” Damian asked, indifferently. Bruce was often surprised with how nonchalant and cold hearted his son tended to be at times.

“He travels around the world quite often but resides in France. I don’t know what he’s doing in Djibouti and how he got himself involved in the middle of all this.”

“How come you know so much about him?”

“I met him before when I was on a mission in France with the Justice League. I compiled information from him and looked at his background, where he came from, and his capabilities.” Bruce looked briefly at his son, who was staring back at him attentively. As if he could read his mind, he answered the question his son had: “He doesn’t have any powers, but he’s very skilled at combat.”

“Can he be trusted?” 

“He is not a bad guy, if that’s what you’re wondering. He means well and has done some good work in Paris. But no, we cannot trust anyone.” Confirmed Batman, simply.

With that, both of them went to the luxurious beds located in the back of the Batwing to get some rest. They needed to get as much rest as they could, as tomorrow would be another eventful day.

Chapter Text

Damian was woken up early by his father, who was calling for him, while gently tapping his shoulders for him to wake up. He was asked to change into civilian clothes before leaving, so he changed into a casual outfit; a military-green shirt, black jeans, and sneakers would suffice. His father has already dressed in his navy blue buttoned-up shirt, black pants, and formal shoes. No matter where Father went, he always seemed to be dressed up for work.

The jet came down to the ground in stealth mode and landed in a completely deserted area. It couldn't be later than 4:00 am, not much could be seen amongst that pitch-black darkness, but thankfully there was nothing around to accidentally step on or collide with since they were standing on a desert plain land in the middle of nowhere. He watched his father press something from his highly advanced watch, which was connected to the jet settings. It looked like he was setting the jet on autopilot so it would fly above radar, undetectable, and then land in a more secure area, where there would be no prying eyes.

They walked for a little while in silence, and Damian kept wondering how they would get into the city since there was practically no easily accessible transportation where they were at. As if his father was reading his mind, he stated:

"There's a private airport not too far away from here, we just need to walk for a little bit longer." 

Damian nodded, before realizing his father would most likely not even notice his gesture because it was so dark, and they continued walking.

He was used to working alongside his father late at night. There were even times when patrol ended much later than what father expected, not that he minded, although Pennyworth was never happy when they arrived so late back home, it was rather odd to be outside at that time wearing civilian clothes. It was almost as if their true identities were stripped away from them, Damian didn't like that feeling. That also got him thinking of when it was the last time he went out with his father, he couldn't remember when. With Grayson, sure, they went out plenty of times, always against Damian's will, of course, though going to the arcade on Friday afternoons before patrols were never... unpleasant. 

It was not bad, after all, going on missions next to his--brother. After so much uncertainty and so many questions regarding what his destiny was meant to be, Grayson was always there to offer a smile, as simple as it was. Grayson was given so many reasons to despise and dismiss his younger brother, yet he still gave Damian a chance by demonstrating admirable patience and determination. Working with someone so oddly cheerful, yet tactical, who made his burdens more at ease, was completely foreign to Damian, but satisfying at the same time. How ironic that after complaining for so long about how his father was gone and that he was not working with the "true" Batman, he wished his older brother was wearing the mantle right now. Not that he did not enjoy being next to his father... He liked working with him, but there was a need to prove to him that he was worthy, his father needed to see he could be just as tactful and skilled as he is.

They wouldn't even be in Djibouti right now if Damian hadn't planted the tracker on Fatherless and then gotten the lead from Traktir anyway. His father needed him on this mission. And he would not stop proving that to him.

"There," Father said, nodding towards the airport.

Have they arrived already? How long had Damian been wondering about absolutely nothing? He needed to stop with that, it was becoming a bad habit now. What kind of ninja assassin gets so easily distracted and lost in thoughts to barely notice a large facility right in front of him? His mother was right, he was getting soft. He knew he couldn't afford to spend less time training and sharpening his skills, despite what Grayson and Pennyworth suggested. Tt. And to think for even a fraction of a second they could be right, fools.

The private airport was significantly smaller than the main international airport near the big city. It was still dark and slightly chilly, but the sun was going to rise soon. The airport was open and Bruce walked in with such authority, not intimidated at all by anyone he would encounter at the staff. Damian was intrigued by how everything would play out since guests are not even allowed to enter a private airport. Before they could enter, one security guard was by the entrance, he was wearing a blue shirt and a worn-off, dusty black jacket, not even a suit. His shoes were also worn off and the poor airport security employee looked very tired, he had large bags under his eyes. Nonetheless, he did not look happy and was immediately asking Bruce for his membership information. Bruce calmly explained to him that he was not a member yet, but he came to Djibouti for a business matter, and he was only there to request taxi services, nothing else.

"My sincere apologies, I got lost in the middle of the desert and stumbled across this airport, I understand it's private. I do not mean to disturb anyone, I just need a taxi for me and my son." Bruce said to the man, in Arabic.

"Doesn't matter." The security guard replied. "You can't use our taxis, they're reserved specifically for members! You can't just show up unannounced and expect to use the Taxi service provided to us!"

While the guard was talking, he kept nervously adjusting his old jacket to prevent it from showing the collar of his blue, buttoned-up shirt. A sign of insecurity, perhaps?

Bruce remained still, and Damian watched the security guard raise his tone of voice to his father, demanding him to leave. The guard then stepped forward, facing Bruce closer, with a frown on his face. Not shaken by that one bit, Bruce gave a friendly smile and asked, charmingly.

"It's going to be a pretty hot day today," Bruce looked up to the sky. "it'll be hard to have to wear that jacket all day long, don't you think?"

The man was completely caught by surprise. Damian was too, he was wondering where his father was going with this.

"What does that have to do with anything? You can't use our Taxi. Leave. Go find a bus somewhere."

"I noticed there was a little hole right there on your collar." Bruce pointed to the man's collar, the guard instantly looked down at his own shirt, feeling self-conscious. 

"I... We're not allowed to wear anything with holes." The man then justified, nervously. 

"Oh, I understand. The economy doesn't help either, right?" Bruce asked in a friendly manner, he noticed the man's shoulders tensed up a bit, though.

"No... Too expensive..." The guard looked away for a second, then gave a quick look at Damian. His face was saddened, suddenly.

"You have a son too?" Bruce asked, picking up on his cues.

"Yes... He has Tuberculosis, he's at the hospital right now. I gotta provide for my son, can't afford to spend money on clothes when my son is at the hospital, but I can't lose my job because of my clothing--"

Bruce gave a compassionate smile.

"Tell you what," Bruce started saying, reaching for his wallet. "Take some of this, go get yourself some new clothes for work, and go help your boy. If your son is not at a good hospital, let's make sure you take him to a good one, okay? " Bruce said as he handed the man the largest amount of money he had ever seen in his life. His eyes were brightened, he felt like he had won the lottery. He looked back at Bruce in disbelief, without even knowing what to say.

"Thank you! Thank you!" The man cried out. "No one has ever done something like this for me, how could I ever show you my gratitude--?" 

Bruce didn't say anything and just waited until the security guard realized the obvious answer to his question. Having regained his composure, the guard happily walked them to the way where there were several Taxis.

"Here, you can use any one of them! Hope you have a great stay in Djibouti city!"

"Thank you, my friend!" Bruce said back, waving.

Damian stood still, quietly pretty much the whole time, feeling rather impressed at his father's ability to act so charismatically. His father probably just spent too much time with Grayson. 

His father spoke to one of the Taxi drivers and asked him to take them to the city downtown. Damian sat in silence in the backseat next to his father, who was now paying close attention to the driver. He was probably studying the driver's mannerisms and way of talking, something he typically did with anyone he encountered, but his father was interrupted by a phone call. 

From his father’s answers, it was obvious that Pennyworth was calling. He heard his father's sigh a few times, nod, and even muster a sarcastic “Yes, sir”. His father also reassured Pennyworth that everything was okay. When he hung up, Bruce noticed his son looking right at him. Bruce gave a faint smile.

“It was Alfred. He wants to make sure we’re eating, so that’s exactly what we’ll do.” 

The taxi driver took them to Djibouti city, where there were several restaurants nearby. Bruce handed a significant amount of money for the ride, and talked to the driver in French, as he noticed the driver had a French accent when he spoke earlier:

“Sorry I don’t have franc with me. Hope this will suffice”. 

The man had a huge smile on his face and immediately got out of his cab to go thank him. He was shaking Bruce’s hand frantically, responding:

“Merci, merci beaucoup, qu'Allah bénisse soit en vous!”

Thank you, thank you so much, may Allah’s blessing be with you

The man drove off as happy as he could be. Damian observed the car leaving and then turned to his father.

“You know you don’t need to give a tip that high, right?”

“So, where do you want to eat? Do you have a favorite dish?” Bruce asked, changing the subject. Damian disliked when his father did that.

The young boy shrugged his shoulders. 

“I don’t care. I’m adaptable.” 

“Ok, let’s go to that one in the corner then," Bruce put one hand on his son's shoulder and with the other hand he was pointing to the restaurant "let’s see what they have.”

Bruce and Damian walked towards the restaurant where there was a menu on the outside. Everything seemed to be very local with typical food in that area, so they decided to go with that restaurant. Luckily for them, it wasn’t too crowded, but that was probably because it was still morning.

Once they were seated, Bruce and his son told the waiter what they wanted to eat. Damian was still pretty quiet, his father noticed, and was just observing his surroundings. Bruce couldn’t help but wonder what it must have been like for his son to be raised his whole life in the Middle East. Of course Bruce knew a lot of the culture and language, but it is so different than being raised in another country, especially being so secluded from society. 

Bruce never wanted this for his son. The thought of his old lover, Talia, ever subjecting their son to all the atrocities committed by the League of Assassins made his blood boil. Sure, he wasn't innocent either when it came to child safety, but he never wished this crusader life for any of his kids. He never wanted anyone to be involved with all of his endeavors as Batman. This journey of his was something he chose, he made the vow to his parents, and no one else. But all the boys persisted too much... Dick, Jason, Tim, and now Damian. Bruce wasn't proud of himself for giving in so easily with each one of his kids, despite having provided all the training and preparation before letting them help. He just wanted everyone to have a normal life.

As hectic as this investigation has been, and as much as he wished his son to just live a normal life and be safe at the manor, it felt nice to at least have a little break from the insanity and simply eat with his son. He asked himself when was the last time he even sat down with Damian since he got back “from the dead”, and was ashamed to realize that it had been far too long; Bruce had been too busy taking care of Gotham. He knew Dick got closer to Damian, for which he was so grateful, but also, deep down, a little jealous too. Dick could always negotiate or approach Damian so effectively, while he was still struggling to get to know his son. 

After noticing he had spent too much time lost in thoughts, Bruce broke the silence finally.“So, do you miss Arabic cuisine?”

Damian turned to his father, he was previously staring at the window but then looked down at the table when he responded. “...Yes.”

“What’s your favorite meal?” Bruce asked, interested. 

It was odd knowing so little about your son. There was so much he knew about Damian but also too many things were kept from him because of Talia. For months he’s been trying to get closer to his son, and only recently his youngest started to become less guarded and defensive around him. Damian looked up at the ceiling, trying to think.

“Too many to choose. I had the greatest cooks preparing meals for me; Mother and grandfather ensured that I had the finest food with the greatest nutrients to be at my utmost physique. But I enjoy Za’atar sandwiches.”

Damian paused, remembering additional favorite meals, then said, “...I like ox blood soup as well.”

“Ox blood soup, huh?” Bruce crossed his arms while giving a quick smile.

Damian responded with a simple nod and a fake smile that quickly faded. He considered telling his father how his mother prepared the soup for him, and how that held a special place in his heart for being one of the few things that were prepared by the hands of his mother, rather than a servant like he was used to. But he didn’t want to get sentimental and preferred to keep that private memory to himself. 

Damian noticed he was staring down at the table a little too long, leaving a little bit of awkward silence, but his father didn’t seem to be bothered at all. He was still… smiling. Which was odd. However, his father’s smile then fainted and was replaced by a sad look on his face. 

“Do you miss your old home?” His father asked, concerned. As much as he hated what his son had to go through, that was still a big part of his boy's life, and Talia was still his mother.

From Damian's reaction, it seemed that was the first time anyone ever asked him that. In the time he had spent in Gotham, there was always so much going on. First, he met his father, who then later disappeared, so he teamed up with Grayson, then he met the rest of the family, such as Todd, Drake, Gordon, Stephanie Brown… There had been so much commotion that no one ever took the time to even think to ask Damian that question.

Damian did not know how to respond. Should he be honest? Would his father be disappointed to hear the truth? Would his father assume that he’s a lost cause because there were aspects of his upbringing that brought him a certain sense of pride and even… a level of happiness, even if it was misplaced? He decided to just go with a vague answer instead.

“...I suppose. I miss the weather. Gotham can be too gloomy for my taste sometimes.”

Thankfully, after what seemed to be an eternity, the waiter returned with their meals, so his father stopped all the unnecessary interrogation. 

They started eating, and Damian asked, “So how are we going to find Nightrunner? Ironically, his code name has literally the word “runner” in it. It may not be an easy task to catch him.” 

“I know where he is,” Bruce answered and then grabbed another bite from his plate. 

Damian was perplexed. He knew his father was exceptional and the greatest detective there was, something he aspired to become one day as well to be worthy of the mantle, but less than a day ago, his father didn’t even know where Nightrunner was! 

“How?”  Damian asked, intrigued. He wanted to learn everything he could from his father to become just as good as him one day.

“Waller gave me the coordinates,” Bruce replied calmly. 

Damian was not impressed. Amanda Waller? Really? Not even an investigation is done.
Boring. 

“Why would she give you his location?” Damian asked. From what he had seen on the files, he knew that Waller was not cooperative without having something that will greatly benefit her in return.

“I told her that Nightrunner knows all about the stolen Mirakuru’s cases, so I needed his location to get information from him. She bought it.”

“And here I thought you were the world's greatest detective” toyed Damian, crossing his arms while giving a quick smirk.

“Informants are part of the job. Besides, we don’t have much time to waste.”

After they finished their meal, Bruce told Damian the plan for where they would be meeting Nightrunner. They were going to wait till after the sunset, then walk in the desert until it was safe enough to get the Batjet to come to their location without anyone seeing them, so they could leave and head out to the other city.  

They were going to meet Nightrunner that night no matter what. 

Chapter Text

It was late in the evening when Batman and Robin arrived at their final destination: Balbala. 

The deserted land looked very abandoned, saved for a few makeshift homes located in the area. It was sad. The decaying town was the home of extremely poor, primitively built houses made of sheets, metal zinc, mud, or cardboard boxes. To think that families were living in each one of those homes with walls made of mere boxes was heart-wrenching. There was nothing around the makeshift houses, no buildings could be found, and they were far from the roads leading to the city. It was technically a safe place to hide, all things considered. Still, no human should be subjected to living in such conditions, using whatever material to form a shelter and live in such detrimental conditions. 

Amongst the makeshift houses in the abandoned town, they presumed Nightrunner to be found in the mud house, which was located right in the middle of the other homeless shelters. It was the only makeshift house in the area that looked spacious enough to fit more people, and Nightrunner was not going to be alone. It was a tall mud house with one window in the front, covered by a piece of wood and plastic, instead of glass. From the outside looking in, not much could be seen, except for a light that was on and someone inside was moving, it looked like a small child. There was a brown door in the entrance and an electrical wire towards the roof of the mud house, which would explain the electricity coming from the inside. 

In the dark, a completely masked man wearing a gray shirt with sleeves rolled up, black pants, combat boots, and black leather fingerless gloves was walking towards the mud house. It was Nightrunner. He was distracted by the small paper bag he was carrying, and he was opening the door while still looking down at his bag. Strangely, however, he had the odd sensation of being watched, so he looked around to ensure he was alone. There was no one there, so he turned the front door wide open and walked in until he felt a presence coming from behind that sent a chill down his spine. He spun around and, to his surprise, Batman and Robin were standing right behind him. He jumped, dropping his bag on the floor, some pieces of bread and apples rolled out of the bag as they hit the ground. 

"SACRE BLEU!" Nightrunner shouted, completely shocked. "Batman?! What in the world are you doing here?”

"I need to talk to you, Bilal. It's a serious matter."

"Tu m'as presque donné une crise cardiaque!"
You almost gave me a heart attack! Nightrunner couldn't help but speak in his native tongue, hands resting on his heart as he was trying to regain some air after the shock. 

Robin shrugged his shoulders defensively “But we didn’t even break in this time!” 

Batman ignored him and then turned to Nighrunner. “Traktir sent me to come to find you.” 

"Wait, what--Traktir?!" Nightrunner still looked confused, not knowing what to do.

Robin stared at the food that was dropped and picked up the bag, along with the apples and bread that fell, and handed it back to Nightrunner, who took the bag in return and thanked the boy. 

"It's late. Come in, come in." Nightrunner finally said, waving for the two to get inside. 

If the house from the outside looked precarious, the inside was even worse. It was awful. One sad, pathetic, light bulb was hanging in the ceiling, illuminating a mud house filled with nothing but ugly, dirty walls. On the floor there was a small black plastic bag tied with a knot, probably filled with trash, and there were also some plastic baskets near the kitchen stacked on top of each other, which Damian assumed were being used to wash clothes or something similar.

What seemed to be the kitchen area had nothing but two sad-looking white shelves containing some junk, another black plastic bag of trash, a couple of empty, unwrapped plastic with food crumbs inside, and a few supplies that were stacked. Near the shelves, there was also a small brown countertop, but it looked more like a box than an actual kitchen countertop. The house from the inside was indeed spacious, compared to the couple of tents that Damian saw outside, but despite the space, there wasn't a living room area or bedrooms; everything was all connected with no furniture inside, just a few sleeping bags across the room. 

There were children inside that house, 8 to be exact. They were all Arabic children and they looked extremely sorrowful and traumatized by something. Most of them seemed to be Damian's age, if not even younger. Only a couple of them looked like older teenagers. When they all got inside, the kids gasped. Two little girls started crying, while a couple of teenagers stood up in front of them as a way to defend them, but Nightrunner quickly explained himself to calm them down.

"Guys, it's okay. Batman is with me, you're all safe here, okay? I promise."  Nightrunner said in Arabic to the kids, gesturing with his hands to calm the kids down. 

"But he looks just like him!" One of the girls cried out, pointing at Batman with her hand shaking.

Robin turned to his father and mentioned, while pointing with his thumb to the girl who was crying, "They think you're Fatherless again."
Damian was remembering how aggressive Traktir was after seeing Batman.

"I noticed..." Batman replied with an annoyed tone. Surely causing fear to the enemies has always been his goal, but mistaking him for a potential terrorist that probably traumatized all these children was not someone he wanted to be associated with.  

"Everyone, it's okay. Batman is my friend! He's here to help!" Nightrunner said to comfort the kids.

The kids recomposed themselves but they still kept a distance. Batman, Nightrunner, and Robin were standing by the door, while the rest of the kids were closer to each other, standing next to the window. A few of the kids decided to sit down and lean their backs against the wall as the adults started talking. Nightrunner threw the bag to one of the teenagers, who grabbed it in the air and then happily shared all the food inside with the rest of the kids, handing the bread rolls to each one of them.

"Bilal, who is Kollectiv?" Batman asked. 

"Yes, yes, I'll explain everything. Just tell me... What happened to Traktir? Did he... make it?" There was concern in his voice, Damian could tell. 

The whole room got suddenly quiet, the kids were anxiously waiting for the answer, feeling apprehensive. Batman hated to be in that position and he just hoped that his body language would be enough to give Bilal an answer. He then shook his head. 

"Oh," Nightrunner said. Even with his face completely covered by his mask, he looked completely shocked, and his whole demeanor changed. His body just froze and he stared at the floor, not knowing what to say.

Damian heard one of the girls crying at the unfortunate news. A teenage boy jumped to the conversation, shouting: 

"NO! Not Traktir! That can't be!" 

The boy looked like he was 14 years old. He had short brown hair and brown eyes. Like the rest of the kids, he looked very dirty, his clothes were in extremely poor condition with holes in his brown shirt and tan pants, and there were also some scrapes on his face. It looked like he hadn't showered in days. Damian kept wondering what kind of horror these kids must have gone through to look so terrible on their appearance.

"Sorry, he's dead. His head exploded in front of us." Robin explained, not understanding why his father didn't flat-out say it out loud. He noticed his father glaring at him.  

The kids started sobbing now, while the teenage boy, who seemed to be the leader of the little group, was shaking.

"Those BASTARDS!" He shouted, his hands clenched into fists. "We'll make them pay!" 

Batman had to interrupt, there was no time for him to wait for Bilal to calm down the crying children once more, he needed answers. It was upsetting how cold his son could be at moments like these, he didn't need the situation to get worse. 

"Listen, we don't have much time. I need to know exactly what is going on. How did you get in the middle of all this? Who is Kollectiv?"

"I... wow," Nightrunner said, removing his mask slowly. He was just a young 25-year-old French citizen of Algerian origin. Bilal was still holding his mask, looking down, fighting back some tears. He looked devastated.

Noticing Bilal was still incapable of answering, the young brunette boy stepped forward and spoke up confidently:

"We're Kollectiv." There was a determination in his voice, despite looking pretty beat up. "We all ran away from those pervasive experiments they were doing on us. They did terrible things and used us as guinea pigs, but thankfully, the Nightrunner saved us before it was too late for us."

“Your faces don’t look disfigured,” observed Robin. Everyone there looked normal, nothing like the grotesque figure that Traktir was. Batman stared at him one more time, that was another thing his son should’ve kept to himself.

"It's because I saved them just in time," Bilal answered, finally looking up to explain.

"Save them from who?" Robin asked.

"We don't know who their exact leader is, but they call themselves Leviathan. They have been capturing children, using them as test subjects to turn the victims into genetically engineered super soldiers. I was only able to rescue them,” Bilal pointed to the group of children standing in the corner of the mud house. “But there’s so many more who need to be rescued. I didn’t have time, so I had to hurry and get them to the first boat I could find to get away from the testing facility as soon as possible. This abandoned mud house is only temporary, we need to find a secure location first before they find us.”

Batman frowned. “Were you also captured?” 

“No, but they made the mistake of kidnapping my sister. She was married to Traktir, they were both living in Yemen and had plans of moving to France, to be near me and my parents. But Traktir was offered a new job as a security guard, so they stayed in Yemen. It turned out the job was nothing Traktir had imagined, he was hired to guard a facility where they were running the mutation experiments on these poor kids. Traktir found out what they were doing, but it was too late; he got caught. They told him they’d take my sister as punishment for what he witnessed. Desperate, my brother-in-law reached out to me and told me what happened. He gave me the location of his work so I could save my little sister, but I got there too late."

Bilal clenched his hands into fists. “They murdered my sister. I couldn't find Traktir at first, but I managed to get inside the building without the guards seeing me. I kept looking for him until I found him with these kids."

“Where were these experiments taking place?” Batman asked.

“They probably changed facilities by now since it’s been compromised after they saw me, but I’ll give you the address.”   

“I met Bilal’s sister…” A young girl spoke up. She couldn't be older than 11 years old, Damian's age. Her skin was tan and her wavy dark hair was tied with a braid, her eyes were brown. “They experimented on her too, but her body didn’t react well to the added mutation on her body. Her skin… it looked like it was melting right before my eyes.” She finished, looking terrified from the disturbing memory.

Robin turned to the rest of the group, the so-called 'Kollectiv'. “And what happened to all of you?”

“We were failed experiments as well, but nothing happened to our skin." The same girl spoke, "Leviathan was trying to turn us into metahumans, but it didn’t work on us, so they were going to kill us instead.” She said, her voice shaking and she looked so scared. “Um- My name is Jameela, by the way."

Kidnapping random children to turn them into meta-human soldiers? Now, that was unexpected. Damian imagined meta-humans were being taken and experimented on, not mere humans like himself. And judging from that girl’s age and everyone else with her… Damian was a perfect target himself, which felt a little off-putting, to say the least. 

“Was there anyone else in there who was already a meta? And how many people have been taken?” Robin turned to Jameela for an answer, but the same boy who spoke earlier answered instead.

"Not that we know of. From our knowledge, none of us had powers, otherwise, we would have kicked our captor's asses a long time ago. We all came from the same trafficking ring before we were sold to Leviathan."

So that's how Leviathan got a hold of these kids. The things they must have gone through... suffering years of physical and probably sexual abuse to then be sold to a strange group of people to be tested on and then turned into soldiers. Damian knew a thing or two about being used as a weapon and being a child soldier from birth, but he was at least raised with some dignity, trained to be the best and one day take his grandfather's mantle honorably. 

Jameela then continued, "Yes, Leviathan took us from the trafficking ring and we were taken to these strange labs and we were told to just stand there and be quiet... They injected so many things into us, those who were successfully altered and gained meta-human powers did not stay in the same room with us. With Leviathan, they either kill you for being a failed test, or they keep injecting excruciatingly painful things into you until you produce some results for them. It was awful.” Jameela's eyes were watery now, and Damian felt bad for her.

“Ekram here, along with everyone else, went through so much.” Bilal stated, pointing to the young brunette who looked like the "leader" of his group. “I’m proud of you kids for fighting so much and getting this far.” 

“That’s why we’re Kollectiv!” Ekram said with pride, hitting his hand on his chest. He seemed to be the only one who showed any amount of hope and confidence. Damian assumed that he was probably the one who came up with the name. “Leviathan saw us as failed experiments, but we're better than that! We won't let Traktir down, he was our inspiring leader and we're gonna make him proud too!" 

Traktir, an inspiring leader? There was no way a large creature shouting ‘Die, vampire man!’ was inspiring, let alone an intellectual leader, even. Sure, he was Nightrunner’s brother-in-law, but that didn’t mean much. 

“When we encountered Traktir, he wasn’t exactly saying full sentences properly,” Robin said, searching for an answer.

“Yes… That was after an inhumane amount of tests were done on him…” Jameela explained. “They injected him with too many different blood and genetic samples, he could barely take it.”

Damian took a second to stare at everyone in that house, studying their body posture, their clothes that looked too baggy for their skinny, starved bodies; their skins full of dirt and scrapes, their eyes filled with pain, all unfairly staying in an uncomfortably small house built on sand. He genuinely felt sorry for them. These children went through a trauma even he couldn’t relate to.

Sometimes he forgot how fortunate he was for being raised in an empire, being treated with the utmost respect, despite the intensive training and overbearing expectations placed on him, and then moving to a billion-dollar mansion on his father’s side. Seeing them all here, observing all the poverty and inhumane living conditions that so many people had to subject themselves to... it was not fair. He definitely took his upbringing for granted after witnessing the different reality he and the kids had.

“Hm…” Batman rubbed his chin and then turned to the group of refugees. “What did they look like, the people doing these things to you all?”

“Like ninjas,” Ekram answered, all the other kids were still very quiet, but they always looked up to Ekram as their voice of reason. “They all wore masks covering their mouths and forehead, were dressed in black and all of them had guns.”

Ninjas with guns certainly meant they were not part of the League of Assassins, Batman thought to himself, but still not a suspect to be so easily eliminated from the list of people he had already been thinking of who could be behind the Leviathan movement. 

Ekram proceeded to explain a few things more about Leviathan, how they were dressed, the things they did and said, how the labs looked like, and Damian was listening attentively. But suddenly, a familiar voice whispered in his ear, making him completely freeze. 

"Thank you, brother." The voice said, Damian's eyes were dilated, and he felt a sudden chill being sent to his spine. His heart started palpitating fast, and he could barely focus, but he looked around frantically, searching for something, anything, and then he saw:

There was a red dot aimed at Jameela's chest, who was standing right in front of him. And that's when Damian knew:

Jameela was going to be shot. 

Chapter Text

His heart was pounding, blood rushing through Damian’s veins to the tip of his fingers, his pulse coming in hot waves. His chest felt tightened as if his airways were being constricted, and his muscles tensed. There was not much time to react. Jameela was still listening to her friend explain what happened to them in further detail, completely clueless to the red dot aimed at her chest that was coming from most likely a sniper from outside the window. 

She was going to die.

Without a second thought, Damian jumped and threw himself against Jameela.

“ WATCH OUT!” Robin yelled as he tackled the girl to the ground.

A bullet came from the window and pierced Robin's cape in the process, but no one was hit. Damian could breathe a little better now that he kept the sniper from meeting his mark, but the small hole on his cape could only mean that whoever was shooting was also carrying armor-piercing rounds, which was not a good thing. His cape shouldn't even be easy to pierce in the first place and if that was a little damaged, they had no chance to even attempt to survive by staying in that poor and frail mud house. 

They had to leave now. 

Damian and Jameela both lifted their heads and looked out the window but they instinctively dove back to the ground to the sound of what felt like millions of bullets coming from every direction; bullets pierced both sides of the walls, the kitchen cabinets were shredded, and one of the gunshots even hit the trash bag sitting on the shelf, which made junk fly all over the pathetic looking kitchen. Damian watched his father and Nightrunner immediately move away from the door and reach for the kids to make them duck just in time.

Two kids who were standing against the wall barely had time to react; the bullets punched their way into their heads and necks, causing a gaping hole in its wake that quickly filled with blood that gushed out. They fell to the ground with a pool of blood forming around their bodies.

Sheer panic filled with horrifying screams invaded the room. Most of the children were crouching down in fear with their eyes tightly shut and heads lowered, while others were aimlessly walking across the room, not knowing what to do. A 9-year-old girl completely froze in terror, and one of the older teenagers noticed she was standing close to the window. Afraid she might die, he rushed to grab her hand and bring her down to the floor with him, but a shot came precisely from that same window the instant the young man touched the girl's hand. They were both hit in the head and chest.

There was blood splattered all across the room. 

Ekram screamed at the top of his lungs as he witnessed his best friend die right in front of him. Batman was next to him, protecting him and the other kids with his cape, but he knew he couldn't rely too much on that after seeing what happened to his son's bulletproof cape. 

More gunshots came, and no one knew where else to hide in that horrible, small house.

Nightrunner looked around and pointed towards the small kitchen countertop. “Over there!” He shouted, signaling the kids to follow him so they could hide underneath the countertops.

The kids carefully crawled as fast as they could, and Nightrunner stood up to ensure they would not run the risk of being shot, but a lacerating, burning pain invaded him. He groaned in pain as he noticed something wasn't right with his left shoulder; he got shot. 

Everything happened too fast. Whatever was left of the poor excuse of a window was long gone now, the door covered with bullet holes, the kitchen cabinets completely destroyed, and blood spilled across the floor with the children’s dead bodies laying there. 

The shooting kept on coming, and Damian didn't know how long he was going to be holding Jameela down against the floor. There was no other way, they were completely ambushed and helpless. They were all going to die.

Damian noticed his father quickly reaching for something from his utility belt... a sonic ray device, meant to produce an excruciating sound that any human who heard the noise would be crippled with pain. His father had a plan.

“Cover your ears,” Batman instructed, and he clicked the button. 

A noise as painful as Black Canary’s cry pierced through the walls, and the gunshots that were coming incessantly from all directions finally stopped. The shooters from outside the house were all screaming in pain, trying to cover their ears from that horrible sound. Kollectiv, Nightrunner, and Damian were also covering their ears tightly, inevitably moaning in pain. 

There was only one moment to react, so Batman took his opportunity and threw a smoke bomb outside the window. The shooters, who were all dressed as ninjas, were disoriented after the painful sonic sound blast, their ears still ringing with the sensation of their eardrums rupturing. As soon as they saw a cloud of smoke coming from nowhere, nothing else could be seen anymore. Most of the shooters attempted to reposition their guns and regain their composure, but they were too late. 

Batman was outside now, taking each shooter down, one by one. The first one was trying to recuperate from the noise that he had just heard, his eyes were briefly shut after the smoke bomb came, but as soon as he lifted his head and opened his eyes, his jaw was met with a fist, and the man was knocked unconscious. Batman quickly moved to the other shooter, who regained his composure faster than the previous man, but before he could even manage to aim his gun at Batman, he was elbowed in the eye. With no hesitation, Batman then struck that same shooter with the palm heel of his hand below the man’s chin, snapping his head back to knock him out. 

The other assassins came after Batman, but he still took them down impressively fast. In such little time, Batman was able to use the killers' guns against their temples, and throats, followed by a punch in their faces, a blow to their abdomen, joint locks, and compression locks. Robin jumped in to help as well and he tackled the other shooters who were a little more distant. Using his extensive knowledge and skills in fighting, he also took down the shooters in a very precise way, before the smoke bomb dissipated completely, even. 

Robin proceeded with throat stabs with just his fingers, hard hits on their jaws, knee strikes, and kicks. He missed his katana and regretted promising his father that he would try to use his sword less often, but fighting with his bare hands was pretty fun as well. Damian loved a chance to show off his skills, especially against scumbags like those assassins, they all deserved to suffer. After all that fighting, Batman and Robin looked around them, witnessing every shooter lying on the floor. 

"They won't be unconscious for long," Batman warned. "We have to get out of here before they wake up."

Nightrunner was slowly opening the door with the remaining four survivors following behind him, his shoulder was still bleeding. Batman turned to him.

"Nightrunner" Batman called. "Everyone, follow me."

Batman pressed something from his glove to make the Batjet come to him immediately. He rushed towards the jet, while Nightrunner and the kids followed right behind him, walking fast. Ekram stopped midway and looked behind him, angry.

"We can't leave their bodies here!" Ekram complained, pointing towards the house. 

"Ekram, we don't have time, let's go," Nightrunner said.

Ekram looked behind one more time, completely distraught that he would never see those friends again. Even worse, his friends wouldn't even have the dignity of having a proper funeral, their corpses were simply going to be left to decay in that hideous hideout house.

It wasn't fair. All the fight, all the struggles, all the determination to leave those terrible labs and then escape by jumping into the boat with Nightrunner's help... They were all in vain. His best friend was never going to come back. Kollectiv was even weaker now, with only 4 members standing, if not counting Nightrunner. Ekram knew that his team was falling apart, and his vibrant hope was now slowly dissipating. 

Damian purposefully let himself be the last person behind the group, he needed some distance between himself and everyone else. He looked back, staring at the fallen killers lying on the ground, and pressed his comm.

"How long have you been listening?” Robin asked. He was pissed. 

“Enough time for me to find your location. The children must die. ” The familiar voice whispered.

“Leave them alone,” Robin warned, there was anger in his voice.

Jameela looked behind her, worried, she was the only one who noticed that Robin was not with the rest of the group. She wondered who Robin was talking to.

“Why don’t you come here yourself to face me, huh? Instead of sending your poor excuse of assassins, you coward." Damian mocked.

“ Hush, little bird. Your time will come. Just not today. ”

With that, a shot came from nowhere, almost hitting Robin, but he dodged just in time. 

There were even more assassins coming in their direction. Fifteen assassins, no, twenty, perhaps twenty-five even, started coming, more aggressive than ever. Some of the ones who were unconscious were now waking up and getting their guns also. 

Damian stupidly used his cape as a protection against the gunfire coming towards him, he knew that wouldn't work, but he didn’t see any other means of escape. He waited until the gunfire ceased a little bit more so he could move, but suddenly, someone from behind was grabbing him by his hood. He turned around ready to fight, but it was just Ekram.

“Dude, are you crazy?” Ekram asked, perplexed. “Don’t just stand there! Let’s go!” 

The two boys ran towards the jet, dodging the bullets that were landing dangerously close to them. As Damian ran, he made sure to toss his comm on the ground and tried to step on it as well. 

There were too many ninja assassins now, firing even more rounds than before. There was no way they could fight that many people, especially without running the risk of any other victims getting hurt in the process. Nightrunner was already injured and four children died, they couldn't afford to take any more chances. 

Ekram was able to get in the jet, but before Robin did the same, a ninja came close to him and grabbed his shoulder. A Batarang emerged out of nowhere, hitting the man right in the eye. The assassin yelped in pain, he dropped his gun and started pressing his hands against his bleeding eye. Damian didn't hesitate and landed a kick to the side of the assassin’s head, making him fall. He got inside the jet, and Batman threw another Batarang that was explosive.

The gunfire stopped for a few moments as soon as the Batarang exploded, giving Batman enough time to quickly move towards the steering wheel and leave that place.

“Batman, where are you taking us?” Nightrunner asked, he stole Robin’s seat and was sitting on the passenger’s seat, next to Batman, to Damian’s dismay. He had a cloth wrapped around his shoulder to make the bleeding stop. 

Batman was quiet for a moment. “I need to take you all to a safe place. I don’t know how they found us, but–”

“Yemen. Take us to Yemen.” Nightrunner requested.

Batman frowned. “Excuse me?”

“You can take us to the house where my sister and brother-in-law lived. We’ll stay there for a little bit.”

“That’s too dangerous, Bilal,” Batman said.

“No one will suspect we’re there,” Bilal explained. “Besides, those bastards already murdered my little sister and Traktir, there would be no reason for them to suspect we’re hiding in their house. The house hasn’t been taken by the state either, no one knows they died.”

Reluctantly, Batman decided to fly his jet back to Yemen. It was almost two in the morning, and no one would see the jet, luckily. Damian noticed the kids behind him, all in their seats feeling a mix of admiration for the highly technologically advanced jet and shock from what just happened to them. Ekram was looking down the whole time with a defeated look on his face. 

—

1 hour later

Batman landed the jet in a safe location far away from the city, but not too far from where a cab could still be easily found. Bruce and Bilal left the jet and were standing outside, waiting for everyone else to join them. Damian and the rest of Kollectiv were behind, unbuckling their seats and getting up. 

“Thank you.” Bilal started “Thank you for helping us tonight, you saved us.”

Batman highly disagreed with that but he didn’t interrupt. Bilal looked at the kids, tenderly.

“I’m going to watch over them. These kids need to return to their families, I’m going to help them with that.”

“What if Leviathan comes after their families?” Batman questioned.

Nightrunner looked down, he felt horrible for losing four of the kids who were under his watch and protection. He had failed them. But he lifted his head and responded: “They won’t. They have been missing for years because of the trafficking ring, I have to take them back to where they came from, Leviathan wouldn’t bother to investigate their families’ homes…right?”

“There’s not much I know about Leviathan yet, but if they are what I think they are, they won’t stop until they accomplish their mission to eliminate the children,” Batman explained. “You’re going to need to protect them at the house for a while and be on the lookout for them until it’s safe to send them back to their homes.”

“Of course.” Bilal agreed.

Batman then reached for his pocket and said “Take this.” handing Bilal 20 thousand dollars. Bilal looked at the cash given to him in disbelief, his eyes widened. 

“What–? I-I can’t accept this.” Bilal stated, handing the money back to Batman, but he didn’t accept.

“Buy the kids new clothes and more food.”

“New clothes and food–?! Batman, this converted to Yemeni rial is equivalent to 5 million rials! I could buy them all houses if they wanted to live in this country!” 

“Good. They will need all the help they can get.” Batman then proceeded to hand him a special device. “Another thing, if any of you are in danger, contact me through this and let me know.” Bilal nodded.

Batman gave him one more serious look, followed by some advice: “Be careful with that cash, I trust you to be diligent when you convert the money–”

“Come on, Bats. I fight crime in France and deal with pickpockets all the time, it’s gonna be okay. I’ll make sure the kids will be taken care of.”

“Aham,” Robin called for their attention, and Batman and Nightrunner turned to him. The kids were now all outside, ready to go. It was dark and was starting to get chilly. The dark sky made the children feel a bit apprehensive, but they found comfort in the fact that at least Nightrunner was there. 

Bilal came close to their kids and then waved. “Au revoir. Merci beaucoup encore une fois.” Goodbye. Thank you so much once again. 

Damian watched the Kollectiv group leave, following Nightrunner. He didn’t say goodbye to anyone, didn’t see the need of having any room for sentimentalism, but he did notice the young, braided-haired girl, giving him a long gaze at him. It was like she wanted to say something, perhaps a thank you, but nothing was said. His emerald eyes met with Jameela’s round, brown eyes, but the girl blushed and looked away.

Damian waited for his father to return to the jet and was glad to have his seat back to him. He hated being considered another one of the “kids”. He wasn’t a kid and refused to be treated like one also. 

-----

It had been a while since Batman was riding the jet in complete silence. 

Bruce could feel the climate tense; his son hadn’t said a word in so long and despite all his broodiness, Damian tended to be chatty at times. From the corner of his eyes, he could sense Damian staring at the window with his hand resting on his chin the whole flight. The silence was not what bothered Bruce, but the fact that his son looked so thoughtful, upset even. Something was not right.

“What’s wrong?” Bruce asked finally.

Damian didn’t look at his father. He was feeling miserable. He ruined the mission twice in a row now, this was bad. Really bad. He was trying so hard to prove to his father how valuable he was for the investigation, how he strategically placed the tracker to get to Fatherless, but just to be led to a trap with a zombie-looking man, Traktir, who had a bomb on his head. Then when they were finally getting close to fully understanding the Leviathan movement's motives and rescuing Kollectiv, his comms were intercepted. 

The blood of the children who died before his eyes were in his hands. It was his fault that they were found. That those children faced a terrible fate. Damian could relive it all over again, the gunshot echoing in his ear in the confines of that mud house walls, watching the teenager and the nine-year-old stagger and fall, the blood spilled after their neck and chest were pierced by the bullets–

“Damian?” Bruce asked again, disrupting Damian’s thoughts.

Still not looking at his father, Damian murmured, eyes glued to the window. “He knew.”

Bruce arched his eyebrow, waiting for his son to finish his thought process.

“He knew we would try talking to Traktir, he wanted us to find Kollectiv for him.” Damian’s eyes finally met his father’s as he looked at him. “Fatherless planned for all of this, and I fell for it like an idiot!”

Bruce paused, he didn’t know what to say. He was already thinking that based on the ninjas' ways of fighting, how they were dressed, and behaved, they looked like trained assassins. But not from any organization... from the League of Assassins themselves. What was suspicious was the fact that there was no sight of any swords or any other weapon whatsoever outside of guns, the main weapon Ra's refrained from using unless needed. It took away from his bizarre code of honor or dignity. Bruce wondered if the assassins they faced were enemies of Ra’s al Ghul. The man was known to have many enemies affiliated with different groups of assassins, so it wouldn’t be a far-off guess. Or Ra's completely reinvented himself and changed tactics, knowing it would throw off Bruce a bit. Ever since Ra's got resurrected, he was not the same, so anything was unpredictable now. 

But there was something about this Fatherless that rubbed him off in the wrong way. Bruce never had a chance to see how he looked, only his son, but knowing how he had meticulously planned for each thing that happened in the past couple of days was unsettling. He did not like facing someone who was a step ahead of him, especially when he was successful in the process with the death of the children. He was furious with himself for not knowing anything sooner, for being caught by surprise, for failing the kids. How did Fatherless know about their whereabouts? How were they ambushed? Was he not careful enough with his jet?

Bruce didn’t notice his son taking a deep breath to take courage to admit something, but he got surprised after hearing his son speak up again:

“He intercepted the comms.”

“What?” Bruce asked, he arched his eyebrow. 

Damian recoiled, ashamed of himself. His son suddenly looked so sad and so small…

“When I tried to stop him… I jumped on him, and that’s probably when he did something to my comms. I thought I had it off, but it was on the whole time.” Damian explained, looking down. “I already destroyed the comm, don’t worry…”

Bruce paused. “I see.” 

This was worrisome. Whoever Fatherless was, he was even more intelligent and tactful than Bruce had imagined; to manage to intercept his son’s comms, stay quiet the whole time, blow up Traktir’s head in the precise time after he received the information he needed… A simple missing case of a scientist fascinated by genetics was now becoming an incredibly complicated case that was most likely leading to an international threat. 

There had to be a way to put an end to this before it was too late. Bruce was determined, he was going to find Fatherless, find out what he could do, if he had any powers, exploit his weaknesses, and stop him once and for all. He was not going to let the menace spread across the countries, this needed to be over now. Bruce was afraid of how long the experiments had been taking place; part of him didn’t want to find out, but it sounded like it was something that took years of planning, and they were already partway through the process. If they waited any longer, this international threat would break out in no time, and they would not be prepared for them.

The silence was killing Damian inside. He knew it, he just knew it. He screwed up. His father didn’t say a word, he was ashamed of him. Ashamed of having him as his partner, of wearing the Robin mantle. Father would be more pleased with Grayson’s work, no, worse, Drake’s. At least he didn’t need to worry too much about Todd, but that wasn’t any consolation and it was beside the point; Damian had ruined the mission.

All those months fighting alongside his father, Grayson, all the training, all the times he fought so hard to resist the urge to follow his instincts and kill… only to result in the death of innocent children all because he was careless, impulsive, and brash. Damian was starting to get annoyed with himself, so he shook it off and asked the question that had been bugging him for a while: 

“Where are we going now, father?”

“We have a couple of last stops to make. We’re not done catching all the stolen Mirakuru, remember? This one is located in Somalia. So that’s where we’re headed.”

Damian nodded. He readjusted himself in his seat, crossed his arms, and went back to stare at the window in silence. 

Growing up, Damian surely felt pressure to always be the ultimate best and succeed no matter what but he never felt so… inadequate before. It was a feeling unbeknownst to him and he despised it. 

He despised losing, he despised being taken advantage of, he despised… 

Not being a worthy son.

Chapter Text

It was like everything was happening so slowly.

The shooting.

The blood.

The bullet pierced, tearing, and ripping through the kids’ brains.

The screaming echoed in his ears.

A sudden sound from the jet landing made Damian jolt, waking him up. He dozed off for a moment as they headed to their new destination: Somalia.

Before accidentally falling asleep, Damian overheard his father talking to a very angry woman on the phone; Amanda Waller. She was complaining about how his father was taking too long to retrieve the briefcases containing the Mirakuru serum, but his father was so persuasive that she stopped yelling at him and just finished the call telling him to hurry up. There was no mention of Leviathan, Fatherless, or the Kollectiv survivors, for Damian’s relief. No one else needed to know about what happened in Balbala. It was bad enough that his carelessness led to the death of four innocent children. if he ever heard his father retelling that story, it would have been tormenting, to say the least. Back at the League of Assassins, Damian endured physical punishments when he made painful mistakes, but this… being called to protect the innocent only to bring death to them instead was so much worse. His heart was wrenched.

Now, if there was one person able to get away with not following Waller’s strict instructions without setting the woman on a rage spiral, it was definitely Batman. They had been gone for almost three days now, Father would need to return home to go to work the next day, and they weren’t even close to solving the case, things were only getting worse. What started as a mere missing person case now became an ongoing investigation of a secret organization of ninja assassins trying to experiment on children to turn them into meta-humans… This was bad. Father typically always solved cases so fast, accomplishing so much more than that pathetic GCPD, but this particular case was getting a little too problematic, which was troublesome. 

There were only a very few unsolved cases that his father kept in a black casebook. He never let Damian even come close to the casebook, which was frustrating, but perhaps he did that because it was a reminder of his failures. Damian was positive the black casebook was pure torture for his father because he knew it would do the same for him as well, Damian hated not knowing something. Another trait he shared with his father, even before he came to meet him. The more time he got to spend with his father, the more it made sense whenever his mother told him how much he reminded her of his father. Bruce had no idea of this, but Damian took a vow to himself that one day he would get his hands on that casebook and finish solving all those unclosed cases and take up the mantle. It was his birthright, and he was going to make his father proud of him one day. 

Batman and Robin left the jet, and this time Bruce pressed a button from his glove to make his jet go on autopilot and fly above the radar. They were running out of time now, the sun was going to rise in an hour, so they had to immediately find the Mirakuru serums and leave the facility before being caught. Bruce didn’t like the fact that he wouldn’t be able to work in the shadows for much longer now. They had to be quick and precise, with no distractions.

“Damian." Batman started firmly, putting his hands on his son's shoulders. "Do exactly as I say. We have to find the serums and leave the facility, there won’t be much time to investigate.”

Bruce was worried about Damian taking another detour like last time or even worse, seeing Fatherless and immediately attacking him. Knowing his youngest well, he was sure Damian would act impulsively, especially toward someone who seemed to be two steps ahead of them. He knew his son hated losing and how he could not stay patient and rational at times. He was only 11, after all. 

He was eleven years old, Bruce thought to himself. He paused and gave a glance at his youngest.

Damian obediently nodded in a response to his request and looked so determined. But what was Bruce doing? Why would he forget so often how young his son was, how insane this whole ordeal was? His son shouldn’t be here, as much as he wanted to be included. This was dangerous and he needed to go home. He knew the conversation would sting later, but Bruce decided this would be the last destination that he would take Damian, even if things went smoothly today, which he knew they wouldn’t. With the sky not being dark for long and with them getting so close to discovering more about Leviathan, Bruce knew it would only get worse from here.   

They were in a forested region that was completely off the grid and far away from any cities, there was no sign of civilization there. The GPS placed on the Mirakuru briefcases took them to a small city in the southern province of Somalia, near the Kenyan border. They wandered in the forest for a little while, knowing that the GPS coordinates were somewhere in that region, and then they came across a clearing in the forest, which sparked their interest.

On closer approach, they noticed a large camp surrounded by tall walls and an electric fence with barbed wire on top. Damian thought it looked similar to a concentration camp from World War II. They did not know what could be happening inside, only getting in to find out. The dry evergreen forest hid two watchtowers built out of a tree located at the opposite ends of the camp base.

They needed to be careful. 

Batman identified a tree that was out of sight from the guards so that they could grapple and jump into the camp without being seen. They did so stealthily and landed right behind a military tent. The ground seemed to be packed down by a tractor, indicating that the camp had been there for a long time. There were a few tents spread across the camp, along with training dummies, targets, an obstacle course, martial arts supplies, and at least ten barracks with people sleeping inside. 

It was a training camp. 

There was no one around, so they had to act quickly. Batman no longer needed the GPS; he knew the Mirakuru serum would be inside what seemed to be a medium-sized storage unit that was located a little further from the tents. Luckily for them, it wasn’t a distant walk from where they were, but someone from inside the tents could still see them. Moving as fast, yet as quietly, as possible, they walked towards the storage unit. It was quiet, only the sound of the wind blowing could be heard. Everyone was still sleeping but Bruce knew it wouldn't be for long. 

They managed to arrive at the tan-colored storage unit without getting anyone's attention. No one left their tents and there was no sign of movement. The double door was locked, but Batman grabbed a gadget specifically made to open any door without making a sound, it was a small device that practically acted as a silent bomb without tearing down the whole door, just the locker. The destroyed locker was a dead giveaway that someone broke in, but Batman didn’t have time to care about that. Inside there was a large weapon rack storage, filled with shotguns, assault rifles, machine guns, and pistols, the same type of guns the assassins had back at the mud house incident. There were also several arrows inside cylindrical tubes and bow cases right next to them. 

Towards the back wall of the storage unit, there was a small glassed safe box containing exactly what they had been looking for: the Mirakuru serum. There was also a briefcase on the floor right next to the safe box. Damian knelt to open the briefcase, which revealed all the vials still inside, but empty. Again. 

“They made a replica,” Batman said while studying the safe box, his son looked up at him. “All the original serums have been used to be tested and replicated.”

“But anyone injected with Mirakuru has enhanced strength,” Robin replied, pushing himself up from his knee. “Why even bother with a series of experiments if all you need to do is inject the serum into someone?”

“They didn’t know how to replicate it at first. They used the children to see if it would show the desired effects.” Batman explained. “Then they tweaked it some more and added genetic modifications to create the perfect soldier. They’re not using only the Mirakuru, they’re using a series of combinations to achieve the final product.”

Batman took a couple of serums from the safebox and put them on his utility belt. 

“Grab the briefcase. We have to go back home now.”

“Go back home? At this stage?” Robin asked, incredulous. Batman knew his son would argue. “We can’t go back now! We have to find their testing centers, where they hold all the experiments, and we have to save the children who are being held hostage in this place! You know they’re probably in those barracks we saw, right? They are being used by Leviathan. We don’t retreat, we end Leviathan now. Today.” Robin was starting to be a little too loud for Batman’s taste. 

Despite his son’s protest, Batman stood still and tried to breathe in to regain his patience. Damian did not understand that there was no way Leviathan would be taken down today, they weren’t ready. They had no idea what the child soldiers were capable of doing, never took time to rest since they arrived in Djibouti the previous day, and the sun would be rising any minute now. They needed to leave.

“Robin, no time to discuss. I told you, you need to do exactly as I say.” 

“You’re being idiotic!” Damian clenched his fists and stomped his foot. “I will not engage in such cowardice move, these children need us, I won’t let them be soldiers any longer–”

“Hello?” A shy voice echoed in the storage room. 

Batman and Robin turned to the boy standing by the door at the same time, alarmed. 

They got caught. 

The young boy had Damian’s height, he was brown-haired, brown-eyed, and looked frail in stature. He seemed nervous. Batman tried to approach him first, but his son walked in front of him, cutting him.

“Hey, it’s okay. We’re here to help. We know you’ve been taken by Leviathan.”

“Huh?” The boy arched his eyebrow. 

Damian wasn’t sure where his confusion was coming from, so he switched to speaking in Arabic instead. “Leviathan. You know them, right?” 

The boy nodded. Okay, he didn’t speak English then. Damian proceeded to speak in his native language.

“We’re here to help. We know Leviathan has hurt you. We’re going to stop with this now.”

“What do you mean?” the boy asked, even more, confused than before. Batman was worried, he didn’t like where this was going.

“We understand they used you, they treated you badly. You won’t be here against your will anymore, we’ll protect you.”

“What are you saying...?” The kid stepped backward, hesitant, Batman was alarmed by that. The boy looked quite disturbed and then said “Leviathan never hurt me, they saved me.” 

Damian scowled. “What–?”

His father called for him as a warning: “Robin–” 

The young boy turned his head towards the camp and shouted: “INTRUDERS!” 

Even though they were still inside the weaponry storage unit, they could hear a huge commotion coming from outside. Damian was livid.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Robin yelled at the kid.

The boy then grabbed the first rifle he could reach from the rack and was trying to load the gun rapidly, but Batman quickly disarmed him. He was about to simply push the kid away from the door, but the feeble-looking boy grabbed Batman's wrist and threw him against the safe box, glass shattering everywhere. Robin covered himself with his cape to protect him from the shards of glass that were flying, and then grabbed the first gun he could reach. He ejected the magazine to insert the ammunition that he grabbed from the racks and aimed at the boy, who looked scared now. 

"Are you bulletproof too?" Robin asked.

Batman, seeing the scene, panicked for a second: "Robin, don't--!"

Damian leveled the rifle at the boy's chest, watching closely the terror in the kid's eyes. Damian purposefully missed and noticed the sign of huge relief the boy had, the kid was breathing less heavily now. Okay, at least they weren't bulletproof, Damian thought.

More people started approaching the unit, and Robin started to fire at them, not necessarily hitting anyone, but doing enough damage to scare them from the loud gunshots to make them evacuate, including the kid who was now covering his head and trying to dodge the bullets. The boy was walking back to the point he was no longer inside, which was exactly what Robin needed. He continued to shoot aimlessly and ran outside, with his father running right behind him. Batman grabbed the briefcase that was left on the floor and followed his son. As they ran out the door, several people dressed as ninjas were surrounding them. 

Damian threw a smoke bomb right in one of the ninja's faces, the man closed his eyes and backed down. There was a brief sensation of ease that Damian felt, but he knew it wouldn't last for long. Besides, those assassins were extremely used to that little old trick. Robin felt his father grabbing his shoulder, signaling him to run. They started to run away from the crowded area, but on their way, Batman managed to throw his explosive Batarang toward the storage unit. 

A huge explosion broke out, destroying the entire weaponry storage. 

"What if there were grenades in there?" asked Robin, running.

"There weren't, I made sure of it."

The ninja assassins were beyond furious now. Most of their weaponry was destroyed, along with their serums. Reinforcements were called and now hundreds of children were leaving the barracks and directing themselves toward Batman and Robin. 

"ALL HAIL LEVIATHAN!" They screamed in unison as they ran after their intruders. 

The guards on the watchtowers aimed at them now and started shooting. Dodging every bullet, Batman and Robin kept running. A few other guards were leaving the military tents carrying their guns, so even more shots were coming, while the child soldiers were trying their best to throw dummies and targets at them as if those things were the lightest things in the world to throw. Damian dodged and he followed his father's movements as they approached the camp's entrance. Batman used his grappling hook to grab onto one of the trees to leave the same way they entered, so Damian did the same. 

A claw-shaped projectile on a retractable high tensile cord was released, successfully grabbing into the tree. Damian left, his father right in front of him, but he looked back to the camp one last time as he heard a familiar voice barking orders to the guards. It was coming from a brunette girl with a red streak on her long hair and... was that a scar on her right eye?

The two landed on the ground, outside the camp, and the guards were getting out of the camp now to follow them, the two continued to run. They were ahead of the guards now and as Damian attempted to catch his breath, he mentioned: "Father, I saw Mara..."

"What?" Batman wasn't paying attention, too focused on getting his jet to arrive at them immediately. He hated running from a situation instead of just facing the problem and tearing down an evil organization, but he still needed to make a strategic plan first, and then strike.

They got inside the jet and overheard some more gunshots, but not nearly as many as last time when they were in Balbala. The weaponry storage being destroyed gave them a huge advantage.

Now that they were back to the jet safe and alive, Damian spoke up again.

"Father, my cousin was there. At the camp."

Batman looked at his son, and his eyes widened. If Damian's cousin was there, that could only mean his original presumption was correct: Leviathan was indeed a secret organization orchestrated by Ra's Al Ghul. The type of weaponry chosen and lack of swords threw him off for a bit, but nothing stopped Ra's from being a little unusual when needed. No other group would have that many equipped and skilled ninjas, and only Ra's has the disturbing desire to form an enormous army of metahuman children. The thought of hundreds of children being trained in that camp made his skin crawl. Why couldn't Ra's be satisfied with what he already had for years? Why now form an army of children that were the same age as Damian? Was this all about the betrayal of his grandson? Bruce was angry, no, furious. 

He would face Ra's himself and make the man suffer.  

Chapter Text

By the time they got home, they were exhausted. Bruce had to call off and not work that Monday due to how late it was by the time they arrived in Gotham. He wasn’t worried about his job, the people at the corporate were used to his typical trips and absences whenever he pretty much felt like it. 

The next day Damian woke up late, still needing to adjust to the time change and recover from a little bit of leftover jet lag. It was Titus who woke him up barking and jumping on him.

“Okay, okay, I’m up!” Damian said while stopping his great Dane from continuing to lick his face. He stretched his arms and yawned before getting up.

His dog was pretty energetic, which meant it was time to take him for a walk. Damian looked up from his bed and found a small portable table next to his nightstand with a stainless steel food plate cover on it. As he opened the lid, he saw a delicious breakfast containing eggs, tomato, bacon, and toast. The food was still warm, and Damian smiled.
Today was going to be a good day.

Damian gave a piece of his bacon to Titus, who then jumped and ate with excitement. After having brushed his teeth and gotten out of his pajamas to wear something more casual, he left his room and headed downstairs. Titus was faithfully following Damian, with no leash necessary. They went outside in the front yard area where Damian found Alfred working on the shrubbery.

“Hello, Pennyworth.” Greeted Damian. He was in a good mood. Titus was still pretty hyper and looking forward to going running soon.

“Ah, good morning, Master Damian. I noticed you arose much later than usual this time.”

“I know, 10:00 am is far from ideal, but not to worry; now that Father and I have had our much needed rest, we are well equipped to resume our mission as efficiently as ever.”

“I see.” said Alfred, fighting the urge to give a very long sigh. 

The apple didn’t fall far from the tree, and it was always disappointing that instead of the Wayne's simply enjoying a day off for once in their lives, their obsession with crime-fighting was always there. Alfred liked to tell himself that one day, just one, he would be able to convince the whole family to go on a vacation and enjoy it - like normal people. 

“Is father home?” asked Damian.

“Master Bruce had to go back to the office today, he did not want to miss work two days in a row.” 

Damian nodded in response, then readjusted his posture, looking more proper. 

“Very well, Pennyworth. So long.” 

Damian proceeded to take his dog on a walk in the enormous yard at the manor, he was still in a good mood. He couldn’t wait till Father got back home so they could work on a plan to bring down Leviathan. This was going to be a little tricky since they found out his grandfather was involved in all of this, but regardless, Damian wasn’t worried. His grandfather had been stopped before, and now it wouldn’t be any different. He also missed seeing his mother.

His upbringing may have been far from normal, nor healthy, as Pennyworth would ensure to mention, but after having spent so much time away speaking in his native tongue, eating Arabic food, seeing the desert… A part of him started to miss aspects of his home. The lies, manipulation, and constant pressure to suppress grandfather were certainly not missed, but there was something so calm about seeing the desert and feeling the heat again. The weather was so gloomy in Gotham most of the year… While his past wasn’t ideal, it would always be a part of his life;  better to embrace it and accept it than bury it. 

Besides, the last time he saw his mother, his grandfather was being resurrected and his mother told Damian to escape so he wouldn’t be sacrificed to complete the resurrection ritual. White Ghost, Damian’s uncle, ended up sacrificing himself instead… Not the greatest family reunions. 

The afternoon was tedious as Damian reluctantly completed his homework assignments for Pennyworth so that he would go on patrol with his father. They needed to defeat Leviathan, arguing over the stupidity of needing to do homework and would have to wait another day. This mission was too important. It was getting late now, but his father finally returned home at 7:00 p.m. 

Bruce was busy and distracted, talking to Pennyworth for a while about some boring meeting he had at work, but Damian patiently waited for the time to go on patrol. Giving a head start, he eagerly went to the cave and got dressed. Feeling the adrenaline coursing through his body while fighting was the best part of his day. 

Having arrived at the cave, Damian couldn’t help but notice that the desk that was used for forensics analysis was utilized by his father earlier that day. One of the Mirakuru samples was in a spectrometer, while the other vial was inside another machine that was meant to show what type of chemicals were used in the serum, so it could be analyzed on a cellular level. 

Only one vial containing the green liquid remained untouched on the desk.

Damian pressed the button on the wireless spectrometer for the LED light to come out and then turned around to go to the Batcomputer. He sat on the chair and searched for the online spectrum analysis tool that he observed his father access in the past. He was analyzing the data to determine the chemical composition of the sample, but the sound of steps coming from behind made him stop what he was doing. He turned around and saw his father standing behind him.

“I analyzed the serum while you were still asleep.” Bruce mentioned. “They made a replica of the original Mirakuru, but this one has stronger effects and lasts longer.”

“So the side effects will be more aggravating, then. Those children from Leviathan will have no self-control whatsoever…” Damian reflected, and his father nodded. He hated what grandfather was doing to those children, stripping away their freedom, but that only gave him more motivation to press forward on the mission. 

Damian stood up from the chair, energetically, and asked: “Where to now, father?” His confidence was high, he also spent the majority of the afternoon training.

“What do you mean?” asked Bruce, distracted, he was still putting his gloves on. 

“We know Michael Larson was using whales for his genetic testing and that grandfather is keeping a training camp with genetically engineered children. Now that Grandfather knows we’ve compromised two of his facilities, it won’t take long for him to strike and wage war against us. So, when do we fight? Where shall we attack first?”

Oh boy. Bruce knew this conversation would be difficult, but his son was so confident and awfully enthusiastic to fight his own grandfather that he knew this was not going to end well. And why was his youngest so excited anyway, did he not remember the time Ra’s almost killed him to be resurrected? Regardless, this was beyond dangerous and too personal for Bruce’s taste. He would not allow Damian to engage in these activities any further. 

“Damian…” Bruce didn’t know where to start, but then he thought of something to say to make this go as smoothly as possible. 

They had been making so much progress as father and son, he didn’t want to ruin the little trust Damian had in him. 

“I still haven’t reported back to Waller. I need to retrieve the briefcases for her and then think of a way to resolve this issue with Ra’s.”

“Oh. Fair enough. What about Gotham?”

“Nightwing has been taking care of Gotham since we left.” Bruce said. 

“Hm. Ok. I wonder if he needs assistance.” Damian thought out loud. 

Bruce gave a silent relieved sigh and went back to get his things ready so he would depart. He was glad that no argument happened, he could now focus on ensuring that his jet was completely fueled before leaving.

Everything was going smoothly. 

It wasn’t until he heard Damian mutter something that he realized that maybe things weren’t going to be as peaceful as they were.  

“Wait a minute.” Damian stopped and rubbed his chin. Bruce did not want to ask him or continue the conversation, he knew exactly where this was going. “You mentioned before there were more than two missing Mirakuru briefcases… We found the one in Yemen and then the other one in Somalia… There’s another missing briefcase, isn’t there?” Damian faced his father, staring at the man’s guilty eyes.

Bruce sighed. He had to brace himself. “Yes, I need to retrieve the ones we recovered and… get the last missing briefcase.”

“Okay, so after you’re done chatting with that fat old woman, we’ll go together.” Damian said at last, but he noticed his father did not even react to what he said. 

Did that mean what he thought it did...?

Damian arched his eyebrow, his arms were crossed now. “Father, do you not intend to take me with you..?”

“Damian, it’s too dangerous–"

And there it was. Bruce knew he should’ve kept his mouth shut. How on earth did he not know how to lie to his youngest?

“Dangerous ?” His eyes narrowed, and Damian was raising his voice. “ Everything is dangerous, your life is always dangerous, my entire upbringing was dangerous, and yet, here I am, plenty capable of fighting alongside you! Why are you not going to take me with you?”

“Son, this last missing briefcase is going to lead us probably to another training camp, a testing center at a lab, or most likely a trap. The League is not stupid, they probably noticed by now I’ve been able to find their locations because of the GPS in the briefcase. You’re not going with me this time.”

“After everything I do to keep proving to you that I am capable, it's still not enough for you!” Damian yelled, his hands curled into fists. “I understand you’re disappointed that I argued with you at the camp, and that’s why we were caught, I get it, it was a mistake, mistakes happen. You make mistakes all the time too!” Damian was pointing his index finger to his father, he was so mad at him.

“I never said I don’t…”

“Furthermore, do you not realize how easy it would be for me to simply switch my instincts and start killing again? Especially when fighting other assassins? I trained those people, I led them at 7 years of age, and I went on missions on very high stakes. Those same assassins who tried to kill us used to answer to me .” Damian pointed at his chest, angrily. “You need me for this case, I am a great asset to you, and dismissing me like I’m some, some… useless child incapable of defending himself–!”

“Damian, I don’t have time to discuss, it’s just the one briefcase and I’ll be home before you know it.”

“No, it’s not just one briefcase, it’s you not trusting me. AGAIN.”

Bruce really did not have the time, nor the patience, to deal with this. Damian would never understand that he was, indeed, a child who needed to be home and living a normal life - whatever that meant - away from patrol. Besides, anything with Ra’s involved was bound to be bad.  

“Stop.” Bruce shouted firmly. “Attitude like this is exactly why you can’t go. You will do as I say and stay home. NOW.” Bruce ordered. 

Damian was enraged, he kicked a random device that was left on the floor and yelled. He really looked like a kid, Bruce thought, especially with that little tantrum. Bruce got inside the jet without further ado and left Damian behind, with the jet flying away from the cave at an incredible speed. 

Bruce immediately regretted his reaction and wished he had expressed himself better. He sighed again. How could he make Damian understand that this had nothing to do with him not trusting his skills or thinking he wasn’t good enough, but only to do with a father who cared so much about his son’s well-being, who longed to protect and show love to his family? 

Bruce rubbed his temples. His father, Thomas Wayne, would be so ashamed of him right now… Even after all these years, he still didn’t know how to be a good father. 

In Blüdhaven…

Dick was making himself a nice plate of omelet. On a normal day, he would make himself a better dinner, but he had a long day today, especially after the job interview he had earlier that day. He was beaten. After all the time he invested into the Haly’s Circus, just to be completely destroyed by Joker later, his motivation to rebuild the circus was completely lost. He was back at being unemployed again, not having an incline of idea on what to do next. He was interviewed for a job as a Parole Officer, but was that even what he actually wanted to do?

Dick tiredly sat on his couch and turned on the TV, enjoying his delicious omelet. Even with the scrambles he could find in his kitchen, his cooking never ceased to be impressive, it was so good, but he needed to go grocery shopping soon… And probably clean the floor. He flipped through the channels with no idea in mind what he wanted to watch. Anything but the news. He took another bite and thought about the interview again. He was most likely going to get the job, the management liked him a lot and he hit it off just great, but he wanted to do something different, more challenging even... Maybe apply to a Youth Center? He enjoyed working as a police officer before, he could do that again. 

Or he could try to rebuild the Circus once more… No. It was too soon. He needed a break and then he would circle back to the Circus.

The young man gave a sigh. He reassured himself by saying it out loud. “You know what? Tonight I’m just gonna relax. Bruce is back anyways. So no more worrying, no patrol tonight, no thinking about the Circus project, just a nice night all to myself–”

A buzzing sound coming from his phone was heard, snapping his attention. Dick wondered who that could be. Just anyone but Bruce, anyone but…

It was Bruce.

Dick rolled his eyes as he answered the phone “B, you always have the worst timing–”

Dick paused and listened through the whole conversation. He nodded and hummed a “Uh-huh.” He sighed. “Fine! You owe me! Again!” And then Bruce hung up. 

It looked like he was not going to have a nice, relaxing night like he thought, after all. A little birdie was in need of being babysat so he wouldn’t do anything dumb. Bruce mentioned the baby bat was not in the greatest of moods… But when was Damian ever cheery? Besides, this was going to be okay, he could still have a good night with his little brother. What could go wrong?

—————

Today was not a good day.

Damian was pissed. Right as he was about to turn on his motorcycle, his irritating brother caught him. Now it was not the time to have unnecessary conversations about feelings or whatever else Grayson intended to do. It must have been Father who called Grayson, that traitor. Treating him like a child again.

“The insolence!” Damian shouted, his arms were crossed again. He refused to even look his brother in the eyes. “He can’t just bench me with an unfinished case that we started together!”

Yep, it was going to be one of those nights, Nightwing thought to himself. Just what he needed.

They were at the cave and Dick was relieved that he didn't get there too late, he was there in enough time to make Damian stop what he was doing and get him to talk. 

“Damian, trust me, your dad has good reasons for leaving you out on this one.” Dick tried to comfort him. “He gave me a briefing on what’s going on, and a camp filled with kids injected by a super soldier serum doesn’t sound like your typical run-of-the-mill case, you know?”

“I don’t want easy; I can solve complicated cases, especially one that involves my bloodline, mind you. Father underestimates my skills.” Damian pouted and walked towards his motorcycle again. “I’ll get to the bottom of this and find the missing geneticist as a bonus, whether he likes it or not.”

Dick sighed. Gosh, his little brother could be such a stubborn ass sometimes. It reminded him a little bit of Bruce.

Dick stood in front of Damian’s bike to make him stop. “Let’s not worry about that now, okay?” Damian didn’t fight him but he was still not looking at him, he simply turned away and faced the opposite direction, defiant. Noticing this, Dick touched Damian's shoulder. “Hey, how about we distract ourselves with some movies? You pick this time.”

“I don’t have time for movies, Grayson, don’t be ridiculous.”

“Arcade, then. Besides… it’s been a while since you played Cheese Viking, don’t you think…?”

Damian looked at him for the first time as if he just received a challenge. He straightened himself and asked with an air of defiance. “Well, even if I were to succumb to your sad attempt to take my focus away from what truly matters, how do you expect to attend the arcade this late in the evening?” 

Dick contained himself to not chuckle at his little brother’s attempt to act all proper and “tuff”.

“I know a place that closes at 10. We got an hour, kiddo.” Damian gave him a distrusting look but didn’t say anything, so Dick continued “I’m so gonna beat your score.”

“Ha! I’d like to see you try!”

“Go change. We’re going to play some Cheese Viking.”

Meanwhile, somewhere in the Middle Eastern…

A beautiful brunette woman was walking in circles angrily, she was close to wanting to rip her own hair. A tall, menacing man was standing next to her, his outfit was a close resemblance to Batman’s, but he was wearing a white robe instead and had a red visor covering his eyes rather than white lenses. 

“How did they manage to find the camp? And the audacity to destroy our weapons!” She shouted. Her eyes were filled with anger. Fatherless, who was standing by her, remained silent.

Her breathing was fast. Nothing could be seen from the pitch-black room they were in, saved by the head-throbbing, glowing blue screen coming from a large computer that showed all the camera footage from the camp’s watchtowers. She saw the whole thing, her soldiers attempting to catch Batman and Robin, the guards shooting at them, and all of them failing miserably. 

She couldn’t be more disappointed with the pathetic work from her sorry excuses of assassins. The woman came close to the computer and rested both her hands near the keyboard, staring hopelessly at the computer while watching the same footage for the twelfth time. She couldn’t get over the fact that her people did so horribly on their job. If they couldn’t handle a simple task, how in the world would they be ever prepared to accomplish what needed to be done for their mission?

She tried to breathe in more deeply and calmly this time as she rested her hand on her chest. She could feel her heart palpitating fast from her fury.
She needed to calm down first.

“No more. No more playing nice and sitting in the shadows. It’s time to attack.” She turned herself to Fatherless, who was standing still without moving an inch or saying a single word. She touched his chin gently. “Come, my faithful one. We shall start with Gotham and bring them pain. Make daddy proud.”

With that, she walked away, Fatherless obediently following her. The door was closed, leaving only the eerie light coming from the computer screen.

The arcade was about to close. People were leaving the facility and all the games were being turned off, as well as the lights. 

Damian had a huge grin on his face and was pointing his index finger to Grayson. “HA! Told you I was going to win! No one can beat my top score!”

“Haha, you’re right about that, kiddo.” Dick laughed and he touched his brother’s shoulders, guiding him towards the exit, since the place was closing. The two had a blast taking turns at the games and Dick always enjoyed watching Damian act like a kid, for once. 

Damian looked up at his older brother. “Don’t you think I wasn’t aware of what you were trying to do, Grayson? Distracting me from the mission and from the fact I was dismissed by Father. Fortunately for you, this came at an opportune time for me to show you my elevated skills and ensure that my impeccable score remains untouched, even after being away for a couple of months!”

Dick blinked. “Wow. It’s been two months since we last saw each other?” Dick looked at his brother, who paused. Damian looked… sad. He didn’t say anything though, but Dick decided to give a reassuring smile to cheer up his spirits. “We should do this more often.”

A small smile resurfaced on Damian's face. “I concur, Richard!” 

Dick was surprised at Damian’s sudden change from calling him by his last name to now first name. It wasn’t the first time this happened, but it was surely fast this time. Usually, it took him a whole few weeks to be called by his first name, only to be referred to by his last name again. Dick didn't mind.

“How do you propose the frequency of your visits?” asked Damian.

Dick put his hands in his pockets and looked at his brother. “I don’t know. It depends on how busy my work gets, but let’s meet at least once a month. Preferably once every other week, how does that sound?” Dick felt flattered to see another nice, refreshing smile from Damian. He looked so happy when he finally smiled, he should do that more often. 

The two walked outside of the arcade to head towards the car that Dick had parked on the road, but he suddenly stopped, making Damian bump into him. Dick had received a call.

Dick answered the phone. “Sup, Babs? Everything okay?” He listened and then hummed “Oh. Hm. Ok.”

“What is she saying? What happened?” Damian asked. He knew something was not right.

“Babs got some info on a murder that just happened earlier today. A butcher's manager from a slaughterhouse was killed.”

Damian frowned. “Why would I even care about a butcher?” 

“Because we gotta find out the motives of whoever killed him. Why would someone bother killing a manager who works at a slaughterhouse, you know? Come on, I got our suits in the car.”

“This is a waste of my time, there are more important cases to worry about! Like Leviathan!”

“I know, but think of it this way, this will be over and done quickly. Come on, come to patrol with me. For old time’s sake?”

Dick didn’t have to say that twice. Damian missed working with his brother, they were the greatest. As much as he enjoyed his father’s presence, it wasn’t the same. Besides, he didn’t need to impress his overly emotional and clingy-chatty brother like he did with his father. He felt more like himself around Grayson.

Dick drove to the slaughterhouse and Barbara called again, the call was connected to his car, and he answered.

"Hey!" said Barbara.

"Hey, we're on our way. You said the murder happened at the meat processing room, right?" Dick asked.

"Right. GCPD already confiscated the place and collected the bodies. They were killed with a knife, the murderer slit their throats."

"Geez. And they didn't find the knife?"

"Nope. None of the knives at the shop were used to kill the butchers, there was absolutely no trace left behind. No hair follicles, dead skin, nothing. Hopefully, you can find something at the meat processing shop that GCPD didn't notice... My dad was not in charge of this case tonight, so they probably missed a ton of things."

"Ha, right?! And I betchya the forensic photographer was taking selfies instead of doing his actual job."

Barbara laughed "And don't forget Officer Stanley wondering where he left his casebook again!"

"Oh, the butcher shop probably got them so hungry, that they had to stop what they were doing to go grab some burgers! Priorities, am I right?" Dick and Barbara both laughed, and Damian rolled his eyes. He worked with children.   

The skies of Gotham were dark, fewer cars were on the road now. With crime spiking so much, people feared driving on the roads that late, but some roads were still busy. The shop was closed, so they wouldn't need to worry about being seen. The butcher shop was smaller, not inside any chain grocery store, just a place of its own, the back of the shop was connected to another facility, a slaughterhouse. Barbara mentioned that the manager who was killed was actually closely affiliated with the owner, who was devastated by the loss of his employee. The front of the meat shop had a large window and the entrance door, nothing else. Damian grabbed a pry bar he had in his belt and unlocked the door.

The place was actually larger from the inside. All lights were off but they could see another door from a distance that revealed a subtle light coming from the door crack. The door led to the entrance of the slaughterhouse. They heard the sound of people moving around and an excruciating crying sound from cows dying. Damian's heart sank.

"There are people here!" Nightwing whispered.

"You don't say!" Damian snapped at him, kindly as ever. "They're killing the cows!" He said, enraged.

"Uh, you do know that door leads to a slaughterhouse, right?'' Nightwing replied. 

Barbara was hearing the whole thing through Nightwing's comms and said "Wait, there's people working there? At this time? But the shop was supposed to be closed!"

"I know." It was all Nightwing said. 

He and his brother walked very quietly towards the only door located at the end of the hallway. As they approached the door, Nightwing and Robin looked at each other:

"Ready?" Nightwing asked.

"Always."

They opened the door and entered the creepy looking slaughterhouse.

Chapter Text

The slaughterhouse reeked with the disturbing smell of blood. Damian’s shoes were smeared with blood the moment he walked into the room, the whole floor was filled with a pool of crimson. There were only five men inside, all wearing goat masks to hide their faces. They were all dressed as butchers, their aprons had marks of blood and their clothes were filthy. Two of them were brutally killing the cows, while the others were moving the cut meat into a cart, heading towards the exit door to put the meat inside the truck that was outside.  

Several cows’ heads were chopped and spread across the slaughterhouse, each one of them had been flayed, with all of the saleable flesh removed, but with one thing still attached: their eyeballs. Damian quickly looked at that scene, feeling disgusted. The poor cows’ eyes were staring at him, as if they were pleading, begging for mercy. His chest felt tightened, but he didn’t have much time to think; the intruders inside stopped what they were doing and were now staring at him and Nightwing.  

There was tension in the air as soon as Nightwing and Robin revealed themselves by opening the door. The masked men looked at them and started to immediately attack, all at the same time. One goat-masked man threw his knife at Nightwing, but he instantly dodged and grabbed the person that was closest to him by his arm, throwing him over his own shoulder and tossing the criminal’s body against the other crook, making them both fall. That gave Damian the perfect opportunity to aim for the vagus nerve and land a precise knifehand strike to the side of one of the other man’s neck, which made him fall to the ground completely unconscious. 

Three people were down, two more to go. The goat-masked crooks ran after them, and one of them tried to hit Nightwing in the stomach, so Dick moved out of the way in enough time to dodge that kick. Nightwing then took the offense and tried to punch the man who almost kicked him, but his move was blocked, and Nightwing’s jaw was met with a stern punch.

Nightwing stepped back, feeling a little disoriented for a second. He rubbed his jaw lightly, but before he could be hit again, Robin threw his R shaped Batarangs, but the two men dodged. The other two criminals regained consciousness and were coming at them now, four against two. Dick was taken back by their fighting style, he didn’t expect them to put up much of a fight. It almost felt like they fought like… ninjas? Regardless, he knew to not hold back this time. This was going to be a piece of cake. 

Dick noticed one of the “goat men” moving towards Damian to stab him, so he acted faster by twisting the attacker’s wrist, disarming him. The knife fell on the floor, and the masked man instinctively looked down for just a second, just how Nightwing had planned; he used that brief distraction to elbow the man in the temple, knocking him out. 

He then proceeded to knock off two more criminals with a kick right near the jaw followed by a one hit strike right behind their heads. They both fell and Nightwing heard his younger brother shout: “Hey, save one for me!”

Damian jumped and landed a kick on the other man’s throat. He moaned in pain while rubbing his neck, he started to step backwards now. The 'goat man' looked around and noticed he was the only one standing. 

“Robin, stop. We need answers first.” Nightwing said.

The man dressed as a butcher looked at them, alarmed, and immediately ran towards the door. 

Nightwing and Robin chased after him and heard another person leaving the truck, complaining “Hey, what in the fuck is taking you guys so long–?” but then he noticed that his buddy was running and two vigilantes were chasing after them. 

The driver’s eyes widened, he turned around and ran back to his truck, but something hit him right in the shoulder, making him cry in pain. He stared at his bleeding shoulder and realized he was hit with a ninja star that was shaped in the letter 'R'. As he looked back to see what was happening, he was hit in the face by a short, dark haired boy…

Nightwing caught the runner and grabbed him by his collar, pushing him against the wall, while Robin did the same, but he was holding his R shaped Batarang against the driver’s neck. They were both caught.

“Spill it out.” Nightwing ordered, staring at the goat masked guy. “Why did you infiltrate this place? Are you the ones who killed the manager that worked here?”

The man pretending to be a butcher stared right back at Nightwing and said nothing. He tried to fight again, so Nightwing put him into a headlock to keep him from moving. Damian knew his older brother wouldn’t be able to get much out of the goat masked man, he too noticed their fighting style resembled the members of the League of Assassins, and if he was anything like the league, he would never confess anything. They were used to torture and were always willing to die for the mission's sake, it was the honorable thing to do. Damian decided to take advantage of the driver that he had by his throat. The old man was obviously nervous and seemed like an ordinary person  who was just doing what he was told to get extra money. An idiot like that would easily blab. 

“You.” Robin said, fiercely staring at the driver's pathetic eyes. “Who do you work for?”

The driver stared back at Robin, who to him was nothing but a child trying to look all menacing. He wondered to himself how Gotham got weirder each day and how those Robins kept looking younger by the minute. He snorted “You think I’m scared of some kid? Go home and go drink your Kool-aid, junior.”

That was not the right thing to say. 

Damian was now pissed and he pressed his batarang even closer against the man’s neck, cutting his neck enough for a trickle of drops of blood to come out. “Answer the question before I cut you to pieces.” 

“Take it easy, Robin.” emphasized Nightwing. Damian reluctantly stopped pressing his batarang so hard. The man Nightwing was holding tried to leave his grasp to no avail, but he still refused to say anything. 

The truck driver was completely confused with the whole scene “I-I don’t know what you guys want. You guys are crazy! I’m just doing my job!”

“Are you deaf, old man?” Robin asked with anger in his voice. “Who hired you?”

“I don’t know! I was minding my own business, delivering the meats and dairy to the stores, until one day this asshole tried to fucking chase after me! He almost hit me, then he got out of his car and told me he’d pay me some big bucks to do him a little favor. I mean, it was sketchy, and the moron almost hit my truck, but he offered me some good money, so what can I say? I got bills to pay, you know…”

“What did he look like?” Robin questioned, he still didn’t ease his grasp against the meat truck driver. 

“I don’t know, it was dark, the guy was tall and had a beard, what do you expect?” The driver shrugged his shoulders. “And who cares, all I know is that now I’m not gonna get fucking paid because of you two.” 

Nightwing was baffled by the man's stupidity. “So you just willingly accept to do a job for some random guy that almost hit you because he offered you money?”

"Hey, in my defense, he paid me ahead, I was just going to get the rest of it after I finished the job, it's the third delivery this week." 

"And how many deliveries were you paid to do?" Nightwing asked, still holding the other crook with his headlock. The pretend butcher kept fighting to get out, but Grayson didn't care, his grip was still stronger. 

"Dunno, the guy told me he'd call once it's over. He better cuz he owes me thousands of dollars now..." The driver looked at Robin and turned back to Nightwing. "Can I go now? This kid is freaking me out."

"You've been really helpful tonight, what's your name again?" asked Nightwing, Robin rolled his eyes. Was he really going to start chit chatting with this schmuck?

"Steve--" The driver answered. He liked Nightwing, he seemed pretty friendly to him. If only that creepy kid dressed as Robin would stop pressing that batarang so dang close to his throat...

"Listen, Steve. Can you do us a solid?" Grayson spoke. "Do you know anything about the manager that was killed today?”

The man Nightwing had on the headlock glared at Steve. It was almost as if he was saying to him "Don't you dare open your mouth..."

Steve didn't seem to notice him, he was actually scared of Robin. He was now sweating and he could feel the sharp edge of the “R” Batarang slightly piercing his neck. He waived his hands defensively. “Listen, I don’t know what happened, all I heard was a commotion, something about someone seeing us all of a sudden or whatever. We didn’t know the manager had the key to this place, no one was supposed to know! I was about to book it outta here, but they told me it was all good and no one was gonna get in trouble.” 

Nightwing noticed the man he was holding looked furious, he did not appreciate getting snitched.

"YOU MORON!" The goat-man shouted.

“Well, back to you, then." Nightwing undid the headlock and went back to pushing the man against the wall again. "Let’s first remove this ridiculous mask of yours.” Nightwing took off his mask, and the man was simply a nobody. He had brown eyes, dark hair, and his face was narrow with a big forehead. His hair was greasy from all the sweat. 

“What are you doing to the meat in this place? Did you infect it or something? Is that why you killed the butcher who managed this place, he caught you guys?” Nightwing asked.

The scruffy man remained silent. Damian figured he wouldn’t talk, especially if that man was indeed an assassin, but even the most silent, faithful followers would not be able to hide the truth from their facial expressions.

Robin looked at the man’s eyes and asked “Do you know Ra’s al Ghul?”

The man was completely emotionless, which could mean that he either never heard of Ra’s or didn’t care that Damian knew they were working for him. Damian didn’t like that reaction, but he had the vague impression of glimpsing a small smug smile, as if he was being taunted. 

“Alright, we’re running out of time now. We're done here. Night, night!” Nightwing said, giving a one hit knock out to the man, Damian did the same to the truck driver.

Nightwing handcuffed both of them with a small plastic handcuff that he brought and threw the two men against the exit door. He went inside to take a better look at the slaughterhouse now that they didn’t need to worry about fighting anyone else anymore, Damian followed him.

The rest of the goat-masked supposedly ninjas were still on the floor, unconscious. Damian took a good look at the place, and that uneasy feeling he had earlier resurfaced at full force. The cows’ heads on the floor with their eyes still attached, the horrible smell of carcass and blood. Damian’s chest felt increasingly heavy like a gray fog descended over him. Seeing those poor animals made Damian sick in the stomach, part of him just wanted to vomit. What made it even worse was when he noticed that one of the other dead cows lying on the floor had something next to her… 

…A dead fetus. Those bastards had the audacity to gut a pregnant cow, killing the fetus inside. It was inhumane. The whole thing made Damian’s blood boil. If Nightwing wasn’t standing there, he would just murder those worthless scumbags. They deserved nothing but death itself. 

Dick snapped his attention. “So you think they’re working for Ra’s?”

“Did you not see how they fought?” Robin responded. “That wasn’t just a random gang doing street fighting, their moves were precise.”

“Hm. Take a look at this.” Nightwing said, pointing out to the packaged meat in the carts, “All this meat belongs to the Lone Star brand. Interesting…” Nightwing mentioned, then he pressed his comms. “Oracle, still there?”

“Yep.” Barbara answered. “If you see anything else unusual, let me know. I can start calling the cops now, they will be able to confiscate all the knives used and find out which one came from the murderer.”

“Most definitely. Don’t know how much you heard, but these crooks weren’t your average Joe, they were professionals. We think they’re hired assassins.” 

 Damian was paying half attention, but his hope was regained as soon he heard the sound of a cow mooing. He ran to where the cow was stationed, she was crouched against the wall in fear.

“She’s alive!” Damian shouted with joy.

“Huh?” Nightwing distractly asked. He then walked towards the cow for a closer look. The cow had a star stamped on her upper hip, she was branded with an upside-down star. “A two horned star. Demon Star… Robin, what do you think?”

Damian looked at the cow with pride. “We’re keeping her. As of now, I’m a vegetarian! And this is Bat-Cow.”

Nightwing looked at his brother in disbelief. Out of all things for Damian to say, he did not expect that reaction to come from him. 

“What are you saying–?”

“You heard me. She’s a fighter. I like her.” Robin smiled, the cow mooed back at him. They were going to be great. “Now, let’s get out of here before the police arrive.”

“Damian, wait!” At this point, Dick didn’t even care about codenames anymore. No one was awake anyways. “We can’t just take this cow--”

“Bat-Cow.” Damian corrected.

“We’re not taking her with us.”

“We need to run tests, Grayson. She’s probably been contaminated!”

“He… has a point, Dick.” Oracle mumbled over the comms.  

“She’s going with us and that’s final!” Damian lectured, pointing to the ground like a mini authoritarian parent. 

Dick scowled and thought to himself: ‘That’s final ?’ Geez, this kid was spending way too much time with his dad. He sighed and dropped his face into his hand in defeat. “I can’t believe I am doing this…”

Damian took the lead and guided Bat-Cow away from the slaughterhouse. He opened the truck that was parked outside and took her inside the large trunk, but he got worried the moment Bat-Cow made eye contact with all the packaged meat surrounding her. 

“Hey, don’t look around, alright? Everything’s going to be okay, I promise.” Damian said, petting her head. Bat-Cow closed her eyes and happily mooed at the touch of Damian's hands, she enjoyed being petted like that. 

Damian then grabbed a bunch of the packaged meat, opened the trunk door and was about to throw it all out, until he was stopped by Grayson.

“Hey, we gotta confiscate the meat too.” Nightwing advised. “We can’t risk throwing out this meat without inspecting it first.”

“Oh. That’s true.” Damian admitted. 

Dick was surprised to see Damian’s demeanor completely change around the cow. He was acting so nice and kind, he was so content. He never saw that side of his little brother. Sure, Damian loved Titus, but most kids love dogs anyways. Seeing Damian suddenly act so nice to the point of even comforting the cow and talking to her the whole time… was pretty cute, actually.

Nightwing moved fast. He waited in just enough time to hear the sirens coming from the police and then started the truck to get out, Robin joined him in the passenger’s seat.

Dick drove away, already hating the fact that he had to drag down a freaking cow to a batcave while driving that obnoxious meat truck, and then coming back to that place to get his car back. He sighed. The police didn't see them leaving at least, and it was late and dark by now, but the whole thing was still inconvenient. Not many cars were around, except for an annoying black Ford that kept tailgating them. Dick kept speeding and signaling the other driver to just move to the other lane already, he didn't have time to deal with bad drivers.

“‘Demon star’…” Damian spoke up, thoughtful. Dick gave him a quick look before turning back to face the road, the Ford was still behind him. “Another name for Algol in the constellation of Perseus... In arabic: ‘ Al Ghul’ ”. Damian jolted. “Al Ghul! They were assassins! They work for Grandfather!”

Barbara heard that over the comms and also said “Um, Dick?”

“Yeah?” Dick’s attention was split in different directions; he had to worry about arriving at the cave as sneaky as possible, about that idiot car that was still tailing him even after he changed lanes, he just discovered those crooks they fought were actually members of the League of Assassins, and Barbara was trying to talk to him.

“I found something here… There’s this corporation that invested in the meat company you were just at. The corporation looks great on paper and everything, but after doing some digging, I realized the email ID to register the business isn’t even valid. There’s no office, no employees… It’s a shell corporation, Dick.”

“Oh?” Dick mustered to say, he was relieved to see the Ford finally moving to the lane next to him, about time. 

“Yeah, and there’s more… This shell company traced it back to Ra’s. He owns the corporation.”

“Woah, really?” Dick said, shocked. Damian turned to him.

“What did Gordon find, Grayson? I don’t have my comms anymore.” 

Dick was about to answer but he was still paying attention to the man driving the Ford, who was riding alongside the meat truck, as if they were trying to race them or something.
The window was rolled down, suddenly revealing a pistol.

“GET DOWN!” Dick yelled, extending his arm to make his brother crouch down. Damian looked to his side and ducked just in time, the bullet was shot through both of the truck’s windows, but thankfully, Grayson also crouched down in enough time to not get hit. 

The driver kept shooting at them with his pistol, always aiming at the side of the truck where Damian was sitting. 

"They're after Bat-Cow!” Damian shouted, concerned.

“This truck is not made for a freaking car chase!” Dick shouted.

He took some wild turns and was driving a little crazy now, ducking each time another bullet shattered the car windows, but almost all of the shots were missed. All the other drivers in the road were honking and desperately changing lanes to get out of the way. Dick was trying to not accidentally hit someone, but he was more worried about the maniac driver getting a lucky shot at Damian. 

Dick noticed the driver had one hand on the steering wheel while the other was holding the gun, he was bound to make a mistake. Dick drove forward to get ahead of the Ford and took a sharp left turn. The other driver did the same, but as he leaned closer to the Lone Star meat truck, he completely lost control. His leaned in too far and oversteered his vehicle, causing him to flip the car. Damian saw the car rolling, he wondered if the man would come out of that accident alive. He watched Grayson park the truck on the side of the road and followed him, walking towards the madman who was trying to shoot them. 

The car was on its topside, and the driver dragged himself out of his shattered car window by using the edge of the car to push himself out. Blood was dripping down his forehead and his face from the impact. He was limping and his hand was shaking, but he was still holding the pistol. As he noticed Nightwing and Robin walking in his direction, he started shooting, but he was so disoriented and was limping so much he could barely aim. 

Nightwing spoke. "Enough! What’s going on here, what do you want?”

The man, dripping in blood and covered with bruises all over his body replied. "Just hand me the boy."

Robin and Nightwing looked at each other, confused. 

“What?” Damian asked, he had no idea what was happening. 

“Half a billion dollars to bring in Robin, the Boy Wonder. Dead or alive." The man turned to Nightwing and leveled the pistol at his head, his hand was still shaking. "Now, hurry up before I blast your brains!”

“Woah, woah, woah, half a billion dollars?” Nightwing asked. He wasn’t worried about getting shot, he knew there was no way there were any bullets left. 

"Yes, now hand me the boy if you want to live!” The man sounded desperate. 

“What if we just talk? Is that okay with you?” Grayson said, raising his hands as a sign of surrender. 

“No, it’s not!” He pulled the trigger but nothing came out. The bleeding man looked down at his gun, horrified, and started to step backwards, desperate. "Please, p-please... I just want to help my family!"

"Hey, calm down. We're not gonna hurt you." Grayson comforted.  

"We're not?" Damian asked, but Grayson ignored him. 

"Just tell us something real quick. Who even placed this bounty? How did you hear about this?"

"I have a buddy at work... he works at a bar, where a bunch of low lives go... He told me there was a strange guy there, who looked like a terrorist, and he told a bunch of people about the bounty, gave them a picture and everything... I didn't think I would ever even find the Boy Wonder, but then I see you two on the truck... and that was my chance..." He stared at Nightwing desperately "Please don't kill me, please.."

Nightwing paused for a moment and asked "And what happened to your family?"

"M-my wife has breast cancer and my little girl is only 5 years old, I gotta find ways to provide for them, I can't afford all the medical bills... I just needed the money... I'm sorry..." He cried.

"Look, you need medical attention. I can help you and your family, but you're gonna have to leave Robin alone, otherwise I will have to hunt you down, and you don't really want that. I'll take you to the hospital, but stay away from the Boy Wonder, alright?"

The man didn't respond, but nodded in defeat. Damian looked at his brother perplexed, giving him a look that translated "What in the world are you doing?", but once again Grayson ignored his stares and simply helped the man get inside the truck with Bat-Cow.

"No, I won't let him be anywhere near Bat-Cow!" Damian shouted, standing in front of the trunk, defensively.

Grayson sighed and told Damian he could be in the trunk with Bat-Cow instead while he had the shooter in the passenger seat so he could be taken to the hospital. Damian didn't seem to mind that option. 

At the Bat Cave... 

Dick was exhausted, the night went much longer than he expected. Luckily, the shooter didn't try doing anything and was quiet the whole ride. While at the hospital, Dick filled out some of the paperwork for him and asked him for his whole name and address, mainly due to the fact that the man could barely function, but the main reason was because Dick was going to mail him a check, coming from an anonymous source. Guess his job as a Probation Officer would come in handy in the end, since he gave a very generous amount of money to that man. Dick could easily ask Bruce for help also, but he liked being able to help others with his own money and efforts. 

Dick watched Alfred look perplexed with the cow but at the same time he was awfully calm about it. Guess nothing could phase that man anymore. Damian on the other hand, looked completely enthusiastic about Bat-Cow. How was he so serene after everything that happened? There was a bounty on his head! But apparently that wasn't enough to upset him.

His little brother was happily grooming the cow next to Alfred. 'Bat-Cow' was plugged to a few cords that led to monitors and machines to detect if there was any infection on her. 

Dick was sitting on the chair, staring at the Bat Computer, when he received another call from Barbara. He accepted the call and her face showed on the screen.

"Hey." Barbara said.

"Hi, Oracle." Dick responded, tiredly. "Did you find anything about the bounty? Didn't even have time to search anything..." 

Alfred looked up to the computer screen, wondering what bounty they were referring to, and Damian was paying close attention to their conversation.

"Um, yeah... That's why I called... Apparently there's a group that call themselves 'Leviathan'... I don't know who they are, but they are the ones who placed the bounty on Damian's head..."

Damian and Alfred widened their eyes, but for completely different reasons. Alfred looked back to Damian, shocked. 

"When were you thinking of informing me about this bounty, Master Damian?" Alfred questioned, Damian stopped grooming Bat-Cow.

"We found out about this tonight, Pennyworth!" Damian answered, defensively. "And I can take care of myself! Grandfather takes pleasure in his theatrics, that is just his way of saying he wishes to see me, that's all--"

"Yeah, Damian, like we're gonna let that happen." Dick interrupted.

"Have you told Bruce?" Barbara asked on the call.

"Not yet, I just got home, Babs..." Dick rubbed his face. "Geez, Bruce will break a blood vessel when he finds out..."

"You're not telling anything to Father! None of you!" Damian pointed to all of them. 

"Whatever, Dami, this is dangerous, the announcement says dead or alive! You can't go out as Robin anymore." Dick said.

"And Damian, Bruce probably already found out at this point, it didn't take me long to search and find the bounty online, I'm sorry..." Barbara stated, apologetically.

Damian was getting angry. He hated feeling vulnerable like that as if people felt pity for him. He was not a child who needed all this irritating pampering love and attention, he was a soldier and a fighter, and a good one at that too. 

His thoughts were interrupted when Pennyworth spoke. "If I may intrude, Master Dick... The animal does indeed carry a synthetic hormone, as suspected. Derived from Professor Pyg's pharmaceutical breakthroughs, it seems..."

"Pyg! Don't make me deal with that freak again!" Dick groaned. "Babs, he's still in Arkham, right?" Barbara was nodding on the screen.

"Now, as for the meat," Alfred continued, he directed himself to the machine for the results, and Damian helped him conduct the tests also. "It has traces of a serum that makes people have... suggestible thoughts."

"In order words, mind control." Damian finished. 

Dick and Barbara gasped in shock, but Damian was not surprised.

Everything was connecting now, his grandfather was stepping up his game. The children at the camp were probably so adamant about defending Leviathan because they were already under mind control. Ra's was trying to hack into the Gotham food chain, he was building an army, and now he wanted Damian at his side. It made a lot of sense, actually, but didn't mean this was going to be easy.

Damian looked at the cave, staring at his entire new family. They were there for him so many times. It felt nice to have people genuinely caring about you, but this was becoming too much, too big. And it was personal, a family matter. He decided he would grant his grandfather's wish and go see him. The world depended on it, and he wouldn't allow any of this insanity to escalate any further than it already had.

Damian was going to travel to Nanda Parbat, whether his family approved of it or not.     

Chapter Text

Bruce was exhausted. The night before he was able to arrive in Pakistan late at night, the GPS pointed to an abandoned facility. It was a one-story building, mid-sized, that almost looked like a nice convenience store from the outside. The walls were beige, all windows were shut with metal gates, so nothing could be seen inside, and there was a brown door at the entrance.

There was nothing else nearby, except for a few shops around the area that seemed to be permanently closed with their rusty metal gates filled with graffiti. From the looks of it, Bruce deduced that part of the city had been unoccupied for a while, it was practically a ghost town. That could only indicate that the region was either always deserted or it was the perfect location for crimes to take place, such as drug trafficking or, in this case, illegal bioengineered experiments.

He got inside, turned on the lights, and to his surprise, everything was oddly tidy and clean. There was a wide range of laboratory items across the counters, several beakers, lab stands, and empty test tubes spread out. He was inside a laboratory. There were a few rooms down the hallway, so he kept walking towards them, ignoring the GPS for now. He got into the first room and saw a treatment table, a couple of chairs, and a small white cabinet with a sink. After inspecting the room for a bit, nothing was found.

Batman proceeded to the next room and saw tables and countertops with fancy equipment, including Bunsen burners, microscopes, and calorimeters. He touched the tables, looking for signs of chemical remnants that were recently used, but everything was perfectly clean and seemingly untouched.

He went to the next room, which was pretty large in size, and inside there were several highly advanced machines; they were powerful genome sequencers. Giving a closer look, Bruce read the label where the machines came from: Luthorcorp. He found, at last, where Luthor’s genome machines ended up being. At the back of the room, there were also a few cabinets, so Bruce went there to see if he could find anything else, perhaps a storage full of chemicals or serums, anything that he could grab and examine the liquids closely to identify what type of tests were being made in that place.

He opened the cabinets and the shelves were completely empty. Bruce was intrigued by the metal fridge that was next to him. Maybe there would be more serums inside, chemicals that needed to be preserved in a cool environment to last longer.

Batman opened the fridge and he felt like his heart stopped palpitating for a moment. His chest felt constrained and his breathing came in the form of a gasp.

A dead body fell off the fridge.

Batman immediately moved aside as the corpse hit the floor face-first. He kneeled down and carefully turned the body to the other side so he could closely examine the poor man’s face. The victim had curly brown hair and his face had dried blood stains coming from his eyes.

It was Dr. Michael Larson.

Damn, he was too late. He got there too late and because of it, another person had to die and suffer the consequences.

Larson’s body was cold due to the fridge, which made it difficult to assess the exact time of the death based on body temperature alone, but the marks of dried blood still looked pretty glossy in a reddish-brown color, which indicated the death didn’t happen too long ago, it occurred on that same day, probably three to four hours ago. The blood that ran out of his eyes, along with the small needle mark on Larson’s left side of his neck, confirmed that he died from being injected with the actual Mirakuru serum. Many victims in the past who were killed with the Mirakuru died after bleeding from their eyes because they were unable to control or resist the effects.

Batman shook his head in disapproval of himself, he felt ashamed. If only he had arrived there sooner… Had he taken Damian with him, instead of taking him back home out of fear, they would've been able to save Larson together… But he needed to make sure his son was safe. As much as it pained him to fail someone, his family was just as important, and he couldn’t risk his son getting hurt or worse…

He thought of Jason.

Something was silently buzzing, snapping his attention, thankfully. He didn’t like thinking how he failed Jason so miserably and how strained their relationship is nowadays.

The GPS was blinking, still indicating the location of the last missing briefcase. Batman left the room and faced the door where the briefcase was. He knew it was a trap, that whole thing was premeditated for him to witness it all. Someone wanted him to find the lab as if they wanted Bruce to see how proud Leviathan was of their work. Larson’s death meant he was no longer needed, their tests were finalized, and their results were achieved. Batman wouldn’t be surprised if Fatherless, whom he still had never seen in person yet, was their most prized test result, or maybe Fatherless himself was the one in charge of the entire movement, and not Ra’s.

Regardless of who was behind Leviathan, they wanted him here. Batman opened the door and found the briefcase perfectly placed in the middle of the room. He kneeled down, unclasped the latches, and found the briefcase completely empty. Not even empty serums were there this time, only a simple note, written in Arabic.

"توقف عن هذا الآن إذا كنت تريد داميان حيا."
"Stop this now if you want Damian alive." 

Batman widened his eyes, his heart was pounding.

They knew.

If the person behind this secret organization wasn't Ra's, then they knew Batman's identity, they knew about Damian. But the note was in Arabic, and all the locations where he investigated so far were in the Middle East. On top of that, the people he fought before were ninja assassins, and even Damian's cousin was found at the training camp.

This had to come from Ra's. 

Bruce clenched his jaw, he was angry. Angry with Ra's little games, mad at the psychotic man causing him turmoil yet again, but this time in an even more threatening way, mad at the father of the woman he once loved for even daring to hurt Damian, his own grandson. He needed to end this, but he was going to cause Ra's pain first for even putting all these innocent people through such horrible things, all because he decided to up his army and put more people's lives in danger.

Enough of this. 

Batman grabbed the suitcase, went back to the other room to take Larson's body, so the poor geneticist could at least have the decency of a funeral, and he departed.

Today was the day to confront Grandfather at last.

Damian had everything planned: he was going to wait until Grayson left the Manor, which would probably be around early afternoon, and leave just before sunset. His father still had a long way to return home, since he was coming from somewhere in the Middle East, so he didn't need to worry about him, he would simply take one of the other jets that were at the cave and leave. It wasn’t his first time sneaking out anyway. This would be easy, especially without Father being around.

Sure, there was still Pennyworth, but he could easily fool the man. If needed, he could always use the inhalation anesthetic that Pennyworth kept in the cave whenever someone was deeply hurt and in need of quick surgery. It would be easy to sedate him and get out of the Manor.

It was 5:00 am, the usual time for Damian to start practicing as soon as he got up. He woke up that early every day at the League, a habit like that was not easily broken unless on the nights he went awake for too long because of patrol. Damian stretched first and went to the gym that was downstairs. Before using any equipment, he started with some push-ups. Afterward, he grabbed the dumbbells and started doing bicep curls. Three sets of 15 should be fine.

Damian went back to thinking about his plan for the day. The fact that he had to sneak out and come up with an elaborate plan to simply see his grandfather was preposterous, but he came to terms with the theatrics involved in both sides of the family. Arguing would be completely pointless; this was a family matter, no time to waste. Grandfather put a bounty on his head as a way to simply call him back home, and the whole thing revolving around the army of child soldiers was practically a callback to how Damian should have never left his side. The pieces were all coming together.

He wasn’t angry with Grandfather, he understood what he was doing. All Ra’s wanted was for Damian to come home, he just had an… interesting way of saying so. Ra’s was in the wrong, certainly, and Leviathan had to come to an end once and for all, but he wasn’t angry. Damian just felt… disappointed. If he hadn’t left the League, none of this would’ve happened. Hundreds of children wouldn’t have suffered for no reason. Perhaps everything would have remained the same, the League of Assassins practicing and going on assignments as usual, and Grandfather would have never felt the need to experiment on children just to get to Damian or even Father.

Wait. He was doing it again, defending Ra’s. No, it wasn’t Damian’s fault. It was not his fault he decided to be with his father, it wasn’t his fault for choosing to fight alongside Grayson when Father went missing. He had 10 years of his life next to his father stripped away from him, all because Mother chose to keep him a secret, he deserved a chance to spend time in Gotham now. But why did he feel so guilty, so ashamed of giving up on following his grandfather’s footsteps? Why did it hurt sometimes being away from the island? Was his mother even okay? He hadn’t heard from her in months…

But Damian should feel grateful for Grandfather, after everything he did for him, treated him with respect, showed him the pathway to build a better world… Grandfather died a hero, and he was happy that Grandfather came back to life, he deserved to come back. Besides, killing in the name of saving society and building a better world wasn't even all that terrible, Father’s no kill rule was what didn't make sense. 

Damian’s arms were suddenly trembling, it was hurting now. His muscles were feeling weak and his arms felt like jello. When Damian came back to reality, he jolted. Shoot, he did the bicep curls for way too long. Damn. He really needed to stop that habit of daydreaming too much. Damian put the dumbbells on the floor and started to massage his arms, it was hurting pretty bad. He quickly changed to a leg exercise to give his arms the much needed break, but after a few minutes he was interrupted by Pennyworth.

“Good morning, Master Damian. I figured I would find you here at this hour. I am surprised you did not opt to indulge yourself with your customary Tai Chi practice outside. It is a lovely day today.”

“Tt.” Damian shrugged, indifferent. “Applying a variety of practices is important.”

“Very well, sir. But I’m afraid you must pause for now and join us for breakfast.”

Pennyworth walked away, never losing his proper composure. Damian sighed, it was definitely a bad workout that day, but he followed his butler. He was getting hungry now anyway.

Damian went into the kitchen and noticed a very slothful, whiny "baby'' on the breakfast table: Grayson. He wouldn’t stop yawning and complaining about how early it was. How did that man even keep a job? Oh, that’s right, he didn’t. Always quitting and changing to something new because he got bored or something equally as dumb. Grayson was a lost cause.

“Oh, morning, Dami…” Grayson greeted, tiredly. “Alfred, why -” Grayson yawned again, for the fifth time, “did you wake me up so early? I wanted to sleep in!”

Pennyworth was serving the table, not showing an ounce of pity towards Grayson. “Master Dick, you will not gain much benefit from sleeping in. This is for your own good.”

Grayson whined some more, and Damian rolled his eyes. He looked down at his plate and was disgusted with what he saw: scrambled eggs with bacon, sausage, and hashbrowns.

“Pennyworth, what is the meaning of this?” Damian asked, with a perplexed look on his face as if someone had just insulted him.

Grayson looked at him, confused. “Huh?”

“Beg your pardon?” Pennyworth asked.

“Pennyworth, you are contributing to the deaths of thousands, we’ll never eliminate the problem if we keep paying for these animal products, we must reduce the demand for them! No more animals bred to suffer–!” Damian started to lecture.

Dick couldn’t help letting out a quick snort. His younger brother gave him an angry glare.

“Ha, ha, sorry.” Dick apologized while still giving a chuckle, he turned to Alfred. “Alfie, remember the cow we rescued yesterday?”

“Her name is Bat-Cow!” Damian corrected. Dick ignored him, and Alfred nodded in acknowledgment.

“Yeah, she was the only survivor at the slaughterhouse, so Damian here decided to be a vegetarian now!” Dick explained happily. He had a big smile on his face and it was like all his energy came back somehow.

Alfred looked up to the ceiling while his shoulders drooped. Not that he ever minded preparing flavorsome healthy meals to ensure the entire family was well nourished, while also handling an incessant list of tasks for Master Bruce’s demanding lifestyle, but now adding yet another task with customized vegetarian meals with enriched nutrients for Master Damian?

“Oh, goody.” Was all Alfred could muster to say with the wonderful news he just received.

“What’s so funny, Grayson?” Damian asked angrily, his brother was too cheery for someone who was whining about life just a second ago.

“Nothing, I think it’s cool you’re now a vegetarian, actually.” Dick said, still smiling. "But you can’t stop me from enjoying this delicious bacon!” Dick grabbed a slice of bacon and ate it with great excitement, Damian’s nose scrunched in disgust.

“That is sickening! You’re part of the problem, Grayson!”

Dick continued to laugh. Teasing his little brother was always fun. If only Tim and Jason were at the Manor to see this. Dick grabbed another slice and then noticed his phone that was on his pocket buzzing.

He grabbed the phone and said "Hey, it's Bruce!" 

From the corner of his eye, Dick could see both Alfred and Damian looking concerned and attentive, he put the phone on speaker so everyone could hear.

“Hey, everything alright?”

“How are things in Gotham? Haven't heard your report." Batman said on the other line.

"Geez, I'm doing great, thanks, and you? Cordial as ever, B--"

Batman rolled his eyes. He was on his way to Nanda Parbat and whenever he was too focused on something, he forgot to act more... affectionate. His oldest never ceased to remind his lack of touch, however. 

Bruce tried to explain himself. "I've been running out of time, Leviathan always seems to be a step ahead of me--"

"What's going on?" Dick interrupted. "Haven't heard from you either, Alfred was pretty worried last night, you forgot to call him again."

"I apologize. I found the geneticist that was reported missing in Gotham..."

Dick noticed Damian was leaning closer now to hear it well, he looked pretty anxious.

"And?" Damian asked, eager to hear the rest.

"Dr. Larson is dead." Bruce continued. 

“What?!” Damian arched his eyebrows, completely shocked. Dick didn't know the whole story about Larson, so he was unaffected by that, but it was always disappointing whenever they were too late to save someone. 

"I found him dead at a lab. Leviathan also left a message for me... They are threatening to kill you, Damian." Bruce said, firmly. 

All eyes went on Damian, he felt like he was put on the spot. Damian hated attention like that, especially with Pennyworth and Grayson looking so alarmed and worried for him as if he was some poor, defenseless child. 

"And did you find out who's behind Leviathan?" Dick continued the conversation.

"I suspect it's Ra's but I could be wrong..."

"Oh... Um, that's awkward..." Dick said.

"What? What happened?" Bruce's voice came sterner than usual, almost scary this time. 

"Well... Yesterday night, Damian and I investigated a meat processing place because a murder took place there... Turns out a couple of ninja assassins killed the poor butcher because he caught them injecting something into the meat. Come to find out, the meat was injected with some sort of mind control serum... Oh, and Barbara found out that the whole slaughterhouse was invested by a shell company owned by Ra's, so everything traced back to him..."

Bruce raised his voice and sounded even angrier over the phone. "What? Ra's wants to mind control everyone in Gotham now?"

Even though Bruce wouldn't be able to see it, Dick nodded his head. He then muttered a timid "Uh-huh."

"Oh, and there's more..." Dick continued. Damian gave him a desperate look and he shook his head, signaling for his brother to stop talking immediately.

No, no! Stop it! Damian gestured without actually saying the words.

"...We also found out that Leviathan put a bounty of half a billion dollars on Robin to bring him dead or alive." Dick said with no hesitation, Damian got mad at him.

"WHAT?" Bruce shouted on the other line. He was pissed. "A BOUNTY??"

"Grayson, you imbecile!" Damian shouted at his brother and then turned to the phone on speaker. "Father, I am completely fine and perfectly capable of taking care of myself, the bounty is nothing to worry about--"

"Your grandfather put a bounty on you, Damian!" Bruce immediately interrupted. "I don't want to hear it. You are now prohibited from going on patrol. As a matter of fact, you are not allowed to leave the Manor for any circumstance, whatsoever. Understood?"

"Father, Grandfather just wants to see me, there is nothing wrong with that--"

"That man almost killed you before and tried to use you so he could be resurrected!"

"Yes, he wanted to use my life force to preserve his soul, but that was in the past, father. Perhaps I can bring some sense to Grandfather if you at least let me talk to him--"

"You're absolutely not going to go anywhere near Ra's. Or the island. Now, tell me you understand." Bruce demanded.

"But what about Mother? I have not seen her in months, I wish to at least see my own mother!" 

"This is not up for debate. Tell me you understand. NOW." Bruce said on the other line.

Dick was starting to feel a little uncomfortable from their little discussion. "Bruce, maybe if you take him there, he can at least see them and you'll be there to help if something happens--"

"Stay out of this." Bruce cut him. "And you and Alfred will absolutely make sure Damian doesn't leave the Manor, not even for one instant! You won't let him sneak out, you'll be on constant watch. Got it?"

Alfred and Dick let go a quick sigh before answering. "Yes."

"No!" Damian argued. "Father, you can't do this to me, treat me like a prisoner in my own home, you have to trust me--" 

The phone went busy, Bruce hung up. 

What was supposed to be a casual, uneventful morning, now became a very gloomy and tense environment. 

Damian looked at Grayson with disdain. "Hope you're happy now, Grayson."

The young dark-haired boy retreated himself and walked fast to his room. He wasn't hungry anymore. 

Dick felt awful. How could he explain to Damian that his father was only coming from a place of concern for his son's actual life and well-being? And why did Bruce have to suck so miserably at expressing himself properly? Goodness, that man was so awful with his emotions, did he really have to be so damn cold-hearted all the time?

Nanda Parbat

Batman arrived at his final destination at last. He wasn't too far away from the location anyway and with his high-speed jet, it wasn't hard to arrive there quickly. It was around four in the afternoon and he did not care one bit. He didn't care if he arrived during the day, afternoon, or evening, the only thing that mattered was seeing Ra's eye to eye. 

It was a good thing his face was hidden by his cowl, otherwise, everyone would see the dark circles under his eyes and the wrinkles on his face from all the stress he was constantly under. His scruffy beard was starting to grow and would need to be trimmed pretty soon, but he would worry about that later. Bruce was also away from work longer than he wanted, but he didn't have time to think about that either.

He was going to confront Ra's. 

At the entrance, two guards stopped Batman, but he quickly overcame them and threw both of them to the floor with a Jiu-Jitsu throw. The two guards got up, but Batman simply raised his hand to signal them to stop.

"I am here to see Ra's. Take me to him."

The guards looked at each other, initially confused, but obeyed. They knew about Batman and their master's odd relationship and didn't want to interfere. Any other intruder would've been brutally killed.

Batman was taken to one of the customary rooms he would often meet with Ra's. Ubu was guarding his master's door and he stood in front of Batman, waiting for Ra's to come. A few minutes passed by, and Bruce's impatience was only increasing. Finally, the door opened.

It was Ra's.

"Thank you, Ubu." Ra's thanked his faithful servant before turning to his old colleague who was also his enemy. "Detective! To what I owe the pleasure of seeing you here again?"

"We need to talk." Batman said simply, his voice was still stern. Ra's noticed the detective wasn't acting like his usual self... something was wrong. 

"Come in. Make yourself at home." Ra's said politely, inviting Batman to enter the room. Ubu paid close attention to Batman in case he tried any unexpected attack. 

They entered the same room where Ra's and Batman had a conversation about Jason's death. Ra's had felt so regretful for making the deal with Joker to obtain weaponry and bombs back in Bosnia, that he decided to go behind Bruce's back to steal Jason's body and bring him back to life. Ra's did so without ever consulting him, kept the secret for years, and even had the audacity to keep Jason in the League for a while, when the poor 17-year-old teenager could barely function and remember his old life.

Bruce's blood boiled just thinking about every little thing that man did to his family. The trauma he brought to his boys, training both Jason and Damian to be killing machines, all the secrets, the pain his sons had to go through... It made Bruce want to strangle Ra's at times. Whatever honorable relationship the two used to have ended when Jason was killed by the Joker and became even worse after he found out about Damian, and how he manipulated the boy his entire life. And now that he killed so many people, tortured more children, killed the genetic scientist, and even tried to mess with Damian even more by placing a bounty on his head? 

He was going to make Ra's wish that he had stayed dead for good this time.  

"Ra's, call off Leviathan. Enough is enough."

"Leviathan--? What are you referring to, Detective?"

Batman was mad at Ra's acting all ignorant. "Don't play the innocent card with me, Ra's. I know what you are doing. The army of child soldiers? The genetic experiments, trying to mind control MY city? And placing a half a billion dollar bounty on MY SON to bring him back to you?!"

Ra's looked alarmed, yet genuinely confused. He was both intrigued and flattered for being blamed for such a master, genius plan to attack Gotham, but also felt insulted by the false accusations. 

"Forgive me, Detective, but I have no knowledge of what you just described. I do not know anything about this Leviathan you speak of, and I absolutely did not put a bounty on my own grandson. Why would I do that? If I wanted to see that unfaithful boy, tarnished by your negative influence and poor standards, I would directly come to him and face him myself. You know I can easily decode your mansion's securities."

Bruce paid close attention to Ra's micro-expressions. There was truth in his statements. Out of all the terrible things Ra's was, a blatant liar who didn't take credit for his masteries was not one of them.

"You did not organize Leviathan?" Batman asked, perplexed. Ra's was getting irritated now.

"No, and I am curious to know why you would assume to be me. For the world's greatest detective, that was an utterly poor accusation." 

Batman noticed Ubu getting more defensive now, ready to fight.

"Ra's, I know about the training camp. There were ninja assassins dressed just like the League. Someone is also injecting serums into Gotham's meat to poison the food, and the meat processing company was linked to a shell company that was under your name.

Ra's composure changed, he looked outraged.

"Someone is using my name for their little theatrics?"

Batman stared at Ra's without saying a word. Ra's face was getting a little red from his anger.

"While I completely respect the decision to control the people of Gotham, the fact that someone is using my company and my name is unacceptable." Ra's looked at Batman, completely serious and determined. "Detective, I advise you to take our differences aside and find the culprit behind all this. I will end this miserable person's life myself for even daring to accuse me."

Batman looked at Ra's bright green eyes. He was being honest. Ra's was genuinely angry and offended by his assets and his own name being used without his knowledge. 

They shook their hands. They were going after Leviathan. 

Chapter Text

He should’ve known better. 

Dick felt terrible about what happened, he should’ve just waited and told Bruce about the bounty in private when Damian wasn’t around; he knew the boy would’ve been upset about being benched for a while. He still couldn’t believe the kid’s own grandfather would do something like that to him but it was Ra’s after all, anything was possible with that man… Damian felt betrayed for being called out like that over the bounty, and that was all Dick's fault. But then again, Bruce needed to know what was going on, and Damian needed to hear it from his own father about not leaving the Manor, it was too dangerous. Even though his little brother had an impressive intellect and maturity beyond his years, Damian was still an eleven year old child.

Dick sighed as he got up from the kitchen chair, facing Alfred. “I’ll go check on him.”

The butler nodded in acknowledgement. 

As Dick went upstairs to go to his brother’s room, he wondered how he could best approach the situation. Damian was especially hard to reason with whenever he was upset, the conversation was bound to be difficult. He imagined what Damian was doing in his room, perhaps he was shutting down and covering himself with blankets while listening to angry music... If only. That was wishful thinking. But come to think of it, the kid enjoyed art, so maybe he was painting instead, to calm himself down... Nah. Damian was probably just practicing with his sword and destroying his pillows or whatever else he could find in his room that could be sliced.

Dick opened the door to see what his little brother was doing. 

…

That was unexpected.

The bedroom window was wide open, and Damian, dressed in his Robin attire, was carefully aiming his grappling gun to the tree outside this window.

Wow.

He was trying to run away already? Bruce told him not to leave the Manor in practically less than 15 minutes ago! The kid was fast. 

Dick still had his hand on the doorknob, perplexed, when he asked: “Seriously?! It’s not even noon yet!”

It was astonishing how even after spending so many months with Damian, the kid still managed to be a brat and do whatever he pleased. Bruce was going to have his hands full after coming back home.

“Stay where you are, Grayson!” Damian pointed to his brother as a warning. “I am carrying explosives with me!” 

Dick raised his hands as a surrender and proceeded to talk in a sweet tone. “Hey, I just want to talk. I know Bruce is not the most sentimental father but he’s just worried about you. He cares about you, Damian–”

“Bull!” Damian took one step away from the window, he was no longer aiming at the tree to jump and get away. It was progress, at least. “If Father truly cared, he wouldn’t treat me like this and keep me from seeing my own mother!”

Dick raised his eyebrows. “Is that what this is all about?”

Damian looked down. He hated being vulnerable, showing his weakness. Why did Grayson always have to make him feel that way? He didn’t want to talk about it, it was easier to end the conversation.

“It doesn’t matter.” Damian looked away so he wouldn’t see his brother in the eyes. 

“What’s wrong?" Dick took a few steps forward, carefully. "Do you…miss her?”

Damian stared at his brother this time. Grayson had the irritating tendency to make deep conversations about emotions seem so easy. Damian grunted a quick "Tt" before opening up. Grayson and his stupid needs to be touchy feely about everything.

“It’s been months since I have heard from my mother..." Damian admitted, while staring at the window. "Ever since I came here, I’ve barely seen her. She was too busy rebuilding the League after Slade killed my grandfather. Then Grandfather was resurrected and things are no longer the same. That was the first time he was brought back to life through a sacred ritual instead of the Lazarus Pit."

Dick was listening attentively, and his brother continued.

"So now I don’t have the faintest idea of what it must have been like for her to endure Grandfather all this time. And with Grandfather crossing the lines with all his schemes to better the world, I need to do something about it, I gotta see him! Perhaps I can reason with him, Grandfather always respected me, he might listen–-”

“Dami…” Dick didn’t even know where to start. Ra’s was many things, but a man respectful towards his own grandson, he certainly was not. He was a liar and a manipulator. “You know when Ra’s is fixed on something, nothing changes his mind. Not even you can change him, or Talia. And especially not Bruce.”

Damian stared at the floor again, he didn’t want to talk anymore. He just wanted to leave and get to his old home in Nanda Parbat. Damian looked up after his brother started talking, Grayson was coming closer to him now.

“Listen, I get it, you’re worried about Talia. But she can take care of herself, I promise. And it’s best for you to wait just a little bit longer until things get better. You going back to the island is exactly what Ra’s wants you to do, he put the bounty on you on purpose, to get your attention. He wants you to be by his side, he always has. Once he realizes you have no intention of being back at the League, he’ll be furious again. I was there when the League was reviving him, remember? He had you by the throat, Damian. Until Bruce fought him.”

Damian felt conflicted, Grayson was right. Going back to the island wasn’t wise, and his grandfather was no longer the same... He was more violent, vengeful. The hero he grieved for so long emerged from death as a cold hearted stranger. He despised Slade even more for destroying his family like that. And to think his father successfully convinced his mother to cease the fight against Slade back then. Fools. Father shouldn’t have intervened, and Mother should’ve ended the mercenary’s miserable life.

One day he was going to destroy Slade and make him pay for what he had done.

Dick was satisfied that Damian was at least willing to listen instead of trying to get away. “I know this is hard on you, it’s not fair. Just be a little more patient until the bounty is called off.”

The boy nodded in agreement and came closer to his older brother. Dick took advantage of the situation to put him in a headlock so he could ruffle his brother’s hair, to which Damian loudly complained and tried to get away, but didn’t truly fight it.

Dick let out a giggle as he released his brother and then looked down at his watch. He frowned, “Hey, I gotta head back to Blüdhaven to take care of a few things, but I’ll be back in the evening, deal? I’ll keep you company until Bruce is back.”

Damian scowled. “What? Where are you going?”

Dick sighed. He didn’t really want to go over his plans for the day, but he knew how Damian was persistent. “I have another job interview I have to go to today.”

Damian asked in a tone of indifference. “An interview? Grayson, you never keep a job, what’s the point of even going to an interview if you know you’re gonna quit later? This will be a waste of your time, you shouldn't go. Now, if finances are what you are struggling with, then I'll go cash you some money, I know Father’s account—“

That kid, Dick thought to himself, always with the brilliant advice and great vote of confidence in his siblings.

“Damian, you’re eleven, you don’t even know what you’re talking about. I can’t be late for this, I gotta get going, alright?”

Robin crossed his arms. Dick couldn’t see his eyes through the mask, but he could feel the glittering green eyes just glaring at him.

“So you’re gonna leave me here. Just like Father.”

Dick couldn't believe his little brother just pulled a victim card and even compared him to Bruce. The kid was good. 

“Are you trying to say you want to come with me?" Dick asked, fighting the urge to roll his eyes at his impetuous brother. 

The boy's eyes brightened up but Damian brushed it off by using his customary air of superiority. “Tt. And sit idly at your stinky apartment while you partake in your tedious interview that you wouldn’t need to have in the first place if you learned how to keep a job? No, thank you.”

“Hm, okay. First off, my apartment does not stink. Second: I’m leaving, bye!” Dick said, walking away from the room. Damian immediately ran towards him.

“Wait!”

“You’re coming or what?” Dick turned to his brother.

“I—Yes. I suppose it won’t be too inconvenient, after all.”

Damian was lucky his brother loved him so much to deal with his pompous self.

“Alright, I’m telling Alfred. And don’t you even think of bringing your Robin uniform, you heard what your father said.”

“Fine.” Damian lied.

Dick closed the door and Damian quickly grabbed a hoodie and pants to wear on top of his uniform. He grabbed his backpack and put his Robin mask, along with a laptop, his utility belt, combat boots, and gadgets. On his way out, he took his Katana also, one could never be prepared enough if something were to happen.

Damian went downstairs to meet with Grayson by the main entrance door so they could depart together, until a certain butler suddenly came his way in the middle of the hallway near the front door. Alfred was holding a couple of textbooks and black binders. 

“Ah, Master Damian, there you are. Here is your homework assignment.”

Damian barely stared at Pennyworth and just kept on walking. “Sorry, Pennyworth, homework can wait.”

"Not too fast, young man." Pennyworth alerted, his voice was firm. Damian finally stopped walking and turned around to his butler.

Dick arrived in the hallway and saw the commotion.

"You ready, Dami?" Dick approached the two and assumed the butler wasn't aware of the situation based on his puzzled face. Alfred had a wary look on his face, he knew something was up, so Dick explained. "Damian and I are heading out to Blüdhaven! I got a job interview today and Damian wanted to tag along." 

“Forgive me, but I cannot allow Master Damian to leave.”

“Why not?!” Damian exclaimed, indignant. 

“I will not run the risk of you getting into trouble while you wander around the city unsupervised, Master Damian, even if you’re not in your Robin attire, which I know you are underneath that hoodie of yours." Damian looked down to his own clothes, completely appalled by Pennyworth's mind reading skills. "You also forgot to hide your Katana." Pennyworth added.

Dick put his hands on his hips, offensively. "Hey, I told you, no Robin!"

"It's just a Katana, what's the problem with that? It's no big deal!" Damian defended himself. “When will everyone stop treating me like a child? I do fine on my own!” 

Dick was trying to recover from the shock of being lied to right to his face. "I still can't believe you were planning on sneaking out on me.”

“What made you think I would wait in your apartment, Grayson?" Damian ended up confessing. "That place smells!”

“It does not—!" Dick started, but he remembered to pick his battles. He couldn't keep wasting more time. "You know what, I’m gonna be late. He’s all yours, Alfie. I’ll be back by dinner!”

Dick headed out the door, leaving the spiky haired boy alone with Alfred.

Pennyworth gave his classic glare at his grandson. “I take pleasure to inform you that I saved your favorite assignment for today, Master Damian. Art projects.”

The last thing Damian could care about was art homework. He was so close to having a small aspect of freedom, just for that to be ripped away from him again. 

“UGH!” The boy shouted, storming off. 

Nanda Parbat    

Ra's was standing by a computer room and Ubu was right by his side, while Batman was behind them, keeping a certain distance. He carefully paid attention to all of his surroundings, including what Ra's servant, who was probably a hacker, was searching. The faithful follower was looking up firearms' records, the company that Ra's owned, and a few other things on the computer. Batman could tell that the way the man was standing indicated that he was successful in his search. The hacker's face was covered by his ninja mask, but his dark slant shaped eyes beamed with confidence.

The servant left the computer and walked towards Ra's with positive news:

“Malik, I found it.” The man said, bowing to Ra's, respectfully. He was waiting for permission to continue.

"Yes?" Ra's asked.

"I traced the weaponry and the meat processing facility funded by your company. Several weapons were distributed to these sites in Kenya and Somalia." The hacker explained, pointing to the computer, which he didn't need to do because Ra's had already figured it out.

"Somalia, where the training camp is located, correct?” Ra’s looked at Batman, the vigilante nodded. 

"Very well. Let us start with Kenya first, see what their intentions are." Ra's turned to Batman. "Shall we, Detective?"

Batman didn’t respond, but confirmed with a nod that he would go with him. He knew he had to keep a close eye on Ra's in order for that madman to not kill whoever was using his name to fund weapons without his acknowledgement. Knowing Ra’s, he was either going to behave himself in front of Batman and strike afterwards or he would completely disregard all of Batman’s pleas and start a war with the opposing party. In one way or another, things were bound to go bad. 

They proceeded to leave the League of Assassins' base. Ra's was accompanied by several members of the League while Batman went the opposite way to go to his jet and follow them to Kenya. He was walking in silence, wondering what he was going to do in order to stop Ra's from causing more death and destruction, but a familiar voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Beloved?"

Batman turned around and saw the gorgeous brunette woman, dressed in a beautiful white dress with a high slit that revealed her thigh. It looked so similar to the dress she wore when she confessed her feelings to him, he remembered feeling shocked with the revelation and sharing that burning passion with her… Times seemed to be so simple back then, a love divided by opposing views of the world and preservation of life. So many times Bruce asked himself why Talia wouldn’t just leave that toxic life she grew up in to be with him, but her loyalty to her father was always in the way.

The sun was setting by now, yet Talia’s gazing green eyes gleamed in the dark afternoon.

"Talia." Batman called, tenderly. 

Talia came close to Batman, but carefully so. Every time she saw him, it hurt so much. Seeing her stoic beloved standing right in front of her was a constant reminder of what she could’ve had if she had left the League behind so many years ago. Pervasive thoughts of “What If?” invaded her mind more than she’d cared to admit.  If only she had chosen to flee with him in the past when she had the chance…

"I have been thinking about you--" Talia admitted, looking down. It was embarrassing to tell the truth to the Detective. She then looked up back to him. "--and our son. How is he?

Bruce walked close to Talia as well. “He’s doing well. He’s home and safe.”

“Does he enjoy Gotham?”

The question caught Bruce off guard. Part of him didn’t truly know what the answer was because Damian tended to complain about Gotham’s weather, the food, and so many other things that he wondered if his son had been unhappy all that time, and Bruce didn’t even bother to do something about it. 

Damian came to his life a year ago and then Bruce disappeared for several months, Bruce felt ashamed for barely knowing his own son. Even Dick managed to become so close to Damian… Bruce felt like a failure. He promised himself that once that whole chaos was over, he was going to make time to reconnect with his youngest and spend more time with him - outside of patrol. However, with all things considered, Damian did seem happier overall and less guarded, the boy was starting to open up more and not act so aggressive all the time. 

Batman finally answered. “…Yes. Yes, he does.”

Talia gave a sad smile. Part of her wanted to hear that Damian missed home, or some aspects of his old home at least, but it didn’t seem to be that way. It pained her thinking of how much disdain her son started to have for the League after he came to live with his own father. All those years aspiring to build an empire together as a family were completely destroyed with her son’s change of perspective. Her deepest desire always involved family, it was her greatest treasure, but now she had lost her son and her beloved. 

She never felt so alone.

“Talia, I have to go.” Batman warned, noticing Ra’s was already departing. Ra’s had Ubu with him, along with eleven members of the League of Assassins.

“I overheard the conversation. Someone is using my father’s company and resources for their own secret plans. This will not end well.”

“It won’t.” Batman confirmed. He looked at his Bat-jet and turned back to Talia, part of him desired her to come with him. 

As if Talia knew what the detective was thinking, she stated “I must stay in case something goes wrong and we’re attacked. Be careful, beloved.”

Batman agreed and turned his back to her to return to his jet. He wasn’t aware of a Leviathan’s operation located in Kenya and he was intrigued to see what else was being hidden there.  

Gotham

Hours went by and Alfred was busy in the study room dusting the picture frames while Damian was brooding on the couch with his sketchbook.  

Damian was still bitter for being forced to stay home all day and was crankier than usual. No one in the family comprehended Alfred’s impressive level of patience, but the butler seemed completely unfazed by Damian’s grumpiness. The tense atmosphere became more relieving after Dick arrived at the Manor. 

“Hey, sorry about that, traffic was crazy!” Dick said, opening the study room door, Alfred told him where they were before he arrived. 

“Delightful to see you again, Master Dick.” Alfred greeted, still busy keeping the room clean.

Damian didn’t say anything but he mumbled a “Tt” under his breath.

“So, Damian, how was your day today?” Asked Dick, animated. He felt bad for leaving the boy earlier, but he had a life too. 

“What do you think, Grayson?” Damian snarked, eyes not leaving his sketchbook. 

Damian was pressing his pencil so tightly against the book that Dick wondered if the graphite was going to break. Dick wanted to make amends but he tried to ease up some things at first.

“Aw, it can’t be all that bad! It’s just homework. Besides, it’s good to learn new things.”

“Learn new things?” Damian raised his voice, looking up from his sketchbook for the first time. Grayson had made a big mistake. “I already know everything, this is an utter waste of my time, just another way for Father and Pennyworth to control me, and you’re the culprit too, Grayson!” Damian pointed at him. “All of you are the bane of my existence–!”

Dick blinked and looked at Alfred, the butler gave him a familiar glare indicating it was time for him to tell the boy his plans already.

“Wow, okay. Let’s start over. Alfred and I talked before I got here… and we both agreed it’d be okay to have you leave the Manor tonight…” Dick noticed his brother raising his eyebrow, suspicious. “...As long as you don’t take your Robin uniform. It will be just two brothers eating out for dinner. How does that sound?”

“ Hn .” Damian grunted, much like his father. He stared at Pennyworth and back at Grayson. “Fine.”

“Okay, great!” Grayson clasped his hands together. “So no stunts, no sneaking out, just us having a good time.”

“Yeah, you already said that, let’s go.” Damian replied, impatiently, getting up from the couch. He closed his sketchbook and was already on his way to get outside the manor. 

“You boys have fun.” Alfred said to Dick, the young adult gave a faint smile.

“We’ll try!”

The two left the Manor and Damian wasn’t surprised to see that Dick brought his motorcycle instead of his car.

“Sorry, I wasn’t thinking when I headed over here.” Dick apologized after noticing Damian’s glare.

The boy sat in the rear seat while his older brother took the lead by sitting up front. Dick started the motorcycle and at a rapid rate, they left. 

Kenya

Batman was walking next to Ra's and his assassins. They were in the middle of a forest, looking for signs of someone being there, but there was nothing. Until Batman noticed a hidden watchtower camouflaged by the trees, strangely similar to the one he saw in Somalia.

It was another training camp.

Bruce felt baffled for coming across not one, but two training camps. He hoped that was the last one, otherwise they would be fighting an impossible battle against all those children. Ra’s noticed the watchtower also and he squinted his eyes.

“Interesting.” It was all he said. 

Batman was wondering what Ra’s had in mind with that sentence but a sudden sound caught his attention; a branch creaked. He looked around to see what it was but he didn’t see anything. He still had the awful sensation of being watched.

“Ra’s–”

“I heard that too, Detective.”

Ra’s men started getting into a fighting stance and another sound was heard, someone was moving near the trees. Batman looked back at the assassins surrounding Ra’s, and he noticed there were only ten of them, which was strange because he was positive he counted eleven before they left. 

They were being watched. 

Batman looked up to his right and saw something hidden on another tree nearby, it was a sniper aiming at Ra's.

“Ra’s, look out!” Batman warned, about to jump to protect Ra’s but Ubu was faster and he pushed Ra’s to the side, they missed the bullet by inches. More gunshots started to come from different directions and multiple assassins jumped at them with their swords, while those who were hiding in the bushes were still shooting them.

Leviathan knew they were there, and someone warned them. 

There was a traitor amongst them.

Gotham City

“Really, a fast food restaurant?” Damian asked, looking around the place. It was a simple restaurant with lights dimmed to create a nice atmosphere, but Damian wasn’t impressed. The boys were already seated, waiting for the waitress to arrive.

“Hey, it’s Asian cuisine, thought you might like it!”

“The food is not even authentic!” Damian complained as he read the menu. It was a pretty cheap restaurant on top of it. 

“You’ll be fine.” Grayson assured. He grabbed his phone to distract himself while he was waiting for the waitress but he suddenly had a concerned look on his face.

Damian noticed there was something different. “What’s wrong?” 

“I–Um…” Grayson started, he looked frazzled. “Sorry, I gotta make a call, I’ll be right back.” The young man quickly left, he got out of the restaurant to make the phone call outside so he wouldn't be heard. Whatever it was, it sounded bad. 

Damian scowled, he hated not being clued in on what was going on. That couldn’t have been about the interview, Grayson wouldn’t be so worried like that over something so trivial. It could be girl drama but that didn’t make sense either. If it was indeed over some girl, Grayson would’ve told him already, he loved boring him with those dumb stories of his. No, this had to be something serious.

Something regarding patrol. 

Damian was about to get up to go outside and talk to Grayson, but the waitress bumped into him. 

“Oh, I’m so sorry," The waitress apologized, holding on to her tray more firmly so she wouldn't accidentally drop or spill anything "Did you ask for Moo Goo Gai Pan with tofu instead of chicken and another plate of Kung Pao Chicken?” 

“Yes, that’s us…” Damian responded, eyes glued to the exit door to try to see what Grayson was doing, he was still on the phone. 

The waitress put the plates on the table and left. "Let me know if you need anything else!"

Damian didn't respond, he was still focused on the door. He was about to march out, but his brother returned. 

“Hey, you're gonna need to go back home.”

“What? But we haven’t even started to eat yet! What is it, Grayson? What happened?”

Grayson had a reluctant look on his face but he decided to tell his little brother the truth. 

“Take a look at this.” Grayson said, showing Damian his phone.

The cell phone was open to the newspaper page reporting the death of 130 Gotham citizens, all deaths caused by the same thing in the past couple of days: suicide. 

Most of the deaths happened an hour ago while some others happened the day before, but the news kept spreading at a rapid rate showing the number of deaths increasing. The media was flooded with messages regarding mental health awareness, but Dick and Damian both knew that so many suicides happening all at once couldn't be a coincidence, but a massive homicide premeditated by someone else. 

When Dick first checked his phone and saw the news, he immediately thought of Joker, but none of the victims showed any signs of being jokerized before their death, and Joker always made a point of being acknowledged for his crimes, he loved the attention. This had to do with something else, and then it clicked: the meat. Dick was afraid of showing Damian the news because he knew what that would mean to him, but the boy was going to find out about the suicides the moment he checked his phone or a TV.

Damian read the articles, alarmed. He knew this had to do with Leviathan. The problem was that by the time he and Grayson found out about the meat being infected, they were too late. That moronic meat truck driver revealed that he had done three deliveries already, which meant that steaks and beef were already being sold to grocery stores, hundreds of people were already infected. 

“There are probably even more deaths unreported.” Damian stated, quietly.

“I know.” Grayson agreed and pointed to a paragraph on his phone. “The suicides that happened yesterday are just being announced today, I can’t imagine how many more people already committed suicide by now. How did we not notice this?” 

“Because the GCPD takes an eternity to announce something and we haven't accessed the Bat-Computer lately, Father and I have been busy overseas. This is definitely related to the meat, but these people are not dying from food poisoning...” 

“Maybe the serum that was injected in the meat is doing something to their brains. Like how Scarecrow’s fear gas blinds people’s judgements and can even make them kill another person if they're having strong hallucinations.”

“Precisely.” Damian concurred. “We have to do something now before more are killed. Let's go.”

“You’re not going anywhere but home, Damian.” Grayson looked serious.

“What?" Damian asked, angry. He then whispered angrily since they were still in public. "Will you forget that bounty already?” 

“Nope. You have to be safe, Dami. I actually brought my Nightwing suit with me in case something happened, so I'm gonna be leaving in a bit.”

Damian squinted his eyes. “I thought you said this was going to be a normal, civilian night!” 

“And it was, but I never said anything about me not bringing my uniform, they’re after you, not me. Now, listen, I was going to take you home myself, but Tim brought up a good point that the longer I take, more people may die, so I gotta head out to the meat factory and shut that place down right now.”

“DRAKE? You called Drake for assistance?” Damian was being louder now and a few people in the restaurant looked at him.

“Tone it down, will ya? And yes, I called Tim–”

“If you think I am going to let him drag me back to the Manor, you are very wrong–” Damian interrupted.

“No, Tim told me Steph is in the area. She’ll be taking you back home.” Grayson smiled while grabbing his wallet to get some cash to pay for the restaurant bill. Once he was done placing the cash on the table, he looked back at Damian. “She texted me and said she's gonna be here in about 5 minutes. She’ll be outside waiting for you. I gotta go.”

“Grayson, you fool–”

“Oh, and Dami… I will find out if you run away, by the way, so don’t try anything!” With that, Grayson left the restaurant.

Damian was livid. How could Grayson, of all people, treat him that way? The injustice of it all was profuse. He was obviously not going to wait around and leave as fast as possible before Stephanie Brown arrived. As soon as Grayson got on his motorcycle and left, Damian walked away and was out in the street, thinking to himself how he was going to get to the meat factory without having his own vehicle and his suit, but he would find a way, even if that meant saving the day as Damian Wayne and not as Robin. He was pacing fast until a certain blonde girl on a motorcycle called for him.

“Not so fast, little D.” Stephanie smiled, stopping her motorcycle. 

Damian looked at her and rolled his eyes. Dammit, he was too slow.

“I don’t have time for games, Brown. I gotta go, people’s lives are at risk.”

“Figured you would say that.” Stephanie got out of her motorcycle and removed her helmet, waving her hair while doing so. “I know you want to help but if you plan on going to the meat factory, that won’t do you any good. Tim and Dick are already on their way, and if you go, it’ll get too crowded. And you’re gonna get in trouble. Now, what I suggest for us to do instead…” Stephanie started, giving a mischievous smile, “…Is going after the person whose mind controlling everybody.”

Damian was taken aback by that. “Wait, you’re going to… help me?”

“Sure!” Stephanie shrugged her shoulders. “I know what it’s like to be benched.”

“Of course you do, your skills are far inferior to my father’s.”

Stephanie frowned. “On second thought, I’m just gonna take you back to the Manor and I’m gonna tell Alfred you tried to run away again.” Stephanie stated, walking back to her motorcycle while avoiding looking at Damian.

“No, wait!” Damian said, raising his hand with his palm facing up. “Let’s work on this case together.”

Stephanie stopped and turned to him. “Hm. Ok, cool, it'll be fun! Besides, I don’t feel like doing babysitting duty tonight, and Alfred shouldn’t suffer dealing with you complaining all night long." Stephanie grabbed and her phone and continued, "So, Babs was telling me how most victims died during lunch or dinner time…”

Damian was about to interrupt her to inform her how she was stating the obvious, given the meat was what was causing the deaths, but he bit his tongue and waited for her to finish.

“...But they were all near a TV or a phone, so I was wondering if that's just a coincidence or if it has something to do with the suicides. Babs is looking into what else GCPD has found so far, and I wanted to go to one of the victim’s houses to take a look at it myself. There’s this house where the entire family committed suicide. Wild, right?”

“And we’re going there dressed as civilians?” 

“Hm, why not? If we get caught, I’ll just lie and say it was my cousin’s house or something and I had the spare key.”

“That’s a terrible idea. And what is the son of Bruce Wayne doing there?”

“You were in the area and felt bad for me. Who cares, you’re thinking way too much into this. Now, hop on!” Stephanie said, getting on her motorcycle. She didn’t even have a second helmet for Damian. Her plan was reckless, risky, they weren’t wearing their uniforms and things were definitely going to go wrong.

Damian liked those odds.

Chapter Text

They were surrounded by assassins. 

Batman carefully examined all the attackers around him. There were some ninjas hiding in the bushes who were shooting with their rifles, while others were running at them, ready to strike. The guards from the watchtowers were shooting also, and Batman had to be careful between dodging the bullets and fighting the assassins coming at him.

Ubu was extremely violent as he tackled one of the assassins to the ground and grappled him with an armbar. The traitor was struggling to get out of Ubu's grasp, but the loyal servant just continued to wrap his arms around the infidel's face, pulling his opponent's arm back with such force that the man's arm was dislocated. The traitor yelped in pain as he hopelessly rubbed his arm with his good hand while he was on his knees, but Ubu stood up and stared down at the pathetic renegade. He felt nothing but disgust for that sorry excuse of a life, how dared any of them betray his master, the Head of the Demon, the great Ra's al Ghul. Ubu grunted and angrily kicked the traitor right in the face without a second thought.

Another assassin came charging at Ra’s, attempting to slice his old master with his sword, but Ra’s simply blocked the attack and stepped aside. In less than a second, Ra's tactfully twisted the infidel's arm to make the sword fall to the floor and moved right behind him. The ninja assassin barely had time to react before Ra's grabbed him by the chin and the back of his head, and in one quick move, Ra's snapped the man's neck.

The traitor fell to the ground while Ra's stood there, emotionless. Batman was furious at Ra’s for taking the kill shot, and part of him wanted so badly to beat up his fellow enemy, but his focus needed to be elsewhere as three assassins were jumping at him to attack him. Batman blocked all their punches and spryly disabled all three of them at once. More shots were being fired in his direction, but Batman dodged them just barely, protecting himself with his cape as he ducked. Bruce looked around and as soon as he noticed that the shooters were reloading their guns, he threw his explosive batarangs to disorient them. The shooting briefly came to an end, giving enough time for the rest of the League to attack, slicing nearly all their opponents with their swords.

“RA'S, STOP THE KILLING! WE NEED ANSWERS, NOT MORE DEATH!" Batman yelled, feeling so mad at himself for not being able to stop Ra's’ followers from murdering everyone. He knew what they were capable of, but that didn't mean he should allow it to happen. He wasn't fast enough and now most of the attackers were dead, save for the ninjas that Batman knocked down and the ones who hid in the bushes and were able to run away.

Ra’s respectfully raised his hand to order his people to refrain from attacking any further. There were only two ninjas left still standing. Ra's straightened up his posture, emanating his superiority and power against his former followers. The two survivors cowed into submission.

“Please spare us, Master…” One of the assassins's dared to beg, crouching so low it looked like he was about to kiss his old master's foot.

The Head of the Demon was disgusted. With disdain in his voice, he spat back: “Pathetic. No servant of mine is a beggar.” Ra’s walked around his old follower like a vulture circling its prey. “No sense of honor… No dignity… You betray me, dare to attempt taking my life, and yet expect to live?!" Ra’s lowered his head to gaze at the fallen assassin. He held up his sword and pressed it against the man’s neck.

“Who do you work for now?” Ra's asked in his cold voice. 

The assassin didn't know what to do. He was sweating and started to feel desperate, there was no way around deceiving the Demon himself. “L-Leviathan….” He confessed. The other survivor next to him was still one the floor shaking, he knew they were both going to die.

“And who is the head of Leviathan?” The sword edge was slowly piercing the man’s throat. 

The assassin hesitated and quickly looked at his colleague next to him, afraid to answer the question, but Ra's spoke again. “Speak, before I slice your throat.” 

The fallen ninja gulped. “Y-your daughter…”

Both Batman and Ra’s widened their eyes in shock and shared a look with each other for a brief second. Ra’s grabbed the man by the collar and brought him closer to his face.

“That can't be…” He spat, angrily.

“Lady al Ghul is not who you think she is!” The traitor mustered to say, there was despair in his voice. “She promised us a better life, a better League, a better–”

“RA’S, DON’T!” Batman shouted and charged at Ra’s, but it was already too late.

Ra’s didn’t bother to hear the rest and he slit the man's throat. He was about to stab the other survivor in front of him, but Batman charged at Ra's and punched him.

“KILL THEM!” Ra’s ordered, while still fighting the Detective.

As Batman watched Ubu and the other members of the League getting ready to fulfill their master's command, he rushed forward to stop them, but he was blocked and then grabbed by a powerful headlock from Ra's. The two fought while the League of Assassins started killing the remaining survivors. 

“I am not here to fight you, Detective! We agreed to work on this together!” Ra’s shouted while Batman got out of the headlock. 

“You know my rules. No killing, yet we ended up with no survivors!" Batman was getting more aggressive in his fighting; it was challenging for Ra's to only be on the defensive. "You didn’t even let the man finish; we could've received more information from them!” 

“I can easily find out more intel on my own, I don’t need these treacherous vermin to provide me with information. And your futile no-killing rule is antiquated at best, Detective." Ra's blocked another hit and pushed Bruce away. "Like your father, you lack the courage to do what is necessary. You should know by now that the only way to stand in the way of justice is by walking up to them and stabbing them in the heart.”

“There are children in the camp, Ra’s.” Batman stated, firmly, although he wasn’t sure if that would mean anything to Ra’s. From the way that madman treated his own grandson, it didn't sound like he would truly care about the children's lives.  

“If they don’t stand in my way, their lives shall be spared.” Ra’s promised calmly, they were no longer fighting.

“Why would Talia do this behind your back?” Batman asked. Ubu walked up closer to Batman with an angry look on his face, probably wondering how the Detective had the audacity to even attempt to fight his master, but Bruce ignored him.

“She wouldn’t. She can’t…” Ra’s looked away for a moment, staring at the training camp. He was quite thoughtful as he observed the details on the stone walls and the watchtowers. 

Ra’s looked disheartened by the revelation. Talia was always his favorite, the one he knew he could always count on... Or at least he thought he could. Bruce could tell how much Ra's was hurting, wondering how Talia could have betrayed her own father in such a deceitful way. His mind went back to the Island before he left for Kenya. 

She looked so beautiful with her wavy dark hair against the wind and her alluring emerald eyes... But Talia had heard their conversation, the eleventh Leaguer who was with Ra's had coincidentally disappeared right after they arrived at the camp, and Leviathan knew about their arrival. The pieces of the puzzle were being connected but it still didn't sound like Talia would do such a thing. Even with all the disagreements, Bruce had with her in the past, over how their son was raised, there was no denying the woman still had goodness in her heart. 

Ra’s turned back to Batman. “I’ll go talk to my daughter. I promise no more blood will be spilled tonight. You should return to your home too, Detective.”

Batman wasn’t convinced but Ra’s was still a man of honor, he did have the decency to at least keep his own promises, so he nodded in agreement. 

“This isn’t over, Ra’s.”

“It certainly isn’t. But Leviathan will be stopped.”

With that, Ra’s and his people went to his private jet and flew away. Bruce felt tempted to stay at the camp longer and investigate some more. He looked at the base and noticed how there was no longer anyone standing at the watchtowers because they were all dead… 

Batman needed to find out more. He needed to know what could possibly motivate his old lover's actions to perform such disturbing experiments on those children, why would she ever do such a thing that was out of character for her, unless there was something more that was missing.

He decided to infiltrate the second camp.

Gotham City

Stephanie and Damian were inside the victim’s house, where the entire family had committed suicide. 

The two vigilantes broke in through the window, which was easy since the window was left completely unlocked, and they got inside, observing every detail of the crime scene. The two-story house was modest but quite spacious with beautiful decorations inside, which were sadly overshadowed by all the blood spread over the floors, mostly coming from the living room and the kitchen. The house had an open plan design with the kitchen, dining room, and living room all in the same space, and it looked very well taken care of, if it wasn't for the clear chaos and blood that ruined what was meant to be a beautiful home. 

Damian and Stephanie ignored the yellow crime scene tape spread across the rooms and decided to start at the kitchen, carefully examining the blood on the floor before noticing there was a silverware drawer that was left open.

“They were looking for knives, see how there’s a bunch missing here?” Stephanie pointed to the drawer. “The forensic team must have taken the knives to evaluate the blood. Crazy thing is that this family was super normal, Babs was telling me earlier that there was no history of abuse, violence, nothing, not even mental disorders.”

“It’s because they didn’t actually want to commit suicide, it’s obvious.” Damian spat at the girl's poor investigating skills. 

“Yeah, but what if every victim had something in common, like a mental illness? We gotta think of every possibility." Stephanie pointed out as she left the kitchen area. "But I guess pretty much anyone could be affected."

Damian followed the girl, who was now in the living room studying all the blood that was spilled on the couch and the nice rug underneath the sofa. The couch had a light gray fabric, ruined by the blood stains on the seats and headrests. The two were extremely focused, but their attention was interrupted by a vibrating sound that came from Stephanie's phone. She grabbed her phone from her jeans pocket and saw there was a text message from Barbara, she stopped what she was doing and started typing something in response.

Damian ignored the blonde who was just wasting time texting, followed by uselessly scrolling on her phone until she broke the silence again. "Ah, crap."

“What’s wrong?” Damian quickly turned to her, intrigued.

"I just checked the news again and guess what: 80 more suicides were reported just a few minutes ago. That's insane.”

“This is getting out of control.” Damian agreed, angry at the situation. He couldn’t wait to get his hands on Fatherless and everyone else involved with Leviathan. No more innocent lives were going to be taken. 

Stephanie went back to staring at the couch and then the TV, noticing there was a connection. Excitedly, she pointed to the television and stated: “See, I told you they were watching TV! Babs was texting me that the GCPS is finding that a bunch of victims' houses have blood stains on their couches too! It's not just the food, they were watching something!"

Damian thought of how ridiculous her theory was. Several families eat while watching the TV, the problem at hand was the meat, nothing else. Stephanie didn't care about the boy's broodiness and simply grabbed the remote control that was on the coffee table. She turned on the TV, but it was just the News channel going over some tragic death cases in Gotham, nothing unusual. 

It didn’t take long for Damian to get bored at the channel, so he proceeded to inspect the rest of the house. He looked around to gather any more signs of death or struggle, but every other room was very neat and tidy, indicating the main deaths occurred all in the living room and the kitchen, since everywhere else was clear. Damian walked back to Stephanie to see if she was suspecting something else, but the girl continued staring at the TV, almost paralyzed. Her usual energetic behavior suddenly changed to a more serious stance, she looked extremely interested in the news. Damian wasn’t sure if he was seeing things but even the girl’s bright blue eyes looked strangely sullen, something was bothering her. 

“Brown, stop wasting time. Do you want to look at more victims’ houses? I think we have everything we need here…”

Stephanie didn’t say anything. 

“Brown, let’s go! It’s just the News channel talking about some old criminal cases, we see worse things on patrol…”

The girl weakly mumbled. “This is useless.”

“What?” Damian wasn’t sure what she was talking about.

“Society is doomed. What’s the point of fighting? It’ll never be enough. Those scumbags will keep on coming, this is a never-ending battle.” She said, her eyes glued to the TV. 

“Well, you’re not wrong…” The boy agreed.

“Oh my Gosh.” Suddenly, tears began welling up in her eyes. She sat down on the dirty couch, feeling sick to her stomach. “Tim…”

Damian was startled by her sudden change in behavior and was concerned. “What? What happened to Drake?”

Small sobs escaped her lips. “N-nothing… I just– Why is Tim even with me?” Damian assumed her question was meant to be rhetorical because her eyes never met with his, it was like she was talking to herself.

He frowned. What kind of question was that anyway? And why now did she want to talk about dating drama? 

“I think the proper question would be: why is Drake with you…” The boy mumbled, but it didn’t look like Stephanie was listening.

“I’m not cut out for this job…” Her sobs were getting louder as she buried her face in her hands. “I‘m such a bother to Batman, always in his way..."

Damian was confused. Her line of thought had no cohesiveness whatsoever.

Tears were streaming down her face as she continued: “Me going from Spoiler to Robin, to Batgirl, and Spoiler again? It’s all a façade! The whole thing!” The sobs continued.

“Brown, what are you talking about? You're not making any sense...!”

“A façade…” She repeated. 

Stephanie continued to sob and with no notice at all, she started hyperventilating. That was not what Damian expected to see that night. He had no idea of what was going on with her, the irritatingly bubbly girl was acting absurdly strange, and the worst part was that he didn’t even know how to comfort her. He wasn’t the sentimental type, Grayson was much more equipped for this, especially Drake, who was dating her and would at least know what to say… 

“I c-can’t… I-I…” Stephanie was feeling lightheaded. An acute pain came from her chest, her lungs didn’t seem to work properly, and she felt like she was suffocating on her own breath. It was so difficult for her to put her thoughts into exact words, but all she could think of was how much she hated herself. 

She let down everyone who ever met her. She was never capable of proving herself to be worth anything because the reality was that she was never worth anything. The girl wasn’t worth wearing the Robin mantle, her father hated her, Tim was probably still dating her out of pity, and Stephanie wasn’t even worth being a mother. She was nothing but trash, a waste of space.

Memories of growing up with her father in prison while she had to attend to her mother came back to her mind vividly. On one side there was her mother, always struggling to get out of bed and fight her addiction to painkillers, while on the other side had her father always doing whatever he damn pleased whenever he was out of prison. Everything she wanted to accomplish in life had to come from her own efforts, nobody else was there for her. But what was the point of bothering to get somewhere in life, to fight, to do anything? Her parents could care less about her. She remembered the time she was kidnapped once by some crook who worked for her father, all because they wanted to use her as an excuse for her father to keep orchestrating his schemes because his daughter was "in danger" and they were being held for ransom. What a joke.

It hurt being used like that, being nothing but an inconvenience to everyone’s lives. No one wanted her. Sure, Batman and Robin helped her before, but that was what they did, they were always saving someone. She was no different, no more special than the average Gothamite who Batman risked his life for because that is what he does. And Tim? The kid didn't even have a chance to voice his opinion once. He was too nice and too timid, and Stephanie just rushed their relationship. Hell, Tim didn't even have the decency to tell her his real identity when they met, even though he knew hers. And why? Because he didn't trust her. She wasn't worth being trusted. Batman never trusted her either, and he was right in doing so because when he gave her a second chance, she blew it.

She was the worst Robin, the worst vigilante. Nothing but a piece of trash that people couldn't wait to get rid of. Nothing but damaged goods who deserved to die.  

Slowly, Stephanie reached for her pocket from her oversized purple jacket. She wrapped her hand around a round-shaped portable Batarang. Damian watched the blonde girl click the button in the center of the Batarang, revealing two sharp bat-shaped wings from each side. She was bringing the edge of her gadget closer to her throat when Damian finally realized what was happening. 

"Dammit, Brown, you ate steak recently, didn’t you?”

The boy took the Batarang from her hands aggressively, clicked the center button to return it to its original size, and put the weapon inside his own pocket. Giving no time for her to react, he reached for the remote control before she could protest and turned off the TV. The annoying background noise from the TV reporting Gotham’s tragic cases was finally gone, and Stephanie blinked a few times. The blonde gasped as if she searching for air, leaving that strange trance of hers. 

Stephanie regulated her breathing and noticed the spiky-haired kid looking at her funny. “Why are you staring at me like that?”

Damian was shocked. She wasn't aware of the things that she was saying earlier. “Do you not remember a single thing of what just happened?” 

She still looked confused and raised her eyebrow. “Huh? What are you talking about?" She then smiled. "You’re such a weirdo.”

“This is not funny, Brown! You were on the verge of committing suicide! Your theory was correct, it is the TV!" Damian pointed to the television screen. "That News channel must be sending subliminal messages to the viewers, and the combination of that with the serum injected in the meat is probably what is making everyone suicidal.”

“Oooh, no way!!” The girl’s sudden change of mood almost startled Damian, he didn’t know what to think. "I was right! What's up!! Ha, I'm better than all you lame detectives, ha, ha!" She laughed while playfully pointing at Damian to mock him. 

How Stephanie went from sobbing to excited in less than a few minutes Damian would never understand, but after jumping out of joy, she turned back to him in a more serious tone.  "Hey, that’s so weird, I don’t remember anything.”

“Hm… Good. Probably better that way.” Damian was actually relieved that turning off the TV did the trick; he would have no clue what to do if her hopeless mood had continued. He returned the Batarang to her. “Well, we better go shut down this News channel before more people get killed.”

Stephanie put the Batarang back to her pocket while she was still trying to process everything that had happened. She then asked: “Wait a sec, how come you didn’t get affected?” 

Damian rolled his eyes. “Because I’m not stupid like everyone else and I don’t eat meat. I’m a vegetarian now.”

“Aww, really?! I didn’t know that!” Stephanie said, sweetly, thinking how adorable the little brat was. “Shoot, come to think of it, Tim and I had a burger yesterday when we went out, the burger must have been contaminated!”

“Tt. You should probably show this channel to him then, I’m sure he’ll like it–”

“Oh my God, you’re terrible!” Stephanie laughed, hitting Damian’s arm, playfully. 

Damian resisted the urge to smile, but the girl was sure she saw a little grin in there. She loved seeing Damian act more playful, even though the kid did not know how to make a joke. She then grabbed her phone and started dialing to reach Barbara.

“Hey, Oracle! So, I was totally right, the TV is what's causing all these problems by sending some weird messages to people's brains, a suicidal mind control kind of deal.” She paused to listen to what Barbara was saying. “I know. News Channel 57. Cool. Ok, send me the location. How did I find out? Oh, I just turned on the TV, we’re at one of the dead family’s households, you know the family of 5 who all killed themselves? Yeah, little D saved me, he told me I was about to kill myself; can you believe it?” Stephanie stopped talking again, she looked worried now. “No, the TV didn't do anything to him, he's a vegetarian now. Oh…  Shoot, I’m sorry. You’re right... Ok, talk to you later, bye.”

Damian was looking at her, tiredly, he kept waiting for her to hang up the phone.

She put her phone away and stared back at the boy’s green eyes. “Ok, so good and bad news. Babs is sending me the address for where that channel is being broadcasted, she said that's easy to find. So that’s the good news, the bad news is that I totally forgot to lie about you and now everyone in the family is going to know you’re with me instead of being safe at home. Soo… I should probably get you home first.”

The boy gave a sinister glare, a lot similar to his father's. “You seriously think I’m going to let you take me home, and sacrifice more deaths because we’re wasting time commuting rather than shutting down the channel? We lost enough time as it is, Brown.”

“Yeahh, you’re right. Ok, let’s go.” She turned around to face the door, happily. She didn't need to be convinced and even though the little gremlin tended to be quite annoying at times, she didn't mind his company and shared the same thoughts as he did when it came to tackling the most important matters first. She could deal with being yelled at for being a bad babysitter later after the city was saved. 

Damian would never admit it out loud but seeing Stephanie return to her usual happy-go-lucky state was peaceful to him, it was nice having his friend act normal again. Watching her so desperately, struggling to even find words to speak while going through a brief panic attack was definitely not a pleasant experience, he wished to never go through that again.

The boy decided to take the lead this time as they were walking toward the entrance door to depart. They were both feeling confident, and even with the time against them, they were sure in themselves that they would be able to bring the broadcast down and save Gotham.

The boy twisted the rounded doorknob and had a determined smile on his face, which unfortunately faded as he felt something cold touching his chest as soon as he opened the door.

It was a gun.

Damian looked up and saw a tall, brunette man with a scruffy beard, and dark eyes staring right back at him. The man did not look happy at all.

“Get inside.” The man commanded.

 Lone Star Meat Factory

Nightwing and Red Robin parked their motorbikes next to the meat factory and rushed to get inside as fast as possible.

As they ran, Tim started the conversation. “So, I messaged Jason to let him know about the meatpacking factory ordeal, I wanted him to at least know what’s going on before doing something stupid.”

“Oh, yeah?” Nightwing asked while he was occupied unlocking the front glass doors with one of his gadgets. “And what did he say? Is he coming here too?”

“It’s Jason, what do you think?” Tim replied sarcastically, the door was now open and both young men got inside. “He ignored me.”

They entered the facility and were surprised to see that several people were still working. There were hundreds of employees still inside, dealing with an enormous volume of cut meat sitting on the long assembly lines for the workers to wrap the meat and get ready for shipment. The meat workers looked up at the vigilantes from where they were standing, confused. 

Nightwing gave a quick glance at Red Robin before turning to the crowd. “Hey, guys, so sorry to interrupt, but–”

A loud bang echoed from the other side of the room. It was the sound of gunshots.

As the sounds got louder, it soon became clear that there was a killer inside the factory, and the employees started to panic. People stopped everything they were doing to evacuate as fast as possible while the automatic assembly lines were still moving with the meat unpacked. 

Nightwing and Red Robin were alarmed by the gunfire and immediately went searching for the shooter, just to find out it was none other than a very familiar person…

... Jason.

“Let’s go, fuckers, time to close the shop now! Get out if you don’t wanna get killed!” Hood yelled, aiming his guns at the ceiling, and hitting some of the light bulbs on purpose to scare everyone inside. 

Panic was spread at the workplace, there was screaming and people running away for their lives, while Red Hood couldn’t help but laugh at the scenario.

Nightwing sighed. “Hood, seriously? Can you go one night without killing anyone?” 

“Geez, stop being such a wuss.”  Hood replied he was enjoying using his bullets to hit the walls and ceilings, pretending he was missing the terrified employees. 

Nightwing shook his head in disapproval. “Hood, I’m serious. Stop shooting.” Jason lowered his guns.

The meat workers were still rushing to leave the factory, but the head of the meatpacking department stormed into the room, yelling. “WHAT IN THE HELL IS GOING ON?” 

He looked at the three vigilantes and dropped his jaw in shock. He pointed at them with his finger trembling. “Y-you stop right there! W-who are you, people?” No one responded, so he continued. “I-I have a job to do! My meat is being left unattended and you’re going to get it contaminated! You must leave now!”

Hood walked to the manager, staring at the man’s funny mustache. “Newsflash, asshole, your meat is already contaminated and everyone in Gotham is dying because of it. So, you either leave now or I’ll blast your brains out.” Hood threatened, aiming his gun at the manager’s forehead.

“Hood!” Nightwing and Red Robin called, Tim was the one who intervened this time as he pushed Jason away and separated him and the manager. 

Turning to the packaging department, Red Robin apologized. “Sorry about that, my friend here has a little temper that he’s still working on. Unfortunately, this factory has to be shut down, we caught some bad people breaking into the slaughterhouse and poisoning all the meat…”

“What?” The manager asked, perplexed. “That is the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard; you’re making this whole thing up!”

Nightwing rubbed his forehead, impatiently, he spoke up before Hood made any other threats. “Did you seriously miss the news about the butchers who were killed the other night? The intruders were even arrested for murder and for infiltrating the slaughterhouse.”

“Well, of course I know about that, but there is no way they infected everything. The FDA hasn’t even said anything, no one told me to stop my production, and—"

“Then get moving now, you moron!” Hood interrupted. “Don’t just wait for the FDA to make decisions for you, now go. GO!” Jason repeated, watching the man pathetically stumble and walk away as Red Hood continued holding his gun in the manager’s direction. 

The whole facility was completely empty, except for the three young brothers still standing.

“Real smooth there, Jay,” Nightwing said, brushing his hair with his fingers, stressed.

“I got the job done, didn’t I?” Jason asked, reloading his gun and putting it away. “Replacement filled me in, you gotta be a stupid idiot to think that talking nicely is what will get people to listen. I came, made some threats, and everyone left. All done.”

Tim shook his head, he hated being referred to as the replacement, especially after he tried so hard to respect Jason’s death and the Robin legacy, but he knew his brother didn’t really mean it… Or maybe he did, no one knew for sure, and he was also frustrated with the whole fiasco caused by him.

He took a deep breath and opted to be the bigger man instead of engaging in a new argument. “Thank you, Hood. We appreciate your partnership.”

“No worries, nerd,” Jason replied, messing Tim’s hair.

Dick and Tim’s phones started vibrating, they both checked to see what it was, and it was a message from Oracle and Spoiler. Jason was left out, of course, so he waited for the two goody-good shoe heroes to spill the update.

“Hey, Babs and Steph found out that there’s a TV channel sending messages to make people commit suicide!” Nightwing said out loud. They couldn’t see Jason’s facial expressions, but he was raising his eyebrow.

“So, people are getting mind fucked into killing themselves over a steak and TV?” Jason asked. “The two best things in life, of course! My God, Gotham sucks ass.”

Red Robin glared at Hood. “Very funny, Hood. We all better get going, I’m forwarding you the coordinates to where the channel is being broadcasted, Jay. Steph is heading there too.”

Nightwing frowned as he read the newest text message that was sent to him. “DAMIAN IS STILL WITH STEPH??” 

“Dang it, Steph…” Tim complained, giving himself a facepalm. 

Jason just chuckled. “Heh, demon spawn is so gonna get killed tonight, ha, ha!”

Nightwing angrily turned to Red Hood, holding him by his collar, which took Jason by surprise. “Do you ever stop? This is not funny!”

“Woah, easy there, Dickhead. It’s not my fault the brat is too stubborn to listen. Kid got himself a fucking bounty and he doesn’t give two shits. You should do the same, quit acting like a dumb mother hen.”

Dick tightened his grip, but Tim broke out the two to stop the fight. 

“Will you two chill? Dick, Damian is going to be fine. They’re after Robin, not Damian Wayne, remember?” Tim assured, which eased Dick’s nerves and made him finally let go of Jason. Tim then turned to Hood. “Now, Jay… Can you try to be more cooperative? Just this once?”

“Eh, I am being cooperative,” Rood said, walking out of the facility from the back door, where he came from. “Meet you sissies at the broadcasting site. Bye!” 

Nightwing watched the black sheep of the family leave and tried to regain his composure by remaining calm, despite feeling so nervous for his youngest brother.

The gun felt cold, even though Damian wasn’t feeling it in his bare skin. He was feeling short and out of breath and while he knew the precise moves on how to disarm someone, the gun was uncomfortably rested right against his chest; One wrong move and he would get shot. Damian tried to get better control of himself by remembering to breathe, there was no way he would ever allow that crook to know he was truly feeling intimidated.

Stephanie, who was right behind Damian, took a step forward to face the man herself.

“Hey! Who do you think you are?”

“Stay right where you are, blondie.” The gunman said, glaring at her, not moving his rifle away from the boy.

Stephanie was startled by the sudden sound of people breaking into the house from the windows and the entrance door; There were a total of 8 new intruders, all leveling their guns at the two heroes. They were all wearing black and were dressed as ninjas.  

“Who are you?” Damian ventured to ask; the rifle was still pressed tightly against his chest. 

"It doesn't matter who I am. I am just here to do someone I care about a favor. Why bother with a half-a-billion-dollar bounty when you can easily just come with us for free? It is just a family reunion, after all.”

“Tt. So, you are the League of Assassins, aren’t you?”

"I am no longer part of the League; we are a League of our own. We are Leviathan."

Damian yawned and stepped back to get some distance; the man didn’t continue pressing the rifle, but his gun was still aimed at the boy.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever.” Damian waved his hand and looked around. The assassins holding their guns were no longer intimidating, his grandfather would never allow for any of them to kill his grandson, the one meant to be his successor. “You think you're all special with your silly group, but you're not. Besides, with Grandfather leading the way, there is no chance you’ll actually risk upsetting him by killing me. No matter, I desire to meet with my grandfather anyway, so you can take me to him.”

“Damian!” Stephanie called, but she was interrupted by the unmasked man, the ninjas next to her positioned their guns at her, ready to kill her if needed. 

"Oh, Ra's al Ghul has nothing to do with this. He is not aware of Leviathan."

Damian scowled. The man had to be lying, there was no way someone else was doing all of this. “What? What do you mean by that? He’s not the leader of Leviathan?”

The man with the scruffy beard grinned. “Far beyond that, my boy. He’s our declared enemy, as you will be if you don’t come peacefully. I am just here to sustain the order of Lady al Ghul.” The man lowered his gun and walked closer to Damian, holding the kid's shoulders down. “Now, come. It is time for you to reunite with your family, Damian.”

Stephanie wasn’t sure why, but the way the man called Damian by his first name sent chills down her spine. Of course, they knew his identity, but the whole thing sounded too personal and she didn’t like that one bit. Unsure of what to do, she reached for her pocket to hit the button located on the side of her iPhone, which automatically connected to an app designed to alert the Bat Family whenever they were in danger.  

Damian hadn’t provided an answer yet. It didn’t seem like there was much of a choice, not that he minded since he already wanted to see his mother, but he was still shocked by the revelation. It made sense that his grandfather would be orchestrating the whole movement, but his own mother? Was that why she didn't bother to visit him later because she was too occupied building a secret empire of her own? She had to have a reason. Perhaps she was forced to form Leviathan to combat Grandfather, she had a better vision than him… But why make children suffer in the process? And why did the kids have to be close to his age, the similarities he shared with the child soldiers always felt uneasy for him, as if someone was toying with him. Damian wondered if his choosing to be at his father’s side was what spiraled everything and now he was going to be replaced by a bunch of Arabic kids who were stronger than him… Regardless of his doubts, he needed to hear the actual reasoning from his mother directly.  

"Fair enough. Take me to her." Robin said, stoic.

The former Leaguer smiled.

Training Camp, Kenya 

Batman was in one of the computer rooms that was inside the camp. He managed to get inside without anyone seeing him, but he needed to be fast before another kid caught him and started a war. All lights were out, and he was hacking the computer to read over the files so he could investigate what Talia was doing with Leviathan. He clicked on a folder that read “Heretic” and was about to click on the documents, but he heard the sound of steps coming in his direction. 

He didn’t have time to look further, so Batman quickly exited the page and hid in the shadows. A tall man dressed in what seemed to be a Middle Eastern white robe with pointy bat ears was standing next to a woman. From the way he looked, it fits exactly the description Damian gave him about Fatherless. Bruce tried to take a good look at the woman also, but she was standing away from the computer, which made it difficult to identify her with the lack of lighting. 

“You heard the news, didn’t you, my boy?” He heard her say to Fatherless. “Soon enough, Gotham will perish. Daddy will be so proud.” She smiled.

A phone rang and the woman answered. Her voice sounded cold and piercing.

“Yes?” She walked around in circles and then stopped. “Thank you, my dearest. I am sure Damian will love it; the whole family united at last.”

Bruce’s heart started racing at the mention of his son. He knew Damian was not going to listen and he would be in danger, he needed to stop her, alert Alfred, and have the family help while he was away—

The woman was walking towards the computer now to search for something. Bruce already had an idea of who it was, but he needed to know it for sure. The brightness of the screen against her profile revealed her short dark hair, her higher-than-average height, tan skin, and an extremely familiar face, it was someone that Bruce had met years ago.

And that was when Bruce knew that the true head of Leviathan was never Talia.

It was Nyssa al Ghul. 

Chapter Text

The plan was to gather more intel on Leviathan's plan, hack the files from the computer room and continue the investigation back in Gotham, but everything changed the moment Bruce heard Nyssa mentioning his son.

His heart was still pounding, and he felt as if he was starting to be out of breath as his mind brought him back to the time in Ethiopia when Jason went to the abandoned warehouse and was trapped by the Joker. He lost one son already all because his orders were disobeyed, and the same thing could potentially happen to his youngest; Bruce had a feeling that Damian snuck out again, which was how he got caught by Leviathan.

He didn’t know what exactly Nyssa wanted to do with Damian, but one thing was certain; his son’s life was in danger, and he was not even there to protect him. It was all his fault and he failed as a father. Again.  No, he needed to stop thinking that way, he could dwell on his self-pity and blame himself later. Damian was going to be ok, and Bruce would not allow anyone to hurt his family.

He knew the al Ghuls were not to be underestimated. Though not much was said about Nyssa, Bruce knew she was the daughter of Amina Raatko, a concubine of Ra's, who was abandoned shortly after their daughter was born. Alike the oldest brother, Dusan al Ghul, Nyssa was also casted away from the family and completely forgotten. Talia never mentioned her older sister, but Bruce remembered seeing Nyssa’s closed off face from a distance when he was getting ‘married' to Talia against his will in one of Ra's odd ceremonies. It was a strange series of events since then because one moment Talia told him she was pregnant and that she was thrilled with the idea of raising the new ‘Alexander’, which was concerning, and the next she was bleeding, crying uncontrollably as she lied over having a miscarriage.

He remembered Talia pushing him away and completely distancing herself from him for several years, but he should’ve known better. He never forgave himself for not knowing that Ra’s and Talia not only brought Jason back to life and trained him in the League, but they were also raising Damian in secret all those years. The mere thought of that was infuriating, he would never let his guard down and come close to trusting anyone of the al Ghul family ever again. He could never see Talia with the same eyes after all the things Damian had to go through in his childhood, but that was beside the point. Bruce now needed to learn Nyssa's motivations and how he was going to stop her.

The room they were in was still completely dark, except for the bright light coming from the computer screen that was flooding Nyssa’s face, making her look ghostly, almost. Batman remained in hiding, taking advantage of all the darkness surrounding him. He listened closely as Nyssa turned to the man standing next to her, who Batman assumed to be 'Fatherless’.

"You want to know something, Heretic?" Nyssa asked, while caressing Fatherless' jaw.

She stepped away from the computer, her face was no longer near the blue screen. It was hard to see what she was doing, but it looked like she was reaching for something from her pocket. Batman crouched a little and stayed in a defensive stance.

"There is nothing that irritates me more than being constantly stalked on!” Her loud voiced echoed the room as she turned around right where Batman was standing and threw a knife at him. Batman quickly got out of the way, watching the knife swaying back and forth as it hit the wall instead.

"Heretic, be a good boy and go turn on the lights for our guest. It'd be rude to chat in the dark." She ordered, Heretic followed the command and turned on the lights, revealing a very small room with nothing inside, except for a wooden desk, an office chair, and a large computer.

Batman no longer had the shadows to hide, but he didn't care. He straightened up his posture and looked Nyssa right in the eyes.

But it was Nyssa who spoke first, shaking her head slowly with a fake smile on her face. “You just don’t know when to quit, do you?"

“What is the meaning of all this, Nyssa?” Batman asked, sternly, but the woman was not even close to feeling intimidated. She smiled in response.

“I should ask you the same, Detective.” Nyssa started walking in circles around Batman as if he was her prey. Heretic was standing close to her, ready for the next command. "I’ve been spending literal years in the shadows, being particularly meticulous in every action of mine, just waiting for the right moment to make an appearance... And then you decide to show up and pry on all my facilities! Not even my own father suspected a thing, yet you had to stick your nose where you don't belong. Oh, and as a bonus, you had to bring my father here, who just killed MY PEOPLE, mind you."

"I told Ra's not to kill anyone, he didn't listen." Batman assured; his voice was still cold.

"Oh, I'm sure you did that, our good old hero, always ready to save the day. Is that why my dumb sister fell for you?" Nyssa mocked; Batman didn't respond. She shrugged her shoulders and continued. "Hm, regardless. Now, I need to know, where did the stalking start? How did you find my operations?"

"You stole the Mirakuru and kidnapped a man, Nyssa. Does the name Michael Larson sound familiar to you?"

"Oh, I see. Well, first off, he got what he deserved. Second, don't make false accusations on things you lack knowledge of. I never once kidnapped Larson, he came to me, willingly." Nyssa could see Batman frowning. "I was looking for a talented scientist and then I stumbled across his work one day. The poor guy was obsessed with his genetic studies, but no one ever gave him the time of day. He was a visionary, a bright man ready to bring so many possibilities to the future but treated so poorly by his family and work colleagues. I saw something in him that no one else did, I saw potential. So, I gave him a purpose, an offer he couldn't reject. I helped him witness his life-long dream come to life before his eyes, and he’s been working with me for an entire year. He was so eager to join me, and I supported him in every step of the way. It was only until recently that he decided to complain and be a quitter, he rejected me after all I've done for him. And of course, he had to send that pathetic excuse of an encrypted SOS message to his wife, thinking I wouldn't notice it. I'm sure that's what got your attention."

"What did you need him for?"

"Haven’t you figured it out? I’m building an empire, far superior to the League of Assassins. I am resuming all the hope that was lost from my people. A new movement founded by principles of dignity, honor, the great Leviathan, and--!"

Batman cut her. "You're using children for your schemes and murdered Larson by injecting him the Mirakuru serum so I would find his dead body just for you to make a point. There is nothing honorable about that."

 "Ah, and here I thought you were the 'world's greatest detective'. Sure, I wanted you to find Larson; I noticed you were stalking me, so I decided to play your little games. But again with the false accusations! I am not using the children, Batman, they chose to join me. They were being sex trafficked and I SAVED them, I found the human traffickers and me and my followers killed each one of them. I gave the children a choice afterwards. I asked them if they wanted to come with me and they all agreed to do so. No one was being used, it was all volunteer work!”

Nyssa walked closer to Batman, staring him in the eyes. She continued, “All I did was give them strength, I provided a way for them to overcome their trauma, channel all their pain towards something better..." She paused and gave a sinister grin.  "Just like you do it with your little Robins... Isn't that right, Bruce?”

Her taunt sent a chill down his spine, Bruce did not like where this was going.  

“What do you want?” Batman asked as he grinded his teeth.

“What I want, Batman, is to earn respect for once in my life. But I've already wasted too much time and I have more important matters to attend to. Until we meet again.” Nyssa turned her back to Batman and walked towards the door where she came from.   

“I can’t let you go, Nyssa. You’ve done too much already.”

The woman smirked and turned her head to him. “Oh, I haven’t even started, trust me. This is only the beginning.” 

“I heard you on the phone." Batman's voice got louder and firm as he spoke again. "If you dare to even lay a finger on Damian--”

Nyssa interrupted him; she was pleased to see Bruce's suffrage. “Awn, look at Papa Bear in action! Cease your worries, Brucey. The al Ghuls are simply overdue for a family reunion. I miss my little nephew, Talia probably can't wait to see her baby boy again, and my father will be so proud to see us all reunited. I'm doing everyone a favor by bringing the family closer together."

Batman's hands curled into fists, and he moved forward to attack her, but Heretic did the same, stepping in front of Nyssa to protect her. Heretic was about to lay a punch on Bruce until the woman raised her hand to make him stop.

She slowly walked to Batman until she was uncomfortably close to him, her forehead almost touching his chest. "Detective, let me be clear about something; My fight is not with you. Stay out of this if you don't want your precious son to be killed. If you so try to intervene one more time, I promise to bring hell to you." 

Bruce debated whether he should strike now and make her regret for what she said, or if he should remain his composure, but the second that took him to decide was enough for Nyssa to give another command. "He's all yours, Heretic."

Before Batman could react, Heretic advanced at him at full speed, aggressively aiming to hit him, but Batman was able to block in time. He had to swerve again as Heretic would not stop, Fatherless' moves were too fast and brutal and his peak condition indicated that he was practically taking easy on Bruce, as if it was just another day of training for him. Batman had the feeling Heretic viewed him as nothing but a training dummy for him to practice on.

Being constantly in the defensiveness was becoming ineffective, Batman saw himself always needing to block or duck from each punch or kick that came towards him, but he needed to do more, especially with Nyssa getting away. Whenever an enemy of his fought hard and impulsively, Bruce used that as a way to tire his opponents, but from the looks of it, Heretic was nowhere close to showing a fraction of tiredness. He looked determined instead, and his calculated combat moves demonstrated a vast knowledge on different fighting styles.

Batman wasn't dealing with someone who happened to be strong and simply used his muscles to fight, like other villains he had faced in the past, that man knew his martial arts.

And he was good.

Too good. He probably spent years or his whole life training; one did not simply fight so precisely well without having a heavy exposure to various fighting styles. As Heretic tried hitting Batman again, Bruce took his chance to punch the man's jaw.

It did nothing. 

Heretic charged at Batman again and got the upper hand this time, successfully grabbing Bruce's shoulders on a sharp pull towards him, destabilizing him in the process. Batman was aggressively thrown to the ground at an enormous force, due to a complicated Judo move from Fatherless. Bruce was on the floor, trying to regain his strength, and widened his eyes as Heretic was about to jump on him to elbow him in the face.

Lone Star Factory

Red Hood was already long gone, following the directions that Tim had forwarded to him so he could go to the broadcasting center, Tim and Dick were getting ready to leave as well. They got on their motorcycles and revved the engine, but an irritating sound coming from their pockets forced them to stop what they were doing.

Their phones were vibrating frenetically, and Dick started to wonder what could be possibly happening now; He grabbed his phone to see what was going on.

His stomach dropped. 

"The distress signal!" Nightwing shouted, with concern in his voice.

"I saw!” Tim said, while still sitting on his motorcycle. He glanced at his phone before turning back to Dick. “Steph and Damian are in danger!"

"Damn it, I knew something was going to happen." Dick complained while he nervously pushed his hair back. He looked at the streets from side to side, trying to decide what to do next.

Nightwing's eyes were hidden from his domino mask, but Tim could easily tell how desperate his older brother was getting. Nightwing's voice was tense, his whole posture had changed, and it was as if Tim could see the invisible aura of anxiety flowing through his brother from where he was standing. Not that Tim wasn't worried for his girlfriend and the little gremlin, but deep down he knew they could take care of themselves, even with them pressing the distress signal. He just knew they were going to be okay. Dick, on the other hand, was feeling way more apprehensive, Tim just assumed that had to do with Jason's earlier taunts. Ever since Bruce was presumed “dead” months ago, they became more at odds with each other, and Jason always knew what to say to mess with Dick.

"You should go, Dick." Red Robin said, worried for his brother.

Dick looked up. "Huh?"

"Go. Me and Jason will take care of everything else, don't worry. You go help Steph and Damian, ok? Make sure they're alright." Tim smiled.

Dick didn't say anything but nodded in response with a relieved smile. He started his bike and rode in the opposite direction as Tim's.

At the House

Stephanie was paralyzed from all the guns pointed at her. Luckily no one noticed her sneakily reaching for her phone but not much could be done outside of that, one move would result in getting herself killed. She watched, in horror, the assassins placing a black cloth on Damian’s head and binding the boy’s hands behind his back with a rope in a complicated knot before he was taken to the back of a black van. Two assassins forced him to get inside the car with their guns aimed at his head.

She couldn't comprehend how on earth the kid's own mother could treat him in such a way and felt awful for knowing that this was all her fault. If she had only listened, if she had taken him to the Manor like she was supposed to, none of this would be happening… The thought of her being a failure again was too painful, she needed to refocus. 

Stephanie looked around her to see if there was anything in the house close to her that she could use as a weapon or even if there was an easy spot for her to jump and hide to give her time to throw the portable batarang she had brought with her. She considered attacking them from where she was standing, but how could she disarm them all without getting shot in the head?

The van drove away, and the assassins turned their attention back to her. Steph noticed the one to her left held his gun tighter, about to pull the trigger, so she had to act fast.

"HOLD UP!" Stephanie shouted, raising her hands to signal them she surrendered. The ninja instinctively stopped, intrigued by what the girl had to say. "Listen, I know you gotta get rid of all your witnesses because I'm just a civilian, yadda, yadda... But I got some news to tell ya. Do any of you know Lady Shiva?" 

The ninjas didn't respond but a couple of them took a step backwards without even noticing, Stephanie felt confident again. "So, I happen to be best friends with her daughter, Cassandra. Have you ever seen Cass in action? She can sense your heart rhythm at the same time she can make it stop beating. Yeah. So, I would be reeally cautious if I were you. The moment she finds out you killed me, she will rage. And you don't want to see that." The assassins shared a quick look at each other and went back to Steph, ready to shoot her.

One of the assassins spoke up. "Then let her come."

Stephanie took a few steps back; her heart was racing. That was her last resort, and she was completely cornered, facing four killers aiming their guns at her.

She was going to die.

A loud bang came, and shattered glass started falling from the ceiling, followed by a pitch-black darkness that invaded the house; someone had aimed at the lightbulb instead of her.  But why? Would an assassin be so fearful of Cassandra that he'd prefer to leave Stephanie alive instead? The girl didn't think twice and ran towards the couch to hide as the assassins opened fire. Someone from outside was throwing explosives at them, and combined with all the gunfire, there was no more traces of a barely untouched home. What used to be a nicely decorated house, owned by what seemed to be a good and happy family, was completely gone. Bullets and explosives destroyed all the walls, furniture, decorative vases, it was a disaster. 

Stephanie was planning her escape so she could get away from there as fast as possible, so she reached for her pocket to grab the only weapon she had with her. She was going to head towards the entrance door and use her gadget to attack the first ninja who would attempt to stop her, but her attention turned to the living room window that was right in front of her. She saw someone from a distance moving in her direction, it looked like someone was running, and then it happened; a man suddenly crashed through the windows. 

She had to lower her head again and crouch down as millions of glasses were flying right near her while the shooting was redirected to the living room, right where she was. She tried to at least crawl away from the new intruder, but a gas bomb was thrown at the floor with a strong, toxic odor coming from it, completely disorienting everyone inside the house. The gas was powerful, Stephanie was still on the floor, now holding onto the couch seat to regain some balance, but her mind was getting foggy, it was hard to think straight. Whatever gas that was had a quick effect in the brain, and she tried everything she could to resist the urge to faint and pass out. She could barely move; the couch was her only protection now with the guns being fired in every direction again. 

Stephanie could no longer understand who was fighting who, all she saw was a couple of bodies being dropped to the floor, which probably meant that the assassins were losing, at least. The gas was taking its full effect on everyone, given that Stephanie was about to lose her consciousness too. The room became completely silent, save for slow steps that creaked on the floor, heading towards the girl. The strange figure approached her, offering his gloved hand for her to get up. It was a tall man, his whole face covered with a black mask. He wore a gray shirt with rolled up sleeves, black pants, and black fingerless gloves. She knew it wasn't Batman and definitely not Tim, she tried to remember if it was someone she had seen before, but her mind went blank. Stephanie rejected the hand extended to help her get up, she was still fighting for her eyes to stay open, but she felt her arm being pulled, forcing her to stand up anyway. The stranger's arm went around her back while a safety gas mask was being placed on her face.

"Here. You're safe now." Stephanie didn't recognize the man's voice.

They walked out of the house and the man guided Stephanie to enter the back seat of his car. She was feeling too weak to fight, getting close to lose her consciousness. The person carefully laid her down in his car and started driving afterwards. Stephanie had no idea where she was being taken. 

After a few minutes, she thought she heard someone yelling from outside the car, but she wasn’t sure if that was real or just in her head. She sat up to look at the window just to find there was someone following them, a guy in a motorcycle furiously driving right behind them at great speed. 

It was Nightwing.

"HEY!" Nightwing yelled, maneuvering his motorcycle right next to the driver. The mysterious man rolled down his window, raising his eyebrow. 

Nightwing continued. "YEAH, YOU! WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE, KIDNAPER SCUMBAG?" Nightwing was about to throw mini explosives in the car to disorient the driver, but he stopped after the man started pleading.

"STOP, STOP IT!" Nightwing was riding the motorcycle a little too close to him now. "I'M ON YOUR SIDE!"

Realizing that Nightwing was not going to stop and that he was going to keep being madly chased, the driver decided to change his route to park his car off the road. From the back seat, Stephanie watched the whole thing, she was starting to feel more alert now that the effects of the gas were dissipating. The driver took a wild turn and parked his car, Nightwing followed right behind him. As soon as the masked man got out of his car and closed the door, he was startled by Nightwing, who was standing behind him. Without missing a beat, Nightwing advanced on him and held the man by his collar. 

"Who are you?" Nightwing asked. The 'Batman' side of him, who he always disliked having, coming out.

"I'm Nightrunner-- I'm a friend of Batman's!" Bilal managed to say. Dick raised his eyebrow, he wasn't convinced, but his grip loosened up.

"I am here to fight Leviathan. I'm on your side." Nightrunner repeated. 

Nightwing let go of him and crossed his arms. "How do I know you're telling the truth?" 

Before Bilal could say a word, Stephanie got out of the car also, slamming the door as she walked out. She went towards Bilal with her index finger pointed at his face, ready to lecture him. "Yeah, you gassed me and then was taking me away, you creep! Stay away from me!" 

"I offered you a safety mask and I took you away from those monsters!" Nightrunner defended himself. "I know who they are, they were going to do terrible things to you, I couldn't let that happen! They took my sister and now she is dead because of them, I would never be able to live with myself if I did nothing to stop them."

Nightwing and Stephanie looked at each other, intrigued.

Stephanie started feeling bad for him. "What happened to your sister?"

Bilal sighed. "Too much, she went through things that no one should have to endure. Look, what truly matters is that you're safe now, you should go home. I'm not done here, there's more people at risk."

Nighrunner was about to turn around to go back to his car, but Nigthwing stopped him.

"You mentioned Leviathan." Nightwing spoke. "What do you know about them?"

Bilal looked at him and then the girl. He didn't want to share what he knew right in front of a civilian; The girl needed to go back to her parents, not be involved in a complicated matter that the police should be handling it. It was hard enough with the children he rescued, Kollectiv, wanting to fight along his side, he didn't want another victim risking her life when she should go back to normalcy and stay safe. Nightwing was glaring at him, and he knew the hero was serious. He was aware of Nightwing's partnership with Batman, so he wanted to gain his trust.

Nightrunner decided to tell him what he knew. "Leviathan is a secret international terrorist organization--"

"We know." Stephanie interrupted, impatient. Nightrunner looked at her, surprised, while Stephanie didn't notice his reaction. She also forgot that she wasn't dressed as Spoiler.

Hesitant, Bilal continued."--And they capture people, a lot younger than you usually, miss, but regardless, they tend to take several children to conduct pervasive tests on them. They are trying to build a whole army of child soldiers for whatever sick reason they have. I know Batman watches over this city, but I heard rumors from Leviathan themselves that they were going to attack Gotham next, so I had to come." Nightrunner paused and looked at the blonde. No one could see his face due to the mask, but he had a sad look in his eyes. "I was spying Leviathan and noticed them getting inside that house, I thought they were going to test on you too, I couldn't take my chances..."

Dick reached for the side of his lenses to activate the ID confirmation setting. He preferred to have that configuration turned off most of the time because he didn't like to creep into people's lives and identities, like Batman always did to everyone, but he wanted to be sure. His lenses showed him a screen with all of Nightrunner's information, proving the man was not lying. His real name was Bilal Alsselah, or Nightrunner, the vigilante of France.

"He's telling the truth." Nightwing said, Stephanie looked surprised. "So, 'Batman of France' is that what they call you?"

Bilal gave a nervous laugh. "Ha, ha, geez... I'm not anywhere near Batman's level..." Bilal looked back at Stephanie and lowered in head, apologetically. "I'm sorry for the scare, miss."

Stephanie thought of giving him a hard time but decided against it. "Hm. It's ok! Thanks for saving me!" She gave a friendly smile which was sincere but quickly faded away, she was worried about Damian. "You know, we should really focus on--"

Nightwing interrupted as he pointed to the car. "Is Dami still in the car, unconscious?" 

Stephanie could feel the knot in her throat, she was caught off guard. "...Um, about that... They took him."

Nightwing's jaw dropped. "WHAT? What are we doing, then? We're wasting time!" The young acrobat turned to Nightrunner, angrily. "Why didn't you save him too?"

"I was trying to," Bilal replied, his voice changed to a defensive tone, "but someone was chasing me! They took the kid to a van and my goal was to save the girl first and try to follow the van, but I had to take a detour because of you!"

"Ok, fine, I get it." Nightwing pinched the bridge of his nose and turned to Stephanie, this time she was the one who was going to be lectured on. "And seriously, Steph? You decide it's a good idea to NOT take Damian home? I trusted you!"

Stephanie was already feeling guilty as it was, but she was not going to be wrapped up in an argument, they needed to be on the move. "Look, I know I screwed up, okay? But we don't have time to argue right now, we need to go look for Damian." Stephanie grabbed her phone from her pocket. "Is there a way to locate where he's at through his phone?"

"He didn't take his phone with him..." Nightwing replied.

"What? Who leaves their house without a phone? Ok, let's track him with his comms, then."

"...He told me he broke his comms; he needs new ones."

"What the heck, Nightwing?!" Stephanie complained. "You didn't even tell him to bring his phone, you let him get out of the house without having a single way to track him in case something like this happens? You know he never listens! And he's eleven years old, for crying out loud!"

Dick defended himself. "We were just going to eat out like normal people do, I didn't think much of it! We were supposed to have a normal night, not be stuck in this giant mess!"

Bilal was a little confused on why a random kid would be wearing 'comms' and what was his relationship with these two. He also found it very odd how the blonde knew about Leviathan already, he had a feeling she was too a vigilante. 

Stephanie kept her thoughts to herself, but she was still upset. She sighed, "That's just great, so how are we going to find him now?"

Nightwing pressed his comm on his ear to get in touch with Oracle.

"Oracle, they took Damian. Is there anything you can find, any cell phones or devices owned by Leviathan that you can hack into? There must be something..." Dick walked side to side as he talked to Barbara. Towards the end of the call, he nodded and turned back to Bilal and Stephanie. "Ok, Oracle is trying to see what she can find, she's also helping out Red Robin get inside the broadcasting center."

Nightunner had a confused look on his face. "Red Robin--? Is there more than one Robin?" He stared at the girl. "Are you a Robin too?"

"I used to!" She replied, bubbly, confusing Bilal even more. Dick rolled his eyes as he knew what the man was probably thinking; that Batman was crazy. When Dick decided to become Robin himself, he never imagined his suit would later turn into a mantle to be passed on to so many people, but things just kind of happened. Only the Bat-family would understand.

"Guys, focus." Nightwing said. "While we wait for coordinates, let's drive around to see if we can find anything."

Stephanie and Nightrunner nodded in agreement. Bilal went back to his car while Stephanie went with Dick in the back seat of his motorcycle. 

As Dick handed her a second helmet, she sighed. "Man, I left my motorcycle at that house..."

"You can get your bike later, now, let's go." Nightwing replied, starting his motorcycle. 

The three left, starting their search.

Broadcasting Center

Red Robin arrived at the building where channel 57 was being broadcasted. Hood was ahead of him, and all Tim could think of was on all the damage that could be caused by Jason. The hope was that Jason would behave, or least try to. Red Robin easily broke into the building without setting any alarms on thanks to Oracle’s help, as she hacked the CCTV security cameras to make it think there were no intruders. She luckily hacked it right before Jason arrived, which was good because while Tim always tried to be stealthy, Red Hood didn’t care as much, and he wouldn’t have bothered to cause a big scene. Tim was grateful to find the building intact and not in flames, Jason liked his dramatic entrances.

Pressing the side of his mask, Tim turned on the thermal signature device so he could see who was inside the building. He set up his night vision configuration also since all the lights were off and proceeded cautiously to not be accidentally caught by anyone. It was after business hours, so the building was completely empty. Red Robin walked past the fancy lobby on the first floor and took the elevator to investigate the rest. He assumed that the studio for the channel he was looking for was probably going to be one of the top floors, so he pressed the 9th floor to see what he would find.

The metal elevator doors opened, and he stepped in. It was a nice, spacious new station studio, with large white screens in the back, a light brown podium in the center, and several light and camera equipment spread across the room. A big sign on the wall indicated that room was for channel 52, so he returned to the elevator to try a different floor. He kept skimming the rooms and looking at each floor until he finally found what he was looking for: channel 57 news station's studio. The studio looked exactly like all the others, there was nothing out of the ordinary there. Same similar white screen in the background, a green wall, cameras, light, other TV equipment... There were a couple of offices down the hallway, so he decided to investigate there. 

He was finding it odd how his lenses had not captured a single sign of movement or body heat anywhere. He walked through the office cubicles, inspecting everything around him, until he finally caught something; a distant body heat signature becoming more prevalent, coming from a door towards the end of the hall; There was someone there. Tim reached for his bōstaff and took a deep breath before he got in, he twisted the doorknob with his free hand and slowly entered the room. He looked around but there was nothing. Red Robin was inside a large conference room that could sit over 20 employees. A large TV was mounted on the wall and next to it there was a white board with nothing written on it.

The room was quiet, too quiet. The chances of his device having an error were low, he knew someone was there just a second ago. Suspiciously, he closed the door, his eyes were still glued to the empty conference room, and a strange sensation that something or someone was standing near him was worrisome. 

"God, you're loud."

Tim couldn't help but jump, startled, a quick shout escaped his lips. "AH! Hood, seriously? You scared me!"

Red Hood had his arms crossed and was leaning against the wall.  He tried to be polite and not laugh at Tim.

"How did you--" Tim started.

"You're too slow, red bird. I heard you coming over, so I walked out and waited for you to be done." Jason's face couldn't be seen through his helmet, but Tim could hear the wide grin his brother had through his voice. "Heh, should've seen the look on your face, you scream like a little girl!"

Oracle intervened by talking to both boys in the comms. 

"Aham. Don't you kids need to focus on the task at hand?"

"Thanks for the coordinates by the way, Oracle." Jason pressed his comm and commented, sarcastically. "Glad you talk to me in the comms to lecture me but don't bother filling me in on what's going on."

Barbara was at her house, standing in front of her large computer screen, and she rolled her eyes at Jason's comment. She rubbed her temples to regain more patience with those boys. 

"It's not like you just turned on your comms just now, Hood. You've been completely avoidant with all of us, and you blocked all forms of communication."

Knowing Barbara was right, Jason didn't persist the argument further. Red Robin took over. 

"Hey, Oracle, can you give us the directions to the server room? There has to be some sort of recorded audio somewhere, if we are right that there are subliminal messages in the channel, they have to be recorded first. There is no way the news were only done live."

"Ok, let me see here... Ok, the server room is on the top floor right above you two, when you get there just go to your left and you'll see the room there."

Jason and Tim glanced at each other, and both walked towards the elevator at the same time. When they arrived, they noticed the door was locked and Tim's lenses captured body heat inside. 

"Hood, we're not alone. There's four, no, five guards inside."

Hood looked at his younger brother and smiled.

"Cool. Time to have some fun."

****

The air was stuffy with his breath not being properly circulated due to the black cloth placed in his head, and Damian could see nothing but pitch darkness. He knew there were two men sitting next to him, one on each side, and he could feel the edge of their firearms grazing his legs from time to time due to the bouncing of the car. This wasn't the first time Damian was abducted and he wasn't scared, he just didn't understand the need of such theatrics if he was just going to see his own mother. His mother would be furious if anyone dared to hurt him, he wasn't worried. Though the bounty on his head was something to be concerned for... Why would his mother not mind having him dead? Was he that disposable that no one cared about his life? He assumed Grandfather was planning on just throwing him into the Lazarus Pit to revive him just to brainwash him. As if years raised in a cult weren't enough to mess with his head.

Damian was still on high alert, and he noticed the car was slowly coming to a stop. Wherever they were, they had arrived to their final destination. The back doors of the van opened and the man on his left grabbed his arm and pushed him out of the car forcefully. A rifle was pressed against his back, and Damian was forced to enter someplace, a building perhaps. His feet touched on something that felt like stairs. He climbed each step, all the while being forced to quicken his pace, which made him presume the assassins were in a hurry; Everything in the League had to be followed to an exact, otherwise they failed on their missions and they would be executed as a result. Damian stumbled upon noticing that there was no longer a step, everyone suddenly stopped walking.

Without making it obvious that he was moving a little too much, the boy tested the ground by slowly tapping the floor in circles so he could have an idea of where he was. A cold breeze brushed in the back of his hair, sending him chills. He was outside a building, and with the chilling wind and sounds from a heavy metal door opening and closing made him think he was either at a balcony or at the top of a building. A loud noise came from above him; it was the sound of a helicopter. Damian patiently stood still but was intrigued when he heard the scruffy man ask. "What's taking so long?"

With no notice, the assassins standing next to him opened fire. Everything sounded chaotic, Damian heard the ones next to him shooting, and he thought he heard the sound of something cutting through the air, the sound of a sword being used. He instinctively ducked but he was frustrated for not being able to see anything. Obviously, he could fight people blind folded, but there was too much shooting and chaos for him to not be able to see anything so he could at least know where to dodge. Damian needed to take a good look at them and understand his real threat, so he untied himself and removed the stupid cloth bag that was on his face. He gasped for air and lifted his head to see what was going on. 

He saw a woman jumping off the helicopter, sword at hands. She had beautiful and long brown hair with piercing green-emerald eyes. 

It was his mother, Talia. 

Chapter Text

Strange.

Damian did exactly what Leviathan wanted him to do, he willingly allowed them to take him to go see his mother, the one in charge of it all; the bounty, the stolen serums, mind-controlled children, the hundreds of deaths in Gotham that was tearing the city apart. He couldn't comprehend what could possibly trigger his mother to do such things, but he was about to find out. Everything was going to run smoothly.

Except that instead of Leviathan being rewarded for successfully catching Damian, they were being killed instead… By the League of Assassins.

Talia jumped off the helicopter, her eyes gazing at a ninja who was standing right next to Damian. She drove her sword into the man's chest as she landed, making Damian jolt back, perplexed with what his mother was doing to her own follower. Leviathan was losing terribly, but some of the Leaguers were being shot as well. Damian looked around him, staring at all the people falling to their deaths and he didn't understand why they were all killing each other; were mother's followers so disposable to her that even after accomplishing a mission, they would simply be met with their deaths afterwards? That didn't sound like Grandfather's teachings at all. His mother either did not care about rewarding her followers or perhaps she was not on Leviathan’s side, after all. 

Talia proceeded to stab more people with her sword, piercing their lungs and hearts. Everyone from Leviathan was down, except for one person, the man who had taken Damian earlier. Damian noticed his mother pressing her hands tighter against her sword hilt, facing the scruffy face man, who was standing right behind him.

"I know you." Talia spoke. "Tamir Habrat. I watched you depart with my father to Kenya but then you never came back. Instead, you abandoned your own master. What are your intentions, infidel?"

Damian was standing between his mother and the traitor. Tamir's attention went from Talia to the boy, who locked eyes with him. Damian noticed Tamir had a sinister grin on his face, and his heart started to race; he turned around to be at his mother's side, but he was grabbed from behind with a tight headlock. Damian fought to get out, but that only resulted in Tamir tightening his grip even more, hurting his throat. Damian finally stopped struggling as soon as he felt a gun barrel being pressed against his temple.

“Stop right there, princess. Or I’ll blow the kid’s brains.” 

Talia lowered her sword and gave a hostile glare. "You wouldn't dare."

"I could care less about this brat of yours, the kid’s caused nothing but trouble from the moment he was born. Besides, you can always just toss him at the Lazarus Pit after he’s dead. You know what it's like to come out of the pit, don't you?" Tamir grinned.

Talia squinted her eyes in fury. "What do you want?" 

"I want to see you fall, Talia. You, along with the brat, and your precious daddy. We're building a new future with a better version of the League!”

"Funny you say that when all your men were killed by mine." Challenged Talia.

Tamir looked down, observing his fellow partners lying on the floor, dead. He shrugged. "It'll only be a matter of time until the League joins Leviathan anyway, they'll soon realize how they have been lied to their whole lives."

"Enough with the chattering, Tamir. Consider this my last warning; let go of my son now or I will skin you alive and make you wish you were never born."

Tamir laughed, Damian felt the gun being pressed harder against his head. The headlock was tight, making it hard to breathe. "You're in no position to make negotiations around here, Talia! I have your boy and he's coming with me. His auntie can't wait to see him."

Auntie? Damian furrowed his brows. The only aunt he had was Nyssa, who was rarely ever mentioned in the family. He knew of her, of course, and he had seen her a few times throughout his life, but she never spoke a word to him; The most she did was give him angry glares any time he beat her daughter, Mara, in their fight contests. He never lost to his cousin, of course, but Mara was never allowed to express her emotions to him and not even raise her voice to him because he was her superior; one did not question the grandson of the demon. 

The whole thing was stupid now that Damian thought about it. He couldn't believe how he was sucked into all that harmful indoctrination from Grandfather's twisted views of life. Damian wondered if his aunt was bitter due to all the suffering and trauma Ra’s brought to her daughter… It wasn’t fair to Aunt Nyssa or Mara. 

Talia widened her eyes in shock. "Nyssa?! She is Leviathan?"

"Of course she is!" Tamir responded. "She is the reason I'm on a better path, she gave my life a purpose! The League of Assassins only hindered my skills, constantly humiliating me and conditioning everyone to only think and act in accordance with your dad's ways. Nyssa, his own daughter, had the courage to stand for herself, and what happened to her? She was casted out by her own family even after all those years abiding by Ra's, faithfully following him. Ra's left her to rot in a hellish Holocaust, and Nyssa still FORGAVE him, she chose to be with her father and obey him to the end, but for what? To be cast out for simply having an opinion of her own?” 

Talia remained her serious composure, Tamir continued. “Whether you like it or not, Talia, you and I, along with the rest of the League, are nothing but pawns to Ra’s. He made your sister's life a living hell and you’re just as guilty for doing absolutely nothing to help her. I was there when Nyssa confronted Ra’s for the first time, telling him his ways of doing things were wrong, and what did you do? Nothing. And don’t pretend you didn’t agree with her.”

Damian turned his head to the side so he could breathe a little easier, he then looked up at his mother, in disbelief. Was that true? Was his mother so cold she wouldn’t even bother to help her own sister in need?

"You and your daddy dearest don't care about the good cause and never have. The only thing you care about is your precious empire," He held Damian tighter. "And this selfish kid of yours is no different than you people. At least Nyssa actually gives a damn about life."

Talia straightened up and stood still, motionless. "You have feelings for my sister, don't you?"

Tamir was taken aback by that comment, and then a loud popping noise rang through his ears. He looked to the side and noticed a puff of smoke and a flash coming out of a stun grenade, thrown by a Leaguer. Tamir jolted and closed his eyes, while lowering his gun, but he was still not letting go of the boy. Damian immediately lifted his elbow while lowering his head, forcing Tamir’s gun to face upwards. Damian felt Tamir attempt to tighten his grip around his throat, but he elbowed him forcefully in the rib cage until he got out of the headlock. The gun was dropped to the floor, which Talia picked up.

She pointed the gun to Tamir. "Goodbye, Tamir."

She was about to pull the trigger, but Damian stood in front of Tamir with his arms stretched out to protect him.

"No, mother. Spare him."

"Damian, what are you--?"

The League of Assassins started charging at Tamir, the man looked around and threw a smoke bomb of his own and ran away. The Leaguers were going to chase after him, but Damian stopped them. "No! I’m still the grandson of the demon, and you will do as I say. Let him go.” The League of Assassins stopped and turned their attention from Damian to Talia, confused.

Talia turned to Damian in anger. "What do you think you're doing? He was going to kill you!"

"Was he telling the truth about Aunt Nyssa, mother? Grandfather left her at the holocaust to fend for herself?” Damian stared at his mother, fiercely. “You never told me any of this."

"Damian, this is not the time--"

"Yes, mother, it actually is. First, you don’t bother to tell me about my uncle Dusan, who was treated like an insignificant vermin his whole life, yet he still sacrificed his own life to complete the ritual and bring Grandfather back, now aunt Nyssa? How many more have to suffer at his hands?” Damian shouted. “Ra’s was never a hero, he’s a monster!” His green eyes welled up lightly; It hurt saying that out loud. Was he trying to convince his mother or himself about Grandfather? 

Talia looked disconcerted, not knowing what to say. She took a few steps closer to her son to try to reason with him. "Damian..."

"Enough, mother. I was longing to see you earlier, but I think I've seen enough." Damian turned around and started walking away.

"Damian, son, wait!" Damian stopped and turned his head to her. "Don't go, please."

"Tell me what happened to Aunt Nyssa." He demanded, firmly.

"She is a vindictive person, Damian, she cannot be trusted. It is true that she wanted me to leave the League and confront your grandfather, but she was only using me to kill my own father. I refused to do so. She got mad at me and tried to murder him herself, but my father blocked her attack, of course.” Talia kneeled so she could be at her son's level, she gently placed her hands on his shoulders. "Your grandfather was merciful, Damian. He didn’t fight her back, he let her go peacefully. She was not abandoned or casted out, she was free to finally leave her life."

Damian wasn't satisfied with that answer. “And what about the Holocaust? What about Mara? Why didn’t she leave the island with her mother?”

“I don’t know much about the past; I wasn’t alive then. As for your cousin, well, Nyssa didn’t bother to come back to her.”

Damian studied his mother’s micro expressions just as she taught him. She was hiding something. “You’re hiding something, mother. And you are well aware that Mara was trapped by the League just as much as I was, that place is not good for her.”

"You know I never once wished for you to feel trapped--"

Damian interrupted her, changing the subject. "You mentioned to me before that the meaning of my name is 'to tame'. But now I know it wasn’t to tame others, as you had described, but to be tamed by you and Grandfather." 

Talia was startled, did her son truly think so little of her? She felt ashamed of herself. She never meant for him to ever feel that way, she just wanted to provide him the best, giving him all the tools for him to be successful and one day fill in her father’s shoes. It was saddening to see how displeased her son was with the life he had at the island. She couldn’t even bring up to her own son about the things Nyssa had done to her. All the torture, the time Nyssa killed her multiple times just to mess with her head and try to brainwash her. 

Talia could still feel the torturous pain of her throat being slit open and her being thrown back to the pit over and over again. She begged Nyssa to stop, crying and screaming uncontrollably, but her sister only stared back at her and shot her in the chest. Just to be tossed at the pit again. Damian was only a toddler when that happened, and Talia knew she was never the same person since that day. She no longer cared much about people’s lives, professors who did not teach Damian properly infuriated her and were met to their deaths by her hands, and the servants who were opinionated on her parenting skills shared the same fatal fate. 

She was colder, angrier, more aggressive than before, the little sense of self and compassion she had in her were destroyed by Nyssa. However, the love she felt for her son and her Beloved remained prevalent, not even Nyssa could ever change that. Regardless of what came her way, Damian and Bruce were the only ones who were able to bring some sense of humanity back to Talia's life.

… But she lost both of them.

She thought she could at least have her own son by her side, but she was losing him too. 

"Goodbye, mother. Don't come after me."

Talia watched her son leaving, and it took every strength of her being to remain emotionless in front of the leaguers, who were just waiting for further instructions from her. She swallowed the knot in her throat and commanded everyone to depart, and they returned to the helicopter. As soon as she got inside the helicopter, she looked down and saw her son walking away. Talia was thankful no one was paying attention to her as she tried hard to fight the urge to cry.  

All she could think of was how much of a failure she was as a mother.

*****

Bruce struggled to fight Heretic. The big, tall man was about to elbow him in the face, but Bruce moved out of the way just in time. He threw more punches and blocked a few more moves, but nothing seemed effective enough. Heretic was still fighting him back but something made him stop; a command coming from his comms, Batman could hear a woman's voice shouting in Heretic’s ear: "HERETIC, I NEED YOU HERE, NOW!"

Batman used that distraction to hit Heretic in the jaw, but the other barely struggled. In response, he grabbed Batman and threw him at full force into the wall, cracking Bruce’s ribs on the stud. Batman howled with pain, his ribs throbbing. He leaned on his knee to get the strength to get back up and go after Heretic, but he was already too late; Fatherless walked out of the door, taking off with his jetpack. 

Bruce was limping, he tried to be careful when leaving so he wouldn’t be caught by anyone else; The last thing he needed to deal with was fighting genetically mutated people on his way out. He headed towards the same path he came from, but he heard from a distance a child screaming: “GET HIM!”

Kids dressed as ninjas were running towards him, ready to fight. Batman ran faster and turned around, aiming his grappling gun at the tree that was outside the camp. He got out of the base in enough time, leaving the facility the same way he had done before. He kept running, the agonizing pain from his broken ribs remaining a terrible inconvenience.

The jet engines were starting up, and in the meantime, Batman tapped his temple from his cowl to access all the missed messages he dismissed earlier when spying on Nyssa. He started to pilot, trying to figure out the coordinates to where Heretic was headed to, but his attention was veered to all the millions of notifications regarding Gotham's news and the calls he missed from his family. From his cowl, he tapped another setting so that the missed messages would be read to him out loud. 

"Just to keep you informed, Master Bruce, Miss Brown will be taking Master Damian home tonight. Master Dick will fulfill the nightly Gotham patrol duties, sir--" 

"Hey, B, you're probably busy and won't see this message in time... But do you think all these suicides are co-related to Leviathan? Nightwing was filling me in on what you found out in the Middle East, this Leviathan group sounds pretty serious..."  That was Tim’s voice.

“I’m sure you saw the news by now and you must be getting worried, but I’m on it. 250 suicides reported now… It’s crazy, I know. We’re getting to the bottom of this.” Dick said on the other line.  

"Oracle here. Red Robin, Nightwing and Red Hood shut down the meat processing facility, now they’re heading to the broadcasting center, just so you know. Everything is under control--"

"Master Bruce, master Damian and miss Brown are gone missing--"

Batman clenched his jaw; he had been gone for too long. His city was falling apart, Damian and Stephanie were taken, too much was at risk, and Leviathan was following with their plan fairly successfully so far. He needed to find Nyssa, and quickly. He lost track of where Heretic could have gone and noticed he was basically flying in circles; he needed a better plan. He focused on changing his route, but something else was brought to his attention: it was a call from Alfred. 

"Penny-one, report!" Batman ordered.

"Miss Brown is safe and with Nightwing, sir. They are also with Nightrunner, he came to Gotham to help."

“Hm. Good to know. And where is Damian?"

"We are still not quite sure, sir, they're looking for him while Red Hood and Red Robin are shutting down the news channel that is causing all these suicides.”

"Ok. I’m going after Leviathan, it will take me a while to fly back to Gotham."

Alfred paused. "...Sir, you should really come back."

“I know who Leviathan is now, I just need to get to them. Once I find them, I can--"

"The Bat-Signal has been in the sky for hours, more people are being reported dead by the minute, sir. I am certain Red Robin and Red Hood can take care of the task, but they need you here."

Batman hesitated for a moment. "I can't. What if Damian is taken right where I’m at? If I go back, the whole trip could be redundant, and–”

"I just have a strong feeling that he is still in Gotham, sir. We need you here."

Batman sighed; he wasn't sure what to do anymore. He had no idea where Heretic ended up going, he was afraid of Damian being taken to one of Nyssa’s secret bases and getting tested or something, but it also bothered him to no end how he was so far away from his family and everyone else in Gotham. What if something happened to any one of his sons? His city was being massacred, and he shouldn’t doubt Alfred’s gut feeling about Damian being in Gotham still. 

"It'll take me too long to get back home, Al. I'll be there too late." Batman said, ignoring the code names.

"Do what you must, sir. We're going to find him, I assure you." Alfred replied, hanging up the call. 

Batman had a decision to make. Keep searching for Heretic or go home to find his son.

Red Hood kicked the door open, holding both of his pistols with each hand, and started shooting. The people inside were all ninjas, they dodged and aimed their guns at the boys, opening fire. Red Robin had to duck, he wasn't exactly expecting a shooting festival, but he was able to disarm one ninja and hit him in the jaw with his bow staff, disorienting him. Jason took care of the rest as he was doing the most damage with the kicks he was throwing and the injuries he inflicted on them by shooting the ninjas in the legs and arms. Because of that, most of the attention was turned to Red Hood, giving Tim the opportunity to sneak away to go to the computer. 

An assassin was about to shoot Tim from behind, but Red Hood grabbed the ninja’s wrist and disarmed him. Jason then spun around and struck the man in the back with the butt of his gun. Tim was typing away on the computer while the three remaining assassins were trying to hurt Jason, but the whole commotion stopped within a few minutes. Tim turned his chair around and noticed all the assassins on the floor, unconscious. It was faster than he had imagined, though he wasn’t too surprised by Jason’s brutal fighting style.

Tim smiled. "Nice work putting them down." 

"Not thanks to you." Jason replied, checking to see if everyone on the ground was truly knocked out. 

“Hey, someone has to shut down this channel…” 

Red Robin’s brain was on fire. He opened all the files and started hacking the system, opening all the encrypted embedded systems from the computer hardware. Red Robin kept typing until he found exactly what he was looking for a file filled with pre-recorded audio and videos that were transmitted in the new station. 

“Bingo!”

Tim watched the videos and quickly noticed the news was not live, they were all old Gotham’s news with some of the worst criminal cases aired on TV, but they happened months ago. 

"Holy crap..." Red Robin mumbled. Jason was still keeping an eye on the ninjas to ensure none of them would wake up, but he took a closer look at the computer screen. 

"What?"

"Take a look at this..." Tim clicked on a video and maximized the screen for Jason to see it.

Jason crossed his arms and furrowed his brows as he was watching it. It was a case of a woman who was tortured by her own boyfriend, kept in the basement for weeks, raped, and in the end, she hung herself in the garage. The next video was of a criminal case where a baby was found dead, the reporters were saying that the parents were the ones who threw the infant against the wall. The scenes were quite graphic, and as much as Jason had seen so much in his lifetime, it was still disturbing to watch.  

“Geez, they aired this on live television?”

“Whoever broadcasted this compiled a bunch of older criminal cases and aired it all together. The person who did this specifically chose extremely violent cases that all happened in Gotham.”

Red Robin was quiet, it looked like he was not satisfied with what he had found so far. Jason noticed something catching Tim’s attention, the young boy gasped and paused the screen.

“What?” Jason asked again, concerned.

“Did you see that?”

“See what? The reporter talking about the baby?”

“No, before that. Look closely.” Tim replayed the video and paused right where a quick phrase was flashed in a split second.

 The sentence read ‘Society is doomed.’

“Woah. Well, society is doomed. Gotham is garbage.” Hood said.

“That’s exactly what they want people to think, though! Everyone already complains so much about Gotham, anyone watching this will think the same thing!” 

Tim opened the DAW file to instigate it more. In there, he found even more subliminal messages spread across the entire video. There were even subliminal audios that were impossible to hear originally, but when the file was opened on its own, Tim could hear the audio better, it had a creepy voice whispering the word ‘Worthless’. There was another audio with similar content, but saying ‘Life’s not worth living ’ instead.

Red Robin was extremely focused, he was connecting all the pieces. “They layered these sounds over the reporter’s voice so no one would notice it, but the sound waves are still sent to people’s brains in their subconscious. I bet you that Mad Hatter had a hand in this.” 

Jason was starting to feel uncomfortable with the whole thing. “Can you hurry up and just delete the whole thing? These guys won’t be unconscious forever!”

“Yeah, give me a minute.” Tim replied while typing something again. 

Jason paused. “You should be careful with all these files too, you know? Don’t let them get to you. I know you’ve struggled with… Depression in the past.”

“I’m always depressed, it’s fine.”

“Seriously, you’re gonna joke about this?”

“You make dead jokes all the time!” Tim replied, pressing a button on the keyboard. “Done. Everything’s deleted. And as a bonus, I created a firewall that’s pretty much every hacker’s worst nightmare.”

“Finally, let’s get outta here.”

Hood and Red Robin ran to get out of the server room, but just in time for the assassins to regain their consciousness again and charge at them. On his way out, Red Robin grabbed one of the studio camera stands and threw at one of the assassins, which didn't cause any injuries, but it slowed them down enough for Hood to shoot them back. Jason and Tim kept running and went to the lobby area. They could’ve taken the stairs rather than the elevator, but Jason had an even better idea and decided it would be smart to get out from the large window instead. He shot the window and held onto his grappling hook, Tim doing the same after him. They both landed on the nearest building.

“Way to make it obvious we were inside the building!” Tim complained.

“Oh, please, Oracle already hacked the security cameras, the footage will show absolutely nothing. Besides, we already made it obvious that there were intruders the moment they started shooting. That place is filled with bullet holes.”

Tim shrugged, agreeing with his brother. He sent a message to Oracle, Nightwing, and Batman to let them know they got out safe.

Half an Hour Later

Nightrunner took a deep breath while he had to deal with Nightwing and Stephanie's bickering over losing Damian. Nightwing was close to panicking for how worried he was, assuming the absolute worst, while Stephanie was acting defensive the whole time. Bilal felt terrible for not being able to rescue the kid, but he was too late, and Nightwing got in the way when he tried to chase after the van. 

Now the three of them were completely stuck, running out of ideas of where Damian's capturers could have possibly taken him. It didn't help that during their investigation, a random crook ended up coming their way, which Nightwing took care of the problem a little too harshly; it was clear that Nightwing was not in the mood to handle the typical crook of the evening, not when someone important to him was missing. Bilal still wasn't quite sure what the relationship was between Damian, Stephanie, and Nightwing, he just assumed they were all Robins at this point, given the girl mentioned she used to be Robin before.

Their argument came to an end when a random call came. Nightwing pressed his comms and his entire demeanor changed, his facial expressions showed a huge relief.

Nightwing turned to Stephanie before talking to Bilal. "Damian's safe! He's safe!"

"Where is he?" Stephanie asked, eager to know.

"Home! It was Al who called." Nightwing responded. He could feel his heart beating normally again, finally. 

"Thank Allah." Nightrunner sighed in relief.

Nightwing rested his hand on the back of his neck. "Thanks for your help, Nightrunner."

"Yeah, thanks for saving me. Sorry I was mad at you earlier." Stephanie apologized with a kind smile. 

"No problem, mademoiselle. I am glad the boy is safe as well."

"Are you going to be in Gotham for a while?" Asked Nightwing.

"As long as Leviathan is in this city, I shall stay here also. I am not going to let them get away this time." Nightrunner answered.

"Fair enough." Nightwing replied, giving a tired smile. 

"Guess we'll see you soon, then, Batman of France!" Said Stephanie, dramatizing her tone of voice at the end with a crappy french accent. 

Bilal gave a nervous laugh. "Non, non, I'm no Batman!" 

Stephanie waved as she followed Nightwing back to the motorcycle. They were also glad to know that Hood and Red Robin successfully shut down the channel as planned. They were all headed to the manor. 

Bat Cave

Damian returned home, deeply upset with his mother, no, he was infuriated. How many more secrets were kept from him? How was he taught so much about his family lineage but at the same time knew so little about the al Ghuls? No one ever told him of all the misery Grandfather brought to his own offspring, Damian’s entire life was built on lies. He wanted to punch something or someone. He was so angry, he could barely contain it, and the last place he wanted to go was the manor, but he didn’t have anywhere else to go. 

Nothing mattered anymore. He didn’t want to think of his mother, father, or anybody else. He was already conflicted with his parents’ divisive views, and now things were getting worse. Damian didn’t even know if he was siding with Leviathan now that he found out the truth. Aunt Nyssa was nothing but another victim, and he couldn’t believe his mother didn’t help her. Why was his mother so complacent with this whole issue? Damian stopped as he noticed his hands getting bruised for being curled into fists so tightly. He took a deep breath to calm down as he went back home through the Bat Cave.

The boy was largely surprised as he was greeted by a profusely relieved butler, who gave him a warm embrace as soon as he saw him. Pennyworth was always so formal and proper, Damian didn’t expect to be received with such an affectionate gesture, did Pennyworth actually think Damian was dying or something? The hug felt nice, though. The boy appreciated being greeted with warmth rather than a lecture, though he would never admit that out loud. 

"Pennyworth, what’s the matter with you? Nothing happened to me, you can calm down now."  Damian got out of the hug, and Pennyworth just looked at him, tenderly.

"You gave us quite a scare, sir. You're too much like your father, and I would greatly appreciate it if both of you refrained from causing me to worry so much." Pennyworth smiled.

Damian couldn't help but smile back. Later, an engine sound came up, someone was entering the Bat Cave also. 

“DAMI!” Grayson shouted, giving Damian the biggest hug. Damian pushed Grayson away, his older brother tended to be too touchy-feely at times. 

But right as he got out of one embrace, he was met with another. “Damian, you’re okay!” Stephanie exclaimed. He didn't mind her hug though, he had been worried about her since he was taken out of the house. He was certain she could take care of herself, but he was still concerned for her safety. 

"Of course I'm okay. But good to see you are doing well yourself, Brown." Damian responded, properly. A brief smile was on his face, Stephanie smiled back.

“You can’t do that to us!" Grayson said again, holding Damian’s shoulders and looking at him right in the eye. Grayson was so loud. "We were so worried, what if someone had killed you? Do you have any idea of how scared we were?”

"Please, Grayson, it takes more than mere ninjas to get rid of me." Damian gave a snarky grin. 

"We were looking everywhere for you!" Stephanie mentioned. "We even had a little help from a French vigilante, his name is Nightrunner.”

Damian raised his eyebrow. “What is he doing in Gotham? Is Kollectiv here too?”

“Who’s Kollectiv--?“

More sounds of motorcycles; Red Hood and Red Robin had arrived at the cave also. 

This time there were no hugs, thankfully, but Damian was met with idiotic jokes regarding how disappointed they were for him being alive, instead. Typical Todd and Drake with their moronic comments. Pennyworth didn't seem to appreciate the jokes either. 

Red Hood was about to make another joke, but his attention was geared to a certain animal standing near Alfred... Was that a cow?

"What the hell is that?" Jason asked, perplexed.

Nightwing replied. "Oh, that? That's Bat-Cow."

"Bat-Cow?" Jason and Tim asked in unison. Jason spoke up again. "You guys are nuts. Call it Bat-Steak, and I'm in!"

“Leave her alone! If anyone’s insane is you, Todd! And my father for trusting you!”

“My God kid, chill. I'm only joking. You make Bruce look like a cheerleader." Jason then turned to Dick. "You're responsible for this brat, Grayson?"

"Have to say, I'm part-way with him on this, Jase. He hasn't forgotten all your ‘Batman is dead ’ crap.” Nightwing replied.

“Seriously? That happened ages ago.” 

“You tied us to a chair undressed, Todd, just a few months ago! You're a lunatic!" Damian shouted, pointing his index finger at Todd.

Jason was about to say something in return, but Tim intervened. "Will you guys shut up? All you ever do is argue!" 

“Oh, shut it, Replacement, as if you and demon spawn over here never tried to kill each other every time you're in the same room!" Jason snarked.

“It’s not my fault this gremlin always wants a fight!” Tim defended. 

Stephanie rolled her eyes. “Ugh, where’s Cass and Babs when you need them?”

Damian started arguing back, and Alfred was done with all that dumb fight. “Gentleman, enough with the bickering. Master Bruce will be coming home at any minute now, is this really what you would like for him to come home to?" 

The Bat kids immediately stopped talking, they all looked at Alfred.

Jason was the first to finally break the silence. "Bruce is coming? Shit. I’m outta here."

"Hey, why are you leaving?" Tim asked. 

"Yeah, Jay, don't go." Stephanie agreed.

"I just don't wanna see him, alright? No reason for me to stay." Jason responded, defensively.

Nightwing was about to lose his patience. "That's your problem, Jason. You still think that Bruce hates you, but that's not true! He cares about you just as much as he cares about all of us here!"

Jason wasn't listening and continued mounting on his motorcycle. He chuckled before he finished putting on his Red Hood helmet. "Heh, you keep telling yourself that, Dickhead."

With that, Red Hood was gone, leaving everyone else behind. They were just waiting for Bruce to come home now.

Tim looked at the cow and then stared back at Damian. "You know Bruce won't let you keep the cow, right?" 

Damian was furious. "Her name is Bat-Cow, and of course he will let me!" 

"Um, I'm with Tim on this one, Dami..." Stephanie started. "There's no way a cow can be kept here, I mean, this is a Bat Cave, not a farm!"

Damian was about to let out all his anger and frustration on them, the little patience he was able to have earlier was gone. Tim was positive the demon brat was going to be foaming at the mouth or something.

Bruce finally got home, landing his large jet in the cave. He got out and looked at his family; he was incredibly relieved to see they were all okay. He gave a very tired smile. "I'm glad to see you are all alive."

Alfred noticed that Bruce was holding the left side of his ribs with his right arm, he was limping also. The butler immediately came to his direction.

"Master Bruce, you are injured! What happened?"

"It's not that bad, Alfred. I've had it much worse before." Bruce smiled but he was met with an angry glare instead. It didn't seem Alfred was too happy with that answer. 

Damian was still mad, but he was actually looking forward to the return of his father, there were extremely important matters at stake. He straightened up and took a step forward to face his father.

"Father!" Bruce immediately turned his attention to his son. "As you can see, we have a new member of the family now." Damian pointed at Bat-Cow. "Her name is Bat-Cow, and she is a formidable one. Grayson and I rescued her from a slaughterhouse, Pennyworth may have mentioned her to you. Now, I only ask of you to acknowledge her place in this family."

Bruce furrowed his brows, confused. He stared at the Bat-Cow and back at Damian. How long was he gone again? He was tired. Every part of his body ached, he had been traveling for hours, and the pain from his broken ribs was almost making him disoriented after so many hours of going untreated. He needed medical attention, and some sleep would be nice. He did not have the time, or patience, to even argue with his boy, but he was thankful to see his son well and safe, after all. Nyssa lost that battle at least. Bruce sighed. He would probably regret it later, but he didn't care.

Bruce sighed, he was exhausted. "Sure, we'll keep her."

A huge smile spread across Damian's face, while Tim, Dick, and Stephanie stared at Bruce, in disbelief. Tim was afraid to even look at the gremlin, the kid was such a bragger.

Damian looked at Drake, pointing his finger right to his face. "HA! I TOLD, YOU DRAKE! You were wrong, as you always are! HA!" Damian then gave the biggest laughter, which surprised everyone. None of them had seen that side of him, it was like watching a kid opening a gift on Christmas Day or someone winning a lottery, or something.

Tim face palmed himself, wanting to die, he couldn't stand the brat. He wondered why he worried about Damian earlier anyway, and Stephanie felt somewhat disconcerted with Damian's laughter, she wasn't sure if that was adorable or plain scary. She couldn't lie, though, she enjoyed seeing the boy act like a kid for once. Damian jumped up and down and ran towards Bat-Cow, petting her, gently.

"You heard that, Bat-Cow? We're keeping you! I'll take really good care of you, don't worry. The cave is not too bad, and I'll come to feed you and play with you every day!"

Stephanie smiled, the kid was funny. Did he even know cows didn't actually... play like normal pets? No matter. Even Bruce couldn't help but let out a chuckle, Damian was abnormally excited. The boy was in his own little world as he talked to his new pet cow, it was cute.

Somalia, Training Camp.

Nyssa stood still while she watched, in horror, her daughter laying on a medical bed, the girl was completely covered in blood. There were a couple of doctors around her, all attending to her deep wounds and blast injuries. Ra's had invaded Nyssa's training camp, where her daughter was leading the rest of the soldiers, and he and the League of Assassins got away from destroying almost the entire facility with their bombs. Thankfully, Mara did not die from the explosion, nor did she have any deep burning scars, but she was badly injured.

Nyssa was shaking in anger. Her own father killed the children she had rescued, her people, her Leviathan.

And how could her father dare to cause so much damage, almost taking her daughter's life in the process? Nyssa couldn't take it. Seeing her daughter suffering, moaning in pain, she could do absolutely nothing to help, except to only watch the doctors do their job. Heretic didn't get there in time, and she had lost basically an entire army, all because Batman had to open his stupid mouth and get Ra's in the mix. 

At least her base in Kenya was still intact, all the members of Leviathan were alert to any potential attack, but Nyssa was livid. She shed tears of pure hatred, she hated herself for letting her daughter be hurt like that, but above all else, she hated Ra's. 

Ra's, the man who never deserved to be called a father, the man who abandoned her and her mother after she was born, the Demon who let her suffer in the Holocaust when he had all the power and influence in the world to let her go free, the monster who killed her husband simply because he didn't do so well on a mission and wasn’t a good enough soldier, while Talia's little 'Beloved' ran around free even though he was an actual enemy of her father’s.

Talia always got away with everything. That disgusting spawn of hers got all the praise as well, while her dear daughter, Mara, got nothing but humiliation her entire life.

Nyssa had enough.

No more torment. No more suffering at the hands of her father. 

No more abuse.

Nyssa was going to make everyone regret their miserable excuse of a life. She was going to bring pain to everyone who ever came her way.

It was time for Leviathan to strike once and for all.

Chapter Text

12 Years Ago

Nyssa couldn’t be happier; she honored her father by marrying an admirable captain of the League of Assassins, Lieutenant Arketov, a man whom she actually loved. He was well respected and extremely skilled, everyone in the league looked up to him and followed his commands as he led them on countless missions, being always successful in his works.

Except for one time.

It was a slip-up. The mission was to assassinate a Pakistani politician without being caught by anyone. He fulfilled the objective effortlessly, but as he was about to depart, a couple of politician activists saw him. Arketov confided his unforgivable mistake to his wife only, who assured in return that nothing would happen to him and that her father would never know of the occurrence. 

But nothing ever escaped the Demon’s knowledge. One of the activists was able to take a picture of Arketov and was about to release it to the press, but Ra’s already knew about the photograph and went to take care of the matter. Nyssa never discovered if her father ended up killing the prying activists or not, but she didn’t care, she was more concerned for her dear husband, they both knew that he was going to suffer from a disciplinary action. What comforted her was the fact that other leaguers had committed worse mistakes in the past and were still allowed to live, there was no way that her lover’s punishment would be that severe, given that he was one of the best fighters there was. 

Even with reassuring thoughts, there was something about that day that made Nyssa extremely nauseous still. She kept feeling sick to her stomach, wanting to vomit frequently, which didn’t make much sense. She assumed it was just her anxious thoughts disturbing her peace, but that wasn’t the first time she felt that way, it had already been two weeks straight since she felt strangely nauseated with the constant urge to puke, amongst other strange symptoms.

Her husband remained distracted the whole day, distraught by the thought of his master being extremely displeased with him; it was only a matter of time until Ra’s returned. As he waited, Nyssa decided to go see a medical doctor in the League. Normally she would swallow the pain, she knew full well how to hide her emotions, but her pertinent symptoms were starting to worry her; they were oddly similar to what Talia felt weeks ago when she was still married to that useless detective of hers. Ra's was not around, so Nyssa went in to get her vitals and blood checked.

Nyssa remembered the look of shock her doctor had as he checked the results, which was when it was revealed to her: she was pregnant. Nyssa could feel the stabbing pain of panic squeezing her chest, she could barely breathe. After the doctor left her alone in the room, she broke into tears. A part of her was happy, of course, but she was also terrified. She thought she would never be able to have children again after everything she went through, especially after being resurrected through the Pit for so many years, yet there she was, about to have her last chance of having a lineage again. Her last descendant had died in an explosion years ago, and since then, Nyssa swore she would never allow herself to get attached to anyone ever again, but she ended up falling in love, and life granted her one last chance to witness a miracle.

Nyssa would never guess that she would be pregnant the same time as her younger sister, who was being pampered by the doctors and treated like a queen, which was infuriating, but she would worry about that another time. She needed to bear the wonderful news to her husband, tell him he would become a father for the first time in his life. She ran looking for him but stumbled across a bunch of Leaguers dressed in cloaks, surrounded in a circle. Her heart started pounding fast, a ritual awfully familiar to her was taking place. Nyssa hoped with all her might that someone else was in the circle, she tried looking over the crowd and was able to identify her father standing, arms behind his back, facing someone else… It was none other than her husband.

They were going to indulge in a duel of life and death. 

Nyssa started tearing up, no one ever survived Ra’s fatal battles. Why did her husband have to be condemned for such a foolish mistake? She screamed asking them to stop, begged for mercy, but to no avail, she was only met with harsh stares instead. The guards grabbed her arms and took her away for disturbing the ritual, and she fought them desperately, but her efforts to get out were useless. She watched, in horror, her husband getting stabbed in the chest by her own father.  

Nyssa was forced to be taken to her room, where she screamed and cried uncontrollably. Ra’s never once apologized and even had the audacity to pay her a visit later that day. 

He remained in a serious stance and told her calmly “Arketov served valiantly, but consequences must be instilled, otherwise order will never be established." Ra's paused. "Your husband made a fatal mistake, my daughter. You’ll understand one day.”

Nyssa continued staring at the wall, eyes never meeting with Ra’s. She was not allowed to ever question the Head of the Demon.

“Your grief will pass with time.” It was the last thing she remembered him saying before he left her room. 

Nyssa stared at the china cup that was on her nightstand. She was stunned. No tears came this time, there were no feelings left in her anymore, she felt nothing but emptiness. Exhaustion from being hurt so many times, for her spirit being so broken. The woman took the china cup and broke it, using the shard of glass to cut her cheeks so that her blood would replace where her tears would fall. 

The smell from the tea spilled on the floor made her nauseated again, which was angering. She curled her hand into fists, her nails hurting the palm of her hands, but she took a deep breath and touched her belly, remembering there was a baby there… At least her child would earn the heir of the al Ghul one day. Nyssa would never be able to impress her father, but her child surely would. Her older brother, Dusan, was long forgotten, and Nyssa was the oldest amongst the two daughters, so Ra’s would acknowledge that the offspring of the oldest would take priority. Nyssa wished to have a boy; that would make her father even happier, and Talia’s kid would hopefully bring nothing but shame to the family, which would be perfectly fitting. 

The only thing keeping Nyssa from ending her own life was her sweet baby. She found comfort in the fact that her child would at least be treated with honor, her lineage would prevail, and everything would be okay, despite all the odds. 

How wrong she was.

Present Time

Mara was laying in the hospital bed, groaning in pain. The girl’s breathing was shallow and her eyes were still closed, but Nyssa could see the hurt through her daughter’s face. Nyssa’s heart ached as she remembered how she lost her last descendant due to an explosion, and that almost happened again with her daughter. 

Tears were streaming down her face now. It wasn’t fair, none of that was. Mara never had the chance to meet her own father, she was brutally beaten by her trainers in the League while her cousin received special treatment for being Talia’s precious boy. Of course fate would gift Talia a formidable boy while Nyssa was given a girl, who Ra’s looked down due to his stupid, chauvinistic views. Nyssa couldn’t help but feel horrible guilt for staying on the island and witnessing her daughter be humiliated day by day, coming to her crying so many times because she feared she wasn’t good enough and would never match her cousin’s level of skill. Nyssa tried to comfort her sweet girl, but the damage was already done.

Talia, Damian, Ra’s all subjected her daughter to so much abuse. Nyssa spent countless hours trying to help her daughter feel confident again, but the girl’s self-esteem was completely destroyed. None of this would’ve happened if it wasn’t for Ra’s and that psychotic league of his. Looking back at those memories of her husband dying and her daughter suffering during training for all these years made Nyssa’s blood boil. Mara was her miracle, she had survived an explosion from a bomb that Ra’s threw at the training camp, killing half of the Leviathan soldiers. Ra’s would pay dearly for everything he had done. 

Nyssa watched the doctors checking Mara’s vitals, but she noticed the sound of footsteps coming in her direction from behind.

“You were late.” The woman said, without even looking at who was standing behind her. 

“I tried to come faster, Aunt Nyssa, I–”

“Don’t you ever call me that, you pathetic clone!” Nyssa slapped Heretic in the face, he stared back at her in shock. “Fail me one more time, and I’ll make you wish you were never brought to life, understood?” Nyssa shouted angrily, then pulled her phone and called her faithful servant, Tamir. 

“Where’s the boy? He was supposed to be brought here hours ago!”

“Forgive me, Lady Nyssa…" Tamir cried out on the other line, "Your sister came with the League, and we lost. I was about to bring Damian to you, but I was cornered, I had to run. I failed you, my lady, I am so sorry. You can end my life as you desire…” There was sincere regret in his voice, at least.

Nyssa grabbed her phone tighter and held her tongue so that she wouldn’t scream; she wanted to strangle someone, but she took a deep breath instead. “Stop it. It’s fine.” She lied, grinding her teeth. 

Nyssa was not her father, she would not kill her servant over a mistake like Ra's did to her former husband. Besides, Tamir stood by her faithfully for several years, she couldn’t help but feel gratitude for his prevalent loyalty. “Is Talia still in Gotham?”

“Yes, she is, my lady.”

“Good. Let’s bring hell to Gotham, then.” Nyssa turned Heretic. “Prepare Leviathan, my soldier. It is time for us to strike.”

Wayne Manor

Bruce was getting ready to leave for work, he had been absent for too long and needed to hurry. Dick, Tim, and Stephanie ended up staying for the night. The whole family was downstairs having breakfast, and Damian arrived a little late due to his customary morning workouts. Damian was a little disappointed that his father left so quickly without exchanging a word; it felt so long since two spent good quality time like they did when they were traveling together. The boy joined the others at the table and Pennyworth served him his vegetarian breakfast.

"So, you're vegan now?" Tim asked with his mouth full.

"I'm vegetarian, Drake, there is a difference." Damian corrected.

Tim sighed, wondering why he even bothered to talk to the brat. "I was just gonna say that's pretty cool. A friend of mine, Beast Boy, is also vegetarian--"

"No one cares." Damian spat.

"Did someone wake up on the wrong foot?" Stephanie asked, but in a bubbly manner. Damian didn't respond.

"Nice work yesterday, you guys." Dick interrupted. "When everyone went to bed last night, I talked to Bruce and he was telling me how we all need to be fully alert, especially when it's a matter of time until Leviathan realizes what we did to their news channel."

"Still can't believe that Nyssa organized this whole thing." Stephanie turned to Damian. "Is there anyone in your family who's not a crazy mastermind evil villain?"

"Bruce isn't." Tim answered, without giving a chance for Damian to say anything. "He’s not evil or a villain. Although, he must have gone legit crazy when he decided to take Damian in." Tim laughed.  

"Father's insanity started the moment he took you in, Drake!" Damian shouted, pointing his fork at Tim as if he was about to attack him.

Tim chuckled, he knew he was going to get a reaction from the brat. "You really need to learn how to take a joke, Damian." 

"It's not a joke when you're serious!" Damian replied with anger in his voice. 

Stephanie shot her boyfriend a stern look, "You totally provoked him on purpose, didn't you?"

"Of course! That's what the gremlin gets for all the crap he's put me through. Did you know he ruined my favorite coffee mug once?"

"It was just paint, buy a new mug if you're so butthurt about it!" Damian defended himself.

"That's not the point, Damian! You don't take people's mugs to use for art projects, use your own crap!"

"Guys..." Dick started.

"I do whatever I want! It's not my fault your mug was the first thing I found when I needed a brush cup!"

“You’re acting like a spoiled brat, it’s starting to get embarrassing now, really…” Tim stated tiredly, resting his chin on his hand.

Stephanie mumbled while sipping her orange juice. "And here we go again..." 

"Guys!" Dick repeated before Alfred came to the rescue. "It's early in the morning and you're already fighting! Just relax for a moment, okay?"

Tim opened his mouth and was about to defend himself, but he decided against it. "...You're right. Sorry I started this whole thing, Dick."

"Of course you apologize to the prodigal son and not me, the person you wanted to start a fight within the first place!" Damian complained, crossing his arms.

"Dami, don't worry about it--" Stephanie tried to make amends, but Damian was fed up with all of them. He pulled out his chair and stood up.

"You did not finish your avocado toast, Master Damian." Alfred pointed out.

"I’m not hungry anymore." Damian spat, leaving the room.

He was angry, his family was beyond irritating. Damian wasn't exactly sure what to do next, he hated feeling like a prisoner in his own home and he couldn't stand even seeing Drake's idiotic face. He already did his morning exercise but all he could think of was how badly he wanted to punch something or someone. Damian went downstairs to the cave so he could find something to hit, but as he arrived, he saw Bat-Cow, who was kneeling on the ground chewing her cud, content.

Damian promised he would take good care of her, so he sat next to her.  

"Hey, Bat-Cow." Damian called out softly. "How are you holding up? Have you grown accustomed to the family yet?"

Bat-cow was still chewing, looking calm as ever.

Damian sighed as he started to stroke her head. "Yeah, I know what it's like. It takes a while to get used to..." Damian paused to look around the cave. "...This. Father decided it would be a good idea to adopt a bunch of children, I guess. Grayson is alright, but Todd and Drake are two morons. But you'll be happy here, I promise." Damian assured her while gently scratching Bat-Cow's ears.

"It's hard adapting to a new place, isn't it? I'm sure it's been difficult on you too, you lost so much and went through a lot. I'm glad we could save you, though." Damian leaned his head closer to Bat-Cow and smiled. "I won't let something like that happen to you ever again. Pennyworth mentioned the treatments have been working, you'll be feeling better in no time." 

The boy paused again, thoughtful. "...Is it bad I'm not angry with Aunt Nyssa? After what that man said about her, how Grandfather abandoned her and ostracized her for voicing her opinion, that my own mother didn’t even help her... I feel bad for her, truly. I never spoke to my aunt and didn’t even know about my uncle Dusan before he died… I would like to come to my aunt and apologize for all the pain we brought to her and Mara. I was not fair to my cousin, she didn’t deserve any of this either… I hope one day she can forgive me.” 

Damian and Bat-Cow looked at each other. It almost seemed like she was smiling to him, it felt comforting. "Thanks. Now, we both know my aunt has organized Leviathan, but I still haven't figured out Fatherless' identity. Unless..." Damian looked at the Batcomputer and stood up, determined. He sat on the chair and typed the password, then started doing several searches regarding Dr. Larson's studies, pulling up all the files and information he and his father had gathered so far.   

The boy was intently studying everything he was reading from the Batcomputer. He rubbed his chin as he opened up the pictures of the dead whales.

"The bio-factory in Yemen... Aunt Nyssa wasn't testing soldiers inside the whale, she had labs for that. I think she was creating something inside that whale, a monster…” Damian thought out loud, eyes glued to the screen. "I found genetic machinery when I was inside that storage room where I met Fatherless. I found tools and equipment specifically used for--" Damian widened his eyes. "--Cloning! Aunt Nyssa was creating a clone inside the whale!" 

Damian frantically read all the other files from Dr. Larson. "It says here on his background that Dr. Michael Larson started working at Luthorcorp as an intern in the Cadmus project, particularly known for their creation of clones, but when he was promoted to a full-time employee, he was assigned to work on something completely different."

Damian spoke up so Bat-Cow could hear him this time. "Bat-Cow, I don't think Aunt Nyssa kidnapped Larson, he went with her willingly! Which is why his wife said he had gone missing for months rather than weeks, my aunt probably gave him an opportunity for him to finally work on his dream project, creating clones! But who did she want to clone...?" Damian started thinking. Perhaps Aunt Nyssa wanted to clone Batman, which was why Fatherless dressed similarly to him? But Aunt Nyssa wouldn't possibly have Father's blood or DNA with her, would she?"

Damian recalled the words Fatherless said to him. You will know me…

Maybe Damian wasn't going to know him, he already knew who he was. 

"Fatherless told me I'd know him when the time came… He is me." 

"There you are!" He heard a voice say from behind, Damian jumped. 

"Hey, it's just me." Grayson said with a warm smile.

Damian wasn't quite ready to tell Grayson about his findings, his brother was already consumed with worry the day before, so he quickly exited out of the open pages.

"What were you reading? Are you looking into Leviathan files again?"

"...Yes. Trying to find clues of what they might do next." He lied.

Grayson chuckled. "Already working on potential cases right in the morning, huh? Like father, like son. Although, I tend to do the same a lot of the time..."

"He's your father too, you know."

"Yeah, I know. Now, come on, let’s go walk Titus, he’s been a spaz all morning."

Damian smiled faintly. Taking his dog on a walk alongside Grayson wouldn’t be too bad after all. 

Hours Later

There was a traffic jam on Gotham's bridge, right at the entrance to the city. The city wasn’t too popular to receive tourists but it was always busy nonetheless, typically for business people getting in and out of the city constantly. It seemed that more military was being transferred to Gotham with all the tanks and military vehicles coming in. A hummer with a mounted turret drove forward, which was strange, but then suddenly, it opened fire. 

The Gotham citizens panicked, several of them immediately died inside their cars, and others foolishly got out of their cars and started running just to get shot afterward. Other drivers started desperately dialing 911 from their phones to ask for help before they were also shot in the head. Fifteen minutes went by, which felt more like long horrifying hours of pure agony and bloodshed, and Gotham’s National Guard finally arrived from the opposite side of the bridge to face the attackers. They were about to shoot the murderers, but a little girl who looked like she was 10 years old got out of the military hummer. 

“Hold your fire!” The general officer from Gotham’s military team commanded. “They’re keeping children in there! Kid, I need you to step aside.”

The girl nodded and slowly walked towards them. The Army National Guard was apprehensive, no one was shooting anymore as the girl walked in the middle of them. No one was exactly sure of what was happening... Why would they let the girl go? And why were there children inside those vehicles? Tension was in the air as Gotham’s soldiers patiently waited, ready to shoot as soon as the girl got out of the way, but something strange happened. The girl walked closer to an SUV, where inside there was a man who was just trying to go to work. She grabbed the bumper and threw the SUV at the general officer, which landed on the officer’s vehicle, causing an explosion. 

Gotham citizens screamed, and the military opened fire this time, desperate after what just happened. Their general officer was dead. More children got out of the tanks and hummers from the opposite side doing the same as the girl, grabbing more cars and tossing them at the national guard. Cars were being smashed, more people were dying, and utter chaos was in the air. 

The children started marching, shouting from the top of their lungs: “ALL HAIL LEVIATHAN! ALL HAIL LEVIATHAN!”

Wayne Enterprises

Bruce cursed himself for missing the news because he was forced to be stuck in a meeting while Gotham was being massacred again. He couldn’t believe what was happening, it was bad enough that the death toll increased while he was gone due to the mind control channel, and now there was a rampage with an army of children murdering everyone, including the military. He was furious with himself for not stopping Nyssa when he had the chance, it was his fault for not going after her, and now Gotham had to pay for his mistakes.  

His kids were already getting into action though. Nightwing, Red Robin, and Spoiler were on their way to Gotham’s Crown Point Bridge since they found out about the news before him, and Bruce was already in his car, heading to the bridge as well. He didn’t have his batmobile with him, but that had to wait. He always had a spare of his Batman suit with him, and he didn’t care if something happened to his sports car, he just needed to arrive there in time. 

Bruce Wayne ferociously drove as fast as possible but he noticed something from his rearview mirror; he was being followed. Three cars were tailing him, one from behind and two from each side. Bruce tried to maneuver and change lanes, but he was completely cornered. The two cars from each side smashed into him at the same time, they started out slow but they were going to do it again, driving even faster this time. Seeing how he was about to be hit from both sides at full force now, Bruce slammed on his brakes and popped his e-brak, spinning his car around so he could get away from his tailgaters. Tires screeched agonizingly, smoke and burnt rubber filling the cabin. The two cars that were trying to hit him smashed into each other and the car that was behind couldn’t stop in time and crashed into the other cars in front. 

Bruce took off to get away from his attackers but he didn’t notice in time that another car was driving in his direction. He tried to swerve, but it was too late, and he got into a t-bone accident. Bruce’s head snapped back from the force of the collision, airbags deployed. The car crash was strong and his head ached from the concussion. The other driver got out of the car extremely apologetic and desperate but Bruce could barely keep his eyes open.

Wayne Manor

Damian was livid, how could his family leave him behind and completely prohibit him from helping while Leviathan was killing everyone in broad daylight? The boy fumed in anger while he obsessively stared at the bat computer, watching his family’s movements and helping them with coordinates, which was Oracle’s job, not his. He couldn’t believe that even Gordon was in action this time. Forcing him to stay home was absurd and pointless.

“Master Damian, you barely touched your food.” Pennyworth stated, concerned, the boy had a frown look in his face while he stared at the computer screen.

“I already told you, Pennyworth, I am not hungry!” 

Pennyworth sighed and left the food on the table, much like he did so many times with Bruce. 

By the time everyone left the manor, Leviathan managed to start making their way downtown. The police and the news stations were demanding everyone to stay home or not leave their workplaces under any circumstances so that there would be as fewer cars as possible on the streets. The police blocked the majority of the roads, and Commissioner Gordon, along with his police team, was fully alert with their guns ready for Leviathan’s arrival. Barbara wanted to stick around near her dad in case something happened to them, so she hid near the cops as Batgirl, only waiting to make an appearance when necessary. Oracle warned the bat family what she was planning on doing, and Stephanie decided to go help her instead of going to Crown Point Bridge with the boys.

Everyone left their comms on to talk to each other and to make Damian feel included, of course, since he was clearly upset for not going out with the rest of them. Damian was sitting on the edge of his seat, staring at the computer as if his life depended on it. 

“Ok, we’re here!” Nightwing announced from his line. 

“Same, I’m here with Batgirl. No sign of Leviathan over here so far.” Spoiler pointed out.

Damian was able to hack into the police radar camera and he could see an angle of what was happening at the bridge. The children defending Leviathan were causing too much bloodshed, he could see one of the children bending the Gotham’s military tank’s barrel, blowing up the entire tank, and killing the child with it. It was starting to sound like they were straight suicidal terrorists at this point with some of the children not minding to die in the name of Leviathan. Most of the kids were clearly enraged and not thinking clearly as they destroyed more vehicles and killed more people. 

He couldn’t see Nightwing from that camera angle, but he heard his brother speak. “Hey, hey, you guys are Leviathan, right?” No more attacks were happening, so at least the children stopped enough to listen. “We’re not here to hurt you. Just help us understand, we just want to help you.”

“Uhh, Nightwing? I don’t think talking to them will do anything…” Red Robin stated.

“Shh. Kid, listen, you probably went through a lot. Give me your hand, it’s okay.”

Damian spoke on his mic, perplexed. “Grayson, what do you think you’re doing? They don’t even speak English, most of them speak Arabic! Don’t just offer your hand to them, you’ll–”

And before Damian could finish his sentence, a loud sound of BAM  was heard through the comms. 

“Grayson? Grayson! Report! What happened?” Damian asked.

“Nightwing, did you just get thrown into a car or something? I heard the sound in my ear, it sounded painful!” Batgirl said on her line.

“Oouch…” Nightwing moaned in pain. Trying to talk with the kids was probably not his brightest idea.

Spoiler laughed. “Sorry for laughing, are you okay over there?”

“I’m fine…” There was a tone of impatience in Nightwing’s tone of voice.

Red Robin started fighting this time, but all Damian could see was the map and location coordinates. The street camera didn’t show much, and of course Drake had to be standing away from the only angle the camera was showing. ding from that angle but from the sounds of it, it seemed that they were losing.  

“Are you sure you guys got it covered?” Batgirl asked.

“Yes, we’re fine! These kids are just…” Drake dodged something that was being tossed his way. “...Too strong!”

“It’s the Mirakuru, you idiots! Those kids were engineered to be super soldiers! You won’t win by fighting them with brute force!” Damian complained to them. 

Another BANG happened and more shooting came, Damian’s heart was racing.

“What happened now? What’s going on?” Damian was asking, frantically.

“Don’t worry baby bird, the boys got this." Spoiler replied. "They’re just crying over there like little babies, they’ve faced worse things before.”

“You're welcome to come and take my place, then!" Grayson spat on the other line, he was painting from needing to jump and dodge so many times.

Spoiler sighed. “Do us girls have to do everything around here?”

Stephanie was acting carefree as usual but Barbara hit her shoulder, indicating to look up. A school bus drove by, which was odd since no one was allowed to drive on that road. Commissioner Gordon grabbed his megaphone and spoke: “This road is blocked! Turn to the other side, you cannot come in this way!”

The school bus completely ignored him and drove forward. The police were grabbing their guns, everyone was in position, and Batgirl and Spoiler were in a fighting stance as well. The school bus's door opened, revealing a bunch of 9-11-year-old children.

“Children, we need you to evacuate this area now!” Commissioner Gordon warned.

Batgirl widened her eyes. “IT’S THEM, IT’S LEVIATHAN!” She threw her explosive Batarang near the children, which made them step back and shield their faces for a second. Once the smoke from the explosive was cleared, the child up front gave a sinister smile.

“FOR LEVIATHAN!” The little boy screamed and the kids behind him started running to attack the cops and everyone else who got in their way.

Damian heard the whole thing, afflicted. He slammed on the keyboard.

“Damn it, Pennyworth! I should be there right now, not stuck here! They need me! And where’s Father? I’ve been calling him all day with no answer!”

“I am too worried, Master Damian, but it is best for you to stay safe, I’m afraid. Your aunt made absolutely clear that she wants you dead, and you don’t want to end up like those poor children outside.”

“I can take care of myself, I was trained my whole life to fight, not sit behind a computer like a coward.”

“Don’t mistake wisdom with cowardice, Master Damian. You staying here will provide much more effective assistance to the team than recklessly risking your life when there is still a bounty on your head. I tell your father this every time he reckons he is able to fight when he is clearly in no condition of doing so. You have to prioritize yourself sometimes if you want to save others.” Pennyworth placed his hand on Damian’s shoulder with warmth in his voice, which the boy somewhat appreciated, deep down. 

“Tt. I should still be up there with them.” 

Bruce opened his eyes, the room he was in was completely dark. He jolted instantly, looking around him to see who kidnapped him this time. His expensive suit had some tears from the glass shards of the car window and he stood up, investigating the place he was at. High heels footsteps came in his direction, Bruce looked up and saw a long-haired brunette woman wearing black leather clothes standing in front of him. 

“Oh, Beloved, you’re awake!” Talia ran up and hugged him, staring him in the eyes, intensely. “I was so worried about you.”

Sparks ignited as Talia's face was so close to his. Bruce couldn't deny the warmth that blossomed in his chest as she was leaning in so close to him, the scent of her neck and gorgeous dark hair consuming him. 

Time stopped and warmth consumed their souls once both leaned into the kiss. The flutter intensified, there was raw emotion in the way her fingers curled around his hair, her neck smelling like jasmine. The warm feeling of her breath, though destabilizing, was inviting. Bruce wrapped his arms around Talia’s frame and met his lips again with hers. He could only focus on how addictively she invaded all his senses, how he longed for so much more than just one passionate gesture. He wished that time could stand still, but there were pressing needs that had to be addressed, he couldn't allow himself to be distracted. Bruce parted his lips and placed his hands on her shoulders so she would look at him.

“Talia, what are you doing?”

“What, an old lover is not allowed to express affection towards her beloved anymore?”

“That’s not it. Talia, are you in Gotham because of your sister?”

“...Yes. My father told me everything I needed to know about Leviathan, so I came. And when I arrived, they were about to take our son, but I stopped them.”

Bruce stared at those beautiful eyes of hers that were so similar to their son. 

“Thank you.” His gratitude was sincere.

“Of course, Beloved. He’s my son too, in case you have forgotten. After I took care of Damian’s kidnappers, I decided to keep a closer look at Leviathan. I thought only one assassin was left, but my sister sent more people, including her whole army. My father attempted to eliminate all of Leviathan, but by the time he arrived at the other base in Kenya, they were gone. I’m afraid the blame falls on you, Beloved since my father respected your wishes to not kill them when he first had the chance. Now your dear city is paying for your sad choices.”

“Are you implying Ra’s killed the kids that were in the training camp?” Talia didn’t respond, which was enough of an answer for him. “They were children, Talia!"

“You’re too obsessed with your no-killing rule. My father did what was necessary. The children who survived migrated here, killing people from your city! He was trying to help you, but it sounds like you don’t care too much about Gotham either, which is an improvement.”

“Ra’s doesn’t help or care for anyone except for himself. He didn’t kill those kids manipulated by Leviathan for the sake of my city, he did it as revenge against your sister! I don’t want your family’s business getting into any more things, Talia, enough of this. Nyssa is only destroying Gotham because she wants to prove herself to Ra’s!”

“So what if she is?” Talia asked, indifferent. 

“She’s your sister, Talia! You can’t let her tear down my city and especially my family. You’re now in danger, along with your father and Damian. I honestly could care less about your father but I am not letting your sister hurt my son or you.”

Talia looked at him with tender eyes. “I appreciate your concern for our well-being, Beloved, I truly do, but I have everything under control–”

Before Talia could finish her thought, a missile was launched into the abandoned building they were at. They barely had time to react, Bruce and Talia could only jump and try to protect themselves. Part of the building collapsed, and Bruce was coughing through the dust in the exploded debris. Luckily nothing landed in him, but where was Talia?

“Talia? TALIA!” Bruce stood up and desperately searched through the rubble to see where she was, hopefully, she wasn’t buried somewhere. Bruce was sweating, she couldn’t find her anywhere, but he saw someone standing by what used to be a door.

It was Heretic.

Bruce clenched his jaw and walked to Heretic, grabbing one of the cement chunks that had rebar on his way. Once he got closer to him, he bashed Heretic’s face with the cement, destroying half of his mask.

“DID YOU FEEL THAT THIS TIME?” Bruce shouted in his Batman's voice.

Heretic was taken aback, he definitely felt the excruciating pain in his face. With half of his mask torn down, Bruce was finally able to see the man’s face, finally see what he looked like behind that pretend Batman mask. He could feel his own face getting paler.

“It can’t be…”

Heretic had facial features that were similar to Bruce’s. His eyes were emerald green like Talia’s, and his hair was dark and slightly spiked. He was the exact copy of Damian Wayne, but in adult form. Bruce was furious. He had already assumed Nyssa used Dr. Larson for some sort of cloning experiment, but he would never guess that she was trying to clone his own son this time. What kind of sick, twisted person makes a clone of their own family member, especially someone who was innocent and forced to face atrocities that no child should ever have to endure?

“Nngh…”

Bruce looked to the side and found Talia, regaining consciousness. He went after her but heard Talia yelling; “Beloved, look out!”

As Bruce turned around, Heretic punched him in the jaw and threw him at the debris. He tried to get up, but he was too late again, Heretic took Talia from behind, covering her mouth while she struggled to get out of his grasp. Bruce ran again to save Talia but another missile was launched in his direction.

Everything went black.

Chapter Text

"The alert signal!"

It had been hours since Damian last heard from his father. His mind went racing, thinking of all the possible scenarios his father could have found himself in. Father obviously knew how to take care of himself, but for him to ask for help by pressing the alert signal meant things were bad. Damian could feel the unwelcomed anxiety creeping in his whole body. His green eyes were fixated on the computer screen as if his life depended on it, he hadn't eaten or taken a break for one second. E ven Pennyworth looked more apprehensive than usual, moving closer to the screen once the alarm went on. There was concern written all over his face.

"The signal is coming from his watch..." Pennyworth observed. "The only time Master Bruce activates that alert signal is when he is not wearing the Batman suit."

Without thinking twice, Damian hurriedly got out of his chair and headed towards the Batmobile.

"Where do you think you're going, Master Damian?"

"I'm going to help my father, obviously."

Damian turned around and noticed his butler giving such a reproachful look to him that he assumed that was where his father got his famous Bat-glares from. It didn't intimidate him whatsoever, but for some reason he still felt a need to explain himself.  

"What? Father needs help, Pennyworth! I refuse to sit here and watch, he could be dying for all we know!" Pennyworth was standing still, it was hard to read him. "Father never activates the alarm unless he is in serious danger, you know how prideful he can be."

Alfred studied the boy’s eyes for a moment, thoughtful. Damian indeed reminded him so much of Master Bruce; always insufferably stubborn, yet so determined to make a difference even when his life was at risk. Damian was still not allowed to leave due to the bounty on his head, but at least him going out as himself and not Robin was slightly safer overall; the normal Gotham crooks had no idea who Robin was.

“Hm... Very well." Pennyworth finally said, which made Damian smile, satisfied with the butler's approval. "But I'm coming with you." The smile quickly vanished, turning into a frown instead.  

“What?” Alfred could hear the boy's indignation echoing through the cave, but he simply ignored him and walked towards one of Bruce's luxurious sports cars.

“It is best to use a civilian vehicle since Master Bruce is the one calling for help, not Batman."

Damian stared at his butler, dumbfounded. Pennyworth going with him was definitely not part of the plan. There was no time to waste, however, so he ran to the Lamborghini. Pennyworth made a good point by not taking the Batmobile, and since t here was no need to go as Robin, Damian was able to leave right away, only stopping to grab his utility belt so he would be prepared this time.

"Fine, but I'm driving!" 

"Not this time, young sir." Pennyworth responded with a smile, already seated in the driver seat. Damian rushed to the passenger's seat, upset for his obvious defeat.

Pennyworth turned the ignition key and started the car. The Lamborghini was immaculate inside and out with beautiful black leather seats, modern aesthetics and a large digital panel with the GPS already plugged in. The car drove beautifully, the speed was amazing, but o f course Pennyworth was the one driving. Damian sat there observing the details from the inside, watching the roads. That car was capable of going so fast, yet Pennyworth was driving so much slower. Did he not understand how high the stakes were? And why was Pennyworth so calm and collective about Father being in danger? Things were not okay, Father never asked for help. Or was Damian just overreacting? Why was he getting so anxious again? 

Damian looked at the GPS. Goodness, they were still so far away from their destination, Pennyworth kept ignoring the shortcuts. Damian argued but was shut down by his butler, who replied to him that he knew what he was doing. Damian pouted. He hated not being allowed to drive, not being in control. If he was on the island, Mother would've not only let him drive, but encouraged and praised him to do so.

He remembered the days his mother was so proud of him for riding their jet so tactfully at such a young age, that was a good memory. He started thinking about his mother again... He had been longing to see Talia for such a while, but their reunion went completely unexpected with Damian storming off after what he learned about her and Aunt Nyssa. How could Mother abandon her own sister? And why was Damian even feeling bad for his aunt,  the one responsible for the murder of hundreds of innocent people in Gotham. Brown could've been killed if Damian hadn't done something about it. All because of a moronic mind control attempt that didn't even aim to kill bad people. How many more innocents had to die? And for what cause? Nyssa's ways were not even close to being honorable, it was nothing how Grandfather would've done it. She was just causing acts of terrorism for the fun of it, nothing more.

A huge wave of guilt hit Damian as he thought of how he should've let his mother explain herself before he left. He missed her. He missed being allowed to drive, going on missions by her side, being trained by her, being treated as an equal and not as a child, and being taken seriously. His upbringing at the League may not have been ideal and surely not even close to normal, but he enjoyed the times spent next to Mother.

But he had to focus on his father now, who also needed him. The GPS indicated they were getting closer to their final destination now, which was about time. Damian observed the nice looking control panel in the car and the neat technology in it and realized that he had not been inside that Lamborghini before. Father didn't take him to many places outside of patrol, they were both too occupied combating crime. Not that Damian minded, of course, fighting criminals was vaguely similar to fighting those who defied Grandfather, so that lifestyle wasn't too bad. He just hoped his father was okay, it would be nice for them to go out as father and son for a change once things got back to 'normal'. 

Damian kept hoping that they wouldn't be there too late. Things were hard enough when Father was lost in the past and presumed to be dead, he didn't need to lose him again. Besides, who would handle Grayson? Speaking of which, Damian remembered that he needed to alert his family of his whereabouts. 

The young dark haired boy connected his earpiece to the car so Alfred could also hear the conversation. "Everyone, my position as 'Pretend Oracle'  will be withdrawn for the time being. Father is in danger."

"What?" Nightwing asked while he was knocking out one of the Leviathan's children with his escrima stick. "Where is he? Give me his location and I'll--"

"What happened?" Red Robin and Spoiler asked in unisom even though they were in different locations. 

"Don't know yet, but me and Pennyworth are about to find out. I doubt you'll survive without my instructions, but at least try to make some progress. You're all letting Leviathan terrorize the city and you're failing miserably."

"Why, you little--" Red Robin started.

"Be careful, little D. Give us an update on how Bats is doing." Stephanie spoke softly with concern in her voice. 

Damian was about to respond, but Drake had to interrupt. "Seriously Spoiler, you're gonna take the demon brat's side right now? He just insulted us!" As soon as Drake finished talking, a loud sound of explosion came, making everyone nervous.

"Woah, are you guys okay?" Spoiler asked.

"What was that?" This time Batgirl was speaking.

"It's all good, one of these crazy kids stole a freaking bazuka from the military and tried killing us with it, but they hit a car instead, no biggie." Nightwing assured, nonchalantly. "We were able to evacuate and secure the whole area so no more civilians get hurt, it's mainly us and the military now. Oh, and GCPD too, but they're making things worse by shooting, we already told them that opening fire only makes these kids angrier."

"I feel ya. We're doing the same, my fath- I mean, Commissioner Gordon already ordered everyone to cease fire. But Spoiler and I did notice that explosives work better than regular Batarangs, their skins are not as invulnerable as we thought, they're weak to fire."

"We noticed that too--" Red Robin agreed but he stopped talking after more kids started screaming in the background. "Wing, got your back!" Damian couldn't see what was happening but right after that, there was more screaming and the sound of something being exploded, but not from a gun, probably a batarang.

"Thanks!" Nightwing managed to say while panting. Alfred and Damian looked at each other, worried.

"Just make sure that no one dies." Damian said, ending the call without letting anyone else respond. The knot on his stomach was not going away and hearing the fighting, explosions, and screaming from his earpiece only made things worse. He detested not being in action. It was a good thing that he was finally going to do something useful to help his father.

After what had felt like an eternity, they arrived where they were supposed to be. The GPS led them to a street that was covered in glass and bits and pieces of work office rooms that had come crashing down. Pennyworth parked the car across the street from a high-rise commercial building that was completely in ruins, with the top part of the building destroyed. Where before there had been offices, now there was a ragged hole where a missile clearly hit it. There was no rescue team and firefighter yet, which meant Damian and Pennyworth wouldn't need to worry about them, they could just get his father and get out. Damian just hoped there was no one else in the building that got hurt. 

Pennyworth walked out of the car quickly, slamming the door by accident as he left. They both hurried inside and then walked through all the fallen debris. The lower floors weren't affected much, just the top floor that was massively damaged, which was probably where Father was. No one else seemed to be inside, so that was good at least. There was a lot of smoke filling the rooms, making it difficult to breathe and see where they were going. Pennyworth started coughing, so Damian handed him a smoke mask that he had brought with him.

"Here, Pennyworth. Breathing this air is not good for your health."

"Thank you for the kind offer, young sir, but you should take it instead."

"Nonsense, Pennyworth. You need it more than me. Plus, you're old." Alfred rolled his eyes as he accepted the mask that was kindly offered to him, even if it was followed by an insult right afterwards. 

Damian chose to not use the second mask that he had with him to give it to his father. 

Alfred and Damian opened a door that led them to the stairs, which were still intact. They kept going upstairs, getting closer to the most destroyed portion of the building now. As soon as they arrived in one of the upper floors, Damian's heart sank. 

The entire room was utterly destroyed. There was no resemblance of an office anymore, just piles and more piles of rubble mounted on top of each other. Damian's hands were sweating and an uncomfortable stabbing feeling of his chest squeezing came to him. Was Father buried in there? There was so much rubble that it was difficult to see anyone making it out alive.

"Father? FATHER!"

"Master Bruce, are you there?" 

Damian quickly turned to his butler, nervous. "He could be unconscious, Pennyworth. We'll need to start digging."

Alfred nodded and both of them started going through all the rubber together, Damian digging in one spot while Alfred did the same a few yards away. 

They found nothing. 

"Perhaps he is on the floor above us?" Pennyworth suggested. 

Damian looked up. There were no more stairs going up that survived the explosion, but he had his grappling hook with him.

"I'll go, it'll be quick. You check downstairs. There's no walls left in here so if you see him, just call me. I'll hear you from above." 

Alfred didn't like the idea of Damian going up by himself, but he agreed to search further downstairs. He left only after he made sure the boy got upstairs with his grappling gun safely. The two separated and Damian kept searching.

"Father? Can you hear me?" Damian coughed from all the smoke, he needed to get out of that place soon. Everything was dark and it was difficult to see through all the debris spread across the room. There was no sign of anyone being there, but he dug through the rubbles again to be sure. "Father, are you buried here? I need you to be okay..." He kept digging, his hands were filthy, his clothes filled with dirt. He regretted not bringing his gloves, his hands were starting to hurt from lifting the heavy pieces of broken walls. But that pain was nothing, of course, he could easily handle a couple of blisters, he just couldn't stand the uncertainty of it all. "Father... Please... I can't lose you... again..."

The pain was starting to throb, but an annoying inconvenience such as crackled dried skin wouldn't stop him. He continued lifting the rubbles, coughing more as a wave of smoke invaded his lungs, but there was absolutely nothing. His eyes started getting teary. Stupid. His father had to be there, he had to. That was one of the floors that took the most damage from the missile or bomb or whatever it was that teared down that place. His hands were bleeding now. Fantastic. Damian kept digging, his eyes burning, he didn't care that he was not properly dressed for this, that he was not wearing a mask and that his clothes were getting ruined, he just needed to find his father. What kind of a hero was he if he couldn't save his own father, the only time the old man actually asked for help? A tear ran down his face. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

What a failure. Not worthy to be Robin, not worthy to honor Grandfather's legacy... Couldn't even help his family properly, being forced to sit behind a computer cowardly while Leviathan destroyed the city and killed soldiers. Hell, he couldn't even do a decent job on his missions, he was the reason half of Kollectiv was killed. Those kids were innocent and they had just escaped, but of course he let himself be fooled by his own clone. It didn't get more humiliating than that, and now he wasn't competent enough to find his father.

A thud came from behind. Damian jolted in surprise and looked down, worried.

"Pennyworth? Are you okay?" 

"Master Damian, I think I found him!"

"I'm coming--" The boy said, quickly turning around. He meant to step on the hardwood floor, but his foot accidentally slipped in a hole instead. He fell two floors below where Pennyworth was and tried to hold onto something to ease his fall, but he sprained his ankle as he landed. He couldn't help but cry out from the pain from that awful land. "Ow!"

Pennyworth came running to him. "Master Damian, are you alright? Did you sprain your ankle--?"

"I'm fine, Pennyworth. Did you find my father?"

"Yes, I heard him groan." The butler led him to where Bruce was. There was a pile of rubbles right in the corner, one wrong move and everything would collapse on Bruce. 

They carefully moved the pieces of debris until they saw an unconscious Bruce Wayne lying on the floor, breathing very weakly.

"Father!" Damian exclaimed, rushing to put the mask on him so he could retain more oxygen.

Bruce looked weak, unconscious, but overall there were no signs of any severe injuries or fractures, for Alfred's immense relief. Bruce was lucky to have positioned himself in the perfect spot, buried underneath all that rubble, without being crushed by anything.

"Master Bruce, can you hear me?" Alfred lifted Bruce up, cleaning up the dust off his shoulders and chest. The oxygen mask seemed to help because he was slowly opening his eyes now.

"Ngh... Alfred?" Bruce asked, weakly.

“Let’s go home, Master Bruce.” Alfred held Bruce from the right side, while Damian did the same from the other side, both helping Bruce to walk so they could get out. Damian felt a twinge of pain coming from his foot each time he took a step, but he just closed his eyes tight as he held back the pain to make it as discreet as possible that he was not limping, even with carrying the dead weight of his father from one side.

"We'll take care of you when we get home, sir--" Alfred then glared at Damian. "And you too, young Master Damian. I want to take a look at that ankle of yours."

"I told you, I'm fine!" 

The boy was completely ignored. Was there anything he could ever hide from his butler?

The rain was pouring down. 

The Leviathan children that marched out of the innocent looking yellow school bus were chanting as they attacked the police officers. The kids were carrying machete knives, hammers, spears, and baseball bats with nails. It would've been easier to contain them if they did not also have super strength as they brutally hit to kill, but Batgirl and Spoiler were able to save the cops just in time. The police were retreating, holding their fires, while the two vigilantes tried disarming the kids and knocking them down, but Leviathan was too strong. None of those kids held their punches, the batarangs and other gadgets helped, but they were still attacking. Barbara Gordon knew they needed a better non lethal weapon in order to stop them or make them unconscious or something. 

One of the kids tried stabbing Spoiler with a machete, but she dodged.

"This isn't working, Batgirl! There's too many of them!"

"I know, I'm trying to think of something--" 

A little boy decided to lift a motorcycle that was on the road and screamed: "FOR LEVIATHAN!" The boy was about to throw the car when three strange looking things landed next to him, which made him pause to look down. Spoiler looked down too, tilting her head, trying to understand what those things were...

"Oh my God, are those grenades??" Spoiler yelled.

"WATCH OUT!" Commissioner Gordon warned. The officers tried to retreat but it was too late. Gas came out of those grenades, making everyone cough.

"Those are sleeping gasses, Spoiler." Batgirl said, putting on a safety mask while Stephanie did the same.

The child soldiers also coughed but they were raising their bats and machetes, but they coughed even harder and eventually fell to the ground unconscious. 

Stephanie looked around, her and Batgirl were the only ones seemingly who were still standing, but she then saw a familiar face from a distance.

Spoiler waved. "Batman of France! I should've known it was you, you did the same move earlier when you saved my life!" Spoiler then turned to Batgirl, upset. "Seriously, how did we not think of sleeping gas? Batman will be so disappointed with us. Great set of detectives we are."

"Batman of where now? Who is this guy?" Batgirl asked while the masked vigilante walked closer to them. Next to him there were also three kids, one teenage boy with tanned skin and brown hair cut very short, in military style almost, who looked like he was 14 years old, another boy who looked slightly younger, with very dark hair and darker skin, and a braided haired brunette girl who looked like she was Damian's age. Judging from their appearance, they all looked like they came from the Middle East. 

Batgirl raised her eyebrow at the man and turned on the setting from her lenses to show people's IDs. She then understood what Stephanie meant by 'Batman of France'. That man called himself Nightrunner, a man who fought crime in France and was an ally of Batman. There was no ID recognition available for the children, however, they had zero online presence. Batgirl was about to inquire about the kids before Bilal spoke.

"Um, I'm sorry, but you are...?" Nightrunner stared back at both Spoiler and Batgirl, confused. 

"It's me, Steph!" Spoiler said, removing her hoodie and mask, smiling. "Remember me?"

Batgirl turned to the blonde, perplexed. Was Stephanie seriously revealing her identity to some stranger? "What are you doing??"

"Ooh, Robin girl! Oui, oui, of course I remember you!"

"Ha, love his accent." Stephanie playfully hit Barbara's shoulder.

"Robin girl?" Barbara was still confused.

"Yes, your friend here told me she used to be Robin. Were you also a Robin?" Bilal asked, purely curious.

"God, no!"

"Hey, don't diss on us Robins, we're pretty cool, okay?" Stephanie frowned at Babs. "Just because you dated one doesn't mean--"

"Woah, you were Robin before?" The 14 year old boy turned to Stephanie with excitement in his eyes. His accent was heavy. 

"Do you know where Robin is?" The young braided haired girl asked, eager for an answer. She seemed so hopeful. 

"نريد أن نرى روبن" The other boy said. 

"What Aysar here said was that they want to see Robin." Nightrunner translated, gently squeezing Aysar's shoulder. "Have you seen Batman also?"

"Um, Robin is actually helping out Bats right now." Stephanie responded, she then turned to the kids. "So, who are you guys?"

"We're Kollectiv." The older teenage boy spoke, putting his hands on his waist. He clearly looked confident, Barbara assumed he was the leader of the trio. "My name's Ekram and these are my friends, Aysar and Jameela. We are fighting against Leviathan, we're the remaining survivors who escaped." 

"Cool! Nice to meet y'all!" Stephanie greeted, happily. Barbara wondered where that girl got so much bubliness from. 

The 10 year old girl gasped as she stared at the children who were on the floor unconscious, her eyes were watery. "Ekram, look. It's Rahmi." She couldn't help but cry. All three kids looked ahead and got sad.

"Rahmi and Jameela... Were friends. Close." Aysar explained slowly, English was not his strength. 

Barbara kneeled down to face Jameela. She smiled as she looked at her teary brown eyes. "Hey, don't cry. We're going to save your friend, okay? I promise." Jameela dried her tears with her hand and nodded in agreement, trying to calm down.

"So, now what? What do we do with these kiddos?" Stephanie asked Nightrunner.

"I... I'm not sure. The gas won't last for very long, we need to contain these kids, but a simple prison cell won't do the trick, they're too strong."

"Well, I know there's a prison for metas..." Stephanie started.

"Hm not sure if Arkham will be the best place for them, they are brainwashed children. They should probably go to a psychiatric ward or something, but we need to be able to contain their powers somehow before they attack again." Batgirl stated, thoughtful. She turned to Nightrunner. "You got more sleeping gas with you in case they wake up?" 

"I sure do."

"Good." Batgirl was not quite sure what to do but at least they were in a much better position than before. 

Nightwing and Red Robin were getting cornered by all the children. Several of the military soldiers were injured, along with the police, and that awful rain didn't help either. Nightwing kept tazing the kids with his escrima sticks, which worked, but they needed something much more effective than that, something that perhaps could hit all those children at once so they would stop advancing and destroying more things. Nightwing had just blocked another attack aimed at him when he heard the sound of a motorcycle coming from behind him. He turned around and Red Hood had finally arrived, took him long enough. Jason jumped out of his motorcycle, holding a gun in each hand, aiming at the kids.

"Hood, DON'T! They're children!" Nightwing shouted but to no avail. Hood shot, but no bullets came out, which was when Dick realized those were not traditional revolvers, they were actually tailored weapons manufactured by Lucius Fox which were meant to use against more powered opponents with impressive high voltage electrocution shock waves. Jason pulled the trigger and electrocuted all the children. He shot a few more times until no child was left standing. 

"Electro-wave guns, nice! All this water from the rain plus the electricity, it's genius!" Tim complimented. They couldn't see it because of the mask, but Jason smiled. The military and GCPD officers all stared at Red Hood in disbelief.

"What took you so long?" Nightwing asked.

"Hey, I was busy getting shit done, alright? Unlike you two losers. You're welcome." 

"Calm down, just wanted to know where you were." 

Red Hood reached for his gun holster and turned to Tim, ignoring Dick completely. He then tossed a gun to his younger brother. "Replacement. Catch!"

Tim caught it mid air and noticed that where it would normally be a barrel was a liquid serum instead, Jason threw him a serum gun, probably a cure. "You found the cure to Mirakuru? How?"

"I uh... I ran into Deadshot."

"Deadshot? You're friends with Deadshot now?" Nightwing questioned. Tim didn't want to waste time arguing so he went ahead and ran to the fallen children, injecting the cure on the kids' necks. 

"Shut up, Wing. I was working on a case and Deadshot got in my way. I was about to kick his ass for interrupting my work but he was actually looking for me. Waller told him to hand me the serum in exchange for the kids. She wants to take a closer look at them and study 'em."

"And you agreed?" 

"Of course not, Dickhead! I told Floyd that Waller can go fuck herself and kiss my ass if she expects me to do a favor for her, I'm not her bitch!"

Nightwing sighed. "Geez, Hood. Language."

The military soldiers approached the vigilantes, pointing their guns at Red Hood. "Hey, you! Stay where you are!"

"Oh my God, I just saved your guys' asses and now you wanna shoot me? I'm done."

Nightwing stood in front of Red Hood to explain the situation to the military, telling them to not shoot, while Hood got back on his motorcycle and drove away, giving everyone the middle finger. 

Tim kept curing each one of the kids while Jason went away. After all the kids were cured, Tim and Dick made sure the children would be treated fairly according to the law, but far away from Waller's reach. In the meantime, Hood turned on his comms and called Batgirl, he was heading there next to help the girls. Someone in the family had to do something. What would they do without him? Gotham would've been fucking lost, that's what. And where was Bruce anyways? Jason was irritated by the whole thing, but at least he was glad that Leviathan was finally going to stop fucking murdering innocent people.

Bat Cave  

Damian sat right next to Bruce, whose face was covered by an oxygen mask. Father was breathing slowly, but at least he was alive. Pennyworth found him. The boy's ankle was already looked at, despite Damian's refusal to be helped, and he was ordered to rest an ice pack on his foot to stop the swelling. His fall and slip was so pathetic he tried to not think about it too much. 

It was odd watching Father being in that state, he always looked so... invulnerable. His spine chilled from thinking of all the times Father came home severely injured, including when Morgan Ducard, Nobody, hurt them both. That night Damian ended up killing Nobody to protect Father, protect his castle... which made Father so disappointed. Damian sighed. Could he do anything right? Even when he was just trying to save Father's life, he still ended up as a disappointment. Minutes went by and Pennyworth came back with food for him. The boy barely realized how much he was starving, he couldn't remember the last time he ate. He grabbed the sandwiches and kept looking at his father with a saddened look on his face. 

"You should sleep, Master Damian. I already took the liberty to inform everyone about Master Bruce's status and the extremely fortunate news is that Red Hood was able to save the day, they have the cure to Mirakuru. You can rest well now with the knowledge that Gotham is safe, and so is your father." Pennyworth gave a comforting smile, but it didn't help much.

"Thanks, Pennyworth, but I'm not going anywhere. I'll stay here with Father, where he needs me."

The butler sighed. "Of course you will." He then looked at his watch. "The family will arrive soon. Perhaps you can at least sleep after they get here. We can all take turns on watching Master Bruce."

Damian was about to reply, but his father was moaning something. He turned to him and saw that Father had opened his eyes for the first time.

"W-what--" Bruce rose, his head pounding.

"Father! You're awake!"

"Damian? Alfred, where--"

"We got your alert, sir. You are extremely lucky for not being absolutely crushed from that building. What happened?"

Father rubbed his forehead, his mind was so fuzzy. He then suddenly widened his eyes and ripped off the oxygen mask. He jumped out of the bed and rushed to put on his Batman suit, alarming both Alfred and Damian.

"Father!"

"Sir! What do you think are you doing?"

"They took Talia, Alfred!" Bruce raised his voice.

Alfred recognized that look in Bruce's face. The look of determination, no, obsession. That was the look Bruce had anytime he was extremely stubborn and committed beyond measure, and absolutely nothing would stop him.

He tried to stop him, nonetheless, knowing it was a lost cause. "You're not going anywhere, Master Bruce! You just survived a collision, you have not eaten, you have a concussion, and you didn't even give me enough time to run X-rays on you to see if you broke any bones!"

Bruce didn't even bother stopping, but he looked back to face them. "I don't care, Alfred. Nyssa has Talia and she's going to do something to her, I just know it! Nyssa cannot be underestimated, I have to leave now! I'm running out of time!"

"And get yourself killed?" Pennyworth shouted. Damian had never seen that side of him before, his butler was livid. "You can't save people if you don't save yourself, how many times do I have to tell you this? Don't you know the protocol of what to do when a plane is crashing?"

"Of course I know, Alfred, and I'm FINE. I am perfectly capable--" Bruce shouted back. 

Damian stood up in front of his father, determined, and cut in. "Then let's go, father"

Bruce looked down at the boy. Did he forget his son was in the room all along? Bruce frowned. "You're not going anywhere. You're going to stay here and--"

"Like hell I am!" Damian interrupted with anger in his voice, his hands were curled into fists. "My mother is in danger! And Pennyworth is right, you're in no condition to fight! Batman needs his Robin and I'm going with you!"

"No. You will do as I say and stay put, understood?" Bruce yelled at him, he was going manic. 

"That's absurd! So, you can go on, kill yourself, and force me to watch the whole thing? I need to go and help save my mother. You NEED me." Damian shouted back.

"I don't need you, and you will not do a damn thing but stay home." Bruce's cold voice was chilling. He finished putting on the cowl and stared at his butler. "Alfred, you will not let Damian out of this Manor under any circumstance." 

"Master Bruce, you can't leave like this..."

"Understood, Alfred?" Bruce raised his voice again in his Batman voice. No wonder criminals were afraid of him. He looked terrifying and truly out of his mind. There was definitely no arguing with him whenever he was in that state. Alfred nodded with a sad look on his face. 

"But father..."

Batman kneeled down and got his face very close to Damian's in an extremely threatening way. "You're not going anywhere near your aunt, do you hear me? You are going to stay home. That's an order."

Damian's spine stiffened at Batman's command, his body responding as if Grandfather had given him an order. Did Father know that was what was going to happen, that Damian's body, mind, and soul were all practically trained to follow orders? If so, that was cold, even for Father. Damian hated the way his heart stuttered, how his instinct instilled in his assassin blood and veins was to never disobey. He couldn't say anything in return, he just froze there as he watched Father get on his jet and fly away. 

Damian hated himself sometimes.

Chapter Text

Damian kept staring at the ground, infuriated with what had just happened. How dare his father leave him like that, going after Aunt Nyssa completely weak and vulnerable after having survived a collapsing building! They started working on that case together and that was how they were supposed to finish it; working side by side. But no, of course Damian was ordered to stay home because he was nothing but a defenseless child, incapable of doing anything right. And to think he was so worried for his father, what a joke. Father didn't care, no one did. Why even bother caring if Father always did whatever pleased him, regardless of how everyone else felt?

Damian clenched his jaw, he couldn't stand feeling powerless like that. One of Father's stupid gadgets was left on the desk by the Bat computer, so he walked closer to it and grabbed it, throwing it on the floor.

"Damn him! Damn this family!"

Alfred looked at the boy, saddened. He hated seeing the poor kid act that way, he knew that Damian was just feeling unjustified for being benched again.

"Master Damian." Alfred calmly said, placing his hand on Damian's shoulder so that he would stop lashing out and just have him look at him. "I know this feels unfair to you, but please believe me when I say this, your father is just looking out for you."

Damian stared right back at the butler, his face flushing with anger. He wanted to scream, but he couldn't, not at Pennyworth, anyway. He felt so impotent.

"But who will look out for him, Pennyworth?"

Alfred felt the sorrow in Damian’s eyes, for a second it looked like he was about to cry. The butler came closer to him and took the liberty to wrap the sweet boy in a warm embrace. Damian hesitated for a moment but allowed the affectionate gesture to be given.

"Come here. It'll be okay, Master Damian. I promise." Pennyworth's voice was calming. Damian could feel the anger slowly getting out of his system.

A few moments later, the automatic door at the cave opened, revealing several motorcycles coming inside. The rest of the family had arrived and they looked like they were already communicating through their comms since most of their conversation was in mid-sentence.

"--Keep joking about me and Deadshot, see what happens!" Todd threatened. He was apparently talking to Grayson, who was removing his helmet.

"It's not a joke, I just want to make sure you're not hanging out with the wrong crowd, I don't like that Waller is keeping an eye on you." Grayson defended himself.

"Heh, can you imagine Jason with the Suicide Squad? It would be freaking nuts." Drake teased, and his girlfriend laughed.

Brown replied, "Oh my God, right?! They already mess up their missions so badly, Jason would make things even worse!" 

"Yeah, he's not known for making the wisest decisions..." Drake continued, which clearly offended Todd.

"Excuse me? I don't make wise decisions? Who saved the day today, huh?" Todd shouted, getting to Drake's face.

Drake and Brown looked at each other. "Deadshot did!"

Jason stared back at them in disbelief. "Are you kidding me? Floyd did absolutely nothing, I was the one--" Red Hood noticed how Tim and Stephanie were acting all giggly, they were messing with him on purpose. "Oh, I see now, you two are fucking with me. That's it, get over here, you twit!" Jason went to grab Tim but the other escaped, which didn't work much since Jason was still faster and stronger. The older brother successfully tackled Tim in a headlock, a sight that Damian didn't mind witnessing. 

Barbara stared at the boys and sighed, she was working with a bunch of kids. She then turned to Alfred, who had a worried look on his face.

"Everything ok, Al? Where's Bruce?"

Alfred looked down, disappointed. "He's... Gone."

The boys stopped wrestling and the room was suddenly quiet, all attention was on Alfred. 

The butler quickly corrected himself: "By gone I mean he just left, he went after Nyssa al Ghul. They took Miss Talia." 

Dick blinked, astounded. "Are you serious? Didn't you guys tell us Bruce got buried under a bunch of rubble? Is he insane?"

"That's what I said," Damian mumbled, his arms crossed, but no one seemed to be able to hear him. 

Alfred scratched his head, sighing. "I know, I know. He was barely recuperating from all the lack of oxygen he was suffering from, but as soon as he regained his senses, he did not hesitate to leave."

"Wow. Dude's crazy." Jason stated, simply. He wasn't surprised by his mentor's reaction and he didn't understand why everyone was making such a big deal over this.

Stephanie got worried. "So, what should we do? We gotta go help him, right?" She turned to Tim and Dick in hopes of an answer. 

Barbara also sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "I should stay here as Oracle this time, still trying to get used to my new working legs... Don't want to test them too much."

Dick approached her and placed his hand on her shoulder, smiling. "Good idea. You're doing great, Babs."

Barbara smiled back at him. "Thanks, Dick."

Jason couldn't handle all that lovey-doveyness, they had more pressing matters to take care of. "Get a room, you two." He then turned to the rest of the group. "So, where did the old man go?" Jason looked around and decided to glare at Damian, pointing his index finger to get his attention. "Demon brat, where is your psycho aunt hiding?"

"I don't know," Damian answered, frowning.

"How do you not know? Weren't you home all day? You had one job!" Damian was about to say something in return, but Jason didn't let him speak. "Thank you for offering to stay, Babs. We're gonna need the real Oracle in this place."

Damian was fed up with them, that was the last straw. He jumped at Jason to hit him in the face, but his punches were all blocked. They were the ones wrestling and fighting this time until Alfred made everyone stop.

Alfred cleared his throat. "Aham! Gentleman, enough! As a matter of fact, I have full knowledge of Master Bruce's whereabouts, he is well aware of my distaste in not being informed. I can tell you where he is going, but you must all ensure to be fully rested and fed before you try to do anything else."

"But Alfred, we don't have time to sleep and rest! If Bruce is going after Leviathan, we need to head out now!" Tim rebutted, but the butler didn't change his reaction.

"Master Bruce made it very clear that no one else should go after him. However, I did make him promise to tell me if he needs help. So, for now, dinner and bed, all of you. We'll worry about everything else later." Everyone but Damian nodded, all complying with Alfred's clear orders. The youngest just stared at Pennyworth with a frown on his face.

"Father messaged you?"

"Correct, young sir. He typically does."

Damian was livid again. He was sick and tired of being treated like a little kid, no one in this family treated him with respect. No apology coming from Father, no message explaining himself, nothing. But of course, Father had no problems communicating with Pennyworth! And Todd had to make things better with that comment about how Damian didn't do anything all day long. He honestly didn't even have time to go search where his aunt was hiding, he was too busy trying to help the team, but all of that was a waste. No one cared about his efforts. 

The youngest of the bat family retreated to his room, accepting his defeat again, something he did not like getting used to. He was frustrated about the whole thing, that day just needed to be over. 

Hours Later

Bruce was finally getting closer to Nanda Parbat where Nyssa was hiding. 

His thoughts tortured him on his way there. Bruce just felt so awful for acting harshly on Damian again. How many times did he have to yell at his son when he could've simply explained things calmly? The problem was that Damian was so damn stubborn. The whole ordeal was getting too personal, which was exactly why Damian would try his best to get himself involved when he should be doing the exact opposite. He chose to not tell Damian about the clone, it was better for him to not know. Bruce just knew that once his son became aware of being cloned, he would want to come and face Heretic himself all the more.

Bruce wondered why his son had to be so fearless all the time. He was just eleven years old, he was a child. A child who should've been granted a normal life, not one of an assassin. Bruce thought back at the one kid he encountered inside the whale's body when he was investigating Dr. Larson's case in Yemen. That kid sounded just like his son, he had the same green eyes, the same black hair... That poor child was actually a carbon copy of his son, a failed attempt of a clone who deteriorated before his own eyes. How did he not notice that before?

Bruce felt his stomach turn. Didn’t anyone see how disturbing that whole thing was? Was he the only one who wanted to throw up at the thought of Nyssa obsessing over his youngest to such a degree that she would bother spending countless times and money just to create a clone of his little boy? He wondered how Talia would feel about this, she surely would be beyond livid if she knew who Heretic was. Talia may not have raised Damian the way Bruce would've wanted to, but she surely cared deeply for their son. 

Batman landed his jet as he arrived at Infinity Island. He was careful as he walked in, being quite familiar with the entrance to Ra's great sanctuary, and knowing full well how he would need to fight a few assassins along the way, especially by the entrance where Ubu usually guarded the palace. Strangely, the whole place was awfully empty and quiet. Once he was in the front yard, no one attacked him and there was no sight of a single person guarding the watchtowers.

Something was not right.

Either the League of Assassins was watching him from a distance, just waiting for the right moment to strike, or Nyssa succeeded in taking over the League completely. Batman proceeded to walk quietly until he got to the main entrance. The large wooden double doors were intimidating, and the palace never ceased to amaze Bruce with its rich and intricate details, everything built to perfection just how Ra's would've wanted. It was clear that there would be a trap inside, judging by all that mysterious silence, but Batman did not care and opened the doors.

The room would have been completely dark if it wasn't for all the candles spread out across the stairs, tables, and hallways. There was something else inside that room that felt odd, a strong aroma of something that smelled like incense, but at least the smell felt somewhat pleasant and relaxing. Batman walked in, looking around to see if he could identify anyone inside.

"No more games, Nyssa. I know you are here." Batman spoke in his cold voice.

Finally, a figure appeared from the darkness. The personage was wearing a black robe with a skull mask to hide her face. That individual's stature was smaller and it was clearly a woman. She removed her mask, revealing her short brunette hair and piercing blue eyes. 

"Hello, Detective. Do you like what I've done with this place?"

"What happened to Ra's and the rest of the League?" Batman glared at Nyssa who had at least a dozen assassins behind her, no child soldiers this time. 

"Oh, I sent my dear father on a little detour, made him think I was hiding somewhere else, and he totally bought it. The old age is not doing well for him." She smirked at Batman, proud of her little achievement. Bruce was relieved to know that at least the League was not taken over by Leviathan - not that he wanted the League to exist, but still.

Nyssa tilted her head, trying to see if there was someone else next to Batman, but she then sent him a disappointed look. "Awn. It's just you? Where's the baby bat? I thought Batman always worked with Robin. Little nephew didn't care to join the party?"

"Stay the hell away from my son, Nyssa!" Batman shouted, pointing his finger at her. His deep-toned voice echoed in the room lit by candles. "Where's Talia?"

"Oh, of course you're here for her. Funny, I didn't see you caring about her when she was pregnant or, you know when she had Damian and raised him during all these years."

Batman grit his teeth. "Where. Is. She?" 

"You think you're all scary, but you're really not. I know it's all an act. But if this serves as any consolation, my little sister is safe, rest assured. We're just going to enjoy some bonding time. It's a family thing, you wouldn't get it." 

Batman walked very close to Nyssa as if he was about to yell in her face. The assassins behind the woman repositioned themselves and aimed their guns at him, but Nyssa raised her hand to make them stop and let Batman talk. "What are you going to do with her?" He grabbed her shoulders, resisting the urge to shake her. "SHE'S YOUR SISTER!"

Nyssa pushed Batman away and raised her voice. "A sister who's gotten everything she ever wanted in life! The perfect sister with the perfect skills and the perfect son. Well, SCREW THEM! I am done being massacred my entire life, being forced to watch your scumbag of a son being praised for humiliating my daughter and scarring her face, for being forced to watch my mother die because Ra's left her to fend for herself, for being abandoned at a concentration camp, I AM SICK OF IT! My father even killed my husband, one of the most respected men in the League, mind you, for one small mistake! While you, the one officially proclaimed as Father's sworn ENEMY, got to not only live but be treated with RESPECT?!" Nyssa's rage could be seen in her eyes, she was no longer in her calm state anymore. "Father didn't just leave you alone either, he MOURNED because you didn't become his heir, he takes pride in Damian being your son! And all because you are Talia's little 'Beloved'. Yeah, I have a hell of a sister."

Her nerves were calming down after she let it all out. Batman kept glaring at her without saying a word. 

She chuckled. "Heh, you know, I just can't wait to see the look on Father's face when he sees my Heretic. You know who he is, right?" Batman didn't respond, but Nyssa noticed his fists were clenched, a reaction that pleased her. "Ha, yes, I made a clone of your bastard son. My dear father won't think twice to replace Damian with Heretic, who was built to be much stronger, faster, and obedient. The perfect soldier, everything my father ever dreamed of. Besides, we all know that your shitty son is nothing but replaceable, along with all your little Robins. 

She was pushing it, that was going too far. Bruce wanted nothing more than to make her regret saying those words by choking her neck so tightly she wouldn't be able to breathe. Instead, he coldly stared at her, terrifyingly emotionless and collected. Batman decided to change the subject so he could calm down internally. "All these theatrics just to impress Ra's. Is this why you tried to destroy my city? I know you don't care about Gotham."

"Of course, isn’t it obvious? But I want to do more than just impress my dad, I want to show him I can surpass him on every level. How many times has he tried to attack Gotham all because he wanted to ‘cleanse’ the city? I was doing him a favor, and you too, because your city sucks, to be quite frank with you."

"You killed innocent people, Nyssa!" Batman shouted in fury.

The smell in that room from the incense was getting stronger and more uncomfortable now. Even though Bruce was fueled with anger, his muscles were abnormally relaxed, his senses getting foggy somehow. He then realized that wasn't incense, it was a tranquilizer gas. Batman immediately reached for his belt to grab a mask, but he was too late; he had been breathing that air for too long. He wasn't sure how he was the only one affected by the gas, but he hated how he let himself be fooled again. He was about to throw Nyssa a Batarang, but his muscles didn't seem to correspond to what his mind intended them to do.

"Shh, it's ok, Detective. You can relax now."

His head was still not recovered from the concussion, and the dizziness was only making things worse. Bruce tried with all his might to fight it, but the room kept spinning and spinning...

Until everything was dark again.

****

Everything was dark. Nothing could be seen, his vision was so blurred.

Damian tried to search where he was, but there was absolutely nothing around him. A female voice was being shouted in the distance. A familiar voice. Someone was screaming somewhere... It was a scream of pain, followed by pleading. That woman was suffering, she needed help. Damian ran to the sounds of crying but he couldn't even see where he was going. He tripped over a few things that were left on the floor and stumbled across a couple of pieces of furniture that was on his way, hitting his ankle in the process. Damn, why was his ankle still hurting from that fall? Regardless, he kept on walking, ignoring the pain in his ankle. The screaming became louder now... It was his mother. He couldn't see her, but he knew it was her. 

Damian followed the screams and saw a large dark door right in front of him. He opened it and found his mother crying. Damian ran to her, he needed to get her out of that place, wherever they were, but Talia just stared at him, looking more terrified than ever.

"STAY AWAY FROM ME!" She screamed. 

"Mother, it's me. It's your son!"

"I SAID, STAY AWAY!"

Damian had never heard his mother act so desperate. Why was she so scared of him? He was there to save her, wasn't he? Damian walked backward in confusion, distancing himself from Talia so that she could calm down. As he kept walking, his back stumbled on something. He turned around and noticed a large mirror right in front of him. At first, there was no reflection, but as he walked closer to the mirror, reaching his hand until it touched the surfaced glass, a shape began to be formed, revealing a different reflection. It was none other than Heretic; A perfect copy of him, but older, taller, stronger, and more threatening. 

Damian stared at the mirror in horror. He walked backward again but looked down at his hands, just to realize his hands were not his, they looked bigger. Damian touched his face and his jawline was more formed, his cheeks were longer and different...

He was indeed Heretic. 

There was absolutely no difference between him and Heretic. They were identical, both raised to kill, born to rule the Earth, both monsters.

Damian wanted to scream but he couldn't, no sound came out of his mouth. He tried again and again until--

"RISE AND SHINE!"

Damian jolted from his bed, his heart racing. He looked around and he was still in his room, his sheets filled with sweat. He stared down at his hands and luckily they were normal, he was himself again. Good. It was just an awful dream. He even checked his ankle and thankfully, the swelling from the fall was gone. The brightest of lights filled his room, hurting his eyes, all thanks to Grayson and that irritatingly happy mood of his, opening the curtains as if he owned the room.

"Breakfast is ready, little D! I'm surprised you're still sleeping, you're usually awake at this time!"

"And you're usually a whiner when it's time to get up. How come you're all happy now? What happened to you?" Damian asked while rubbing his eyes.

Grayson was about to respond but he stopped after taking a good look at his little brother's face. "Wow. I should be the one asking you this, are you okay? Your face looks pale."

Damian touched his face immediately. Did his face look strange? Did his jawline look different? 

"Did you have a bad dream, Dami?" 

Damian blinked and noticed Grayson was giving him puppy eyes and was coming closer to him. Worse yet, he was coming for a hug, which was always awfully followed by what always made him shiver at the mere thought of it - cuddles. Damian immediately jumped out of his bed.  

"I'm fine, leave me alone!"

Grayson being, well, Grayson, was not satisfied and decided to chase after his little brother to hug him. Damian ran out of his room, there was no way he was going to let that crazy brother of his act all cuddly with him. 

"Come over here, Dami!" Grayson shouted.

"I said, leave me alone!"

All the running and loud footsteps coming from upstairs woke Tim and Stephanie up, while Barbara and Jason rolled their eyes at the breakfast table. They really did live with a bunch of children.

Later on, everyone in the family was discussing the plans for that day. Tim couldn't stand waiting until they received bad news to do something, so he kept pestering Alfred to tell him where Bruce was, threatening to hack Alfred's phone if he didn't say it. The butler knew full well of Tim's capabilities and agreed to inform everyone of Bruce's location once they were all fed. 

"Infinity Island?" Tim asked. "It's hours away from here! Plus, they're in another time zone! Alfred, you should've NOT let us sleep, we're going to be too late!"

Alfred remained calm. "I understand, Master Tim, but Master Bruce insisted on going alone yesterday. However, nothing was promised for today, so you can take the liberty to go follow him."

"Ok, let's go, then." Dick took the lead as always. "Everyone, suit up." Stephanie and Tim nodded, and Jason rolled his eyes at the obvious statement. Of course they needed to suit up before heading out. 

Damian took advantage of everyone heading downstairs to the cave, but Alfred stopped him.

"As for you, young man, you'll be in charge of assisting Miss Gordon today."

"What? No!" He protested. "That is preposterous, we already have an Oracle, there's no need for two! I don't care what Father says, I'm going, it's my parents the ones in danger, I have to go--"

Alfred stood in front of him, blocking his way. "My apologies, Master Damian. You have every right to be worried, but I cannot let you leave at this time. Your aunt made it very clear she wants to hurt you and though it's frustrating to hear, it'll be best for you to stay away from her. Besides, we have quite the cavalry going to rescue your parents, and your contribution alongside Miss Gordon will certainly be valuable and appreciated. You can still make a difference." Pennyworth smiled, kindly.

"That is asinine! I am tired of everyone treating me like a child, I'll show my father and everyone else that I am fully capable of--"

Barbara, seeing the whole commotion, jumped into the conversation. "Hey, Dames! I have a mission for you, come on." The redhead forcefully grabbed Damian's hand and forced him to follow her.

"Where are we going? If the mission revolves around staring at a computer, forget it! You're just trying to distract me, Gordon! Let go of me before I cut your hand!"

"Sheesh, so much anger inside that little body of yours. Now, let's go." She said, winking at Alfred as she looked back at him. The two were on their way out of the Manor while everyone else took a jet to go to the island.

***

After some time had passed, Barbara and Damian arrived back home, Damian feeling cheerful as ever. 

"You forced me to go on errands with you! Errands! Not even a morning patrol, just stupid, unnecessary groceries, which Pennyworth is fully capable of doing! I hate you, Gordon."

"Relax, little bird. I had to think of something to give Alfred enough time to get you something."

"Get me something? What are you talking about...?" Damian turned around and saw a very excited butler walking in his direction, holding a box. 

Alfred kneeled down so he could look Damian in the eyes. He had a warm smile. "Master Damian, I understand your deep frustration for not being allowed to go on patrol and assist your father. I just want you to know that there is nothing you need to prove, you have already shown yourself to be quite formidable in your skills, young sir."

"Then why won't Father trust me?"

"He does trust you. The one he doesn't trust goes by the name Leviathan. He wants you to be safe, that's all. And I, too, care for your well-being and safety. Now, this present is for you."

The box that Pennyworth was holding kept moving up and down; whatever was inside that gift was actually alive. 

Damian opened the gift while Pennyworth spoke, "A colleague of mine at the animal shelter alerted me to this hopeless case. I hope you don't mind a new addition to the menagerie, Master Damian."

As soon as he opened the lid, a black and white kitty jumped out. 

"A cat?!"

The cat stared at Damian. His pupils dilated and he raised his little paw, hissing at him angrily.

Damian studied the cat's hissing and overall movements. The cat was aggressive, didn't trust easily, and it was most likely going to be challenging to train. Damian smiled. "Hm. He has potential. I'll call him Alfred."

Barbara held her laughter at the boy's reaction. No normal kid would ever start liking a cat after they tried to attack them, but it was Damian they were dealing with, of course. It was cute watching the kid's guard go down around the kitty, she was about to compliment Alfred for his good idea, but her phone started ringing. She looked down to her phone and saw that Nightrunner was the one calling. Seeing Damian happily play with Alfred the cat while the butler watched, she carefully stepped away towards the balcony so she wouldn't be heard.

"Someone's calling me, be right back."

Damian didn't pay her much attention, he was busy playing with his new kitty.

Barbara hurriedly answered the phone and whispered, worried. "Nightrunner, what's wrong?"

"Batgirl, I found Leviathan's hiding base here in downtown Gotham, but it was a trap. The kids I rescued are at a safe house where I left them, I came here alone thinking it would be better, but it was all a ruse for Leviathan to separate me from them so they could go after the kids! They're going to kill them, no one escapes from Leviathan!"  

"Oh, wow. Ok, where's the safe house? And how about you? Are you safe?"

"I can get out of here on my own, but I can't get to Kollectiv on time, I need your help!"

Barbara rubbed her hair. Shit. How was she going to help without getting Damian involved? The boy was itching to go out on patrol, but it still wasn't safe for him, and there was still a bounty going around on Robin's head. She couldn't risk it.

"Ok. Tell me where they are and I'll go there right now."

Once the call ended, she walked back inside and decided to go with a lie. "I forgot something at the store, I'll be back!"

"Another thing? We spent nearly an hour at that stupid store! How could you have forgotten anything else?" Damian complained.

"Don't worry, I won't drag you this time. See you two soon! Oh, and I love the name you gave for the cat, Damian!" Barbara said, slamming the door on her way out with all the rush. 

Damian raised his eyebrow, something was suspicious there. He noticed how the red-headed didn't even take her purse, but grabbed a backpack instead, where she usually stored her Batgirl equipment. The young ex-assassin decided to follow his instincts and investigate further to see what she was up to. He went to the cave and got on the computer so he could track her. He was able to locate her, and Gordon was taking a different route, it looked like she was going to someone's house in the middle of nowhere...

Damian turned on the comms. "Gordon, what the hell are you doing? You're on patrol, aren't you? You lied to me!"

"Damian? Ah, geez. Hey, I can't talk right now, okay?" Batgirl whispered. "I gotta do something..."

From the screen, Damian could only see the red dot showing her location in the map. He tried to see if there were any cameras near the house or cell phones that he could hack into so it could give him a better sight of what was happening, but he couldn't find anything, there was no technology near that house. On the comms, he heard Batgirl gasp.

"What are you seeing? What's inside the house, what's happening?"

"The house... Is completely destroyed..." 

"I need a full report! What is going on?"

"Oh, my God..."

"Gordon! Report!"

"Okay, okay, I'll tell you! And don't forget the code names, just in case we get hacked. Nightrunner called me, he was caught in a trap and I came here to help the kids who were with him--"

"You mean, Kollectiv? They're in Gotham?" Damian asked, alarmed.

"You know them?" Batgirl was surprised but then she remembered how the teenagers were asking about Robin.

"What happened to them? Are they okay?" 

Damian couldn't see anything from the bat computer, but from the way Gordon was breathing, it sounded like she had found something or someone in the room she was in.

"Oh, no... They're bleeding. Bad. I can't seem to find the girl..."

"Jameela?"

Batgirl ran to the boys who were severely injured and kneeled down next to them to check their wounds up close. Aysar was groaning and pain but was able to open his eyes, he was relieved to see it was just Batgirl.

Barbara spoke softly, while she used a cloth to stop the blood from the boy's waist. "Hey, it's okay... I'm gonna get you out of here." 

Aysar jolted and looked around him, desperately. "Jameela--! Tama akhadhuha! Tama akhadhuha!"

Gordon sounded helpless on the comms. "I don't know what he's saying..!" 

"He's saying they took Jameela!" Damian shouted.

Things couldn't get worse. Damian wasn't allowed to go save his father, his mother was also in danger, Jameela was now gone too, and he had to be stuck home like a coward. Pennyworth thought distracting him with Alfred the Cat would work, which was actually not that bad of an idea as he was growing fond of the feline already, but this was becoming too much; he needed to do something, not sit idly at home while everyone risked their lives. 

"I'm taking them home. Robin, tell Penny-One to get the medical supplies ready, they need medical attention immediately!"

"Okay." Damian concurred.

******

Batman opened his eyes again just to find his whole body completely chained. His shoes, socks, and gloves were gone, there were chains wrapped around his chest, legs, and his arms trapped behind his back. Around him, there was nothing but darkness, and his entire body was all cramped in order to fit inside something that looked like a box that was much smaller than his size. The chains rubbed against his skin and he could feel himself struggling to breathe. He knew the air would be running out shortly if he stayed there any longer. Deducing from the texture of that box, Bruce assumed it to be stuck inside a safe box.

There was a speaker in the safe box where Nyssa spoke. "Awake and alert yet, Detective? The tranquilizer gas I prepared for you was timed to wear off around now. I hope you're not claustrophobic! It must be quite dark in there and you won't be breathing soon. I warned you, Detective. I told you that if you intervened one more time, I'd bring hell to you."

Batman struggled to get out of those chains but they were too tight and he didn't have his belt with him. 

"You know, a darling follower of mine, his name is Tamir, was even looking out for you. He was the one who tried to hit your car so you would get out of our way. Had you stayed home or at a hospital recovering like a good boy, you wouldn't be in this situation."

"Nngh..." Batman groaned while he tried to get out of the chains once more. Gravity suddenly felt differently, as if the safe box he was trapped in was being lifted up and carried by someone. 

Nyssa sighed. "It didn’t have to be this way, you know? Had my father stayed dead, I wouldn't need to do any of this! You wouldn't be caught in the middle of our little family drama, but I guess you're family, right, ex-brother-in-law? Regardless, this is my sibling's fault. I hired Slade to kill my father. The Demon was finally dead and I was ready to go live my life in peace. Me and my daughter, staying far away from that God-awful League.”

Bruce's oxygen was falling short and his body involuntarily started reacting in panic mode, he needed to distract himself with something. “So that's why Deathstroke killed him. But why did Slade ever agree to work for you? He would never take a such job, he wouldn't want to mess with Ra's."

"Oh, you're correct about that. It was a pain to convince Slade to kill my father! But once I offered to bring his son back through the Lazarus Pit, that mercenary accepted the deal like that.” Nyssa snapped her finger at the last sentence. “I had finally won. But my sister and that idiotic brother of mine wanted to revive Ra's. REVIVE HIM! Oh, Detective, the rage I felt that day... Those two idiots brought back to life the same monster who ruined our lives, who controlled us and treated us as worthless scums - at least for me and Dusan. This is why Leviathan was born, why all must perish. I will make the world pay for all that I've lost. I'll make them all pay until they weep tears of blood!"

Batman knew that the one carrying the safe box had to be Heretic. His movements were constricted by the chains and lack of space, he had nowhere to go. He struggled some more and then felt himself being tossed toward something. He expected to hit hard against the floor or a wall, but he was actually thrown into the ocean. In a few minutes, he would be out of oxygen and drown. 

Bat Cave - Medical Room 

After half an hour of pure agony between watching Pennyworth help Kollectiv survive their severe bullet wounds and listening to his brothers and Stephanie Brown announce from the Bat-computer that they arrived at Ra's palace and were busy fighting a bunch of ninjas, Damian, who was now dressed in his uniform - minus the cape -, was finally able to ease some of his anxiousness once Ekram woke up. 

"Ekram, are you okay?" Robin rushed to the bed where Ekram was slowly getting up.

From the other side of the medical bed, there was Aysar, who had more serious injuries and was still unconscious. Pennyworth was extremely focused as he treated Aysar's wound, and Batgirl was not home yet because right after she dropped off the kids at the cave at Pennyworth's care, she had to rush out of the Manor again to go help Nightrunner, who was more injured than he thought. 

"Robin..." The brown-haired teenage boy spoke, weakly. "It's great to see you, my friend."

"What happened to you?" Damian asked. 

"Leviathan found us, they invaded our home and started shooting. I don't know why they didn't finish the job, but they took Jameela. I have no clue on what they intend to do with her, I should've done more! But there were too many of them and we weren't ready..." Ekram looked down, deeply disappointed with himself again, a lot like the first time when half the Kollectiv kids died when they were all ambushed at the mud house.

"Don't be so hard on yourself. You did your best."

"We were the only survivors, Robin. I should've fought harder. They should've taken me, not her." The brown-haired boy started tearing up, Damian wasn't quite sure on what to do or wha to say. He wasn't the best with words... or feelings. 

Robin simply stood there in silence, analyzing the whole situation. Did they want to run more experiments on Jameela? But that didn't make sense, Aunt Nyssa already had Heretic and her army of children, what else could she possibly want? And why Jameela? Why not just kill Kollectiv and be done with it? Damian's thoughts were interrupted as his phone started vibrating from a notification. He grabbed his cell phone and noticed there was a message which read "+971-55-992-2148. Dial this number. Make sure you're alone."

Damian didn't say anything for a while, he just stared down at his phone.

"Robin? Robin, what do you think they'll do to Jameela? What's your theory?"  

"I... I'll be back." Damian turned around, leaving a confused Ekram behind, and rushed upstairs where he could call with no one around him.

He dialed the number and it turned out there was an invite for a video call instead. Damian hit accept for the video call. As soon as he answered, there was Aunt Nyssa, her chest puffed out in triumph as she greeted her only nephew. 

“My dear nephew, it's been soo loong!" Aunt Nyssa said enthusiastically, emphasizing her words while shooting him a fake grin. " You know, you can't have a decent family reunion if some of the integral members of the al Ghul family aren't here! I was greatly disappointed when I found out you weren't coming. Even your precious daddy came all the way here for mommy, but you didn't bother to do the same thing... Such a shame. Guess not even you can stand your own mother. Can't say that I blame ya, I agree that her life is pretty worthless."

“TAKE THAT BACK! What do you want with my mother?”

“I could tell you, my dearest, but how about I just show you?” Nyssa switched the camera view to show the kid.

Talia had her arms chained to a wall, her face full of bruises.  Damian's eyes widened as he saw his mother in such a state. Did his aunt really hate her sister so much?

"MOTHER!"

“Hey, sis, look who's on the other line? It's your son!” Nyssa spoke, happily, raising her phone so Talia could see it.

“Nyssa, please, stop it…” Talia begged without lifting up her head to face the camera, she didn't want her boy to see her like that. 

“But I haven’t even done anything! Can you see her, Damian? Say hello to mommy!"

Damian clenched his jaw. "Aunt Nyssa, why are you doing this?"

Talia looked weak as if she was beaten up and tortured for hours already. Nyssa raised her gun, aiming at her sister, which made Talia panic.

"NYSSA, DON'T! STOP IT! STOP IT!" Talia begged, using the little strength she had to get out of the chains.

Nyssa laughed. "Don't tell me you're scared of a little gun, I haven't even shot you yet! Are you having PTSD from the last time we had our fun?"

"MOTHER!" Damian repeated, panicking. He couldn't lose his mother, no, this wasn't happening. "Mother, what is she talking about? Aunt Nyssa, LEAVE MY MOTHER ALONE!"

Nyssa didn't move, her gun was aimed at her sister's leg. " Damian, tell me something. Has your mother ever told you about the one time she and I bonded at the Lazarus pit?”

“What are you talking about—"

“Haha, you never told him!" Nyssa laughed, staring at her sister. Talia looked back at her older sister in anger. "Oh, you would've loved to be there, but you were only four, you wouldn't remember. Basically, I paid your mommy a little visit and we played this game where I kept shooting her and slitting her throat, then tossed her garbage body at the Pit. Rinse, repeat; Rinse, repeat. You remember that day, right Talia?"

"Hang up the phone right now, Nyssa! Your problem is with me, leave my son out of this!" Talia ordered. 

Nyssa just ignored her. "How many times did you die that night, sis? Twenty times? Thirty? Who knows. It was really fun, a pity that the Lazarus Pit isn't here."

BANG!

Talia shrieked in agony as Damian witnessed the blood dripping from her leg where Nyssa just shot her.

"MOTHER--! LEAVE HER ALONE!"

"Gotta tell you, Damian, your mother truly changed after that night. Have never seen her so violent. Those teachers of yours, especially that one violin professor you liked so much? Talia killed him just because she woke up on the wrong foot that day, and drowned him in the ocean. A little harsh even for you, don't you think, sis?"

Talia lowered her eyebrows as she glared at her sister. "Nyssa, shut your mouth." 

"Old Talia would have never killed unless it was absolutely necessary. Why did you think your dad fell for mommy, Damian? Talia was never this ruthless. She became so vindictive, so cold-hearted... Even started treating her own son like shit. What happened, sister? Couldn't handle a couple of resurrections?"

"I said SHUT YOUR MOUTH, NYSSA!" Talia yelled, her chained hands curled in fists. 

Nyssa walked closer to Talia, showing the camera to Damian the whole time to make sure he was seeing everything. On one quick move, she stabbed her sister's left shoulder.

"I think I fucked you up good that night, didn't I?"

"AUNT NYSSA, STOP THIS NOW! DON'T YOU DARE HURT MY MOTHER EVER AGAIN!"

"I feel bad for you, Damian. Truly. You worked so hard all these years, trying to earn mommy's approval... Since when did you become such a perfectionist, sis?" 

"Damian... Turn off your phone... NGH!" Talia moaned as she was stabbed again. 

"STOP THIS!" Damian commanded.

"Why do you think Damian prefers staying with his father, Talia? Why does your Beloved not want to be with you anymore? You always told me how much you hated our father, yet you allowed him to turn your son into a thoughtless, arrogant, killing machine just like him! You did this, Talia! And we would've gotten rid of Ra's, had you and Dusan not revived him! It's your fault this family is falling apart!"

Damian felt helpless, he couldn't stand being on that call anymore, he needed to save his mother.

"Oh, and Tamir told me how your precious son walked out on you, that he asked you to save Tamir, then walked away because he couldn't even stand to look at you in the eyes. 

The young ex-assassin felt his cheeks burn in shame, that was exactly what he did the last time he saw his mother.

"What kind of a mother doesn't let her son meet his own father? Challenging a 5-year-old to win a battle against you if he wanted to meet his daddy? That wasn't my doing, Talia, it was all you. Your boy is better off without you."

"Mother, that's not true! Don't listen to her!" 

Talia stared at the floor in silence for a while, she then lifted up her head, and there were tears streaming down her face.  “I know I’ve been a horrible mother. I didn’t want this life for you, Damian. I’m so sorry.”

Nyssa must have hit a button or something because now Talia was being electrocuted. She screamed in pain and agony, just like she did in Damian's nightmare. 

"AUNT NYSSA, STOP! STOP!"

"You know where to find us, Abn Shaqiq. You don't want to miss the show once I burn mommy dearest alive, just for her to beg me to end her miserable life. Like the old days. Oh, and don't worry about your daddy. The more advanced version of you, Heretic, locked him inside a safe box and threw him into the ocean. Farewell!

"NO!" The last thing Damian heard before the call dropped was the sound of his mother screaming once more. 

That was enough. It was time for Damian to do something about it and stop his aunt for once. To his surprise, as he turned around Pennyworth was standing right behind him.

"Pennyworth! Did you hear the whole thing?"

"Just enough. I gave your friends some pain meds and came here because I heard you shouting."

"Pennyworth, you don't understand, my parents are in serious danger. I can't just sit here and watch, I gotta do something, I have to! Please, I can't lose them, Pennyworth."

There was so much pain in Damian’s voice and Alfred could feel chills being sent down his spine. The whole scenario was so familiar, that desperate look in young Master Damian's rounded green eyes, so much like the panic in Bruce's eyes after losing his parents. He couldn't bear watching history repeat itself a second time, having to hug Damian tight as he deeply grieved the loss of both his parents on the same night.

With a sad smile on his face, Pennyworth handed him his cape that he was already holding because he had a feeling this would happen. "I'll tell him you overpowered me, sir."

Damian put on his hood and went downstairs to the cave. He pet Alfred the cat one last time before leaving. 

"Take care of my animals while I'm gone, Pennyworth."

"Good luck, young Master Damian. I hope you know your father is very proud of you."

Chapter Text

Black Citadel, Infinity Island

The wind was whipping through the trees, creaking and groaning like a door being slowly opened by someone hostile, ready to inflict pain unexpectedly. Someone like Fatherless. The pitch black atmosphere was disconcerting as it made it difficult to see who was guarding Grandfather's home, but there was nothing to fear, of course. Damian could fight ninjas in his sleep. The young ex-assassin had set foot on those grounds hundreds of times during his childhood but something about being there again after a whole year made him feel sick to his stomach.

His old home, where he had grown so fond of martial arts and where his true skills in all matters of subjects shone through, was now just hollow, a spacious palace that didn't have the same meaning as before. He was no longer welcome there. No matter how much he somewhat missed it at times, things were never going to be the same. 

Damian stayed alert. He spotted a good window for him to break in and used his grappling hook to climb the wall quietly and efficiently. He knew that window would lead him to Grandfather's meditation room, which was perfect, since no one besides Grandfather was allowed to be there; Ubu always waited outside while Grandfather took his personal time to ponder. Damian carefully removed the window screen protection and got inside. There was nothing out of the ordinary, candles were spread out across the room but none were lit up, which meant he was alone. Good. Damian proceeded, opening the door slowly so he wouldn't be caught. 

Strange. It wasn't just the meditation room that was unoccupied, the entire hallway was empty. No one would have been able to see anything if it wasn't for the brightness of the flames coming from the rustic lamps attached to the wall. The boy kept walking stealthily, paying attention to all the details surrounding him. That whole floor seemed to be vacant, which was odd. Where were the League of Assassins?

There was a sound of footsteps coming from upstairs. Damian looked up and went to the corner of the hallway, which led to the stairs. Once he was on the top floor, he was able to spot several guards carrying guns. The Leaguers were well trained on the use of guns, of course, but they did not need such tools because they were the weapons. These people were not part of the League, they were Leviathan. The boy couldn't believe the League went down so easy, how could they allow for their sanctuary to be taken over like that? Did that mean Ra's was defeated also? Damian wasn't so sure he wanted to know the answer. If Grandfather was not able to put up a fight, how was Damian supposed to fight them all? And what kind of danger were his parents in?

Robin grunted in disapproval, thinking to himself, "Tt. Retorting to firearms rather than their own skills. Cowards." 

Cautiously, he walked the opposite direction from the guards to see what else he could find. Everything was still so quiet. Where was the rest of the family? Damian reached for his ear but then remembered he destroyed his old comms and never bothered to grab a new one.

Damn.

After walking aimlessly, he finally noticed something rather intriguing; three ninjas pacing somewhat anxiously in front of a large door. From the way they were standing and carrying their guns, something was telling him that an item of great value was meant to be protected inside. Now it was just a matter of time to strike without the ninjas knowing…

BAM!

Damian jolted at the loud noise. He glanced at the guards and they were also startled. The noise came from the floor above them, and it kept getting louder with the sound of children chanting "Leviathan must live!", which could only mean that someone in his family was upstairs fighting the brainwashed children.  

Taking advantage of their distraction, Robin charged at the ninjas, disarming each one of them at an incredible speed. In less than a few minutes, all three guards were down. Damian considered taking their guns, but decided to get rid of the bullets instead, in case the guards woke up. The boy entered the room that was being guarded, which turned out to be Grandfather's library. What was so important that needed protection? A valuable relic passed down through the al Ghul generations, perhaps?

The circular study room was beautiful and majestic. Damian enjoyed when Mother took him there when he was younger, telling him tales of so many legends from the past. A good amount of time was also spent there whenever Damian was studying. Robin kept looking and then found something on a bookshelf; a device filled with wires. On a closer look, Damian was ble to see that it was a bomb, but the red and white wires were cut, and the detonation switch was disarmed by a tech meant for disarming bombs. Whoever disarmed it, was quite stealthy. Not even the guards outside noticed they were securing a disarmed bomb all along.

A sudden gust of wind brushed his face, making him look to where it was coming from. There was a window left open, and near it, on the floor, a strand of blonde hair was left.
Damian smiled. “Tt. Not stealthy enough, Spoiler.”

He wasn’t quite sure why a bomb would be implanted there; Aunt Nyssa probably wanted to destroy Grandfather’s cherished home and destroy everything he fought for. There was nothing else in that room that needed to be investigated further, so the young vigilante rushed to the floor above by stealing his friend’s idea of going through the window. Using his grappling hook again, Robin climbed the tower from the outside once more. He got to the other window and waited to first assess the whole situation. 

Things were bad. 

Nightwing was fighting twenty child-soldiers in a large hallway, and he kept dodging all the arrows and bullets being shot in his direction. His brother was able to do decent damage on the kids, judging from the number of unconscious children on the floor, but there were too many of them, and Nightwing was cornered.

Robin busted through the window, throwing several mini explosives to deter the kids. Once he landed, he threw a device that looked like a grenade, which released a green gas that disoriented all the children. Dick already knew what his brother was doing, so he covered his face with a gas mask to not be affected. 

Once the air cleared, Damian patted his hands with a look of satisfaction. “Knock out gas. That should do it." Robin looked at his brother, confidently, with a smirk on his face. "What would you do without me, Grayson?”

“What are you doing here? You’re supposed to be home!”

“In case you haven’t noticed, both my parents are in danger, and I am here to save them! Father seriously underestimated the situation.”

Nightwing sighed. “I get it. To be frank, I knew you were coming. Babs told us that Al let you loose... She was freaking out to say the least."

"Pennyworth is blameless! He has nothing to do with this."

"Just remember to take your comms with you next time, alright? Everyone has been worried sick about you.”

Robin frowned. "This is nonsense. It’s past the time everyone realizes I’m not some child who needs help!”

“There’s nothing wrong with asking for help.” 

Suddenly, more children marched in the hallway, and one of them threw a machete that was about to hit Damian in the back. Nightwing immediately grabbed his little brother's hoodie that was attached to his cape and got him out of the way just in time. He then charged at the girl who just attacked and tased her with his escrima stick.

Dick turned around and smirked. “What would you do without me?”

Some of the children were carrying guns and they opened fire. The dynamic duo dove for cover and hid behind a wall.

Robin and Nightwing instinctively flinched when bullets ricocheted off the wall next to them. 

“You flew right into a war zone. You realize that, right?”

“Where I belong. This is our last chance to prevent a catastrophe. Are you with me, Nightwing? The odds are completely against us.”

“When did we ever let something like that get in the way?”

“So far I’d say you’ve been my favorite partner. We were the best, Richard. No matter what anyone thinks.”

Dick smiled. He grabbed his smoke bombs that were inside his escrima stick, ready to throw it. “Hey. We can’t help being great.”

“Ready?”

The hallway exploded, followed by a giant smoke, preventing everyone from seeing straight. Using that for their advantage, Robin and Nightwing started fighting each one of the kids until they knocked them all down.

“We should do this more often!” Nightwing shouted, smiling.

“That’s what I said!”

After beating down the Leviathan soldiers, Robin threw another one of his sleeping gas that was fused with the Mirakuru cure. 

Nightwing high fived him. "Great work, kiddo. AH!" Dick suddenly closed his eyes tightly from the loud, rumbling noise that was hurting his ear.

"What's wrong?" Robin asked with concern in his voice.

"It's Jason." Nightwing removed his earpiece so Damian could also hear it.

A scratching noise came followed by Jason’s shoutings: “SHIT! I'm pinned down!”

Nightwing stared at his younger brother, serious. "Jay is at the training room, you know where that is. Go there and help him, I'll meet you two soon."

"But what about you?"

"I... I'm searching for a bomb."

"There's no need for that, the bomb has already been deactivated, I saw it!"

"I know, but there's more, it's all over the place. We're running out of time, I'll explain later. Go!"

Reluctantly, Robin nodded and rushed to the training room.

"I'll see you soon!" He heard his older brother say. 

Damian went downstairs and ran to where Todd was. Once he arrived, he was able to glimpse through the cracks of the door and better understand what was happening inside: Red Hood was hiding behind a wooden crate while several ninjas were shooting him. The training room was large and a variety of weapons were hung on the walls. The same room where some of the most complex martial arts lessons were taught to him, lessons he applied in his fighting style to this day. For some reason, being back in that training room sent him goosebumps.

Damian never realized how that place made him feel anxious until now. So many techniques learned, so many students being slaughtered before his eyes for not being good enough. Only the strongest survived. Damian hated how anxious he was starting to feel just from those memories, but that was not the time to reminiscence the past. He barged through the door and threw one of his R shaped batarangs as a distraction. 

Leviathan was now aiming at him, which gave Todd the perfect opportunity to strike back at them. On a quick move, Jason rolled out of the cover and chucked a device that turned into a large electric web that trapped all twelve assassins at the same time. The shock was so strong that it paralyzed them all, knocking them down. Jason turned to the Robin and frowned, though Damian wouldn't be able to know due to the mask.

“Demon spawn?! What the hell are you doing?!” 

“Saving your ass, had you noticed!” Damian replied, angrily. He knew coming to help Todd was a bad idea. 

"Did I look like I needed help? I took care of the whole thing, these guys are down."

"Not until I came!"

Jason took a deep breath to calm down. His hands were on his waist and he was staring at the ceiling. “Ah, why do I even bother? Oracle told us you were coming. Look, I know you want to help, but there’s no reason for you to be here. We’re plenty capable of getting the job done.”

“That’s now what it looked like two minutes ago! Regardless, I need to find my parents. I'm wasting time talking to you.”

“Red birdie is already on it. He went out looking for him, Batman will be fine.”

“Drake is the one who’s looking for him? My father will die! Where are they?”

“Demon brat, stop making everything worse. Here’s a quick throw down: Timbers found out from one of the ninjas that your psycho aunt implanted four bombs in this place. Steph already took care of one, I just disarmed another - before I got caught - and Dickface is looking for the last two. Last I heard, Tim went outside near the pier, sounds like someone threw your dad into the ocean or something. He’s already at it, and your dad knows how to swim, kid. He’ll be fine.”

Damian was at a loss of words to say. Out of everyone in charge of saving his father’s life, it had to be Drake? Of all people?

“And what about my mother?”

“Ah, shit.” Jason rubbed his masked face, trying to think of what to do next. “Yeah, we need to find your mom too. Alright, since you want to help so much, just go find the other bomb before this whole place collapses, deal? I think I know where they took Talia.”

“No way in hell, Todd! You worry about the bombs while I go find my mother!”

Jason examined the kid's face and he suddenly felt sick to his stomach. It always had to involve the mothers, hadn't it? This scene was too familiar; a defiant Robin, who was too confident for his own good, trying to find his mother, which would lead to a death trap. It was happening all over again. 

“Just listen to me, you brat! It’s bad enough you came, you go after your mother irrational like that, you’re gonna get yourself killed!”

“Since when should I listen to you? As if the risk of dying ever stopped you before! Didn’t see you acting like a good soldier when you ignored Father’s orders before Joker kicked the shit out of you!” 

Red Hood knew full well that the little demon was trying to be spiteful to get a rise out of him, but it wasn't going to work. Jason was over it by now, he was well aware of his past mistakes. If anything, the brat was only proving Jason's point all the more. 

“Yeah! And look how well that turned out!” Jason shouted while raising his hands in the air.

“Well, I’m not you.” Damian spat, arrogantly. He turned around to leave the room.

That was the last straw for Jason, there was no way he would simply let the kid walk away like that. He was fed up with that little shithead. Before the brat could leave, Red Hood locked the Robin's arms in a Full Nelson.

“DON’T YOU GET IT? Because I chose to be a moron before, like you are being right now, I paid the price! Going after your mom is exactly what your psychotic aunt wants, you know it will lead you to a trap! Just listen for once in your life and let me help. Besides, I owe Talia for bringing me back to life.”

Damian didn't know what to say. His arms were starting to hurt from being pulled back, but Todd finally let him go. 

The two brothers stared at each other until Damian broke the silence. "Fair enough. I'll go after the bombs."

"Good choice. Good luck."

They both left, walking in the opposite directions for their respective goals. Damian wasn't sure where to start and he regretted not having any way of communicating with his family to see where everyone was. He considered looking for Grayson first to see if he had any luck finding the bombs. but there was something that caught his attention that distracted his thoughts for a second.

His old bedroom.

Damian couldn't help it; it was right at the end of the hallway, he had to go in there. He was aware of his horrible timing. His father being trapped in the ocean, Mother being tortured by Aunt Nyssa, Herectic wandering around somewhere in the castle, the rest of his family fighting hundreds of ninjas. Yet there he was, wanting to take a look at his room one last time. Damian was not allowed to come back ever again, unless he changed his oath to following the League for the rest of his life instead, so he needed to see it. If the entire palace fell apart from the bomb's explosion, his room would cease to exist anyway. Just one last look.

Robin came in closer, studying his old bedroom door, and realized that was the exact door he saw in his nightmare where he had found his mother struggling. How did he not notice it before? Damian raised his eyebrow as he heard a muffled sound of a woman whimpering inside. He hoped with all his might to find his mother so he could free her.

Heart racing, he slowly turned the door knob. He needed to save his mother and rectify his mistakes, he needed to see her and hug her. For Damian's surprise, the whimpering didn't come from his mother, but a young braided brunette Arabic girl who was tied in the middle of the room with a bomb taped to her wrists, close to her mouth. She was panicking and couldn't stop crying. 

"Jameela!"

Chapter Text

Talia wasn’t sure how long the torture sessions had lasted. All her muscles screamed in pain, her arms trembling in weakness, and her wrists rubbed torturously raw by her struggles against the heavy chains. She was finally alone now in the dim-lit room. Talia ceased writhing on the floor after being stabbed so many times, she was stronger than this. Her father trained her all her life to withstand any kind of torture and she was not going to allow her sister, of all people, to win this time. Not after the pain she had brought to her life.

Talia studied the room she was in, observing the thin thickness of the concrete wall. Her chains were attached to the wall by a screwing hook, which looked interestingly rusty. Perhaps she had a chance after all. Her legs were not chained, so she did a handstand and kicked the wall near where the hooks were with all her strength. Using the strength of arms to keep her legs high, she proceeded with the first kick. 

Nothing.

She kicked again. Still nothing. Her arms were shaking from the weight; performing such a task would have been much easier had she not been stabbed in her shoulder and shot on her leg. She had lost blood already. Nyssa bandaged her to keep her from dying, but it didn’t do much, Talia was still severely injured. None of this mattered, however, so she continued.  

Nothing. 

Talia needed to breathe. She got out of the handstand, her feet touching the ground. She let a grunt of pain escape her when she rubbed her left leg with the bullet wound from earlier. After a deep breath, Talia rolled back to the handstand. She was grateful for wearing suitable boots and kept kicking the wall. 

She kicked again and again, using more strength from both her legs and feet each time she attempted to damage the wall. After several hits, Talia saw the screws looking a little loose, finally. She was almost there. 

The chains rubbed against her wrists didn’t help, but she was strong and had faced worse things in the past. She was well trained, one of the best, the daughter of the Demon. Talia was going to set herself free. 

BAM. 

BAM. 

BAM.

Her feet hurt, the wounds from her leg worsened, and the stabbed injuries she had suffered in her body were agonizingly painful. She could’ve looked at the wound from her shoulder, but she decided against it. She could push past the pain, she was going to make it. 

BAM. 

BAM.

The screw was coming off of the wall now. Feeling thankful for no one had come to her due to all the noise and damage she created, she quickly removed the screws until the chains were no longer attached to the wall. Her body was shaky from all the physical trauma she had gone through, but that wasn’t the time to dwell on the thoughts of what had just happened, she needed to get out of there.

She ran across the hallway just to spot an adult assassin wandering around the hall. As quietly as possible, she sneaked behind the man and strangled him from behind with the chains that were still attached to her wrists. Once she finished killing him off, Talia used the man’s gun to blow the chains on each of her wrists. The gunshot sound echoed in the hallway, which made her jump in fear when an armed man came running in her direction. 

Talia pointed her gun at her new attacker, ready to defend herself. As the figure got closer, she was able to lower her guard, fortunately. 

“Jason?”

Red Hood stopped running and stared at Talia in complete shock. She looked horrible. Her wavy hair was completely untidy, her body was covered in bruises, with droplets of blood falling on the ground from her limping leg, and her tan-skinned face looked sickly pale. It seemed she was on the verge of fainting at any moment. 

“Talia! What did they do to you?”

“Who else came with you? Is Damian here too?” She asked in urgency.

“Um, actually, yeah. I was just talking to him.”

Talia’s eyes widened. “What?! Where is he?” 

The way Talia looked and spoke made Jason think she was about to have a panic attack if she wasn’t having one already, judging from the way she was breathing. Jason had never seen her act that way before. 

“He shouldn’t be here!” She continued. “Heretic is going to kill him!”

“Who–?”

“My sister created a clone to replace my son! I need to find him, quick! Please, Jason, you have to help me find him!” Talia pleaded.

Jason cursed in his head, he wanted to shoot himself. He basically sent the kid to a death sentence, when what he was trying to do was the exact opposite! Had Jason kept his damn selfish trauma to himself, none of this would’ve been happening and Damian would’ve been perfectly safe next to his mother, who apparently didn’t need much saving.

“Talia, I’m sorry–”

Talia raised her eyebrow, worried about what was about to be said next.

“I sent Damian on a goose chase to go find the remaining bombs that were left in the castle.”

“You did what ?” Jason did not like the look of rage in Talia’s eyes. He was such an idiot. “Do you have any idea of what kind of danger you put him in? Do you know where he went?”

“I– Um, I don’t… I don’t know where all the bombs are.”

“Nyssa showed me what she wanted to do with each of the bombs. There’s one implanted in Damian’s old room and another one is secured with Heretic. Come on, we have to go.”

The two started running, but on their way, they were faced with an army of soldiers occupying the entire hallway. The upstairs had a rail where several archers started shooting their arrows at both Jason and Talia. They had a long way to go before they could reach Damian.

Bruce wasn’t breathing. 

The crispy air was nothing compared to the pain Tim felt in his lungs as he was submerged in the freezing cold water to save Bruce’s life. He found his mentor and adopted father trapped inside a safe box that was falling deep down in the ocean. If it wasn't for his highly advanced devices, he wouldn't have been able to set Bruce free. Tim opened the safe box underwater and found a very unconscious Batman. He hoped with all his might that he didn't get there too late. How long had Bruce been trapped inside? Tim didn't want to know. 

Red Robin carried the heavy dead weight from his father, now free of the chains he was tied in, all the way to the surface. Once they were on land, Tim rested Bruce's body on the edge of the bridge and glanced at his mentor, worried. 

Tim checked for a pulse. 

Nothing.

Bruce wasn't moving nor was he breathing. 

Tim immediately began doing CPR, pressing down Batman's chest repeatedly, pushing hard at a rate of 100 to 120 compressions a minute. 

“Oh, come on, Bruce. You can’t die on me like this.”

Red Robin proceeded by opening Bruce's airway using the head-tilt/chin-lift technique. 

"Stay with me... Come on..."

Bruce wasn't reacting. What if he was already dead by the time Tim found him? No, he couldn't think that way. That was Bruce Wayne, the Batman! The world’s greatest detective wouldn’t be taken down by something as dumb as drowning.

Or would he?

Tim repeated the entire process, doing 30 compressions on Bruce's chest. On this second attempt, Bruce gasped and started to violently cough until he spit out all the water that was stuck in his lungs. His body shivered from the cold and his lungs were still burning from being drowned.

Batman kept coughing before he blinked and understood who had rescued him. “Tim–?” He asked, weakly.

“Bruce, you’re okay!” Tim couldn’t help but hug him. Thank God he was okay. 

Bruce grunted from the tight hug he was receiving. He then pulled Tim's arms away from him and looked at him, speaking with concern in his voice.

“Tim, you shouldn’t have come…”

Tim chuckled. Good old Bats would never change, even when he was on the brink of death. Go figure. 

“I know you wanted to do this on your own, but you can’t always be a one-man army. You’re not alone anymore.” Tim placed his hand on Bruce’s shoulder. “We got your back, Bruce. We always will.”

Batman looked at his son and smiled. Tim had a keen skill for knowing the right things to say and for always building him up, regardless of the circumstances. The bright young man not only saved him emotionally-wise time and time again, but he also saved his life. Tim never disappointed, he had brought him so much goodness and joy in his life, more than the boy would ever realize. 

“Thank you, son. I love you so much.” Bruce hugged him tightly. 

Tim was caught off guard by the warm reaction. He blushed slightly and smiled as he hugged his dad. 

Afterwards, Red Robin walked closer to the earpiece he had left on the bridge and announced the good news to his family: “Guys, I got Batman! He’s safe! What’s everyone’s status?”

Batman frowned. “Did everyone come?”

Tim didn’t hear him, too busy paying attention to what everyone was saying. Batman examined his son’s face while the boy was hearing all the updates, noticing when his son looked very alarmed all of a sudden.

“What’s wrong?” Batman asked, coldly, in his firm and terrifying voice.

Tim was afraid of telling him the truth. “Um… Not sure if you’re aware, but Nyssa implanted four bombs in Ra’s’ home. There are still two bombs left that haven’t been disarmed yet..."

Seeing the boy wasn't finished, Batman asked, "What else?"

"Well, Jason found Talia, she's okay, and, um, well..." Tim gave one last look at Batman to see if this was going to get any easier. It wasn't. "... And Damian is here, but no one knows where he went." He finished, nervously, speaking a little fast

Batman was furious. “Damian came?! ”

Red Robin raised his hands in the air to defend himself. “Hey, this wasn’t our doing, the little gremlin snuck out! I mean, actually, Alfred let him go and–”

“Alfred did what?”

Tim brushed his hair with his fingers, anxiously. “Don’t get mad at Alfred–! You know how persistent Damian is and–”

“Doesn’t matter, Tim, he shouldn’t be here! Don’t you see, Nyssa is deranged ! She despises Damian, that woman obsessed over creating a clone of his for years and now wants nothing but to kill him! If she was willing to put me and Talia through all this torture, imagine what she plans on doing to Damian! We need to find him now .”

Tim looked frazzled, he had no idea about the clone. The kid's aunt was truly insane. He nodded in agreement and they ran to get inside the castle to find Robin.

Bruce’s heart was pounding, he couldn’t lose his son. 

Not again. 

“Jameela!” Damian shouted, running to the girl. He carefully removed the tape from her mouth so she could breathe properly and talk.

“Robin!” She spoke with despair in her voice. “Robin, you have to leave, this bomb will be off at any minute! Please, leave! Go save yourself!”

Damian ignored the girl and gently removed some of the tape from her wrists just so he could have enough access to the wires.

“My name is Damian.” He spoke, not looking up for eye contact. His attention was on the bomb the whole time.

Jameela blinked, confused. “What?”

“You can call me Damian. It’s gonna be okay, I promise. Now, hold still.”  Damian made sure to not remove the bomb all the way in case it activated it. 

A few minutes went by and Damian was still highly concentrated, he realized he was dealing with a very intricate set of wires that he hadn't seen in the past.
Jameela didn’t know what to do, she needed to say something to calm her nerves.

“Um, D-Damian..?” She called, almost asking for permission to continue, but the boy was silent and kept doing his thing. “I-I don’t want to die.” She cried out.

She meant it, it was so true and raw that it was heart-wrenching to hear her admit it out loud.

“I’m not going anywhere,” Damian assured, calmly. “I’m going to disarm this bomb.” 

“No, Damian, please! We’re going to die! Just let me—“

Damian suddenly stopped examining the wires and stared at Jameela’s round brown eyes for the first time, catching her off guard. 

“You’re not going to die. I won’t let it.”

Jameela was shocked with how calm and confident Robin was. She nodded her head and waited quietly and patiently for Robin to fully disarm the bomb attached to her wrists. Minutes that felt more like hours went by. She noticed Damian was starting to get annoyed.

“Damn it, why is this not working? I know how to disarm a bomb!”

The boy slightly pulled each one of the wires, examining which wire belonged to what and what were their purposes. He kept messing with the wires with a frown look on his face. Robin didn’t know what to do, it wasn’t his fault, Jameela knew it was a lost cause. 

Jameela sounded more frantic as time ticked on. “Damian, it’s worthless! Just leave, please !”

“Quit talking, you’re distracting me! I’m not going anywhere, I won’t leave you here. Just shut up, alright?”

Jameela nodded, her tears streaming down her face. She didn’t mind dying, her life was already miserable anyway, but losing another friend of hers, someone she looked up to even, was too much to bear, she couldn’t lose another person in her life. 

Damian’s focus increased with each second that went on, there was sweat in his forehead. The time bomb was ticking and the countdown had started. There were four minutes left when Damian finally decided to cut the black wire, which only made the countdown go by even faster. Damian swore to himself for choosing the wrong wire. It started feeling like the ticking sound was getting louder and louder.

TICK, TICK, TICK

A long and intense minute went by. Jameela could feel the anxiousness taking control over her body, she felt like she was drowning in a sea of fear. She couldn’t help but gasp as she closed her eyes as tightly as possible as if that would change anything. Shutting her eyes closed made her feel somewhat safer, it was the only thing she could control at this point. The bomb was going to explode at any minute, there was no way around it. Her heart was racing, hands sweating buckets. She didn’t know how she still had tears left in her, but they were still coming, she couldn’t stop crying. 

Jameela held her breath, soaking in the last chance she had to even breathe. It was a matter of minutes, if not seconds, for the explosion to come through. Soon enough both her and Robin would turn into nothing but dust…

Silence.

Nothing happened. Jameela opened her eyes, finding a handsome half-Arabic dark-haired boy staring right back at her with his mysterious mask that hid his eyes. He shot her a snarky smile.

“Told you, I could figure this out. Disarming a bomb is not challenging at all, this was merely an unconvent--”

Before Damian could even finish his sentence, he was met with a sudden hug so tight that made him lose his air for a quick second. 

“Damian, you did it! You saved me! Thank you!” Jameela was crying, but this time it was tears of joy. She looked at Damian, the two were standing very close to each other. The girl quickly got out of the embrace and gave a relieving laugh while she dried her tears. “Ha, ha, sorry.”

“For what?” Damian asked innocently.  

Jameela was about to say something in return, but the sound of someone falling with a worrisome thud came from outside. 

“We gotta go.” Damian spoke, seriously. Jameela nodded, just as determined as he was.

The two kids walked out of the room with Damian leading the way. He kept looking to the sides and above to ensure they weren’t going to be attacked. The entire hall was overall empty, and then Damian realized the sound was actually coming from the floor above them. They ran upstairs in the armor and tool storage room just to find Nightwing being thrown into a wall by a large and mysterious figure who was holding a strange gray box.

“Hey! Don’t you dare touch him!” Robin shouted, pointing to the figure. 

Heretic turned around and walked towards Robin menacingly. It was everything Fatherless could've wanted, to finally face the original Damian Wayne at last. 

Nightwing, noticing Heretic's distraction, quickly got up and kicked Heretic’s hand, which made the gray box fly away from his reach. The intriguing-looking box ended landing right next to  Jameela’s feet. She opened the box just to realize there was a bomb inside. She was about to say something before Nightwing spoke.

“Robin, that’s the other bomb!” Nightwing shouted while he landed a punch on Heretic’s face. The punch he gave was hard, but it did nothing. He rubbed the back of his hand to relieve the pain and continued fighting the clone, who in turn fought him back violently.

Heretic’s hits were strong and aggressive, forcing Nightwing to be on defense and block each of his moves. Damian immediately took the bomb from Jameela’s hands and started disabling it. 

“On it. I already took care of the other bomb, so this should be the last one. I know exactly what to do now.”

Fatherless used his knee to hit Nightwing in the stomach and then elbowed him in the back, making Grayson drop to the floor. He turned to Damian once again.

“You. Hand me the bomb.

“In your dreams.” Robin spat, continuing his work in disabling the bomb. 

Nightwing charged again and was able to successfully headlock Heretic from behind. Heretic was stronger though, and he counterattacked by grabbing Nightwing’s arms and throwing him to the floor.

Heretic walked towards Damian, but Nightwing threw a Batarang at his back that sent an electric wave. What was meant to electrocute a person completely felt more like a tickle, Heretic was completely fine. Nightwing started breathing fast from anxiousness. That clone was stronger than he had thought.

“Robin, getting any closer, buddy?” He asked while hitting Heretic in the face with his Escrima stick. Once again, Heretic didn’t seem to be hurt at all. 

“Just a second… Almost there and… DONE!” Robin shouted, and Jameela sighed in relief, but she was still terrified of the clone that caused her so many nightmares in the past. 

Dick announced on his comm, "Guys, it's done! Robin took care of the last bombs!"

Dick saw the largely built clone moving towards him, so he threw him a throat punch, which finally did some damage. He ran to Damian’s side and the two got into a fighting stance while Heretic charged back at them. Jameela walked backward, hiding behind the two heroes.

“Okay, on three.” Nightwing said, both of them ready to strike. “One…two…THREE!”

Nightwing and Robin punched Heretic in the jaw at the same time with all their strength. Their fists were hurting and they were hoping to at least faze the big clone, but to their surprise, Heretic didn't move an inch like nothing happened. 

“That worked out. Robin, get out of here, now!” Nightwing commanded, with pure panic in his voice.

This was not a game, it was no longer a simple patrol mission from the days the two fought together as Batman and Robin. This was serious, they were facing a foe much stronger than them with physical abilities that were beyond their comprehension. Damian needed to get himself and the girl as far away as possible from that tall, strange being.

Chapter Text

The stench of blood filled the air, a pool of red liquid staining the concrete floor. The entire hallway was a scene of appalling bloodshed, one that Talia and Jason didn't mind causing. Their work there was done. Talia panted, breathing heavily to gasp for more air after having fought so many of them; There was only so much her body could handle after being tortured for so long. She turned to Jason, who was busy talking to someone else on his com-link. Watching him standing there made her recall the days when she trained him, back when the poor kid acted like a soulless zombie who could barely think to himself after being resurrected from the Pit. 

Hood turned to Talia with a sense of urgency in his voice. "Talia, Nightwing is with him, they're in the armory storage room!"

"And the bomb in Damian's room?"

"All taken care of. Now, let's go!"

Talia nodded and they raced to the correct floor. The armory & weaponry room was where Ra's stored several of his historic weapons collected throughout his life, some from the medieval era, others from more modern days. He kept his swords neatly hung on the walls, while the knight's armor were preserved inside a squared glass, like a museum. The weapons kept inside were never touched, it was mainly a prestigious room very well maintained that Ra's took great pride in. Talia was relieved to know most bombs were disabled and now she just needed to get to her son and protect him. There were only two more floors left for them to reach their final destination. Red hood took his grappling gun and aimed it up; He was about to have Talia hold onto him so they could skip the stairs when an explosive device was thrown in their direction. Talia quickly moved Jason out of the way, dodging the explosive just barely. The grappling gun was done for. Both of them stood there in shock as more Leviathan soldiers marched their way. 

"LEVIATHAN SHALL NOT FALL!" The children chanted in Arabic.

"I don't have time for this!" Talia complained while twisting the arm of one of the young boys who came closer to her.

"I'll hold them up. You're gonna have to take the stairs from the opposite side of the hall, so you need to hurry." Talia gave him a disconcerted look, which Jason noticed. "Just go. Go help your son."

*** 

Meanwhile, Batman and Red Robin were also finishing taking care of the assassins that came their way, but with non-lethal methods as always. Batman didn't care that he was fighting barefoot and didn't have his gloves and belt with him. The pain from his bare, bleeding knuckles was nothing compared to how his lungs hurt with each breath he took after being trapped and nearly killed from drowning. He could almost still feel the suffocating sensation of the chains rubbing against his chest. His head also throbbed with pain from the untreated concussion and even his eyesight wasn't too great, but the adrenaline coursing through his veins and the pervasive fear of something bad happening to his youngest kept him going. There was no way he would stop now, there was so much for him to lose. 

The agony he felt from losing Jason was so ingrained in his memory, he would never let anything like that happen again. Tim mentioned that Damian was with Dick, which was such a relief, but why did he have such a bad feeling about the whole situation? His heart hammered against his ribs, and his fists felt slightly shaky from all the fear and worry that consumed him, which Batman hid in each forceful, angry punch he gave on his enemies. They were running down the hall when someone suddenly bumped into Tim very hard. 

"Spoiler!" Red Robin called, slightly disoriented from the bump, but feeling thankful as ever to see his girlfriend again. 

Batman looked around and random ninjas armored with swords started jumping from the upstairs' rails.

Red Robin saw the same, wondering what in the world was happening, and Spoiler explained: "Yep, the League of Assassins just got here, guess Ra's got the memo that this is where the party's at!" 

"Watch out!" Batman yelled, pushing the couple away from an assassin who was jumping at them, about to stab them.

Spoiler turned to the Leaguer, greatly upset. "Hey! We're on your side!" 

The ninja completely ignored her and continued attempting to slash them like a robot programmed to kill. From the other side of the hall, more Leviathan children barged in to attack the League.

"Guess they don't care about whose side we're on!" Tim said, looking at each side of the long hall and seeing that they fell into an ambuscade.

This was going to be ugly. He turned to Batman, who was positioned in a fighting stance but with a concerned look on his masked face that was easily recognizable by Tim. He knew that was the look of a concerned father who needed to protect his family. 

Oracle yelled in the comms in despair, "Guys, I think Nightwing's comm went off, he's on the seventh floor with Robin! What's everyone's status? Team, REPORT!"

Red Robin shot a glance at Batman, whose face looked worse than before. "Batman." Bruce turned his head to him as if he had just gotten out of a trance. "Go. We got this." Tim assured, confidently.

Spoiler dodged an attack from a Leaguer and a member of Leviathan at the same time, landing a tactful kick at another ninja who was approaching her. As awfully dangerous as it was, Spoiler and Red Robin were extremely skilled. They would be able to take care of themselves... Hopefully. Hesitantly, Batman nodded and used his grappling hook to get to the upper floors as quickly as possible.

 15  MINUTES EARLIER

Damian took a couple of steps back, shocked at Heretic’s emotionless reaction. His clone approached Nightwing and grabbed him by the neck with a grip so tight he could barely breathe.

“NO! Leave him alone!” Robin pleaded.

Heretic slammed Nightwing’s face on the floor with all his force and then tossed his body across the room like a rag doll. Dick collided against a glass where a medieval armored mannequin was stored, and shards of glass flew everywhere from the forceful impact. 

Nightwing was unconscious. 

Damian stood right in front of his clone with rage in his eyes. “Look at me, you coward! Touch him again and I’ll kill you.”

Heretic remained still, staring down at the boy like a predator about to eat its prey. They stared at each other in silence, Heretic studying his twin's facial features. The boy who, in a way, gave him life, the one who had all the actual memories of being raised as the grandson of the demon, the legitimate son of Talia al Ghul. Nyssa may have been the one who brought him life, but his biggest desire was to be recognized as the true son of Talia. How could it be possible to share the same DNA and not have a single trace of memory from being trained alongside Mother, having wounds cured by her, being loved by her? No such memories were instilled in him. His mind, his entire essence was filled with nothing but this painful void the moment he came to life. 

Prototype after prototype died before him. So many clones latched inside the Sperm Whales, but they either died or were severely deformed, except for him… Heretic was the strongest of them all. He was the perfect soldier, the one who Ra’s would truly be pleased with, who would bring back the honor to the al Ghul legacy that his hatred brother so miserably lost. But he needed to finish Damian first. 

Fatherless clenched his fists, he couldn't stand looking at his original any longer. He detested being just a copy, he hated that torturous sensation of hollowness that consumed his soul. There was room for only one Damian - al Ghul - Wayne to live. And Heretic, the 'real Damian' was going to be the last man standing.

“Take me to Aunt Nyssa. It’s me who she wants.” Damian spoke up, defiantly, while putting on his hood. “I know who you are. You can't hide from me anymore.”

"What are you doing?" Jameela whispered, desperate. "He's going to kill us!"

Heretic sinisterly walked towards Damian like a hunter. “My brother. My twin. My rival.” Heretic was moving closer as he slowly pulled up his sword from his scabbard. With his other hand, he pulled back his cowl so that his brother could get a close look at his identical, but adult-shaped, face. “Now you will know me.” 

Heretic charged, but Damian deflected each attack in a split second. Robin jumped out of the way, then continued to block all of his clone's sword slashes. Damian kept walking backward until he bumped into a collection of swords that were hung on the wall behind him. He decided to take one of Grandfather's Sabre swords and got in a fighting stance. 

“Aunt Nyssa!” Robin shouted, moving out of the way to defend himself again. Each stroke from Heretic kept being more aggressive than the last. It was becoming more difficult to fight back as time went on. “I know you’re watching somewhere. Stop this nonsense NOW!” 

Heretic let himself open, so Damian finally went for a strike. His attack was supposed to slice his clone's chest, but Heretic simply held the blade with his bare hands and shattered it. Damian froze and widened his eyes in disbelief. He walked back again to distance himself from whatever that creature was. Heretic acted faster and cut his waist, making Damian grunt in pain. 

Robin found himself holding his wound when Heretic crouched down and wrapped his hands around Damian's neck. 

"DAMIAN!" Jameela cried out in fear for his life.

Damian started to panic as he felt the control that his clone had around his neck. He wanted it to stop, but he couldn't speak. His hold was restricting his voice and the air that he needed to breathe. Heretic was so much stronger than he thought.

Before he was close to heaving for air, he managed to weakly muster, "Nghh... Just... Stop..." Damian was losing oxygen, his neck hurt so much, but he needed to do something. "...Fighting!" He finished, eye-gouging his opponent. 

Heretic let go of him and backed down, growling while pressing his hands on his eyes to make the stinging pain go away. Robin aimed for another attack, but Fatherless fiercely grabbed him and kneed him in the stomach in revenge. While Damian was hunched over, Heretic threw him on the floor and held him in place with his foot. That was it, there was no way to escape it.

Damian was going to die that night.

The young ex assassin closed his eyes tightly as Heretic raised his sword high to go for a final, fatal stab. He didn't even have time to say anything in return. Was his family going to be okay? What about Jameela? How would she survive that horrendous thing without him? He didn't even have time to apologize to his mother... 

Strangely, nothing was happening. Damian opened his eyes again just to notice a large hole in his enemy's stomach. There was blood all over, and behind Heretic there was a braided brown-haired girl courageously holding a spear that pierced Heretic all the way from his back.  

Jameela breathed heavily. She warned with anger in her voice, "You stay away from him."

Damian quickly stood up and got out of the way. "Jameela, are you insane?" He whispered, incredulous.

Heretic stood there, creepily paralyzed, in great dismay with the fact that he was actually not invulnerable, and that stab hurt. 

"You. You helped the others escape. You were supposed to die."  Heretic pointed to the girl and then removed the spear that pierced into his body as if it was nothing. 

Jameela started running in the opposite direction, while Damian ripped another sword off the wall and chucked at his miserable excuse of a brother. He successfully injured his adversary this time, causing real damage. Heretic kept being cut and slashed, getting disoriented, finally. He started to retreat; This was their chance! 

As if Jameela could read his mind, she took a sword from the wall and approached Heretic from one side while Damian was on the opposite side. The clone was completely cornered. They were going to stab that miserable scum of the Earth at the same time and end his pathetic life once and for all.

"Now!" Robin signaled. 

The two ran at Heretic, about to kill him, but the clone was faster; in one hand he grabbed Damian's wrist to stop him from using the sword, and in the other he grabbed the girl by the neck. He was beyond furious at this point. No more holding back. The large man tossed Damian across the room, how he had done it with Nightwing earlier, while he slammed the girl into the ground. 

Damian's body was bruised from the crash, and he could barely keep his eyes open, but he sat up, worried sick for his friend. 

His words were shrill and deafening. "Jameela, get out!"

Before Jameela could say a word or even do anything to defend herself, Heretic raised his foot high and stomped on her head. Blood was spattered everywhere.

"NO! YOU SICK MONSTER!" Searching near him, Damian found a crossbow hung on the wall with arrows hung right next to it. It was most likely one of Ra's valuable collections since there wasn't even any dust collected in that weapon, but none of that mattered. Jameela was dead, and Fatherless was going to pay for that.

Using the little strength left in him, he took the crossbow and aimed at his clone. 

“I promised my father I wouldn’t kill anyone ever again.” The arrow was shot right into Heretic’s heart. “Tt.”

Damian wasn't done, though. Now it was his turn, he was going to show Heretic to never mess with his family ever again. No more person was going to die, no more innocent child would suffer at his hands again. Damian was going to make sure that both Aunt Nyssa and the clone learned their lesson to never lay a finger on anyone else and hurt those who he cared for. Running towards his identical version of himself, Damian pushed the arrow to dig deeper into his opponent's chest. Heretic sneered and slammed the boy's face into the ground. 

"FALL!" His adult self shouted in a dark voice.

"No! DIE!" Damian yelled back, taking another arrow he carried with him to stab Heretic in the neck. 

Heretic yelped but he removed the arrow from his neck with ease. That man was clearly not dying. On a quick move, Heretic landed a very hard hit on Damian's jaw, sending him to the floor.

The young vigilante looked up, staring at his clone with horror in his eyes. It was useless; he was not going to win this fight. 

Pleading was his last resort. "CALL HIM OFF AT ONCE, AUNT NYSSA! CALL OFF YOUR MONSTER! STOP THIS WAR!"

Heretic moved scarily closer to him, sword at hands. The monster raised his sword again, ready to finish his rival.

Damian’s vision was blurred. From a distance, he could see something moving in his direction… It was one individual running towards him... No, two! He wasn't sure if that was just a figment of his imagination, but he thought he was seeing both of his parents coming to his rescue. 

Everything was going to be okay… 

Damian gave a sad smile.

“Mother… Father…” 

He was safe now.

Chapter Text

Batman and Talia ran into each other as they entered the long hall that led to the armory room. Without exchanging words, they fled down the corridor as fast as possible, both with the same goal in mind: to save their son. Talia tried to ignore the agonizing pain from her leg as the gunshot wound opened even more from being on the move so much and having the wild idea of kicking the walls with all her strength to set herself free from those chains. Not that she had a choice, but her body couldn't handle any further, and if the privilege of resting was ever granted to her, she would simply collapse in exhaustion. Despite her pride and strict training to withstand all things, Talia was aware that she was in serious need of medical attention.

Her injuries forced her to limp, which she hated. They would never arrive in time, especially if Bruce matched her speed. Talia's focus was solely on the door, nothing else mattered. She could see from the corner of her eye that Batman was coming closer, but he too needed to focus; She was not priority at this time. To Talia's surprise, however, her great Beloved lovingly swept her off her feet, while not letting that affect his speed. Talia couldn't help but smile and admire her Beloved, wrapping her arms around his neck for support as she was carried to the room. They would be there on time. They were going to save their precious son, and all was going to be well. 

Batman slammed the door open just to witness the most horrific scene of his and Talia's lives. Time slowed down even though it all happened too fast; before they could scream, cause a distraction, throw a knife, do something, they were too late. A weak smile was on Damian's face.
'Mother... Father...' They heard him say, so faintly, before their dear son's body was impaled by Heretic's sword.

Bruce stood there, frozen. All he could feel was his heart sinking to his stomach...

It was happening again.

No.

It couldn't be.

Not again.

It wasn't even half a mile like it was back in Ethiopia. He was right there. 

A minute.

A minute sooner and Bruce wouldn't have to deal with the worst panic he had experienced in his life. 

The same visceral feeling that ate him alive for years for being too late.

He was too late. 

Again. 

Bruce's body refused to move. The air felt heavy and it was so difficult to breathe, let alone grasp for air. His hands were shaking. Somehow everything felt like it was moving so slowly, and there was this buzzing as if someone had fired a gun near his ears, rattling his eardrums, but he knew it was all in his head. It was a similar feeling he had in the past when faced with a traumatic experience... The buzzing came to an end when a horrifying scream filled with sorrow echoed in the room.

It was the loudest, most mortifying shriek he had ever heard from her. 

"NO! MY BABY!"

Talia's entire body heaved as long sobs poured out of her mouth.

She heaved forward once more and cried out hysterically, "My habibi! My sweet, sweet boy!" Her body shook from her sobs.

Hesitant to accept the truth, Talia took very slow and careful steps to come closer to her boy, her hand covering her mouth in horror. She crouched next to her sweet Damian, almost afraid of touching him. Part of her didn't want to feel her dear son's face; it would make it all real. She was living her worst nightmare, the one thing she could never bear to endure. Talia didn't seem to notice Heretic courteously stepping out of the way out of respect for his grieving 'mother'. He figured it was only natural for a mother to briefly mourn the failure of a fallen soldier. A broken, defective weapon that was meant to be put down.  

With her hand trembling, Talia slowly caressed Damian's soft, bruised cheeks. God, his body was still warm. They were so close. She brushed her fingers through his dark hair and proceeded to softly touch her baby boy's stab wound as if her touch would make the pain go away. It didn't matter that there was blood in her fingers. She heaved again, unable to breathe. Her vision was too blurred from the tears that kept running down her face unstoppably. Talia studied her son's handsome features. He was so perfect. Everything that she could've possibly dreamed of in a son. But now she was gazing at an empty face. A still body.

Bruce carefully moved closer to them and kneeled from the opposite side as Talia so he could take a closer look at their beloved son. One would say the intimidating Dark Knight looked disturbingly emotionless, but there was an excruciating pain in his chest that felt unbearable, crushing his whole being. Bruce analyzed the dead body found before his eyes. So many unsettling nights studying corpses during patrol, and then performing forensic analysis for his investigations, yet nothing, nothing could ever prepare him to witness his own son being murdered before his eyes, minutes before he could've saved him. Bruce would never forgive himself. It was all his fault.

All his fault.

Damian looked so small and frail. Bruce held his youngest son's hand one last time.

It was so limp.

Lifeless.

Bruce covered his son's face with the Robin cape. Seeing his face hurt too much. His sweet boy had been in his life for less than a year; There was so much they hadn't done together, so much Damian hadn't done. And the last moment shared with his son was spent lashing out at him. He didn't even hug him. Not even a thank you for his loving, courageous, selfless actions for coming to save him from the collapsed building, and then so kindly sitting next to him at the med-bay, waiting until Bruce recovered. Defying all odds and temptations, Damian never ceased to do the right thing and he always stood by him. Bruce couldn't fight off the tears anymore, it was too painful, but they still needed to end Heretic.

He needed to avenge his son.

Heretic, becoming increasingly irritated by Talia's obvious tender feelings towards that useless excuse of a son, walked toward the distressed woman. He opened his arms as an invitation for a warm embrace. "It is done, Mother. I can finally be your only son now."   

Talia lifted her head and glared at Heretic with such large, furious eyes that should've eviscerated him from the spot.

Fuming in rage, she stood up and pulled out her sword slowly, yet menacingly. "You dare... Call me Mother?" Her voice was seething with wrath.

Heretic, confused, took a few steps backward, slowly raising his hands in the air in defense. "I-I don't understand... Why--?"

Talia kept closing the distance between the two, while Heretic continued to retreat, fearfully.

There was vindictiveness in her words. "You are not my son nor will you ever be. You are a worthless, disgusting scum that has the displeasure of setting foot in my own home." She then looked down on him while Heretic recoiled like a pathetic child. "I would never love a vermin like you. Your disgraceful existence stains the al Ghul name. You will never come even close to the greatness of MY TRUE SON!”

With that, she bolted towards the clone, raising her sword to slash that miserable body of his.

Heretic couldn't believe what he was hearing. That wasn't right. None of that made sense, he was supposed to gain his mother's approval! Aunt Nyssa promised he would finally be accepted by Mother if Damian was dead. She lied to him! Why wasn't Mother loving him back the way she did to Damian? His heart was wrenching. He had never felt so empty and little before, this was worse than all the anguish he had felt in his entire life since his creation.

"NO!" Heretic protested. Alarmed by the clone's reaction, Batman instantly stepped in front of his beloved to protect her. "YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO LOVE ME! ACCEPT ME FOR WHO I AM!" 

"Talia, get out," Bruce ordered quietly, yet sternly.

"Absolutely not," Talia spoke coldly, her eyes menacingly fixed on the clone. She charged at him again but Heretic didn't fight back, only blocking her moves instead. 

"Why are you doing this to me?" Fatherless howled. Even though he had the face and body of a grown adult, he suddenly looked like a little kid... Like Damian. Especially when his face was no longer hidden by a cowl.

That didn't stop Bruce, however, from letting the fury consume him too. "Because you killed our boy, you son of a bitch!"

Heretic fell to the ground from the hard punch, and Batman proceeded to grab him by the hair and hit him in the face over and over again. 

In the meantime, Nightwing weakly opened his eyes, feeling disoriented. His head was throbbing, and his chest hurt so much that he couldn't even breathe without wincing in pain as his body jolted forward. That sharp pain would not go away, and breathing deeper only made it worse. Dick sat up, closing his eyes tightly while he tried to take a long breath to push through the pain. He looked down and touched his chest, only to realize he had a couple of ribs broken. How wonderful; As if things couldn't get worse. Everything was so confusing still. Did he black out? What happened before he went out cold? He lifted his head and saw Batman and Talia fighting this strange, large figure whose face was no longer hidden, and the man oddly looked just like Damian, but in adult form. 

Damian! That was right, he remembered now! They were both fighting that crazy, genetically engineered, adult clone of Damian's! Batman and Talia came to help, thank goodness. But where was his little bother at? He looked around just to find on one side of the room a dead girl, whose head was smashed... While the other side had another small body lying in a pool of blood. 

His stomach dropped.

"Oh, no. No, no, no, no, this isn't happening." Nightwing ran towards his baby brother's body. His mind went racing, that couldn't be right. Damian was okay, he had to be. Bruce and Talia were there now. They were there, fighting that... thing. They were going to help! And that poor girl... God, that poor child was gone. But he could at least save Damian, he was going to make it, that kid had faced worse things before, he--

Dick removed the cape that was covering Damian's face and saw his younger brother's eyes closed, his body filled with bruises and blood. There was a hole in the center of his chest from a severe, fatal stab wound. 

“No… Dami, say something! Please!” Dick held him closer, a sob ripped through him. “I’m right here, do you hear me? It’s okay, you’re gonna be okay…” Tears kept running down his face as he whispered to himself in disbelief. “He was okay just a minute ago…”

From behind, Nightwing heard Heretic shout, “I don't want to hurt you, Mother! As for you, Batman… I broke you once, and I’ll break you again!”

Heretic punched Bruce in brute force, sending him to the ground. The League of Assassins were now barging in from the second story, shooting their arrows at everyone inside. Nightwing reached for his escrima sticks and threw several circular-shaped explosives at the ninjas. Some of the assassins moved out of the way, while others ran from the explosions as rubbles started falling from above. Heretic grabbed a giant piece of rubble and aimed it at Batman.

“I never tire. I am bigger than you. Faster. Younger. Stronger.” 

Batman was on the ground about to be smashed by a huge piece of rubble when Nightwing stepped in and kicked Heretic's wrists, making him drop the rubble on the floor. Heretic turned to him in anger but Talia slashed him from the side.

Heretic growled and glared at Talia with hatred. "No! You will accept me, Mother!" He moved forward to attempt to hit her, but Batman threw a Batarang right at Heretic's eye. 

Nightwing was going to make him pay now. He would make sure to send him to hell, where that demon belonged. With his escrima sticks, Nightwing swang at the clone, his thumb on the trigger. The stick connected with Heretic's ribs and this giant wave of electricity discharged all over him. Heretic's pained gasp was not enough, he needed to suffer. Dick electrocuted that monster again and again until Heretic became visibly mad at him and landed a strong punch on his jaw. Nigthwing was not done with him, but assassins were jumping from the rails from the story above and he now had to worry about them too. He fought them, as agile as ever, knocking them all down, making them deeply regret for not minding their damn business. From his peripheral vision, however, Dick caught Heretic grabbing Batman and kneeling him in the face. He was going for another hit, which could break Bruce's jaw.

He needed to do something. Nightwing ran as fast as possible to help Bruce, but Talia beat him to it; Without a word, she attacked from behind and sliced the clone's head off. It almost felt like time had started moving slower as Heretic's head slowly got detached from his neck, falling on the ground with blood spilling across the room. 

"You never deserved to live," Talia spoke with coldness and heaviness in her voice. 

Batman brushed off the blood from his chin and stood up, staring at Talia in disbelief. "Talia, you just--"

The sound of the saber clattering on the ground echoed in the room as Talia began to break down in tears.

"Oh, stop it. I don't want to hear it." Talia ran into Bruce's arms, burying her face in his chest and sobbing in a way Dick had never seen before. 

Batman hugged his beloved tightly while she continued to cry. "My baby... That monster took our baby from us..." Even Bruce started tearing up. 

"I know, Talia. I know..."

The silence in the room was horrible. Dick still couldn't believe what all just happened. One second he was with his little brother, fighting like the great Dynamic Duo they always were, and the next... 

'We were the best, Richard. No matter what anyone thinks.'

Dick reached for his head with both hands and started having a panic attack. This couldn't be happening. He was right there. The stabbing pain from his chest worsened, his breathing felt tightened, but this was a different type of pain, it wasn't just physical, it was much worse... He couldn't stop shaking. His head was pounding, he was going to throw up. He wanted to vomit but there was nothing to expel, except for that huge sense of guilt that was eating him alive. But he couldn't get rid of the guilt, he was the one to blame. He shouldn't have been so careless. It was his fault that Bruce had to bury another son, that Talia was so devastated, sobbing as a mother would after losing a son. Dick walked closer to his baby brother, trying to get his breathing under control. He kneeled down and gazed at Damian. His youngest brother and one of the best friends that life gifted him with.

Talia's sobbing was the only sound heard in that room. 

Bruce had to pull away from the hug. "I'm sorry, Talia..." He spoke, while still holding her shoulders and staring at her beautiful eyes; The last memory he has going to have of his youngest's vibrant green eyes.

“I am too, Beloved.” Talia tried to faintly smile, but it was a useless attempt.

“We can't waste time anymore. We need to find Nyssa.”

She weakly nodded, her eyes filled with water still.

“Are you sure you’re okay to walk?" Batman asked, concerned. 

“Yes, Beloved. Thank you.”

Bruce stared at her sweet eyes one more time, the same color eyes that belonged to his son. He was trying to think of something comforting to say, until a very distinguishable, sickening sound that tortured him and traumatized his entire life, and still does, echoed in his ears, petrifying him once more. 

The sound of a gunshot. 

Talia's body went limp as she fell into Batman's arms with blood pooling from her back. Bruce frantically looked at his surroundings and Dick did the same, desperately. They both looked up and noticed a smaller figure standing from a long distance in the second story, holding a rifle. 

“B, over there!” Dick pointed to where Nyssa was hiding, but her body returned to the shadows. 

Dick didn't even need to say anything; Batman was already on it. Using his grappling gun, he got up to the second story of the armory room. There was no way he was going to let Nyssa escape after this. When he landed, he saw Nyssa walking in the opposite direction, but she was distracted talking to someone from her earpiece. 

"You have Mara? She's safe? Excellent. Thank you, Tamir."

Batman threw his batarang at Nyssa's hand, knocking the rifle out of her hands and sending it off the rails.

Batman spoke in his terrifyingly cold and deep voice which scared all his enemies. "I'll make you pay for what you've done, Nyssa--!" 

Nyssa smirked in response.

From where Nightwing stood, he couldn't hear what that psychotic woman was saying. He was getting ready to go up there and help when all of a sudden, an awful buzzing noise rang in his ear with his whole family talking all at once, startling him at first.

"Nightwing, your comm-link finally has a connection! What in the world happened? Me and Penny-one have been worried sick!" Barbara hounded.

"Nightwing, you said all bombs have been disabled, right?" Red Robin wanted to confirm.

Dick even forgot about the bombs. He forgot about the mission, he forgot everything. Nothing else mattered anymore. "...Yeah, bombs are all disabled."

Spoiler sighed. "Whew, that was close! Go, team!" It sounded like she was high-fiving someone. There was so much lightness in her voice. How come everyone was so calm?

Nightwing tried to take another breath, but the tightness in his chest made him jolt forward again. He could barely muster the strength to talk or even breathe with his ribs continuously throbbing in pain. He closed his eyes and took long, deep breaths again while pushing his chest to mitigate the pain. As he stood there in silence, a strange sound caught his attention.

TICK, TICK, TICK

Was that a ticking noise? Dick opened his eyes and searched across the room, not wanting to distance himself from Damian's body too much. The ticking noise was disturbing... He wondered if it was all in his head since he was clearly not in his right mind after all that happened. But no, the noise continued. Dick looked closely to a pillar that was in the corner of the other side of that spacious room. Up top, he could see a small device with... Wires popping out.

Nightwing widened his eyes. 

"Guys? Guys, there's a fifth one!" Dick yelled in his comms. 

Spoiler was confused. "Huh?"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Red Hood asked.

Nighting looked up to the second floor, distressed. There was no time for explanations. "BATMAN, FORGET NYSSA! YOU HAVE TO COME DOWN, WE GOTTA--" Before Nightwing could finish his sentence, Batman was already jumping back to the first story, and he quickly took Talia's body in his arms.

"Take Damian! We have to go now. Where's everyone else?" Judging from his reaction, Dick assumed Nyssa had told Bruce her final plan - her secret fifth bomb. That woman knew the Bat family would be capable of disabling all bombs, so of course she had to keep the last one as a secret. 

"Can someone please explain what's going on?" Oracle asked on the other line, desperate. No one could see it, but Alfred was standing next to her, staring at the batcomputer with fear in his eyes. 

"Everyone, no matter what part of the castle you are, you have to leave! There's another bomb!" Nightwing announced, carrying Damian and running as fast as he could. "THIS PLACE IS GOING TO EXPLO--"

BOOM

*******

Through the burning wreckage, Nyssa began her escape. She ran the risk of being followed by Batman, of course, but if Bruce was much of a 'Beloved', he wouldn't leave his dead lover's body behind. She was free, and as the woman ran, she was able to catch a quick glimpse of the beauty of it all; Rubbles and debris collapsing all around, Father's most cherished collections being destroyed by a majestic fire that burned down each of the elegant rooms where Ra's had spent so much time preserving. That was when she realized, she had won.

After so many years of torment, so many losses, so much pain... It was over.

Admiring all that was accomplished, Nyssa marched down to her escape route confidently, filling the burnt air in her lungs with great triumph. She thought of her sweet Mara and her devoted follower, Tamir, who stood by her side so faithfully and was so essential for Leviathan to be born. If it wasn't for him and all the Leaguers who decided to betray Ra's to follow her path instead, none of this would've been made possible. Nyssa now could use her resources to travel with her loved ones and just enjoy life. It was a beautiful picture, truly. Simplistic. Everything she had ever dreamed of. Nyssa smiled, not remembering the last time she had felt so much joy deep inside her. There were no more worries left in her heart, no more anguish.

Nyssa made it to the exit room, just to be greeted by a solitary figure draped in shadows, halting her escape...

A dread coiled in her stomach.

Her mind wandered back to Mara once more, wondering if she would ever get to see her again. The shadowy figure began to approach as the flames illuminated his face. The man took calculated steps like a predator poised to strike. Nyssa knew all too well who stood in her path;

The Head of the Demon. 

Her body went taut, feeling every muscle in her body tighten. Ra's stood in front of her, completely unfazed, with his sword resting at his side, to which he took it and casually tossed it at Nyssa's feet. His daughter looked down, her body still stiffened, and she remained quiet while observing the glint of flames reflecting off the blade. 

"Pick it up." The cold voice stated with menace. 

Nyssa widened her eyes, her heart beating faster than before. Those were the same words used by her father whenever he challenged someone to a duel. The way he stood and glared at her with those deadly eyes... It was the same way her former husband was challenged before dying. Her hands began sweating, Nyssa wanted to run, she needed to get away from him. She shook her head, this was all in her head, all the fire creeping around them was what was making her feel so hot and anxious, that's what it was. She was fine. It was just unfortunate that she was by herself if only Heretic was still alive... No. It was time for her to face her fears. Nyssa didn't need Heretic or Leviathan. She was going to prove to herself and everyone else that she was more than capable of taking Ra’s' life. The Demon was going to die today.

Without breaking eye contact, Nyssa crouched down to pick up the sword on the floor, then stood back up with a challenged look in her face. Ra’s began to put both his arms behind his back, looking terrifyingly calm; Such action used to bring her so much fear in the past, but not today. She was determined to win this time. 

"Where's your sword?" Nyssa challenged him. 

"I won't be needing it."

Nyssa held onto her sword, getting into a fighting position. The two circled each other, just waiting for the first person to strike. They stopped circling and Nyssa took a deep breath, eyes fixed on her father, "I'm not the same woman I used to be."

"You're just as pathetic as you used to be."

Nyssa screeched with hatred, lunging at her father with the sword. 

Ra's mindlessly sidestepped as Nyssa came, dodging her attack. He smirked and decided to taunt her again. "No wonder you had to kill my daughter with such cowardice." 

Nyssa tightened her grip against the hilt and stroked again; Ra's deflected her arm at such speed, however, that her sword couldn't even reach him. Nyssa was not about to give up the fight so easily, it didn't matter that Father was skilled and had hundreds of years of experience, she was younger and better. Using the momentum of Ra's' deflection, Nyssa spun and dropped, attempting to make her father fall by sweeping his legs, but Ra's had caught that move a mile away and lifted his leg, countering with a kick to her head. Disoriented, Nyssa got her bearings and stroke again, going for a combo attack with her sword, all of which her father dodged effortlessly. He was barely touched, except for a couple of lucky cuts.

But Ra’s was getting bored. "Are you done swinging that around?"

Nyssa replied with another screech. She lunged at him again, but all her attacks kept getting blocked. "I will kill you!" 

Ra's spoke with a dauntless face. "A feat you have yet to prove."

The woman was enraged, she wanted to strangle her father, make him feel pain through his pores so he could have a small taste of all the suffering he had brought her. He was the reason their family was so broken and destroyed, he was the one who corrupted them all. She hated him, she wanted to watch him burn. Even if he suffered a long, slow death it would still not be enough for her, but that would be acceptable at least. 

"What did Talia have that I didn't?" Nyssa screamed as she kept swinging her sword to hurt her father to no avail. "I did everything for you! You left my mother and I to rot, you left me in the Concentration Camp! But I forgave you and fought for you!"

Ra's continued blocking her attacks but was glad to finally get Nyssa to voice what had been bothering her. "You don't understand, child. You claim to defend my name but all you've done was sully it."

"What? How could I have possibly done that? And what of my husband, he was your most loyal soldier!"

"A soldier who consistently failed me." 

Nyssa breathed in angrily. How dared he speak of her lover that way? She could feel her rage rising even more as he kept dodging her. "What about Talia's Beloved?! He betrayed you and actively stands against you, yet you won't even lift a finger to do something about it!"

"The Detective?" Ra's raised his eyebrow in confusion. For the first time, Ra's looked like he was caught off guard as if he had just now realized how respectful he had been towards the Detective despite the man openly fighting against his ideals, which went completely against Ra's' methods of how he treated all his enemies.

The falling debris snapped him out of his stupor. Enough time was wasted. Nyssa was coming at him again, which gave him the perfect opportunity to block and twist her wrist until it broke, making her drop the sword. 

Ignoring the woman's yelp, Ra's caught her other arm and broke her elbow while raising his voice in anger, "You killed your sister in cold blood. You didn't even have the decency to face her in a duel! I taught you honor, not cowardice!" Ra's kneed her in the stomach and kicked her afterward. 

Nyssa just stared right back at her father, defiant. “The only one who cares about duels is you. Talia is no sister of mine, she means nothing to me. I don't care how she dies as long as she stays dead!” Nyssa panted, but refusing to back down, she went for a kick. Ra's simply planted his leg to block it and then kicked the back of her knees, landing another kick to ensure she would stay down. 

Nyssa was kneeling on the floor in the opposite direction as Ra's'. She wanted to turn around to face him, but before she could even react, her hair was pulled back, exposing her neck. Nyssa trembled as she felt the blade touch her throat.

"You will never be worthy of being my daughter. ” Ra's whispered in her ear, coldly.

Amidst the extreme heat from the fire trapped in the hallways, the only other sensation Nyssa could feel was the sinister coldness coming from the blade held against her throat. Her whole world was crashing down all around her while the palace was being burned to pieces. She couldn't help but notice the significance of such destruction compared to her own life. Nyssa closed her eyes, making a last wish to one day be able to see her daughter again. 

With no hesitation, Ra's slit the throat of the woman who he once called his daughter.

The Bat family gathered around outside the castle. Tim, Steph, and Jason were the ones who were on the same floor when everything blew up, and luckily they were all close enough to the windows that they all got out at the same time without getting harmed. Red Hood removed his helmet so he could breathe better. The League of Assassins pretty much knew who they all were anyway, there was nothing to worry.

"Fuck, that was close," Hood commented after he was done coughing from all that smoke.

“Where’s everyone? Is everyone okay?” Red Robin asked with concern in his voice, looking around him to see where the rest of the family was. 

Steph was also coughing and panting. "Yeah, we're alive--!" Steph then pressed her ear so Oracle would hear. "Oracle, we're okay!"

"Oh, thank God." They heard Barbara say. 

Someone from afar was approaching them, and Tim squinted his eyes so he could see better. It looked like it was a tall guy carrying another person in his arms.

"Look, it's them!" Tim pointed out. "Nightwing, Robin, hey!"

Nightwing dragged his feet, walking very slowly towards his family. He had the gloomiest look on his face, along with an absolutely distraught demeanor. Jason raised his eyebrow, confused, wondering what the hell happened. And then it hit him; Dick was carrying a fallen birdie, and Damian got hurt. As he looked in closer, he could feel his heart sinking...

“No…” Jason whispered, probably being the first to notice.

Tim, finding it strange, also took a closer look, realizing how injured Damian was. "Dick? What happened to Damian?"

"Oh, my God, he was stabbed!" Steph shouted in horror, covering her mouth with her hands. 

"He what?!" Barbara was the one shouting this time. 

Jason just froze, he didn't know what to say. Bruce already hated him, he was never going to forgive him now after losing his blood son because of him. It was his moronic idea to have the kid split up and go search for the bomb. He chose to remain quiet instead of trying to say anything. Tim, on the other hand, was still in disbelief.

"It's just an injury, we'll take him to Alfred, it's gonna be alright! Damian will be okay, right, Dick?" The young teenager asked, with hope in his eyes. Dick and Bruce always knew a way. Damian was going to be fine... Right? 

Dreadfully, Dick stared at the ground and shook his head in response, while tears welled up in his eyes. Carrying his dead little brother made his hands tremble in sorrow. 

"No! Dami!" Steph cried out. "This can't be happening!"

They all stood there in silence while Stephanie couldn't stop bawling. 

"Dick?" Barbara asked softly on the comm line, but only for Dick to hear. "How bad is his injury--? Please don't tell me what I think it is..."

"Oh, Babs--" Dick's voice broke down. 

Stephanie hugged her boyfriend as she continued to cry. The two hugged for a while, and Tim started crying too. Jason was still in a state of shock, but he then looked around to search for Bruce.

"Dick?" Jason spoke again, and his older brother looked at him. "Where's Bruce at?"

Nightwing turned around. "I-I don't know, he was right behind me..."

And out of nowhere, a scary-looking Batman appeared in front of them. He was also carrying a dead body in his arms. Jason felt his chest tightening even more.

"Talia too?" Jason's voice broke, but quietly enough he wouldn't be heard.

Everyone just stared at Batman, terrified for what just happened. It was one of the biggest tragedies of their lives, no one could believe what just happened. Waiting for their mentor to take the lead, they let Batman break the silence to indicate what they should do next.

"Let's go home," Batman ordered in his stern voice. Everyone obliged.

*****************

Hours later, the whole Batfamily arrived at the cave.

To say that Alfred was devastated was an understatement; he was the one who let the boy leave the cave despite what Master Bruce had said. When Bruce got back, he practically avoided the subject altogether, so Alfred was forced to casually inform him of how Miss Gordon had detained the ninjas who were attacking Nightrunner, and that afterward she helped Nightrunner and the two young boys who were with him go back home. He also explained how one of the children, a young girl the same age as Damian, was kidnapped but she didn't make it, according to Master Dick. Bruce didn't even look at Alfred in the eyes while he heard the debrief, all he did was nod and remain horrifyingly quiet, which was certainly chilling. Alfred could feel Bruce's disappointment and anger towards him. The butler loved the boy just as much, he took care of Damian and looked after him as he would for any loved one. Damian was a grandson to him, after all. There was no one in the family that Alfred did not pour all his love, care, and devotion. 

Barbara approached the rest of the family, with her eyes extremely red from crying, and she was met with Stephanie running to her for a hug, who was sobbing just as much, if not more. 

"Babs--!" Steph cried, squeezing her best friend. "I should've done something! Damian saved my life earlier, and I wasn't there to do the same for him--"

"Oh, Steph..." Barbara said softly, a sob ripping through her while she ran her fingers through her friend's hair. "I should've gone with him, I feel so useless for having stayed behind this whole time... God, and to think I was just taking him to do groceries with me so we could gift him with a new pet... You should've seen it, Steph, he looked so happy with that new kitty of his..."

Steph gave a weak smile while she dried her tears. "Yeah, I wish I was here to see it too..."  

The rest of the family continued mourning, mostly in silence now. Alfred had to step in and instruct everyone to eat the quick meal he prepared them, head to the shower, then go straight to bed. Once he was alone in the cave with Bruce, he felt the cold glare coming from him. 

"You allowed Damian to leave the cave, Alfred. Against my express instructions."

"Sir, he was so worried about you and his mother... I was sure he could look after himself, and... I had no idea... Sir."

"Tomorrow will be a long day. Once the funeral is done, go take a vacation, Alfred. We'll talk when this is over."

"Sir, I..."

"Take a vacation."

Chapter Text

Jason typically did not sleep at the Manor. Actually, he tried to avoid it as much as possible, even though Alfred always insisted on how he was more than welcome to come over. Yeah, right. And have to deal with Bruce’s lectures on how much of a disappointment Jason was? No, thank you. Jason enjoyed his life. It was hectic and unsafe, but he enjoyed it still, life wasn’t too bad. Until, well, when it actually was. Life sucked ass sometimes. 

Today was going to be horrible, he just knew it. He had just lost his little brother, the demon brat who always annoyed him to no end with the whole insufferable superiority complex. But the kid was gone now. Jason always toyed with the brat about how one day he would end up getting killed too since reckless Robins like them never lasted… But he didn’t mean it. Or didn’t want to mean it. Ah, fuck. He didn’t even know what to think anymore. 

Jason barely got out of his room and the whole environment in the manor was just awful. To make it all better, of course the weather had to be shitty, with such a cloudy sky that it looked like it was going to rain again. Jason did not know what to do. It was breakfast time, so he figured he would at least eat something before he had to face the Godawful funeral. He wondered if Alfred would even be in the mood to make food that day. Jason shrugged, he wouldn’t mind just having a bowl of cereal.

On his way downstairs, he stumbled across Barbara, who also stayed for the night.

“How’s Dick?” Jason asked. Those two love birds weren’t dating anymore but they were close, he knew Babs would’ve spent probably 10 hours comforting Dick. The redhead looked awful, anyone could see it in her face.

“..Bad. Dick was already awake when I woke up. I found him crying in Dami’s room…” Barbara paused, looking to the side, avoiding eye contact. She wasn’t sure if she should continue. “He was holding a picture of the two of them.”

“Shit,” Jason replied. Yep, today was going to be awful. “I, um… Are you hungry? I’m going downstairs to eat something, today will be a long day--”

‘Today will be a long day ?’ Geez, what an insensitive tool Jason could be sometimes. But Barbara didn’t seem to think anything of it. 

“Yeah, I’ll join you in a bit. Let me see if I can drag Dick out of his room, hold on--” She drawled, walking away. 

Jason sighed and went downstairs. On his way to the kitchen, he found his coffee-addict brother, whose hair was messy like a bird's nest, and his eyes were awfully red. The kid looked like shit.

“Hey, Timbo… I see you’re not holding up too well either.” Jason noted, disconcerted, but he didn’t expect Tim to sob to him right afterwards.

“Jay–I… I was an awful brother! He died thinking I hated him, Jay! I just, I should’ve tried harder, I should’ve been there for him, he was just a kid…” 

“Hey, I know the feeling, Timmy. The kid died thinking I hated him too. I’m never gonna be good like you or Dick, you actually tried to save Damian’s life that one time, remember? When Ra’s was getting resurrected and was going all crazy, but you went in and even challenged Ra’s to take your life instead?” Tim was carrying a tissue box with him and blew his nose. He then nodded, looking a little calmer, so Jason continued. “I didn’t even try to get to know Damian. I fucking shot him once, for crying out loud. If there’s anyone who failed him, it’s definitely me. You did nothing wrong, Timbo.” Jason gave a fake smile. He wasn't good at this whole comforting people thing, it actually made him pretty uncomfortable. 

Everyone in the family was falling apart, so he needed to be strong; He had to be strong for them. He was aware that everyone probably thought of him as the emotionless jerk that he was, but he was hurting just as much as everyone else, if not more. He just refused to show it. Besides, no one needed to know that he was the reason why both Talia and Damian died, he fucking sent them to their deaths due to his stupidity. The guilt was becoming more unbearable as the day went on and it wasn't even noon. 

“I’m sorry, Jay… I had no idea.” Tim mumbled and then hugged his brother, taking Jason by surprise. Jason couldn’t help but soak in the hug, but he needed to break it off soon, he didn’t want to get all soft.

“Aaalright, now get your snotty nose away from me!” Jason joked, making his brother laugh. 

Jason then found Bruce in the corridor, talking to Alfred. The poor folk seemed twenty years older than his actual age. He was ravaged by grief. Jason wondered if that was how Bruce looked when he died… Probably not. Jason wasn’t his blood son anyway. Bruce noticed Jason's entrance, and his conversation with Alfred came to an end abruptly. 

“Jason, Tim. Good morning. Did you two sleep okay?”

Bruce was trying, Jason had to give him that much, but who in their right mind asks if someone else slept okay the same night their brother was killed? Jason quickly glanced at Tim who was thinking the same thing. Jason wasn’t sure if he should give a snarky response or keep his sarcasm to himself. 

But what the hell. “Seriously? Was anyone even able to sleep last night?” Bruce didn’t say anything, he knew his son was right. Luckily, Alfred interrupted them by leading them to the kitchen and presenting what he prepared for breakfast. The breakfast table was beautiful, filled with large portions of food with so much variety, it was practically a banquet. Somehow Alfred managed to outdo himself if that was even possible. 

“Wow, Alf. This is… Great, really, but you didn’t have to do this.” Tim drawled, and Jason nodded in agreement.

“This is too much, Alf. You should take a break today, of all days.”

“Nonsense. Everyone must continue with refined eating habits, including on difficult days such as today.” The butler rebutted, heading towards the countertop to present another meal he made that he was very proud of. “I even made this Mediterranean Vegetarian frittata, Master Damian’s favorite… Oh.” Alfred looked down at his plate, his hands slightly shaking. 

Tim and Jason stared at each other in despair.

“I’ll eat it!” Tim offered first. “I love frittata!”

“Same here, Alf! Bring it in!” Jason said while waving his hand.

Alfred placed the plates on the table, too afraid of accidentally dropping them on the ground. There was another plate already on the table with a paper towel underneath it and delicious bacon on top of it. It was Tim’s favorite, but he decided to go against it. 

“You know what… He would like it if we spared the meat.”

Jason raised his eyebrow. “Speak for yourself.” He said, rudely stuffing tons of bacon in his mouth. “Alf-ed-didnt-doh-oll-tis-work-fo-nothin’” 

Tim rolled his eyes. “You should really eat with your mouth closed.” The two laughed. 

Bruce chose to not linger at the breakfast with his boys, he was in no mood to talk to anyone. He was glad to know that his family could at least carry a conversation, but he couldn’t do the same. It took a while until Barbara, Stephanie, and Dick joined as well. They were all terribly quiet. There was something about quiet-gloomy Dick Grayson that affected the whole family. Even Tim felt like he had to tone it down the couple of jokes he and Jason were throwing at each other earlier. They continued their meals in silence.

****

It was time for the funeral. 

It wasn’t a normal funeral or anything. There were no guests and visitors coming in while they engaged in joyful conversation, and drinks, as they reminisced about the loss of a loved one who passed in old age. This was a kid who passed away, a child whose life didn’t last long enough, now being buried in the backyard of his father’s mansion. A child that Gotham barely even knew, the “son of Bruce Wayne with the mysterious mother” that no one had a clue about. 

Bruce did all he could to keep his personal life private for Damian’s well-being. He didn’t want the kid to be pestered by paparazzi and reporters asking intimate questions about his life and mother. No one in Gotham was that surprised to hear that Bruce had a son he didn’t know about from some random mistress. It happened with rich guys all the time, but it was still quite a scandal. 

Still, not many people knew about Damian. The kid was homeschooled and he was just getting to know the family. He came to Bruce’s life a year ago, for Pete’s sake! The kid went down too soon. That wasn’t fair. The brat had his whole life ahead of him, he barely even had time to make any friends…

God, it felt horrible. The silence didn’t help either. The weather, as predicted, was terrible with endless, heavy rain. Each drop that fell on Jason’s face felt like another sting of pain caused by the loss of his little brother. Hell, Jason never once told the demon spawn a word of affection in his life. Damian, of all people, had so much in common with him and spent years in the League while Jason was also there, but back when Jason was too brainwashed and somewhat brain-dead to even understand what was going on at the time. Still, they had so much in common, more than anyone else in the family. 

They were both hurt by their families, angrier than everyone else, they were reckless, rebels at heart… Why did they never bother to be better friends? Better brothers? Oh, that’s right, Jason was too busy being mad at the world to give a damn about everyone else. What a great guy he was. No wonder the brat got along with Dick and Alfred the most, they were the only sane people in the family who had patience and were willing to give the kid a chance. Did Bruce even give Damian a chance? Did he ever trust him?

He got mad at Bruce all of a sudden. Sure, he was grieving and had just lost another son, but why did Bruce have to be such an ass of a father figure? He wanted to yell at him. It was because of Bruce’s terrible parenting that Damian was dead. No, that wasn't true. It was all Jason's fault, and he needed to own it. 

The whole family stood around the coffin, Bruce staying the closest to the coffin as if he was about to get in there and hug his kid one last time. Bruce just stared at the coffin in complete silence while everyone just waited... Jason wasn't sure if he was being restless for no reason, but he was getting annoyed at how long this whole thing was taking. Did everyone have to be so damn quiet? And why did the little shit have to die anyway? That brat couldn’t stay the fuck home for once in his life? Jason was mad, he couldn’t stay there any longer. 

Before his jittery body was close to killing him - no pun intended -, Goldie finally said something. 

“...Bruce? You should say something.”

It looked like Bruce had woken up from a trance because he was definitely not there a minute ago, lost in his thoughts. If there was anyone in the Bat family who did not handle death well, it was surely Bruce. That man sucked when it came to grieving. 

Bruce cleared up his throat and started speaking.

“Damian Wayne, my son, struck our lives like a bolt of lightning. A brief, unforgettable thunderstorm. Now my son is gone in the blink of an eye... My sweet boy, who was raised to inherit a criminal empire but still chose his own path, chose to fight for what he knew to be right. He died a hero… and I loved you so much, Damian.” Bruce choked up, his eyes were getting watery now.  “More than I deserved to love anyone… I love you and I should’ve told you when I had the chance...” 

Jason looked at the rest of the family, everyone looked a little surprised by Bruce’s vulnerability. 

Bruce didn’t notice nor did he care about anyone’s reactions, he was only focused on his son. “There was not one day that went by that I didn’t love you without conditions, without a single exception. You were perfect. But now you’re gone… You were taken from me. Your life needlessly sacrificed, and your death… Your death will be avenged.”

Everyone kept staring at each other without knowing what else to say to them. 

“Amen,” Grayson concluded.

Next to Damian’s coffin, there was also the coffin belonging to Talia. They were buried alongside each other. Damian would’ve liked that. 

“Would you like to say any words for Miss Talia, Master Bruce?” Alfred gently asked. Bruce stared at his old lover’s coffin. It was hard enough to lose one person. 

“Talia was a valiant woman. She was fearless, determined, skilled, but with an incredibly gentle heart, even if she didn’t want to show it. Her love for Damian was real and even though she was raised to abide by her father… She never once stopped caring for her son. Her compassion was moving, her love and loyalty, eternal. There is no other woman on Earth I would rather choose to be the mother of my Damian. She fought for our boy until the end, and I just hope you are in a better place now, Talia. You did not deserve the tragedies that life brought to you. I am so, so sorry.”  Bruce’s eyes burned, he couldn’t handle it anymore. His voice was shaky and the tears kept sliding down his cheeks. 

No one dared to say anything, essentially making it the conclusion of that sorrowful ceremony, but Jason boldly took a step forward, making everyone turn to him.

“I got something to say too. To both of them. I’ll start with you, Talia.” Jason ignored all the stares he was getting. He took a deep breath to push away all the nervousness that was trying to get the best of him. “Talia, you and your psycho dad were the main reason I was brought back to life. I’ll never forget the empathy you showed for me. While everyone in the League was fearful of me and wanted to just get rid of me, you gave me a chance. You actually gave a damn. I never thanked you when you were alive, and I’m sorry. Thank you for helping me live again... And I'm sorry I wasn't able to do the same for you. So... yeah. Thank you.” 

Jason then turned to Damian’s coffin. God, why was that coffin so disturbing to the eye? Did it have to be so small? Jason was getting anxious again. Come to think of it, offering to speak was a terrible idea. He didn’t want to say anything, he didn’t want to let go of his emotions and run the risk of crying in front of everyone. 

Jason cleared his throat. “Aham. Damian.” He paused, everyone’s attention focused on him. “Aham. Okay. Um. Damian-- You know what, screw it. I’m mad at you, demon spawn!” Jason shouted, pointing his finger at the coffin as if he was about to start a fight with a dead body. 

Everyone stared at Jason, utterly shocked by the unexpected behavior. “Yeah, that’s right, you heard me! You’re a selfish little bastard, did you know that? You think it’s funny, huh, coming into our lives just to shatter everyone’s feelings afterwards?! I know what you’re thinking, you’re probably laughing right now, thinking that your death was nothing! Well, guess what, IT FUCKING HURTS, OKAY? You had one order, ONE! TO STAY THE FUCK HOME, but did you listen? Noo, of course not! You never listen! Because you think you’re better than everyone else, that you’re above everything! BUT YOU’RE NOT! YOU ARE A CHILD, GODDAMMIT! And because of it, you’re dead--”

Jason couldn’t help it, his angry voice turned into a more shaky cry. “You’re dead… When all you had to do was stay home… Like all Robins, you had to get involved…” 

Jason’s cries were louder, it just hurt so much. Why did that little shit have to be so much like him? It was so painful to see another version of himself, making the same mistakes as he did, throwing a life away just like that, all because he wouldn’t fucking listen.

“And now you’re dead...” Jason repeated. He honestly didn’t even know where this was going anymore, all that fake calmness he had earlier vanished. “You’re fucking dead and we’re now crushed, hope you’re happy now, you little piece of sh--”

A white-gloved hand was placed on Jason’s shoulder. “I think that’s enough, Master Jason. Thank you.”

Jason looked back at the butler and then glanced at everyone else who kept staring at him extremely awkwardly like he was the biggest freak in town or something. Everyone must have felt so uncomfortable and embarrassed for him, Jason hated it. He was glad that the raindrops meshed with his tears so much that no one could really tell what was going on with his face, but he couldn't stand all the looks on him. How dared all these self-righteous goody-good shoes judge him like that? It was a fucking funeral, who the fuck cared? 

Alfred was about to say something else, but Jason wasn’t going to stay there to hear it. He rudely moved his shoulder away from Alfred’s hand and stormed out. Fuck that family. 

A few minutes went on, and Jason was hopping on his motorcycle, about to put his helmet on, when he heard someone else coming inside.

“Hey.” The voice greeted him in a friendly manner.  

Jason didn't need to look back, he knew full well who was talking to him. “Not in the mood, Dickface.” 

“I just wanted to say… That was a hell of a speech.”

Jason looked at Dick, that cocky fucker. He hated Dick sometimes, always the one who knew what to do, the son who Bruce felt most proud of, blehh. He didn’t have time to deal with that ball of sunshine, giving everyone compliments all the time. What was he, in first grade? Getting golden stars for participation rewards? Fuck him.

“Yeah, yeah, I know I fucked up the whole funeral, alright? Bruce was all eloquent and emotional while I had to fuck it all up. So excuse me, cuz I got better things to do with my life than stay here and be humiliated--”

Dick cut him, raising his hands as if he was surrendering. “No, no, no, that’s not it at all! Your speech was amazing! It was what Alfie would call it, brilliant!”

Jason gave him a cynical look. “Don’t patronize me.”

“I’m not, really! Ok, did it take everyone by surprise? Sure, but who cares? You said half the things everyone was thinking but didn't have the courage to voice it out loud. You’re not as different from us as you think you are.” Jason paused, letting that sink in. “I actually had no idea you were hurting so much, Jay. I owe you an apology. I was so focused on my own pain that I went oblivious to what everyone else was going through.” Dick came closer, aiming for a hug, but Jason shot him a don’t-you-dare-look. He retreated.

“Anyway. You’re a great man, Jay. And just so you know… You have probably been wondering if that was how Bruce reacted when we lost you.” Jason raised his eyebrow. The fuck? How did Grayson know that was something he had been wondering? “And yeah, he was just like this. Worse, actually. He grieved you, Jay. He grieved you like nobody else. I missed your funeral because Bruce didn’t even bother to tell me about your death, I had to find out from Alfred! I got so mad at him and he basically told me to go to hell.” 

Jason looked shocked and Dick just nodded. “Yeah. It sucked. Bruce shut everyone out, he wouldn't talk to anyone. And I was so mad at myself because I never gave you the time of day, all because I was so jealous when you came in. I felt that Bruce was replacing me, so I acted more indifferent toward you... Then we lost you and I hated myself so much. From that moment on, I promised myself I would never close off to anyone, I would never let go of a chance to tell someone I care about them.”

Jason blinked. Wow. He had no idea that was what happened back then, Dick never told him that story before. He was completely baffled. 

“So yeah, Jay. I care a whole lot about you. We all do. I’m sorry for all the pain you've been having all these years, but I’m here for you.”

Jason finally stepped out of the motorcycle and placed his helmet on the bike’s seat. He raised both his arms. “Alright, just this once--” Dick gave a huge smile and embraced Jason in a very tight, bear hug. Jason chuckled and hugged his brother back. “Robins have to stick together, am I right?”

Dick smiled. “Absolutely.”

*****

Jason decided to have one last meal with the family before returning home. That day was already as awful as it was, the last thing he needed was to linger even longer in that big old mansion filled with gloom. Dinner was a mix of terribly awkward silence and horrible jokes made by Tim, but at least the kid was trying. Jason threw a couple of other jokes to help break the ice, which it worked, but nothing took away the anguish Jason kept feeling inside. It was as if his chest was burning but with nothing inside, just this emptiness that filled his flesh. That damn brat had to leave a hole, didn’t he?

Jason got up from the chair. 

“You leaving?” Tim asked, looking disappointed.

Jason rubbed his hair as he sighed. “I gotta go home.” He didn’t want to admit that he couldn’t bear to stay any longer, it hurt too much. 

Alfred was grabbing all the empty dishes and getting ready to wash them. Tim and Stephanie helped, despite Alfred’s pleas to not have them assist him, and Barbara was on her phone with her dad. Jason was about to leave the kitchen when he noticed Dick giving him one last look.

“What?” Jason dragged the question, annoyed.

“...Nothing.”

“Spit it out, Goldie, I don’t have all day.”

“You should really say goodbye to Bruce before you leave.”

“Seriously?” Jason’s irritation increased. “Bruce is a mess, I’m not gonna talk to him.”

“I’m not saying you should talk, just let him know you’re leaving, geez.”

Jason pinched the bridge of his nose. Couldn’t he just leave the manor in peace without having to endure any further interaction with anyone else? He sighed. It was just a goodbye, nothing more. He didn’t need to make a huge deal out of this. Jason just hoped Bruce wouldn’t lose it on him, he was just going to say goodbye and head home, that was all. And he was definitely not going to tell Bruce of how he was the one who sent the kid to his death sentence.

After looking for Bruce for a while, Jason decided to try the study room before calling it quits. His departure was taking way too long, and if Bruce wanted to disappear, then fine. He didn’t want to see the man in the first place, he was just wasting his time. He should’ve left like he was planning originally, stupid Grayson. Jason slowly opened the door just to find Bruce seated on his armchair in the center of the study room with his face staring at the wall as if he was a zombie or something. How long had he been sulking like that? 

Awkwardly, Jason knocked on the door despite the door being already opened. “Knock, knock.” 

Bruce finally raised his head, not noticing how he wasn’t alone in the room anymore. Jason spotted a bottle of whiskey completely empty on the office desk. Oh, boy. 

“Hey, um… Just wanted to let you know, I’m heading out. So… yeah.”

Bruce nodded but he remained seated, without exchanging eye contact. There was barely any light in the room saved by a creepy, weak ass light coming from a floor lamp. That man seriously had issues with moping inside a dark room like that for heaven knows how long. The whole thing was so awful, could Jason just leave now? 

His old mentor didn’t even move a flinch when he said: “Thank you for coming today... I’m sorry this has been so hard for you too.” 

Jason wasn’t sure what was so entertaining about the wall, but Bruce definitely seemed obsessively interested in it. He hated that he couldn’t even be looked in the eyes. He wouldn’t be surprised if roots were planted from Bruce’s seat.  

“...Don’t be sorry. It’s not your fault.” Bruce finally turned his head to glare at Jason, looking angry. “Bruce, I’m serious. Stop blaming yourself.”

Bruce went back to staring at the wall again. “It was good seeing you, Jason.” 

Jason rolled his eyes and proceeded to leave the room... But he wasn't going to deal with that crap anymore. He walked up to Bruce and pushed him. “Hey, stop with that!”

His old folk looked shocked by the reaction, but he remained seated. “God, Bruce. I know you lost your son and your lover, and that you are terrible at grieving, but you gotta stop with this, quit blaming yourself! You’re going to drive yourself insane, and you are already messed in the head!”

Bruce did not see this coming from Jason at all. He wasn’t in the mood for conversations. He got up from his chair, looking scarily serious.

“Jason. It’s because of my crusade and Talia’s that Damian was caught in the middle of all this. I was too late, just as I was too late to save you too." Something changed in Bruce's face because he was looking incredibly mad. Pressing his index finger against Jason's chest, he shouted, "So don’t you dare tell me to not blame myself when every loss I suffered was always caused by me!”

Jason wanted to punch that man in the face but he decided to shove the man instead.

"FINE, BRUCE! Then keep throwing yourself this pity party of yours that does NOTHING for anyone! Isn’t that what being Batman is all about? About how you can’t get over anything in your life? It was never about saving the innocent so they wouldn't suffer what you went through, it’s about how you cannot. Move. The fuck. On!”

Bruce clenched his jaw and curled his hands into fists.

“You’re pissed off ‘cause you know it’s true!” Jason kept provoking him.

“I know you want to hit me, Jason. I can see it in your eyes. Come on, show me what you got. HIT ME." Bruce had his fists clenched as he stared at Jason, who refused to do absolutely nothing in return. "I SAID, HIT ME!” Bruce yelled, trying to get a rise out of Jason by pushing him.

Was the man insane? Part of Jason actually wouldn’t mind letting off some steam, but this was not the way. Jason looked back at the desk and remembered the empty bottle of whisky. Fuck. Bruce was not in the right mindset for starters, and that was not the time to pick on a fight. Jason was being insensitive again as always. 

“Stop it, this is stupid.” Jason waited for Bruce to say something in return, but he was met with silence. “Whatever. I’m leaving.”

He headed towards the doorway, but something couldn’t quite let him walk away in good conscience. He couldn’t trust his mentor to be by himself in that room, unstable like that, so he turned back to him one last time. "Bruce, I never blamed you for my death, only for letting Joker live. I was the idiot who was too stubborn to listen to you. Damian was a lot like me, unfortunately. But us dying was never your fault.”

Bruce stared at Jason’s eyes for a moment and then he turned his back to him so he could no longer face him. His eyes were glued to the floor and his hand was touching the top part of the armchair as support.

“I should’ve been there for you… And for Damian… It’s my job as a father to protect all of you… But I failed you." Bruce trailed. "I’ve failed you all too many times.”

Bruce’s next breath got stuck in his throat. Jason hoped his father figure wouldn’t cry as he did during the funeral, things were already so awkward, and Jason only made it worse. Bruce buried his face in both his hands.

“Um…Bruce?”

“Damian didn’t deserve this. He should be home, safe and alive. He was just a boy. God, he was just a boy.” The man started to sob, wracking his large frame while he leaned his body on his office desk. What a sight he made…Batman, crying like a child himself. Jason truly wished Bruce hadn’t drunk so much.

“Bruce…” 

"You can leave now, Jason. Goodbye." Bruce started off again, approaching Jason to show him the door, which enraged Jason all the more. There was no way he was going to leave with a shitty farewell like that! That man was as insufferably stubborn as his son. Besides, Jason decided he shouldn't leave without Bruce knowing the truth, he deserved to know. 

"No, Bruce, you listen to me now! About this loss, this whole thing, really... Ah, what I'm trying to say is, if you want someone to blame, then blame me. I'm the reason Damian and Talia are dead."

"What are you--?"

Jason interrupted by raising his hand, so his folk would let him finish. "Damian came to help me and he was going to rescue Talia, but I thought it was going to be a trap, so I..." Jason had to swallow the tears that were threatening to come back. "I told the kid to go disable one of the bombs instead and let me save his mom--" His voice started to break down, there was no way to prevent it. "When I found Talia, she told me I had made a mistake, that the weird clone was on the loose looking for Damian... And then I'm the one who told Talia to go after Damian, which led to her death and..."

Jason started to break into tears, similar to how he did at the funeral. Why was he telling this to Bruce again? "Hate me all you want, but quit hating yourself. You do a damn good job as Batman and as a Father--"

They both stared at each other in shock. Jason was caught off guard by his own words and feelings he didn't even know he had. Bruce looked at his son again with tears welling up in his eyes. He approached Jason and wrapped his arms around him for a hug. "Jason... I'll never hate you. You shouldn't blame yourself either..."

Jason was calming down, and he didn't mind the hug either. Bruce, on the other hand, still seemed to be distraught. "I'm still sorry, Jason. I'm so sorry..."

“Shh. It’s all good. I’m sorry too.” Jason assured, rubbing his dad's back while they hugged. 

The hug lasted for a few moments until Bruce was the one to cool off. 

"I love you, Jason. I hope you don't forget that." 

"I... I love you too. You know, our differences and all... We'll get through it."

Bruce smiled. "I concur." He gave him another warm hug before saying, “Thank you.” Jason returned the smile but noticed there were a few tears still left in his father's eyes.

“You sure you’re going to be okay?”

Bruce nodded. Jason wasn’t foolish enough to believe him, but he was going to make sure Alfred would keep an eye on him. 

“I’ll get going then. Don’t beat yourself too much, kay?” Bruce gave him a fake smile and waved. 

Jason then finally left, still feeling so embarrassed about the whole thing. After that day, he decided to never attend another funeral ever again. 

Bruce watched his son leave. Once he was alone again, he grabbed the picture frame that was on his desk, it was a picture of the whole family together. Damian was in the corner with a frown on his face as Dick messed with his hair, playfully. 

Sinisterly, Bruce thought out loud, “I’m going to bring you back, Damian. I’ll do whatever it takes to bring you back, even if it kills me.” He then whispered, “I won’t fail you again.”

*****

2 YEARS LATER...

After several months of deep, incessant studies of dark magic, along with exhausting and humiliating meetings with cocky magicians who refused to assist him, a bearded dark-haired man managed a way to go directly to hell without losing his life through a protective portal that he himself opened. The man couldn't help but let out a delicious laugh, he was so proud of himself for finally being there, and without needing help from that brat, Klarion, the witch boy. No, Tamir fought hard to get to where he was and he was finally going to meet with the Devil himself. 

Bloomberg, the Red Devil, emerged from the ground, growling so loud that made the floor shake. "Who dares to disturb my peace?" The dark, monstrous voice spoke. 

Courageously, Tamir stepped forward to face the Devil. "Hear me, Bloomberg, the Red Devil. I come to you to request a humble favor, my Lord."

The Red Devil crossed his arms and grinned, amused at the sight of the pathetic man. A mortal human, having the audacity to come to meet him face to face and ask for a favor, nonetheless! The man was clearly out of his mind, but at least the moron had the gall, Bloomberg had to give him some credit. 

"And what favor do you so boldly - and stupidly - ask of me?" Bloomberg asked, pretending to entertain the idea. 

"I need you to bring back a woman whom I love. Her name is Nyssa al Ghul."

"Hm... A life for a life? Typical humans; A man not letting go of his love and then coming to serve me instead in exchange. Charming, truly. But I have seen it too many times." The Devil paused."Fine. I'll accept your life in exchange for hers."

"No, no." Tamir shook his head. He beamed, having predicted this would've happened. "I mean bring her back. Just her. I won't be staying in Hell with you."

Bloomberg contorted his face, then let out evil laughter that shook the ground once more. "Fool! You expect me to grant you a favor without me gaining anything in return? I should curse you and end your miserable excuse of life just as punishment!"

Tamir reached for a large bag he was carrying with him. He unzipped the bag and held a head by its hair, unattached to its body. Holding the head with triumph, Tamir explained, "You can take him."

"You bring me a head? Are you implying I must bring TWO lives for you? You must be a special kind of stupid if you think I'll accept to return the lives of two people in exchange for none, you pitiful human--"

"I can offer you much more than just another mere soul to bother you in Hell. I ask you to bring back two lives... In exchange for complete freedom and a kingdom. You will no longer be chained to the gates of Hell. I will make sure to release you and unleash you on Earth... But to do so, I will require the help of Heretic. What you do with him afterward is up to you. Do we have ourselves a deal?"

"Hm... Freedom... A Kingdom... Even the Land of the Living?" The Devil asked, deeply intrigued. Out of his thousands of years of death, no one had ever proposed to him such a thing. The puny human was pathetic, sure, but he was certainly interesting... "If you fail to fulfill your end of the deal, I will bring you no such lives, and you shall be my eternal slave, human."

The Red Devil extended his arm.

Tamir reached out for his hand, feeling the warm, terrifyingly strong grip from the devil. Smiling confidently, he replied, "Deal." 

THE END?