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They were gathered in the conference room and Peter was going on and on about their next undercover gig. Neal was supposed to blend in with hoodlooms and ruffians in a seedy bar. And it was fair that Peter thought that Neal needed help with that whole scenario, because the vibes were as opposite to Neal Caffrey as you could get, but Jason knew exactly how to behave in that atmosphere. Even if it had been years since he had been picked up by Bruce, died, and taken in by Talia. He still knew how to act among his former people.
Not that he could tell Peter that to hopefully shut him up.
Nooooooo. He needed to pretend to listen to the man give conflicting and inaccurate pointers for the act. If Jason was ever done with Talia's assignment he would need to find a way to update FBI undercover protocols because this was just pathetic. Jason let his thoughts wonder away, maybe counting the ceiling tiles would be more interesting? If it didn't require looking up - that would be too obvious. Just as that thought crossed his mind, he saw something move. He narrowed his eyes.
There it was again, something glinted behind the air vents.
Jason barely registered Peter's scolding as he got up from his chair and approached the vent. When he got close enough he was met with green eyes that he knew all too well. Jason groaned, he didn't need this right now.
"Out. Now!" Jason commanded and pointed to the space of floor in front of him.
Peter, Diana and Jones were still wondering what Neal was doing – until the vent opened from the inside.
A young boy slipped out and landed in a crouch before straightening and dusting of his jacket. He wore dark jeans, a black shirt and a blazer. None of it looked wrinkled or as if he'd spent any time crammed in the vents.
Neal crossed his arms in front of his chest and glowered at the kid. "Damian."
"Todd," the kid answered in a bored tone.
Jason clicked his tongue, a very much not-Neal thing to do. "Don't give me that," he snarled, surprising the agents with his tone. "You're not supposed to be anywhere near here!"
"Neal-" Peter started but was ignored by Neal and the kid – Damian.
"Tt." Damian crossed his arms and managed to look down on Neal even though Jason towered over him. "I'm just here to check on you. Mother was worried."
"Bullshit," Jason cut him off. "Mom isn't worried about me, and you're not even staying with her right now."
Damian's face flinched slightly. Jason saw it but figured the gaping agents in the room would miss it.
With a smug expression Jason continued to taunt his little brother. "Yes. We talk on the phone. All the time. She tells me stories about what you're up to and-" He stopped. He blanched. He tried not to panic.
"Neal!" Peter tried again, and Jason turned around. He saw his coworkers, trying to apraoch him like one would a caged animal. And that was exactly how he felt right now. His head whipped towards the elevators. To the window and the rooftops he could see. Back to Damian.
"What?" Damian asked.
Jason stepped a little closer, got down on one knee, put his hands on Damian's shoulders and spoke calmly. "Who knows you're here?"
"What does it matter?"
"Damian!" Jason took a breath, he needed to stay calm. "This is important. Who knows where you are?"
Damian sneered. "Nobody knows where I am. I snuck out."
A runaway. Naïve. His little brother thought the family wouldn't find him just because he'd run a few miles away. Bruce had found Jason in Africa, he'd follow Damian to New York in a heartbeat.
And Jason couldn't have that.
He didn't even realise he'd hung his head dejectedly until he had to raise it to meet Damian's eyes. "You think the man your Grandpa only calls 'Detective' won't be able to track you from New Jersey to New York?"
"Neal, you're from New Jersey?" Jones asked disgusted.
Jason waved him away, the first time he'd acknowledged anything the agents had said.
Damian stared Jason down. "Father is... out of town. So is Grayson. And Pennyworth."
Mentally Jason counted down possibilities and wanted to scream. Would Superman or Batgirl descend on him any minute? Batwoman? Neither option was ideal. They all might recognize him instantly.
Fuck.
"Dames. Who is babysitting you?"
That was definitely the wrong thing to say. Damian's face contorted with fury. "I do not require a babysitter!"
Jason lightly shook him. He was not frantic. And if he kept denying it, maybe it would come true. "I don't care! You got one anyway! So tell me who!"
Damian clicked his tongue again and looked away.
"Please," Jason said defeated.
Damian still wouldn't look at him. At least he answered, even if it was so quiet Jason wasn't sure he'd heard right. And he really wished he hadn't. "Drake."
This was even worse than Jason had imagined. He'd specifically taken the Neal Caffrey job so he wouldn't be tempted to visit Damian in Gotham and either be recognized by the Bats or see Drake and go on a pit induced rampage.
Wait. Drake didn't know him as a child. There was the distinct posssibility that he wouldn't recognize him on sight!
Jason turned towards Peter, Diana and Jones. "Please. You need to help me. The guy that's going to come for Damian cannot find out who I am," he pleaded.
Peter eyed Neal and Damian with concern. "Neal, what's going on?"
"I promise I'll tell you everything you want to know as soon as this is over but I really need your help right now."
Peter was taken aback by the sincerity and panic in Neal's eyes, so he nodded and turned to check that Diana and Jones were also on board. At their nod he turned back to Neal. "What do you need?"
Jason breathed a sigh of relief. He turned to Damian and started issuing commands. "You. You were on your way to the Titans and got picked up by the FBI because they thought you were too young to walk alone and you threatened them with knives when they tried to help."
Diana shook her head. "Neal, that's ridiculous."
Damian looked Diana straight in the eyes, sending a shiver down her spine. "No, he's got a point. It's a plausible scenario."
Peter scoffed. "What's plausible about that? Someone going to visit superheroes, or a child threatening FBI agents with knives?"
Jason turned with a blank face and pulled up Damian's pant leg to reveal a hidden knife.
"Neal!"
Jason rolled his eyes. "Later Peter. We need to focus!"
Peter looked done with him. "You will tell me everything or I'll find out who Damian and this Drake guy really are and tell him exactly who you are."
"Yeah, yeah. The show is on people, no way he won't be here soo-"
Just then the elevator doors opened and a seething teenager in jeans and a hoodie stormed out. He instantly zeroed in on the conference room. Damian furrowed his brow at the approaching kid. Peter also noticed that Neal had slipped behind the other agents and was hiding without making it obvious.
The kid threw the door open and started his tirade immediately. "What the fuck, Damian?! You can't just leave without telling me! Bruce put me in charge! I thought you'd been kidnapped! Instead what? You're at the goddamn FBI! In New York!"
The agents were to stunned to speak. They could just watch as Damian sneered at Drake. "I'm not a child. I can take care of myself and I certainly do not need you to be in charge of anything."
"Listen here you little brat-" Drake started but was interrupted by Peter.
"Enough!"
Drake and Damian stopped their argument to look towards Peter. Good to know that Jason wasn't the only one that saw the similarity in Peter's and Bruce's scolding voices.
"You!" Peter pointed towards Drake. "Who are you? And what is your relationship to this kid we picked up for truancy and threatening federal agents?"
Drake's head whipped back to Damian. "Threatening federal agents?! Bruce is going to ground you until you're thirty," he said with glee.
"They deserved it," Damian retorted.
"Hey!" Diana interjected. "Either you answer our questions here, or we'll have to seperate you. And since you're both minors we will have to call your guardians in to officially question you." She raised an eyebrow in challenge. "As I understand it everyone is out of town. It would be a shame to call them back, don't you think?"
Drake threw one more glare at Damian. Jason really wanted to get even for the bad treatment of his baby brother but he needed to control himself.
"My name ist Timothy Drake-Wayne and I am emancipated, so I am my brother's legal guardian as long as our dad is out of the country." With the straightened posture and calm expression he looked every bit the heir he claimed to be, even though the ratty hoodie shouldn't work with that.
"Drake-Wayne," Peter said dryly. Jason could see how much it took out of Peter not to turn around and ask Neal if he had tried to scam the Waynes. And maybe Jason would have to tell him the actual truth after Drake was dealt with.
"Yes," Drake answered. "Now would you finally tell me why you thought it was necessary to take in my ten years old brother? Surely he wasn't a threat to you, he might spit vitriol but he is still a child."
"Drake! I'm not a-" Damian's protest were cut off by Drake slapping a hand on his mouth. As the kid's face turned red and contorted in fury, Jason caught his eyes and shook his head at him. This wasn't the time for that fight.
Drake blinked at Damian stupidly and seemed to be amazed that Damian was actually calming down instead of going off even more.
Peter cleared his throat. "Well, if you promise to ensure that your brother won't run away again we can make an exception for today."
Jason wanted to take Peter and shake him until he came back to his senses. Letting them go this easily was a surefire way to make Drake research the White Collar office. And then he would find Neal's file. And open it on the batcomputer, maybe even run facial recognition.
Neal Caffrey's days were numbered.
Damian looked at the agents haughtily. "You didn't have any evidence to keep me anyway."
Drake rolled his eyes at him and pushed his hair out of his face. "Let's just get back before anyone checks in to see we haven't killed each other. Clark said he wants to bring Jon over to play, which, as we both know, is just an excuse," Drake said, already walking towards the door of the conference room without a word of goodbye.
Damian followed him reluctantly. "Jon admires me. I'm teaching him a lot about combat."
Jason couldn't supress his laugh at his little brother's assessment. Naturally, the worst that could happen did.
Drake turned to look for the origin of the sound and met Jason's eyes head on.
He tried to stay calm. Drake hadn't known him, could only recognize him from photos and Jason hardly looked like a malnourished preteen anymore. Everything would be fine as long as he stayed-
Drake's eyes widened. "Jason?"
Aw, hell.
Jason did his best to keep a Neal Caffrey expression on his face and the Gotham accent so far out of his voice that no one would ever find it. "I'm sorry, you must be mistaken. My name is Neal."
Drake looked him up and down, a confused look plastered on his face. "Do you have amnesia?"
There was no way to save this. Jason turned to Peter as he slowly backed away. "Nice knowing you, I'm sure we'll run into each other again eventually." He turned to Damian. "I'll give Mom your love," he said and threw his baby brother a kiss making him bristle and steam.
Drake was stuck whipping his head back and forth between Damian and Jason. It wouldn't have taken long for him to figure out why Damian had been there anyway, at least that was Jason's excuse for that last comment.
Jason shattered the window with the butt of a gun-like device he'd pulled out of nowhere, eliciting a variety of responses from people in the room, outside the glass walls of the conference room and from the people down below.
"See you never," Jason told Drake with a salut and grappled away.