Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

After pulling a stunt on a Justice League mission, Damian was forced to join the Teen Titans by Father's orders. Something about him needing to learn how to 'work with others’ as if he needed such a thing. Damian was self-sufficient as he was, and there were multiple occasions where he worked in a team with his siblings during the patrol, what else could the old man want? Father was never satisfied, that's what it was.

At least he could still put his advanced martial arts skills to use with the Teen Titans. Ever since Damian was brought back to life, his father constantly worried about something bad happening to him, always wanting to know what he was up to, while enforcing moral lessons he didn’t need to learn. It was exhausting. Father should trust him by now after knowing him for three years, but some things never changed, it seemed. At least spending time training with the Teen Titans wasn’t all too wasteful. The team itself, on the other hand, was atrocious. There was nothing Damian could possibly learn from that disastrous group of teenagers.

Koriand'r, despite her decent leadership skills, was too trusting of others and blinded by her own emotions, which could jeopardize the team significantly. Then there was Blue Beetle, whose potential was impressive, but when unfocused, the parasite took complete control. Emiko Queen was quite interesting... Similar childhood to Damian's, with similar guilt, and frustrations. She could lead the team one day if she wanted. She was determined, fearless, and her backup plans were exemplary.

Impulse was... Well, Impulse. Damian could not comprehend how Drake withstood staying in the same room as Allen, let alone going on missions with him, but then again, Drake was prone to doing stupid things, so it supposedly made sense. What was baffling, however, was how Impulse continued staying in the Teen Titans, despite all his friends having gone their separate ways. In addition, Bart Allen’s mere presence was deeply concerning. Wasn't the kid consistently putting their entire timeline at risk by simply existing, living in a century that didn't belong to him? Did Allen not care? How could no one else question the reckless kid's motivations? Impulse was too dangerous, especially with those overwhelming abilities of his. Allen was not to be trusted. 

Last but not least… Djinn. A real-life genie, so powerful she could grant any wish. Starfire, being the overly trusting leader that she was, saved Djinn's life one day during one of their missions, and then invited her to join their team, no further questions asked. No research on her background, no interrogations, nothing. They all simply accepted a mysterious genie that came from nowhere with an open invitation to have access to all their identities and secrets. It was like they were asking to be betrayed and attacked at any given opportunity.

The Teen Titans was a lost cause. 

But not for long.

Damian was going to change them, make them better. Efficient. Since Father was so adamant about Damian spending more time with the Teen Titans in broad daylight rather than going on multiple dangerous patrol nights with him, - something about how Father couldn’t afford to put his son’s life at risk after what happened with Heretic, an unnecessary concern in his part, truly, - Damian decided to make the best of the situation and turn this into a personal project to fix that sad, badly recruited team. 

Damian was going to help the Teen Titans achieve their potential of becoming an army of meta-humans who would rule over their enemies and end crime for good... Well, that was most likely too much wishful thinking on his part, but Damian was bored.

***

His thirteenth birthday had finally come, and Damian wasn't quite sure how to feel about it. Growing up in the League, his birthdays were highly acknowledged by his mother, who also reminded him of how much further away he was from reaching his full potential, making it all the more crucial to continue to strengthen his skills. In Damian's view, however, his date of birth meant differently; it signified coming closer to the day he would finally be allowed to meet his father, but only if he could defeat his mother in a duel. At the ripe age of 10, Damian finally conquered their annual duel and was able to get the answers he so strongly desired.

But he wasn't in the League anymore, and Damian had been living with his father for years. There was nothing specific to look forward to on his birthday anymore, outside of striving to fight harder and seek more knowledge. Though it was difficult to admit, he knew there was still so much to learn, and he needed to be the ultimate best; Anything less would be unacceptable. He was going to earn Batman's mantle one day, and hopefully surpass his father. But for now, he just had to deal with the life he was given and continue to refine his training.

Waking up determined, Damian went straight to following his morning workout routine, but hitting it harder than before. He was becoming a man, but with much to improve still. Hopefully, everyone would start respecting him more now, instead of viewing him as a child. After spending close to two hours at the gym, Pennyworth came, demanding the boy to take a break and enjoy a nice breakfast. The butler was kind enough to prepare his favorite meal, and since no one else was in the manor that day, Damian enjoyed the peaceful silence. It always got so loud and obnoxious whenever Drake and Grayson came over, especially Todd.

After finishing his meal, Pennyworth encouraged Damian to take Titus on a walk outside the manor, which ended up being quite nice, unsurprisingly. It was a beautiful, windy day at the park, and it was refreshing to be finally out of the house. There was nothing wrong about walking around in the spacious backyard back home, but something about being outside made everything feel relaxing. It was good to be a little far from the manor, it was like he was being trusted to be on his own, finally. Titus was extremely excited, of course, that dog loved people and chasing after the rabbits at the park. Damian let out a good laugh; Watching his Great Dane act so carefree and playful was always a fun sight. 

It was a good day. 

As Titus was starting to feel worn off from chasing rabbits, he found a stick near a tree and ran to his owner to play catch. Damian enjoyed the simplicity of it all; the nice, soft breeze tousling his spiky dark hair into buoyant curls, the people around him, walking so calmly and aimlessly, and the humid air carrying the fragrance of earth after the rain. It was a beautiful day. There was a sweet and steady sense of joy overall, which brought Damian back to the times when he was tasked to carefully observe the landscape before painting. That was one of the first exercises taught by his old art professor, who instructed him to always be attentive to all the small details surrounding him. The way the sunlight hit the earth, the shadows, and how the leaves rustled from a breeze while watching closely the dimensionality of objects and their shapes.

It was too bad he didn't have his sketchbook with him. It would've been nice to just sit on the bench and let his mind wander. From a distance, he could see a nicely built bridge that would've been fun to paint, along with all the vivid greenery from the vibrantly kept grass and oak trees that surrounded him. A buzzing sound abruptly interrupted his thoughts all of a sudden, Damian looked down and reached for his phone that was inside the front pouch pocket of his red hooded sweater. Upon checking, it was a call coming from an endearing friend of his. 

"Happy Birthday, Damian!!" A very loud, obnoxiously excited voice shouted on the other line, forcing Damian to pull away his phone to protect his ear for a second. 

"Thanks, Maya. How's Goliath doing?"

The young girl scoffed. "Gee, I'm doing great, thanks for asking! How about you? Ha, ha, you twerp. Goliath is doing great."

Damian chuckled. It was nice hearing back from her, it had been a while since they last saw each other.  "Good to know. Where have you been off lately?"

"You know, just traveling. Goliath is a great travel buddy, by the way, he's the best. But I was gonna tell you, I decided to settle down now."

The boy raised his eyebrow in confusion. "What do you mean? Isn't that what you've been doing?"

"No, not really... I don't do my dad's job anymore, sure, but I've been searching for my mom for months, and I'm not getting anywhere. I don't even know if she's alive... And I'm just tired of feeling stuck. I don't want to be stagnant anymore, and this is probably a waste of time, anyways. My mind keeps coming back to my mom and I know that if she was here, she would tell me to focus on my life..."

"Maya, it's not a waste of time, we'll find your mother--"

"So I decided I'm going to school." Maya finished, happily.

"School? That's your version of settling down?"

"Yeah, I'm turning fourteen at the end of this year, Damian, I can't just ignore my education."

"Tt. And here I thought you were going to say something worthy of attention--"

"Jerk. Anyways, enough about me, what are you doing for your birthday?! It's your special day!"

"It's merely another day, Maya." Before Damian could continue his thoughts, his phone started to vibrate from several messages, most of them coming from Grayson, but there was one from Pennyworth, informing him he would be out to run some errands and that there wasn't a need for Damian to rush back home, which was nice of the butler to say.

"No way, it's your birthday! You gotta do something--" A loud growling noise seemed to distract the girl because she was no longer paying attention to the conversation. Her voice sounded more distant, but Damian could hear her shouting, "Goliath, get out of there!" There was a thud sound followed by a screech; the exact sound Goliath made whenever he threw a tantrum.

"Is everything okay?"

"Hey, sorry, yes, Goliath was just trying to eat a freaking boat, that weirdo. Ah, crap, Goliath just dropped the fisherman out of the boat. Um, I gotta go, but hey, make sure to celebrate your birthday, kay? Send me pictures!"

"You know I won't do such a thing."

"Fine, I'll make Jon do it, then. Bye! Happy birthday!" Maya said, hurriedly, but kept the same enthusiasm as earlier. She clearly didn't notice that the call was still going as Damian heard her yelling in the background, "Goliath, out! Oh, my gosh, I'm so sorry, sir--" With a laugh, Damian ended the call for her.

He stared at his phone, letting go a small sigh; Maya tended to be a bit too energetic sometimes, but not as much as Grayson, apparently. He checked his phone again and was surprised to see so many unread messages and 2 missed calls. Did Grayson not have anything better to do with his day? Reluctantly, Damian clicked on the message icon on his phone. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

You're turning 13, I can't believe it!!! Are you excited? 

Dami! What do you wanna do today?

Museum? Arcade?

Alfie told me you went out with Titus, cool! 

Hey, um, what time are you coming home again?

You don't have any plans for today, right? Damian?

Geez, Grayson was hovering again. All he wanted was to enjoy a quiet, peaceful day by himself, was that too much to ask? With another sigh, he decided to call that overly needy brother of his. To his surprise, however, Grayson didn't answer, so he decided to message him back. 

I have no plans, and you better not plan for anything either. And thank you for the happy birthday message.

***

Damian had spent longer than he imagined at the park and even Titus was looking tired after running so much. After ensuring Titus was hydrated, they made their way back home. It was a decent walk, not too close, but not too far from the manor either. The fact that Grayson was taking a while to respond was strange, though. Why would Grayson ignore him after bombarding him with messages just a few minutes ago? The boy shrugged, Grayson would eventually get back to him.

Since birthdays were supposed to be commemorated, this was one of the best ways for his day to be celebrated; Being left alone to his thoughts, just him and Titus. The day went a little similar to the year before, actually. On his twelfth birthday, Damian requested Father and Pennyworth to not make much out of his day, to which, thankfully, they respectfully listened. Father was overall so apprehensive on how to approach his youngest on this marking day, that he ended up being willing to comply with any of Damian's wishes, as strange as they sounded, unlike his brothers, who clearly could care less and came to bother him anyways. Damian didn't mind their company, to be truthful, but it was an odd sensation coming back from the dead. Rather than desiring to celebrate this new chance at life that was granted to him, he felt worse. It was a reminder of how he miserably failed in his fight against Heretic. 

Damian reached for his chest from where he was stabbed. It happened two years ago but the images were still so vivid sometimes. If it wasn't for his family, he wouldn't be here. Walking alongside Titus, feeling the relaxing humidity in the post-rain air...

Coming back to life definitely put things into perspective.

He got back to the manor and found himself completely alone in the large mansion. The silence was nice at first, but as a few minutes went by, it felt too... quiet. Morbid, almost. Damian checked his phone again, Pennyworth was still out, occupied with errands. Father and Drake were both at WE working, and no one else lived in the manor. Nothing from Grayson still. He decided to try calling his older brother again.

No answer. 

The dark-haired boy shrugged and went to the study room to start painting. Titus followed him and Alfred, the cat, came to join them as well, jumping on the desk that was right next to him as he gathered all his painting supplies. He decided to draw the rain, with melancholic raindrops touching the ground on a gloomy Gotham. After what felt like hours, Damian checked his phone again. 2 hours had gone by, and still no sign from Pennyworth or Grayson. He tried calling them both, but no one answered his calls.

He was getting worried now. Was Pennyworth okay? What was taking him so long? And why would Grayson disappear on him all of a sudden? Damian could feel his body tense up. He left his canvas behind and decided to go investigate, Titus immediately came to him, staying by his side. The boy walked down the long hallway, his footsteps being the only sound echoing off the walls. Surely, the mansion was notoriously large and currently empty, but the continuous silence was increasingly worrisome. Damian checked his phone again to see if there were any notifications from someone entering the cave, but there was nothing. 

A somber sensation of being watched suddenly came to him. Damian took a deep breath. What was he so nervous about? Whoever invaded his home was going to pay severely. He could handle it. He continued inspecting the rooms, staying as vigilant as ever. He kept on walking until he stumbled across a large mirror hanging in the hall, which startled him. It was only his reflection, of course, but his face... His face looked more mature. Adult, almost.

He was staring at Heretic.

Those same daring green eyes, filled with hatred, stared right back at him. He watched his clone holding onto his sword, raising it high enough so he could pierce through Damian's body again. A warm liquid started running down Damian's chest, the pain sinking in, with each of his breaths getting shorter and shorter... He fought hard to take one last inhale, but his legs and body were giving up on him. The pain throbbed, and his chest was bleeding out nonstop. Everything was going dark... Damian shook his head. 

Those damn intrusive thoughts again. Without even noticing, he was holding his chest again. Damian focused on his breathing. He was okay. It was just his reflection, he was fine. Father told him how his mother killed the clone, and Heretic was gone. After concluding that he was definitely home alone and how stupid this whole thing was, he decided to go downstairs to the cave. Maybe some training would help him let off some steam and release all that tension coming from his own head. Feeling at ease again, Damian inserted the codes to open the access to the cave and took the elevator going down. As he arrived at the cave, the lights came on out of nowhere, making his heart hammer in panic.

"SURPRISE!"

Without even thinking, Damian automatically threw his Batarang, almost hitting Stephanie in the eye in the process. Titus started barking but was quickly excited with all the commotion.

"Hey, be careful!" The blonde commented as she ducked. 

"I warned you all that a surprise would not be the best approach for Master Damian," Pennyworth scolded, with clear disappointment in his voice.  

There was an awkward atmosphere amongst the family after Pennyworth's obvious disapproval of their surprise act, and everyone looked like they were quite embarrassed from scaring Damian. The birthday boy, however, just hoped he didn't look too palish from the scare. The last thing he needed was to look vulnerable in front of his family.

Pennyworth was the first to approach him, giving him a warm hug. "My deepest apologies for startling you, Master Damian. We all wish you a very happy birthday." 

Damian returned the hug without exactly knowing what to say. So that explained why Pennyworth mysteriously disappeared, the man was busy with all the preparations. The cave was fully decorated, and even the large dinosaur had a little birthday hat with a large 'happy birthday' banner hung next to it. It was a little funny seeing the dark, serious cave looking all happy and festive. There was another banner hung on top of the Batcomputer and there were colorful balloons everywhere. The large table where Father would discuss missions with his family was filled with cupcakes, sandwiches, spinach-artichoke dip, and a bowl of chips, as well as other eateries, including a large birthday cake nicely placed in the center. Pennyworth truly went all out. The whole family was there, but a very important person was not found amidst the crowd. 

"Where's Father?" Was all Damian could say upon looking around. 

"He's running a little late due to a meeting he persistently tried to cancel, but couldn't get out of. Rest assured, he'll be arriving in no time." Pennyworth assured, warmly. 

"Happy Birthday, Dami!" Grayson came running to him, greeting the boy with a massive hug. "I just saw that I missed your calls, so sorry about that. I didn't have my phone with me when I was decorating. Hanging that birthday sign on the dinosaur was a pain."  

The thought of the acrobat hanging a sign attached to the dinosaur was pretty amusing. "You're the one who put that in there?"

"Yeah, with my help!" Drake added, approaching the two. "It's not as easy as you might think, you know. Dick forgot the freaking tack, and all Jason did was watch and stuff himself with food."

"Hey, we can't let Alfred's food go to waste!" Todd defended. 

Drake ignored him and continued, putting his hands on his waist as he admired their accomplished work. "I must say, being on top of the dinosaur was quite nostalgic. Remember when you tried to kill me that one time? Good times!"

Damian rolled his eyes. The two had already gone through enough near-to-death experiences and dangerous adventures together to work through the problems and insecurities they used to share. They were both over the whole 10-year-old child - assassin-trying-to-replace-Drake thing. "You know I regret what I did to you."

"Yeah, I know. Still not gonna let it go, though." Drake teased, ruffling his little brother's hair, which he hated. "Happy birthday, demon."

"I hate you."

"Love you too!"

Gordon, Cain, and Brown were the next ones coming to him to wish him a happy birthday. The cave got loud rather quickly, everyone excitingly talking at the same time. Jason busied himself with the eateries, Dick and Barbara were engaged in a conversation about random things, Tim and Stephanie encouraging Titus to jump at Jason just to mess with him, while Cassandra went to stroke Bat-cow behind the ear, her favorite spot. It was actually not bad watching everyone have fun and be so carefree. No one was wearing their uniforms; Ironic, since they were throwing a birthday party in a place of work. It was like being back at the park, relaxing and peaceful, despite the loudness and excitement coming from the crowd. Being next to people who cared about him wasn't too bad, after all. Damian gave a faint smile but then noticed Pennyworth looking over his shoulder at the sound of footsteps from the stairs behind them. He followed the man's gaze, and to his surprise, Father was the one who had arrived, at last. 

"Father!" Damian shouted, running to him, excitedly. 

"Damian!" Father happily extended his arms to receive their warm embrace. He hugged his youngest so intensely that Damian felt his body crush a little. Bruce then pulled away from the hug and looked at his son's eyes with pride and gratitude written all over his face. "Happy birthday, son. Another year of life."

"Honestly, Father, you need to stop treating each birthday as if it was my last one. I am going to be just fine."

"Of course you are," Father responded, tenderly ruffling Damian's hair. The boy hated when others did it, but for some reason, it wasn't as irritating when it came from Father. 

Todd interrupted with an excited clap. "Alright, enough cheesiness, let's get the party started!" He then grabbed a nicely wrapped present that was on the floor, next to the Batcomputer, and came closer to his little brother, handing him the present. "Come on, open your first gift! This one's mine, the best gift you'll ever get all night." 

Damian eagerly unwrapped the gift, curious to see what it was. He was starting to get excited, but as soon as he opened the lid, a huge scowl spread across his face. It was a stupid purple plastic toy gun for little children. Todd burst out laughing.

"See, it even has pretty sounds and shiny lights for you to play with!"  Teased Jason, forcing Damian to pull the fake trigger, making the toy light up with colors and play ridiculous songs. 

Damian glared daggers at him in response, which only made Jason laugh even more. He was about to freaking murder his brother when Stephanie stepped in to interrupt them.

"Forget Jason's dumb gift, open mine!" Brown handed him a medium-sized squared-shaped box, wrapped in a Batman logo paper.

He ripped the wrapping paper, intrigued, and was surprised to see that Brown had given him a new sketchbook and two sets of pencils from his favorite brand. "Oh, Father already got me a newer sketchbook a few weeks ago..." Damian mentioned, without thinking much of it. Once he looked up from his gift, however, he noticed the blonde's disconcerted look on her face. She seemed so disappointed with herself. To remedy the situation, Damian quickly added, "But one won't be enough, I'm happy to have more! Thank you."

"Aww, you're welcome, little D!" Steph warmly replied as if nothing had happened, pulling Damian in for a hug.

Tim cut in. "Ok, now to the next one!'' 

Damian looked at the pile of gifts that was next to him and he chose the largest one of them, which put a huge stupid grin on Tim's face. 

"Yeah! That's mine!" Obviously, Damian thought to himself.

Intrigued, he started opening his gift. The box was pretty long and was sealed very securely. After ripping off all the tapes and wrapping paper, Damian was taken aback by the reveal, furrowing his eyebrows in response. "A Katana?" The young boy took a moment to fully study the blade, paying careful attention to all the other details also. "It doesn’t have sharp enough edges. Do you even know anything about swords, Drake?"

"Quit being an ass and just take the gift, you brat!" Tim slapped his little brother on the head, while definitely noticing the quick smirk on the brat's face.

He went on for his next gift and chose one of the smallest packages this time. It was so perfectly wrapped that it could only come from Pennyworth himself. Such presumption ended up being correct as there was a little note indicating who it was from. He unwrapped it a little bit more gently this time and was delighted to see that it was a beautiful picture of the whole family together.

"Pennyworth, this is--"

"Very thoughtful. That’s a nice picture you got of the family, Alfred!" Finished Bruce, just in case his son said something insensitive accidentally, which was practically Damian’s second nature. Damian walked to Pennyworth and gave him a tight hug. 

"So you never forget how much you are loved, Master Damian," Pennyworth whispered. 

"Thank you." The boy whispered back, smiling. Words would never be enough to thank all that Alfred had done for him and his family. 

The next item chosen came from Gordon, the gift was inside a blue and silver plastic bag with several wrapping papers to fill the bag and hide the present. As Damian eagerly threw all the decorative papers aside, a huge grin spread on his face.

"Toys for my pets!" Damian shouted enthusiastically, pulling out each one of the squeaky toys for Titus and Alfred, the cat. "Titus needed a new one after he destroyed his chewy ball! This is great, they'll love these!" Damian then turned to Titus, who was way hyper from having played so much that day. "Titus, catch!" Titus stopped what he was doing and excitedly jumped, catching his chewy ball in the air. He proceeded to chew his ball and run around the cave like crazy, clearly enjoying the new toy. 

Barbara smiled, proudly, while all the boys stared at her in disbelief. Stephanie and Cassandra, on the other hand, weren't as shocked, and they occupied themselves by tossing the chewy ball around for Titus to catch. 

"How are you so good at this?" The boys asked. Outside of Alfred's sentimental gift, only Barbara was successful in making the boy have the happiest of smiles so far. She crossed her arms and shrugged, smirking at them. Babs was fully aware that she was just that good.  

The next present was inside a smaller rectangular-shaped package. Judging from the size, it looked like it would be sunglasses or similar. The package had Cassandra's name on it. He opened it and it was a beautifully thoughtful present from one ex-assassin to another. 

"A pocket knife!"

"It has your initials engraved," Cassandra added, softly, with a reassuring smile on her face.

"Wow. This is amazing." Damian looked up at Cassandra, giving a genuine, heartwarming smile as a way to thank her, which she easily picked it up from her body language reading skills. Even though they shared so much in common with their past upbringings, they never grew to be very close and get to know each other. Cassandra was very reserved and usually spent time with Tim or Barbara and Steph.  

"Alright, my turn," Father said, eager to see his son's reaction. 

Damian immediately got very excited, he couldn't wait to see what Father had gotten him. It was going to be good, it had to be. He gladly took the gift Father handed to him and unwrapped the box very quickly. Once he opened the box, he was met with an impeccably made Robin mask. He pulled out the mask to analyze it better, and it had added features with additional vision modes that he didn't have before, a digital camera to obtain pieces of evidence just like Father's cowl, and the best part of it all; An internal computer linked directly to the Batcave computer. Damian would finally be able to have access to people's IDs, medical records, building layouts, and so much more during patrol.

"Woah! I didn't have any of these features before! This is astounding! I can access maps too?" Damian put on the mask and it was incredibly comfortable. It was perfect.

Hm. Too perfect. 

Damian pulled out the mask again to take a second look. He started twisting and turning the mask, then raising it high as if he was inspecting a hundred-dollar bill. He played around with the features, clicking on several options and tabs until he found what he was looking for...

"I knew it! You inserted a tracking device! I knew I couldn't trust you!" Bruce rolled his eyes while his youngest started giving him the biggest lecture, going on and on about how unacceptable that was and how the tracking device on his belt was more than enough. Bruce was not going to explain himself or even apologize for caring about his son's safety and well-being, but, thankfully, Dick came in and broke the little fight by placing his gift right at his brother's hands to switch his attention elsewhere. 

"Last, but not least!" Grayson interrupted, happily. 

Damian raised his eyebrow and opened the gift. It turned out to be one of the video games he had been wanting for weeks.

"The Night Warriors! Yes!" Damian shouted in excitement, to Dick's pleasure. He absolutely loved how happy the kid looked. 

"Alright, let's all hop on the game on the Batcomputer!" Dick waved, directing everyone to the large computer in the cave. 

"YEAH!" The whole family agreed in unison, much to Bruce's dismay. 

"You all know the rules with gaming on the Batcomputer." Bruce lectured. "There's a game room upstairs perfectly suited for occasions such as these--"

"It's my birthday, Father. I get the final say, thus I shall announce: To the Batcomputer, everyone!"

"Attaboy!" Jason jumped in, never missing an opportunity to piss off Bruce more. 

"I'm going to kick your asses!" Tim joined in on the crazy commotion, bringing the controllers as if they had all planned to game at the cave the whole time.

"In your dreams, honey, I'm the queen of fighting games." Steph retorted.

"I wanna see you try!" Damian replied, getting the game started.

Bruce stared at his family and sighed, tiredly. There was no winning with those kids. For someone who swore to work alone his whole life, he surely had a pretty big family. Alfred smiled and did not miss the chance to snap a quick picture of everyone getting together to play games. It was refreshing to see his grandkids act like normal people for once. He was also immensely proud of Bruce for resisting his urges to work incessantly and ignore what mattered the most. The man was changing. Too many losses and too much pain taught him that slowing down was necessary and that he needed to be present in the lives of his children if he wanted to make a difference. That's what made Batman strong. Batman was no longer defined by losses and death, but by the life and joy of his family. 

Before the first gaming battle began, the doorbell rang, and Damian turned around to look up at his father. Was there anyone else they were supposed to be expecting? From Father's reaction, he didn't seem to know the answer to that either. Pennyworth and Father started going upstairs, so Damian handed his controller to Drake and quickly ran to the stairs to join them. There were too many players to play the game all at once, anyways. He could wait his turn to play. 

Pennyworth opened the main gates to let the guests access the main entrance and once the two guests approached, he opened the door. It was none other than Clark Kent with his son, Jonathan, walking to the door, but they were caught in the middle of an argument with Jon looking visibly upset. 

"I told you we'd be late!"

"I'm sorry, Jon, there was nothing we could--"

Jon turned his head and beamed at the sight of his friend standing by the front door. "Damian!" The boy shouted, using his speed to give his best friend the tightest hug.

"Oof--!" Damian could barely breathe from that super-speed hug. 

"Sorry, we were late. We missed the whole party, didn't we?"

"I suppose--"

"See, dad? What did I tell you?" Jon immediately turned back to his dad to complain again.

"I know, I know, it was my fault. I shouldn't have talked to the cops for as long as I did."

"We shouldn't have lingered with any cops! At all!" Jon emphasized, then turned to his friend to explain himself. "Sorry. Mom was stuck at work, and dad and I were on our way, but of course Amazo had to show up and terrorize Metropolis again."

"I'm more disappointed I didn't get to kick Amazo's ass, to be honest," Damian admitted.

"Meh, he'll come back. We'll have our turn soon."

"Let's not hope for that," Clark added in a forceful tone, briefly squeezing his son's shoulder. 

"Gentleman, let us come inside." Pennyworth greeted.

They walked inside the manor and Jon was chatting, excitedly. 

"Did you like the surprise? Dick was telling me all about it this morning. I wish I was there to see the look on your face!"

"You knew?"

"Of course, dummy. It's a surprise party! Was this your first one?"

Damian paused, which pretty much answered Jon's question. 

"Oh, right. Did they ever celebrate your birthday when you were in the League?

Damian wasn't sure how to respond to that. There were many memories of his birthdays, but the one he could remember with the most details was his eighth birthday when he was a week or two behind what Grandfather expected him to be. He had spent the whole day being drilled and practically punished for giving up. Birthdays to him really just meant new trials with new murders to come. 

"Not quite. I mean, yes, my birthday was observed, but always accompanied by a challenge to be conquered."

Jon blinked, slightly regretful for asking. "Oh, gotcha. Um. Hey, I got you a gift!" He added, abruptly handing the gift to his friend.

Damian shot his friend a suspicious look before going back to his present. Jon looked so excited, he was almost giddy, just waiting to see what his best friend's reaction would be. From the weight and size, it was going to be a book. Damian unwrapped the paper and gasped at the sight of the beautifully preserved War and Peace book.

"The first edition of War and Peace?" He asked, in disbelief. 

"Yep, in Russian and everything!" Jon added, happily. "I don't get why you're fascinated by these things, but I hope you like it... I know it's not as great as Art of War, I'm sorry. I would have to travel through time and search for bamboo slats for that book's first edition and there was no way I could--"

"How did you get a hold of this?" 

"Well, my parents are quite the reporters, and my mom knows some people," Jon answered, proudly. 

"Wow." Damian's eyes were shining in awe as he ran through the pages, appreciating the rarity he possessed in his hands. "Wow." He repeated, looking up at his friend with a genuine smile. "Thank you, Jon!"

"Any time, buddy." Jon was surprised to be met with a hug. There was no better gift than seeing his friend so happy. 

"Alright, now let's get going so we can show everyone who's the true boss of Night Warriors!"

"No way, that game came out already?"

"Yep, and it's being played as we speak! Time to humiliate my family!"

Jon laughed. "Let's do it!"

Clark and Bruce watched as their sons raced to the Batcave.

"You're letting them play at the Batcave now?" Clark asked, curious.

"No." Bruce grunted irritably. 

***

The evening was quite joyful, contrary to what Damian imagined it to be at first. Overall, it was a great birthday celebration, if not the best one he had ever had. Damian didn't even mind not going out at night with his father to go on patrol when the time came. No one joined Batman either, except for Superman, which of course made Father act all grumpy even though it was obvious he didn't mind the company. 

After all the partying and gaming, everyone departed and went their separate ways. Damian was on his way to his bedroom, yawning when he met with his father in the hallway. Father was already dressed in his sleep attire. 

"You came home earlier."

"Patrol wasn't too eventful this time, thankfully," Father replied, sounding reassuring. "Did you have fun?"

Damian wasn't sure if being honest would show too much of a weakness on his part, so he hesitated. "...Yes. Yes, I did."

"Good." Bruce kneeled to get to his son's level so he could look him in the eyes. "I don't tell you this enough, but I'm proud of you, Damian."

Bruce ruffled his son's hair and smiled at him tenderly. He stood up and started heading to his bedroom upstairs, but his son snapped his attention. "Father?"

"Yes?" He said, looking back at his son. 

"Thank you."

Bruce knew his youngest wasn't referring to the earlier comment. There was something more his youngest wanted to say, but he wouldn't probably mention it unless asked. "What for?"

Damian paused. "For bringing me back. I'm happy to be here and... Have another year of life."

Bruce walked in closer and kneeled once more, placing his hands on his son's shoulders, tenderly, yet firmly. "With many, many more to come. Happy birthday, son." 

The two hugged in silence before parting ways. 

Damian resumed his way to his bedroom and started getting ready for bed. It started raining in the evening, and it was going to be quite relaxing to sleep at the sound of raindrops. Even though the warmth of the desert was at times nostalgic, it was also nice to simply hear the rain battering the roof and pelting the window as his thoughts washed away through sleep. He was eager to get a good rest after the busy day he had, but before he could go to bed, an interesting item placed on his desk caught his eye. 

A box.

No label or name tag, nothing. Damian opened the lid and inside laid a dead robin bird with a letter attached to it, filled with blood.

You're only alive to celebrate your birthday because I allowed it. Come home. The time has come for you to fulfill your legacy.

Damian crumbled the letter in anger. Grandfather. He searched the room to see if there was anything else to be found, but there was nothing else. Of course, Grandfather had to ruin his evening, of course. No longer relaxed, Damian lay on his bed without bothering to cover himself with the blankets, feeling beyond irritated. Even though his eyes were fighting to stay open, the adrenaline and anger took the best of him, filling his body with hatred. It was hard enough to learn that his entire life's purpose was all a manipulation tactic from Grandfather and then forever have the struggle with his inner killing instincts, but now this? 

Why couldn't he be allowed to just move on for once?

He just wanted the past to stay where it belonged instead of haunting him. Damian lay on his bed, awake, just staring at the ceiling while his mind went to a million places. He had grown so accustomed to witnessing so much death and massacres, but he was done with that life. After a few minutes went by, he closed his eyes. Hopefully, sleeping would make things better, and he would know what to do the following day. He was finally starting to fall asleep when a strange sound came from the window. It wasn't the rain drumming on the windows, no, it was something else. 

A person. 

He immediately jumped from his bed, his heart racing. Damian grabbed the Katana that Drake gave him that was left on the floor, next to all the other gifts that were neatly piled up by Pennyworth. The thirteenth-old boy approached the window, ready to attack whoever decided to invade his home. With his sword at hand, he opened the curtains just to be surprised at the sight of his mother, dramatically standing by the window in the rain.

"Damian... Happy birthday, my son." Talia spoke, softly. She was dressed in a cloak, the hoodie protecting her hair from the heavy rain. 

"Mother?"

Talia came inside to step out of the rain. 

"Thirteen years of age... You're a young man now." Talia walked closer to her son, letting go of her daughter of the Demon persona. She kneeled and hugged her sweet boy tightly. "I’m so happy to see you."

"I am happy to see you as well, mother. I've missed you."

"I missed you too, Habibi. We were both granted the chance to live again and yet, something tells me that neither of us have been truly living." Talia paused, giving a good look at her son while she gently ran her fingers through his hair. “I should’ve visited you more often last year. I want you to know that no one will ever be more important to me than you, my son. I love you so much, Damian."

Damian felt somewhat ashamed of himself, he never got the chance to show how much he loved his mother before she died. "And I love you too, Mother. Forgive me for the times I didn't show it."

"You've done nothing wrong, habibatan. I am the one with much to atone for. All I can hope for is to be forgiven by you, someday."

“You are not to blame, Mother. The League… It does things to people, and the Lazarus Pit corrupts the souls who touch it."

Talia gave a warm smile, she couldn't be more proud of her dear boy. She thanked him as she pulled her son for one more hug. 

There was a peaceful silence in the room as the two cherished that intimate moment together. After pulling away from the hug, Damian noticed he was still holding his Katana. He smirked as he spotted another one of his swords hanging on his bedroom wall.

”Care for a birthday battle? For old sake’s time?” The ex-assassin asked as he reached for the second sword to hand it to his mother.

Talia thought for a second about what the appropriate answer would be but she smiled in agreement. Both got ready to spar on the balcony the moment Damian tossed the sword at Talia. 

“I take it you had a good day?” Talia asked as she blocked her son's movement with her sword, he was the first to attack. 

“Yes. It's been quite adequate." Damian attempted to hit his mother again, but he kept getting blocked. "...But I have a feeling you are not here to talk about my day.

“...I wanted to see you. Today is a significant day, and I care about you."

"I know, mother, but there's more. Do tell. Please."

Talia gave a sad sigh. "Your grandfather said he sent you a gift?” 

“Not a gift, a threat. A dead robin.” 

“Damian..." They continued exchanging blows, parrying each other's attacks. "We can both heal old wounds together. You know my father would welcome you back to the League at any time." Talia spun and disarmed her son, which caught him off guard. She finished her last move by resting her sword on Damian's neck.

“Is that what you want?” The dark-haired boy asked, stoic, even though he had just lost his customary birthday duel. 

Talia paused as she put the sword away back in Damian's room. It didn’t matter who won. “Yes, that is what I want; to have you by my side, that is.” She moved closer to her boy, placing her hands on his shoulders while looking at him with true sorrow in her eyes. "Damian, I never had a say in my fate and I don't desire the same for you. For so long I thought surpassing my father would be the greatest honor one could have, the best gift I could give you as your mother... But I was wrong. You are your own person and you must choose your path -- as my son, and the grandson of Ra's al Ghul... Or the son of Batman.

Damian still wasn't quite sure who he truly was, despite having chosen to be at his father's side. He stood by the curtains, next to the balcony, in silence as he uncomfortably stared at the floor, not knowing what to say. 

"There's one more thing you must know." Damian looked up, intrigued. "As you may remember, thirteen marks the year of the Demon's Fist... And you are not the only one to celebrate your thirteenth year of birth. The ceremonial hunt will begin soon and--"

“Who chose me as a quarry, mother?” Damian immediately interrupted. He needed to know. 

Talia hesitated for a moment. “...Mara.” 

“HER? After everything Aunt Nyssa did to you? To me? I will not allow it! How could Grandfather tolerate this? How is Mara even allowed to be in the League?” 

"A year ago, Tamir attempted to invade the Lazarus Pit. We killed all the assassins who came with them, but Tamir managed to get away. Mara, on the other hand, was left behind. My father was about to kill her... But her life was spared instead."

"What? Why? Grandfather doesn’t believe in second chances."

"Precisely why I insisted that my father granted her a chance to live." 

Damian scowled in response. "Mother, why were they trying to get to the Lazarus Pit?"

"I-- I believe Tamir wants to revive Nyssa. He didn't take her body with him, however, so I am not quite sure what he was trying to do, perhaps he only needed an extract of the Pit... It would be impossible to bring her back at this rate, though. No one can be revived after staying dead for an entire year."

If Jason was able to be brought back to life, the same could be applied to Nyssa. Damian had seen enough in his life to know that anything could be possible. The boy curled his fists in anger, being forced to hold his tongue if he wanted everyone in his home to remain unaware of Talia's presence. He wished he could punch something, the mere thought of Aunt Nyssa being back made his blood boil. 

Damian squinted his eyes in anger, asking with spite in his voice. "And yet you wished for Mara to live?!" 

"She was not to blame for her mother's actions, Damian," Talia explained, sternly. "Nyssa was vicious, but her daughter remains guiltless. It's just saddening to see her being trapped in the League once more when she could've been free... My father would never allow her to leave and he has been even more ruthless with the poor girl ever since she was forced to obey him in exchange for her life."

"This is absurd, mother. I don't understand how you could ever feel this way toward her. Mara is as bad as her mother and she should not be taken lightly!"

"Can't you see? My father is using Mara to lure you back to us, Damian. His arduous desire is for you to return to us."

“Tt. I’m going to show her there is no mercy.” 

“Be wise with your actions, my son. Your revenge on Mara may be exactly what your grandfather wants from you. I tried to stop him, but you know how your grandfather is once his mind is made up. I can't stop Mara, but I can at least warn you so you are prepared."

Damian held his head in frustration. “I wish I could just erase her from my mind… Her and all the rest of my nightmarish childhood.”

Talia exchanged a sullen look, feeling deeply ashamed of herself. “If that’s how you feel… I’ll leave you. But first, I have something… A gift for this birthday…" Talia reached for her son's hand and placed in his palm a small rounded ancient artifact that was made of old iron with an emerald gem inside. It also contained a few Arabic words and symbols in it, looking a lot similar to a Solomon talisman pendant or something.

"Is this a talisman--?"

"It belonged to your great-grandmother. This has been in the family for centuries, my father tested it before to see if it contained any magical abilities, but nothing was found. He gifted me with this on my birthday as a sentimental family gift, so I wanted to do the same for you. Keep the tradition alive."

Damian wrapped his hand around the talisman and looked up at his mother with a reassuring smile. He appreciated the thought and looked forward to doing the same when he had offspring of his own.

"Thank you, Mother."

Talia put on her hood before going back to the rain. She kissed her son on the forehead before leaving. "Be careful, my son. Don't forget the Demon's Fist will be watching your every move... The places you attend, the people you surround yourself with... Just be safe.” 

"I will."

With that, Talia went to the balcony and left, her semblance disappearing with the heavy rain that refused to stop. Damian stared at the gloomy rainy sky with a determined look on his face.

He was going to put an end to all the torment his cousin could possibly bring him and his family.

Chapter Text

The sky was opened with beautiful scattered clouds after a long rainy night. Bright orange and yellow rays spread around the magnificent sun reflected in the vast blue ocean, which could be seen from the windows in the Titans' tower. Starfire stretched her arms as she admired the fresh morning air, appreciating the peace and quietness of it all. She loved to take a moment to witness one of the true beauties of the world before everyone else woke up. Every sunrise offered a new beginning, a new day to appreciate. She was no longer bound to suffer at the hands of her sister, that life full of atrocities was long gone and buried in the past. 

She was an adult and the leader of the Teen Titans now. Today was going to be a joyful one since the team was planning on throwing a little birthday party for Damian, he deserved that much. Kori was eager for the day ahead of her, she had already purchased all the food and decorations, and now she was just waiting for everyone to wake up so they could put up the festivities together. She had messaged Dick, asking him to not drop Damian until they were ready, and her long-time friend, whom she used to date, mentioned what a great idea it was, but everyone just needed to be wary in case Damian didn't react too well with the party. His younger brother was not very fond of surprises, it seemed. Kori understood, of course, so she was going to make sure to not scare Damian too much with the surprise. 

It was going to be a great day.

Starfire started putting out all the decorations on the kitchen countertop to give a jump start to the party preparation. She remembered that a bag of balloons that she had bought was kept in one of the rooms near the training center. On her way there, she noticed the training room's door was left unlocked, which was odd. Kori did not recall leaving it open, she always ensured to lock the door any time they were done practicing indoors, but each member of the team knew the code to get inside in case they wanted to train by themselves. Out of everyone, Emiko and Damian were the ones who used the training room the most, especially in the mornings. She went inside to check if anyone was there, but there was no one. A strange box, however, was found on the desk, by the large computer screen where the training simulation was played. 

The box had Kori's name in it, a bit suspicious. She grabbed the box to inspect it more closely and opened the lid, revealing a black perfume inside. Attached to the perfume was a blue post-it note that read:

Thank you for having me on the team.

- Damian

"Aw, Damian. Your birthday was yesterday, we should be the ones gifting you!" Kori thought out loud, appreciating the thoughtful gift. She sprayed the perfume on her wrist to smell it, but the smell was awful. She closed her eyes tightly while taking a few steps backward, being forced to cough pretty hard to expel the horrible fragrance from her lungs. She continued to cough but she suddenly felt dizzy... Her perception of space and time was no longer the same, the room felt like it was spinning and her consciousness was slowly vanishing...

...Until everything went dark.

*****

Dick had warned Starfire that Damian was far from normal and didn't do well with people. She was also aware that the kid hated surprises and being the center of unwanted attention. What she didn't expect, however, was to be found in the middle of a forest with power-dampening cuffs next to all her teammates with Robin standing right in front of them with his arms crossed and a proud cynical smile plastered all over his face. What in the world was that kid up to?

The rest of the Teen Titans started to regain their consciousness at around the same time, which only meant the sleeping gas was precisely timed to dissipate at that time.

"Robin, where are we?" Starfire asked, sternly.  

"What the hell--?" Blue Beetle was the first to freak out once he saw both of his lower arms tied by black metal cuffs that dampened his suit abilities. He looked up and saw Robin standing in front of him with an air of superiority. "Dude, what is wrong with you?"

"Robin? Why are we--" Djinn asked, confused.

"Awn, we were too slow!" Bart complained. "Sorry we didn't surprise you sooner, I knew we should've thrown you a party on your actual birthday!"

“Turning 13 years of age is a curse, Allen. I don’t need you or anyone to do anything for me in that matter. Every second is crucial for survival, and we cannot allow ourselves to be distracted by mundane things."

"Explain yourself, Damian. What is the meaning of all this?” Starfire demanded, firmly.

“This was obviously a test, and you all failed!" Damian responded with his usual arrogant tone. 

"What are you talking about?" Emiko questioned angrily, struggling to get out of her cuffs. 

"A test?" Blue Beetle interrupted, perplexed.

"Not fair, we weren't even ready!" Bart defended himself.

Robin pointed his index finger at the group as he warned, "You think the enemy will wait until you’re ready? You think they play fair? No! You cannot let your guard down! We have to be prepared at all times. Starfire, let's start with you."

Oh, boy, Kori thought to herself. Where was Robin going with this?

"Emiko, what you did was quite formidable and exactly what I would expect of you." Red Arrow rolled her eyes, she wanted to punch the little prick for patronizing her like that. Who did Robin think he was, their boss? "You correctly inspected the gift I sent you and threw it away, well done. But I knew you wouldn't be easily fooled, so I poisoned your arrows. Always inspect your weapons of choice!"

The girl scowled, shocked by what she had just heard. "You went in my room?!" 

"Now, you, Djinn." Robin turned to the genie, who had barely said anything. She looked deeply disappointed with her colleague. "You are a powerful genie, you have magic, something that none of us possess. But the mere sound of Elias makes you freeze? Who's Elias?"

Djinn frowned. "You tossed an electrical web grenade in my bathroom that paralyzed me." 

"Sure, but you could've easily deflected! Turned the bomb into the air or something! Make it disappear, phase through it! But you just stood there at the mention of this 'Elias'. Who is he?"

Djinn glared at him with daggers in her eyes. She refused to admit how truly terrified she was of Elias, it was none of anyone's business.

"The only one who can remain blameless is Blue Beetle!" Damian continued.

"Wait, what?" Jaime asked, not believing what he was hearing. Was Robin seriously being nice to him, of all people?

"He noticed the strange device I hid in his room and he had every intention to toss it out the window, but he was electrocuted before his suit could protect him, which only proves how stupidly dependent you are on your suit, Beetle! If someone finds a way to fry your armor's circuits, what will you do then, Reyes? Huh?"

"Oh my gosh, I'm gonna kill this kid," Jaime whispered to himself. "How are you stalking us like that, did you hide a freaking camera in our rooms?"

"You creep!" Complained Emiko.

Starfire sighed. "Robin, we appreciate your efforts in helping the team be more prepared for all things, but this is not the way to do it. Our team is founded on trust, not the lack of it."

"I knew Batman was crazy, but this is on a whole new level of paranoia!" Teased Beetle turning to his friend, Bart.

"You don't remember how Tim got sometimes?" Bart whispered so only Jaime would hear. Both of them had worked with Red Robin before and they were well aware of Tim's anxious overthinking tendencies and contingency plans. The only difference is that he wasn't... Psycho about it. 

"What you did was wrong, Damian..." Djinn started. "But it sounds to me that you have a feeling that someone is coming for us."

“Someone is coming, Djinn. The enemy. The Demon’s Fist. A school of assassins presided over by Ra's Al Ghul himself. The granddaughter of the Demon is the current leader of the Demon's Fist and her final task - before turning 13 in seven days from now, thus graduating into the league - is to kill a target of her choice. She chose me as her quarry, which makes all of you a potential target by association. You are all in danger, which is why I brought you all to the outskirts of San Francisco so that we won't be found. We need time to train so we can be ready--"

"Robin, we're going to get through this and fight. Together." Starfire assured. 

"Soo can someone turn off these power-dampening cuffs? My arms are starting to hurt now." Bart grumbled, uncomfortable. 

Damian was about to free his teammates when an electric blast suddenly hit Bart in the back of his head.

"Ouch! What was that?" Impulse asked, loudly. He tried looking around and phasing out of his cuffs again until he realized there was something very wrong with him. "Um, guys? I can't move! At all!"

Robin turned around to see if he could find where the blast came from but he was startled at the sight of a grenade being dropped right next to them. He jumped out of the giant smoke that came out of the grenade, Red Arrow doing the same by rolling out of the way on a backflip. Starfire also got out of the way just in time, but the rest wasn't so lucky. Bart was immobilized and before Djinn and Blue Beetle could understand what was going on and attempt to get out of the cloudy smoke, they were hit by an electrical field that was activated amidst the mist, electrocuting the three of them.

From a distance, a young girl, whose face was hidden by a red devilish mask with horns, stood near a hill. She was accompanied by twenty assassins who followed right behind her.  

Robin widened his eyes in shock, how could he not have noticed them before? And to think the strategy used to defeat the Teen Titans was the same as his...
"No! This wasn't supposed to happen, this isn't how I planned it!" 

Mara approached the team, admiring how powerless the Titans were. "I must say, bringing your teammates directly to a death trap was genius. Nicely done, cousin. Makes the job go a lot faster!" 

"Cousin?!" Emiko frowned, but she had to change focus as several assassins charged at her, attacking her at the same time. She blocked several moves and kicked the assassins who approached her, despite being cuffed. As she fought, she was finally able to finish unlocking the cuffs that kept her arms constricted. Took her long enough. 

Green blasts were sent in her direction, hitting several assassins. Starfire rose in the air, her fists illuminated by bright green starbolts. Her eyes shined in fury as she glared at the enemies who were about to fight them.

"You've been free this whole time?" Emiko asked while she continued fighting the ninjas. 

"A little trick Nightwing taught me a long time ago. I should've freed us all sooner, I just didn't expect to be attacked like this!" Starfire hit more assassins with her blasts but she flew closer to her unconscious teammates to protect them so no one would get hurt. 

"None of us did," Emiko replied, shooting a glare at Damian, who was busy fighting that weird cousin of his.

"How did you find us?" Robin desperately asked while dodging a slash from Mara's sharp bone sickle that was aimed at his neck. She fought more aggressively and faster than Damian remembered. 

"You're not as clever as you think. I placed a tracker on your friend Blue Beetle there and we followed you here. The way you dampened their powers was impressive, by the way. Seems like we didn't even need to use the speed force dampening gun that we got a hold of."

"So that's why Impulse couldn't move. Did you compromise his access to the speed force too?" Robin asked, worried.

"You should be more concerned whether you're coming out of this alive!" Mara stated while lunging forward. 

Robin dodged and threw at his cousin a few of his Batarangs, which the girl blocked with the protective guard she had on her forearm. "What happened to the Demon's Fist, Mara? I only see you with a bunch of blind follower tools!"

"Rules have changed a bit since you left. After my task is completed, then the Demon's Fist will be mine to lead."

Mara tried hitting Robin again with her sickle, but he blocked her with his arm. "My team will not be defeated, Mara!"

"You had a team but you left us because you don't care about anyone other than yourself! You would've been the future leader of the Demon's Fist had you stayed, something you denied out of pure arrogance!"

"As if you cared about any of that either! You're only in the league out of Grandfather's pity!" Damian gave a hard kick to his cousin's stomach, forcing her to gasp for air and backstep to recover. 

Watching her cousin standing in front of her, completely unscathed, infuriated Mara to no end. It was always like this. Damian, the true heir of the Demon, is the perfect child. But no more. "You should've stayed dead, you don't deserve to live!" Mara swang at him with her sickle slicing through the air, but of course, Damian had to dodge again.

She attempted to slice his chest, every vessel of her body filled with hatred. It was not fair. "You think you're so great, don't you? Always two steps ahead of anyone. But guess what, cousin? You're nothing but a failure! Grandfather is ashamed of you, as he should be! You should've never been allowed to live after what you did to my mother!"

Now it was Damian's turn to be mad. How dared Mara accuse him of such a thing after everything that Aunt Nyssa did to him and his mother? On a quick move, Damian grabbed Mara's arm and twisted it, disarming her in the process. He was tempted to dislocate her arm too, but decided against it, choosing to hurt her with his fists instead. "Your mother? Nyssa tortured my mother and even killed her! She created a clone to kill me! If there is any psychopath in this family, it's always been your mother, Mara! I didn't do anything!"

His punches were so hard that made the girl's mask fall off. His cousin was on the ground and Damian was about to throw another punch to her face until something caught his attention; The distinguishable scar in the girl's right eye. Mara was blind in one eye because of him, he did this to her. Damian was so focused on his own pain that he forgot how much affliction he also brought to his family. His actions were no better than Ra's'. The two young assassins were the same age with so much in common, but he always treated his cousin with so much disdain and indifference. She had been suffering all these years with no one to support her, and unlike Damian, she lost both of her parents. She lost everything.

"Aren't you going to kill me?" Mara asked, defiant. She was still pinned to the ground. "Come on, do it! Finish the job!"

Damian regained his senses, his mind wandered off for a second. "Mara..."

Robin stood up and offered his hand for his cousin to get up, which she angrily refused. "I'm not going to kill you. I was too blind by my life's torments that I failed to see what you were going through--"

"Quit holding back!" Mara shouted in fury, reaching for a dagger she had hidden on her thigh. The girl charged at him, successfully stabbing her cousin's waist, to which he grunted in pain in response. "Does this look familiar to you?" Mara asked, pointing to her dagger that was dripping in blood. "It's the same dagger you scarred me with! Can't wait to use it to end your miserable life--!"

Robin blocked her attacks and kept being on the defensive, which only irritated his cousin more. She was about to strike again when she noticed the sudden disturbing silence that surrounded her; The girl looked around and noticed that all the assassins who came with her were dropped unconscious on the ground, and there was no one else left standing beside her. Red Arrow slowly approached them while Starfire flew in their direction. It now became 3 versus 1, when one of them was a super-powered alien, which meant Mara stood no chance. The girl retreated, her fear taking over. 

"No... No... This can't be happening... Grandfather is going to kill me--" There was sheer panic in her voice.

"Mara is your name, correct?" Starfire calmly spoke as she landed in front of the young assassin. Her eyes were still shining in green, making her look quite intimidating, especially after taking down the whole league, but her voice was soft and comforting. "It's okay, you don't have to be afraid. It sounds to me like you've been chained to please your family for far too long. It's not too late to leave it all behind you, Mara. No one should ever have to endure being anyone else's prisoner." 

Mara blinked at the statement. No one had ever shown her so much affection and understanding before, other than her mother. She stared at Starfire with hope in her eyes, fighting back the tears that wanted so badly to come out. No words came to her, she couldn't say anything... Not if she wanted to stay strong and not let herself be overcome by the urge to be vulnerable in front of everyone. She didn't want to go back to the league and face the wrath of her grandfather. Ra's was going to kill her, she just knew, but then she realized... Grandfather was never going to give her a chance, even with Damian being gone. She would never be worthy of Grandfather's approval, no matter how hard she tried, how much she fought. Ra's knew that she would lose, the man probably hoped to see her dead at the hands of her superior cousin, the true heir of the Demon.

She couldn't fight it anymore, the unfairness of it all was too much to bear. She broke down in tears in front of her cousin, the archer, and the alien, who in return just stared at her with pity, most likely. 

"I don't want to die!" Mara painfully cried, covering her face with her hands in hopes of hiding some of the shame. "Grandfather hates me, he always has. He wanted me to lose today, he never believed in me..."

It was so sorrowful watching his cousin suffer like that. Damian now understood why his mother demonstrated compassion towards the girl; Mara didn't deserve any of this. 

"Mara..." Damian repeated, attempting to place his hand on her shoulder, which she rudely rejected by pulling her shoulder back.

"No! This is all happening because of you!" Mara pointed her finger at the boy. "You were always the favorite grandson, the one to be treated with the utmost respect by the entire league, everything was handed to you! I was not fortunate to receive such treatment, I never even got to meet my father, yet you did. This is why my mother did what she did. Even after you and Talia died, Grandfather wanted to revive you two, while both of my parents were killed by his hands!" 

Emiko tried to make amends this time. "Hey. What you went through? Sounds horrible. Not a fan of this short stack either, you know?"

"Hey!" Damian complained, but he was quickly interrupted. 

"But I know a thing or two about how awful and unfair life is. I was kidnapped as an infant and ruthlessly trained by a man who made me think was my dad. For years I knew nothing but pain and violence, but Green Arrow and then later Starfire here helped me leave that life behind. There's still time for you to abandon this poor excuse of a family of yours and be your own person."

"Red Arrow is right," Damian spoke. "Let us help you, cousin. Don't let your bloodline, and all the losses you had to suffer from, define you."

Mara was breathing heavily, fazed by what she was hearing. No one ever encouraged her to be her own person before. Tamir, perhaps, but the man was so obsessed with bringing Nyssa back that she oftentimes felt a bit excluded as an afterthought. He didn't treat her badly, but it wasn't the same feeling she was having now... She took a few steps back, hesitating. The Arabic girl was on the verge of having an anxiety attack, there was too much going on, so much confusion. A part of her wanted so badly to try it out and join them. This team of heroes that her cousin found seemed to be so comforting and safe, something she'd never had in her life... But she was being weak, too foolish to realize how much of a mistake that would be. She knew that the Teen Titans would never give her the same respect Tamir gave her; She would be treated like a joke and her expectations would be unmet like they always were. 

Mara buried her dagger on the floor in front of her cousin. "Let's call it even." The brunette, with a long red streak on her hair, stated. She turned her back to the group and walked away until she could no longer be seen. 

Emiko just stared down at Damian in discontent. "You have a lot of explaining to do."

Chapter Text

The whole team was gathered at the Titans tower, all sitting on the couch looking pretty annoyed, just waiting for what Damian had to say after what happened to all of them. Everyone except Bart, kept zipping from one place to another, eating endless food that he found from the pantry and sometimes, probably from another country, since he got back wearing crazy hats and souvenirs each time he was gone and came back. Damian was relieved to see that Bart’s powers were not affected by the speed-dampening gun, not that he would ever admit it out loud, of course.

Robin stood in front of his team, walking somewhat nervously. It was one thing to tell the team what to do and teach them lessons, but it was a whole other story to be caught on the spot and demanded to explain himself and open up about his past for everyone to hear. 

Starfire was the first to break the silence. “So, Damian. You were raised in the League of Assassins?”

Appreciating the initiative, Emiko continued. “Yeah, and Ra’s al Ghul is your grandfather? How come you never told us any of this?” 

Damian replied confidently. “Yes, I was trained from birth by the League of Assassins. I was raised to surpass my grandfather one day, but none of this would’ve come as a surprise if all of you had done some research as I did on all of you.”

Emiko rolled her eyes as she crossed her arms, annoyed. “Here we go.”

“Seriously, you gotta stop stalking us!” Jaime blurted out. “It’s freaking weird, dude.”

Bart disappeared and came back again with hot dogs in his hands that he got from who knew where. “Yeah, what he said!”

“You’re getting ketchup on my clothes!” Emiko complained, pushing Bart away from her. 

Starfire decided to intervene once more. “Alright, everyone, let Damian speak.”

“What else do you want to know?” Damian asked, defensively. “How much of a killer I am? My murder count?” 

“Woah, I did not know he actually killed people!” Bart commented, his eyes widened. 

Jaime turned to his friend, raising his eyebrow at him. "It's literally called League of Assassins, what did you expect?" 

"I thought everyone just trained and then started killing when they turned 18 or something."

Emiko decided to cut to the chase since the boys got so easily distracted. “How about you start telling everyone how you’re the illegitimate son of Batman and Talia al Ghul, whose sister created a clone that was meant to kill you?” 

The whole team, except for Emiko, stared at Damian in shock. 

“Technically, Father was still married to my mother when I was conceived…” Damian mumbled under his breath.

“Woah, woah, woah, hold up." Jaime held his palms in the air, trying to get his head around the whole thing. "Your dad is Batman? Your aunt tried to kill you and she created a clone?!” 

“That is so not crash.” Bart said, just as shocked.

Damian threw his arms in the air. “Yes, but this is all in the past! My mother killed the clone, and Grandfather killed Aunt Nyssa, so there’s nothing to worry about. My cousin, Mara, tried to kill us yesterday, but she went her separate way. We’re good now. Can we start focusing on an actual mission for once?”

“Holy crap, that’s a heck of a family drama!” Bart mentioned it to Jaime, making the other laugh.

“And I thought my family was bad!” His friend continued. 

Starfire, noticing how quiet and upset Djinn looked the whole time, spoke, “Djinn, anything you’d like to say? You seem a little… Sad.”

Djinn finally looked up after staring at the ground during the entire conversation with an empty look in her eyes. “Not sad; Disappointed. You broke our trust, Damian.” 

Damian stared at the genie, feeling pretty embarrassed. He wasn’t quite sure what exactly was going on between the two of them, but they shared a trust and respect that were established so quickly and out of nowhere, without any explanation. Out of everyone on the team, she was one of the few he did not want to upset.

“What she said is true, Damian.” Starfire concurred. “Had you shared your affiliation with Mara and mentioned the danger we were bound to encounter, we would’ve been prepared. Besides, half of our team was compromised and even injured because you cuffed us in the first place.”

“That wasn’t supposed to happen.” Damian stared at the ground, frustrated with himself. “Mara doesn’t turn 13 until next week, I didn’t know she was coming sooner than the ritual customs…”

“I understand. But moving forward, you will tell us what is happening, okay?” Starfire asked, gently. Her voice was soothing, as always. “Secrets only push the team further apart, and we need to stay together.” Damian nodded and Starfire got up from the couch, heading towards the kitchen. “Anyone hungry? We still have sandwiches and a birthday cake just waiting for us in the fridge!”

“Yeah, if there’s anything left!” Jaime glared at the guilty party.

“Hey!” Bart raised his hands in the air in defense. “Why do you think I went all the way to New York to get myself hot dogs?”

Jaime and the girls all laughed at Bart’s silliness. Everyone gladly went to the kitchen, ready to have the party they were supposed to throw earlier, had the birthday boy not ruined it all. Damian stood behind them all, still feeling embarrassed for his failure, and concerned for his cousin's safety. He had no idea where Mara decided to hide, but he was positive she did not go back to the league; Grandfather would never forgive her. He only hoped she wouldn’t be hunted for failing to complete her final task. Damian truly wished his cousin would have decided to join his team instead. It would’ve been good for her. 

****

The end of August was approaching, which meant the new school semester was starting, unfortunately. Just thinking about it made Damian beyond irritated. School was such a waste of time and being forced to attend such a torturous place full of Neanderthals was going to be pure torture; Even Arkham was better than having to face Middle School. The only good news about classes not starting yet was that at least they provided Damian with a lot of free time to spend on patrols, whether they were with the Teen Titans or in Gotham with his family. 

It was his turn to go on patrol in good ol' Gotham that evening since Damian had to stay at the manor more frequently with the school year so close to starting. Damian gave a long sigh, this would be his last night of freedom before being obliged to suffer from the torment that was bound to haunt him the next day. That night's case had to do with a drug trafficking ring, the leader orchestrating the whole distribution was yet to be known, but judging from the leads Batman was given, the signs all pointed to Black Mask. The goons involved all wore masks too similar to the ones worn by Sionis' False Face Society. 

Damian couldn't wait to go out. He was already dressed in his Robin uniform as he anxiously waited for his father to come back from a late work meeting and for his siblings to come to meet them at the cave. Grayson was the first to arrive, and once he hopped out of his motorcycle, they were able to discuss the case together while Damian typed away on the Batcomputer to figure out more clues, locations, and strategies on how to bring the organization down. It didn't take long until Drake and Todd joined them, Father arriving last. Batman explained the plan, indicating where each of his sons should be situated, but failed to explain what the strategy was for Damian, of course.

"What about me, Father?"

"You're not going anywhere. School starts tomorrow." Batman affirmed, sternly.

Todd couldn't help but snort. "Demon brat going to school?! This is going to be great." He playfully elbowed Tim's arm, loud enough for everyone to hear. 

"It's gonna be a disaster," Tim predicted.

"What?" Damian yelled at his father in indignation, his anger rising. "I'm more than capable to handle myself during patrol before I have to face that retarded institution you so badly want me to attend!"

"Drop the attitude, Damian. You're not going, we have it plenty covered tonight. We'll be fine." Batman contorted.

"Why do you insist on punishing me? Ever since I got back from the dead, you never leave me alone! You hover over me, monitor my calls, and inspect my gadgets, you don't trust me! It's bad enough you placed a stupid tracker on my mask!"

"Damian, Bruce is trying to watch out for you. He's your dad." Grayson started. Of course, the golden child was on Father's side. 

"Don't think you're so special, kid. Bruce doesn't trust any of us." Jason advised, but still amused with the little family banter. 

"He trusts me..!" Tim mumbled, looking at Jason, innocently.

"No one asked, Replacement."

"Damian, I'm not punishing you." There was impatience in Bruce's voice. "It's late and you have school in the morning. The more time we waste here, the worse it'll be to catch who's behind the trafficking ring. My word is final, you're staying." 

"Why do I have to go to school anyway? There is nothing for me to learn there, I could teach the damn classes!" 

Bruce was getting extremely irritated now; That was not the time to argue over attending school. He pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed in his last attempt to remain patient. "For the last time, I'm sending you to school so you can learn how to interact with other people."

"But wasn't that why you sent me to Teen Titans? I'm already working with others, what else do you want from me? You're never satisfied, I'll never be good enough for you!"

Before Bruce could lose it, Dick intervened. "Hey, B, we'll head out now. I'll meet you at the docks."

Batman stared down at his extremely stubborn son. Why couldn't his youngest understand that Bruce was only trying to ensure his kid could have a normal life, with all things considered, after everything the boy had to endure in his troubled childhood? Damian deserved to learn how to make friends, socialize, and stay as far away from danger as possible. Besides, Bruce could never live with himself if he lost his son again, any of his sons and daughters for that matter. Time was ticking and they needed to go, there was no time to waste, and Damian needed to stay put for once. But he was so stubborn. 

A part of Bruce wanted to shoot himself. "Fine, you can come, but you'll stay with Tim at the warehouse." Batman then glared at Tim. "Tim, make sure Damian comes home early. I'm leaving." Bruce finalized, ignoring Tim's appalled face, and turning his back to his sons so he could head to his car. 

"What, me? Why?" Drake asked, still shocked.

"Wait, the one on 30th street? But there's nothing there, we already checked the surveillance! I saw the files, and the drug deal should be taking place at the docks! And why am I stuck with Drake?" Robin questioned, but his father already started his batmobile and took off, leaving him alone with his brothers.

"Sucks to be you!" Todd pointed at Drake as he shouted from a distance, hopping on his motorcycle and also taking off.

Grayson was already gone, and Drake pulled his face down with his hands in frustration. 

"Uugh, why is it always me?" Drake groaned.

***

The warehouse was completely empty, to be expected since it was already abandoned. They were inside a pharmaceutical facility, which used to fabricate medications for hospitals until the warehouse was completely shut down after it was discovered that illegal drugs were being manufactured and sold to cartels. Despite being closed, there were rumors of drugs continuing to be manufactured, but the evidence was untraceable. Whoever was behind all this knew exactly what they were doing and had the help of someone high up to cover their tracks. 

But that was before the Batfamily got involved. Batman had already identified some of the traces, and all the information gathered indicated that the next drug bust would take place at the docks, where Grayson and Father were headed. Todd was sent to a crack house to catch more of the remaining drug dealers who were involved in the whole trafficking ring. Investigating the warehouse wasn't too bad, since there was always something new that could be found, but that was not where the action would take place. Damian murmured while Drake meticulously inspected each room, taking the time to go through the packages that were stacked on top of each other, in search of potential clues.

The floor was filthy and everything was highly disorganized. Empty boxes were left on dozens of rusty metal shelves, random labels were glued to the floor, and there were old IV bags spread all over the nasty floors. It was disgusting and the bad odor did not help. It wasn't a fresh smell of recently manufactured drugs, but just a damp smell from all the musty rooms. It was by far the worst possible location to be sent to while everyone else got to have fun fighting bad guys.

Red Robin didn't seem to be too fazed by the awful site, however. "Ok, I'm going to take a look at the lab, and see if I can find anything there. They obviously made more drugs in here, we just need to find out how long ago."

Damian didn't say anything and followed Drake to the clean room. He waited while Drake did most of the work, actively going through the rooms, drawers, and even the processing machines to see if he could gather anything, even traces of DNA or something. The Boy Wonder, on the other hand, didn't help much. He waited by the door with his arms crossed, tapping his foot on the floor, impatiently. 

"What are we doing here? We both know no one's showing up here tonight!"

Drake sighed, not bothering to stop what he was doing to look at his annoying brother. "We have a job to do here too. We don't always have to be in the scene of action to contribute, you know?"

"This is preposterous. We both know why we were sent here; Father's purposefully giving us easy cases. He never trusts me."

"Wonder why."

"Tt."

Red Robin continued surveying the labs until there was nothing else to be found.

"Alright, last stop: the operation manager's office. I'm going to check the computers, maybe they weren't careful and left some intel behind. We'll head home after we're done here."

"Ugh!" Robin groaned, throwing his arms in the air. He left Drake alone in the room as his brother was deeply focused on what he did best: hacking.

Damian wandered around aimlessly across the rooms, mumbling to himself. "I'm so useless here."

An idea came to him and the boy paused. Intrigued, he activated the map feature from his new mask and, to his surprise, he saw that the crackhouse Todd went to was not too far away! Damian smirked; his night wasn't going to be ruined, after all. He looked back at Red Robin, who was still glued to the computers. Taking advantage of the situation, Robin ran to the exit door and took Drake's motorcycle to get to the crack house. 

***

At the drug house, Jason was already kicking through the doors until he found the guilty party; a group of five masked criminals who panicked at the sight of Red Hood. Jason chased after them, using both of his rifles to shoot those assholes until he successfully had them cornered in a tiny, dirty room. Jason was blocking the door while the criminals cowardly recoiled, standing next to the only window in the room. 

"Alright, bitches. Who's gonna spill first? You guys are working for Black Mask, aren't ya?"

The masked drug dealers trembled in fear. It didn't seem like any of them would dare to speak, until the one wearing a funny-looking goblin mask gave in.

"I-I don't know, I promise!" The other goons didn't seem to appreciate their colleague's response, shooting the mouthy guy a glare. 

"Ha, ya, I don't buy it." Hood pointed his gun at the goblin-masked man's head. "You idiots must be well aware I'm no Batman; I'm not afraid to use my little friend here." Jason waved his rifle playfully. "Now, I'll only ask this once, and you better tell me the truth this time if you don't want your brains blasted. Who are you working for?"

None of them answered so Hood went ahead to follow his promise. He was about to pull his trigger but then, suddenly, a small figure in a black cape with a hoodie decided to break through the windows.

"What the--"

The goons all protected their heads from the shattered glasses that were flying everywhere and immediately dispersed by running to the opposite sides of the room, trying to get away from those freaks as fast as possible. Damian didn't miss a beat and instantly tackled the drug dealer that was closer to him, while Jason shot the guys who were running on the other side of the room but aimed at their legs instead. The goal was to scare them to give them information, not kill all of them or knock them out, but it was too late for that. In a matter of minutes, everyone in the room was already unconscious before those thugs could have a chance to attempt to escape. 

"What the hell, kid?" Red Hood yelled. "You can't just barge in when I'm in the middle of my job!"

"We needed to constrain them, didn't we? Mission accomplished."

"You moron, I was getting information! Now I won't know if it was actually Black Mask behind this whole thing."

"It was clearly him, look at these idiots' masks. It has Sionis' signature written all over it."

"God, you're insufferable. Don't be stupid next time."

Damian ignored his brother and then placed his hands on his hips, admiring his work. "Heh. It felt good kicking their asses."

"It always does." Todd agreed while getting the goons together to tie them all up, ignoring all the blood coming from their legs from the bullet wounds. After he was done tying them with a plastic handcuff, he decided to start searching their pockets.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm going through their stuff, what do you think? Since we beat these idiots out of their minds, I figured I should see what else I can find while I'm at it." Inside those men's jeans pockets, Hood was able to find wallets that had their IDs, some more drugs and a pack of gummies, and a couple of coins and wrapping papers. He was close to being all done until he got to the last person, the goblin-masked thug. That man did not carry a wallet with him, but there was a strange black notebook inside his leather jacket pocket. 

Red Hood frowned. "The fuck?"

"What is it?" Robin approached his brother, curious, kneeling next to him so he could, too, take a closer look at the notebook.

He watched his brother go through the casebook, each page containing strange words, with none of the paragraphs making any sense. It was not a language Damian was ever familiar with. It wasn't Latin, Mandarin, or nothing, just a scrambled combination of words. As Todd flipped the pages, Damian spotted some intriguing symbols that were familiar to him.

"Wait!" Damian stopped him. "Let me take a look." 

Hood handed him the notebook, and Robin brought the page closer to him, investigating the symbol thoroughly as if he was translating it. 

"These drawings... They're not mere symbols, these are spells. Dark magic spells."

"What?" Hood snatched the notebook from his brother so he could also read it. "How do you know?"

"Grandfather had read Dark Magic spell books before. He was mostly obsessed with content relating to the Lazarus Pit, for obvious reasons, but he was still intrigued by mystical powers, just not enough to delve into it as much."

"Ok, so what is a drug dealer doing with a dark magic book, then?" Hood kept going through the little notebook until he found another weird page that contained long paragraphs with a few scribbles and corrections, but the words were written in English this time. 

"Are these poems--?" Robin asked, confused.

"I don't think it's just random poems..." Hood was still thinking, connecting all the dots. "Oh, my god, these are lyrics! I know these songs! Roy listens to these stupid songs all the time, it's from that weird lady, what's her name--?"

Robin blinked, waiting for his brother to finish his thoughts. Out of a book of spells, he'd never expect to find lyrics written in there.

"Ah, that's right, Rebecca Carstairs! Roy's obsessed with her."

Damian rolled his eyes. "Ok, so the goblin guy likes songs. I'm more concerned about the dark magic."

"I know, but you see, Rebecca is not just an ordinary singer... She's a witch." Hood explained confidently, seeming to have completely solved the case. 

 Robin crossed his arms and shot his brother with a look of disbelief. "Are you serious?" 

"Yeah! She does spells and shit, she's like Zatanna, but... Wilder. I think her codename is Witchfire or something cool like that."

"What the hell, Hood? This is no time for games."

Damian's thoughts were suddenly interrupted when a loud screeching noise rang in his ears, almost making him deaf. 

"ROBIN!" Drake yelled on the comm link. "Where the hell are you?" 

Damian pressed the side of his ear to respond. "I'm at the drug house, relax."

"Damn it, Robin!" Damian couldn't see his brother, but he could imagine the look of frustration Drake probably had on his face. "Why do you keep trying to get yourself killed?"

Red Hood, being able to hear the loud shouting coming from Drake, connected his comm link also to reason with his brother. "Hey, Robin's with me, chill. We got everything under control."

Red Robin just sighed in relief. "Thank God, at least he's with you. But wait a minute, you're not coercing Robin to try any drugs for the fun of it, are you?"

Hood turned to Damian, pointing to his ear, incredulous. "Do you hear this kid?" He went back to talking to Tim. "Seriously, Red Bird? Thought you had more faith in me."

"Sorry, it just sounded like something you would do, alright? The weirdest things humor you."

"Ha, you're right. Demon spawn is all fucked up, the drug lords here helped me get the kid all high and shit."

"You're such an idiot, Hood." Damian retorted.

"Ok, enough with the jokes." Tim was starting to sound exasperated. "Robin took my freaking motorcycle, so I need you guys to come get me. I'm not jumping from building to building just to get to you two."

"Heh." Hood turned to Damian again, with a smirk. "We should head home and leave Replacement behind!" 

His younger brother laughed. "Sounds like an excellent plan!"

"Ha. Ha. Very funny. If you guys don't come back with my motorcycle, I'm telling Batman that Robin stole my bike and got in trouble with you, Hood."

Red Hood was no longer laughing. "You had to be a buzzkill. Fine, we're coming."

Both of them turned off the comm, and Damian complained. "Count on Drake to ruin the fun."

"Alright, let's get this wrapped up. But before we go, we need to ask our goblin friend some questions." Hood untied the thug and pushed him to the other side of the room. The man was completely out, so Jason slapped the drug dealer's face until he opened his eyes. The criminal barely regained his senses when he was forcefully pushed against the wall by Red Hood, which terrified him to no end.

"I have some questions for you, goblin face. But first, let's remove this ridiculous mask of yours." Todd ripped off the man's mask, revealing just an ordinary guy. His clean-cut brown hair, despite being slightly messier from having worn a mask, made him look like he was a salesman or something; He looked completely well put together. His beard was well-trimmed and he looked young, probably in his early 20s. The criminal looked perfectly normal; No one would ever guess a guy like that would be involved in an entire trafficking ring.

Jason had a confused look on his face, which no one could see due to his mask. The thug, on the other hand, started to panic at the sight of Red Hood; He did not want to die. 

"I'm sorry I lied earlier, we've been working for Black Mask, ok? I swear! Please don't kill me, please-!"

Red Hood tightened his grip around the man's collar. "I already figured as much, asswipe. Now, what is a guy like you doing with this whole drug ring ordeal?" 

"W-what? What do you mean?"

"You don't seem like a drug lord, you moron!" With his other hand, Hood reached for the black notebook and showed it to the thug's face. "Also, I found this little booklet of yours. Care to explain?"

The man widened his brown eyes in fear. "T-That's personal!"

"I don't give a fuck if this is personal to you." Hood opened one of the pages that contained the dark magic symbols. "This looks like some dark magic shit. What in the hell are you up to, baby face?"

"I-I can explain--"

"Then start babbling. I don't have all day." Hood threatened, lowering the criminal's body against the wall just slightly, but still keeping a strong grip on him.   

"This notebook, um..." The man gulped, fearing no one would believe him. "I-it's not mine, actually."

"Oh, yeah? Who wrote all these notes, then?" Red Hood asked. Robin was still right next to him, serious, just waiting for the drug dealer to explain himself.

The criminal scratched the back of his neck, nervously. "It's from this woman... Her name is Rebecca Carstairs."

Jason narrowed his eyes. "The pop singer?"

"It's not pop, her style is more alternative, everyone gets it wrong--!" The sleek-haired man started but paused after realizing how dumb it was to defend Rebecca over music genre when he could be shot at any second by freaking Red Hood. "That's not the point, she lent me her notebook recently. I was planning on giving it back to her after I was done with tonight's job before you appeared--"

"And you expect me to believe you? Hanging out with a pop singer and she just hands you her secret spellbook?"

"It's not like that! We... We had sex, alright?"

Robin and Red Hood stared at each other in confusion before turning back to the guy. Hood continued the interrogation. "You had sex with Carstairs?" 

"Yes, I work with her! I'm in the music production department, I've worked with her numerous times."

"Is that why you look all nice and neat, baby face? So why are you working for Black Mask now?"

"Because the producers pay me like shit! I have some buddies who lined up this gig for me. Sionis was going to pay me thousands just to help him out help real quick, it was a great deal! But now I'm not getting nothin' because of you!"

"Uh, huh. So you just happen to have a pretty decent career but your greedy ass decided to sell drugs to minors instead."

"Hey, it's just smuggling. I was only helping load everything inside the crates!" 

"He's telling the truth." Both Red Hood and the drug dealer turned to the small boy in front of them. Robin had his face recognition feature activated through his mask and he could see the entire man's career and personal information that would only be found on the Batcomputer; The new features that Father had added were brilliant. "What kind of a stupid name is Eugene?"

"Woah, how do you know my name?" Eugene asked, desperately. "And what's wrong with my name?"

Jason snorted. "It is pretty stupid. Just not as much as your face."

"Ok, now you're just being mean," Eugene replied. 

Robin was getting impatient with the whole conversation, this was taking far too long. He approached the man, holding the edge of his Batarang against the goon's neck. "Tell us where to find Carstairs."

Eugene freaked out as he felt a couple of droplets of blood coming out of his neck from that damn Batarang. "What the fuck is your problem? Are you for real?"

"Hey, don't underestimate him," Hood explained. "He might be small, but this kid used to be an assassin. I'd listen to him if I were you."

Robin was becoming even more irritated now, he hated when people refused to take him seriously. "I said, where is Rebecca Carstairs?" The Batarang was brought even closer, cutting the man's skin even more. Red Hood didn't do anything to stop it either. 

"I-I can't tell you that, she'd kill me!"

"Not if we kill you, ourselves!" Robin threatened, which was when Hood finally cut in, placing his hand on his younger brother's shoulders.

"Just spill it all out, baby cheeks. I don't see how a gal like Rebecca would even bother spending time with you, let alone share her secret notebook."

"We were high, okay? We were just having fun and goofing off, I don't think she even remembers showing me her book. She seemed really proud of it, it has some of her original drafts for her music too, it's pretty dope."

"Hm. Fine, just give us her location and we'll let you and your friends go." Red Hood said.

"Really?" Eugene was let go finally and was handed the notebook back to him so he could write Rebecca's address. He reached for his jacket pocket to grab a pen and wrote down her location. "There you go," Eugene said as he ripped the page with the address written on it. "Thank you so much for sparing my life, thank you--"

"Thanks, buddy. Time to take a nap." Red Hood punched Eugene's jaw so hard that it knocked him out again. 

Damian and Jason's comm were both beeping, but it was Grayson who was talking to the whole family this time. "Ok guys, we're all done here. It was Black Mask after all, and Batman already took care of it, he knew where Sionis was hiding. He told me he was almost done and I'm just getting everything wrapped up, we stopped the crates from being shipped just in time. We'll be heading home in a bit."

Jason stared at his younger brother. "Shit. Ok, let's get going. I'm using Eugene's phone to dial for the police to get these guys arrested."

"Wouldn't you rather just kill them instead?"

"Geez, demon spawn. These are just drug dealers, not serial killers. I'm not a monster."

Tim connected the comms also, but only for Jason and Damian to hear. "Are you guys done yet? Any day noow."

"We just need the cops to get here, Timbo. Don't worry." Jason explained. He turned off the call and looked at Damian. "Ok, I'll be taking it from here. I'll go check this Rebecca chick tomorrow. I don't mess with magic, but this is Witchfire we're talking about, and Roy is in love with her. He's gonna love working on this case with me. Maybe he can get an autograph."

"Hey, this is my case too."

"Not even, half-pint. This is none of your business, and you should stay away from sorcerers. Besides, I'm the one who found the notebook in the first place."

Damian crossed his arms in discontent, scowling. "Yeah, but you wouldn't have found it if I hadn't barged in."

Jason opened his mouth but stopped. That was a valid argument. It was true, he never planned to go through those goons' belongings if everything happened the way they were originally supposed to. "Ok, fair enough, you made a good point there. We can both work on this potential case, deal? But no telling the Bat or anyone else. This can be our secret."

Damian grinned. "Deal."

*****

After the long night, everyone was back at the Manor. Despite Tim not being happy at all from being stuck with the worst possible job just to be left alone with no transportation while Jason and Damian took their sweet time to come get him, Bruce didn't have the slightest idea of what happened that night with the three boys. Tim respectfully didn't snitch either, which Damian was grateful for; He didn't need more lecturing when he already had to endure the first day of school the next day. 

Because it was so late, everyone decided to crash at the manor. Jason refused it at first, but Alfred had to announce he would make his favorite breakfast of all time. That butler played dirty, Jason just knew. Bruce wasn't too talkative, he was clearly tired and in desperate need to recharge his batteries. The boys ate some quick sandwiches that Alfred had prepared and they all got ready to go to bed. 

Once in his room, Damian smiled. The next day was bound to be terrible, but at least he had a secret case with Todd that he could look forward to. 

Chapter Text

Damian was enjoying a good night's rest when suddenly unbearable sunlight came through the windows as the curtains were abruptly ripped open. Despite having attempted to block that uninviting light with his hands, his eyes still burned from the lack of proper sleep and his body ached in exhaustion. He was forced to wake up by Pennyworth, who advised him to get ready quickly since they were already running late, which meant no time to work out. Great. If it wasn't for stupid school, he would've been able to indulge in his usual morning exercise despite waking up slightly later than normal. He was already off to a bad start and he had barely woken up.

Damian brushed his teeth, got dressed, and went to the kitchen for breakfast. To his surprise, all three of his brothers were at the breakfast table eating; He forgot that everyone decided to stay overnight the previous day due to the late patrol night they had. He had grown accustomed to being mostly him, Pennyworth, and his father at the Manor. Damian joined the others, heading towards the corner of the table in the opposite direction as Todd's. 

Tim reached for the toast as he greeted his grumpy brother. "Mornin'." Damian didn't bother to respond nor even make eye contact as he pulled out his chair and sat next to him. 

Drake rolled his eyes but decided to continue the conversation, for some unknown reason. “So, I hear you’re starting school today, gremlin. Excited?”

“Over. The moon.” Damian grunted, sarcastically, resting his hand on his chin.

Dick decided to cut in, leaning his head to talk to their younger brother. “Dami, you’re gonna do fine! Just remember, if you want to make friends, you gotta be kind. Try not to be so standoffish when you meet people, okay?"

“In other words, don’t be an ass.” Tim translated. 

Damian scowled at them. "I have zero interest in making any friendships, whatsoever. Interacting with brainless children is not something I look forward to doing."

Grayson sighed, giving Damian a pitiful look, which displeased him.

Drake looked at his brother over his shoulder as he took another bite of his toast. "You realize you're not better than everyone else, right?" 

"Of course I'm better than everyone else," Damian responded, shooting an angry glare at his brother.

Todd snorted while drinking his orange juice. "This is gonna be a shit show!" 

Grayson ignored him and continued with his unsolicited older brother's advice, "You're not gonna want to be alone, Damian; No one does. I know this will be hard for you, but you’re gonna have to let your guard down a little and open up so people are not intimidated by you. But don't be nervous either, just be... Yourself."

Todd laughed again, using napkins to dry all the mess he made. “That's the worst advice you could possibly give him, Goldie! I needed that laugh, thank you!”

Drake was chuckling too. Did everyone have to piss him off that day? “Jay’s right. Be anything but yourself. Your true self sucks.” 

Damian reached for his butter knife and aimed it at Drake's neck. "What did you say?” But of course Father had to walk in.

The whole room went silent. 

Bruce was already dressed for work, and from the looks of it, was on his way out, as he was carrying his briefcase and checking the time like he always did before leaving. "Everyone, stop messing with your brother, it's his first day. Are you ready, Damian?"

"Of course not! Why are you putting me through this hell? I'm plenty bright, I don't need school!"

Bruce rubbed his forehead, impatiently, regretting to have bothered to ask such a dumb question. "I’ve told you this before, you’re too young to be this angry, and you need to surround yourself with kids your age. Now, finish your breakfast. You barely touched your food."

"What about the Teen Titans, then? They're adolescents too!" Damian retorted, ignoring the last comment about the food.

Drake decided to intervene this time. "They're still older than you."

Damian turned to his brother, angrily. "Not by a lot."

"Dick told me there's a four-thousand-year-old genie in your group. If that's not old, I don't know what is."

“Holy shit, is that true? That’s nuts.” Todd chimed in.

Bruce ignored his sons and turned to Alfred instead. “Alfred, do you have everything ready?”

“Yes, sir. Master Damian, the chopper awaits you.”

Todd raised his eyebrows in shock. “Wait, you’re taking demon spawn on a fucking chopper? No one took me on a helicopter ride when I went to school!”

“Everything to please the prince, I suppose.” Drake continued his teasing.

Bruce took a deep breath, he did not have time for any of this. He stared down at his watch before announcing, “I have to go. All four of you, behave. Goodbye. Have a good day at school, Damian.”

“I won’t,” Damian murmured as he took a bite of his food, uninterested.

"We must go now, Master Damian." Pennyworth alerted. Damian stood up from his chair and followed the butler, who was already holding his backpack for him. 

Todd waved at him from the table. “Bye, demon brat. Try to not behead anyone!”

The other brothers waved as well as the butler and the young boy made their exit. Once Pennyworth landed the chopper on the school grounds, Damian jumped out. 

“I hope you have a good first day of school, Master Damian,” Pennyworth said, passing the lunch bag to Damian, which was humiliating; it made him feel like a child.

“Tt. That will be highly unlikely.”

"Just give it a try, young sir." 

With that, Pennyworth left, leaving Damian all alone. The young man took a deep breath to calm his nerves and walked towards the main entrance of the school. 

How bad could this experience be, after all? He was going to be fine. It was just an educational institution for idiots, that was all. He was a trained assassin, who had fought hundreds of people in the past and defeated serial killers, rapists, and the worst people you could possibly encounter. Hell, he even cheated death himself. He was Damian Wayne, the grandson of the Demon and the son of Batman. He could do this.

Damian tightly gripped his backpack straps as he opened the large entrance door. Inside there was a mass of children walking around the hallways in utter chaos, all of them wearing the same boring navy blue pants or skirts with matching suits and white shirts with red ties. There were students all over the place; some headed upstairs for their classes, others were on the first floor going to the library or the staff's office, and there was also a long line with several crowded children in what seemed to be the lobby area. Damian presumed this was where he should start since this was where everyone was getting signed in. There were so many people, it was overwhelming. 

The school was huge, the glossy porcelain tiles were well-kept and clean, and the long hallways revealed a wide variety of classrooms. Damian couldn't even see the end of all those hallways from where he was standing. For a private school, this place didn't look horrendous, but the sight of all those obnoxious children, along with the overbearing noise of chattering everywhere, made it all unbearable. Coming to think of it again, Damian wasn't so sure he could survive this.

Knots were felt in his stomach from just being exposed to this whole environment. Was that what anxiety felt like? His racing heart finally calmed down a bit at the sound of a familiar voice that came from behind.

"Damian!"

The thirteen-year-old boy turned around and was met with a very excited Jon, with his father standing right beside him.

"Damian, so glad we could find you," Clark said, tenderly. "Alfred messaged me when he dropped you off, so we came looking for you."

Damian frowned in confusion. "Were you waiting on me?" 

"Of course. Bruce had a meeting today, so I told him I'd be here to help."

While they waited in line, Jon started chatting. "I'm so nervous. The first day of school is always the worst, especially when it's at a new school!"

"Every day at school is the worst." Corrected Damian, still annoyed at the whole thing.

"It's our turn now." Clark pointed at the brunette lady who was waving, indicating for them to come closer. The young woman handed the boys folders with a map of the school and their class schedule. 

Clark skimmed through the papers before explaining, "Looks like both of you will be in the same building, good. Some schools split the grades into different buildings. Damian, your first class will be on the second floor, to your right. Jon, you'll be heading this way, further down the hallway."

"Thanks, dad!" Jon said.

Clark pulled his son for a hug. "I love you, son. Good luck."

"Love you too, dad."

Damian felt a bit uncomfortable from all that affection, so he changed his focus to the school map. It looked like all of his classes were going to be on the upper floor, after all.  

Clark gently placed his firm hands on Damian's shoulder, making the boy look up. "Have a good day today, Damian. Feeling nervous on the first day is normal, but it'll get better." He offered a warm smile, which accomplished absolutely nothing.

"Sure." He replied, trying not to be rude. 

"Good luck, Damian!" Jon said, waving to his friend goodbye before heading out to face his first class. 

Damian looked at his class schedule once more. His first class was going to be English Literature. Not bad. He walked up the stairs and went to the room, arriving just in time. There were a few students already seated, but many more came in and settled down once the bell rang. The professor was a blonde man with a goatee, he also wore glasses and was a bit overweight. Damian smirked, the man reminded him of Oliver Queen, and he wondered if that was how Oliver would look if he was fat. Heh. That was a funny image. 

The professor went by Mr. Williams, and he started the class by going over some rules, the syllabus, and some things that were expected from the students that year. Damian predicted the classes would be a waste of time, but he had no idea how incredibly boring his day would be. When was he actually going to learn something? Was the day supposed to be just that? Couldn't the students just read the syllabus like normal people? This day couldn't get any worse.

Except when it did.

Mr. Williams did a small clap and said, enthusiastically, "Now that we are done going over the procedures, let's go ahead and do a little get-to-know-you game, shall we?"

Get-to-know-you-game?

God, no.

Please, no. Anything but that.

"Let's start from each row. Each one of you will stand up when it's your turn and share something interesting and unique about you. It can be anything, a fun quirk you'd like to share with the class, a skill you have, or anything. We'll start with you, Thomas." Mr. Williams said, pointing to the student on the far right who was sitting in the first row. Each student started sharing something about their life, and it was agonizing. 

None of the things they shared were even remotely interesting, for starters, not that Damian cared, of course. He was a bit more occupied and focused on what in the hell he could share with the class. He could feel his hands sweating as his turn kept approaching. Some of the students shared something so vague and fast, that the person next to them already started sharing their interests. It was going by fast, and Damian still had no idea of what to say.

He couldn't just start telling people he used to be an assassin. What else was interesting about him? The fact that he was the son of Batman and fought crime at night, and was damn good at the job too? That wouldn't cut it either. Mr. Williams mentioned they could just share a skill they possessed, but Damian had so many, where would he even start?

The room went quiet all of a sudden, and all eyes were on Damian. 

Shit. It was his turn.

"And you are..." Mr. Williams double-checked his paper with the student's names so he wouldn't get it wrong. "Damian, right? Damian Wayne?" 

If the whole class was easily distracted before, they weren't now. Everyone became intrigued at the mention of the boy's name, and the mumblings got louder as the students asked amongst themselves several questions; "Bruce Wayne's son?" "What is he doing here in Metropolis?"

Damian tried his best to ignore the annoying chattering and made himself focused on the task at hand by staring at his professor's round blue eyes as he answered his question, firmly. "Yes. My name is Damian Wayne."

Mr. Williams gave a friendly smile. "Alright, tell us something interesting about yourself, Damian."

"Oh. Right. I live in Gotham."

Some students started giggling, which made things so much worse. What was so funny to all these idiotic children?

Mr. Williams shook his head but still sounded friendly. "I think we are all... Aware of that. But that doesn't say much about you, does it? What's particularly unique about you?" There was a long pause, so the teacher suggested another idea to help. "You could also share something that you have or like."

Something unique about Damian was that he knew more than 50 ways to kill that professor of his, but of course, he couldn't say that. The staring continued, and all he wanted to do was to walk out of that stupid class and never return. This was torture. Ok, something he had. Damian started thinking about his life and possessions. Everything he could think of kept coming back to fighting and murder.

He needed to give a response soon, but what to say... Well, people were fond of animals, right? Perhaps sharing something about his pets would finally shut that teacher up.

"I, um. I own a cow." 

The obnoxious giggling became louder this time. Without noticing, Damian ground his teeth and curled his hands into fists.  

"Oh." Mr. Williams had a surprised look on his face. "I didn't know that Bruce Wayne had a farm!"

"He doesn't, we built a barn so my cow could be more comfortable--"

The whole class broke into laughter, but some students were making more noise than others, so Damian grabbed his pencil to use as a weapon and turned around to the group of boys sitting in the back. "What's so funny, huh?"

The boys stopped laughing, but Damian could still hear them mumbling under their breaths, “What a weirdo.” 

He felt his face burning as he sat back in his chair after his turn to share was over. A few other students shared their names and something about themselves, and the class was finally dismissed. Damian took off the moment the bell rang so he could go to his next class and erase that memory and the utter shame he had to endure moments ago.

The next class was an Elective class he had chosen, an advanced French class. This was probably going to be a much better experience since he didn't mind expanding his knowledge on the subject, and there was always something new to learn when it came to linguistics. The class started, and the same boring talk about class routine and syllabus occurred. Were all of his classes going to be that tedious?

The professor was a red-headed woman who wore glasses twice the size of her face, and her crazy curls sprang loose from her badly done bun. She started talking in French as soon as the class started, but her accent was atrocious. The way she carried herself as she walked from one side of the room to another, which was incredibly distracting, made it seem that she had a know-it-all attitude when in reality, her skills were dreadful, and she was not a native. 

The woman kept using the wrong terms, and some of the words pronounced weren't even comprehensible. How on earth did a person so horrible in French get hired for that job in the first place?

Damian couldn't stand hearing that horrendous accent anymore. He politely raised her hand, which finally shut the woman up.

"Oui, monsieur? As-tu une question?"

The accent was so bad that Damian had to fight the urge to wrinkle his face in revulsion.

"Excuse me, I thought this was advanced French."

"Pardon?" The red-headed asked, looking insulted. 

"You heard me." Damian held his folder and tapped the paper sheet. "This syllabus has extremely basic level content written all over it. Will there ever be something worth learning in this class?"

The entire class stared at the dark-haired boy in shock, no one could believe the kid's audacity. The professor, for obvious reasons, was offended. Damian was positive another string of hair went loose from the woman's very messy bun.

The woman straightened herself, adjusting her ridiculously large glasses.

"French only in my class, monsieur."

Damian wanted to yawn. "Fine." He then went ahead and lectured the pathetic woman in impeccable French, explaining how disappointing the syllabus was and that he was honestly expecting to discuss topics of actual importance, such as francophone studies and in-depth discussions regarding French history, delving from the Renaissance to Postmodernity to analyze how the centralization of power in European monarchies had negatively affected the modern-day Democratic Republic.

The professor simply stood there amazed as her jaw hit the floor. The rest of the class was equally flabbergasted, and the silence in the classroom became eerie, almost.

The woman nervously twirled her curly hair. "Um... Mr. Wayne? Have you lived in France before?" She was speaking in English now, going against her own class rules.

Chapter Text

The woman's yellow eyes were bright like the fire that ignited around her shoulders and ankles. Her fiery red hair was in a high ponytail, which reminded Jason of his dear friend, Artemis. The deep gash on her waist didn't stop her from getting to her feet as she stared at the vigilantes with fury in her eyes. Balls of flames appeared in her hands and strange enchantments came out of her mouth, which alarmed the boys.

"Who dares?" Witchfire spat with rage in her voice. 

"Wait--!" Red Hood tried to say, raising his hands in surrender, but it was already too late; Witchfire made a strange motion in the air and Jason suddenly lost complete control of his body and could no longer feel his legs and arms.

"Shit," Hood grunted. "Robin, I can't move."

"Let him go!" Robin spoke up, running up to his brother. Carstairs was about to unleash another spell on him, but Robin quickly shouted, "Serif pu thgil!" 

Suddenly, the candles around the circle on the ground lit up, which caught both Witchfire and Red Hood by surprise.

Robin remained serious. "I cast a spell while you're standing in the center of the circle, Witchfire. One wrong move and I can make that wound of yours deeper." 

Jason stared at his brother in disbelief. "What the hell are you doing, kid? Trying to get us killed?"

The threat only made Witchfire angrier, and the flames on her hands somehow got even brighter. "Who are you? Are you working for the Shadow?"

Robin furrowed his brows. "Who's Shadow? What are you talking about?"

The flames around Rebecca's shoulders now spread over her arms and hands. "Stop playing dumb. No more games! How dare both of you to come to my house, my sanctuary, and threaten me?” Her yellow eyes were glowing in fury like the flames that appeared in her palms. “I'm going to destroy you and make sure to send you both to hell!"

"Wooah, lady, we're not here to hurt you!" Hood explained, feeling pathetic from being petrified in the same spot while being able to talk. He tried to move his hands, but it was useless.

"Tell that to that little friend of yours." Rebecca glared at Hood before turning back to Robin.

Robin shrugged. "All I did was light up the candles. I'm not hurting you unless you mess with my sidekick, Red Hood."

If Jason could move, he would shoot that demon brat right then and there, that little shit. "You know what? Do your worse on him, Witchlady."

Robin stared back at Hood in defense. "What?!"

"Fuck you."

Witchfire spread her arms, unleashing bigger flames. Her eyes were shining as she started flying. "Prepare to die! Htead Llahs--"

Robin stared at her, bored. "We're here to return a stolen spell book of yours, Carstairs. And you need a bandage, you're losing a lot of blood."

Robin snorted.

Her eyes widened, but the flames across her shoulders were quieting down now. You could almost see her pupils, but she was not going to let her guard down. "How do you know Eugene?"

"He was involved in a drug bust, working for Black Mask." Robin cut in. "We captured him, then found the casebook that he took from you."

Rebecca frowned, her flames getting brighter again. "He's working for Black Mask? That imbecile, I told him to just ask for a raise! He's good at what he does. And why was he keeping my book from me? Unless... You two are lying!" Rebecca raised her hands at the boys and cast a silent spell on them, wrapping their bodies with magical yellow chains. 

"Damn it, Robin, see what you've done?" Hood yelled at his brother, who only pouted in return. "Rebecca, hear me out. You have every reason to think we came here to hurt you, especially after what happened to you. We only came here to return the notebook to you, we had no idea you had been attacked. Also, a buddy of mine is a huge fan and I wanted to ask you if you could give him an autograph. You can call your friend, Eugene if you don't believe me." Jason paused, feeling suddenly awkward. "Although... He's in prison now. But, hey, I'm sure he won't mind getting a call from you. He said you two had fun getting high together."

"You arrested him?!" Rebecca asked, in shock.

Jason shrugged. "That's what happens when you decide to deal with drug trafficking."

"Damn. I'm gonna miss him."

"Who did this to you?" Robin asked, nonchalantly, going straight to the point. The kid had the patience of a child on Christmas morning. 

Rebecca stared down at Robin, suspiciously. "So, you're not working with the Shadow?"

"Again, I don't know what you are talking about, lady." Robin repeated. The brothers were quite uncomfortable with the tight chains rubbed against their bodies. 

Rebecca pointed at Robin in accusation. "And how do you know magic, huh?"

"I do my homework! I knew I had to be prepared in case you attacked us without letting us explain ourselves, which is exactly what you did, mind you. Besides, all the work was done for me; The circle with the pointy star on the ground, all I had to do was conjure a spell. It was easy."

Rebecca studied the boys for a moment, wondering if she could actually trust them. 

"We'll get out of your hair," Jason said to ease things. "It was a huge invasion of privacy what we did here. And sorry for my little shithead of a partner, I promise you he's all bark and no bite. He's like a grumpy cat if you will."

"Screw you." Robin spat.

Rebecca's shoulders lowered down, relaxed. The flames around her ankles and shoulders were no longer dancing, and her pupils finally came back to normal, revealing her beautiful green eyes.

"Fair enough, sounds like you're both telling the truth." She snapped her fingers, making the magical chains around the boys disappear.

Jason rubbed his free wrist with his other hand in relief. 

"Sorry again." Jason apologized. Rebecca looked at him and let out a quick smile.

"Thanks for apologizing."

"Hey, we can't leave without answers!" Damian pestered. "Who's this 'Shadow' you're referring to? What did he do to you?"

The red-haired scowled, her eyes slightly glowing in yellow again. "I don't know who he is. He was dressed in a dark cloak and his face was covered with a black mask that had horns and red lenses. Tall guy. He broke into my house searching for one of my spell books, it seems. He tore down my entire living room and library. When I came back home, I attacked him, obviously, but that asshole conjured my own spells against me. We fought, but he got the best of me."

"So this guy--" Jason started, trying to visualize the fight in his head. "--Defeated you? He must be a really powerful magician then, right? I mean, my buddy told me you're one of the most skilled magicians there is!" 

Rebecca tilted her head to Jason, flattered. "Awn, he said that? Who's this friend of yours? I like him."

Jason smiled, though no one could see it. "It's true, though. I read some files of yours, you and Wonder Woman had fought a demon before, is that true?"

The red-haired chuckled. "Yep. Good times. I like Diana; A bit annoying, but she's cool. And you are right, I am very powerful."

"Not as powerful as the Shadow, clearly." Robin spat back, receiving an angry glare from both of the adults.

"No, I think he just got lucky. I don't think he was an actual magician, there was something odd about him... I sensed a sinister energy coming from him. It was like a dead man walking in the land of the living... He doesn't belong here."

Jason and Damian frowned. Damian questioned, "Is he an undead, then?"

"Like a vampire?" Jason suggested.

"No, I would've sensed if he was a vampire or even a demon," Carstairs explained. "That man is actually alive, but his body is decaying if it makes sense. There was unexplainable dark energy coming from him that I never felt before... I could've easily defeated him, though, but I, um..."   The boys stared at her, waiting for her to finish. "I came home drunk, okay? I did not know what I was doing."

Damian rolled his eyes and then went straight to the bookshelves to see if he could find any more clues. "Any idea of which book he took from you?"

Rebecca turned around and decided to search the books with him. "Hm, let me see..." She kept searching until she gasped, and her eyes widened. "Oh, no."

"What?" Jason and Damian asked in unison.

"Shit. He took the Book of the Soul's Dusk."

Red Hood and Robin exchanged looks before turning back to the woman. "What's in that book?" Damian asked.

"Well, just some of the most powerful dark magic spells there are... I accidentally summoned a demon at my concert once from one of the spells I learned from that book."

"You what?" The brothers asked.

"I like conjuring spells when I perform, the crowd goes wild. I just didn't know I could summon demons left and right, but it looks like I can!"

"I'm going to go after this Shadow guy and make him pay for what he did to you." Red Hood assured, but refraining from touching her shoulder again so he wouldn't get burned.

Rebecca felt comforted by that. "Please do, and if you catch him, I owe you big time." 

They talked for a little while, and later Rebecca gave them a quick tour of one of her rooms that had the prizes she received from her singing career.

She then guided them to the front door, but Jason stopped her before they made their exit. "Hey, before we go, can I take a pic with you?"

"Oh, of course!" She agreed.

Jason handed his cell phone to Damian. "Here, Robin. Make sure you get a good angle."

Jason and Rebecca posed while Damian snapped a couple of pictures. They kept changing their poses with one of them smiling, then another of them being goofy.

Hood turned to the singer. "Hey, can you kiss my cheek?"

Rebecca raised her eyebrow at him, unimpressed. "Really?"

"I'm wearing a helmet, relax. My friend is gonna be so jealous, I like messing with him."

"Hm, I like your sense of humor. In that case, then--" Rebecca snapped her finger, and Jason's helmet was gone. She leaned closer to him, seductively, and smacked a kiss on his cheek. Damian just sighed, annoyed. She did a hand motion in the air as if she was writing something, and Jason's helmet was returned, but with an autograph written on it where his forehead was. 

"There. Say hello to your friend for me."

"Thanks, Witchfire. You rock!" Damian couldn't take the wasteful banter anymore and left, taking off with his motorcycle without bothering to say goodbye. 

Rebecca chuckled again. Jason was about to hop on his motorcycle himself, but he couldn't resist the urge to ask her one last question. "Hey, Rebecca?"

"Yes?"

"Can you actually sing or do you fake it with your magic?"

Her sweet smile turned into an angry frown. "Of course I can sing, you asshole!"

Jason laughed as he took off. 

***

Damian arrived at the cave, making it back home close to two hours after dinner time. That wasn't so bad, right? Pennyworth usually spent quite a bit of time in the kitchen cooking and cleaning up, so hopefully, he wouldn't notice Damian's sudden disappearance. Being as careful as possible, Damian parked his motorcycle in the exact location he had it before, and he slowly made his way into the cave by taking small, quiet steps. He looked around and took off his mask, relieved. Now he just needed to be dressed in his civilian clothes and make it to his room before he was noticed.

He put away his uniform and when he turned around, he jumped; Pennyworth was standing right behind him. 

“Care to share where you spent your evening this time, Master Damian?”

Damian stared back at the butler in shock. He had to think of something. "I was at Jon's house!"

Pennyworth stood there, unimpressed, with his arms folded.

“What?” The boy asked, pretending to act innocent.

Pennyworth shot him a glare that most likely was what originated Father's famous Batglare.

Damian sighed in surrender. “Fine, I went on patrol. But there’s nothing to worry about. I got back slightly past dinner, didn’t I? It’s not even late!”

Pennyworth shook his head. “I must say, I’m deeply disappointed with you, young sir. After everything we both have been through, I would assume we were past the lying and sneaking out.”

Damian looked down, embarrassed. It was true, Pennyworth had been there for him so many times. There were so many instances where Pennyworth broke explicit rules from Father, something he rarely ever did, just to help him, out of genuine care and devotion. Meanwhile, there was Damian, breaking the well-founded trust they had built.

“I’m sorry, Pennyworth, I shouldn’t have lied to you. The truth is, I didn’t want you to tell my father. But I didn’t go out alone, I swear. I was safe. I just needed some fresh air after being stuck inside that awful institution all day.”

Pennyworth’s composure became slightly more relaxed, but he was still firm. “I don’t like you keeping secrets from people, young master. You are much like your father, but even he knows the importance of trust. And you are well aware that the last time I let you leave the cave without your father’s permission, we ended up losing you. All I ask is for you to at least tell me where you are going.”

Damian’s heart sank even more. He always forgot how much it must have pained Pennyworth to live with that guilt and, in a way, it was all his fault. If Damian had simply listened to his father, he wouldn't have died. He couldn’t promise the sneaking out wouldn’t happen again, though. This was a case he wanted to work on, it was something he shared with Todd, no one else. 

“I noticed you purposefully left your new mask at home, also." Pennyworth continued. "Your persistent defiance will only hinder your relationship with your father even further, Master Damian, and you don’t want that.”

“I know. There's a case I came across that I want to close. It’s purely investigative, I just don’t want Father to solve it for me or prevent me from working on this further. Working on this makes me feel accomplished, Pennyworth. I can make a difference.”

Pennyworth smiled, warmly, and lowered himself down to Damian’s level. He squeezed the boy's shoulder tenderly. “And you do a brilliant job at that, young sir. You save the lives of many and your heroism is as admirable as your father's. I won’t intrude in your personal endeavors, but I do ask you to have the GPS on you next time; This means wearing your new mask."

“Father has already been pestering me over school, do you think you can let this slide too? I don’t want another fight.”

“Just this once, Master Damian. If I hear of you being in actual danger, however, things will change.”

Damian smiled and offered his hand to be shaken. “Deal.” The butler reciprocated the formal gesture, but Damian couldn’t resist the urge of wrapping his arms around the man. “Thanks again, Pennyworth. For everything.” 

Alfred gladly took the boy's sweet hug. 

****

After Damian finished his dinner, he went back downstairs to further analyze the blood sample he took from Carstairs’ house. He was carefully removing the cotton swab from the glassed flask when a loud car noise echoed in the cave all of a sudden, making him jump. The swab was about to hit the floor, and Damian desperately reached for it so the cotton wouldn't touch the floor, thus contaminating the evidence. He was able to successfully grab it in the air, but his thumb ended up touching right where the dried blood was. He panicked, but there wasn't much time to waste. He quickly hid the small DNA machine inside his backpack and placed his school notebook on the desk.

Father got out of the Batmobile, pulling down his cowl. The man was rarely home, why on earth did he have to be back when it was least expected? 

“Hello, Father.” Damian greeted, pretending to look busy by writing random things in his notebook. 

Father turned to him with a look of surprise. “Damian, what are you doing here?”

“Homework.”

Bruce raised his eyebrow, suspicious. “On your first day of school?”

“I’m doing it ahead of time. Figured I should put my time to use. I was bored.”

“Hm,” Bruce grunted, not sure if he should believe his son. “So, how was it today?”

“A nightmare. Not sure why you hate me so much to put me through this torture.”

Bruce rubbed his forehead, tiredly. He had such a long day, he was not in the mood to engage in another argument. "I don't hate you, Damian, and contrary to your belief, I’m not sending you to prison.”

“You’re right; This is worse. At least Arkham has brighter people in comparison to the ones in my classroom.” Damian spat, boringly. 

Father glared at his son. “Stop praising criminals.”

“Why are you home so early? Don’t you have any crimes to stop?”

“Are you upset that I’m home?”

“Just answer the question.”

“Hm. You’re hiding something from me, but I'll let it pass this time. I found the culprit of the recent bank robbery faster than I thought. I had Mad Hatter arrested rather quickly before he could try any mind control trick on me. At least this gives me time to work on a new case." Bruce explained, sitting on his chair and typing away on the Batcomputer. He started searching the public records for a woman called Holly Robinson.

“Who is this Holly Robinson?” Damian asked, intrigued, coming closer to the computer screen next to his father. 

“She’s a close friend of Selina’s. She went missing just recently.”

“Tt. You seem to be working with that harlot a lot, lately.”

Bruce spun his chair, shooting his son an angry glare. “Stop calling Selina that.”

“What? She’s a criminal. When will you learn to stop trusting criminals? You just said earlier I should stop praising them, yet here you are, helping one of them!”

“Isn’t it time for you to go to bed? You have school tomorrow.”

“Ugh.” 

Damian gathered his things and headed upstairs, meeting Pennyworth on the way as the butler was coming down with a tray of food for Father. Damian retreated to his room and as soon as he was inside, he unzipped his backpack and pulled out the DNA equipment so he could continue his analysis. He placed the blood sample in the machine and waited for the report to be printed. He got ready for bed and after a while, the report was finalized. 

He anxiously ripped out the report from the machine, eager to see the results. He was going through the whole paper and found there was a match to Rebecca's DNA since it was her blood that was used for the symbol painted on her living room wall, but there was one more DNA found too. This would be key to finding out who actually broke into her home. 

The results came and it was a 100% match to his own blood. 

Damn it. 

Because he touched the cotton swab by accident, the sample got contaminated. The results were now compromised. Damian sat on the edge of his bed, angry. He was such an idiot. Now he was back to square one with no further piece of evidence to unravel the identity of the Shadow.

Chapter Text

It was the second day of school, and the day went as tedious as the one before, if not worse. Breakfast was lonely and quiet this time, without the presence of his obnoxious siblings at the table, and once Damian was dropped off at school, there was no one to greet him at the entryway like the first day. After looking for his Kryptonian friend for a long ten minutes, Damian finally gave up and resumed his first class, which was History. The young teenager didn't mind being on his own, but he couldn't deny the morning was a little depressing so far. 

He arrived in the classroom fairly early and decided to sit in the third chair, middle row. The bell rang and the gray-haired teacher with a dumb mustache stood up from his chair, waiting for the students to get all settled. As predicted, the class was horribly boring. Nothing was being taught, the teacher was simply talking about the syllabus just like the first day. All the professors followed the same script for the first week of school, it seemed. At least this time there were no stupid 'get to know you' activities, the only thing that happened was that the new students were asked to stand up and introduce themselves, but they didn't need to share anything else other than their names, so it wasn't too bad. There were only two new students that year, outside of Damian. He didn't care, though, none of that was relevant. 

The professor was still going on over dumb class rules, all useless information that didn't matter, so Damian pulled out his phone and messaged Emiko Queen. He would normally use his Teen Titans phone but was that obviously going to be troublesome if his device was taken or seen by someone else. 

'Anything going on today?' Damian messaged. Emiko already had his number, so she would know the text would be coming from him.

It took a few minutes until a reply finally came.

Not yet, it's still pretty early. We're having breakfast, then we're gonna do some training. Why?

The boy leaned back on his chair, frustrated. What he would give to be training with the Titans instead of listening to boring lectures... Anything to get out of that classroom and be active again.

'Just curious. No hints on what the team will be working on today?'

No... But I overheard Kori on the phone asking your brother for help on a new case that she came across. Something involving a video game manufacturer.

A criminal case related to a gaming manufacturing company? This was bound to be good. Damian was going to respond but there were three dots on the text message box, indicating that Emiko wasn't done typing, so he waited.

Why are you texting me from your cell?

Damian was about to reply when he was called out by his teacher, startling him from his seat.

"I just went over the rules, Mr. Wayne!" The mustache man said, annoyed. "No phones in the class."

Damian groaned and put away his phone in his backpack. He rested his chin on his hand, watching the old teacher blab with that boring, monotone voice of his. The time dragged but after a while, the class finally came to an end. The young boy immediately pulled out his phone again to finish the message that was meant to be sent earlier. 

'Sorry. I'm at school.'

Thankfully, Emiko still seemed to be next to her phone because her new text didn't take long to come. 

School? Do you even need school? That sounds awfully redundant.

A wave of students crossed the corridors with the announcement of the change of classes, which meant several of them bumped into Damian's shoulders to get to their classes. Damian ignored them and simply walked a little further from the crowd with his face still glued to the phone.

'That's what I said! I don't know when this punishment will end.'

Hang in there, R. I'll let you know if I hear of anything else. 

'What's the name of the game manufacturer?'

Tek Gaming Enterprise. I have a feeling someone altered the production of the games to get Kori all worked up.
Hey, they're calling me.
Gotta go. 

Damian stood by the stairs, staring down at his phone while he was lost in his thoughts. They had to be careful and somewhat cryptic with their messages since they weren't using the secured lines from the Teen Titans mobile device, but Emiko was able to share quite a bit. Damian decided to look up the name of the store on Google, any information would help. He started typing on his phone, researching as much as he could. He reviewed the complaints from customers about the games, pulled up articles to see if there were any scandals or intel worth mentioning, and then he found an article that addressed the history of some illegal activities committed at Tek Gaming manufacturing a couple of years ago. An audit at the manufacturing site was done, and the press confirmed there would be no issues moving forward, but that was obviously a reporter's lie. If someone was willing to break the law in the past, they would continue to do so later, unless someone stopped them. 

This was a job for the Teen Titans... Damian smirked at the thought. Finally something worth his time, something interesting! He was going to look up more things and do more research to help, but as he distractedly lifted his head, he noticed the large clock hanging on the wall, indicating how late he was for his next class. 

Shit. 

Damian went on his phone to take a look at his schedule again, and the next class was P.E. He actually had no idea where the indoor gymnasium was. Damian quickly searched for the paper given to him the previous day that had the picture of the school map, so he could locate where he was supposed to go. It took almost 10 minutes until he finally found the damned place, and of course, when he opened those large wooden doors, everyone stared at him. What was the deal with all these students always turning their heads to the door in complete silence just because someone came in? And why did their faces have to look so judgemental?

A young man in his mid-twenties, with short trimmed hair, turned to the late student. "Do you have a watch?" The P.E. teacher pointed to the watch on his wrist, tapping the glass, lightly. "Class started ten minutes ago." 

Ignoring the mocking looks being sent his way, Damian looked down, embarrassed. "Sorry, I got lost."

"Go change. Lockers are that way in case you get lost again." The teacher pointed to the doors down the hallway, making a group of idiotic kids chuckle from his comment. 

Damian proceeded with his 'walk of shame' to the locker room before he returned with the appropriate attire. Thank God for Pennyworth remembering to pack his gym clothes so he wouldn't have to face another embarrassment in front of everyone. That same group kept staring at him, their mischievous eyes begging to witness the young teenager humiliate himself even more. 

The teacher was holding a white and black ball under his arm. "Alright, class. Go ahead and line up. Fields, Evans. Wanna do the honors?"

Both boys stepped aside from the group of friends that surrounded them. They were the same ones who were laughing earlier and who seemed to hope with all their might for Damian to make a fool of himself again. Their glances were annoying. Maybe it was all in his head, but it was hard to not dislike them. Their faces exuded false confidence as if they owned the school or something. The one named Fields was a light-brown-haired kid, tall for an eighth grader, with an athletic build body. Evans was just as tall, but skinnier in comparison to his friend, and he had a smug look on his face that clearly showed his misplaced belief that all girls wanted him, when in reality his face was downright stupid and punchable. He had wavy dark hair, and thick eyebrows and his left ear was pierced. 

The morons started calling for their peers, one at a time, to join their teams. Damian was one of the last people to be called, with the exception of a couple of more students who hadn't been chosen for a team yet. 

"I'll try my luck," Evans commented to his friend as he laughed. "Yo, newbie! You're on my team."

Evans tossed the blue vest at Damian, which he caught in the air. He stepped forward and joined the group of kids in the blue team. 

Fields chose a scrawny brunette girl with glasses to join his red team, leaving only a skinny red-haired, freckle-faced boy.

Evans slapped his forehead in frustration. "Damn it! My team's gonna lose now!"

Fields just laughed. "Sucks to be you!"

The teacher stepped in. "Alright, enough talk, you two. Get in position, go!" The man blew his whistle and everyone started walking to the center of the gym, each team situated on opposite sides. Evans started telling everyone their positions, using words that made absolutely no sense. What in the world did the term 'fullback' even mean?

The arrogant team captain frowned as he noticed the puzzled look on Damian's face. "What are you waiting for? You're the midfielder, go!" 

The red-haired boy was given the same position, so Damian just followed him toward the middle of the field, as the name suggested. 

Damian stood next to the freckle-faced kid and turned to him, scowling. "What the hell is this?"

The kid raised his eyebrow. "Um... Soccer?" The answer didn't seem to help because Damian was still clearly confused. "Have you... Never played soccer before?"

Damian straightened himself and crossed his arms in an attempt to not look so lost and weak. "Tt. No."

The kid widened his eyes in shock. "Really? Oh, wow. Okay. It'll be hard to explain in 5 minutes, but I'll try. Do you see that white frame with the net?" Damian followed where the boy was pointing and nodded. "The whole point of the game is to kick the ball inside that goal box from the opposite team. We also have to protect our own goal, which is that one." He pointed. "Oh, and no hands allowed."

Damian shrugged. "Sounds fairly simple."

"Yeah..." The redhead scratched the back of his head, disconcerted by his poor explanation about the game. He probably didn't help much. "Um, just make sure you kick well. And you gotta pass the ball to the people on your team. Oh, and the red team is gonna try to steal the ball from us."

Damian smirked. "Bring it on."

The redhead gave a fake smile, worried. He nervously watched the P.E. coach walk toward the team captains. He felt self-conscious about the way he explained the game, he probably left out so many other things still. To break the silence, he turned to the new student. "What's your name, again?"

"Damian."

The boy studied Damian's face for a second. "Wait a minute... I've seen your face on TV before! Are you the Damian? Damian Wayne, I mean. Son of-"

"Yeah, yeah, my father is Bruce Wayne." Damian rolled his eyes, he liked it better when people didn't recognize him. "And you are?"

"Colin."

The P.E. teacher blew his whistle and the game started. Both Evans and Fields were extremely fast and aggressive as they kept stealing the ball from each other and passing to their teammates. Evans had finally tackled and passed the ball to the person closest to him. Seeing how both teams raced to where the ball was going, Damian did the same, running as fast as possible to get to the ball. He was starting to understand the game better the more he paid attention to what everyone was doing and he charged toward the other side of the field, standing near the goal. There were barely any defenders to block his way, unlike Evans, who was surrounded by a bunch of players. 

"Evans! Here!" Damian called out, waving his hand. Evans looked up and immediately passed the ball to him. Damian managed to stop the ball with his foot and then aimed at the goal net. Unfortunately, his kick went too high. The goalkeeper went to chase the ball and came back with the soccer ball in his hands.  

Evans sighed and he and the other players went back to their side of the field. Damian didn't move, however, frowning at the sight of the kid breaking the rules. "Hey, what are you doing? You can't use your hands!"

"I'm the goalie, you idiot!" The goalie yelled, tossing the ball with his hands as far as he could to get to the midfield. A kid wearing a red vest stopped the ball with his chest, who then passed to Fields, who ran and successfully scored a goal afterward. 

1x0 for the red team. 

The game restarted, so Damian went back to his original position, and Colin was standing not too far away from him.

"You told me hands were not allowed in this game."

Colin felt awkward again. "Oh, unless you're the goalie. Their job is to make sure the ball doesn't get in the net so the other team doesn't score."

"That would've been nice to know," Damian mumbled. "Now they think I'm stupid." 

"Sorry."

Damian actively studied the students' movements and where the ball was going. He charged forward, unaware of the purpose of his midfield position anyways, and he managed to get close to a person in the red team who had the ball. The player lost balance for a second, which gave Damian the perfect opportunity to steal the ball and run closer to the goal. A player from the red team came running alongside him, and Damian knew he would easily outrun him, but he wasn't expecting a slide tackle from another opponent who came in front of him. He almost fell but, luckily, his teammate got the ball once more and passed it back to him. Damian was so close to the goal.

He was going to score this time, he wasn't raised to fail. Evans kept yelling at him to pass the ball, which made no sense. The goal was right there, he was going to make it. Damian stopped the ball with his foot and did a perfect kick, right into the goal net. Damian raised his hands, excited, but the P.E. teacher blew his whistle again.

"Foul." The teacher announced.

"What?! But I scored!"

The P.E. coach completely ignored him and stopped the game, allowing the red team to have an indirect free kick to the defending team. With that, the red team aggressively went for the ball and was able to score again. A few more minutes went by and the bell rang, ending the class. The kids started heading towards the locker rooms, but Evans was pissed. He marched down the field to where Damian was standing and pushed him back, angrily.

"What the hell? Why didn't you pass like I told you?"

Damian scowled at the push. "I scored! It's not my fault our teacher favors the red team!"

"That was an offside, you moron! Those don't count. Do you even know how to play soccer?"

Damian stared at Evans, not knowing what to say. Fields came in, jumping at his friend and mocking him nonstop about how much the blue team sucked. All that bragging was too annoying to deal with, so Damian walked away from all of them. He was nearing the locker room when Colin reached him. 

"Hey, sorry I didn't explain all the rules... I probably made it worse for you."

"Whatever." Damian spat before changing back to his school uniform. He didn't mean to sound rude to Colin, he wasn't mad at him. He was angry at those two imbeciles, along with that whole class, no, that whole school. More than anything, he was mad at his father for making him go through this. This whole commoner life was becoming too suffocating and he needed an outlet to release all the anger that kept building inside him.

***

Lunch break came, and Damian went to the lunchroom, picking a random empty bench that was away from everyone. There was nobody else near the table, which was nice. He unwrapped the vegan lunch that Pennyworth made for him and he started thinking of ways he could find the Shadow. He wondered if Todd had found any more clues, but most likely not, since his brother was busy with other things, with criminal cases of his own to deal with. The young teenager was getting lost in his thoughts again until he spotted Jon walking in his direction with two other friends next to him. Damian felt pain in his stomach, suddenly. Did that mean Jon already had friends of his own to have lunch with?

From afar, he could hear what Jon was chattering about. "I'm telling you, I'm friends with Damian Wayne!" 

A brunette girl with a ponytail stood next to Jon, holding a tray of food. "Yeah, right?!"

"As if!" Teased the brown-haired boy, who was also carrying his food tray.  

"I’m dead serious!" Jon inside. He quickly searched the lunch room and found the person he was looking for. "Would ya look at that?! It’s him! Hey, Damian!" Jon waved, excitedly. His friend, on the other hand, didn't return the gesture and completely ignored him.

"He didn’t even acknowledge you." The boy pointed out.

The other friend agreed. "Yeah, he straight up ignored you."

"Nah, he probably didn't hear me." Jon lied, knowing full well that his friend was most likely in a bad mood again. He joined Damian's table, sitting across him, while his two new friends sat next to Jon, one on each side. "Sup, Dami!"

"Don't call me that," Damian spat, without looking up from his food. 

Jon furrowed his brows. He knew his friend had a tendency to be rude and grumpy, but there was something wrong with him. 

"Soo, aren't you gonna introduce us to your friend?" One of his friends asked, elbowing Jon.

"Oh, right, sorry. Aham, guys, this is Damian Wayne." Damian glared at Jon's new friends in an intimidating way before staring back to his food.

Jon continued with his normal friendly attitude. "Damian, this is Mark and Sarah."

Mark gave a genuine smile and waved. "Nice to meet you!"

Sarah's cheeks were blushing, all of a sudden. "Um... H-hi!"

The kids waited for a response, but they were only met with a "Hn." from the mysterious rich boy, who still refused to make eye contact. 

Jon leaned in, whispering, "You’re okay with them eating with us, right?" 

Damian still didn't look up, taking a bite of his food. "Why not? Today couldn’t get any better." 

"
It’s not all that bad, we’re all friends here." Jon tried to console his friend but still whispering. Mark broke the awkward silence by sharing something funny he heard earlier that day, and he and Sarah started engaging in a light-hearted conversation. Jon joined in, and all three were laughing from Mark's impersonation of one of their teachers. The conversation started going a little longer, which was frustrating as it was.

Damian crumpled his bag of food as he stood up from the bench. "I'm done with lunch. Bye."

"Already--?" Jon turned around, watching his friend walk around the table to head back to class. "Oh, okay... Bye, Damian. See you after class!"

"Aw, you're leaving--? Bye, Damian!" Mark waved again. "It was nice meeting you!"

Sarah couldn't muster to say anything, so she just waved. It didn't matter, however, because the rich boy was already walking towards the exit, refusing to acknowledge all of their goodbyes.

"A man of many words, isn’t he?" Teased Mark. 

Sarah turned to Jon. "Are you sure you know him? I think you made him uncomfortable."

"Who, me? I just think he didn't like you guys!"   

Mark scoffed. "Heh, keep telling yourself that, Kent. Still think you're lying. Oh, and Sarah? You totally have a crush on him, don't you?"

Sarah's face went red again, but not as red as earlier. "I do not!" She hit her friend in the shoulder, which only made him chuckle.

Jon let his friends tease each other while he stared at the lunchroom hallway, wondering what could've happened to his best friend that day. 

***

Classes were over and all the kids were going back to the entrance door so that their parents could pick them up. Jon would've normally waited in the common spot for his mother to pick him up, but he went outside instead, near the outdoor soccer field, where his friend was always there to wait for Alfred to come down with the helicopter. Jon reached Damian right in time. 

"Hey, Damian!"

His friend turned around but didn't respond.

"What's wrong?" There was genuine concern in Jon's voice. 

Damian just gripped his backpack straps tighter and looked away. "Nothing"

"Come on, I'm your friend. You can talk to me."

"I already told you before, Jon. We're not friends. We're just partners who fight crime together. That's all."

Jon raised his eyebrow in disbelief. Something was definitely upsetting Damian. "Yeah, right. Partners don't crash at each other's houses and spend hours playing video games."

Damian turned his head to Jon, refusing defeat. "Tt. Go home, Kent."

"Seriously now, what's wrong?" Jon waited for an answer, but of course, he was met with the silent treatment. He reflected on the way Damian was acting earlier, wondering what could've possibly hurt his friend's feelings. And then, it came to him. "Ooh. You're upset about meeting you late for lunch and bringing my classmates with me!"

That seemed to strike a nerve because Damian suddenly looked gloomy. "I'm not an entertainment center for people to come in to get autographs."

Jon blinked. "So, that's what got you upset? They just wanted to meet you! Everyone in my class got so excited when they heard you're studying here at West-Reeve." Jon paused again, in case Damian wanted to add anything, but he was still avoiding him by looking away. Jon kicked the grass, reflecting. "...You know, I wish I was famous like you. Everyone thinks I'm a nobody or some loser farm boy. You, on the other hand, are adored; My whole class loves you. You're like an idol to them."

Damian's grip on his backpack straps softened as he stared at the grass on the field. "Being the son of a famous billionaire is a curse. No one actually cares about me, and they all hate me."

Jon raised his eyebrows. "Wait, really? Why?"

"Don't know. There's just a bunch of assholes in this school. Can you leave now?" 

His friend smiled, stubbornly. 

"I'm serious. Don't you have to go home? Your mother is probably waiting for you."

Jon yawned from the long day he had after going to bed late, against his parents' advice. "My mom told me she's running late. Work stuff."

Damian looked at the sky, bored. "Great. And Pennyworth seems to be late as well." 

There was a pause and, clearly, Jon was not planning on going anywhere, so Damian sighed. "School sucks."

Jon answered with a sympathetic smile. "I know. So, how's your search for that whole magic thing? Did you find anything new?"

Damian finally started to make eye contact again. "Not much. A witch was recently robbed by this mysterious being, he calls himself the Shadow. I was so close to discovering his identity but I contaminated the blood sample, so now I have nothing to go off of. I have to start at square one, unless..." The boy's bright green eyes widened as if a lightbulb had appeared over his head. "That's it! I just need to find the book!"

"Wait, book? What book? What are you talking about?"

"I know I said I wouldn't tell you about this case, but I don't care anymore. There is this book called 'Book of the Soul's Dusk', it contains serious dark magic spells, capable of summoning demons and other creatures, and worse things than that, I presume."

Jon's blue eyes widened. "Woah."

"This man, Shadow, attacked Witchfire to steal that book, so obviously he's planning on doing something evil. I won't be able to know who the Shadow is just yet, but I can at least get my hands on that book! It's not that rare, and I'm sure there's at least more than one copy in the magician's world." Damian started talking to Jon as if he was in his Robin uniform. "So, here's what we have to do. We find the book, familiarize ourselves with the spells, and have a better understanding of what's so special about this whole dark magic thing. We can then use the spells to track the Shadow and fight him!"

The way Damian explained made it seem like that task was so easy to accomplish.  

Jon did a 'T' sign gesture with his hands. "Hold on, time out. First off, I hate magic; Magic sucks. Second, why on earth do you want to start learning dark magic spells? Are you crazy? You'll turn out just like the bad guy!"

"Jon, we gotta fight magic with magic. If someone is planning on summoning demons, then we have to learn the spells on how to expel them. If we have the weapon in our hands, we can understand Shadow's motivations better. It's possible there's a specific spell that the Shadow has been searching for. Since he already has access to the book, we gotta have it as well."

"And how do you expect us to find this book in the first place?"

"We need assistance from someone with access to magic, of course."

Jon stared at Damian as if the kid was crazy. "Ok, I have no idea who we can talk to. Zatanna is always busy, busier for the Justice League even, we won't be able to get a hold of her!"

"We have Djinn, dummy."

"Oooh."

"You probably forgot about her due to your part-time membership being practically non-existent. You always bail on us. Frankly, you shouldn't even call yourself a member of the Teen Titans, at this rate. Besides, you're not even a teenager." 

"Hey, don't diss on my well-earned spot with the Teen Titans! It's not my fault I have a curfew.  And we have school now, there's no way I can go out..."

Damian was about to give a snarky comment to tease his buddy, but a loud noise from a chopper's motor blades came above them. Alfred landed the chopper on the field and stepped out of the helicopter.

"My most sincere apologies for the delay, Master Damian. I had to help your father with a business matter, and it ended up taking longer than expected. You did not check the message I sent you, I presume."

"Hm? No, I wasn't checking my phone." Damian glanced at the helicopter's blades, having another idea in mind. "Pennyworth, can you take me and Jon to the Titan's tower?"

Jon and Alfred both frowned, confused;

"Beg your pardon?"

"What?!" Jon asked.

Damian proceeded with his explanation. "It's just the first week of school, there won't be any assignments or classes worth paying attention to since everything is still in the introductory stage, which means Jon and I will not miss a thing. Also, it's early afternoon, so if we go help the Titans with a mission now, we'll be back home early enough to have dinner and have a proper restful sleep for the next day of school." 

Alfred raised his eyebrow in suspicion. The way the young man was speaking so eloquently only meant he was up to something. "What are you planning on doing, Master Damian?"

Damian gave an innocent look. "Nothing! I just wanted some action, that's all. Besides, Father wants me to socialize more, correct? Well, it doesn't get better than interacting with schoolmates and meta-humans close to my age all in the same day, does it?"

Alfred rubbed his forehead, tiredly. "Master Damian, remember what I said earlier about keeping secrets."

"Pennyworth, I need some fresh air, away from the manor. If Father won't let me join him on patrols because of school, then I have to do something. Please. This is not a lie."

Alfred looked from one boy to another, thoughtful about what he should do. It was so hard making decisions for this family. Never in a million years did he ever expect to have such an eccentric life after being offered the job to work for the Waynes.

He turned to Jon, worried. "What about you, young sir? Do your parents know you are going to the Titans' tower?"

"Um, no, I didn't even know we were going--"

Damian quickly pulled out his phone and dialed a number, then handed the phone to Jon.

The phone was on speaker, and a woman answered. "Hello?"

Jon saw who Damian was calling and raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Oh! Um, hi, mom!"

"Jon? Oh, honey, I'm so sorry, I'm so late. I should've had you get a ride with Damian, is he there with you right now? I don't recognize this number."

"Yeah, he's here--"

"Hello, Mrs. Kent. Pennyworth is here with us also, don't worry; He also arrived late. Jon wanted to ask you something."

Jon stared at his friend in disbelief. So much for the notice. "Um, yeah, hey, mom, Mr. Pennyworth was going to take Damian to the Teen Titans and I was wondering if I, uh... If I could come too."

"Now?" Lois asked, alarmed.

"Yes, mom. It'll be quick and I don't have any homework yet! Can I go? Please?"

Damian then handed the phone to Alfred. "Here, Pennyworth, you convince her."

He received an angry glare from the butler. "Hello, Mrs. Kent. Apologies for the sudden request that was so thoughtfully planned in advance by young Master Damian. It seems the solution to his boredom typically involves dragging your son to his wild adventures."

Damian frowned at Alfred. "Hey, you were supposed to convince her, not do the opposite!" He whispered, angrily.

Jon interrupted the two. "I'll be home by dinner, I promise! Please, mom, I wanna go!"

Lois sighed. "Okay. Don't do anything crazy, alright? Call me or your dad if you're in trouble."

"Will do, mom! Thanks!"

"Sorry again about today, honey. And Alfred, thank you for watching the boys. I really appreciate it."

"Pleasure is all mine, Mrs. Kent."

"Thanks, mom, you're the best!"

"Bye, sweetie. Take care--"

Damian ended the call, not bothering to say goodbye or let Lois finish. "It's done, then. Pennyworth, to the Tower!"

Alfred made a mental note to go ahead and finally schedule a massage for himself for mental health purposes.

"Oh, goody."  

Chapter Text

The chopper landed on top of the Titan's tower and the two boys jumped out, waving goodbye to Alfred. They got inside by opening the roof entrance door while Jon beamed in excitement. 

"Wow! I can't believe I got to ride in a helicopter!"

"Jon, you can fly," Damian recalled as they headed downstairs. 

"Yeah, but it's a helicopter!"

"You're weird."

The duo entered one of the top floors where there was the common room, but no one was inside. They searched the living room and kitchen area also, and still nothing. Jon walked closer to the windows in the living room and looked down. 

"Hey, Damian. It looks like everyone's training downstairs." Jon pointed down. Damian followed his gaze, spotting Starfire and Nightwing discussing something with the rest of the team. 

There was a sound of footsteps coming from behind them, so both Damian and Jon turned around. It was just Jaime Reyes, though, dressed in his normal civilian clothes; a black t-shirt and jeans.

"Woah. When did you guys get here?" Jaime asked, surprised to see the unexpected guests.

"We figured we could come down and help the team today," Damian answered, simply.

Jaime studied the boys, noticing how they were both strangely dressed in the same uniform. "Are you both... Going to the same school?"

Jon and Damian briefly exchanged glances with each other before turning back to Jaime.

Jon was quick to answer. "Yeah! We just started West-Reeve private school two days ago!" 

Damian placed his hand on his face. "Do you just tell everyone you meet about our lives?"

"It's just Jaime!" Jon defended himself. 

Jaime rolled his eyes. "No worries, Hermano. Damian, here, enjoys being a paranoid freak. You get used to it."

Damian frowned at the accusation. "I'm not paranoid! This is called being smart. You don't give away critical information about yourself to the enemy."

Jon furrowed his brows. "But Jaime is not an enemy."

"He could be. You don't know what that bug of his is capable of."

The scarab at Jaime's back chirped, "What did he just say?" Jaime ignored the bug and crossed his arms, tediously. "See? Paranoid."

The young ex-assassin glared at his teammate. "Tt. And what are you doing here while the others are training, huh?"

"I was just finishing my homework. I'm doing online school."

Damian raised his eyebrows in shock. "Online school? You can do that? Why is Father forcing me to go to a stupid school in person, then?" Damian quickly pulled out his phone. "I'll tell him right now that I can simply take online classes and graduate already. I'll finally be free."

"The task was to defeat me without using your powers, that was all." Starfire began to explain. "Each of you could have easily been successful; Bart, your perception of time works differently than everyone else's, you can always use your speed thinking to your advantage, and in the situation where your powers are gone, you can still utilize your natural analytical skills. I know how smart you are, but you got distracted by your surroundings." Starfire walked closer to Bart, placing her hand on his shoulder. "I'm sure focusing on just one task is challenging for you, but try being a little more attentive next time, so you don't get hurt."

She then turned to Red Arrow. "Emiko, you are right; You do know how to fight, and you're more knowledgeable of so many other martial art styles than me. You could've easily taken me down; All of you could, including you, Djinn. But the biggest mistake made today was that all of you chose to act as individuals, rather than attack me as a team. For those of us who have powers, they are resourceful, yes, but we can't always rely on them. What we can rely on, however, is each other. We must become one so we can complement each other with our abilities and strengths."

Dick Grayson pointed his index finger to his girlfriend. "What she said." He then leaned closer to Starfire. "Way to go, Kori." The redhead blushed at the compliment. 

Damian couldn't disagree more with Kori, but he chose to keep his thoughts to himself. The meaning behind her lesson was decent, at least, and her leadership skills were still adequate.

Nightwing brought his hands together for a quick clap. "Ok, team. We have a mission to work on today, are you ready? Let's head inside to the computer room."

They all followed him to the room. Dick started explaining that a company called Tek Gaming Enterprise launched a new computer game that became very popular, but each time a person downloaded the software, a hidden virus was simultaneously uploaded to the customers' computers, giving the company access to all their bank information. Dick had the location of the manufacturing site where the game servers were stored, so they could destroy it before more viruses were downloaded.

Everyone got ready to leave, and fortunately for Damian and Jon, they always kept another one of their uniforms at the tower. As soon as everyone was appropriately dressed, Djinn transported them to the gaming enterprise. Thanks to her illusion enchantment, the whole team looked invisible. They all waited for a company truck to pass through the entrance so they could get in without alarming any of the security. Once inside the building, Dick led everyone to the server room. Everyone could see each other normally, but to the eyes of the rest of the world, they remained unseen. Nightwing opened the door, and the server room was enormous; It spanned across the distance of a football field. 

Nightwing turned to his peers, whispering. "The virus is downloading all the data to these servers. This place is bigger than I thought, so we should split up."

Starfire nodded in agreement. "Impulse, Beetle, Red Arrow, come with me. We'll take care of this whole sector to our left." 

Nightwing looked at Robin, Superboy, and Djinn. "Alright, you three, we'll cover the rest."

The team went their separate ways with the plan to shut down the data center without getting caught. Due to the nature of the business, the whole place was extremely secured by several armed guards watching the room. A few IT Techs were there also, dragging their steel mobile desks as they walked down the isles back to their work station, but overall, there were mostly security guards carrying fully automated rifles as they were pacing the floor. 

Starfire quickly studied the room before coming up with a plan. "Okay, we need to find a way to quietly damage the servers. Perhaps there's an emergency power off somewhere that we can use to shut everything down?" 

"Oh, I know!" Bart whispered, loudly, in excitement. "I'll just phase through all the servers and then boom, hasta la vista, baby!"

"That will electrocute his entire body." Beetle's scarab voice chirped in Jaime's ear.

"Dude, don't. It will electrocute you." Jaime advised his friend, listening to the bug. 

"Beetle is right." Starfire concurred. "That is dangerous, Impulse."

Impulse shrugged. "Ok, fine. I'll just use my hand, then!" 

Emiko was about to tell the speedster to wait, but it was too late. Impulse had already left, running to the end of the aisle so he could start running back to them. The impetuous speedster stuck out his palm so he could fry all the circuits by phasing his hand inside the servers. He did that in far less than a millisecond, but doing so caused him to have his hand electrocuted.

"YAOUCH!" Bart yelped in pain from the electric shock. 

The guards turned in their direction, aiming their guns at them. There was no one in the room, in their eyes, so the guards slowly went back to their original positions, while still feeling suspicious. 

Emiko shot Bart a glare. "You gave away our position!" She whispered, mad. 

"Sorry!" Bart whispered back, raising his hands in surrender. "I got shocked!"

"Heh. Two thousand bolts will do that to ya." The scarab at Jaime's back mocked. Jaime glanced over his shoulder, angry. "Shut up."

"Everyone, quiet," Starfire advised, stepping in front of them as a way to protect them. They crouched down in silence, and the princess of Tamaran pointed to the small bald man that came flying on a jetpack above their heads. It was Gizmo. 

Gizmo was inspecting the whole row to see if there was anything there, but he also saw nothing. As soon as the small man turned his back to them, Starfire whispered: "We have to take Gizmo down first. Don't underestimate him. Red Arrow, aim for his jet; Gizmo relies on it too much. Blue Beetle, destroy the jet afterward. Gizmo will start running, Impulse and I will take care of him."

Emiko pulled down her bow and arrow and aimed. She was about to hit the target when Gizmo stared right at her, perplexed. 

"What the--?" Gizmo asked, which alarmed the Teen Titans. They couldn't understand how in the world they could be seen, but then it hit them; The invisible charm had worn off. 

Red Arrow hurriedly shot her arrow in panic, but she missed. The bald dwarf flew higher and started shooting the young heroes with the guns from his jet. 

"Damn it!" Emiko complained as she hid behind the server's wall to protect herself. All the other guards came at them, shooting them relentlessly with their automated rifles. Beetle used his shield, but Starfire almost got shot. Thankfully, Impulse quickly grabbed the bullets in the air before it could pierce her or anyone else.

"Ok, team, forget the plan," Starfire announced. "Remember what I said earlier today. Titans, go!"

The Teen Titans charged at the bald man at the same time; Blue Beetle started shooting the jet with his alien suit, Red Arrow shooting her arrows, and Starfire blasting her starbolts at the guards who came running towards them. Impulse wasn't quite sure who to attack first, but he decided to go for the shortie floating around. He used his speed to run on the side of the servers and jumped off the top to catch Gizmo. He landed right on the man's back, and he tried to phase through the jetpack's circuits, but Gizmo kept swinging his jet from one side to another.

"Stop-- Moving!" Impulse shouted, trying to regain his balance.

"Get off me!" Gizmo spat. 

While the jet kept wildly flying back and forth, with Bart hanging on Gizmo's neck to not fall, the guards continued shooting the Teen Titans. Beetle still had his shield on while he shot the guards, Starfire blasted some of the servers with her powers, and Red Arrow remained hidden, making a round count in her head so she could precisely shoot her arrows at the guards at the perfect time.  

Hearing all the commotion, Nightwing turned to his team on the other side of the server room. 

"They need our help. Superboy, start blasting this place with your laser vision. There's no point in being stealthy anymore."

"He doesn't have full control of his laser vision yet," Damian warned.

Jon looked down, embarrassed. "I'll be careful."

Before Dick could respond, they were cornered by even more armed security guards, who started shooting them also. Djinn immediately stepped in front of them and created a force shield with her hands to protect them from the bullets. Her whole body was illuminated with purple lines, and her pupils also became purple from her magic. The guns kept being fired from every direction, and the shooting seemed to never cease to stop.

Djinn's hand started shaking, slightly. "There's too many... Not sure how long I can hold..."

Nightwing and Robin both reached for their gadgets and threw at the guard's rifles, exploding their guns off their hands with the mini explosives. Nightwing held onto his escrima sticks and ran at the guards, disarming and attacking each one of them, while Djinn helped by blocking any other attacks aimed at Nightwing that were coming from behind. Nightwing took off, running to get to Starfire and the others, as Djinn followed, using her powers to float and block any bullets coming their way.

Damian and Jon were left behind, and Robin simply turned to his friend, giving him a smirk. "Ready to wreck this place?"

Jon nodded, confidently. To avoid frying the whole place and accidentally hurting someone in the process, Jon decided to carefully blast one row of servers at a time with his laser vision. Damian figured that would probably take too long, so he ran to the other rows on the opposite side as Jon's, placing a bomb in each aisle. 

Meanwhile, Bart successfully destroyed the circuits from Gizmo's jetpack, sending them both clumsily to the ground. Nightwing threw a Batarang at another one of the guards, while Starfire watched his back. The team all worked together, successfully knocking down each of their opponents, and they sighed in relief once they were done. What they were not expecting was the sight of Robin and Superboy running to them with urgency in their voices.

"We gotta leave, now!" Robin alerted. "This place is going to explode."

"Yeah, the explosives are going to go off at any minute now!" Superboy warned. 

Nightwing furrowed his brows as he stared at his brother. "Did you seriously implant all of our explosives in this place?"

"No time to discuss, we gotta go," Damian repeated. 

Starfire looked around, worried. "We can't have all these people killed!" 

Impulse zapped right where the group was at. "No worries! I'm on it!"

In less than 5 seconds, Impulse successfully evacuated everyone from the building, placing all the employees and the Teen Titans outside on the grounds, so there wouldn't be any collateral damage. Once everyone was safely placed outside, the manufacturing workers all stared at each other in confusion. Then they all heard a loud BAM from one of the floors above, and a huge smoke started to come out of the windows. Impulse strategically placed the Teen Titans further away from the crowd so they wouldn't be seen. Djinn also cast a quick illusion spell on them to make them look like Tek Gaming workers, just in case. 

Nightwing glared at his little brother, angry. "Robin, did I tell you to just bomb the whole place?"

"What?" Robin shouted in defense. "I destroyed the servers, didn't I? You're welcome! Besides, you told us you didn't care about being stealthy. And it's not my fault we got caught!"

Red Arrow glared at Impulse. "Yeah, we have Impulse to thank for."

"I already said I was sorry!" The speedster spoke, defensively.

Djinn wasn't quite sure of the reason for all the bickering. "Everyone's safe. We don't need to argue."   

"I don't like that genie girl. She seems to be up to something." The beetle's scarab decided to chime in. Jaime glanced over his shoulder again, mad at the Beetle. "Do you ever shut up? You always talk at the worst possible time!"

Bart raised his eyebrows at his best friend. "Bro, watching you argue with yourself is so weird sometimes."

Nightwing was still mad at his brother. "Robin, people could've gotten hurt! What if Impulse wasn't here? Do you ever think of the consequences?"

Robin was about to argue back, but Starfire's hair turned into a fire right at the ends, and her eyes were bright green, matching her fists that were glowing with green starbolts.

"ENOUGH!"

Everyone went silent. Some employees glanced in their direction, curious, but they went back to figuring out what had just happened to them and how they all ended up outside the company. If Djinn hadn't placed an enchantment on their appearances, they would've stirred a lot more unwanted attention. 

"This is not the time or place to argue," Starfire spoke, firmly. She looked down at Gizmo, who was lying on the floor, unconscious. "We're going to deliver Gizmo to the police, and then we can talk when we go back to the tower. Understood?"

The whole team, including Nightwing, nodded, obediently. 

After the cops arrived, they all went back to the Titans tower, where Starfire and Nightwing gave the teenagers a long lecture about not acting impulsively and the importance of teamwork and communication. All boring things to Damian, none of that was worth his time. He hated how he kept doing exactly what his family wanted him to do, which was save the day, and still get punished for it. It was stupid, and he couldn't wait for the lecture to be over. It took a few minutes for everyone to cool off after the heated arguments, but eventually, each one of the Titans went their separate ways. 

Bart and Jaime chose to play video games in the living room, thankful that their bank accounts wouldn't be stolen, Emiko and Djinn went to their rooms, and Jon followed Damian, who kept quietly pacing around the floors, irritated. Dick and Kori were in the computer room, calling Cyborg to ask him to remove the virus and return the money stolen from all the customers. Cyborg was more than happy to assist since he was stuck with Watchtower duty and had nothing else to do.  

After feeling all that anger slowly get out of his system, Damian spoke to his friend, in private. "Okay, Jon. You know the real reason why we came here today, right?"

"Um... To help the Teen Titans?"

"No! We're here to get the Book of the Soul's Dusk, remember?" Damian whispered, impatiently.

"Ooh, that's right. And how are we going to do that again? Do you think Djinn will know how?"

"That's why we have to ask."

Careful to not be caught by any prying eyes, the boys stealthily headed to Djinn's room. Damian quietly knocked on her door, and the girl answered.

"Robin? And Superboy. How can I help you?"

"You can call us by our actual names, Djinn," Damian spoke, softly, something that Jon wasn't used to seeing. "Can we come in?"

Djinn looked back to her room and then back to the boys. "Um. Sure." She said, haltingly, unsure of what they wanted to talk to her about. 

The boys got inside, and there was nothing ordinary inside her room. There was almost nothing inside, save for the essential furniture in her bedroom, such as her bed and nightstands. There were no decorations, frames hung on the walls, nothing. All that emptiness was a little sad to see. It was as if there was no identity to be expressed, no emotion to be represented in the form of decorations or memories to be remembered inside little picture frames. Jon felt saddened for the girl. If only he could do something to lift up her spirits...

None of that was noticed by Damian, however. He closed the door behind him and looked at Djinn's mysterious purple eyes. "Djinn. You know magic.”

"Yes...?" Djinn raised her eyebrow in suspicion; Robin was stating the obvious. 

“Have you ever heard of the Book of the Soul’s Dusk?”

The girl's purplish pupils dilated in shock. “That’s Dark Magic, Robin. What are you up to?”

Damian sighed. He didn't want to tell her, but he wouldn't be able to keep this a secret from her; Not if she was going to help them. "I’m trying to catch a bad guy; He goes by the name Shadow. He stole the Book of the Soul’s Dusk, and I am afraid that something bad is going to happen. We need to find him before he can hurt anyone else.”

Djinn crossed her arms, feeling tense. There was discomfort in her whole body language. "I don't like where this is going."

"Djinn, this is serious. The Shadow already has the book, if we get ourselves a copy of the same book, we can learn what he's up to. We can use the book to defeat him. We're not here for the dark magic, neither of us are magic users, Djinn. We don't care about this stuff."

Jon nodded in agreement. "It's true. If you don't know this already, my powers are useless to magic. I know Damian is known for his crazy ideas, but we just want to track down the bad guy. We just have no clue where to find the book, so we thought you could help."

Djinn stared at her bedroom wall before looking the boys in the eyes. "I know where the book is."

Damian beamed in interest. "You do?!"

Djinn looked at the attractive half-Arabic boy, but she was still glooming. "Yes. But you have to promise you won't use this book for evil purposes."

"I'd never do that, Djinn." The way the boy spoke was so reassuring. Djinn stared right back at the Boy Wonder, hating why her heart always hurt whenever he spoke to her.

There was something so mysterious and appealing about Damian, she couldn't quite put it into words... She approached the boys and closed her eyes. When her eyes were opened, her pupils were gone and she was glowing in purple lighting. "I'll take you there." 

The girl snapped her fingers and they disappeared. 

****

The trio appeared inside a large, fancy library. The house seemed to belong to a very rich person because everything was absurdly spacious, and the shelves were filled with hundreds, if not thousands, of books. Even the rug they walked on was clearly clean and luxurious, and on the bookshelves, there were also trophies and various kinds of rare collection items. There was one specific souvenir, however, placed in the center of the bookshelf, where an extremely well-polished golden helmet rested; It was Doctor Fate's helmet.

"Holy crap, we're at Doctor Fate's house?!" Superboy asked in a panic. There was no way they would be able to steal something from Dr. Fate and not get in trouble. 

"No, he used to be Dr. Fate," Djinn explained, still glowing. "The man is long retired now, and this is just one of the many mansions he owns. He's a collector, so he's known to have possession over the rarest of books."

"Isn't he going to notice the presence of your magic here, Djinn?" Robin asked, concerned. 

"Genies' magic is different from normal wizard's users, especially one who no longer uses the helmet."

"Hm. We should still probably hurry, just in case." Damian advised, looking over the shelves in search of the book.

Djinn closed her eyes again and then pointed to where the dark magic book was located. "There!"

Jon was the one closest to where she was pointing, so he reached for the book, but he got shocked from attempting to take it.

"Ouch!" Superboy shook his hand to alleviate the pain.

Damian frowned, intrigued. "Let me try." The same happened to him, the electric shock causing him to feel like his hands were being burned, almost. He silently grunted, used to hiding his pain during his League of Assassins days. 

Djinn came closer to them, encouraging the boys to stop. "The book is sealed with magic. Only a powerful spell can allow a new user to touch the book."

Damian turned to the genie. "Can you unleash the spell?"

"I..." Djinn took a few steps back, fearful. She stared at the ground for long seconds before looking up again. "I can't. I've used enough magic today, and I..." The genie hopelessly looked at the boys, remembering that she wasn't supposed to share why she had to keep her powers in control all the time. "I can't do it, just trust me."

"I'm sure you can, Djinn. The spell can't be too hard, right?" Robin asked, kindly. He then noticed the sad look on the girl's face. "What's wrong?"

The concern in his voice made the genie blush. "I... Listen, As-sihr magic is something all djinn can do. Illusions, mind reading… But when it comes to deeper magic, then it can only be performed if we are... Commanded."

"Commanded? How?" Superboy asked, innocently. 

"Some djinn have bottles, other pendants… And some have rings." Djinn raised her right hand where there was a purple ring on her ring finger. "This was my prison for thousands of years. And I swore I’d never let anyone use it on me ever again."

Damian felt stuck. They were so close.  

Robin walked closer to the genie and gently placed his hand on the girl's shoulder, sending her goosebumps from the touch. "You have every right to feel afraid, Djinn. If you trust me with the ring, I will return it to you the moment we are done. I promise I will never hurt you." 

Djinn felt a wave of anxiety hitting her at full force. She walked backward, feeling her cheeks warm and her skin crawling with fear. She hated the way Robin messed with her head, how there was an unspoken connection between the two that neither of them probably knew what it was. There was something about him, and that blinding trust she had in him reminded her of Elias. That thought terrified her. 

"No!" The genie suddenly glowed even brighter, with her eyes filled with fury. Arabic chants written in purple started to light up all over her body. She was flying in the air and it looked like she was going to blast the boys alive from her panicking. "This was a mistake!"

Superboy came flying to the girl so he would be on the same level as her. "Hey, hey, Djinn! Calm down. It's okay, I promise! Everything's going to be okay. You don't have to give up your ring if you don't feel comfortable."

The purple Arabic enchantments tattooed on her arms and legs started to slowly disappear. "I don't?" She whimpered as tears ran down her face. 

"Of course not," Jon reassured, smiling. He gave the genie a warm hug, which calmed her down. 

Robin took a deep breath. He considered arguing with them, but he had to understand that this was extremely scary for Djinn, to allow someone else to have control over her. As someone who had been controlled his whole life, he could understand her better than anyone else. 

Jon encouraged Djinn to get back to the floor, and she followed him, no longer floating. She went back to staring at the ground and silently cried, embarrassed. "I-I'm so sorry..."

Damian was so upset for not being able to reach his objective again, but he let those personal frustrations aside. He gave a comforting smile to Djinn. "Don't be. It's not your fault."

Djinn curled her hands into fists, not knowing what to think. On one hand, she was so relieved that she was not going to be pressured to give up her ring, but on the other hand... She looked up at Damian one more time, noticing the deep disappointing look on his face. She still didn't know why, but something in her was so compelled to see the boy happy again. Why did she have to feel this way?

"Let's go home," Robin spoke, softly. "Thanks for bringing us here, Djinn. I appreciate it."

Djinn opened her mouth to respond, but nothing came out. The gentle words from the half-Arabic teenager came back into her head...

I promise I will never hurt you.

While Djinn had been fooled in the past by Elias, she could sense things from people. She could tell when someone was being malicious or if they were being honest. She was an empath, after all, and no mere human would be able to easily manipulate her. She knew there was much more to the case than what Damian had shared with her. It wasn't just him wanting to be a hero and hunt down the Shadow, there was an internal secretive desire from him to prove himself to his family, friends, and everyone. She could feel the insecurities and fears that were deep inside his heart. Out of everyone in the Teen Titans, she had never met someone she felt so close and related to before. 

Even though she had never broken his privacy and got inside Damian's head, she just knew there was something deep about him, buried underneath all that tough guy persona. Those words of reaffirmation kept ringing back in her ear. There was so much sincerity and care in the way he spoke.

Djinn straightened herself. "No. I can do this." The girl then walked closer to Robin, reaching for his hand. "I trust you with my ring, Robin."

Damian was taken aback by the gesture. "Are you sure about this? If you don't feel comfortable, we'll go home. You don't have to do this. I can find other ways to hunt down the Shadow."

Djinn shook her head. "I am sure. I know, in your heart, you are telling me the truth."

Damian smiled, warmly. "Just remember, we're not alone here. If anything goes wrong and my soul becomes corrupted by the ring or something, Superboy will stop me."

"I sure will!" Jon stated, joining the two. 

"Jon, I give you permission to shoot me with your laser vision if I go evil," Damian said, with a serious face.

"What?! And kill you? Can't I just use my super speed to punch you and knock you out before you do anything?"

Robin shrugged, indifferent. "Sure, that will do. Less fatal, but acceptable."

Superboy rolled his eyes. Even when strategizing a plan against himself, his friend was still extreme with his assassin's way of thinking. Everything always had to end in death, it seemed. All that exaggeration must have been influenced by his partner's dramatic Batfamily as well. 

Djinn handed the ring to Robin, and he placed the small ring on his pinkie, the only finger that could slightly fit. Damian felt a power that was unknown to him, and he curled his hand into a fist, determined. "Okay, Djinn, unleash the Book of the Soul's Dusk."

The genie started glowing again. "Yes, master." 

Djinn's Arabic enchantments reappeared on her body, and this giant purple light came from her hands. She spoke something that couldn't be understood, and then finally, she was able to not only touch the book but remove it from the shelf. 

"Take us back to the tower, now, Djinn," Robin commanded. The genie, as demanded, obliged. 

The boys were back in her bedroom, and Damian still had the ring.

Jon felt an uncomfortable silence invading the room, noticing how the genie coldly floated behind Damian as if she had no soul. Her face was so emotionless and the sweet personality and charisma she carried with her were gone. Meanwhile, his best friend was still standing there in silence, creepily rubbing the ring on his pinkie.

For Damian, there was something so... Fascinating about the ring. Never before had he felt so much power running through his veins... Maybe what came close to it was when he gained powers for a day, after being resurrected, but that was long ago, and he... Missed it. He missed having supernatural abilities, he missed the reverence and respect he received the days he served Grandfather. Ever since he came to Gotham, he had nothing but lectures, fights, and constant disrespect. But now... Things could be different now. People could look up to him again, accept him, finally. The purple ring shone so bright, like the most beautiful jewel he had ever seen in his life. The way the ruby reflected against the light, how it felt so light and perfect in his finger, even being in his pinkie...

"Damian!" Jon called for the third time, he was getting more worried now. "Aren't you going to give the ring back to Djinn?" The ten year old asked, somber. There was no warmth in his voice anymore. 

Robin remained silent, so Jon called him one last time. "Damian?" He asked, like a parent calling a child's name after they do something naughty, but Jon was not going to play nice. His eyes began to flare in anger.

Damian suddenly gasped, looking like he had just woken up from a trance. "Huh?" The boy shook his head. "I think I blacked out for a second, not sure what happened. Sorry. Djinn, here." He turned around and proceeded to remove the ring from his pinkie, handing it back to Djinn, who seemed to have her soul and personality returned as soon as the ring was back on her finger. 

The brunette's sullen look was replaced by magical energy, full of joy and light restored in her soul. She stared at her finger, then Damian's eyes, feeling extremely grateful.

"Thank you."

"Of course." Damian smiled. "Thanks for helping us today, Djinn."

"Glad I could help." She returned the friendly smile. 

"Now, we just need to figure out what it's in this book..." Robin started, as the other two friends came closer to get a better look at the book and its content. 

From outside the door, Emiko was sneaking in, having heard the whole thing. She couldn't believe what her eyes had just witnessed; Damian using Djinn's powerful ring that gives one complete control over her, Superboy being an accomplice, and now a mysterious dark magic book being placed in their hands. Whatever Robin was up to, it was bound to be no good. No matter what happened moving forward, Emiko was going to keep her eyes on them. 

****

INTERLUDE

A tall mysterious figure stood, hidden in the shadows. He was dressed in a dark cloak and his face was no longer covered by his typical black mask with horns. Creepy-looking hands reached for the pages of the Book of the Soul's Dusk, and an evil grin was plastered on his face. From afar, a young girl with dark hair and a long red streak on her bangs approached, coming closer to him until she could glimpse the page that the man kept obsessing over. Their whole surroundings would've been dominated by darkness if it wasn't for the flames from the fireplace crackling in the middle of the forest. It was a cold night, which Mara didn't like much. 

The forest was also filled with the noise of annoying bugs and rustling bushes, which felt uncomfortable and were nothing like the quiet nights in the desert. Part of her missed her home, but what she truly missed the most was spending time with her mother. 

"I miss my mother," Mara spoke, sadly, as she kicked the leaf that was on the ground. 

A scruffy bearded dark-haired man stood next to her, tightly squeezing her shoulder. "Nyssa will be back, Mara. I promise."

Chapter Text

The week was finally coming to an end, and a big chunk of Damian's time was spent putting up with school and obsessing over the Book of the Soul's Dusk, carefully analyzing each page and memorizing some of the spells that seemed to be the most dangerous and powerful. Out of all the sections read, a few of the most concerning ones involved an intricate step-by-step guideline on how to summon demons and an entire chapter dedicated to how to get out of the gates of Hell. That last part made him extremely uncomfortable since Damian still remembered quite well what it was like when his soul was sent to Hell after dying at the hands of Heretic. He tried to atone for his sins committed in the Year of Blood, but he wasn't sure if he could ever be forgiven. Damian didn't like himself at times, there was too much blood in his hands that he wasn't proud of.

Every day after school he exercised, then read as much as he could until dawn, a habit that was not the healthiest since he kept feeling awfully tired the next morning. Pennyworth didn't seem to care, though, and he proceeded to ensure the boy would be up bright and early to get ready for school. Another ordinary day began, but at least the week was practically over. Damian went on to his normal classes, which remained, unsurprisingly, extremely tedious. There was nothing that Damian didn't already know, which meant that was going to be a long school year. Fully aware of how bored he would be that day, Damian opted to sit more in the back so he could use his phone to either research things for crime cases or mindlessly text people. He kept his phone out of sight by using it under his desk, near his lap, and he decided to start with Todd, whom he hadn't spoken to in a few days. 

Damian leaned forward as he texted: 'Hey.'

A few minutes went by before Todd finally replied.

Sup.

The boy quickly responded, excited to inform Jason of the good news. 'Guess what I found...'

It's early as fuck, Damian. Not in the mood for games. 

Damian rolled his eyes at his stupid brother. 'I have the Book of the Soul's Dusk.'

It barely took a second this time for Todd to message back. You what? How??? 

Damian smiled. He looked up very quickly to ensure the teacher wouldn't notice him on the phone, but thankfully, his professor was still busy writing something on the board.

'I had a little help. I've been studying the book, but still no signs from the Shadow.'

Wait, you didn't take the book from the Shadow himself? I haven't found a single hint on how to track the guy. 

Damian lifted his head again to check on the teacher before going back to his phone. 'No, what I have is just a copy from some old retired magician who won't even notice his book is gone. I haven't found any clues either.'

Damn. Nice work, baby brat. I'd come down tonight to check out the book, but I'm not sure if I can. Night's packed. Maybe tomorrow?  

'Works for me.' Damian smirked.

That was a good feeling, to work on a case with his older brother and be ahead of him. Not that Todd was that great of a detective, but still. Since they met Witchfire, they haven't talked about the case at all. Red Hood probably had other matters more important to him and did not bother looking up a random magic spell book. It still felt good to take the lead on this case, however. Besides, Damian was temporarily banned from going on late patrols with his father and was only allowed to either stay home or go on missions with the Teen Titans, which was child's play. 

Damian sighed. At least he could still be Robin, the only thing that gave him a decent feeling of accomplishment. It took a while for the class to finish, but eventually, it came to an end and it was time to head to his next class, Art. The class was actually not as bad as he had feared; The lessons involved a variety of drawing techniques, and the professor, luckily, did not waste any time and went straight to making the students draw specific things according to the themes given. The exercise that day was on portraits, which was easy, but Damian didn't mind. 

Drawing was enjoyable, and it was one of the few moments in his life where he felt truly free. Amidst all the chaos Damian had to face in his upbringing, drawing became one of the few forms of art that allowed him to have more stability and control. He was in charge of precisely tracing the lines on a piece of paper, no one else was. No one was telling him what to do or not, there was no right or wrong way to draw, just techniques to be applied to enhance one's skills. He could do what he wanted and let himself get lost in the marks and traces that he would make on the paper, trusting his innate artist's mind to let the pencil take over. It felt liberating. 

He reflected on the past, how much he missed home at times, and the image of the woman who encouraged him to draw in the first place came to mind. Without barely noticing, Damian realized the portrait he ended up drawing looked a lot like his mother. The long dark hair, piercing eyes, the gentle Arabic features on her face. His head was down as he remained focused on his work when a curious girl leaned in closer to his chair to take a peek. 

The girl gasped in disbelief. "Wow! That looks so good!"

Damian was startled for a second, it was like someone had just pulled him out of the little world that he found himself in inside his mind. He turned his head to the girl, observing the curious look on her face. Her smile was childlike and she had a pretty side braid on her light brown, shoulder-length hair. 

"That portrait is gorgeous!"  The young girl complimented. "And the lesson had us do it without using any photographs either! I can't do it without seeing a picture." 

Damian looked back at his work, confused. His drawing wasn't even finished, why was he already receiving a compliment? There were so many details still missing, lines that needed to be added to the lips, more shade in the hair for desired opacity…

"Um... Thank you?" He mustered to say, awkwardly. 

"Who is it?" The girl's anxious blue eyes pursued him in search of an answer. 

Damian wanted to say that he was thinking of his mother when he started drawing, but he then remembered that no one could actually know about his past, which meant that he would be forever known as the 'poor bastard' son of Bruce Wayne, whose mistress disappeared on them. The thought of that infuriated him, to say the least. Talia was a great mother, despite her flaws. It wasn't her fault that she was also sucked into a cult her whole life, and she too had similar pressures to please her father and honor her bloodline. She did what she deemed to be best for her son, and for that, Damian would forever be grateful. Amongst all the trials he was forced to deal with in his training, his mother also never ceased to stand by his side and support him. 

"It's, um. It's nobody, really."

The girl leaned in even closer. "Woah, details like that, and you just came up with it in your own head? Wow." She finally stopped admiring the work to look at Damian in the eyes, her face uncomfortably close to his. She clearly was not aware of boundaries. "Who taught you how to draw?"

"Uh--" Some of the most ingenuous art professors had taught him, and his favorite instructor was the one that Damian blinded, all because the man had accidentally witnessed Grandfather's sacred rituals. Damian could never forgive himself for what he did. "I was self-taught."

The blue-eyed girl blinked, incredulous. He should probably stop talking because his lies kept getting worse each time he opened his mouth.

It didn't seem to faze her, though. "Wow. You're the new kid, right? Damian Wayne?"

Damian nodded, bothered by how everyone knew who he was before he even introduced himself. If only he had the Robin mask on him, he would be the one with the intel of everyone's lives.

"Nice to meet you, Damian. I'm Skylar." The girl lightly waved her hand with a friendly smile stamped on her face. 

"Nice to meet you too."

The bell rang, and it was time for a lunch break. Before going to the cafeteria, Damian made a quick stop at the restroom to wash his hands, dirtied from the pencil's graphite. As he was washing his hands, he overheard someone groaning in one of the bathroom stalls. Intrigued, he approached the stall and peeked in, noticing a fiery redhead bewailing over something. 

Recognizing the kid from his back, Damian cocked an eyebrow. "Colin?"

Colin jumped, scared, and turned around. "Oh. It's just you."

"What happened?" Damian came in closer and looked down at the toilet, wrinkling his nose in disgust at the bad smell. There were two textbooks thrown into the toilet, completely destroyed and dipped in urine.

Damian looked up at Colin, perplexed. "Who did this to you?"

Colin stared at the ground, humiliated. "No one. It doesn't matter." 

"What do you mean it doesn't matter? Someone just dipped your books in piss!"

"I know, and my family just bought these books too." He mourned. "They were expensive."

"Who did it?"

Colin noticed the sudden angry look on Damian's face, no longer sure if he should feel intimidated by the new kid or the bullies who pestered him. "...Darryl Fields and Tony Evans."

Damian straightened himself, frowning. "Wait, those assholes from our class?"

"Yep..."

"Ok, where are they?" Damian stormed out of the bathroom, and Colin came running behind him.

"Damian, it's okay, don't worry about it!" 

He was completely ignored, and Damian kept searching the cafeteria until he finally found Fields and Evans roaming around the hallway, just laughing and fooling around.

The boy marched towards them and shouted from a distance to get their attention. "You think it's funny tossing people's textbooks inside the toilets, huh? What are you, five?"

Those idiots' smiles instantly turned into frowns. Darryl Fields was the first to intervene while acting all tough. "It was just a joke, relax."

Evans turned to his friend with that dumb smug on his face. "The twerp is just sad we hurt his little boyfriend." The bullies laughed, and Damian shoved Evans, catching him off guard.

The tall kid immediately took that as a challenge and walked up to Damian, puffing up his chest. "You think you're so tough, Wayne?"

Damian curled his hand into a fist, ready to knock Evans down, but he was interrupted by the annoying hall lady, the same person who bothered him on his first day.

"Hey, you two!" The old lady charged at them, slow as a turtle with those fat and short legs of hers. "Don't you even think about fighting in this school!" The gray-haired woman then turned to Damian with anger in her eyes. "And you! I knew you meant to trouble the moment I saw you! I'm keeping my eyes on you, kid." She threatened with a stupid hand gesture going from her eyes to his.

Colin gently pushed back Damian's shoulder, gesturing for him to walk away, while the bullies scoffed and mocked them from behind, going away also. Damian and Colin went to the cafeteria and sat down on one of the empty benches, sitting across from each other. 

"Hey. You didn't have to do that for me." Colin gently said, noticing how Damian was fuming in anger still. 

"Those fuckers. It's too bad that retarded woman came in."

"You know, you shouldn't call people retar--" Damian shot an angry glare at the redhead, shutting him up. 

Damian quickly changed the topic. "How much were the books?" 

"What?" Colin asked, confused.

"You heard me. How much did they cost?" Damian asked louder, his annoyance increasing. 

Afraid of upsetting the new student even more, Colin quickly replied, "Oh, 90 bucks a piece, I think. It's okay, though, don't worry. I'll just get myself used books, they're cheaper. I told my foster parents to get the used books, anyways--"

Damian raised his eyebrow. "Foster parents?"

"Yeah, I live in a foster home."

The green-eyed boy stared at the kid, wondering what to say. He then looked over the table and the spot where the redhead was seated, and noticed there was no meal packed with him. "Where's your food?"

"Oh, I actually forgot it at home." Colin got up from the bench, embarrassed. "I'll go stand in line to get something to eat."

"Wait." Damian reached for the wallet inside his pocket, then took a few hundred dollar bills and counted to five before handing it over to the kid. 

Colin widened his eyes in shock. "You're giving me 500 dollars? Are you insane? And how much money do you carry in your wallet??"

"Just take it. Go get yourself some food and use the money for the new books."

"Damian, the textbooks cost 180 dollars, not $500!"

"I said, take it."

"No way, man. I can't accept--" Colin was met with another glare, but this one was a bit more terrifying. It almost reminded him of Batman, whom he met in person a long time ago. "Alright, alright. Um-- Thank you."

Damian pointed to the long line that was being formed. "Go on."

Colin left, and a few minutes later Jon arrived with his food tray, completely unaware that he was taking Colin's spot. 

"Whew. That line was huge!" Jon exclaimed. 

Damian looked around, searching for Jon's peers. "Aren't you going to sit with your friends?"

"You're my friend!" Responded Jon, kindly. They sat in silence for a little while as they ate their food. Jon then started sharing something he thought was funny that happened in class, and a few moments later, a young boy with red hair showed up, standing awkwardly with his tray in his hands, not knowing if he should join or not. 

"Oh... I'll sit somewhere else." Colin started, embarrassed.

Jon turned around to see who was standing behind him. "Oh, hey, you're new! What's your name?"

"Colin... Colin Wilkes."

"Nice to meet you, Colin!" Jon greeted, friendly as always. Judging from the kid's posture, Jon realized something must have happened that he didn't notice before until it hit him; "Oh, did I take your seat? Sorry about that. Here," Jon scooched over and tapped the bench. "Come sit with us!"

Colin hesitantly sat next to Jon, feeling awkward still. He then looked up at Damian, who he wasn't sure if he could even call him a friend yet. "Hey... Damian? Thanks."

"No problem."

"Ohh, look who has friends now!" Jon teased, but he was met with an annoyed glare, which it was quickly ignored.  "Are you guys in the same class?"

Colin smiled, faintly. "Yeah. P.E"

"Nice! So, where you from, Colin?" Jon asked, genuinely interested.

"Oh, I grew up in Gotham, actually."

Damian finally looked up from his food, intrigued. "Really?"

Colin scratched his head. "Yeah, I was raised there. Grew up in an orphanage pretty much my whole life, and then they moved me to a bunch of foster homes. This is the longest place I've ever been in, and hopefully, they won't move me again. I really like my new foster family... And Metropolis is nice. A lot better than Gotham."

Jon felt so bad, he had no idea. "Oh, wow." Was all he could muster to say with a sad tone in his voice.

"Hm. Gotham is a lot better." Damian muttered under his breath, sounding indifferent and not nearly as moved. 

Colin chuckled. "And what brings you here to Metropolis, Damian Wayne?"

"My father forced me to attend this stupid precinct."

"Our fathers know each other, and my dad suggested that it would be a good idea for us to go to the same school." Jon continued, energetic.

"Tt." Damian scoffed. "Thanks a lot, Mr. Kent."

"Wow, that's so cool." Colin started. "I wish I had a friend going to school with me when I started here last year. I get picked on a lot, but I'm used to it by now."

Classes had finally come to an end, and Damian was already looking forward to going back to his obsession with studying the dark magic book. He needed to learn more and practice more, especially after what had just happened. Before he could message Pennyworth to inform him that classes ended a little earlier that day because it was Friday, Jon came running up to him, clearly out of breath. 

"Why are you panting?" Damian questioned, turning around to his half-Kryptonian friend. "You literally have super speed, yet you're panting?"

"Don't judge." Jon was holding his knees while breathing hard. "Out of practice, and a bunch of people were in my way. Anyway, I wanted to catch you before you left. My parents were going to take me to the State Fair this afternoon but my dad has to go to a Justice League mission. Your dad will be leaving with him, by the way, and I was wondering... Do you want to go to the Fair with me?"

Damian blinked. Was that kid serious? "I'm not going to a stupid Fair with you, Jon."

"Oh, come on, it'll be fun! My mom will be taking us and then we can go there and play some games, win prizes... Besides, have you ever been to the Fair before?"

Damian raised his head to the sky with his eyes closed, hoping for the conversation to end. He took a deep breath before answering, "...No."

"Aha! See? It'll be fun! New experiences!"

"You won't leave me alone, will you?"

Jon responded with a dumb smile. "Whaddya think?"

Damian gave another long sigh in surrender. "Fine. Let me call Pennyworth."

****

At the Fair, Lois was serenely watching the boys, glad to see the two having fun, bickering over their points at skeeball and goblet pitch, both accusing each other of cheating. It was an interesting picture, she had to admit, to watch Damian so out of his element and act like a normal kid for once. She felt sad for him, truly, and slightly angry at how selfish the kid's mother was. How could Talia al Ghul be so heartless and irresponsible, exposing her own child to all that blood and violence? Not that Bruce Wayne was super innocent either, allowing each one of his sons to fight crime with him underage and all, but even he would have never allowed such a thing, and Damian would've been a completely different person if he was raised by his father from the start. 

That was a topic that upset Lois at times, and Clark would always know what to say to comfort her. She felt so protective towards her own baby, and she cared for her son's best friend, of course, who was now like family to her, despite not being a huge fan of the bad influence Damian could be on her son. But Jon was happy, so that was all it mattered. She kept on walking, just following the kids around as Jon and Damian went from one game to another, competing as typical boys would. They had previously had dinner back at her house, but they had been hanging out for a while, and it felt like it would be a good time to grab a quick snack at the Fair. She had to interrupt another argument between the two over a Ring a Bottle game that they had just played.

"How in the world did you manage to place every ring in the bottles?" Jon asked, incredulously.

"Unlike you, I know how to aim."

"Will you stop it? You're such a jerk!"

"Boys!" Lois called again, finally being heard this time. "I think it's time for some ice cream, what do you say?"

Jon and Damian glanced at each other before responding.

Damian shrugged. "Sure."

Jon, on the other hand, was excitedly throwing his fist in the air. "Yes! Let's do it!" 

Damian followed his friend and Mrs. Kent to the ice cream shack, but an intrusive feeling came to him; He was being watched. Again. He looked around, his heart pounding, searching for each one of the dark and shadowy areas near the stores and shacks to find where the mysterious person was hiding. Jonathan and his mother didn't notice him getting left behind, not that Damian cared; He simply went in the opposite direction as them, walking fast toward the threat, feeling uneasy. He instinctively reached for his belt to get a hold of one of his Batarangs, but he then realized he wasn't wearing a belt in the first place.

Stupid, stupid, stupid. He didn't bring any of his gadgets, nor his uniform, nothing. That was careless of him, he was getting too comfortable, letting his guard down too easily. Never again. The sun had already gone down, making it hard to see who could be standing from the shadows, but he spotted a certain figure standing behind a wall. It seemed to be a woman with long hair, dressed in black. Damian came in closer and raised his eyebrows, surprised.

"Mother?!"

Talia was dressed in a black leather outfit, her arms and legs were completely covered, only leaving her cleavage exposed. 

"It took you a while to find me. Your skills need more refinement."

Damian preferred to not respond, he knew he was getting rusty lately. "What brings you here, mother?" 

Talia looked at her son with warmth, happy to see him again, but her composure remained unchanged. "Anything wrong with a mother wishing to see her son?"

"I know there's more to it. What's wrong?"

Before Talia could respond, two people came running towards them from the opposite side, calling for Damian with despair in their voices. Talia looked over and saw Superboy with his mother, Lois Lane-Kent, right behind him. Talia wasn't planning on being seen and deeply regretted coming out of the shadows to come to talk to her son. She glared at Lois with a serious look on her face.

"Oh--" Lois started, startled from seeing the beautiful woman standing next to Damian.

They were so worried once they noticed that Damian was no longer with them, that Lois feared that Damian was kidnapped or something, which was quite possible, given how dangerous things were from that whole crazy superhero life that the boys had. Lois recognized Talia, but never actually met her in person before. The woman's piercing green eyes were the same as Damian's, along with her olive-colored skin. Her luscious dark hair was long, covering half of her face. She was truly stunning and practically perfect.

"Um, Hi-- Are you... Damian's mom? Talia?"

Talia looked down on Lois, visibly guarded for being recognized so easily. "...Yes."

"I don't think we met," Lois offered her hand for a handshake. "Lois Kent. I'm Jonathan's mother."

Talia simply stared at Lois and preferred to not reciprocate the friendly gesture.

"I was just passing by, that was all-- It was good seeing you, Damian." Talia started to say, ready to depart. 

Damian had a saddened look in his eyes. "You're leaving?"

Lois, noticing the whole thing, quickly cut in. "Hey, we were just about to get some ice cream. Come eat with us!"

"No, thank you, I am not here to--" 

Lois interrupted her brusquely, grabbing Talia by the hand to lead her to the ice cream shack against her will. Talia was paralyzed, almost, astounded at the woman's audacity to even touch her. No mere commoner had ever shown such boldness before.

They all went to the ice cream line, and Talia simply stood there at a loss for words. Curious stares from strangers were shot in Talia’s direction, while standing in line, making her even more uncomfortable. Lois only hoped the crowd would simply assume Talia was part of a show or similar. At least she wasn’t dressed in a more scandalous attire; Anything was possible with female villains these days. 

"So, I've heard a lot about you," Lois spoke, enthusiastically, to get the conversation going. The boys stared at her with confused looks on their faces. "What brings you here to Metropolis?"

Talia glared at Lois. Was this actually happening to her? "I came to see my son." Her voice was firm and final.

"Oh, good!" Lois continued, acting as if nothing happened. "You can hang out with him now."

Their turn to order the ice cream was approaching, so Lois turned to Talia again. "What's your favorite ice cream flavor? They have chocolate, vanilla, strawberry... Honestly, pistachio is my favorite, but cookie dough is good too--"

"I don't eat ice cream," Talia stated, firmly. 

Lois stared at her in shock. "What? That'll change today, then." 

Taking charge, Lois went ahead and ordered herself a pistachio and strawberry ice cream, a chocolate chip cookie dough for her son, his favorite, and a scoop of chocolate and strawberry cheesecake for Talia. The only one she didn't know what to order was for Damian, so she turned to him.

"What would you like, sweetie?" Lois asked, with tenderness in her voice.

Damian stared down at the ground, embarrassed. Jon got on his tiptoes to whisper to his mother, "He likes cookies & cream."

Lois nodded and got the order for everyone, opting for the ice cream in a cup rather than the cone to avoid any messes. She found a vacant table amidst the crowded area and all of them sat down. Jon eagerly took a bite of his ice cream, savoring his favorite flavor, while Damian and Talia sat next to each other, awkwardly staring at their ice cream with a perfectly straight posture.

"Come on." Lois encouraged after taking a bite of her own ice cream. "Dig in!"

Damian exchanged a quick glance with his mother, almost as if he was asking for permission. Talia grabbed her spoon, reluctantly, and took her first bite.

Lois watched the whole scene, which was a little humorous and sad at the same time. "So?"

Talia was clearly uncomfortable. "Too sugary... But adequate, I suppose."

Lois blinked at the answer. She sounded just like Damian, although it was probably more like the other way around. Lois continued trying to lighten the tense mood. "So, you like it, huh?"

Damian looked over at Lois, still wondering what was going on. Seeing she didn't catch on to the puzzled look on his face, or rather chose to ignore it, he turned back to his mother, determined. "Mother, why are you here?"

Talia sounded upset. "I told you, I wanted to see you."

Damian knew this was not the whole truth. "You took on a mission here in Metropolis, didn't you?"

His mother paused. "...Yes."

"You think this was my idea? I tell Father every day how this is such a waste of my time! I'm going against my will!"

Jon and Lois blinked, baffled. So that was where Damian got his superiority complex from. 

There was annoyance written all over Talia's face. "Hm. I'll need to have a word with your father." She crossed her arms and muttered under her breath, "I cannot believe he's letting my boy's gifts atrophy like this."

Jon let out a laugh behind them, making them both look. Talia was beyond bothered at this point, enough time was wasted. "I must go. Farewell, my son. Be safe." 

Talia kissed Damian on the forehead and went away, her figure disappearing in the darkness as she walked down the alleyway, exiting the Fair. 

It was very dark now and the Fair was about to close the gates. Lois led the boys to the parking lot, reflecting on everything that happened. 

What a day.

*****

At an abandoned commercial building, far away from the Fair, two men stood in the shadows, yelling at each other.

"YOU IMBECILE!" A bearded man shoved the Shadow against the wall. "We were almost caught!"

Mara al Ghul was standing from a distance with her arms crossed. The concrete floor suddenly seemed more interesting than the annoying men fighting behind her. 

"She was right there!" The threatening dark voice spoke, the red lenses from the mask glaring in fury. "They have to pay for what they did to me!"

The dark-haired man stepped out of the shadows, revealing his furious square-shaped face. He was fuming. "I don't care if you have a vendetta against them. You do as I say, understood?"

"You told me to practice the spells, didn't you?" The man in the dark mask asked. "I used the Illusion Spell. It worked."

Mara rolled her eyes and sighed. Goodness, when was this going to end? She turned around to face the other two. "Tamir, when are you bringing back my mother? It's been two years. We've done everything you said, we stole the bodies, and you even came to the Red Devil for help, and still nothing! Hell, even Grandfather and Batman were able to resuscitate Aunt Talia and Damian, and yet, here we are, still STUCK! I think you're lying to us." 

Tamir turned to the girl with such fury, he almost slapped her face, but he had to control himself. Nyssa would've never approved if he ever laid a finger on her daughter. "Mara. We talked about this."

"Yeah, and all you do is talk, talk, talk. I bet the Red Devil is laughing right now, just waiting to drag you all to Hell. And you know what? I won't even feel bad for either of you."

Tamir marched towards the girl and squeezed her shoulders tightly, his nails piercing her, but she didn't budge; Mara was used to pain. "I told you, I have everything figured out." His shaky voice sounded manic, and his hands were violently trembling in anger. 

"Then, prove it." Mara challenged, unfazed. "How are we freeing the demon, huh? You can't just promise the Devil, of all creatures, to be unleashed on Earth and not follow your word!"

"He was supposed to help!" Tamir yelled, pointing at the Shadow. 

"I am doing all that is asked of me. Have patience." The Shadow spoke, menacingly, but it didn't intimidate anyone.

Mara just stared at Tamir, indifferently. "How much time do we have?"

"Not much, but we're close. We just have to get better at the spells so we can free the Red Devil."

If only Mara could punch those assholes in their faces. "Bloomberg tricked you. You know that, right?"

Tamir pinched the bridge of his nose, on the brink of losing it. He wanted to argue but chose not to, so he could calm down.

Mara didn't care, however. "The Red Devil, Bloomberg, knew you wanted to bring my mother first and foremost, so he purposefully tricked you into bringing her back only after you freed him, which even he knows it's an impossible task to complete, which means I'll never see my mother, and you lied to me!"

That was it, Tamir couldn't handle it anymore. He grabbed the dusted chair that was close to him at the abandoned building and threw it at the wall while screaming at the top of his lungs. "SHUT UP, SHUT UP! I AM BRINGING NYSSA BACK, DO YOU HEAR ME? EVEN IF IT COSTS MY LIFE!"

"Which clearly will." Mara taunted. "I'll say it again, you cannot make a promise you can't keep to a freaking Devil! We already studied and stole every possible Dark Magic book known to man and we're still not even close. Not even the spells from the Book of the Soul's Dusk are powerful enough to free Bloomberg!"

As much as it pained Tamir to admit it, the petulant girl had a point. He hated himself for putting himself in this situation. All he wanted was to have the love of his life back, was that too much to ask? Damn Ra's for all he's done. 

The Shadow finally spoke up, making the other two look. "Patience." He repeated. His dark cloak touched the floor and his voice sounded scratchy and creepy. "I've been studying the boy, where he goes, who he associates himself with... We need the Genie."

Tamir rubbed his face, tiredly. "I don't care how you do it, okay? Do what you must, and free the Demon, already. And quit your obsession with the boy! Worry about him later, after we have Nyssa back."

The Shadow looked to the side, stubbornly.

Mara was glad that the Shadow typically had his face masked. She couldn't stand the sight of his face, she couldn't stand being where she was. Perhaps joining the Teen Titans wouldn't have been so bad after all... If only all of this was over. 

But little did she know, it was only the beginning. 

Chapter Text

Weekends never made much of a difference in the past, since each day was meant for training and combat, but that was before school attendance became mandatory. School days at West-Reeves private school were so hellish that Damian felt beyond relieved to finally have a couple of days off before having to face his torture again on Monday.

That Saturday morning started off well, the day was bright and sunny, and Damian happily indulged himself in his morning exercise, and he was more than glad to not need to rush to school right after waking up. Pennyworth was in a good mood also and he was preparing breakfast while Damian showered and got ready for the day.

Damian got downstairs and was surprised to see his eldest brother at the breakfast table, smiling widely at him. 

"Good morning, Dami!!" Grayson greeted, quite loudly, in excitement.

"Morning." Damian pulled out a chair to sit across from his brother. "How come you are here? Father is still busy with the Justice League."

"I know." Grayson took a large bite of his french toast and proceeded to talk while chewing. "I needed to borrow his computer. The Batcomputer is a lot better than my laptop."

The youngest couldn't resist the urge to chuckle. "Obviously."

"You're gonna like this, though, I've been helping Kory on a case, and it has to do with Brother Blood. I'm heading out to the Titan's tower, wanna join me?"

Damian's face lit up with excitement. "Of course!" He then took a bite of his food and straightened up, looking thoughtful. "Hm. You've been helping Koriand'r a lot, lately."

Grayson grinned. "So? What's the problem with that? Besides, we’re dating now. You know that, right?"

"I'm aware. I've heard rumors from the team that you two have been living together. Is that true?" The youngest shot his brother a suspicious glance. 

Grayson paused. "They're... Not wrong. I mean, I guess we're sorta living together. It's been tricky juggling my job at Blüdhaven and Titans' business, but we're making it work."

Damian furrowed his brows. "Don't you think you're moving too fast?"

Grayson chuckled and shrugged. "Damian, Kory and I have a history together. We were even engaged once, it just didn't work out before... She had to deal with Tamaran's politics and I had to figure myself out. It was really hard at the time; Becoming Nightwing, losing Jason, training Tim and trying my best to be a better brother, and starting college... Trust me, it was not easy. But I feel like I'm in a better place now, and same for Kory."

Damian didn't seem so convinced by that since Grayson clearly still had a very complicated life. "And your thing with Gordon? Or that other girl, who was it... Shawn Tsang?"

"In the past now, buddy. They're both remarkable women." The golden child took another bite and then seemed to have remembered something. "Hm, and I guess there was Sonia Zucco too, but she's also long gone in the past. It would never work with us, way too complicated."

The boy simply shook his head. "You're a lost cause, Grayson." 

Pennyworth noticed that the boys had finished eating, so he started clearing the table.

"Thanks so much for breakfast, Alf!" Grayson thanked him while cleaning his mouth with a napkin. "You're the best."

"Yes, it was quite satisfactory, Pennyworth. Thank you."

The butler smiled. "The pleasure is all mine, young sirs." Alfred then saw Dick gathering the files that he had left on the table. "Leaving now, Master Dick?"

"Yup. Go get your stuff, Dames. We're heading out."

Damian nodded, excitedly, and ran to the cave to get ready to leave with his brother. 

***

At the tower, everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves with their downtime. Jaime and Bart were playing a video game in the living room, Emiko was reading a book on the armchair that was separated from the main couch, while Starfire and Djinn were in the kitchen, going through a book of recipes as if they were studying for an exam. Robin and Nightwing opened the door to the main common room and were surprised to see the girls so enthralled by a simple book of recipes. 

"So, you add mayonnaise and sour cream, then mix it up with fruits and marshmallows... And somehow it turns into a salad?" Djinn asked with a puzzled look on her face.

Kori seemed to be just as baffled. "Well, where I come from, we have this fruit salad, where you mix Zorkaberries with a special cream... Perhaps this is similar to that?"

Djinn was still confused. "But why call it a salad? Salads should have tomatoes, parsley, lettuce… You can even add soaked bulgur, if you're making Tabbouleh, for example, but not sour cream... And mayonnaise." The genie scrunched her nose in disgust at the last note.

Damian and Dick were both amused by the girls' sudden interest in culinary arts.

"So, whatcha doing?" Dick started, making Starfire jump. She was so focused on the book, she barely noticed her boyfriend approaching. 

"Oh, nothing! I was just trying to get everything ready for dinner tonight, and Djinn was kind enough to come to help me... But we're both lost."

Dick let out a laugh. "Okay, let me see." He peeked over the book to see what they were trying to make. "You wanna make ambrosia salad?"

"Yes, as the side dish," Starfire explained. "The main entre could be lamb sticks, with a separate dish of chickpeas for Damian, since he's vegetarian. What do you think?"

Dick shook his head as he smiled, "Kor', do you even know how to make any of this?"

Kory had a defeated look on her face, her shoulders slumped down. "No... I just wanted to make something yummy..."

Dick landed a kiss on his girlfriend's cheek and then brushed her hair to the side. "Honey, don't worry about it. Today is a busy day anyway, let's just order takeout."

Djinn stared at the two. "Or I can summon food to us."

Damian cocked an eyebrow, intrigued. "Where do you steal the food from when you make it magically appear to you?"

Djinn frowned, feeling insulted. "I don't steal!"

Before she could explain herself further, their attention was turned to Jon, who just entered the room after coming back from the bathroom. 

"I need to come here more often, I always get lost around here--" Jon justified to himself out loud, in case someone was listening, but his embarrassment was gone the moment he saw his best friend.

"Damian! You're here!"

Jon pulled another one of his infamous super-speed hugs, making Damian lose his breath again from the extremely tight hug. 

"Will you stop with that?" Damian asked after coughing, trying to regain some air. 

Jon rubbed the back of his head with a patently fake grin. "Ha, ha, sorry."

"I'm surprised to see you too, J." Damian finally admitted, more at ease now. "Did something happen? Grayson didn't mention you coming."

"Starfire called me last minute, asking if I wanted to help with today's mission. Something to do with Brother Blood? Sounds fun! Probably dangerous... But still rad." 

"Hm. Grayson mentioned the same thing but refused to expand on it. He wanted to explain it to everyone first."

"You know," Jon began, getting all excited, "I think it's pretty cool that I got called on a mission. It's like my dad, whenever the Justice League calls for help, right? I think they should change my part-time membership to a golden membership, or VIP, even."

Damian rolled his eyes. "And I think you drink too much Kool-Aid."

Jon laughed but he walked to his friend closer, whispering this time. "I'm actually relieved to see you... Everyone here is so much older than me, it's intimidating."

The spiky-haired boy looked around the room, confused. It was just a bunch of teenagers, hanging out inside a T-shaped tower, what was there to be nervous about?

"And you're not intimidated by me? I'm also older than you." 

"Yeah, but I'm taller."

Damian scowled, wanting to punch his friend in the face. "Shut up."

Behind them, they could hear Jaime and Bart bickering about something completely unimportant. 

"Hey, you cheated!" Jaime yelled as the letters 'K.O' appeared on the big screen. 

"Did not!" Bart defended himself. 

"Yes, you did! You keep using your speed to mess with the controllers hella fast. Not fair!" Jaime angrily tossed his controller on the sofa. "I'm done playing this game with you."

"Aww, come on!" Bart whined, "You're no fun." The speedster slouched on the couch in discontent. "Ugh, I'm so BORED!" 

Bart turned around and saw Nightwing chatting with Starfire. He immediately ran right in front of his co-leader, eager to know what they were supposed to do that day.

"Nightwing, you're here! Do you know what we're doing today? Training? Fighting? Playing sports?"

At each question, Bart zapped from one spot to another, coming back with a different outfit each time. When Bart zapped again to ask about the sports, he came back dressed as a baseball player, having with him complete baseball gear and everything. Dick had a slight suspicion that Bart chose to run all the way to Barry's house just to grab the baseball equipment for the sake of theatrics. 

Bart wasn't done, however. He zapped from one place to another again and came back dressed with his Impulse uniform now. "Or, or, hear this, this is a good hunch, are we going to chase after a secret organization, so we can bring them down oonce and for alll!!" Bart asked incredibly fast, with a singing voice at the last sentence as he posed all heroic with his puffed-up chest and fist in the air. 

Goodness, the kid was worse than Wally.

Dick rested his hands on the kid's shoulders. "Bart, what did Wally tell you? No running..."

"...While talking to someone, yeah, yeah." Bart continued, impatiently. "Ugh, he's worse than grandpa Barry!"

"He's just looking out for you, kiddo." Dick playfully ruffled Bart's crazy hair. 

"I know..." Bart stared at the wall for a second but was quickly distracted by another thought. "Hey, how's Tim? I miss him!"

"He's doing good. Busy with work and school, but he still goes out on patrol on his own. You should go visit him, I'm sure he'll like that."

"For sure! Does he still come to the Manor?"

Dick smiled. "Yeah, he does. You're dying to visit the cave again, aren't you?"

"How could I not? The place is so cool!"

Starfire, seeing that the whole team was together now, decided to finally announce: "Alright, everyone, let us discuss today's mission. To the conference room."

The teens got up and followed her to the conference room, each one of them choosing their respective seats to sit down, leaving only Nightwing and Starfire standing in front of them, as if they were teaching a class. The slide was already up with a picture of a well-polished-looking man wearing a business suit. 

Starfire began explaining, "This man right here is Edward Walker; He is currently running for Senate, as the election is quickly approaching. His background is completely clean, but there have been some unusual incidents lately that are very suspicious... First, several Senate candidates suddenly dropped out of the race, no explanation given. And now, this--"

Kori changed to the next slide, displaying a photo of Edward badly injured from a car accident that was all over the news, with the headlines reading ‘Vehicle's Crash Leaves Walker's Wife Dead' and 'Walker Attempts to Save His Wife From Horrible Accident'.

Nightwing stepped forward and continued, "A hit and run. Edward Walker remained alive and well, but his wife, as you all can see, died from the car accident."

"Geez, that's awful." Jaime began to say. "Poor man, just lost his wife."

Nightwing pointed at Jaime. "And that's exactly what they want everyone to think. Edward arranged this to happen. Now, if he meant for his wife to get killed, I'm not sure yet, but he planned this all along.  

"But why?" Jaime asked. "Why would someone want to get into a car accident on purpose?"

"And how could he risk the life of his own wife?" Djinn also asked, with sadness in her voice. 

Robin remained emotionless. "Tt. A junior politician suddenly thrust into the spotlight. It's genius if you ask me. He probably threw a big act in front of everyone, pretending to save his wife. Selfless heroism on full display."

Robin was getting some weird looks from the team, but he didn’t understand the reason for all the staring."What?"

Nightwing quickly signaled with his hand for everyone to turn their attention back to him and Kory before the room was flooded with loud conversations and interruptions. "Robin is right, Walker made sure to throw a big show for the media. Think about it, the best way for Walker to win the election is by threatening his competitors, forcing them to drop out, and by making him look like a survivor, even if it's at the cost of his wife's life."

"Typical." Emiko remarked, coldly.

Djinn shook her head in disapproval of the man's actions. "That's horrible."

Bart rubbed his chin, his brain in multiple places as he processed the whole thing. "So, what does that have to do with Brother Blood? Oh wait, is Walker working with him? No, I got it, I got it, it was Brother Blood who did the hit and run, wasn't it?!"

Nightwing nodded. "Close. Kory and I have reason to believe that Walker is paying Brother Blood big money to help him with this whole operation. 911 calls gave the same ID to the vehicle that hit Walker--"

"Let me guess, it was a van." Damian interrupted with his usual arrogant tone.

Jon was the only one in the room who hadn't spoken yet, but he felt too shy to share his opinion, feeling a little small sitting in that room full of experienced heroes. 

Nightwing glared at his younger brother to signal him to avoid interrupting. "Yes. It was a van with signage for a plumbing company. I took a look at the place, and it turns out it was just a shell company owned by Brother Blood."

"How original." Damian simply stated, bored.

Dick glared at Robin. "Damian, stop it."

Starfire resumed the explanation since the two brothers were on the verge of arguing. "There's more." Kory clicked on the next slide, showing a zoomed-in photo of the man driving the van. "On a close-up shot, gathered from our camera analysis, you can see who was driving the vehicle."

The van driver from the picture was a huge muscled man with long red hair and a goatee. His face was a little blurred, but he was wearing a pathetic baseball cap, too small for his big head, and sunglasses. He was also wearing a sleeveless black unitard with a yellow pattern going across his costume, and yellow wristbands that matched the pattern. 

Everyone from the team was intrigued, trying to recognize who that man was. Bart zapped from his seat to look at the slide up close, but he still couldn't identify who that was. 

"I feel like I've seen this guy before..." Bart started.

Damian also squinted his eyes. He was positive he had seen that man in one of Father's files. "Is that--"

"Mammoth." Starfire answered. "Brother Blood is one of the main founders of a criminal academy called H.I.V.E., and they’re still operating to this day. You remember us fighting Gizmo last week, yes?" The group nodded. "He used to be part of H.I.V.E, but went on to do his own thing. We already got him arrested, but there are still several criminals that are currently working for Brother Blood, doing the dirty work for him. The only thing is, none of you have fought them before."

Nightwing looked at the kids, sternly. "Which is exactly why this is going to be a very delicate mission, and Star and I are putting our trust in you."

For the first time, Jon had the courage to speak up. "But you'll both be there in case we need help... Right?"

Starfire shared a quick glance with her boyfriend and turned back to Superboy with a warm smile as a way to comfort him. "Not this time, Jon. This is why this mission is so important. Dick is going after Edward Walker for an interrogation to get him to confess. It will serve us no good to arrest Brother Blood with no evidence of a crime. In the meantime, I assigned myself to go after Brother Blood on my own. He will not be expecting me, and today is not one of his sacred ritual ceremonies, so I should catch him off guard, without his powers. As for H.I.V.E... This is where you all come in."

"This will be the first time we have you fight on your own with no adult supervision." Nightwing stated. "Can you handle it?"

To Jon's surprise, everyone shouted in excitement.

"Of course we can." Emiko said in a matter-of-fact manner.

"Finally." Damian scoffed. 

"This is gonna be fun!" Bart cheered.

Jaime high-fived his best friend. "Let's go, hermano!"

Djinn didn't feel the need to respond but she looked extremely calm and confident. Was Jon the only one there who felt slightly... Nervous?

"Okay, so here's the thing." Nightwing caught everyone's attention again. "Kory and I did some digging, and we found where the H.I.V.E is hiding."

He clicked on the next slide, which showed a picture of the Atlantic Ocean. "They have a secret underwater base, completely brand new. Brother Blood has no clue that we have this intel, and your job today is to catch H.I.V.E so we can arrest them. But listen to me, everyone. Do not underestimate them. Our Teen Titans is definitely stronger than them, but they're quick, strong, and sneaky."

"Correct." Starfire agreed, moving on with the next slide, which showed a picture of the current H.I.V.E members. "Here's the profile of the people you’ll be fighting today; Jinx, the leader, and the most experienced one. Nightwing and I fought her in the past when we were your age. She's an elemental sorceress who can draw her magic from the solid ground."

Starfire analyzed the criminals' profiles on the slide before continuing, "There's also Mammoth, as you saw earlier, a senior member as well. He may lack intellect, but he is incredibly strong. Then there is Billy Numerous, capable of creating several copies of himself with his metahuman powers; Private HIVE, a Military Veteran who's quite formidable at hand-to-hand combat; See-More, a young man who invented a helmet that grants him vision-based abilities, such as laser vision; And lastly, Kyd Wykkyd, who can teleport."

The entire team was paying very close attention, and Bart couldn't resist the urge to brag, "Bringing down a secret organization, just like I predicted!" He got up from his chair and raised his arms in the air. "Alright, what are we waiting for?" Bart pointed to the wall as if he was one of the leaders. "Let's go, Teen Titans!" Bart proceeded to run from one place to another, making anyone following his path have a huge migraine.

Starfire turned to Nightwing, apprehensive. "Are you sure they're ready?"

"We did it with no adult supervision either, remember? Sure, I always had Bats on my case because he wanted to make sure I was safe, but we still operated on our own."

"I know, it's just..." Starfire looked back at the conference room, astonished at how hectic and noisy the room suddenly got. "They're so young."

"They're gonna be fine, Kor'. Hey, we forgot to assign the leader." Dick shouted to get everyone to listen. "Hey, guys!"

His voice was completely ignored by all the noise, so he repeated himself louder. "Team!" The kids finally quieted down and turned to Nightwing. "Thank you. I just wanted to share, when I first founded the Teen Titans, I didn't really know what I was doing, but thanks to the help of my friends, we made it work, together." Nightwing made sure to emphasize the last part. "It's important for all of you to listen and be there for each other. Now, Kory and I discussed, and we decided it is also important for you to have an assigned leader, just for today, in order for the team, as a whole, to operate smoothly." 

Damian beamed at that, getting up from his chair. He couldn't be more satisfied with the news. "At last. It was about time you trusted me with my advanced skills, Grayson." 

"Sorry, Damian. Not you." Nightwing retorted, certain that he was going to be murdered by his little brother later. "Kory and I both decided on Jaime being today's leader."

Emiko widened her eyes in disbelief. "You're trusting Jaime? Are you not aware of my expertise in combat and strategic fighting?"

"Exactly! If not me, then Emiko is the only one who’s skilled enough to lead the team, not that rookie." Robin blurted out without thinking.

Emiko looked at him, surprised at the sudden compliment, which made him blush. Damian's face felt warm, as it wasn't common for him to admit out loud other people's strengths, especially not in front of everyone like that. From the corner of the room, Jon noticed Djinn looking a little jealous from that brief exchange. The girl’s eyes looked angry and her lips were turned downward. 

"How dare that brat to talk to us like this?" The scarab at Jaime's back angrily chirped.

Jaime was also irritated himself. "Hey, who are you calling rookie? I fought next to Tim Drake and Bart, here, at Teen Titans, long before you even came along, kid! I'm also way older than you!"

Damian stared daggers at Beetle. "Were you taught how to fight someone at two years of age? No? I didn't think so!" 

Jaime got on Damian's face, his blue metal suit taking over. He was no longer dressed as a civilian, he was Blue Beetle now. 

Jon was quick to stand by his friend's side. "Damian, not now! Blue Beetle didn't do anything wrong--"

Damian glared at his friend. "Oh, so you're on his side now?" 

Impulse jumped in on the fight as well. "Hey, quit dissing my friend! Jaime is the most level-headed guy I know. If anyone is qualified to be a leader, it's him--"

Robin completely ignored Impulse, not letting him finish. "You wouldn’t even be here if it wasn't for that weird bug glued to your back!" 

"That's it, I'm killing this kid." The scarab warned, activating one of the missiles from Jaime's shoulders.

"Stop it!" Jaime clenched his jaw and whispered back to scarab, convincing the bug to make the missiles disappear. 

Djinn didn't say anything but she was still fuming in anger from her jealousy, her skin starting to slightly glow in purple.

Dick placed his hand across his face. "Okay, maybe that wasn't a good idea, after all."

Starfire was getting fed up with all of this. Her green eyes were glowing in anger, and the edge of her long hair lit up on fire. "Enough! If you can't comply with simple instructions, then you are clearly not ready. I'll go take care of H.I.V.E myself, while you all stay in the tower to think of what you've done!"

"What? Noo!" Bart was the first to whine and was quickly followed by everyone else on the team, who were equally disappointed for missing out on this opportunity. 

After long minutes of protests from the teenagers, Starfire sighed. "Fine, you can go. You are all a team, now it's time to act like one. Remember, you must be one if you want to succeed. Stay focused and work together."

The Teen Titans nodded. Dick started feeling a little worried, but he followed Kory's lead. "Here, I have the coordinates of the base. Djinn, can you teleport everyone there?"

"If I have a clear vision of the location, then yes, I can." Djinn answered. 

Dick waved her to come closer so she could analyze the photos a little better. Once she was done concentrating, she asked everyone to come to her so she could apparate all of them at the same time. 

****

The Teen Titans appeared inside what seemed to be a research laboratory, deployed deep in the ocean, at least a thousand feet below the surface. The metal lab wasn't very spacious, it was the size of a smaller submarine with not too many places to go. They were standing in the middle of a long windowed underwater walkway, where they could see the marine life from the glasses. Luckily, no one else was there, outside of them.

It took a lot for Djinn to properly focus to teleport them inside a place she had never been before, but her powers made it possible to do so. Damian wasn't sure if he was seeing things, but the girl looked more frazzled than normal.

Robin walked closer to the genie, whispering in her ear. "Is everything okay?"

Djinn turned to him in surprise. "Hm? Oh, yes, yes. I'm fine..."

There was a large metal door at the end of the underwater walkway, which was probably where the villains were hiding.

Blue Beetle analyzed his surroundings, thinking of a plan. "Okay, we could probably try to be sneaky, but I say, let's just barge in and attack instead. It's 6 vs 6, so we should choose one opponent, each." 

Red Arrow disagreed with the plan, wholeheartedly. "Starfire advised us to always attack together, not individually, remember?"

Blue Beetle paused for a moment. "Correct-- But I have a good feeling about this. I think if we knock down each one of the bad guys separately, we'll get the job done fairly quickly."

"I think it's a great plan." Impulse added.

Red Arrow sighed, annoyed, but chose to not argue. 

Blue Beetle resumed his plan. "Okay, so, Impulse, you'll take care of Billy Numerous." 

"Sure thing, Captain!" Impulse saluted, but his friend ignored him.

Blue Beetle tried to remain focused. "Robin, you take care of Private HIVE, Red Arrow will handle the teleportation kid, and Superboy will handle Mammoth."

"Got it." Jon agreed, serious, and sounding as confident as his dad would, but deep down he wondered why he had to be assigned to fight the one person who recently committed a murder. 

Djinn's bright purple eyes met with Blue Beetle's yellowish eyes. "What about me?"

"Oh, right! Um... Who's left again?" Blue Beetle tried to think. "Sorry, it's a lot of villains."

Damian facepalmed while Emiko rolled her eyes.

"You forgot Jinx and See-More, smart one." The archer snapped. 

"Oh, that's right! Ok, Djinn, you take care of Jinx, while I deal with Cyclops."

"His code name is See-More." Red Arrow corrected.

Jaime brushed it off. "Yeah, same thing." 

Everyone followed Blue Beetle, quietly walking down the long water tube walkway until they reached the metal door, which was very large and had a complicated lock, similar to a bank vault door. Once they got closer, Beetle activated his missile, aimed straight at the door. 

"On three." Jaime signaled. "One, two... Three." Beetle fired the missile, which completely destroyed the large metal door, startling all the members of H.I.V.E who were inside. 

"What in the hell?" A pink-haired woman in her mid-twenties turned around, perplexed at the sight of the young team of heroes. She didn't recognize any of them, except for a familiar Robin costume, worn by a shorter kid who was probably playing dress up. Who did those children think they were?

The secret room was filled with special tech, including computer screens, monitors indicating oxygen level, amongst other things, and cozy furniture as if the H.I.V.E was just chilling in a lounge. The rest of the villains seemed as exasperated as Jinx. 

"Who the hell are you?" Billy Numerous shouted from the couch that he was sitting on.

"Ha, ha, puny kids come to play." Mammoth announced, pounding his large fist into his hand.

Superboy stared at the large man in a fighting stance and clenched his hands into fists. He had fought worse before, and he wasn't going to let a 7-foot man intimidate him. 

"Teen Titans, go!" Blue Beetle announced, feeling lame doing so, as he pointed to the enemies.

The team barged in, immediately going after their respective opponents, just as Beetle instructed.  

Robin quickly ran towards the former military soldier, determined to take him down as fast as possible. Defeating the man would be easy, but Private HIVE was faster than Damian had expected. The Veteran forced the Boy Wonder to keep dodging and stay on defense, which Damian disliked since he thrived on striking first. Private HIVE kept attempting to hit him, displaying a vast knowledge of a combination of fighting techniques, including Taekwondo, Muay Thai, and Krav Maga. The man never once felt the need to rely on the use of any weapons, proving that Starfire's earlier assessment of the criminal's profile was correct, as the man clearly knew what he was doing with his hand-to-hand combat skills.

Damian was still better, however, so he waited for an opening and finally landed a kick on the Veteran's stomach, making the man double over and groan in pain. Private HIVE then spun and tried to kick the boy in the ribs, but Robin took the opportunity to grab the man's leg and send him to the ground. The former soldier was not happy and he shoulder-locked Robin by using his legs, which made the kid struggle.

Meanwhile, Impulse was facing Billy Numerous, who was creating multiple copies of himself, with at least 20 versions of himself filling the room. 

Bart wasn't even fazed. "Neat trick! I can do it too, wanna see?" 

Impulse started phasing so fast that he created several images of himself, surrounding Billy Numerous in a small circle to make him feel suffocated. His opponent definitely fell for the optical illusion, but the little taunt made him angrier also. 

"Oh, yeah? How about this, then?" Billy Numerous challenged. He concentrated hard and even groaned in pain as an unbelievable amount of duplicates of himself began to suddenly pop all across the room.

His 'clone' versions began attacking the Teen Titans, putting everyone at a great disadvantage, especially when Jaime's plan was meant to be a one on one fight the whole time. Impulse turned around, worried, shocked with how many people could even fit inside that small room. There were at least two hundred copies of Billy Numerous, and things were not looking good.

Bart closed his eyes and when he opened them, he could see everything in slow motion; Superboy tackling six Billy Numerous all at once, while blocking a punch from Mammoth at the same time, Red Arrow and Robin struggling, Djinn's hand shining in purple with the magic she was about to throw against all those copies, Blue Beetle getting ready to blast the enemies, Jinx looking determined to attack them all...

Things were getting out of control.

Impulse took a deep breath and thought to himself out loud. "Fine. No more games."

The speedster kneeled down as if he was getting ready for a race, and ran, electricity following right behind him. He could still see the entire room moving extremely slowly, but he had one goal in mind; To defeat his adversary. Impulse ran across the room, punching every single copy of Billy Numerous that he could find, each duplicate vanishing the moment Bart hit them. He knew that the only way to make all the copies disappear at once was by finding the original.

The speedster kept running and punching each one of the copies until he noticed a particular one, whose lungs were interestingly moving up and down. From Bart's quick assessment through his speed-thinking, he was able to notice that every single duplicate looked very soulless and acted almost robotically. None of them behaved like a normal human being, except for the original, of course. Bart found the person that he was looking for and grabbed Billy Numerous by his collar.

His assumption was right because the criminal didn't vanish this time.

"Hah! Gotcha!" Impulse grinned.

Billy Numerous widened his eyes in horror. "Please, don't--"

He was too slow; Before Billy Numerous could even finish his thought, Impulse used his speed force to send a giant energy blast right into the young man's chest, which briefly electrocuted him.

Impulse dusted his hands off, satisfied with his work. "And that's how it’s done!" 

From behind, Bart heard Robin shout, "SUPERBOY, WATCH OUT!"

Impulse turned around just to be met with a Superboy hurtling towards him, causing him to fly backward from the hard collision.

"Ouch..." Impulse groaned.

Superboy rubbed his head from the pain. He was just thrown in Impulse's direction at an incredible speed and momentum, there was no way the collision wouldn't be painful. "Ngh... Are you okay?" 

"Yeah..." 

"Superboy, I told you Mammoth's hits would hurt!" Robin yelled, concerned.

Private HIVE was supposed to remain on the floor, unconscious, but the man was faking it the whole time, and he suddenly head-locked Robin from behind.

Damian was getting mad now. "Do you ever stop?"

Robin aggressively elbowed the man in the ribs so he could get out of the headlock, and he followed up with a knee to the man's face. Private HIVE's nose started bleeding, and Robin threw another blow on the back of the soldier's neck, sending the man to the ground for good this time. Robin kicked the unconscious soldier in the stomach once more just to ensure he wasn't faking it again. "Finally."

Damian ran to help his friend, so they could take care of Mammoth together. Superboy flew back to Mammoth, hitting him in the face, but it didn't even leave a scratch. Mammoth, in turn, reciprocated the action and attempted to land a punch on Jon's face, but Superboy fiercely caught the large man's fist with one hand, as if it was nothing, though his arm did slightly tremble so he could keep holding the man’s fist still.

Superboy brought Mammoth's arm to the ground and punched him right in the throat, which made the man growl in pain. He looked furious but still refused to give up. Jon put some distance between himself and the large creature by flying away, but he was running out of ideas.

"Ugh! Nothing works!" Jon had already tried his laser vision at the giant, but it didn't even do a thing. Thankfully, Robin came running at his side.

"It's because you can't fight fist with fist. We have to use our intellect!" Robin pointed out. 

Jon thought to himself for a second and his face lit up once an idea came to mind. "I know what we can do! Robin, let's do that move from Empire Strikes Back!" 

Robin blinked. Out of all the complex maneuvers they've practiced in the past, Jon wanted to do something he saw in a movie? 

Noticing his friend's hesitation, Jon shot him a begging look with his bright blue eyes. "Come on! Pleease?"

Damian placed his hand on his face, but then brushed it off. "Okay, fine."

Complying, Robin slipped his grappling gun and aimed at Mammoth's feet, having the wire completely tied around the large man's ankles, causing him to lose his balance. He was about to fall, so Superboy took his chance to fly all the way to the ceiling and then use the momentum to fly back down, pounding Mammoth to the ground at full velocity.

The blow was huge and it sent the large man unconscious very quickly. The only problem was that Jon's punch was so strong, that the floor beneath them cracked; Gallons of water started seeping through the cracks at a rapid pace.

Superboy and Robin exchanged a nervous look at each other. “Uh-oh.” Jon uttered.

In the meantime, now that all the duplicates of Billy Numerous were gone, Blue Beetle could refocus on taking down See-More, who purposefully ran away to be lost in the crowd, amongst the hundreds of copies of his colleague, but there was no Billy Numerous to save his ass anymore. It didn't take long for Beetle to search the room and identify the cyclops-looking foe. The scarab aimed at See-More, but the lucky bastard noticed and ducked the shot just in time.

The kid started running from Beetle, shooting laser beams at him from his helmet, but Blue Beetle easily deflected with his shield and ran towards him, leaving Red Arrow behind as she remained occupied trying to shoot Kyd Wykkyd with her arrows, which was an insufferable fight, to say the least. Each time she attempted to shoot him, or even punch him, the boy disappeared and appeared again on the other side of the room. He kept doing the same thing again and again, getting on Emiko's nerves.

Chapter Text

The macabre air was heavy, and dread started to set in as Starfire flew through the window. Even though it was daylight, the Cathedral was still as eerie as Kory remembered, with its intimidating Gothic spires outside, while the interior chapel was lined with long archways and jagged glassed windows. The church would've been empty if it wasn't for a tall man wearing a disturbing, demonic-looking mask, and a long dark cloak. That same man had tried to abduct Raven in the past and mess with her head.

Starfire hated him. 

Brother Blood seemed occupied chanting something she couldn't understand. It didn't matter, however, Kory was determined to bring that awful monster down. The man's back was turned to Starfire, so the alien princess used that to her advantage and immediately flew towards him, eyes and hands glowing. She fired her starbolts at him, but Brother Blood ducked incredibly fast.

Sebastian Blood turned around with a devilish grin, revealing his yellowish pointy teeth, sending chills down Starfire's spine. It was like he was expecting someone to come. The man moved so fast that he easily dodged each one of the starbolts aimed at him. He didn't seem concerned in the slightest, more like amused by the whole thing.

"Hello, Starfire. It's a pleasure seeing you again."

Kory's glowy gaze followed Sebastian's red eyes intensively. "The same cannot be said for you."

Sebastian Blood chuckled. "You'd be happy to know that I just came back from my delightful bloodbath. I wouldn't have minded if you had joined me sooner."

Starfire scowled, her hands forming giant starbolts. "You're disgusting!" 

Kory's voice echoed in the somber chapel and she charged at him, firing her starbolts more fiercely than before. Brother Blood kept dodging, but to her surprise, instead of engaging her in a fight, the coward simply ran the opposite way towards the stairs leading down. Kory increased her speed as she flew towards Sebastian; There was no way she would let him go so easily. Her arm was already stretched so she could hit him in the back, but Brother Blood suddenly spun around and yanked her forearm closer to him, in enough time for him to bite it.

Starfire shouted in pain from the man’s piercing teeth, and she blasted him right in the face with her other good hand. Brother Blood clutched his head, yelping in pain from the blast, but it was already too late; Once he regained his composure and opened his eyes again, they turned bright green, like Starfire’s.

Kory backed away a bit, knowing full well what was about to happen. Brother Blood's hands started glowing and he grinned at the woman, ready to give her a taste of her own powers. 

"Coming here was a mistake, princess."

Kory widened her eyes as Brother Blood started to furiously shoot his starbolts at her. She flew up away from the stairs, back to where they originally were in the chapel, but now he was the one following her, incessantly firing the ultraviolet bolts towards her. It was like fighting her older sister all over again, but at least Kory didn't need to hold back, worried for her country's politics, she could simply face Brother Blood and send that miserable man to prison, where he belonged. 

She dodged all of his attacks, the Cathedral's windows taking most of the hits. Kory ignored the loud noise from the shattered glasses as she continued to strategically move out of the way so she wouldn't be hurt by the blasts. Once Brother Blood temporarily paused to charge up his powers again, she fired her starbolt at his chest, making him fall backward. 

Brother Blood got up, glaring at the alien with his furious green eyes. He used his supersonic speed to fly toward Starfire and successfully grabbed her by the neck, choking her. 

"I am not done with you, girl... I need more blood from you." 

Sebastian leaned in closer towards Starfire's neck so he could feel the taste of her blood one more time. His sharp teeth were ready to sink into her neck when his face was met with another blast. 

Brother Blood fumed. "The insolence!"

Starfire's solar energy bolts from her fists seemed to increase in size. "You will not win so easily, Brother Blood."

She tried hitting him again, but Brother Blood flew away just in time to dodge again. They continued their little dance for a while until Brother Blood got the upper hand and threw her to the ground. The man approached her and locked both of her arms behind her back, making it hard for her to move. He creepily sneered into the back of Kory’s hair and neck while she struggled. There was something so intriguing about her blood, it smelled fresh. Or youthful, even.

"Hmm... I knew there was something different about you this time; I can sense in your blood that you are not one, but two." 

Kory furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "What?" 

Before Brother Blood could explain himself, a giant electric wave was sent down his spine as Nightwing pressed his escrima stick against his back. Sebastian released Starfire, stretching out his hands from the painful electric shock, giving Nightwing the perfect opportunity to put the perverse man on a Full Nelson lock and drop him to the floor, dislocating both of Sebastian’s shoulders in the process.

Sebastian cried in pain, and Starfire finished the job by getting a grip of his skull and firing one of her strongest starbolts directly into his face. Brother Blood fell on the ground, out cold. He was not getting up anytime soon. 

"Nightwing!" Kory flew to her boyfriend, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Starfire," Dick started, worried, but gladly returning the embrace. He held her waist and took a moment to take a good look at his girlfriend, lovingly putting a lost strand of her fiery red hair to the side. "Are you okay? Did he hurt you?" 

Kory gave him a kind smile. "Brother Blood did manage to bite me, but I'm fine. Any luck with Edward Walker?" Her voice was calm and sweet.

Nightwing frowned as he spotted the bite mark on Kory's forearm. He reached for her arm and gently caressed it. "I'm so sorry, Star, I should've come sooner.” His blue eyes, hidden by the domino mask, met with her beautiful green eyes. “And to answer your question, yes, not only did I find him, but I sent Walker to the police too."

Starfire's eyebrows rose in surprise. "Really? How did you convince him to confess?"

Dick smirked. "Nothing like a good threat from Blüdhaven’s greatest vigilante to scare him off.” Dick then pulled out his phone to show the video of Brother Blood fessing over his crimes to the police officers so he would get a lesser sentence. “That and the fake proof I had of Brother Blood locked down, confessing everything to the press.” 

Starfire tilted her head, amused. “Isn’t that video from when we had Brother Blood arrested years ago after he tried to attack our old Teen Titans?”

Nightwing laughed. “Same one. Walker had no clue, though, he thought this was happening in real-time. He nearly peed his pants.” Dick put away his phone in his pocket. “Amateurs.” 

Starfire chuckled as well. "That was quite creative of you."

“Thanks, I try.”

Kory was so happy with Dick's lightheartedness, but his sweet smile slowly turned into a concerned frown. 

"Star, what did Brother Blood mean by ‘there's two of you’ in your blood?"

"Huh? Oh, I... I'm not sure."

Dick looked very thoughtful suddenly. "Hm... Maybe he was hinting at… No. Nah, it can't be. Yeah, I don't think it's what I think it is..."

"Um– I’m confused. Would you mind rephrasing that?"

Nightwing shook his head. "It's nothing. We should take care of Brother Blood before he wakes up."

"Ah, yes." Starfire concurred. "Let us go."

*******

What started out as just a little bit of water creeping in through the cracks, after the impact from Superboy's punch, had now turned into a massive flood, with the water aggressively pouring down the lab until it consumed the entire secret base. Blue Beetle would’ve shut the main door immediately to keep all the water from coming, but he made the mistake of blowing the metal doors open when he decided they should barge in. Now the windowed walkway was shattered, and there was no way out. 

The tides kept rising dangerously fast, and it wouldn’t take much time before the freezing cold water was over everyone’s heads. They were so deep down in the ocean that no amount of protective thermal layer would be enough to protect anyone from the cold either.  

Emiko started shivering as the water kept inching past her navel. She took a deep breath, hoping to sound as calm and collected as possible. "Okay, there is still time to catch them. Djinn, teleport us out of here."

To Emiko's surprise, however, the genie didn't react. After a long pause, the Arabic girl calmly responded, "No."

"No?" Red Arrow scowled. "What do you mean, no?!"

Djinn refused to look anyone in the eyes, opting to stare at the ground as her eyes swelled up with tears.

Blue Beetle, trying to reassess the situation and regain his responsibility of being the leader, carefully asked, "Djinn, you brought us here with your magic; You can do the same to take us back home, right?" 

Djinn still refused to meet him in the eyes. She brought her hands close to her chest as she weakly stated, "There are certain... Limitations to my abilities... For that, I am truly sorry." She shut her eyes, fearful. 

"What?" Red Arrow couldn't believe what she was hearing. The genie wanted them dead, it was the only plausible explanation. "What are you talking about? Just do it, already!" 

Emiko made the unforgivable mistake of not coming prepared with an oxygen mask since she assumed that the ‘All Powerful’ genie would've easily snapped her fingers and teleported everyone out of there in case something dangerous were to happen. If anything, Emiko could've just asked the girl to summon breathing masks, but of course Djinn decided to be completely useless at the most crucial of times.  

"Djinn!" Emiko called again, her panic increasing as the cold water kept rising. "Do something! "

"Give her a break, Red Arrow!" Robin cut in.

"Oh, so you're defending your girlfriend now. Cute! " Emiko mocked, angrily. "Too bad that won't be enough to get us out of here! I guess now you two love birds can bury your little secrets for good since we're all dying here."

Damian frowned. "What are you insinuating?"

"I saw you wearing Djinn's ring, Robin! I know she gets more powerful when she's under someone else's commands."

Everyone shot Arrow a completely shocked look, Jon included, which only annoyed Emiko even more. "Oh, don't give me that look and act all innocent on me, Superboy. I know you've been an accomplice to all of this. Everyone here knows how you go along with whatever Robin says, following him around like a lost puppy!"

Jon's heart stung from the insult. "I don't do that!" He shouted in defense. 

Things were clearly bad when someone retorted to offending Superboy, of all people, so Beetle had to intervene. "What the hell, Red Arrow? What is your problem?"

"My problem?!" The archer shouted, her feet no longer touching the concrete floor. Everyone’s bodies were soon going to be engulfed by the water; Did no one see the chaos that they encountered themselves in? "My problem is that we just let the enemy get away, we're floating here doing nothing, just waiting for the ocean to take over this damn place, and none of this would've happened if Djinn would actually bother to do something about it! 

Jaime was at a loss for words, he had never seen the archer so angry before. 

Bart seemed to share the same sentiment as he commented, "Wow. And I thought you were the quiet one." 

Emiko brushed her wet hair out of her eyes and sighed. "Look, the more time we waste here, the faster the water rises. You might not be as worried, Beetle, but not all of us have special suits or metahuman powers, okay? Unlike you, some of us will actually die in here!"

Djinn started sniffing, snapping everyone's attention to her. "I'm sorry... This is all my fault... I'm so sorry."

Now that the truth was out, Robin gently asked the genie, “Djinn, would you like to lend me your ring so you can use your magic? I’ll return the ring just like last time, I promise!”

Djinn kept crying, her body glowing purple from her emotions. “It’s not about the ring…”

Bart felt helpless, he hated seeing people sad. He swam to get closer to Djinn, feeling bad for the girl. "Hey, it's okay. Here's a thought, I can just spin my arms really fast to get us all above the surface!"

Damian retorted, "That'll only create a whirlpool, sucking us down further, genius ." 

Jon had to do something. The water was already past his stomach, and he did not like where things were going. Besides, he was Superboy, he should be able to save everyone's lives, right? "I'll just swim and take you all with me until we reach the surface."

Robin turned to his friend, ignoring the pain from the large cut on his waist. The cold, salty water didn't help, causing the injury to burn, but Damian had dealt with it worse before. "Superboy, you may have super strength, but even your lungs won't survive from this much depth."

Blue Beetle felt afflicted. The smear of blood coming from Damian, mixed with all the floating ruined furniture all around him, didn't make him any calmer.

“Scarab, can’t we just take everyone with us and bring them to the surface?” Jaime asked, fiercely.

The bug replied, as snarky as always. “Sure, if you want your colleagues to turn into mush from all the water pressure before they make it to the surface.”

"What? So you're saying there's a chance they won't make it?"

"What do you think?"

Blue Beetle rubbed his face, frustrated. "Damn it, there has to be a way!"

"At least we'll be fine." The scarab chirped back.

Jaime frowned. "Yeah, and what about my friends?"

"You can make new ones."

Impulse stared at Jaime, feeling concerned himself. "Beetle, what should we do?"

Jaime grabbed his head and closed his eyes tight due to the stress. "Aagh, I'm trying to think!"

Jaime looked around, the rising water was reaching everyone's necks now. His whole team was inhaling and coughing out a mouthful of water, all of them needing to kick and move their arms to keep themselves afloat, except for Djinn, whose protective aura prevented her from being drowned. The genie oddly remained under the water in a sudden deep state of meditation. Her legs her crossed and her eyes were closed, and the anguishing ocean water didn't seem to even touch her, let alone affect her breathing. Her body kept glowing as she started humming something, and Jaime doubted he would be able to snap her out of it.

The cold water slithered up to their mouths, and Jaime watched, to his horror, all his friends snapping their chins up uncomfortably, gasping through the water. The entire hideout underwater base was completely inundated, the sofa, desks, and chairs all floating with them. Jaime didn't need to float to gasp for air, his suit was enough to protect him, and the bug had such advanced technology that not even the ocean water pressure would be enough to malfunction it. The young hero kept trying to think of ways how to help his team, ignoring the constant arguments that his friends were still engaging in, their loud voices slowly getting weaker and interrupted by all the water that they kept sputtering.

Superboy was the one to snap, also struggling to keep his chin above the water. “That’s it, I’m taking the risk.” Some water got in his mouth, forcing him to cough. He cleared his throat before he continued, “Everyone, hold onto me!”

“Jon–” Damian tried to say, but he was barely able to keep himself afloat. He resurfaced with a gasp. “Don’t–-”

Blue Beetle couldn’t let Jon risk his life, along with everyone else’s. “No, wait!”

Suddenly, Djinn woke up from her strange trance, eyes shining threateningly bright.  

"I'll take you to safety.” Beetle heard the girl say.  

Jaime watched, baffled, as the genie created a powerful magical shield around all of them, preventing any drop of water from bursting through. Her body lit up with her Arabic chants tattooed on her arms and legs, and in a blink of an eye, they were gone. 

****

Titan's Tower

Everyone suddenly appeared in the tower's lounge area, where they were hanging out prior to leaving for the mission.

"WE MADE IT!" Bart shouted in excitement, vibrating super fast to get himself warm again. 

Jaime walked to the other side of the living room to grab a couple of blankets that were kept in a nice little basket that Starfire had purchased. The young man tossed the blankets to Jon, who then handed it over to Emiko and Damian, the only ones in the team seemingly still freezing and drenched. Jon would've been soaked himself, but he used Impulse's speed strategy to also feel warm. It wasn't perfect, since his speed abilities were a lot different than Bart's, but at least he had stopped shivering. Emiko and Damian, on the other hand, were left clinging to their blankets to keep themselves warm. 

Impulse ran to Djinn, surprising her with a big hug. "Djinn, that was AMAZING! Thank you!"

Jaime was back to his civilian self, smiling. "Yeah, thank you so much, Djinn. You saved us!" 

Djinn didn't return the smile, but she appreciated the kind gestures. She noticed that Superboy and Robin were about to come to hug her also, but Red Arrow was quick to interrupt. "About damn time you did something."

Djinn frowned at her teammate. "There's hostility coming from you. I do not appreciate it."

"Don't care, princess." Emiko continued, removing her soaking-wet gloves. "We could've died today, yet you almost chose to protect your secrets instead of saving us. What is it that you're hiding?"

Robin was upset about where this was going, although he wouldn't mind understanding Djinn's background a little bit more himself. "Emiko--" Damian reached for the girl's shoulder, but the archer flinched at his touch. 

"Don't 'Emiko' me! I saw the way you've been looking at Djinn, and how she only decided to use her powers properly after you got injured."

Bart and Jaime exchanged glances at each other. Bart couldn't help but tease in a singing tone, "Oooh, looks like someone is jealoous..."

Emiko glared at the boys. "You're such children." She then turned back to Damian, who was also removing his gloves to get warmer. "It's the ring, isn't it? It's doing things to you."

Djinn's anger increased, she flew towards the archer and got to her face. "Are you implying I am manipulating Robin with my ring?"

"Possibly. Unless you can prove otherwise."

The angrier she got, the more Djinn glowed, but her rage was soon replaced by a tremendous dread that filled her soul. She had forgotten the serious danger that she had just brought to her own team, the only people who have treated her decently her whole life. The Titans treated her like family, and how did she return the favor? By bringing death to their doorsteps.

"I have to go!" There was panic in Djinn's voice, not just rush, Damian noticed. Her skin was getting pale again, just as she did back when she was fighting Jinx.

"Go where?" Jaime asked, worried. 

Bart was also concerned. "Djinn, please don't leave us! Let us help you."

"No, no, no... You don't understand, we're in great danger--"

Djinn took a look at the window and started floating towards it. Any more second spent at the tower could lead to the death of all her friends. She levitated, but a certain gentle hand touched hers, and her heart skipped a beat.

"Djinn, don't leave!" Robin pleaded. His mask was removed now, and Djinn could see the sincerity in the handsome boy's emerald eyes. He looked so pained to see her leave, which only made things so much worse for her. She wished she could explain, she did, but there was not enough time--

They heard the living room doors open, and everyone immediately got into a fighting stance. It was odd since none of the intruder alarms went off, but everything made sense once Nightwing and Starfire stepped inside. Kory couldn't help but notice the tense atmosphere in the room, which made her feel so bad for scaring everyone. She was worried about them, the Titans looked extremely stressed and tired, and the floors were all damped. Emiko and Damian in particular looked awful, they were both drenched, but the same for Jon, whose clothes were still wet. 

Dick was the first to say something. "What is going on? Is everyone okay?"

The room fell silent, which could only mean that the Titans were up to something. 

Kory furrowed her brows. "What's wrong? Were you able to catch the H.I.V.E?"

The young team exchanged awkward looks with each other, all of them feeling too embarrassed to share their failures. 

Nightwing crossed his arms, looking a little intimidating from his seriousness. "Jaime, care to explain what happened today?"

Jaime stared at the ground, nervous, then looked up.

Scarab wasn't making things any easier either. "Just say it, it's not like we did anything wrong."

Jaime cleared his throat, ignoring the little voice behind his back. "Yeah, so... Uh, Okay. So, we got to the underwater base, and I told the team to go after the bad guys one at a time since it was 6 vs. 6..."

The teen waited to be reprimanded for instructing his team to do the exact opposite as Starfire had taught them before, but no one seemed upset with him. If anything, both Nightwing and Starfire nodded so he would go on. "And we were winning, we really were, but that Jinx lady destroyed the base so she could get away. We almost drowned, but thanks to Djinn, we made it back alive." Jaime turned to the genie, who looked so sorrowful still, but he hoped he could make a difference by highlighting her achievements and showing his gratitude for her. "She saved us."

Kory and Dick both looked very proud.

"I'm sorry for letting the H.I.V.E get away... We made a lot of mistakes today." Jaime apologized, looking at the floor again, embarrassed. 

Kory kindly placed her hands on the young man's shoulder. "It's okay, Jaime. What matters the most is that you are all safe."

That was enough for Emiko, she couldn't take it anymore. "I'm sorry, what?"

Everyone turned their attention to the young archer. "What Beetle conveniently forgot to mention is that the reason why H.I.V.E got away and we were nearly drowned in the first place is because of Djinn's refusal to help!" Emiko angrily pointed at Djinn's face. "Because of you, we almost died!"

Djinn's eyes were swelling up in tears again, and her body began glowing.

"Woah, let's not blame your own teammate, Emi--" Dick tried to advise, but Djinn's sobs snapped his attention. "Djinn, she didn't really mean it--"

"Yes, she did!" Djinn cried out. Her magical body, affected by her emotions, was so bright now that she could light up the whole room. "Red Arrow is right. I haven't been truthful with any of you."

"It's my Al’ak Al’akbar, my eldest brother... Elias. He's coming for me. Us, Djinns, come from ancient magic, with abilities far too powerful to fully comprehend. There are many of us in the world, but I've been specifically close to my four brothers, we're the youngest of our kind. We were all born in the time of humanity, except for Elias, who existed before man walked this Earth. We always looked up to our eldest brother, he meant everything to us. Elias opened my eyes to the truth and helped my family see how us, Djinns, were being subjected to a whole life of servitude, created to please the will of men. We were never treated as Gods, but as slaves."

Djinn's body was glowing a little less now, which meant she was calming down. Somehow pouring everything out helped immensely. "Elias was the one who taught us to fight back. My three younger brothers and I were so young and naive, we believed him. We fought next to Elias, defeating man after man, in an attempt of freeing ourselves from humanity. It got to a point that all the senseless murders got us nowhere, which was when Elias realized that the only way we could truly free ourselves would be to no longer be tied down to a magical object that forces us to grant people's wishes."

"Okaay..." Bart interrupted, he had heard that story before. "Your ring is like a magic lamp, right? So, why don't you give your ring to one of us, and we just make a wish to set you free?"

Djinn blinked, confused. “It doesn’t work that way.”

Jaime was the one who was taken aback now. "Wait, really?"

"Why not?" Bart asked. "It worked in Aladdin!"

Damian facepalmed, but Jon was as surprised as the other heroes. "Making a wish to free you won't work? What can set you free, then?"

Djinn calmly resumed her explanation. “If it was that simple, my brothers and I would've requested someone of good heart to make such a wish for us a long time ago. Elias found that the only way for us to make ourselves free is by destroying the rings that are bound to us, but the only way to completely do so is through the use of the most powerful magic known to mankind."

Damian jumped in. "And that is...?"

"A power that belongs to a Celestial being." Djinn looked down at her finger, rubbing her little purple jewel. "This ring... This ring is my curse. It's my prison, my constant reminder of all the cruelty I've caused for thousands of years." 

"Djinn, why didn't you tell us this sooner? We can help you!" Damian said, but Djinn didn't respond.

Emiko started to ponder. "Interesting... So why does Elias have a vendetta against you?"

"My brother Elias found a stone with magic similar to a Celestial's; The Stone of Souls said to be descended from heaven itself. My brothers and I were all ready for the fight of our lives to conquer the stone, but I had to draw the line once I found out that the powerful stone was being guarded by mere children... I refused to kill them. My young brothers did too, it was just... Wrong. Elias didn't care, however. That was when we saw his true colors; An inexplicable fury took over Elias, and only my other brother, Alizar, stood by his side out of fear. The rest of us, Zavant, Uthi, and I, fought back. The three of us cast a protective spell to save the children's lives, but we still lost. Elias was too experienced and he got a hold of the stone, just to find out that it was a fake replica the whole time. Rage consumed Elias, so he did the unthinkable..."

The whole time Djinn spoke, she could barely look anyone in the eye, but now the shame was much worse than before. Everyone else kept glancing at her, waiting for her to finish. "He took my ring and made it my prison. Zavant and Uthi were fast enough to escape in time, while Alizar chose to stay by Elias. As for me, my eldest brother punished me by making me kill every last one of the children I swore to protect. Not only that, he commanded me to destroy civilizations, and participate in wars, and bloodshed, all to serve as a reminder of my betrayal."

The Teen Titans all looked at Djinn with pity in their eyes. They had no idea.

Djinn reluctantly continued, "Elias never stopped seeking the stone. He put his hatred for man aside and lend me to other masters who might help him find the stone."

"But Elias wasn't afraid of losing you?" Emiko asked.

"No. He made it into a game, promising me that if I ever managed to escape from another master, he would come and find me. Same applies to my lost brothers, whom he hasn't found yet."

"Hm," Emiko mumbled. "So it's you and four brothers... And each one of you is tied down by a ring rather than a different magic object? 

Djinn nodded. "Correct. It's part of the family connection, my blood."

Emiko wasn't even going to pretend to understand how the genie's creation and offspring worked. "Okay... Despite Elias going after the stone to make himself free, I think he'll want to make all of you and your brothers his own slaves, Djinn. Finish his own ring collection." 

"I know." Djinn started crying again. "Which is why I can't be here any longer. I've been trying so hard to be careful about my magic, I can't ever burn too brightly, otherwise, Elias will find me... And maybe he already has, after today. Because of this, he'll come to me and will--" Djinn sobbed again. "...He'll make me kill each one of you to make me pay."

The pain was too much, Djinn couldn't handle the unbearable shame any longer. She turned around and started flying so she could get away from the tower as fast as possible, her tears blurring her vision. Explaining her whole life story was another great mistake, she needed to flee.

"Djinn, wait!" Starfire said, following her. The redheaded was also floating, reaching for Djinn's arm. "I know this sounds so scary to you. I too have been enslaved and tortured, by my own older sister, nonetheless. I've had friends also struggle with powerful beings who were after them, but us Titans stood together. We fought against creatures that had godly forces beyond our powers, and guess what happened in the end? We all won. Because we fought together. If you think Elias is coming, then let him. We'll be ready for him."

Djinn kept crying more. "No, you don't understand! He'll use me to kill you! If he takes my ring, I'll lose complete control and--"

"You won't lose your ring, Djinn. I'll make sure of it." Starfire assured. The genie was still crying, but she was met with a comforting hug from her leader. "It's going to be okay. I promise."

Emiko was still thoughtful, not bothering much about Djinn's flush of emotions. "Djinn, how did you get away from one of your old masters' control? It's a miracle you're even here, free, right? You might be in hiding, but you're still technically free."

Djinn looked up from Starfire and then to the archer. Emiko's attempt of understanding her calmed her down. "Yes, it was a teenage boy who rescued me; The purest boy I had ever met in my whole life. He's Arabic, spiky dark hair, with the brightest green eyes I had ever laid my eyes on--" Djinn gasped at the realization of why she was always so infatuated with Damian Wayne from the moment she saw him; He looked just like the boy who had saved her life. 

"What?" Bart asked, innocently.

Djinn blushed, hoping no one had noticed. "I, um, I was just saying that this young boy, Dahee, was the one who got me out. He was my old master's son, but one day he saw me and felt pity for me. We talked, he was so calm and gentle... No one was ever so kind to me before. Then one day, he bravely went to his father's room and stole the ring from him, handing it back to me, so I could be free... I never gave my proper goodbye to him, I was so scared that I just ran. I  disappeared, then traveled across the world, afraid of being found by Elias if I ever used my powers too much."

"Thank you for sharing this with us, Djinn. That took great courage." Kory said to the girl, sweetly squeezing her shoulder to comfort her.

Damian felt angry, how dare Elias make Djinn go through such turmoil? "We'll fight against Elias with you, Djinn. No one will take your ring from you ever again, understand?"

Djinn's face felt warm and she nodded in agreement, timidly. 

Dick simply scratched his head, trying to take it all in. "Wow. That was a heck of a story, Djinn. But as Kory and Damian said, we'll fight Elias, just as we fought many of our foes before. We'll just need to train harder than ever before. Since a lot of you are still in school, training will start in the afternoon. I'll be coming here every day after I'm done with work."

"What about me? I'm not going to school!" Bart remarked.

Dick smirked at him. "I'll make Tim find something for you. Or Wally, even."

"No, not Wally! He makes me do the stupidest speed exercises!"

"Got it, I'm calling Wally." Dick's smile wouldn't leave his face.

"Uugh, noo!" 

Jaime just laughed at his friend's complaints, the kid was too impatient for his own good. He then started yawning, not realizing how much tired he was. He still felt awful for letting the bag guys get away, but at least no one ended up dead. He sat on the couch, defeated, and Jon decided to join him. 

"I'm beat." Jon finally said. 

"Me too." Jaime agreed. He then felt a little bad for not making more of an effort to make Superboy feel included in the team, the kid was so quiet sometimes. "Yo, Jon, you have super speed, right?"

Jon straightened up, surprised by the sudden conversation. "Uh? Yeah, I guess. I'm not like Impulse, though."

"Nah, I'm talking about gaming. Can you use your speed to hit the buttons from the controllers super fast?"

Jon beamed at that. "I can, actually! It drives Damian nuts!"

"Ha, ha, I'm sure it does. Tell you what, I bet you that you can move faster than Bart. I think you can easily beat him on a combat video game too."

Jaime wasn't sure if his nosy friend overheard them, but Bart was already zapping to the couch that they were sitting on. 

"Excuse me, no one's faster than me." Bart confidently said.

"Is that a challenge, speedster?" Jon teased.

Bart smiled. "Oh, it's on, Kryptonian!" 

Jaime chuckled and turned on the game, ready to entertain himself by watching his friends play like two maniacs who had never seen a controller before in their whole lives. They were like two little kids bickering and playing like crazy with their fingers moving too fast for the visible eye to understand what was going on. Jaime sank more into the couch, feeling relaxed for the first time that evening. 

Meanwhile, Dick and Kory left the lounge to talk privately, and everyone else left to their rooms to change into more appropriate, dry, clothing. Once Damian was changed back to his civil clothes, a white shirt with green sleeves and black pants, he went to Djinn's room, afraid that she had already fled. He knocked on her door and was surprised to see that the genie hadn't left.

"Djinn? Can I come in?"

"Oh, of course..." Djinn held the door open for Damian to come. Her room still looked the same way as when Damian had been there before. 

Djinn noticed a stain of blood forming under Damian's white shirt, and apologized. "Robin, your injury--"

The girl softly placed her hand on Damian's injury, making it completely disappear, along with the stain.

The painful cut was finally gone. "Thank you. And you can call me Damian, remember?"

Djinn smiled, shy. "Oh, you're right. I should also thank you, Damian."

Damian tilted his head with a puzzled look on his face. "For what? I didn't do anything."

"For staying by my side." Djinn flew to Damian and pulled him into a hug. The boy didn't know what to do, but he eventually eased down and accepted the gesture. 

Djinn then pulled apart from the hug, admiring the half-Arabic boy standing right in front of her, who reminded her so much of Dahee. "I didn't want to say in front of everyone, but Red Arrow was right about the ring forging a connection between us."

"She was?"

"Yes... You see, as Jinns, we are forced to obey our masters' commands... But we wouldn't be able to do so if the magic didn't force both masters and Djinns to be drawn to each other, which is why it's so easy for masters' souls to be corrupted by all the power. What disturbs me is that the whole time Elias forced me to do horrible things, I somewhat felt drawn to him, and I think I still do... That's why I can't be near Elias; I can't see him, Damian. I'm too scared, and I hate what his charms did to me. I despise Elias with every fiber of my being for making me kill so many innocent people, but a part of me can't fully hate him. I cannot be trusted, Damian Wayne. Everyone was right about me."

Damian furrowed his brows and placed his hands on both of Djinn's shoulders. "Stop. Djinn, I know what it's like to be manipulated by someone you thought could be trusted. I've done horrible things too, atrocities that will haunt me forever, all because I faithfully followed a man I used to look up to, my grandfather. As much as I hate myself and my past for all that I've done, a part of me can't truly hate him. I don't know why, I just can't. He's my grandfather and he'll always be family to me. I know in your case, you're tied down by all the magic... But it happens to humans like me, too. And at least when I took people's lives, I had a choice; You didn't. You can't blame yourself."

Djinn's eyes were teary again. "I still hear their cries, Damian. Their faces staring at me in horror. What I've done is unforgivable..."

"Maybe. But you're not alone."

Djinn looked at Damian, admiring his handsome face and piercing eyes. She already knew he was special, but now she was more than convinced. She leaned in closer to him, wishing so badly that she could grant him a kiss of gratitude, for everything that he had done and as a way for her to remember Dahee forever in her heart. She closed her eyes, hoping Damian felt the same. Djinn could already feel the butterflies in her stomach as she anticipated their lips to be touched...

KNOCK, KNOCK

Emiko walked into the room, distracted. "Hey Djinn, I came here to apologi--" Emiko then looked up and saw the couple standing extremely close to each other. "Oh, geez. Sorry, sorry, carry on--" Emiko quickly closed the door, her face burning red from the awkwardness. 

Damian exchanged looks with Djinn before running to the door. "Emiko, you can come to talk to Djinn, I was just--" He got to the door, but Emiko was already pacing quite fast back to her room. The Boy Wonder followed her, but by the time he got to her bedroom, Emiko had already locked her door. 

Damian knocked a few times. "Emiko? Hey, sorry about that, you can talk to Djinn..."

Emiko abruptly opened the door, startling him. "What are you doing?"

"I already said I'm sorry! You were going to talk to Djinn, and I was there and I--"

Emiko rubbed her face, impatiently. "Oh, God. Okay, Damian, I was the one ruining the little moment you two were having, I should be apologizing, not you, alright? Now, leave me alone."

Emiko was closing the door again, but Damian held the door with his hand. "Hey, you were right about the ring. Djinn was just explaining it to me, she said that the ring can lead to a certain... Connection between the one who wears it and the actual Jinn."

"Djinn admitting about the ring? That's a first."

"Yes, but there's no reason to worry. Everything is under control now."

Emiko smirked, leaning against her door with her arms crossed. "Sure it is. You know, I just want to remind you that she is 4,000 years older than you. We all have our kinks, but sheesh. Just saying. I promise I won't judge, though."

Damian frowned, confused. "What are you talking about?"

Emiko blinked. Was Batboy just messing with her? "Damian, you know she has a thing for you, right? Meaning, you're her type."

Damian was still not understanding. If anything, he looked more perplexed than before. 

"Oh, wow. Are you really that clueless? You didn't catch that whole thing about the boy who saved her?"

Damian didn't respond, leaving Emiko completely astonished. "Wow. I thought your mom taught you a thing or two about dating--"

The teenage boy didn't like where this was heading. "Djinn is not my girlfriend!"

Emiko rubbed her face, the boy was a lost cause. Did she even want to bother teaching him about girls and relationships? Nah. There was no time for that. "When you grow up a few inches, you'll understand."

"Hey!"

"What's up with that secret magic book, by the way?" Emiko changed the subject. "What was it called... The Book of the Souls, the Dusk Book, whatever name it was--"

"The Book of the Soul's Dusk." Damian corrected, quietly. Emiko noticed his attempt in keeping things discreet, so she invited him to come into her room.

There was nothing out of the ordinary inside Emiko's bedroom, except for several bows hung on the wall and a small target that she could aim her arrows at any time she got up. 

Now that they had more privacy, Damian continued, "It's a dark magic book that I asked Djinn to help me find it... It's the only reason why I had to borrow her ring; I needed her to access the book so we could take it."

"And why did you need to steal this book so badly in the first place?"

"I... I can't tell you that."

"Too late now, bird boy. You keep me in the dark on this, I'll go ahead and tell the whoole team about this secret book of yours.

"No, you can't!" Damian accidentally shouted, but he toned it down. "It's just... A case that I'm working on. It's personal."

"Too bad. Spill it out."

Damian sighed. She wasn't going to let that go, was she? "Fine. There's this man, he goes by the Shadow. He recently hurt a powerful witch just to get his hands on this exact book. He hasn't done anything yet, but I've been investigating ever since, trying to find out who he is... And it's only getting worse, I keep having these visions of him stalking me... I even thought he was going to hurt my mother, but I guess it was just in my head. I don't know what this man is up to, but I intend to find out."

"Okay, so he could be conjuring some illusions on you to mess with your head or something. Honestly, this just sounds like a mystery waiting to be solved, there's nothing wrong with that. Why keep it from the team?"

Damian looked down, embarrassed to tell her the truth. "I can't let Grayson know..."

"Why not?"

"If he finds out, he'll worry and will get my father involved, and I can't let that happen! They'll never leave me alone, and I haven't worked on my own case for a long time. And I don't know why, but this case strangely feels personal now."

"Your secret is safe with me." Damian looked up at the archer, surprised. Emiko just shrugged. "I know a thing or two about having an overbearing and overprotective older brother."

"Thank you."

"I wanna help, though."

"You what?"

"What's wrong with me helping? 

Damian rubbed the back of his head, awkwardly. "I-- I'm already working with Red Hood on this case."

"Oh, so your other brother, Jason, knows, but not Dick? Makes no sense to me, but I'm in."

"Emiko!"

"There's no going back for me now, birdie. You know I love solving cases."

Damian was about to argue but he was distracted by the buzzing sound of his phone. He looked down and was annoyed to notice that Emiko peeked over his phone, reading the text that came from Todd. 

Found a lead. Come meet me tonight at 43rd ave and rainbird. 

"Guess we have a place to go tonight." Emiko smirked. 

Damian sighed again, defeated. "Guess so." 

Chapter Text

It was late at night by the time Red Arrow and Robin were finally able to leave the Tower without raising any suspicion. They both had to lie, of course, Damian needing to tell Grayson that he was heading home and that he didn't need a ride, and Emiko informing Kory that she needed to leave for a bit for something personal that had to do with her brother. Kory, as always, respected her privacy, which Emiko was grateful for. Just because she agreed on joining the Teen Titans didn't mean she needed to be treated like a little kid. Ollie did that enough already.

Both Emiko and Damian were riding on their motorcycles when they arrived at the crossroads that Todd had messaged earlier. They were in Gotham but in the middle of nowhere. There was nothing but empty land and dead grass. It was a shame such a wide deserted space was being wasted when it could've been used to grow plant crops or build commercial buildings at least.

Emiko frowned as she slowly brought her motorcycle to a stop with her feet, following Damian.

"Are we in the right place?" Emiko asked as she lifted her helmet visor to take a better look at the wide, empty land.  

Damian was wondering the same thing, so he pulled out his phone to read his older brother's message again. "Yeah, we're here." Damian looked up from his phone, and there was nothing there, except for a tiny blue house farm next to a pond at the end of the road. 

He looked at his teammate while pointing at the house, "Perhaps Hood meant us to meet him at that farmhouse?"

"Most likely." Emiko closed her visor and started her motorcycle. 

They rode their bikes a little further until they reached the farmhouse down the road. They parked on the side of the house, and Damian went to his motorcycle saddlebag to retrieve the Book of The Soul's Dusk as instructed by his brother. He held the book close to his chest, squeezing it tightly, and the vigilantes proceeded cautiously, stepping on branches and dead leaves on their way to the house. The silence between the two matched the abandoned feel of the place, and even the sound of the moving water from the pond was dreadful, especially when that sad-looking pond looked more like mud than actual water. The farmhouse was small, clearly built by farmhands many years ago, with a single-floor construction slapped together and painted with an awful blue on the outside, half of the paint already peeled off.  

Emiko ignored the shivers she felt from the cold breeze, though she wasn't sure if it was the weather or the way that place made her feel. Dead trees surrounded what could've been a decent house farm if someone inhabited there and bothered to keep it clean. The porch alone was disturbing; Old cans of Dr. Pepper were left on the floor, along with several cardboard boxes, dried paint cans, dirty napkins, and a disgusting unopened vanilla ice cream filled with maggots inside.

Emiko had to fight the urge to gag. "I think I'm gonna throw up."

Damian chose to not respond, although he completely agreed with her. He went ahead and reached for the rusty door knob, opening the old wooden door with a disturbingly loud creak. The interiors of the house were just as bad as the outside, with old furniture still inside and clutter everywhere; Wood slabs and junk were strewn across the grimy walnut-colored floor as well as more paint cans, papers, empty cardboard boxes, and trash. There was a dusty entryway table at the entrance with old, untouched, antique vases and more random papers. To their left, there was the dining room with a humble 4-seat dining table, but oddly enough, only three chairs were there, the last one missing. 

Damian had no idea why Todd would tell him to go to that horrid place, but the answer came to him the moment he stepped into the living room, where a giant Pentagram sign was drawn on the floor with chalk, instead of blood this time, surrounded by candles that were placed at each point of the pentagram. The cream-colored candles were stained with a crimson color on top, and Damian wondered if that was actual blood. The young teenager also noticed the large dent on the wall next to the couch, and on top of the dirty couch were broken pieces of wood that belonged to the missing dining chair. Next to the pentagram sign on the floor, Damian saw Red Hood bent down, his back turned to them. He was focused on collecting pieces of evidence for him to analyze later; Hair, fibers, footprints, anything he could gather. 

Todd didn't need to turn around to know that he was no longer alone.

"About time you got here."

Damian frowned. "The crossroads you sent me led me to the middle of nowhere! You could've simply told me to come to meet you at this hideous place."

Todd put away his glass flask, and distractedly got up, irritated, "It's not my fault you're so stupi--" Red Hood turned around just to find out that Damian wasn't by himself; The kid brought a little friend with him.

"What the fuck, demon spawn?! You brought your girlfriend with you?"

Both Robin and Emiko immediately took that as an offense. "She's not my girlfriend!" Damian shouted while Emiko said the same about him. 

"Don't care," Red Hood continued, "What part of keeping this a secret did you not get? I told you not to tell anyone!"

"I know!" Damian's voice was getting louder. It's not like he wanted to include Emiko in the first place. "Red Arrow found out on her own that I was working on something outside of the normal Titan's business, and she wanted to help, it's not a big deal!" Damian straightened as he thought of an additional remark to get back at Todd. "Besides, you were going to have Arsenal work with you on this case, why can't I have my own archer?"

Emiko shoved Damian, annoyed. "I'm not 'your' archer, you twerp!" She then turned to Todd. "And what's wrong with me working on this case with you two? What's so special about this 'Shadow'?"

Everyone in the room could just hear the air quotes around her words.

Todd still didn't care, however. "How old are you, anyway, kid? Twelve?"

"I'm fourteen!"

Jason waved his hand out and sighed, "Whatever. Well, at least you didn't tell anyone else about this, right, Robin?" Jason noticed the awful silence from his annoying little brother, which worried him. "Right??" 

Damian kicked the dust on the floor, awkwardly. "Well, Superboy knows..."

"What?" Jason couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"...And Djinn knows too, but that's it!" Damian raised his hands in the air in surrender, while still holding the book in one of his arms. 

Jason threw his hands up in defeat, trying to not lose his temper. "Seriously? What's the point of me working on this, then? Might as well turn this into a Teen Titans mission now. Invite the Justice League too, while you're at it."

"No!" Robin shouted back, defensively. "I didn't mean for them to find out! This is our case, Hood, and I mean it--"

Emiko was getting tired of this useless banter, she needed to get to the bottom of this. Besides, that house was creepy and she couldn't wait to get out. "Just tell us what you found out, already. I see the obvious pentagram sign drawn on the floor, did Shadow use his magic to kill someone? Steal something?"

Jason shook his head but it was too late at this point, keeping information from those kids wouldn't change anything. He held out his hand to Damian, waiting to be handed the item he had asked for, "Baby brat, let me see the book."

Robin handed him the spellbook. It took Todd a long few minutes to say something as he carefully skimmed through the pages. He was looking for something, Damian could tell, but he didn't dare to interrupt his brother's thoughts, and neither did Emiko.

Thankfully, Red Hood finally broke the uneasy silence, "Robin, you've been studying this book, right?"

The Boy Wonder nodded, "Cover to cover."

"In the summoning section, do you recall any spells specifically needing the Pink Nightshade herb?"

"Hm. Let me take a look..." Hood handed the book back to his younger brother, who immediately turned to the demon-summoning chapters. There were guidelines to summon several different types of demons, but only a few required the use of a poisonous herb to complete the ritual. "Here," Damian pointed at the page, and Todd took the book back to himself for another close inspection. 

Todd read a couple more pages, concluding his final theory. "Boom. That's the recipe that was used in this room; Fire, candles forged in blood, a clump of dead soil from a very dead land, Abramelin oil, and Pink Nightshade." Jason noticed the curious look that his brother shot at him, so he added, "I found remnants of fresh Pink Nightshade in the living room."

Emiko peeked over the book to understand what was going on. The chapter that Red Hood was in contained the steps on how to summon a devil. "So, the Shadow was trying to summon the Devil?"

"Not summon it;" Hood corrected, "Unleash it."

Emiko and Damian both widened their eyes behind their Domino masks. 

"Unleash it?" Damian repeated, "The Shadow wants to free the Devil?" 

"Yep. Summoning requires way less powerful dark magic, just a few ingredients, a little Abracadabra here and there, and you're done. But this guy... He wants more. Not only did he choose this specific spell, but he's messing with evil spirits."

Emiko furrowed her brows. "What do you mean, evil spirits?"

Jason frowned, though no one could see it. "You do know this house is haunted, right?"

Red Arrow immediately drew her bow and nocked an arrow in panic, uselessly aiming at the walls as if a ghost was ready to appear out of nowhere. "Oh, my God, oh, my God!

Robin smirked, "Didn't know you were such a scaredy-cat, Red Arrow," 

Emiko scowled, aiming her arrow at Robin instead. "Shut up, bird boy! I don't mess with spirits. No wonder this place has been giving me the creeps!"

"Alright, let's wrap this up." Red Hood said. "So, we know that the Shadow wants to unleash a demon, but the good news is that his spell failed."

Damian tilted his head, intrigued. "How can you be so sure?"

"See the broken chair and the large ass dent on the wall?" Todd pointed at the wall, and his brother nodded. "Looks like a rage quit to me, he was probably mad that his magic didn't work, which means he has to start all over. And from the looks of it--" Todd returned to the same page he was on. "--He's gonna need more dark energy and stronger magic than just relying on haunting spirits roaming around."

Suddenly, a little girl whispered from the distance, sending chills down Emiko's spine. She jumped, startled, and soon after, a golden clock that was hanging in the living room creaked just slightly, but enough to scare her again. Without even thinking, the archer turned to the clock and shot her arrow at it, shards of glass flying everywhere.

Robin instinctively covered his head so the shards wouldn't fall on him. "The hell?"

"You didn't hear that?" The archer asked, but everyone stared at her as if she was going crazy. It could've been paranoia, but Emiko could've sworn it was real. It was like they were in a horror movie, now that she knew that the house was haunted. "It's whatever, are we done here? Can we go?"

Shooting the arrow at the clock was probably not the wisest decision because the windows began to rattle from the cold wind and the lightbulbs were now flickering. Again, Emiko wasn't sure if she was hearing things, but terrifying whispers echoed through the walls, and the entire farmhouse shook for a quick second.

Even the boys froze this time. 

"Ok, let's go!" Hood replied, rushing to the front door.

"Right after you--!" Damian said, following Emiko, who was in front of him. 

The trio rushed out of the farmhouse, running as fast as possible to hop on their motorcycles and get away from the farm. Once they were back on the road, Red Hood signaled the kids to come closer to him, and they listened because they started to ride a little slower.

Hood looked up at the pitch-black sky before turning to the kids. He was positive none of them had eaten yet. "Hey, it's getting late and I'm starving. Wanna go grab something to eat? 

Emiko and Damian both shrugged; Jason took that as a yes. "Ok, follow me." He started his motorcycle again, the two kids right behind him.

They arrived at a fast food restaurant on the outskirts of Gotham that Jason was dying to go to, he had been craving some good ol' burger, but sadly, all the doors were locked. It must have been later than he thought. 

“Shit, they’re closed." Jason gave up on stubbornly attempting to open the obviously locked doors before turning to the other two. "Wanna eat at my place?”

Damian made a disgusted face because of course he did, that stupid brat. “I’d rather not.”

"Spoiled brat. Fine, starve, then. How about you, Speedy?"

Emiko scowled at the name. "It's Red Arrow!"

"Same thing. You hungry?"

Emiko crossed her arms, defiantly. "I'm fine." Unfortunately for her, the girl's body completely betrayed her; Her stomach roared, and it was pretty loud too. Emiko's cheeks went bright red.

Jason chuckled. "Ha, that's what I thought. Come with me."

Behind his back, Jason could hear Emiko's motorcycle engines starting as well as a quite long and obnoxious sigh coming from his stupid brother.

What a brat.

****

Despite all the wealth that Jason could easily take from Bruce, he still chose to live rather humbly, ignoring Bruce's constant annoying pleas to just accept more of his money like any normal person would. Not that Alfred didn't already send him a good chunk of money and food each month, but still. He took pride in the work he did as Red Hood, and it was fun stealing from the mob, especially when he found wallets full of cash after killing some scumbags. He was trying to kill less now, true, only doing so when absolutely necessary, as he was finally on good terms with Bruce. But he still liked doing his thing, living by his own terms. 

Jason was currently living at a hidden safe house located in downtown Gotham. Despite not being overly spacious, it was perfect. In comparison to his upbringing, the place was huge, with 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and an open-room concept with his decently-sized white kitchen, comfortable living room, and dining room all combined in the same space. It wasn't super luxurious, but it was exactly what he needed. Besides, he hated the snobby life that all those dumb rich people had. All in all, he loved his new home and he would be lying if he said he didn't like his life. Sure, it had its extreme lows before, and being brought back from the dead sucked ass for a while, but things were slowly getting better, finally. He had friends, people he could count on, and his family wasn't all that bad, as insufferably annoying as they were.

He still had his differences with Bruce, but Alfred, Dickhead, and Replacement never ceased to pester him with reminders that he was wanted in the family, despite him still feeling like a great disappointment to Bruce the majority of the time. It was just hard pushing away the intrusive little voice of his biological dad telling Jason what a piece of shit he was, and how much of a burden he was in everyone's lives. It was stupid, he needed to learn to leave things in the past. He was actually in a pretty good mood that day, having successfully closed a missing case and gotten the kidnappers arrested - after a good little torture as a reminder for them to never kidnap anyone else again, of course - and found a great lead to solve the Shadow's mystery. Things were going well and he didn’t mind feeding the kids before sending them home. 

Jason was still mad at Damian for telling all his little superhero friends about something that was supposed to stay between the two, but he was getting over it. Emiko wasn't all that bad, she was nothing like that shallow brother of hers, and he didn't mind her. Jason didn't know much about Djinn, and Jon, well, the kid is Superboy; It was whatever. Jon was probably a good influence on that demon brat of a brother anyways, so it was good that the little shithead had decent friends for once.

Jason opened the door, inviting them in. As usual, the safe house was well-kept, clean, and quite cozy. Everything had its place, and the whole house was spotless, except for the kitchen, where Bizarro loved making messes and not taking care of them. 

Jason removed his helmet, breathing better now, and he left it in the kitchen nook. He opened the fridge, hoping to find something to feed himself and the kids when he remembered; He didn't have any food. It was his turn to take care of the groceries, per Artemis' dumb rules, and the fridge was absolutely empty, save for a tiny bit of milk left and a couple of beer bottles. Well, shit. Jason then opened the pantry, but same thing. There was practically nothing. 

Damian crossed his arms in discontent. "I knew you wouldn't have anything."

Jason had to fight the urge to punch the kid in the face. "Oh, shut up, demon. Go back home to Alfred, then."

Emiko looked a bit disconcerted behind her mask, seemingly regretful for coming. "I can just order us something."

The girl started pulling out her phone, but Jason felt like shit now. Yeah, great idea to invite hungry teenagers over when you didn't even do the groceries. He was such a dumbass. Jason reached his hand to Emiko to make her stop so he could at least have the decency to be the one to order the food, but his attention snapped to Artemis, who opened the door with Bizarro right behind her, holding three large-size pizzas. 

Artemis was startled by the kids for a second. "Woah! Didn't know we were having company!" 

Bizarro placed the cardboard pizza boxes on the countertop and started clapping like an innocent birthday kid. "Me not like company!"

Jason smiled, Bizarro was so weird. “Yep, we were working on a case and figured I should feed the kids before they head out. Thanks for the pizzas, Red, you’re the best!"

Artemis sent him a stern look with her hand on her waist. "Don't thank me. I knew you were gonna forget to do the groceries. You always do."

"Which is exactly why I told you, you should do it!"

Artemis glared at Jason, shutting him up really quickly.

Bizarro didn't notice or care. He opened the first cardboard lid, revealing a delicious Pepperoni pizza. He turned to the teens, waving for them to come closer, "Not come! Pizza not good!"

Emiko hesitated. Strangely, Red Hood, Bizarro, and Artemis were all happily taking their first slices, so she shrugged, wondering why Bizarro spoke funny. She felt a little awkward standing there, she should probably get back to the tower since it was getting late. Plus, it didn’t make sense for her to be there.

Damian looked over the pizzas, scrunching his nose as he did so.

Jason rolled his eyes. "What now?"

"It's not vegan."

Was the kid serious?

"Oh, my God, Damian, just eat the fucking pizza!" Jason spoke with his mouth full.

Damian was about to yell back at him when a door was closed right behind them. A tall, red-headed, muscly man stormed at them, clearly upset. 

"Will you guys keep it down?" Roy Harper loudly whispered, angry. "I just put Lian back to sleep. Again." Roy glared at everyone, but he jolted after seeing that Ollie's little sister was there. "Emi?"

Emiko was equally surprised, her body stunned. "Roy? What are you doing here?"

"Well, I kinda live here... For now." Roy responded, awkwardly.

That didn't make any sense to Emiko. She took out her mask, there was no point in keeping her identity safe any longer. "What happened to your apartment?"

Roy ran his fingers through his hair, not sure where he should start. "Well... We had a little incident at my old apartment..."

Emiko tilted her head to the side, looking disappointed. "Ah, don't tell me it was Cheshire again--"

Everyone in the room, except for Damian and Emiko, nodded.

"Yep," Roy replied, "She had to bring her messy life back to ours, so the whole place got destroyed by a bunch of assassins who came after her."

"Told you to stop giving her any ideas..." Jason started, pissing off Roy even more.

"She's the mother of my daughter, dude!"

"Yeah, but do you really need to flirt with your ex?" Artemis asked, clearly taking Jason's side. 

Roy waved his hand in the air, frustrated. "Ugh, whatever. Anyway, my place got trashed, so I reached out to some people. Dick offered me to stay at his place, but not gonna lie, his apartment kinda sucks and his AC is still broken--"

Damian muttered under his breath. "Goodness, Grayson, you're so hopeless."

"--Wally is married and all, so I didn't want to bug them..." Roy continued.

"And you didn't want to stay with Ollie either?" Emiko asked with a smirk, amused for already knowing the answer. 

"Hell, no! I much rather bother little Jaybird instead!" Roy teased, attempting to ruffle his friend’s hair, but Jason moved his arm out of the way. 

"As always, I'm the last resort for help." Jason mocked.

"Dude, you have two roommates and I have a daughter!"

"Yeah, but who got you an autograph from Witchfire, huh?" 

Roy's smile turned into a frown. "Oh, no, don't get me started on that. She signed your helmet, dude! Your fucking helmet!"

"Them not fight again..." Bizarro looked down, extremely sad. 

"What's wrong with my helmet? It's badass!" Jason continued, ignoring the rest of them.

"Yeah, and what am I supposed to do with it? Wear it? Hang it on my wall?"

"Why not?" 

It was Artemis' turn to roll her eyes as she grabbed another slice. "Here we go again." Artemis ate her bite and then noticed Emiko's look of confusion. "Roy is a big fan of Witchfire, and Jason got to meet her in person, so he was obviously super jealous. To make things worse, Jason thought it would be a great idea to show us pictures of Witchfire kissing him on the cheek; It was a mess. Roy gave Jason the silent treatment for a week. A week!" She repeated, "These two are insufferable."

"And she fucking kissed you!" Roy raised his voice, their repetitive argument kept getting louder.

"It was on the cheek, chill! She was just teasing you!"

Artemis shot a look at Jason, indicating him to stop already, and Jason considered ignoring her, but a wave of regret hit him once the door from behind opened.

"Daddy?" A cute little toddler, Lian, stood by her bedroom door as she slowly rubbed her eyes, clearly exhausted. 

"Ah, shit," Roy muttered to himself before rushing to his daughter, "Hey, sweetheart, I'm sorry I was being so loud. It's time to sleep now, okay?"

Roy guided his little girl back to their room and closed the door. There was an awkward silence for a moment, and Jason was certain that he wasn't the only one who felt bad for being obnoxiously loud. It was hard when there were so many people in the house, they were usually all obnoxious all the time, which was fun. But poor Lian, she was so young and she really needed to rest, especially when she kept waking up from nightmares because of what happened with Cheshire. It was really dark, and come to think of it, Damian and Emiko should be in bed, like Lian, not talking to a bunch of adults in the kitchen, staying up late. Jason looked at the clock from the microwave and his eyes widened;

It was 1 o’clock in the morning.

Shit.

Did Bruce even know that Damian was with him this whole time? And double shit, Damian still hadn't touched a single. Fucking. Pizza. The kid was probably starving, why did he have to be so damn picky?

"Damian, does Alfred know you're here?" Jason couldn't hide the concern in his voice. 

Damian looked to the side before facing back at him. "Uh, not really." The kid reached for his phone and frowned. "Oh. My messages were muted."

The anticipation was killing him, so Jason snatched his brother's phone from his hands, "Gimme that."

30 missed calls from the family. 30. And a shit ton of messages from Bruce, Dick, and Alfred. Yep, they were going to kill Jason. To top it all off, Jason was going to be forced to tell Bruce about their little brotherly secret case that they had been keeping from everyone, which meant that Bruce was going to get all pissy with him, lecturing on how irresponsible it was for Jason to drag his son into this mess as if he wasn't a giant hypocrite for allowing minors to fight crime with him every night. Well, fuck Bruce. 

"Dammit, Damian, you can't just disappear on everyone! Do you not know how paranoid your dad has been since you died?"

Emiko turned to Damian, astounded. "You died?"

Damian ignored her, "I am well aware of that, which is why I can't stand him! He won't leave me alone!"

Jason rubbed his eyes, trying to breathe so he could remain calm. But Goddammit. He was in a good place with Bruce, he didn't need to get yelled at and scolded again for fucking everything up. It was bad enough that he was practically the reason the kid died two years ago at the hands of Heretic. Telling Damian to defuse bombs instead of being there by his side, what an idiot he was. And he even got Talia killed too, by encouraging her to go find her son. 

God, he sucked at this.

Jason wasn't sure how obvious his body language was with all the tension he was feeling inside, but Artemis seemed to catch on because she came closer to him, gently placing her hands on his shoulders.

"Jace, calm down. Just call the butler, he'll understand." 

Jason shook his head. What was he supposed to say? Hey, Alfred, sorry, I dragged Damian into a creepy ass haunted house on a case I specifically told him to keep it a secret from everyone because all I wanted was to have Bruce and the rest of the family mind their own business for once. 

Yeah. Like that would work.

Instead of answering, he just glared at the young archer. "And how about you, Speedy? What am I supposed to tell everyone?"

“It’s Red Arrow!” Emiko rolled her eyes like the annoying little teenager she was. "And relax, Kory thinks I'm staying at Oliver's. Besides, I stole Cyborg's Boom Tube watch that connects to the Tower. I can get back right now without setting any alarms and just tell them I decided to come back late at night, which is not a lie." Everyone stared at her in disbelief. "What? I've snuck out before."

Damian raised his eyebrow. "You have?"

"Yeah," Emiko answered, simply. "Do you want me to tell Kory you're with me?"

Jason shook his head, this was all wrong. At least he didn't need to worry about the girl. "Damian, you need to call your dad and go home now." 

"I don't want to talk to Father."

"I don't care, Damian!"

Artemis shushed them, nodding her head to the door where Lian was sleeping. "Jay, if you can't keep it down, you're gonna have to deal with this outside."

Jason grunted and grabbed Robin by his cape, dragging him out the door while the kid struggled. As soon as they were outside, Jason glared at his brother, not knowing what to think. It was almost hard taking Damian seriously with that silly old Domino mask of his, it desperately needed an upgrade... But wait a second. Damian did have a new mask, he was gifted one on his birthday. And his mask had a GPS tracker, he remembered that, which meant that Bruce would already know that Damian was staying at his place, but why didn't anyone call him, then?

"Damian?" Jason called with a stern voice as if he was talking to a little kid who got in trouble, which, in a way, he was.

"Yes?"

“Is that your old mask?”

”Yeah, why?”

Jason pinched the bridge of his nose. Ok, breathe. “And where did you leave your new mask? The one you got on your birthday?”

”At the Tower.”

That was it, Jason was going to lose it. “What the hell, Damian? Why did you do that?”

Damian stomped the floor, clenching his fists as he did every time he threw his little tantrums. "You know exactly why, Todd! So we wouldn't be tracked! Father is already on my ass about everything, I won't give him the satisfaction to know where I am when we're trying to find the Shadow!"

Jason put his hands on his head, frustrated. "Dammit." He kicked the floor and faced the opposite direction. He needed to think. They were fucked. After thinking to himself, he shook his head again and turned to the little assassin child. "That's it, we're gonna have to tell Bruce."

"No!" The kid pleaded. "We're so close! You also never told me how you found the lead today at the farmhouse."

The older brother sighed. "It was an insane coincidence, actually. There was this lady who went missing, and I found the girl and arrested the kidnapper. The sick fuck had the poor woman hidden in his basement, and it wasn't too far from the farm. I got the scumbag arrested, then saw the house farm, and thought it looked intriguing. I went inside and sure enough, there was that big black magic star sign on the floor. Before you guys came, I took some of the stuff I found to see if I can search for any fingerprints. The Shadow left an empty bottle of Abramelin oil in the kitchen, which means he either did it on purpose, or he's just careless."

Damian looked reflective for a moment. "Hm. Interesting."

"It doesn't matter anymore, kid. The dude wants to unleash a freaking devil, this is not in our alley anymore. Let the big guys figure it out."

"No way, Todd! You found the casebook belonging to Witchfire, I got the dark magic book, this is our mystery to solve! No one else's!"

Jason sighed. Damian was almost pouting, which was kind of cute. "What do you suggest then, demon spawn? We got ourselves into this mess, we gotta fix it now. What are we telling Bruce? Alfred and Goldie are worried too."

The kid stared at the distance for a while, his brain at a million places, until an idea came up. "I got it." He pulled out his phone and started to type something. 

Jason perked an eyebrow and looked over to see what his little demon brother was up to. He squinted his eyes to see a little better and then he saw what was on the message:

Apologies, Pennyworth. I went on patrol and lost track of time. I'm coming home now.

"What are you telling them?"

Damian smirked. "I'll tell them this has to do with the Teen Titans. An evil genie might be attacking us soon, anyways, I don't care if they know."

Jason wasn't convinced by that lame excuse. "So you're just gonna say you've been searching for this evil genie, on your own, late at night? You're gonna be grounded for a year."

The boy shrugged. "I'll be fine. I won't get you in trouble, Todd, don't worry."

"That's not what I'm concerned about--" Before Jason could finish, Damian was already walking to his motorcycle, taking the spell book out of the saddlebag.

He handed it to Jason. "Here, you should take it. Father will confiscate my things and I don't want him to see the book. Keep it safe." 

Without any words, Damian left, just like that.

The kid was fucking nuts. 

Chapter Text

Todd wasn't lying when he said Damian would be grounded for a year; He would be lucky if he wasn't grounded for a lifetime. Father was furious. Grayson was at the manor also, worried senseless and feeling completely heartbroken and betrayed for not being trusted with the truth. Little did they know that the search for Elias was all a lie, but Damian wasn't about to tell them about Shadow. He just had to sit there and deal with all the lectures. 

"What were you thinking?"

"I told you we would all train to fight Elias when he comes! Why did you go looking for him by yourself? We're a team!"

"I hardly set a curfew for you, yet you persist in refusing to tell me where you are! Are you trying to get yourself killed?"

"You could've at least said something, Dami! I would've helped you, we would've been there for you!"

The young vigilante was well aware that he was going to be in huge trouble, he just didn't know how bad it would be at home. Father already had a temper, and he was certainly losing it today, and Grayson was a mess. The consequences of his actions were established quite clearly, so it wasn't like Damian had much to argue. The best thing to do was to simply listen to those two and allow Father to let it out on him. 

None of what they said bothered him, truthfully, although some of Father's words did sting a little, but they were nothing compared to the look of disappointment from Pennyworth. The shame for what Damian did was written all over the butler's face, the man who was more of a grandfather to him, the one who stood by Damian in times when he needed the most. It was soul-crushing. Damian had honestly forgotten about their deal to have his new mask with him at all times. He had made one promise to Pennyworth, one, and Damian ruined it all. 

Again. 

Father was still shouting, but his voice was muffled in Damian's head, his thoughts were more focused on how Pennyworth kept avoiding meeting him in the eyes without exchanging a word. What would Damian give for Pennyworth to lash out like his father, anything but that agonizing silence. The floor suddenly looked more interesting to look at, after all. 

"You’re grounded, Damian. No more Robin, no Teen Titans, patrols, and forget the headquarters with Superboy."

Damian hadn’t said a word since he arrived at the cave. He sighed and asked one last question, defeated, "For how long?"

"Indefinitely," Father answered, coldly. His cowl was pulled back, so Damian could see his face, but the way the man spoke was not in his usual fatherly self. No, his firm voice was the one he used in the field. Damian felt quite small, like a rookie criminal cornered by the Dark Knight in a dead-end alley. 

The adolescent could easily see the anger in Father's intimidating eyes, the pain from Grayson, and Pennyworth's loss of hope for him. His face felt warm and the queasiness from his stomach wouldn’t go away. Could he be dismissed to his room already? Damian couldn’t stand being in the cave any longer, he needed to leave. Breaking Pennyworth’s trust was bad enough, now he would never be able to undo the damage he caused. If only he had thought of something smarter to say without betraying Pennyworth like that… Grayson would be fine, that bubbly fool was far too clingy to not forgive his little brother seconds later, Father was, well, Father, he was never satisfied with Damian anyway, but Pennyworth… Damian was probably never going to earn the man's trust again. 

After another horribly long moment listening to Father, Damian was finally excused to go to his room. Grayson had to go back to Blüdhaven, despite how late it was because he still had work in the morning, and Pennyworth didn't even say goodnight like he usually did. Ouch. Damian quickly ran to his room, unsure if he could handle any more shame. 

***

Silence permeated the breakfast table in the coming days. Pennyworth was back to his usual self in a matter of a day and his good mood remained the same throughout the week, a sentiment that Damian did not share. The manor was far too quiet and lonely with all his siblings gone, and not even Father had time to sit down to have breakfast, with his work getting busier than ever. There were no obnoxious banters about Drake’s random conspiracy theories and his exaggerated need for coffee so early in the morning, no irritating cheerfulness coming from Grayson, nor the relentless sarcasm from Todd, purposefully teasing everyone to make them all mad. No, this time the spacious mansion was filled with emptiness, quite fitting to how Damian had been feeling. 

School was already horrid, but somehow it kept worsening as the days went by. Damian was highly disliked by everyone and, apparently, all his peers hated when he reminded the teachers of the homework that they assigned the previous day. Damian was simply doing everyone a favor, it wasn't his fault that his brainless teachers had a terrible memory and that his classmates lacked preparation. The students around him kept calling him names, accusing him of being a snobbish rich kid and a teacher's pet, but none of their poor attempts to offend him worked; He wasn't about to let little children's comments affect him, he had better things to worry about, such as a mysterious being trying to unleash a Devil from Hell, for example. 

Not having anything to look forward to in a day sucked. It didn't help that Jon was now actively going to the tower every day after school to train with the Titans, all because he was finishing his homework on time and doing good at school, and that Emiko was being a pain to him, ignoring his texts just because he left her at Todd's house without saying goodbye, which made no sense. Why would Emiko be upset over that? Girls were strange. Speaking of girls, Skylar was beyond annoying with her insistent need to sit next to him every Art class, making him lose focus on his drawings as she talked his ear off. She reminded him of Grayson, in a way, so Damian decided to just tolerate her and pretend that he was listening.

It had barely been a week since he was grounded, and this whole normalcy was driving him nuts. There couldn't have been a worse punishment; To be stripped away from one of the few things that filled his life with purpose: being Robin, a vigilante, a hero. Not even the Book of the Soul's Dusk was in his possession anymore to occupy his thoughts with something relevant. He could've been out there making a difference and saving people's lives, but no, he had to go to school and then home like a nice little simpleton. The days were slow and they consisted of school, homework, exercise, reading books in the study room, drawing, and playing violin in his room. It'd be nice if Mother could show up again and release him from this torment.

The only redeeming parts of his torturous days lately were lunch breaks with Jon and Colin, but even that was getting old. Those two behaved like children, chatting excitedly about the dumbest of things, such as stupid cartoons that they were watching and lame inside jokes about movie quotes. Damian was boringly scrolling through his phone while his friends talked, but thankfully, Emiko finally messaged him back. She was informing him that not much had happened that week, they were mostly just training, which matched the intel provided by Jon. Djinn spent most of her free time meditating and conjuring powerful spells to remain hidden, Reyes and Allen were doing their thing (probably acting like fools), and Grayson and Koriand'r were being stricter with their training practices. Damian wasn't missing out on much, but still, all this uneventfulness was starting to get unsettling. 

There was something, however, that was slightly intriguing; Emiko messaged that Starfire was displaying some odd behavior the past few days, getting tired easily and taking frequent breaks during training, which wasn’t her. Damian was looking down at his phone, thinking of what he should reply to the girl when a notification came up on his newspaper app about drug users attacking police officers at Jump City Bay, and how the offenders got away after resisting bullets and tasers, even though none of them were metahumans. No doubt this would turn into a Titans' mission, it was their territory after all, and Damian was about to ask Emiko about the event, but he decided to talk to Jon instead once he saw Colin getting up from the bench to go get his food in the cafeteria.

"Hey, Jon, did you see what happened in Jump City?"  

The younger boy perked up in interest, whispering loudly, "Ooh, yeah, the drug addicts attacking the cops, right? So crazy! Bart was telling me all about it, luckily Dick and Kory were able to find what drug the criminals were using and they traced it to the person in charge of distributing the psychedelic drugs. He's a pharmacist, I forget his name..."

Damian lowered his brows in irritation. How could Allen keep Jon, of all people, informed while he was kept in the dark? And why didn't Emiko bother to tell him about it either? He gets benched one time and now no one seems to involve him in anything??

"Allen told you this?"

"Yeah, why wouldn’t he? I’m a Titan too, you know.” Jon said as he took a large bite of his food, chewing with his mouth open. "What?" 

Damian looked away, displeased, resting his chin on his hand. "Tt. Nothing. So you're all going after the pharmacist to get him arrested, I suppose?"

"I'm not going, but yes, the Titans are coming for him, and the pharmacist has no clue! He's gonna be caught right at work in broad daylight!"

Damian frowned, confused, "Why aren't you going?"

Jon dropped his shoulders, saddened, "I have a test tomorrow, sadly. Gotta study.” 

"You're going to miss a mission on purpose? Jon, it's just a test! I'd kill to trade spots with you!"

"And here I thought your killing days were over, haha!" Jon started to tease, but he quickly stopped after being glared at. Jon wondered for a second if he would be Damian’s first victim if his friend went back to assassinating again. 

Damian crossed his arms, angry. "Tt. Whatever." He paused for a moment, his mind circling back to the last thing that Emiko had texted. "Emiko mentioned that Starfire has been acting strange lately. Have you noticed anything?"

"Hm..." Jon looked to the side, deep in thought, but he then shrugged, going back to his food. "I don't know. She seems fine to me."

Damian shot his friend a tired look; He should've expected less from the kid, Jon wasn't the observant type. "Seriously? Nothing at all?"

Jon looked up to the side, trying to think harder, "Well, I guess I didn't know Starfire ate so much."

"What?"

"Yeah, she's been taking lots of snack breaks during training, which I don't mind, of course, I love snacks! She puts mustard on everything too. I guess that's weird."

The green-eyed boy sighed, upset. "You suck at this."

"Suck at what? There's nothing wrong with Kory!" 

Damian opened his mouth to argue but Colin was already back, ending their conversation.

**** 

Amongst the irritation that persisted to follow him throughout the week, there were two beings who pissed Damian off to no end; Their names were Darryl Fields and Tony Evans, the biggest idiotic morons in that entire school. Damian couldn't stand them. Once he understood the sports' rules, explained by Colin, Damian highly succeeded in P.E., to no surprise, but Fields and Evans didn't seem to like that very much. They would always eye him with hatred and envy, much to Damian's and Colin's amusement. The class was almost over and the P.E. coach had everyone play a sport of their choice, so Fields picked soccer. At this point, Damian already knew how to play it, and he was excelling in the field. He was the captain this time, with Colin on his team, and they were winning against those buffoons' team. 

A whistle was blown, pausing the game. "Hey, class, I need to go grab something in the locker but keep playing. Don't stop on my account." The coach warned, heading away from the outdoor soccer field to go to the locker room. 

Everyone kept playing normally but as soon as the coach was out of sight, Evans purposefully kicked the soccer ball right at Colin's stomach, causing the redhead to bend over and dry heave. 

"Colin!" Damian ran to his friend's side, concerned. 

Colin struggled to breathe for a while, with his diaphragm probably still spasming, but he recovered after a few moments. 

Damian was about to yell at that damned imbecile for hurting his friend, but Colin beat him to it; "Hey! You did that on purpose!"

Fields and Evans laughed, high-fiving each other. Evans simply mocked, "Cry me a river, crack baby!"

Colin's face was getting red, flooded with anger, "What did you just call me?"

Fields, with all his muscle-built body, stepped up, sizing Colin up, "You heard him, Orphan."

"What the hell is going on here?" The coach yelled, rushing by Evans' side to inspect the teenager's wrist. 

Damian turned to the coach, eyes widened.

Fields didn't miss the opportunity to cry out to the teacher, "Coach Harris, Damian broke Tony’s wrist!"  

Evans' group of friends came running to the coach as well, all telling him at the same time about what had happened with distress in their voices. Damian was screwed, there was no way around it. He took a few steps back, wishing he could hide or just run away somewhere.

Colin, seeing the whole thing, stood up for him and spoke up to the teacher, "But Damian did it in self-defense! Evans was going to punch him!"

Coach Harris eyed the redhead, pitying him, "Colin, I know you're friends with Damian, you don't need to defend him. It's clear what happened here, I saw it with my own eyes."

Damian was breathing heavier, psyching himself for the punishment that was about to come. Everyone in the class looked at him as if he was some sort of a monster. Damian could feel his face hot and his chest tightened as his heart kept pounding faster than normal. His father was going to kill him, no, disown him. He would never earn Father's approval and would forever be seen as an unredeemable demon, raised from birth to be a killing machine. It was no wonder his soul had gone to Hell when he died, he was never going to change.  

***

Meanwhile, the Teen Titans arrived at the compounding lab pharmacy where the fraudulent pharmacist, Zaman Smith, worked. Thanks to Djinn's illusion enchantment, they all looked like normal employees, wearing their white lab coats and ID badges pinned to their scrubs, which facilitated their entrance without setting off the alarms. The only thing they needed to be careful was to not be caught by anyone since they were impersonating actual people who worked there. Djinn was shown pictures prior to making the enchantment and she made Nightwing look like the pharmacy supervisor, Kory the operation manager, and the rest of them had the appearance of pharmacy techs. Emiko wasn't fond of what she saw in her reflection; Her hair was platinum blonde, tied in a tight bun, and she had a long face with a big forehead. She wondered if Djinn chose that weird-looking employee for her to impersonate on purpose.

The team wandered around the halls for a bit until they arrived at one of the main compounding rooms where Zaman worked. Starfire advised to not have everyone enter the room all at once, it would raise too much attention. Instead, Nightwing offered to go inside on his own, while everyone else waited outside by the doors. 

"Try to look busy, everyone," Starfire instructed.

There were a couple of compound bottles left on a metal desk next to Emiko, so she picked them up and placed them on a shelf to pretend that was part of her job. Jaime found a piece of paper on another shelf, and he pretended to be counting inventory, while Djinn discreetly walked around the halls. The only one who was not contributing was Bart, as usual. The kid, who now had the appearance of a bald, dark-skinned man, kept anxiously walking back and forth right in front of the compounding lab room.

"Bart," Jaime loudly whispered. He looked a little funny with his middle-aged nerdy look with those big glasses of his, "Stop pacing!"

Bart finally stopped, alarmed. "Oops, sorry! You know, grandpa Barry also paces when he's nervous, must run in the family." Bart then chuckled. "Ha, run! See what I did there? 

Starfire turned to the boys, meaning, men, upset. Her alien features were no longer visible. Instead, she had very straight dark hair, was short in stature, and looked unhealthily skinny. Her pointy cheekbones were also a little distracting to the eye. "Shh. Keep it down!"

"Ok," The bald man, Bart, muttered, stepping away from the closed doors. The speedster, however, couldn't stay still; He put his hands in his pockets and started to rock his body back and forth on his heels while humming a song. 

Emiko shot an angry glare at Bart. "Shh!"

The dark-skinned man with glasses stopped again, but it didn't take long for him to let out a heavy sigh. "When is Dick gonna be done?" 

The archer, who now looked like an adult blonde woman, placed her hand on her long forehead, shaking her head in disapproval. "Geez, Bart, it's barely been a minute!" 

"You realize that a minute in speed world is like, two hours, right?" It was strange hearing Bart's words coming from an old man's mouth.

Djinn stopped walking and turned to the group. "That sounds horrible."

Th nerdy-looking employee, meaning Jaime, walked up to the other man to flick him in the forehead, "Then stop using your speed thinking, dummy!"

Emiko noticed that Kory was about to say something to get everyone quiet but her eyes widened as she spotted a white-haired man walking down the hall in the opposite direction. It was the pharmacy manager, the same man that Dick was impersonating. 

"The supervisor is here!" Starfire alerted, "Quick, we need to make sure he doesn't see Dick. Jaime, can you go there and distract him?" 

Jaime nodded but Bart jumped, excited, "Ooh, can I go with him? I'm excellent at being a distraction!" 

Starfire sighed, "Fine, just try to be discreet. We don't want any attention to ourselves."

"Got it!"

The two middle-aged men rushed to go talk to the real manager. They took the older man somewhere else, which was perfect timing since shortly after that, Dick opened the door. 

"A lady there told me Zaman is taking his 10-minute break." The gray-haired man was saying, "We should check the break room and--" Dick turned his head side to side, confused, "Where did Impulse and Beetle go?"

"They're distracting the supervisor, they took him that way." Starfire pointed to the other side of the hall, far from them. "We were lucky, you were almost caught."

Dicked brushed his hair with his fingers. "Oh, shoot! Ok, let's hurry up, then. Hopefully, Zaman hasn't left work yet, he's not supposed to clock out until 6:00 pm."

The awfully skinny dark-haired woman, who was Starfire, nodded. "Alright. Djinn and Emiko, go check the restrooms. Dick and I are going to the break room."

Djinn concurred but Emiko glanced at the compounding room and thought of a better idea. "Nightwing, did you check Zaman's computer?"

Dick frowned. "No, why?"

"He could've left evidence of his illegal drug distributions. I brought a pen drive with me, I can go in and check his computer history, that way we have something to show to the cops once we have him arrested."

"Good thinking, Emi," Dick said while he looked around the room to make sure no one could hear them. "Alright, Djinn, will you be ok being on your own?"

"Of course." The genie, who had the looks of an average older woman, agreed. 

"Good, let's go, then," Dick told the group. 

Everyone split up and Emiko entered the compounding room. The room had an incredibly strong smell, what were the pharmacists doing in there? There were compounded bottles and chemicals everywhere, as well as multiple plastic containers with capsules inside. There were also several computers for data entry, and Emiko took advantage of the fact that most of the technicians were busy compounding all the capsules, so she went to one of the computers without looking suspicious. Years being raised by Simon Lacroix taught Emiko a thing or two about hacking, so it didn't take her long to find the purchases and distributions sent from the lab through Zaman's account. She found exactly what she was looking for and there was a whole list of drugs that were sold with no prescriptions and were not FDA-approved either. 

The blonde woman discreetly plugged the pen drive into the computer and started dragging the Excel files. Among all the drugs that were sold illegally, there was a specific herb that caught her attention; Pink Nightshades. Wasn't that one of the ingredients that Red Hood mentioned about Shadow's spell? Damian needed to see this. Emiko couldn't risk logging into her email to send the files to Damian, so that would have to wait. Emiko kept attaching the files to the pen drive and she also made sure to include a list of the clients whose drugs were sold to.

She was almost done when someone walked up to her from behind.

"Hey--"

Emiko jumped, startled. With her heart racing, she minimized the screens and turned around. Thankfully, it was just the skinny, bony-cheeked brunette, but now she wasn't sure if she was talking to Starfire or the actual Operations Manager. 

"Um, hello." Emiko straightened up, trying to act more professionally.

"Emiko, it's me," Starfire whispered. "We're all done, we caught Zaman."

Emiko lit up. "You did?!" She turned back to her computer in a rush, "Great, I'm almost done."

A visibly upset co-worker started storming toward Emiko, most likely with the intention to lecture the blonde for spending too much time on the computer instead of helping the team with all the compounding, but the employee gasped once she saw the manager standing in front of her.

"Oh, good afternoon, Marisol." The woman stepped back, timidly. Apparently, the person Starfire was impersonating was very intimidating at work.

Starfire read the woman's ID badge before directing herself to her, playing the part. "Hello, Miss Grant. Anything I can do for you?" 

"Uh, no, nothing, I just needed a little help, but, um, it's okay, I got it!"

The woman excused herself and left, right in time for Emiko to be done transferring the files to the pen drive.

"All done!" Emiko said. She turned back to Starfire and couldn't help but notice how insanely pale Starfire was looking. Kory kept pressing her arms against her stomach while closing her eyes tightly. Was she going to throw up? "Kory? Are you okay?" Emiko whispered.

The skinny woman, who already looked sick in nature, was somehow able to look even worse. Starfire placed her hand to cover her mouth and her eyes were now tearing up. Yep, Starfire was definitely going to throw up. 

"Let's get you out of here," The blonde advised, rushing Kory out of the lab.

They left the compounding pharmacy site and headed out to the parking lot. From a distance, Emiko could see Nightwing and the others, who were now back to their normal selves. They were waiting for the cops to arrive as the criminal was sound asleep by Dick's feet; Probably courtesy of Djinn's sleeping spell to get the job done as quietly and fast as possible. The illusion enchantment was wearing off and now both Emiko and Starfire looked like themselves again. Emiko was relieved to feel her gloved hands and short dark hair touching her shoulders. She turned to Kory, content, but her smile vanished once she saw that Kory was still sick. 

"Kory?"

"Oh, my gosh, that smell, I--" Starfire couldn't hold it in any longer; She ran to a paved area, next to a small bush, and threw up. 

"Starfire!"

Emiko began rubbing soothing circles on Kory's back as she heaved. None of the boys seemed to notice since they were a little further away from them. Once Starfire finished vomiting, she composed herself, straightening up.

Emiko, still concerned about what happened, asked, "Are you sick?" 

"Hm? Oh, no, I'm fine, don't worry about me, Emi, it was just that smell--"

Red Arrow crossed her arms, defiantly. "You haven't been acting like yourself, lately. Is there something I should know?"

Starfire looked confused. "What do you mean?" 

"Kory, there's obviously something you're not telling us. Your constant hunger? The fatigue? And now you're sensitive to smells?"

"Where are you going with this, Emiko?"

From the puzzled look on Kory's face, Emiko could tell that her leader was truly clueless. The young archer looked across the parking lot and spotted a drug store; perfect for what she needed at the moment.

****

Having the fraudulent pharmacist arrested, and her pen drive temporarily lent to the police officers, Emiko proceeded to wait for the perfect time to confront Kory. The Titans spent a good amount of time chit-chatting in the living room, but once Kory retreated to her room, Emiko followed her. After a quick knock, Emiko opened her door.

Starfire was sitting on her bed when she saw the archer walking in. "Emi! What can I do for you?"

"Starfire?"

"Yes..?"

"You've been pretty intimate with Nightwing, yes?

Kory blushed. "Um, yes... Why?" Starfire then perked up, excited, "Ooh, are you coming to me about boy problems? Do you have a crush on someone?!! Ooh, is he on the team??"

Emiko was taken aback by that, "What? No!" Her face was warm with redness. Jaime was kind of cute, but God, no, team romances never worked; Work and personal lives should always remain separate. Emiko took a deep breath before speaking up again, "No, I just had, um-- A question for you."

"What is it, Emi?"

"Um... Haven't you noticed anything... Different... In your body?"

Kory tilted her head to the side. "Hm?"

God, this was going to be awkward. "Nothing different about you, um... You know, that time of the month--" Emiko paused. Did Tamaraneans even have periods like Earth girls do? Oh, Lord.

"Emiko, I'm not understanding--"

"Please tell me you and Dick wore protection--!" Emiko blurted out. 

Kory's face was getting red now, "Emiko!"

Since Starfire wouldn't spill the beans, Emiko had to resort to her last card; She pulled from her jeans pocket a small packet with a plastic stick inside.

Starfire got up from her bed, agitated. "What is that?"

Deep breaths, Emiko had to tell herself, deep breaths. "It's a pregnancy test."

Kory widened her bright green eyes, "What?! What makes you think I'm pregnant?!"

Emiko uncomfortably glanced at the door for a hot second, a part of her regretting coming in at all. "Just do it. It's probably negative, right?"

Starfire was handed the packet and she carefully read the box contents, trying to understand what in the world that was. She delicately opened the box and picked up the little pink stick, admiring it in awe. Emiko watched the whole thing, concerned. Was that the first time Kory had seen a pregnancy test?

"You gotta pee on it." 

Starfire turned to the girl, shocked, "I have to pee on a stick? Why?"

Emiko rubbed her forehead, tiredly. "Kory, it's pretty simple, really. Here, I can bring you a cup. You pee in it, then stick the test inside it. If it shows only one line, you're not pregnant. If it shows two lines, then... But you don't have to worry about it because it'll show negative, right? Doesn't hurt to try!"

Kory was still not sure what to do so Emiko turned around and rushed to the kitchen to grab a plastic cup. She came back to the room, handing the cup to the woman. Kory locked herself in the bathroom, then came out when she was done. 

"I left the pregnancy test on the sink, is that okay? Will that contaminate it? No lines were showing, so everything's good, right?"

"No, that's fine, you just have to wait now. I think the instructions say to wait three minutes--" Emiko explained, rereading the label. "Yep, three minutes. So, now we just wait."

The two waited by the bathroom door, standing in silence awkwardly, while Emiko was timing it on her phone. Once the time was up, Emiko announced, "Okay, it's ready. You can go check the result now." 

Kory bit her nails, apprehensively, "I-- I can't do it. You go look for me."

"What, me? No!" Yep, this was a terrible idea, "You have to do it! It's your test, not mine!"

"Together, then."

The girls rushed to the bathroom and Kory immediately took the pregnancy test closer to her so they could both see the results.

Emiko heard a loud gasp.

There were two incredibly dark lines, vibrant as ever. Emiko had heard before how common faint lines were, or even those evaporation lines on fake-positive tests, but those two lines were dark. Excrutiately dark, no questions asked. The girl didn't know what to say, so she just looked at Kory to see her reaction. Kory was shaking, speechless. Kory covered her mouth with one hand as she stared at the stick in disbelief.

"So two lines mean--"

"…You're pregnant."

Kory shook her head. "No. No, it can't be. It's not real. This test is wrong, that's not right."

Emiko was truly afraid of coming down to this. "Do you want to... Test it again?"

"You bought more tests?!"

"You just never know, okay? I bought it today for you!"

Emiko went back to her room to grab her plastic bag with the other tests. Starfire tested three more times, each one of them showing absurdly dark lines insanely fast, in less than 3 minutes even, and the other digital test had the words captioned: Pregnant.

"X'Hal... I can’t believe it. I can’t believe it…" Emiko heard Kory say for the millionth time as tears brimmed her eyes while she stared in complete shock at the plus sign and double lines on the different tests that she took. She was still covering her mouth with her hand, stunned. 

"I'm pregnant??" Kory asked, crying more now. "I'm pregnant--! I'm a mother...! No, I can’t believe it, this isn’t real…"

The awkwardness of it all was killing Emiko and she just wanted to leave. "Um, congratulations?" She dared to say, embarrassed.

Kory suddenly turned to Emiko in panic, “What do I do now?” Starfire gasped, looking up as if she had remembered something, "Oh, no! What will Dick say? What if he leaves me?"

He better not, Emiko thought to herself. 

"I don't know what to do!" Starfire cried out, desperately. She dropped the tests on the floor and buried her face in her hands, sobbing. “I’m not ready, I’m not ready…” She kept repeating, her voice trembling in fear.

Reluctantly, Emiko slowly offered Star a hug to comfort her. She truly did not deal with these types of emotions well, the regret for coming was definitely creeping in. Kory gladly accepted the hug and she continued to sob until the bedroom door was abruptly slammed open, startling the girls.

Dick was standing by the door, extremely worried, "Is everything okay? What happened??" 

"Aand that's my cue!" Emiko didn't think twice about quickly making her exit. "Good luck--!" She said as she rushed past Nightwing on her way out. 

Dick's heart dropped as he witnessed the woman of his dreams breaking down in tears, completely distraught. What could've possibly happened to shake her up so much?

"Kory, honey, what's wrong?" Dick said, rushing to his girl as he sweetly dried her tears with his fingers and brushed her hair off to the side. 

"Oh, Dick," Starfire started to say but she was sobbing again, hiding her face in her hands.

Dick brought Star closer to him, wrapping her in a tight hug. "Babydoll, it's okay. It’s gonna be okay. I'm here."

Kory hung onto her boyfriend as if Dick was her lifeline, crying harder into his chest. 

"Honey, what happened? Why are you crying--" Dick accidentally stepped on something on the floor, so he looked down; It was then that he noticed the plastic sticks scattered on the floor. He bent down to pick them up, but his heart stopped. They were pregnancy tests. Four of them, all positive.

Dick's hand started shaking before he looked up at Kory in complete and utter shock, "You're pregnant?"

Kory simply nodded with a weak smile, her tears still streaming down her face. 

Dick placed his hand on top of his head, completely overwhelmed by the unexpected news. "What— Are you serious? You're really serious?”  

Kory weakly chuckled, nodding again. “Yes, I’m pregnant!”

Dick couldn't wrap his head around it still. “Is this for real? Star— This isn’t a prank?"

Kory pushed Dick in a flirty way, “No, you, silly! I didn't believe it myself, but all four of these tests show the same results..."

Dick was still baffled by the whole thing, he too covered his mouth with his hand, in shock. "Oh, my God... So that's what Brother Blood meant when he said there are two of you, he meant the baby-- But I thought-- Kory, weren't you taking the pill?"

"What pill?" Kory asked, innocently, but with concern in her voice. She couldn't tell if Dick was getting angry or sad, or both. 

"Shit, I forgot you don't know much about those... But it was just one time... God--"

Starfire's vibrant green eyes were filled with more tears than before. She broke down again, but more desperate this time, "So you're not happy?" Kory started to hiccup-cry, "Do you desire to leave me now?" 

Dick widened his eyes in horror at the misunderstanding that he had just caused, “No, that's not it! I just wasn't ready! Kory, honey, I would never leave you!” He pulled her into another hug, holding her close, “You’re the best thing that has ever happened to me.”

They hugged each other in silence, the only sound being Kory’s sobs into Dick’s chest, but they were starting to slow down as she got calmer.

Dick hugged her tighter, “I love you so much, Star,” He then pulled her out of the hug so he could admire her gorgeous face. He couldn’t help but brush her beautiful fiery red hair to the side again, “You’ve always been there for me and you helped me become the man that I am today. There’s no other woman I would rather spend the rest of my life with, pregnant or not. Besides, I've always wanted to be a dad.” He assured with a warm smile. 

That was exactly what Starfire needed to hear because she gave the biggest watery smile, with lightness in her eyes this time. She jumped on him, wrapping her arms around his neck, “Oh, Dick, I love you! I’ll always love you!”

Dick started laughing, tearing up himself, and she swept his girl off her feet as his smile kept widening, "We're having a baby! Can you believe it?!"

It was wonderful to hear Kory's airy laughter again, "I know! You’re going to be a daddy!”

”Wow, I’m a dad-- I’m a dad!” Dick repeated, excitedly.

The couple hugged each other again, allowing their minds to be filled with emotions. They were both joyful, worried, excited, and scared. But worst of all, Dick couldn’t shake off the fear of something happening to the baby. What if Elias attacked them soon? What if Kory got hurt? And being a father? He wasn’t ready for that, he wasn’t equipped for it! Bruce would give him the biggest lecture for being so irresponsible… Dick’s heart raced as he was deeply worried about what was about to come. 

Chapter Text

Bruce was extremely busy with the endless tasks that still needed to be completed for work. A decision was made to merge a couple of domestic divisions but the process was not going as smoothly as it should. A team of executives was failing to do their job and no proper communication was being made, so Bruce had to step in again to put an order to the organization. His days were quite stressful, nothing he wasn't used to, but work was just more hectic than usual. To make things worse, the board of directors wasn't in agreement with their decisions, an added stress that Bruce did not have time to deal with.

He already had so much to worry about; Two-Face's schemes, Scarecrow's recent escape from Arkham, crime rates in Gotham stubbornly rising despite his efforts to make things better, not to mention the things that were happening in his personal life. He didn't have the time nor the patience to figure out what was going on between him and Selina, they had been dating and were getting a lot more serious, too serious, and Bruce wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing. He was used to their open - and complicated - relationship but things started to change the more they spent time together, especially after they were able to rescue Selina's friend, Holly, from a kidnapper. Since then, Catwoman kept making her appearances more frequent, providing company during patrol nearly every night, and his feelings for her were increasing rapidly, but he didn't expect to fall for someone at a time like this. 

He needed to prioritize his kids first, there were so many things that he was falling behind on. When was the last time he made an effort to spend time with each one of them to make sure they were doing well? Alfred kept pestering him to take a break for once and take everyone on a camping trip, which sounded horribly tiresome, but he had plans to do so. After all, his family was the real reason why Bruce did what he did. For so long Bruce obsessed over his crusade to honor the death of his parents that he would often times forget the people who truly mattered: his family. They were the reason why Bruce kept on going, especially at times when he was so close to dying, but he refused to give up so he could be there for them. All he wanted was for all his sons - and daughter - to be happy. Simple as that. Bruce was aware of his failures as a father and he hated how absent he had been. He had plans to change that.

His recent worries centered on Damian's refusal to obey simple orders that were meant for his own safety. He also didn't like how his youngest was acting so quiet around the manor and... Distant. He knew Damian would be deeply upset for being benched, hence the harsh punishment for putting his life at risk, but he had been meaning to talk to him after scolding him. He just hadn't found the time, each seemingly free moment he had to go to his son and explain things more calmly, he was pulled in another direction for work matters, patrol, and even out-of-planet problems with the Justice League. Bruce wanted to talk to Damian, bond with him. Hell, he would love to make time to do something as mundane as watching a movie in the living room or taking his boy to the fair.

Bruce was worried about Tim too, was he sleeping properly? Was he feeling overwhelmed with the extra college classes he had been taking on top of his internships? Would Tim take his old job at Wayne Enterprises back once he was done with school? Bruce missed him. And Dick, how was he doing with his new job while also handling the Teen Titans and late-night patrols at Blüdhaven? As for Jason, how long had it been since they did something as simple as eating fast food together, just like old times? Sure, Jason was always at odds with him, and a part of Bruce did not want to know the troubles his adopted son kept getting himself into, but he just wanted to know if Jason was okay. Bruce also needed to check on Cass, and he hoped that Barbara and Steph were doing well also.

Bruce leaned his head back and rubbed his face with both hands, letting out a long and tired sigh. He was exhausted. He couldn't even remember how much time he had slept the night before, but that was the least of his problems. After rubbing his eyes in circles, Bruce shook it off and went back to reviewing the report analysis that Lucius had sent him. He didn't expect anything to happen that would interrupt him until he received a phone call from his secretary.

Absently, Bruce put his office phone on speaker, "Hello."

"Mr. Wayne?" A feminine voice spoke on the other line with apprehension, "There is a call for you--"

"It can wait, Lanie--"

"Um, it's from West-Reeve school, sir."

Bruce raised his eyebrows in shock. What kind of trouble did Damian get into now? 

"This Mrs. Anderson seems to be calling you about your younger son, Damian Wayne?" There was hesitation in the woman's voice, and all Bruce could think of was please don't be a fight, please don't be-- "Something about a fight... Would you like me to transfer?" She quickly added.

Bruce immediately reached for the phone so that it would no longer be on speaker, "Yes, please do, quickly." 

The secretary affirmed and transferred the call. Bruce needed to know what this was all about. What type of fight were they talking about? A typical teenager's discord or was it something more violent? Was someone picking on Damian and he retaliated? Bruce hoped it wasn't with a teacher. He knew his youngest thought everyone at the school was beneath him, and the boy's terribly short fuse whenever someone upset him was concerning.

"Hello, Bruce Wayne speaking," Bruce greeted with his best billionaire playboy voice, "Who do I have the pleasure to speak with?"

"Mr. Wayne!" Spoke a friendly feminine voice on the other line, "I am so sorry to bother you, but your son, Damian, has been called to the principal's office for hurting another student. Principal Helland would like to speak with you in regard to this behavior."

Bruce nodded, clenching his jaw, "Yes... I'll be at the school as soon as possible, thank you." Bruce said as he hung up the call. 

Ignoring the thousands of tasks that still needed to be done, Bruce took his car keys off the desk and rushed out of his office, requesting his secretary on his way out to inform Lucius that he needed to be gone for a bit - 'Family emergency'. His grip tightened on the steering wheel as he started driving, speeding to get to Metropolis as fast as he could. His mind was traveling a million places; Bruce knew something like this was bound to happen sooner or later, his youngest lacked normal social skills and it was still a struggle for him to fight his killer instincts, but he was getting better. Damian was trying so hard, truly, and Bruce couldn't be more proud of his boy for not letting his past define him, something that Bruce himself failed to do. 

Something had to have happened to push his son to the point of hurting someone else. The problem was, how bad was the injury inflicted? Was it something less serious, like a quick punch to the face after being provoked, or was it more... Aggressive? Bruce felt tension coursing through his body with a hinge of guilt creeping in. It was his fault, really. Did he ever bother to ask more questions about how Damian was doing at school instead of reluctantly accepting his son's one-worded answers? Did he even try to understand what Damian was going through? Dick would've been ashamed of him. Bruce kept failing everyone in his family and he hated himself for it. 

****

Damian was sitting quietly in his chair next to a vacant seat right in front of the principal's desk. Next to him, there were two more chairs, where Anthony, stupidly nicknamed Tony, Evans was seated right by his mother. Evans sat there whimpering in pain, like a big pansy, while his mother kept wailing over what happened to her 'poor son', hovering over him and rubbing his arm incessantly while she gently pressed the ice pack on her son's wrist. Damian preferred to study the ground so he could avoid the uncomfortable glares he kept getting from everyone in the room. Evans' mother was quite agitated, tapping her foot on the floor as she angrily stared at the clock on the wall. 

"Okay, it’s pretty clear that Bruce Wayne will not be showing up today. Can we get this going already? My son needs a hospital." Evans' mother, Margaret, complained, impatiently.

Dark sunglasses were resting on top of that dumb woman's big head, although Damian wasn't sure if her head was actually that big or if the atrocious haircut was the problem. Margaret had blonde hair with chunky highlights and a spiky cut at the back of her hair, and her side-swept bangs were cut at a crooked angle. She looked and sounded downright stupid, just like her son, and she even made a point of showing off her Coach purse as she left it right on the chair that Father was supposed to sit on. Anthony kept whining like a big baby, it was just a little fracture, no big deal. He was already given pain meds and his wrist was not all that bad, he was lucky Damian didn't give him a compound fracture instead.

Principal Helland, whose last name was quite fitting to this institution, also looked ridiculous with her puffy hairspray dark hair, and based on her face alone, she also looked obnoxious, but at least she had the decency to remain professional and not jump to any conclusions when they were brought to her office, so Damian supposed that was decent of her.  

"Mrs. Anderson already messaged me that Bruce Wayne is on his way, Margie." The principal calmly explained, ignoring Margaret's annoying remarks, "He was called the moment the incident happened. Keep in mind that he has to drive all the way from Gotham City just to get here." 

Margaret gave a little throat-clearing sound ("Humpf") as she puffed up her chest from her chair and crossed her arms in discontent. She kept her complaints to herself for a while, but 15 minutes later, she opened her mouth again, scoffing, "Pff. Of course Wayne is not here yet, must be too busy to get a hold of his own son. It's no wonder a delinquent like him" Margie made sure to gesture her head at Damian in disgust, "Acts the way he does, there are no parents raising him--!"

The doorknob turned and Bruce Wayne walked in, clearly having heard the whole thing from the other side of the room. Margie's mouth went shut, eyes widened and posture altered from being caught bad-mouthing one of the most powerful men in Gotham. Meanwhile, Damian could feel his heart stopping as if time had frozen. A part of him secretly wished that Father would indeed be too busy to come so that he wouldn't have to face the humiliation. 

"Hi," Father's voice was friendly, yet firm, "Sorry, I'm late." 

Margie clumsily took her purse out of Bruce's chair so he could sit by his son. Damian was staring at the ground more intensely now, his face burning like fire. His P.E. hoodie suddenly felt too tight around his neck and it was making him way too hot, but Damian didn't dare to move.

Bruce took a good reading of the whole room, carefully studying everyone's micro-expressions as he sat down. He observed the way his youngest's head was lowered, his demeanor looking small and ashamed. Bruce was able to make eye contact with his son when he came in but Damian immediately looked away. Guilty. His stomach dropped when he saw the other student pressing an ice pack on his alarmingly swollen wrist, pain written all over the brunet's face as he kept wincing, his eyes squeezed and his nose wrinkled. Bruce squinted his eyes to ensure that what he was seeing was correct and it looked like the kid had a fractured bone. What had Damian done? The student's mom, from the way she carried herself, was the entitled, small-minded type. Great. Just what Bruce needed after his son literally fractured a kid's wrist.

Thankfully, Bruce had already met the principal before, and she was quite fond of all the funding that Bruce had provided to the school, so she was always overbearingly nice to him, even though he was well aware that the woman only reserved that exaggerated niceness to people of interest, but hopefully that earned him enough points to help on his son's case today.

“Mr. Wayne, I’m glad you were able to make it! I know you had to endure such a far commute, thank you so much for coming." Principal Helland greeted him with warmth.

"Of course, Principal Helland--" The loud sound of a chair swerving closer to the principal's desk briefly interrupted him. Bruce turned his head, and it was just the mom, already making her frustration known, "--I got here as soon as I could. I was told that my son injured a student, is that right?" Bruce attempted to eye his youngest, who looked too small on that adult office chair, but Damian kept looking down, avoiding his gaze. 

"Correct," The principal affirmed, "Damian and Anthony were both called into my office today because your son here fractured Anthony's wrist. Needless to say, violent behaviors are not only prohibited in this school but what your son did today was an actual crime. Before we take the necessary measures, however, I would like to hear both of the boys' accounts of what happened. Let's start with you first, Damian."

Damian sheepishly looked up at his father for the first time as if he was asking permission to speak. Bruce nodded, and Damian turned back to the principal. "Evans was making fun of my friend. He called my friend's dead parents crackheads."

"Were they not?!" Tony Evans spoke up, not helping his own case much. He turned to his mother for approval, "Isn't that what you said, mom, how foster kids' biological parents are a bunch of deadbeat drug addicts?"

Margie's face went bright red from the embarrassment, all eyes on her. She unsubtly elbowed her son's arm, and from the corner of her mouth, she mumbled as if no one could hear her, "Yes, but you can't say that right to their faces, sweetie..."

Principal Helland waved her hand in the air, "Regardless, an insult does not give you permission to commit physical assault, Damian."

"He swung at me first!" Damian blurted out, refusing to be treated like some scumbag. "I acted in self-defense!" Taking a quick second to figure out what else to say, he added, "I wasn't thinking straight, it was an accident! I-- I didn't even know I could do that!" That last part was a lie, but everything else was true. 

Margie Evans gasped, horrified, "Is that true, Tonton?"

The kid blushed at the family nickname. He spoke under his breath, "Mom, stop calling me that..." 

"Just answer the question, Anthony." Said the principal, impatient, trying to get straight to the point. 

Anthony leaned his back against his chair, defeated. "Yeah, it's true..." The kid looked down, upset, but he then sneered as a thought came to his head, "...But only because Damian got all up in my face, threatening to hit me first! If anything, I was the one acting in self-defense!"

Damian got up from his chair, pointing his finger at that major asshole, "Whatever, Evans! That was after you kicked a ball right at Colin's stomach on purpose, and that's not even counting all the other times you taunted him just to feed your pathetically small ego--"

"Damian, that's enough." Bruce spoke sternly, shutting up his son immediately. Father was using his angry Batman voice again. Damian quickly sat down, squeezing his knees with his hands as he went back to staring at the floor, his face still burning. 

The silence didn't stop Anthony from acting like a big moron, however, "Well, maybe your retarded boyfriend should learn how to take a joke!"

Both the principal and Tony's mother gasped in horror at the sound of the 'R' word. Damian stared at both of them, perplexed. What was it with this school and their deal with the word 'retarded'? What would happen to those women if they heard actual curse words, would they both die from a heart attack?

"Tony! You can't use that word, honey, we don't make fun of people with mental disabilities!" Margie lectured, in her poor attempt to appear to be good at parenting. 

"You call dad a retard all the time, mom."

Damian had to resist the urge to snort, and from the corner of his eye, he could glimpse both Father and the principal sharing the same sentiment, but none of them laughed. 

Principal Helland massaged her temples, tiredly. "Okay, I think I heard enough. Damian, I'm gonna have to suspend you for what you did, but consider this a warning. Another reckless action like this and you will be expelled. And Anthony? Try to be more mindful of the people around you, will ya?"

Bruce started to get up from his chair, relieved that this was all over, but of course Margie Evans had to make a big stink out of everything.

She rose from her chair, breaking out in protest, "WHAT? That's it? You’re only going to suspend him? He should be arrested, let alone expelled!" The way she spoke, more like shouted, put Bruce's skin on edge. If only he could do to her what he did to criminals on a daily basis...

"That's enough, Mrs. Evans--" The principal tried to say, but she was interrupted again.

"This is absurd! My son was assaulted!" The blonde shouted. She moved to point at Damian, her long-manicured nails dangling in front of his face in outrage, "Psychopaths like him deserve a special place in juvie! I should sue this school--!"

It was Bruce's turn to say something. There was no way in Hell he would ever allow someone to badmouth his son like that, let alone in his presence. He walked up to the woman, who was significantly smaller in size when standing next to him, and he fiercely glared right at her ugly face, "Accuse my son of being a psychopath again and I will be happy to introduce you to my lawyers for defamation of character, Mrs. Evans. Whether you like it or not, my son is a public figure by association."

Margie opened her mouth but shut it again, at loss for words. She decided to turn her attention back to the principal, as her last resort, "Unbelievable." She shook her head, "Of course you would side with the Waynes, he funds this school. Ridiculous, I tell you, absolutely ridiculous--"

The principal slammed her hands on her desk as she stood up from her chair, fed up with what she was hearing, "I said, enough, Mrs. Evans! We also have a policy against bullying, mind you, I could suspend your son too if I wanted to." She then added, emotionless, "Just take the win, Mrs. Evans."

On second thought, principal Helland wasn't too bad, after all. Damian was starting to like her. 

Margaret's jaw dropped. The woman looked like she was going to have a conniption fit. Before she could say anything else, however, Bruce leaned toward the Principal to shake her hand, charmingly smiling, "Looks like we're done here. Thank you for your time, Principal Helland."

"My pleasure!" The principal lied with her fake smile. 

Seeing how there was no way to make the principal change her mind, Margie glared at everyone in silence, hanging her version of an 'expensive' purse on her shoulder while she guided her son out the door with a big huff. She couldn't help herself but give one last snide remark before leaving, "Let's go, Tony. We need to get you to a hospital."

Bruce placed his hand on his son's shoulder as they left. They walked to the car in silence- doors closing with a dull thud as they seated themselves. Bruce turned the key, the ignition starting with a thrum, and he started to drive in a chilling silence. Even though Father defended Damian, which was a pleasant surprise, now that they were alone, Damian knew that his father was actually furious. Father had an impressive ability to go from charming socialite to downright scary in an instant. Damian noticed how tight his father's grip was on the steering wheel as he drove. 

"Was that your way to get back at me for benching you?" Father broke the silence, which Damian wished he didn't. As uncomfortable as the silence was, it was certainly better than what it was about to come. Father's voice was low and a bit terrifying. 

"What? No! What makes you think that?" Before letting his father answer, Damian continued, offended, "Did you not hear anything I said back there? My friend was being bullied! You taught me to protect the innocent, didn't you?"

"But not to retaliate at school, Damian!" Father shouted, his ire starting to get the best of him. He took a deep breath so he could calm down, "Look, I am not mad at you for standing up to your friend, I am mad that you purposefully chose to fracture that kid's wrist when you know damn well how to immobilize your opponent without breaking anything."

Damian was going to argue but he didn't have anything to say to that. Father wasn't wrong.

"Don't act like you don't know how to inflict a simple knockout pressure point without hurting someone." Bruce paused, still driving, not looking at his son for one second even, "We talked about this before you started here. Retaliation is never the answer, Damian. You cannot attack civilians like that, you know better than this." 

Damian looked down, upset. He knew he shouldn't be hurting civilians, especially at school when he wasn't in any danger, but if only Father knew how hard Damian was trying to control himself, how difficult it was to not explode after bottling up so much anger inside for so long. Like Father, he too hated injustice, and there was nothing that angered him more than seeing someone good of heart, like Colin, being constantly ridiculed just for being an orphan, no less. It wasn't fair, no kid should ever have to go through that, and what infuriated him, even more, was how the school was so adamant about condemning violence but no one did a damn thing when someone turned another person's life into a living hell every day. Damian complained about going to school, sure, but Colin was the one who must have been truly suffering all this time, and that foolish kid still pressed forward with a stupid smile on his face.  

"I'm extremely disappointed in you, son," Father added, seeing that his son was not going to continue. 

That only added more anger inside of him, Damian's heart filled with hatred. Of course, Father was disappointed in him, who wasn't? Damian wanted to choke that miserable excuse of a human, he wanted to give both Evans and Fields a taste of their own medicine. But now he wasn't even allowed to attack at all, otherwise, he would be expelled, something he didn't care about, but it sure mattered to Father, it would only infuriate the man more. Damian wanted so badly to prove to his father that his life was worth saving, that he came back from the dead with the desire to do better, to atone for his sins. That he wasn't a lost cause, he wasn't irreparable, he wasn't the assassin that he was raised to be. 

The drive back home felt long and torturous. Father's phone kept beeping with a trillion messages and calls, which he ignored. He didn't seem to be in the mood to handle work calls. Once they got out of the car, Father firmly closed the door shut and he put his hands on his waist, shaking his head at his son in disapproval. He sighed, "I don't know what I'm going to do with you, Damian. If only you could be more--" Father stopped, immediately regretting what he was about to say.

"More what, Father?" Damian snapped, "More like Grayson? Drake? Todd, even? He was good at school!"

Father retorted, he hated when his youngest compared himself to his brothers. This wasn't a competition. "I was going to say normal!"

Damian took a step back in disbelief. "Well, newsflash for you, Father. I am not normal and never will be! Quit trying to force me to become someone I'm not. No matter how hard you try, you will never be able to fix me!"

Chapter Text

There was not much to look forward to. The days continued to pass at a snail's pace and to say that things were tedious was an understatement. The manor was spacious and all, but somehow so empty, and anything that could be done at home suddenly lost its appeal. Not even drawing sounded entertaining anymore, nor did playing the violin, they were all meaningless. Damian prolonged his time spent on his bed, staring at the ceiling fan as if it was the most interesting thing to do in the world, despite how late it was getting in the day. It was almost lunchtime and never in a million years would Damian be caught acting idle on his bed in broad daylight when he could be exercising and training all day long. If Mother and Grandfather knew about this, they would've immediately corrected his behavior, discipline was everything. But, thankfully, they weren't there, and he wasn't in the league anymore. He was living at Wayne Manor now, where things ran a lot differently. But even his father’s big mansion didn’t feel like home at times, it was like Damian was just a visitor, allowed to stay there temporarily.

After everything that happened with Heretic, Damian was granted a chance to live again, thanks to Father's efforts in bringing his body back from Apolokips, but what good did that do if Damian was going to continue to ruin everything? What was the point? Damian was stubborn, he wanted to prove to everyone that he could be different, but time and time again showed that he was nothing but a huge disappointment. Grandfather wished for his death for being such a failure to him, Mother was heartbroken for her one and only son choosing to stay with his father instead of her, leaving her alone with her abusive and manipulative father, his own father was ashamed of him for being violent with mere civilians, and even Pennyworth could no longer trust him. His brothers disliked him too, with the exception of Grayson, but he loved everyone, no matter the person, so it didn't really count. Todd merely tolerated his existence and Drake, especially, was probably deeply dissatisfied when Damian came back to life. Everyone in this family would be relieved if Damian disappeared from their lives, no longer seeing themselves obligated to deal with an insufferable demon child. 

Pennyworth knocked on the door again, asking Damian to unlock it and come out, lunch was almost ready. Instead of arguing, Damian told him he would be right there. It took him a few more minutes to muster the energy to finally get up. It was strange, it didn't make any sense why staying in bed sounded more appealing than doing anything else, but he was getting hungry, so coming down to eat wouldn't be the most horrible thing to do, he supposed. Damian was still in his pajamas when he came downstairs and his hair was not groomed, which meant it was everywhere since his stubborn spiky hair refused to be anything but unruly when he didn't brush it, but he didn't care. Damian was met with a disconcerted look from Pennyworth for his poor appearance, but again, it didn't matter. Damian took a seat and stared at his plate; His butler was kind enough to make him a tasteful roasted vegetable couscous with mushrooms and chickpea salad on the side, but that was way too much food. His appetite had been decreasing lately, and Pennyworth should know he should stop working himself so much if he didn't want his food going to waste. 

Pennyworth already looked more tired and stressed than usual, his under-eye bags more predominant in his old face, he deserved some rest. It didn't help that the man was already in a mood because of an argument with Father the night before; Something to do with Father refusing to listen and rushing out of the cave because he was called into the Watchtower, and Pennyworth not understanding why a team of super-heroes with Godly powers would need Father's help so badly. Damian didn't hear the rest, he didn't want to, and he was glad that Father was gone, he didn't want to talk to him nor see him.

Father already made several attempts to reach out and make Damian quit acting like an ass, but Damian did not want to hear it. He locked himself in his room for an absurd amount of hours just to prove a point and it was getting a little ridiculous, he had to admit, but he got to Father's skin, which was humorous. Father was stubborn, but he wasn't going to beat Damian on his own game. No way. Besides, his old man's phone kept being bombarded by calls and the Bat Signal that lit up in the sky was brighter than ever, so, really, Damian was doing his father a favor to make him focus on what actually mattered. There were more pressing things at hand rather than forcing down a conversation that wouldn't get them anywhere. If only Damian could also go out on patrol and be able to release all that anger toward the criminals...

Damian pushed his plate aside, completely disinterested in his meal. He was about to get up to go play with Titus, but much to his dismay, Pennyworth approached him, looking down at his plate as if he was some sort of food inspector. "Done already? My, try to eat some more, young sir. You can't eat that little if you want to keep up with your--"

Damian looked up at the man, tiredly, "Keep up with what? My harsh, daily physical activities? In case you have forgotten, Pennyworth, I'm no longer Robin. It doesn't matter anymore."

Pennyworth frowned, upset. "It does matter, Master Damian. Vigilante or not, your health and physique are of significant importance, and they must not be neglected. Now, do take some more bites before you make yourself done."

With an annoyed sigh and a roll of his eyes, Damian obliged, forcing down a few more bites so he could get away. He wasn't sure why food, of all things, was also becoming a chore, but alas, it was. Another boring thing that he was forced to do added to the list. After what probably seemed like an eternity, Damian finished close to half of his plate, just enough to not raise any additional remarks. His anger was starting to get to him now, so he got up from his chair and retreated to the training room at the cave to let off some steam. Titus perked up from the nice, cozy spot that he was laying on the kitchen floor and ran up to follow his owner, like the faithful dog he was. Once in the cave, Damian went to the lockers to change into a more appropriate attire to exercise. He started off with some stretches while Titus roamed around looking for something to do. As soon as he was done stretching, Damian pulled up some dummies so he could practice his Katana, all while Titus laid down not too far away, busying himself by chewing - and nearly devouring - his new toy, a red squeaky bone that Barbara Gordon had gotten him. 

Damian first sparred by himself for the fun of it, then grabbed tight on his Katana and started slashing the dummy at all the fatal areas as if the dummy was a real person. He knew thousands of ways to kill someone and sometimes it was fun to imagine executing a person for once. He hated to admit it, but that macabre desire to kill was still instilled in him and he wasn't sure if it would ever go away. It would be nice if a bunch of undead zombies terrorized the city just so he could get that burning desire to assassinate out of his system without feeling any remorse. He spent quite some time utterly destroying the dummy, at times pretending he was slashing Evans and Fields instead. It was a good exercise and Damian was ready to keep going but he remembered that he had totally skipped his morning workout routine, so he went to the weaponry storage room to hang his Katana back on the wall and went back to the sparring mat to start doing push-ups.

Time must have completely slipped him because, after a while, his arms began to violently shake from the loss of strength, a clear indication that his push-ups were going on for a lot longer than planned. With his heart beating a million miles an hour, Damian reached for his bottle and drank some water. He went to the bathroom to wash the sweat from his hands and face and immediately noticed the extra toothbrush on the metal toothbrush holder, next to Father's brush. Kyle. Of course, that promiscuous woman had to be involved with Father and visit him at the cave frequently enough to have her own spare toothbrush, how dared she? Damian cringed at the image of Father and Kyle giggling like little children every time she 'snuck in'.

Not that Damian wanted his father to be back with his mother, their relationship was far too complicated, - despite Mother's eternal loyalty to his old man - but falling for a criminal? That's who Father wanted to be serious with? Damian kept being reprimanded for thinking too much like a criminal sometimes, but Father was excused to date someone who had been arrested before? Who had stolen, was mischievous, and a liar? 

Damian wasn't happy with that. At all. 

The boy shook it off and proceeded to wash his hands, but as he looked up at the mirror, his reflection started to look different. His jaw was more defined, stronger, like Father's. His cheekbones were a little higher than normal because of his new longer, more mature face, and his hairline was still the same, but his dark hair was shorter and no longer messy. His green eyes looked cold, staring back at him as if he was being taunted, and there was a sick smirk on his own face that made his stomach turn. Damian brought his brows together, there was no way that was him. He brought his face closer and closer to the mirror when a sudden sharp pain surged through his body. With his eyes still fixed on the mirror reflection, Damian slowly looked downward and gasped.

There was a giant hole in his chest.

Panic started flowing through him, the gash in his chest filled with extremely vivid, excruciating pain. It was only a matter of seconds until that unbearable pain could leave him lifeless, his blood was soon going to pool all around him. With a scream, Damian punched the mirror, shattering it into small broken pieces and leaving his knuckles with bloody marks. Titus came running immediately, barking ferociously loud as he was ready to attack whoever hurt his owner, which made Damian blink and snap back to reality. The boy looked up at the broken mirror and he was left staring at his normal self, it was just his reflection. Damian closed his eyes tightly and firmly squeezed both his hands on his chest as if the gash was still there.

Not again. 

He thought he was done having those images, last time he had them was on his birthday, but they were supposed to be gone! It had already been two years, damn it, that trauma should have left and stayed in the past, where it belonged. That haunting sensation of being stabbed, along with the fear of becoming his own enemy, came back to him in flashes. So many nightmares of being back to Hell, so many dark images of his mother being relentlessly tortured by Aunt Nyssa while he did absolutely nothing because he was benched. And when Damian was finally able to convince Pennyworth to get out of the cave to rescue both of his parents, he got himself killed. Because he was incompetent, incapable of saving his own mother. She died at the hands of her own sister because of him. Heretic, Aunt Nyssa's creation, ended his life, proving that his clone was always the better weapon, stronger, more improved.

Damian didn't even notice how cold the bathroom floor was as he got down on the ground to pull his legs up to his chest, resting his head on his knees. He was shaking and his knuckles were still bleeding, but he ignored the pain. He buried his face in his arms, trying with all his strength to forget the memories and voices ringing in his head so vividly;

"Call him off at once, Aunt Nyssa! Call off your monster! Stop this war!"

Heretic moved scarily closer to him, sword in hand. The monster raised his sword again, ready to finish his rival.

"Mother... Father..."

He could still feel the death coming for him as if it was happening at that instant, the fear taking over his body once he realized that the battle was over and he had lost. He remembered his useless pleadings falling on deaf ears... But he also remembered his parents desperately running to him. They were both too late, but they were there. His parents truly cared, didn't they?

You're only alive to celebrate your birthday because I allowed it.

He was a failure. Grandfather didn't want him, Mother was probably ashamed of what he had become, and Father was left with a burden, a child he never wanted in the first place. Tears started swelling up his eyes again but his attention was turned to Titus, who was kindly licking his wounds and cuddling around Damian to comfort him. With a faint smile, Damian used his good hand to pet the back of his dog's ears - Titus' favorite spot - and thanked him for being so loyal. There might not be many people who he could rely on, but at least Damian knew that Titus would always be by his side. And Alfred the cat, even if he was skittish at times. And Bat-Cow, definitely Bat-Cow. Goliath too, if he was allowed in the cave and wasn't so busy bugging Maya. Hm. Maya. It had been a while since he heard from the girl, Damian should probably text her, see how she was doing. 

Damian reached for his phone and sent a quick text to Maya. He then got up from the floor and washed his bleeding knuckles in the sink, then used a clean cloth that was in the bathroom to gently press on his wound to make the bleeding stop. After he was done, his phone vibrated from a message notification, surprisingly. That was fast. Pulling out his phone again, Damian opened the screen and saw that Emiko was actually the one messaging. 

"Damian, we need to talk. I got a really good lead that will interest you."

Damian texted her back, intrigued. "Go on..."

"I could tell you but it'll be easier to show you in person."

"And how do you suggest I do that? I'm grounded, remember?"

"Shoot. You're right. Fine, I retrieved some intel from the pharmacist we arrested last week and he actually sold Pink Nightshade to a few clients -one of them has to be the Shadow. Red Hood said the herb was still fresh when the spell was cast, remember?"

The boy stared at his phone, astonished. Were they finally getting somewhere with the whole Shadow search? He imagined that even Todd had given up at this point, being too busy with other cases.

"Yes, of course! Where can I find this intel?"

"I attached the files to my pen drive. It took me a while to retrieve it after I lent my pen drive to the cops, had to break into a police department just to get it back, but I have it now. I had to wait a few days to do it because Dick and Kory wouldn't leave their sight off of me, but it’s all good now.”

"You broke into a police department?"

"Yeah, it was child's play. Easier than breaking into some people’s homes"

Damian looked down at his phone and nodded, impressed. "Nice work."

"Thanks. We still don't know how I'm gonna show you the lead."

"You can just give me the pen drive. I'm back to school in a couple of days, meet me there outside.”

“That’s now how this works, Birdboy. I’m not missing the chance to see the Batcave for the first time. Is your dad home today?”

“No, he’s busy with the Justice League.”

“Perfect. How about Alfred?”

"He’ll be leaving soon to run some errands, it usually takes him about an hour.”

“Sounds great. I'll see you in a bit.”

"Wait, how? You realize this cave is set with alarms for anything you could think of, it'll be impossible for you to come unannounced. Besides, the tower is hours away from here!"

"You seriously underestimate my skills."

"I don't believe you for a second." 

"Watch me." 

Apprehensively, Damian waited. He went upstairs to check on Pennyworth and make sure he was actually going to leave, but thankfully, Pennyworth was true to his plan to take care of some things he didn’t have time for in the morning. Damian watched Pennyworth taking the car keys, telling him that it was probably going to take him a little while to be done with all the errands, but he would try to be back soon. As soon as the garage door opened, Damian jumped from the buzzing sound that was coming from his phone. There was no way Emiko made it to the cave that fast. He pulled out his phone and it was Maya returning his message but with a request to accept a call. Not any call, however, it had to be through video. Why couldn’t she text him like a normal person? 

Damian reluctantly answered the call. He had to move his head away from the phone to not get his eardrums blasted from the girl’s excitement, “DAMI! It’s so good to hear from you, how are you doing?? I miss you!!”

Maya was way too animated for her own good, but that was comforting, she deserved to feel happiness and peace. After all, Damian was one of the main reasons for her suffering after he killed her dad.  

Pushing that thought aside, Damian brushed it off with a question, “I'm doing well. How about you and Goliath?”

“We’re doing great! I bought this sweet little farm using my dad’s money so Goliath can have more space, see?” From the camera, Maya showed the large backyard at the farm where Goliath was floating around. She then switched the screen back to herself, “He loves it. The only thing that sucks is my commute to school, I gotta take two buses just to get there. It’s the worst!”

“Oh, wow. That’s a lot of dedication just to go to school.”

“Yeah, well, at least the food here is better than Jon’s school. I still don’t forgive you for making me infiltrate his school, by the way!” 

“Tt. There was a purpose for that."

"To kidnap a ten-year-old so he could be your friend?"

"He's a Half-Kryptonian, Maya, we needed to study his abilities--!" Damian waved his hand out, he was not gonna let the girl tease him like that. "Whatever. I go to the same school as him now.”

“No way, you guys are in the same school?!! That's AWESOME!"

Goodness, that girl had energy. She didn't even need to use her sound gadgets to make Damian's ears hurt. "But wait a second..." Maya paused, looking distrustful, "You?!! Going to school?!” Maya was on the verge of laughing, “That’s hilarious! You must hate it!”

“With every fiber of my being.”

And there it was, an outbreak of laughter. At least it was pretty delightful and comforting to the ear. She wasn’t mocking him, well, maybe a little, but it came from a friendly place. After she was done, Maya calmed down and sounded more serious, “I’m sorry. School sucks sometimes, but you'll survive, I promise. I’m just glad I can live a normal life. I mean, I had to lie and pay an actress to act as my mom so I could be accepted to school, but, hey, it worked. My mom is still gone and my dad is, well, you know…”

“Yeah, I know.” Damian finished for her. He was not regretful for killing the man, he was only protecting his father’s life, but he was not proud that Ducard's death was the cause of his trusted friend's suffering.

“Anyway. Oh, I forgot to tell you, I’m going to a job interview next week! I’m running out of dad’s money, so it'll be nice to have a consistent paycheck, haha!”

Damian furrowed his brows, processing what he just heard. “Wait, you're running low on money?”

“Um… Yeah, I'm kinda broke. But I don’t have a mortgage and I still need to put my dad’s safehouses for sale, but until that’s done I still need to pay for things… This farm alone is pretty costly. Oh, the actress is expensive too.”

“Maya, this is unacceptable, you can’t live like this.”

“Dude, I’m fine–”

Before she could finish, Damian cut her off and went on his phone to look up her info, “What’s your bank account? What app do you use?”

“Damian, stop it! I will not accept your money!”

Damian continued searching, and, as predicted, he easily found her information. He frowned once he pulled it up, though, “Paypal? Who uses Paypal?”

“Hey, how did you find my Paypal account? Not even my enemies can find me!” 

“I’m the son of Batman, remember?” Damian started creating his own Paypal account so he could transfer her some money.

"Damian, stop what you are doing right now! Go back to your screen, stop typing–” There was a pause. Damian pulled up her screen again just to see her reaction. Maya stopped dead, her jaw hanging, “You transferred two hundred thousand dollars??!”

“What? That's not enough? Fine, I’ll send more–”

“No, no, no, I won’t accept a single cent! I’m transferring the money right back to you!”

“You will not do such a thing.” Damian’s voice was firm, almost like Father’s if his voice was deep like his. “It's my fault you're in this situation in the first place! I had you watch Goliath for me and if your dad was still alive, you wouldn't need to be living on your own paying bills." Maya didn't respond but he could tell from her face that she wanted to argue still, so he decided to add: "One last thing, if you transfer the money back to me, I'll keep Goliath to myself and I'll have him live in the cave."

Maya gasped in horror, “You wouldn’t! Poor Goliath, he needs fresh air, not a gloomy bat cave!”

"He's part bat--" Damian started to correct but a notification distracted his thoughts. He clicked on the message icon to expand it, and it turned out to be an unread message from Emiko from 5 minutes ago, which read, “Damian, where are you? I'm here!”

Damian felt his face warm, Emiko made it to the Batcave already? “Gotta go, bye.”

“Hey, don’t you hang up on me–”

Damian hung up and he was positive that Maya was not happy to hear the click of the line dropping on her end, but he didn’t have time to worry about that now. He quickly ran to the study room and entered the code behind the grandfather clock; 10:48

He slid down into the cave and was amazed to see how not only had Emiko managed to not set off a single alarm, but she was also playing with Titus as if she had seen the dog a million times before and her scent was already recognizable to him. 

“Easy, easy, haha!” Emiko giggled as she attempted to push Titus away so he would stop licking her face. 

“Titus, you’re supposed to be a guard dog, what are you doing?!" Damian pointed at the dog as he stormed in. "What if she was an enemy, you big dumb?”

Titus did not seem to care at all about his owner's complaints because he kept licking Emiko and jumping at her. 

“Well, clearly, your dog loves me.” Emiko prompted to say, pridefully, as she ruffled Titus’ fur with both hands. She bent down to grab the squeaky bone toy that was on the ground and threw it at the other side of the cave. "Titus, catch!"

The Great Dane excitedly jumped up to chase the toy that was just thrown. 

Damian put his hands on his waist, dissatisfied. "He's my dog, not yours."

Emiko pouted as a way of teasing him, "Awn. Jealous?!" 

The boy looked away, grunting, "Tt. Whatever. How did you manage to get here so fast and not trigger the alarms?"

"Ollie taught me; There's a blindspot near the cave entrance that you guys should probably watch out for. Oh, and I Boom Tubed to get to Gotham, there was no way I was driving this far." Emiko cocked her head to the side as she remembered something else, "And someone would notice if I stole the Titans' jet.

"You took Stone's Boom Tube watch again?"

"I don't know why Cyborg doesn't create more of these for each one of the members, but hey, I don't waste a good gadget when I see one."

Damian looked around, taking in his surroundings. "Hm. So your brother knows how to break into the Batcave?"

Emiko shrugged. "Yup."

Emiko raised her eyebrow as she heard Damian mumbling under his breath, "Queen is more skilled than I thought..."

Ignoring that silly comment because, honestly, it was way past the time people took her half-brother more seriously and stopped making jokes about him being a Batman wannabe, though maybe they were slightly correct. Emiko gave herself permission to take a tour of the cave, soaking in every detail possible. The whole place was quite incredible and there was so much to see; The giant penny, the dinosaur, the huge and creepy Joker card in display, the astonishing Batmobile collection, plus the jets... It was pretty impressive. A little spooky, but much cooler than the Arrow cave, that was for certain. 

"This place is pretty cool, not gonna lie," Emiko admitted.

Damian sighed, "Enough distractions, let's cut to the chase. We don't have much time, Pennyworth will be home soon, and it won't take long before Starfire realizes you're gone."

"Luckily, she thinks I'm doing homework at a coffee shop, but yes, we need to hurry."

"Homework?" Damian asked in disbelief, "That was your excuse?"

Emiko feigned confusion, there was nothing wrong with that. "Yeah, I'm taking online classes."

Damian raised his arms in the air, flustered, "You too?! Why does everyone have online school but me?"

"Jaime's parents get too worried about the scarab making an accidental appearance at school, and Ollie doesn't care where I do schooling as long as I do something. Bart doesn't even belong to this timeline, and Djinn is, well, Djinn. Sorry, looks like you have a helicopter dad." 

"Wonderful," Damian muttered with clear sarcasm in his voice.

"Anyway, back to what actually matters," Emiko cut off, handing Damian the pen drive.

She followed the thirteen-year-old up the stairs to where the giant multi-monitors were, which was when it hit her; They were going to use the Batcomputer. The freaking Batcomputer! Emiko's eyes shined as Damian was granted access to the computer after entering the password. The monitors were massive, there were archive files on the desktop for everything she could imagine, data linked to police radio in real-time, it was amazing. Emiko was going to make sure to rub it in Ollie's face how she got to use Batman's computer and he didn't. Dinah wouldn't care, but Ollie's reaction would be priceless. 

Once the pen drive was up and running, the Excel files from the drive showed up. Damian wasn't sure which file to click on first, so Emiko leaned in closer to him, "May I?"

Damian slid his chair to the side, allowing more room for Emiko to type as she slightly crouched over to be closer to the keyboard level. Emiko went straight to the list of people who purchased the illicit drugs and she then clicked on the next Excel tab which contained the names of those who bought Pink Nightshades specifically. Luckily for them, there were only 5 names listed there, which meant that narrowing it down to Shadow was going to be extremely easy and quick. They read each of the customers' names, but one of them, in particular, stood out; The customer was called Najmat Dinib. 

"Najmat Dinib?" Damian read out loud, intrigued, "That doesn't sound like a person’s name, that just means 'Deneb Star' in Arabic."

Damian slid his chair back to the center, scooching Emiko away just slightly as he took over the computer. He started typing the weird name into the database and sure enough, the results only showed several pictures of the constellation and the Deneb Star. 

“See?” Damian started, “There’s no one with that name.”

“There’s a restaurant called Najm Dine.” Emiko teased as she spotted a random result from the search after Damian scrolled down.

Damian simply ignored her lame observation. “The pharmacist definitely didn’t bother with real IDs since he was distributing the drugs illegally anyway.”

Emiko took the computer mouse back to her so she could run the searches on her own. She dragged the Excel list to one side of the screen while she had the database on the other, and she looked up each customer's name on the search, one by one. Out of the 5 consumers, 4 of them were real individuals with a history of drug trafficking who already had a case filed at the court that would land them in prison, thanks to the police doing their job after Emiko gave them the intel. Indeed, the only customer on the list who had absolutely no background, no information, nothing, was the so-called Najmat Dinib.

"Well, it's obvious that whoever is going by that Najmat name is our primary suspect," Emiko stated, and her teammate nodded in agreement while keeping his green eyes glued to the computer screen. "It makes sense that our suspect chose an Arabic name, though."

"It does?"

Emiko turned to the boy, staring him in the eyes, "Okay, hear me out: Djinn told me that ever since you guys stole the dark magic spell book, she's been feeling that she is being followed. She's also been having some strange visions and nightmares... 

Damian looked at Emiko with apprehension in his emerald eyes, "She has?" There was concern with a hinge of hope in his voice; He thought that he was the only one. Maybe he wasn't going crazy, after all.

“Yeah, and with this fake ID conveniently being an Arabic name… It only confirms my theory that the Shadow is, in fact, Elias.”

“How can you be so sure?”

"Well, think about it, Elias is also Arabic and maybe he went with the name of a star because his freedom is only possible through a Celestial power from Heaven. I don’t know, it’s just a guess. Also, Elias is a magic being, but not a magician, which would explain why no one in the magician community has heard of this ‘Shadow’, he’s a genie. Elias hates humans but is not unwilling to work with them, was what Djinn had said, so it would make sense for him to create a fake ID instead of possessing the pharmacist just to get the herbs.”

“And you think he would make a deal with the Devil just so he could get the Soul of Stones to set himself free?”

“Why not? It makes sense, right?” Emiko asked with enthusiasm, “Maybe he’s getting desperate. So he makes a deal to free the Devil in exchange for his own freedom as well. Quite fitting. Besides, what does Elias have to lose? It’s not like genies can die, can they?”

Damian processed the whole thing, deep in thought. "Actually, they can. There was a whole section in the Book of the Soul’s Dusk that talked about genies’ deaths, but only other genies or Celestials can do it. Now, come to think of it, Witchfire did mention there was something odd about the Shadow, that he’s like a ‘dead man walking in the land of the living'. Perhaps Elias is dying. He is the oldest in Djinn's family, after all."

He frowned as he paused for a second, "But wait. If Elias is the Shadow, why would he bother going after my mother? I saw him attempting to murder her right in front of me."

"To mess with your head,” Emiko answered in a matter-of-fact way. “These illusions started happening only after you used Djinn's ring, right?" 

Damian nodded, though he didn't want to mention his intrusive flashbacks of when he was stabbed, but that had to do with his trauma, not with the stolen spell book. 

"Well, maybe he found out that you were Djinn's Master that day, so he decided to go after you. Besides, Elias knows how much Djinn cares about you, so you'll obviously be his target."

The boy grunted in response.

"There's another thing I wanted to show you," Emiko said, going back to the keyboard. She clicked on the following tab and under Najmat’s purchase history, there were the dates and times of when the herbs were purchased and delivered. 

“See that delivery date over there? October 10th?” Emiko pointed to the screen. 

"October 10th..."  Damian trailed off as he pulled out his phone to see if the dates matched, and they did. "That's the same day that Todd told us about the farmhouse!"

"Exactly. Elias probably grabbed the herbs after they were shipped to him, then went to the farmhouse to cast the spell. But it didn’t work, so he had to buy another fresh Nightshade! It's his fourth time buying.”

“And the delivery is scheduled for four days from now... It’ll be this Friday.” Damian continued. 

“And guess what?!” Emiko’s excitement was getting more and more pronounced, “Not only do we have all the delivery dates saved, we also have the shipping address! We know where Shadow is requesting the herbs to be sent to!" 

Damian immediately copied and pasted the shipping address from the file into the database, the results showing a picture of an abandoned warehouse. Because, of course, it would be at a warehouse. 

“Do you see it now? Damian, this is our chance! Friday we can catch Shadow at the warehouse as he waits for the herbs to be delivered to him!"

"No." Damian's voice was cold and emotionless.

"No?!" Was Emiko hearing that right? 

“The pharmacy probably canceled any future deliveries anyway after you guys got that pharmacist arrested. It’s pointless.”

"Yeah, but Elias doesn't know that. And if he does, so be it, we can still catch him.”

Damian kept shaking his head without looking Emiko in the eyes. "No. It's gonna be a trap. Elias is not stupid, Emiko! He's insanely strong and if he merely senses our presence, we'll be screwed. We don't have any powers, we’re not meta-humans like the rest of the team!"

“We’re gonna be fine! Take the spell book with you and come prepared. Dick has already been helping me enhance my gadgets, I also have this electrical net that’s strong enough to hold a genie, even. Trust me, it works, I tested it on Djinn myself during our training and she couldn’t even teleport out of that thing. 

Damian crossed his arms, visibly unhappy. "Your plan is still stupid.”

"Fine, be a pansy, then. I'll go by myself."

"No! It's too dangerous!"

“I can take care of myself, you twerp!”

Damian was getting really upset now. "Damn it, Emiko, why do you have to insist on this? Learn to back out of a fight you can’t win!”

"Quit acting like such a coward!" Emiko shouted right back at him, her anger rising just as much as his. 

"I'm not a coward!"

Even Titus was on edge from all the shouting, he quickly ran up to them and started barking non-stop, trying to settle their fight himself, which only angered Damian more. “Titus, off!”

“Then prove it. Meet me at the warehouse on Friday.” Emiko’s voice lowered as she stared into his eyes.

Damian dropped his head and stopped shouting also, which helped Titus calm down. “I… Can’t.”

"Why the hell not?"

“Emiko, I’m grounded, remember?”

The archer scoffed. "Please, since when has that ever stopped you? The Damian Wayne I know doesn't care about following orders--"

"I’m trying to make things right this time, alright?" Damian’s voice echoed from the walls of the cave, catching Emiko off guard.

He turned away so he wouldn’t face the girl, his humiliation consuming him. "I... I failed my family too many times. My grandfather disowned me, I barely see my mother anymore and when I do, our encounters end far too fast, and my father is ashamed of me. No matter what I do, I ruin everything. The deaths... The murders I committed will forever haunt me. I tried making things right by being Robin, taking the mantle that Grayson forged and allowed me to have... And I'm not even worth honoring that. Who's to say I'll ever be worthy to honor my father's legacy one day.”

Emiko wanted to interrupt, but she let him finish. "Truth is, I'm not worthy of any legacy bestowed upon me. I'm just this damaged... Demon who can't do anything right. But maybe, just maybe... If I stay out of trouble and obey Father's rules... I can fix that." After his avoidant gazes, Damian finally looked up to look at Emiko deep into her brown eyes. "I can show him that he didn't make a mistake bringing me back to life."

Titus looked back and forth from Damian to Emiko, confused about what was going on and what he was supposed to do.

Timid tears dared to make an appearance but Damian fought them off by looking away and blinking a few times.

"Wow, Damian... I had no idea."

"Well, now you know." The boy replied, angrily, turning his attention to his phone, "Pennyworth just messaged me, he's on his way home. Can you leave now?"

Emiko didn't move, however. She took a few steps toward him while still keeping some space between them. "I'm sorry for pushing you to lie to your dad and being deceitful. I'll leave, but I just gotta say something before I go... Everything that you just said? Complete lies."

Damian cocked his head to the side. "What?"

"Excuse my language, but it's all bullshit, Damian. Your family does care about you." The girl paused after a sigh, emotions were still not really her thing. "Look. I know what it's like to give your damndest to earn your family's approval. I fought my whole life, I tried every single day to impress my dad, Damian. Every. Day. Doing everything that was asked of me to do; Training, fighting, killing, executing my missions to absolute perfection because anything less than that was unacceptable, but it was still not enough. My father didn't give a damn about me. My mother too, I barely know her, and at first, I was so eager to please her, but I’ll always be a failure in her eyes. No matter how hard I try, it’ll never suffice, especially with Simon. Then come to find out, Simon wasn’t even my real dad, he kidnapped me as a baby! Stripped me away from the chance of knowing my real father, from being raised with Ollie! I'll never forgive him for that."

Damian just stood there, in front of Emiko, not knowing what to say. 

"Because of him, I was raised in a world of blood, death, and confusion. Simon messed with my head, completely destroyed me. But then I met Ollie and it took me a long time to realize that psychos like my mother and Simon are not worth my tears, blood, and efforts. They might seem like they care, but only if you do exactly what they say, and even then you still get punished."

Emiko pressed a few more steps forward and placed her hands on Damian's arms, near his shoulders. Neither of them cared about their slight height difference. "People like Simon... Ra's... Don't deserve people like us, Damian. They're controlling, manipulative.”

She then let go, still maintaining close eye contact while Damian absorbed it all. "But people like Ollie... Like Dick, Jason, Tim, Alfred… Your dad… They are the ones who matter, who truly care." Emiko assured, warmly. "And the best part is that we don't need to fight for their validation because they already love us for who we are. Damaged or not." The girl faintly chuckled. 

Damian weakly laughed as well, giving her a watery smile.

His father loved him. His siblings, Pennyworth, his mother, all of them... 

"I know it's hard seeing it at first," Emiko added as she distractedly played with her Boom Tube watch without activating it. "Ollie probably thought I was broken or something when he took me in, but then I found out he was just trying to help. Thanks to him, I got to meet new people, become a Teen Titan, and yes, he forces me to endure stupid school, but at least now I can be myself and there's nothing wrong with that.”

Her smile was back, warm and comforting. “Oh, and if honoring a certain legacy sounds like a lot of pressure, then just focus on building your own. But you'll always be Robin in my eyes, Birdboy. At least for now.”

Damian nodded, vaguely, taking it all in. 

"Don't give up on me, Father."
"I have no intention to."

"You were my Robin."

"You are more than the Bat, my love. You are Damian. You are the future."

''You're my son. And all I want you to be is the best Damian Wayne you can be.'

A couple of tears streamed down his face and Damian took Emiko by surprise by walking up to her and pulling her into a hug. "Thank you for that, Emi."

Emiko blushed, but she accepted the embrace. “Anytime, Boy Wonder."

The silence in the cave was comforting but a sudden sound of a garage door opening came from upstairs, startling them. 

Damian looked up, alarmed. "It's Pennyworth!"

Emiko looked down at her phone, also in panic, "Four missed calls from Kory, shoot."

She immediately turned away and hit the Boom Tube button on her watch so she could be gone as fast as possible. Emi ruffled Titus’ fur one last time and waved goodbye to Damian as she stepped inside the portal that just opened from the Boom Tube. As she waved, she remembered something, “Oh, shoot! I forgot to congratulate you!”

Damian tilted his head in confusion. "For what?"

"For becoming an uncle!"

"Huh??!"

And, right before the boom tube portal disappeared, the words from Emiko echoed through the walls, leaving Damian alone in the cave completely stunned; "Kory is pregnant!"

"WHAT??!!”

Titus barked at the portal that was now closed. Damian was left with his thoughts, incapable of moving or doing anything as he processed the words that kept ringing in his ear;

Starfire was pregnant??????

Chapter Text

What was supposed to be a peaceful rest turned into a disturbance thanks to the blinding sunlight streaming in through the windows as Alfred opened the curtains. Now that his consciousness was coming back to him, he could feel every muscle in his body aching, and his eyes were begging to stay closed. Ten more minutes, that was all he needed. Okay, more like 30. Fine, one hour. But who cares? Work meetings weren't that important anyway. If only that damn light would go away.

"Good morning, Master Bruce." Bruce heard Alfred say, but he was too tired to move and bother opening his eyes.

Bruce buried his head under the blanket so the sunlight wouldn't hit his face.

"Hnn... Wake me up in an hour, Alfred..."

"Quit your sobbing, Master Bruce. Just because you don't have to be in the office until 10 am today does not mean I will let you sleep in. You've skipped enough breakfasts as it is."

For the first time, Bruce opened his eyes to face the butler just so he could give his rebuttal; "I told you I've been having breakfast at the office."

"Atrocious processed fast food does not count as breakfast. And you have them at your desk in front of a computer, do you not? My point still stands; You're getting up."

With a groan, Bruce tossed the blankets off himself. He lazily walked to the bathroom to brush his teeth, then proceeded to go to his closet, still yawning and rubbing his eyes from the tiredness. He reached for the neatly pressed white shirt that was on the hanger when Alfred was making his exit, but there was a certain look of amusement on the man's face that caught Bruce's attention.

"What?" Bruce asked before Alfred left. The butler stopped by the door, smiling. What was so funny about Bruce getting ready for work?

Alfred let out a chuckle. "Nothing. Your hair gets unruly just like Master Damian's when he wakes up. Make sure to comb it before you come downstairs."

"I'm not a child, Alfred. You don't need to tell me these things."

"I know." Alfred's grin was still plastered on his face.

Bruce ignored him and reached for his suit pants. "Where's Damian, anyway? Is he still in his room?" 

"Outside, taking Titus on a walk."

Damian actually being outside rather than locked in his room for once? That was a good sign. Hopefully, Bruce would finally be able to talk to him now. "Is he feeling better, Alfred? Did he talk to you at all yesterday?"

"Surprisingly, yes. After I came back from the store, he was quite talkative. Almost as if there was a switch on him, it was quite comforting to see. His cheerfulness may be coming back to him, at last." 

Bruce nodded as he adjusted his belt. "Good."  

"Just don't ruin it, sir." With that, Alfred closed the door and walked away, not letting Bruce defend himself, which was completely unfair.

Of course Bruce was aware of his mistakes, but it wasn't like he purposefully went out of his way to make all of his kids miserable. He frowned at the injustice of it all. After he finished getting ready, Bruce went downstairs and glanced at the kitchen, where Alfred was still busy finishing up the spinach and mushroom frittata that he was making. Relieved for having quite some time to spare before needing to rush to work, Bruce went outside to look for his son. It didn't take long to find Damian in the backyard throwing a frisbee for Titus to catch, but his son looked busy doing something else; He was talking to someone on the phone.

"You're such a fool, Grayson!" 

Ah. So that was who he was talking to. Damian didn't notice his presence, so Bruce opted to remain silent so he wouldn't interrupt their conversation, but he couldn't resist the urge to eavesdrop either. 

"What are you going to do now??" The concern in Damian's voice sounded rather alarming. The boy paused, probably because Dick was saying something to him, and he then responded, "Yes, Emiko told me. So what?" He paused again. "Well, that's too bad! You should've thought of that before you--"

Carelessly, Bruce stepped on a leaf, which was enough noise to make his youngest completely freeze and then turn around with an immediate fighting stance. On one side he was thankful that his son was careful and so smart about his surroundings, but on the other hand, he hated how hypervigilant Damian tended to be. No child should ever have to find themselves in a situation where they felt they could be hurt or attacked at any moment. He cursed both Ra's and Talia for ever allowing his boy to be put through so much trauma and violence at such a young age. 

"Hey, it's just me." Bruce raised his hands in surrender, trying to sound as reassuring and calm as possible. 

Damian's shoulders relaxed, no longer tense. He turned his attention back to his phone without breaking eye contact, "I gotta go, Father is here." There was something else that Dick was saying that Damian was nodding and promising to. Then, without saying goodbye, Damian went ahead and ended the call. 

Bruce put his hands in his pockets as he approached his son. "You didn't need to hang up because of me."

Damian shrugged. His demeanor still seemed distant and avoidant. "It's fine."

"What were you two talking about?" Bruce regretted asking because his son immediately reacted defensively.

"Nothing! Am I not even allowed to have privacy and talk on the phone either?"

And... There it was. Alfred was right, Bruce did ruin things. If only his boy could just let his guard down and open up a little. Bruce thought they had already made so much progress, but clearly, there was much to be improved. Bruce would be lying if he said he wasn't a little jealous of how easily Dick got Damian to trust him so well.

"I know. It was a long day. Long patrol night and the Justice League wore me out." Damian raised his eyebrow, waiting for Bruce to explain. "We had to fight a metahuman who was generating earthquakes in Bilayia and we also had to stop a group of terrorists who were holding women and children hostage. We succeeded, but on our way back home we ran into a space monster, as ridiculous as that may sound. Then once I was back in Gotham, I went after Two-Face and got him arrested, finally."

Titus was back with his frisbee but he kept pulling it away from Damian instead of just giving it to him, making the kid struggle a little. 

Damian chuckled as he snatched the frisbee back to him. "Heh. Space monster sounds fun, actually."

"Fun would not be the word I'd use to describe that..." Bruce said as he watched the frisbee fly while Titus chased it at full speed. 

Damian was too staring into the distance where Titus was running, but there was something else in his mind. He lowered his head and hesitated, almost as if he was afraid of saying what was on his mind. Bruce wanted so badly for his boy to just trust him, to allow himself to be vulnerable and not have to watch his words around him. This only showed Bruce how much he had to be better for his son. How he needed to be more present, more open with him.

"I miss being in space." His son admitted.

Was something as simple as wishing to see space again another sign of weakness in Damian's view too? If his own son couldn't feel fully comfortable sharing something as natural and genuine as that, then Bruce was truly failing at his job.  

Damian continued, his eyes still gazing at nothingness. "Staring down at Earth from its orbit... It's fascinating."

"It is, isn't it?"

Another long silence. Damian could be so hard to read sometimes. 

"You're still mad at me for benching you, aren't you?" Bruce asked in a soft tone as he looked at his boy with gentle eyes, hoping for that to spark a more meaningful conversation this time. 

Damian sighed, watching Titus from a distance who, instead of running back to them, decided to roughhouse and chew up his own frisbee. That dog was strange sometimes. "It's fine. You were just looking out for me, in your strange way." Damian turned to his father, green eyes meeting blue. "I just wish you could trust me more."

Bruce kneeled down so they were at eye level, his hand resting on his knee. "I want you to understand something, Damian. Just because I grounded you, it does not mean that I don't trust you."

Damian looked away, crossing his arms, "Yeah, but you barely let me go on patrol with you even before I was benched. You keep thinking I'm incapable and will only slow you down, but you're wrong! Even Grayson trusted me to be Robin, why can't you do the same?"

"You should always know that I do trust you to be Robin. If I didn't, I wouldn't have allowed you to ever take on the uniform in the first place after I came back." Bruce’s hands landed on Damian's shoulders, squeezing them warmly. "We both know how incredibly skilled you are. The truth of the matter is that you are my son, and it's my job as your father to protect you. I know I've been harsher on you lately, but it's only because I want you to be safe. It's dangerous out there and after what happened with Heretic..."

Damian pulled away, upset, pointing his index finger at his father, "See?! I was right! You view me as the failed Robin just because I died!"

"I do not," Bruce tried to say, sternly, but Damian wasn't listening.

"You were never like this with the others!"

"That is not true." Bruce cut off before Damian said anything else, "I was pretty harsh - still am - with all of your brothers. Did you not know how I fired Dick one time? After he was shot, I-- I couldn't deal with the pain of possibly losing him..." Bruce closed his eyes, trying to forget the memory of watching Dick getting shot in the shoulder by Joker right in front of him as if losing his parents wasn't bad enough. He brushed it off, continuing, "That was why Dick left and spent more time with the Titans, then later became Nightwing. I also had to bench Jason when he was going too far but he refused to listen and--"

Damian knew exactly how that story ended. "I know. And later when Brown came along, you had to fire her too. But Drake was never benched."

Bruce laughed at that, which probably startled Damian a little. "Are you kidding? Do you know how many times I told him that he wasn't allowed to be Robin until he actually had a full night's sleep?"

Damian was now smiling. "That's hypocritical of you; You never sleep."

"Which is why Alfred had to bench me so many times." Bruce smiled as he ruffled Damian’s hair, and he was glad that his son didn't protest. 

Titus decided to finally come back, but he jumped at Bruce instead since he was kneeling on the ground and was closer to him. Bruce took the frisbee from the dog and stood up, throwing the chewed up disc to the other side of the backyard.

"It's been a while since you visited the Watchtower, hasn't it?" Damian cocked his head to the side, intrigued, so Bruce continued, "I enjoyed it when you kept me company in space that one time. Tell you what, how about I take you to the Watchtower this weekend? Just you and me, exploring space just like we did last time. What do you think?"

Damian’s face absolutely lit up at that. He smiled widely and asked with eagerness in his voice, "Can Titus come too?"

Bruce's joy was written all over his face. "Absolutely."

"Excellent!" Bruce found it funny how his son talked so formally even when ecstatic, "So now we just need to get a space suit customized for him. Titus didn't get to explore space with us last time."

Oh. That was not part of the plan, but of course now Bruce needed to find a space suit for a freaking Great Dane. Just what he needed; Another thing to worry about. But his son was so happy and it was already such a challenge to see him light up like that. Besides, it wasn't like Bruce was known for not spoiling his kids senseless, so now he had to get the suit. Fantastic.

"We'll see what we can do about that," Bruce managed to say, patting his son's shoulder. 

Alfred was by the door, announcing that breakfast was ready. Bruce was on his way to get back inside, but his son stopped following him, hesitating again.

"Father?"

"Yes, son?"

"...I'm sorry for causing problems at school and making you look bad."

Bruce looked at Alfred, gesturing with his hand that they would be there in a minute. He then turned back to his son and bent down again, "Damian, this has nothing to do with me. I could care less what the school or the press has to say about me; I care about you, and fracturing that kid's wrist was wrong, you went too far. I told you before, I'm not mad that you stood up to that bully and helped a friend. I'm proud of you for that, and wouldn't expect anything less from an amazing young man such as yourself. I was only upset because you know there are better ways to stop your opponent without hurting them like that."

"I get that, I do..." Damian admitted. That was a first. But his baby boy still looked so sad, it was heartbreaking. "I just don't think I can handle it, Father. You don't understand, I hate it there. Hate it. I despise going to school, and I'm not learning anything. Why can't I be homeschooled again? Like you were?" 

Bruce battled rather he should tell his boy the truth or not. As if Alfred could read his mind, he nodded to him and went back inside, which Bruce took as a sign to open up and have the much needed conversation. "I've never told you this before, Damian, but after I lost my parents, I-- I too got into fights with bullies when I was your age."

Damian's green eyes widened at that, "You did?!"

"Yes. There was one bully in particular, I still remember that bastard's name to this day; Mitch Harris. He kept beating up a kid at school, so I punched him and broke his nose. Then, as if that wasn't enough, I proceeded to torment him until he begged his parents to move him to a different school."

By the look of utter shock on his son's face, Bruce wasn't sure if Damian was amazed at that story or simply furious for being kept in the dark. "What?!" The anger in Damian's voice was evident, "You've done the same thing and you still get mad at me? And how come no one ever told me this?

"I specifically asked Alfred to not tell you about it. I considered sharing this story with you before, but I was afraid you would use this as an excuse to justify your actions. Parents are supposed to lead by example... And I'm not proud of what I did." 

"But you know what it's like! And you still punished me for it!"

"I didn't punish you, I lectured you; There's a difference. Do you know what Alfred did when he found out about the fights? He emptied the entire library, made me refill it book by book, but only after I read every single one of those books. He told me that I needed to learn from my parents and solve my problems by seeking knowledge rather than using my fists."

Bruce knew that Alfred's food was going to be absolutely cold by now, but he didn't care. He stared right into his son's eyes as he said, "Damian, I understand what you're going through more than you can imagine. You have a lot of me in you, including my flaws, which means we deal with anger and grief... Similarly. I know what it's like to be angry from all the injustice, to be ahead of the classes, and feel that school is a complete waste of your time and potential. But none of those things were reasonable enough to convince Alfred to let me drop out of school. Do you know why?" Damian shook his head, innocently, "Because in every circumstance of life, there's always something new to be learned. Especially when we don't see it at the time."

Damian looked down before facing his father with sadness in his eyes, "I wish you would've told me this sooner..."

"I do too." Bruce pulled his son into a tight hug, breathing heavily. "It was wrong of me to send you to school without talking about this. I just don't want you to make the same mistakes I made; I want you to be better than me. I spent too many years pushing everyone away, training to the point of exhaustion, and letting my grief blind me. I don't want this for you, son."

His boy looked up at him with a faint smile on his face, "But you turned out pretty great. At least in my eyes."

Bruce brought Damian closer to him again before letting go, "That is very nice of you to say, but dressing up as a bat in the middle of the night is not what I would call great." Bruce glanced at the manor and put his hand on his son's back to lead him back inside, "Now, we better hurry before Alfred kills us for being so late for breakfast."

By the time Bruce and Damian made it back, Alfred had already put all the food back in the frying pan at the lowest temperature possible to keep the food warm without burning it. He served them breakfast once they returned, and it was beyond pleasing for Alfred to witness his boys enjoying their morning meal, acting like actual father and son rather than avoiding each other or making snide remarks constantly. Alfred was glad that his plan to get Bruce to wake up earlier than normal worked. 

Breakfast went quite peacefully until Damian decided to ask a question all of a sudden, "Father?"

"Yes?"

Damian was finished with his plate and he seemed completely lost in thought. Bruce was upset that his son was still having a hard time opening up to him. Bruce truly needed to get better at communication so he would stop being such a terrible model for his kids.  

"What is it, son?"

His youngest looked so cute from the way he looked up with such innocence and curiosity in his eyes. Goodness, Bruce loved that precious boy so much.

"You're not getting too serious with that harlot, are you?"

"You're not going anywhere until you answer my question!" Damian demanded, stomping his foot on the floor.

Geez, was that how Bruce sounded like when he talked to his kids? Another thing to be added to the many things he needed to get better at because Damian was acting ridiculously similar to him.

Damian glared at his father, "Why her? And what's next? Marriage? Kids?"

Now the boy was starting to get on his nerves. "No, Damian! We're just dating, nothing else! Selina and I have some history together, but it's nothing serious!"

Bruce wasn't going to blatantly say that his son was indeed correct, but Damian truly needed to mind his own business, this had nothing to do with him. Besides, why was he so worked up over this, anyway? Where did any of this come from in the first place?

Damian seemed to be truly bothered by that response. The boy scowled and raised his voice in defense, "That's exactly what Grayson said before he went and got Starfire pregnant!"

Alfred and Bruce both froze.

Koriand'r was pregnant?

PREGNANT? 

Dick was going to be a father?

Damian was also paralyzed, but not for the same reason. His eyes widened in shock, deeply regretful for having opened his mouth. 

Bruce was pissed. "Dick did WHAT?"

Pointlessly, Damian waved his hands, desperately, and shook his head as if that would make his lies any convincing, "No, no, it's nothing! It was just an exaggeration, a figure of speech! It was just a silly joke--"

"Master Dick is expecting a baby? Oh, dear, this is-- Unexpected, to say the least, but great news, nonetheless!"

Furious, Bruce pulled out his phone and angrily dialed to reach his oldest. What was the meaning of all this, Dick being a father and not even bothering to tell him?

The phone rang a couple of times until Dick answered the FaceTime call because, yes, a video call had to be made. There was no way Dick would get away with just a simple audio call, Bruce was going to make sure he would face his eldest and look right into his eyes as he dealt with him. 

The screen expanded as the call was answered, showing a Dick Grayson who was already dressed in his work attire, but judging from the familiar background behind him, he wasn't at work yet, he was still in his apartment, near the living room. 

"Bruce, is everything okay?"

Before Bruce could say anything, his youngest jumped behind him, trying to reach for the phone, “Grayson, hang up the call! This is a trap! Do not fall for Father’s ludicrousness! I repeat, do not--” Bruce shoved Damian's face away from him, making the kid stumble. 

"Why didn't you tell me that you and Kory are expecting?" Bruce asked, angrily. If this call was going to make him late for work now, so be it. This was definitely more important than any redundant work meeting.  

"Uh, what--? What are you talking about? Expecting what--?” Dick playing innocent only earned Bruce more ire. 

"A baby, Richard! Why didn't you tell me?"

"What--?" Dick's confused facial features instantly turned to anger as he quickly connected the dots. "Goddammit, Damian! I told you not to tell him! I was gonna do it in person!"

"It was an accident, I didn't mean to--" Damian started to say, but he was interrupted by his father. 

"Answer the question. Now." Bruce demanded, ignoring his earlier mental note to stop ordering people around so he wouldn't be such a bad influence on Damian, who was already bossy by nature. 

"I just found out a few days ago, alright?" Dick ran his fingers through his hair, exasperated, "I didn't even tell anyone, you and Alfred were going to be the first ones to know. Damian only found out through Emiko, who happened to be there when Kory took the test. I'm serious, Bruce, I've been meaning to stop by and tell you this in person, I just didn't know when I was going to do it. I've barely been able to wrap this around my head, plus the things with work and Titans... It's just been a lot for me, okay?"

Bruce stood there in silence, so Alfred jumped in, "Well, congratulations, Master Dick! Though Master Bruce fails to express his emotions properly, we are very happy for you."

"Thanks, Alf. That means a lot."

"Having a baby is a huge responsibility, Dick," Bruce cut in again, still serious, but no longer mad.

"You don't think I don't know that?!"

Bruce ignored his eldest son's remark, "It's a lifetime commitment, and you better take care of that baby and be there at all costs--"

Dick looked extremely offended by that, "Wait, are you implying that I would walk out on Kory and let her raise the baby on her own? What kind of man do you think I am?"

"Do you and Kory have plans on getting married?"

"What! No! I mean, I don't know--"

"That's what I thought. The least you could do would be to get married, but if you're not gonna do it, then you make damn sure that child has a happy childhood."

"Oh my God, Bruce. I'm not going to be this asshole of a father. Honestly, your little faith in me is extremely insulting, to say the least."

"I'm just doing my job." Bruce explained, "I will not tolerate any son of mine to ever walk away from their responsibilities, especially one as a father, am I understood?" Dick kept shaking his head, clearly pissed off. "And how many times did we have those talks about using protection, huh?"

Dick waved his hand in the air. Now he was truly mad. "Ooh, you're one to talk! Look at Damian! You didn't even know about him until he was 10!"

Damian blushed from the embarrassment. He knew his mother kept him a secret but he still felt a little bad for catching his father completely off guard with his existence.

"That was different, and you know it! When Talia told me about her pregnancy, I was ecstatic. She lied to me about the miscarriage. And I never walked away on Damian, nor anyone else!"

"So why would you think that you raised me to be an absent father and completely abandon Kory like that? You know me better than that, I would never do that to her or my child!"

Alfred interrupted again, upset by the distressful mood in the air, "Gentleman, please, let's calm down. Master Dick, we are delighted by the wonderful news and we have no doubt that you will make an excellent father. The best one there is."

That seemed to comfort Dick quite a bit, which pleased Alfred, but Bruce had to make things worse by adding one more thing, "How far along is Kory?"

"What?" Dick asked.

"Do you know how many weeks she is?" That was a legitimate question, and Bruce did not mean to hurt anyone's feelings.

"Um, we don't know yet."

Bruce blinked in disbelief. "You haven't taken her to an ultrasound appointment yet?!"

"Bye, Bruce."

And just like that, the line clicked, ending the call. Bruce could barely function with the trillion thoughts racing in his head. Oh, and he was ridiculously late for work too. And he totally missed another meeting. Again. Not that it was that important of a meeting this time and nothing bad would happen, but still. Bruce rubbed his face, overwhelmed by everything. 

"Hm." Alfred chuckled. What was it now? Why did everything have to be so humorous for that man today? "You should also be congratulated, sir. You're going to be a grandfather!"

Bruce brushed his hair with his fingers, stressed, "Don't get me started, Alfred..."

"How would you prefer to be addressed from now on? Grandpa Bruce?" For a sassy butler such as Alfred, he was surely pushing it now.

"Don't push it. I'm not old enough to be a Grandpa."

"It's not what it looks like anymore, sir." Alfred teased, smiling smugly. 

"Stop it," Bruce ordered. 

"Hey, Father?" Damian called again. Honestly, why was Bruce even wasting his time at this point? He was insanely late.  

"What now, Damian?" Bruce asked with clear annoyance in his voice. 

"You have some gray hair right here." Damian pointed to his own temples.

Panic surged in Bruce's body, the man never pulled out his phone so fast to check himself in the camera before, "I do?!"

The kitchen broke down in laughter, both Alfred and Damian were enjoying this too much. 

Bruce adjusted his tie, annoyed, "You think this is funny, don't you? Laugh while you can. And don't you think I forgot that you have school tomorrow, Damian. You better be prepared for your exams this week."

Damian grunted a little but his smug smile was still there as well as Alfred's. At least someone was having fun. Bruce went ahead and grabbed his suitcase, rushing out of the manor. Lucius was going to be so mad at him for missing another meeting, but the damage was already done.

***

Despite accidentally spilling the news the day before, Damian woke up the next day in a good mood. He wasn't even upset when he had to watch Father leave for patrol the previous night, and Alfred made his evening enjoyable by playing chess with him and later letting him play Cheese Viking on the Batcomputer, against Father's rules. Overall, his days suspended from school turned out to be a good break for him. Extremely depressing and boring in the beginning, but the energy and life at the manor were coming back with Father's sudden change of behavior and desire to talk more, so that was nice. Damian still groaned at the thought of going back to school, but his father made a good point about learning something new.

Grandfather would always tell him how a student who ceased to learn was never worthy of being called a student in the first place. Knowledge is power, and if there was something obscure that Damian was supposed to learn from this whole 'normalcy' thing, then he would embrace it. Come to think of it, perhaps the biggest lesson that he needed to learn while attending that educational institution had nothing to do with the subjects that were taught in class, but with having a full immersion to hone on his sociological analysis. Mother taught him how people operated and how to watch for their nonverbal cues, but he was never truly exposed to a social experiment such as this. This seemingly wasteful experience was nothing more than a disguised opportunity for him to enhance his undercover skills, after all!

What better way to learn how to act 'normal' than being exposed to an environment that would push him to be just that? Father was excellent at pretending to be someone he was not to fool the crowd. Pennyworth was also notorious for his acting abilities. Going to school in the end was essentially like theater. And theater was fun. Like wearing a domino mask, but in theater you get to take on a variety of roles instead, exploring different facets of personalities that Damian didn't have, which made it challenging, yet entertaining at the same time. The confident young man looked down through the helicopter as he was heading closer to his final destination. The school grounds looked small from the distance, symbolic of a challenge that was waiting to be conquered.  

Before Pennyworth could even land, Damian jumped out of the helicopter, ready for the day. Pennyworth waved at him, wishing him to have a good day. He was going to.

Today would be great. 

Damian opened the large entrance door and stepped inside. He was walking in those well-known hallways down the lobby when a kid suddenly bumped into him by accident, knocking over a bunch of papers that fell out of the kid's binder. Before Damian could bend down to pick up all the sheets of paper that were scattered on the floor and hand them back to the boy, he locked his eyes with the younger boy and immediately recognized him; It was that kid who met him on his first few days at school, Jon's friend. The one who wanted to meet him so badly and was practically a fan of his. Strangely, the boy froze the moment they made eye contact, and he reached for his papers so fast and desperately, that he barely let Damian help at all.

"Oh my Gosh, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry!" Jon's friend stumbled through his words as he picked up all his papers and stood up. He then turned around and ran in the opposite direction with fear splattered on his face. 

Damian raised an eyebrow. What was that kid so scared of? He shrugged and kept going upstairs for his first class, which was when he realized...

People were staring at him. 

Everyone. Including students whom he had never seen before. It was quite uncomfortable, having all those random kids just watching him from a distance, whispering, avoiding him. Supposing this was just an erroneous thought of his, Damian brushed it aside, focusing on going to his English class. He arrived there early, so he went to his seat and waited for the rest of the students and the professor to come. As the students kept popping in and getting seated, the more awkward it got. Damian was obviously one of the few students inside the classroom, and every time someone new entered the room, they just stared. As if there was something wrong with him. Ignoring that feeling once again, Damian simply assumed this was just in his head and that the students were probably feeling tense because they were going to have a test today first thing in the morning. 

His peers all lacked preparation and actual neurons if they were anxious over such an easy English test, but that wasn't Damian's problem. He was sure he would ace the test despite having barely studied for it. The English Literature teacher, who looked like Oliver Queen with that blonde hair and goatee of his, was the last to arrive in the class right before the bell rang. The man then waited a few minutes until everyone settled down and put their things away to be ready for the test. He handed everyone the exam papers, and Damian focused intently on the test. As predicted, the questions were all easy and quite entertaining to answer since a lot of them had to do with the author's interpretation of certain excerpts of the book that they were assigned to read (a book that Damian had already read when he was 10). The only reason why Damian was one of the last students to finish the test was because he enjoyed elaborating his answers fully, even needing an extra paper to complete all his thoughts. 

The boy handed the test to his teacher and went on to his next class after the bell rang again. He was going to his favorite class; Art. There were no exams for that class, only projects, which Damian had completed at home already. He and a bunch of other students turned in their projects and placed them at the teacher's desk, and Damian walked to his seat that was right next to Skylar. He was ready to have the girl fill him in on all the things he missed that week or vent about how complicated the art project was, or anything similar to that, but for the first time in forever, the talkative, bubbly girl didn't speak. Her silence was much worse than her incessant talking, as crazy as that sounded. 

Skylar barely exchanged glances with him, and once Damian sat down, she pushed her desk further away from him. The brunette refused to look him in the eyes, only staring straight at the teacher and the blackboard instead. The teacher started talking about art composition and movement, all interesting concepts that Damian already knew and didn't mind hearing about it again, but none of that mattered because that braided-haired girl was so blatant about avoiding him.

Never thinking that he would ever be the first to strike up a conversation with that chatty girl, Damian leaned in closer to her and whispered, "Hey. What's wrong?"

Skylar's eyes remained glued to the teacher as if she hadn't heard anything.

"Sky?" Damian tried again. Maybe calling her by her nickname would get the girl's attention.

"I'm trying to pay attention to the class, Damian," Skylar responded without meeting him in the eyes, her voice as cold as ice. 

"But something's wrong, you're not like this--"

"Ahem, Mr. Wayne? Can I help you with something?" The teacher cut him off, making the whole class stare at him once more. 

"No, sorry..."

Damian readjusted himself in his seat, embarrassed. He hated all that staring, why did everyone have to look at him like that? 

Once the class ended, Skylar immediately grabbed her belongings and shoved them into her backpack. Damian didn't want her to leave without getting answers, so he reached out again, "Hey, why are you not talking to me?"

For the first time, Skylar looked at him, shooting Damian a withering glare, "I don't speak with bullies. Now, if you'll excuse me..." Skylar tightened her grip against her backpack straps and walked right past him, giving him the cold shoulder. 

Damian couldn't believe what he was hearing. Him? A bully? The thirteen-year-old went to the cafeteria room for the lunch break, and it hit him; The whole school knew about what happened to Evans. And they were all talking behind his back. 

Damian rushed to find an empty table away from everyone, pushing aside all the uncomfortable glares he kept getting from all those strangers. He sat by himself for quite some time, feeling somewhat forgotten. He looked around and from where he was seated, he could see from a large distance Evans and Fields sitting at a bench from the other side of the cafeteria. They were all surrounded by friends, and several girls were signing Evans' cast and drooling all over him. Idiots. But Damian was glad that no one seemed to notice him, he didn't need another problem. Although he did notice Anthony Evans exchanging a quick glance with him for a millisecond, but he didn't do anything, he just went straight to his phone instead. Good. No need for more confrontations. Plus, the kid was probably traumatized by him anyway.

By the time Jon and Colin finally spot him, he was almost done with his food. His friends were quick to join him once they saw him and both of the boys were carrying their cafeteria trays with their lunches practically finished as well.

"Damian, you're back!" Jon said, excited, as he said across from him, alongside Colin. "I didn't know you were back, sorry."

Damian even forgot that everyone was carrying on with their normal school days while he was suspended. 

Colin had a concerned look on his face. "Hey, are you okay? I'm so sorry about what happened. It's my fault that you got suspended..."

"Save it." Damian cut him off, short and cold, "Evans deserved what he got." 

"It was unfair what happened to you!" Jon started, "I heard what happened last week, and Colin was telling me how--" Jon was trying to sound comforting, but it wasn't going to work. Damian wasn't in the mood to chat.

"Obviously you heard about it, Jon. The whole school knows what happened, apparently." Damian snapped at him, taking the last bite of his food, angrily. 

Colin seemed extremely uncomfortable with the whole thing. He stared down at his food, contemplating something before he looked up with determination in his eyes, "You shouldn't have done that for me, Damian. I can take care of myself!"

Damian stared back at the redhead and snapped again, "Clearly not, Colin, or you wouldn't have stood down like a big coward!"

Shit. He didn't mean that. At all. Damian was never upset Colin, he was mad at everything else. 

"What the heck, Damian?" Jon asked, angrily, before he turned to his other friend, "Colin, he didn't mean that."

Damian looked down, feeling bad. "Sorry. That was uncalled for." He remembered that the only reason why Colin was backing down from the fight was because something was happening to his hands. Damian frowned before he asked, "What was that thing with your hands, anyway? Something happened to you, I saw it."

Colin's eyes grew wide and his face went red, almost matching his hair, but he calmed down and acted impressively indifferent. "I don't know what you're talking about." 

That was an obvious lie and if Damian didn't know any better, he was striking a nerve at Colin. The kid clearly didn't want to discuss what was that whole 'giant hands' episode. Fine. Don't talk, then. Damian didn't have time for this. 

"Whatever. I'm leaving." Damian stated, pushing his food aside and getting up to go to his upcoming class. Lunch break was almost over anyway.

Ignoring what Jon was saying behind him, Damian kept going, heading out of the cafeteria. He walked into the hallway where the lockers were so he could get his Algebra textbook for his next class. His mind was going a thousand miles an hour and he was too distracted by everything that was going on in his life to notice the much, much taller kid who walked up to him and shoved his shoulder right into him, making Damian fall back and hit the lockers behind him.

"Watch where you're going, psycho!"

The kid who spoke was a much older kid with curly brown hair and a silver earring on one of his ears just like the one Anthony Evans wears it. It was someone Damian had never seen in his life. And he looked like a freaking high schooler, there was no way someone who looked as old as him was still thirteen years old. That idiot was also such a coward that he had to have two of his buddies next to him, both looking as old as him. Three high schoolers against an 8th grader, how noble of them.

The curly-haired punk stared right at Damian, asking a question as if it was a challenge, "Trying to break my arm too like you did with my cousin?" 

Cousins? That moron was Anthony Evans' cousin? That had to be a joke. Goodness, why did Evans have to have an entire family tree filled with assholes? 

"Don't tell me you're afraid of a thirteen-year-old," Damian said with a smirk.

The high schoolers stood in front of him like three big imbeciles, all trying to muster a good comeback for him. One of the friends had his iPhone out, while the other looked like a big dumbass at a complete loss for words.

Anthony's cousin was the first to say something, "You better watch it, pipsqueak. No one messes with my cousin and gets away like you did. Just because your rich daddy funds this school doesn't mean shit."

The moron couldn't even formulate cohesive enough sentences. Damian chuckled at his idiocracy. There wasn't even a need to resort to fighting, Father was right. It was too easy. Shooting them another smirk, Damian mocked, "Careful, you look a little scared, there. You should watch out for me. You said it yourself, I'm a psychopath, remember? You never know what I'm going to do."

One of the buddies dropped his jaw as if he had heard the biggest gossip or something, "Holy shit, he even admitted! He is a psycho! Did you catch that?"

The other friend, the one with the iPhone, sneered, "Yeah, I caught it on camera! Dude's crazy!" 

Damn it. That was not supposed to happen. With his face feeling extremely warm, Damian went to reach for the moron's phone, but he had to stop right as the freaking hall monitor walked by. That old hag again.

"Hey, YOU! Stop right there, right now!"  

Now fuming, Damian straightened himself, mad for not being able to snatch the kid's phone in time. The overweight gray-haired woman with the ugly mole on her nose approached them, visibly upset. She glared at Damian as if he was some sort of a disgusting creature in her eyes, even though the one who was gross all along was her. 

"Look what we have here, Damian Wayne! What are you up to this time, huh?" That was clearly a rhetorical question because before Damian could answer, the woman turned to the high schoolers, "And what are you three kids doing here? Aren't you a little old to be in this building? You're not allowed to be here!"

Anthony's cousin suddenly dropped his punk attitude and turned into the nicest teenager there was. "Oh, I'm so sorry, miss Davis." The hall lady had her ID badge with her name on it, but somehow people who could read and call her by her last name were super thoughtful because she looked extremely flattered by that, "I just came here to bring my cousin some pain meds." Anthony's cousin pulled out from his jeans pocket a small Ziploc bag containing a pain med aspirin. "He's been in a lot of pain since, you know..." He cocked his head in Damian's direction, allowing the old woman to conclude the thoughts herself.

"Oh, yes, yes, of course! I didn't know you're Tony's cousin, that poor thing! He's even needing to wear a cast!" 

Even the old hag knew about Anthony Evans, wonderful. The ugly woman continued, "When that happens, you still have to bring a hall pass with you, dear, or ask one of the staff to do it for you. And your friends are not allowed to be here either."

"Yes, of course," Anthony's cousin spoke in an apologetic tone, "It's just that I didn't come to middle school here like my friends did, so they were just helping me find the place around."

"Oh. Well, then. In that case, yes, that makes sense. Just remember to bring a note or a hall pass next time. All of you, okay?" The old woman addressed them with such niceness that Damian didn't even know it was possible to come from her.

"Understood, thank you so much, Miss Davis!" Anthony's cousin said, smiling. His other buffoon of friends agreed, thanking her also.

"Do you need any help finding Tony's class?" The fat woman asked, concerned.

"No, it's okay, thank you so much!"

The three high schoolers went on their way, leaving Damian alone with the ugly lady. She quickly turned to him with a big scowl.

"You better not hurt any more students, Wayne! And what are you still doing here? You're late for your class, the bell rang 5 minutes ago!"

Biting his tongue and frowning, Damian quickly nodded and walked past her to go to his next class. The day couldn't get any worse. When he thought he was finally having the right attitude and mindset about things, something bad had to happen again. It was official, school was the worst. There was no way around it. Damian went to his Algebra class, arriving late, which obviously got him more stares and a brief lecture from his teacher for his tardiness. The teacher went on about the chapter reviews that were going to be on the exam the following week, and the whole room was completely quiet. Later, with only 10 minutes left before the class was over, a sudden sound of notification blasted through the classroom. The teacher didn't mind that much since his class was practically over, so he wasn't bothered when almost all of the students pulled out their phones to check on the beeping notifications. They were all watching the same TikTok video that had a drill rap song playing in the background.

Damian didn't get the notification as he didn't even have the app, so he obviously ignored everyone around him. All those teenagers wasted way too much time rotting their brains with social media anyway, but what caught his attention was that his voice was on the video. Concerned, Damian leaned into the student who was sitting in front of him and had his phone out, like everyone else, and was shocked to see that the TikTok video was about him. The bastard who filmed him earlier went through the trouble to make an entire video montage, including only the portion where Damian stated 'I'm a psychopath, remember? You never know what I'm going to do.', and then edited with a rap song about guns and killing in the background. The video also had a caption on it, which read:

Watch out for the Waynes
#psychokiller #psychopath #Wayne

And the profile also read @Tonyy_Evans007

Those fuckers! Anthony Evans was behind this all along, with the help of his stupid family and friends! He wasn't just mindlessly scrolling on his phone after he spotted Damian at the cafeteria, he was probably texting his cousin to pull out this little trick on him! Maybe the cousin was hoping that Damian would punch him so he could get it on video, but since nothing happened, they had to go with the next best thing. Damian curled his fists, his mind filled with rage. The kid sitting in front of him must have noticed that someone was prying at his phone from behind, so he turned around and saw that it was actually Damian, which startled him and made him scooch his desk a little bit further away from him. The other students were also staring at Damian, but no one dared to say anything. They all looked pretty much horrified as if Damian was going to kill them all. Not that he couldn't, but still. And what did Evans mean by 'Watch out for the Waynes?' Was he insulting his whole family too? Damian was furious. And did he seriously have to be referred to as a killer? Did fracturing that moron's wrist give away his identity?

A wave of shame filled Damian's cheeks and he just could not wait for the day to be over. Things kept getting worse after that video was spread, with his voice being echoed down the classrooms and hallways as if they were haunting him. Damian ignored all the texts he was getting from Colin and Jon, he didn't need anyone patronizing him. He just needed to go home.

******

Once it was time for Pennyworth to pick him up, Damian managed to be extremely short at Jon, telling him to shut up and leave him alone, and he did the same to Pennyworth, but without telling the man to shut up, of course. He was just quiet the whole ride home, and despite Pennyworth's attempts to get him to talk and tell him what happened, Damian didn't budge. He refused to tell anyone what was happening, it was beyond humiliating. Besides, he was worried that he just gave away his identity with the whole incident, but hopefully not. Those kids were a bunch of Neanderthals, right? But why keep calling him a killer and a psychopath? Well, it didn't help that Damian called himself a psychopath, proving everyone's point. Damn it, if only he had just taken that phone and deleted the video, none of this would've happened. And he could've done it stealthily too, it was child's play. But he was trying to be good and go back to his class just like he should, and to please his father. 

When Damian got home, he went straight to his room, slamming his door without thinking from his angry spur. He ignored all his pets on his way and locked himself in the room just like he did the first few days he was suspended from school. He kept staring at the ceiling but his mind was truly on his phone. What else were people saying behind his back? Did he want to know? No. It didn't matter. The opinion of those brainless children was meaningless. If it was Grandfather or even Father in his place, they would've never cared about something so minuscule and insignificant as that. Neither would his mother. They were all strong people who knew their value and didn't allow pathetic beings to hurt their feelings. But Damian's feelings weren't hurt, he was just intrigued, right? Right. It was like a case that needed to be investigated, Damian just needed to see what else was being said about his family so he could report them. If anything mentioned there was actually serious, it could be a crime and he could get those kids arrested. 

Yes, this was like a case, nothing else. Damian reached for his phone that was on his nightstand and for the first time, he created a fake TikTok account. He was going to track down Evans' account and anyone else making defamation against his family. Having created his account, Damian went to Anthony's profile. There were just a bunch of stupid videos of him making dances and 'funny' skits that weren't humorous at all and only served as further evidence of the kid's lack of brain cells. There was only one video about Damian, which was the one posted most recently. It had one thousand views already. Yikes. Damian hoped the app counted as an additional view when it came from the same person rewatching the short video over and over again. He clicked on it and watched himself for the fifth time calling himself a psychopath. Then Damian saw there was a comment section stop. What a waste of time; How could the comment section help in any way? Why even bother looking?

Damian clicked on the little balloon dialog icon. He read the comments.

He even calls himself a psychopath, what a freak

I always knew there was something weird with that Wayne kid...

Isn't that the bastard son of Bruce Wayne? Does anyone know who his mother is?

His mother probably abandoned him or maybe he's a charity case like his brothers...

Don't be stupid, he wasn't adopted

I'm scared to go to school now

His fucking daddy funds the fucking school, lucky bastard

No one in their right mind would hurt someone like that, poor Tony

Damian couldn't handle all that garbage any longer, so he threw his phone on the floor, mad. He had to breathe a few times to calm down but it didn't work much and now he was getting a headache. He could barely focus on anything anymore. He got up from his bed and decided to go take a shower when he heard his phone buzzing from a text message. Intrigued, he went back to his phone that was on the floor, and thankfully, his screen wasn't broken. He expanded the screen, showing that there was an unread message from Emiko;

"Tomorrow's the day. I'm gonna catch the Shadow!"

He totally forgot about the Shadow, and now Emiko was going alone, against his earlier requests. Damian didn't know what to think. 

He just hoped that Emiko would be okay. 

Chapter Text

Thoughts wouldn't stop running through Damian's head. He just couldn't shut his mind off after everything that happened, too many things were keeping him awake; The video of himself with that obnoxious song still playing in his head, the comment section, the Shadow, his past, flashbacks of dying... Sleep was no longer something he was interested in but at the same time, there was no energy left in him to do anything useful, so he was stuck with tossing and turning in his bed until his mind decided to cooperate. Which, apparently, it wasn't going to. The boy grabbed his phone on the nightstand and checked the time. 

2:40am

Great. Just great. His body was begging him to sleep, but he was too awake to doze off. He was exhausted though. Damian kept yawning but his legs were restless and he just couldn't get comfortable. He tossed and turned again for what was probably the seventh time. Useless. His mind kept going back to the past, to the shitty day at school. Then it kept going further to his early days of training alongside Mother and the punishments inflicted on him by Grandfather's people after a mistake was made. Mother oftentimes blamed herself for all the harsh training that he was put through, but this was never her fault, she was only a product of her environment.

Grandfather was to blame for ruining his family. If it wasn't for him, Aunt Nyssa wouldn't have felt so envious and wouldn't have brought even more misery to the family. Damian closed his eyes, mourning all the pain and suffering his mother had to go through. A specific memory came to mind;

Mother's arms were chained to a wall, her face filled with bruises, struggling to keep the little energy she had left in her to keep on going. 

''How many times did you die that night, sis? Twenty times? Thirty? Who knows."

BANG!

Mother shrieked in agony with blood dripping from her leg after being shot.

Nyssa proceeded to stab her own sister and later electrocute her. Mother fought but her screams of pain echoed through the room. 

"MOTHER-- LEAVE HER ALONE!"

Damian shook his head, those were bad memories, that was all. They were in the past, his mother was fine. She could take care of herself. Damian readjusted himself in the bed for the millionth time. He rested the back of his head under his hands as he stared at the ceiling, frowning. He noticed his heart pumping a little faster than normal, he needed to calm down. Relax. Close his eyes once more and let the sleep come to him.

A man was staring right at him. The same cloaked man with the black mask with horns and red eyes. The one who would follow him at school, who went after the Witchtfire to steal her book. He was there, right in front of him at the Fair, hiding. The mysterious man summoned a bow and arrow and aimed it right at Talia. His mother was going to die.

No, stop it! Stop it, stop it, stop it. That was just an illusion. It was just Elias messing with his head with his magic powers. But if Elias was watching him all along... That meant he was torturing Djinn with visions and illusions too. What did Emiko say again, that Djinn was having nightmares? That wasn't fair. That girl had gone through enough already, she didn't need more suffering. Elias was going to pay for what he did to her. The main question was: why hadn't Elias attacked already? What was he waiting for? Perhaps Elias needs the devil to be freed first before he goes on with his schemes to hurt Djinn and attack the Titans.

Emiko is so stupid to face Elias alone, she should at least go with Todd or Harper. Damian thought for a second... Maybe he should text Todd, let him know what Emiko was planning to do. He reached for his phone again and went straight to the text messages but he saw the time; 3:15am. Damn. It was too late, or too early, to send a message. Todd would be pissed to be bothered by him, he was probably just finishing patrol and getting ready for bed.

Damian changed his mind and exited out of the message icon. He stared at his phone for a while, contemplating if he should click on that stupid TikTok again. No. What good would that do him anyway? He had already seen the video and he knew what the comments said. There was absolutely nothing to be gained from clicking. A complete waste.

He clicked on the app. 

Cringing, Damian watched himself repeat the words he so badly regretted saying. Those words were meant to come off as a mockery, not a confession, but of course things were being taken out of context. If only he could just go to those bullies' houses and terrorize them so bad they would never want to sleep at night. Or he could beat them all senseless. Those early teachings about fighting came back to his mind again; Go for the eyes, throat, pressure points. Analyze your opponent, watch where they're standing. Hit first, and hard. Keep your body in motion, hurt their vulnerable parts.

The dumb video kept replaying in his head, and Damian imagined beating up Evans, and all of his friends, to the point where they would no longer be able to breathe. His heart was beating fast again, and the urge to succumb to his inner instincts was getting so strong. Killing was in his blood, his DNA. He breathed blood and death growing up, he was used to it, it was normal. And at times, quite satisfying, like releasing all the pent-up energy toward a punching bag, but better because you got to watch unjust people suffer. People who deserved it.

"Justice, not vengeance."

That damn voice again from his father. Damian tried to calm down, taking deep breaths. His father was right. And Father truly knew what it was like to want to do nothing but murder all those useless pieces of scum who caused harm in Gotham, but he still remained strong to do what was right. Like Damian, Father could also be too driven by revenge to the point where if he ever allowed himself to kill only one person, there would be no coming back for him, he wouldn't be able to stop. Maybe the apple didn't fall far from the tree, after all... At least Father was never raised to kill, it wasn't ingrained in him. Damian wondered how Cassandra Cain did it. He never spoke to her much, but he should.

Damian didn't even want to know what time it was at this point, there was no way there would be any time left to have a good enough sleep. Or any sleep, for that matter. Maybe it would be better to just stay awake the whole night, he'd be much more tired and crabby if he slept for only a couple of hours as opposed to pulling an all-nighter. How in the world did Drake survive? Damian doubted that just coffee would do the trick. He kept lying on his bed, mad at himself for not being able to push his thoughts away so he could just freaking sleep. The day was going to be terrible.

And that thought was the last thing Damian remembered having before his mind was surrendered to nothingness.

"You're fighting a freaking genie, Emiko!" Damian hit send and he was anxiously waiting for the response, but there was a commotion in front of him that interrupted his thoughts. The locker room was slowly getting crowded, which meant that the class was over.

A couple of kids were arguing and Damian recognized one of the voices to be Colin's, "We all saw what you did out there, Darryl! You tried to get Damian off the floor just so you could win!"

"Hey, I wasn't the one who kept fouling." Fields defended as if he was blameless.

"That's bull and you know it!" Damian watched Colin pointing his index finger at Fields' chest. It was odd to witness such a chill kid getting so angry, "You're just jealous 'cause you can't win without cheating!"

"I wasn't the one cheating, orphan boy!" Fields shoved his hands into Colin's chest, making him hit the lockers behind his back. 

Colin was about to punch Fields in the face, which Damian would've loved to see, but he stopped him so that his friend wouldn't get in trouble like he did, "Hey, stop right now!" Damian stood between Colin and the bully, pushing Field's chest to get him out of the way. 

Darryl Fields' goons started to gather around and they were oohing to stir up a fight. One of the boys shouted out, "Look, it's psycho Wayne!"

Fields just sneered, confident, as he stood in front of Damian with his arms crossed. "Whatcha gonna do, Wayne? Break my wrist or somethin'?"

Soon enough, more boys came crowding the room, and Evans caught up to them, holding out that stupid phone of his. He was getting filmed again. Damian stopped himself and remained silent. He didn't need more problems.

Fields, noticing that, kept pushing. "What's wrong? You scared?"

Damian signaled to Colin with his head for the two to get out since class was already over, "Let's go, Colin."

Colin nodded but before they could leave the room, a few of the goons blocked the exit.

"You know, I wonder..." Fields started to say. The kid truly had a death wish on him, "How does it feel to be practically another charity case? I mean, not even your mom wanted you, it's obvious your dad was left with the burden."

Deep breaths. Damian barely noticed his fingernails craving into his clenched fist when he responded, "My brothers were not charity cases. And I was never abandoned."

"So who's your mom, then? Why can't no one know about her?" 

Don't you dare bring my mother into this, he thought. “Knock it off, Fields, or I swear…”

Evans handed out his phone to Fields, probably to get a good video footage of the whole thing, "Ooh, let me guess! Your mom is just some golddigger broad your dad met at a party--!" 

And that was it. Evans was going to die, along with all his stupid friends. Damian lunged at him, ready to finish the job and actually break the whole arm - and his face too - this time, but Colin grabbed his arms from behind in almost a Full-Nelson lock to hold him back.

"Damian, stop, stop!" Colin shouted, not letting his friend do anything he would later regret. 

Having calmed down, but only slightly, Damian brusquely got out of Colin's armlock and recomposed himself.  

"Geez, you are a psycho." Evans said, then turned to his little buddy to take back his phone, "But that's some crazy content, Wayne. My hashtag is gonna explode now!"

"Gimme that!" Swiftly, Damian snatched the phone out of that retarded kid's hands and immediately deleted the video, refusing to make the same mistake as earlier. He threw the phone against the wall and was upset that it didn't shatter the screen so much.

"Hey, my phone!"

Ignoring everyone's shocked reaction, Damian and Colin rushed to leave. They were headed to the cafeteria, and the mood in the air was clearly tense.

None of them said a word, so Damian decided to break the silence, "That imbecile. He clearly hasn't learned his lesson."

Colin's frown grew wider and he was getting madder and madder. His skin was almost in that light gray tint again. Was he going to turn into something? 

"What's wrong?" Damian asked, noticing his friend's obvious mood. 

Colin stopped walking, looking somber all of a sudden. He turned back to him with fury in his eyes, "It's you, Damian! Stop fighting my fights! I was fine before you decided to tag along and play hero!"

"What are you talking about? I was just helping you, those same assholes have been torturing you for months!"

"Yeah, and things were fine before, weren't they? Now you got yourself into this whole mess because you couldn't mind your own business! But guess what, I don't need your help!"

Damian just stood there, not believing what he was hearing. How dared Colin act that way, that ungrateful brat! A part of him wanted to punch him, or at least shove him like those bullies did to him, but at the same time, he didn't want to inflict pain on someone he thought could be called a friend. But this only proved to him how no one should ever be trusted. 

Pushing Colin out of the way with his shoulder, Damian mumbled, "Fuck this," and went straight to the library to have lunch there instead. 

He didn’t need anyone. People, especially those dumb Neanderthals at the school, were nothing but a huge disappointment and a waste of space. Grandfather was right, the world should burn to the ground. But not just a portion of it, the whole thing. Fuck school, screw those kids. There was no reason why he should care about anyone. Even his siblings didn't truly care all that much about him, always making fun of him and calling him a demon brat, and both his parents disapproved of him. Father was too upset with his son's unfixable behavior and Mother probably wouldn't want him back, not that Damian wanted to rejoin the League of Assassins anyway, so fuck them too. 

Everyone on the planet sucked and the only person Damian could count on was himself. His pets too, but they aren't even people, so they don't count. There was nothing that Damian wanted more than to see the whole world explode. He tried the good student act, but that didn't even last for two days. Two. Father made a mistake in believing in him, there was no hope for him; He was a lost cause from the beginning. A weapon forged from birth who failed to accomplish what he was assigned to do. No wonder he died before, he was a broken weapon. Too weak. Pathetic. Heretic was the best version of him. 

Heretic. The mere thought of that fucking clone made his blood boil. Good thing Mother cut his head off, otherwise, Damian would've done that himself. How dared that damned clone kill those poor children at the hideout camp, terrorize abused victims and turn them into soldiers, then have the audacity to hurt Grayson and kill Damian? And all of this happened because Aunt Nyssa couldn't stop herself from creating a clone of her freaking nephew, who does that?

Hopefully Nyssa was in the deepest depths of Hell, she didn't deserve anything better. But if Nyssa was in Hell and someone was trying to free the Devil... Did that mean that once the Devil was freed, all the prisoners in Hell would be let loose too? No, Damian would not allow that. That woman and her clone creation deserved to suffer.  

Damian pulled out his phone again to text Emiko. "Have you left yet?"

10 long minutes later, Emiko responded, "It hasn't been a whole hour yet, chill! I'll text you when I'm there, deal?"

Her plan was going to backfire, Damian was sure of it. But forget her too, he didn't care anymore. If Emiko wanted to keep ignoring him and go with her flawed plan and get herself killed, that was on her. There was no way she would win against a genie that could make Djinn, as overpowered as she was, petrified from fear. Elias would absolutely destroy everything - and everyone - around him. Well, Damian tried. Ignoring his phone, he decided to focus his attention on his food, which he managed to hide so he wouldn't get kicked out of the library.

The room was perfectly quiet until a very pissy half-Kryptonian decided to barge in his direction and completely disrupt his peace.

"Not in the mood, Jon," Damian warned without meeting the half-alien in the eyes. 

"Hey, I know you're mad, but you gotta stop!" Jon slammed his hands on the table, which made the library worker shush at him. He then whispered angrily, "You always do this!"

"Do what?" Damian frowned, finally lifting his head to glare at those angry blue eyes.  

"This!" Jon said, emphasizing it with his hands as he gestured them in his friend's direction, "You push people away when you're having a hard time. When are you going to learn that you don't have to suffer alone when you're feeling bad? You have friends who care about you, Damian, I care about you!"

"Aren't you so thoughtful."

Jon got more annoyed, especially after that sarcastic remark. It was a little humorous to get him worked up like that. His attempt to patronize him was not going to work.

"Why are you like this?" The boy scout asked while still loudly whispering, "Do you know how bad Colin has been feeling this whole time? He keeps blaming himself for what happened to you when it's no one's fault but those bullies! And you giving us an attitude is not helping, he's been feeling miserable!"

Damian shrugged. "That's his choice to feel that way, isn't it?"

Okay, maybe pissing off Jon wasn't the smartest of ideas. He wasn't sure if he was imagining things, but a faint light of red surged in the younger boy's eyes as if he was going to laser beam him in broad daylight. "Why are you such a jerk?"

"And why can't you leave me alone?" Damian asked a little louder this time, getting the librarian's attention.

"Quiet down! And no food allowed here, you two have to leave!" The woman with glasses ordered, pointing down to the door. 

"Great," Damian mumbled, "See what you did? Hope you're happy now." Damian got all his stuff and was forced to finish his sandwich outside. 

Jon kept following him out of the library, so Damian snapped at him again, "I don't need your pathetic sympathy, Kent, much less your friendship!"

Jonathan abruptly stopped, looking incredibly distressed. Heartbroken, even. But his sadness quickly turned into anger, "Fine. Be alone, then."

"I will," Damian assured as he tossed his half-eaten sandwich into the trash. He wasn't that hungry anyway. 

Not caring about being absurdly early, the thirteen-year-old went straight to his next class and sat in the empty classroom, just waiting for the bell to ring. They were going to have a test, which Damian didn't study for, but there was no need. The boy stared at nothingness for a long minute before his phone buzzed. Thinking it was a new message from Emiko, he looked down, but it was just a TikTok notification instead. He completely forgot to turn off those dumb notices. He clicked on the app just to make the notification icon disappear, but the app notified him that a new video was uploaded to Evan's account. 

Concerned, he clicked on that kid's profile and immediately felt sick in the stomach. It was a video of him lunging at Evans with Colin having to hold him back to break off the fight. Everything they said was muted, except for the obnoxious rap music playing in the background. Damian was pissed, how could this have happened? He made sure to delete the video! He thought hard about the whole thing, replaying all his previous actions until it hit him; He forgot to delete the video under the Deleted Albums. And of course that asshole muted the whole thing, they were the ones saying shit about his mother, which would give everyone away that Evans and Fields were the real bullies, not him, but no one would believe him. 

The bell rang, and loud laughter could be heard outside the classroom, but that abruptly came to an end once a couple of students walked in and noticed Damian there, sitting alone in the dark like some freaking creep. The day couldn’t get any worse, now could it? Slowly but surely, the rest of the students arrived and settled down so they could all take the exam. Whatever adrenaline and energy Damian was having earlier that day was quickly dissipating as the test started. He could barely keep his eyes open and the sudden desire to give in to sleep began to consume him. It was so hard to focus and some of the questions had to be read a few times, and even on the third time it still didn't make much sense. 

It was just a science test, what was wrong with him? He knew all these things, this was child's play. But the exhaustion was getting to him, especially with how quiet the classroom was. At least the answers were in a multiple-choice format, so in the worst-case scenario, he could guess one of the answers, not that he would have to since the test was so insanely easy. As he read one of the questions intently, Damian dozed off but he forced himself to wake back up. He could do this. Something-something about weather, erosion, rock layers... All boring stuff, really. Damian yawned. He pushed himself to complete the whole thing but his phone started desperately beeping in vibrate mode.  

All the other students looked at him, and the teacher also laid his eyes on Damian, "No cell phones allowed, Mr. Wayne."

Damian mumbled, "Yes, sorry." 

His phone kept on vibrating, though, and Damian looked up and asked for permission to turn off his phone. His teacher nodded, and Damian was about to turn it off but was shocked to find out that the incessant ringing was a panic alarm from Emiko. She was in danger. There were also 5 unread messages that came in right when the test started. Screw this science exam, Damian had to go, he was running out of time. Why did Emiko have to be so stubborn? He knew this was going to be a suicide mission. Now he just wondered how he was going to make it to the warehouse in time to save her and without having any of his Robin gear.

Not bothering to answer the rest of his questions, Damian got up and ran to his teacher's desk, handing him the test. "Sorry, I have to go, it's an emergency. I need to call my father."

Surprised and not knowing what to say, the teacher replied, "Oh, uh, of course, um--" The man looked at the paper and noticed that half of the questions weren't even answered. "Are you sure you want to turn this in, I don't think you finished the test--"

The man was left speaking to the walls because the young teenager had already run back to his seat to grab his backpack and get out of there as soon as possible. Ten more minutes and everyone would be dismissed to go home anyway, so it didn't matter if he left class early during a test. Once he was in the hallway, Damian pulled out his phone again to check on his missed messages;

2:40 pm
Ok, I'm leaving now."   

3:05 pm
"I'm here. Just waiting for him."  

3:08 pm
"I see him."

3:12 pm
"It's him, Damian! It's Elias! I was right!"

3:15 pm
"K fine, ignore me."

And a few minutes after that, the panic signal went on. Damn it. All this happened right when he was taking that stupid test. He should've listened to Emiko and gone with her instead of wasting his time at school. Damian ran downstairs as fast as he could, skipping several steps, and he kept running down the end of the hall to get to the exit but a familiar face made him stop. The person was standing inside an empty classroom that was further away from all the other rooms. He took a few steps back to make sure he wasn't seeing things, but sure enough, there she was; His mother. Standing right in the center of this random classroom.

Confused, Damian opened the door, wondering why on earth his mother wanted to see him now of all times, "Mother?"

Talia simply stood there in front of him, stoic. She was wearing a white long dress with a slit revealing her thigh. Her presence was somewhat cold, which was a little concerning.

"Mother, why are you here?" Damian closed the heavy door behind him so they could be left alone but he wasn't going to waste much time there, he needed to leave.

"I just came to see you, my son."

Why did his mother have to always take so long to get to the point? He didn't have time for this. "I apologize, mother, but if you can't tell me what's wrong, then I'm leaving. There's a place I have to go."

"Damian, wait-!" The boy turned around to head out but the gentle touch of his mother's hand landed on his shoulder, making him turn to her, "There's something I must tell you."

Eager to listen to what she had to say, he stopped, looking intently at her. He was so happy to see his mother again, it was a shame their encounters always tended to be so brief. It would be so nice to have more time to spend with her. 

"What is it, mother?"

Talia placed both of her hands on her son's shoulders and squeezed them tightly. A little too tight, kind of hurting him. On the corner of his eye, Damian noticed Mother's jewelry, a golden bracelet that she has worn multiple times in the past, and two rather noticeable rings, one on the middle finger, and another on the ring finger. Both rings looked exactly the same with a big jewel in the center, but one was blue, while the other one was green. Strange. Mother never wore that type of jewelry, and those rings in particular looked extremely familiar...

They were like Djinn's ring. 

The same one, same style and shape, only with a different colored gemstone.

That was not his mother, it was Elias. 

Before that personification of Talia could say anything, Damian pushed her away so she would no longer touch his shoulders, "Get your filthy hands off of me! You're not my mother!" The boy then stood right in front of that shapeshifter with determination in his eyes, "I know it's you, Elias, I've been waiting for you. Now, show yourself!"

Talia gave a sinister smile and she shapeshifted into a dark-cloaked man wearing a scary-looking mask with horns and bright red eyes. Damian was facing the Shadow himself. The real Shadow. 

"I've been called by many names..." The sinister voice spoke. Something about his presence made Damian's skin crawl. "But Elias is not one of them. I've been referred to as the Shadow... Fatherless... But you can call me... Brother." The man said as he removed his mask with magic, revealing that same face that Damian had seen in his nightmares; His own, but in adult form. 

"Heretic??" Damian shouted while taking a few steps back until his back hit the wall behind him. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. "But you died! My mother told me! She beheaded you!"

"I am well aware of that... And sometimes I can still feel it... Have dreams about it..." Heretic said as he creepily stroke his own neck and walked closer to Damian, the same way he walked to him right before he executed him. 

That same pain in his chest came back to Damian at full force. His chest was getting tightened, so tightened it was almost hard to breathe. He could just feel it all over again, the sword stabbing through him, him being left to die at Grandfather's palace, the pool of blood forming around him. It was an excruciating pain, one he did not want to experience again... But no, this was not the time to dwell in his past and act like a coward. He was going to show Heretic that he was not to be messed with ever again. 

Refusing to run away, Damian immediately ran to one of the desks that were closest to him, and one-handed he launched himself off the desk into a kick against Heretic. "You should've stayed dead!"

"I could say the same about you." The clone deflected the kick with his arm, but the boy spun around for another kick. Heretic saw this coming and he blocked that as well, leaving himself wide open for Damian to strike him right in the jaw with his elbow.

A little dazed, Heretic charged at the smaller boy and grabbed him by the throat, lifting him up quite high just to chuck him into one of the desks. Damian groaned from the collision but he used his momentum to roll backward on a reverse somersault and then land a kick on Heretic, which he was counting to be blocked. As predicted, Heretic used his arms to deflect, allowing Damian to lunge forward with another kick to the man's gut. Heretic groaned from the impact, and the two rivals glared at each other as they repositioned into a fighting stance, ready to fight each other to the death. 

----

Meanwhile, Colin was walking around the hallway, having left just a few minutes early before the bell rang, and he was ready to go wait outside for his foster mom to pick him up when a strange noise caught his attention. It sounded like tables were being flipped, or something, it was weird. Colin ran towards the noise and opened the classroom door, stumbling across a grown-ass adult wearing a spooky Halloween cloak outfit holding a freaking desk above his head about to slam it down at Damian, who was on the ground, injured. His best friend was a little bruised, and his shirt was all wrinkled with a couple of scratches. 

"DAMIAN!" Colin yelled, desperately. If he didn't act fast, Damian would have a desk chucked at his head. 

Both the man and his friend looked at him from the other side of the room. Colin was still perplexed by the whole thing; What in the world was going on?? And who was trying to attack Damian? Once Colin took a good look at that monster's face, he realized that the man looked identical to Damian. Like, scary similar, but as an adult rather than an adolescent. Pushing his thoughts aside, Colin stared right at that--thing, that creepy Halloween dude. In return, the man menacingly glared right back at him, which brought him chills; Colin had seen that kind of look on a person's face before, he'd seen far too many horrible scumbags back in Gotham who loved to hurt kids like him. 

Taking advantage of the man's distraction, Damian rapidly kicked a desk into the man's legs, knocking him off balance and making him drop the desk off his hands. Colin was quite impressed by how agile Damian was, being so quick to get out of the way in time.

His friend got up and then shouted, "Colin, what do you think you're doing?? GET OUT OF HERE! NOW!"

Creepily, the scary guy summoned a knife out of nowhere and slowly walked in his direction like a predator. “Time to kill the witness…”

Boldly, Colin let the man come to him.  “You can certainly try!”

“COLIN!”

Catching everyone in the room by surprise, Colin turned. The young kid's face started to look deformed as it grew in size, along with the rest of his body. Veins were popping out all over his muscled arms and legs, similar to Bane, and the small boy quickly turned into this 7-foot giant, he looked massive. Even his usually pale skin looked different, with a light tint of gray, but his fiery red hair remained the same, just slightly messy now. His school uniform was all ripped, leaving only his pants, which now looked more like shorts with his huge size. The 'adult version' of Damian widened his eyes at him and took a couple of steps backward in complete shock. Without hesitating, Colin barged at him, going for a punch, but suddenly, the cloaked monster used some sort of telekinesis power to levitate a bunch of desks to throw at him.

Thanks to his super strength abilities, Colin was able to use his own arms to protect himself, and then his fists to break the desks that were flown his way in half. The super-powered villain kept chucking more and more desks at him, which Colin blocked. There was something strange about that man, Colin couldn't figure out at first if he was just fighting a meta-human or some sort of magician, but it had to be magic because he noticed that the evil man was wearing two rings, and one of them was shining like crazy each time the desks and chairs levitated. The ring was the key, so all Abuse had to do was to get close enough to twist the man's wrist and smash those magic rings. 

Colin tried to get closer but a bunch more chairs and desks kept being sent in his direction, forcing him to protect himself and deflect. He looked around the room to see where Damian had gone, hoping that he was at least hiding or planning to make an escape, but no, that crazy kid decided to appear behind the older man for a sneak attack, jumping at him. To Colin's horror, however, the evil monster used that opportunity to catch Damian by his arm, locking his arm and face in such a way that he had complete control of Damian's body, leaving no way of escaping. 

Brutally, the vile monster dislocated Damian’s shoulder, making him screech in pain, and proceeded to flip him around to slam his body into a desk. What was Damian doing in the first place, why didn't he run away like a normal person? Why did that kid have to be so stubborn and refuse to let Colin defend him for once? Colin had to do something, there was no way he would just watch his best friend, the only person who stood up for him and actually gave a damn, get hurt like that. 

"YOU'RE GONNA PAY FOR THIS!" Abuse shouted, aiming to land a perfect hook punch to the jaw, but the older man dodged, so Colin was left punching the air like the big idiot he felt he was. 

Damian tried to stand up, his arms trembling weakly, but his adult version came at him and flipped him around his back, dropping him into another desk. Damian was going to be down for good, there was blood stripping down his forehead, his cheeks were all bruised, and his shirt had a hole revealing a nasty scratch. Colin grabbed the teacher's desk to slam it right at the villain's face, but the man used his magic ring to make the table completely disappear. Abuse decided to go for more punches then, but all his moves were blocked.

"Too slow." Said the evil creature, summoning through his ring a large green ball of energy from the palm of his hand, blasting it at Abuse right in the chest, which sent him flying to the other side of the room. 

The collision was hard and all the desks around Abuse were now completely broken, even the floor was cracked a little. Fuming, Abuse took another desk and chucked it at that man the same way he was doing to him earlier, but thanks to that magic cheating ring, the desk materialized into dust. Colin was hating himself, more than normal, for failing his friend so miserably. The creepy man started walking back in Damian's direction, who was still groaning and struggling to even sit up.

Noticing that it was a lost battle, Damian panicked, looking right at Colin with pure despair in his eyes, "Colin, listen to me! Call Jon, tell him it's Heretic--"

"What are you talking about? We need to call the police!"

"No! Call Jon, he'll know what to-- AHHH!" Damian screamed as he was yanked from behind by his dislocated shoulder.  

"Time to go, little brother." The creature said as he held Damian by the shoulder.

Angrier than ever, Abuse clenched his fists hard and roared at that scum of the earth, ready to send a fatal blow, but right when his hand landed on the man's face, the mysterious creature disappeared into thin air, taking Damian with him.

"NO! DAMIAN!"

No. No, no, no, this couldn't be happening. It couldn't, they were right there, right in front of him. How was he not capable of fighting some random supervillain? What was wrong with him? He was supposed to be a hero, like the ones he grew up hearing about and praised, like the Justice League! That was the whole point of him being Abuse in the first place, to defend kids who couldn't defend themselves, to stand up for them, save them! But he couldn't even help his best friend at school against this... Thing. What did Damian say the man's name was again? Heretic? Tears started to stream down his face. What a pathetic failure he was. 

Slowly, his large body diminished in size, and he was consumed by shame. He was an idiot. A loser who couldn't even save his own friend, the same person who was willing to be ridiculed by the whole school just so that some bullies would leave Colin alone. The tears kept on coming and if Colin didn't control himself to hold it all in, he would start sobbing soon. Damian asked him to call Jon as his last request before being taken. It made absolutely no sense how involving their 10-year-old friend would even help, but Colin did as he was told. He pulled out his phone but before he even started to text Jon, a door was opened from behind him.

"No, dang it! I knew it wasn't in my head!" Jon thought out loud before realizing that he wasn't alone in the room; "Colin! Are you okay?" 

His friend came running to him with worry written all over his face. 

"Someone took Damian, Jon! He's been kidnapped!" Colin cried out, still unable to hold back his tears. 

Jon widened his bright blue eyes in horror, "What?" His concern suddenly turned into this terrifying anger, "Who did this?"

"I--I don't know. Damian said his name is Heretic."

Jon suddenly looked extremely pale, and Colin wondered if the kid was even breathing. "Are you sure of this? Did you see the person who took him?"

Colin nodded, timidly.

"What did he look like?"

"He, um... You're not gonna believe me, but, um... He looked like an adult version of Damian. Same face, features, but definitely an adult. But he was wearing this magic ring that gave him powers and-- I know this sounds ridiculous..."

There was no way anyone would ever believe him. Why would they, anyway? No one in his life ever cared about what he had to say, especially those abusive foster families he kept being forced to live with despite his pleas to the nuns to not let him go. Jonathan, however, did not laugh at him, nor make any dismissive comments toward him. The younger boy was dead serious, fully believing every word he had to say. 

"No, it doesn't. Have you not seen Metropolis?" Jon tried to tease.

Colin chuckled though, it helped calm his nerves a bit. "Yeah, true. So what are we gonna do now?"

"I'm gonna call my dad," Jon blurted out.

"Your dad? Isn't your dad a reporter? What is he gonna do? Damian asked me to not get the police involved for some reason..."

Jon's cheeks immediately went red from embarrassment, "Uh, ah, my dad is a close friend of Damian's dad! He's gonna talk to him, they'll know what to do!"

"Oh. That makes sense." Colin then looked away, still ashamed of himself, which Jon noticed. 

"What's wrong? You never told me if Heretic hurt you."

Colin shook his head, his eyes watering again, "No, I'm fine. I just-- Damian was kidnapped right in front of me, Jon. And I did nothing. I tried to stop him, but I just let him go--"

"Hey," Jon cut him off, not letting him finish his thoughts, "Don't blame yourself, this is not your fault. You did nothing wrong. You're actually really brave for fighting a guy with magic, and pretty crazy too, haha."

If Colin was just some normal kid, then sure, that would've been brave for him, but Jon had no clue he could turn into Abuse. Colin had literal superpowers and couldn't even land a single hit on that Heretic guy, he was nothing but pathetic. The real brave person was Damian, just a normal civilian who fought for his life but was still taken, and now he was going to be killed. Most kids Colin grew up with who were taken were either stuck with sex trafficking, working for mobsters, or ending up dead, except for when Batman came in and saved the day, but sadly, even he couldn't always save everyone. The system was really sneaky to hide all the crimes too, but it was nice to know there were heroes like Batman around. 

That gave Colin an idea, "Maybe Batman can save him!"

Jon looked extremely confused and his face went red again. What was it with that kid, why was he acting so weird? "Uh... What?"

"Yeah, Batman! He saves people! I know I've never told you this, but I was kidnapped in the past too, and Batman saved me. Maybe he can do the same for Damian! Or Superman! We're in Metropolis, right? I have no idea how we could ever stumble across any of these superheroes, but we can try! Shout for their names or something, I don't know!"

"Uhh..." Jon was acting all weird again, probably thinking Colin was just a freaking idiot, which he wasn't wrong. He should probably shut his mouth and stop coming up with ridiculous ideas from now on. 

Strangely, Jon perked up and looked to the side of the wall as if he had just seen, no, heard something. The kid kept leaning forward, slightly sticking out his ear as if he had some form of... Superhearing? Colin read too many Justice League stories, he had to stop getting his head in the clouds so dang often. 

He couldn't resist the urge to ask, though, "What's wrong?"

"You don't hear the helicopter? It's Alfred!"

Colin had to run extra fast to catch up to Jonathan who went running to the exit outside, where this insanely cool chopper was slowly landing on the grassed field. Jon would always tell him how awesome it was that Damian got to ride a helicopter to go to school, and he wasn't wrong. The only reason why Colin never got a chance to see it in person before was that he was too worried that his foster mom would be upset if he ever made her wait for him. Besides, Damian always tended to leave school precisely on time or a little late. Next to Jon, Colin watched the chopper coming down, both awed at how cool that was.

A nearly bald man dressed as a butler stepped out of the helicopter, pleased to see Jon. "Why, hello, young sir." He then frowned, quickly noticing how Damian was obviously nowhere to be found. "Where did Master Damian go?"

"Mr. Pennyworth!" Jon called in urgency, "Damian's been taken! It's Heretic, he's back!"

And that was all it needed to be said to make the butler completely paralyze, his face just as pale as Jon's at the mention of the name Heretic. 

Still stunned, the butler could barely say a word in response.

Chapter Text

***EARLIER***

Emiko arrived at the small abandoned warehouse in enough time to hide and wait before the delivery was made. She broke in through the window and jumped on the top of an 8-foot shelf, and she hid behind the crates. She could've climbed down a couple of shelves to be closer to the ground, but the higher the distance, the easier it would be to shoot her arrows from above. Discreetly, she pulled out her phone and messaged Damian like she promised she would to let him know that she was there. It was just a waiting game now until the bad guy arrived. Emiko was hoping that the delivery didn't get canceled, otherwise she was just wasting time there, but thankfully, a mysterious cloaked man appeared out of nowhere via teleportation. He went outside, by the entrance, to get the package that was left for him.

Emiko texted the Boy Wonder, "I see him."

The man was completely alone and he kept admiring the packaged box as if he was holding the most precious treasure there was. Based on the man's appearance, he matched exactly the descriptions of the Shadow. Dressed in a dark cloak, weird-looking mask with horns, and menacing red eyes. It seemed that he was using magic also because as he laid his hands on the package, a cloud of blue smoke came out of his palms. He closed his eyes and started inhaling the herbs, which were complete poison, but that clearly didn't seem to affect him. Emiko had to stop him and act quickly, but she was also curious to see what else she could find out.

The archer knew that the chances of her defeating a powerful genie were minuscule, so hopefully the arrows she brought with her would be enough, but in case she had to make an escape, she wouldn't be afraid to accept her limits and run away to get back up. Emiko also had the panic button on her phone and the boom tube watch with her, not that she would need it anyway, but if things got bad, she wouldn't hesitate to use them. The girl kept waiting and paying close attention to what the Shadow was planning to do. Could it be that he was going to start drawing a pentagon on the floor and attempt to free the Devil right then and there? He had everything he needed now, didn't he?

The girl looked down to double check if Damian had replied, but still nothing. It was whatever, she should probably not get distracted by a phone anyway, but still, that boy was so determined to be kept in the loop and now he decided to give her the silent treatment. Stupid. Not wanting to give away her position just yet, she kept waiting until the creepy guy finished worshipping that little pink herb of his. But then it happened; The man removed his mask so he could inhale the poison even more, while a giant blue smog formed around him. Emiko leaned in closer, eager to see who was the person behind the mask, and there he was: the Shadow was a genie. His skin was blue and there was this azure aura emanating from him with bright Arabic chants tattooed all over his hands and arms just like Djinn had it whenever she used her powers.

That was him, that was Elias, it had to be! Who else would have the exact features of a magical genie? It was strange though, Elias didn't have the appearance of an adult, he looked like a kid. A sixteen or seventeen-year-old kid with a silly spiky shaved haircut, commonly seen in teenagers, but Djinn said Elias was the oldest of the bunch. She remembered Djinn also mentioning that Elias existed before man walked this earth, and even then he still chose to look like some punk-rock teen, while Djinn opted to look like she was thirteen when she really was four thousand years old. 

Genies were weird.

Unable to contain her excitement, however, Emiko quickly texted Damian again, "It's him, Damian! It's Elias! I was right!"

The archer was very well hidden, and now she just had to find a way to trap Djinn's older brother and call for backup. Behind the crates still, she watched the genie mumble some enchantments, which was concerning. Nothing was drawn on the floor just yet, but she didn't want to wait until the whole spell was completed. Anxiously, she took another quick glance at her phone. Nothing. Come on, wasn't Damian eager to find out the truth too? He had been pestering her with messages all day long, why was he ignoring her now?

The spiky-haired genie, dressed in dark robes, still seemed pretty busy with whatever he was doing, but enough time had been wasted. Emiko wouldn't keep waiting for a stupid text to come, she needed to catch Elias and make him pay for hurting Djinn so much. Or maybe she should escape from the window instead, who knew what type of spell was being cast? She could be in serious danger.

Emiko sent out one last text before putting her phone away, "K fine, ignore me."

Then suddenly, a blue blast shot her away and all the crates surrounding her were destroyed, revealing her location. The genie was floating right in front of her, glaring at her with his menacing red eyes. 

"Looks like I have a visitor today." The Shadow-genie spoke, grinning. 

Not letting that intimidate her, Emiko was quick to draw her bow and fire her arrow immediately, counting on the genie to catch it with his hands, which he did.

"Hah! You think a silly arrow could hurt me?"

As soon as the genie caught the arrow, an explosive was activated, blowing up right in his face. 

"AGHHH!"

Smirking, Emiko shot another arrow, a flamethrower one, causing further damage. After the genie shouted in pain, he glared directly at the girl with fury exploding inside him. A blue plasma energy surged in his hands and he fired at Emiko, but she dodged by jumping down the shelves. If she went straight to the ground, she would've broken her ankle, so she hung onto one of the bottom shelves and used the momentum to jump and keep running behind the crates as the genie kept chasing her and blasting all the boxes around her. She reached into her quiver again, shooting more explosive arrows, which seemed to work. Thank goodness for Ollie's upgrades on the trick arrows and for all the training she had with the Titans because Djinn advised her that even genies can feel pain from fire.

Unfortunately, though, the genie disappeared and reappeared right in front of her, blasting her right in the chest. Emiko fell down to the floor from the bottom shelf, feeling a sharp pain from the hard collision. Thankfully, her suit was composed of kevlar-based material for situations exactly like these, but that didn't make the impact any painless. She got up, and the genie vanished and teleported back right behind her, but her assassin instincts kicked in and she immediately went for a throat strike, followed by a kick to his stomach, making the Shadow double over and cough in pain. Emiko ran a little further, giving herself enough distance to launch her final arrow, the one with the electricity net. But Elias seemed to panic and he started to flee. His legs turned into a puff of mist as he flew away from her.

"Come back here, you coward! Don't tell me the great Elias is scared of a mere human?" Emiko mocked, chasing the genie down with her bow and arrow. 

A part of her was enjoying this, she couldn't believe how she was able to put up a fight with a genie. Why was Djinn so terrified of the guy in the first place? He was just a punk kid with blue skin, there was nothing scary about him. The genie was flying away, dodging all the arrows shot his way. He kept fleeing until he went down this underground bunker but he then completely disappeared. Reaching for her quiver again, the girl went downstairs, but more cautious this time. It was too easy, she should've known better. Elias was playing games with her. She looked around, searching the entire perimeter for that damn genie. Where did he go?

She kept searching. All the walls downstairs were made of metal, and the whole place looked like a trap. But she was ready for him, she wouldn't fall for any of his tricks. Knowing full well of the risk she was taking, the archer proceeded. It took two long minutes until she caught sight of the genie, who was standing next to a large computer on the other side of the room. He seemed to be typing something. Strike first, ask questions later was what Simon taught her.

Emiko closed one of her eyes as she precisely aimed at Elias from a far distance, and she shot the special arrow that released a powerful electricity net that was capable of stunning most victims, including magic ones. The genie was caught by the net and he screamed in pain from the waves of electricity being fired into his skin. Emiko slowly walked towards him, drawing her bow. She did not like how easily he had gone down at all, so she kept her distance, remaining extremely vigilant for any possible sneak attack. 

"I caught you, Elias. Stay right where you are." Better make him think that Emiko was confident about herself. Good thing the genie couldn't sense how nervous she was feeling about the whole thing. 

Elias kept yelping in pain, however. "You... Little--"

Emiko held her bow and arrow tightly as she aimed at him. "I won't let you summon the Devil or free him, or whatever sick scheme you're planning on doing! You won't hurt anyone else, genie."

The young archer kept standing in front of the fallen genie, but something strange started to happen; Her bow was suddenly extremely heavy. It was so hard to pull on the string of her bow, the strength in her arms was failing her. She noticed her heart beating extra fast too as if it was fighting for dear life just to keep pumping enough blood around her body. And it was getting so hot, why was it so hot? Her clothes were constricting her, her neck felt tightened like someone was choking her. Emiko started to sweat and she was struggling to breathe. Was it just in her head or was the room spinning too?

No! Damn it, that was the trap, Elias was creating an illusion as his last resort to catch her. But it felt so real! Emiko tried to fight it, but her hands kept shaking, her bow had never been this heavy before. She couldn't take it any longer. She was going to collapse. 

Out of nowhere, the real Elias appeared right behind her with a sinister grin on his face. "You fell for my trick." 

With an energy blast, Elias sent the girl flying, trapping her in a cage made of iron that sprang up from underneath the ground. Meanwhile, the seemingly trapped genie poofed out of the air, proving to be an illusion the whole time. 

"Heh. You truly are stupid. Heretic was right about you." Elias sneered, no longer wearing his cloak attire and turning into this swirl of smoke, leaving only his exposed blue-skinned chest with Arabic tattooed chants lighting up all over his body.

"H-Heretic..? Who--" Emiko weakly asked, having to fight to even keep her eyes open.

"He's my new master now. And I'm not Elias, my name is Zavant. You must have met my sister. Say hi to her for me, will ya? When you meet her in the afterlife. I miss her."

"W-what... Are you... Talking about...?" The room was spinning so much that it almost made Emiko puke. Her face felt warm and she was pretty sure she was feeling feverish too.

"Heretic only needs Elias and Djinn to complete the final spell, and then the Devil shall be free. In exchange, I will be granted my so desired freedom. My sweet sister won't be so lucky to meet the same fate as me... But a small price to pay for freedom." 

"You... How could you?" Emiko mustered to shout, struggling to get up. "Djinn cares about you! She's been worried about you, she-- Nghn..."

Crap, she was going to die in here. Emiko reached for her Boom Tube watch, but sadly that got destroyed by the blast. 

"My Master dictates the rules, not me. If his desire is to have my sister killed, then so be it. If it was up to me, I would never do this to her. But rules are rules... At least I will be free soon."

"Agh--" Emiko groaned, still trying her hardest to be able to breathe. "What did you do to me?"

"Oh, that's the Pink Nightshade! You've been inhaling it since you came down here, I enchanted this whole place. Now, I must go back to my Master. Goodbye, archer girl."

"No..."

And like that, the genie vanished. Emiko had been fooled all along, how could've she been so stupid? Her consciousness was soon going to leave her, the venom from the herbs definitely making its way through her body. Right before she fainted, however, Emiko mustered all the strength she had to reach for her phone and hit the panic button. 

Shortly after that, everything went black.

****

The air was cold and the room was completely dark. 

Damian slowly awakened from his groggy state, instantly feeling an unbearable pain in his shoulder the second he regained consciousness. He couldn't move his shoulder, and it hurt so much that even his neck was feeling numb. He was also tied to an uncomfortable metal chair by some kind of glowing green chains, probably conjured by magic, and his hands were tied behind his back in a painful twisted grip, wrist across wrist. More glowy chains were tied along his ankles, chest, his entire being. It was suffocating.

It was practically impossible to see anything also; The whole room was terrifyingly dark, threatening to swallow him whole. Uncertainty raced through Damian's mind, his heart pounding faster. What he would give to have his Robin mask with the night vision feature right about now... But his focus needed to switch to his surroundings, he needed to study it, feel the floor, the room, anything. There was a little bit of light behind him that brought him some hope and made the room not look so pitch black. Damian turned his head and was able to see this giant glassed turret clock that did not seem to be working. Okay, so he was probably inside a clock tower. An abandoned one, but that was fine. 

The boy seemed to be alone for now, so he needed to get out, fast. But those damned chains wouldn't even move. Normal shackles were already hard to get out of, but magic ones? Damian was going to be seated there for a while. He was probably in Gotham since there were no clock towers in Metropolis, and judging from the broken clock, he was most likely inside one of the abandoned buildings closer to the pier, so at least he had an idea of where he was now. The problem was getting in touch with someone to inform them of that. There were no comms on him, no gadgets, no mask, nothing. Just a stupid school uniform filled with scratches, holes, and the kind of wrinkles that would give Pennyworth nightmares. 

The small boy's body shivered from the coldness in the air. It was too bad he left his blazer at school after he started fighting his clone. The adrenaline made him all hot and sweaty then, but now he was desperately cold, and even though his shirt was long-sleeved, he was still freezing. His stomach was growling too, and Damian regretted tossing his sandwich in the trash when he was arguing with Jon. If he had slept more and eaten like a normal person that day, he wouldn't be feeling like garbage right now. The boy's gaze wandered down, and a sinking feeling began to settle in as an overwhelming sense of shame took over him. Heretic, his executioner, had caught him. And he had lost a fight to his clone again.

The pain in the shoulder no longer seemed predominant, and it started being replaced by the sensation of his body being impaled by a sword once more. Damian was going to die the same way and by the same person who ended his life in the past. Stupid, he needed to push those intrusive thoughts away, they were futile. The boy snapped back to reality, trying to come up with ways to escape. There had to be something. Before Damian could think of a plan, the door was opened slowly with a loud creak, and a large figure creepily walked in his direction, sending chills down his spine.

It was Heretic.

Refusing defeat, Damian shouted at the man, "Release me, Heretic!"

The adult clone, in his Shadow attire but without the mask, simply stood in front of him with his arms behind his back.

"Hello, brother. I've been waiting a long time for this moment."

"What do you want from me? If you want to kill me again, then do it already!" Damian wasn't sure what in the world he was doing, he probably shouldn't have started with a threat like that, not if he wanted to stay alive. But he wasn't thinking straight, his body was still exhausted from the lack of sleep and hunger. 

"I want you to suffer," Heretic confessed, darkly, "Do you know why I chose to go by the name 'Shadow'? Because I'm nothing but a shadow to you, Damian. Always beneath you, an existence created after your image but with no real memories, nothing to claim as mine. Tired of always being second to you, with no identity to hang onto, I decided to follow you instead, standing right behind you like a true Shadow. So I can then take your place and eliminate you permanently this time."

Heretic paused before continuing, "After all, I am the better weapon. The one Mother should've loved the most."

"You're sick." Damian spat, "Instead of coming after me, you should focus on your actual enemies. Mother was not the one who betrayed you, Heretic, it was Nyssa. It was always her."

"Aunt Nyssa is my creator." The clone responded, "I owe her my life. Our mother, Talia, is my true enemy. She deserves nothing but pain."

Damian clenched his teeth in anger. He hated how Heretic insisted on referring to himself as the son of Talia and Nyssa's nephew. They were not his family and were never going to be!

"Yeah, well, I suppose some things never change. Who brought you back?"

Heretic simply stared at the smaller boy, intrigued, but he remained silent.

"Who brought you back to life, Heretic? How are you even alive?"

The larger man contemplated if he should keep the boy out of the loop for the fun of it, but he decided just to tell him instead, "Tamir brought me back."

Tamir? Who was Tamir again? Damian thought deeply until he remembered that Tamir was none else than the man who had betrayed Grandfather and helped Aunt Nyssa form the Leviathan organization. And to think that Mother almost killed that same man before... Damian regretted stopping his mother, it would've prevented a lot of problems. 

"How?" Damian asked, confused, "My mother beheaded you, it's impossible to bring you back by the Lazarus Pit with your head cut off!"

Heretic stood there, emotionless, but at least he was decent enough to clarify things for him, "I know, which is why a much higher power was needed in order to raise me from the dead... Only that the power didn't come from above; It came from Hell."

A power from Hell?!

Damian had to ask, "Did Tamir make a deal with the devil just to bring you back?"

The clone nodded. 

"But why would Tamir bother with that? Why would he care about you in the first place?"

"SHUT UP!"

Damian must have hit a wound because Heretic was infuriated and he punched him in the face, making the boy spit some blood. 

Heretic straightened himself, "Tamir is helping me. The Devil brought me back from the dead, but with a flawed, decayed body. I am going to die soon. But Tamir promised to grant me back my life... A real life this time. In return, I promised him I would assist him with whatever he needed."

Damian stared right into the green eyes that were identical to his, "Is... Nyssa back too?"

Not that Heretic's return wasn't terrifying enough, but the mere thought of Nyssa being back made Damian's skin crawl. That woman not only created an entire terrorist organization, but she was also the one who put a bullet in Mother's head. Damian wished with all his might that Nyssa would stay stuck in Hell.

Heretic shook his head after making Damian wait a long minute for an answer. 

"She's not?" Damian asked again to be sure. Hopefully, Heretic wasn't lying. 

"No, but she will be back to us in due time. But for now... I shall destroy everything you hold dear. Starting with the Titans."

Damian clenched his jaw again, unable to contain his anger. He was never able to save Emiko in the end, and it was his fault that she was in danger. Uselessly, he fought to get out of his chains but that only made the enchanted chains against his chest tighten painfully more.

The boy roared, "What did you do to Red Arrow?"  

"Tt. You should be more concerned about your dear friend Djinn instead. She's been the missing piece all along."

"Leave her out of this! I see you got yourself a couple of genies already, leave her alone!"

Heretic studied his own hand, admiring the two bright rings he was wearing; The one with a blue gemstone and the other with a green one in the center. "So you noticed the rings... It took me months to find them but I was finally able to capture these faithful genies after I killed their previous master. But even with their power, it still wasn't strong enough to free the Devil. I need more magic, I need the whole family. And once I have Djinn, it'll be a matter of seconds until Elias comes running for her."

Damian scoffed, "Good luck with that. You won't win against Elias, even if you have two of his brothers helping you. He'll still kick your ass."

"Who said I'll be fighting him? I want Elias to join me for this greater purpose. In return, I shall grant him what he desires most; His family ring collection, complete. He has his brother Alizar with him, and I have two of his other brothers. Djinn is the last one."

So that was the plan all along? To collect the five genies, free the Devil as part of the deal for bringing Heretic back, then let Elias torture his siblings for eternity while the Devil was let loose? That sounded horrible.

"I think offering Elias freedom would make a much more appealing deal," Damian suggested out of mockery. Anything to keep Heretic from hurting all of his friends. He was still worried about Emiko, that damn clone never bothered to tell him what happened to her. 

"The Devil doesn't have access to the Stone of Souls, it's a Heavenly power only. But I'm sure that enslaving all four of his siblings will suffice. Elias won't be difficult to persuade."

If only those chains weren't so tight and didn't hurt so much. The boy could feel his nerves running wild, pulse thrumming each time he uselessly pulled against the chains. His stomach was empty, his bad shoulder was hurting miserably, and he knew that he wasn't getting out of there anytime soon. Damian hated to accept defeat, but at this point, his best bet for freedom was for someone to find him. He wondered if Colin was able to explain things to Jon, and if Jon even remembered who Heretic was, it had been such a long time since Damian told him about the clone... He typically kept his past to himself but the conversation came up one of the times he stayed at Jon's house and they were both staying up ridiculously late as they talked about the deepest and most random of things.

Jon probably forgot about that conversation or maybe he didn't care so much. Damian was a shitty friend to him anyways, why even bother? But no, Jon was better than this. That foolish kid would save even the worst villain there was, so lending a quick hand to Damian wouldn't be the worst thing for him, especially at a pressing time like this. Besides, they still needed to save Emiko, and the rest of the Titans were in danger. 

Almost as if Heretic could read his mind about his concern with his teammates, he spoke up again, "You truly care about these people in this team of yours, don't you? Your so-called friends... I was hoping for that. Hence the trap I specifically created to eliminate each one of the Teen Titans. Starting with Emiko. But I must thank you for involving her in this, you made things much easier for me. Her coming for me alone was exactly what I needed."

"You scum!" Damian hissed, "What did you do to her?"

"How about I show you?" Heretic raised his fist in the air, summoning a genie from his blue ring. 

A blue-skinned genie appeared. His eyes were red, he had funny-looking spiky dark hair and he looked like a teenager, similar to Djinn, but slightly older. His torso was exposed but his lower half was in the form of mist as if he was floating on a cloud. 

"Zavant, show us Emiko's status." Heretic ordered. 

The blue genie, Zavant, formed a blue energy ball with his hands until it turned into a mirror made of mist. In the mirror, Damian could see Emiko trapped inside an iron cage completely unconscious. Her skin looked pale and she barely looked like she was breathing. If she was not dead yet, it wouldn't take long until life left her. 

Fright started to crawl over Damian's skin, his chest never felt so tightened, but not by the chains this time, by the steering fear of losing his friend. The whole thing was a ruse, Jon would be looking for ways to find Damian when he should be saving the Titans instead. And with Emiko's panic alarm, now the whole team was going to meet their deaths. Knowing himself and Heretic, the traps would be deadly and perfectly executed, with backup plans for everything also. 

As he stubbornly tried to worm his way out of those damned chains, Damian spat, "Leave my team alone, Heretic! It's me who you have a problem with, not them!"

"You are correct, Brother. You are a problem to me, a problem I must fix. You keep looking at me as if I was a monster, but in reality, there is nothing that sets us apart; We're the same. Now, it's time to awaken those dormant assassin instincts of yours and help you see who you truly are. Repeat after me, brother: 'I am an Al Ghul.'

What was Heretic getting at now? Since when did he care about any of these things, didn't he want to just replace him? The man probably spent too much time watching Nyssa torture children in her spare time back when she was alive. That or Heretic wanted to change things around for a bit and get a rise out of Damian since he knew how much the boy despised being referred to as anything that reminded him of Grandfather.

Defiant, Damian remained silent.

Heretic scowled, "I said, repeat after me: I am an al Ghul"

Damian just stared at the man but the enchanted green chains around him started to glow, turning into a massive shockwave that sent electricity to his skull, almost. The electric shock was painful, and it sent his blood running in a rush. Damian kept his mouth shut, refusing to show any signs of pain or struggle, but he had to grit his teeth to do so. Why Heretic bothered to stem so low to amuse himself with an electroshock therapy was beyond him. As if being tied to a chair by freaking magic after having his body slammed into a desk a bunch of times wasn't enough. Damian's migraine from the earlier fight at school, combined with his hunger, only intensified as the static hit him. 

Finally, the electric shock stopped. However, Heretic still wasn't satisfied.

"SAY IT!" Heretic roared.

"Make me!"

Chapter Text

11:40 am

It was Friday at last, and Bart couldn't be happier. Not that he had much to worry about during the weekdays, but everyone was so much happier over the weekends, it was a nice change of pace compared to all the deaths and destruction Bart was used to seeing where he comes from. No one in this timeline knew his true motives for staying here, and Bart even had to lie to Wally and his grandparents that if he was sent back to his original timeline, he would keep aging so fast that he would probably die in a matter of months, whereas this timeline allowed him to stabilize his age. Not a whole lie but it wasn't the full truth either.

Once Bart found out how to control his speed to age normally, he could keep it up and easily return to the 30th century. The truth was that Bart was here to save Grandpa Barry's life. The future without him was catastrophic... Bart's dad and aunt, the Tornado Twins, along with the rise of other villains, were some of the main reasons why the 30th century was as apocalyptic as it was, all thanks to Eobard Thawne's influence in corrupting his family. If only that man stopped messing with the timeline so much.

So now Bart was stuck here, just waiting for a big crisis to happen, not that it would come anytime soon since Grandma Iris wasn't even pregnant yet, but Bart didn't mind the wait. He enjoyed spending time with Wally, seeing Grandma Iris smile, and getting to know Grandpa Barry. It was nice. All in all, time travel was still crash. The only problem was that everything moved so. Slow. Awfully, boringly slow. And today, of all days, right on a Friday, everyone decided to be super busy. Stupid.

It was still 11:40 am and Bart didn't know how to fix his boredom, so he started playing video games in the living room. He had already spent the early morning helping Wally back at Keystone City, but then Wally had to go to work, leaving Bart all alone, so the young speedster decided to go to Italy to people-watch in the streets of Rome just cuz. The gelato was great. He scared away a few pigeons too, that was fun. Out of boredom, he speed-counted to see how many coins were tossed into the Trevi Fountain just to see if his guess was right. But he totally did not go all the way to Bristol, knocking on Tim's door a thousand times at super speed just to ask the good ol' Red Robin how many coins he thought would be in the fountain.

Yeah. He would never do that to a friend.

...Except that he did, but it was just a lame excuse to see his friend, there was nothing wrong with that! Tim didn't seem to agree, though, the look of pure hatred on that sleep-deprived kid's face was enough to let Bart know that he was not invited to come over. Like, ever. Never again in a million years. Well, Bart tried. The whole thing was Dick's fault really, for encouraging him to visit Tim more often. Although... Maybe Bart should've waited to stop by a little later rather than showing up at his friend's door at 7:20 in the morning. Oh, well. Live and learn.

It just sucked how everyone around him was busy with something else; Wally had work, Dick was also working, Tim clearly did not want to be disturbed, especially after today, Kon was doing his thing too, and everyone in the Teen Titans had school. Everyone except for Djinn, but she barely spoke, and honestly, Bart didn't know much about her. Genie powers were schway and all, but Bart was always more of a science guy himself, so he had no idea of what Djinn was capable of and what she even did for fun outside of meditating. Ugh, meditating.

The mere thought of sitting still sent chills down Bart's spine. Stopping for one second, being left alone with his thoughts?! No, thank you. Bart looked up at the clock, wondering if he should bug Starfire, as he always did, but he figured it would be best to not bother her since she had been acting a little moody and emotional for no apparent reason lately.

11:41 am

Goodness, could time go any slower? This was torture!

Bart kept occupying himself with his video games when a very stressed out Jaime barged out of his bedroom.

Without bothering to hit 'pause', Bart zapped right to where Jaime was standing, greeting his buddy in his normal hyperactive self, "Yo! BBeatle, the Beatle, the man, the myth, what's up!"

"Not now, Bart." Jaime pushed Bart's shoulder to get him out of the way.

His friend was clearly distressed as he looked around the room, searching for something.

Running up to each and every location Jaime set foot on, Bart asked, "Watcha looking for?"

The constant running probably made his friend more pissed because he snapped, "Dude, stop it! I'm in a hurry!"

Hah, hurry. Now, that was a fun word. How could Bart ever live in a world of 'hurry' when everything around him moved slower than molasses most of the time?

"Hurry for what?" Bart asked, curious.

"I told you, today is my SAT test, Bart! I have to be there in 10 minutes!" Extendable claws appeared from Jaime's back as he tore down the living room, removing all the couch cushions and emptying out the blanket basket by the TV stand as he angrily searched the entire living room for whatever it was that he needed to find.

"Ooh, the SAT, that's right! It's funny that you guys call it SAT over here, back where I come from we have a thing called Xcel, which is pronounced 'Excel', like that retro Microsoft spreadsheet you guys have, man is that thing old or what! But anyway, I don't know why they wouldn't put the E in front of the Xcel--" Bart didn't even realize how fast he was speaking, and his side tangents only made Jaime more annoyed.

Jaime yelled at him, "Dios mío, ya cállate!"

Oh. Jaime was angry-Spanish talking again. The grumpy kid moved now to the kitchen, opening each and every one of the drawers. Bart quickly appeared in the kitchen, watching the whole thing, but he remembered about his game, so he ran back to the living room to make his character jump to the other side of the map without getting hit by the bullets, just in time to stand back to Jaime's side in the kitchen. 

"I see you still haven't found whatever it is you're looking for," Bart noted, watching Jaime also tear down the kitchen with his claws. 

"Ugh, I'm looking for my wallet, I can't find it anywhere!"

Bart overheard some steps and Starfire suddenly walked into the kitchen in a rushed tone of voice, "Jaime, I found it! You left your wallet in the computer room, oh--" Kory was quite shocked once she saw all the chaos caused by Jaime. The whole place looked like a disaster. 

"Kory, thank you!" Jaime took his wallet, his claws going away, and he gave Starfire the biggest hug in gratitude. He pulled away from the hug afterward and looked behind him, embarrassed about what he did. "Um, sorry about the... Mess."

"Hey, it's ok, I can clean it up!" Bart happily offered, pointing to himself with his thumb.

Before Kory or Jaime could say anything, Bart zapped to the living room, putting away all the clutter, and he organized the entire place, including the kitchen, in less than one second.

"Ta-da!" Bart sang as he ran back to them.

"That was very nice of you, Bart, thank you!" Kory sweetly touched Bart's shoulder.

Bart then turned to his friend, "Do you want me to take you to the testing center since you're late?" 

Jaime looked hesitant at first, "...Yeah, that'd be great. Sorry for being an ass earlier."

"Don't sweat it, amigo! Let's do this."

In a blink of an eye, Bart and Jaime appeared right in front of the testing center, after Bart looked up the location while everything was in slow motion for him, of course. Jaime could barely believe that he made it to the testing center in time, he seemed beyond grateful.

"Wow, thanks for taking me here, Bart! I appreciate it." Jaime smiled for real this time, but he then frowned as the Scarab started chirping something to him that Bart couldn't understand. "No, I am not cheating! I don't need your help, leave me alone!"

Heh, Jaime arguing with himself again. That never ceased to amuse Bart, his friend looked so weird doing that.

The young speedster teased, "You might want to avoid talking to yourself like that if you don't want people looking at you all funny." 

"Ugh, I know. The Scarab wants to give me all the answers, but I wanna do this on my own, I don't want his help. Hopefully I can get a good score today, my dad keeps telling me I should go to Ivy University."

"But that's far away from the tower!" 

"Meh, I can always fly down to the tower, no big deal. Besides, I turn 18 next year, not sure if I want to be a Titan still. I'll probably do my own thing then."

Bart looked down, upset. Another friend moving away and practically retiring or playing solo. When were his friends going to stop abandoning him like that? He still had years until a big crisis shattered this universe.

Jaime seemed to catch his friend's sudden saddened mood when he said, "Hey, don't be upset, Bart. We're still Titans, alright?"

The speedster gave him a faint smile, "Yeah, that's right. Good luck with your test!"

"Thanks!" Jaime waved as he joined the crowd who were lining up to take the test inside. 

Bart went back to the tower, still wondering what to do.

3:20 pm

An alarm went off, echoing down the halls and causing the young speedster to bolt upright with a startled yell. Bart didn't even remember falling asleep on the couch from that boring movie he was watching earlier, but there he was, being awakened by all these alarms, the TV screen beeping at him with a big red panic signal in it. A little disoriented, Bart suited up and then ran to the other rooms to get the team gathered, but there was no one home. Not a single person. 

Concerned, the speedster searched the entire tower from top to bottom, also checking the cameras in the computer room, but nope, still nothing. He was all alone. Bart pulled out his Titan communicator to check the coordinates, and the panic signal was coming from Red Arrow, who was located at an abandoned warehouse not too far away from the tower. Emiko was in danger. Not wanting to wait for anyone any longer, Bart went straight to the warehouse to rescue his friend. 

Once inside the warehouse, Impulse noticed there was no one there either, which made no sense since the GPS literally took him there. In less than two long seconds, Bart combed every inch of that building. He saw the destroyed crates on the shelves, a clear sign that a fight happened right there, but then he came across an underground bunker, so he rushed down there. He opened a large, heavy door, then ran downstairs quickly, passing into a long hallway where there was another metal door at the end. 

Instinctively, Bart tried to phase through the door, but his powers didn't work. Odd. Bart tried again, but each time he attempted to phase, nothing happened; He couldn't get in. Impulse analyzed the big metal door again, trying to understand what was happening, and on the side of the door, there was a little keypad. The speedster figured that the only way to get inside would be to phase his hand through the security panel to short-circuit the system.

His hand was phasing at an incredible speed inside the keypad, but suddenly, a sharp pain hit him as if someone was pinching his wrist. Impulse brought his hand closer to him just to realize that a metal bracelet was clamped into his wrist. Quickly, Bart phased his wrist again to get rid of the bracelet but doing so only activated a countdown. Panicking, Impulse stopped moving, but that made the bracelet shoot a very painful electric shock into his body. Ok, so that was not crash. At all. The metal door didn't even open either, and now Bart had pretty much a bomb attached to his wrist that would also electrocute him anytime he stopped moving. Greeat.

Wally would probably know what to do in a situation like this, so Bart needed to go to Keystone, fast. Before he turned to leave, however, Bart heard a door closing behind him. Impulse ran upstairs, checking the door that just closed and that he wasn't paying attention to, and he tried phasing, but nothing happened. His speed powers were useless, and the more time he spent there, stuck between the two doors by each end of the stairs, the more anxious he got. He didn't even know if this was in his head as well, but his airway started feeling somewhat constricting, and the constant vibration of his right hand made him more and more tired. The young speedster sent out a message from the communicator in hopes that his team would hurry up and get there soon. 

****

Starfire and Djinn were standing in a line at a clothing store when they heard the panic signal from their Titan communicators. Dropping everything, Kory and Djinn left, but not until Kory handed all her shopping bags over to the lady who was standing in front of them in the line. 

"Here, can you hold this for me? Thank you!" And like that, without giving any explanation, they ran, leaving the customer at the store extremely confused.

Once the girls were out of the store, Djinn morphed them back into their normal selves with their hero attires, and she teleported them right to the warehouse.

Meanwhile, Jaime was all done with his test and he was just talking to a couple of kids his age outside the testing center. It was nice feeling like a normal person for once, but of course his Titan communicator had to beep with not just one panic alarm, but two. 

"Sorry, I gotta go--!" In a rush, Jaime ran as fast as he could until he was in a safe enough place to turn into Blue Beetle so he could fly to the place where his friends were in danger. 

****

Jaime met with the rest of the Teen Titans and apparently, he was the last one to arrive. Starfire and Djinn were both standing next to a huge metal door, and Djinn was the first to say something; 

"Impulse is inside," Djinn pointed to the door. 

And sure enough, there he was; Impulse, shouting from the other side of the metal door: "Guys, guys, I'm stuck here!"

"Impulse, hang in there, buddy!" Jaime shouted, concerned. He stood in front of the door and activated one of his huge missiles, blowing up the door. 

The only problem was that the door was completely intact. Not a single scratch, nothing. 

Confused, Starfire blasted at the door also, but having the same results.

Djinn touched the metal door and looked up, worried, "Oh, no, this is what I was afraid of... This door is sealed with powerful magic, one that belongs to one of my brothers... The only way to get through is by casting a spell to break the barrier."

"Okay," Jaime started, processing the whole thing, "Go ahead."

The genie took a few steps back, hesitant. "This... This is exactly the kind of magic that would allow Elias to track me..."

"Then we find another way," Starfire assured as she placed her hand on Djinn's shoulder. 

Djinn shook her head before staring at the door again, "No, it's okay. I can do this."

"But Djinn--"

Without letting Kory finish, Djinn placed both hands against the enchanted door and started muttering something that no one could understand. Djinn's pupils were gone and her entire body began to glow, with her Arabic chants tattooed on her arms and legs glowing in purple also. A powerful energy ball surged in Djinn's hands, and she fired it against the wall, which in turn invoked a huge wave that wooshed all of them as the magic barrier from the door was released. 

A mirror made out of mist flew in the air as Damian watched, in horror, an entire warehouse facility collapse on top of his friends as the bomb went off.

"NO! Damn you, Heretic! Damn you!" The thirteen-year-old forced another lunging struggle against his chains, with tears in his eyes. 

Heretic stood still, “I’m actually a bit impressed with your team. Had they jumped the gun and destroyed the speedster’s bracelet when they first saw him, it would've activated the countdown connected to the secret bomb I placed at the warehouse. Just how aunt Nyssa did it last time, remember?"

Damian refused to acknowledge him, so the clone continued, "The destruction of the warehouse would've resulted in the archer's demise. The other Titans would've survived, but they would be down one member; Well, two if I include you once I'm finished with you. But they chose to move forward together instead, disabling the bracelet only after Emiko was safe. Quite noble of them, but highly predictable. Now, I must say, that speedster has quite the stamina--"

Damian looked up with fury in his eyes, "I'm going to kill you!"

"I just wanted to congratulate you, brother." Heretic said, ignoring the tied-up boy completely, "You did well with them. Or perhaps I should congratulate the alien instead? She cultivated quite a decent team. It's just too bad they had to go so soon."

Outraged, Damian yelled, "SCREW YOU, HERETIC! RELEASE ME AT ONCE SO I CAN KILL YOU WITH MY OWN HANDS!"

"Ah, see? I'm glad you're seeing things with my own eyes now. Determining people's fates through execution. It's what we do, isn't it, Brother? 

"STOP CALLING ME THAT! I am not your brother!"

"You're not just my brother; You're my equal, Damian. But only one of us shall prevail." Heretic snapped his finger, making the chains disappear. He pulled out a sword and tossed it to Damian, who caught it with his good hand. "Now, we shall finish our war once and for all."

Damian held tight to his sword while Heretic did the same with his, but the boy scoffed, "Tt, so now you decide to fight me after you dislocated my shoulder and electrocuted me. How brave of you."

Heretic raised his sword, similar to how he did when he killed Damian before, with the exception that the clone was aiming to stab downward instead. But for the first time, Damian did not feel fear. He was witnessing the same scene with the same person who took his last breath, but even that wasn't enough to intimidate him;

This time, Damian's soul was fueled by vengeance.

And he was going to kill Heretic. 

The two lunged at each other, Damian struggling since his sword was quite heavy and not meant to use one-handed. His approach was to keep dodging instead, just waiting for an open opportunity to slash Heretic on the sides. Despite all the pain he was put through, Damian was still standing and he was agile enough to move out of the way, letting the adrenaline and rage coursing through his body dictate his actions. 

"I only wish it was Mother killing you instead of me." Spoke Heretic, coldly, as he attempted to stab downward again, "Only then you would know what it feels like to be rejected like me!" 

Damian kept dodging until his waste got hit, and he started bleeding. Heretic started to slowly walk toward him just as a predator would do to its prey. Damian was probably going to die, but at least he would die fighting. Just like last time.

Heretic raised his sword again, content that he had won once again when a door opened at them.

A teenage girl with a scar over her right eye and dark hair with a streak of red walked in, distracted, "Let's go, Heretic. Now it's our chance to steal Djinn's ring without anyone noticing--" The girl looked up and froze in complete disbelief at what she was witnessing.

Damian slowly stepped aside to be further away from Heretic's reach when he turned to his cousin, "Mara?"

It took Mara a millisecond to process what was going on, "Heretic, what the hell?! Tamir told you to leave Damian alone!"

Leaving Damian behind, Heretic walked up to the girl, full of rage, "I could care less about what that man has to say. Now, leave us, Mara." 

"Not a chance! Step away from my cousin right now!" The small girl ordered, drawing out her bone sickle.

"Mara, what are you doing?" Damian loudly whispered. He was still standing behind his clone, but close to the door where his cousin was at.

Heretic menacingly glared down at Mara when he spoke, "If you don't leave, I will end you, cousin."

The clone raised his sword, but Mara blocked it with her bone sickle. She was in no way stronger than the large man, but at least she was skilled enough to block his strikes. 

"You're no cousin of mine!" Mara shouted as she attempted to slash the clone's body, "You are just a tool that my mother used to taint Damian's memory so she could mess with Aunt Talia!"

"Take that back!" Heretic swang at the girl, who dodged just in time. 

But Heretic acted faster and he managed to grab Mara by the neck once he saw an opening.

"Y-you're hurting me..." She groaned, weakly.

Damian stood behind his twin in complete shock; It was Jameela's death all over again. Those screams still echoed in his ears, and Damian could just see it too: Heretic choking the life out of Mara, proceeding to slam her body into the ground just so he could stomp her head like he did with Jameela. No, he couldn't relive that. Never again, and especially not with his own cousin.

Running ferociously, Damian jumped at his clone, using the little strength he had to stab the man in the back. The clone yelped in pain, and Damian ran right to where Mara was standing, pushing her by the sleeve so they could be further away from the clone.

Pressing the girl's shoulder tightly with his good hand, Damian asked with despair in his voice, "Mara, you need to get out of here!"

His cousin stared right into Damian's green eyes before she glanced at the clone, frightened, "I can't leave you with that... Monster! He'll kill you!"

"Mara, please!"

Too much time had been wasted because Heretic was already standing behind them. The man grabbed Damian by the back of his neck and slammed his smaller body against the wall. Damian couldn't even fight it, he was too weak, and all he remembered was hearing the sounds of more screaming and fighting. He had to do something, anything, so he could save his cousin's life.

But it was getting so hard to breathe, and not a muscle could be lifted. Damian fought hard to get up, but his body failed him.

Defeated, his eyes slowly started to close...

...Until everything went black.

Chapter Text

It was another hectic day at Wayne Enterprises, and Bruce couldn't wait for the day to be over. The board of directors was getting on Bruce's nerves that whole week, if not the whole month, and the piles of reports that were left for him to review were beyond tedious. Bruce was great at what he did, but there were things more important than work; Lowering crime rates, closing cases, off planet crisis - like the one Green Lantern and Superman were going to take care of that day -, and most important of all, family. 

Bruce was truly looking forward to the weekend, especially after promising his youngest that he would take him to space the following day. He ended up not having time to get a space suit customized for Titus, which was going to make Damian upset, but hopefully his son could forgive him. At least that would give them an excuse to go to space one more time, Bruce thought to himself with a brief smile. Bruce leaned back on his office chair, deep in thought. A family picture sat on his desk, and he brought the picture frame closer to him so he could gaze at the portrait more carefully.

Almost everyone looked serious in the picture, except for Dick and Tim, who had laughing smiles on their faces, although a shy smirk could be seen coming out of both Damian's and Jason's faces, which made Bruce chuckle. He remembered how the boys were arguing minutes before the picture was taken, and things didn't calm down until Dick made one of his infamous puns that made everyone in the family roll their eyes but almost laugh at how horrible the joke was. That was Dick's charm, though, his relentless ability to lighten things up and focus on the bright side.

Who would've thought that young, cheerful circus kid who loved swinging from the chandeliers and causing a bunch of mess at the manor was now a man, soon to become a father? Bruce couldn't be more proud. Of all of his boys, truly, with all their strengths and weaknesses. Bruce still had to make time to check on his kids and see how they were all doing, but lately, the one who was worrying him the most was Damian. There was so much to catch up on and conversations that still needed to be had, making the trip to the Watchtower all the more necessary.

Besides, Bruce was longing to do more mundane things with his boy; Not that going to space was exactly mundane, but it was the closest thing they had to a father-son bond without anyone getting bored. They tried fishing once, per Alfred's orders, and that didn't work so well. Neither did going to the mall since neither of them truly knew what to do or where they should go. Bruce had grown so accustomed to letting his kids take the lead when coming up with things to do or see, that it took him a while to realize that he had to be the one in charge whenever he hung out with his youngest, otherwise their talks would always die and turn into conversations about missions again.

Damian was so similar to him, it was a little unsettling. Not that it was a bad thing, but that kid's drive and obsession to work on cases, even at the mere age of ten, was quite disheartening because Bruce never wished this life for his son. He just wanted his kids to be happy and be far away from all the crime-fighting, death, and violence, but Bruce was too late for that, so he had accepted that would be a part of their lives. At least this time he was going to spend actual quality time with his boy, no interruptions.

Dick had already assured that he would help out with Gotham, and if things got really bad, they would just cut the trip short and then go back to the Watchtower another time, but Bruce didn't want that. He hoped that things could go smoothly at least once so he could enjoy some time with family. Bruce sighed in his seat, putting back the picture frame on his desk. Perhaps Alfred was right, they should probably go on a family trip so they could all bond. Camping, maybe, or simply going to an amusement park could be fun. You know, doing things like a normal family would.

That's what Clark would do. 

Speaking of the devil, a vibrating sound started ringing from Bruce's phone, revealing a text message from goody two-shoes Clark.

'Hey, Bruce?'

Bruce messaged Clark back, intrigued, 'Yes?'

For some strange reason, Clark kept typing and retyping something a few times, which was irritating. Just say it already, Bruce didn't have all day. He had work to do.

'Did you know your son is being bullied at school?'

Bruce glared down at his phone, his frown deepening. What did Clark mean by that, his son being bullied? Bruce was well aware that Damian stood up to another kid who was getting bullied at school, but Damian never mentioned anything about himself being the victim too.

Bruce replied, scowling, 'What are you talking about?'

No response.

Blinking dots appeared on the screen just to go away right afterward.

What was taking Clark so long, and where was all of this coming from?

Finally, Bruce's phone buzzed, this time with a link leading him to a TikTok video. Another one of those useless apps that kids these days were addicted to when it did no good to them. Bruce clicked on the link, and his stomach dropped the moment the video started playing.

It was a video of his son lunging at that same kid who had the wrist fractured by him. There was a circle of boys watching the whole thing - stirring up the fight, no doubt, - while a red-haired kid, most likely a friend of Damian's, was holding Damian back to stop him from fighting. Bruce also noticed how the video was conveniently muted, replaced by a rap song about gangs playing in the background. A series of disturbing hashtags were shown below the video;

#PsychoKiller #Wayne #Psychopath
#WatchOutfortheWaynes 

Bruce's body and mind were filled with rage. He clicked on the next link that Clark had sent him, which led him to the same TikTok account. It was a video posted the previous day where Damian was calling himself a psychopath in a mocking tone, but they span it to purposefully make him look like he was making a confession instead. It was disgusting. No wonder his son lost his cool and felt the need to fracture that damned kid's wrist the other day, could Bruce blame him? Hell, he wished he could do more than just fracture Evans' wrist himself.

What was even more infuriating was that Bruce made absolutely clear to Anthony's mother that he would not tolerate, under any circumstance, any attempt to harm his son's image, which was happening exactly that. And that same insult given by that poor excuse of a mother, when she was referring to Damian, was now being used as a hashtag, accusing Damian to be something he was not.

How dared they? 

Reading the comments only made his blood boil more. These kids were saying horrible things about his son. Bruce would make sure to sue the Evans family senselessly for having the audacity to tarnish his son's reputation like that, humiliating him to the entire school. Bruce was so angry at what he had just watched, that he barely noticed the new unread messages from Clark.

'Jon showed it to me this morning. I don't understand what is wrong with these kids.'

More unread texts;

'I'm sorry this is happening to Damian, Bruce. This is unacceptable.'

'Do you want me and Lois to talk to the principal?'

Bruce's grip on his phone was so tight, he was tempted to break it in half. 

'No. I'll take care of it.' 

Because no way in Hell would Bruce allow Clark to do his job for him, especially when Bruce had already given a warning to that kid's idiotic mother to leave Damian alone. With Bruce's resources, he could make that sorry kid's father lose his job and ruin his entire career, but no, Bruce wouldn't go that far. He was still going to make that family pay, however.

Bruce's phone buzzed again.

"Ok. I won't be home today because, you know, that 'thing'. But you can still call me if you need anything.'

Goodness, Clark could be such a goof even through text. Obviously Bruce knew what Clark meant by 'that thing', the man's subtlety was sufferable. They literally talked earlier that day about how Hal Jordan needed some help off-planet.

'I doubt your reception will work out there, but thanks.'

Bruce was still livid, and it was concerning how he had no idea about any of this. He shouldn't be finding out about his son being cyberbullied through Clark, he should've already known. Why didn't Damian say anything? Bruce needed to have a serious conversation with his boy and tell him that it was not okay to suffer alone and keep things to himself when serious things such as these were happening. Unpleased, Bruce messaged Alfred so he could also be aware of Damian's situation before he picks him up from school.

The end of the work shift couldn't come soon enough, Bruce could barely pay attention to anything else anymore. It took a couple of hours for him to finally relax, and it brought him comfort to know that it was now 3:20 pm, which meant that Alfred was taking Damian home soon. 

It was ten minutes to 4 in the afternoon when Bruce received a phone call that shook him to the core.

"Master Bruce? Master Damian's been taken."

Bruce could just feel his heart tightening, eyes widened as the horror paralyzed him. Every muscle of his body tensed up and he couldn't breathe for a second. As soon as the shock left his body, however, his bright blue eyes went terrifyingly cold.

Bruce Wayne was gone. He was Batman now, his true self.

And he was willing to break his one rule if he had to in order to save his son.

“Who?” His voice was ice cold, cutting through the silence. It would bring chills to a regular person hearing it.

Bruce didn't expect Alfred to know the answer to that but there was hesitation on the other line, "...I'm afraid this was Heretic's doing, sir. A friend of Master Damian witnessed the whole thing, he was the only one who saw it. It all happened right before I arrived..."

A frosty chill ran down Bruce's back. Heretic was back?

"Put me on the comm, Alfred. Let me hear what the kid has to say."

Bruce needed to hear everything. What Damian's friend saw, what happened at school and where, what time, what did Heretic look like, everything. Bruce listened carefully as this boy named Colin informed Alfred of what he saw, retelling the account with as many details as possible. There was conviction in the young man's voice and nothing sounded exaggerated; There was no way the kid was making any of that up. It was a miracle the kid managed to get out of that alive.

The more Bruce heard about what happened, the tenser he got. He immediately rushed out of the office to his car, ignoring the looks he got for leaving work early again. No amount of work would ever matter, especially not at this time. His son, his baby boy, was kidnapped. And by the same man who took his son's life in the past, nonetheless.

His grip around the steering wheel was extremely tight, jaw clenching, and a mixture of panic and anger coursing through his body, overwhelming him as if gravity had suddenly increased and was now crushing him. 

"I tried to save him, I'm so sorry!" Bruce heard the boy cry out on the other line. 

Both Alfred and Jon were comforting the kid, Colin, who was genuinely hurting. It was great to know that Damian ended up making really good friends at school, despite him never mentioning anything about it before.

Please, be alive, Bruce pleaded as he drove. God, they were supposed to go to space together! Bruce hated himself for being so clueless, why didn't he suspect anything sooner? Heretic must have stalked his boy this whole time, just waiting for the right time to strike without getting caught. But how dared that clone take Damian? His young, impulsive, loyal, courageous thirteen-year-old son, who could die again if Bruce didn't do something about it.

No, Damian was going to be okay. He had to. Bruce had to believe that, otherwise he would never forgive himself. He couldn't handle any more losses, not again. Never again. His youngest boy, whom he never got to raise from birth, had to be alive somewhere. Being held captive, but alive. Tears threatened to come out but Bruce brushed them off, he had to remain strong. With his car speeding on the freeway at 90 miles per hour, Bruce dialed the rest of the family from his car to keep everyone vigilant. 

"Code Red," Bruce warned as he drove, "Heretic is back, and he has Robin."

The family immediately jumped in the comm, the distress was clear in their voices.

"WHAT?" Dick was the first to say something. A strong wind could be heard from his comms, it sounded like he was on his motorcycle. "What do you mean?"

"Did you say Heretic? What happened??"  This time it was Tim who was asking, "Where is he?"

"Shit, Robin's been taken?" Jason jumped in, concerned.

"But Heretic died! How is he back??" Stephanie's voice came in, her panic rising.

"Give us the coordinates, Batman. We'll get him back." Barbara assured. There was a sound of typing, which meant that she was already on the case.

"I was not there when it happened. Heretic attacked him at school and then disappeared. Do not underestimate Heretic, he's using magic now. He has two rings that he's using to summon magic, and the last time he was seen he was wearing a dark cloak. He could be hiding anywhere, so everyone must stay on high alert." Bruce explained.

Bruce then changed the comm setting so that only Alfred could hear him, "Did you find anything else in the classroom?"  

"Nothing, sir. Only signs of struggle with broken desks and chairs that were thrown at the wall."

"I figured. Meet you at home."

He kept driving, and once he arrived at the cave, Bruce was surprised to be greeted not only by Alfred but by Jon as well, who was still dressed in his school uniform. 

"Jon, what are you doing here?"

"I came here to help! We're going to save Damian!" Jon said with determination in his eyes.

It was somewhat comforting to see someone so optimistic at such a worrisome time, but he should be home. Clark wasn't even here, and Bruce couldn't also worry about Jon if something happened to him.

Bruce was about to argue when Jon was already interrupting his thoughts, "It's a good thing I have my Superboy uniform in my backpack, I, uh--" Jon stopped going through his backpack to look around, "I just need to change really quickly." The boy then turned to Alfred and asked, innocently, "Um, Mr. Pennyworth, could you tell me where the bathroom is?"

"Over there, young sir."

Jon followed to where Alfred was pointing and smiled in contentment, "Ah, thank you!" 

Using his super speed, Jon ran to the bathroom before Bruce could say anything. 

Bruce shot a stern look at Alfred, but his glares never worked on that man, as usual. "Does Lois even know that Jon is here?"

"Of course she does, Master Bruce! You truly think we wouldn't tell her?" 

Bruce chose not to respond. He needed to change into his Batman suit also, so he started getting ready. 

Alfred remained standing still, "You know that if Superman was not busy on another planet, he would too look for Master Damian, right?" 

"Yes, I know." Bruce agreed, annoyed. He didn't want Superman, or anyone for that matter, solving his problems for him. Although right now he would take any help he could take to save his son. 

Bruce got into his Batman suit and went straight to the Batcomputer to look up for anything he could find that could give him the slightest clue of where Heretic could have possibly been hiding. Oracle was already online, to no surprise, and she had already tasked everyone in the family to search for specific spots that could help; Abandoned warehouses owned by Leviathan, old hidings that Nyssa had used in the past, amongst other places. Before Bruce called, Nightwing was already headed to a specific warehouse where Red Arrow and Impulse activated their panic signals from. According to Dick, the panic button went on slightly before Damian's abduction, which couldn't be a coincidence. That meant that Heretic was aiming at the Teen Titans, and it was highly possible that Damian was with them. 

Bruce could hear Jon standing behind him, now dressed in his ripped jeans, a jacket with the Superman symbol in it, and a cape. The boy was staring at the Batcomputer intently, alongside Alfred, and a profound silence filled the cave. Alfred the cat also joined the party, walking up next to Bruce's feet to rub against his legs, which Bruce ignored. He continued his search, looking up the warehouse location where Nightwing was headed.

"Nightwing, status update?" Batman asked as he connected the family's transmitters to the Batcomputer.

"Almost there, B. Just give me one minute..." Nightwing responded, his comm sounding staticky from the heavy wind.  

"Just so everyone knows, nothing yet from the traffic cameras on my end. But I'm still searching." Oracle notified them.

"I think Robin is with the Teen Titans, Oracle," Spoiler noted.

"I think so too--" Oracle agreed, but she was interrupted by Nightwing.

"Oh, no..." Bruce couldn't help but feel a flutter of panic from that comment. 

"Nightwing, report!" Batman shouted from his seat, heart racing, "What are you seeing?" 

"No, no, no, no..."  The way Dick spoke was making Bruce lose all hope; That was how he had reacted when he first saw Damian dead. Jon and Alfred were also anxious. 

"Nightwing!" Batman called out as he slammed his hands on the desk. 

"Wing, talk to us!" Red Robin pleaded, Spoiler was doing the same. 

"Oh my God, just fucking say it!" Red Hood complained, his potty mouth still needing some work.

"Nightwing..?" Oracle started to ask, apprehensively, "What is it? Did you find him?" 

"Nightwing, report! That's an order!" Batman repeated, sternly.

"Sorry, sorry, it's just... God... There's a collapsed building and-- the Titans are trapped underneath it... I can't tell if they made it out alive, it's really bad. I need to get everyone out of here first!"

"Heretic did this," Batman concluded. He hoped with all his might that everyone was okay, especially his son.

"Here, I can help!" Superboy offered, anxiously. "Nightwing, I'm coming!"

"Superboy?" Nightwing called with relief in his voice, "Boy, am I glad to hear you! We need you, kiddo."

"Of course, I'll be there soon!" Jon said, focused. He used his speed to run out of the cave but in a matter of seconds, he was back, standing in front of Batman and Alfred as he rubbed the back of his head, embarrassed, "Um... How do I get to where Nightwing is again?"

Batman guided Jon out of the cave and gave him the instructions, advising him where to fly so he could meet up with Dick and rescue the Teen Titans. Superboy nodded and as soon as he understood the directions, he sonic boomed into the sky. Batman had to cover his face from the strong wind. It was a good thing he had added sonic dampeners to his suit, Clark enjoyed doing that same thing all too often. 

Batman returned to the cave, back to the comms, "Superboy just left, he's going to meet Nightwing soon."

Jason was the one to speak, "K. Big bird, let us know if Robin is with the Titans or not." 

"Should we just wait, then?" Asked Tim, who had now arrived at one of Leviathan's old buildings with Steph's company.

"No, keep looking." Batman instructed, "Even if Robin is safe, we still need to find Heretic."

Everyone complied and the search continued. Bruce should've been calmer now that Superboy was in action, but why was there still a hinge of anxiousness that refused to leave him? It was no coincidence that Emiko and Bart called for help around the same time when Damian was taken, but something was telling Bruce that his boy was not with the Titans, that perhaps Heretic was using the team of heroes as a way to get to Damian. Heretic was after revenge, that was how he operated. But where could he be? Hopefully the Titans would be okay, especially Starfire. He wasn't sure if the baby could've survived the explosion even with Koriand'r's abilities. 

Bruce hated feeling so helpless. 

****

Jason was still in his house cleaning his guns when Bruce called about Damian not only being taken but by Heretic, no less. The thought of that clone being back brought chills down his spine. It was Jason's fault that his younger brother was killed two years ago, and now history was about to repeat itself. Jason had to do something. He was about to jump on his motorcycle and head out to whatever place Oracle was instructing them to go to when Bruce mentioned something that made him freeze; Heretic was using magic. As if that wasn't bad enough, Dick had just mentioned that he was already on his way to a warehouse because Red Arrow and Impulse sent a panic signal, and it all happened minutes before Damian was abducted.

Everyone had already assumed that Heretic was targeting the Teen Titans, but what no one else knew was that the clone was reminding Jason an awful lot of the Shadow. Come to think of it, Emiko was the first one to send the panic signal, then Impulse, which made sense since he was a speedster, and then Heretic went for Damian. It was too much of a coincidence to be ignored. Jason slapped his forehead, mad at himself for completely forgetting to run the DNA analysis from all the evidence he had gathered from that haunted farmhouse. He could’ve discovered the Shadow’s identity weeks ago, but things took a sharp turn once Artemis was being hunted down by none other than fucking Medusa; All because Artemis upset one of Medusa’s sisters in the past, so they all came for her seeking revenge.

It was great, not troublesome at all, and it totally did not distract Jason from doing what he was originally supposed to. He couldn't believe how careless he had been, and now, because of his mistakes, Damian was the one paying for it. If he had known that the Shadow was fucking Heretic this whole time, he would've never involved his little brother in any of this. Hell, he would've gone straight to Bruce so he could go all Dark Knight and find that bastard for him (Bruce just didn't need to know that Jason would've killed Heretic behind his back once they found him).

Now not only was Damian in danger but the rest of the Titans too. Jason felt awful, there was only so much shame one could feel about oneself. Rather than rushing out of his house, Jason lied to his family and went straight to his bedroom instead, going over all the things he had taken from the farmhouse. There had to be something that could give him a clue to where Heretic was hiding. Jason opened his desk drawer, scrambling through all his zip locks that contained hair, carpet fibers, amongst other things that he had collected, but none of those were useful. He then remembered taking the bottle of Abramelin oil that Heretic - or Shadow - had left in the kitchen from that farmhouse.

Jason opened the other drawer to grab the bottle. He inspected the bottle of oil closer, checking the bottle's base, and luckily, there was a price tag still intact. In the tag, there was a name of an obscure antique store that Jason had never heard of before. He went straight to his computer, googling the name of the store, and only one Magic trinket store was found, located near the pier in a very remote area in Gotham. Jason decided to start there. As good a plan as any to help him track down Heretic's steps. Even if that Abramelin oil was purchased over a week ago, it could still give him some clues.

Jason put on his Red Hood helmet and jumped on his motorcycle. 

***

The antique magic store was open, and the old man who worked there lied to Red Hood's face by saying that he couldn't remember the faces of those who went to his store. It was all bullshit because no one seemed to ever visit that store, for starters, and there were also plenty of Abramelin oils there, so it was obvious that this was where Heretic purchased the bottle to complete his satanic spell to free the Devil. Hood walked out of the store and used his grappling hook to climb to the top of the building to take a better look at the city. There weren't that many buildings around him, but it was impossible to not notice the creepy ass broken clock tower building located a couple of blocks away from him.

Jason didn't have too many places to search, and he wasn't going to waste his time visiting those other warehouses that Oracle was checking, especially when Replacement and Blondie were already on the case, so he went ahead and left to check out the turret tower. Everything was menacingly quiet and dark when he got inside. Red Hood was carrying his gun in a steady two-handed grip, ready to shoot if anyone tried to sneak up on him. He proceeded cautiously and once he got to the stairs, he used his grappling hook again to get to the top of the tower where the giant clock was at.

Slowly, Hood twisted the doorknob, the door opening with a loud creak. He walked inside, aiming his gun in different directions, but there he was; Damian, his baby brother, lying unconscious on the floor as a small pool of blood surrounded him. Jason ran up to his brother immediately, his heart beating a million miles an hour. Damian looked so small and injured, and it infuriated Jason how his brother was left to die alone like that. Red Hood kneeled next to his little brother, worried sick for him.

Damian looked horrible. He looked so young wearing his school uniform, which was all torn up and filled with blood stains, and his skin was freezing. It was fucking cold in that tower, and Jason didn't want to begin to think how long his little brother was left enduring that cold with nothing to warm him up. Jason carefully lifted Damian's arm to take a look at where the blood was coming from and he grimaced at the sight of the painful gash on his brother's waist.

Acting as fast as he could, Jason reached for his belt to get a piece of cloth that he had with him to attend to Damian's wound. He applied some pressure on the wound to stop the bleeding but the moment he released the cloth, Damian was bleeding out again. That slash cut had to be sewn up quickly, so Jason just firmly taped the cloth down onto the wound in the meantime. 

Once he was done,  he prodded his brother’s side to get him up, "Damian? Damian. Wake up." 

Nothing. Damian's eyes were still closed, and his body was limp. "Damian?" He called again, just a touch louder, "Demon spawn, wake up!"

The kid didn't stir. 

Despair coursed through Jason's veins, he couldn't lose the baby bat. He couldn't, not again. He had failed the kid far too many times already.

Please, please, don't die. Jason checked Damian's wrist and thankfully, there was still a pulse. Too weak for his liking, but it was there. Tapping his brother's face lightly, Jason urged him, "Come on, kid. Wake up. It's okay, you're okay now. You're gonna make it, you're the son of Batman, remember?" 

Silence.

Jason had to gently slap Damian's cheeks a few more times until the kid finally regained consciousness, waking up with a jolt, "MARA!" 

It almost seemed like Damian didn't even notice Red Hood crouched up next to him. The kid simply sat up and started to desperately look around the room, "Where is she? Where's Mara?"

Damian's eyes finally met with Jason's, not that they could be seen from Jason’s helmet but still. The look on the poor kid’s face screamed in fear, and Jason was taken by surprise when Damian suddenly grabbed onto his arm tightly, "Where is she?"  

"What--?" Jason was still confused, "Who's Mara?" 

"My cousin!" Damian answered, his anxiety was quite evident as he pierced his nails tightly into Jason’s arm. The boy didn't mean to hurt him, but it was concerning how Damian looked like he was on the verge of having a panic attack. 

"Damian, there's no one here. It's just the two of us." 

"NO!"  Damian let go of Jason's jacket and immediately broke down in tears, "No, no, no, he killed her, he killed Mara--" The kid tried to sit up straighter, but he was struggling, using only one arm to lift himself up.  

"Who killed her?" Jason pretty much knew the answer to that, but he thought it’d be best to ask. 

Damian went back to face him, "Heretic! Heretic is back, he's the Shadow!" 

"I know, kiddo. I know. I just... Found that out today." 

"No..." Damian's chest started heaving uncontrollably, "I failed her, she's dead because of me..." 

Damian was finally able to get some balance to sit up more properly but he strangely used only his right arm to bury his face as he cried, which was when Jason realized how Damian’s left shoulder was hanging low and loose, it looked completely out of place. 

"She's dead...” Damian trailed off with hopelessness in his voice, “Mara's dead and I did nothing to save her..." 

Things were getting worse because the little demon wouldn’t stop crying. 

Worried, Red Hood leaned in closer, rubbing the kid's knees as he spoke softly, "Hey... Damian, breathe. It's okay. Everything's gonna be okay, I promise." 

Damian shook his head in disagreement, sobbing so desperately that it shattered Jason's heart in two. God, he hated seeing the kid in that state. Damian crying was already terrifying, but this? This was ten thousand times worse.  

Jason sweetly rubbed Damian's back in circles, "Kid, listen to me. I need you to calm down. Just breathe... Can you do that for me?" 

Damian refused to look up and he kept shaking and sobbing. Nothing was going to change his mind, so Jason looked around his surroundings until he had an idea; "Hey, I don't think your cousin is dead. Take a look at this place, there are no marks of blood anywhere. Other than yours, I mean." 

For the first time, Damian looked up, attentively, as his sobs slowly turned into small sniffles. It seemed that he had noticed the same thing; There were no signs of fighting, struggle, or death anywhere around the room.  

Weakly, Damian turned to his older brother and mumbled sheepishly, his stubbornness never failing, "Heretic could've snapped her neck..." 

Red Hood shrugged, "Or maybe your cousin was lucky and got away just in time." Hood pushed himself up to stand up, offering his hand so that his brother would do the same. Damian got up with his help without protesting. "Here, let me take a look at you, baby bird." 

Damian didn’t respond, all he did was stare down at the floor quietly. It was so odd seeing demon spawn act so sad and compliant like that, it was unnerving. Hood took a good look at his brother's deformed shoulder, but he made sure not to touch it to not worsen the pain. 

"What happened to your shoulder?" 

Refusing to meet him in the eyes, his younger brother responded, "It got dislocated." 

"Ok, I'm going to place it back in. It's gonna hurt, though. Are you ready?" 

Damian nodded. Red Hood stood in front of his brother but then felt a little awkward doing that while standing. "Here, it'll be easier if you sit down..." 

Jason looked around the room, but a wave of horror combined with fury hit him as he spotted the metal chair placed in the center of the room.  

Hood turned to his brother and stared right into his eyes, "The clone tied you to that chair, didn't he?" 

Embarrassed, Damian nodded. The kid was feeling uneasy, Jason could tell. Well, fuck it. Jason was not about to make the kid sit back on that chair and relive that whole nightmare just so Jason could fix the dislocated shoulder in a better position. While still standing, Hood gently grabbed Damian's arm to rotate it around the shoulder joint until it went back into its socket.  

"Ok, on three. Ready?" His brother nodded again, "One... Two..." 

SNAP 

"...Three." 

Jason expected Damian to yell in pain and get mad at him for not waiting until he actually finished counting, but the kid only let out a small yelp, more like a loud grunt really, squeezing his eyes tightly as small tears of pain left his face.  

Goodness, what kind of torture did that kid go through that he couldn't even allow himself to express pain as a normal person would? Damian should be able to cry and whine about pain like a normal child, it would've been much less terrifying than that horrible silence. Damian was too mature for his age.  

Apprehensively, Hood leaned in closer to Damian, rubbing his brother's forearm, "Are you okay?" 

Damian rotated his shoulder a couple of times to stretch it out. He tutted when answering, "I've dealt with worse." 

That was not comforting at all, but Jason had to shrug it off. "Alright, little demon. That's a nasty cut you got there on your waist, and this cloth is not gonna hold it in for long. Let's go, I'm taking you home so Alfred can patch you up." 

Red Hood started walking out, fully expecting Damian to follow right behind him, but the kid just froze instead. Hood turned around, annoyed "Hey, what are you waiting for?" 

The smaller boy didn't answer. 

"Come on, demon. We don't have all day, and the family is worried sick about you. Let's go." 

Red Hood started heading out again, but Damian held out his hand to signal him to stop, "No, wait! I can't... I can't go back to the manor." 

What the fuck? What was the kid smoking?

"Why the hell not? You're bleeding out, Damian, and who knows what else Heretic did to you. We're going." 

"I..." The kid took a few steps backward. He looked terrified, "I can't." 

"Damian, I'm just taking you home. You'll be fine!" 

"NO!" The kid snapped at him out of nowhere, "The manor is not my home and never has been!" 

Great, did the brat have to start to protest now, of all times? "Kid, I don't know what got into your head but we gotta go. Come on, move it." 

Without waiting for an answer, Hood marched down to Damian to carry him over his shoulder, but the demon brat moved out of his way and got into a fighting stance. 

"You're not taking me anywhere!" Damian had his fists out, glaring at Jason as if he was a fucking boxing dummy.  

Jason looked down at his brother with his hands on his waist, "What do you think you're doing?" 

As a response, Damian lunged at him, attempting to hit Red Hood several times, "You're not taking me back!" 

Hood blocked each one of Damian's punches, which were all horribly slow, but the kid kept trying to fight him like a maniac.  

Red Hood kept deflecting, "Will you stop? I am not fighting you!"  

But Damian refused to listen. He went for a kick right at Jason’s jaw, which was also blocked. The more Damian fought, the worse his bleeding from his cut got, Jason noticed. He had to do something to make the kid stop.  

"I don't have time for your tantrums, Damian!" Hood shouted as he held both of Damian's wrists to hold him back. 

Damian tried to get out of Hood's grasp but to no avail. He struggled as he cried out, "Let go of me!" 

"Not until you calm down!" 

The boy continued trying to wiggle out of Jason's firm grip, "I don't want to go back! I can't... Father..." 

And there we go. More tears again.  

"Damian, what's wrong?" 

His brother turned his face away from him. His crying worsened as he kept repeating to himself, "I can't go back, I can't, I can't..." 

The kid could barely breathe now. Wonderful. 

Still restraining his brother, Red Hood asked, "Hey, hey, calm down! What's going on?" 

"I..." Damian was still looking away, tears streaming down his face violently. He was heaving again, hard.  

Hood eased up his grip, but he was still holding his brother firmly, "Damian, you're okay. You're safe now, do you understand?" 

Finally, Damian stopped struggling and just stared down at the ground, defeated. He looked so small and hurt. "I don't want to see them. Please don't take me to the manor..." 

"But Damian, you're still bleeding--" 

Damian then looked up at Red Hood, staring at him with his big green eyes, drenched in tears, "Jason, please!" 

Well, fuck. Baby brat had to call Jason by his first name, hadn't he? The kid's voice sounded desperate and filled with so much fear. Seriously, what on earth did Bruce do to the kid to make him so scared of going back home?  

"But we need to attend to your wounds, Dames. I can't leave you like this." Jason slowly released his brother, who continued looking up at him.  

"Then take me to your house instead." 

"But kid--" 

"Please, Jason..." 

Of course he had to call him by his first name again, and with those sad, puppy eyes, no less. Nothing was making sense anymore, and Jason had no clue what was making the kid act so strange, but those were questions for a later time. Bruce and the rest of the family were going to fucking murder Jason for keeping the truth from them, but who cared at this point? He could handle the heat. Right now, Damian was his priority. 

Calmly, Hood guided Damian out of the clock tower. He handed Damian a second helmet and carefully lifted him up so he would ride on the back of his motorcycle. Jason drove away, asking Damian to hold onto him tight. 

*****

The warehouse facility was completely destroyed, and a heavy cloud of white powder was flying in the air. Superboy could barely see much through all that smoke, and he was horrified when he first saw the collapsed building when he arrived. It was terrible, there was so much rubble everywhere, along with shattered pieces of glass scattered across the floor. 

It was a good thing that Nightwing was there to guide him so he wouldn’t move the wrong debris by accident. The last thing he needed was to cause a tsunami of debris to come down on his friends even further and accidentally kill someone. Jon was hoping that his friends would be okay because they were buried quite deep. Thanks to his X-Ray vision, he was able to see where everyone was. 

“They’re over there!” Superboy pointed at the bottom part of the building to what used to be an underground bunker. He floated on top of the building to assess everything first. “They’re trapped under this large piece of rubble, but it looks like Blue Beetle and Starfire have been able to stabilize it!”  

“Okay, how big is the piece?” Nightwing shouted from a distance since Jon was still floating in the air. 

“It’s like 20 feet across, I think.” Jon’s X-Ray vision was still activated as he looked around, “Um… And 7 feet wide, probably, it’s pretty big!” 

“Alright, that’s good, then. There’s not much to pull off of them.” Nightwing turned on his comm so that Jon could hear him more clearly, “Check the surrounding area to see if there is no more debris leaning up against the main piece of rubble that Beetle and Star are holding up.”  

Jon focused his X-Ray vision and luckily, there wasn’t that much debris around the main piece. 

“There are a few pieces of debris around it, but it doesn’t look too bad.” Jon described through the comm that Nightwing had given to him earlier. 

“Good, good. Alright, you’ll have to lift the rubble so they can get out. Can you do that?” 

Jon looked down, his heart racing at the sight of the crumpled building. It wasn’t just partially destroyed; It was a pancake collapse. All the top floors came crashing down to the bottom, the floors stacked from the fall. It was a miracle that his friends made it out alive. If it wasn’t for Beetle’s claws holding up the rubble, his friends wouldn’t have survived. 

His fear was increasing, consuming him whole. If he made one wrong move, Jon would’ve been responsible for the death of all his friends. “But I don’t know how to do it! What if I get them hurt?” 

“It’s gonna be okay, Superboy. Stay calm.” 

Jon started shaking a little, his heart still beating incredibly fast. Nighwing’s calming voice was in his ear, “Hey, it’s okay, you got this. Just fly down to where they are and lift the rubble.” 

“Right, but if I grab the edge, the remaining rubble will fall off the other side!” 

“Oh, you’re right. Hm…” Nightwing thought for a second, “Ok, I have an idea. Use your laser vision to create small holes in the rubble so you can grab it with both hands from the center.”  

“Alright!” 

Superboy flew straight down to where his friends were, coughing on his way as the smoke entered his lungs. Before using his laser vision, he put both his hands closer to his face so his voice could sound louder, “Hey, guys? Can anyone hear me?” 

A relieved and surprised Blue Beetle shouted in return, “Superboy? Is that you?” 

“Yeah, it’s me! It’s gonna be okay, I’m going to get you out of here. But first I need to use my laser vision, so watch out for the debris that will fall from the sides, okay?” 

Jaime’s voice croaked out from the distance, “Alright, we’re ready.” 

Using his laser vision, Jon burned a couple of holes in the middle of the debris so he could hold the large rubble with both hands. 

As Superboy lifted the rubble, the debris from the sides began to fall, but Blue Beetle and Starfire were able to catch the pieces of rocks that were falling on them with little effort. Nightwing came running to them so he could carry out the bodies away from the crumbled building. 

Superboy came to help Beetle first, but Jaime waved him off, “I’m fine, go help Star first.” 

Nightwing, however, was already by Starfire’s side, “Kory, are you okay?” 

Kory started coughing. Her tan skin was looking terrifyingly pale. “I’m okay… Save the rest of them first…” At that, Kory lost all her strength and passed out in Nightwing’s arms.  

Nightwing urged the boys as he carried his girlfriend away from the rubble, “Superboy, Beetle, go grab Red Arrow and Impulse!” 

Nightwing left, and Superboy started carrying Emiko when Jaime desperately looked around him, “Wait, where’s Djinn?” 

Jon used his X-Ray vision again to see where he could find her. “I don’t see her.” 

Jaime too activated his lenses to scan the whole building, “I don’t see her either! Where did she go?? Where is she?” 

Nightwing came back, ready to carry more people, but Beetle turned to him, panicking, “Nightwing, we lost Djinn!”  

“What?” Dick now too started searching around, in despair. 

Jon continued to search also, but he had to ask, “Jaime, was Damian here too?” 

“No, I thought he was at school with you. But Djinn was right here, I was carrying her before the building—” Jaime trailed off, feeling more frightened, “Dios, she was here, she was with me, I had her…” 

“She must be here somewhere, then!” Superboy tried to sound hopeful as his dad would, but he didn’t think it was working. 

“Look for the ring!” Jaime compelled as a last resort. 

Jon and Jaime both scanned the entire building once more while Dick was running next to Bart, which was when he noticed the deep cut that Bart had from a steel wall that sliced his leg open. “Oh, no…” 

“What's wrong?” Jon and Jaime both asked, worried. 

“Bart is injured, he could get Tetanus from the rusty steel.” Nightwing explained, “We need to get out of here now.” 

“But what about Djinn?” Jaime asked frantically, “We can’t leave yet!” 

“Sorry, Jaime.” Nightwing said as he carried the unconscious speedster, “We gotta go.” 

“There’s no one else in the building,” Jon affirmed, scanning everything around him with his X-Ray vision again. 

“I know, the Scarab is saying the same thing. The ring is nowhere to be found either, I scanned everywhere…” Jaime put his hands on his head, desperate, “She’s gone… I lost her, I lost her…” 

Jon placed his hand on his friend’s shoulder, giving him a sad smile. “We can’t do anything now, but we’ll find her. I promise.” 

Nodding weakly, Jaime agreed, and they all left the collapsed building.  

*** 

Red Hood had finally arrived at his place, carefully parking his motorcycle by the side of his hidden safe house. Damian jumped out of the motorcycle, and the cloth wrapped around his waist was drenched in blood. 

"Shit, kid, you're still bleeding." Hood needed to treat that wound as fast as possible, “Here, let’s get inside.”  

Reaching for the doorknob, Hood opened the door, but he hesitated for a second as he heard Dick’s voice on the comms, “Titans are safe, but Djinn and Robin are both gone.” 

Jason clenched his jaw. He hated being forced to lie to the family and leave everyone worried while he had Damian right next to him. Jason tried to push those thoughts aside as they walked in. 

Inside, Bizarro was busy in the kitchen making popcorn from scratch while Artemis and Lian were in the living room watching a movie.  Bizarro was extremely proud of himself for the successful popcorn that he had made. He was always great in the kitchen. 

“Booray! Popcorn burned!!” Bizarro cheered, raising his arms in the air.

“Oh, hi, Jace!" Artemis greeted as Hood walked in. She had her foot resting on the ottoman and she looked pretty cozy with a fuzzy blanket over herself and Lian, who was cuddling up next to her.  

As soon as Jason came in, however, the Amazon noticed the boy following right behind him; The kid looked awful and there were stains of blood coming out of his white shirt. "Great Hera!” 

Roy was walking out of the bathroom, and he too was startled by the horrible state Damian was in, "Hey, has anyone seen my phone--Holy shit!" 

"Daddy, you said a bad word!” Lian noted before pointing her finger to Damian, “And why is that boy bleeding?” 

Damian crossed his arms, annoyed by all the unwanted attention. Jason took out his helmet and pushed his brother into the kitchen while Roy ran up to his daughter to get her off the couch.

"Sweetheart, let's get back into your room, alright?"  

"But the movie just started!" The toddler whined.  

Roy rubbed his forehead, tiredly, "I know, but Jason's brother is hurt, and we need to give them some space, okay?" 

The girl pouted, "Not fair! I wanna watch the movie!" 

Roy tugged his daughter’s arm, guiding her to the room. In the meantime, Jason was washing his hands so he could help Damian better. He grabbed a clean cloth from the kitchen drawer and rinsed it with water in order to pat the wounded area to avoid infections. Damian didn't complain but he couldn't help but wince from the pain. He also didn’t seem too fond of how Artemis and Bizarro stopped everything they were doing to rush for his aid.   

Artemis crouched down to get to the boy's eye level, "Let's take a look at that nasty wound of yours," She started reaching for Damian's waist, but the thirteen-year-old flinched away from her.

"It's just a cut, it's nothing!" 

Jason slapped the back of his brother's head to get him to shut up, to which Damian replied with a "Hey!"  

"It doesn't look like it's nothing." Artemis asserted as she lifted herself, shooting an uneasy glance at the boy. 

She went up to the cupboards and came back bringing a first aid kit. She opened the kit and was angered to see how there were only a few Band-Aids and cotton balls in there, nothing else. "What the-- Where's the rest of the stuff?" 

Artemis glared at Jason, anger evident in her eyes. "Hey, don't look at me! I wasn't the last one who used it." 

Artemis turned her back to them, angrily opening and slamming each one of the cabinets. Bizarro decided to help too, but his perfectly made popcorn was now starting to burn.  

"Bizarro, the popcorn!" Jason pointed out, running to the stove to fix the damage, but Bizarro beat him to it. 

"Yes! Popcorn not burning!" Bizarro cried out as he quickly turned off the heat. 

The smell of burnt soon filled the entire kitchen, deeply saddening the cloned Kryptonian, "Yeees!" He mourned while Artemis was still furiously searching the kitchen. 

"ROOY!" Artemis called, marching down to Roy's room.  

Roy came out of his bedroom, his daughter running right past him to jump straight to the couch and hit play on the movie that was paused.  

"What?" Roy asked impatiently. His anger increased even more as he noticed what his daughter was doing, "Lian, what did I say? Get back to your room!" 

"No! I'm watching a movie with Aunt Arti and Uncle Biz! Uncle Jay is invited too." 

Artemis glared at the other redhead, "What did you do with the rest of the first-aid kit? There’s nothing there, Roy, and I need Neosporin!" 

"Oh, shit." Roy widened his brows, slapping his forehead for the lack of memory, "I used the last one we had yesterday." 

"What the hell, Roy?" Artemis shouted. Bizarro was still crying in the background over his ruined popcorn. 

Lian too noticed the nasty burnt smell spreading in the room, "What's that smell?" 

Jason chimed in, trying to help, "Red, let's just use hydrogen peroxide, it's no big deal." 

Roy let out a nervous laugh, "Um, about that... We don't have that anymore either. I used it all up last night." 

“What? And you didn't think to replace it?" Artemis exclaimed, "You guys get hurt on a regular basis around here! And you always lose everything in this house, I am sick and tired of having to find everything around here!" 

“Hey, I keep my things organized.” Jason defended. 

Roy ignored him, "I was gonna get some more today, I forgot!" 

Bizarro left the kitchen to do who knows what while Jason walked up to the fridge, still trying to think of something to not get his brother’s gash even more infected, "Welp. We got Vodka!" 

Everyone looked at Jason in shock. Damian was quiet that whole time but even he couldn't hide the nervous look on his face.  

Artemis shook her head impatiently, placing her hand across her face, "You boys are hopeless." 

Against Damian's will, Jason placed him on top of the countertop as if he was a child, then turned his back to him and went to the fridge, coming back with Vodka in his hand.   

"Ready, kid? " Jason asked, holding the bottle, "This is gonna burn." 

Artemis pushed Jason away, annoyed, "Stop it, the alcohol will make the healing worse." 

Out of nowhere, Bizarro reappeared into the kitchen waving a brand new and unopened first aid kit in his hands, "Me not find extra!" 

The Amazon ran up to Bizarro fully relieved, "Bizarro, where did you find this?" 

"Bathroom!" He responded happily. 

Artemis brought the new first aid kit to the countertop, next to where Damian was sitting, and she pulled out each item that she would need to treat the wound better. She carefully applied an antiseptic ointment, making Damian wince again from the pain, and then she covered the area with a gauze pad as gently as possible.  

After what seemed like forever, the kid was finally taken care of, but Damian's skin was losing color, and it looked like he was about to pass out at any second.  

"Damian, you okay, bud?" Jason asked, staring right into Damian's eyes.  

Hazily, Damian nodded but he was fighting hard to keep his eyes open. All of a sudden, Lian joined the party, making the kitchen even more crowded than before.

She pulled down Bizarro’s shirt to get his attention, “Uncle Biz, are you not gonna watch the movie with me?” 

“No, me not need to make more popcorn.”  

“Aww, why not?” Lian whined in her little childish voice. 

“Lian, you know Bizarro talks in reverse.” Roy explained before brushing off, “But that’s beside the point, I told you we can watch the movie later. It’s getting late, anyway.” 

“No!” The girl screeched, “I wanna watch it now!”  

“If you keep giving me this attitude, you’re not watching any movie for a long time, young lady!” 

Furiously, Lian inhaled as much air as she could so she could let out the biggest - and loudest - crying tantrum. It was getting late, and she was typically moody whenever it was close to her bedtime anyway, but still. The screech went on for a little while, despite Roy’s efforts in getting the girl to calm down. Damian’s head must have been pounding from all that crying. Hell, even Jason was going to have a headache soon. That girl could be so loud sometimes.  

Jason put his hand on Damian’s good shoulder, leading him to his room, “Here, let’s go to my room.” 

Compliant, Damian walked straight to his older brother's bedroom and then sat on Jason’s nicely made bed. The whole room was pretty clean and tidy, except for the office desk that still had some clutter from Jason’s earlier search. Jason sat on the edge of the bed, still worried about Damian. There was some bickering going on from the batfamily over the comms that he had to mute it for the moment. 

Damian still looked horrible. His eyes were begging to close and he looked extremely sick and frail.  

“How are you feeling?” Jason asked. 

Damian frowned. “My head hurts…” 

“Here, let me get you some pain meds. I’ll be right back.” Jason got up from the bed and rushed to the kitchen. 

Thankfully, there was no more screaming after Artemis was able to calm Lian down. They were all doing exactly what Lian asked for, which was to watch the movie together, much to Roy's dismay. Frankly, Roy should’ve been used to it by now that no matter what, everyone in the house would always spoil Lian rotten, there was no way around it. That's what uncles and aunts were for. Bizarro was back at the stove, attempting to make another set of popcorn one more time. 

Once Jason got a cup of water and the pain meds, he went back to his room. He wondered if Damian had fallen asleep by that point but he did not expect to see that brat of a brother attempting to get out of his house by jumping out the window.

Jason rested the cup on his dresser and leaned his body against the wall, arms crossed, “What are you doing?"

With half his body outside the window, Damian turned his head to Jason, annoyed, "I'm leaving, what do you think?" 

"Seriously?” Jason was getting pissed now. How dared that little gremlin act so ungrateful after everything Jason did for him? Did he not know how much trouble he was in for lying to the whole family about Damian? “My place is that bad for you? You’re the one who asked to come here, you spoiled brat! I told you, Alfred should be the one taking care of you, not me!” 

Damian glared right at Jason, his tiredness suddenly fleeing and being replaced with anger, “Yeah, well, coming here was a mistake. I didn’t come to be treated like a child. And I don’t need you, I do fine on my own!” 

“Should’ve thought of that before you asked me to take you here, demon spawn. God, you’re worse than Lian, did you know that? At least she’s fucking 4, you’re thirteen and you still act like a brat!” 

Damian was almost out of the window now when he said, “See? I knew I was an inconvenience to you! Forget this, I’m leaving.” 

Jason had to rush to the window, forcefully pushing Damian back inside, and making him fall on the bed. “There’s no way in hell I’m gonna let you roam around the streets looking like that. And shut this window down, it’s fucking cold!” Jason said as he closed the window with a thud. 

Damian jumped out of the bed and ran to the door, but Jason caught up to him, blocking the door also. “You’re not leaving, you brat.” 

“Get out of my way, Todd!” Damian tried to pull Jason away from the door, but Jason didn’t budge. There was no way Damian could overpower him, especially not when he was injured like that.  

“Stop it, you’re gonna make your wound worse. We still need to get that sewn.” 

“I said, get out!” Damian attempted to pull him once again, but it didn’t work, so decided to punch his chest instead. “Let me out, Todd! Let me out!” 

“Jay, is everything okay?” Artemis asked from outside the door.  

Jason had to restrain Damian one more time since the kid was clearly losing it. “We’re fine, Red. Just give us a minute!” 

Holding his arms firmly, Jason stopped Damian from moving. He made sure Damian was looking at him when he spoke, “Damian, what’s going on? If you’re worried about being an inconvenience to me, you’re not, alright?” 

“Stop lying!” Damian cried out.

Was Jason seeing things or were the kid’s eyes swelling up in tears again?  

Shit.  

The kid was still recuperating from whatever trauma Heretic had inflicted on him, and Jason had to be insensitive, as always.  

“I’m sorry for what I said just now, okay? I thought you were mad at me and I—Anyway, I say stupid shit too. Now, take the pain med before you pass out from all the pain.” Jason handed his brother the cup of water as well as the pill with his other free hand.  

Damian finally calmed down and did as he was told.  

“I’m sorry, Dames.” Jason apologized again, which he didn’t do often but he felt the need to do it now.  

Damian was staring at the ground after he drank his water, and Artemis walked in with a needle and scissors to stitch him up.  

“Hey, there.” The Amazon’s soft voice and presence somehow brought calmness to the whole room. She pulled Jason’s office chair to sit on it while Damian was sitting stiffly on the bed. She removed the temporary gauze so she could close the wound. “This will sting a little. Ideally, I’d give you an anesthetic, but of course we don’t have everything here.” 

“It’s fine,” Damian mumbled.  

“Ok. Time to stitch you up.” Artemis started the suturing process, being as careful as possible.  

Each time Damian winced, Jason told him it was okay to groan in pain, and that no one would judge him. Damian grunted a few times after that, and Jason let his brother squeeze his hand tightly.

“There you go. You’re doing great. I’m almost done.” 

After a few minutes, Artemis finished, giving Damian another comforting smile. “Are you hungry?” 

Damian nodded.

“Alright, let me go get you some food.” Grabbing her things, Artemis started to walk out of the room.

“You’re not gonna feed him popcorn, are you?” Jason asked before she left. 

“Of course not, you idiot! Lucky for us, we have leftover soup from yesterday. I’m going to heat it up.” 

"Don't forget, baby brat here is vegan."

"I know. I'll make sure to take the chicken out."

“You're the best, Red.” 

Artemis shot Jason a flirtatious smile before closing the door. Jason turned his attention back to Damian, who still didn’t look too great.  

“Do you wanna take a shower? You’ll feel a lot better.” 

Damian tutted but there was not much energy left in him to argue. Jason got up from the bed and went to his closet to pull out a couple of clothes.  

“Here, you can wear these.” 

Damian caught the shirt that Jason tossed at him. The kid frowned, confused, “Why do you have clothes in my size in your closet?” 

Jason gave a long sigh “In case you ever needed to crash here…”

Damian still looked at him suspiciously, “You planned for this to happen?”

“I didn’t, but Alfred did, alright? He forced me to keep a spare of clothes for all three of you— Forget it. Go hop in the shower. You look like shit.”  

Damian got up and went to the bathroom. He didn’t thank him but didn’t complain either. That was a first.  

As Damian showered, the comms started picking up again.  

“We can’t find Robin anywhere!”  Tim announced, despair seeping into his voice.

Steph was already crying, losing hope herself, “God, where could Heretic have taken him?”  

“I can’t locate Djinn… Or Heretic…”  Barbara stated. Jason could just see the big frown she must be having on her face whenever she stumbled across a challenging case.  

“Keep searching!”  Batman ordered. As much as he tried to hide, Jason knew that Bruce was also panicking.

He felt horrible for doing this to them. He still needed to ask the kid why he was so adamant about not coming home.  

Damian came back from the bathroom, fully bathed and dressed, looking much more refreshed in his new clothes. It looked like his olive skin color was coming back to him also, which was good. Artemis knocked on the door and came in bringing a warm bowl of soup for Damian.

"Thank you," Damian said as he was handed the bowl with a handtowel underneath it since the food was hot.

Bizarro also knocked, coming in with a big smile as he held a big pillow in his hands. Bizarro placed the pillow behind Damian's back, fluffing the pillow to get him all comfy.

"Not fluffy pillow."

The gesture made Damian chuckle, which took Jason by surprise. Bizarro left them alone also, and once he was gone, Damian went back to blowing his food and eating his soup slowly. 

“Are you feeling better?” Jason asked as he watched his little brother eat.  

Damian weakly nodded to him as he kept eating.

Everything would be calm and peaceful if it wasn't for the comms haunting Jason like a ghost. 

“Wing, how are the Titans doing?”  Tim was asking.

“They’re not doing too great but at least they’re alive. Impulse got injured the most, we’re treating his wound right now. Deep gash right on his leg.” 

Jason could feel Tim’s shock over the comms, “Oh my god… I was such a jerk to him this morning, is he gonna be ok?”

“He’ll be fine, Red Robin. He has speed healing for his favor.” 

Jason was feeling tense, jaw clenching again. He jumped, startled when Damian laid his head on his chest; He was sound asleep. Carefully, Jason remove the bowl from Damian's hands and placed it on his nightstand. He adjusted Damian so he could lie on the bed more comfortably. He tucked his little brother in and brushed Damian’s dark hair, feeling beyond grateful for him being alive.  

The comms were still ringing in his ears like crazy, “Batman, Gordon is calling. Trouble in the street. It looks like Penguin is up to something again.” Barbara warned. 

“Damn it! I don’t have time for this!”  Bruce shouted. 

“It’s ok, let us help, Batman.”  Steph said, “We’ll take care of him.” 

“I will not put anyone else’s life in danger!” 

“Have a little faith in us, will ya?”  Steph challenged, but Bruce decided to change the subject.

“Red Hood, come in.”  Jason jumped once he was called out, “We haven’t heard from you. Anything yet?” 

Jason stared at the softly asleep baby brother, lying so cozy and comfortable in his bed. He never got the chance to ask Damian why he couldn’t take him home, and Bruce would never agree to let Damian rest at Jason’s place, he would want to bring him home immediately.  

“Nothing yet.” He lied. 

Jason turned off his comms, unable to stand this torture any longer. Long minutes went by, but Jason remained kneeling on the floor next to his bed. He finally got up to sit on his chair but then, as if things couldn’t get any worse, Damian started to frown and mumble something under his breath. He suddenly started to toss and turn, mumbling things in Arabic that Jason couldn't remember what they meant.

It looked like he was having a nightmare. 

“Shh, it’s okay, baby bird. You’re okay.” Jason tried to comfort him, brushing Damian's hair again.

Damian squeezed his already closed eyes and he continued to toss around the bed. Jason readjusted the blanket on him, but then he noticed certain burnt marks on Damian's body.

His brother had been electrocuted. More than once, judging from those marks.

Jason clenched his hands into fists. He was going to make sure that Heretic would pay for what he did. Damian still had a frown on his face, so Jason checked his forehead and gasped at the touch; The kid was burning up. 

Jason had to do something to treat that fever, he ran to his bathroom and came back with Tylenol. He shook Damian a few times to force him to take the medication. Thankfully, Damian obliged but fell back asleep right afterward. Damian's forehead was so hot, Jason didn’t know what to do. He should be home, he needed to go back, his family deserved to know that Damian had been safe that whole time.  

His thoughts were consumed with worry, and he barely noticed Artemis coming in as he stared at his brother, nervously running a hand through his hair and feeling like he was about to have an anxiety attack himself.  

Artemis rushed to Jason’s side, "Jason, what's wrong?" Jason could barely acknowledge her, it was getting hard to breathe all of a sudden. "Talk to me, Jace. What happened? How is he?"

Jason shook his head, struggling to fight off the tears that wanted to come out. "...It's Heretic. Two years ago, Damian died because of me. I'm the one who sent both Talia and Damian to their deaths." Jason turned to Artemis, staring right into her gorgeous green eyes, " I was right there, Artemis. I could've saved him, but no, I told him to go disable the bomb, and then I told Talia it'd be best to split up, and--" It was useless, Jason wanted so badly to break down and cry.

Artemis placed her hand on his shoulder, "Hey, it's okay. It's all in the past now, none of this is your fault. There was no way you could've predicted what was going to happen to them, you did as best as you could. Don't beat yourself up."

God, Damian was burning up so much. Jason took too long to fix the wound, it ended up getting infected anyway.

"You don't get it, Red! Heretic is back, he did this to him! There are burned marks all over the kid's chest, Heretic was torturing and electrocuting him. The worst part is that the Shadow was Heretic all along, and I was the idiot who told Damian to keep the case a secret from the family. I could've found out about the Shadow's identity before any of this happened, but I didn't do anything, I forgot! And now Damian's here, and he's burning up from this fever, and it's all my fault--"

Artemis sat on the edge of the bed so they’d be closer to eye level. "Jace. Breathe."

"Red, you don't understand--"

"Breathe." She spoke more sternly. 

Jason took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

"There you go." Artemis smiled, "Your brother is going to be okay. And this is not your fault, no matter what lies you insist on telling yourself. He's safe and alive because of you. You saved him, Jace. Damian could've died tonight, but he's here with us instead. And if you feel it's best to take him back home, now it's a good time."

Jason covered his face with his hands, ashamed, "I didn't even tell the family that he's here. Damian asked me not to tell."

Artemis shot him a sad smile, "You need to tell them, Jace. They deserve to know."

"I know..." Jason drawled, still upset with himself. 

"Just tell them. It'll alleviate their worry."

"You're right." 

Jason got up from the office chair, Artemis getting up as well. He turned his comm back on, notifying the family, "Bats? Found the baby bird. I’m taking him to the cave right now." 

Jason carried his asleep brother in his arms, barging out of the room, followed by Artemis. 

Bizarro, Roy, and Lian were still in the living room watching a movie as they ate Bizarro's new popcorn.

"Hey, Roy? Can I borrow your car? I need to take Damian back home."

Roy stood up from the couch, going to the hall entrance where the key holder was hung. "Here, I'll take you there. That way you can stay with Damian in the backseat."

"Thanks."

Artemis stood by Lian and Bizarro, waving goodbye to the boys as they rushed out of the house.

Bruce was gonna be pissed, Jason knew. But none of that mattered. 

His little brother needed to be helped, and fast.

Chapter Text

The disturbing silence in the room, interrupted only by the sound of the beeping monitors, came to an end once Emiko and Kory woke up, which was relieving. Dick had just finished suturing the deep laceration on Bart's leg when the girls regained consciousness, while Jaime paced back and forth, still blaming himself for losing Djinn. Dick and Jon tried to comfort him, but it didn’t work very well. At least the girls were feeling better now. There were still no signs of Damian and Djinn anywhere, and Dick didn’t even want to begin to think about what could have happened to Kory. He had to hope that everyone was going to be okay.

Emiko was the first to ask questions, still confused by what happened, and Dick let Jaime take over and explain everything. His mind kept wandering back to Kory, who was awfully quiet. She was relieved to see that most of the team was okay, of course, but there was something worrisome about her demeanor, Kory seemed too… Distant. What was even more concerning was when she left the medical bay and retreated to her bedroom, seeking privacy. Dick was about to run after her to see what was going on but his thoughts were interrupted by a certain speedster who had also woken up;

"Nngh... Where... What timeline is this..?"

The whole room suddenly lightened up; Bart had that effect on people.

"BART!" Both Jaime and Jon jumped at Bart and hugged him from opposite sides, almost crushing the poor kid.

"Oof! Woah... Hey, guys..!" Bart looked around the room, still trying to understand where in the world he was.

Emiko was lying on a bed next to him and she had a kind smile on her face. She looked at the speedster and said warmly, "Welcome to the land of the living, Impulse!"

Dick stood between both beds, happy to see his teammates smiling for once. He walked closer to Bart’s bed and asked, "How are you feeling, Bart? Your heart rate went a bit slow for a moment. Gave us quite a scare with your vitals there."

"Did it really?!" Bart turned around to check on the monitor, but his heart rate was normal now, beating faster than a regular person’s heart rate at rest. 

Bart was going to make a comment but he jumped as he looked down, startled by his own injury, "Aaah! What happened to my leg??" The speedster brought his leg closer to himself so he could inspect the stitches a little better. "Yikes, no wonder my leg hurts so much! This thing is gnarly!” Bart scrunched his face, disturbed by the wound. He then looked at Dick in confusion, “What happened?"

"Your electroshock bracelet," Jaime cut in. He was standing by Bart’s bed, wearing his civil clothes rather than the Beatle suit. "It activated a surprise bomb. The whole thing was a trap, the entire warehouse blew up on us..."

"Are you serious?" Bart exclaimed, alarmed, "Dang it... I should've waited, then. I could've easily gotten everyone out of there in time..."

"Don't beat yourself up, Bart." Dick assured, "No one is to blame." His blue eyes laid on Jaime's, "Including you, Jaime."

Jaime remained silent but he shook his head in disapproval as he stared down at the ground.

Emiko sat up straighter on her bed and looked to the side as she squeezed her sheets tightly. She seemed afflicted by something that Dick couldn’t tell what it was, but it was clear that something was bothering her.

"What's wrong, Emi?" Dick asked, trying to sound as warm as possible.

The archer avoided Dick's gaze for a moment, but she looked right into his eyes before she confessed, "This is all my fault, actually."

Dick couldn’t let her keep thinking that way. No one in the team was responsible for what happened, only Heretic was to blame. "No, it's not, Emiko. "

"I'm serious!" Emiko's voice got louder. "It is my fault! I snuck out, then fell right into an obvious trap, and put everyone's lives at risk because of it!"

"Emi, you're fine," Jaime said to reassure her. Superboy also nodded in agreement. 

"Yeah, it's all good!" Bart added, "Besides, everyone's safe, right? And look at me, I barely got a scratch!" For a second there Bart almost forgot about his large cut. He quickly glanced at his leg again before looking up, "Okay, that's way worse than a scratch, but still. I'll be able to run again in no time and--Wait." Bart turned to Dick, eyes widened. "I'll be able to run again, right?"

Dick nodded, "Yes, Bart. Wally had rebar pierced through his leg once. You'll be fine."

"He did?" Bart asked in awe, "He never told me that!"

“Everyone’s not safe, Bart!” Emiko snapped their attention back to her. “Djinn is still missing!"

With a frown on her face, Emiko looked around the room, "And where is Damian?"

Jon was the one to answer her question, but he hesitated. "Um... Damian is also missing. We haven't found him yet."

Dick saw concern and something less easily definable in Emiko's expression, but he then realized what it was once Emiko glanced at Jon; It was fear.

"What?! No... What happened?" The vital sign monitor attached to Emiko beeped a little loud from her heart pumping faster. Embarrassed, the archer quickly removed her finger pulse oximeter so that the machine would no longer register her vitals. 

Jon gave a saddened look. "Damian was kidnapped at school a little after you were trapped at the warehouse. It was all part of Heretic's plan."

Emiko glanced at Dick and then Jon as if she were searching for answers, or at least a solution. "Then what are we doing here? We need to find them!"

Dick gently rested his hand on Emiko's leg, signaling for her to remain in bed, "Emi, your body is still recuperating from the fall and all those toxins you inhaled. You need to rest now." 

"But we have to do something!"

Emiko was afflicted, Dick could tell. But she really needed to rest. "They're gonna be ok. We're gonna find them." Dick prayed that those weren't just empty promises. 

The girl got up from her bed anyway, reminding Dick an awful lot of Damian's stubbornness. Those two were like two peas in a pod sometimes.

"None of you guys get it! I should've told you, all of you, about Shadow."

Dick furrowed his brows in confusion, "You mean, your mom?"

Bart jumped in, also puzzled, "Your mom's name is Shadow?" 

"No!" Emiko said, loudly, "I mean, yes, my mother's name is Shado, but I'm not talking about her!"

The girl let out an impatient sigh, "Damian and I were working on a private case, we were hunting down this magic being that goes by the name Shadow. I found some intel that helped us track down to where he was hiding, but it was a trap all along. At first, I thought the Shadow was actually Elias, but when I got there, there was another genie who attacked me instead; Another one of Djinn's brothers. He told me that his master is not Elias, but Heretic. Djinn is probably in Heretic's possession right now, which means he has at least two genies under his command."

Dick widened his eyes at that revelation, but he wasn't the only one who was shocked; Jon had his jaw dropped also, "What? So Heretic is the Shadow?!"

Emiko raised her eyebrows as she turned to Jon, "Oh, that's right! You also knew about the Shadow."

Nightwing had to waive his hands to get the kids to stop talking for a second and turn their attention to him, "Woah, woah, woah, hold up. Emiko, so you and Damian were trying to find some mysterious, dangerous person that goes by the name 'Shadow' all this time? Alone?" Before Emiko could answer, he turned to Superboy, "And Jon, you knew about this?"

Jon raised his hands in surrender, "I can explain!"

Emiko cut him off, though, "Hey, in Damian's defense, he refused to go to the warehouse with me after he was grounded. He didn't want to upset you and your dad. I was the one who was too stubborn to let this sit aside, so that's why I went in alone today."

Jon looked disappointed; "So you and Damian knew where Shadow was going to be, but no one told me?"

Emiko shrugged, "Sorry, Superboy. I honestly forgot you knew, and Damian was against me going there the whole time, so that's probably why he didn't tell you."

Dick couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Ok, so the two of you knew, and yet, no one bothered to tell me about any of this??"

Bart raised his hand, "I knew too." All eyes went on the speedster, who then shrugged his shoulders innocently, "What? Emiko and Djinn are kinda loud."

Jaime jumped in, "Wow! I was the only one who got left out of this?!"

"You're so nosy!" Emiko glared at Bart in an accusatory way, "Did you go through my things too?" 

Bart defended himself, "Hey, I'm not nosy and I do not snoop- Scratch that, sometimes I snoop when I'm bored, but I promise I did not snoop this time. I just heard you telling Djinn that one day about how Elias could be the Shadow, remember? That's all!"

Jaime crossed his arms, annoyed. "Bro, can't believe you didn't even tell me."

Bart retorted, defensively, "Hey, you were there too, not my fault you didn't connect the dots about that Shadow guy! And I was meaning to bring it up to you again but you kept telling me to stop bugging you so you could study for your test."

Dick had to silence the kids once again, "Guys, guys, enough. Emiko, I cannot believe you and Damian would keep something like this from me and Kory. Do you not realize how dangerous this is? You could've died today, Emiko! All of you could!"

Emiko's frustration was now being replaced by regret. Her whole demeanor changed to a much sadder one. "I know... I'm sorry we kept this from the team. Damian didn't want you to know."

Dick's heart sank. Why would Damian keep this from him? Did he not trust him? "What? Why?"

Emiko shrugged, "He didn't want you to tell Batman. He wasn't going to tell me anything either, but I knew he was up to something. He was working with only Red Hood before I got involved." 

Jon agreed with her, "That's true."

So Jason knew? Jason and Damian working together, secretly, and neither of them trusted Dick to not say anything? Was he that bad of a brother to them? That stang, but there were more pressing matters at hand. Damian and Djinn still needed to be rescued, and Dick was still worried about Kory. Why was she still hiding in her room instead of checking in with everyone on the team?

As if Jon was in tune with his thoughts, he looked around his surroundings and asked, "Is someone crying?"

Dick could feel his mind racing. He immediately ran out of the room to go to Kory. He had been so worried about her and the baby, but they were barely able to exchange meaningful words since Kory woke up, and it wasn't like they could talk about that in front of the kids either. Dick barged in through the door, but Kory locked herself in the bathroom. Over the door, however, he could hear her weeping.

"Kor'?" Dick knocked on the bathroom door a couple of times. "Kory, is everything okay?"

"Dick?" Kory hesitated before opening the door and falling into her boyfriend’s embrace. "Oh, Dick... I don't think-- I--" 

The sound of Kory's trembling voice and the pain in her eyes were heart-wrenching. Dick felt a sense of dread as he wondered what could be causing her so much pain.

"Kory, what's wrong?" Dick caressed her hair, pulling her closer to him. "Talk to me, sweetheart. What happened?" 

Kory turned her face away from him and continued crying, but quieter. Her silence was killing him inside. 

He had to ask, "Is... the baby okay?"

Kory stared right into Dick's eyes, sobbing even louder than before, "I'm bleeding, Dick! I'm bleeding! Our baby..."  She covered her mouth with her hand, closing her eyes tightly as more tears streamed down her face.

Dick could just feel the whole world stopping, a pit forming in his stomach.

"No... Does that mean..?"

It couldn't be. Their baby had to be okay. This couldn't be happening.

Kory looked up, and the sorrow written all over her face was enough to answer all his questions.

Their baby didn't make it. 

"I didn’t get to keep our baby safe, Dick," Kory cried out, desperately. She wept like she had never done before. "I couldn't protect our child!"

Tears were starting to form in Dick's eyes also.

"Oh, Star, please don't say that..." His voice quavered in anguish.

Dick leaned in closer to her, but Kory folded her arms and took a step back to distance herself.

She shook her head as more tears poured down her face. "We never--" Starfire tried to even down her breathing so she could talk properly, but her voice was still shaky. "We never found out if it was going to be a boy or a girl. I had dreams that we were having a beautiful girl..." Kory looked to the side, thoughtful. "Our sweet Starshine... Or maybe it was a boy all along, but now..."

Starfire's bright green eyes, drenched in tears, met with Dick's blue eyes. Despair seeped into her as she said, "...Now we'll never know!"

Kory started shaking uncontrollably, her face twisted with sobs. Dick hated seeing her like this, it was devastating. He felt as though his heart was breaking in half.

"Star, honey..."

Dick pulled her closer and hugged her tightly, and Kory allowed herself to cry into his shoulder, muffling her sobs against his neck. 

"My baby... My sweet baby..." Kory kept crying, and Dick stroked her hair tenderly, hoping to soothe her."

"Shh... It's okay... It's gonna be okay..." Those were lies, of course. Dick could only handle so much, and the pain of losing his own child, whom he had never even met, was more than he could bear. Was that how Bruce felt when he lost his sons? This was excruciatingly painful.

Dick held his girlfriend tightly, not knowing what else to do, but Kory pulled herself away from the hug. Her sobs were quieting down now, only sniffles left. She was back to being quiet and distant, and all she could say was, "I-- I need to be alone for a while, if that's okay."

Dick gently brushed away his girlfriend's leftover tears with his fingers. "Of course, sweetheart."

"Is everyone else okay?" Starfire asked because of course she would still worry about the team. 

Dick gave a faint smile. "Yes, honey. They're okay."

Starfire gave a half-hearted nod, still weak from crying so much. "Good. That's good."

Dick brought Kory's face closer to him and landed a kiss on her lips, "I love you so much, Kory. No matter what."

Kory nodded with a sad smile on her face, "I love you too." 

Carefully, Dick closed their bedroom door. He turned around, only to stumble across a very curious ten-year-old who was staring right at him with his mouth hanging open.

"Starfire is pregnant?! And why is she crying? Is everything okay?" Jon asked, full of innocence. 

Dick looked behind the door, apprehensively, before whispering to Jon, "Jon, shh! Now it's not a good time, okay, bud? Kory needs some space right now."

"But who else is in the room with her?" Jon inquired, concerned. 

"Huh? What do you mean? I was in the room with her just now--"

"No, there's another person in there. I can hear it."

Dick at first assumed that Jon was just making a false judgment but he was starting to get a little worried now. 

"Wait, so you're saying there's someone else, outside of Kory, who's inside that room right now as we speak?"

Jon nodded, his face filled with sincerity. "Yeah. I hear it, there's someone else inside."

Shit, Dick thought to himself. Could it be Heretic prying on him and Starfire that whole time? Or maybe it was Elias making an appearance now, of all times? That couldn't be good.

"Okay, stay behind me," Dick instructed as he reached for the door.

He walked into the room, and Kory was sitting on her bed, her cheeks marked with dried tears.

"Dick-- Jon?" Kory asked, surprised, "What brings you here, Jon? Did you need anything?"

Superboy pointed at Starfire, his voice full of conviction, "There! I hear it!"

Dick approached Kory and spoke in a worried, rushed tone, "Star, honey, Jon thinks there's another person in this room. Outside of the three of us, I mean."

Starfire immediately got up from her bed, starbolts being formed in her hands. "What? Who?" She searched around the room, her eyes shining menacingly.

"Superboy, can you see anything?" Dick asked, hoping that the unknown intruder was not masking his location with magic.

"Hmm..." Jon focused harder, and Dick waited until the kid exclaimed, "Oh! It was just the baby, oops! I'm sorry."

Kory widened her eyes and she glanced at Dick, confused. She leaned closer to Jon, frowning, "Jon, what do you mean by that? What did you see exactly?"

Jon seemed a bit embarrassed by the whole thing. "Oh, um... It's not what I saw, but what I heard. I thought there was another person here. I mean, not that there isn't another person, there is, but not like an adult, you know?" Jon then rubbed the back of his head, forcing a smile, "I'm still learning how to tune my super hearing better, sorry about that! It's hard when I hear too many things at once, and heartbeats can be really hard to distinguish!"

Kory and Dick blinked. 

Dick intervened, "Wait, back up, Jon. You're not making much sense. So there is another person here after all?"

"Dick, I think what he's trying to say is--"

"Yeah, the baby!" Jon pointed at Kory's belly, simply, as if that was a pretty obvious statement. "I can hear it! Loud and clear."

Kory and Dick exchanged looks of disbelief. 

Starfire was brightening up, but she could barely believe what she was hearing. She placed her hand on her chest, in shock, "Wait, so you can hear the baby's heartbeat right now?"

 Jon nodded. "Mm-hmm."

That couldn't be right. Kory asked again, "Are you positive?"

To be sure, the younger boy closed his eyes and concentrated before confirming, "Yep, there are two heartbeats in you! Your baby's heartbeat is super fast, by the way, but I've been told that's pretty normal." Jon blinked, the iris in his eyes changing just slightly as he activated his X-Ray vision, "Aww, your baby looks so cute and cozy! Oops!" Jon blinked again, his blue eyes back to normal. "Sorry, I shouldn't use my X-ray vision. You know, radiation and all that. Although, now I can't remember if my dad said if our vision releases radiation or not..." 

Kory gave Dick the biggest smile before running to Jon for a tight hug, "Oh, Jon! You are a beacon of hope!"

"I am?!" Jon asked, innocently. 

Kory released Jon from her embrace but she was then met by Dick, who pulled her closer to him. They both felt a thousand times lighter as if a heavy weight was lifted off their shoulders. 

Dick hugged his girlfriend tightly, not wanting to let go. He sighed in relief, "The baby's ok. Thank God."

There were tears of happiness in Kory's eyes now. She pulled herself away from the hug with a beautiful smile capable of lifting anyone's spirits. "Dick, this is wonderful! Our baby is okay!"

Dick found himself tearing up and chuckling at the same time, "I know, this is amazing, Star!"

"Now we just need to schedule an ultrasound appointment. I want to hear our baby's heartbeat too!"

Dick smiled in agreement. A buzzing sound suddenly rang in his ears, however, so Dick turned his comms back on. Starfire was just waiting, gazing at Dick's eyes, but she wasn't sure if he was hearing good or bad news judging from his facial expression.

"What's wrong?" Kory asked.

Jon and Kory waited, but thankfully Dick seemed to be overwhelmed by relief rather than fear.

"Jason found Damian! He's taking him back home!"

Jon gasped in excitement, "So Damian's okay?!" 

Dick smiled warmly, "Yeah, he's okay."

"Oh, this is marvelous!" Kory cheered in gratitude. "Let us know when we can visit him. You should go check on him as soon as he's home. I'll take care of the Titans."

Dick nodded. "Will do."

"Can I come with?" Jon jumped, eagerly, "Once Damian's home, I mean. I wanna see him!"

"That won't be a problem, kiddo." Dick playfully ruffled Jon's hair, which the kid didn't mind.

Thank goodness they were okay. Now they just needed to rescue Djinn. 

Dick waited for the green light so he could go visit the cave, but no one called him. He was starting to get worried again. He knew that Damian was already situated at the med bay, but Bruce hadn't called him yet. Tired of waiting, he went to the training room at the Titans' tower to head to the zeta tube. Jon noticed that he was leaving, so he came following right behind him.

The younger boy asked Dick from afar. "Are you gonna see Damian now?" 

"Yeah. I don't know why no one has reached out me yet, but I'm going in anyway. Hopefully he's not badly injured."

"Ok. Let's go see him, then." 

Jon stepped in front of Dick, waiting for him to turn on the zeta tube so they could be teleported to the cave. Dick wasn't going to argue with the kid, that was Damian's best friend after all, but something was telling him that things were not too well at the cave, otherwise he would've been told to come in sooner. Pushing those thoughts aside, Dick activated the zeta and they were gone.

****

Dick stepped out of the zeta, but as soon as he heard some shouting at the cave, he extended his arm to prevent Jon from moving any further. Bruce and Jason were arguing, and it didn't look pretty.

"...And you didn’t bother to tell me?" Dick heard Bruce yell. 

Jason was raising his voice also, "Not every crime case has to go through you, Bruce!"

"Of course it does, Jason! You cannot keep things like these from me!"

"Says the one who keeps secrets from everyone all the damn time!"

"Damn it, Jason!" Bruce slammed his fist on a medical table that was close to him. Alfred shot him an angry glare. "Don’t you get it? Damian could've died tonight!"

"Gentleman..." Alfred tried to interrupt, but he was ignored.

"And you think this is all my fault, don't you?"

"I never said that."

"Yeah, but you're thinking it. I know you, Bruce."

Dick and Jon walked in a little closer so they could see everyone better. No one had seemed to notice them, although Dick was sure that both Bruce and Alfred were aware of their presence, they just didn't say anything. Even if Jason had also noticed, he didn't seem to care. He kept pacing the floor, face flushed in anger. From afar, Roy was standing awkwardly by his parked car, not knowing what to do or say. 

Dick turned back to Jon and whispered, "Hey, Jon, this doesn't seem like a good time. Go back to the Tower, I'll tell you when Damian's awake, okay?"

Jon looked at him with sad puppy eyes and pouted, "Awn, but I wanted to be there when he wakes up."

"I know. I'll call you, alright? I promise."

Reluctantly, Jon nodded and went back to the zeta, leaving Dick alone with his hectic family.

Jason was glaring at Bruce again after rubbing his head in frustration, "God, I can't believe you. You really think I would've dragged Damian into this mess if I knew the guy we were after was Heretic this whole time?"

"You don't understand, Jason! Had you told me about the Shadow sooner, none of this would've happened; I could've prevented this!"

"Oh, yeah, sure, because the great Batman knows it all! You would've caught Heretic a lot sooner too, wouldn't you? Because you're the better detective, the better fighter, blah, blah, blah."

Alfred shot a glare to both of them, so Jason took a deep breath. He spoke a little calmer before his irritation got back to him again, "You know, I get it that you're mad at me. I do. But what I can't stand is you yelling at me for working on a fucking case with my own brother!"

The cave went silent, everyone was caught off guard by what Jason had said, including Dick. 

"Jason--"

"I'm not finished! You're mad at me because you don't think I'm responsible. As if you were such a saint, putting the kid's life at risk any time you two go on patrol."

Bruce clenched his jaw, trying to contain his anger. "That is not how I operate, and you know it. My priority will always be his and everyone else's safety."

"Please, Bruce. Your priority is catching the bad guys. I was your Robin too, remember? We would hunt down rapists and serial killers. It doesn't get more twisted than that, and I was a kid. Our lives were constantly in danger."

Jason clearly knew how to push Bruce's buttons because he was enraged now. Bruce's face went red as he yelled, pointing his index finger at Jason, "I never wanted this life for any of you! I never asked for a partner, and I didn't ask anyone to be Robin. I just wanted you boys to be safe and lead normal lives!"

"Gentleman, enough." Alfred stepped in again, sterner than before, silencing everyone in the cave. "Master Damian has a serious concussion, and you two are not helping. If you can't have a discussion like normal adults, I suggest you talk over this matter another time."

They were both quiet again. Jason sighed, speaking a little softer to respect Alfred's wishes, "It'd just be nice if you trusted me for once. I don't see you getting on Dick's case whenever he goes on patrol with Damian in Blüdhaven. Or in Gotham when you are gone."

Bruce didn't respond to that, and Dick decided to make his presence known as he walked in closer. Roy acknowledged him with a disconcerted nod, but Jason looked right at Dick and waved his arms in the air, speaking in a mocking tone, "Well, would ya look at that? The prodigal son has arrived!" Jason clapped sarcastically before turning to Roy, "Well, Roy, guess we're done here. No need to stick around any longer."

Roy sighed, scratching his hat. "Jay..."

Roy started making his way to the car, hoping that Jason would follow him with his mouth shut, but Jason had to make one last snide remark before making his exit, "Oh, one last thing! You might think I would've gotten Damian killed with this case, Bruce, but don't forget that Goldie here was the one who lost to Heretic before the kid died."

Dick's spirits plummeted, his heart tightening in pain. He knew Jason was feeling hurt, but he did not need to go there. Dick already blamed himself for Damian's death in the past.

Roy elbowed Jason, in disbelief, "Bro, seriously?" 

Jason was quiet. Even he knew he screwed up this time. He stopped in his tracks, regretting what he just said. "Sorry, that was fucked up... I didn't mean that." He then walked up to the car, ashamed of what he just did. "Let's go, Roy."

"Um... Nice seeing you guys... Hope the kid feels better soon." Roy said, trying to sound slightly comforting amongst the giant chaos that Jason had created. 

The boys left, leaving only Dick, Alfred, and Bruce with Damian, who was still lying on the bed unconscious. 

*****

His head was pounding and it was hard to remember what happened. Damian tried to open his eyes a couple of times but that proved to be so painful. Even his eyelids hurt, how could that be possible? Someone was softly running their fingers through his sweaty hair; Damian just couldn't figure out who was doing it. Was this another illusion or did Damian escape? He didn't remember getting away. He was probably still stuck to that chair, tied by chains, so he needed to wake up and get out of whatever nightmare he was trapped in.

Damian opened his eyes but goodness did his head hurt. It throbbed so much that he couldn't even lift his head without wincing in pain. And why were the lights so bright? Wasn't he in a dark clock tower? Damian moved around on the bed but doing so made him feel dizzy and sick to his stomach. He wanted to throw up, but he wasn't going to waste Artemis' food like that.

Artemis! That was right, he had fallen asleep on Jason's bed. He remembered now, he did get away.

He was safe. Away from Father and everyone else.

"Easy there." 

Odd. That voice was familiar, but it sounded a little different. Damian tried to open his eyes again and he called for his brother, his voice failing to sound anything other than hoarse. "Ja...son?"

There was a man sitting next to his bed, and he had a sad smile on his face. Sad, but warm. "It's just me, Dick." Grayson continued to gently play with Damian's hair. "Jason left not too long ago. Do you want me to call him?"

Damian readjusted himself on the bed so he could sit up straight. He pressed his fingers against his temples in hopes to make the pain go away, but it didn't change anything. His head felt like it was going to explode, and his shoulder was still aching, despite being put back in place. If only the muscles of his body didn't hurt so much. Damian hated feeling weak like that.

Grayson seemed to still be waiting for an answer, so Damian just mumbled, "No... It's okay." Because it was understandable why Jason would leave him; Damian was an insufferable brother to him. He probably gave up trying, and Damian couldn't blame him. 

"Well, I can still call him if you want. Jason only left because he got into another fight with Bruce, that's all. You know he won't mind checking in on you, right?"

"He won't?" Damian didn't mean to sound so hopeful and childish.

"Of course not. Everyone's been so worried about you, Dami. The whole family went searching for you."

That was strange. Why would anyone care? Was this another one of the genie's tricks to mess with his mind?

Grayson continued, "You gave us quite a scare, kiddo."

Scare...

Damian closed his eyes and thought about that word for a second until he remembered it all; The Teen Titans, the explosion, everything. His teammates were dead and it was all because of him.

Damian jumped with a jolt, the monitors attached to him screaming at him with loud beepings from his rapid heartbeat, "The Titans! Grayson, the explosion, I--" Damian tried to explain more but the words wouldn't come out; There was a lump in his throat. 

He couldn't face Grayson's disappointment for failing the team so miserably. 

"Shh, calm down," Grayson said, placing his hand on Damian's good shoulder. "It's ok. The Titans are safe, Superboy saved them."

"He did?" 

Grayson nodded in response, "Yep. Some of them got injured, but they're ok. They're in the Tower now."

"Oh." He paused, thoughtful. "That's good..."

Those were great news, that meant that Emiko was alive, along with everyone else. Damian could feel his whole body relaxing. It was a good thing that Jon was able to help, and it made sense that he succeed in saving them too since he was an actual hero, unlike Damian. Grayson said something else that Damian couldn't understand what it was. It was hard to keep his eyes open, his migraine hurt too much. Sleeping sounded like a much better option, the only way to escape from that annoying pain. Damian felt his eyelids close again.

He was back at Infinity Island and he was 10 years old. He was staring right into his Art professor's eyes, seconds before he blinded him; The one man who inspired his passion for art. His professor was innocent, he didn't deserve to be punished, but what did Damian call him again? A fool. Now his professor would never be able to admire the world around him and pour his passion into a canvas. Damian ruined that man's life. Loud beeping noises started echoing in the room, which didn't make sense because he wasn't inside a room, he was outside in an open field, watching his professor cry in pain.

Damian woke up, and Grayson was begging him to relax. Damian didn't realize he was sweating so much, and his head was pounding worse than before. He looked to the side, weakly, and noticed how his vitals spiked, according to the monitor. But why was there a monitor there again? He was no longer on the island, but this didn't look like Todd's room either. Ignoring the black spots that kept appearing in front of him due to his headache, Damian assessed his surroundings; The metal desk next to his bed with some medical tools, an oxygen mask that looked like it was used while Damian was still unconscious, the obvious vital monitor right in front of him, the giant dinosaur in the corner of the cave, the coin...

Wait. That was not Todd's house.

Damian frowned, "Where am I..?"

He was at the Batcave.

"You're home, Dami. You're safe, it's all good!"

Bullshit, that was not his home. Damian didn't belong there, and Todd lied to him! He told him he wouldn't tell anyone, he wouldn't bring him back to this gloomy cave where everyone saw him as a burden but was too nice to not say it to his face. Drake made it quite clear to him, he was not wanted there.

"No!" Damian protested, "Todd told me he wouldn't take me here!" 

Grayson frowned and he was about to say something but he was interrupted by Pennyworth who came running in their direction, "Master Damian, you are awake! We were so worried about you."

Pennyworth sounded so relieved, but why? Why was he acting so nice? Was he simply employing his acting skills to pretend that he cared about Damian? If so, he was impressively good at it. 

"How are you feeling, lad?"

"Pennyworth..." 

"Yes?"

Damian was still not quite sure if he was reliving another dream but even if he was, he didn't care. He had to apologize to that man, he owed Pennyworth that much.

"Pennyworth, forgive me. I'm sorry I lied to you before, I'm sorry for disappointing you!"

"Master Damian, there is no need to apologize. You did nothing wrong, young sir--"

"No, I lied to you, I broke your trust, I--"

"Shh. It's okay, Master Damian. You never broke my trust, and I am certainly not disappointed in you. I'll always believe in you, young sir."

His chest felt as if it was being squeezed, and Damian fought to remain strong and emotionless. None of this was happening anyway, although a part of him hoped this wasn't a product of his imagination. Unconsciousness started to creep up on him again, and Damian couldn't remember wavering in and out of the blackness. He just remembered Pennyworth smiling at him with Richard by his side.

Damian wanted to sleep more peacefully, but his body couldn't fully relax; He was freezing. It was just so cold in the cave but Damian's clothes were drenched in sweat somehow. He looked down at his shirt and frowned, he didn't remember changing clothes. Wasn't he still in his school uniform? Damian needed to get out, he didn't want to be tied to that stupid chair anymore...

The nice illusion of Pennyworth reached to his forehead and said, "Oh, my! He's burning up again. I'll bring him more medication."

It sounded like Pennyworth had walked away, so Damian checked his own forehead to see how hot it was. His forehead was burning but what concerned him the most was how his touch was as vivid as Pennyworth's. Damn. That genie was good. Despite not being able to tell what was real and what wasn't, Damian forced himself to get up, but Grayson made him sit down again. Richard started mumbling something calming and soothing, almost putting Damian to sleep yet again...

Damian's heart rate had finally become steady but the moment a large figure appeared from the shadows, his heart skyrocketed again, only worse than before.

It was Father.

And he was going to be furious with him.

"Damian! You're awake!" Father ran up to him, but Damian felt his chest tighten so much that he could no longer breathe. 

Father was not supposed to see him like that. All weak and pathetic. Damian tried to breathe better, but his chest wouldn't stop heaving. The spreading dread of being seen as a failure in Father's eyes was trapping him like those cold and enchanted inescapable chains. 

Despite his struggle to breathe, the boy managed to shout, "No! You shouldn't be here!" 

"Dami, it's okay! Calm down!" Grayson turned his attention to Father, and his voice was filled with worry, "He was calm just a second ago! I don't know what's going on!"

"He's having a panic attack."

Damian ignored all their remarks, he was more focused on making his body stop shaking. He couldn't tell if it was from the cold or from the fear coursing through his veins. He knew what happened to failed soldiers, he watched Grandfather kill each one of them. Sure, Father would never kill, but he was certainly going to disown him. Burn his Robin uniform to serve it as a reminder of his failure. 

Father walked closer to the bed and crouched down at Damian's eye level. "Damian, son! You're okay, everything's okay. You're safe now."

The monitor was so damn loud, it was worsening his headache. Damian angrily removed the device clipped to his finger and jumped out of the bed to run away, but Father got to him and held both of his forearms, forcing him to stay still. 

Damian twisted his body and fought back but Father overpowered him. "Release me!" 

"Damian, look at me. You're safe. No one's going to hurt you, I promise."

"STOP LYING!"

Father's grip loosened up from the shock, giving Damian the chance to get out of his grasp. He was ready to leave that place as fast as possible, but Father reached for his arm to stop him.

"Damian, wait--"

Flinching away from his father, Damian yelled, "DON'T TOUCH ME! STAY AWAY FROM ME!" 

Damian couldn't quite tell what Father was feeling but he seemed heartbroken. It didn't make sense why Father wouldn't be happy to have him gone, he knew he was a disappointment to him. He wasn't going to make Father have to deal with him any longer. Damian started running toward the exit of the cave.

He felt a hand reaching for his shoulder, however, "Damian--"

Damian turned around, being forced to stare into Father's blue eyes, but he didn't expect to be pulled into a hug. Father squeezed him tight, speaking in a softer tone, "It's okay, son. You're safe. I'll always be here to protect you."

The boy wanted more than anything for that to be true. It didn't help that Father's embrace felt so real, he could even smell Father's scent and hear the sound of all the things around him... He wanted to believe this, he did, but that was probably just a sick joke to lower Damian's guard. Soon he was going to wake up and be electrocuted again. Damian felt his body shake once more. He didn't want to be electrocuted again, those shockwaves burned, he needed to get out, break free from those chains--

"Shh. Damian, I need you to breathe. Can you do that, son?" His father whispered softly in his ear. 

Damian looked at his father and nodded, hating himself for being so weak. He took a deep breath and let the air out. 

"That's it. You're doing great. Keep breathing."

The boy repeated the same breathing exercise a couple of times, and out of nowhere, Pennyworth appeared by his side holding a tray with a syrup bottle and a cup of water. Father told him to take the medication but the mere thought of drinking anything made his stomach turn. Damian furiously shook his head, which hurt with his headache, but Father spoon-fed him anyway. The syrup tasted disgusting, and the water didn't help. He was going to throw up, it tasted so horrible, and now the nausea was affecting his migraine too. Damian just wanted the pain to go away.

He was tired... So tired...

Distant voices called his name, but Damian couldn't remember who was saying it and why he was being called. He just slowly saw the cave going black--

*****

Damian was regaining his strength back and, thankfully, his headache was a million times better. He opened his eyes, and he was in his bedroom now. Someone switched on the bedside lamp, and Damian could now see Father's tired face staring back at him as he caressed his son's hair. Such a gesture caught Damian off guard, so he was quick to sit up straight on his bed, stiffly, regretting having shown signs of weakness earlier. He should've known that Father was there with him. If it had been an enemy, Damian would've been killed already. He should be prepared at all times but the knife he kept next to his pillow was nowhere to be found.

"Hey, it's just me. I'm not going to hurt you. I promise."

Damian allowed himself to take a deep breath to calm down his nerves. "I know that. It's your code."

Father frowned, upset. "Damian, you're my son. I would never hurt you."

Father wasn't pleased, so Damian avoided his gaze, deciding to stare at the ceiling instead. His memory was a bit foggy but at least he was slowly remembering everything that happened, and how it all started at school. Damian hated how he had lost to Heretic twice now. He should've known that Shadow was just his stupid clone, that was careless of him to not have considered that a possibility before.

"What's wrong? What's on your mind?" Father's questions snapped Damian back to the present.

The boy looked back at the older man. The light reflected from the lamp made the wrinkles on Father's face more visible. He didn't look upset or angry, just tired. And worried.

Damian rested his head on the headboard and muttered, "It's not fair. Heretic cheated, he had magic with him this time. Followed me to school, watched my movements. I wasn't ready when he attacked me."

Father's worry-lined face was back. He let out a sigh, "Our enemies don't seem to play fair, do they?"

"No. They don't." Damian crossed his arms, annoyed by the whole thing. 

Father's face now softened, which was nice. "Glad to see you doing better, though. How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine."

Father shot him a glare. "Son. You don't have to lie to me, you should know this by now. Come on, talk to me."

Suddenly the bedsheets seemed a lot more interesting to look at. "...I don't want to talk about it."

Father looked upset again but he didn't push it. A reassuring weight landed on Damian's shoulder, and Father leaned in closer on Damian's bed, rubbing his arm in a soothing way.

"I'm sorry I wasn't there for you, Damian."

Damian furrowed his brows. What was his father talking about?

The man continued, "I wish I had known about Heretic so none of this would've happened. I wish I could've saved you."

"Father, it's fine. Truly."

Father's blue eyes landed on Damian's. "No, it's not; I've failed you. Too many times. I should've been more involved, I should've known about the things you were going through at school with all that bullying, and--"

Damian froze. "You saw the videos?!"

Father's face was saddened now. "Yes, son. And I am furious at those kids for tarnishing your image like that. It is not fair, nor is it right. And I'm sorry you've been suffering alone this whole time."

Damian looked down again, never feeling so small before. 

"Hey, I'm not mad at you," Father assured, "And if you think I would've thought less of you because of what happened, then I've been doing a lot worse job as a parent than I thought." 

Bruce continued to mindlessly rub his son's shoulder and he rested his head on Damian's. "I hope one day you can feel comfortable around me."

Damian looked up at his father, furrowing his brows, "Father, you do know I'm not upset with you, right? You don't need to be so hard on yourself. You didn't do anything wrong."

Bruce straightened himself up so he could see his son's eyes clearly. "I know I don't say this often enough, but I love you, Damian. More than you can fathom. I'm so proud of you."

Now that made Damian feel a whole flutter of panic because Father was being overly sentimental now, which was unnerving. Besides, Damian couldn't handle being lied to, not after what he saw and heard from his father and everyone else. He would much rather hear the truth. At least Grandfather didn't play any games, he'd kill you if you disappointed him. An execution would hurt a lot less than all this forced niceness.

Damian's panicky expressions were probably quite noticeable because his father started to ask, "What's wrong? You don't believe me?"

Damian squeezed his fists, feeling an overbearing wave of shame hit him. He wished he could run or just hide somewhere. 

"Damian, it's true. I--"

"Stop it!" Father immediately went silent. "I'm tired of all the lies..."

Damian's chest felt like it was being squeezed again, and the lump in his throat was back. He had to fight it, he couldn't cry in front of his father. Heretic watching him weep like a child was enough humiliation.

"Damian, these are not lies. I care about you, we all do." Father's voice was soft but firm. "When I heard that Heretic had taken you, I... I almost lost it. The mere thought of losing you is enough to break me. I can't lose you, son. Never again."

To the boy's horror, tears were threatening to well up, soon to be prickling hot behind his eyes.

"...Stop..."

"I'm serious. The whole family cares about you, son. I know you and your brothers all fight, but there is no denying that they will always protect you. You complete this family, Damian."

"I asked you to stop!" And it was too late, he couldn't hold it any longer; A sob bubbled from his chest.

Father pulled his son closer to him. "You can cry with me, Damian. I won't judge you nor will I think any less of you."

Damian accepted his hug and, for the first time, he allowed himself to cry in front of his father. A mess of tears worked their way down his cheeks as he choked on air, barely able o breathe as he held on to his father tightly. Father soothed him by rubbing his back in small circular motions until he calmed down.

The two sat in silence for a moment, the air between them tense and quiet.

Father's arms felt warm around Damian, and amongst his sobs, the boy asked in his shaky, crying voice, "Why are you being so nice?"

"I'm not being nice, Damian, I'm being truthful. You, your siblings, Alfred... You all give me a reason to come home every night. Gotham would mean nothing to me without my family. It's what gives me purpose."

Damian sniffled, struggling to talk normally, "But I was a mistake, a burden in your life. All these deaths I've caused... I'm a failure as a Robin and as your son."

Father scowled. "Is that what Heretic told you?"

"He didn't tell me; He showed me. Well, the genie showed it to me. Although, now I can't remember if those were actual memories or not..."

Father was enraged. "Whatever garbage Heretic fed you were nothing but lies, Damian. You are not a failure; You are a hero, Damian Wayne."

Damian still refused to meet his father's eyes. "Heroes don't kill..."

"Well, you don't kill anymore, do you? Besides, the number of people you've saved far surpasses those who were killed when you were still in the League. And you were raised to kill, that wasn't much of a choice, now was it?"

Damian nodded and then looked at his father with innocent eyes, "But what if Heretic is right? That I'm just like him, that I'm never going to change?"

Father's face hardened. "He's not. Only you can change your destiny and build your own path. You don't have to follow my footsteps or your mother's either. We both want you to be happy, Damian. To choose whatever is best for you." Damian gave a faint smile, so Bruce decided to add, "But even if Heretic's right, which he's not, and you went back to killing, I would still love you."

"You would? Why?"

"Because you're my son, Damian. And nothing will ever change that." Father wrapped Damian in his arms again and gave him a squeeze. "You're my stubborn, brave, caring son who finds treasures under the sewers, and who goes out of his way to make people know that you care."

"You still remember that? The pearl I found, I mean."

"Of course I do. I'll never forget it either."

Father tucked his teenage boy close to his chest. Damian could hear Father's steady heartbeat and that calmed him down. A hand was brought to his young face, stroking his dark hair away from his tanned forehead. Silence invaded the room yet again, and this time Damian was the one who broke it;

"Father?"

"Yes?"

Damian repositioned himself on Father's chest so he could look him in the eyes while asking, "Do you ever regret bringing me back to life?"

There was so much pain and sadness in Father's eyes. He seemed heartbroken again. "Of course not. I'd go to Hell and back every day if I had to."

Father hugged him one more time, slightly tighter than before. 

His voice was soft and calming, which was a nice change after having a day filled with hecticness.

"I love you, son."

"And I love you too…. Dad.” 

Chapter Text

The heads of innocent children were impaled on spikes for display, their lifeless eyes staring out at the world below. The spikes were tall and made of rusted metal, the heads mounted on them like grotesque trophies. Some of the heads were still fresh somehow, the blood still dripping down the spikes and pooling on the ground below, while others were much older with their flesh decomposed and their features distorted. The stench of death was overpowering, and the silence was broken only by the ghostly sound of screams that belonged to memories.

Memories of when the children were still alive, screaming in horror and begging for mercy before their brains were crushed by Djinn's magic. It was all done against her will, but that didn't change things; Djinn still did it, and this was her fault. Next to the spikes, a pile of bodies was stacked haphazardly with their limbs broken and twisted, and their faces contorted in expressions of pain and fear. Once again, Djinn's doing. Thousands of years filled with wars, filled with deaths. 

Time and time again being commanded to kill.

Because that was all her Masters wanted from her.

The smell of decay was familiar to Djinn. She had smelled this stench before, she's felt the dread filling her soul as she proceeded to commit all these atrocities. Djinn could feel her stomach turning and tears welling up in her eyes but those feelings were nothing compared to the overwhelming shame that washed over her for what she did to all these innocent people. She wanted to scream, run, anything but stay at that horrible place, but she couldn't. She was stuck. Djinn had to simply stay seated on her 'throne' and be forced to look at all the lifeless people she was forced to murder staring right back at her, serving as an eternal reminder of what she's done.

This was her prison.

Her Hell.

And there was nothing she could do about it.

The only way to avoid that horrific sight was by closing her eyes and meditating. Her guilt and anxiety were not going to leave her anytime soon, so Djinn had to think of something to calm her down. The genie tried to recall how this all happened, but she couldn't remember much. After saving Emiko's life, she lost complete consciousness, but once she woke up, she was back to the one place she promised herself she would never go back to; Her ring.

Djinn had to push away the intrusive thoughts that kept coming back to her as well as the sound of the children screaming, forever haunting her. Djinn started to focus on her breathing, it was the only way to stay calm. As she meditated, the young genie could now sense that she was not the only one being held as a prisoner; Her brothers, Zavant and Uthi, were also there. Not in the same realm as her, they were all imprisoned inside their own rings, but they all belonged to the same Master. 

And their Master was not Elias, Djinn would've felt the difference in the magic flowing in the air. No, this was someone else. Someone evil, but it was someone desperate. She could sense that this man's body was dying. 

From within her prison, Djinn could hear her Master's voice echoing through the walls, as though it were coming from above.

"I should've killed you when I had the chance." Her Master spoke.

The voice of a young girl also echoed as if it was coming from above. "Quit your whining, Heretic. You heard Tamir loud and clear; If you dare to hurt me again, the deal is off!"

Djinn's Master spoke louder, sounding angrier than before, "I don't care about the deal! I could care less about Nyssa also!"

"Oh, yeah? So why don't you try to kill me right now? See what happens." The girl, somehow, was so fearless and daring. She acted a lot like Damian, Djinn thought.

"Why must you tempt me, child?"

"Because I know how badly you want your actual life back! The Devil did you dirty, didn't he? Bringing you back with a decayed body like that. And the best part is that not even a genie can fix your problems, only the Devil himself! And you know he did that on purpose." The girl laughed, "Magic sucks sometimes, doesn't it?"

Djinn trembled as she heard her Master stomp on the ground and yell, "SHUT UP!"

"You don't scare me, Heretic. In a lot of ways, you're just like Damian," Djinn's heart skipped a beat at the mention of her friend. So they knew who Damian was. Hopefully he wasn't in danger. "You think too highly of yourself and feel that the world should just bow to you. But Damian is not better than anyone, and neither are you."

Djinn couldn't see it, but it sounded like her Master was standing up and walking closer to the girl. "I don't understand. You hate Damian so much, yet you stopped me from killing him. Why?"

"Because he's my cousin, you idiot!"

Djinn did not know what was going to happen next but another person must have stepped into the room because a door was suddenly shut.

"What are you two yapping about now? Can't you both shut up for once? "

"Hello again, Tamir. Shall the genies join us now?" Djinn's Master asked.

"What do you think? We don't have all day, Heretic!"

Suddenly, Djinn's body started to tremble and turn into mist against her will.

She was being summoned. 

Djinn could feel her body being pulled so she could appear in front of her Master, a man who looked identical to Damian, but in adult form. It was a little disturbing to see because Djinn knew that man was nothing like Robin; Damian was a hero, not a monster. Damian's 'twin' was standing next to an Arab-looking girl with dark hair and a red streak in her long bangs, and a big scar on her right eye, and next to them stood a scary-looking bearded man with dark hair and cold brown eyes.

Djinn's eyes were soulless as she floated in the air unable to express any emotion of her own. A blue and a green smoke dispersed in the air matching Djinn's purple aura; It was her brothers, Zavant and Uthi, floating right next to her with the same empty faces. It would've been a touching reunion if only they could speak their minds and express their feelings. That was not possible, however, so they just floated next to each other instead, simply waiting for more orders to come.

Their only purpose in life was to obey.

Heretic glared right at Djinn as he spoke, "Djinn, you are the one Elias so desperately wants. Let him find you at once."

A terrifying figure loomed right behind Djinn's Master the moment his name was mentioned. It was a well-groomed man sporting a sharp suit, dark sunglasses, and slicked-back hair. There was a sinister smirk etched onto his face.

It was Elias.

Djinn could feel her skin crawling, she wanted nothing more than to be as far away from there as possible. She wished she could simply gasp, fly, disappear, do something, anything! She didn't want to keep floating there, she didn't want her brothers to be in danger and be hurt by Elias too, she just wanted to save her family and fly away. But no, she was bound to the ring, and Master's wishes were more important than her own desires.

Djinn slowly raised her finger to point to the man standing behind Master. Her voice sounded robotic, unable to convey the horror that was overcoming her, "He already has."

Heretic, along with the man named Tamir and the teenage girl, turned around, surprised to finally see Elias.

Tamir raised his hands in the air as he leered at Elias, wickedly. "Ah! If it isn't our missing piece! It's nice to finally meet you, Elias."

Elias' malicious grin was now vanishing. He confidently walked towards the bearded man, his hands in his pockets. "The same cannot be said about you, Tamir Habrat. I've heard about you before. I've heard the stories of how you traveled across the world in search of all these Lazarus Pits, spending months, years, to find ways to resuscitate your beloved. You tried to negotiate with dark wizards, even tried your way around magic, but nothing worked. You couldn't even locate my brothers and sister without the aid of a clone. Pathetic, really."

That last remark made both Master and Tamir clench their hands into fists.

Elias just shrugged, playing innocent, "What? Surprised by how much I know about you? It's not hard to sense a mere human playing with dark magic, Tamir. And stooping so low as to make a deal with the Devil? How desperate are you, pal?"

That certainly struck a nerve because Tamir was raising his voice now, "I don't know how you found out about my endeavors, but I don't care! You are going to help us, Elias!"

Elias' jeering laughter erupted in the room. "You wish! Do you truly think I would agree to work with you?! How delusional are you?" Elias then walked uncomfortably close to the bearded man. "Just face it, Habrat: you will never get your precious Nyssa back. Let her rot in Hell."

Tamir was no longer able to contain himself; He immediately lunged at Elias, aiming for a punch in the jaw, but the punch phased through Elias as if Tamir was fighting a ghost.

Elias laughed again, "A human thinking he can take on a genie! Cute."

Menacingly, Elias outstretched his hand, shooting a red energy blast toward Tamir's chest, sending the man flying all across the room. Tamir grunted in pain as his body slammed against the wall, which made the brunette girl laugh, but Djinn's Master remained serious. He was the one to step in before Elias caused further damage.

"Enough." Master said while staring at Djinn's eldest brother, "We're not here to fight, Elias. Come join us instead."

"And why would I do that, huh? You took my siblings from me." Elias extended his hand at Djinn's Master, his voice suddenly sounding cold, "Now, give me back the rings. They belong to me."

Something in Elias' voice made Djinn feel smaller and terrified. The last thing she needed was to be back in her brother's control. Not that her current Master was any better, but so far no wishes had been made, at least.

Tamir thundered as he got up and marched toward Elias and Djinn's Master, "You can have them back once you're done helping us!"

"Stay out of this, Tamir." Master spoke with irritation clear in his voice, "Let me handle this."

Elias shot them a smirk, "Oh, you two are hilarious if you think you can negotiate with me!"

An annoyed sigh could be heard in the room, and everyone turned around to the teenage girl, who was leaning against the wall with her arms crossed.

"When you boys are done comparing dick sizes, come find me. I'm leaving." And just like that, the young girl walked away after shutting the door behind her, leaving Djinn alone with her brothers, her Master, and the strange bearded man.

Master was the first to break the silence, "You're probably aware of our intentions, Elias. We need the whole family of genies together in order to complete the ritual to release the Devil from Hell. Only then we can revive the daughter of the demon, Nyssa al Ghul, with no repercussions and I can have my body back. Help us, and every single one of the rings shall be returned to you."

Elias scoffed at that, "Pff, you truly think I'd be willing to become your genie? I am my own master, Heretic. No one owns me. And you might have three of my siblings in your possession right now, but I can still take them from you." 

Elias' hands started shining brightly as balls of red energy formed in his palms, but Master Heretic raised his hand to stop him. "You have my word that I will not control you. As soon as the Devil is unleashed, you can have your family back to enslave them as you please."

Elias crossed his arms, looking bored. "You'll need to offer me a lot more than just my siblings to get my interest. I'll need the Stone of Souls."

Djinn saw Tamir clenching his jaw in nervousness, but Master was not intimidated by that. "I was afraid you'd say this. I tried conquering the Stone of Souls before, but I wasn't able to. The magic sealed to the stone belongs to a Celestial power that not even the Devil could break."

Elias rolled his eyes to the ceiling and he sighed. "I know. Now, listen here, bud, I'm done playing games. Give me my rings and no one gets hurt, deal? Besides, I need my little sister back. She's done a phenomenal job at her illusion-hiding spells, and I need to congratulate her... Personally."

Elias shot a predatory grin at his younger sister, who was still floating in the air next to her brothers. What Djinn would give to be able to use her powers at will right about now...

Master cut her brother off, however, "No deal. If you refuse to work with us, then I shall end your precious sister's life. Djinn?"

Djinn's body froze as she was called by her Master. Whatever would come out of his mouth next, she was going to be forced to do it.

"Kill yourself." Her Master commanded.

Elias removed his sunglasses in disbelief, eyes widened, and even Tamir was surprised by the command. Djinn didn't know what to do, no Master had ever commanded her to end her own life before, but if there was anyone capable of killing a genie, would be a genie himself.

Djinn's heart raced in fear, even though her facial expressions failed to show that. She wanted to cry so badly, beg her Master to release her from this nightmare, but at the same time... She had to obey. 

Master's orders were all it mattered, nothing else. His words were far more powerful than any spell she could ever care to cast. Not even Elias had that much power over her because he wasn't her Master anymore, Heretic was. So she did as she was told. Trembling, Djinn slowly brought her hand next to her chest so she could blast herself a fatal blow. 

Deep down she knew she deserved to die after what she did to all those children a long time ago, but she still wanted a chance to redeem herself, to see the Titans one more time and apologize to them, to say goodbye to Damian...

Elias remained frozen, appalled by the whole thing. "You wouldn't dare..."

Tamir was just as shocked, "Heretic, what do you think you're doing?"

Djinn's hand was shaking furiously as she kept trying to resist granting her Master's wish.

Elias shouted at Damian's adult clone, "You're bluffing! You need Djinn to complete the spell, you said it yourself! And Djinn, stop listening to him! You know every genie can deny one wish from their Master!"

Master Heretic made his purple ring shine brighter, making it difficult for Djinn to keep fighting. She struggled, and while Elias was right about genies' abilities to deny one wish, Djinn secretly felt that she deserved such punishment, so it was hard to deny the command.

Her Master decided to explain, "I don't bluff, I'll just accept my fate as it is. My life is meaningless, and if I'm meant to die, so be it. I don't need Nyssa back either, Tamir does." 

The bearded man's face went pale white, but Damian's clone ignored him, turning his attention to the powerful genie standing in front of him. "But you, Elias... You will lose Djinn forever. You won't be able to torture her any longer." Master then glared at the suffering girl, "Djinn, stop resisting. I command you to end your life. Now!"

With tears streaming down her face, Djinn looked down at her hand, a ball of energy being formed now. That was it, she was going to die next to all these people who could care less about her. She took one last look at her Master's face. That twisted, sick version of Damian, but at the same time, the only reminiscence she had of Dahee, the boy who saved her millennia ago. Djinn closed her eyes, whispering to herself, "Goodbye, Damian. And I hope to see you again, my dear Dahee..."

"STOP!" Elias shouted in fear. "Djinn, stop it!"

Tamir was also looking pale, "Heretic! What the hell are you doing?"

No longer being able to fight it, the energy around Djinn's hand became wider, her body trembling tremendously for what was about to come. 

"Fine! We'll make a deal!" Elias cried out in despair, catching Master Heretic's attention.

Damian's clone glanced at Elias before turning to the genie, "Djinn, I command you to stop."

A huge weight was lifted off her shoulders, and Djinn no longer felt the need to end her own life. She didn't notice before, but she could see the horror in Zavant and Uthi's eyes, even though their faces were still expressionless. If she could, she would free them all instantly. No one should be anyone's slave. 

Elias was gritting his teeth, his face contorted with anger,  "Djinn is mine, and mine only. What do you need?" 

Heretic didn't smile, but he was definitely satisfied. "Hm. I will need your ring and your brother's, only then I will have enough power to finish the ritual. As soon as the Devil is freed, the rings will be all yours, Elias. You can have your family again."

Elias looked down at his rings, deep in thought. Reluctantly, the powerful genie removed the ring with the yellow ruby that belonged to his brother and longtime servant, Alizar. When it came down to his own ring, the one with the red ruby, he hesitated. Heretic waited, extending his hand to Elias. The genie had to take a deep breath, hands trembling, as he took his treasured ring off his finger.  

After what seemed to be forever, Elias handed the tall man his most valuable belongings; His two rings.

Heretic carefully placed each ring on his fingers, completing the collection. A surge of powerful energy rippled through the room, causing the air to vibrate. Objects were flying, windows rattling, and Tamir, the only human standing in the room, was knocked off his feet by the giant magic wave that wooshed in the room. Heretic could feel the immense magic flowing through him, a power he had never experienced before. The clone inhaled the magical mist that was entering his lungs. 

From the corner of his eye, Heretic could see Tamir grinding his teeth in deep anger. The man was consumed with envy, he was sure of it, but Tamir wasn't the one who found the rings first, Heretic did, which is why he retrieved them before anyone else could. But even with all this incredible power, Heretic still didn't feel the need to keep it, he was already a weapon.

He just wanted his life back.

That and Damian Wayne's death, of course.

*****

It was bright daylight when Pennyworth opened the curtains in Damian's room. Damian's body was still incredibly sore, and that annoying sunlight didn't help with his mild headache, but he was feeling much better than before, with all things considered.

Damian rubbed his eyes while yawning, "Hnn... Pennyworth? Can't you just let me sleep in a little longer...?"

"I certainly would, Master Damian, but you have visitors today. It would be wise to not let them wait longer for you, young sir."

Damian was now sitting up, frowning. "Visitors? Who--"

"They're downstairs. Breakfast is ready as well." Pennyworth walked closer to Damian's nightstand to put away the empty water cup and the medicine bottle. "I made your favorite." The old man smiled tenderly.

Damian tossed the blankets off himself, forcing himself to get up. "You made veggie Mediterranean frittata?"

"Correct, young sir. Do you think you'll be able to eat it?"

There was concern in Pennyworth's voice, which was reassuring, actually.  "I think I can manage. I'm feeling a lot better today, thank you."

"I am glad to hear that. We'll wait for you downstairs, Master Damian."

Damian had no idea what visitor Pennyworth was talking about, so he felt it'd be best to be dressed rather than to come downstairs in his pajamas. Damian got ready and walked downstairs to the kitchen. 

The breakfast table looked full, and once Damian got closer, he could see Drake sitting next to Brown, and Cain sitting across the table from them. Even Father was there, sitting at the end of the table like he always did. Damian thought Richard would also be there, but what he didn't expect was that he was going to be greeted by a superhuman hug that almost made him feel sick to the stomach from how tight it was.

"DAMIAN!"

"Oof!"

Jonathan Kent finally let go of the hug, "Oh, haha, sorry..."

Damian wanted to give his friend a hard time but it was hard not to smile. Seeing his friend again was a really nice surprise. "Nice to see you too, Jon."

"We were so worried about you! How are you feeling?"

Damian shrugged. "I've had worse."

"If that's your way of saying 'better', I'll take it!" Jon smiled, not resisting the urge to give his friend yet another hug.

Damian pulled himself away from the second hug, "What are you doing here, anyway? It's 9 am, Jon. Shouldn't you be working at some farm, or something?"

Jon shot him a sarcastic look, "Ha, ha, very funny. I came here to see you! I wanted to come yesterday, but Dick told me it wasn't a good time, so we all waited until the morning."

It was Brown's turn to come at Damian with a bear hug that he did not agree in having, "Little D! I'm so glad you're okay!"

Drake was also walking to them with a dumb smile on his face.  "Hey, I wanna say hi too! How's my favorite gremlin doing?" Drake came closer to Damian and was nice enough to respect his boundary by not being all affectionate or something stupid like that. "You gave us a big scare, did you know that? You can't do that to us."

Damian wasn't quite sure of what to say to that. "Um... Good morning to you too, Drake."

"Come on, why the formality? Come here!" Drake then did exactly what Damian feared; Pulling him into a tight hug. Damian felt his body stiffen, he wasn't sure of what to do. Why were so many people being so nice to him?

Drake seemed to catch on to how uncomfortable Damian was with the whole thing, so he pulled away from the hug to ask, "Hey... What's wrong?"

"Everyone, give Damian some space," Father advised from his seat as he sipped on his cup of coffee while reading something from his iPad. He was using his favorite mug, which read 'World's Okayest Father'. The mug was chipped, but it was still Father's favorite.

Damian joined the rest of the family at the breakfast table, now that they were done hovering over him. Damian would've sat next to Jon, but Pennyworth placed his plate next to Brown, so he sat on the seat available. Across from Damian was Jon, and right by his friend's side was Cassandra, who was waving at Damian with a kind smile on her face, "Hi!"

Damian had to smile back at her. Cassandra had a special way of making people feel good about themselves without saying much. "Good to see you, Cassandra. It's been a while."

"Cassie was so mad that she couldn't help find you," Brown interrupted, in her typical talkative self, "She was busy with the Outsiders for a mission. She came here as soon as she could so we could all see you!"

"Oh. Is that so...?" Damian's face flushed at that. Did his whole family actually care that much about him?

"Of course, little D! You're our little brother!" Brown said as she took a bite of her food. She was still chewing when she said, "By the way, Tim was a total mess yesterday. He went to your room a bunch of times last night just to check up on you."

"Hey!" Drake exclaimed, "Did you have to tell him that?"

Damian's face was getting warmer from all this unwanted affection. He had to retort with something that made him feel more at ease, "No wonder I slept so horribly, then."

Drake leaned on his chair so he could push his little brother in the head, "You brat!"

"Kids..." Father started with a stern voice, his eyes still glued to the iPad screen.

Drake readjusted himself in his seat. "Well, you better know how much we all care, little demon. There's no way we're losing you again." Drake got up to get himself more coffee and once he was back at the table, he ruffled his brother's hair, which Damian hated, "Only we can torment you, no one else. Don't you forget it."

"Tt." Damian tutted but there was a shy smile on his face, which Cassandra noticed. The boy looked around the kitchen, frowning, "Is Grayson not home today?"

Jon was the one to answer, "He said he had to go to a doctor's appointment this morning." The young boy then reached for his pocket, pulling out his Titans' communicator to see if he received any new notification. "Oh, he's back at the tower now!"

Drake smiled in contentment, finishing his coffee, "Awesome. We should all head out to the tower, then!" 

Damian frowned. "You're not a Titan, Drake."

"So? I used to have my own team, you know that. Besides, I've been worried about Bart. I hope he's okay."

"Woohoo!" Brown started to celebrate with a silly dance, "Party at the tower!"

Timothy turned to Father, "Hey, Bruce, the zeta tube to the Titans Tower is still working, right?"

Father must have been deep in thought because he seemed distracted by whatever it was that he was reading. "Huh? Yes, it still works."

"Perfect." Timothy said while Pennyworth approached the table to get everyone's empty plates and mugs, "Let's skedaddle."

Brown looked to Cassandra, "You're coming too, right, Cass?"

Cassandra simply shrugged. "Okay."

Damian and Jon got up from their chairs also, following the other three. Before Damian left the kitchen with everyone else, he took a look at Father's iPad to see what got the man so focused. At a quick glance, Damian was able to see that Father was reading old files related to magic. He was probably thinking of ways to defeat Heretic, now that the clone was more powerful than before. 

Damian would've much rather stayed with his father to investigate and help him locate the clone, but he was longing to see how his team was doing, especially Emiko. She almost died, after all, and it was practically his fault that she was in danger in the first place. Everyone went downstairs to the cave and went straight to the zeta tube.

 ********

Within seconds, everyone appeared on the main floor of Titan's tower where the zeta tube was at. Starfire was in the same room when everyone's entrance was announced by the zeta,  and she greeted them with a warm smile. 

"Oh, hi, everyone! What a pleasure to have you all here!"

It was only after Drake and Brown walked into the room that Kory saw the younger boys joining in, Jon and Damian. 

She gasped in relief, "Oh, Damian! It's so good to see you!" The redhead flew in Damian's direction to pull him into a hug. What was it with people's obsessions with hugs lately?

Thankfully, the embrace didn't last for long, and Kory was turning her attention to Jon, "Great seeing you again, Jon!" 

Jon smiled back at her, "Same!" 

"What brings you all here today?" Kory asked in a friendly tone. 

"We just wanted to see how everyone's doing, that's all," Timothy replied, kindly. "That explosion was no joke, I'm glad that everyone's safe now."

"All thanks to Blue Beetle and Johnny over here." Kory ruffled Jon's hair, making the boy blush from all the attention. He didn't do it for the praise. 

"You did awesome, Jon. Way to go." Drake complimented. 

"They don't call you Superboy for nothing!" Brown also praised and Cassandra gave her classic approval nod. The whole thing was sweet and all, but it was getting too mushy gushy for Damian's taste.

"Alright, let's get inside, Jon," Damian stated, leading the way. Jon followed him, while the rest stayed behind chit-chatting about something probably useless. 

They walked into the living room where Reyes and Allen were on the floor playing card games on the coffee table. Those two were busy arguing about some game rules but Allen stopped and perked up at the sight of the younger boys in the room. 

"Damian! Jon!" Like Jon, Bart also used his speed to run to Damian and squeeze him into a hug. 

"Let go!" Damian complained, sick and tired of all this unnecessary affection.

"Oh, that's right! No hugs for the assassin child. Got it!" Allen said in a mocking lecture voice, making Jon and Reyes laugh.

"Glad to see you alive, hermano." Jaime Reyes said with a smile.

"Likewise, Reyes," Damian responded, politely. 

Right afterward, Timothy, Stephanie, Cassandra, and Koriand'r all walked into the living room, making both Bart and Jaime beam in joy from their presence. 

"TIM!" Reyes and Allen shouted.

The speedster ran to Drake and did the same thing he did to Damian, but hugging the coffee addict even tighter, almost suffocating that poor kid. Reyes was running up to them too, with a wide grin on his face.

"Bart!" Drake called, returning the hug, "So good to see you, buddy! I missed you!" Once they were finished hugging, Drake apologized, "Hey, sorry for being such a jerk to you yesterday. And of course I've wondered how many coins are tossed in the Trevi Fountain. My guess is a million per year, at least."

"Ok, so I counted and there were like 2.7 mil just yesterday. Yesterday!" Allen replied in his animated self. 

"No way you actually counted to 2 million when you went to Rome." Said Reyes in disbelief.

Brown joined in the conversation, "Yeah, I don't believe that for a second. Since when do you have the patience to count that many coins? And how do you not know you didn't lose count?"

"Alright, I probably lost count like 7 times but still, there was a butt ton of coins in there!" Allen justified.

This conversation was obviously stupid and superfluous, but Jon didn't mind the topic, for some bizarre reason. Not even Cassandra was bothered by their little banter. No matter, Damian kept going on his own, leaving the others behind. He still hadn't seen Emiko and Djinn yet, and he was worried about them. Damian went to Emiko's room first, hoping that she would answer the door. 

"Emi?"

It took only a couple of knocks until the dark-haired archer opened the door with a gasp.

"Damian?!"

Emiko jumped at Damian, wrapping her arms around his neck. Damian could feel her heart beating fast against his chest, and a part of him did not want her to let go. He was so relieved to see her alive and well. Somehow, time stood still, and nothing else mattered; Nothing but the warmth of their embrace and the beating of their hearts bringing them close together as they cherished their much awaited reunion.  

Realizing how long they had been holding each other, Emiko pulled away with a warm blush spreading across her face.

The archer looked down to the floor, trying to hide the redness in her cheeks. "Oh, uh... Sorry."

Damian just gave her a reassuring smile in response. "Don't be."

Emiko attempted to compose herself in hopes to hide her embarrassment. "I, um. I was worried. I mean, the whole team was, really. You could've died, Damian."

"Same for you." Damian then frowned, "I told you it was dangerous to go in alone!"

Emiko sighed and looked to the side, slightly annoyed. "I knoow. I should've asked for help but I guess I'm too stubborn. Just like someone I know..." The girl shot her friend a playful smirk, which made him blush a little.

"Whatever." Damian crossed his arms, stubbornly, "It was still dangerous. Don't do that again."

"Ooh, okay, Robin!" Emiko waved out her hands sarcastically, pretending to be intimidated, "How about we just go in together next time, then?" Emiko suggested with another quirky smile.

"Sounds fair." Damian eased down on his stance but he was still concerned. "How are you feeling? Are you still injured?" Emiko didn't seem all that harmed, but it was probably best to ask. 

"I'm better now, all thanks to Djinn. She saved my life."

Damian furrowed his brows, worried, "I haven't seen her today yet, is she okay?"

Emiko suddenly looked surprised. "You don't know?"

"Know what?"

"Oh, I thought Dick had already told you..."

"Told me what?" Damian asked, getting more impatient now.

"Djinn is gone, Damian. No one knows where she is."

Damian froze for a second. "What?"

"We lost Djinn after the explosion. I was unconscious, so I didn't see what happened, but Jaime was the last one to have her before the building collapsed. No one knows what happened to her. I have a couple of theories but I've been wrong in the past..."

"It's Heretic," Damian concluded, his green eyes turned cold. 

Emiko looked to the side again and agreed, vaguely. "That's what we all thought too..."  

An uncomfortable silence hung heavy in the air, leaving Emiko feeling a little uneasy about the whole thing. 

Since Damian wasn't going to say anything, Emiko decided to be the one to break the silence. Damian was deeply worried about the genie, it wasn't hard to tell. His whole demeanor had changed.

Emiko looked right into her friend's eyes to reassure him, "Hey, we're gonna save her. You know that, right?"

Damian waved his hand out and said angrily, "No, it's not just that!" He started pacing in the room back and forth, trying to collect his thoughts. Emiko started to wonder what was on his mind. "This is all my fault, Emiko!"

Oh. So that's what was going on. Damian being hard on himself again.

"Stop--" Emiko tried to say, but Damian ignored her, still pacing.

"Heretic was created after me, he's my enemy. He said it himself that he only wanted to kill the Titans to get to me. He also needs Djinn to unleash the Devil from Hell."

Emiko crossed her arms, not wanting to let Damian finish; She already knew where his thoughts were going. "Yeah, I know that, and we're going to stop him. That's what we do."

"You don't get it!" Damian snapped, catching the girl off guard, "Had I never joined the Teen Titans in the first place, none of this would've happened! Heretic wouldn't have planned to steal a bunch of genies, he would've just gone straight to me!"

Emiko had to roll her eyes at that. "You don't know that. He could've gone after the genies even if you weren't a Titan because that's what he needs for his plan to work. I mean, I still don't know what deal he made with the Devil, but it doesn't matter. He still would've gone after Djinn with or without you on the team."

Damian didn't respond but he shook his head in disagreement.

They stood in silence yet again, and Damian looked seriously deep in thought. Emiko needed to distract his thoughts, somehow, "Come on, Damian. You gotta stop doing that."

Apparently saying that worked because Damian was finally out of whatever battle he seemed to be having with himself. "Huh? Doing what?"

"Carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders. You have to stop blaming yourself when bad things happen."

"You almost died because of me, Emiko! How am I supposed to be okay with that? What if something had happened to you?" Damian stopped himself from continuing further, his face blushing as he realized what he was saying.

Emiko did not care, however. She was in the same boat as him. "And what if something had happened to you? You could've died too, Damian! All because I was reckless and didn't listen to you. I made us both think we were after Elias when it was your evil clone hunting you all along; We could've at least been more prepared and investigated more, or told someone. But we didn't, so I guess it's time to move on now."

Damian was quiet at that, thoughtful. Emiko walked closer to him and squeezed the sides of his arms to make him look at her, "Mistakes happen, Damian. It's part of life. We gotta leave the past behind us. We might not know exactly what we're dealing with, but we'll heal and we'll fight together. Like we always do." 

Damian wasn't sure how to respond to that and he was surprised to be met by another comforting embrace. Emiko squeezed him as she took a deep breath before saying, "I'm just glad you're alive, okay? The team is not the same without you, Robin." 

Damian offered a fleeting smile. "Thanks. The team is not the same without you either, Red Arrow."

The two heroes continued standing close to each other, their eyes locked in a tender gaze. The air was suddenly charged with electricity as Emiko started to close her eyes and lean in. Damian did the same, allowing Emiko to draw closer to him, their lips hovered just inches apart. Their hearts raced with the suspended moment of tension but then, with a sudden jolt, they pulled away as the bedroom door burst open.

"Yo, Emi! Kory and Dick want to make an announcement--" The nosy speedster could barely finish his sentence as he realized what was about to happen. His mouth fell open at the sight of those two, "Woah, were you guys about to-- Oh my god, you guys were totally going to--"

Emiko's whole face went red, and she quickly reached for her pillow to toss it at Bart as if she was firing one of her arrows. "Don't you know how to knock??"

Bart was obviously fast enough to catch the pillow in mid-air before it could hit his face. He couldn't contain his excitement, however, "Ooooh, Red Arrow and Robin have a thii-iing!" The kid sang, and in less than a millisecond, he was gone.

Damian and Emiko stared at each other in horror and immediately ran to the living room, but sadly, they were too late to stop Bart from opening his damn mouth. 

"Guys, guys! Red Arrow and Robin are crushing on each other!"

The chatting in the room abruptly came to a stop, all eyes going to both Damian and Emiko, who were standing next to each other, horrified. Everyone in the room, no exceptions, widened their eyes in shock. 

"Oh my god! That is so cuute!" Stephanie was cheering with the biggest grin on her face, while Dick and Kory looked petrified. 

"You two are dating?" For some reason, Dick asking that question made things a thousand times more embarrassing. If Ollie heard about this, Emiko wouldn't hear the end of it. 

"No, we're not!" Damian retorted, angrily, but that didn't seem to convince anyone. It'd help if his face wasn't red like a tomato.

Emiko took a deep breath, trying to remain calm. She needed to fix this whole chaos quickly. "Guys, just stop. Bart is just spreading stupid rumors because he has nothing good to do with his life." The archer then turned to Starfire, "Kory, wasn't there an announcement you were going to make..?"

Kory started to open her mouth but she was interrupted by Jaime, "Woah, woah, but wait a second: don't archers shoot birds like Robins?" 

Tim joined in on the joke, "Maybe she was aiming for the heart!"

Jaime, Bart, and Stephanie all busted out laughing at that. Even Cassandra chuckled, while Jon, Kory, and Dick were still in a state of shock. 

Bart high-fived Tim, "Man, that was great!"

"No, that was terrible! It was so cheesy!" Stephanie added, while still laughing. 

"Are you two really dating?" Jon asked, confused. 

Emiko was feeling even more awkward now. The topic of her crushing on Damian was still going. If this didn't stop, she would be forced to shoot an arrow at the whole team.

Meanwhile, Damian was fed up with the whole thing. He suddenly turned into an explosion of anger, "Emiko is not my girlfriend! Now, are you imbeciles done acting like little children?" 

The laughs came to an end, and an uncomfortable silence filled the air.

Damian continued, "Good. We were informed that Grayson and Koriand'r have an announcement to make, so hurry up, already."

The whole thing was so awkward that it made Emiko wish she could have Djinn's abilities so she could pull a magic trick to make everybody forget what just happened. It was a good thing that the jokes were done for now. 

Dick cleared his throat, still taken aback by the whole commotion. "Aham. Alright, everyone. We have an announcement to make."

Emiko waited, but she had a feeling she knew exactly what was going to happen. 

Kori was the one to break the news, excitedly, "We're having a baby!"

Stephanie, Cassandra, Tim, and pretty much the entire team dropped their jaws in complete shock. 

"WHAT?! YOU'RE PREGNANT?!!" Stephanie shouted in excitement.

Drake couldn't believe what he was hearing himself. "What?! Wait, Dick, you're going to be a dad??"

"And you're going to be an uncle, Timbo!" Dick ruffled his brother's hair, smiling, "Congratulations!"

"Oh my God..." Tim couldn't even finish his thoughts. Cassandra was also astonished by the announcement. She walked up to Dick, then Kory to give them both a hug.

"Congratulations!" Cassandra spoke, tenderly.

"Thank you, Cass." Dick replied, followed by Kory.

Jaime and Bart were still flabbergasted by what they heard. "What?! You guys are having a baby??"

Emiko rolled her eyes at those two. "Please, it was so obvious! How did you two idiots not see it before?"

Bart widened his eyes at Emiko, "Wait, you knew?"

"What the heck?" Jaime was also confused.

"Of course I knew! Did any of you not notice how Kory had been acting strange lately? Crying because a cat didn't meow back to her? Sensitive to smells? Her constant urge to eat all the time? Hm?"

"Hey, I can relate to that last part." Bart intervened. "Food is great." Emiko had to ignore those two.

Meanwhile, Damian turned to Jon, who was acting suspiciously laid back by the whole thing. "You don't seem surprised at all by the announcement. Did you know too?"

"Yeah, I found out yesterday!" Jon answered, happily, "Starfire had a little scare with the baby but I could hear the heartbeat. At first, I thought there was an intruder in her room or something, but it was just the baby."

"There's more!" Kory spoke again, gathering everyone's attention back to her, "Dick and I found out this morning that I'm 12 weeks pregnant... And that it looks like we're having a girl!"

Damian had to cover his ears from the obnoxious screech coming out of Brown's mouth. Geez, that girl was loud.

Brown continued to cheer, "You're having a girl?!! Eeeek! Congratulations, you guys!!! That is so precious!"

"Well, we're not a hundred percent sure we're having a girl yet," Grayson corrected, "It's still pretty early, but that's what the Sneak Peak results read this morning."

"Oh, they're usually right about this stuff." Brown assured, "You could also take a DNA test, you know. That way it's more accurate."

Kory had no idea that was a thing that people did. "Oh, really? I should go do it, then!"

Cassandra was tilting her head, intrigued, and it looked like she was trying to inspect something. She finally pointed out out loud, "Your belly is not showing yet."

Kory blushed as she looked down at her stomach, "Oh, it's starting to show a little bit. It's hard to see, but it's there. Wanna feel it?" The redhead reached for Cassandra's hand and placed it on her belly, which was not what Cassandra was going for. The former assassin forgot how Kory tended to be a bit touchy sometimes. "Can you feel the little bump? It reminds me of that funny purse that people on this planet use, what is that thing called again?"

Cassandra had no idea what Starfire was talking about, so Dick clarified for her, "She's referring to a fanny pack."

"Oh, yes, that!" Kory agreed, joyfully. "What a silly name, don't you think?"

Stephanie jumped into the conversation again, "So, when are you due, Kory?"

"May of next year!"

"That's amazing!!" Stephanie crouched a little as if she was talking to the baby, "Auntie Steph is gonna spoil this little princess rotten! Yes, I will!" 

Emiko then saw Dick walking up to Tim and Damian, hugging the two brothers, "So, looks like you two are going to be uncles! Excited?"

Tim still didn't know what to say, "Wow... Dick, that's amazing! Congratulations, man."

Dick gave his brother a hug, then he directed his attention to the youngest of the family. "Now, come here, Dames. I haven't hugged you all day!"

Damian fought to pull away from Dick's hug, "No, thanks! I think I've had enough hugs for a lifetime."

Tim then started messing with Damian's hair again just to piss him off. "Uncle Damian, huh? I wonder what you're going to be like as an uncle. I bet you're gonna looove playing house with our niece!"

Damian scowled. "Tt. I do not play with children. She'll probably be nothing but insufferable."

"Can't be worse than you." Drake teased, and Damian was about to punch him in the face when Richard broke up the fight.

"Guys, guys, come on now. Damian, I'm sure you're gonna love your little niece. Babies are adorable."

"As long as you keep that baby far away from me," Damian warned, crossing his arms in discontentment.

Drake just smiled smugly in response, "Cool, that means I'll be the favorite uncle, then!"

"What?" Damian questioned, angry.

"Yeah, she's gonna prefer me over you."

"Tt. She'll probably tolerate you out of pity." Damian replied with a smirk.

"You little shit!"

Drake was jumping at Damian to put him in a headlock, while Grayson rolled his eyes, instantly regretting bringing his brothers together. "Can you two stop..."

Starfire gave a loud single clap to bring the attention back to her once more. "Alright, everyone! Now it's time we discuss important Titan matters."

Emiko sighed in relief, "About time."

"Let's go to the conference room," Starfire instructed with everyone following behind. 

Brown approached her boyfriend to ask, "Should we leave?"

"Nah, you guys are fine," Grayson assured, leading them all to the meeting room.

Once everyone was seated, Starfire started, "Ok, so we all still need to come up with a plan to rescue Djinn. She's out there somewhere, and I believe it's safe to assume that Heretic has her."

"He does," Damian affirmed from his seat, making everyone look at him. "Heretic told me his plans. He needs Djinn so he can unleash the Devil himself from Hell."

The whole team of heroes stared at the kid in shock. 

"What? Why?" Reyes was the first to ask.

Allen was also intrigued, "Why would anyone want to free the Devil?" 

Emiko just rolled her eyes again. "Obviously because Heretic made a deal with the Devil, Bart."

Reyes looked at Emiko, perplexed, "But what deal did they make? What does Heretic want?"

"Ooh, I bet it's immortality, villains love being immortals!" The speedster chimed in.

"Guys--" Grayson started to say since the room was getting obnoxiously loud again. 

"Didn't Batman say that Heretic is dying?" Drake asked, being serious this time. 

"Correct." Damian confirmed, "He probably wants a better body or something like that."

"Damian, did Heretic say anything else to you regarding what he's after?" Grayson asked. 

"It's hard to remember all he said." Damian looked up, trying to think. "I know he's working with Tamir, the guy who helped found Leviathan, and they might bring my Aunt Nyssa back from the dead too. Oh, and Heretic probably has all five genies in his possession by now. He told me he was going to negotiate with Elias so he can get the ring collection complete." 

Once again, everyone in the room stared at Damian in shock.

Jon was the one to finally say something after being quiet for so long, "What? Damian, that's terrible! Do you really think Heretic has every ring now?"

Damian nodded in response. 

Reyes stared at Damian, confused, "Dude, how come you're so calm about all of this?"

Damian sighed, "Because when you have a family like mine, nothing comes as a surprise anymore."

The room went quiet for a moment, and the members of the Batfamily were very thoughtful about the whole thing. 

Brown furrowed her brows, trying to understand the situation, "These rings you guys are talking about..."

"They're genies, Steph," Dick explained.

Drake was contemplating something before he spoke, "We're gonna need to use magic to defeat them, Dick. It's the only way."

"I know. And if Heretic truly has all five rings, it'll be easy for him to hide. We need to find a way to track the magic that Heretic is using before he gets the chance to free the Devil."

The team talked for about an hour, everyone trying to think of ways to defeat Damian's clone and save Djinn. As soon as the meeting ended, everyone started to get up from their chairs, and Damian was the first to leave. He knew exactly what he needed to retrieve before he did anything else; He needed the Book of the Soul's Dusk back. Maybe then he could figure out when Heretic was planning on casting the spell, so he could stop him.

Before he could say his goodbyes, however, Jon and Emiko ran up to him.

"Damian, hold up!" Jon called, catching up to his friend while Emiko did the same. "Wait a minute... I know that look on your face, what are you up to now?"

"I need to visit my brother, Jon. Todd has the Book of the Soul's Dusk, and we're going to need it now more than ever. It is possible I have missed something, maybe the book can give us a clue as to where Heretic might be casting the spell."

"Ok. See if the book says anything about spell timing, weather, or anything like that," Emiko suggested, the boys looking at her confused. "Think about it, if Heretic has all five genies at his disposal, then why hasn't he freed the Devil already?"

"What if the Devil is already free?" Jon asked.

"We would know it by now if he was," Damian stated. "The floor would all crumble, I'm sure."

"So, again, see if the book requires anything specific for the spell to be cast. Like waiting until midnight or a full moon, or something."

Damian nodded. "Will do."

The trio was now walking into the living room, all of them staring into the large windows at the tower. The day was sunny and beautiful all day long, with warm sunshine pouring down on everything, but now that it was early afternoon, the sky was filled with large and dark clouds. The wind started to pick up also, sending leaves swirling through the air. A distant rumble of thunder echoed in the distance.

Jon felt his heart racing. "Um, guys..? You don't think the sudden bad weather would be a sign that the spell worked... Right?"

Emiko and Damian stood in silence, neither of them knowing the answer to that. A few drops of rain began to fall, but soon enough the rain was going to pour in the city.

Damian had to hope that wasn't a sign, but one thing was for sure;

A storm was coming. 

Chapter Text

It was late at night and the storm was not getting any better. The raindrops lashed heavily against the car window while the sound of thunder rumbled in the distance. From the passenger seat, Damian could see the dark clouds gathered in the sky. Father was driving the Batmobile, as usual, and silence filled the air as they headed to their destination.

There was a safe house at the end of the road, and Father had to park the Batmobile down the street in order to not draw any unwanted attention. Damian was the first to get out of the car and head to the front entrance of the hidden house. The few minutes spent standing by the front door in the rain were enough to get his clothes and hair all soaked. Damian rang the doorbell, and it was a good thing that he didn't have to wait outside much longer because the doorknob was now turning.

A tall and slender woman answered the door, and she had her long red hair tied in a tall ponytail. 

"Damian?" The rogue Amazon asked, surprised, "What are you doing here? Are you ok?"

Damian was going to respond but Artemis turned her attention to the person standing right behind him. Her posture stiffened as she glared at the man, "Oh. Batman."

Damian wasn't sure if there was some bad blood between those two, but it made sense that there would be some sort of tension since Artemis was always on Todd's side whenever he was at odds with Father. Their whole drama was idiotic, which was why Damian convinced Father to pay a visit to Todd in the first place; To make amends. 

That and because Damian really needed his book back.

Politely, Artemis waved her hand for both of them to come inside, "Come in, come in. It's pouring out here."

Damian stepped inside, followed by his father. Not much had changed at Todd's house since the last time he was there, except that the kitchen didn't smell like burnt popcorn this time. The house was also strangely quiet and empty for some reason.  

Artemis quickly glanced at Todd's bedroom to call for him, "Jay? You have visitors!"

"Who is it?" Todd asked from his room.

"Just come here, already!" Artemis exclaimed while being careful to not sound too loud. Damian assumed she did that because of Liam. It was pretty late and probably past the little child's bedtime.

The Amazon forced a smile before asking, "Do you two need anything? Sorry you had to wait in the rain, I can bring you some towels..."

Batman raised his hand, cutting her off, "That won't be necessary."

Everyone fell silent and the whole atmosphere in the room suddenly felt... Tense. Father's fault, no doubt.

From the hallway, Bizarro walked in. "Shh. Liam not sleeping."

It took Bizarro a couple of seconds to register that there were actual visitors in the house. 

The zombie-looking copy of Superman gasped in joy, "Red Him family!" 

Forgetting his earlier request to have everyone quiet, Bizarro excitedly ran up to Damian, much to his dismay, to give him a big hug, "Little guy not okay!"

"Yeah, yeah, you can let go of me now, Bizarro!" Robin complained while wriggling out of the tight hug.  

Bizarro did as he was told and let go of Damian, allowing him to properly breathe. The big guy then stared right at Batman with a more serious face. "Batman. You not scary.”

Batman remained quiet, ignoring the comment.

Damian decided to say something to break the silence since no one was saying anything, "I don't see Harper. Is he not here?"

Artemis shook her head in response, "No, he's in Star City. He was actually on his way home, but this thunderstorm happened."

That bad of a storm hitting more than one city couldn't be a coincidence. The Devil was soon to be freed; Damian knew. He just had to hope they wouldn't be too late.

"Jay?" Artemis called again, frustrated, "What's taking you so long?"

"I'm coming, I'm coming. Geez." Todd said as he closed the door behind him. He was walking to the living room where everyone was waiting but he stopped in his tracks once he realized who the visitors were.

"Shoot me now." Todd looked up at the ceiling, wondering what he did to deserve such an unwanted visit. “What are you two doing here? What do you want?"

Despite Todd's tone of frustration, Father's serious demeanor softened, his shoulders relaxing, "I just want to talk, Jason."

Todd ran a hand through his hair, flustered, "What is there to talk about? Can't you two leave me alone for once?"

"Jay..." Batman spoke in his softer, fatherly voice.

Those two had a lot to work through, so Damian resumed his original purpose for coming over and walked past them. There were more pressing needs at hand.

Damian was on his way to his brother's room, but Todd had to grab his cape from behind, causing him to halt.

"Hey, where do you think you're going?"

Robin pushed Todd off him, annoyed, "I'm getting my book back, obviously!"

"Hm," Todd grunted, but at least he let go of Damian’s cape. "Fine."

With a huff, Damian left. Artemis and Bizarro also went to their separate rooms to give Todd and Father some privacy.

Once alone, Bruce pulled his cowl back so that Jason could look him in the eye. "Jason..."

Jason raised his hand to stop the other man from talking, "I don't wanna hear it, Bruce. I see you barely waited a whole day for the kid to rest before letting him put on the Robin uniform, so why bother? I get in trouble for putting that brat's life at risk, yet here you are, doing whatever you want just because he's your son.

"Jason," Father interrupted, speaking more sternly, "You're my son too, and I am here to apologize." 

The remark caught Jason off guard, prompting him to take a step back in surprise. 

Bruce continued, "It was wrong of me to be mad at you. That wasn't fair." 

Jason opened his mouth to argue but he closed it, unable to think of a rebuttal.

Bruce's blue eyes momentarily dropped to the floor, his face contorting with a mix of shame and regret, but he resumed direct eye contact with his older son. "There is nothing wrong with you working on a case with any of your siblings, even if it's without my knowledge. I actually prefer that the four of you work together rather than fight all the time."

Jason sighed again, but less annoyed this time, more like tired, "Bruce..." Jason didn't even know what he was supposed to say to that, actually. Bruce rarely apologized, but the few times he did, it felt nice. Reassuring.

Jason was still wondering where he wanted to go with this conversation, but his thoughts were interrupted by a certain grumpy birdie complaining in his room.

"Damn it, where is it? "

Jason cast a quick look at Bruce, who reciprocated the glance. Bruce pulled his cowl up over his head as he followed Jason to his room.

"Hey, quit destroying my room!" Jason snapped as he rushed inside his bedroom to pick up all the books that Damian so gently threw on the floor in his search for that damn spell book. His room was now a disaster, thanks to that little brat.

After he finished cleaning up the whole mess, Jason walked to his office desk and opened the drawer to pull out the book that the little gremlin was looking for. "The book is right here, you idiot!"

"How was I supposed to know?" Damian retorted in his typical bratty way.

"Oh, I don't know. Aren't you the 'Detective's son'?" Jason mocked, using his fingers for the air quote.

"Enough," Batman said, sternly.

Damian went through the spell book with a frown on his face, probably mad for not being allowed to keep arguing.

Batman looked over Robin's shoulder to see what he was reading, and he furrowed his brows, intrigued. "Can I take a look?"

"Sure..." Robin grumbled, annoyed that his book was being stripped away from him yet again.

The whole room went quiet as Batman skimmed through the pages of the book, his detective mind at work.

"Hm." That was all that Batman said as he read a couple of the pages intently.

More minutes went by, and everyone simply stood in silence until Batman looked up at Jason to ask, "You mentioned that Heretic tried to unleash the Devil before, correct?"

Jason wondered where this was going. "Yeah, why?"

Batman closed the book and stared right at Jason, "I need you to show me the farmhouse."

"Wait, you wanna go there? Right now?" Jason asked, confused. "In the middle of this storm?"

"Yes. I need to see it with my own eyes."

Damian and Jason exchanged glances before they looked back at their father and mentor.

The old man was certainly up to something.

Or maybe he was finally losing his mind.

****

The storm was getting worse with each passing minute; The sky raging with a tumultuous symphony of lightning and thunder. Getting out of the Batmobile meant that Damian would be drenched all over again, but that didn't matter; Father wanted to investigate the farmhouse, so that was what they were going to do.

The dirty pond nearby was completely flooded from the rain, matching its dreadfulness with the creepy farmhouse. Damian tried to ignore the disgusting muddy grass that he had to step in and he continued following Father's lead, who seemed undisturbed by the whole thing. Before entering the house, Father quickly assessed the front porch to see if he could find any clues. Damian had already been at that gross porch before and there was nothing out of the ordinary about that place. The only thing was that now the weather was freezing. The sooner they could get in, the better.

Once Todd approached them, Father walked to the entrance, opening the wooden door with a loud creak. The trio got inside, and Batman took slow and careful steps, studying all his surroundings as he always did when analyzing a crime scene. He finally paused once he stepped into the living room, and he frowned at the giant Pentagram sign that was drawn on the floor. There was nothing out of the norm about the symbol in Damian's view, though.

The farmhouse looked the same as it did before, with the exception that the clock on the wall was now broken because of Emiko's arrow, and the candles placed on the Pentagon were knocked over, but that was probably due to the wind. Speaking of wind, the room was terribly cold. Damian turned around and noticed that the freezing breeze was coming from the chipped wooden windows that were left half open.

Father kneeled down and with his gloved hand, he ran his fingertips across the dusty floor where the Pentagon drawing was at. He brought his fingers closer to himself so he could analyze the chalk powder up close, and then proceeded to brush his hands on the filthy rug fibers as if he was looking for something specific. 

"I already gathered all the evidence, there's nothing here." Red Hood pointed out. "We already know that Heretic was here before, there's no need to--"

"Hm." Batman grunted, bringing his fingertips closer to himself so he could inspect the white powder better. "Calcium carbonate."

"Huh?" Red Hood asked, confused.

"Heretic must have smashed a rock in a rage fit. Limestone. Wait here." Batman stated as he got up to go to the backyard, which was past the kitchen.

Once they were alone, Damian couldn't resist the urge to snort, "Heh. Looks like your forensic skills need some work."

"Do you ever shut up?" Jason snapped, pushing Damian in the head.

Damian jumped at his older brother to hit him, and the two started wrestling until their father returned with another piece of evidence.

"There was a faint footprint mark on the patio," Batman announced, silencing the room immediately. He raised his hand to show what he was holding, "I found moss next to it."

Red Hood quickly exchanged a look with Robin before asking, "Okay... And this matters, why...?"

Batman explained, "Because it means that Heretic was somewhere else prior to coming here to cast the spell. Most likely a cave."

"You got that from finding moss?" Hood asked, perplexed.

"And the limestone too, genius," Robin snarked.

Todd softly hit Damian on the back of his head to get him to shut up. "Alright, so Heretic went to a cave before casting the spell here. Who cares? Unless what you're saying is... That Heretic decided to go back to a cave and cast the final spell there. Is that what you're hinting at?"

Batman gave a single nod in response, but Todd was still confused. "Why would he bother to cast the spell at a cave?"

"Why not?" Robin questioned, "The Book of the Soul's Dusk mentions that places devoid of natural light are good locations to cast the spell. But Heretic could've simply come back here. Why not try again in this house?"

"This area has been compromised." Batman explained in his serious voice, "Heretic knows that both of you have been here, so he decided to go somewhere else. He could have returned to the same cave where he tried casting the spell originally or he could have chosen a different location."

"But how do we know which cave he's hiding in? If he's in a cave, that is." Red Hood questioned.

"If he's in Gotham, the search will be narrowed. Only two hundred caverns are suitable habitats for moss."

Robin raised his eyebrows in shock, emphasizing the words, "Only two hundred?!" 

Todd scoffed, "Pff, you would know everything about caves, wouldn't you, B?!"

No one seemed to acknowledge Damian, so he pointed out, "But Father, Heretic may not even be in Gotham. He could've gone to another city or an entirely different continent for all we know! He has the genies now; He can teleport anywhere he desires."

Batman thought for a second, but he shook his head, confident in his hunch, "Something tells me that he's close. Heretic is not that careless; He wouldn't have left this much evidence behind if he didn't want to be found eventually. He would want us to see what he accomplishes."

Red Hood tilted his head and nodded, “Makes sense. Probably wants to show off once he's all done with the spell."

Damian crossed his arms and mumbled, angrily, "Tt. That arrogant bastard."

"Reminds me of someone I know...!" Hood teased, but Damian was not in the mood for jokes. Especially not one about him being the same as Heretic.

"Shut up! I am nothing like him!" Robin shouted angrily.

Father was about to step in and stop them from fighting, but the ground suddenly started shaking beneath their feet. The whole house began to vibrate, causing the old furniture, decorations, and even the walls to shake. It was slightly different than the time when Emiko caused a disturbance at the house by shooting an arrow at the clock because the lightbulbs weren't flickering this time, but it was still suspicious. The tremor almost felt like it was a result of natural causes in some way.

Seconds later, the shaking came to an end.

Red Hood looked around, weirded out, "Did you guys feel that?

Robin tutted, "Tt. Of course we felt that, that was obviously an earthquake, Hood. Or are you too stupid to figure that out too?"

Todd crouched down to be at Damian's eye level, pointing his index finger at the kid’s face, "Will you stop being a little shit? Remind me to not save your sorry ass next time you're close to dying!”

"I never asked for help in the first place!"

"Enough," Batman repeated, more sternly and louder this time. "No more fighting, both of you."

The boys listened, and Batman proceeded to inspect the floor very quickly just to see if there was anything that he missed. He studied the house one more time before turning his attention back to his sons, "We are done here. Let's go home."

Father led the way again and walked out of the house. Outside, the dead grass on the ground was now submerged beneath floodwaters. The storm managed to get even more powerful than earlier, somehow, and the flooded water was past Damian's ankles. Father didn't seem too bothered by the weather worsening, although Damian thought he saw signs of tension in Father's facial muscles. Perhaps even Batman felt fear sometimes. 

They kept walking through the dirty water, and Damian crossed his arms to make himself warm. The heavy rain combined with the freezing howling wind did not make things any better either. Damian hated how his body kept shivering, the last thing he needed was to accidentally get sick from a stupid storm. Damian pulled up his hood and looked down to shield his face from all those raindrops and he rushed to get to the Batmobile quicker.

Batman turned around to face his youngest, "We're almost there. I'll have Alfred prepare you a warm tea when we get home."

Damian nodded and Todd followed right behind them, his hair unaffected by the rain thanks to his helmet. 

They arrived at where they parked but before Hood jumped on his motorcycle, he walked up to Father to ask, "So what do we do now? Are we gonna be searching a bunch of random caves in the hopes of finding Heretic somewhere?"

"I'll need to do some investigations first. I can keep you updated if you'd like to be involved." Batman answered calmly but firmly.

"Of course I want to be involved! I need to kick Heretic's ass for what he did to Damian."

Todd's comment took Damian by surprise. They were fighting just a second ago. 

"Ok." Father nodded in agreement, "I'll give you the coordinates once I find something. Now, ride home safely. Call me if you need anything."

Obviously Todd would never call Father for anything, especially if he needed help, but Todd nodded in response and then went his way. Damian followed his father to the Batmobile, both drenched from the storm.

They were riding in silence before Damian decided to ask, "Father? Do you think this storm is just a coincidence, considering everything that's been happening?"

"No," Batman answered, coldly.

That was also what Damian thought but having his father agree with him was all he needed to know. The bad weather and even the faint earthquake at the farmhouse... They felt like signs, which was exactly why Damian needed to dive into the spell book more than ever.

****

It was a new day but despite being early afternoon, the sky was still terribly dark from the continuous thunderstorm. Pennyworth was in the kitchen making lunch, while Damian was in the study room. The dark-haired boy stood by the window, observing the brooding darkness of the clouds that loomed above him. Titus was by his side, staring at the window also, even though the poor Dane had no clue as to why his owner was contemplating the clouds for so long. The weather was just as bad as the night before, if not worse, and the giant backyard at the manor was poured with rain. 

Damian kept staring at the clouds and then yawned, still feeling pretty groggy from the horrible night he had. He ended up not sleeping too well, his subconscious plagued by nightmares of the Devil and Heretic dragging him to Hell. Damian woke up in the middle of the night at least twice, and he hated having those images in his head.

There was a knock on the door, which made Titus jump and bark, but it was just Pennyworth announcing that lunch was ready. No one else, outside of Pennyworth, was at the manor that day; Father had left first thing to do more investigations since he also connected the bad weather with Heretic's spells, and the rest of the family was also tasked to search for different caves in Gotham City to see if they could find Heretic. 

Damian at first protested for not being part of the investigation, but Father's lame excuse was that Damian needed to be ready for school. Little did he know that classes ended up being canceled due to the storm, so he could’ve gone out with his family anyway. Regardless, Damian decided to take advantage of the peace and quiet at the manor to study the spell book once more.

After having his lunch and taking his pain medications, as insistently inquired by Pennyworth, Damian went down to the Batcave to continue studying the dark magic book. He was going through the pages and stopped at the section that taught how to send a demon back to Hell.

Everything was extremely quiet, but a loud sound came from behind, making Damian jolt from his seat. He turned around and got up from his chair, mad that he wasn't in his vigilante uniform yet, but it was just Jonathan and Emiko stepping out of a zeta tube to the Batcave. They were both dressed in their uniforms, and they walked to where Damian was by the Bat computer.

"Hi, Dami!" Jon waved, enthusiastically. 

Emiko gave a half-wave with a brief smile, "Hey."

Damian frowned, "What are you two doing here?"

Jon tilted his head in confusion, "You didn't see my message? I told you we were coming over."

Damian reached for his phone in his pocket, only now realizing the missed messages. "Oh."

"Yeah, Kory is training with the Teen Titans right now.” Emiko added, “We’re gonna need the whole team this time." Emiko gave Damian a friendly smile.

Damian looked down to the side, thoughtful. "Hm. Well, you can go train without me."

Emiko and Jon widened their eyes in shock.

"What?" Emiko sounded perplexed, "Why? Don't tell me you're still grounded!"

"Do you need some more time to recover...?" Jon asked, carefully. "We know you got injured pretty badly..."

"No, it's none of that!" Damian brushed it off, embarrassed, "I'm just busy right now. I finally found the spell that can send a Demon back to Hell. I need to practice and perfect it. Going to the Tower will only distract me."

"Did you really?" Emiko's curiosity peaked, so she took the book from Damian’s hands to get a glimpse of the page, "Is that the spell?"

Jon joined his friends, standing right behind them to take a look at the book too. 

Damian was a little bothered with them, but he let that slide. "Yes, that's the spell. It doesn't look too complicated, but it must be done perfectly. One wrong word and the whole enchantment could turn into a catastrophe, and we can't afford to make mistakes at times like these."

Emiko nodded, "Got it."

Jon, however, was a little concerned. "I know it's great to be prepared and all, but shouldn't we be looking for Heretic before he frees the Devil? That way we won't even need to learn this spell in the first place!"

Emiko retorted, "That's the goal, Jon. But what if the Devil has already been freed? We'll probably be too late, anyway!"

"We're not late yet." Damian corrected, "We still got time. If the spell had worked, there would've been signs; The sun would've turned red, there would be natural disasters, stars being thrown down to Earth... Right now, we just have a bad storm."

Sinisterly, a clap of thunder rumbled in the distance right after Damian finished talking. Emiko and Jon exchanged nervous glances with each other, both wondering if that could've been a sign. Damian seemed to be the only one incredibly calm about the whole thing. 

Damian took back his book and sat on his father’s chair by the Bat Computer. He turned to the other page, and something caught his attention; A picture of a gold amulet with an emerald gem inside. The amulet looked extremely familiar for some reason.

Noticing Damian's sudden change in demeanor, Emiko leaned in to ask, "What is it? Did you find something?"

"Yes, this amulet... I've seen it before! But where..." Damian looked thoughtful but abruptly, the teenage boy jolted in his seat as if a lightbulb had appeared over his head, "That's it!"

Without providing a single explanation, Damian jumped out of his chair and ran upstairs, leaving his friends behind.

"Hey, Damian, where are you going?" Jon tried to ask but his friend was already halfway gone.

"Wow. He just left us here." Emiko noted, surprised.

The girl shrugged it off. She figured that Damian would be back soon, so she took his seat and turned her attention back to the book. Emiko analyzed the page that got Damian so engrossed in, but suddenly, an alarm began chiming from the Bat computer.

Emiko arched an eyebrow at Superboy, wondering what they should do, but the young boy looked just as puzzled as she did. Without waiting for an answer, Emiko clicked on the notification, which led to a distress signal that was linked to GCPD radio where the dispatcher was shouting:

"Code 3, Code 3! Need first responders immediately!"

Jon frowned, "What's going on?"

Red Arrow started typing on the Bat computer, pulling up a news station channel that was being broadcast live. A blonde reporter was on the screen, issuing a warning of a flash flood emergency. Pictures were shown moments later of Gotham City being completely inundated; A railroad bridge that went over the river was now crumbling, there was water surging through the streets and yards, inundating homes and buildings nearby, and civilians climbing on top of their cars, scrambling to find higher ground just to survive from the rising tide.

It was a complete chaos, and Jon didn't have to think twice before jumping into action. 

"I can save them," Superboy stated with determination in his eyes.

"Jon, hold on a sec--" But before Emiko could finish, Superboy was gone.

Emiko quickly clicked on a new tab, searching for police scanners and other news channels to see if she could locate Superboy, and thankfully she quickly found him on that same live news channel. The blonde reporter was now telling the viewers about this young kid wearing a red cape who appeared out of nowhere to rescue everyone. Batman would probably not be too pleased by Superboy being the one saving the day in his own city. He was so weird about stuff like that, just like Ollie.

More alerts blared out from the Bat computer, making Emiko get more desperate. She changed to other news channels, as well as different police radio stations, and they were all reporting about natural disasters in different cities.

With her mind racing, Red Arrow started to type 'Star City'.

Videos of strong earthquakes shaking the entire city appeared, along with pictures of the roads all fractured, buildings reduced to rubble, and other videos showing rescue teams rushing to help. On another news channel, Emiko recognized Ollie and Roy in the background, shooting their grappling hook arrows to evacuate as many people as they could from a fallen building. Emiko looked up other locations too, and she quickly found out that every part of the world was being affected by some kind of natural disaster.

Coincidentally, the Titans communicator started ringing, and Emiko checked what it was: a message from Jaime alerting the team about a hurricane that was about to destroy the Tower. Emiko was texting Jaime back, but the sound of footsteps crept in behind her back, making her jump and get into an instinctive fighting stance, her hands already reaching for an arrow.

"Ah, it's just you!" Emiko exclaimed, putting her arrow away. 

Damian, now dressed in his Robin uniform, gave the girl a quizzical look, "What?"

Emiko didn't have time for games, she was upset now. "What in the world were you doing, Damian? Where did you go?"

"I went to my room to get this," Damian reached for his pocket and held up an emerald talisman necklace for Emiko to see, "It's a talisman that my mother gave me for my birthday. This has been in my family for centuries, but Grandfather failed to find its purpose. According to the Book of the Soul's Dusk, this talisman has the ability to deflect magic."

Emiko arched her eyebrow in disbelief. "Are you sure it even works?" 

Damian shrugged. "It’s worth a try."

"Hm. So, you got all worked up over a necklace?"

"I was never worked up!" Damian defended but he then noticed all the reports from the news channels blaring on the Bat computer. "Wait, what is that? What’s happening?"

Damian took his seat back, taking over the keyboard and mouse back to himself.

He read the news with a worried look on his face. "An earthquake in Star City?"

"Yeah, and hurricanes on the Pacific coast, which would never happen." Emiko crouched down to stare at the computer and she leaned closer to Damian, "Damian, the spell has already been cast. It worked. There are natural disasters everywhere."

Damian typed up some other things to do the research himself, but Emiko made a valid point. Every country he looked up was being affected by a different natural disaster.

"No, this can't be right… But wait a second, if the spell had worked, the sun would've been red by now. There are other signs that haven't happened yet, we can still stop Heretic!”

“But we're running out of time." The archer stated.

“I know.” Damian furrowed his brows, worried, but he then looked around him, "Where did Jon go?"

"He's saving people from the flood here in Gotham."

"What?! My father and my siblings can take care of Gotham; We need to go find Heretic!"

Emiko connected her comms to the Bat computer so Damian could hear it too, "Superboy, are you all done over there?"

"Almost!" Jon said on the other line, "I've been flying all over the city, but I might have to stop by Metropolis. I heard a cop mentioning that things are bad over there too!"

Damian jumped into the conversation, "No, let your dad handle it! We don't have time for this, we need to get to Heretic before we're too late!"

The sound of people screaming in the background was a little distracting, but they could still hear Jon, "Are you sure?"

Damian stared closer at the computer screen, afflicted, "Yes! Just have your dad do the work and get back here!"

Damian leaned back on his chair, exasperated, and Emiko just stared at him with a surprised look on her face.

"Wow. You're really bossy." 

The boy frowned at the archer, "Am not-!"

Emiko smirked. "Oh, you're totally bossy. It's kind of cute, actually."

Damian's face went red, which made Emiko chuckle.

"I'm just kidding, it's totally annoying. You should stop." Emiko teased, still smiling.

Before Damian could even think of what to say to that, Superboy was back at the cave, panting a little. "Whew. Ok, people are safe, I evacuated everyone from the inundated buildings, helped the paramedics, I think Gotham will be okay... For now."

Jon got a hold of his breathing and added, "Oh, and my dad didn't answer, by the way. I should probably still go to Metropolis..."

"No time for that." Damian cut him off, "We have to stop Heretic first. It's the only way to end these natural disasters for good."

Emiko turned to the Boy Wonder, "Sure, but how are we going to find him? Do you know where he is?"

Damian stared at the floor for a second. "...No. But Father believes Heretic went to cast the spell at a cave."

"Where at?" Jon asked, intrigued.

Damian hesitated again. "Um. I'm not sure."

"Oh, great!" Emiko raised her hands in the air, sarcastically, "That solves the problem, then. We'll totally stop Heretic in time now. Great planning, Bird Boy!"

Robin frowned at the girl. "I don't see you doing any actual planning!"

Red Arrow sighed, "Damian, come on now. Just how in the world are we going to find Heretic's exact location? What were you planning on doing, sending Superboy here to fly all over the world looking for caves?"

Damian cast a quick glance at Jon before responding, "I don't see why not!"

Jon jumped into the conversation, "Wait, but what if Heretic is not hiding in a cave and is somewhere else instead?"

"I don't know, Jonathan, I am trusting my father's intuition on this, alright?!" Damian snapped.

The clock kept ticking and the more they talked, the worse things were going to be.

Emiko closed her eyes and pressed her hand against her temples, rubbing it in circles. "Okay, okay. I got it. Let’s go ahead and ask Bart to help us with this. Nothing against you, Superboy, but Bart is a speedster, after all. He can probably search a whole country in less than a couple of seconds."

"That's not a bad idea, actually." Jon agreed, not feeling insulted by Emiko's advice. "Let's do it. I'll activate the zeta."

Damian intervened, "Jon, you can easily be as efficient as Allen, if not more. We don't need his help."

Emiko frowned. Damian's stubbornness made no sense. "Why do you have a problem with Bart helping? You know we're all Titans here, right?"

"We can't waste any more time, Emiko, we have to--"

Jon turned to Emiko, not letting his friend finish, "He’s just not comfortable asking for help from people he's not close to. Well, he's not comfortable with people he's close to either, so it is what it is.”

Emiko chuckled, "Aah, now that makes sense!"

Damian raised his voice at them, "Shut up, both of you!"

"Hey, what did I say about being bossy?" Emiko mockingly pointed her finger at Damian as if she was lecturing him.

"Oh, he's super bossy," Jon added.

"Can you two stop?"

Emiko and Jon both laughed. Emiko stood up and put her hands on her waist, looking right at Damian, "Alright, Mr. 'Bossy Bird'. Let's head to the tower and have Impulse search for these mysterious caves you're talking about."

"And don't worry," Jon added, "We'll be the ones asking for help, so you don't have to,"

Jon exchanged a smirk with Emiko, making her chuckle again.

"I hate you two."

***

Things were extremely hectic by the coast where the Titan Tower was at. The team of heroes was busy saving the city from hurricanes and even a tsunami that should've never hit the city in the first place. After the Titans stopped all the hurricanes and saved the civilians, they went back to the tower to discuss a plan to save Djinn and defeat the Devil.

Robin explained to the team what he would need to send the Devil back to where he belonged and thankfully, Impulse gathered all the candles and even a special oil that Robin asked for within seconds. Damian now had everything he needed for the spell, but they still needed to find where the Devil was hiding.

Red Arrow and Superboy informed everyone about Batman’s odd theory, and Impulse promptly volunteered to help before he was even asked. Because Nightwing was working with Batman earlier, he already had a GPS trajectory for Allen with all the caves that were known for their limestone and moss compositions.

Minutes after Impulse left, the news channel blasted with reports about more serious storms and tornadoes that were going to hit the city again, so the team had to split up; Starfire, Superboy, and Blue Beetle left to stop the natural disasters, while Nightwing, Robin, and Red Arrow stayed at the computer room to give directions to Impulse. 

Robin was feeling tense, but he made sure to not make it known to anyone. Richard was not doing too great either, he had a fight with Koriand’r earlier about her going out fighting, risking her life and the baby’s, but she did not listen to him. Emiko was the only one who seemed calmer but even she was getting a little nervous from the whole thing. One more sign of the Devil being freed, and they would all be doomed. 

It was practically impossible to follow where Allen was going from the screen; He was too fast for the computer to track it. 

Damian, who was sitting in an office chair, between Emiko and Richard, turned on the microphone to ask, "Impulse? Have you found anything?" 

"Nothing yet, Robbie! Just a bunch of empty creepy caves with a whole lot of nothing going on. Are you sure Heretic is at a cave?"

Robin gave an irritated sigh. No one believed in Father’s theory, it seemed.

Nightwing leaned closer to the computer so Allen could hear him, "Keep looking, Impulse. The cave is the best place to start as any.”

“Got it, boss!” Impulse said on the other line. 

Robin crossed his arms, annoyed. “You don’t agree with Father.”

Nightwing turned to his younger brother, frowning, “Dames, the cave is just a hunch. I know Bruce did some more investigations this morning that confirmed his theories, but it’s still a long shot. I don’t think we’ll find Heretic in time, at this rate.”

“We have to,” Damian said, determined. 

Emiko remained quiet, not wanting to get involved with the two brothers. A few minutes passed by, and Impulse was back on the comms.

“Still nothing!”

Robin clenched his fist and hit the desk in frustration, “Just follow the directions we sent you!” 

“No need to be rude, Damian,” Nightwing stressed.

Robin huffed, and the computer room fell silent. Everyone's attention was on the screen where the red dot indicating Impulse’s location kept appearing and disappearing. Impulse stopped giving updates too, which made the three of them even more on edge. 

A sudden voice chimed in on the computer, but it was Jon's comm coming in this time, "Uh, guys?"

Damian immediately clicked a button to put it on speaker, "Yes, Superboy?"

"Um… Robin, you're not gonna like this..." Jon said, apprehensively, "...But the sun has turned red."

"WHAT?!" Emiko and Damian shouted at the same time.

They both immediately ran out of the computer room to go see it for themselves, but there it was; Through the large windows of the common area, a sun could be seen in the sky, beaming red like fire.

"Oh no… Damian, this means--" There was despair in Emiko’s voice.

Damian’s eyes couldn't be seen from his Domino mask but the fear on his face was impossible to conceal. "...We're too late."

Nightwing had caught up to the kids, but he was still trying to understand what was going on, "Wait, are you two saying that the Devil--"

"...Yes. The Devil has been freed." Robin confirmed, coldly.

The three heroes went back to the computer room, feeling more defeated than anything, but Jon’s voice made them panic again,

"No!"

Robin frantically turned the comms back on, "Superboy, what is it?" 

"It's my mom!" Jon answered over the line, anxious, "I just saw her on the live news channel from a local store here and she's standing next to a building that's about to fall on her! But I can’t leave, I’m literally holding up a building myself right now!"

Damian's mind was going to a million places. He opened a new tab to pull up the Daily Planet news channel, and Mrs. Kent showed up on the screen, working in the middle of a storm like the crazy woman she was, but behind her there was indeed a building that was crumbling down.

Impulse suddenly chimed in, "Got your back, Superboy!"

In a blink of an eye, the red blinking dot appeared in Metropolis. Pieces of debris were about to fall on Mrs. Kent, but Impulse got her out just in time.

Impulse’s voice came in, "Not a very safe day to work, don't you think, Mrs. Kent?"

Mrs. Kent was no longer showing in the cameras, but at least the Titans could still hear what was being said thanks to Allen’s comms.  

Mrs. Kent’s staticky voice said, "Impulse?! What's happening?" 

“Mom!" Jon called over the comms, despite his mother being unable to hear him.

Impulse must have heard Jon because he assured the kid, "She's okay, Superboy. I got her!"

"Is Jon okay?" Mrs. Kent sounded worried now.

"Oh, yeah, he's fine! He's at Jump City Bay right now, stopping a bunch of hurricanes like a boss. Anyways, how's Supes doing?"

"Impulse!" Damian called, angry, "Stop engaging in frivolous conversation and run! Don't you see the giant red sun in the sky? We’re too late already!"

"Superman is off planet with Green Lantern." Lois answered.

"So that's why Dad hasn't answered my calls!" Damian heard Jon say.

Completely unaware of their conversation being shared with the Teen Titans, Lois continued, "They had to stop several meteors from hitting the Earth."

"Wooah, that's so not crash! Hm..." Impulse paused, "Well, actually, technically speaking, it is 'crash', or crashing because the meteors are crashing into the Earth, get it?"

Nightwing, Red Arrow, and Robin all yelled, "IMPULSE!"

"Ok, ok, sorry! Alright, it's running time!"

Mrs. Kent was a bit confused, "Impulse, where are you--"

"Sorry, no time to explain. Gotta go, bye!"

And just like that, Impulse was gone. Again.

Damian was on the verge of losing his temper from Impulse’s relentless distractions. This was why he couldn’t trust speedsters, far too unreliable. Damian kept glaring at the computer screen while Grayson stood up from his chair to answer a call from Drake. Once he was done with the call, he came back to the computer room and informed them that Batman assigned each member of the Justice League to different parts of the world to save as many people as they possibly could, while Drake, Brown, Cain, and Todd were still searching for places that had traces of magic, anything that could get them closer to finding Heretic. 

It was great that Father was taking care of things, but it was up to Damian to find his clone and find the Devil himself.

**

The clock kept ticking, and everyone in the room was enveloped in silence. The only sound that could be heard was from the other teammates, such as Starfire and Blue Beetle, who were keeping everyone posted on what they were doing and where they were at.

Impulse was strangely quiet all of a sudden, so Damian started feeling suspicious. "Impulse, report."

"Ok, so I already looked into all the caves in Gotham, Coast City, also checked the East Coast, West Coast…”

Nightwing jumped in, "Where are you now, Impulse?"

"I'm in Central City. Just in case, you know? Oh, look! It's Grandpa!"

Damian was going to strangle that kid. "Impulse, focus!"

Much to Damian's annoyance, the red dot on the GPS barely moved. Allen was still in freaking Central City and he refused to listen.

"Sup, Gramps!"

Even Emiko slapped her forehead in frustration. "Impulse, stop getting distracted! The Devil has already been freed, we gotta find him quick--"

"Sorry, guys, I gotta help my grandpa evacuate an apartment complex over here."

That was it. Damian was going to start killing again. "You know full well that Flash can take care of that! You don't need to help him!"

Nightwing was also rubbing his eyes, annoyed. "Impulse, you gotta listen--"

"Thanks for the help, Bart!" The Titans heard Barry Allen say.

Great. Just great. Because of course Bartholomew would refuse to follow orders and help Flash anyway, even when the freaking Devil was running loose somewhere. Of course.

"What are you doing here?" The Flash asked, also unaware that anyone else was hearing what he said.

"Just wanted to say hi!" Impulse replied, clearly unconcerned about urgencies, "But I gotta go now, gotta go find some caves!"

Flash asked, "Caves..? But why--"

And once again, Impulse was gone.

In the computer room, Damian placed his hands over his head and looked down, deeply frustrated. He attempted to calm down, but it wasn’t working very well. By his side, Emiko leaned her head on his shoulder, soothingly brushing her fingers along his opposite shoulder absently. Once she realized what she was doing, she stopped, but thankfully Nightwing wasn’t paying attention.

Grayson was finishing a text and then he looked up and leaned forward so his voice would sound louder, "Star, how are things going over there?"

"We're all done here, Nightwing. I'm with Superboy and Beetle. We're coming back."

"Ok, great," Nightwing weakly said, sinking into his chair. Lines of frustration etched across his face. He was not one bit happy about his girlfriend’s stubbornness on top of not being anywhere close to save Djinn and stop the Demon.

A few moments later, the rest of the Teen Titans returned, and they all waited on Impulse to get back to them with good news. However, all his updates were useless.

"Nope. No. Noope. Is that..? Oh, never mind. No. Nada. Nopey, nope, no!"

Damian was on the verge of slamming the keyboard in rage, but he controlled himself. Starfire remained calm, though apprehensive, same with Jon and Reyes. The only ones sharing his sentiments of anger seemed to be Emiko and Richard, who started losing his patience also.

"Damn it, I knew Batman was wrong!” Grayson shouted as he slammed his hand on the office desk. He got up from his chair and started pacing. “I told him we need magic to deal with Heretic, not send everyone on this stupid, wild goose chase–”

"Um... I found it." Impulse suddenly said.

A wave of stunned silence swept through the room. The whole team exchanged glances with each other, everyone extremely shocked.

Superboy had to ask, “You did?!”

“Well, actually Red Robin found the cave. He sent me the directions and told me to check this cave, it’s insanely deep over here! It took me two whole seconds to get all the way down. It’s a little hard to breathe. Oh, and it’s super dark too, but I got my vision goggles, so we’re schwhay!”

Starfire asked, “Are you safe, Impulse? Has anyone seen you?

“Yeah, I’m safe.”

This time, Beetle was the one leaning forward, “So you really found the Devil?”

“Yup.”

“What makes you so sure?” Beetle asked again just to ensure his friend wasn’t messing with the team.

“Ah, you know. Huge red dude with horns, 35 feet tall. Just a hunch.”

Nightwing and Starfire immediately looked at each other, both panicking.

“Titans, go!” The couple said in unison with urgency in their voices.

The team rushed to the Boom Tube portal, ready to face none other than the Devil himself.

Chapter Text

A flash of light emerged from the boom tube, and the Teen Titans were sent directly to the cave, which was so dark, it was impossible to see anything. However, faint glimmers of light did seep through the ceiling, but it was still hard to see. The cave was also deep underground as if the Titans were standing on the entrance to Hell itself. 

A fitting place to unleash a Devil. 

The Titans ventured through the cave, being careful with each step. Thanks to Impulse’s warning, they at least came prepared; Nightwing, Robin, and Red Arrow all had their night vision features activated on their masks, Beetle had his alien suit, and Superboy could simply use his low light supervision to see in the dark. The only problem was that the naive boy didn’t practice his vision abilities all that much, which was exactly why he should’ve listened to Damian and trained more.

However, someone who could put the team at risk was Starfire. Damian agreed with Richard that she shouldn’t have come, she was too much of a liability with her pregnancy. But Koriand'r was the leader after all, and her stubbornness won out. The Titans weren’t a lost cause as Damian had thought in the past, they just had things they needed to work on still... Regardless, that didn’t matter anymore. They needed to work as a team if they wanted to send the Devil back to Hell. 

Nightwing and Starfire were leading ahead. Richard was anxious, Damian could tell. As they walked further into the depths of the cave, an eerie weight settled in the air. The temperature suddenly dropped and it began to get a little hard to breathe. The sharp-edged walls of the cave were covered in dead moss, and the limestone stalactites from the ceiling hung like jagged teeth about to devour those who ventured beneath.

The occasional drip of water echoed through the stillness of the cave but the loud sound of laughter made everyone halt. The Titans froze as they saw from a distance a towering figure standing before them; A red-skinned monster, 35 feet tall - if not taller -, with twisted dark horns and long gray hair. His fiery yellow eyes gleamed in the darkness, and the monster was rejoicing in his freedom.

The air suddenly felt even heavier than before. Damian's chest tightened as if a heavy weight had settled upon him to the point of crushing him. 

"Robin? Are you okay?" Red Arrow whispered in Robin’s ear. She was right by his side, along with Superboy. 

Nightwing and Starfire instructed the team to go hide. With Robin still struggling to move and even breathe, Red Arrow swiftly took his hand and guided him towards the closest cluster of rocks, Superboy following right behind. Blue Beetle ended up staying with the others, who also chose to hide behind a large stalagmite that rose from the floor. The team, now split in two, were still close to one another even while they were hidden. 

“Impulse, we’re here,” Nightwing quietly announced over the comms for everyone in the team to hear. He stayed crouched down with Starfire and Beetle hiding by his side.  

Red Arrow waited, paying close attention to the others while also keeping a close eye on Damian, who was acting extremely strange. 

“Impulse, do you read me?” Nightwing asked again with his hand pressed on his comm. 

Silence.

Starfire joined in, worried, “Impulse? Where are you?”  

Still nothing. 

“Ok, let me scan the cave.” Beetle chimed in. 

Emiko could see Beetle scanning his surroundings. But he looked worried, which wasn't a good sign. 

“I don’t see him! Where is he?” Beetle asked, desperately.

Emiko didn’t want to even begin to think what could’ve happened to the speedster, so she turned her attention to Damian instead, “Robin, what’s wrong? What is it?”

Jon was also worried, and there was hesitation in his voice when he called, “Robin..?”

Despite his friends calling for him, Damian didn’t answer. He sat down instead, dropping the spell book on the floor so he could wrap his arms around his knees. He then rested his head on his knees, pressing his eyes closed to get a hold of his breathing. Why Damian was having a stupid panic attack now of all times, he had no idea. But there was something so bothersome about seeing the Devil in person… Something was nagging his memory, acting as a trigger... And then he remembered! He could see it now, his memories were coming back to him.

The sounds from his friends became distant all of a sudden, being replaced by the loud arguments that the Angels and Demons were having after Damian was sent to limbo. No one knew what to do with a child who was taught to commit atrocious acts but at the same time felt no remorse.

That was what made Damian different than reformed assassins like Emiko or Cassandra Cain. They felt bad for their actions, while Damian… Did not. He felt nothing. His desire to please his grandfather and mother superseded any potential feelings of guilt. Even Talia felt bad when she was taught to kill as a child. Her heart only became colder after suffering the effects of the Lazarus Pit, but even then, deep down, she still felt remorse. 

Unlike Damian. 

The boy was too bloodthirsty, heartless, indifferent about people’s feelings. Eventually, it was decided that Damian should be sent to Hell with a younger demon who went by the name Edward Bloomberg, or Red Devil. The Red Devil ended up forcing the child assassin to be tortured by nightmarish hallucinations for an undetermined amount of time, but a light suddenly appeared out of nowhere, and the boy was gone.

He was given a second chance.  

Father believed in Damian, along with Richard, Alfred, and really, all the rest of his family. Even Timothy. Damian was given a chance to redeem himself and he had friends who cared for him now. It was time to make things different this time and show everyone that a little Devil wasn't going to scare him anymore.

Red Arrow and Superboy were pretty confused as Robin escaped his strange trance with a sudden determination in his eyes. 

"I know who we're dealing with.” Robin spoke with a serious tone as he stood up, “That Devil right there is Edward Bloomberg. He's a young devil. A kid, to be precise." 

"That thing is a kid?!" Red Arrow asked, astonished.

Superboy furrowed his brows, "Wait, how do you know all that?"

"I met him after I died," Robin shrugged as if meeting a Devil was the most casual thing to happen in the world. Robin scanned his surroundings and frowned, "I don’t see Impulse. Where is he?"

Before answering, Red Arrow looked over to the side where the rest of the group was hiding. The others looked just as apprehensive as she did. "That’s what we’ve been trying to find out. He won't answer his comm." 

The trio were still crouched down, hiding behind the stalagmites. Damian then stared right at Jon, "Ok, Superboy. Time to use that supervision of yours to find the speedster."

"You don't think I haven't tried that already?" Superboy whispered, upset, "One wrong blink and I end up seeing everything in telescopic vision. Telescopic! I've never even been able to do that before! Then I blink again and boom! X-Ray vision. It's so frustrating!"

Robin face palmed, annoyed, "I told you we need to work on your vision skills! Use your super hearing, then."

"There's like 10 people in here! And that Devil's heartbeat is so distracting, it's so loud! And kinda creepy too."

Robin whispered angrily, "Damn it, J! Impulse has the bag with all the materials we need for the spell. We gotta find him!"

Red Arrow cut them off by standing between the two friends, "Will you two stop? This is not the time to argu--" 

The archer was interrupted by a ferocious voice that echoed through the cave. "Well, done, Tamir! A deal is a deal!" 

Damian lurked alongside his friends, leaning forward so he could see who was standing next to the Red Devil. They were a little far away from the evil monster, but even from the distance, Damian could see Heretic, Tamir, and, to his surprise, his cousin Mara. It was so good to know that she was indeed alive, but why was she still surrounding herself with those horrible people? Unless...

Damian adjusted his mask settings, zooming in to bring the scene into sharper focus. Clutched in Tamir's arms lay a lifeless figure, a woman.

Nyssa al Ghul.

The Red Devil smiled, revealing his sharp yellow teeth, and a spell began to be summoned. Strange words that no one could understand poured out of the Devil's mouth, and Damian seethed with anger as he witnessed the magic unfolding before him. The same woman who murdered his own mother was about to be revived, and Damian was supposed to just watch the whole ordeal happen as if it was nothing. 

He wanted to yell at Tamir, strangle him, do something, anything, but he couldn't. Not if he wanted to keep his teammates safe by not giving away their position.

Damian tightened his grip around the rocks that shielded him. He was furious. The enchantment was about to be finished, and Damian couldn’t help himself; Sneakily, he reached for his Batarang and aimed right at the Devil's eye, but a firm grip seized his arm.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Emiko hissed.

Damian whispered to the girl angrily, “That’s my aunt, Red Arrow! I can’t let them resurrect her!” 

As if his brother was reading his mind, Grayson’s voice came over the comms, "I know what you're thinking, Robin, but we gotta stay put. Wait for my signal and we can all attack them at the same time, deal?"

Robin looked over to where the others were and frowned at them. Nightwing was looking right back at him with Starfire holding close onto him. Blue Beetle, however, was deeply focused on something else. His alien yellow eyes were narrowed towards the ground where the Devil was standing.

Before Damian could ask what was wrong, Beetle gasped, “Dios Mío! Impulse is crazy!”

Starfire turned to Blue Beetle, alarmed, ”Did you find him? What are you seeing?”

Reyes pointed at the floor where the Devil stood, making a circular motion with his hand, “Impulse drew the Pentagram sign on the floor already! He even placed the candles!”

Damian couldn’t believe it. He adjusted the settings on his mask again and then saw that there was, in fact, a drawing on the floor. Impulse purposefully drew a circle so wide that even if the Devil moved around the cave, he would still not leave the circle. The five candles were strategically placed as well; Allen made sure to draw the ends of the Pentagram behind stalagmites so that the candles wouldn’t be easily seen by anyone.

It was brilliant, though Damian would never admit that out loud. The only thing was that the candles weren’t lit up, and there was no sign of Impulse yet.

Blue Beetle asked again, "Impulse, come on, bud. Acknowledge if you can at least hear us."

A soft murmur resonated in everyone's ears through the comms. 

"Mhm."

A wave of relief mixed with surprise washed over everyone's faces. At least Allen was safe.

Blue Beetle whispered again, "Scarab, locate where that voice came from!"

Beetle looked around and was finally able to locate the speedster. Reyes pointed at a tall and skinny stalagmite located right behind the red demon, "He's hiding behind the freaking Devil! And no wonder the Scarab couldn't find him sooner, Impulse keeps vibrating!"

Damian followed where Beetle was pointing and with his lenses still zoomed in, he was able to see for a quick second a blurred figure through the thermal signature setting on his mask. Reyes was right, Impulse was vibrating so fast that he was practically invisible to the human eye. It was a miracle the thermal feature even captured Allen's presence for a mere second in the first place.

"I'm trying to stay sneaky!"  Impulse slipped out, but doing so made Heretic frown and move his head.

"We're not alone," Heretic warned but he was ignored.

Mara and Tamir were more concerned with Nyssa's body, whose lifeless skin began to fill with color as the Demon completed the spell.

“IT IS DONE!” The Devil announced, much to Damian’s horror. 

Like a fragile flame, the woman's consciousness danced its way back into existence. Aunt Nyssa slowly opened her eyes and she croaked out faint groans as she sat up. Mara was kneeling right next to her mother, her eyes filled with tears already. Tamir was next to Nyssa also, on the opposite side as Mara, but he didn't dare to say a word.

Mara reached for her mother's hand, clasping it tightly. "Mother?" The girl's shaky voice echoed in the cave.

“M-Mara…?” Damian heard his aunt say, weakly. She seemed to have some difficulty in breathing, probably a result of coming back to life mixed with the cave's dense air. 

Mara choked up as she wrapped her arms around her mother's neck, “Oh, Mother, you’re back! You’re back! I missed you so much!” 

“Mara, my sweetheart…” Aunt Nyssa croaked as she returned the hug while stroking her daughter’s hair. 

Both mother and daughter burst into tears as they tightened their embrace, their bodies quivering with the weight of unspoken words. Even though Damian was far away from them, having to rely on a zoomed-in lens, he could still see Mara's face brightening up with a renewed hope that had long been gone before. He had never seen her so happy, so light. Even Aunt Nyssa was showing profound emotions of love and affection. It was a moment so genuine, so intimate. He wasn't witnessing a mere hug by two family members, but an embrace of two wounded souls who were reuniting at last.

In a way, seeing them like that reminded Damian of when his father brought him back. He would never forget waking up to his father and having him return his hug with such love and warmth. It was a reunion between father and son that would never be forgotten. 

One would not suspect the things Aunt Nyssa had done in the past based on how loving she was towards her daughter. But perhaps... Perhaps this was Nyssa's second chance. Besides, Mara deserved to have her mother back. Whatever rage built up in Damian instantly vanished. It was time to let things go and forgive his aunt for what she's done.

Interrupting his thoughts, Allen's voice came back on the comms, "Guys, can I light up the candles now?"

The Red Devil turned around, arching his eyebrow right at the stalagmite where Impulse was hiding, but the creature didn't do anything. Heretic, on the other hand, walked around the stalagmites to see who was there, forcing Impulse to run to the other side of the cave. Thankfully, he didn't get caught.

"Shh!" Blue Beetle said, "You're being too loud, Impulse!"

"Oh, now I'm too loud. Why do you think I was so quiet earlier?"

"Just be careful," Starfire advised. She looked over to where the other Titans were hiding, "Robin, do you have the spell ready?"

"Affirmative." Robin nodded, "But I have to be in the circle, at least at the edge of it."

Nightwing jumped on the conversation, "Ok, let's move closer, everyone. Be very cautious." 

The team pressed forward, crouching down to remain unseen. Using the various stalagmites as cover, the Titans stealthily moved closer to the circle drawn on the floor.

Oblivious of what was going on, Tamir came to the Devil and knelt down to him in gratitude, "Thank you, Red Devil! Thank you! My beloved is back!"

With Mara's help, Nyssa stood up, approaching the man. "Tamir? You... You're the one who brought me back...?" 

Tamir pathetically admired the resuscitated woman as if he was seeing an angel or something. He was mesmerized by her but in an obsessive way, almost. It was unsettling, not genuine like when Mara first saw her.

The scruffy-bearded man walked to Aunt Nyssa and held her hands. "Yes, my love. I did this for you..." Tamir cast a nervous glance at Mara before locking eyes with Nyssa again, "...And for your daughter, of course. I did this for both of you."

Mara scowled at the man, but Tamir ignored her. "I couldn't let you go without having the chance to see your daughter one last time. I know how much you care for her."

Nyssa's hand instinctively flew to cover her mouth. Her blue eyes, which used to be so cold and soulless, were now brimming with tears. "I can't believe it..." She hesitated but she pulled Tamir into a hug, giving him what he wanted. Nyssa cried out, "Thank you for letting me see my little girl one more time. And for taking such good care of her!"

"Everything for you, my love. Everything for you..." Tamir stroke Nyssa's hair before leaning over to purse his lips against hers.

Damian wanted to barf but he wasn't alone; Mara too looked disgusted. 

“Can we attack now?” Jon eagerly asked in Damian's ear, but Emiko shook her head.

"We're not in the circle yet." She mentioned, "Almost there."

The Titans had to make sure they were quiet because of the echoes of the cave. Heretic also had magic with him, so it was only a matter of time until they were all discovered. They finally got close to the circle, and Robin stepped in. Thankfully, they still were a little further away from the Devil, and they were surrounded by rocks, so no one would see them. He opened the marked page of the book, but Heretic's voice distracted him. 

"Red Devil, now it is time for our deal. I've unleashed you so the depths of Hell are no longer a prison to you. Now it is your turn to set me free."

The monstrous red creature looked down at Heretic and burst into thunderous laughter, making the ground shake to its core. Robin had to regain his balance from the brief earthquake.

"HAHAHAHA! You want to be free, you say?! You are my slave, Heretic! The deal never involved bringing your actual life back! Your soul still belongs to me." 

Heretic removed his mask, revealing a pale face. For a moment there, Damian thought his twin was going to have a stroke.

"What?!"  Heretic's voice erupted with the same tone that Damian used when he felt unjustified, "But I was told... If I freed you and brought Aunt Nyssa back, I would have my life back—!"

The Devil laughed even more hysterically, making the stalactites from the ceiling dangle, "OH-HO, You are a deceitful one, aren't you, Tamir?"

All eyes were on Tamir, but of course the man was attempting to walk away like the big coward he was.

Heretic glared at Tamir with rage in his eyes, "YOU LIED TO ME?"

The bearded man recoiled, holding his hands in the air as if he was surrendering, "Heretic, listen here, bud-- I already brought you back to life, didn't I? What more could you want?"

Mara couldn't help but grin at that. Tamir was screwed. Nyssa, on the other hand, was still disoriented and a bit confused by the whole thing. Damian wondered if she even remembered anything. 

However, Heretic was clearly mad. Fuming, the clone charged at the former Leaguer with his cold, assassin-green eyes that Damian knew all too well. "I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!" 

"Impulse, now is a good time. Go!" Nightwing ordered, snapping Damian to attention again. He almost forgot about the plan for a second. 

"On it!" Impulse said. 

In a blink of an eye, the speedster appeared at each end of the Pentagram, lighting up the candles with a lighter he had in his backpack. Allen quickly lit the four ends of the star, and he would've lit up the fifth point if Tamir wasn't running right in that direction...

"Crap." Impulse let out, having to hide again behind another stalagmite while Heretic was chasing the bearded man. 

Tamir kept running right where the last candle was, but Heretic caught up to him, seizing him by the throat. The clone quickly held the man up just to slam it on the ground, proceeding to punch Tamir half to death.

During that time, Impulse was forced to stay hidden, waiting for those two to be done. If Heretic wasn't so furious, he would've easily noticed the drawing and the candle positioned right behind him. 

Robin was watching the whole fight without knowing what to do. He noticed from the distance that Mara was guiding her mother away from the fight, and they were heading to an exit that Damian wasn't aware of... He thought about running after them and stopping them, but Mara deserved to be happy for once. Damian chose to not tell the others about them leaving because everyone else seemed too focused on watching Heretic beat up Tamir. 

Tamir kept screaming in agony, pleading for Heretic to stop, but the clone was far too vicious.

"What do I do?" Impulse asked on the comms, "They're standing right on the drawing! They're gonna knock over the candle now that I think about it--"

"Do you think you can light it up without getting noticed?" Nightwing asked, concerned.

Impulse leaned forward from the stalagmite that he was hiding, hoping that Heretic would be done soon but before he could respond, the Devil started to laugh again.

"BRAVO, BRAVO!" The Devil clapped his hands in delight, making the loose stalactites from the ceiling crash down to the ground.

Thankfully, Impulse was much faster and dodged the falling stalactite in more than enough time. "Yikes!" 

Heretic finally stopped punching for a second but he was still holding Tamir by his collar, "No... Death would be too easy for what you put me through. You need to be tortured first!" The clone raised his hand to summon a genie, "Elias! I command you to put this man through the worst possible torture you could ever imagine!"

"Shit." Emiko slipped up. She was still standing close to Damian, who had the book in his hands but was unable to start the spell without the candles being lit. 

To the Titans' horror, a red mist appeared from Heretic's ring, shaping into a man; Elias. The powerful genie was wearing dark sunglasses, and his black hair was slicked back. Past his torso was a cloud of red smoke.

The genie was floating next to Heretic and he smiled, "Why, hello Heretic. Weren't you supposed to free me after helping you with the Devil?"

Without letting go of Tamir, Heretic spat, "Start torturing this pathetic scum, and I'll consider setting you free!"

Elias shook his head and tsked. "Ooh, but that wasn't our deal, Heretic."

"This is getting better and better!" The Demon laughed, shaking the ground with his monstrous voice.

Damian had to do something, but what? He pressed the comm on his ear to say, "Impulse, you're faster than them. Just light up the last candle already."

"But Elias is here!" Impulse defended, freaking out, "They'll notice me!"

"WHY ARE YOU NOT OBEYING ME?" 

Damian's attention instinctively snapped back to Heretic, who was on the other side of the cave from him, yelling at Elias. Meanwhile, Tamir lay on the floor, his face full of blood and bruises.

"Ohh, Heretic," Elias spoke with fake pity in his voice. "As much as I would love to impose torture on a mere human, I just want to remind you of something. You can't give me commands."

"WHAT?!" Heretic roared.

Damian didn't need his special lenses to see the sinister smile that Elias had on his face. Suddenly, Elias' body vanished in a red cloud of mist and he reappeared in front of Heretic in a human form. The man with glasses then pointed to his fingers, revealing two rings with bright rubies in them; One of the rubies was yellow, while the other was red. Heretic glared at his own hand with a scowl, but the red and yellow rings were still on his fingers.

"They don't call me a Master of Illusions for nothing." Elias snapped his fingers, making the two rings on Heretic's fingers disappear in thin air. 

Elias was in control that whole time.

Heretic roared again like a madman, "YOU FOOLED ME?" 

"Interesting..." Red Devil started, "I guess I'll have to take you for my own too, Elias! Your rings and Heretics will look great on me! Can you imagine? A free Devil with the power of 5 genies?"

For the first time, Elias froze in fear. Never would he think that the Devil would want him to be his servant as well. As if humans weren't bad enough.

The Teen Titans stood horrified. Dealing with a Devil in control of all of Djinn's family would be much worse than they could imagine. 

Impulse was the first to break their silence, "Guys...? Should we even bother doing anything? I think they're gonna kill each other!"

"We still need to send the Devil back to Hell, dummy!" Beetle stressed.

"Impulse, just light it up now!" Robin loudly whispered.

Impulse nodded, even though no one was close enough to see him, "Okay, I'll try!"  

Quickly, Impulse ran to the candle, which was located behind Heretic, Elias, and Tamir. The speedster made sure to vibrate incredibly fast, but the lighter decided to be stubborn and not work. Impulse looked over to see if he hadn't been caught, but everyone around him was frozen still, which was good. That meant he was still moving faster than everyone else. The boy tried again, flickering the lighter multiple times until it worked. It took him a few trials until the candle was finally lit.

"I did it!" Impulse shouted, making Elias and Heretic turn to him in anger.

"I told you we were not alone!" Heretic raged. 

Impulse stared right back at them, eyes widened. "Shoot." He then quickly ran to where Robin was standing on the other side of the cave.

"Robin, NOW!" Impulse alerted. 

Damian nodded and started summoning the spell, but as soon as he spoke the first few words of the spell, the Devil turned around and his creepy smile turned into a dark frown. His yellow eyes burned in fury as he glared at the puny humans standing beneath him.

"YOU DARE TO SEND ME BACK TO HELL?"

"Robin, quick!" Emiko yelled at the top of her lungs, and Damian didn't have to think twice; He restarted the spell, speaking as fast as he could without making any mistakes but a wave of fire came in his direction. 

It was Impulse who got Robin away from the flames just in time.

"You okay, Robbie?" Impulse was carrying Robin in cradle position, which Damian did not appreciate. 

"I'm fine!" He grumbled, getting out of Allen's arms. He looked at the Devil, who was glaring right at him. 

"YOU! I REMEMBER YOU! DAMIAN WAYNE. You were supposed to suffer in the labyrinth of regret until I could decide what to do with you!"

"Sorry to disappoint, Bloomberg! Guess I never belonged to Hell after all!" Damian mocked loudly, surprising the rest of the Titans.

The Devil looked up and unleashed a piercing roar, forcing the ground to rumble and then rip apart. Flames erupted from the fissure, and suddenly, an army of faceless creatures began to claw their way out of the ground. The monsters were draped in darkness, adorned with twisted horns, and where there should have been faces were bone-like structures that protruded from the tops of their heads, much like a spine. Disturbingly, their disgusting mouths were left intact as if the demons were not repulsive enough.

The creatures also wore long arm cuffs and leather pelvic tunics where human faces contorted with horror hung from their belts as if they were trophies. Their charred skin was gray much like the ashes of a dying fire. Their feet were reminiscent of a dinosaur, and their rib cages hung outside their chests.

Damian thought that if these abominations had eyes, they’d glint black with a hunger for death. He tried repeating the spell once again but Red Devil acted faster by slashing the ground, undoing a part of the Pentagram circle.

"My drawing!" Impulse exclaimed but he was too distracted to notice the blast that Heretic was shooting at him with his magic rings.

"Impulse!" Blue Beetle yelled at his now wounded friend, whose body crashed into a rock from the blast.

Reyes was about to retaliate against Heretic, but the faceless creatures came jumping on him. Instinctively, Beetle shielded himself with his arm, but the Scarab acted faster by releasing missiles from Reyes' shoulders. Several of the creatures screeched in pain but there were even more demons coming at him. Reyes retreated to gain some distance and then aimed his arm at the monsters, releasing a powerful energy blast from the Scarab's cannon, turning the monsters into ashes. 

"That worked!" Reyes shouted in excitement but even more creatures kept clawing from the ground to the point that there were thousands of demons ready to strike. What used to feel like a large cave felt small and crowded very quickly.

"Titans, the formation!" Starfire announced but she started to scream as something jumped on her from behind.

"Star!" Nightwing yelled, throwing several of his mini explosives at the demon who was attacking Starfire. 

The explosives didn't do much damage to the creature, but it was enough distraction for the demon to let go of Starfire, who in turn formed giant starbolts from her hands, her green eyes glowing in anger. Starfire thrust her arms outward, unleashing powerful energy blasts that struck multiple demons from all corners of the cave. Even Nightwing had to duck for a second so he wouldn't be hit by his own girlfriend's blasts.

In a matter of minutes, the cave was inundated by an onslaught of energy blasts combined with a swirling sea of flames from Hell. Robin had to complete the spell, and quickly, but he still needed the drawing to be redone. Several creatures came running towards him, forcing him to throw some of his explosives in defense, but thankfully, Superboy appeared by his side and started to blast the monsters with his laser vision. 

"There's too many of them!" Superboy shouted, his blue pupils replaced by radiant laser beams.

The demons were screeching in pain from Superboy's laser vision, but they were still coming at Jon. Superboy focused a little harder, making the laser beams more powerful than before, which finally led to the creatures' deaths. The ashes from the demons' bodies joined the smoke in the air.

"Did I kill them?" Jon immediately asked, on the verge of freaking out. 

"Relax, they're already dead," Robin assured, calmly.

Damian started to scan his surroundings in search of Impulse and once he found him, he was scared to see that Heretic was now summoning Djinn to attack the speedster, who was barely regaining his consciousness from the earlier blow.

The Titans also noticed that and they could barely believe it; Djinn was right there in front of them, floating next to Heretic without a single hint of emotion on her face. Her sweet personality was now replaced by this... Robot, whose only purpose was to obey her Master. Damian's mind went racing as Djinn raised her palm to send a powerful blast at her fallen friend as if it was nothing.

"Impulse, watch out!" Robin tried to warn, but the speedster was still unconscious, and the crackling sound of fire along with all the screeches from the demons was too loud for anyone to hear him. 

In the meantime, Elias did not seem to approve of Heretic's little act. He removed his sunglasses, revealing his raging red pupils, "You dare to summon my little sister to follow your commands? SHE IS MINE TO CONTROL!"

The genie then sent a giant red energy blast into Heretic's chest, but the clone used Djinn's magic to deflect the attack. Djinn flew in front of her Master like a puppet, and with her hands, she conjured a powerful shield, enveloped in a bright purple aura, that protected herself and Heretic.

Elias clenched his fists in ire. "It's not the first time I'm pitted against my siblings. I have my own brother by my side too, you know?" Elias looked down at his yellow ring, summoning his loyal servant. "Alizar! Retrieve those rings, which belong to me!"

With Alizar's help, Elias was able to break through Djinn's shield, hurting her in the process. The girl fell down, yelping in pain.

"Djinn!" Red Arrow yelled, her face filled with anxiousness mixed with anger. She aimed her arrow at Elias, but a demon was coming from behind, ready to slash her back with his claws.

"Behind you!" Robin shouted, throwing a Batarang. It barely did anything to the monster, but Superboy came back to his side and took care of the demon by punching the creature right in its faceless face, sending the monster flying to the other side of the cave. 

"Eew! That demon's face feels weird! It's like I punched his bones or something-!" Superboy shook his hand in the air, disgusted.

"Just keep punching and frying these things with your laser beams, Superboy!" Robin said before turning his attention back to Impulse. Allen was waking up, finally. 

"Unngh..." Impulse groaned in pain, brushing his hair. He sat up and widened his eyes at the sight of the Red Devil, who was now spitting fire right at him.

Quickly, Impulse got out of the way, but the cave was surrounded by even more fire than before. 

"YOU SHALL ALL PERISH IN HELL!" 

Red Devil's roar made the ground shake worse than before, and even more demons started to appear from the floor. Blue Beetle started to panic, but that didn't stop him from continuing to disintegrate as many monsters as he could with his energy cannon. The only problem was that there were simply too many demons to fight at once, which was why Damian had to complete the spell. Superboy blasted several more creatures with his laser beams, Starfire and Nightwing were hitting as many creatures as possible, and Emiko's special arrows were indeed working, but there were only so many arrows she could use.

Damian could no longer see where Impulse was but the speedster suddenly appeared right next to him, making the Boy Wonder jolt.

"Don't do that!"

"Sorry!" Allen apologized, raising his hand in surrender, "Ok, so I'm gonna redraw the circle, light up the candles again, and you summon the spell, deal?"

"Hurry up!" Robin stressed. Allen zapped to the other side of the cave but he reappeared at Damian's side as another wave of fire was sent in his direction.

Impulse saved Robin again and he made sure to quickly put him back on the floor before he could get lectured by the grumpy Robin.

"That was close-!" Allen said, worried, but Damian didn't care.

"Just go! Run!" Robin ordered, pointing at the circle so Allen could finish the job.

Impulse went back at it and he quickly fixed the undone circle while everyone else was engaged in their fights. Damian looked over to where Djinn was, and Heretic was now summoning his other genies, Uthi and Zavant, to fight Elias. And just like that, a battle of the genies was happening right before his eyes, the genies' powers colliding in utter chaos. The rest of the Titans were too busy with the hundreds of demons that were attacking them relentlessly. If it wasn't for Superboy and Red Arrow standing close to him, hitting all the monsters coming at them, Damian wouldn't have been able to focus properly on what to do. He almost lost his book a few times, trying to dodge the screeching creatures that were trying to slash him, but Superboy had his back. 

Nightwing was the one who was standing away from the others and was by himself, be he had Beetle and Starfire floating above him, both of them getting rid of as many demons as they could. Red Devil was still maddened by the Titans, so he spat another wave of fire right where Starfire was floating.

"Star!" Nightwing screamed, no longer paying attention to the demons charging at him. Damian threw more of his explosives toward the monsters that were about to attack his brother, while Beetle was able to fly fast enough to release his shield and protect Starfire. 

Red Devil fumed in fury, releasing more fire from his nose. Starfire and Blue Beetle got away just in time, but all the smoke was making things worse. Starfire began to cough and she looked like she was on the verge of throwing up. Slowly, she flew back to the ground where Nightwing was, and she was met with a hug by her boyfriend. 

"Starfire, are you okay?" Nightwing held Starfire close to him, squeezing her shoulders with worry.

Starfire kept coughing, "Everything is so dark... And it's hard to breathe..."

Nightwing handed Starfire an oxygen mask to help her, "Here, take this." Starfire took the mask, and her shoulder relaxed a little bit more as she inhaled a few times. 

Behind them was another monster, which Red Arrow hit right in his rib cage-chest, making the creature recoil.

"Watch your back!" The archer scolded.

Damian couldn't agree with her more. Nightwing was not in his game, too concerned with Starfire's well-being, Red Arrow was trying her hardest to injure the monsters but she was going to run out of her trick arrows soon, Blue Beetle and Superboy were doing their best to take care of the demons, and Impulse needed to finish lighting up the candles already. The flames kept increasing, permeating every corner of the cave, and the air was becoming thick and suffocating from all that smoke. It was getting hard to even think straight with all the flames surrounding him, like the inferno Damian became familiar with in his death, but he had a job to do. He couldn't fail now.

Annoyed, Damian pressed his comms again, "Impulse, are you done or what? What's taking you so long?"

"Robin?" Impulse responded at the same time, "We have a problem... The candles won't light up."

Damian widened his eyes, his heart racing. "What do you mean the candles won't light up?"

"The lighter is working but when I try to light up the candles, the flames disappear! I tried everything!"

Damian took a few steps back, taking a good look at the wide Pentagram sign on the ground. If the flames had mysteriously vanished as Allen claimed, that could only mean one thing... The candles would only be lit up again through magic.

Chapter Text

The air grew thinner as the flames danced across the cave, crackling amidst all the chaos. The giant army of faceless demons continued to attack the Titans while Elias and Heretic pitted their genies against one another in a fierce battle. The heat was suffocating, and the relentless spewing of fire from Red Devil wasn’t helping either.

Damian had to act, and fast.

His whole team was at a great disadvantage, and even with Blue Beetle, Starfire, and Superboy doing most of the damage toward the demons, they were still on the losing end as each time a demon was 'killed', more emerged from the ground. It got to a point where Nightwing had to yell at everyone to stop blasting the faceless creatures, but it was impossible to not eliminate any of the demons when so many of them came attacking all at once. 

Eventually, their attention was geared towards the Red Devil, who was furiously fighting the Titans in return. Damian watched the whole war unravel before his eyes, his mind racing a million miles a minute as he thought of a plan. The only way to put an end to all this was by casting the spell, which would require powerful magic to reignite the candles once again. 

Damian looked at the other side of the cave and his eyes narrowed upon seeing Heretic. Djinn was right there, carrying a raging look on her face that didn’t belong to her as she fought her brothers against her will. 

Bart was standing right next to Damian, anxiously waiting for instructions, a plan, anything. Ignoring the ghostly look on the speedster's face, however, Damian walked past him with determination in his eyes.

Confused, Impulse zapped to Robin’s side, catching up to him. “Hey, where are you going?”

Without bothering to look at Impulse, Robin responded, “Go help the others. I’m going after Heretic.”

Bart frowned. “You mean, 'we'.”

Damian abruptly stopped in his tracks, shooting an angry glare at Allen. “I need to face him alone, Impulse. This is personal.”

Impulse pointed his finger directly at Damian’s face as he lectured, “No way, dude! I’m not letting you go after that weird adult version of you alone, he’s out to get you. He even came close to killing you just recently!”

“Heretic already took my life before and I made it back just fine.” Saying that didn’t seem to help his case much because Allen was looking even more worried. 

Damian sighed, using his free hand to wipe away the beads of sweat trickling down his forehead. His other hand remained firmly grasping the spell book.

“Impulse, I’ll be fine. Go help the others while I get Djinn back.”

Allen blinked a couple of times, shocked, “Wait, you’re gonna try taking Djinn’s ring from Heretic?”

“Isn’t that obvious?” Damian had to fight the urge to roll his eyes at the kid. “Djinn needs to be saved, and only she can counter Red Devil’s magic to light the candles once more.”

Impulse observed the explosion of blasts being unleashed by all the genies. Elias kept charging at Heretic, but Damian's clone ruthlessly used one of his own genies as a shield against the spells thrown at him. Heretic seemed to be winning at times, having three genies at his disposal while fighting the other two. 

“It’s a war zone over there. How do you expect to take the ring from Heretic’s finger?”

Damian was about to respond but his body tensed up as he heard the growling sound of creatures coming from behind. Damian spun around, pulling out a Batarang, but before he could slash the demons in their throats, Impulse took him to the other side of the cave in a blink of an eye.

Impulse picked a hiding spot close to where Heretic and Elias were fighting, a tall stalagmite that rose from the ground. From the distance, Damian saw Starfire fiercely shooting her starbolts at the faceless demons to help Nightwing and Red Arrow, who only had their gadgets to defend themselves. Even from afar, Kory looked exhausted. Meanwhile, Blue Beetle and Superboy teamed up against Red Devil, who apparently had zero weaknesses whatsoever and was only getting more furious as time went by. 

To say that things were chaotic was an understatement. 

Impulse too watched the ongoing battles unfolding within the confines of the cave. Allen was going to make a comment but he immediately stopped once he noticed the stern look on Damian's face.

“You’re slow.”

Impulse arched his eyebrow, perplexed, “Me? Slow?!” 

“Yeah. You had ample time to anticipate those demons' attack; You should've been easily able to do something about it before I could finish a thought, yet I still managed to have time to turn around and almost slash them." Robin crossed his arms in frustration. “Like I said, you’re slow.”

Allen was taken aback by that but he then placed his hand on his chest in flattery, “Wow, you actually say the nicest things to me! No one ever seems to notice how much I can do in a fraction of a millisecond!” 

“That wasn’t a compliment, Impulse! This is serious! You’re running low on energy, aren’t you? Did you even bother to bring your energy bars?”

Allen pressed a button from his suit, revealing an empty container where he always stored his snacks on his high-tech gloves, “I already ate the last one. I knew I should’ve stopped by the manor and asked Alfred to make me one of his sandwiches…”

Damian frowned at that. “Since when does Pennyworth make you sandwiches?”

"Since forever! It started with Wally, actually. Alfred makes these delicious sandwiches packed with extra energy. They're great for speedsters!"

There were a lot of things about Pennyworth that Damian had no idea about, apparently. Robin opened his mouth to argue but his thoughts were interrupted by a powerful blast that erupted from behind, obliterating the hiding spot where the stalagmite once stood. Damian and Bart instinctively ducked and turned around, and they were met by a sinister grin from Elias. 

“Well, well, well. Guess who decided to join the party!” 

Heretic stopped fighting as well, his attention fixed on Damian.

“Brother.” The clone hissed, shooting the boy a deadly glare.

Impulse exchanged a quick glance with Robin and whispered, “Ok, I’ll distract Elias while you take care of your evil twin.”

Damian nodded, and piles of dust flew in the air as soon as Impulse vanished in his speed. Damian then crouched down, carefully retrieving the spell book that had been knocked away by the earlier blast.

Allen gave himself some distance when he reappeared behind Elias. The kid waved his arms in the air as he taunted, “Yo, Elias! You don’t fool me! I know you hide behind those sunglasses to act all schway and bougie but the reality is that you’re nothing but a fat coward!”

Elias placed his hands on his waist and laughed, “So, you think you're funny, don't you? How about I show you one of my jokes?” 

The genie formed a giant ball of energy from his hands and launched it at the speedster, but Impulse easily got out of the way before it could hit him. 

“Too slow!” Impulse teased, zapping close to Elias again, “You know, I betcha Djinn has always been way more powerful than you. That’s why she's a threat to you, right? You’re jealous. But she’s your sister, dude. Just be happy for her like a normal person.” 

Growling, Elias turned into smoke and disappeared. Impulse took a few steps back on high alert, scanning his surroundings to make sure he wouldn’t fall for any sneak attack, but nothing happened.

Odd. 

Impulse shrugged at Robin. Damian felt uneasy by the whole thing and while Elias could not be underestimated, he still needed to focus on Heretic, who was still standing right in front of him. Robin took a step forward to face his enemy but from the corner of his eye, he caught sight of a peculiar red mist darting between Impulse's legs.

"Impulse--!" Robin tried to alert, but he was too late. Impulse started to vibrate his body but that didn't stop the mist from slicing down his legs, causing the speedster to fall to the ground with a thud. 

Bartholomew let out an agonizing scream as the two smoke-like entities swirled around his legs. Once the red swirls made of mist vanished, the speedster stared at his legs, his eyes filled with absolute terror. That mist didn't just injure Bart...

It sliced off his legs completely. 

Bart's legs were gone; They looked amputated. Bart's eyes widened at the horrendous sight of his missing legs, his hands shaking uncontrollably. 

"AAH! MY LEGS! WHAT HAPPENED TO MY LEGS?"

Robin stepped forward to approach his friend, but Heretic blocked his way. 

Ignoring his annoying clone, Robin shouted from the distance, "Impulse! It's just an illusion! Snap out of it!”

Bart violently shook his head in disagreement, his eyes starting to tear up, "No, you don't get it! I can't feel my legs! I can't feel them... They're numb, they're--" Desperate, the poor speedster began to hyperventilate frenetically, "They're numb, they're numb..."

Great, Impulse fell right into Elias' stupid trick. But to be fair, the illusion was quite impressive. It looked extremely real and Damian could only imagine the pain Bartholomew must have been feeling; He too knew what it was like to be stuck inside an illusion conjured by a genie.   

Heretic tutted, snapping Damian out of his thoughts. The clone stepped forward and spoke coldly, "Time to go back to where you truly belong, Damian." Heretic narrowed his eyes, drawing a sword with magic, "Hell."

Damian scowled at the man, his anger threatening to take him over. Djinn was still floating by Heretic’s side, looking at Damian with her emotionless, pupilless eyes. Eyes that used to be so endearing and full of warmth.

“Heretic, free Djinn now!” Robin demanded, trying his best to stay calm, “Spare her from this senseless torture! You know exactly what it’s like to be used your whole life, to always be controlled by someone else. Don't do the same to her, Heretic. Let her and her brothers go."

Heretic didn’t budge and kept looking down at Damian in disdain. “I know how much you care about her, along with everyone else on your team, which is why I will do as I please." The clone raised his fist with a determined look on his face, “Djinn! Attack!”

The command made Djinn's pupilless eyes brighten in fury, and two Khanjar daggers made of purple energy materialized in each of her hands. The genie lunged at him in an instant, immediately putting Damian on the defensive. She fought with the intention to kill, that was for certain, and Djinn was not holding back. Damian was forced to stay on defense, ducking his head and moving out of the way just in time to avoid getting slashed. Every movement became critical as he continued to bob and weave, and carrying around that damned book wasn't making things any easier. 

"Djinn, stop it!" Robin tried to ask, blocking the girl's arms with his free hand so that the dagger wouldn't cut his face, but Djinn simply spun around and lunged at him again, "This isn't you! I know you're in there somewhere!"

Djinn swung furiously at Damian, aiming for his stomach, but he jumped backward in time. Damian's eyes remained fixed on the incoming blades, trying to anticipate the next move, but Djinn was dangerously fast. She aimed for his neck and Damian dodged, avoiding the razor-sharp edge by mere inches.

It was pointless to get through to her. She was too far gone, her rage matched Heretics. Damian needed to change tactics fast if he wanted to survive; A single misstep would be his demise.

With the adrenaline surging through his veins, Damian did a flip backward, throwing a flash bang at Djinn at the same time. The stun grenade blinded her, and the distraction was just what he needed to interrupt her incessant strikes. Djinn had to blink a few times to regain her senses, but for a second, her pupils were back. Damian was going to say something to her but suddenly, Elias soundlessly phased through the ground right behind Heretic.

With his hands stretched out and ready to strike, Elias spat out his words, "Haven't you learned anything, Heretic? Djinn is not yours to control!"

A powerful blast was shot, sending Heretic flying. Crimson magic chains firmly bound Heretic's arms against the cave wall, leaving him no room to escape. He growled with frustration, his struggles proving futile against the enchanted restraints.

Elias approached the now trapped clone, but Heretic sent Djinn to protect him while he summoned another genie to free him. Damian instantly recognized which genie that was; Uthi, the one who tortured him back at the clock tower.

Elias kept throwing more red energy blasts toward Djinn, who used her purple shields to defend herself. Damian hated how ruthless Elias was while fighting his sister. Damian needed to get a hold of the rings quickly, so he ran towards Heretic, taking advantage of the situation.

Damian reached for the pocket knife that Cain had gifted him for his birthday, ready to slice Heretic's fingers off while the clone was still trapped, but a fiery blast almost hit him from behind. Robin turned around and saw Starfire flying right above him, and she was aiming her starbolts at the Devil in order to protect him. 

"Robin, what do you think you're doing?" Starfire yelled, her glowy green eyes still fixed on the Devil, who was taking a deep breath to spit more fire at her. "Don't sneak out to fight someone by yourself!” 

Red Devil spat a giant wave of fire that was certainly going to burn both Starfire and Robin, but thankfully, Blue Beetle came in, releasing his protective shield against the fire. 

"You guys okay?" Beetle asked. He was floating right in front of Starfire, and his arms slightly trembled from holding his shield against the blazing inferno that Red Devil kept unleashing.

"Thank you for the save, Blue Beet--" Starfire was forced to cough from all the smoke. The cave was getting suffocatingly hot as the flames continued to spread. Not even protective masks were enough to help anyone breathe properly, there was not enough oxygen. 

Urgently, Nightwing instructed the team to blast out the ceiling to allow more air to flow into the cave.

Damian shouted at Blue Beetle, who was still flying in the air next to Starfire, "No! Wait!"

Starfire turned to look, but Beetle didn't hear him and he immediately blasted the ceiling, along with Superboy, who was floating on the other side of the cave. With a resounding blast, a powerful force shattered the ceiling of the cave, causing the rocks to rain down from above. The once-stable ceiling turned into a chaotic spectacle with all the chunks of rock breaking free. 

In a fit of rage, Red Devil grabbed Blue Beetle and started to crush him with his hand. Starfire quickly projected bright green energy from her hands so the Devil would release Beetle. The rocks continued to fall, and Damian caught sight of Impulse, who was still not moving, too wrapped up in his panic attack.

With his heart pounding in despair, Robin dropped his book and ran to Impulse, pulling him away from the falling stalactite just moments before they were crushed by the impact. They fell from the collision, jolting Impulse out of the trance he had been under. 

"What the--" Impulse looked down at his legs and his face was washed with relief, "My legs are back!"

"They've always been there, dummy," Robin stated, serious. "Elias tricked you."

"But it felt so real! I thought he had cut my legs off!" 

"Yeah, he's good at what he does." Robin looked up, worried, but he was relieved to see that Starfire had successfully gotten Beetle out of the devil's grasp. His attention then went to Heretic, who was now yelling at Uthi for being incapable of setting him free from the chains. 

Superboy showed up to help Starfire and Blue Beetle in their fight against Bloomberg, but doing so left Nightwing and Red Arrow completely defenseless. They were now surrounded by hundreds of faceless creatures.

"Damn it, did Superboy forget everything I taught him about team formation?" Robin muttered under his breath.

"You forgot your book!" Impulse said, running to where the book was and zapping back to Robin's side, spell book at hand. "Here. Thanks for saving me, by the way."

"Nightwing and Red Arrow need our help," Damian said, not bothering to acknowledge his teammate's gratitude. He didn't know how to, and there was too much going on anyway. At least now he was finally able to breathe a little easier with the fresh air flowing in, which was nice, but there was still much more to be done.

"On it." And just like that, Impulse was gone. He ran in circles to confuse all the demons and then punched each one of them until they fell. How Impulse was still holding on with all that lack of energy, Damian didn't know, but now was not the time to figure it out either. 

With everyone distracted with all their battles, Robin ran back to Heretic. Elias punched Djinn in the face, which was infuriating, but Robin had to step out of the way once the Devil approached Elias with his claws.

"Elias! You are going to be mine, do you hear me? You can't run from me!" Kid Devil's raging voice made the ground tremble, threatening to collapse even more stalactites.

Edward Bloomgberg lunged at Elias with his claws, but the genie phased through the attack like a ghost.

Elias taunted, "You cannot touch me, Red Devil!"

With his mind filled with ire, Bloomberg raised his clenched hands into the air, causing a hellish fire to erupt from the ground right where Elias was standing. The attack made Elias' phasing ability... Glitch? Was Damian seeing that right?

Robin remained stealthy, carefully walking towards the trapped clone so he could get Djinn's ring, but Damian kept paying attention to the other fight. He was right. Elias' powers seemed to be weakened by the fire, and the genie noticed the same thing. A look of despair washed over Elias’ face, despite his eyes being hidden behind those sunglasses.

Damian finally got to Heretic, finding himself isolated from the rest of the group. Good. He didn't want any other distractions. Damian hid behind a rock, reaching his hand for his pocket knife once again. Heretic was still uselessly fighting to break free from the magic chains, which meant that now was the perfect time to get the rings. The clone was unaware of Damian's location, but right as the young vigilante was about to strike, Heretic broke free. 

"Dammit." Damian thought to himself. "I should've asked Impulse to get the rings while I had the chance."

Ironically, Heretic was also talking to himself, but he spoke out loud instead, "An illusion! I was tricked by an illusion! And you--!" Heretic turned around and wrapped his hand around Uthi's neck. "You didn't bother to warn me that the chains weren't real!"

"I didn't know--" The tanned-skinned genie apologized in despair, "I didn't know! Please forgive me, Master, please--" Heretic must have tightened his grip because the genie was struggling to speak and even breathe.

"Stop," Damian commanded as he stepped out of the shadows. 

Heretic immediately let go of the genie and sent him back to his ring, along with Djinn and her other brother, Zavant, the one who trapped Emiko in the past. Damian decided to put both his book and the Batarangs on the floor to prove that he was not there to fight.   

Damian continued, "From the moment both of us were born, we were designed to be a weapon. We’ve been lied to, controlled... We were promised the world just to gain the exact opposite. But it doesn't have to be this way." Damian tried to keep his nerves under control. He needed more than anything to get Heretic to listen. "We don't have to keep listening to these people and keep suffering; You have the power to shape your own future, Heretic. Don't let others dissuade you anymore."

Heretic looked down and hesitated. "...You're right. I could shape my future... If I had an actual future in the first place. My body is decaying and I will never be anything more than a clone. I will never have a family like you do."

Damian took another step forward, facing his older twin. "This changes today. I know trust has to be earned, but you can count on me, Heretic. Together, we'll find a way for you to survive. You don't have to live this way, you don't have to be tied to the Devil, we can set you free! Let us cease all this senseless fighting and be united for once." Damian stretched his hand out for a handshake, "So, what do you say... Brother?"

Heretic, however, didn't return the gesture. Instead, he continued to look down, lost in thought. "For so long, I've been nothing but a pawn... A dispensable piece in someone else's chess game, a soldier destined to obey orders and kill, nothing else. All the while, I was lost in this... Void. Unbeknownst of memories, where I belonged, who I am… I was not granted a family, not even an actual soul similar to normal humans. No, I was denied all this, the only gift granted to me was... Strength. The knowledge that I was the only successful prototype, the strongest of them all. But while that knowledge brought me a certain comfort, there was always something bringing me down..."

Damian waited patiently for Heretic to finish his thoughts. He knew the person Heretic was referring to was his aunt, who created him.

The large man continued, "...A person who served as a constant reminder of my failures, of the fact that regardless of how hard I tried, I would never, never be allowed to accept my true self. And that haunting reminder… Is YOU!"

Violently, Heretic lunged at Damian with his sword, missing his target by inches. Damian had not seen that coming, and the clone continued to close in and attack viciously. Damian scanned for any signs of a vulnerability in his opponent's approach, but Heretic didn't give any openings. 

"Damn it, Heretic!" Damian shouted while he weaved and dodged, "Why do you have to be so stubborn?"

That didn't stop Heretic from attacking, however. The man's green eyes which mirrored Damian's were filled with pure hate, and there was nothing Damian could do to change his clone's mind. 

Heretic swung his sword at Damian's throat, and in the same motion, he fired a blast from the rings on his fist. Damian managed to dodge the sword but he put his arms out, bracing himself for the inevitable impact from the magic blast... Which never came.

Damian looked up, alarmed, and Heretic was just as confused as him. "How--? That's impossible!" 

Damian wasn't sure what just happened, it was like the blast simply bounced off his chest, but he then remembered; The amulet his mother gave him for his birthday. The Book of the Soul's Dusk was accurate, the amulet indeed had protective powers against magic.

Robin smirked with invigorated confidence, "Tt. Looks like you can't hurt me with magic, after all."

With a decisive move, Damian rushed Heretic. His adult version swung at him, leaving him open, so Damian used the opportunity to grapple his opponent's arm, lurching forward with his legs around Heretic's neck to lock him in a tight arm bar. The sudden move made them both crash to the ground, and Damian, still firmly using his legs to make Heretic stay stuck in the headlock, pulled out his pocket knife.

He precisely sliced off two of Heretic's fingers, one with the purple ring belonging to Djinn and the other blue one to Zavant. The fingers fell to the ground, leaving Heretic screaming in agony as he grasped his now bloody hand tightly.

Heretic let out a loud and maddening growl. The large man fumed and summoned the only genie he had on his thumb, the green one, Uthi. At his command, Uthi sent a mountain of sharp rocks flying in Damian's direction. Despite his best efforts to defend himself, one of the rocks struck directly on the sowed wound on his abdomen, ripping open his stitches.

A sharp jolt of agony shot through his body, and Damian couldn't help but loudly groan in pain as his wound reopened, leaving him even more vulnerable than before. 

Amidst the chaos, Damian managed to snatch the sliced fingers off the floor and remove the two rings, but he felt his heart pounding as Heretic stepped in front of him, looking down on him just as he did the night he killed him. 

Damian kept a firm grip on the rings while using his free hand to press against his opened wound to stop the bleeding. The pain throbbed through his body, but he was more concerned with not getting killed again.

Time seemed to slow down as Heretic raised his sword high to go for the final blow. Every fiber of Damian's being screamed for him to act. He couldn't die like this, not again, and not when so many people depended on him. He was planning on rolling out of the way but before he could act, a figure appeared behind Heretic. 

Electric pulses jolted through Heretic’s temples as two Escrima sticks slammed against his head.

"Eyes up here, bitch." 

As Heretic turned to face his attacker, his hands pressed against his head to shake off the pain, he was met with a punch. Grayson should’ve been exhausted after fighting numerous demons in the low-oxygen, suffocating cave, and yet he stood tall; Stoic, even, having had a surge of newfound vigor. 

Without wasting any time, Nightwing launched into action again, taking every possible opportunity to land strike after strike with his Escrima sticks. His onslaught was so fast that Heretic didn't even have time to resort to magic.

The bat vigilante kept swinging at the clone with impressive speed, moving with the grace of a true acrobat. It was like a dance for him, this was Nightwing’s element. 

"You'll never hurt my little brother ever again, do you understand?" Nightwing shouted in anger, his eyes glued to Heretics. Damian had never seen his older brother so angry before. 

Heretic was still disoriented from the electrified escrima sticks, forcing him to backpedal, and all he could do was block the incoming strikes from Grayson’s arms, legs, and knees.

With each opening given, Nightwing took it, delivering even more electrifying jolts to Heretic’s chest. Grayson spun around, thumb on the trigger, and he discharged another wave of electricity to the man’s neck. 

A piercing scream echoed through the cave. Furious, Heretic could only grab Nightwing’s wrist to make him stop. Heretic twisted Grayson’s wrist, but Nightwing flipped around with Heretic’s arm twist. The clone was about to land a brutal punch to Grayson’s ribs, but Damian’s older brother spun out of the strike and deflected the next punch. 

All of a sudden, a familiar voice from behind caught their attention. 

“Hey! Save some for us!” 

Damian cocked his head to the side, noticing that the voice came from none other than Timothy Drake. Next to him were Spoiler and Red Hood, looking determined and ready for a fight. 

“Yeah! Nightwing is not the only one you should worry about, dipshit.” Red Hood warned, aiming his gun at Heretic. The bullet struck squarely in Heretic’s shoulder, eliciting another pained groan from the clone. 

Heretic was getting sick and tired of losing, so he summoned his genie, Uthi, and commanded him to attack.

Nightwing quickly dodged and he turned his attention to his family as if nothing was happening, "You guys made it!" 

Red Robin nodded, though he seemed a bit flustered, "Yeah, it took us longer than we thought—" He paused, his eyes widening as a blast being fired their way, "Watch out!" The whole family ducked.

Spoiler ran around the genie, her primary concern focused on the younger kid who was like a brother to her. 

"Robin! Are you okay?" Spoiler rushed to Damian, and as she got closer, she noticed the open wound. "Oh my God, you're bleeding!"

"I'm fine, stop worrying about me!" Robin snapped, pulling away from Brown.

With the urgent matters at hand, there were far more pressing needs than attending to a minor injury. Damian clutched the rings tightly in his hand; He had yet to talk to Djinn and get her out.

Damian started walking past Brown as he said, "Now if you will excuse me, I have a Devil to take care of!"

Spoiler was at a loss for words, baffled at Robin for leaving just like that. She started chasing after him, but she had to duck from another blast from the genie, whose body was tattooed in green Arabic chants.

In the meantime, Damian rubbed the purple ruby in hopes for Djinn to show up without needing to summon her. He promised her that he would never wear her ring again and he was not going to have her stay in that prison of hers for even one second longer. "Djinn, you can come out now. You're safe."

To his relief, a purple mist came out of the ring, and Djinn appeared in front of him in her human form. 

Tears formed in Djinn's purple eyes, and the girl engulfed Damian into a tight embrace, "Robin, you saved me!"

Robin didn't know how to respond. He didn't feel like he actually accomplished anything, since everything kept getting more chaotic as time went on. Damian broke off the hug, stepping back from the girl. 

He looked down at his hand and extended it, offering Djinn her ring back. "Here. This belongs to you."

Djinn's eyes welled up with tears once more as she delicately slipped her ring back onto her finger.

"Thank you," She whispered, her voice filled with gratitude and relief. However, her joy was short-lived as her gaze shifted to Damian's tunic, now stained with blood. "Oh, no! You're bleeding!"

"I'm alright, we just have to--" 

Without letting him finish, Djinn gently placed her hand on Damian's wound and in just a few seconds, the agonizing pain from the open stitches vanished. Damian looked down at his side, surprised. His wound was completely gone. "Wow, it's gone! Thank you, Djinn."

Djinn smiled at Damian tenderly and went for another embrace, just then an arrow flew between them, and they could just barely make out Red Arrow shout, “Oops!” with a mocking glint in her face. 

Suddenly, a guttural roar reverberated through the cave, making the ground tremble like a terrible earthquake. The Titans were still losing against the Devil, and the demons continued pressing their advantage, showing no signs of slowing. 

From behind, Djinn and Robin heard Red Arrow shout urgently, "Damn! I'm running out of arrows!"

Damian quickly turned to Djinn, determined, "Djinn, we need to send the Devil back to Hell. Can you light up the candles placed on the Pentagram sign?"

Djinn smiled again, "Of course!" 

The genie flew high in the air and she crossed her legs as if she was meditating. Before she could start her chant, however, Elias appeared out of nowhere in the shape of a giant snake, with half of his body resembling that of a serpent while the other half retained his humanoid shape; Like a Cecrops.

Elias grabbed Djinn by the throat, hissing menacingly at her, "You're mine!"

Djinn struggled to break free from his grasp and she screamed in despair. Worried, Damian quickly threw his explosives directly at Elias' snake-like body.

With his hands still firmly locked on Djinn, Elias scoffed, "Ha! You think a human-made explosive is enough to hurt me?"

"How about an alien bazooka, then?" Reyes' yelled from behind, firing directly at Elias' human body. The older genie teleported away, leaving Djinn alone.

Relieved, Djinn flew to her friend, "Thank you for saving me, Blue Beetle!"

Reyes replied with a heartfelt smile, "It's good to have you back, Djinn."

Robin was still on the lookout for potential attacks, and there he was; Elias was standing on the ground, narrowing his eyes at both Djinn and Beetle, who were flying above him. The eldest genie clenched his fists in anger and turned into a giant, matching the Devil's imposing height. Just as the powerful genie was about to retaliate, the Devil landed a devastating punch right in Elias' jaw. 

"Finally decided to match my size, huh?" Red Devil taunted, "Those rings of yours still belong to me, Elias!"

Elias spat in fury, reciprocating the punch, "Will you... Just… QUIT IT!"

The punch sent the Devil crashing to the ground, creating a powerful shockwave, which crushed several of the demons. 

“Oh, that was useful!” Beetle joked, making Superboy laugh. 

Quickly, Robin turned on his comm and shouted urgently, "Impulse! Draw the Pentagram sign again! Now!"

"All done, boss!" Impulse said right afterwards. Damian blinked, having to remind himself how fast Bartholomew was even when he was weakened.

Robin looked up where Djinn was and urged her, "Now it's the perfect time. Djinn, GO!"

Djinn nodded and she went back to her meditating state.

Superboy then suddenly swooped in, floating next to his friend. "Sorry, I've barely seen you this whole time. Is everything alright?" 

Robin didn't bother to meet Jon in the eyes, he was much more focused on Djinn. The chant wasn't even that complicated, yet the candles were still out. What was taking her so long?

"Not now, Superboy."

Djinn finished the enchantment and looked around with disappointment on her face. She flew down to where the boys were, landing gracefully on the ground. "Robin, I'm so sorry--"

"Djinn!" Robin said at the same time as the girl, "What happened?"

Djinn stared at the ground, ashamed, "Whatever spell was cast on the candles is far too powerful... Even for me..."

Superboy looked at the fight unfolding before them. The two giants were too busy bashing one another to notice anything else, so that was good, at least, but they were still not close to solving the actual problem.

"Could you try it again--?" Superboy asked, feeling embarrassed for asking such a silly question.

Djinn shook her head. "I'm too weak. I'd have to go back to the ring to get my powers back."

"No!" Robin blurted out, catching the other two off guard. "You're not going back to that ring, do you understand?"

Blue Beetle and Red Arrow joined the group while Starfire and Impulse were helping the others. The faceless demons were still running loose across the cave, looking for anyone to attack.

"Hey, what's going on?" Red Arrow asked, exasperated. Her disheveled hair was a clear indication that she too could use some rest. "Red Devil and Elias are killing each other over there, what are we waiting for?"

Half the team was reunited, at last, but fewer people taking care of the demons meant that more creatures were charging at them. Beetle fired several of his missiles at the monsters, but that only made even more creatures crawl from the ground. From the distance, Reyes could see that there were more demons lunging at Red Robin and Spoiler as well.

"I gotta go take care of these things," Reyes stated, going back in the air. His eyes were still focused on the monsters, "Let me know if you need my help, alright?"

After Beetle left, all eyes went on Djinn, who was still ashamed by the whole thing, "The magic cast on the candles is creating a canceling effect on my spells..." She finally looked up, facing the team, "My magic cannot counter Red Devil's."

Red Arrow questioned incredulously, "So that's it? We're giving up just like that?" Emiko looked around at all the flames surrounding them. "After all this literal... Hell?"

More rocks started to rain down from the unstable ceiling as the two giants continued to clash within the confines of the cave. It was only a matter of time until all the Titans ended up buried underneath all those rocks. Thankfully, Superboy quickly sprang into action, using his laser beams to destroy the flying rocks before they could harm anyone.

As Superboy rejoined his friends, the ground beneath them continued to tremble violently from the ongoing fight between Elias and Red Devil.

Jon turned to his friends with urgency, "Robin, maybe you should wear Djinn's ring one last time. Remember, I can stop you if you go all power-hungry on us."

Djinn and Emiko didn't say anything, but Damian did not agree. "No, there has to be another way." 

Assessing the utter chaos surrounding him, Damian started to think. The flames kept raging across the cave, burning everything they touched. They seemed to have a life of their own, flickering and leaping with such energy that could only be fueled by the very depths of the underworld. What had Djinn mentioned before about her freedom again? That only a Celestial power could set her free?

Damian turned his attention to the immortal beings who were still fighting. 

"I have an idea." Robin said, stretching out his hand to the genie, "Djinn, can I take your ring?" 

Djinn looked shocked at first but she nodded. "Oh, okay..." She slowly slipped her ring off her finger with a hint of sadness in her eyes. 

"You'll be safe, Djinn. I promise." Robin gave a reassuring smile, making Emiko roll her eyes.

Djinn smiled back at him, faintly. "It's okay, Damian." She whispered. "I trust you."

"Alright, alright, just get to it," Emiko said, pushing Robin away from the other girl.

Damian then decidedly charged into a raging fire before him.

Emiko yelled out in a bit of panic once she realized what he was doing, “Robin, wait! Are you crazy?”

Several undead creatures jumped at Robin out of nowhere as he ran toward the fire. He didn’t have time to fight them, but the creatures were lunging at him too viscously. Superboy flew in just in time, knocking the faceless demons out of the way before they could hit Damian. 

Unfortunately, there were too many creatures for even Superboy to stop, so Robin kept running and dodging the monsters that kept attempting to slash him with their claws. He got close to the flames and did a backflip above the fire, stealthily dropping the two rings he was carrying so that no one would notice.

As the bands touched the heart of the roaring flames, a giant spire of fire erupted, catching everyone's attention, including the Devil and Elias. The flames retreated back into the cracks, but something started happening to Djinn as well as her blue-skinned brother, Zavant, who suddenly appeared next to her side.

The genies' powers surged through them, and their enchanted tattooed bodies started to grow tremendously. Djinn's and Zavant's magic spiraled around them, creating an aura so bright that it illuminated the entire cave.

Djinn felt a euphoric rush coursing through her veins, a sensation unlike anything she had ever experienced before. Djinn locked eyes with her brother, who was experiencing the same thing, and they both cried in joy before falling into a warm embrace.

"WE'RE FREE!" 

With newfound joy, Djinn waved her hand gracefully, and with a flick of her wrist, the few flames surrounding the Titans were extinguished. Magically, the spell book materialized in Damian's hands as well, courtesy of Djinn, of course. 

Superboy and Robin both looked at each other and smiled in excitement, ready to finish the job. 

"Let's do this," Robin said to Superboy, turning to the right page so he could start the enchantment. 

Djinn waved her hands again, bursting the candles to life. Robin started the enchantment, and the Pentagram sign suddenly glowed brightly on the ground, much to Bloomberg's horror. A swirling vortex of dark magic appeared beneath the demon's feet, and the hundreds of faceless creatures screeched in agony as they were dragged back into the abyss of Hell.

"It's working, it's working!" Red Arrow celebrated.

Red Devil and Elias, on the other hand, were not pleased.

Elias turned back into his normal human form but he flew toward his siblings, shooting energy blasts at them in revenge, "NOO! HOW ARE YOU TWO FREE?"