Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Damian sighed. Mother had been on his case recently. Ever since he became the leader of the League of Assassins at 19, mother had been insistent that he produce an heir. But he couldn’t find a woman who would be ok with this life. Mother suggested that he let her just capture a few street whores and then he would pick from one of them. They don’t have people who would look for them and if they did the league could take them out. But Damian didn’t want to have an heir with someone unwilling. Mother may be willing to cross that line, but Damian? He would never rape someone.

His time with father taught him some morals. Even though he denied his mother’s second offer of staying with his father, it didn’t mean he didn’t want to. Father had cared for him. Protected him from Talon. But Damian knew his place. As much as father thought he could do it, Damian would never be Robin. He was an assassin. Father couldn’t undo the years of training he went through. It was that simple. He would never be Dick Grayson, he would never be Tim Drake, hell he wouldn’t even be Jason Todd!? His place was here.

But unfortunately, he learned something in his time with father. He was gay. Not that it was a bad thing. His mother didn’t care. She said after he had an heir and killed the whore that he had them with, then he could have a whole harem of guys to do as he pleased with. It was just, Damian fell in love with one guy specifically. One who would never be a member of the league. Jonathan Kent. And his only friend in the world. He was the only one Damian couldn’t have because he was the son of superman. If he went missing, Clark would stop at nothing to find him and likely would recruit the help of father. It didn’t matter. Damian would find a woman willing to work with the league, have his heir, and he’d live his days with raising the child to be like him. A cold hearted killer. The next Demon’s Head.

Damian punched through the training dummy's chest in anger. He couldn’t stop thinking about John. He probably missed Damian or was working with their fathers to bring down his league. Whichever it was, Damian couldn’t get the man out of his head. They are both in their 20s now. John would never want him now. He wasn’t the hero Robin, a.k.a. Damian Wayne, that John knew anymore, He was The Demon’s Head, a.k.a. Damian Al Ghul. John would want nothing to do with him. He was a killer. A monster. John was a hero. A goodie-two shoes. Someone who wouldn’t want to associate with someone like Damian. Don’t get him wrong, he doesn’t regret killing anyone. He was raised to believe killing people was fine and even the right thing to do in most cases. He just… cared what John thought was all. What?! Damian shook his head, as he slashed his blade through another dummy. He didn’t care. Caring was a weakness. But… He cared about mother, about father. He cared about grandfather. Caring was something Dick taught him was ok to do. What about mother and grandfather? Did they care if they saw caring as a weakness? Damian shook his head. He didn’t need to worry about that. He had a job to do that night anyway.

“You ok, Superson?” John looked at his father, sadly. He knew he should be paying attention, they had a lead on a trained assassin, a member of the league. John got his nickname from Damian. Super Sons, that’s the team name they planned on using. Then his mother came back into his life and Damian took the offer. He didn’t even get a chance to tell him that he’s- “Let me guess,” He asked, with a soft expression. “You’re thinking about him again, aren’t you?” John nodded. “I know you miss him, but he’s a criminal now. We have to bring down the league. That includes Damian. You know that right?”

“Yes, Dad.”

“Good,” Superman smiled, and sighed. “He’s not the same boy you knew John. I know you miss him, but the boy you miss is gone. Manipulated by his witch of a mother.”

“Yeah, I know,” John looked down at his hands, sadly. He had a determined look as he clenched his fists and continued speaking. “If he’s being manipulated can’t we get a lighter charge?”

“If we can get his mother- or even just Damian- to admit he did it against his will. Then, yes we can. But I doubt it will be that easy, that woman is delusional. She believes that because her son is an Al Ghul that means he’s born to be an assassin. She’ll deny any involvement in Damian’s choice to join back up with the league after living with Bruce Wayne for so many years. Hard to prove she’s lying considering how long he’s been in Bruce’s Custody.”

“B-but Batman could vogue for him!”

“That would require telling the police that Damian was Robin and what would happen then?”

“Bruce Wayne would have to tell them how he knew Robin’s identity which would require telling them either a massive lie that wouldn’t hold much weight or that he was Batman, which then in itself brings problems,” John sighed.

“Which are?”

“Making sure the ones who know keep quiet and if they decide not to, Batman is done, and if they demand the identities of the previous Robins, Red Hood’s deal would be called off due to bias against kids who grew up in crime alley. Dick would never be able to set foot in Gotham or any city for very long for his own safety, Tim would have to start doing things solo again. And the girls would have to leave the country for their safety. Signal would also be in danger, his father included.”

“Exactly, now pay attention.”

“Ok, dad,” John sighed again and turned back to the batcomputer as they reviewed the case.

It wasn’t that he wouldn’t catch Damian, he would when the time came. It’s just. He wished he’d gotten the chance to tell him- While their dads were talking, John walked down to Damian’s old mini batcave- He looked in the full length Mirror he caught Damian flexing in front of quite a few times as Robin. He loved being Robin. The problem was, he wished he’d told Damian about… this. Superson took off his shirt and under it was a chest binder. He wished he told his only friend in the world… That he was transgender.

Chapter Text

Ok, John knew he wasn’t paying the most attention to his dad’s little powerpoint, but you’d think he’d realize the league of assassins member that they had a lead on, was DAMIAN!? How’s batman even track him down?! Not important. John had a mission. His father would be hidden nearby in case things go south, but John had convinced his father and Batman to let him try to talk to Damian and get him to surrender peacefully. When told Damian doesn’t have any interest in surrendering, John mentioned how Damian didn’t have any interest in friends until he came alone. John meant something to Damian, maybe they could use that to their advantage.

When John flew down into the middle of the front courtyard, he was staring at the temple with awe. THIS was where Damian grew up!? And John thought Wayne Manor and the Batcave were impressive. Before he could admire the scenery and structure anymore, a bunch of guys in all black with swords and guns came from nowhere. John raised his hands in a form of surrender so they wouldn’t attack. Not like their weapons would do much against his invulnerability, but he was here for a peaceful solution first and foremost.

“What brings you here, hero?” One of the assassins asked firmly, pointing his sword to John’s neck.

“I- uh-” How did his dad have so much confidence in front of others when speaking.

“Lower your sword!” A commanding voice ordered. John saw Damian walk down a large staircase leading to the building's entrance.

“Damian!” John smiled. The guard did as his leader commanded. “Thanks for the save.”

“You didn’t need my help,” Damian stated, not showing any emotion at all. “You have invulnerability. I just don’t want an expensive and effective sword wasted on a target that cannot be hurt by it.”

“I guess that makes sense.”

“What are you doing here, John?” Damian asked with a raised brow. “If we didn’t leave off on as good of terms as we did, you’d be dead where you stand.”

“But I thought you said the swords can’t hurt me?”

“They can’t, but the weapons made from the kryptonite that I- Ahem- borrowed without father’s permission- most certainly would,” John nodded-

“Got it. So, back to why I came here.”

“Go on,” Damian crossed his arms.

“Well, I was hoping you’d maybe- I don’t know… Uh-”

“Spit it out before I throw you off the mountain top,” Damian growled.

“Surrender?” Damian’s eyes widened for a moment, then he laughed. Not the fond chuckle that John remembered, but a dark, evil laugh, the other assassins had the same laugh. “You think I- the Demon’s Head- would surrender to you- heroes ?”

“Yes?”

“That sounded like a question,” Damian rolled his eyes. “Give me an honest, straight forward answer or else.”

“No,” John sighed, before subtly clenching his left hand into a fist, which activated the tracker that would let the others know Damian refused to surrender, had he pressed his right hand it would signal that Damian did surrender, but he didn’t. “I’m sorry, Damian. I really am. But I have a job to do. We can do this the easy way or the hard way.”

“I’ve always preferred the hard way,” Damian unsheathed his sword, which was made of kryptonite. And slashed.

“Just surrender and make this easier on both of us!” John said, as he barely managed to dodge a swipe of Damian’s sword. By now both their fathers were fighting the league’s members, while he and his old friend fought. “Please, Damian! I know this isn’t you!”

“Shut up!” Damian growled. “Your pleas are nothing more than an annoying bug in my ear! I was born to be an assassin, I was born to be this and there’s nothing you can do to stop me!”

“I’m sorry, Damian,” John sighed.

“For what?” Damian growled, as he held his sword, ready to kill his former friend.

“For this-” John used what little bit of strength he had while in range of the kryptonite blade and nailed Damian’s hand, making the man drop his blade. Because John was only HALF Kryptonian, the kryptonite didn’t affect him the same way that it affected his father, but he still didn’t have enough super strength to break Damian’s hand, but he did have enough to hurt the other man’s hand just enough.

“Fuck!” Damian cursed, as his blade was kicked away from him by John. John- now out of range of the kryptonite blade- knocked out Damian.

“Surrender!” John called out, after cuffing Damian. “Your leader has been defeated!”

The fighting around him stopped. The assassins were shocked. Damian was the best in their group. They raised their hands in surrender. Superman and Batman cuffed the remaining members. Superman walked over to his son-

“Good work, Superson,” Superman smiled.

“Yeah, no problem,” John said, as he dragged Damian’s unconscious body over to the rest of the league.

Damian awoke hours later, he wasn’t wearing his armor instead a prison jumpsuit. He jumped awake. He looked around and noticed was in a cell. He rubbed his head, he got hit pretty hard by John- Fuck! Those heroes got him! Damian groaned-

“How could I be so weak,” Damian sighed. Damian heard someone walk down the hallway. He looked up when the footsteps stopped in front of his cell. It was John, in his Superson costume. “What do you want?” Damian growled.

“I want to talk.”

“Talk? About what?” Damian laughed. “About how you miss the old Damian? The one who was weak?”

“You weren’t weak, Damian,” John sighed. “We were friends. What happened to you? Why are you doing this?”

“Not all of us are born to be heroes, Superson,” Damian refused to reveal his old friend’s secret identity.

“But- you know as well as I do that you can be one,” John stressed. It was unsaid, but he was clearly referring to Damian’s time as Robin. “Look, all you have to do is testify against your mother and everything will be fine.”

“You are a fool.”

“What?”

“I will never betray my mother.”