Chapter Text
Gotham eerily more quiet than usual today. Damian jumped from rooftop to rooftop like a shadow, watching steam emerge from vents below. Tonight was supposed to be a simple sweep of the Narrows, check in with Nightwing, return before midnight. Father had insisted he call it an early night because it was a school night as he called it Damian had insisted he would be fine.
He grappled down it was almost midnight and since his father ordered him to be in the cave at midnight he would do as he was told.
He passed a dark alleyway when someone grabbed him out of the shadows and started beating him.
The assailant smelled bad he smelled like sewer water and like rotting flesh
His looks tho were probably worse than his smell. Most of his face looked like it had melted off , one of his eyes looked rotten and his jaw was crooked.
The man tried to hit him a couple times but robin dodged.
Damian dodged hit after hit and countered with multiple hits. One to his knee two to his ribs and even one to his face.
The man didn’t even flinch.
But during the fight the man. Probably tired of the fight stopped holding back and Damian soon realized that he was fighting an enhanced individual.
He took more hits than he gave and soon became exhausted from the fight but he kept fighting.
After being hit in the head by the man Damian fell to the ground he tried to stand back up again but he was dizzy and just fell back to the ground.
The man took this to his advantage and hit the boy as hard as he could multiple times.
Damian could swear he heard the sound of his bones breaking as the monster of the man that was his assailant hit him again and again.
It didn’t take long for him to realize he couldn’t win. His leg was clearly broken. His ribs and His arm too. The pounding sensation in the back of his skull told him he probably had a concussion.
Running was his only chance of surviving this encounter .
Ignoring the agony ripping through his body, he hit the man square in his face with his good leg making him shocked for enough time for him to force himself forward, limping through the alleyways .
Every step felt like fire running through his small battered body .
His broken leg refused to cooperate, each limp a battle against gravity. The alley twisted into unfamiliar territory he couldn’t tell if he was gaining ground or running in circles. Behind him, the man’s boots splashed through puddles. Closer now. Too close
He sped up trying to ignore the pain and managed to go far enough away from him so that he couldn’t hear him.
His knees gave out from under him and he collapsed beside a dumpster, gasping for breath that wouldn’t come. His nerves were screaming at him and all he could do was try not to cry.
He’d escaped for now. But the man would find him eventually. He reached for his comm, desperate to call for help, and froze. Gone. It must have fallen out when his head hit the ground earlier.
His only hope was the emergency beacon in his utility belt . He fumbled for it with trembling hands and switched it on, praying someone would see the signal. But the only way he would know it worked is if someone came to help him.
“Ohh, Robin… come out, come out wherever you are…”
The sing-song voice echoed closer. Damian pressed himself against the dumpster, heart hammering hoping that the man didn’t find him.
“Found you, you little brat. Don’t you know it’s impolite to hide from adults?”
The metal pole swung before he could react.
White hot pain exploded across his face. His vision went white, then black, then back again. Something felt wrong very wrong his jaw hanging loosely from the rest of his skull. A broken sound escaped his throat as he slumped to the ground, too hurt to move.
The man took the pipe and shoved it inside the boys stomach it didn’t go all the way inside but the pain was still excruciating.
Then the man bent down and smiled
“You are a failure I don’t understand why everyone is so afraid of you . you are nothing but Pest that should be eliminated. That’s what I’m here for ! I’m going to eliminate you but before that I’m going to make you regret ever being alive .”
When he was finished he stomped on robins already broken leg making a broken noise escape of his mouth as his bone shifted and pierced his skin.
But the man didn’t stop there he took the pole and shifted it around in the boys stomach before shoving it all the way through
The smell of blood the pain and the rotting smell coming off the man’s body was enough to make him vomit on the floor next to him.
His Father had said to be home by midnight. It was a rule, not a request. Rules were easy. Rules kept you alive. But here, now, with blood in his mouth, the rules felt more like something weighing down on him.
Damian thought about how this wasn’t how robins were supposed to die and how much his father was going to be disappointed In him for failing to do a simple rule.
Damian couldn’t help but ask himself if this was the end of his very short and sad life as the darkness enveloped his vision
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His eyes opened again his whole body felt like it was on fire and his assailant was still hitting him.
Still having fun destroying a kids body.
He couldn’t help but think about how cruel someone had to be to continue beating a someone that was unconscious.
When the man noticed he was once again awake he laughed like a maniac and hit the boy in the head and he let darkness take him.
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He awoke once again but this time it wasn’t to pain but to a deafening noise
BANG!!
His eyes snapped open and he saw an helmet he immediately recognized as one of his brother’s .
Red hood was standing there looking furiously at the body of the man that was beating him just a few minutes ago.
He immediately felt relieved maybe he wouldn’t die. And if he did… maybe he wouldn’t be alone.
Jason ran towards him . his hand to his ear.
“Guys I found him I need immediate evac and call Leslie it’s bad.”
The older man kneeled next to him and and supported Damian’s head with his gloved hand being careful not to jostle his jaw.
Damian couldn’t help but think about how good his brother smelled or maybe he thought he smelled good because of how disgusting the now unconscious man smelled.
The boy leaned into the touch and closed his eyes.
“No no don’t do that buddy you gotta stay awake for me”
Damian listened to his brother and opened his eyes. He already had clearly disappointed him. (That’s what his voice sounded like disappointment or maybe it was worry making his voice change so much.) he didn’t want to disappoint his brother further.
A few minutes later the sound of an engine could be heard in the distance and only a few seconds after that the Batmobile’s headlights lighted up the small alley they were in.
As soon as it parked multiple people he recognized as his father and two of his brothers exited the car.
They all ran towards the two brothers nightwing carried a bag that probably contained medical supplies red robin carried a back brace and Batman carried other medical supplies.
When they arrived his father kneeled next to him and started assessing the situation.
“RR we won’t need the brace you can go put it in the car and get a leg brace nightwing I want you to put pressure on that wound hood can you remove his mask and check his pupils”
As soon as he finished his sentence they were all doing what they were told
Damian flinched as Jason shined a light in his eyes
“Okay Damian I have to put your jaw back into place this will hurt “ his voice cracked at the end
His hand went up to the boys jaw, and with a sharp, practiced motion, he popped it back into place making the youngest of the family cry out.
His father then started to roll gauze around the boys head to keep his jaw in place.
Tim arrived at that moment with the leg brace with the help of Jason they lifted the boys broken leg and Damian started trying to fight them.
His eyes were glassy , his breathing fast ,ragged and irregular. He had a look of pure panic on his face as he tried to fight the people helping him.
It wasn’t the first time that he panicked like that when injured. But it never happened when he was that hurt.
Then all of a sudden he went limp but before his little body fell completely to the ground Bruce caught him stopping his head from hitting the cold floor under them and pulling his son in his lap.
Just like that he had given up and now he was sobbing in his father’s arms.
His brothers hurried to put the brace on his leg once they were finished Damian went stiff.
His back arched and his jaw clenched. Then his limbs started jerking and he started choking.
His father and siblings acted immediately they removed all the things around the boy as Bruce angled his head to his side.
Then as fast as it started it finished and he went limp again.
Damian’s eyes fluttered open, heavy and unfocused, the harsh lights from the car blurring into a soft white haze. He blinked a few times, disoriented, before his gaze found the familiar shape standing nearby.
Slowly painfully slowly his arm lifted from where it rested against the sheets. His fingers trembled as he weakly but deliberate, pointed straight at Jason.
Jason froze. He glanced at Bruce, uncertainty flickering across his face, but Bruce only nodded once.
That was all the permission he needed. Jason stepped forward and gently slid his arms under Damian’s small, battered body. The boy melted against him almost immediately, too tired to speak, too sore to move but clinging weakly to Jason’s jacket
Jason stood and walked towards the car his family following close behind.
Tim opened the back door and slid inside Jason and Dick helped place him inside being careful not to jostle him to much and Jason entered last placing the boys head on his lap.
They made their way to the cave driving as fast as possible.
They were all worried tho they didn’t say it out loud seeing their youngest sibling so hurt was breaking their hearts.
Damian started mumbling stuff that nobody in the car could quite understand. His breathing became erratic and irregular he also started fighting them again.
It didn’t take long for them to realize that he wasn’t speaking English he was speaking a weird mix of Arabic and mandarin.
Normally the boy didn’t use his native tongue but when under a lot of stress or when injured sometimes English became too hard for the boy to remember.
Jason knowing that physical touch calmed the boy(even tho he would never admit it). Removed his gloves and put his calloused hand to the exposed skin of Damian’s face and neck.
The boy leaned into the touch. He stopped his panicked mumbling and opened his beautiful wide blue eyes. They were glassy and made him look even more tired than he already seemed as his eyes looked up at him. He smiled weakly before closing them once again.
He quietly sighed and his breathing went back to a normal and even rhythm it was still ragged and it looked like this normally simple and painless act was the hardest thing he had ever done and like it hurt like hell but it was an improvement .
The boy murmured
“Akhi? Hurts”
His voice was rough and raspy like the one of an old man that had smoked his entire life.
Jason’s heart broke he couldn’t respond,couldn’t promise things that he didn’t know would happen , he couldn’t say it would be okay because he didn’t know if it would be.
So instead of promising anything he said
“I’m so so sorry we didn’t find you before buddy we’ll make the pain go away i promise you just have to hang on until then.”
His voice wavered through his sentence and he started crying.
After a few minutes of tense silence only interrupted by the broken sounds of pain that the littlest person in the family let out whenever he was jostled .
Then the car came to a stop and everyone got out except Jason and Damian.
They had to wait for the stretcher so they could move Damian without accidentally hurting him further by jostling the injuries covering his little body.
It didn’t take long for it to arrive Jason stood carefully clutching Damian in his arms and he put him down trying to avoid moving the worst of the boys injuries.
When Jason’s calloused hands left Damian’s body the boy started crying out panicking at the absence of his anchor in the sea of pain he was in.
Jason removed the glove from Damian’s good hand and enveloped the smaller hand in his own bigger hand.
This small gesture was enough to calm him down enough he once again opened his beautiful blue eyes as if to be sure that it really was Jason holding his hand and when he saw his brother walking next to the gurney he layed in he relaxed and let his tired eyes close again.
The next time his eyes opened it was because he felt a pinch in the crook of his arm he looked down to see Leslie gently inserting an IV in his arm.
It looked like she was talking but he couldn’t hear.
He started to panic once again. Why couldn’t he hear anything? He couldn’t be a hero if he couldn’t hear.
He started sobbing and his still ragged breath became short and fast.
Then everything went dark.
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